Vengeful Ghost

It’s been a few weeks, but let’s get this horse running again. Here’s what I’ve been up to for the last week.

WORKING: The biggest project ahead of me over the last week has been Thanksgiving dinner. My wife and I had her parents up, and a few local friends came over to join us. The day itself was wonderful–I think. I spent most of the time in the kitchen or zoning out with a beer in my hand trying to ignore what was going on the kitchen. As a result of all that kitchen focus, I got almost everything perfect. The mashed potatoes I made were on point, the brussels sprouts weren’t great but at least came out of the oven on time, our guests’ contributions came together… but the turkey. Oh, the turkey.

I had not one, but two thermometers lie to me. The very first time I pulled out the turkey, my stick-in thermometer told me it was done. Immediately after, the pre-packaged pop-up thermometer sprang up. “Great,” I thought. “I’ll get this out, let it rest, and be carving in half an hour!”

But as soon as I got the first drumstick off, I knew I was in trouble. The thigh beneath it was still pink and rubbery. I carved into one breast, hoping it had maybe gotten the better end of the deal, but the tenderloin was still raw too. An emergency reinsertion to the oven did nothing to help, and I ended up serving my guests microwave-finished turkey breast in pitifully small quantities.

They were all gracious as could be, and frankly the loss I feel the greatest is of the leftovers. There could have been some great turkey sandwiches for me this week, but now I’m back to square one and still have to cook if I want to keep this troublesome body fed.

Ah, well.

PLAYING: Video games have been about my speed for the last couple of weeks as I try to dig myself out of a hole, but at least they’ve been good. I’ve dived into Dishonered 2, Rainbow Six: Siege, and Elder Scrolls Online all over the last couple of weeks, and they’ve been good fun.

I’m not very far in Dishonored, but I’m enjoying it greatly. I’ve been challenging myself to play without harming anyone and so far, it’s been going okay. I’ve knocked out a grand total of two people, I think. Of course, this is enabled by a lot of save scumming, but that’s part of the fun of this game for me. Every objective is a puzzle, and I enjoy experimenting with different approaches. So far, nothing I’ve tried has been impossible, which is pretty darn cool.

Siege is a whole other story. It is utterly unforgiving and I have to bring my A-game every time I turn it on. I also really like it. I’ve built a small crew of folks who get on together and though I am probably the worst player in the bunch, it’s a good time. When you sit down with it, it feels a lot like a normal shooter, but if you play it like one you’ll get totaled. It’s strategic, often slow paced, and the wide variety of destructible terrain requires a certain recalibration of instinct. It’s sort of like thinking in portals.

And ESO is the first MMO I’ve ever tried to get into. I’m reaching a tipping point with it. The solo game is pretty good, but if I wanted to play a solo Elder Scrolls game, I’d go back and start yet another Skyrim run. I need to start engaging with the most MMO-ey parts of the game, like dungeons and guilds and PvP, but I haven’t quite made the plunge. Do you play?

CONSUMING: I finally finished Person of Interest. Holy cow. It had a real and true ending, which is something I feel like a lot of the television I watch can’t really say. The entire fifth season, which was short, was devoted to wrapping the whole thing up. Though I’m not a huge fan of how super-sciency it got at the end there (recombinant superflu on the first try? Really?), there are a bunch of parts of the show that are still burrowing their way around my brain like prairie dogs.

It’s the first show I’ve considered writing fan fic for. I don’t think I will, but I might read some. The characters in the background matter to me, and I want to know more about them. Control, for one. The red-headed operative who got that compressed arc in the last few episodes, too–I found his transformation from introduction to climax really intriguing, and I want to see it unpacked a little bit.

I think part of my desire for more is that, although the show itself got some strong closure, only a very few characters were given a real strong sendoff in that last season. Death, with notable exceptions, came quickly and unexpectedly. There was not time to linger. Again, with one major exception, there was no slo-mo, no haunting music. There was just a bang, and then someone was dead. Good guys and bad guys both. I think it was on theme for the show, and I admire the choice, but it makes me want more.

Anyway, that’s my story. What’s yours?