…that I work on Saturdays, so I’m going to be missing yet another birthday party.
I know that I gave up my social life for this job, but lately, I’ve been think that Saturdays better shape up or I’m jumping ship.
And yet, I realize that I can’t, because I’m the only one who knows how it works. What a pickle.
I’m beginning to think, also, that since my free time is incredibly constricted, that I’m living in a weird paradox. I’m around people all the time; I’m around co-workers in the daytime, I’m around family at home, I’m around co-workers at the bar, I’m around friends when they discover I’ve a precious little pocket of free time. And as much as I would someday like some time to myself, I still feel very much alone.
Oh. I just made myself sad.
In happier news, and keeping with the theme of forgetfulness but switching content matter, I’ve been playing the Xbox 360 in the office to test our products, and I must say that it has revived my interest whole-heartedly in gaming. I used to rent games on nearly a weekly basis, but became only a casual gamer after I started gigging in bands every week. Didn’t ever really play video games for more than 45 minutes at a time.
Well, after work on Monday, I plopped down in the conference room to hook up the office 360 and played Gears of War for an hour and then it just clicked. If I were Stella, my groove was as good as back. My eyes glazed over, my fingers regained their erratic twitchiness, and holy hell, I remember now why I played video games in the first place. And then my characters motions became fluid, the GUI in peripheral information all of a sudden became subconscious, and I swear I could hear and angel get its wings every time I used the chainsaw on an alien.
Hm. So, I guess I should say that, no, I’m not lonely at all. I’ve recently gotten in touch with an old friend: video games.
“Dude, how the hell have you been, my old friend? You look great! Your polygons are all smoothed over and you don’t get sluggish when too many things are going on and you’re just as fun to hang out with as you used to be. Man, you’ve come a long way. Just look at your D-Pad! Oh, you want me to hold it? Well, I’ve got things to do… Alright, just for a bit… Oh, god, why did I ever leave you? I will hold you and never let go (without saving). Take me away from this reality and embrace me with your sweet, sweet escapism!”
Oh, video games, I’ve missed you so. It’s good to have you back in my life.
