Imagination Sold and Serviced Here

I took two weeks off work in December, not so much that I had vacation plans but that I wanted to see what it was like to not work for two weeks. Turns out it's pretty awesome. And, depending on how you look at it you might even think I accomplished a thing or two.

Shadow Box. See previous blog.

Time with family. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Karen and the kids. Santa brought the kids Rock Band II, with two guitars, a drum set, two mics, Lego Rock Band, and the piece de resistance called Beatles Rock Band. We had a great time rockin out. Every one of them have turned out to be professional-grade rockers, including Lucy and Karen on guitar. (I caught Karen on more than one occasion stealing upstairs to play "just a song or two".)

Just-opened Rock Band

Lucy rockin out

Downtown excursion. We explored the downtown Houston tunnels, found something to eat, and enjoyed a really awesome rendition of The Nutcracker at the Wortham Theater Center. We entered at the top and walked down fairly steep steps into our row of balcony seats. Randy experienced a bit of vertigo coming into the theater, and we thought he might not make it through the show. He sat beside me, not the least bit interested in being there, but once the show started he actually watched, and daresay enjoyed it.

The kids at the Wortham Center

Lucy in the balcony, awaiting the start of The Nutcracker.

Game day. We had a full day of gaming with the Gardner family. The whole clan came over to the house and we had a great time. We played Die Macher most of the day while the kids played upstairs on Rock Band, Runebound, and so forth. I learned I'm not cut out to be 'die macher'; that title went quite handily to Chad.

Karen contemplates her next move on Bandu.

Z Machine. This is not a German vernacular but refers to Frotz, the game interpreter I spent hours and hours running over the holiday. I discovered the free download on iPhone app on the Apple Store. Turns out Frotz can run Zork and any other Z-based program.

(Cut scene. Fade into my boyhood bedroom, where as a young teenager I spent hours and hours playing Zork on my Commodore 64.) Try as I might, my 1980's young genius mind was not able to solve all of puzzles found in the Zork game. (Zoom onto my boyish hands and fade out as they pound the keyboard in frustration, the thief having just slit my virtual throat with his virtual stiletto knife.)

Some of you older farts might recall those old text-based games ... Zork being one of the most popular. (Geeks: Frotz is an open-source Z Machine Interpreter.) In these games, there are no graphics. The fun is left to the glowing words on the screen and your imagination. Input is in the form of words, phrases, and sentence. ("Pick up lantern" "Open the mailbox." "Climb the tree") In my opinion Zork is one of the best computer games ever made, and I had a blast playing it again after all these years.

A highlight was completely mapping out the maze, which I never understood all those years ago. I spent hours and hours more solving puzzles, but after several days focused effort I was still not victorious. I read a hint site or two to confirm with satisfaction how much I had solved, but disheartened at just how much was still left to be conquered. I made the sad but careful decision to put the game away, for now. I'm not through with you yet, Zork. Maybe when I'm 50 or 60 I'll pull you out again, and conquer what remains of your puzzles and surprises. One eye open.

Buckets O Fun. We had lots of other fun this holiday, but I'll spare you some of the details and just highlight: Pillars of the Earth board game, Sherlock Holmes movie, Avatar movie, Alamo Drafthouse calzones, tickling Lucy, Tyler "Jimi Hendrix" Welker on guitar, Randy on Tribes 2, Emily's hugs (and her really awesome hand-made gift of pieces for Agricola!)... Suffice to say it was a great vacation.

Now, before everyone comes home, I'd better go find a guitar, a mic, and that Beatles game. "Ooh I need your love, Babe. Guess you know it's true...."