Monthly Archive for June, 2007

An insomniac’s dream

Published on 24 June 2007 in General nonsense. 0 Comments

On Friday night I bit off more than I could chew. I challenged KwK to a sleep off. Easy you might think. Only problem is that KwK is an insomniac while I love my solid 8 hours of sleep every night. Here follows a short journal of my experience.

00:00
I get home from a night of games with Ryan. We’d played SSX3, TR: Anniversary and MK: Shaolin Monks. I was in a reasonably good mood and still on a bit of a Friday high. While I’d been gaming I’d also been on Mxit chatting to KwK, Graham and Wakeangl. So once I got home I carried on chatting to them.

00:30
After having sorted all my stuff out and gotten ready for the remainder of my evening I turned on my PC and did some blog posts and checked out a site or two. It was round about this time that I made my fatal mistake in telling KwK that I’d easily be able to stay awake longer than her. Being the very evil person she is, she gladly accepted the challenge knowing full well that her years of insomnia gave her the slight edge out of the starting gates.

01:30
I’m still doing reasonably well. Managing to chat to KwK and co. with no problems. Not feeling sleepy at all. this might be easy enough to pull off.

02:30
What’s this?! My eye’s are starting to burn like crazy and when I look at them in my bathroom mirror I’m shocked to see they look blood red from lack of sleep. Damn. My earlier optimism suddenly disappears. I’m still managing to keep chatting though.

03:30
I sense KwK is starting to weaken. She’s not as quick on the draw as she was earlier and keeps forgetting little details I’ve mentioned to her earlier. And even better is that I’ve just gone over the terrible urge to sleep. Maybe I can do this!

04:00
KwK’s stubborn streak is refusing to let her sign off Mxit. She adamantly refuses to discuss the slight possibility that she might lose. Talk about dedication

04:30
Our insomnia competition is brought to an early conclusion when KwK’s father starts getting ready for work. Needless to say I’m a gentleman and don’t want her to get into trouble for being up awake so late so I graciously offer to sign off. Is it just me or does KwK seem a bit too glad to accept my offer?

04:31
I gladly enter the Land of Nod, grateful that I can finally call it a night.

Disclaimer: I do not condone taking KwK on in any form of competition even if its to a blinking contest. She WILL kick your ass and serve it to you on a silver platter. Though in my defence I was lying in bed under a warm duvet and had no coffee. So I was handicapped from the start. I will still abide by the victor’s conditions though. I salute you KwK!

First it giveth

Published on 23 June 2007 in General nonsense. 0 Comments

Contrary to my earlier post, it would now seem that my plans to visit Natal will no longer be going ahead. When mentioning to KwK that a flight would cost me in the region of R 2000 she immediately told me that she doesn’t want me to come through. Needless to say I’m saddened because I know that there’s no way I’ll be able to persuade her to let me come. She told me that she doesn’t want me to spend so much money coming through for a few days. I suppose she has a point, but I’m still disappointed.

So the countdown begins:

182 days
15,724,800 seconds
262,080 minutes
4368 hours
26 weeks

An ode to country life

Published on 23 June 2007 in Music. 0 Comments

I was standing quiet alone in a crowded disco
When a man I did not know showed me the door
And told me I had to go
Well that kind of humiliation never happens on farm
That’s why city living does the pysche such harm
And I said

Fire escapes don’t work until there’s a fire
You gotta sleep on the floor
Live in the mud
There’s no need to go higher
Once you taste a brick you won’t want more
Saving sanity is no trick when your living’ outdoors

Well it did not take me long to realise my mistake
When garbage trucks messed up my dreams I knew my dreams were fake
Don’t know how people gonna live like this
Pigeons might enjoy it but I cant live in this mess and I said

Fire escapes don’t work until there’s a fire
You gotta sleep on the floor
Live in the mud
There’s no need to go higher
Once you taste a brick you can’t chew and talk
Saving sanity is no trick when your living’ in a room the size of a shoebox

So finally all the wires and plastic got to me
Ideas and realisations were passing right through me
I did not take a train a plane or bus with wings
Man wasn’t meant to fly
Besides walking does the same thing: gets me outta here

Fire escapes don’t work until there’s a fire
You gotta sleep on the floor
Live in the mud
There’s no need to go higher
Oce you taste a brick you won’t want more
Saving sanity is a trick when you living’ on someone else’s floor

Hi, wazzup, how you doing, its good to see ya
What’s your name again, I cant remember
Times up gotta go

Meanwhile Back In The City by The Presidents of the United States of America

We only come out at night

Published on 21 June 2007 in Gaming. 0 Comments

My friend Wakeangl has been pestering me for too long to get a Xbox 360 and I’ve managed to strengthen my resolve slowly but surely. But tonight in a moment of weakness I succumbed. You would also have if you’d seen that Take 2 has the collector’s edition of Guild Wars Nightfall in stock for the ridiculous price of R 315. And the fact that I’ve pledged my support to Kitti to join her in Factions means my slow evenings will pick up considerably in the near future

I’ve never really played a MMO before but Guild Wars holds the simple attractions of average system requirements and no monthly fees. A good user community and friends who are already well versed in its gameplay mechanics should help me adjust to the brutal world of an online RPG. I’ll try and get hold of the game tomorrow and if all goes according to plan I’ll be joining Wakeangl this coming Sunday.

And somewhere all in between this I have to try and review my first two games for IOL. And I have a sneaky suspicion that the parcel awaiting me might be a further two games for me to review. When it rains it pours! Maybe I too will become a coffee addict like so many of my friends

Planes, trains and automobiles

Published on 21 June 2007 in General nonsense. 0 Comments

Well, Merk is a happy man tonight. I’ve been persuaded by Kitti to seriously ponder coming down to visit her in Wartburg (the catgirl town) for a long weekend. I’m really confused that the thought hadn’t occurred to me before. It was such an obvious thing. Of course I might not be able to make it in which case I would have to wait till December, but I’m still overjoyed that I have a slight chance of visiting Natal very shortly. She’s even kindly offered me the use of her abode should I require a place to stay. My thanks to Kitti’s parents for being so considerate. Once again I can’t reiterate enough how much I’m looking forward to the opportunity to meet Kitti and her family and relax in the awe inspiring lush countryside of Natal. I’ll definitely do everything in my power to try and make it happen.

And of course there’s still the whole question surrounding the identity of her mysterious surprise

Ponder this for a moment if you will

Published on 21 June 2007 in General nonsense. 1 Comment

Here’s an email I received from a friend, Siemens, that really made me stop and think:

Ode to the Nice Guys
This rant was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!” And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

Fu-zu Jen, SEAS/WH, 2003

Let the games begin

Published on 18 June 2007 in Gaming. 1 Comment

Finally the South African Post Office has managed to convey a parcel for more than 5 paces without losing it between the sofa cushions. My two games that will serve as my introduction to the wonderful world of games reviewing finally arrived through the post. While star Trek Encounters and Tortuga Two Treasures might not be the most well constructed games available to the general public, they at least will provide me with ample opportunity to use my caustic wit to blast their deficiencies.

I’ve always loved gaming and writing. I might not have the writing skills of the great literary minds of our times but I find a strange sense of calm prevalent in the whole process of writing. There’s an innate sense order and control that comes from laying out a structured piece of writing. Even if it is a mere review for some below par cash in game.

I’ll let you, my readers, know how it goes. Wish me luck!

Letting the cat out of the bag

Published on 18 June 2007 in Humour. 0 Comments

Another chat with my dearest Kitti has engendered in me the belief that she is indeed the very personification of evil. Once again the vast majority of our chats turn towards the unprovoked and senseless teasing of poor, little Merkaba. Needless to say I’ve done nothing to deserve it. I’ve only let Kitti taste a small selection of my finest jokes and that is a rare treat. Why she would continuously harass me with her verbal attacks I don’t know.

Luckily for me there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. A kind, caring,sweet and witty girl by the name of Kimberley. She has managed to at least offset Kitti’s merciless crusade to get me institutionalised for my Kitti addiction. Thank goodness that Kimberley has managed to rein in the darker intentions of Kitti. If not I would surely be dead and buried today.

So thank you Kimberley!! My pizza and Jelly Tots are yours for the taking.
(Just please don’t tell Kitti…)

PS: If you’re wonder about Jay and Silent Bob up there, its all to do with the fact that Kitti has re-entered the world of a video store clerk. They were in a film called Clerks. Tentative link I know, but I’m trying here.