But what if the angels wanted different things?

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

-James Madison

When/If I ever die, as an added incentive, I'm going to offer 50 bucks and a gift certificate to Cheesecake Factory if you attend the funeral.

My brother Eric and I talked about how everybody says the nicest stuff at a funeral, nobody says anything bad, but it's not really honest. Eric said that at my request, he'd go up and say, "You know what...he wasn't really that good" and then he'd list some of the stuff he thought I was bad at. It's funny, but it would be seriously awesome if he did it. People would be all upset with him, but he could display this blog post on a powerpoint slide at the funeral, and then people couldn't do crap about it because it was my wish. :D

Blizzard & The Mother Goddess of the World

I've thought a few times that I could sell Blizzard on sponsoring a climbing expedition up to Everest. It's the perfect match: Blizzard loves being the best in the world and they wouldn't go for anything less (K2 would be crap to them, even though it's a harder, more technical climb). Imagine climbers in Blizzard jackets striking summit poses on the highest point of our world. And even the weather conditions there fit the company's theme perfectly.

There's a large part of me that loves to test my limits, and honestly a part of me would want to go for it, but I also prefer not to die. I don't have the climbing expertise, and I'm pretty sure I don't have that insecurity where I need to make it to the top or my life is somehow incomplete. (I actually climbed Humphrey's Peak here in AZ a few weeks back and made myself turn around about 500 feet from the top even though I wanted to see it and it was maybe 10 more minutes of walking, just to exert my willpower.) But it would have to be a stronger climber who actually possessed skills that went (not to mention larger hands that don't freeze so easily).

Maybe when I'm 60 and most of my life is done, if Blizz is still in business, I'll pitch em on it. :) As long as they don't listen to Krakauer's Into Thin Air at any point, I'd bet they sign on.

My mom just told me that she expects to have 5 grandkids. I said, "That's a big burden to place on Eric and Alisha." She laughed and said, "We expect full compliance." :D

Games weaken their hold on me

Game experiences are more and more shallow to me as I get older. The feeling of going out to a wild cave and crawling around with just a headlamp will outdo any feeling of excitement you will ever experience in a game by far.

The only games I bother to play now are ones that can pull out my emotions. Only deep terror (Silent Hill) or melancholy (Shadow of the Colossus) have done anything for me recently.

Competition has a smaller pull on me, and Tekken still actually makes me sweat when I play.

I found 60% of WoW boring (travel time, questing) and 40% of it fun (killing fools in Stranglethorn and BG's). Even so it was the longest I've ever played any one game (a year and a half), which goes to show you how powerful a pull hanging out with your friends is.

(And I was one of those kids whose parents grounded them from playing 8-bit Nintendo for a month, due to excessive play. I had an aunt make a comment that she was surprised I went camping with my cousins one time because I was such a fixture in front of their TV.)

But that drive to actually make games still burns, I'm just frustrated at the comic-book like experiences that is the sum of the game industry these days.

Being pushed

Women want a man who will be strong when bad things happen so they'll push you to see how much you can stand and just to see how far you'll go for them. (If you go against a core principle to do what they want, the relationship will die or at least turn varying shades of ugly). They want a man they can respect first, but a distant second is a man that will do what they want if they yell loud enough.

But being tested capriciously just makes me lose respect for whoever I'm with.

great quote

Everyone's entire past is simply the road they have taken to try to build a perfect self in the present.

from Charles Bloom's awesome rants page.