Sierra Online

While this blog post will not be popular and will reveal me as the nerd I am, I figure I may as well write it.

Sierra Online recently died. Some say it died when Vivendi bought it out 5 years ago, which is - to an extent - correct, but today the body was buried. The doors of Sierra Entertainment were closed, workers were laid off, and the company that first brought us graphical computer games, King's Quest, Quest for Glory, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight, Phantasmagoria, Goblins, and a host of other adventure games turned off.

When I got over the Nintendo games of Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda, I turned to Sierra Online. They produced brilliant games with brilliant plots and hundreds of jokes that only made sense to the educated. Al Lowe, creator of Leisure Suit Larry, once said that adventure games had died with the invention of the idiot proof computer. I can't say how true that is. I can only say that the games that demand an education are gone, and we are left with Quake and Doom III, button mashers. There may still be a few games out there (Syberia) in the adventure genre and a few hybrids (Half-Life), but the wave has ended, and I am sad.

In other news, not much is up. The people I work with have intelligence, but it does not fit my definition. They can't spell, and they have poor grammar. I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to leave a university setting, because I doubt my ability to deal with the grammatically challenged.

On that note, I shall call it a night. Sleep well, all. I'm exhausted.

One thought that leads to...

So this thing about moving away... Let me tell you something. There are things to be said for moving away, but one must realize the challenges inherent in such a move. The obvious examples of this are Kay and myself.

Both of us have had the experience. We've both moved so far away that we literally didn't know a single person before we got here. Such a move can be painful and difficult. It's possible that Kay still hasn't adjusted. I know I'm only partly there.

The thing is that moving provides one major opportunity. Whether you are willing to take it is the question. See, moving allows a person to explore themselves. You'll meet new people, and you'll have the chance to demonstrate facets of your personality that your friends don't know about.

Actually, you have that chance here, too. But allow me to continue.

Ultimately, and I think Kay will agree, you will find that you aren't very different from the personality you left back with your friends. You'll behave the same. You'll find similar friends. The only difference is you may find is a friend or two who seems to mesh with you better than anyone else ever has. Such a friend might push you to do things you might not have done, but always wanted to. This friend might give you some confidence in your ability to hang with people who just seemed too far above you. (note the strange direction this blog has suddenly taken)

In fact, I think I approve of moving. Learning to adapt is an amazing skill to pick up. Discovering the sometimes painful skill of learning how to meet people can be astonishing. Finding that the idea of social classes truly is a false division can open an entire world.

//While reading another blog, the following set of thoughts came to me, which I used to reply. As I felt they did a great job personifying me, I decided to post them here. Any thoughts?

Sometimes when I read this blog, I'm left wondering, "Am I less holy than everyone else, or is everyone else more holy than I am." Then I wonder, "In fact, what exactly is 'being holy.' And, in order to be it, do we constantly have to blather on about God, how wonderful he is, and how we're trying constantly to become closer to him, or can we just act the way he'd like us to act and call it good?"

I guess I don't really know the answer to any of those questions, but I do know this. If I had to choose between being a man who constantly talked about how great god was and how much I want to strive toward being like him but then found a homeless man in a church and threw him out or being a man who never said a word about God but then gave the homeless guy a bit of food, I'd choose the latter.

I guess I think a particular vocabulary doesn't make a person better. And I suppose in a sense, I don't think constantly worrying about God makes a person better. Beyond that, I suppose betterment comes from actions and intentions.

On the matter of DTR, I shall paraphrase the words of a wise woman I once knew who shall remain nameless (though she has been known as the "Bosnian Babe"). She feels that defining the relationship simply isn't the way to deal with such matters. Instead, caution should be thrown to the wind. The first person to know you have a boyfriend should be the the first person to receive an introduction on that note.

In other words, at some point you should say, "Hey you remember (insert name here), my boyfriend."

It's a terrifying way to do it, but then, she was a pretty fearless girl.