Wanderlust with a Dash of Travel Anxiety

This is not really a geeky post because I cannot think of anything particularly geeky to write while sitting in the airport with noise swelling around me and a woman doing her nails a few seats down in the waiting area. I mean seriously who thinks it is a good idea to paint your nails in an airport waiting area, the smell of that stuff can be potent and potentially bothersome to to others. It is up there with spraying perfume in public spaces, put it on before you leave the house because I do not want to sit next to that on the plane. I digress.

So obviously I am in the middle of traveling and it has been a rushed journey to get here. I am just feeling anxious, because I almost always do before I travel. I think about what if I forgot something important, and what if my luggage does not get there, etc. Then do we have someone taking care of our cats and what if something happens at the house. A thousand different things will travel through my mind. At the same time I love to travel, or at least go to new and interesting places. My anxiety for travel only lasts until I either am on my final leg of a trip or get to my destination. There is a reason that around when I travel I tend to write about traveling because it is all I seem to think about. So in honor of the fact that I am traveling here are my top five places that I have visited and some of the travel stories to get there.

Steam Console – My Next Console?

I read a review the other day that got me thinking about what my next console is going to be. I discussed how one of my fundamental questions for a new console is around Dragon Age Inquisition, and how it isn’t going to allow for me to necessarily bring my save game world forward in the form of an import.

I’ve also talked about the fundamental question, do I buy a PC just to game with? Holly and I talk about how we have an Apple ecology in our home, and our main Microsoft product is our X-Box 360. A good one to have, to be sure, and with enough content for the moment to carry us out at least another year – and add to that the games we’re waiting to buy when the price drops, and a few remaining releases for the system like Lego Marvel Super Heroes and Lightning Returns, and what do we need a new console for anytime soon? Or the games we could play instead on a PC?

Found on http://gamemoir.com/2013/10/08/can-valves-steam-machine-rock-the-console-market/

While I had heard about the existence of the Steam Console elsewhere, it was this article on Gamemoir that really got me thinking: http://gamemoir.com/2013/10/08/can-valves-steam-machine-rock-the-console-market/ Maybe this is more than just an interesting new device from Valve. Maybe this is my next console.

Snow Villiers

One of my favorite characters from Final Fantasy XIII is Snow Villiers. His attitude is so contagious as you are playing the game. During Final Fantasy XIII Snow never lets anything hold him back. He is constantly trying to keep everyone’s spirits up and tries to make sense of the crazy things that are happening to them. He is practically a force of nature as he moves forward through the quests. He was also the best front man because he could do crazy damage and really take a hit.

So Final Fantasy XIII ends and Snow asks Sareh to marry him and even gets Lightning’s permission. Then in Final Fantasy XIII-2 everything has changed, Lightning has disappeared and only Sarah remembers, so Snow, believing in Sarah goes searching for her. In this second chapter Snow is definitely getting more worn and tattered at this point, but he is still the same person; pushing forward when all odds seem to be against him.

On On Being Nineteen by Stephen King

Today is my birthday, so I figure that means I get to write about what I want. Holly pointed out that I basically already do that, so maybe that doesn’t mean much.

Of course, being able to pick just anything to write about is not the easiest thing. It’d be easier to just write something basic. Just another post. Or else, to write just a completely geeking-out post about one of my favorite things. A lot of these ideas went through my head. But that got me thinking of a post I’ve been wanting to write, but I never knew what context to put it in. Stephen King’s concept of nineteen.

I’m turning 29, so I’m a decade out from nineteen myself. And yet, the further I get from it, the more that King seems to be right. And a birthday is just the thing to put into context this idea. So read on, and join me in considering that most interesting of ages, 19.

Recommended Reading: Scott Westerfeld

An author that I discovered some years back is Scott Westerfeld. I do not even remember how I first found the initial book I read by him. I think it might have been completely by chance while at a Barnes and Noble and I ran across a table with books for young adults and found Uglies. Obviously I decided to buy it and I fell in love with the book. Of course it was the first part of a trilogy and it does not end in a way that really gives you closure. It ends in a way that makes you want to read more. So I got the rest of the series.

Then I discovered a few more books that Westerfeld has written and I have loved every one. He has written more for young adults, but the couple of books he wrote for adults (that I know of) were really good. So here are the Scott Westerfeld series that I have read and recommend.