30th B-day in Gent
Unbelievable how little time I have to add new entries to my blog. I must have had tons of free time on my hands before I met Rogier..or started working so intensely or both and at the same time. Priorities have definitely changed. Did not even make any post on my 30-est B-day. Yeah, folks, I am THAT ancient. But I stopped worrying about my age after my 25th.
So, for my 30-est B-day, Rogier arranged a surprise weekend for us in Gent, Belgium. I am really not a fan of Belgium, always say it is sort of a backyard of Holland (much less clean and clear), but Gent is a different story. It is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe (wiki). Gent is seriously medieval in its architecture. Many amazing buildings and castle in the center are simply oozing history. We departed on Thursday 26th April (my mom's B-day, by the way)and stayed at a very nice hotel right in the historical center. I must say it is very cold for this period of the year so far.. 9-11 degrees in the end of April and now still (7th of May) is way too harsh on my old bones..But luckily there was a lot of sun..At the same time it was insanely windy on 27 April in Gent, but we did not care much. Breakfast at Subway (hotel breakfast was 20 euro per person..I don't think so) and off we went to discover the old city. It is quite breathtaking for those who love history, these buildings were well worth visiting. They must do historical movies there, they probably do.. We first went to the castle, where I made tons of pictures..including the torture chamber (yaicks)..made a long walk through the historical center, did some eye-shopping, had a great dinner and our overall stay was great, very pleasant and full of happiness. Here are some pics I made. For those who travel to Belgium, I'd recommend Brugge and Gent.
Our difference in height with Rogier is 35cm..gone is time when it could have troubled me. If I intend to walk whole day, there will be no hills. I LOVE how tall he is and I like how petite I am. I was a bit worried about this difference in the beginning of our relationship, but it ls long time forgotten now, because it was never an isue for Rogier, not in the slightest sense. Truly, prejudice is not something he cares about or has in general.
Huge mother-fucker!...I can't imagine who and how was weilding it, as the armor in the same exhibition was as tall as I am...not that tall..
Birdies are not amused!..Probably were upset with insane winds that day.
View on Gent from the castle walls.
History of the castle in pictures. No sense of proportion whatsoever had these painters of 12th century ;)
Torture chamber starts..brrrr..and yaicks! No wonder human population was so low then...they just had no chance to procreate on time as we do nwo with all these wars, plagues and death penalties for everything.1/3 of EU population died from Black Death..nature was fixing our overpopulation, I wonder what will happen soon..as no way Earth can sustain us for long at this rate and level of pollution.
Check out how this guy below is seated on torture divice...amazing how cruel human mind can get. The more religious the society, the more retarded and strict are the rules. Control and fear..that's it.
Creepy shit..
Finally the torture chamber was behind us and I found myself an appropriate seat..PrinceSSA!ПрЫнцесса!
If you look closer, these metalic rounds feature historical things and you might think they are quite old and have been there for a long time, but...
Then you see this one up close...I had "Assassin's Creed Glyph" de-ja-vu feeling..Those who played the game would understand what I mean. :) A completely out of place reference in historical surroundings.
We switched from worthless Tele2 to KPN and so far it was one of the best household decisions we have ever made. If we had more money, we'd go for Ziggo, but at this moment it is too expensive for us. Well, I am quite happy with all extra channels, like SyFy, extra discovery, history, NG channels and E!. :) Now I always have something to turn on on a background. But the best thing that came out of this decision is the specialist who came by to install the second receiver in our bedroom (the one in the living room we did it ourselves) This guy from KPN solved the problem we had for almost 3 years..loss of internet speed (signal) somewhere in our apartment..noone could have figured out before why and where this loss was happening. After some extensive search this specialist found the place where cables were intertwined and that was causing the disruption of the signal. Happy happy joy joy! We definitely going to give him a good feedback to influence his bonus. Well-deserved.
Preparations to the wedding drive me nuts at times..SO much to do. Most of the things are done, but we still need to decide on and book honeymoon, some administrational things, some wardrobe details, invitations, wedding cake...We already ordered our rings and outfits (mine will be ready on 25th of July only..seriously what are they doing with it for so long), arranged location, DJ, photograph. All free time I had, I dedicated to extensive research for all these things. I really need to learn to let go at times..but I so much want everything to be perfect. :) I am happy I can always count on Rogier and his calmness and logic cools me down, when I need it. I always do the extensive, detailed research on our goals, then together we choose from the short list and I ask Rogier to execute some things. My perfectionism sometimes takes a toll on me, I need to learn to let go. So much looking for a beautiful ZEN honeymoon, when I can chill..with lots of sun, ocean and love time with my angel. When we gonna be rich, we will go to Maldives. At the moment we cannot pay it and it is also not a recommended destination now due to political unrest in the country. So a lot of debate is going as to where to spend our honeymoon. We would have gone to Thailand if not for a raining season. We have never been there, so some sight seeing is definitely on our list for the first visit, aside from laying lazy on the beach and practice making babies. But if we will be traveling through he jungles and the pouring rain starts..hmm..I dunno.
My gaming regimen reduced to 2-4 hours a week recently. But when I can grab an hour, I dive into my parallel universes and experience adventures. My recent conquests include:
Uncharted 3 (played twice in a row)
- I am such a fan of Uncharted series, love Drake's one-liners. Being a sucker of adventures a la Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, Nate Drake offers a modern-day treasure hunter experience that appeal greatly to me. Love the humor and deepness of the story, but Nate's recklessness starts to be a bit unrealistic or even a bit annoying..he can't keep these great people like Elena and Sully in his life if he continues with this attitude. I also noticed that the writer of Uncharted borrows inspiration and ides from the books of James Rollins. Twice in a row on a core mystery was too much of a coincidence for me. But I still very much looking forward for new installments of Uncharted. I know the team has officially split and some do The Last of Us now (also very fascinating..as long as it is not going to be a horror...I don't have guts for survival horror games..but I love to watch how someone else s playing them) Rogier never watches horror movies or listens to hard music (even I don't listen to it anymore..at least not in his presence..what love does to people)..so, my only way to experience such a game is to watch a walkthrough or cutscenes from horror games on youtube. Many gamers say an adventure game based on mysteries of Ancient Egypt is such a cliche, but name me one (except for a section of Tomb Raider Anniversary, which was only a part! of the game) that has a mystery related to ancient Egypt..I don't know any..and it sucks..There are a few areas and a few mysteries I'd have loved to see Drake uncover..but another time about it..if I'll every get this time before my pension..By the way, judging how the world economy going right now my pension age may be significantly delayed..gods forbid.. I want a sunny pension with Gierie, somewhere in a very warm country, near the ocean, tons of money and great food and free time..so i can finally play all the games, watch all the movies, read all the books I want..+ enjoy my family and most of all - my man.
Skyrim (took me like 4 months to play with my current hours I can dedicate to my beloved hobby)
- This game was great, but exceptionally buggy...I was saving hundreds of times..U just never know when it was going to die on you...oh that was annoying! but it was also a great experiences. I really loved Skyrim's progression system..you can be anything you want to be as long as you train this skill, so no need to choose to be only mage, or thief, or warrior...be whatever, as long as you invest in developing in that area.
Enslaved: Odyssey to the west was enormous fun! I have a weakness for post-apocalyptic worlds and scenarios. I think characters and gameplay were fantastic in this case. The more dumbfounded I was with the ending..it just felt like the budget was abruptly cut for the game or it was over and the invested all money in everything that came before the ending...it was so unfinished and rushed that I couldn't believe at first that it was IT. Other than that it was truly awesome xp I totally enjoyed..If only they invested more in the ending and gave a clear resolution for main characters Monkey and Trip.
Mass Effect 3. I never waiting for a game more than ME3. ME and ME2 were my favorite games (almost at the same level as Uncharted), but as I am enslaved by games that give me a choice to be what I want to be..I gave it a slightly upper hand. When ME3 came out...I was the first in line to buy it. I envisioned something absolutely spectacular, the grand jewel in this magnificent and unparalleled trilogy crown...and game was great, although I wish the deepness of the characters and their stories was just as attended to as in ME2. It was great, but still I expected so much more...It is the same as I experienced with follow up on Dragon Age: Origin. DA2 was also very cool, but just NO match to its predecessor. Still for me, the game was worth every second I spent on it, but everything felt SO rushed..most characters you were grown close to came back only as cameo's and the ending almost "killed" me..Yeah, sure, I shed a tear, also due tot he fact that I just rejected to accept this ending...but in all objectivity the ending was extremely rushed and screwed up. I don't know if the leaking scandal messed up with BioWare plans for the ending, but what they gave us with release of ME3 was simply not acceptable..after so much hours and investment (also emotional) with the story - you just CAN'T finish like this. Noone can reflect my thought and feelings on ME3 ending as this guy, excellent reviewer, by the way. I sign under every word.
Click to viewAssassin's Creed 2...I am such a sucker for conspiracy theories..but my time runs out. I will post separetely on AC2 and AC Brotherhood. The story in AC is quite strong and game has a lot of variety to it from puzzles and platforming to action. LOVED to look for glyphs and solve "the truth" puzzles, loved platforming assignments for getting the seal's from assassin's tombs to unlock Altaer's armor, loved upgrading Ezzio and uncovering the map, love the conspiracy theory twist, which suggests that religion is nothing more , but a tool to control population, keep them in line and make them do what is desired. The more strict the religion, the more bullshit it is based on. Fear is a strong control tool and it is very much used in religions like islam and chtistianity in form of punishments, promises of eternal damnation etc. I really appreciated the explanation of who people really were, how the came to be and what religion covers up. For as long as I could really think for myself I thought there is something very fishy about religion. Religion is something very different for me from "believe". I do believe in bigger picture, grand design and architect..and by no means only one. But religion as we know it here on Earth is just a slavers' tool in my opinion. I extremely appreciate when developers (righters, move makers) do extensive research to make their story look and feel plausable, possible and very much realistic. Assassin's Creed does a great job in presenting historical events and figures in a way that you get under impression that it really could have been this way (or is)..the role of Leonardo or machiavelli..references to Edisson or Tesla, etc...Apple of Eden and link to who Adam and Eve really were - AMAZING! This is what I am looking for in a game...an amazing theory that just MIGHT be true :) Makes the gaming experience SO much worth it. Althought there were soem assignment in AC Brotherhood that almost made me pull my hair off and I definitely cursed a few times (like bombing the Borgia carriages before they reach the fortress from the flying machine), I had to start over quite a few times, but the overal experience is still wonderful. Great addition was the possibility to recruit new assassins to the brotherhood and send them on various assignments as well as use their help in certain missions. The game is not to obvious, you do need to find your way around some missions..invest your time and try again and again in rare cases, but it paid off every time. And remember: Nothing is true, Everything is permitted. :)