I just had to laugh

Its been an amazing kind of day, but I just wasn’t prepared for an amazing kind of day, so it mostly escaped me. But in the end, I just had to laugh.

I spent most of the afternoon attempting to make a delivery. When the recipient couldn’t be found, I eventually aborted the attempt (and the cargo expired from the heat). Then I went home and took a nap through the crux of the heat.

Its a very sultry time of year right now. You sweat because you breathe and contain moisture. I’m not one to hide inside air conditioning, so I tolerate the heat then revert to centuries old techniques for dealing with it – siesta.

About Gauntlet

Gauntlet is a 4 player interactive fantasy roleplaying video game. Players choose from among 8 or so different types of characters (warrior, wizard, valkerie, jester, etc) each with special abilities and different strengths and weaknesses. These characters then move through a 3D terrain, fighting fantasy creatures, collecting gold and food (to buy equipment and to restore health) and keys and potions (to open things, and to use as magical grenades).

The first player to start playing can choose a themed area to conquer. Each area then consists of 4 or 5 adventure environments which must be progressed through sequentially. At the end of the last area is “the boss” – the ultimate bad guy, who must be defeated in single combat.

If the above is foreign to you, imagine being able to choose from several different theatrical plays. Once you’ve chosen a play, you have 4 or 5 different Acts in which you must perform, culminating in the Finale.

The game uses a reward system to motivate players to pay the expense of 50-cents per credit. As characters survive longer (by gratuitous insertion of coinage) they grow stronger by levels, gaining new strengths and skills. Players can save their characters by entering a 3-letter “name” and 3-number “password”, reusing and growing a character over many sessions.

The game is also clever in that you must start anew on each drama each time you play, unless you “clear” that drama all the way (then it becomes locked out as a choice). Thus, if you ever want to fight the boss, you must commit to spending a wad of coins in one session.

I roused myself around 7pm, determined not to let the evening get away from me. But – what to do with it?

I had a chance to ask Denise out earlier in the day, but I wasn’t thinking far enough ahead then, so the chance got by me. However, since I’ll be at the office tomorrow morning, I may try to look her up then. SO- I’d probably ask her to a matinee, so tonight, I wont be seeing a movie.

I could rent a DVD. I got a hankering to watch Indiana Jones III the other night. But, thats something I can do anytime, particularly after dark, too. So, I need to try something else.

I could bike ride – but I am really tired of heat exposure today. I could go to Barnes & Noble – but I’d end up being there all night. Then, it hit me – I’ll try “the Gatekeeper”.

Gatekeeper is a comics & fantasy store. Our Gatekeeper is a pretty cool place: it has a huge gaming room in back, for groups to play role-playing games in, and it has a video arcade, with some of the best fantasy games ever within.

I cruised over and went first to the gaming room to see if any D&Ders were playing. Alas, it was a Magic-the Gathering night, so I got $3 in quarters, and headed into the arcade to play Gauntlet-Dark Legends.

I already had a name and password, so I restored a 7th level warrior from a previous session, and opted to start on the “Toxic Sky” theme.

This theme has 4 scenes, all centered around monsterous flying machines built of crude timbers and rough metal, and powered by toxic chemicals. I had played on it before, getting about half way through. I quickly reached the place where things were new to me, and having spent my last quarters, I found a safe place to hide my character, while I went and got $10 in quarters.

Not that I planned to spend that much, mind you, but I had a $10 bill, and this was just convienent for both myself and the cashier.

I returned to the game, bought more health, and continued to explore.

Soon, I was sidled up to by a little boy known as Col, I was later to learn. Understand that the place that I am in is the classic geek-loser type of hangout (I can say that since I’m a geek). Col, obviously the child of one of the employees, was a classic geek-genious boy. At like 6 years old, he appeared to already have a receding hairline, and thick black-framed glasses. Being a geek-genius, he promptly pushed up an overturned milk carton, stepped up to my elbow, and began to comment on my playing style.

Being the kind stranger that I am, of course I listened to him, and responded to him. He proceeded to tell me all about the boss at the end of the level, with an air of certainty about him as if he had met the bad guy himself, or at least programmed him.

(cont’d)