Angels of Death

Recovering from Black Friday

In some article on this website, I imagine I have talked about my neurotic rules.  Unlike a healthy sense of self-discipline, my neurotic rules place arbitrary restrictions on myself.  For instance, I have to listen to each song of my iPod at least ten times before it goes off of my “New” playlist.  I try to end conversations at five-minute intervals (i.e. 9:15 or 9:20).  I make an off-the-wall or self-referential joke after providing two serious examples.  These rules exist to give me structure much like my brittle bones support fleshy meat flabs.

To ensure I don’t develop a huge backlog of video games, I limit myself to five “new” games.  These games must be beaten before I take them off the roster.  If I reach my max of five, I’m locked from buying new games.  This system can be agonizing, especially if I’m stuck with difficult or crappy titles.  I’ve had Angels of Death since this summer, and both Dead Cells and Crypt of the Necrodancer have been destroying me for a long time.  Two weeks ago, I surrendered to the fact that I’d be stuck with these games for a few more months.

That was until the week of Thanksgiving rolled around.  With the eShop’s Black Friday sale, I grabbed four new games.  Editor One has been seizing in the corner ever since Warframe was announced for Switch, so I had to download it for his safety.  Smash is coming out next week, and Katamari Damacy after that.  No level of neuroticism can prevent me from suckling at the greatness of those two games.  Player 2 also became evil and got a Playstation 4 with VR.  Despite my pure Nintendo roots, I’ve fallen prey to the likes of Beat Saber and the Tetris Effect.

Under this megaton of new games, I’m hard pressed to find time for Angels of Death and the punishing roguelites.  Part of me worries I will stop following my neurotic rule just like I did with the Wii U.  On that system, my purchasing tendencies were so ludicrous that I hadn’t even touched some AAA titles which I had grabbed at full price.  That said, I have confidence in myself to return from 12 new titles to 5.  With my experience and a strong catheter, I only need a week.

Where was I going with this?  Who the hell knows.  I’m still trying to make sense of how life doesn’t feel as realistic as VR.  My hands look so strange…

Contentedness vs. Complacency  

Sometimes life goes your way. You bought the winning lottery ticket. You found your soul mate. You aced that big test. The weather was perfect for your walk. You only needed to wipe once after a massive dump. Your favorite song comes on the radio. Whatever it is, you move on from the experience feeling better.

I made a video I liked, and I’m encouraged to make more like it. Why is this one different from the others? Who cares. As the saying goes, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth because no one wants to know you’re into that stuff. When you come upon something great, it’s better spending your time appreciating it rather than replicating it.

Of course, I’ll analyze my video later because learning from one’s successes is important, even if it contradicts my previous sentence. For now, I’ll be proud. Screw your comments and suggestions. In the polite way, of course.