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I really love to play video games. Some people consider them a waste of time; I consider them an interactive art form. Plus, I'm really into technology.

There's this super-fun tower defense game I've been playing lately called Defense Grid, in which you're fighting evil aliens with the help of your Jarvis-esque computer buddy, who used to be human and had his consciousness downloaded into a computer. You learn more of his tragic story as the game goes on (the voice acting is wonderful), and it really draws you in emotionally. But the game is also fucking hard, especially this last level I'm stuck on now. I'm caught between my tenacious refusal to stop trying and the feeling that it would be nice to succeed at something for once. (Here is the diagram I had to make to try to beat this f^&*ing level:)



But the expansion packs are even harder, and there's no more Jarvis story in them, which seriously kills it by about 50% for me. :-( I mean, I like a good tower defense game, a lot, but a story makes a big difference. And this also counts for my 100 Days of Happy Day #6!

Another good tower defense game is Toy Defense. Toy Defense is a war game based on technology of the early 20th century, in which you ... basically kill scores of enemy soldiers in WWI/WWII scenarios. Hence the prominence of "Toy" in the title, the careful placement of obviously plastic toy war-game items on a "game board," and spinning wind-up knobs on the enemies' backs, because otherwise, it would be an intensely disturbing game. It's challenging and fun and frustrating and kind of creepy, but empty-feeling in the end, because it has no story. Plants Vs. Zombies, Garden Defense, and Defense Grid are all tower defense games that have good stories to go along with them, which makes them immensely more fun. I recommend any of those games to any of you who like playing that kind of game.

In other news, my SPN-cover EW still hasn't arrived yet. :-(

There was actually something that happened tonight that rather redeemed accidentally running over a snake. septembers_coda and I were just leaving her brother's house after an excellent evening of anime-viewing. As I opened the driver's-side door, I saw something earthworm-sized crawling past my foot. Very quickly I knew it was no earthworm--it was moving too fast! It was a little baby garter snake!

Naturally, it dashed under the car--then when I attempted to chase it out with a long weed, it curled up against then UNDER the rear wheel. Self-preservation is not the strong suit for snakes around here, evidently.

Fortunately, septembers_coda is the snake whisperer. It was too tiny for either of us to grab off the pavement without hurting it, but with some nudging, she was able to collect it in her hands. He was so fierce, opening his mouth REALLY wide, all ready to fight. When we finally got it, we carried it far into the grass and made sure it was headed the other direction before hurrying out of there lest he yet again decide the car was his refuge.

We saved a baby snake! It really helps a girl feel better.

Originally posted by milly_gal at Self Rec Saturdays

It's Throwback Thursday at amilliondays, where you post about something that USED to make you happy, even if you can't imagine ever being into it now! (Or even if you can.)

Here is mine:

HE-MAN AND SHE-RA. I used to watch both shows religiously every day when I got home from middle school. (Then, Voltron, but that's another post.) I even got my (much older) brother into them. She-Ra was probably the better show, but they were both all kinds of cheesy and ridiculous. (And imagine our delight when a live-action He-Man movie, starring Dolph Lundgren, came out not long later! Except it turned out to be really quite, uhhmmm ... S & M.)

I won't subject you to lots of pictures of He-Man (although please do yourself a favor and google "he-man cosplay" images); rather, I will share with you two videos, one a hilarious spoof video from a few years ago somebody made and put online of He-Man and friends singing a modern dance song:



And on what for me is a more poignant note, the full-length song from the pilot episode of She-Ra, a song which my brother hunted down on tape and got for me (not an easy feat, and he did it partly because he simply thought it was a great song), and which, years later, a friend in college was just as into (having gotten into it on his own, also being a big He-Man/She-Ra fan). It really is musically great, if you can get past all the silly sound effects and the Casiotone production:

For my first official entry in the Hundred Days of Happiness meme, I'm gonna share something that always makes me happy, in part because it combines three things I love: s_c, SpringLea, and gishwhes!

This was for the gishwhes item: "Make an action movie trailer. The main star: a pot roast." This one always makes me laugh.