Numerous random strings of written syllables
I’m in industrial-sized shitheaps of pain right now. Somewhere between Sunday and this morning, I did a number, probably a very large whole number, on my back. Sunday consisted of me working on the farm and doing a lot of lugging-around of the birthday boy and his copious haul of presents; today consisted of me moving at little as possible and repeatedly saying “ow.” I felt like I was just going to fall over ever time I had to pick Evan up today. I’ve taken lots of extra strength Advil just so I can keep moving/functioning enough to keep up with him, and even then, “keeping up with him” has consisted largely of “sitting/laying in the same general area where he’s playing.”
Thank God for the nice haul of nifty new toys; that’s made it possible to keep him concentrated in one area of the house. He got a little electronic basketball goal thing (which, being the little hacker that he is, he’s already figured out how to score infinite points without actually doing anything with the ball), and neato little steering wheel dealie with a little screen on it, which will run through the alphabet, counting 1-10, various songs, or just play a somewhat primitive driving game depending on what he does with the wheel, the horn, etc.; the steering wheel thing is really kinda cool. (I admit it, I played the little driving game while he was messing with the basketball goal today.) He also got a couple of shape-matching toys, new storybooks, and other goodies. His party, such as it was, went well for the most part; he was already tired by the time the birthday cake rolled out, so he was pretty chilled with everything. “Electronic steering wheel thingie? Cool….cool…”
In other news, AtariAge is having its first label contest in some time, for a new Atari 2600 homebrew called Lead. I had to download the latest public beta to see what the heck it was about, and found that it’s a really cool game with a very interesting take on in-game sound. So I’m going to enter my first AA label contest in 4+ years on this one – this would be a cool game to be a part of.
I’ve also entered a much goofier contest on doctorwhoforum.com, in which the rules are to make a funny single-panel “comic” using only action figures – and the only Photoshoppery allowed is to put text on the image. This is my entry, which only works if the “odd figure out” is recognized (it’s a Star Trek: First Contact Borg figure):
I’ll let you know if I win any Adipose. I’m pretty sure that I won’t, because the individual running the contest has made it clear that bonus points can be scored by playing to his interests and quirks, of which I, being mostly a lurker, was largely unaware. *shrug* Oh well. I’ve still got enough fat on board even if I don’t win any Adipose.
Back to gaming for a moment – I’ve actually been getting some gaming in lately, largely in preparation for PDF Level 2, but I’ve also been trying to write reviews for the site as I go. I’ve been on an Intellivision binge lately, so that’s not a bad place to start looking for recent reviews. I’ve even posted the (long overdue) first Aquarius game review. And it is, in fact, as bad a game machine as legend would have it.
Adipose gags aside, if I may say so myself, within the context of still being a short fat bald guy, I thought I was – relatively speaking – lookin’ good for Evan’s birthday party. I got a pair of slacks on that hadn’t fit me in five years, and dug out one of my favorite shirts, which now no longer looks like the buttons are going to burst open, Hulk-style, which is how it’s looked for the past couple or three years. I think I’ve got a good start. Chasing around after a toddler will probably help me lose another 30 pounds by the time he turns two. If I can just get my back straightened out, this whole fatherhood thing is a pretty healthy gig.… Read more
Evan’s birthday is today, and I’m working on a little video piece to celebrate the occasion. I temporarily ceased any other video work I had going so I could load every piece of Evan video I have into the Avid. I won’t tip my hand about the music, other than that it involves the Traveling Wilburys. But going through all that video has kinda made me realize how much he’s grown in the past year, and how much I have too – I kinda had to grow the hell up, a bit more than I’d realized. I still don’t know what the heck I’m doing, really – I don’t have a playbook that I’m operating by. All I do know is that it’s now been a year since I become A Guy With A Baby. Somewhere in that year that’s passed, I’ve become Dad. And I don’t doubt for a moment that it’s an improvement. He’s the best part of being me, and from here on out he always will be.
Nothing much to report – here’s Evan all dressed up on Sunday (much more so than his daddy, at any rate), complete with a little tie with a velcro dealie at the back. And I wonder…why aren’t all ties like that? What’s the great stigma of the clip-on tie? I could go further and ask why the hell we’re still bothering with this piece of cloth around our necks anyway, but staying for the moment within the bounds of the idea that the necktie just isn’t going to go anywhere anytime soon…why is there this unspoken demand that it has to be a real tie, tied in a real knot? Is this some arcane test of skill whose use has far outlived its shelf life? Dammit, I want ties that close at the back of the neck with velcro. Then again, I also love ties that look like a big multicolored fish. Formal menswear and I do not play nice together – just be glad I’m clothed at all, society. That’s all I gotta say. … 
Reports are rolling in that OVGE was a big success this year – that’s a relief. I have to give a big, Discs-Of-Tron-environmental-cabinet-sized heap of thanks to Flack for flogging the PDF DVD at his table. He so didn’t have to do that what with hawking his own wares – namely his new book – but it was much appreciated, and I also appreciate everyone who bought one. Having seen some of the first photos posted and seen some TV news footage on the one Tulsa station carried by our local cable system, I’ve started to get bummed out – sleepless bummed out – about missing the show this year. This is the first OVGE I’ve missed since it started in 2003, and as with several other retro video game conventions I enjoy, it seems to have fallen into an every-other-year pattern now that the hobby has fallen out of the public eye a bit (the golden years were really from 1999 through whatever year it was that they had those little all-in-one Ms. Pac-Man joysticks you could get at Wal-Mart – 2004/05 I think – once those and others like them reached the saturation point, I think everyone was ready to let the ’80s die again). With icbrkr joining the Gamer Dad Squad soon, I don’t even know where this leaves the usual small-scale get-togethers that we have (not that I’ve had a great attendance record with those either). I’ve been trying to just routinely get out more during the week with Evan, but even then it’s not quite the same as getting out with the grownups – as long as you’re hauling your kid around, your primary function is still obviously dad or mom (or in my case, Mr. Mom, which I’ve noticed with some people automatically places you off to one side in a whole different social bubble from other parents, as if there’s something wrong with a guy who’s staying home with the baby while the kid’s mom is out working). I’m kinda yearning for the time out with the grown-ups, and my dentist’s appointment last week, and hanging out with my in-laws, just doesn’t count. And yet when I am off on my own, what do I talk about? My son. I don’t know how much of this isolation is naturally occurring due to the factors in play, or how much of it I might be unconsciously/subconsciously doing to myself, but…yeah, I’m kinda missing the company of like minds. And there is was for the taking in Tulsa today, and I had to miss it.
