I was given an Xbox 360 for Christmas. In related news…thanks for reading Progressiveruin.com, everyone! So long!
On the Wednesday before Christmas, pal Sean dropped by the store and we exchanged Christmas gifts. Usually we open our gifts right then and there, because we’re adults and we’ll completely spoil Christmas for ourselves by opening presents early. Delayed gratification is for chumps. But this time, Sean told me that I had to wait until I saw pal Dorian before I could open the small box he handed me.
So when I saw pal Dorian on Christmas Eve for our gift exchange, he handed me this heavy ol’ present with the world’s largest ribbon and bade me to open it. And inside was, as the title of this post may have given away, an Xbox 360 gaming system. Needless to say, I was blown away by the generosity of the gift…I know Dor had floated the idea several months ago of taking up a collection to get one of these for me, since this is exactly the kind of thing I’d love to have but could never justify the expense. And to be honest, I’d completely forgotten that he’d made that suggestion, so I was genuinely surprised when I unwrapped the present.
And in pal Sean’s box was a 12-month Gold membership for the online Xbox stuff, packaged with a small keyboard that attaches to the controller, plus a headset. So, yeah, that would have given away the surprise a bit had I opened it early. (Sean also kicked down a spare Xbox wireless connector he happened to have, which saved me, what, $70? $100? That was most kind.)
Anyway, I wanted to express my thanks here to Dorian, who is a wonderful friend and a swell guy. And to Sean, who’s been a cheerfully energetic presence in my life for many years. And to employees Aaron and Timmy, who also contributed and, I guess, I have to be nice to them now.
And to a bunch of guys who also contributed that I’ve never even met, aside from maybe speaking to some of them on the phone once or twice, and yet through our extensive online interactions over the last few years I still feel they’re real pals: Kevin, Chris, Ken, Andrew, Benjamin, and Josh. Well, okay, I’ve actually met Josh, but I got along with him swimmingly, and I’m going to assume that experience would be shared with any theoretical real world interaction with the rest of those folks.
I suspect the ulterior motive for these guys to get me an Xbox is to have the opportunity to shoot me in the face during a group session of Grand Theft Auto. But, hey, that’s what friends are for, right?
Thanks, guys. I was really touched by the gift. You’re all a bunch of swell cats.
And because you’re gonna ask: my gamertag is MikesterJr. Not doing any online gaming just yet, since I’m not yet accustomed to a video game system that isn’t the Atari 2600, but I’ll get to it eventually. But I have to tell you…streaming Netflix is a little bit like Heaven.
I should also note that a Secret Santa out there sent me a copy of the Watchmen: Ultimate Cut DVD set that I discussed last week. No card inside, no e-mail, no nuthin’ telling me who sent it my way. Just showed up Christmas Eve and I was totally surprised. That really wasn’t the intention of that post of mine (mostly I was just commenting on apparent DVD sales, and hoping maybe to get some sales referrals on Amazon). But to whoever sent that to me…thanks! Very much appreciated.
Okay, so this isn’t all just “Mike got awesome stuff for Christmas,” here’s some comics content:
First, I’m a little behind on my funnybook reading due to my pre-Christmas shopping panic, so it took Employee Timmy to point out a DC Universe cameo appearance of Swamp Thing in the latest issue of Action Comics (#884):
That I didn’t get a bunch of e-mails telling me about it over the last couple of weeks sort of indicates to me that no one is reading it. Or none of my readers are reading it. Or everyone just assumed my Swamp Thing sense picked it up already, which, admittedly, is usually pretty good about this sort of thing.
Second, in another Employee Timmy-related incident, Timmy was asking me about time-traveling Jonah Hex stories (well, specifically, stories where Batman is working side-by-side with Hex, but expanded to time-travel Hex stories in general), and I mentioned DC Challenge:
Briefly, DC Challenge was a mini-series where randomly assigned creative teams would set up puzzles and cliffhangers in each issue to be solved or elaborated upon by the following creative team in the next issue. It was a convoluted bunch of nonsense, but entertaining nonsense with interesting art teams (Curt Swan and Terry Austin! Gil Kane and Klaus Janson!) and an amusing mix of characters (B’wana Beast and Congorilla turn up in early issues). It was a fun series, and sadly mostly forgotten.
I’m only joking about quitting this site, by the way. But I bet there may be a night or two where my posting may be a bit…light, due to Xboxing. I’ll try not to let that happen, though. However, if only I can get by on two hours of sleep a night, then maybe I can catch up on everything.
