Nearly Bored of the Rings

The Return of The King computer game is now available at used game stores. The $10 price sucked me in. The game is very cool looking, with lots of clips from the movie. The game itself is pretty much about sword fighting with orcs, running around, and killing more orcs. I got through the first level pretty easily, but can’t seem to pass another level. Time to face the facts; I suck at gaming. I bet this would be a great game if I could play through a level in a couple or three attempts. Maybe I’ll try it a couple of more times before I give up completely. I know the problem isn’t the PC keyboard controls, because I have tried to play games with controllers, and I stink at that too. A really frustrating aspect of the game is that you can save your progress only at the end of a pretty long segment (the entire game consists of about 15 segments). How many fictional characters will die needlessly before I figure out it is hopeless?

I watched the World Juggling Federation competitions on ESPN yesterday. These guys (they were all guys) want to do a sports competition with juggling. What a bunch of highly talented idiots! They had a scoring system as complex as gymnastics, Pen Gillette (from Penn & Teller) as the sports announcer, and no sponsor except Jason Garfield’s “how to be a great juggler” videos. Jason is the producer of the event. Jason wasn’t selling his previous video, “Juggling Kung Fu Master”, which I thought was at least entertaining. Juggling as competition in really dull, even though it is amazing to see guys doing tricks with seven balls or eight rings. However, with their emphasis on athletic prowess over entertainment and showmanship, it looks like a guy throwing and catching a bunch of stuff really fast. Ho hum. Note, please do not expect me to juggle more than four of anything.

Went to MIL’s house to watch Monk last night. I really love that show. 4 stars. However sometimes it is disturbing that Monk’s obsessive compulsive behavior reminds me of so many people I know.

A sunny day in Sacramento! Sunny days in winter here are perfect, except the ground feels like a sponge. I sink in if I step on the lawn. We had lunch at Plaza Hoffbrau (the Hoffbrau formerly known as Sam’s). I love that place, and their famous roast beef “samwiches”. It feels like someone took a small piece of Milwaukee and dropped it in Sacramento. That place is such an institution that people in Sacramento call cafeteria style service Hoffbrau service. The walls are covered with old photos. I found a photo of a men’s brunch group in the early 1960s including the then mayor, several county supervisors, and the old patriarch of one of the MIL’s long-time neighbors. Although it looks like LA now, Sacramento was a small town in recent memory.

I am still enjoying work. Every day, I am more and more amazed, entertained and baffled by the weirdness of teenagers. Had one girl last week who sat down and commenced to honest to goodness crying out loud bawling. We couldn’t do anything to help her, so we sent her home to return for a make-up session. The latest fashion appears to be wearing black hooded sweatshirts indoors, with the hood pulled up over the head. Several of the kids don’t say anything, and several never shut up. Earrings are about equally divided among boys and girls. Last week, I commented that someone’s earrings looked like corkscrews. She came in this week without earrings. I was surprised that she would care what I think, however maybe she just forgot to put on earrings. I guess since I am not a parent, they might occasionally listen.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.