I arrived late to today’s team-building event. Stupid me, it never occurred to me that if the game starts at 1, that means tailgating events take place before 1. Here I am, showing up at 2, wondering “where is everyone?”

In my defense, it takes a long time to get to RFK from my just-outside-Baltimore home. Additionally, I really thought the tailgating would start at 1.

I got there, made some calls, waited 30 minutes, then decided to go back home. Oh well, if i really wanted to be there, I would have been there on time. Can you blame me? I suffer from HPT, the Latino version of CPT (definition #2), the condition that Nadia struggles with every day. It’s genetic!

I took a video of me standing in front of the stadium. Check it out.

Via IM:

[12:59] Brandt: DS comes out Sunday
[12:59] Brandt: you gettin one?
[13:51] Will: i will say now that “no i won’t”
[13:51] Will: but at 7AM on Sunday i’ll be on line to buy one

I know how my terrible gaming affliction works. I feign disinterest for months leading up to the release of a new handheld, then I soak up as much info about it as possible during the days before it hits stores. Instead of reserving the console, like a smart consumer, I lie to myself saying, “I’ll wait till a week after launch.” On release day, my passing interest for the new device transforms into a lust for it. I hunt for my precious like a madman, not stopping until I have it in my grubby hands.

The above occurs with handhelds only. With consoles, I’m usually a lot better prepared. Dreamcast, Gamecube, Xbox 360, each reserved months in advance. The Xbox was bought shortly before Christmas break. Previous consoles were gifts from my parents when I was in school.

Target was my store of choice for the GBA, GBA SP, DS, and GBm. I will continue the tradition and head over to Target early Sunday morning to get one before I head down to DC for some baseball action.

Sunday evening update:

After what seems like forever, I have finally finished The Gunslinger. Kevin put me onto the book shortly after I finished The Fall of Reach. Wow, almost three full months to finish a 231-page book. That’s just sad, considering the big print and large margins of each page.

This is my first novel by Steven King, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I intend on completing this series, so my next purchase will be The Drawing of the Three. I chose not to continue with the Halo series because I’ve been told that the second novel is very weak.

While reading this book, I found myself gripped by every story the gunslinger told about his past, but was bored to tears with the details of his quest for the man in black. I eagerly awaited the next story he would tell to whomever would listen, be it a lonely farmer in a corn field or a boy stranded in the middle of the desert. Every story he told recollecting his past built up the character of the gunslinger and endeared me to him. However, if he spoke about the devil grass that grew in the desert one more time, I would have tossed the book out of the window of the bus that I take to work and back.

I didn’t harass Nadia with one single detail of the story.