Games and books

Oct. 18th, 2013 21:43
mayanas: (Default)

With so many game apps out there how can it be so difficult to find some that I'd enjoy that don't involve having a gazzilion facebook friends or that run out of levels really fast... I'm quite willing to pay (at least a little, sometimes, if I find it particularly enjoyable.)

I've been playing Townsmen again but been through all the scenarios and it's beginning to get a bit repetitive (there were a lot of updates and new features since I played it last year.)

I loved Where's My Water to a ridiculous degree. I solved everything (and Where's My Perry/Valentine/Summer/Mickey). I wish I could find another game like that. It kept me well entertained for a few weeks. I remember playing a lot of these kinds of puzzle games in my young internet days when I could find them; obstacle courses, riddle your way to the other side kind of games. I remember a game where you should dig tunnels and not get squashed by rocks. One with a red ball you should fire it just so and have everything line up properly. A few years ago I played The Incredible Machine (the only game I actually remember the name of) which was great fun and I've found a similar game app called Tinkerbox but it doesn't run as smoothly.

I have tried game after game after game lately. I have escaped rooms, solved mysteries, found hidden objects, moved cars, discovered elements, restored magic, saved the days in numerous ways...

And I'm bored. I don't want to be bored! I want to find a fun game to occupy me! I've been going through ’top 100 puzzle* games' lists ad infinitum... (It doesn't have to be puzzle games, or strategy, but those are the ones I most often find myself entranced by. I like a challenge!)

I'm currently reading the witches novels by Terry Pratchett (or I started with Witches Abroad and I'm now at Carpe Jugulum). They are fun. I think I mentioned I read Heyer but after the fun one I wasn't really in the mood for more (and I read them all last year) so I went on to regency romance because there was a book I hadn't read. It was stupid... It was actually quite good as far as the genre is concerned (there IS a lot of crap and what can be summed up as PWPs and sassy ladies and hunky dudes in wet clothing) but I wasn't in the mood for romance, and the author so blatantly had a thing for Dr. House (it was apparently acknowledged in the afterword that the character was based on him but I skipped that bit and only saw it later when I skimmed a review when I added the book on goodreads) that it threw me out of the story and setting again and again. I like references but let them be subtle. No need to use a sledgehammer!

So Terry Pratchett it was! He does use the sledgehammer approach as well sometimes but there are in-universe reasons for that* and it's definitely a large part of the fun.**


* And there are lots of words for that kind of thing and Granny Weatherwax doesn't hold with it.
** He also uses drilling hammers, jackhammers, clock hammers, rubber hammers, mallets, gavels, and any other sort of hammer you can conceivably think of.***
*** What? I told you I'd been reading him. It rubs off!

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A bit of each and meh.

Sep. 30th, 2013 01:55
mayanas: (Default)

Meh. That's what I have been mostly. I'm not really doing anything. I'm reading a bit. I'm crocheting a bit. I hang out on the net a bit. I update my computer a bit. I play video games a bit. Watch TV a bit. Learning the subtleties of Canadian Football... A bit.

I'm trying keep myself, if not amused, then at least occupied, which isn't that easy when I'm having a hard time getting my mind to focus on anything. Productivity has gone out the window. I have been helping D out. My room is a peaceful spot in a house that is currently undergoing a major transformation. Walls are getting knocked down left and centre. Things are happening.

So I started reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Again. I used to have this an audio book (read by Stephen Fry!) and as it was my only audio book for a good while and I love listening to stuff while solving puzzles I have read (or listened to) DH many many times... I was hoping my Real Book would help my cure my meh a bit.

I'm crocheting a washcloth. This is more difficult than it sounds as I decided I would try out multi-colour patterns (and not just stripes. Stripes are easy.) and it involves constantly keeping track of where I'm at and switching yarns and it doesn't look good, wah. It's a learning experience...

I have been reading all of Cleolinda's delightful snark on Twilight. I seem to have been haunted by Twilight as of late (no, not in my mind! I just appear to come across references to it constantly all of a sudden.) and was reminded of the snarky snarkiness of snark and I've been in need of some good snark.

I got my computer back from Computer Hospital last week and dear lord, is there no end to the updates??? How many can there possibly be? I have been having troubles with installing my anti-virus software which effectively put a spoke in my wheel for some time. I settled for Microsoft Essentials (or what it's called) for now. Stupid software. Computer troubles always makes me cranky. >:(
You know what is really annoying? They installed a new hard-drive but evidently didn't bother to check what language preference THE OWNER had set before reinstalling Windows so now everything is in Danish and I am Not Happy.

>:(

(And for the record, I have been cranky aaaaall day... Just in case you couldn't tell.)


Games. I'm playing them. I have solved all there is to solve of Where Is My Water and as far as could go with no facebook buddies playing of Where Is My Water 2 (why? Why do they do this? Addict me to games and then demand I have FRIENDS to actually play them? Urgh.) I want more Water levels to solve... More! It's a craving...

I have watched TV. I appear to have watched all the shows they are showing I want to watch already. I have watched The Help (which is.. Why is a movie about black women's struggles about white women? I don't know...) and Bridesmaids, which wasn't nearly as entertaining as it promised to be from the trailer (I expected silly, what I got was quite stupid and somewhat more serious than I had counted on. Even if they couldn't really deal with that seriousness.. ). I have watched The Hobbit several times as they keep showing it which naturally means I must watch it. Also the three Lord of the Rings movies where the same rule applies.

I have been watching and learning about Canadian Football which is, apparently, different from American Football in... some mysterious ways I wouldn't know about as I know even less about American Football than Canadian but I am told there are Significant Differences by a Canadian in the know so I'm just taking his word for it. I'm just a novice all around. I'm actually finding it quite intriguing. There's a lot more going on that meets the eye and it isn't all a bunch of big guys trying to hurt each other. That is a surprisingly small part of it. Each quarter lasts 15 minutes but the games themselves goes on for more than three hours (with some breaks.) That's a lot of time of not playing. I find it all very very confusing... There's a lot of strategy and tactics and, yikes; the lingo. It's like I'm learning a new and foreign language here! It reminds me of cycling, though, and I love me a good entertaining day of cycling (on TV, obviously.)


I'm still going for walks. Every day for a week. Go me! The weather has been excellent so I have been able to drag myself out even when the motivation has been rather slacking. I can't wait for it to begin raining...

Anyway, I have been taking some pictures but my motivation in that regard has been rather none-present too some days. Today I was angry when I walked. Longest walk yet but it didn't take me that long; stomped and stalked the whole way. Anger is a great motivator!

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