Riley and I were talking about gaming and I was trying to describe what I dislike about first-person shooters (or shooters in general) (or any game where you can die, really). For me it comes down to what the gaming experience feels like, and I don’t like anxiety in a game. Particularly when you have to repeat a series of difficult things leading up to the actual big boss moment and you know that every time you die you have to start over and do all the things again, and that’s before you have to battle something crazy impossible like a horde of armored zombies that shoot lasers out of their eyesockets and the laser de-activates all your weapons plus you have to simultaneously solve a ninety-layer maze and ALSO there’s a timer.

In comparison, Beat Saber is delightfully low stakes. Its default setup involves a health meter situation where if you screw up enough, the song ends and you have to try again, but the first thing I did was set that shit to NOFAIL. No pressure, no consequences, no checkpoints, just straight-up fun plus a great workout that doesn’t feel like a workout. Bam!

:::

I was at a light the other day and looking at this woman waiting to cross, drawn to her because of her outfit. Individually and collectively, it should have been hideous: shapeless crop top, paperbag-waist pants that were both 1) UPS-brown, 2) wide leg, and 3) cropped (!!), topped by clunky black boots. Yet somehow she was making it WORK, like there were these … I don’t know, invisible wavy cartoon lines of confidence and style surrounding her, which seemed related to her impeccable posture. It occurs to me that maybe that’s the whole trick with fashion and probably with a lot of life, too: straighten up your spine and untuck your chin, that little switch in the body makes a startling difference in the head.

(Not such a difference for me personally that I would try to pull off a similar outfit, mind you. Today’s clothing trends are mostly baffling and wildly unattractive to me and I don’t understand any of them, particularly those giant dumpy lampshade-looking prairie/babydoll dress hybrids that cannot possibly be flattering on any human.)

:::

I am so incredibly dismayed by the politicization and distrust and outright refusal (But Mah Immune System) of these life-saving vaccines that we should ALL be celebrating, I feel like this particular moment in time is even more depressing than it was a year ago, because we have a path OUT of this bullshit yet SO MANY PEOPLE refuse to do their part.

To me it comes down to a choice: do you choose to make things better for all of us, perhaps incrementally and perhaps significantly, or do you choose to make things NO better and possibly worse?

I truly don’t know how anyone can call themselves a patriot if they make the second choice.

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Swistle
3 years ago

YES. Similarly to how I do not want to feel RUSHED and HARRIED in a game (all of those “you’re running a pizza place!! and the customers are INCREASINGLY UNHAPPY as you work INCREASINGLY FAST until you INEVITABLY FAIL!!” games), I do not want to feel SCARED and SAD and MURDERED and SISYPHEAN. When PLAYING A GAME, I want to ENJOY IT.

My daughter is 16, and she is doing things like tucking crewneck sweatshirts into shorts, and wearing I-tell-you-the-truth black sports-striped crew socks with denim shortalls, and she looks FABULOUS, and obviously some of this is Parental Eyes of Love, but also, I do not have similar Eyes of Love for some of the outfits my other children put together, and I will note that Elizabeth has a poised/confident posture that means doctors are CONTINUALLY asking her if she does dance (she does not), but what I mean is I THINK YOU ARE ON TO SOMETHING HERE. Invisible wavy cartoon lines YES.

Third topic, totally agree and so Cannot Even.

Juli
3 years ago

I believe the vaccines are a personal choice. I also believe that if you don’t have a real reason, other than laziness, or Meh *insets shrug here*, it’s ridiculous not to.

That said, I know many people who did not get it, despite the fact that half of our state has making us in the top 5 of the country. And the anti peeps were the FIRST to take their masks off, even though the mandate specifically says not to.

Covid, in my opinion, showed us what many people were really made of. And the shot is continuing to do so.

Anne
Anne
3 years ago

Dismayed is right. The rhetoric and misinformation also cause outsized fear making people feel desperate. I work in HR at a large institution that mandated vaccination for all staff. When the announcement came out one employee was so out of his mind with anger about it he threatened to come and start shooting. Like, logic and science and the good of society just can’t compete once the terror response has been triggered.

sooboo
sooboo
3 years ago

Today’s trends are baffling to me as well. We’re supposed to go back to boot cut jeans or looking like the mom jeans ladies from that SNL skit? Ugh.

I have called about 10 electricians today to have some work done and I was shocked that not one was vaccinated! They have to go into people’s homes! Well. none of them are coming into mine. Even though I have been vaccinated I’m not opening my home to people that have not.

Belle
Belle
3 years ago

I am old enough to remember the panic of polio and the relief of a vaccine. I mean, we stood in line to get it! And now it’s gone. And I think of all the typhoid and diphtheria deaths of years ago and how those folks would have done anything to have a vaccine available. I really don’t understand why folks won’t get the COVID vaccine. I have an adult son who hasn’t gotten it and he can’t even explain why. I keep pushing and hope one day I can quit nagging.

Hillary
Hillary
3 years ago

I don’t mind first person shooter games where I can die, but I do mind the ones that don’t let you save along the way. And I will admit to getting so frustrated/stressed out that I have to walk away.

Most of those “patriots” who won’t get shots believe that corona isn’t real, or at least isn’t serious. They go on and on about “emergency authorizations” and “you don’t know, it’s not safe” and throw logic right out the window. Not that I’ve argued with family members about this or anything…

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căn hộ khoáng nóng wyndham

All & Sundry

Gina Lindo
Gina Lindo
3 years ago

Try Supernatural on the oculus, I promise you’ll have so much fun that you won’t look at beat saber with the same eyes!
Also #vaccinesavelives
Stay safe.