Compromises

Thanks to everyone who dropped me a line recently and wished me well, I appreciate it. Who would've thought that people still read my website? I suppose I better post some interesting stuff before I rabbit on about back pain... how about a flying car that might just work, the Epic Scarlet video camera from Red that almost certainly was designed by a Lego fan, and the new Watchmen trailer. Not bad.

Back-wise, things are pretty much the same. Pain, improvement, pain, confusion, pain, scans, more pain, bagels, pain. I'm still not playing PC games, even though today is the launch of the World of Warcraft expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King. I was mildly tempted to run out at lunchtime and grab a new graphics card and a copy of the game and start belting through Northrend, but that way lies madness. Every intention of playing for an hour at a time and taking regular stretch breaks would go out the window, and I'd look up six hours later and realize that my spine had become a solid, coiling column of fused bone. Then I'd play for six more hours.

In some ways, having to give up a sedentary activity like gaming is more annoying than giving up activities like wild tyrannosaur wrestling or naked lava surfing. Giving those up is fine - there's still plenty of space below them for enjoyment and adrenaline. Not being able to hack sitting in a chair and twiddling one's fingers for a few hours is pretty poor form, particularly for a rugged Antipodean bloke. Well, a bloke with rugged toenails at least.

My compromise for gaming is the PS3, which has turned out rather well. Civilization Revolution is an excellent game, and GTA4 is everything you'd come to expect and more. I'm using TVersity to stream video content from my PC to the PS3, which works a treat. I had plans to build a media PC, but the current system works so well I think I'll pass for now. I tried the Bioshock demo from the PS store, and although it looked fantastic and the atmosphere sucked me right in, trying to aim with a controller is ridiculous. There's someone behind me? Ok, I'll turn around. Still turning. Still turning, almost there. Keep turning. Okay now shoot. Aim lower, shoot the floor. Aim higher, shoot the ceiling. Smash controller into little pieces, hurt back. Curse and kick bookshelf, hurt back. Terrific.