Moved

I'm not closing this completely, but I've moved...

http://themikecave.neocities.org/

This Would Be Amazing

Fun With Coke

I don't do drugs (really), but this made me laugh like a brain-damaged child...

MOTO-BOTO!

Nobody Reads This Stuff

So far 2015 has been pretty relaxed. I expect things to get a little busier starting Monday, now that the holiday week is over. But for now, I'll just enjoy the way things have been going for the last few days...

I decided to start using Facebook more than twice a year. I doubt I'll be glued to that site like everybody else though. But, everybody else seems to use it, so I figured I might as well too. Then again, I routinely make poor decisions, and this will probably one of them. So far I've posted a selfie, and a picture of food (actually a drink). I figure if post a pet picture next that will fulfilled the contractual obligation of cliche Facebook materials.

I haven't done much gaming the last few days. I've been playing Zelda: The Minish Cap, but I haven't gotten really sucked in. Glancing at a walkthrough, I'd say I'm about halfway through the game. After I finish that, I think I might play something more modern. That way I don't get burned out on the whole retro gaming thing. I watched Batman Begins on cable the other day, and it sort of made me want to replay the three Arkham games in storyline order. Which basically means, the game I liked best (Arkham City) would be the one I'd get to play last.

Sometimes I think of starting a Twitch channel, but I doubt anybody would really want to watch me play video games. I guess if I do start a stream, that I'll have to get my moobs out to attract viewers.

Good Riddance To 2014

Lengthy posts used to be my thing, but since nobody reads more than 140 characters anymore they fell by the wayside. Still, this is a bit of a long one.

I'm glad 2014 is almost dead and gone. I've long held a crackpot theory that my life is better in odd numbered years than even numbered years. 2014 certainly held up to that tradition.

Without going overboard here are a few quick examples, without going into every single year...

1998 - Bad year, but things turned around towards the end.

1999 - Probably one of the best years of my life. Personal life was great, I had a decent job that I was reasonably happy in. Everything seemed to be going my way for the most part.

2000 - Everything good about 1999 went to shit. Great job turned into a misery due to major changes at the workplace. Relationship hit the skids and dragged itself to an awful finish from the middle of the year until almost the end of the year. Some good did come out of all this, although it took quite awhile. Things like: it taught me to keep more of my own counsel and not depend on others for advice; try not to dwell on things that I can't change; and that while people are sympathetic to a point, nobody really wants to hear some crybaby drone on about their problems.

2001 - A mixed bag. The misery of the bad stuff from 2000 carried over. However, in my misery I had a lot of fun going out drinking with my friends 5-6 night a week. Another upside came in the last quarter of the year I left a job that was making me completely miserable.

2002 and 2003 actually did a flip flop with 2002 being pretty good from what I remember and 2003 being a year I mostly regret.

2004 - I won't go into specifics on this one, but people who know me probably remember this one.

2008 - Lost a job I didn't really like but needed. My mother had a heart attack. Most importantly and most devastating: my brother died. Considering how close we were, this is without a doubt this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me.

2009 - Still miserable over my brother dying, but one huge upside was I got my first dog. Which turned 2009 into a good year.

2013 - Did better financially than I had in recent years. Got lots of cool new toys like upgrading to a newer HDTV, building a HTPC, a new phone, a new guitar processor, etc. Great year for games: Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, Resident Evil Revelations, The Last Of Us, Saints Row IV, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Grand Theft Auto V.

2014 - I'm not going to list out all of the things that made 2014 a "bleh" year at best. Not every personal disappointment needs mentioning. A lot of little things (and some big things) added up to make it a year that just wasn't one I'll look back on fondly. Turning 40 wasn't the big deal our culture makes it out to be. Not for me, at least. One thing that eats away at me a bit now is that at the end of 2013 I made a list of things I hoped to get done in 2014. Do you know how many of those things I actually did?

ZERO.

That's pretty bad.

None of them were anything super important, like "cure cancer". It was mostly little things like, clear through my backlog of unread books. So in 2015, I really want to make more of an effort. Even if I only do a few things on my new list (with most of the old list copied to it), that's better than none, right?

Despite being a cynic at heart, I do try to focus more on the positive whenever possible. So instead of further, lengthy complaints about 2014, here are some things that were good in 2014...

- Games: Both Deus Ex Human Revolution and inFamous Collection were older games, but they were new to me. I also dug Akiba's Trip. In addition to those three PS3 games, lately, I've been playing (or really re-playing) a lot of retro titles.

- The Fappening: I'm a straight male. Of course I enjoyed this. At least I'm honest enough to admit it.

- Asked: The best radio show on the internet. Cool people talking about dumb shit in the news. I probably lose a few followers every time I live-tweet the show but who cares? If you like laughing about stories about Florida Men, and all sorts of other crazy stuff presented in a no-bullshit style, then you should be listening too.

- Movies: Off the top of my head good movies included Edge Of Tomorrow and Guardians Of The Galaxy. There were probably others, but it's 4:30 am as I write this I can't be bothered to remember more titles.

- TV: There was some good TV, although recalling anything specific is escaping me at the moment. Oh, and I after something like twenty years, I finally sat down and watched the entire 1978 Captain Harlock TV series. Oh, and I finally got around to watching The Wire from beginning to end over the summer. Of course, HBO then decided to put the show out in HD after I finished it in SD.

- Gamergate: It was nice to see gamers finally stand up to the games sites that have spent the last few years lecturing their readers about how awful they think we are. I wasn't really an active participant, with all of the writing to advertisers and all of that. My attitude was stop going to the bad sites and stop linking to them and let them slowly get starved out. Despite this, I wound up on the Gamergate Twitter blacklist, which is something that makes me a little bit proud. Really though, I think the sites being so awful to their readers is a terrible business model. I don't know about anybody else, but I just want to enjoy games. I just want information about new games and when they're going to come out. What I don't want, as a reader, is to repeatedly be on the receiving end of a a sermon about why my being a heterosexual with a penis makes me evil and how terrible I am for wanting to enjoy the games I like.

So, I'm actually looking forward a bit to 2015. A new year is a chance to get things right, or to fuck them up in new and fresh ways.

Sometimes when life is shitty you've just got to get on with things. Like Kenshiro in Fist Of The North Star. His best friend poked a bunch of holes in his chest and kidnapped his girl. Did Ken give up and die? No, he gets up and proceeds to punch everybody he meets until they explode.

I think there's a lesson for 2015 in that.

The Story Of My Broke Ass Life

The Future Of Gaming Hidden In The Past Of Gaming

I'm playing an old NES RPG named Crystalis. It's pretty good. Although, I've just entered a town and all of the NPCs seem to be SJWs...