We’re in the deep throes of
winter. Ah, time to stay in, pop open a favorite beverage, don the Mike Brady
pajamas and while away the hours gaming until dawn’s early light. Oddly this
year, this isn’t happening for me. I’ve started a new job. Of course I mentioned
this in last month’s mix, but now it’s really set in. I’m experiencing the rush
of really enjoying a single day off per week, and considering myself really
lucky if I get two! I’m not complaining though, my checking account has never
been fatter, and in truth, the job really is oodles better than my old security
job. It’s a bit more physical but every day is truly an adventure.
- You Need a Budget on PC: Despite the recent lackluster Steam Winter Sale I luckily scored this $60 software for a paltry $14.95. It has become my new religion, and no, I’m not kidding. This software has not only changed the way I think about money, but even the way I look at it. It’s under my skin bad. I preach about it to everybody I meet. It’s as if I’ve suddenly started selling Amway or got involved in the pyramidal Primerica firm . The concept is quite simple. You give each and every dollar on your paycheck a job. Instead of paying a $120 car license tag in one angry swoop, you simply budget $10 a month quietly in the background, and then that one time of the year when the tag fee is due you simply write a check for the $120 that’s accrued over the past twelve months. The goal plan is to eventually establish a buffer through wise budgeting in which you are paying this month’s bills with last month’s paycheck. So, you in effect stop living paycheck to paycheck. Imagine having your paycheck in hand waiting for the bills to come in so you can pay them instead of the bills sitting there and you’re waiting for your paycheck to be able to pay them. It’s a concept I never imagined possible, but watching it happen is a thing of beauty.
- The
Essential Journey on CD: I remember hearing Steve Perry’s
remarkable soprano voice in 1981 right before I left for the Navy. My
best friend at the time, Clint Vogt, turned me onto Perry’s band, Journey.
The first time I heard them I just couldn’t get over the unique powerful
sound of Perry’s voice. And then I got my first Sony Walkman, and I
remember lying awake lonely in a Navy barracks and hearing, “Don’t Stop
Believing,” with Neil Schon’s haunting guitar work emanating through the
song and feeling so homesick I could cry. I continued to grow with
Journey. Their album, Raised on
Radio which came out in the mid 80’s reflected the music of that time.
Perhaps that was the band’s last attempt to roll with the punches, because
they went quiet in the 90’s. They turned out some wonderful hits,
fortunately all inclusive in this double album CD I picked up. To this
day, when someone mentions, “power ballad,” I always think of Journey.
- Peter
Gabriel UP on CD: Peter Gabriel’s album “Us,” is one of my
all time favorite works. “Up” is part of a trilogy
Gabriel created in the 80’s through the early oughts. To be honest, when I
first heard it I listened to it once, and then added it to my list to
trade on www.swapaCD.com. But I
recently gave it another listen, and it’s growing on me. It’s certainly
not like “Us” which will always be on auto repeat in my CD tray or my
queue on Google Play, but I’ve definitely become a fan. The album runs Gabriel’s usual
ensemble of synth-keyboard play and chorus singers in the background. The
steady bass synthesizer he uses along with his raspy voice that makes him
uniquely his own act stays true to form. I can now see this album as being
part of a trilogy. Now I need to track down Gabriel’s most successful
album, “So,” the
beginning of the trilogy.
- Revolution
by Deborah Wiles: Speaking of trilogies, this book is the second
of one. Wiles’ first novel Countdown was about a young
girl entering the world of teen angst despite the Cuban Missile Crisis
happening around her. The book is a wonderful snapshot of the world at
that time and place. And it’s one of the few books I’ve read more than
once. This, her second novel, is about a girl witnessing the Civil Rights
Act in action in 1964. Her town is about to become “invaded” by the now
famous Freedom Schools for the Summer project. I’ve only started the book,
but it already exudes Wiles’ wonderfully innocent observations through a
school girl’s eyes of important world changing events that made indelible
impressions on everybody who lived through them.
- Train
Simulator 2015 on PC: I have been binge playing this again. I can’t
describe it any better than a calm inducing drug. I’ve been playing
Amtrak New York to New Haven scenarios, and I’ve finally scored all of
the Steam achievements for completing it. This is a beautiful bit of DLC,
I might add. One scenario has you trying to keep to a passenger timetable
at dusk. It’s wintry, everything snow covered with rain falling, and it’s
simply spectacular looking. I’ve said it before, I’ll never be a train
engineer despite my fascination with trains as a kid. But now I don’t have
to be, nor would I really want to be I don’t suppose. This simulation
gives me a taste for the real thing, and it’s all the immersion I really
need. It's where I get to see my life as a grown up in a path taken in a parallel universe.
- Card
Hunter on PC: Awarded PC Gamer Magazine’s “Most Original Game of
the Year 2013” this great little gem which is free to play and played
entirely in a browser is something everybody should check out. It’s a
streamlined version of the old style D&D games you used to play with
friends who used graph paper and multi sided dice. The game is depicted in
loving detail including, grease stained pizza boxes, carbonated drinks and
worn down pencils. Even the modules are lifelike two tone ink jobs done on
paper. The element of newness in this version is the use of collectible
cards. It sounds complicated, but it’s not, it’s actually downright
addicting. You’ve been warned.
