That gaming magazine came to the rescue again. This month, I saw it came with Drakensang: The Dark Eye, which was on my list, so I asked dad to buy it. Let’s just say that I don’t know how the hours flew by after I started playing it, despite the fact that it’s a gaming system I have to learn from scratch and that the game itself has some pretty serious flaws which are even more infuriating as they actually seem to be “features” implemented on purpose. I’ll see if I’ll still like it later on and if I’ll manage to finish it, but expect a review if I do.
This reduces the chance of following through with that plan of mine that should start next week or the week after that, but I didn’t think it likely anyway and at least this way I’ll have an excuse. The result’s the same, but not doing what I was thinking I should do because I’m interested in playing a game seems to beat not doing it, or anything else for that matter, simply because I can’t get myself started, at least from where I’m standing.
In other news, it seems that Nature is winning back what was lost when people cleared out this area behind the building. At this point it seems very unlikely that this horrendous fence will be covered again this year, but otherwise fresh green things are starting to cover that huge pile of dead branches and leaves and even that little tree that had its entire crown ripped away seems to survive, as it turned itself into something like a tall bush, with new branches and leaves sprouting all along the remaining trunk. I guess we’ll see next year if the gaping wound at the top will still kill it, by allowing parasites and diseases to affect it, but right now it seems like a real survivor.
Also, this sunset was particularly beautiful. Pity I can only see a little sky, and basically none of what would be the horizon… If it looked so nice even so, I can only imagine how it must have actually looked for anyone who could see it in all its glory.
As for the blog, I may be gathering some stuff for another music post, but that will likely also get delayed now that I have something I seem to actually want to do, depending on how long it’ll last… Otherwise, there should be another post about the World Cup early next week, though probably not on Monday, considering it’s July 12th…
I really want to write, you know? I feel like I have a lot to say, but just don’t have the skills or the drive for it. Sure, I’m not particularly talking about the blog anymore, but even writing good posts here again and actually having them flow instead of being forced out of me each and every time would go a long way and could perhaps help other things as well… But I don’t see that happening…
I missed the proper opportunity to post something about the political mess we’ve been in recently, but I think it’s all for the best. The constant contradictions between me and Remus Cernea, other Greens and many of their supporters when it comes to their approach and desires regarding what should happen to our government and president helped me extrapolate the concept, so now I can take some of the ideas I meant to use in that post and use them in a much more general way, because they can apply to a lot of other situations just as well.
I’m starting from the fact that everyone has the right to criticize, as you can assume that when a person chooses to do something that will also affect others, or at least be shown in public, they should do it well, but you can’t demand change if you don’t really know what you want to change to. You can demand change if you think you could do things better yourself, if you don’t have the actual skills to put everything in practice but nevertheless have thought of a good plan that could be implemented by those who do, or if you simply endorse someone else’s plan, but you can’t demand to remove someone from a position of authority without knowing just what should happen the second after they’re removed! That’d generate chaos and most likely turn a system that’s working very poorly, if that is indeed the case, into one that’s not working at all!
Yet that’s just what usually happens, whether we’re talking about politicians, sports team coaches, company managers or anything in between. Whenever things don’t go quite right, people will rise up and demand the resignation or removal of those in charge, apparently thinking that all problems will magically solve themselves if that happens, or at least that some other person who has all the right answers is already all set up to take charge once the way will be clear. Yet of course problems aren’t solved like that, though they are usually right in believing that someone is all set up to fill the power vacuum something like this creates, but such a person is highly unlikely to have anything other than their own best interest in mind and is therefore also highly unlikely to do much to solve the problems that made the public demand the removal of the previous authority figures in the first place.
Overthrowing an authority figure only to have their position filled by someone who’ll be just as bad or even worse is a very stupid move, but the masses are always stupid, even when they’re made up of otherwise smart individuals. And many use that for their own benefit, by incensing the public against those whose positions they desire for themselves, or simply against those they dislike. I don’t think anyone’s a stranger to the concept of players playing poorly to get their coach fired, knowing he’ll get blamed for the performance as he’s considered to be in charge, and it’s even more obvious in politics, where the opposition constantly points out the flaws of the government and does everything to block all its plans, be they good or bad, in order to later be able to say that the government hasn’t done anything, only to be in the exact same position and create the exact same problems once they get their wish and are put in charge.
And this is the catch: Those you want to overthrow may well deserve it, in fact they almost certainly do if we’re talking about politicians, but those who’ll take their place are unlikely to be noticeably better if things are allowed to run their “natural” course. If you want to get out of this vicious circle, you need to fully plan the aftermath of the rebellion before starting it! Any other course of action only serves the interests of those who’re getting ready to fill the power vacuum, leaving everyone else in a similar situation as before, only more worn out and disappointed…
There was an opinion piece I read in a newspaper recently, which said something like: “The difference between an idealist and a reformer is that the latter focuses mainly on the ways in which his plans could go wrong, and especially on the ways in which others could use them to cause harm, and comes up with countermeasures well before setting them in motion.” In practice, this would pretty much equate idealists with thinkers and reformers with doers, which seems quite true to me and also explains why idealists should stick to coming up with ideas and leave actually turning them into reality to true reformers. A reformer trying to do an idealist’s job is unlikely to see all the progress that could be achieved and all the good that could be done, while an idealist trying to do a reformer’s job is unlikely to see all the ways in which others could turn the whole rebellion around and use it solely for their own gain. Both of these situations mean that the rebellion will bring far fewer benefits, so there is a place for each and those places should be respected.
Of course, the vast majority of those who end up involved in such movements are neither idealists nor reformers, but just a mindless mass that gets pushed around by whoever happens to be in the best position to do so at the time. But unfortunately opinion leaders, who should fill the gap between the idealists and reformers and the masses, putting the latter under control, often get carried away in such situations as well, greatly speeding up this process that turns a good part of the energy that could be spent in a constructive manner, preparing and planning for the future, into anger, hate and other kinds of destructiveness aimed at the present.
This shortsighted approach only ensures that even our successes will turn out to be failures, yet we keep getting carried away by this kind of attitude each and every time. You’d think we’d have learned something in several thousand years of civilization, in one form or another, but apparently not… Yet there may be a chance for just enough of us to do so now, if we’d only stop to think for one moment longer. Or so thinks this here idealist…
I had a plan to take advantage of the break in World Cup matches and write a political post today. It made perfect sense, as certain unpleasant measures come into effect today over here, some of them much worse than the original plan the government had, as a part of that plan was blocked by the Constitutional Court, the judges looking for a way to cover that they were just looking out for their own interests. But I don’t feel like it, so I’ll let that slide, at least for now. Argued enough about it lately I guess, and perhaps I don’t really feel that I have enough additional things to say to justify the post…
So you won’t get much of anything from me today. Just that I like the rains we keep getting, though they make it a bit hard to settle on the day of the week to go out on. But it’s so pretty when it rains calmly at night and now and then I’ll just sit in the dark and listen to it. Wish I’d have someone to cuddle with when that happens though, because doing this alone is just painful. But then again what hasn’t been painful for the past nearly five years?
Did end up thinking of something these days, however. Hatching a plan, if you will. There may be some visible results the week after the next, but I don’t think anyone could fault me if I’ll crawl into a hole and forget all about it that week, which means there may be something only starting the week after that. I’ll shut up about it until then, but let’s just say a few people may get an opportunity to pester me if I won’t stick to it. Or even if I will, though hopefully in different ways and for different reasons.
Otherwise, I think I need a new game to play. Or, most likely, an old game I haven’t played yet. That’s because I really haven’t been able to get any further in Gothic II Gold in quite some time, and think I may have already messed things up by trying to skip steps too. I fear that if I’ll give up for now it’ll become even more impossible, if there is such a thing, if I’m to try to get back to it later, but it’s either that or not playing anything at all anymore. Saying again that games with such a great atmosphere really shouldn’t be hard to beat!
Thing is that if I’ll start a new game I’ll probably dive into it and have one more excuse not to do any of the other things I may be planning to do in the near future. Then again, if I don’t I’ll just get more and more frustrated, or actually have one more reason for frustration, which certainly won’t help in any way. I’ll see what I’ll do, because I really want to finish this game before starting Gothic 3, so that’s not an option for the next game either…
This was simply amazing. For anyone who doesn’t already know, a historic match has just ended at Wimbledon. It started on Tuesday, was suspended as the evening fell, continued yesterday, was once again suspended as the evening fell, and finally finished today. John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68, after a total of eleven hours and five minutes of play, spread over three days. The last set alone lasted for eight hours and eleven minutes.
To put things into perspective, let’s go through all the records that this match has smashed:
The longest duration for a match used to be six hours and 33 minutes. Now it’s eleven hours and five minutes. As I said, the last set of this match alone lasted for eight hours and eleven minutes. And keep in mind that this match took place on grass, which is the fastest surface, while the previous record was set on clay.
The highest number of games played in a match used to be 122. Now it’s 183, or exactly 50% more.
The most aces served by a player in a match used to be 78. Now it’s 112, served by John Isner. Nicolas Mahut closely follows him, as he served 103.
The most aces served in total in a match used to be 96. Now it’s 215.
This was a titanic struggle, with both players struggling to even stay on their feet by the time play was suspended yesterday. John Isner seemed to be more tired then and he also looked to be more tired when the match continued today. That tiredness was only getting worse and he didn’t seem to be able to do more than hold his serve, without putting up much of a fight when Mahut was serving, but apparently at some point he realized he had to give everything and push for the win, because otherwise Mahut was going to just wear him down until he’d be unable to move, and his push was enough to secure victory.
Still, you have to keep in mind that Mahut came from qualifying, so he played three more matches before this one. And two of them were really long as well. He won 6-3 6-0 in the first qualifying round, but then it was a staggering 3-6 6-3 24-22 in the second round and 6-7 (8-10) 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-4 in the final qualifying round, as the best of three sets rule is only used during the first two qualifying rounds.
Now let’s see if Isner will be able to play the next match, as he’s facing Thiemo De Bakker in the second round. Interestingly, Thiemo de Bakker also went through a very long first round match, winning 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-3 5-7 16-14 in four hours and six minutes, and is probably the first person in the history of tennis to start a match with a clear physical advantage over his opponent despite playing 30 games in the fifth set of his previous encounter.
But, whatever will happen, both Isner and Mahut are winners and they will be the ones everyone will remember after this tournament. At this point, who will win the final has become far less important than what happened in this one match, taking place on Court 18, in the first round.
Now it’s highly unlikely that these records will ever be matched, but I only hope that this match won’t make those in charge decide to remove even the theoretical chance of that happening, by making the final sets end in tie-breaks in all grand slam tournaments from now on. I mean, I keep hoping to see tie-breaks eliminated once again from the last set of US Open matches as well, not have the other three major tournaments go that same path! Because the chance of something like this happening is just what makes these tournaments so special…
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