Posted by Becca In: , ,

Unexpected Side Effects

So lately I've been very committed to getting healthier (and more importantly back into my expensive jeans that I haven't been able to squeeze myself into for ages). This has involved being very motivated to work out and eat properly. The exercise and the eating healthy is working out pretty well for me - I've been feeling more energetic during the day, I'm seeing some progress on the scale, and most importantly, I'm really proud of myself. It's a great feeling.

That being said, there has been a rather unexpected side effect. I call it CBHS - CheeseBurger Hallucination Syndrome. Some of the symptoms of CBHS are as follows:

1.) Believing that any meal can be improved with the addition of cheeseburgers.

Example:

Dinner has been prepared, a lovely Asian soup. Jordan takes a bite, and turns to me, mentioning that he's not sure about one of the spices, and asks what do I think would make it taste better? I'm looking into my bowl, and all I see is -
"CHEESEBURGERS," I blurt out.

Jordan raises his eyebrows at me. "Cheeseburgers would make it taste better?"

"Cheeseburgers," I confirm, suddenly unable to speak any other word. "Cheeseburgers."

2.) Randomly finding yourself pulling into fast food drive throughs with no memory of how you got there.

Example:

I'm driving home from work, singing along with Cobra Starship, idly thinking about my day, and I'm planning to go immediately to my apartment complex gym when I get home. I glance down for a second to change the volume on my stereo, but when I look up I find myself staring at the McDonald's drive through menu. My window is open, and the McDonald's employee is politely asking me what I would like to order. I'm stunned. I open my mouth, intending to explain that I've changed my mind, but what comes out is...

"Cheeseburgers. Lots of cheeseburgers."

3.) Inanimate objects appear to be cheeseburgers.

Example:

I'm playing Resident Evil 5 on my Playstation 3, completely absorbed in killing things before I run out of ammo. I've just had a snack of baby carrots and an apple, and I'm not particularly hungry. I glance down at my controller and freeze. Instead of my controller, I'm holding a beautiful, juicy, perfect cheeseburger. My eyes widened, and I slowly lifted it up, mouth opening, preparing to take a huge bite, when -

"Becca, what are you doing?"

I glance over at Jordan, then back at the cheeseburger, feeling a pang of sadness and loss when I realize it's changed back into a PS3 controller. "Nothing," I mutter. "Just wishing I had a cheeseburger..."

It's very important to be wary of CBHS. This dangerous syndrome can also occur with other foods as well - the nasty shock you get when taking a bite of low fat cottage cheese expecting it to be marshmallows is rather disturbing.

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Posted by Becca In: ,

The great and wonderful DOSBox

This weekend I was on the phone with my mom, trying to remember the name of a game we used to play almost twenty years ago.

"It was that one, you know, with the knights, and they're running around Spain, and the intro music goes dun duuuun dun dun... we had that giant map that we kept having to look at!"

Fortunately Mom knew exactly what I was talking about since I'm pretty sure most people would have written me off as a raving lunatic at that point.

Thus I set off on my Mission - to find and download Vengeance of Excalibur, a 1991 DOS RPG. My shiny Playstation 3 sat unused and neglected as I curled up on the sofa and took a trip down memory lane. DOSBox, a handy DOS emulator, allowed me to experience old favorites from the early '90s just the way I remembered them. Vengeance of Excalibur, Prophecy of the Shadow, Zork text adventures, King's Quest...

Don't get me wrong - I love our newer video games, with their hyper-realistic graphics, their smooth gameplay and control schemes, their good (and bad) voice acting... but there is definitely something to be said for our old favorites. Sitting in front of a computer typing commands into a text based RPG can be just as satisfying as staring dumbstruck at the latest Final Fantasty CGI cutscenes.

You also tend to notice things about older games that you may not have noticed when you first played them. Like how King's Quest V is really a story about one man's EPIC acid trip.



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