PixlBit

 A week in the life for me in '96: I delivered pizza for Domino's Pizza 'til 2am five days. I'd watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 til 4am or so. I might then get up early to do a 10-5 shift. Then on my days off, I'd play music in a basement in Philly with a few friends I met at a night school jam session. We started a blues band called Bad Tyming and then a punky rock band called Lemonloaf. When I wasn't jamming with them, I'd be at my friend Mark's place to play video games. We would go to flea markets and pick up cheap games and consoles. We had PCs, Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Genesis, PSOne and N64. I was also getting into various "cures" like health food, accupuncture and vitamins thanks to the influence of my girlfriend. I was 29. 

The gaming I did this weekend after each long day's toil on the Doom Farm.  

All three of these games I played today have one thing in common, nostalgia. Nostalgia for the old west, for 2D platformers with shooting elements and turn-based rpgs with elaborate stories. All the while I am watching my friend Mark play Farm Together, a game like Animal Crossing that I might pick up myself soon. 

These are my favorite five things from '95. 

What would we find on Mars if we ever tried to settle it? I'm unsure if it would be underground water like in my first game today. We'd probably need something more like moisture vaporators from fictional Tatooine. It also, definitely, would not be like the American West circa 1850 like in my second game today. Frontiers in space will be very different than the fictional worlds we've created, I have no doubt. 

Out on the frontiers of gaming, life is harsh. You got to fight to survive and do whatever it takes. This day I fought skeletons with a stick, slapped gators with my candy basket, and punched exploding corrosive plants at dinos. It's a wild world out there in the metaverse. 

This new update added several things to The Nether World: new biomes, matterials and mobs. There are also four new achievements, so Mark and I started up a new world to get them all. 

Not feeling all that great about today's gaming. I'm feeling rather wanting to do something else next weekend like ride a bike or hike really really far. But, here's what was on today's menu. 

I was very frustrated after this day of gaming and even turned off my recurring payments to my Xbox account, thinking I was going to turn casual and forget about gaming for the most part. Well, I'm back in the groove and heading out for another game day very soon. Here's what went down yesterday. 

Oh boy, 1994. I believe i was struggling to find a job I liked that year. I distinctly remember sitting in a diner with my girlfriend using the last shred of money on my credit card and wondering what to do next. I had been trying to be a videographer but only did one gig before I was at a loss how to proceed. I tried to get a band together from the talent at my mental health support group, but it wasn't going well. Many of my friends there were much worse than me and had some difficulty keeping focus. I separated myself from all that and then had a few jobs that didn't last very long, but were interesting. It was a uncertain, bumpy ride that year, but there was good media to absorb at least.