Links and Stuff

Okay, so I liked doing this mish-mashy kind of post last week, so I’m doing it again. And might make a regular thing of it, as much as anything’s really regular on this blog. So here’s this week’s bunch-o-stuff.

Legend of Zelda Update

As I mentioned last week, I’m currently playing through “The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker” with my SecondBorn (who is an expert game player, especially when it comes to Zelda). She’s my guide and helper, and I’m her constant source of frustration. 🙂

Last week, I left our hero having just completed the Forbidden Woods dungeon, waiting for the next stage. This week, I did a lot of pre-work before the next “dungeon,” or “temple,” or whatever it is. Zelda games usually comprise a series of dungeons or temples you have to complete in order to progress. Each dungeon contains a number of “mini-bosses” to fight, culminating in the final “boss” battle, for which you draw on skills and weapons acquired in that dungeon.

Before starting the next “dungeon,” called “Tower of the Gods,” I had to put pearls in statues located on different islands. I already had two of the three pearls, and to get the last of the pearls, I had to go chat with a giant fish called Jabun. But Jabun was sealed up inside a cave, so I needed bombs to blow the cave open. In order to get bombs, I needed to steal them from pirates. Before I could get these bombs, I had to perform a challenge set by one of the pirates, Niko. This challenge involved swinging from one end of a room on the pirate ship to the other by means of hanging lanterns. Niko stood at the opposite end inside a room in front of a chest containing the bombs. If I didn’t make it to that room in time, bars would come down in front of him stopping me from getting to the chest. I would then have to go back to the start and reset the challenge. This was SO frustrating. Getting the angle of swing just right, the height, when to jump from one to the next. The first time I nearly made it, I got all the way to the last lantern, underestimated my swing, and fell short of landing on the other side. It took about 15 attempts, but I eventually did it. At which point I collected the bombs, and locked Niko in that room for being such an annoying jerk.

As one might expect, blowing open the cave was also a challenge, given there was a bleedin’ whirlpool in front of it! So I had to try to aim my cannon while swirling around a whirlpool. And if that wasn’t enough, I had to blast the rocks blocking the cave entrance in sequence, top to bottom, before getting sucked away by the whirlpool. I got the first rock, and came close with the second, but the whirlpool got me. I was having such a hard time trying to aim that cannon, in the end I had SecondBorn do it for me (which she did with barely any effort), otherwise I’d still be working on it.

Next time, I’ll start the Temple of the Gods. I’ll let you know how that goes. 🙂

Other Stuff

Janet Reid ran another writing contest this past weekend. By my count, it was her 77th writing contest, and the 58th contest of hers I’ve entered. She posted the winners yesterday, and the winning entry was bold and original–definitely deserved the win. Check it out for yourself!

Speaking of Janet’s writing contests, if you recall, I won a few weeks ago. The prize Janet sent was the novel BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT by Neal Griffin. Wow–what a page turner! If you prefer your mysteries cozy, it’s not for you (though I guess it’s more along the lines of a police procedural, or thriller, rather than a mystery). There’s a moderate amount of profanity, and Griffin doesn’t hold back too much on graphic descriptions of death.  But I was up way way way past sleep time finishing it. A while ago I read that to write page-turning thrillers, you need to stack the odds hopelessly against your protagonist. Not only does this create sympathy for your main character, but it also draws the reader into the story–how will s/he get out of this? Your reader expects the protagonist will be victorious, but that’s okay. The excitement is in seeing how the protagonist prevails, and in seeing the bad guys get their comeuppance. Without giving too much away, that was certainly the case with BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. If you like thrillers, I’d recommend it.

Finally, a cooking tip I picked up from my Mum, who got it from my Dad many years ago. Dad served in the Catering Corps of the British Army up until a few years after I was born, and as a result learned a trick or two about cooking. Anyway, here’s the tip: When boiling vegetables, if it grows above the ground, put it directly in boiling water; if it grows below the ground, put in cold water and bring to the boil. So, to cook cabbage, she would chop the cabbage and put it in boiling water for about five minutes. Potatoes, on the other hand, she would chop and put in cold water, and then boil until done. You can then take your boiled cabbage and potatoes, and make Bubble and Squeak! What’s that? Another time, maybe… 😉

That’s all for now!