June 8, 2006
Get some
I play solitaire a lot. I play it on my phone when I'm waiting around. I play it at work (both the generic Windows version and the more sprightly Shockwave version through The Zone whether anyone is around or not. And I play it at home on my Mac. I even play with real cards on a table, but it's too easy to cheat that way. I'm kind of addicted to moving cards around, trying desperately to complete the suits to win the game. Ever since I got my first Mac, a Performa 550 back in 1994, I've been searching for the perfect solitaire game made for the Mac. And just a few months ago, I found it: Burning Monkey Solitaire. What's more is that the monkeys have been burning since 1996, and somehow I've remained ignorant to them. My regrets.
It's a great software that runs well on my aging iMac. It's reasonably priced and very cute to look at. There are lively characters in a theater setting who sit in the front row and watch the cards on stage, sometimes offering witty jokes and remarks, sometimes suggesting that I give up already. The whole package is made up of a couple dozen somewhat obscure variations of solitaire, but the standards—Klondike, Free Cell, Pyramid—are present. It will give me hours and hours of enjoyment while I sit at my desk and watch San Francisco pass me by.
Like, why the hell am I writing a review of software? And why am I spending so much time inside when I moved to this place to get out and do more things? I'm so sure. Raiders of the Lost Ark's last night at the Castro is tonight, and I'll be damned if I miss it because of incendiary simians qui jouent aux cartes. Jeez.
And then there's TiVo. Damn that thing for being so fun. I'm not even sick of the little bleeps and blurps it makes when you're moving around its interface. I haven't watched so much Star Trek—in all five flavors—at one time...I'm permanently scarred and frankly expecting to run into extraterrestrials on the street. But in the Bay Area, that's wholly possible, Star Trek or not. And I finally get to watch Oprah again! God bless her...
And then there's the San Francisco Movie Bears, from whom I receive a constant stream of reminders and invitations to movies, but to whom I have yet to respond. Yes, I admit that attending a Bear event of any kind is so overwhelming and intimidating that even though they're planning to gather for the opening night of the new Superman flick in IMAX, I'm still debating it. I'm nervous just thinking about it. Maybe I'll go anyway and hide out in the back. OMG, Becky. I am such a coward! Whatever. But I have to see that movie in IMAX because part of it is in 3D. Big yay on that one.
In less than a week, I'll be on my way to New York. I have no expectations, and I will have a guide with me to show me what I need to know, and I'm glad that it's only three days. I think more than that would overwhelm me a little.
When did I become so fucking fragile?
