The Top Twenty: Favorite Video Games

After talking about reviving my writing (as well as this blog) almost two weeks, I told myself that I'd get working on a brand-new Top Ten list and have it up here within the following two weeks. It's just about now officially that deadline, so I figured I'd get to work on it. And after two six day's two weeks' worth of typing, searching the web for good photos to use for this entry, and getting distracted by clicking fifteen thousand too many links on Wikipedia and TV Tropes, it's finally here! (Seriously this time.)

The last time I threw a Top Ten List on here was back in May of last year - roughly ten months ago. After noting that rather large gap, I told myself that needs to be patched up now. So, what to talk about? While there's plenty of subjects and plenty of lists I have compiled for just the occasion, I decided to go with a rather unique challenge: my favorite video games. I say "challenge" because this was honestly one of the more difficult ones to rate. There were so many games that made some kind of impact on my life, many more that gave me joy in my younger days, and still many that I have played altogether. So what to choose...?

Initially, my plan was to write a list of every game I remember playing to date that I love(d), narrow the selection down to ten games, and introduce a new "honorary mention" section alongside the list. Seemed really simple and easy on paper. When it came down to performing the task, however, I couldn't bring myself to thin the ranks. Many of the games I wrote down were games that I carry soft spots for, because they were the games I played as a child, a teenager, an adult. They brought joy, sadness, fury, understanding, clarity - and to deny the most influential games the right to have their name be heard? I couldn't.

So I decided to try two new tactics:

1. Narrow any video game series present down to ONE game.
2. Expand the buffer to twenty slots.

The end result is today's entry and the very first Top Twenty list featured on this blog. Now, I could pay my respects to all of the important games I've played and love(d).

Of course, one question remains to be asked: What twenty games made their way onto my favorites list? You'll have to read on below if you've any interest in finding out!

Nostalgia

Out of nowhere I had this sudden nostalgic feeling earlier today. I was driving over a bridge when the sun was out when this sudden desire to stop the car and stand in the bridge's sidewalk came up. Fortunately, I didn't do that (as I'm sure I'd get turned into roadkill or someone for a cop to pull over). However, if I did, I'd probably have a fun time.

It got me wondering, though... why haven't I gone out and done that lately? I remember when I was a kid, my friends and I would go on the highway overpass, look down at the oncoming cars, and pump our arms up and down in an effort to get the passing drivers below to blare their horns.

So, why didn't I do that today? Oh, right - because it's not summertime; I don't live in a semi-downtown area; California's "you have the right of way" "law" is in effect; I'm 23 and now lame. Another time, perhaps.

The Story of Josh

You ever have one of those days where you wake up and you just don't feel like doing jack shit for the entire time you're awake? Where you regret waking up, lie in bed for what feels like an eternity, and sluggishly get yourself "motivated" to do things?

Today's one of those days for me today. It sucks, because it's also a day off for me as well. (Wait, what? Two days off in a row that I didn't ask for?) I'm doing my best to get myself up and running, but it's been a doozy to do so.

So what to do, what to do? Well, for starters, lying here will get me nowhere (literally), so I guess I'll go out and do something. Something involving hanging out with friends, maybe some Valkyria Chronicles, some other things, and me not posting anything. Like always.

But sometimes, a message from the past might be enough. What follows is one such message about a certain boy's past.

Montage of Mystery

So I haven't really been motivated to get out of bed today.

I had to tell myself to get up. It took a while because I was comfy texting lying there listening to music content with how the morning was going.

It's been somewhat rough these past few days. It's been apparent on the blog here - short entries, a lack of concentration, thoughts drifting elsewhere when I should be working on things...

...oh, wait. That's what I've been exhibiting in real life? Uh... riiiight. *sheepishly clears throat* Ignore all this, then. I'm just spouting nonsense that can't be explained and won't be explained for now. (Or can it and will it...?)

Imprisoned Revelation

What happens when you get a day off and there's no one in range to hang out with? Well, you get a bored person (yourself) and absolutely nothing to do. It feels like a prison of sorts that you were thrown into against your will. As far as you recall, you've done nothing to deserve this fate. You spend a good while wondering how you got yourself into this predicament in the first place, lamenting and whining all the way.

And sometimes, you demonstrate your boredom in a physical way.

After coming to grips with things, you start taking action in some way. Now, one of three things can result because of this.

1.) You kill yourself out of sheer boredom.

Now, I don't mean like how George Sanders killed himself in 1972. I mean it in a metaphorical sense. You spend countless hours sitting there wishing for something - anything - to do. You'd even welcome death if it offered some kind of reprieve from not being able to do anything! (Not that you'd want to - in which case, you should probably seek out a hotline...) So you lie there in a cesspool of woe and complaints, wondering if you can break out of it within the next "X" minutes... every single second.

2.) You attempt to break out of your cell using your network of contacts.

This is where you call the friends you haven't run into in a while but still talk with. This is where you call people you like to hang out with, only to find that a majority of them either have their jobs to work at or already-made plans to enact. Someone's gotta be out there to save you... but do they? (In my experience, this route has offered a 15% chance of success - and that percentage lessens if the weather's not great or if it's the weekend.)

3.) You sit there and wait for an opportunity to present itself.

And when one does, you leap on it, not caring about how bad of a plan this Hobson's choice is. You pick up that dusty game in your closet that you said you'd play... six months ago. You take the time to thoroughly scan your pantry and closet, making an accurate shopping list. This is where you tell yourself at the mall, "Frak it; I'm visiting [insert store you haven't visited before]. Why not?"

While most people will end up choosing the second option and then fall back to the third one should nobody make contact, artists will invariably end up choosing #3 over #2 - only because they realize that a free day where they're bored doesn't come up all that often. (That, or they wanted some kind of "source" of inspiration and tried #2 anyway.)

But some artists come up with a third option of their own. They somehow milk the boredom and create something out of it.

Maybe that's why you're here. While on standby for #2 or #3, you saw that I posted today and figured, "Why the hell not? It's not like I've anything better to do."

And since I'm (sort of) on standby myself, I wrote this because "I've nothing better to do." I decided to see if I could write a grand entry like I said I would yesterday. In order to do that, I guess I needed a day of boredom to myself. Alone. Just me and nothing... and nopony... together... alone. So I can write. Alone. And in this state of being alone with boredom (...together), I composed this. *points below*

I honestly don't know whether to call it a creation fused out of boredom, or some twisted fabrication of half-truths and deception I'd expect a Leobin to spout off to me. Either way, it's something, and while it might throw most of you off... the attentive readers out there might be able to extract something out of this.

But what exactly, you ask? Well, let's get the show rockin' - if you're good enough, you just might find something you're not looking for that makes your unsure decision to read this entry worth it...

The Bridge of Fate: 1000 Words

Today began as a (somewhat) normal day for me: alone in my bed, sweat on my forehead from a nightmare I once thought vanquished, my phone's alarm ready to go off in ten minutes, the daylight trickling through my window, my iPod shuffling through my "Sleepytime" playlist.

I wasn't particularly feeling inspired to do anything yet, because I knew I had to type something big to bridge the first and second halves of 2012 together (much like I did last year). So, I decided I'd go through my "slowly waking up" routine: lurking on the Internet and keeping a window on standby in case I came up with something to type. Now, this process takes about two to three hours, depending on what my plans for the day are and when they kick off. For this particular day today, my confirmed schedule involves work at 1500, with nothing else in hand. So I figured, "two hours ought to be enough."

That was 0800. At the time I began to write this entry out, it was 1127.

Now, usually, when I'm going through this slow wake-up, I'll more often than not have no less than fifteen tabs open on Google Chrome. More often than not, a decent portion of 'em will either be pages on Wikipedia or TV Tropes, two of the Internet's biggest time-sink websites in history. (Not that that's a bad thing...)

Somehow I ended up on the real life section of the "Crowning Moment of Heartwarming" page on TV Tropes. As a known cynic with occasional misanthropist thoughts, I was stunned to see that there are still people willing to help others out there in their own way. Naturally, reading a page like this would stun anyone with any degree of misanthropy, and while I know that for all my sarcasm and jackassedness I'm still a good guy (I hope, because your mileage will vary.), there are moments in life that force me to stand back and wonder why I'm still kind at times. Reading stories like these remind me that the world is worth living in and that people still deserve kindness - even if they do deserve a .50 caliber bullet to the face.

However, that's not the story I'm here to talk to you about. I'm here to tell you about one particular entry I read that shook my very core and reminded me about my past, the present, and the promises I intend to uphold in the future.

And to think it all started with a picture.