I get the sinking feeling that when I look back on the year 2006, two things will instantly come to mind.

Chainsaws and Haruhi.

There's just something about these two (admittedly divergent) interests that really appeal to the long-dormant geek in me. This year it felt so difficult to get particularly engaged in any particular video game or anime series that I started to worry about my own motivations. If not for these two happy discoveries, I might have written it off as a side-effect of maturity, or something equally depressing.

But these, these I can enjoy. And as vices go, I could do much worse than television-confined chainsaw moe. (Is that a word? If not, dibs!)

Then again, it may have something to do with the fact that whereas most of my friends are out of town and/or country, I find myself at home with my wife, a laptop, and a borrowed XBox 360.

Usually, that's a decent enough way to bide time, save one problem. My wife hates watching serials. She always wants to know what happens at the end of the series, which can be difficult when the series, by design, tends to muck up people's perceptions of "beginning" and "end."

Which leaves me with the latter option. While she doesn't tend to play these types of games, she seems to be having enough fun laughing at me whenever I find a new and interesting way to get myself killed by our subterranean alien friends. I'd be upset with her, but I have to admit, it's pretty damn funny watching the guy flop to the ground in an awkward heap. Rag doll physics rule!

-Opus
俺、実はポニーテール萌えなんだ。