Reading in The Dark

                 Some thoughts about life and the last weekend's event. A few weeks ago a friend sent me a message showing that he was playing a game called "The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time." It is a true work of art. A contemplation on the act of growing, aging and dying. The main character has the opportunity to grow during the story and meets characters. Some just grew, some went bald, and some died. The idea of stopping my work to play a game like that initially bothered me with great repugnance. We live in a situation where we need to be working, studying or training to avoid feeling useless. Playing a game where the character is always running and fighting like Megaman X is acceptable. Play a game where you are invited to stop at the top of a mountain and conjecturing about the brevity of life gives you the impression that you are wasting time. Japan is a curious place. Like every country in the world there are horrible peo...

          Some thoughts on the judo weight classes and this weekend's event.           When I was a teenager, I had the habit of hanging out in video game stores watching people play a game called Resident Evil 2. The player controlled a girl wearing small shorts who ran away and fought zombies. There was a time when the player found a bazooka. But it wasn't worth using against normal enemies, it was better to save it for use against the stronger enemy, The Nemesis! Then the player would press pause and save the bazooka in the item list. He continued playing normally with the pistol. When the Nemesis appeared, the player went to the list and changed the weapon. There was no loot animation. The girl had a pistol, the player paused, when he came back from pause she had a bazooka. Those playing didn't have time to examine logistical details, but those watching couldn't help but wonder, "Where did she get that bazooka from?"...