Off Balance

In my usual style, I shall start with something irrelevant and trivial - to lull you into a false sense of security – and then move into the real post of the day.


Retro Con

I purchased a PC CD compilation of retro-games on Sunday from HMV. The old classic video games are still great, and although you can download most of them off the net (via the MIME system), I thought it would be easier (and would avoid any copyright issues) if I spent a few quid on a proper disk. The front cover features Pac-Man (being chased by ghosts), Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Galaxians, Asteroids, Defender, Missile Command and Centipede. The back of the box tells me that the CD contains the original versions of all these classic games and many more.

It’s a con.

The CD is just a bad collection of terrible shareware files from 1992. Most of the files don’t work. Those that do work run at quirky speeds and look shit. To cap it all off, the clunky versions of Space Invaders and Galaxians - that actually bear some resemblance to the originals – end after level three. I get a screen message telling me that I need to send $10 to some bedroom computer programmer in California, who will email me the full version.

The CD will be returned to HMV with a tongue-lashing.

I am practising aggressively jabbing my finger at the box and uttering the words “Trade Descriptions Act”…


Gran Has Cancer

Her biopsy results came back yesterday. She has cancer of the womb lining. She goes in for a scan tomorrow and then into hospital on Sunday, for an operation on Monday. I guess it’s a full hysterectomy. I am feeling hollow, scared and upset. I’ve already lost one gran through cancer, and the spectre of losing another is frightening. I’ve been dreading this sort of news for years, and despite thinking I was prepared for it last week, it’s a hammer-blow.

Gran of course is putting her usual brave face on things and seems relatively positive about it. She just wants to get the operation over with and “things sorted out”.

I am praying that the cancer has been caught early enough and there are no secondaries.