ANOTHER WORKING YEAR IS DONE
I'm going to a special place I visit every summer and have for as long as I can remember - my dad's birth home on the coast of northern Sweden. It's roughly an hour and a half drive away from my apartment, hidden in plain sight right outside a nature reserve and tourist spot. The occasional tourist just drive by, doesn't wave and is none the wiser.
You could not wish for a more picturesque, serene and invigorating place on the face of this planet. I grew up taking it for granted, but have matured to truly appreciate it for being a home away from home. I go there to rest up, wash away the static of the mind and find my bearings. It's like a world of its own, a place of rare beauty, completely enveloped by forest, a couple of small fields and a small ocean bay with its own archipelago and bathing spots. Boundless cliffs adorn the coastline interspersed with hidden beaches. This close to the arctic circle the summers are usually mild, bright and breezy, with the sun never setting enough for it to turn completely dark. The water is cold, almost painfully so, although last summer came with an all-time temperature high, at least for me. I've never bathed so much in my life.
My days will consist of jogging, fishing, boating, bathing, reading, hiking, listening to music and doing some of the standard household chores like mowing the lawn and help dad store the firewood for winter. I'll visit family I don't get to see nearly enough. This year, I'll likely be tasked with painting a few of the house's walls and doors. And in the midst of it all, I'll bring my laptop and mobile connection, allowing me to maintain contact with the madness of the surrounding world on a need-to-know basis only.
Not that I really feel the urge to, but it might be nice to know what's going on out there in the world, just to see what I'm leaving behind as I leave the city for a few weeks. This is how I recharge. I'm deeply introverted -- I always max out on introversion in personality tests -- and shy away from the biggest crowds. My personality might have been shaped by growing up like this, spending my summer breaks close to nature. I love it, and I've come to accept that I love it. I don't seek adventure in nature, I seek serenity. When I think of a blissful existance, the city is nowhere in sight, except maybe vaguely contoured on the horizon. Crowds of people do not belong to that picture, either - only the few dearest to me.
That being said, I'm not sure I'd want to live like that permanently, at least not for now. I'm not fond of driving, so I'd hate to commute to work, and it'd start feeling awfully lonely with few or no people around. I don't believe in absolute isolation from humankind, at least not for me. I see myself getting depressed under such circumstances.
That being said, I'm not sure I'd want to live like that permanently, at least not for now. I'm not fond of driving, so I'd hate to commute to work, and it'd start feeling awfully lonely with few or no people around. I don't believe in absolute isolation from humankind, at least not for me. I see myself getting depressed under such circumstances.
By the sound of it, my blog might suffer a bit as a result. That is not my intention. Actually, my goal is to write more than I've had time to do this spring. In the drone of everyday it's hard to find much time and energy to write. That should not be a problem in the upcoming weeks. The major hindrance will be sunny weather - I refuse to spend warm summer days indoors. The summers are very brief, and I shall force myself to restrict my screen time to poor weather and evenings.
And since my laptop is old, to say the least, I'll only be able to play retro games. I'll stick to the shorter experiences, and might try out some odd systems through emulating. I've got my mind set on the Amiga, the machine that cemented gaming as a hobby of mine, and was on the verge on making me a programmer. Needless to say, it is the machine that holds most of my nostalgic gaming memories. The ZX Spectrum was my first, but in that case I mostly remember longing for a better system as soon as I heard about them and saw the screenshots.
First, I'll write that Ni no Kuni review. Then an introduction to the Amiga. Then I'll begin by playing a game I know I'll beat in a sitting, namely Moonstone: A Hard Day's Knight (published by Mindscape in 1991), and review that. Then I'll take it from there, replaying and reviewing some childhood favorites. Flashback, Loom, D/Generation, Eye of the Beholder, Desert Strike, Chaos Engine, Sensible Soccer, Lotus, Superfrog and the Monkey Island games come to mind.
More suggestions would be appreciated! If you've got any, comment below. It doesn't have to be Amiga-related, but it needs to be at least the equivalent of a couple of console generations old.
More suggestions would be appreciated! If you've got any, comment below. It doesn't have to be Amiga-related, but it needs to be at least the equivalent of a couple of console generations old.
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