so, you know, craig brought his N64 to the new place (where andy and neal and i live now) the other day, and we've been having bond death matches with alarming frequency. we play it fairly often in single-player mode, too; when andy's not sleeping or playing starcraft on my computer (neal still hasn't fixed his), he's blowing people away ("terminate... with extreme prejudice") on the N64.

that's all well and good, i suppose, 'cause everybody's gotta pass the time somehow... i recall that i wasted far too much time this summer (hell, the whole last year!) sitting in front of my PC, soaking up electrons and getting a CRT-tan, under the guise of "programming...". to each his own, right? (now i'd prefer my own not to involve a computer, but old habits die hard.)

the trouble is that computer games worm their way into your mind. when you're not playing them, you see them in your sleep, you think about the strategies; once upon a time when i was addicted to tetris, i would see the pieces falling into place whenever i closed my eyes --- how horrific!

the last thing i learned in bond is that you're as good as dead if the security alarms go off, for that opens the floodgates on the apparently infinite supply of soviet infantry guys with bad aim and an eerily effective way of "walking off" those non-fatal gunshot wounds. the best way to stay alive is to keep your eyes peeled for the security cameras mounted on the little pivot things on the walls, and take them out from long range.

fast-forward back to real life, this morning at work, walking around on the first floor of building 035 at lexmark. i'm ambling along the hallway, circuit card in hand, headed towards a laboratory. i glance up, and out of the corner of my eye, i spy something, and my heart skips a beat and my adrenaline rushes, and every reflex in my body tells me to raise my silenced PP7 and blow away the wall-mounted security camera before it sees me...

 

i think i need to get out more.

Sep 15 1998 18:22