Most Disappointing Game of the Year so far...

Portal 2!

Yup.  :(

Graphics/Sound B (still using source engine I believe, they're probably pushing it's limits now)
Story A
Characters A+
Dialogue/Voice acting A++
Gameplay C-

What a horrible disappointment.  They've dumbed down the game so much.  Now I've heard all the arguments about trying to cater to the "mainstream audience", so that's why they made the game much less challenging than Portal 1.  Portal 1 was about figuring how the puzzle worked, then having the skills necessary to execute the plan.  Portal 2 completely took the skill portion of the game away.  Valve degenerated the game to another "find the next door, find the key to that door" puzzle game.  So Portal 1 had some tough timing and skillshot puzzles, but that's what made it Portal.  The puzzle solving methodology in Portal 2 has been done so many times in so many different games although it is packaged with the pretty wrapping of smart mechanics (portals and gels), excellent story and even better characters.  At it's heart, although Portal 2 is still smart, it's very slow and (story and charcters aside) boring.

Tetris provides more of an adrenaline rush than Portal 2.

Sure, there's still the satisfaction of the "aha!!" moment when you figure out how the room works and then develop the plan to solve the room.  But after that, there's no excitement of actually executing the plan, especially since they handhold you so much throughout the game by limiting the surfaces where you can place portals.  And yes while they put in conversion gel, the gel only made you think outside the box in at most 2 levels.  The rest of the time it was like

1. scan the room for surfaces where I can place portals
2. place the portals in the limited number of surfaces in the room
3. go from portal a to portal b like a drone with no sense of urgency since there were no timing puzzles, no skill needed of placing portals on moving objects or placing portals while flying through the air. 
4. Repeat steps 1-3

In Portal 1, even after you got your ducks in a row, it took skill to shoot those ducks because they would still be moving all around after you lined them up.  In Portal 2, after you lined them up, they just sat there for you and you could shoot one, go make lunch, come back and shoot another one.  In Portal 1, you had much MUCH more freedom to place portals and therefore had to really think of where portals should go. And even after the "aha!!" moment of formulating your plan of how to escape the room, you still have to do some pretty skillful running and gunning in order to succeed in that plan.

With all the hype of the "Portal" name behind it, Portal 2 is a great disappointment.  I wish they would have made the slow paced puzzle solving game and packaged it with another story and called it "Portal - Snail edition" or something and saved this story with the same fast paced puzzle solving from Portal 1 and made that into this current iteration of Portal.  I found myself more interested in the story and advancing the through the game just wanting to listen hilarious dialogue of Wheatley (voiced by the hilarious Stephen Merchant) than actually wanting to complete the rooms and puzzles themselves. 

Valve, the DLC you promised to Portal 2 better be free and give the level of challenge that Portal 1 did.

I guess if Portal 2 was named something totally different and wasn't made by Valve, I probably would have enjoyed the game much more.

"If there is a god, then why did he make me an aethiest?" - Ricky Gervais

Favorite word of the day

Well at least for a little while until I get bored of it.

Copacetic

co·pa·cet·ic

Variant(s): also co·pa·set·ic or co·pe·set·ic \ˌkō-pə-ˈse-tik\

Function: adjective

Etymology: origin unknown

Definition: very satisfactory

“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” - TS Elliot

After all this time...

...was happiness right if front of me all along? Timing, circumstance and opportunity work in ways that I can't comprehend (and probably shouldn't try either). "Things happen for a reason"... they sure do.

"1. Out of clutter, find simplicity. 2. From discord, find harmony. 3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." - Albert Einstein

Thank You

Sometimes even I need a good kick in the ass.  Thanks for sticking around even when I was an ass and giving me a  good kick to it.

Joke!!

This joke is so lame but for some reason I just couldn't stop chuckling for a good 30 minutes.

One day Mr. Smith, the president of a corporation, called his vice-president, Dave, into his office and said, "We're making some cutbacks, so either Jack or Barbara will have to be laid off."

Dave looked at Mr. Smith and said, "Barbara is my best worker, but Jack has a wife and three kids. I don't know whom to fire."

The next morning Dave waited for his employees to arrive.

Barbara was the first to come in, so Dave said, "Barbara, I've got a problem. You see, I've got to lay you or Jack off and I don't know what to do?"

Barbara replied, "You'd better jack off. I've got a headache."

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." - Albert Einstein

P.S

I also forgot to say that there is one more thing I need in a relationship.  Passion.  I need the "can't keep our hands off each other" kind of fire.  I want to feel the need to have her by my side, to physically touch her, and have my body miss having her lying next to me.  And I want her to miss me the same way.  Now I know that type of fire may burn down as the relationship goes on, but that fire should never burn out.  As long as the spark is there, the passion can be reignited.

Alignment

I have never in my life really felt... aligned.  Don't get me wrong I've been happy.  But I've never had that complete feeling that where I am, is where I'm supposed to be.  There's always been something missing...  I know that I should be happy with what I have, and I am.  But I've never had the feeling of, for lack of a better word, alignment. 

So I was recently given a book to read from a female friend, "He's Just Not That Into You".  Yes I know it's a chick book, but I think that ANYONE looking for advice in relationships will find that it holds value.  Anyway, the book has helped me remember that when someone really cares about you, they won't forget to call you, won't be "too busy" for you, won't have more important things to do.  In fact, it'll be quite the opposite.  They'll go out of their way to talk to you or be with you. They can't wait to see you, can't wait to talk to you, do things outside their comfort zone to make you feel special.  Not to mention that they show appreciation for the things you do for them.  You won't have to make excuses for them because they constantly disappoint or hurt you, because if they really cared about you, they wouldn't put you in that position in the first place.  That's the kind of love I want, someone who puts me first and goes out of their way to show it, because that's what I offer in return.  You may think, "Wow you must think you're hot shit to think you deserve someone like that."  But the thing is, I think EVERYONE deserves that.  And when you're in love, that sort of thing comes automatically.  When you love someone, doing something for them doesn't feel like "work".  It puts a smile on your face knowing that they'll receive happiness from your effort.  Maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic.  I know I may never find that person, and it scares me.  It really scares the friggin' shit outta me.  I was told by the same friend who lent me the book that "it takes more courage to choose the harder route than to take the easy way and settle, which too many people do these days." Maybe it's courage, or maybe it's just bullheadedness.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm really willing to grow old and die single, rather than have settled for someone who makes me less than truly happy.  I hope it doesn't come down to that.

“If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.” - Claudia Ghandi

Inner Space

friend: you know who you are man. You are one of the people I know, that knows himself.  This is just a minor set back

me: thanks man, that really means a lot you saying that that I know myself

friend: I know you do. that is why you wait for the right person, but you just got caught up in an ugly situation

The problem with knowing yourself is that there's hardly any more mystery, things that can truly surprise you personally.  Which is why this is so hard to let go of.  She surprised me, came outta nowhere, showed me that there is someone out there that can still throw me for a loop.  The problem is that now I'm stuck in the loop, and she's no longer in here with me.

"I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams." - Hamlet