One Strand at a Time

The attractive, middle-aged barber found a little something during my visit last night.

"Oh, you have some white hair here!"

"Really?" I feigned surprise. I've long noticed a freak white hair on my left temple but I thought that was it. Turns out I had a harboured a couple more white fugitives behind my left ear as well.

"Yeah!," she replied, a little more cheerful than I would have preferred. "Are you making a lot of money?"

Interesting. White hairs as an indication of wealth. I suppose it made sense. Age made for experience, experience made for a higher income. I wondered for a second if it was a Chinese phenomenon, to immediately link signs of aging to wealth. To my dismay, I remembered how out of the loop I was with my own culture and was also reminded about my career's perpetual malaise. "Oh no, I'm not," was all I could muster. I smiled weakly, "I wish I was."

That was only partially true.

I just want to do work that challenges and satisfies me.

The white hairs are not a big deal. I don't plan on going out of my way to hide them. I just don't let being reminded about my limited time on this earth.

Playing with My Box

It's been while since the days I would get home from work or school, drop everything and dive right into an entire evening of gaming madness. Since acquiring the Xbox 360 last month, I've been able to stave off these long winter nights in my lazy boy recliner blasting terrorists, blasting aliens, blasting rootin' tootin' bandits or blasting coloured, exploding jewels.

I wrote at length about my checkered video console history just prior to Christmas and the last thing I want to do is turn 500WPD into another video games blog. The last console I owned was the Nintendo Super NES and I have to say... Hot Damn, these game systems have come a long way, baby. I could wax poetic for several paragraphs about any number of impressive features sported by the Xbox 360, which I'll refer to as My Box from here on in (no, it's not terribly clever or funny, but I'll do it anyway).

I could gush about how even on my lowly standard-definition TV set, the graphics on these new games range from pretty to utterly jaw-dropping. I could comment on how the design of My Box looks like it was ripped straight out of Apple's product design manual. I could blubber on about how the controllers feel and operate like butta and have wireless capabilities built right in. It goes without saying, once you have gone wireless, there's no going back to tripping over tangled controller wires in your living room. I could also yap about how nifty the online player matchmaking service is and how amazing it is to be able to chat with other players with a headset while gaming, right out of the box. Did I mention that I can use My Box as a media center, streaming smut wholesome video and music directly into my living room?

Well, there would be just too much to cover. My Box has definitely wowed me. I've always been sort of plugged in to the gaming culture by way of the PC and regular visits to blogs like Kotaku, Joystiqu and Destructoid. But now that I'm fully in it, well.. it feels nice join the club. My Box has changed my habits around the house. Instead of being holed up in my bedroom surfing the web and sending naughty messages, I night have been centered around the living and kitchen. It's like quitting smoking by taking up the bottle. Bad analogy, but that's what it sort of feels like. And by god, don't it feel good.

Now who's up for a game of Ghost Recon?

Edit (Jan.24th, 2007): So it appears my new gaming habit has preempted my already infrequent blogging schedule. What I have done is exacerbate the situation even more by starting up my gaming blog, Play With My Box. If you're truly hard up for some entertainment and just need to read something written by yours truly, you can find it at: http://playmybox.blogspot.com

Back in the Saddle - 2007

I took a short break from blogging to accommodate a little something called Christmas and New Years. Hope everyone had a great angst-y two weeks with the familial relations and enjoyed the many gustatory delights that the holidays bring.

I plan to return to the old rhythm of postings, which is to say, highly irregular postings on unpredictable topics. It's a new year and I'd like to bring in a fresher and stronger voice to this here blog than ever before. How I plan to do this is still a mystery, go figure.

It is late where I am (about 1:24 in the AM), so I'll return in the daylight with my first substantial post of 2007. It will probably be the conclusion to my ode to the Xbox, but hey, I'll make it worth your time.