Remus Shepherd

Uh-oh, I think I may have injured my back more seriously than normal. 'Normal' involves sore muscles and a dysfunction that affects my left leg. I've gotten that under control again with my exercise routine. But a new, sharp, persistent pain in the center of my spine might be a herniated disk. Not my first. At least I know what to do; baby my back, use painkillers and ice packs liberally, and work on strengthening the core torso muscles. If anyone has any other advice, I'm listening.

These things always happen when I'm sleeping, for some reason. If I could stay awake all the time then I bet I'd never have back problems. ;)

Between work, drawing, critiquing, and playing video games, I've been sitting down too much and my back hurts like hell. So much so, that I had a dream last night where I got my ass kicked by a god.

It wasn't a bad dream, really. You don't get to fight a god every day. I just hope the rematch isn't until after I recuperate a bit.

So...Diablo 3. Capsule review: It's...meh.

I got it yesterday afternoon, and had a nice chat with the excited young man at the cash register who wanted to know what class I would be playing. (Witch Doctor, at first -- I like pet classes.) Then I got home, installed it, and with my blood pumping I started the game up.

But I couldn't play. You might know already that, as an anti-piracy measure, D3 is only playable when connected to the internet, even though it is largely a single-player game. That means that approximately six million people were trying to log in yesterday afternoon, and Battle.net went kablooey. I knew about the 'always connected' schtick in advance, but I had faith that Blizzard -- makers of WoW -- would be able to handle the influx of login requests. I was wrong.

A couple hours later they did fix the server, and I was able to log in and play for about four hours before Battle.net melted down again and kicked me off for the night. I got my Witch Doctor to 11th level and I have a good feel for the game so far, so I'm confident saying that it's...fair. Just fair.

Character builds are so simplified, you might as well be playing Pokemon. The UI is even more locked-in, with no quick weapon switching and very limited hotkeys. Weapons almost do not matter -- all your character's skills deal damage based on the weapon you're holding, but you can't actually swing the weapon unless a skill tells you that you can. So a Wizard might have a very nice sword, and that sword somehow makes the Wizard's fireball more dangerous, but the Wizard can't actually hit someone with the sword. It's a nonsensical, overly-simplified design.

The enemies and maps are new versions of the 12-year old D2 terrain, which is fine, but they don't look significantly better than the previous versions. The storyline is almost identical to D2. (There are differences, but whether I'm chasing a soulstone or a falling star doesn't mean a hell of a lot.) To a large extent, D3 is a reskinned D2 with less character options and an auctionhouse.

I poked around the auctionhouse but I don't have a lot to say about it. I won't be spending real money there, but I might grab things with in-game gold when I have some to spend.

But worst of all, D3 is pretty boring so far. There are long stretches of travel (at jogging speed) to get to new areas. The areas are pretty linear, so there's little opportunity to explore. Fights are over in seconds -- and I am not using one of the fast-killing classes. I haven't died yet; in fact, I think I've sipped health potions only three times. Even my old habit of destroying every barrel in existence bores me now, as 90% of them contain nothing.

Maybe this will all change when I get to higher level. I've heard that Act I is essentially a tutorial. But based on what I've seen so far, this game is just...meh.

I'd give Blizzard credit for their usual polished perfection except for the server problems, and for a bug I found that deactivated every button in the options menu, forcing me to close the game in my Task Manager. So it's not just dumbed-down, sporadically playable, and boring, it's buggy as well.

This might be Blizzard's first epic fail.

I'll keep playing -- I've mentioned before how I hate not finishing games for which I have paid money. But unless things change, the replay appeal of D3 is going to be around zero for me. Considering the previous games in this franchise, that's a crippling flaw.

Well, at least there's September to look forward to. Borderlands 2, save us...you're our only hope. ;)

Slight TMI warning, here. :)

It's bug season, here on the Great Plains. The moths are flocking together in clouds that blot out the moon...or more likely, my porch light. Along with the moths are mayflies and big, fat beetles that I haven't identified yet. The mosquitos and ladybugs will appear later in the season.

I have a system for handling them. Don't leave the doors or windows open at night; when I must open the door for the dogs, do it quickly. Still, some bugs get indoors. That's why I leave a light on in my kitchen, as far away from the bedroom as possible. Then the moths and mayflies will congregate there, die peacefully, and be swept up off my countertop the next morning.

However, some of these stupid, suicidal insects are diabolically sinister.

Last night when I went to bed, I saw a beetle flying in my bedroom. This is a problem. If I am awake in the bedroom then the light is on, which means any insects there are going to stay there. If the light is off then I am asleep, and I can't guarantee any insects are going to find their way out of the bedroom instead of into my snoring mouth.

These beetles are not something you want in your mouth. They're about an inch long, fat and round, with hard, metallic bodies and no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. They fly into walls with a hard thud, then crawl across the floor until someone squashes them underfoot. Even moths have more sense than these hard-shelled morons. They're like oversized, stupider japanese beetles, without even stag beetle pincers to give them the appearance of something respectable.

As soon as I saw the beetle in my bedroom, I stepped out to get a paper towel to grab it and throw it outside. When I got back in, the beetle had disappeared. I looked around a while, flopped my comforter a couple times, and finally decided that it had flown out. So I stripped -- I sleep nude -- and crawled into bed.

Five seconds later I reached down to scratch an itch and found an inch-long beetle clinging to my scrotum.

Now, my record for saying 'fuck' used to be somewhere around fifty times in a minute. When I grabbed that beetle, I'm pretty sure I beat that record. (The trick, I find, is to give it a rhythm, like 'fuckitty fucking fuck-fuck'.)

Most insects I catch in the house are harmlessly released outside. This one got flushed down the toilet. I spent the next thirty minutes in bed cursing and scratching myself all over, because my skin itched everywhere. It still does in places.

I'm going to have to identify this beetle, and if it isn't a beneficial species then my new policy is going to be 'crush on sight'. It's been a while since any species on the ranch made my shit list, but these guys just earned it.

From Mitt Romney's website, by way of the Edittorrent blog:

"As president, Mitt will work to expand and enhance access and opportunities for Americans to hunt, shoot, and protect their families, homes and property,...."

Think of it as a sci-fi audiobook that will leave you rolling.



Believe it or not, some people say that science fiction can't be funny. Listen to the whole thing, it's chock full of good bits.

I have the strangest urge to pee on my carpet. It's been over a week since I've cleaned up any urine in my house. I just want to pee on my floor, just a little, for old times sake. :)

The Avengers movie is very good and very funny. It made me laugh, which is what I needed.

I'm feeling almost normal. Still have moments of ...well, I still have moments.

Angel seems almost happier now that she has my complete attention. See, the difference between Squire and Angel is that Squire thought he was human and he insisted on dictating his terms to the world. The world might not listen, but he never stopped asserting his dignity. Angel, however, is happy to be a dog. She wants to be the queen of dogs, but she is happy to have humans feed her, take care of her, and to give her orders.

I have a ton of stuff to do in the next month. Critiques galore, reading assignments for the workshop, and I have to build the webcomic buffer before my trip. I'll try to keep journalizing, just to keep my hand in.

I feel much better today. Still sad, but better, for two reasons. One is that I got some solid sleep last night for the first time in over a week.

But second, the vet -- on his own initiative -- did some bloodwork on Squire. I love my country vet, he's very practical if sometimes not very sensitive. He found that Squire had waste products like creatinine, urea, and phosphorous that were ten times normal levels. In my vet's opinion, Squire's kidneys had shut down and he was dealing with severe organ failure and possibly multiple cancers. In other words, extreme old age. It must have been going on for a while. The little guy was trooping along fine until it got to be too much for him.

The upshot is that I made the right decision. That makes me feel much better.

I had a little sanity slip last night where I went out on my porch and yelled at the stars, scolding the gods and instructing them on how to properly treat honored guests. That was all before I got some sleep, so...yeah. I feel much better now.