The Last Days of My Twenties

Actually my birthday is in June, but since I didn't have time to write this at that time, I upload it now :-)

Yes, I turned 30 this year.

And like my any other previous birthday, this year's birthday was also special. One of it because some of my friends threw a surprise party for me - it really caught me by surprise (that's what a 'surprise' party suppose to mean, isn't it? :-) ). However, there's one problem...

"Happy birthday!", screamed everyone when I was entering Akki's place (I was invited to her place to have some small party, but I didn't know that it was for my birthday).
Surprised and astonished, and after made sure that my calendar not showing the wrong date, I replied, "Thanks! It's very nice of you all... but actually my birthday is still next week..."
And everybody quickly glared at Fujiko-san who provided the wrong date... :-).

Anyway, even though it was one week early, it was great. It also gave me time to realize that I'm going to leave my 20s, and that I should leave it with one memorable thing. But, with what?

After pondering for a while that 30 should mean that I'm not a kid anymore, and given the fact that I still spent lots of sleepless nights trying to complete an RPG recently :-), I finally decided that it's time for me 'to put my sword to rest' :-) and stop playing those games. That's why, when I got home, I started collecting those RPG games in my hard disk, and thinking about deleting them all on my birthday.

However, several turn of events swayed my decision.

First, Ishida - one of my juniors in lab - had problem with his computer and he asked my help. Thanks God that it was not a big problem, and within minutes it had already solved. While waiting for his computer to reboot, I pulled a nearby computer and started playing minesweeper :-).
Ishida noticed that, and said, "I like to play that too. But sometimes it's more than just logic, isn't it? Sometimes you also need luck to guess it right."
I agreed with him, but suddenly I remember that there is a cheat for minesweeper to know which block contains the mines (the 'xyzzy' stuff). Well, I thought it was a good chance for a little bit show up :-), so I stealthily activated the cheat, and turned to him, "you know, I can guess correctly which block contains the mines without opening them."
"Really?"
"Sure! Just see."
And in the next 3 minutes Ishida watched in awe as I cleared the mines one by one correctly. In the end I couldn't hold it anymore, I laughed and told him about the trick.

"This is awesome!", he was excited after tried it himself. And for the next 10 minutes, he was completely absorbed into the minesweeper... :-). I was going to tell him that it's just a basic trick, however, after thinking that he might ask me to show more advance tricks and spend the whole day trying them one by one if I told him so, I just let him toying with that :-). Anyway, I think Ari would protest if he find that I taught my junior to use cheat on games :-) (he's a 'pro' in games and often protested if he found me using 'unnecessary' cheat during games :-) ).

"I hope the trick doesn't make you play the game all the time and forget doing anything else", I told him after he finally could get out of his addiction :-).
"No problem. I usually do it only for a pastime. Everybody need a break sometimes, right?"

He made a point on that, and I was thinking about my RPGs, which are great companies during free times :-). May be I should not delete them all, I still can play them during holiday...
But after considering that RPGs take lots of time to finish (unlike minesweeper that can be solved even within seconds - I once saw Maul finished it in just 8 seconds), I shook off the idea, and decided to delete them all after all.

The second 'wind' that swayed my decision blew when I was analyzing my samples. You know, now that most of stuffs had been automatized, basically the process called 'analysis' had turn into 'hard work' consists of putting your sample inside the machine (0.5%), setting up the condition (0.5%), and waiting (99%) :-) . This left me with plenty of waiting time, and of course, my favorite way of killing time is playing minesweeper in the equipment's computer :-).

Horioka who happened to be doing her analysis in the room, laughed when she found me playing, but she soon followed suit. While playing I also showed her the trick, and her response was a carbon copy of Ishida :-).

"You know, sometimes we have a minesweeper competition in my lab... may be I can use this next time...", Horioka started to scheme up a nasty plan.
"Your lab has minesweeper tournament?", I startled. Well, in my lab we sometimes have a small sport tournament (like table tennis) - but computer games? I've never heard about it before! If my FPE gang were here, we could dominate and become kings here - well, at least in the game tournament... :-).
"It's informal tournament. Anyway, my professor also likes gaming. I heard that he sometimes plays Dragon Quest"
"Really? Actually I also play RPG, but I prefer Final Fantasy..."
"Me too! I also play Final Fantasy!"

And the talk expanding to all kind of FF stuff (like: which series is your favorite, which gold saucer date that you get when you play seven, and the like. You'll understand that if you're also into RPG :-) ). And without knowing it, the analysis of our samples was done... it should have been longer... :-)

"Actually, I will have an internship in the Philippines next month. I was thinking of bringing some RPG to complete there if I can found one", Horioka said while checking her data.
"Well, I still kept my copy of final fantasy 7... It's illegal, but if you don't mind about it, I can give you..."
"Really? Give me! Give me!"

I've seen others who also be full of energy when they talked about RPG :-), so I wasn't surprised to see her so enthusiastic (if I'm in her position, I'd act like her... or even worse.. oops, better... :-) ). When I got home, I quickly burned the FF7 into disc so I could give her the following day. While doing so, I took a look on the RPG files on my hard disk and gave a thought about it for a while. I finally set my mind not to delete them. I could really feel Horioka enthusiasm, and I know that I also always get that kind of energy anytime I play those RPGs. Well, for now I think I will really 'put my sword to rest', but I think there will come a time when I shall draw it again and go down adventuring in that fantasy land. Anyway, there will always be a kid inside of me, and I think he deserves to have some fun from time to time - and in return he'll fill me with spirit that will help me facing hardship in life. Growing up is not about quitting playing for the rest of your life, it is about to know when is the time to play, and when is the time to take something seriously.

Anyway, for the special memorable thing that I did for the last days of my 20s, finally I opted to do something else. Well, since it'll be more special if it's a secret, just let it be a secret , shall we? :-)