Curtains for You

The new flat didn't look very inhabitable until we (me and my mum) managed to put curtains up. But suddenly, with just the addition of drapes in the living area, it looks much better. Everything is still up in the air (i.e. strewn across the floor) because I won't be getting any furniture in there until Friday.

Sam didn't go to work last night due to a sudden illness which both he and my mum have come down with. Sam has got it worse and stayed in bed for most of the day and night. However, when I got back from work he was awake enough to tell me the... stories he has been telling the new guy at his workplace.

According to Sam's little fibs, he's an alcoholic who works night shifts because he's ashamed to go out in the day time and needs the extra money to pay child support for his son and divorced wife. I could hardly believe what I was being told.

I already think that Sam has a roller-coaster approach to life; he's just there for the ride and there is nothing beyond his immediate actions that he has to worry about. He just lets go of the safety rail and enjoys the ride. Maybe he takes a soft drink on the ride with him to empty out onto the unsuspecting crowd below. Not because he is malicious, but because it would be funny. For him. And when he gets off the roller-coaster, the dampened crowd will have moved on, perhaps forgetting his mischief since they're only going to get even wetter when they ride the log-flume.

I should think that the new guy will get thoroughly confused if he speaks to one of his peers and says something like that guy looks too young to have a wife and child, which will likely be met with you what? Fortunately, I think a lot of Sam's co-workers are used to his exotic sense of humour.

Anyway, although it's a little cruel to toy with people in such a manner I'm sure I won't be able to stop myself from laughing when Sam updates me on his supposed adolescent alcoholism ruined my life sob story.

Sam has got Gears of War 2 and has been forcing his way through the single player campaign. After I finished cooking dinner we had a few cooperative bouts of the new "Horde" multiplayer mode which was ridiculously fun. For those that don't know, Horde pits you and your buddies against dozens, nay hundreds of Locust in wave after wave of assaults. Each wave is tougher than the last and while you might be safe in your little hidey-hole for a short while, able to hold off the opposition from your defensive position, you find that without venturing further out into the level that you will soon run out of ammunition and grenades.

It was just me and Sam playing of course, but we managed to hold off around four or five waves before dying on each of the maps we tried. A strong sense of comaradrie formed during the more intense firefights and we quickly found that sticking together, concentrating our fire, and looking out for one another was the only way to survive. Many were the moments when a Locust might leap a our barricade, intending on ambushing Sam from behind as he sniped far-off grenadiers and boomers, only to be cut in twain by my roaring Lancer's chainsaw bayonet or beaten senseless by a pistol whip. More than once I was saved from a Wrech thanks to Sam's shotgun blasts. I only managed to duck out of the way of Torque Bow projectiles in time thanks to Sam's heads up, and often while I provided the covering fire it would be Sam sniping tougher enemies or planting grenades around our position.

We also played a versus match; experiencing the brutal bleed out executions, the horror of chainsaw duels, the new anti-shotgun-dance mechanics (awesome), and the surprising usefullness of smoke grenades. Seeing another player stomp your head into a red paste is quite a horrible way to go, but Gears has always been visceral and ultra-violent. The best part, for me anyway, was when I managed to shoot out Sam's legs and he was desperately crawling away. I was playing Carmine (is there a Carmine fan club?) who, as I was advancing on Sam's helpless Locust character, suddenly said "Oh-ho, I'm not done with you!" I laughed so hard I almost couldn't finish the job.