Days Off

This is not actually my character, Chak.
However, Chak looks very much like this.

Due to unexpected problems with our daycare provider, we have been having to juggle time so Connor is taken care of during the day.  It hasn't been TOO difficult, as my wife can set her own hours.  But, even that reaches a breaking point.  And that point came this week.  So, in order to allow my wife to work some long hours (and make some choice scratch), I took Wednesday and Thursday off.  No worries, I have the time.

Well, my plan was to clean the house up, and do some laundry.  But the siren's call of Skyrim grabbed me, and I could not pull myself away.  So, basically, I spent the last two days trading time on the XBox with Connor (who is a Minecraft addict).  When he wasn't playing, I was.

My character is an Orc named Chak.  Right now he is level 38, and besides being the Dragonborn, he's also a Thane in two separate realms, a husband (to a fine-ass Orc female with a husky voice), a home builder, and, as of yesterday, the leader of the local assassins guild.  He's taken down the leadership of the Stormcloak rebellion, and then turned around and assassinated the Emperor.  He's been quite a busy chap.  And the level cap is 81.  What the heck is he gonna do for another 43 levels???

I have to say, this is probably my all-time favorite video game so far (it's right up there with HALO 3 and HALO 4).  It should be noted that I don't play a lot of video games, and am not including MMOs in that.  I see those as more "social" games than just video games.  That being said, I am kind of excited for Elder Scrolls Online.  Basically it's a Skyrim MMO.

I have kind of been hankering for a fantasy MMO again lately.  But, none of the ones that are out appeal to me anymore.  I mean, I was really into WoW for a long time.  But, after so many changes and additions, and the fact that my account was hacked, it has lost its appeal.  Star Wars - The Old Republic had me for a while, and it is a fun game.  But, I recently cancelled my paid subscription, since I just wasn't playing it.  I could go for Guild Wars 2.  But, I dunno.  Something about it doesn't really grab me.

Eh, it's not like I have time to invest in another MMO right now.  I mean, Skyrim can be a time-suck.  But the last couple of days were an anomaly.  I'm usually lucky to get a couple of hours every few days on the XBox.  Right now, at any given time, there are 3-5 people competing for it.  And I am usually content to just let others have it.

So, there you go.  My days off were spent in Skyrim, that harsh realm of wild beasts, undead horrors, dangerous assassins, brutal weather, and the occasional random dragon attack.  I fought, I slayed, and I am content.

Lazy Days of Winter

This weather has really been tramping down on me lately.  I have time to write, but zero motivation most days.  It's like when you're sick and nothing tastes good; no matter what I try to write, nothing sparks me.  I guess I should just knuckle down and write, and to hell with quality!  Just get words out on paper, so to speak.

I'm also feeling my age a bit lately.  I'm kind of tired from staying up late.  But honestly, between the 4 year old and the 10 year old, I can't do hardly anything fun during daylight hours that I want to.  So, I have to wait for them to go to bed.  And then I get maybe 2 hours before I'm ready to fling myself into bed too.

I really need to get myself back on track with exercise again.  I have let that slip a lot, and I'm feeling it.  I have been trying to cope by doing a lot of isokinetics and dynamic tension at my desk.  But, it's not quite the same.  What I really want is a punching bag to pummel.  That's some thereaputic exercise, right there!  Either way, the tempurature is supposed to be in the 50's today, so I will probably get a walk in, before they drop back down to the teens before the end of the week.

I am happy to not be in school for another week.  Checked my grades and got a 97.2% in my last class, including a 100% on my final (which I thought would score a bit less)!  So, I'm way stoked about that.  I hope I can keep that kind of academic momentum going for a while.

On a good note, I'm really getting into The Action Elite.  Working with Eoin (the site-owner) on some ideas for new content and new categories of content.  Fun times!  I'll be doing some articles on literary action heroes soon.  I'll probably start by recycling a one post on the subject from this blog.  But then I plan to discuss some action novels that have been made into movies.  Should be fun!

Related to that, I'm hoping to see some movies soon.  It may be too late to see The Last Stand in the theater, as it is tanking pretty bad.  But Bullet to the Head starts this Friday, and Parker opened kinda strong this past weekend, so it may stick around a bit.

We had to back out of the D&D game on Friday.  My wife had a debilitating headache, and there was no way I was going to let her stay home alone.  So, we're hoping to do a make-up this Sunday afternoon.  I hope we can, as we are at a huge clifhanger in the storyline, with a very important battle looming (my favorite part of the game).  Ahnuld demands blood for the god of war!