Well that was quick! My love affair with RPGs in sheep's clothing that I mentioned yesterday has come to a screeching halt... or at least hit a bit of a speed bump. Today was a frustrating one in the world of gaming as well as the world of real stuff that normal functioning human beings who contribute to society do. Got all that? Good. 

Last night was a great evening. I went out to dinner with Nick and we hung out for the first time since I moved here. We went to a raman noodle place. Yes, it's a restaurant that specializes in cooking various recipes with raman. As if I'm not going to be eating enough of it at home, I oddly decided to eat it out as well... It was Nick's choice. But it was tasty so that worked out. 

Then I got donuts and nothing really makes me happier than donuts. Maybe donuts served by a beautiful woman in bed... but still donuts. I was very worried that I would miss the east coast pleasures of coolattas and pastries from Dunkin' Donuts, so I gorged on as much of it as I could before I left. Well. I was wrong, because not only do I have a 24 hour specialty donut shop in my neighborhood, but I also have a Jamba Juice right down the street! And it's delicious. I love me some fruit smoothies. 

So back to being frustrated. Last night, I sat on the couch/ my bed, watching Nick play Battlefield 3, while playing The Show on my Vita. All of a sudden, after starting in two back to back minor league all-star games, my side arming pitcher returned to the team's lineup as a reliever! I was devastated. They bumped me to the bullpen? How dare they! I was the league leader in strikeouts, ERA and wins. I was unstoppable with three complete game shutouts under my belt and all of a sudden they pulled the rug out from under me! I watched Nick play BF and pretended not to be dying inside because my little handheld virtual pitcher had been so badly insulted by a team that frankly, needs him more than he needs them. Seriously, their record is 18-45 and ten of those wins are mine. That's bad. Come to think of it, that could also be why they needed me in the bullpen. But still. It's insulting.

Then playing Borderlands 2 today, I realized that I've hit a bit of stagnation. I am stuck in a section where I don't seem to be powerful enough to really progress so I am now grinding and picking up any side quest I possibly can. Sadly this reminded me of why I don't like these types of games. I have been in the same area for hours, running back and forth doing odd jobs for everyone stupid enough to offer me work. I'm still having fun doing the missions but I can't help but get the feeling that this is all just filler and a way to pad the length of the game. It makes for a frustrating experience for a gamer who is used to the instant gratification of Uncharted, Portal and recently Mark of the Ninja. (Which is an amazing game that everyone should play)

On the other hand, the need for grinding has forced me to explore the world more. I am looking everywhere for better weapons and quests and I am doing things that I would normally ignore in a game like this. So that could be a good thing. I'm just having growing pains. 

This is the view from a tower in Golden Gate Park. One of the houses on the hillside in the distance is the one I live in. It's there somewhere.

It's tough to really say how things will go from here. I'm not used to grinding in games so these valleys are hard for me to endure. I am supposed to be reviewing Borderlands 2 so I have to finish it. I will power my way through it as best I can and hopefully I'll come out a better person for it. I'll write about it in future blogs so you can all find out whether I got over the hump or whether I just gave up and assigned the review to someone else... which is definitely something I'm considering right now.

Next week I plan on venturing to AT&T Park where the Giants play and checking out some of the game websites that are near that area, then following up on a few inquiries I've sent to some of the companies. I'll keep this updated with any news on that front.

It's interesting how my real life is mirroring a video game right now, which might be a good topic for tomorrow's blog. For now though, I'm exhausted and hungry, so I'm going to eat something. Not raman! Thanks so much for reading my blabble. 

Stay classy Game Informer!