Memories of My California.
I will be back.
Merry Christmas. Happy New Year
North Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, March 2006
Palo Alto Baylands, November 2008
Posted by: amarez | December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas from My California
Posted in California, San Francisco Bay Area | Tags: Californnia, San Franciso Bay Aren
Posted by: amarez | December 16, 2011
The Shore – Ocean City in between
Unlike California, New Jersey beaches, or “the shore” as it’s called, have a season. If you go to a beach town in the off season, the shops next to the ocean, the ones on the boardwalk if your beach town has one, will usually be closed. In the “season”, July and August mostly, also June, the weather is good, the ocean breezes provide some coolness, everything is open but it is very crowded.
I loved going to the ocean, as I called it in California, in fall, winter and spring. It was beautiful. The seasonal rains didn’t happen every day, and they turned the dry landscape green. The weather was mild. The end of February and March were wonderful times to go. I didn’t go much in the summer – I spent the summer swimming in my pool.
New Jersey is different. Winter means snow, cold, ice, and bad weather for travel. And many hotels are seasonal, open from the end of April to the first week in October. So “shoulder season” is the time to go.
My sister and I stayed in Ocean City, New Jersey, in June and September. June was a little crowded, but not too much, and everything was open. September was not crowded at all. Some places along the ocean (the boardwalk) were closed in September, though they were probably still open on the weekends. Both times we went were magical. I had a wonderful time.
The drive in over the Route 52 Causeway Bridge into Ocean City
Going over the Route 52 causeway to Ocean City, New Jersey, June 2011
Continuing over the causeway into Ocean City, June 2011
This was the place where my sister got our wonderful beach chairs. The chairs she got have a canopy you can attach to the back of the chair — you can flip it back when you don’t need it. You don’t have to mess with a sun umbrella.
The best place to buy beach chairs! Ocean City, New Jersey, June 2011
We stayed at the Ocean 7 Hotel. Wonderful, 60′s pop retro charm, with contemporary comfort. Our room had a little kitchen.
Ocean 7 Hotel. The wave motif. June 2011
Ocean 7 Hotel. Exterior Mural. June 2011
Ocean 7 Hotel. Walkway to our room. June 2011
We were very close to the beach.
Ocean City, View from the front of our hotel room. June 2011
Ocean City (New Jersey) dates from the 1880s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_City,_New_Jersey) It has a famous boardwalk, “a wooden walkway for pedestrians, often found along beaches” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boardwalk).
Ocean City is what is called a “family oriented” place. Along the boardwalk there are rides for children, a ferris wheel, miniature golf, and shops with beachy type junk food – french fries, funnel cakes, frozen custard. You can also eat pretty well. It’s a “dry town”; the place does not sell alcohol, though you can certainly drink in your room. I have mixed feelings about this. I like to have a glass of wine with dinner, but it is wonderful to not run into drunks on the boardwalk or the beach. There’s a lot of drinking in New Jersey beach towns. Ocean City has shops, plenty of them, and if you look carefully, you can find good things to buy, particularly during the September sales. The place is full of retro charm.
Ocean City boardwalk at night. I have no idea what venue this is. June 2011
Ocean City boardwalk at night. June 2011
Ocean City boardway in September. Some places are closed. September 2011
Ocean City. New Jersey. Boardwalk in September. Lovely overcast day. September 2011
In September we had pizza at Mack and Manco Pizza – wonderful thin crust pizza. The place felt regional, local, in a good way, something you don’t always experience in a beach town. And they don’t close in the off season – they are always open.
Mack & Manco Pizza. Spectacular pizza. September 2011
Wonderful Ocean City mural
Mural, Ocean City, New Jersey. September 2011
And the ocean, beautiful, timeless
Atlantic Ocean. Beach at Ocean City, New Jersey, June 2011
Atlantic Ocean. June 2011
Ocean City beach with local vegetation. September 2011
View from the Ocean City Music Pier. September 2011
The Music Pier and the Atlantic Ocean. September 2011
We go home.
Leaving Ocean City, going back over the causeway. September 2011.
Going home. Goodbye Ocean City. September 2011
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, California, New Jersey, Popular Culture, Swimming, Water | Tags: Atlantic Ocean, California, New Jersey, Popular Culture, Swimming, Water
Posted by: amarez | November 27, 2011
Philadelphia, This Year
As big cities go, Philadelphia is quite nice, even nicer now that I go in on the train via the adorable Colmar station. This is where I’ve been, this year.
Reading Terminal Market – http://www.readingterminalmarket.org
This is a farmer’s market in a permanent indoor space, in a lovely historic building next to the convention center. The food is good. The shops are good. There is a local winery store, Blue Mountain Vineyards and Cellars, a local winery with excellent wines, http://bluemountainwine.com/. I almost wept when I stopped there. Given Pennsylvania’s ridiculous liquor control laws (don’t get me started) and the local culture, I’ve mostly given up on the wine thing here. Blue Mountain makes great wines, though it’s not easy to buy their wines, given that it’s a local winery and Pennsylvania’s liquor laws and the local liquor stores are so terrible. I had the Chambourcin which was excellent, also interesting because I was not familiar with the grape.
Reading Terminal Market, fish sign, April 2011
Reading Terminal Market, Blue Mountain Vineyards and Cellars sign, April 2011
Philadelphia International Flower Show -http://theflowershow.com/home/index.html
“Springtime in Paris” was the theme for 2011. The flower show is huge; it takes over the Philadelphia Convention Center. The show consisted of a number of gardens with a Paris theme and a market where you could buy things. I had a good time, though I learned why it is never a good idea to go on the weekend. It was very crowded
Through Rose Colored Glasses, Philadelphia International Flower Show, March 2011
A Bed of Roses, Philadelphia International Flower Show, March 2011
Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts Street Fair – http://pifa.org/streetfair
Another Paris and French themed event. It was not crowded in the morning, but more crowded as the day went on. The food was good, the performers were good, the sights were good, some interesting arty things.
Butterfly Puppet, Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts Street Fair, April 2011
Ferris Wheel, Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts Street Fair, April 2011
La Ville Radieuse (The Radiant City), a Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts 2011 Collaboration
On the day I went to the street fair, I went inside the Kimmel Center, a performing arts space, a spectacular building with a hundred fifty foot barrel-vaulted glass roof (http://kimmelcenter.org/facilities/tour/). There was a site installation, La Ville Radieuse, by Mimi Lien, an artist and set designer. http://pifa.org/journey/lavilleradieuse/2
The interior of the Kimmel Center was magical. There was a replica of the Eiffel tower, all in lights. Above me, moving on wires was a plane, trains, and a dirigible. My photographs do not do it justice.
La Ville Radieuse, Kimmel Center, April 2011
La Ville Radieuse, Kimmel Center, April 2011
Art
This mini sculpture park is at the Marriott hotel, next to the Reading Terminal Market. I had to do some research to figure out who made it. I like the work, and it was a great place to eat lunch when the Reading Terminal Market was very crowded, on the day I went to the flower show.
World Park, Cast concrete, fiberglass, stone and glass mosaic, landscape,15′ x 88′ x 96′, Philadelphia, PA. Commissioned by Marriott Hotel, 1995, Ned Smyth.
http://www.philart.net/artist.php?id=223 http://www.nedsmyth.com/information/resume
World Park, 1995, photograph taken March 2011
World Park, 1995, photograph taken March 2011
World Park, 1995, photograph taken March 2011
The Fabric Workshop and Museum – http://www.fabricworkshopandmuseum.org/
Contrary to the name, this is not a fabric workshop and museum; it is a contemporary arts gallery and museum, focusing on different types of materials. I love it. You can’t take photos inside, so I have no photos of their exhibits. You can’t even walk around the exhibits yourself. After you pay your admission fee, a nice person escorts you around the current exhibit, and you can stay as long as you like. I think this is because the work is not protected and, while not fragile as in “you touch it, it breaks”, it would be easy to disturb the work. I love the exhibits and hope to get there more often.
The Fabric Workshop and Museum, April 2011
Posted in Art, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Popular Culture, Travel | Tags: Art, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Popular Culture, Travel
Posted by: amarez | November 15, 2011
Going to Philadelphia – The Colmar Station
Over the spring and early summer I went to Philadelphia for events – the Philadelphia flower show, a street fair, a dinner with women in technology. Now, when I lived in California, I drove to San Francisco many times. I’ve driven all over the California coast. I’ve driven to Seattle. I drove 3000 miles across the US. But, driving to Philadelphia does not appeal to me. I will drive in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, because I have to, but I don’t like it very much. In the US I like to drive in coastal California, the Pacific northwest, the southwest, Austin Texas, and parts of Hawaii. Maybe I’ll make an exception for coastal Maine and the highway to the Florida Keys – liked driving those roads.
That leaves train travel. Train travel in the US is painfully slow. Regional train travel is even slower. But taking the train is fun. It’s extra fun if you can start at one of the platonic ideals of train station cuteness, the Colmar station. Sadly, you cannot walk to this train station, unless you lived next door, perhaps, but there are still many benefits to traveling via this station.
Parking
Lots of parking and the parking lot doesn’t fill up. Getting there is easy for me, if a bit long, a straightforward route, no tricky intersections, fairly good traffic.
The Colmar Train Station. April 2011.
Parking and the Wawa gas station. April 2011.
An adorable little train station.
Per Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colmar_(SEPTA_station)) the Colmar station was built in 1856. I do not know if this is the original building. Glass blocks such as these were originally developed in the 1900s. Perhaps this station dates from the early 1900s. It’s a tiny station and there is no restroom, but there is a restroom at the Wawa gas station across from the station, as well as food. The Wawa gas station is open all the time. There’s a heater in the tiny train station building, for the winter, though I don’t know how much heat it provides.
Side view, exterior, Colmar train station. April 2011.
Interior, Colmar train station. Wonderful glass blocks. April 2011.
Colmar train station. The heater. April 2011.
Waiting for the train.
I feel like I’m in a movie, setting off from the country to the big city. I look one way and the other, to see if a train is coming.
The train station and the train tracks. May 2011.
Looking the other way at the train tracks. April 2011.
The buildings across from the train tracks. Pretty. April 2011.
A train is coming. May 2011.
The train is not fancy, but it is comfortable. Cell phone service is good, so I can use my Android smartphone.
On the train. April 2011.
On the train with my Motorola Droid Android phone. April 2011.
Looking out the window
I used to take the SEPTA Norristown line into Philadelphia, which gave me a lovely view of the Schuylkill River. There is no river on this route, but the landscape is pretty.
Watching the view on the way to Philadelphia. April 2011.
More views from the train. April 2011.
If I worked in downtown Philadelphia, Ambler would be a good place for me to live.
Ambler, view from the train. April 2011.
Farewell to the Colmar station.
Goodbye Colmar Station. April 2011.
Posted in California, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Travel | Tags: California, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Travel
Posted by: amarez | July 9, 2011
They sold my building
For fifteen years I lived in paradise. When I left, the place existed, frozen in time. Sometimes I’d think – I’ll move back to my paradise, if I ever move back to California.
It’s not to be. The owner’s children sold the building and the building is getting all fixed up. It’s not the same.
I lived in a neighborhood called midtown, in Palo Alto, California, a smallish city on the peninsula south of San Francisco – a city located in what is called Silicon Valley. Midtown is mostly residential, but my street was zoned for mixed use. There were shops, apartment buildings and detached single family homes. There was a gas station up the street, but it closed.
Palo Alto is a pricey city, even by pricey San Francisco Bay area standards. But, midtown Palo Alto was a little less pricey. My apartment, though ridiculously expensive by what I call “normal” standards, was a good deal by Palo Alto standards. I like that – I like being the “poor relation” in a pricey area. There were about thirty apartments built around a central courtyard with trees, two patios, plants, and a pool in the back. I say “about thirty” because I never noticed the exact number – how California is that!
Building view via Google street view
Apartment building, front view, July 1999
Another view, front of the building, June 2009
Satellite view, apartment complex, 2004
Satellite view, apartment complex, showing location of my apartments
I lived on the second floor, an apartment with high ceilings, big windows and a screen door which opened up to a view of the inner courtyard. The apartment I lived in for eleven years was a two bedroom, with a big window facing the inner courtyard and another big window across from it, against the back wall, looking out onto a tree in the condo parking lot next door. I didn’t have a balcony, but there was enough room to place a container garden against the railing, across from my front door. From my desk near the back window I looked to my left and saw a tree, and to my right I saw the top of another tree from the inner courtyard. When it was warm I saw my plants from beyond the screen door. It was magical. The light, the courtyard, the trees, the plants, the pool, the open layout, the glorious weather – the entire time I was there it felt like I was living in a resort.
My container garden, 1st apartment, April 2004
Another view, my container garden, 1st apartment, April 2004
My second apartment was a one bedroom, still on the second floor, across the courtyard from my first apartment. I was back in school and needed to economize. While not as wonderful as the first apartment (the layout was different, not as much natural light) – it was still wonderful. When I was in my second apartment my plants were nestled outside against an exterior wall.
My container garden, 2nd apartment, May 2005
Another view, my container garden, 2nd apartment, May 2009
In most apartment complexes you don’t get to have your own in ground garden; our place was different. The place had a bit of a funky quality – which I like a lot. Someone (might have been the apartment managers) had created a space for a garden. As my plants got bigger I moved them to the garden, along with new plants I bought for the garden. The garden was a low key affair – put in a few plants, a bit of topsoil, water once or twice a week during the dry season. That’s it. Given the soil and the dry climate there were almost no weeds. There was a bird of paradise bush. In season the lily of the nile, agapanthus, bloomed. There were hummingbirds.
View, garden and courtyard, May 2004
Another view, garden and courtyard, May 2009
Courtyard with Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus) and Bird of Paradise, July 2007
Courtyard with overflow plants from my container garden, May 2009
And the pool – did I say there was a pool? There was a pool at the back and it was wonderful. It wasn’t heated, so the swimming season was only from late May, early June, through September. Unlike some areas in the US, there was no rule that you have to have a lifeguard or pool attendant, so pool hours were very generous – daytime to around 10 PM at night, though if you live in northern California you know there’s not much night swimming. Nights, even in the summer, tend to be blissfully cool. The pool was used, but not heavily. There were many, many times that I was the only one there. It was my pool. When a family member came to visit we spent many happy hours at the pool, swimming, then, using Styrofoam pool toys (“noodles”) lazily kicking our way back and forth, talking and laughing. I was so happy. Some summers I lived in my swimsuit on the weekends, putting shorts on over my suit to go to an art exhibit at the Palo Alto Cultural Center or to get the paper, coffee or a burrito.
Apartment pool, November 2007. Too cool for swimming, but still beautiful.
Pool, June 2009, late afternoon. My things are in my usual spot.
Pool, July 2008. Lovely reflections.
Getting ready to get out of the water, June 2009, a month before I left. I'll always think of this as my pool.
The place wasn’t perfect. The apartments were large but didn’t have much soundproofing. If you don’t get the right tenants, interior courtyards can be awful – sound carries. So the apartment managers tried to get responsible tenants who weren’t noisy. Palo Alto is a desirous place to live and the schools are excellent, so we had a mix of ages and nationalities, singles, couples, people with children. For fifteen years, this place worked out well for me. I didn’t want to leave.
I’ve learned that it’s different now. The former apartment managers told me that the name has changed, and the plants were torn up to put in new patios. For new tenants the rent is $500 more than it used to be. I understand. Given the location and the structure of the building, you could change the place and charge a lot more. You could take away some of that naturalness, that imperfection, the communal space. It will be a good place, but it won’t be my place.
I guess it’s true – you can’t go home again (apologies to Thomas Wolfe). Even if I would ever move back to California and live in paradise, it won’t be that paradise.
Posted in California, San Francisco Bay Area, Swimming, Water, Weather | Tags: California, San Francisco Bay Area, Swimming, Water Weather
Posted by: amarez | May 7, 2011
How much does peace of mind cost, exactly?
Back in the fall of 2010, I went to my primary care doctor with a certain symptom, the specifics of which are not important for this story. Based on my symptom and my medical history, my doctor sent me to a specialist who recommended that I get a certain test done, the specifics of which are also not important for this story. This was to rule out a serious medical condition, which I didn’t think I had, but it was something that I could have had, if that makes sense. I had the test done for peace of mind.
After the test was done and I got the results, I learned that I was perfectly fine; there was no serious problem. But what was really interesting was the number. Ordinarily “peace of mind” is an amorphous, unquantifiable thing. Not in this case — I can tell you exactly how much “peace of mind” cost.
- Doctor visit, primary care doctor, $20.00 , what insurance did not cover.
- Doctor visit, specialist, $35.00, what insurance did not cover.
- Hospital charge, test, $221.88, what insurance did not cover.
- Specialist charge, test, $291.20, what insurance did not cover.
Peace of mind cost me exactly $568.08.
Here’s a photo of part of the hospital complex, where I had my test. This photo is from 2009, looking out from a wing in the hospital. I think these buildings are offices associated with the hospital, but I’m not sure. The area is pretty.
View, hospital complex, from a wing in the hospital, October 2009
So if anyone asks you, you can tell them. Peace of mind costs $568.08.
Posted in Health, Popular Culture | Tags: Health, Popular Culture
Posted by: amarez | March 21, 2011
World of Warcraft – I like it, even if I don’t feel special anymore
I’m playing World of Warcraft, a game twelve million people play, except for everyone I know who plays online multiplayer games. The people I know have either never played World of Warcraft or they moved on to other games. A few people came back for the new expansion, Cataclysm, but then they moved on too.
So, it’s me and twelve million people I don’t know. I play on an established roleplay server, and all my characters are at a low level, so my world is not crowded. I don’t run into a lot of people. The people I come across are either doing their own thing or they are nice to me. I may not feel special by playing such a popular game, but this is a good world. I enjoy playing a game that’s beyond trendy, part of popular culture. It’s refreshing.
I’m now playing classes (professions) that come with “pets”, but they aren’t really pets – they are magical animal companions. My hunters get an animal that adventures with me. My warlocks (a sort of magician) get a demon that helps me defeat my enemies. If I ever decide to group with people I’m going to keep playing a priest, a healer, since they tend to be in demand for groups. I do like being sociable, sometimes, in a game, but formal grouping is different – it’s structured, and there can be pressure. I regard these games as a meditative experience, so grouping may not be for me.
Once you get the hang of it, WoW is designed to keep you playing. There’s always just one more thing you want to do before you log off. I get my quests from the quest givers, wander around the world, deliver packages or secret letters, buy supplies for a party, and kill monsters, angry wildlife, or enemies. I get rewards in terms of money, advancement in the game, and stuff. There’s always a reason given for me doing the things the quest givers ask me to do. Sometimes I’m interested, and sometimes I don’t care. It’s enough that the quest gives me a reason to be out in the world.
It’s the world that’s compelling – worlds of winter, magical woods, medieval looking towns, crazy mad hatter towns, tropical islands — and I’ve only seen a little of the world! I travel long distances by paying for a ride on a fantastic flying animal. At higher levels in the game I’ll be able to get my own mount.
You can have up to ten characters on one server, which means you can try different races and classes (professions). Each race starts out in a different area in the world, which gives you a reason to play different races.
World of Warcraft has two factions, the Horde and the Alliance, two loosely coupled groups of races that are fighting for domination in the world. This affects the overall story, and it can affect you if you engage in player versus player combat, which I don’t do. If you are playing an Alliance race, and you meet someone from one of the Horde races, you can’t text chat with them because you supposedly don’t understand their language. I realize that this is the way the game world is set up, but I think it’s silly. People from different groups come together all the time. Why should I have to see another group as my enemy? I’m not a purist. If I am playing a character, and I’m given a quest to kill some NPC (non player characters) from the other faction (there’s always a reason) of course I do it, so I can keep going in the game. But for my personal story, this whole war thing is ridiculous. Why can’t there be peace.
I was playing Alliance characters exclusively. Originally the Alliance was thought of as “good”, but it’s more complicated than that. I play Alliance characters because they tend to be the more attractive characters – I have Night Elf, Human, Draenei (alien humanoid looking creatures, with hooves), and Dwarf. But then I started playing two Horde characters, Goblin and Blood Elf.
Goblins are the nutty trade obsessed technologists in the game. They are wacky characters. The story of my goblin character is funny, clever and enjoyable. I was all set to become a “trade princess” (who wouldn’t want to be that?) but things didn’t work out. Somehow, after I was told to blow up a building for the insurance money, I ended up on an island with a bunch of other not too happy goblins. No one is very happy, but we are making do.
I’m also playing a blood elf, because the world of the blood elf is simply beautiful. I play a blood elf even though I look like elf Barbie with a dark side. There’s something about the blood elves that remind me of Malificent in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty; there’s some menace with all that beauty. The Blood Elves got into trouble by focusing on dark magic, but I don’t care. In their beautiful world – there are brooms that sweep all by themselves! Along with all that beauty, who wouldn’t want a world where the inanimate objects did housework!
Another great thing about World of Warcraft – there is all kinds of stuff about the game. There is something called The Armory, a “searchable database of information for World of Warcraft – taken straight from the real servers and presented in a user-friendly interface”, from wowarmory.org. I can look up my characters in the Armory, outside of the game. Even better, there is an Android application, Droid Armory, which accesses the World of Warcraft Armory database. I can look up my characters on my Motorola Droid smartphone and view my characters in 3D. I can save a picture of my characters from my phone. The app and the pictures aren’t perfect, as you will see, but it’s still wonderful. I can have my characters with me, wherever I go!
Pictures of my characters taken via the Droid Amory app on my Motorola Droid smartphone, using data in the World of Warcraft Armory.
World of Warcraft Night Elf Priest. March 2011
World of Warcraft Human Warlock. March 2011
World of Warcraft Dwarf Hunter. March 2011
World of Warcraft Blood Elf Hunter. Looks like elf Barbie with a touch of Malificent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. I love this character. March 2011.
Posted by: amarez | February 25, 2011
Lunch at the lifestyle center. Being pensive.
I don’t eat out much anymore. Not working will do that to you. (Yes, I am still looking for work, and I’m getting interviews, which is good.)
February after Valentine’s Day must be a slow month in restaurant land. There are restaurant deals around. There is a fancy mall near me that had what they call “restaurant week”. From Sunday February 20th through Thursday February 24th, the restaurants at this mall had three course fixed price meals for lunch and dinner, for a very reasonable price.
Correction, this is not a mall, this is a “lifestyle center”. See the entry in Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_center_%28retail%29. Lifestyle centers have specialty shops, cafes, upscale restaurants, fancy grocery stores, movie theaters and other forms of entertainment. Lifestyle centers consist of separate buildings in a mall like space. They are open air. They have landscaping. Here’s a link from the populist USA Today, since, oddly enough lifestyle centers are populist places — http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2007-01-31-anti-mall-usat_x.htm.
I went to Pacifico for lunch. Here is the description of the restaurant, from open table:
“Extraordinary Latin-influenced cuisine by renowned chef, teacher and cookbook author Rafael Palomino is served in a whimsical atmosphere with seaside flair.” http://www.opentable.com/pacifico-center-valley
I’m a big fan of designer Mexican restaurants (neighborhood Mexican eateries too), so I decided to try Pacifico. Here is what I had, the exact description on the menu, because I thought it looked so yummy.
Appetizer: Chicken Tortilla Soup: chicken, avocado, crunchy tortilla, crème fraiche, queso fresco
Entrée: Sautéed South African Red Snapper: plantain encrusted snapper, crabmeat & quinoa enchiladas with a mole verde sauce
Dessert: Dulce de Leche Cheesecake: vanilla & raspberry sauces
It was yummy! I had a wonderful time.
Pacifico restaurant. Spot of color on a gloomy day. February 2011.
Pacifico, festive lunch. February 2011.
After lunch I wandered around the shops. It was a weekday in February, before school let out, so there were only a few people walking around. I noticed several things. The place was nicely landscaped, the shops were pretty, and music was playing everywhere, not too loud, from speakers set unobtrusively on the ground. The music was angst ridden poplar music, young rock musicians singly sadly and tunefully about relationships gone wrong. If you think about it, although the music was melodic, is this the kind of music you’d play to encourage shopping? Even L.L. Bean, a store that specializes in clothing and equipment for outdoor adventures, had their own version of pensive music playing in their store. I guess we can be pensive as we hit the trail.
A view of the shops. February 2011.
L.L. Bean store. Colorful kayaks. February 2011.
The upscale grocery store (think Whole Foods, or Wegmans if you are in the northeast US) had classical music playing. Perhaps you don’t buy food if you are listening to angst ridden songs about relationships.
The upscale grocery store. You have to go inside to see how fancy it is! February 2011.
I rarely buy things in stores, except for food. I buy online. When I do buy in stores, I find it interesting to buy something and take it home the same day – so immediately gratifying, a fun treat!
I have mixed feelings about the commercialism of these kinds of places. I’m not an urban center purist, nor am I a fan of big cities. I like convenient parking, well lit safe places, decent signage, cafes and landscaping. I’m not moral about not spending money, about denying myself. I’m reasonably materialist. But, the sameness, that music, and the fact that it’s all about commerce – that sort of thing can wear you down, if you walk by yourself and take the time to really experience the place. Maybe it can make you pensive, after all.
The landscape surrounding the shopping center, on a cloudy late winter day, February 2011. Ah, the pensive.
Posted in Pennsylvania, Popular Culture | Tags: Pennsylvania, Popular Culture
Posted by: amarez | January 12, 2011
My virtual life, getting back into online games, descriptions, explanations, opinions
My New Year’s resolutions, as posted on twitter, were as follows:
- Get really good at a new job
- Play more video games
- Go swimming
- Read more novels
People talk about online game addiction. Sometimes I think – gee, do I wish! Aside from going to parties in Second Life, less weird then you might think, I haven’t been doing any online gaming.
I’m not sure if I like online games. What I like is being in a virtual world. However, with nothing to do in a virtual world, no reason for being there, the world is very boring. I know about this, having been in the world of Uru, on an off, since 2003. There was precious little to do in Uru back in 2003. Now, with no new content being released, there is nothing new to do, apart from socializing with fellow players. Uru is boring. So, you need something to do.
Most MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing games) have combat as the main thing you do. I have mixed feelings about combat. I think the games have combat as their core gameplay because the combat mechanism is well worked out, people understand it, it gives your game focus, allows you to tell a story, and it can be exciting. I’ll do combat if I’m fighting to defeat the evil in the world. I prefer PvE, player versus environment play, where we don’t fight each other; we battle the evil in the world. I don’t do PvP, player versus player combat.
I don’t play online games set in a virtual world for the challenge, or to be the best, though people have been playing competitive games for as long as there have been people. Everyone, including me, is competitive about something. I’m just not competitive about games. I play to relax and to be in a beautiful online world. I don’t want to turn my online world into a competition or another job. I like my gameplay as easy as possible. This is not something you can generally say on game forums; many people are very serious about these games, and very competitive.
Playing with other people isn’t as easy as you would think. When I first started playing MMORPGs, I thought – “great, I’ll make some friends and we’ll play together”. For most games, this is not the way it works. In order to do something “together” you have to be at the same level of expertise in the game, and you have to have a balanced party, a mix of people in the right roles, for example, a healer, a hunter, a warrior. Your play time is structured by the group event, the quest, the instance. Once you start your group thing, you can’t leave without disrupting your party. This is way too much structure for me, though I might do it occasionally, with a small group. I like being with people in an online world, but I’d rather do things in the game by myself, seeing players as I wander through the world, occasionally talking to them.
Fortunately most MMOs today have a fair amount of solo play. You do your game things yourself (fight some monsters, find things), periodically running into other people. In some games such as World of Warcraft, it’s easier to level (make progress) if you solo.
Another thing I didn’t know, when I first started, is that MMORPGs had end game content. I thought you just kept playing, enjoying your world, and periodically the developers would release new stuff. Wrong! Many games have end game content. Often this consists of raids, lengthy difficult structured gameplay with twenty-five to a hundred people. You defeat a difficult enemy and see wondrous things. I’m not joking, developers devote time and people to make the hard long things exciting and good looking, with colorful scenes and special effects and in game videos. Another common feature of end game content is PvP (player versus player) battlegrounds.
I might play with a small group, but I never intend to do the structured play with larger groups, the ten or twenty-five or fifty person “raids”. I just can’t do it.
Some games in the genre work a little differently. In Guild Wars you can reach end game with a small number of people. You can also do it yourself by having your party include characters played by the computer, using artificial intelligence. I like that.
What am I playing now?
Rift – the beta
I participated in the beta test of an upcoming game, Rift. This is an open beta, so we can talk about it. Rift is beautiful game, but the intro levels are intensely combat focused, to the exclusion of everything else. I realize the Rift world is at war, but I did not enjoy the battleground atmosphere, and the random crying and screaming of the NPCs (non player characters) did not add to my enjoyment. The intro levels were also crowded, which made for a surreal experience. You saw lots of people running around (no random strolling, exploring), playing solo, killing their particular set of monsters for their quests, their missions. Since there were so many people, the monsters spawned (reappeared) at a quick rate, to give everyone enough to do. Something about the structure struck me as more “game” than world. I’ve read that that the higher levels have more of a beautiful real world feel, but I doubt if I’ll get there. Rift is in beta, but I’m reasonably sure the game will be essentially the same game when it is released, this March.
Rift beta, Alliance side, just out of the starter area, January 2011
Rift beta, Guardian side, the starting building, January 2011
Guild Wars – taking a break
I’ve played Guild Wars for several years, very slowly. I love the look of the world, the look of the player characters, and I like how the world is structured. You see people in towns, but your adventures are always in your own copy of the world. This is called instancing. But, I’m taking a break from it, possibly because I’m at the point where it’s getting hard. I’ll get back into it later.
World of Warcraft – just started
I’ve never played World of Warcraft (half an hour four years ago, doesn’t count!), but I decided to give it a try. Online gamers who don’t play World of Warcraft criticize the game a lot – it’s too easy, other players are mean, everyone plays (not just “real” gamers!), players aren’t serious, all that. There’s resentment that World of Warcraft is so popular, with its huge player base of around 12 million subscribers. Apparently, popular is bad, which seems silly to me because games are part of popular culture! Given the publicity about the new content released, Cataclysm, and the amount of criticism in the Rift forum, I decided to give it a try. I’ve read that some World of Warcraft game servers have more mean people playing on them than nice people, though you can ignore people and they can’t hurt you. Role playing servers, where you pretend to be your character, tend to have nicer people. I’m not a serious roleplayer, but I wanted to run into nice people, so I decided to give a roleplay server a try.
I’m playing a draenei, a peaceful race, which works well for me. I’m a shaman, a healer. World of Warcraft is stylized, but beautiful. I like the look of the world, but I’ve never liked the look of the characters. This character is ok, though she’s way too busty, a not uncommon feature of online multiplayer games. The server I’m playing on is an established server, so I haven’t run across many people. Most of them are probably at the higher level areas. I ran into a couple of people, one waved. It was nice. I’m poking along, still at a very low level, level 3. The music is evocative; this part of the world is eerie and lovely. I like it.
World of Warcraft, Alliance side, starting area for the Draenel. My character does have facial features, but the sun is on her face, washing it out. January 2011
World of Warcraft, Alliance side, starting area for the Dreanel. Beautiful area. January 2011
World of Warcraft, Alliance side, starting area for the Draenel. My character does have facial features, but the sun is on her face, washing it out. January 2011
World of Warcraft, Alliance side, starting area for the Dreanel. Beautiful area. January 2011
World of Warcraft, Alliance side, starting are for the Dreanel. Those things that look like big pansies have legs and walk around. January 2011
Next time I’ll talk about Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2, and Lord of the Rings Online.
Posted by: amarez | December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas from My California
Memories of My California.
I can still see it.
Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.
Drakes Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, California. March 2006
Palo Alto Baylands Preserve, California. Look closely. November 2008.
Posted in California, San Francisco Bay Area, Water | Tags: California, San Francisco Bay Area, Water
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