Thursdays are Nice.

Well so are Tuesdays, but when it's Thursday the next day is Friday, so that makes it even better. Took my time getting up this morning and eventually got my multi-tasking hat on and dumped in a load of laundry before going for a morning run. Since the beginning of this month I've been on a 2 day on 1 day off running schedule, which I guess is decent enough as a start. I did increase from 2 miles to 3 between the first week and the second, and am now able to cover that distance pretty comfortably. I did feel some soreness today in various areas of my legs, so I'll probably skip tomorrow and do the next two days. I figure as long as I build up slowly and just take days off when I sense any kind of pain, I should be able to avoid getting injured. Running on the wet sand is a really good strategy too, it lessens most of the impact and is a lot better on the legs.

Last week I finally decided to break down and install an RPG, which is something I'd avoided for several years now. I've just never been into the "neverending" types of games where there are always cooler items to find or bigger bad guys to fight, and in which "experience" is the most important aspect. Most games of this sort allow you to "gain a level" very quickly early on, with Levels 1 to 10 coming all within the first day of playing most likely. However the time it takes to gain a level grows exponentially, so to get from level 40 to 41 might take over a week. I managed to never get sucked into that kind of game, those are the kinds you always read about people losing their lives to. Everquest or "Evercrack" as it has become known as, is the best example. The role playing game of choice is Morrowind, which is actually the third in a series of games of which I hadn't played any. The pluses to it, it's single player rather than multiplayer, so the story does have a beginning and an end. The leveling isn't exponential, you'll eventually get to the highest level of everything. The negatives, the world is just gigantic. This is where people waste their lives away, methodically exploring the entire world would be a lot like trying to explore all of the United States on a bike. Although the main quest is apparently only about 80 hours in length (around four months of playing at five hours a week, which is all I tend to play), there are umpteenmillion side quests and things to do, so you could technically waste away an uncountable amount of time trying to beat the game "completely." Luckily I have no interest in that. After playing on and off for a week I've actually already grown pretty bored with it. As RPGs go, I've heard it's one of the best (I don't have a lot of experience with them myself) but you really have to be the kind of person who wants to get lost in a fantasy world for hours on end. The world is so huge that when tasks require you crossing back and forth, it gets pretty repetitive and boring. It's not a very difficult game, it's just very time consuming. I'll probably come back to it every once in a while, but it just didn't hold my attention like most games do. One game I'd like to snag and install is the third installment of the Myst series, Exile. The first Myst is considered the best selling PC game of all time, and I don't know too many people who missed out on it. It's the type of game where the point of the game is to find out the point of the game, and that's what makes it very different from others. You can spend days or weeks "stuck" someplace, trying to figure out what to do. It's sequel "Riven" was unfortunately so difficult, that I'd estimate about 95% of all players required a walkthrough or "hint" book in order to make it through the storyline. Some of the puzzles required linking concepts from multiple islands, deciphering codes, or making connections between seemingly pointless items. I've heard Exile is in between the two, difficult enough to keep you busy with your noggin for a while, but not so difficult that you're running for a strategy guide before you've gone ten feet.

I have been getting back into Q3F as of late, the mod for Quake 3 that I used to play quite religiously. I've joined up at least temporarily with another group of guys who play regularly, including a few I've known online for literally years now. It's great fun to talk about the good ol days, bust out quotes from years ago, and talk about the best (and worst) matches of the past. Also quite spooky for my visitors to come in and hear voices coming from my computer, following which the sound of someone with a heavy midwest accent saying "Hi SoandSo" (having been informed of the person's name through a chat window of course). I then generally pretend that the person can also see my visitor through a webcam, after which they usually run out of the room. Of course my webcam isn't set up, but it's fun to play with people's minds. :)

Okay you can wake up now, I'm done talking about computer games. :) No poker game tonight, apparently one of the guys had a CS assignment due or something. Ah, the life of hammering away at code at 2 in the morning, how I miss it. OH WAIT, NO I DON'T! ;)