The Unicorn of Video Games, I Took a Test, A Glimpse Into My Soul

Well, folks, I finally did it. I found the unicorn of video games. The game that finally ties it all together for me. A game with almost no stress. A beautiful game in which your sole modus operandi is to go around….painting. Yes, painting--pretty, pretty pictures. The premise is that you get shipwrecked on a gorgeous island, and to make cash-- “glowstones” are the currency--you paint beautiful paintings of the beautiful landscape and sell them to the gentle, half-human, half-deer townspeople who do nothing but sit under trees all day and read novels and sip tea. I am gobsmacked and astounded. It’s as though the game developers downloaded my brain and designed a game tailor-made for my psychological and physiological make-up. I love it. And plus, there is a haunted tower that may or may not house an exiled genius architect! Argh, get out of my brain, developers of “Eastshade”! That having been said, one of these days I still plan to re-download the most recent and decidedly more violent Tomb Raider, which heartbreakingly crashed the last time I tried to get it to run. I still haven’t given up on Lara Croft, but for now “Eastshade” will totally do it for me.

Okay, so I went and got all set up on Wordpress with a new blog for the shooting stuff, and I wrote a big, long passionate post about ‘my shooting journey”, and I was about to upload it, and then I decided that there is no reason why I shouldn’t just post about that stuff here. I don’t know why I feel some weird need to cloak-and-dagger my experiences with gaining firearms proficiency. If you don’t want to read about it, you don’t have to. There is no reason for me to feel defensive about it. Overall, the response has been very positive, other than one person in my life, who I love and respect, who has been very negative about it, and has been very outspoken about her negativity. We are getting through it and I am maintaining the relationship, but it doesn’t feel good to deal with her disapproval, as I am not good with disapproval.

Proof of concept: I took an Enneagram test for work recently, and while I firmly believe that most of these tests are baloney, my results claimed that I am a type Nine—an “Adaptive Peacemaker.” I don't like anything about that title, as it screams "Wimpy Sucker," but at any rate, the basic description is:  “Considerate and gentle, you have an innate ability to make people feel comfortable and at ease. You are very accepting and readily empathize with others. Focused on the well-being of others, you may lose sight of your own agenda. More intellectual than you let on, you have a natural gift for seeing many different points of view. You are able to see all the shades of gray in any given situation and have a way of diffusing conflict and being calm and steady in a crisis. Focusing on similarities rather than differences, you make an excellent mediator and peacemaker. Your virtues are your acceptance, and your ability to see universal truths.” I must admit this scans for me, although it does not make for a happy existence, as I get yelled at a lot for no reason by belligerent Eights, criticized all of the time by fastidious One’s, and generally run over by anyone else who ferrets out what they think are my vulnerabilities and tries to exploit them. All of that to say that I am taking a stand to not hide or cover up my experiences. I’m gonna talk about going a’ shootin' here, and if you don’t like it, don’t read it. Damn. Strong stuff from a reedy, peace-loving Nine.

Since you now know my Enneagram type, I may as well lay it all out. Here is a glimpse into my video game soul: