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Alone and Abroad

6/13/2014

2 Comments

 
Two weeks ago I arrived home from a tour through Austria and the Czech Republic with the current members and numerous alumni of my college chapel choir. What I want to tell you is that I had a thoroughly amazing time and loved every minute of it. Honestly, sincerely, I want that to be the truth, and I've thrown out two different drafts of this post because my feelings about the trip are so mixed that I can't provide a truthful assessment without explaining the entire story, which is something better suited to speaking with me in person. The concise version is this: while I'm glad to have met so many great people, sung in so many memorable venues, and traveled to a few new places—and the last few days truly were as amazing as I'd hoped they'd be—it took me far too long to get my head in the right place for the trip.

Initial preparations for the trip began months and months ago, and as is typical of me, I couldn't start getting excited about the trip until every piece was in place...which didn't happen until a few hours before the flight, thanks to some cashier's failure to remove the big honkin' anti-theft tag on the back of my tuxedo jacket, which had somehow gone noticed until I was packing my bag the day before I left. Up until I got on the plane, it was gotta pay for the trip, gotta get a tuxedo, gotta get time off from work, gotta find a way to and from the airport, gotta pack, gotta budget for meals and souvenirs, gotta brush up on the local languages, gotta...etc. Once I got on the plane, it was don't die on the plane, don't die on the plane. Once we landed, it was ugh, I need a nap, I need a shower, I should've packed differently for this stifling heat wave. Once I had time to rest and freshen up, it was holy cow, I only know, like, eight people on this trip, and there's almost a hundred of us; I want to get to know everyone and swap stories and find the right people to hang out with, but I've got to do the "Hello, my name is..." speech a few dozen times first, and I'm already starting to feel a bit of social overload.

It wasn't until I'd met the majority of the group and started to build a rapport with most of them that the trip really took off for me. Most of the places we visited (primarily Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague) were places I'd been before (which means I'm officially an experienced world traveler somehow), so that initial "ooh, aah" factor was often absent. I'm also extremely self-sufficient after my college semester abroad in Spain, so returning to a tour group mentality—especially a tour group so huge that we cause comical traffic jams in tiny European villages when we cross the street together—felt more restrictive than it would've otherwise. Together, these factors resulted in the quality of the company and the structure of our itinerary—along with the music, of course—being the driving factors in my enjoyment of the trip.

The neat thing, though, is that everybody got along—we all had the university and the choir in common, but there's a certain level of friendliness and respect that nearly all of the members I've ever sung with have shared. We had participants from as far back as the class of 1948 if I heard correctly, yet there was never any sense of an age barrier or any other kind of divide between us. Sure, we frequently broke off into the social groups we knew, but I spent just as much time with my peer group as I did with the young'uns and the retirement crowd. It took a while to feel out which people were similarly minded when it came to going sightseeing or finding a place to eat, but I never had a problem getting along with anyone.

Sightseeing, shopping, and socializing weren't the real draw of the trip, however; getting to sing one last time with my college conductor before his retirement was. Attending this concert tour was never a question; I was resolved to be a part of this from the first time he talked about it, back when I was still in college. This is the kind of man who could invite you to sing at the edge of an active volcano, and your first question would be, "full concert dress, or those silver fire proximity suits?" Singing in the choir under his direction was a remarkable joy and privilege, and it remains one of the most meaningful parts of my college career. I wouldn't miss this for the world.

Again, there were hurdles to my enjoyment: a number of seemingly avoidable logistical issues impacted the length and timing of our rehearsals; I developed a sinus infection halfway through; and one of the masses we sang was brand-new to me, and despite my best efforts to practice at home (aided only by YouTube videos and my wife's electronic keyboard), performing the 30-minute work was extremely strenuous for someone who was still kinda figuring it out as he went. All I wanted to do was show up, run around a foreign country with fun people, and make amazing music. The trip continued to improve as I got to know people better and started putting the "Do Something About It" policy into full effect, and I was genuinely loving tour by the end of it. Being there for our director's emotional final concert in a church with gorgeous acoustics, and spending time with him and half the other participants at the hotel's patio lounge afterwards (with a lovely view of the city of Prague), made the trip for me. The rest was just gravy.

I mean that literally and figuratively. Almost all of our group dinners consisted of meat with sauce. Beef in gravy, pork in gravy, etc. It got to the point where I started calling the first country we visited "Meat With Saucetria." Even our airplane food was in on the joke, both ways.

When I returned from the trip, I had four straight days of unadulterated vacation time. No work, no obligations, no plans of any kind. Even my wife was out of the equation, for she wouldn't be returning from her trip until early the following week. Do you know how rare that is? Since I moved a few years back, most of my time off from work has been spent traveling to see the people I miss. Since my wife left her old job and started an Etsy shop, I've had someone else with me in the apartment at all times—and while it's the woman I love, I'm also more of an introvert than I let on. I get "Me Time," but I seldom get alone time. To use a geeky and awkwardly wordy analogy, being in a different room from my wife is to having the house to myself as calling your mother in EarthBound to cure homesickness is to actually returning home and seeing her in person. For the first time since, I think, 2010, I had an honest-to-goodness vacation—which, to me, means not leaving the house for anything or engaging in any kind of social activity unless I really want to. I returned to work that Monday feeling more relaxed and energized than I had in years.

All things in moderation, however. Despite my enthusiasm for an empty home and an open schedule, that's not how I want to live the rest of my life. I got married for a reason. I go on all these road trips to see friends and family for a reason. It's just that my social time and quiet time are completely out of balance. I always think of The Sims, where my Social meter—the one for me that'd fill up the fastest and deplete the slowest—would be almost constantly maxed out. Fortunately, it's never at the expense of my Hygiene meter, but the time spent keeping Social topped off has to come from somewhere.

This drastic break from my routine—these reminders of what it was like to be in college, to travel the world, to be single—was refreshing and invigorating. It helped me to appreciate again the things I've started taking for granted, and to recognize what's been missing from my life. Spending time with people younger, my age, and older than me renewed my perspective on where I've been, where I am, and where I'm going. Being away from my wife so long drove home just how deeply we care about each other. Singing with a choir again reinforced the growing sentiment that I need to sing—music is an integral part of who I am, though you don't often see me writing about it. When my wife and I moved, we thought of it as only a temporary arrangement; no sense in putting down roots by finding a church, joining a choir, making friends, etc. if we were going to pack up and go in a couple of months. That was three years ago. I'm joining a choir.

As our guide on the trip said, travel changes people. Whatever else the tour and my vacation time at home may have been, I can say unquestionably that they have changed me for the better.
2 Comments

My Little Pony: Friendship Is an Affront to Everything I Believe in and Should Be Purged from this Earth with Fire

6/10/2014

8 Comments

 
I am not what you would consider a "Brony." I've watched one episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and I did so only because my YouTube fans started asking me questions about this show I'd never seen. My wife speaks very highly of the show, and I've been in the room from time to time when she's been watching an episode, but that is the extent of my knowledge. It seems like a cute, family-friendly show with high production values and smart writing that could appeal to children and adults alike, provided whimsical adventures and anthropomorphic ponies aren't outside their taste range. It also seems that appearances are deceiving, because the way some other YouTube viewers talk about it, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is the antichrist.

Right, because I remember the part of the book of Revelation that warns about the cutie mark of the beast.

As you may recall, my wife and I recorded a blind playthrough of Mega Pony, a fan-made PC game that very successfully crosses Mega Man with My Little Pony. Initial reactions to the videos ranged from bewildered to enthusiastic, but the general response was positive, regardless of people's opinions on ponies. Suddenly, I'm receiving one harsh comment after another from people who hate My Little Pony, think the Mega Man franchise is being destroyed by association, and have nothing but contempt for anyone who even sympathizes with fans of the show. Senator McCarthy, your legacy is alive and well.

So you don't like the show. Fine. So you're tired of seeing ponies slapped over top of everything anyone has ever loved (seriously, try Googling "My Little Pony" with any other noun and see how long it takes until you don't get any valid hits). Fine. Gripe about those things if you have to; don't swear at me in all caps, scream about how awful this well-designed game is because it exists at all, and disrespect the fans who have gone out of their way to be polite to you despite your arrogant comments. I've dealt with plenty of trolls and have seen plenty of arguments on the Internet, but such violent contempt for an uplifting cartoon about friendship and happiness is startling and does not speak well to the future of our species.

Maybe everyone would calm down if I spontaneously burst into a song about thinking before you speak and being kind to others. That works in real life, doesn't it?
8 Comments

Retrospective: May 2014

6/1/2014

4 Comments

 
I'm back from a week and a half in Europe, having rejoined my college choir for one last tour with our conductor before his retirement. You would think something like that would be perfect blog fodder, but chances are good that I'll be spending my time plowing through some longstanding side projects instead over the next few weeks. Ah, but this post is supposed to be looking back at the past! Here's what I was up to in May (aside from traveling, singing, overdosing on goulash, etc.):

This Blog:

As is often the case, my posts here were few, but a good amount of thought and effort went into creating them. Well, except maybe the Retrospective, which is always the easy one.

-
Retrospective: April 2014
-
Mass Defect 2
- Cake or Death, but Hold the Raspberry Sauce

GameCola:

One of my favorite parts of any creative endeavor is coming up with a title for my work. This was definitely one of the more fun ones to piece together, and I like the way the article turned out, too.

-
GC Podcast #50 on YouTube: Wait, GameCola Faithful, Let’s Get Matt Jonas Halfway Upset Over This Poor British Ocarina Invasion

YouTube:

A good month for videos! I transferred over the rest of the previously published Final Fantasy RPGcast to YouTube, plus I released a genuine new installment of my Mega Man 7 playthrough that, at this point, I've been working on almost longer than the game has existed. Or so it feels.

GeminiLaser:
-
Mega Man 7 - Part 6: Bungle in the Junk-gle

GCDotNet:
-
Final Fantasy RPGcast - Part 3: The Lost Chapter
- Final Fantasy RPGcast - Part 4: Mad Little Pony
- Final Fantasy RPGcast - Part 5: Legends of the Fiendish Temple
- Final Fantasy RPGcast - Part 6: Forget Pancakes; Let's Cook the Town

The Backloggery:

I needed a little "comfort gaming," if you will, to calm my nerves before launching into the most travel-intensive portion of my trip abroad, so I fired up a new port of an old favorite in order to get my fix while still chipping away at my video game backlog. I also took a crack at the one game on the list that'll probably make you raise an eyebrow if you're unfamiliar with it as the text-only precursor to the first Leisure Suit Larry game. Well, that might be eyebrow-worthy anyhow. You'll notice I took that same game off the list—when your text parser forces you to input excessively exact phrases because it doesn't recognize such basic words as "LOOK" and "TALK," it's time to move on. My enthusiasm for vintage games only goes so far.

Started:
- Mass Effect 3  (Origin)
- Mega Man Battle Network 3 White  (GBA)
- Softporn Adventure  (PC)

Beat:
- Mass Effect 2  (Origin)
- Mega Man 4  (VC)

Completed:
- Mega Man 4  (VC)

Removed:
- Softporn Adventure  (PC)

Oh hey, guess it's time to change my calendar over to June already, huh?
4 Comments

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