Wednesday 17 October 2001

Pic of the day: N'dova Atani Tavaknai, mystic khajjiit warrioress of Daggerfall. (No, her names don't mean anything, but they do fit her, don't you think?)

Not unbreakable

My right hand and wrist are once again paying the price for too much typing and Daggerfall playing. For the last few days I have not only been typing a bit at work again, but also playing Daggerfall at home and writing about it.

Yes, I have upgraded my latest class and renamed it "Mystic Warrior" in honor of the online comic Mystic for Hire. I then started a new character with this class, and am writing her experiences in the game, kind of like a short journal. For each little chapter there is a more technical, out of character note on that aspect of the gameplay. Things I have covered so far are how to escape the first dungeon, how to use an Easter egg in the game to get highly valuable weapons at the start of the game, and how to use the witches coven to get enchanted items easily and safely. There are also other useful examples of bugs and features, aimed mostly at the less experienced players. Now that it is possible to download Daggerfall from abandonware sites, there is a new influx of players. And there is still some trade in the game on Ebay. Daggerfall has proved itself, against high odds, to be a true classic.

***

But all this playing and typing has once again proved that my hand is not unbreakable. While I do not yet exhibit the full symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), I do have moderate pain and weakness while doing repetitive typing and mousing, and lately also partial numbness in the morning.

In an attempt to induce more variation and less pressure on the wrist, I have bought a "marble mouse", Logitech's name for an optical trackball. Right now, without much practice, it does not feel better than a mouse. The movements are still stiff and unnatural, posing more strain on the hand. I do however hope that with a little practice it should be easier on the wrist than a normal mouse. This is at least what I hear.

***

For the same reason, I took some time off from Daggerfall tonight to watch a movie on DVD, Shanghai Noon with Jackie Chan. (Jackie-chan! Tee hee.) This action comedy has gotten quite a bit of praise for mixing the clichés of the western movie and the eastern martial arts movie, thereby making fun of them both. It was indeed good as a parody. And yes, it made my head glow while I burned it into my memory. Strange to think that it will now probably remain there for the rest of my life. Oh well. At least while I watched that, I didn't type. Something I usually do otherwise, when I am awake.

And I have been awake more than usual again. I got a couple hours extra sleep yesterday evening, but tonight I woke up after less than half an hour from some interesting dream which I eventually under doubt decided to forget and go back to sleep. But after 3 hours, I woke up from a really creepy encounter with a dinner plate sized spider. The dream was intensely vivid and it took almost three more hours before I could overcome my revulsion enough to fall asleep again. By then it was nearly time to get up and go to work. I don't mind small spiders, but over a certain size they induce intense fear and loathing. If you ever need to torture me, big spiders would be a good place to start.

And no, this spider had no particular similarity to the big-dog sized green spiders in Daggerfall!