In digging through my past in saved scraps of paper, I came upon this gem of an email written Wednesday, August 18, 2004 9:49 AM to Ms. Kimberly F. Half silly, half good stuff I think.
My Dearest Kimberly,
The disquiet I felt in your absence was no unlike a long outward breath, couple with the anxious worry that to draw that same breath back inward would be impossible without your shining presence to light up these stormy end-of-summer days. Without your goodbye on Friday, I feared as though I might never see you again.
The office simply has not been the same without you these past two days. At times, the pain was unbearable and I could only dull its icy edge by taking solace in the delights of the copier. I have named the old girl Agnes and to me she has been very kind. Nevertheless, she pales in comparison to you. Especially and specifically when one considers your recent outing to the shoreline regions where you undoubtedly received some of the sun’s darkening rays, as is fashionable these days.
However, and here I must make a turn for the serious, my previously unprecedented despair was unbelievably surmounted when I heard that, owing to my lack of attendance on the selfsame shoreline region outing, you turned to the arms of another man. Too, I despaired much to hear he is equally formidable as I, but in the completely opposite respects. I fear that you have fallen in with a charlatan and I strongly urge you to leave this savage brute and return to the calm sensibility of moi.
Please advise as to your personal preference, dis- and/or agreement, and the time and place for the duel between myself and this “friend” that is now clearly inevitable.
Yours eternal,
K. (et F.L.)
F.L. Refers to my cat, or my stomach. I forget which. Further, it’s a reference to “Fat Louie” from The Princess Diaries.
It’s nice to know that while I don’t consider myself a good writer now, I have improved by leaps and bounds since high school. Check out this less-than-stunning example from Spring semester 1999 (my sophomore year):
Question: In what way did this story (“The Girl”) engage your emotions?
“The Girl” is indeed a very disturbing story. Right from the start the reader sees the very dark and dismal setting of the story. The girl begins her day by washing her face with “obedience soap,” brushing her hair with “the hairbrush of order and propriety,” and by putting on her uniform of “mild sameness, and shoes that make no noise.” These statements alone bring feelings spiraling downward. As the girl goes off to school the reader sees that the whole neighborhood, conforms to the same dull dress and text books that the girl has. This is an incredibly depressing thought, a glimpse of how imperfect perfection is. These children live in a world where they are practically perfect in every way, however everything about their perfection is so dull and drab, that there is no happiness.
I am extremely saddened to think that school might one day become like this. It is even moreso saddening to read, and agree with the authors thought that school in a way has already become this way. The storyline of “The Girl” plays greatly on the hate for school that the average student has. This is not a hate of education but perhaps a hate for one’s peers and teachers. How we must conform to expectations of social groups, parents, and teachers, is what I see represented in the dull world of “The Girl.” To know that this is what the world has become is most depressing of all.
I delighted in the unconscious reflex to edit 85% of this. But edit it I did not. Apparently I had no fucking clue where commas went.
So, I loved it, despite the bad reviews, despite it’s weak points. I. Loved. It.
Maybe it’s because I have always loved the X-files. Even when it disappointed or scared the shit out of me, I kept going back, year after year. The show remains my favorite TV series, and this movie—like the last, but in a more monster-of-the-week way—plays exactly like an extra-long episode of my beloved series.
Irrespective of the plot, “I Want to Believe” is a perfect rendition of the thing I always wish for at the end of any book(s) or movie(s) I’ve really loved—a peering into the future. (This is why I liked the Deathly Hallows epilogue, even though I don’t think it was very good or necessary).
I stole my view tonight, but I’ll definitely be buying a copy. Plus this makes me want to go back and finish viewing the latter parts of the series where I just couldn’t stay engaged.
Just like mom used to make. I’ve forgotten how immersive old pixellated graphics can be. I mean, I totally am the Avatar. After I figured out how to move around and crap.
Ultima VIII is primarily mouse-driven.
- Your hands and eyes are controlled by the left mouse button.
- Your feet are controlled by the right mouse button.
You’d think that would make it easy, like Diablo, but it does not. At least not at first.
MOVEMENT
Without pressing either button, move the cursor around the screen.
- Notice that the mouse pointer has three lengths.
Jumping
You can jump nearly half your height to climb taller objects - but you cannot climb some things such as most vegetation, sharp objects and the highest mountain ledges.
- When the arrow is short, try clicking both buttons simultaneously.
- You jump in place if there were a ledge or something overhead to grab, you would grab it and pull yourself up
- With a medium arrow (pointing any direction), try clicking both buttons.
There are at least two more pages of this….
I included the info box just to show how old this game is. I’ve owned it on an Ultima compendium CD since about 1998, and I’ve tried to play it twice since then, maybe this time I’ll really go for it.
