I went to a hockey game…

Once in a very long while I’ll do something that isn’t really “me”.  Today, I went to an NHL pre-season hockey game at GM Place.

It is worth while to note that I am not a sports person.  There isn’t a single sport that I watch: not football, not baseball, not hockey, not basketball…none of them interest me.  I don’t play them either.  Basically, I never really figured out the appeal.  The only sports that I ever got involved in even to a minor extent were things like track and field: sports without teams.  I think a significant part of it was that I hated being yelled at or teased as a kid, and team sports is all about being yelled at and teased.  When I ran the 100 yard dash and came in 13th out of 19 competitors, no one yelled at me.  I just had myself to blame, and that was okay.

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Old school gamers

I went to meet my Mom and sister Judy at the casino today.  This is a pretty common thing: every couple of weeks they come to the Langley Cascades Casino where Irene and I join them for brunch.  But this day was to be a day for resolving a mystery.  For a week or so, Judy had been telling me that I had to come this Sunday since she had something for me from Shane.

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Endings…

I finished BioShock last night.  I won’t spoil the game by revealing its secrets, but the ending was…a let down.

Don’t get me wrong: BioShock still has my strongest recommendation- I really enjoyed the game, and my rating is unchanged.  But endings are always hard, and it seems that the better an entertainment is, the harder it is to end well. 

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Journey down the Root Canal

My visit to the endodontist yesterday (Tuesday) could be described as a success.  He confirmed based on my description of the pain and a neat diagnostic trick involving a piece of ice that a root canal was in order.  And the endodontist was able to immediately proceed…so long as I paid the deposit and signed my life away.

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BioShock

Title BioShock
Developer 2K Boston / 2K Australia
Type First Person Action RPG
Platform(s) XBox 360, Windows
Kelly Score ™ 95 / 100

It was a great relief on a lot of levels to play BioShock after my rant about checkpoint saves the other day. In addition to being an XBox 360 game (also available on the PC) with unlimited saves, it is probably one of the best computer games I’ve played in a long while.

BioShock has it all: a fantastic and original story, brilliantly realized game mechanics, and stunning use of visuals and audio. The story is set during the post WWII era: your passenger plane plane crashes and you, the only apparent survivor, discover the entrance to a secret oasis…or what might have once been one. Rapture, an entire underwater city founded by a wealthy man with a passing resemblance to Howard Hughes, was founded on principles of moral and scientific freedom. Unfortunately, it seems as if something has gone terribly wrong…

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