Backflip

A weekend ago I had the opportunity to watch Star Trek down in Cincy with my friend Greg. It was amazing!

For as long as I can remember I have been a Star Wars fan. I greatly enjoyed the original 3 movies (4, 5 & 6). Even going as far as buying all the Star Wars books and paraphanilia such as micro star ships and comics and posters. If I was daydreaming it was usually about Star Wars and the amazing universe that it brought into existence.

While I wasn’t around to see the movies when they first hit the screen I was super excited when the re-mastered Star Wars came out. My mother and some friends including myself even went so far as to dress up for the showing in order to get free Star Wars posters. It was pretty awesome.

I’m telling you all this to hopefully get the point across that my love of Star Wars ran deep.

Yes, ran deep. Past tense.

This was all before the ‘new’ movies came out. The prequels. 1,2 & 3. They changed my perception of Star Wars quite drastically and for the worst. They took a world, a great world. One where they suspended disbelief. They made a world that was believable and real. Yes, the Ewoks were quite kiddish. And Stormtroopers were strangely inept. But it did have a touch of realism and heroism that was believable. The viewer was rooting for the characters and was able to forgive certain behaviors and actions.

However this was certainly false when it came to the ‘new’ movies. They were clearly made for a younger audience, and childishness was par for the course instead of a side show. This all culmivated with Jar Jar Binks. I don’t want to linger here long since it makes me so upset. But let’s suffice to say Jar Jar would serve the Star Wars universe best if he was killed in his first scene. Blah and good riddance.

I couldn’t quite handle the new movies. They were quite a dissapointment for me and I am still of the opinion of wishing they were not created.

As a Star Wars fan I felt it was my duty to oppose Star Trek. This started when I went to buy Star Wars books at the book store and was only able to find Star Trek books. Which I refused to read. It was war. War on the scale of Apple vs. PC. I never really gave Star Trek a chance and just scoffed at the slow TV slow image and goofyness of the series.

But recently, that has all changed.

Watching the new Star Trek movie made me realize Star Sars and Star Trek are not competing universes. They are not mutually exclusive. They can easily co-exist and they do. While Star Wars continues to disappoint me Star Trek is happily eating up my attention. Starting with the newest movie I plan on delving into the Star Trek universe and seeing what it has to offer.

It’s just so strange. Something I thought I would not enjoy, even in the least. Is looking to be quite enjoyable. Funny how things change. Isn’t it?

Last night I had the pleasure of being a square squirrel. It’s something I’ve always thought about doing but never really took the opportunity to go for it. A square squirrel, did you read that right? Yup you did. I doubt there is a definition in Webster but if you’re from Troy, Ohio you should know what I’m talkin’ about. A square squirrel is an individual who hangs out on the Troy square (it’s really a circle) late at night. Sometimes the squirrels holler at passing cars, get yelled at by passing cars or rev the engines of their own cars. It’s a pretty good time.

Well last night was the night. Dan, Jordan, Scruff and I headed down to the square around 10:30. We staked out a corner and set up shop in the back of Dan’s pick-up. Being a first time square squirrel I don’t know how the view compared to other nights but I do know I had a good time. Just sittin’, watchin’ the cars drive by.

Some things to note. We were on the square for maybe an hour (eatin’ and talkin’). During that time we saw at least 5 cop cars and 2 sheriff’s drive through the square. Some of them made multiple passes. Needless to say square squirrels are in good hands.

Another interesting happening was the urge of people driving around the square to yell at a square squirrel. I can see people yelling “hi” or honking or something, I know I’ve done that myself. But people leaning out of windows and yelling curses at a few guys sitting in the back of a pick-up truck eating ice cream seems quite ridiculous. I don’t get where this comes from. Even if it spawns from insecurity it seems very strange to curse at people who are sitting in a public observing their surroundings. Perhaps they were fellow square squirrels and we had taken over their nest. Or maybe they knew us and had a deep seated hatred from some past experience. Whatever the reason one car in particular made multiple trip through the square to yell obscenities at us. It was weird.

Continuing my thoughts of confusion, I don’t get fast cars. Yeah, I understand it’s fun to go fast. And it’s exhilarating to accelerate quickly. But how many opportunities are there to do those activities? Not to mention the consequences are pretty severe if caught. Seems like a waste to invest in such a vehicle.

I bring this up because as Dan, Scruff and I were travelling back to Scruff’s house we were ‘drag racing’ Jordan a bit which was fun (we weren’t goin too fast, just accelerating quickly). But then this souped up truck floored it past us and the driver found it necessary to flick us off while he drove past. What da hork?!

I don’t even know where to go with that. Was it a challenge? Was it a move out the way (it was a 4 lane road so plenty of room for both vehicles)? Was he saying, “I’m better than you because I can pass you in my truck”? I have no idea.

Talking with Dan about it, he wasn’t phased and didn’t think much of it. So perhaps I’m missing something. I never realized people watching in public or passing people in cars required hateful gestures and words to be exchanged.

I know people (including myself) will act stupid. It happens all the time. But outright hatred at a complete stranger who did nothing to incur that hatred is too strange for me. People are going out of their way to put other people down for no apparent reason. That’s horked up.

Yup. It’s official, my World of Warcraft (WoW) account has been cancelled. No longer will I spend countless hours leveling characters and obtaining gear to have it become obsolete when a new patch is released. No more frustrations at being killed in 3 sec with 4 hits (mutilate rogues anyone?) or in being laughed at for having season 2 armor when season 5 just ended. No more countless hours questing by myself to complete objectives that I don’t care for. It’s over.

You might be asking yourself, “Why in the world did he even play that game? It sounds terrible.” Well you’d be right, the game is terrible. But it can be extremely fun. The terrible part comes from the nature of a game never having an end. It purposefully hooks players and then never lets them go by always releasing new content and armor. Usually a game addiction wears off in the month or two it takes to beat said game. However, WoW had no end. So the addiction just keeps going and going.

How can that be fun? Well the game itself can be a blast if playing with friends. Working together to achieve a common goal. Seeing and interacting with people who live far away and who I wouldn’t see on a daily or even weekly basis. There is also PvP (player vs. player) which in some limited circumstance can be very exciting. All these aspects made WoW fun. But I’m at the point where the bad outweighs the good and it’s time to let go.

I have attempted to quite WoW in the past and have gone back to it (like an addict). However, this time it’s different. Before when I quit it was because I was obsessed and spending too much time in game. This time I’m fed up with the game itself. I haven’t had the urge to play it this whole week and I don’t see the urge coming back anytime soon.

Check it out:

It’s official. My subscription runs out the 13th of June. I’ll uninstall and move on.

Speaking of moving on, I’m about to have some more time on my hands. Don’t get too excited, I still plan on spending this time on my computer but with games that are actually enjoyable as opposed to games that are similar to having a second job. I’m thinking of checking out Team Fortress 2 next. But I also have a stack of games fro the past 3 years that have been neglected due to me being chained to Wow.

Goodbye WoW, and good riddance.