07.14.06
Because Life Was Almost Too Damn Easy There For A Second
The good news: I got the first “real” paycheck from my new job. Plenty of money to go around and take care of things.
The bad news: My prosperity didn’t even last me long enough to go to the store to buy a freaking soda. No sooner do I pull into the parking lot, than my exhaust system decides, “Well, let’s just see how he handles… THIS!” and falls apart on me. The catalytic converter fell off the car and was scraping the ground; when I accelerated to the breakneck speed of 20 mph, it sounded like I was about ready take off for the International Space Station and not just get on I-480 (and felt like it to, thanks to the inexplicable shaking of the car). But the real kicker is the wonderful fumes I was introduced to on the way to the repair shop. Five hours later and $650 lighter, I had a new exhaust system. And it would have been more if they hadn’t managed to get the oxygen sensor off the old CC; for whatever reason it didn’t want to budge.
So I never made it in to work today, and half of my paycheck was gone before breakfast. Bosses were understanding. Repair shop people were straight with me. Aside from the disaster precipitating all of that, things went well today. Of course now I can’t order Rez like I was going to, and I imagine that the way my luck is running the sale will end (or they’ll be sold out) by the time my next paycheck rolls around. Meh. I have all the time in the world right now. And unfortunately I need every second of it.
Started watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya this afternoon. Actually, I only watched the first episode. I’m quite under the impression that the rest of the series is going to be nothing like this, since this one was absolutely painful to watch. Which, I really really hope, was the intended effect. I don’t know what to make of the series just yet; if I get the urge to continue it, I’ll let you know what I think then. Right now it’s a back-burnered project.
This weekend’s activities are primarily going to occur in the world of Filgaia. I’m taking the next couple days to blitz through Wild ARMs 4, if possible. In between that I might actually get some more writing done on the novel. I’m at 65K already and I have a very good idea of how I want to proceed; I just need to get the motivation to do so. I figure as soon as I hit a really irritating boss fight in WA4, I’ll have my motivation. Alternately, while I waited for the car to be fixed, I got irritated enough to impulse-buy Tetris DS once again; having reclaimed that, I feel slightly better (after looking at my financial situation, I briefly regretted it; the amount of regret is far less than the gratification of having reclaimed it, though). As for my skill, well, let’s just put it this way: my first game was Marathon mode, and I cleared all 200 lines without even breaking a sweat. While I don’t see myself attempting an Eternitris run as Rick did, it’s nice to think that I quite possibly have the ability and skills necessary to do so.
Also, I have rediscovered the love and the frustration that is Cave Story. To whoever ported this wonderful gem to the Mac, I bless you straight to hell; there you may find yourself laughing at all the Acclaim execs who are forced to play “BMX XXX” for all of eternity, while you yourself are brutally beaten with a DS for not porting the game to the more popular handheld.
Before the death and destruction today, I briefly considered buying a PSP and Lumines. Then my alarm clock woke me up.
According to Zen philosophy, all things in this world are transitory and ephemeral; nothing is permanent save for the universe itself, and its permanence is only an illusion. As the living embodiments of some unfathomable fragment of the universe, sent forth to try to gain a perspective on this illusion called life, through yet another layer of illusion called consciousness, and tempered by the ultimate illusion of intelligence, our job is to observe the world (what of it we can) and to learn what we can from it. Everything we observe returns to the fundamental truth: that all things– intelligence, consciousness, life, the universe, and permanence– are impermanent and nonconcrete.
After spending four hours trapped in a Wal-Mart on Wednesday, dealing with stuff I don’t want to discuss here on Thursday, and having Friday turn into a complete and total waste of a day and half a paycheck, I think I can pencil in “my patience” at the top of the list of impermanent and transitory things. To say nothing of “my REM sleep habits over the last two weeks”.
G’night, folks.