diversions
Thursday Evening
23/05/03 19:09 Filed in: Longer
Vacations
Well no Hamlet for me. Didn't get my vote in
quickly enough, so instead Kaz chose and we ended
up watching 2 Days in the Valley. Not that great.
Brett and I started up a GO game, about half way
through because we were quite board with it. GO
solved that pretty much. I lost by a good margin,
but the game played out much closer than the
final space count suggests.
Some observations:
* Opening in GO is by far the hardest thing. The game has so many possibilities that it's extremely difficult to know from the get go, what strategy will work.
* All the territory is at the edges. The middle, while important, doesn't gain you anything if that's all you hold.
* Ask and answer the following questions before placing every piece:
- Where is the threat?
- Where do I want to go?
- How do I want to get there?
While these may seem extremely elementary to any seasoned GO player, these were huge breakthroughs for me. So yes, I'm a novice, but I'm really enjoying the ways in which the game forces one to think. Those thought processes will become extremely important I have a feeling.
Anyway, after the GO game, they got me hooked on this TV series called "24". Each episode ocurs over a one hour period, and all together all events take place over the course of one day. As far as I can tell it's about revenge on the guy who authorized a secret mission during the Bosnian conflict and how that hooks back to the man running for President. (Incidently, this 24 hour period corresponds to the day of the California primary). It's very addictive. I couldn't imagine only getting one episode every week. So hopefully we'll get to the end before I leave. . if not those of you in Norman may have to bear with me through this. hehehehe
Some observations:
* Opening in GO is by far the hardest thing. The game has so many possibilities that it's extremely difficult to know from the get go, what strategy will work.
* All the territory is at the edges. The middle, while important, doesn't gain you anything if that's all you hold.
* Ask and answer the following questions before placing every piece:
- Where is the threat?
- Where do I want to go?
- How do I want to get there?
While these may seem extremely elementary to any seasoned GO player, these were huge breakthroughs for me. So yes, I'm a novice, but I'm really enjoying the ways in which the game forces one to think. Those thought processes will become extremely important I have a feeling.
Anyway, after the GO game, they got me hooked on this TV series called "24". Each episode ocurs over a one hour period, and all together all events take place over the course of one day. As far as I can tell it's about revenge on the guy who authorized a secret mission during the Bosnian conflict and how that hooks back to the man running for President. (Incidently, this 24 hour period corresponds to the day of the California primary). It's very addictive. I couldn't imagine only getting one episode every week. So hopefully we'll get to the end before I leave. . if not those of you in Norman may have to bear with me through this. hehehehe
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Rest of Day 2 in Aberdeen
22/05/03 21:11 Filed in: Longer
Vacations
So the Italian sausage sandwiches didn't turn out
as good as originally hoped. The sausages
themselves got all crumbly, so we made a last
minute run to the grocery store for pasta and
turned it into a pasta dish. The guys really
seemed to think it was tasty, and even
complimented me on the sauce.
It's amazing what you can do with a few spices, veggies, meat and tomato sauce.
Other than that, we walked to the theater to catch Matrix Reloaded. I'm still stunned by the beauty of the landscape here. The ground itself is really quite interesting, not all soppy and sludgy like one would expect with all the rain, but more springy and spongy. This makes walking a really funny sensation. We ended up getting to the theater a bit early and since it's located on the beach of the North Sea (didn't realize Aberdeen was that far North) we sat on the dock, talking and watching the tide crash against the granite wall. Hypnotic truly.
Then came the movie, and I have two words for it:
BAD ACTING
Really bad acting. The writing wasn't the best ever, but even the decent lines were quite poorly delivered. The sex scene was also way too long. Granted, the way they incorporated it with the rave thing was interesting. But, it was an interesting visual display for about 1/3 of the time that it went on for.
I did however really enjoy how well choreographed the fighting scenes were. Very nice. Especially the one with all the clones.
All-in-all, while I enjoyed the first movie, the second one takes itself way too seriously; it's like they're all of a sudden trying to make commentary, not that the movie can't, it's just if that's what they wanted to do, perhaps they should have hired real actors.
Anyway, getting back to the flat, I got to talk to Stephen a bit before bed, which was really nice. He and I really must come back some day for an extended (2 week-ish) vacation.
It's amazing what you can do with a few spices, veggies, meat and tomato sauce.
Other than that, we walked to the theater to catch Matrix Reloaded. I'm still stunned by the beauty of the landscape here. The ground itself is really quite interesting, not all soppy and sludgy like one would expect with all the rain, but more springy and spongy. This makes walking a really funny sensation. We ended up getting to the theater a bit early and since it's located on the beach of the North Sea (didn't realize Aberdeen was that far North) we sat on the dock, talking and watching the tide crash against the granite wall. Hypnotic truly.
Then came the movie, and I have two words for it:
BAD ACTING
Really bad acting. The writing wasn't the best ever, but even the decent lines were quite poorly delivered. The sex scene was also way too long. Granted, the way they incorporated it with the rave thing was interesting. But, it was an interesting visual display for about 1/3 of the time that it went on for.
I did however really enjoy how well choreographed the fighting scenes were. Very nice. Especially the one with all the clones.
All-in-all, while I enjoyed the first movie, the second one takes itself way too seriously; it's like they're all of a sudden trying to make commentary, not that the movie can't, it's just if that's what they wanted to do, perhaps they should have hired real actors.
Anyway, getting back to the flat, I got to talk to Stephen a bit before bed, which was really nice. He and I really must come back some day for an extended (2 week-ish) vacation.
First Two Days in Aberdeen
21/05/03 22:13 Filed in: Longer
Vacations
So yesterday after I finally got here, we went
back to his flat, dropped off my stuff and then
went to buy groceries for the week, which I paid
mostly for since he's putting me up for free.
Then back to his place and he cooked dinner, I took a nap while he and Kaz watched some TV, and then we stayed up talking and playing GO.
I didn't realize how much fun GO can be when you play someone who's that close to your skill level. So I think we'll be playing a good many games of that during the next few days.
His new girlfriend is really nice, if not on the young side. She just turned 18 last month and is finishing her first year in school. But she's pretty nice and seems to be a good influence on Brett and vice-versa, which is always good to see in a relationship.
Today, there isn't much going on. More just letting me wind down from traveling and de-stressing from the semester and the post semester events. I did throw sausage and red sauce into the oven this morning for italian sausage sandwiches for dinner, so that will be a nice surprise for Brett and his flatmates.
We do have tickets to see the new Matrix moving tonight (it's first night showing in the UK), and there's a walk planned back from the theater to the flat to show me to older and more scenic parts of the city, before jumping into it full force tomorrow.
So that should be a good time.
See you when I get back!
Then back to his place and he cooked dinner, I took a nap while he and Kaz watched some TV, and then we stayed up talking and playing GO.
I didn't realize how much fun GO can be when you play someone who's that close to your skill level. So I think we'll be playing a good many games of that during the next few days.
His new girlfriend is really nice, if not on the young side. She just turned 18 last month and is finishing her first year in school. But she's pretty nice and seems to be a good influence on Brett and vice-versa, which is always good to see in a relationship.
Today, there isn't much going on. More just letting me wind down from traveling and de-stressing from the semester and the post semester events. I did throw sausage and red sauce into the oven this morning for italian sausage sandwiches for dinner, so that will be a nice surprise for Brett and his flatmates.
We do have tickets to see the new Matrix moving tonight (it's first night showing in the UK), and there's a walk planned back from the theater to the flat to show me to older and more scenic parts of the city, before jumping into it full force tomorrow.
So that should be a good time.
See you when I get back!