Is there a word for a book–like a catalog–of poisons? Like something an apothecary might have to reference? Or, like a book of magical ingredients used for casting spells?

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Okay, seriously folks. HOW DO YOU HIT THE BLUE FRET BUTTON?  I totally rock on Easy now, but man, Medium is another ball game.

Other commentary:

• I totally can’t figure out hammer-ons and pull-offs. But I seem to do fine without them. Maybe that won’t be so as the game increases in difficulty.
• That Queens of the Stone Age song must be the hardest, most-complicated song in the game. (At least of the ones I’ve played, having unlocked everything available on Easy.) Also really difficult is Crossroads by Cream. I already had respect for the talent of Cream, but I’ve got a new respect for QotSA. I never thought much of them before, but that’s some fancy guitar-work.
• That fucking star power always screws me up when I try to turn it on. Well, not always, but a large percentage of my mistakes are caused by me trying to activate the star power. Also, it seems slightly harder to play the notes when star power is activated, because I think my fingers have become accustomed to the colors, but not the fret positions as much.

This game isn’t well-suited (or might be perfectly suited) for my perfectionist tendencies. I played one song perfectly ("Hey You"), and there are a few others I’m certain I *could* play perfectly, but always manage to blow one note–not even something difficult, just some random note I shouldn’t have any trouble with. <sigh>

I wonder if I’m going to need to create a Guitar Hero category on this blog.

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• SCI FI Wire | Futures Collects Nature Fiction
  (tags: SCIFI Tor)
• IMGS: Is There Nepotism in Science Fiction? by Carol Pinchefsky
  (tags: SF nepotism)

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So I got a guitar for Xmas this year (an acoustic guitar). I have no idea how to play it as of yet, but my cousin Greg is a professional guitar player who has given lots of lessons (as well as having played lots of big shows, such as opening for Bruce Springsteen). I saw him today, and we talked about getting together for him to show me the ropes.

Meanwhile, for Xmas, my nephew got Guitar Hero for the PS2. He, my niece, and my sister were up visiting from North Carolina, so we all sat around playing it for a while. Before I go any farther with this commentary, let me say this to all the writers reading this: DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. Actually, I should amend that to DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME, because if you play it, I’m certain you would want to buy it afterward. That’s what happened to me.

As I was saying, we were playing Guitar Hero. It’s an immediately fun and addictive game, and the soundtrack is surprisingly good–probably, I suppose, because all the tracks are somewhat guitar-driven, and I think fancy guitar-work is the fastest way to my musical heart. Since I first heard of this game, I’d been saying "If it actually taught you to play guitar, I’d buy it in a second." Well, it doesn’t teach you to play guitar, not really at all, not even a little bit, I don’t think, but holy Moses, it’s so goddamn fun.

But, as the title of this post implies, it might just be a bit too addictive and may lure you away from the keyboard before you’ve finished your daily word count. Not to mention that the repetitive motion the game requires is sure to be the leading cause of carpal tunnel for an entire generation to come. When I sat down to write this post (just moments after finishing up with the game), my fingers were actually stiff. For righties, it’s much worse on your left hand, as that’s the one on the fret board doing all the button mashing.

I mentioned the soundtrack earlier. Much to my surprise, there was actually some metal songs on there, and I’m happy to say that I seem to be best at playing those. I’m certain if I keep at it, I can play "Iron Man" and "Symphony of Destruction" perfectly. As it is, I think I played "Iron Man" with only one mistake.

Admittedly, I’m talking about doing this on the Easy setting. Medium is another story entirely. On Easy, you only use three of the five fret buttons to play notes and chords. On Medium, you use four of the five. It’s really kind of amazing how much harder that makes it.

If you’re going to successfully avoid being ensnared by this insidious drug, beware the video game stores; the in store game displays will call out to you, and you’ll think "Oh, just one game won’t hurt." But it will. The in store display is what finally did me in.

Okay, that’s enough for now. I’ve got to go soak my hand in some ice water.

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I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who expressed their condolences for my grandfather’s passing. It’s appreciated.

The viewing is today, with the funeral mass and burial scheduled for tomorrow morning.

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• SCI FI Wire | Bear And Monette Birthed Wolves
  (tags: SCIFI)

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Here’s a shot of the aftermath of that fire I posted about yesterday. Here’s a news article about it, along with another photo.

Apparently, a faulty furnace may have been the cause of the blaze. Which is kind of scary–I just had a similar incident with the furnace for the upstairs apartment of my house (it’s a two family house, divided into upstairs and downstairs apartments). The other day, something in the furnace blew, and it was overheating, and smoke was billowing out of the attic. I’m not sure what the actual cause of the smoke was, but it went up through the walls until it reached the attic, then came down into the house from there. The fire department came to inspect the problem; at the time when the smoke was first detected, I didn’t know what the cause of it was, so it could have been an actual fire for all I knew.

Luckily for me, it turned out to be not that big a deal (though it’ll be pricey to replace the furnace). Actually, it’s damn lucky. Obviously, losing your home to a fire is a big deal no matte what, but this happened a few days before my grandfather passed away. Well, if the house had burned down while he was still living, I might have lost everything. Why? The veteran’s home where he was staying had some claim on the house, but if I lived here and didn’t sell the house, it would remain in my possession–it’s some kind of caregiver provision (because I’d taken care of him for several years before he had to go to the home). So I’m not sure if I would have been screwed out of everything had the house burned down. There would be insurance money, but the vet’s home might have claimed it. I’m glad I don’t have to find out.

What you can’t tell from the photo below is that there were three whole businesses there. There was the pizza place, a Chinese restaurant, and a bodega (with an apartment upstairs). Truth be told, I don’t think the pizza place is any great loss (though I feel for the owners and employees), but I was rather fond of the Chinese place, even if they did frequently get my order wrong. (Schezuan Chicken not sweet & sour chicken!) I have no real opinion about the bodega, though the place seemed to be cursed even before this–it’s been a revolving door of owners for the past couple years, and I’d never even made it into this latest incarnation. (Last time I went in there, no one working there spoke English.)

You know what I find amazing, though? Look at that building on the left side of the photo. That house appears to be completely unscathed! Nice work, PAFD! The gas station, which I mentioned the other day, is further to the left of the house, so it looks like it was never in any real danger.

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The pizza place a couple blocks away from me is on fire. This photo was taken from my driveway. That big building you see there is a middle school. (Good thing there was no school today.) It looks like the fire’s IN the school, but there’s like a whole block between the school and the pizza place. Unfortunately, right next to the pizza place is a gas station, so hopefully they’ll contain the fire before it spreads over there.

 

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My grandfather passed away last night after a long battle with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and a variety of other ailments. He was 84, and very nearly made it to 85–his birthday was just 22 days away.

For the past year and a half or so, he’s been living in a nursing home, after spending the prior five years living with me. After my grandmother died last year, it became impossible to take care of him on my own, since he couldn’t be left alone, so after a brief stint a really terrible place, I got him placed in the Menlo Park Veteran’s Home in Edison, NJ. That place was a godsend, and I’m very thankful he was able to spend the rest of his days there, with those good people taking care of him.

His death was not a shock; a few weeks ago, the doctors had talked to me about his quality of life (or lack thereof), and discussed his advanced directive options. Over the past several months, he’d deteriorated considerably. I used to be able to visit him and he’d know me, and could talk a bit, and boy did he look forward to going outside with me so he could have a cigarette. But a couple months ago, at some point, it was like a switch going off–there didn’t seem to be any medical event that the doctors could point to as the cause, but just like that, my grandfather–the man I knew growing up–seemed to be completely gone, and in his place was a man who looked just like him (albeit much thinner) but had none of the other qualities that made him who he was.

Because I was prepared for this eventuality, his death was easier to take. I had lost him bit by bit, until eventually, there was nothing left to lose.

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