410: A Thumb

I have an excuse as to why the blog has not been updated for a couple of days; it's quite a relief to have a genuine reason (however convenient) other than just plain laziness. I've had an achy thumb. The ball of my thumb (the mount of Venus it's called, as I learned from reading Dr. No) has been killing me for a couple of days now: repetitive strain from my job, which involves a lot of thumb action, as does typing. On top of that I've recently got the Mega Drive emulator, Fusion, and been playing Toejam & Earl, Streets of Rage 2 and Road Rash 2. And Angry Birds on Google Chrome. I just closed my eyes and rubbed them, and could see a catapulted round bird bouncing off a tottering tower of wood and stone blocks. This might be a more accurate and honest account of why I've stumbled updating the blog. More for the catch-up bank.

It's now the first of October (are you listening, future generations?) and I am absolutely sweating my skin off – my entire epidermis is (not-)literally slipping off my sweaty skeletal system and pooling on the bed sheet. This is the beginning of the end of the world. Everything goes topsy-turvy (dogs and cats living together in harmony) Christmas will be in summertime like the Australians have it – then the world just stops. The 2012ers were (are? will be?) right with their fantastical, fatalistic, and flawed interpretation of the Mayan calendar (a subject which I just happen not to be an expert in). You'll see. Just look around and you'll discover that calendar manufacturers (a kabalistic, knowledgeable bunch) have opted out of printing 2012 calendars, and are instead putting all them money into canned food and shotguns.

Soon it'll be us who are endangered and the panda bears, with their weird different panda-thumbs, will be coming down from the trees and manipulating mouses and pushing buttons – converting everything from decimal into base-12 cos of their freaky five fingers and a pseudo-thumb on each hand. They are the Hitchhiker's Guide mice. Don't trust pandas. Or calendar manufacturers. Or Australians. Not for any reason; just as a precautionary measure. Stick to that rule and we may just eek out a subsistence post-2012. Good luck, god speed, live long and prosper.

Streets of Rage 1 is next to unplayable and extremely tedious, whereas Streets of Rage 2 is fantastic: great music, action, characters. Now that's progress. Soon I'll be ready to move on to Streets of Rage 3. Eventually I may move onto 32bit gaming, or whatever futuristic delights and wonders can be found beyond. You know, if there is time before the big heat death the world is free-wheeling into.