Not much gaming lately, but here's an update anyway

I haven't been around gaming and 2o2p much lately.  There are myriad reasons, some of which I'll try to touch on.

I've been dieting for the last three months.  Today, I just hit the 40 pound mark.  My short term goal is to get to 199 pounds for the first time under 200 in what feels like forever, and ultimately, I'd like to settle in at 185 or so.  The charts and all say that I should weigh 176, but that seems awful low to me.  I guess we'll take it in time and see how I feel about it when I hit 185.  I'm feeling good about this diet, as it's really prompted a lifestyle change in me in regards to eating and exercising.  It hasn't been too hard staying away from fast food and soda, the scale was motivation enough.  I'm a data whore, so logging everything into Fitbit (which I first found about in a blog on this very site) and seeing my progress has been a hoot.

I've also been working on some additional costumes for the 501st (www.501st.com).  I've been putting together a snowtrooper, tie fighter pilot and a Bith Jedi.  Getting ready for Celebration VI in August, it should be a good time. 

I'm fairly psyched that XM has the Pink Floyd channel going on.  I've been listening to Floyd since I was about 12.  It's funny, listening to them every time I'm in the car now, hearing some songs that I haven't really obsessed over in 20 years. Oddly, I'm finding that as I've grown and matured, the music and the messages therein have taken on new (or expanded, refined or clarified) meanings to me.  When I was in college, I spent a summer and went to about 10 shows around the country.  I listened to post-Waters Floyd more than anything else.  Since around 1998, I've been more into the Waters era, and Waters' solo work.  The xm channel plays a fair amount of post-Waters stuff.  Oddly, they seem to really like "What do you want from me" from the Division Bell, where I would probably pick 3 songs from Division Bell and 5 from Momentary Lapse of Reason over that any day of the week.  While hearing the Gilmour led stuff brings back some fond memories of my late teens and early 20's, I'm still a sucker for Waters.

Roger's music has a profound effect on me.  While I feel in a lot of ways that I'm at diametrical odds with some of his views and hypocricies, I feel myself becoming more compassionate as I listen to his solo works, and the Final Cut and the Wall.  My very first concert was Roger Waters on the Radio KAOS tour on August 22, 1987.  My second ever concert was Pink Floyd on May 8, 1988.  The last concert I've been to Roger Waters The Wall just a few short weeks ago.  Again, I was inundated with these anti-capitalist, anti-corporate messages.  Again, stepping out onto the concourse after the show, I was inundated with $50 t-shirts.  C'mon Roger, the $200 ticket wasn't that big of a deal, but if you're going to rail against western consumer culture, walk the talk.

I got some new board games not too long ago.  Game of Thrones, second edition, and a couple others that slip my mind.  Haven't had a chance to play any of them yet.

I have a real craving to play a short and sweet action game.  Something akin to Dante's Inferno.  Lollipop Chainsaw is okay, and if I'm grading on a curve, it's a masterpiece for a Japanese game (I really, really, really don't like Japanese game design conventions).  However, I find the levels to drag on a little too much, the boss fights to be uneven with the combat in the rest of the game, and just generally off the mark in a few ways.  I almost bought Blades of Time the other day on a price drop, but then I took offense to the clerk and walked out without buying a thing.  Stupid me, I was thinking I'd just get it at Best Buy, but alas, they don't have it in stock.  Maybe I should tear the shrink wrap off of Devil May Cry 4, but then I feel I'd be cursing Japanese game design again.  

Aside from all of that, work is work.  No use going into that.  

Well, that's about what I've been up to.  Hopefully, I'll have some gaming news in the not too distant future.