The Easy Life...

Boy, life is really rough. Except it isn't. Wednesday morning we had a squadron "fun run" which for most people caused a lot of groaning but I of course enjoyed. Myself and another guy were even running satellites back to the back of the group and then back up to the front along the 2.5 mile course to make it more of a workout, fun stuff. On Thursday everyone who was stuck in the dorms due to wanting to stack up leave for the christmas/new year holiday got together and had a pretty darn good thanksgiving in the day room... We had homemade pretty much everything, which was topped off with Marie Callendar's pumkin pies, which I had to go stand in line for at 7:30 when they didn't even open until 8. It was a good thing I did though because I was 10th in line and by opening there were 150 people there... The good news is we had one left over so I'm busy hoarding it and siphoning it to myself over the next few days. :) Mad props to the person who did the organizing and dictating of who should bring what, they spent a lot of time on it and did a great job.

So we have a couple expansion pack reviews for Medal of Honor, called Breakthrough and Spearhead. Basically if you liked the game you'll like the expansions, but if you're paying full price you might be disappointed. Breakthrough is challenging even on the medium skill level and is about 4-6 hours in length, but Spearhead is less so, and seemed shorter as well, closer to the 4 hour end of that range. Unfortunately expansions tend to still be like 30 bucks, so if the single player campaign is all you're interested in, it's not a very good bang for your buck. There's another one coming out soon about the Pacific aspect of WWII, with both these focusing on the Europe aspect, with North Africa and Germany respectively. Speaking of coming out, the Deus Ex sequel is due to hit the shelves in about a week, and the original is one of my favorites and based on the reviews the sequel should be too. The best thing this game had going for it was length, it was no one day affair. I think that's the one that actually tracked your gametime too, so when you finally beat it after a few weeks of dedication and saw you'd put in 40 hours or something you had something to be proud of, or afraid of and repulsed by, as the case may be.

Currently entertaining myself with Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy, a spinoff of Jedi Knight 2 which was also excellent. On deck is Call of Duty, with Homeworld 2 probably appearing sometime down the line, although the Deus Ex sequel will probably make its appearance first. Then sadly I'll have to look for ulterior entertainment, as I'll have caught back up with the times. For those who think I've been in my room for days on end that's not entirely true. I still get my exercise, so if you go run several miles in the morning and do your pushups and situps to the point you lose at least 3 pounds from the beginning to the end of a workout, you can sit on your ass for the rest of the day too. :) Actually last night we ended up down at the Riverwalk checking out some of the nightlife and receiving free entertainment courtesy of a couple of the guys in the group. Not usually my cup of tea, but I was dd'ing it and I enjoy that perspective every once in a while. It's always good to go downtown, really nice atmosphere.

Speaking of atmosphere, I think I've decided living on a military base is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Yeah having to bust out your ID depending on the fpcon status at the gate can delay you a min or two, but being saluted as you go through is still pretty nifty. You see children playing in the street in the residential areas all the time, and wandering around to places like the bowling alley without having to worry about someone snatching them. A lot of people just leave their houses unlocked, a throwback to the days when people didn't have today's worries to think about. You never really have to worry about something happening like your car being stolen, because of the eternal damnation hanging over anyone's head who commits such a crime. Ending your career on something retarded is something pretty much all military members aren't willing to do. Yeah I might be the eternal optimist, but I really think the base is a really awesome city in itself, and don't think I'll mind living on them in the future. I'm not saying I don't love going off base too for fun because I do, and I'm sure I'll always enjoy having a metropolis in the area, and would prefer Washington DC to North Dakota. But I'm now confident I could survive in places like Alaska if I do end up sent there or Timbuktu. Granted the lack of attachments plays a large part in that. We'll see how that goes in the future.