To the jump!
1) Playing video games. Lots of them. Ever since I played my first computer game -- I don't quite remember what it was, but I'm sure it was a Commodore 64 classic, either pirated by our cousins or hand-typed by Dad and myself, fingers cramped after hours of inputting MLX only to discover that we got a bit dyslexic somewhere between rows 35 and 48, column 2, page 6 and had to go through the damned thing line-by-line so we could then have the pleasure of playing a knock-off of Rampage or Missile Command or something for five minutes before we got bored of it and put "Jeopardy!" in the disk drive -- I've been a fan, to put it mildly. And although I've never once in my life been on the cutting edge of the gaming scene (although I'm still holding out hope that owing a fully backward-compatible PS3 makes me one of the "cool kids"), I like to play. Funny, though, that I never actually consider myself a "gamer." That could be because I know so many people who are way more into it than I do -- three people in my D&D group work in the same game store, which the rest of us frequent -- but it could be because, in many respects, I just wouldn't make the cut; I steer clear of first-person shooters (I like them, but multiplayer is a nightmare for me, mostly because I can't adjust to having no peripheral vision on-screen), MMOs (my World of Warcraft account, with its level 80 hunter, is currently offline), and fighting games (although I did just purchase Super Street Fighter IV for my PS3 and it's the first fighter I've enjoyed since, gawd, probably Virtua Fighter 2...), the staples of the hard-core gamer. But I find it hard to call myself a "casual gamer," since now my mom can be considered one, on the condition that she plays Farmville (and occasionally Bejewelled) on Facebook. So, once again, I find myself wandering in my own little category. Story of my life.
But that's not really what this bit was about. It was about me finding my gaming groove over the last week or so. Normally, my gamer operation works thus: I dink around on a few older titles -- I generally can't afford to buy new releases, although my discount at work has provoked a few more purchases than I'd normally, er, purchase -- and occasionally, one will grip me and I'll play that one game continuously until I finish it, normally in world-record time, unless it's a sports game, in which case I quit after my dynasty ends or I win a couple of PGA Championships/Super Bowls/NCAA tournaments/Premier League titles. Recently, though, I've gone through a rare bout of gamer multi-tasking, something my more hardcore buddies do with regularity; my main squeeze has been Fable II (after I convinced myself it was okay to hijack my roommate's 360, it was pretty much all over by that point), but then a few others slipped into the fray, and I couldn't help but play them all. Besides the aforementioned Street Fighter, I've also become smitten with the retro-fun game 3D Dot Game Heroes and the story-game Heavy Rain (both PS3 exclusives). I'm sure it'll pass -- only so many days will come and go in this state before I say to myself: "What am I doing with my life?!" begin cleaning every surface of our duplex, and practice my saxophone four hours a day -- but I feel like I'm peering into the life of a realsie gamer this week, and it's an interesting experience, for sure.
2) Documentary: Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive Seems fairly obvious, doesn't it? I mean, my affection for Fry and his TV prowess has been hinted at (and explicitly declared) several times over the course of my writings, and the subject matter of this particular documentary hits home a bit for me -- I've actually got an entry about my own manic depression all done in my "drafts" box, but I'm debating whether the painful introspection/self-loathing would turn people off to reading anything I write ever again, so I'm holding off for now. I found a copy of this online shortly after it was broadcast, so I've known about it for a while, but after a higher-quality version showed up on my UK *cough*bittorrent*cough* site, I decided to give it another watch. I'm glad I did.
The doc splits itself nicely into two parts. The first segment attempts to answer the question "What is Manic Depression?" and, for my money, does a wonderful job. Fry himself suffers from manic depression, and his journey of discovery (if you'll pardon the nauseating cliché) is fascinating to watch from a purely objective standpoint (as much as I can be objective about something so near to me), as he lets the viewer in on the whole process. Many sufferers are interviewed -- some famous, some not -- and you discover the many ways the illness manifests itself (and never in the cartoonish "I laugh! I cry! I laugh! I cry!" way, unfortunately for lovers of comedy), and also how they discovered that their "quirks" were actually a common and misunderstood mental condition. The second bit deals with treatment; many manic depressives (myself included) consciously choose not to medicate, fearing that the highs and lows make up so much a part of their existence that to level those peaks and valleys out equate to removing the uniqueness of the individual, while others (Fry interviews the actor Richard Dreyfuss) medicate and feel that the pills enhance their lives. It's a tough choice, one not to be taken lightly, and Fry does a commendable job of weighing the pros and cons of both sides of the debate -- although, I believe, he himself chooses not to take medication for his illness. The collective work is the definition of infotainment; it's so wonderfully informative -- and with Stephen Fry, you know it's accurate -- yet you never feel like you're watching a documentary, rather a two-hour drama about a successful man with a bleak past and a hopeful future.
Anyway, the whole thing is brilliant, and I'd recommend giving it a view if you can get your hands on it. Unfortunately, the DVD isn't available for our region, but if you can play Region 2 DVDs (which you can, on your computer, if you have VLC media player), you can find it in Amazon as an import, or I'm sure it's online somewhere -- that's where I got it. It's pretty heavy stuff, but important.
3) Plans coming together. This Thursday, I'm going to attempt to assemble people I work with/live with/game with and tolerate to eat pizza and play laser tag. Technically, it's for my birthday, but if I say the word birthday one more time in the blog, I'm going to give myself paper cuts, so it's a... er... Memorial Day laser tag celebration!
It'll be impossible to look this happy, though. Especially the girl on the end.
I'm guessing that everything's going to all be OK, but I have a Mary-Tyler-Moore-ish history with parties. (And yes, for those of you who don't know, there was a show -- let's call it the Mary Tyler Moore Show -- where Mary Tyler Moore (sorry, Mary Richards) was shit at giving parties. [/old person]) Last year, for instance, I invited several people -- around 20 -- to a birthd-- Memorial Day binge, and a grand total of three people showed up. We had a blast, just so you know, but it was pretty awkward for the first couple of hours, let me tell you. Still, I know -- KNOW -- that at least five people are definitely coming, which is more than enough for a round of laser tag (with me it's six, which is even teams), so I'm excited. I'll keep you posted on how it goes; if I end up sitting by myself, crying into my pizza, I might edit the proceedings a bit.
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