had meant to write an unbroken string of journals about spiritual/philosophical stuff, then be free to write about whatever I was doing currently, and I'd be done with that by now, but then a couple weeks ago, life* happened.

Barely managed to turn what was about to be a non-Christmas into one of the best** Christmases ever. And have been enjoying Monster Hunter 3 (Wii version) since.

First off, it's good to play a modern 1st person game again. It's been a long time.

Monster Hunter pits you against dinosaurs, with nothing but swords and spears. With different behavior scripts - herbivores will (probably) flee, while carnivores will (probably) attack and might use flanking tactics. Nothing that just goes attack-attack-attack suicidally like your typical RPG monster. Yes, this is a good game.

Then bowguns happened.

Looks wierd, shoots like a hunting rifle. Suddenly it feels like being a modern hunter.

There's 3 different models - Light, which is good for "gun-and-run" when you have dodgy insects. Medium, which fires 3-shot bursts and is an assault rifle wannabe. Perfect for taking down gazelles, but jaggi (velociraptors) will move out of your line of fire and slash your side before you finish blasting the 3rd shot. Heavy, which is an elephant gun that drifts wildly to the left, but is the only thing with enough penetration to take down a large dino. And since the big ones are literally the size of the broad side of a barn, it really doesn't matter that it's so inaccurate.

But ah, you don't get 3 different guns, you get PARTS for 3 guns, which are interchangeable. And I've been trying many combinations. They're all still rifles, but every rifle has a distinct personality and a totally different feel, unlike the weapons in what few shooters I've tried *cough*Halo*cough* They load different, they sling on your back different, they shoot different. Some miss every scoped, long-distance shot, but shoot well from the hip in close quarters. Others seem like The Perfect Gun, but will get you killed by jaggi. Some might have high stats and feel nice but can't take down the dino lunging at you. Others have terrible stats and feel hopelessly awkward but shoot everything in your path dead.

And so on.

Funny thing is I'm not normally into guns. But plop a fantasy rifle into my hands and now I'm obsessed with customizing it.

*sick, Christmas

**the most annoying relatives (and their hordes of destructive children) were scared off from the family Christmas party, because we were sick just before whipping it together at the last minute.