Work, Sex, Bed, Repeat

While talking to a close friend of mine after an hour and a half of playing The Sims 3, I got really depressed. Here’s my reaction:

I am playing a elementary teacher and a bottom-rung chef/kitchen slave trying to make their hours and paychecks work to pay the bills and raise a toddler in their shitty 3.5-room house in The Sims, and just now realized that this is what is to come

Enjoy a picture of the mother’s morning sickness!

Sean Maher and the Nonary Game

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is one of my favorite games, and I’m currently running through my fourth (and so far, best) ending. For the unknowing, it’s a somewhat obscure survival horror puzzle game/visual novel for the DS. If that sentence didn’t make any sense, here’s a hint: it’s a dark and engaging story with parts about screwdrivers.

The big gimmick of 999’s setup is that everything is based around the mathematical concept called a “digital root.” Add up each digit in a number until you’re down to a single digit, and that’s the digital root. An example:

48 -> 4 + 8 = 12 -> 1 + 2 = 3

The digital root of 48 is 3. Anyway, you’ll soon be thinking of everything in terms of digital roots while playing 999, as is the case with Sean Maher’s (of Firefly fame, as the handsome doctor Simon Tam) coming out. Wait, what?

Here are a few things related to Sean Maher and the number nine:

• He has been in a relationship with a man for nine years
• “Sean Maher” has nine letters in his name (and if you took each name’s length - 4 and 5 - for the number 45, that is a multiple of 9 and has a digital root of 9)
• He came out to Entertainment Weekly in September, the ninth month (“September” also has nine letters)
• He is 36 years old - a multiple of 9 (and all multiples of 9 have 9 as their digital root)
• It has been nine years since Firefly, the (terrific) show that put him in his best-known role, Simon Tam (fun fact: Firefly first aired in September)

Just sayin’.

Squeamishness and Tolerance

I’m still on the first season of House, and I’m finding it fascinating. I’ve never liked medical dramas before, so it’s a good thing that House isn’t one; it’s a cop show more akin to Law & Order. The police just happen to be wearing scrubs and lab coats! I should have figured this out sooner, given that I started watching it because of the Sherlock Holmes-ness.

Despite my enjoyment, I’ve found myself being grossed-out by some of the surgery scenes. I can handle most of them, but anything having to do with eyeballs freaks me out. This morning I’m watching the eleventh episode of the first season, and I was verbally reassuring myself that I wasn’t going to spontaneously explode into vomit the entire needle-in-the-eyeball scene.

Why did I watch it, then? Because it’s important, in my opinion, to build a tolerance to that which scares you. Should you go out and be a masochist? Of course not, but you should try to face your fears. There’s one hideously uncomfortable scene in Brothers and Sisters’ third season involving Scotty’s parents, Kevin, Robert and Kitty. Between the lies and the politics and the aggressiveness of Scotty’s parents, it just rubs me raw. I have to pause the scene multiple times just to collect myself.

I still watch it, however. Brothers & Sisters is my favorite television show, and it’s a huge part of Kevin’s third season character development. I hate it, but it’s also important to face your fears and grow more comfortable with them. They should always unnerve you, but try not to let them take over your life decisions.

Bury Your Lesbians

On the TVTropes wiki, there is a page titled “Bury Your Gays.” In short, it’s about how homosexuals on television get the short end of the stick, usually resulting in death. Examples include Lost, Supernatural and, as I’ll explain, House.

I’ve just started watching House; my last episode watched was the fourth. So, I was watching and enjoying it (besides from the utter terror of every surgery scene), and was happy when there was a lesbian couple. Like, woah! Lesbians! On television!

And then their baby died. The baby of the straight couple that caused the illness of the episode got to keep their baby. Granted, the straight couple didn’t know that they were the cause, but still. Screw you, House. It’s not like it’s expensive, awkward and painful to figure out which mother gets to have a child and then raise it, while potentially not even being married due to Christian fanatics.

I’ll still watch House, but know that I’m pretty miffed.

The Trouble with Tea

I’m drinking tea right now. Mint tea, generic, “borrowed” from the university cafeteria. I also have some generic green tea bags, and a box of Stash Fusion Green & White. (The box was pretty.)

So, well, the problem would be that I don’t like tea. The terminology is important; I didn’t say that I dislike, hate or love tea. I simply don’t like it. My feelings toward tea are entirely neutral. It’s bland, especially since I don’t put anything in it (I’m not looking for calories, thanks). And, yes, I’ve tried many different brands and flavors over the years. I just don’t like tea!

And yet I partake in this so-fancy-it’s-mundane tradition. Why? Drinking helps fill you up without calories, which is great for dieting. You can drink water, yes, but tea is good for you, and has a taste. I don’t know how tea is good for you, but it is. I drink at least four tall glasses of water a day, and at least one mug of tea or hot cocoa. Alternation helps with that whole “without calories” idea.

Tea: it’s boring. I don’t like it. It’s good for you. I’m a poser?