Life on the Farm

[Note that the majority of the following post is actually half a year old. It had gotten very off-track while I was writing it, and it was a lot more personal than my usual fare, so I left it unfinished, but kept it around in case I was ever inclined to polish it up and post it. Writer's block has today given me that inclination. Hopefully I won't scare everyone away with it-- rest assured that posts like this are very much the exception, not the rule.]

Gone to bed with the sun. Up and dressed before dawn, ready to get an early start on the day's work. Sound like me? You're damn right it doesn't. However, it does describe my father, a man who seems to live his life as if he were a generation removed from his actual age. I sometimes feel like someone should tell him that he's not a farmer, but instead has a rather cushy government job (much like myself), and that he doesn't need to get up that early or work as hard as he does. However, while my career defines my life in many ways, his work seems almost incidental to his.

Although my father has had his current job, that of electrical inspector, for quite some time now (a decade, perhaps?), his jobs before this weren't nearly so cushy. In fact, this job represented a significant departure in many ways from anything he had done before, and I'm pleased that he was able to get it. My knowledge of his previous work is spotty and incomplete, based only on memories from my childhood and old conversations with my mother, but the first job I'm aware of him having involved him working at the mines. I couldn't tell you for certain what mines, or in what capacity, but my best guess would be... coal? For Irving, maybe? My only memories of that are a company jacket that he used to wear, and a container full of fool's gold that he used to keep. After he stopped working there, he began plying the trade that he remained in for most of my childhood, and became an electrician. He worked for several different places around town, to my recollection, and often worked long hours, as I recall him getting home late and being gone much of the time. He also got injured on the job several times, I believe, although the only one I remember well is when he electrocuted himself badly, which resulted in several lost layers of skin and a lengthy stay in the burn ward.

What I said above regarding my knowledge of my father's past work really applies to my father's past in general. I know very little about my father's life before I was born, and what little I do know comes only from conversations with my mother or other family members, and most of those are just funny stories, since everyone just seems to assume that I already know all of the important bits. My favorite of those is of when he and my mother first met. She'd been told by her friends that he was a rebel/bad boy, an image I find impossible to reconcile with the man I know today, and that she shouldn't date him. He introduced himself by saying "I'm Denver, but my friends call me Butch." I think it was Butch. Something equally colourful, at any rate. Anyway, in all of the years since, she's never once heard anyone call him Butch. :-)

So, other than the funny stories, I just know varied interesting bits here and there. The classic one that I like to tell people is of his high school days. In grade 11 (I think, in any case-- it may have been grade 12, or even grade 10), he had his older brother as a teacher, who gave him a failing grade on the year. When he returned to repeat the year and found out that he'd be in my uncle's class again, he quit high school for good, never to return. Fortunately for him, trade school didn't require a GED back then. He also had a pretty broad amateur racing career, from what I can piece together. He used to work on a dragster, and once won a stock car race at a local track. The wall behind the television upstairs is lined with snowmobile racing trophies, along with one black and white photo of him crossing the finish line on one of his old Mercurys.

I gather that my father has a lot of stories that he likes to tell. That's what people keep telling me, at any rate, but I've never heard them. My father and I don't really talk all that much, you see. I really know very little about the man, and especially little about his past. I didn't even find out that this wasn't his first marriage until I was in my teens. In the time-honoured tradition of awkward father-son relationships, we're more comfortable exchanging the occasional grunt than we are actually speaking to each other. Well, unless we're pissed off at each other or just pontificating-- we've got unreasonable yelling down to a science. And that almost contradictory pairing of ranting and reticence is about the only thing we have in common, besides perhaps a stubborn streak and the distressing habit of talking, humming, and singing to ourselves (we share those last two with his father as well).

My father and I are just very different people. Our likes and dislikes in almost all areas (food, recreation, weather, politics, etc.), save music (and that's only if you ignore the video game music), are polar opposites. He likes to go to bed early and get up before the sun, while I like to go to bed just before the sun rises and sleep through as much of the day as I can. He has a wealth of practical skills, from carpentry to cooking and car repair, but can't even read without speaking slowly aloud or operate a TV remote properly, whereas I have a wealth of academic skills, but can't even cook Kraft Dinner or change a flat tire (although I suspect that in an emergency I'd be able to succeed at one or both with a bit of trial and error). He has a very strict work ethic, and isn't comfortable just sitting around, feeling compelled to spend every waking moment doing something productive, whereas I treasure my free time and make a concerted effort to avoid anything even resembling work when at home. He learned to drive a tractor at age 4 and moved into his own house, that he built himself, in his teens, while I still live in that same house in my mid-20s and don't even drive a stick (although, again, I could likely do so in a pinch, since I spent a bit of time driving my father's truck back when I was learning to drive).

I'm often conflicted as to how I should feel about these differences. We're both stubborn, contrary people, so, on that level, I take pride in the fact that I am as I am, despite my upbringing. Because, make no mistake-- I'm not the lazy inept bookworm I am due to any lack of effort on his part. He made every effort to mould me into a "man"-- I spent a lot of time as a child standing in smoky garages, sitting on the back of a snowmobile or ATV, driving our speedboat, playing sports in the backyard, and traipsing through the back woods. I've even been hunting several times, although I've only actually fired a rifle a few times. However, none of it ever really stuck. I couldn't really tell you why, as I'm at a loss myself. I can't remember any nerdy influences in my life, but I just seemed to take to the "lifestyle" very early on before even recognizing it for what it was, which is why I can usually swap stories about old video games with people 1/2 a decade my senior, since I began playing video games at a very young age, and never stopped.

Sometimes I worry that I've failed him in some fundamental way by not assimilating all of his practical knowledge, or local knowledge. It strikes me as very sad that's he's not been able to pass that stuff on, and that it'll go no further than him. It seems that he knows every person living in Maugerville, and the history of every home, and it's fascinating to hear him talk about it on the rare occasion that he's compelled to. It's the sort of thing that I used to find boring as hell, but these days I soak up as much of it as I can when those rare opportunities present themselves. I've been living in Maugerville my entire life, and I can count the number of people living within a two minute drive in either direction whose names I know on one hand. Lots of people know me though, because I'm "Denver's son", and everybody knows Denver. Except me, I guess.

I feel as if I've gotten off track. This post wasn't supposed to be about my father, believe it or not, but rather the expensive new tractor that he bought. I guess this post was never really on track, then, and at this point, I don't feel like forcing it there. Suffice it to say, my father is very much enjoying playing farmer with his new toy, and I find myself wondering why he didn't pursue that as a career in the first place, like my uncle Eldon did (anyone ever have Bramble Potatoes when they were younger?). I bet there's a story there. Maybe someday I'll find someone else that he's told it to and be able to hear it.

Grotto Narrative

As many of you know, I have more games than I do time to play them. I have a backlog that, the last time I counted, consisted of over twenty games, and may well be in the thirties by now. And that's not counting the new console that I'll be buying next month. So, much of my free time these days is spent logging every last second I can in front of the TV, trying desperately (and generally unsuccessfully) to shrink that queue. The reason I am mentioning this is so that you can all properly appreciate the gravity of the following statement: I recently spent an entire week devoting all of my gaming time to a freeware PC game. The game was Doukutsu Monogatari, or Cave Story, and it was well worth the investment.

Cave Story is an action-platformer in the vein of Metroid and the post-Symphony of the Night Castlevania games (aka Metroidvania), but with a bit more of an emphasis on action than exploration, and more of a Mega Man feel in several respects, plus inventory management and NPC-interaction more akin to an RPG or adventure game. It has tight, responsive controls, multiple unique weapons (most of which have three distinct experience levels) with branching progression/trading trees, and a subtly branching story-line with three different endings. It has a retro look and sound, recalling the early 16-bit era, and puts it to good advantage with great music and lovingly hand-crafted pixel artwork. This artwork helps bring to life a very colourful cast, and a stable of pleasantly varied enemies. The game has a unique art style all its own, and yet one that is unmistakably Japanese.

As the name suggests, Doukutsu Monogatari is a Japanese game. It was developed independently over the course of five years by a fellow known in online circles as Pixel, who then released it online for free. It immediately gained a cult following, and within a few weeks of its Christmas 2004 release, the fans had ported it to the Mac and created a full English translation patch. This in turn made it accessible to a much broader audience, who hailed it as one of the best free independent PC games ever created. Eventually, after all of the fanfare died down, it found its way to me. I'm very late getting on this particular bandwagon, and I have only myself to blame, because back when I first heard about the game in early 2005, I downloaded it with the intention of playing it, but then forgot about it entirely. For shame.

Fortunately, I recently stumbled across an article revealing that Cave Story is going to see a commercial release on the PSP (and, despite reports to the contrary, it has been confirmed that Pixel is involved), which prompted me to download it again. This time, I began playing it immediately, and, to be quite honest, I wasn't all that fond of it at first (aside from the very catchy main menu music). The game begins very slowly, and your character starts off with only the ability to jump and no way to defend himself. Also, the fact that the jumping has a subtle gliding mechanic that is not immediately intuitive (to me, at least) makes even the little you can do awkward at first. As far as the plot goes, it is almost non-existent initially, and you have no idea who your character is, where he is, what he's doing, or why he's doing it.

That all changed pretty quickly, however, as I soon got used to the controls and found a weapon, and the game began to introduce some characters and ease me into the plot. It also quickly became apparent that the lack of information is intentional, and that I'm supposed to discover the answers to my initial W5 questions as the game progresses. From that point forward, things began to ramp up pretty steadily, and before I knew it I was a man on a mission, gliding about effortlessly and brisling with weaponry. And it's a good thing that I became so adept, because the difficulty becomes positively fiendish in some of the later stages. The early bosses are slow and predictable (you can even choose not to fight the first one if you're so inclined-- he asks you before the fight begins), but some of the later bosses are quite difficult, and the final four-boss end-game marathon is not for the faint of heart.

Once I did finally successfully run that marathon (and believe me, it took me a few tries), I was treated to an ending that, while satisfying, felt like it had something missing. And, sure enough, after checking online, I confirmed that some of the hints dropped near the end of the game were indeed implying the existence of a third ending. However, that third ending was apparently hiding at the end of a fiendishly difficult secret dungeon (which is why the hints were dropped only after the point of no return, lest the game become unbeatable on your first play-through), and only hardcore gamers need apply. Well, I wasn't about to back down after reading something like that, so I re-started the game from square one, and was amazed to find that I had improved so much over the course of the game that the first three quarters of it were now a cake-walk. That was not to last, however, because then the game gave me a taste of things to come with a mini sampler of the bonus dungeon that gets embedded when you're on the proper plot path. My weapons were all reduced to level 1, there was lava and killer spikes everywhere, and there was a gauntlet to run with a boss near the end-- all without any opportunity to save. At the time, I found it all pretty difficult-- and then I got to the secret dungeon.

I must have died twenty times in the first room alone, which requires precision gliding through a twisting path of deadly spikes. Little did I know that, by the time I was finished, I'd be able to navigate that room with my eyes closed. You see, the final dungeon consists of a long, difficult gauntlet filled with new enemies and five bosses, with nowhere to save other than the very beginning. So, every time you die, you ideally make it a little bit further, but you still have to start from square one and navigate that first room again before you get another chance at dying later. Yeah, I got to know that first room real well. By the time I started making it to the bosses and getting my ass handed to me, I was just about ready to give up. I persevered though, and after almost two solid days of effort, I finally beat the secret dungeon and saw the best ending, and man was it invigorating.

That bonus dungeon really was a marvel of design. When I first started it, I just couldn't fathom how a normal human being could beat it, but little by little, with each death, I learned and improved, and by the time I finished it my skill level was a quantum leap above where it had been after my first play-through. I can even repeat the feat now with only a few tries, and without even needing the one-time full-heal item in some cases. It was tremendously rewarding, and yet another testament to how much more fun games ultimately are when they are punishingly difficult but still beatable (unlike, say, Battletoads, which is essentially unbeatable without cheating).

I'm not convinced that Cave Story is the genre-defining work of art that everyone says it is, but it is definitely a great and unique game with a lot to offer, which is pretty impressive for something developed by a single person and available for free. All of the weapon and story branching gives it some great replay value, and it is the first game in quite some time that I was able to play through more than once without getting bored. It was of a satisfying length, and I'd estimate that I spent roughly twelve hours my first time through, and perhaps eight hours my second time through (with the lion's share of the second number devoted to the secret dungeon). Presumably those numbers would be lower for normal people, as I am known to be a very slow player.

Anyway, I encourage everyone to at least give it a try if you find the time. After all, it's fun, and, more importantly, it's free. For anyone who missed the links embedded above, the game can be downloaded here. Unzip it, then download the English patch found here, unzip that, and then run the executable, pointing it at the directory you unzipped the first download to. For you uppity Mac users, the already-patched Mac version can be found here.
Enjoy!

Now I need to find out what all of this Eternal Daughter business is about...

EB or eBay-- Choose Your Poison

This week was next-gen console preorder week at EBGames and Gamestop locations across the continental US. Tuesday was PS3 day, and today was Wii day, and in both cases the news didn't break until the eleventh hour, presumably to help keep lines down to a minimum. The PS3 preorders were sold out nation-wide by mid-afternoon, although most locations sold out within minutes. The average allotment for each store was twelve consoles, there was no forced bundling, and the required down-payment was $100 (of real money, not trade-ins, as was rumoured). Informal polling at several different locations revealed that the majority of those preordering the console were doing so with the intent of re-selling it on eBay.

Meanwhile, the official details on this morning's Wii launch are still pending, but more informal polling shows a consistently greater demand for the Wii. Again, most reported locations sold out within minutes, and the lines were in most cases twice as long as twice as early as they were for the PS3. There were again no forced bundles, and the required down-payment was only $50. Allotment numbers here appear to be less consistent, with some places reporting as few as four and other reporting as many as two dozen. These generally low numbers, coupled with some rumours that I've heard on-line and at my local EB lead me to believe that Nintendo still hasn't given them firm numbers, and that this is simply a cautious first wave of preorders, with more likely to follow once they know for sure how many they're getting. Also of note is that, in stark contrast to the PS3 launch, informal polling showed that the large majority of those lined up for Wii preorders intend to keep their consoles instead of auctioning them off.

I've been absorbing a lot of first-hand accounts of how precisely the Wii and PS3 preorders went down, and my favorite thought is this: "The days of standing outside in the cold to wait for a launch day console are over-- now you get to stand outside in the cold to wait for the right to stand outside in the cold to wait for a launch day console." Well, I'll be doing just that come Monday morning, as that's when the Canadian preorders for both the Wii and the PS3 will begin. Unlike the Yanks, we're required to put down a whopping $200 up front to preorder either console, which, frankly, I like, since it's more likely to scare away the kids and shorten the line. I'm taking the day off from work (I've got vacation days to burn anyway, and I'm a bit under the weather at the moment), and I intend to show up with a book and my DS in tow at around 8:15 at the EB in the Regent mall, which opens at 10AM. If I'm able to obtain a Wii preorder (I won't be preordering a PS3, although I expect to have the opportunity), I'll cancel my Rogers preorder that afternoon, but, for the moment, it's a nice safety net to have. A preorder at EB is more likely to get a Wii into my hands on launch day, rather than later, and I'm already going to have to stand in line for their launch event since I've preordered all of my games and accessories there, so I'd prefer to get mine at EB if I can manage it.

This would all be a lot easier if I lived in New York. The Nintendo World store in Times Square has been taking preorders for over a month now, with numbers in the 1000's and still climbing. They've stated that they expect to close preorders soon, though, given the current rate, so apparently they do have a set limit, incredibly high though it may be. Also, they're offering a guarantee to honour all of those preorders on launch day, unlike most retailers, who, not being owned by Nintendo, have to state otherwise to cover their asses. At least I can take comfort in the fact that, if I'm not able to get a launch Wii, it's probably because a fan bought one to play, not some schmuck intending to sell it on eBay.

As for all of this eBay foolishness, I'm really starting to shift my position on the issue from slight favour towards decided disfavour. At this point, things have definitely gotten out of hand. The whole thing strikes me as ultimately self-defeating, and I for one am praying that there is such a glut of PS3s for sale that the prices are driven way down and those guys are all forced to keep their glorified Blu-ray players. That being said, although I'm certainly not fond of the scalpers themselves, I mostly blame Sony and eBay-- the earlier for launching a console before they're ready, and the latter for providing the framework for this kind of profiteering. I think that eBay should have some kind of policy in place restricting sale on items that have only been available for purchase for less than thirty days or some such. They already have a policy forbidding sales that can't be guaranteed to be delivered with thirty days, which is why they've been busy taking down hundreds of auctions for PS3 preorder slips (with prices ranging from steep to ludicrous-- we're talking six figures here), as opposed to a rumoured shadowy Sony conspiracy. If Sony has the time and money to spend on such a conspiracy, they'd be well-advised to instead use it to try and clean up this disaster of a launch that's waiting to happen.


Update: I arrived at EB this morning at roughly 8:15AM to discover that there were at least a dozen people in front of me (and, from what I gather, several more that I missed), and that the store had already opened to begin taking preorders. Amusingly enough, I recognized the fellow at the head of the line as the person who was directly in front of myself and John in the line to buy a launch-day PS2 at Toys R Us roughly five years ago (we were second and third in that line, as I recall, given that I was a little more enthusiastic in those days). I was initially concerned about my position in line, but the employee watching the line (I can't recall his name at the moment, although I should probably know it, given that he's worked there for years) assured me that I was in time to get either or both of a Wii and a PS3, although they were nearing their limit.

The whole thing struck me as remarkably well-organized. They were letting people into the store one at a time, and guaranteeing a launch day system, provided that Sony and/or Nintendo met their promised allotments. Apparently, I won't need to line up again, as they'll call each of us that preordered and schedule a launch-day appointment for us to come and pick up our system. I was told that they used a similar system for the 360 launch and that it went quite well. So, looks like I'm officially getting my Wii at EB, and I've just now cancelled my order with Rogers. So far, I'm impressed, and I'm cautiously optimistic that everything will indeed go as swimmingly as they claim.

Insert Wii Pun

I want a Wii. I have money. These two things have been true for over a year, which is why I find it find inexplicable that, up until this week, I still hadn't been able to preorder one. I had been trying to give some lucky retailer my money for several months now, and there were no takers. It's as if the disastrous 360 launch scared North American retailers, collectively, out of taking console preorders, and now I'm being punished for it. Instead of preordering months in advance as I usually do and being rewarded for my caution and foresight, I'm being forced to wait and fight over preorders with the rest of the unwashed masses, and I'm increasingly worried that this launch is going to be a bloodbath.

Now, for the PS3, a bit of caution is understandable-- it's becoming increasingly clear with each passing day that Sony simply isn't ready for this launch, and the whole thing is starting to take on a decidedly spectral quality (like some kind of Phantom, if you will), with none of the demonstrations and details that a person would reasonably expect this close to the street date. However, the Wii launch shows every sign of being on schedule, and I simply don't understand this reluctance on the part of retailers to take my money, especially when those same retailers have, in the past, been perfectly willing to hold onto my software preorder money for years at a time. In fact, EB still has the $5 I gave them three years ago for Phantasy Star Trilogy, a game that, even then, I doubted would ever see the light of day, for reasons too complex to detail here. I can't recall ever previously needing to wait until so near a console launch to preorder it, and working without my usual safety net is making me very nervous.

I really feel like this launch is going to be more hectic than everyone seems to think-- I'm getting a definite Tickle-Me Elmo vibe here. People have been lulled by reports of Nintendo's large initial production run, but really, we're only looking at three or four times the number of available launch PS3s here, and I fully expect the difference in demand to balance out that difference in availability (although recent reports of even larger than expected production quantities have given me some pause in this regard), making the Wii just as scarce come launch day. There's certainly evidence to support this: Amazon opened preorders briefly a week or two ago, and they had to close them in less than an hour after the word got out and the volume far exceeded their expectations. So, what's a man who wants a Wii to do? Scan the internet like a hawk, that's what. Ever since EB announced that they might not be taking any preorders at all, I've been constantly refreshing video game blogs, retail websites, and forum threads in order to make certain that I could snap up an early Wii preorder slot once they became available (at someplace other than Toys R Us, who were taking preorders before the price was even announced and who I suspect have sold way over their launch day allotment).

Earlier this week, on Tuesday afternoon, that diligence paid off, when I got a hot tip that Rogers Video was taking Wii preorders, and that virtually noone had heard about it yet. I checked the website, and, sure enough, there they were. However, an order from the website only guaranteed shipping on or after launch day (as opposed to delivery), so, I left work a bit early, and less than an hour later I arrived at the Rogers on Prospect to see what I could find out. The clerk was, as I expected, largely clueless, but he had at least heard of the Wii. After checking his computer, he gave me the unwelcome news that I had to order it online and couldn't order it in-store at all, which made me rather unhappy, because that would cost me an extra $20 shipping and had zero chance of getting one in my hands on launch day, since mail doesn't get delivered on Sunday.

Now, I had other errands to run that night, so I decided that I'd give the matter some thought and then possibly preorder one from the website when I got home. However, by the time I finished my errands and checked the website (roughly four hours after I'd first heard about it), they were sold out. This, despite the fact that word never really got out on the internet (and still hasn't, even after the fact). So, the decision had been taken out of my hands, and I was splitting my time evenly between panicking and kicking myself over not grabbing one when I had the chance.

However, when I got to work the next morning, I checked the site on a whim, and, lo and behold, they were available again. I waffled again for all of five minutes, and then preordered one. This preorder was cold comfort though, because when I checked immediately after my order went through, they were sold out again, and I was afraid I might not be slated for one from the launch day shipment, and that I had just almost limped in because of some cancellations. My worries were allayed later that day, though, when Craig was able to preorder a Wii from them as well, as they had apparently reopened preorders for a while. The situation is hardly ideal, as I won't get one on launch day, and I'll have to pay shipping and handling, but at least I know that I have a near-launch Wii, and that it's not bundled with anything else. Besides, I can always cancel if I manage to secure a more appealing preorder somewhere else.

Since I'm now at least confident that I'd be able to get my hands on one in the first few days after launch, I've gone ahead and given EB my massive preorder list, consisting of extra games (four others besides the pack-in) and controllers (two base units, two attachments, and one classic controller) and whatnot. This will likely make me extremely bitter if I sit on all of those games and accessories for a week without a system to play them on, but I'll live. That being said, the fanboy in me wants to cancel my preorder with Rogers and camp outside an EB. I'm trying to keep that inner fanboy distracted though, with things like this. It's a flash version of the Mii Channel constructed using assets shown in various official demonstrations. So, what's everyone think of my Mii?


I'll close with the list of discarded post titles that led me to go with my final title. Your level of groan-age may vary:
"Wii for Mii"
"Pwii-order Pwoblems"
"Wii-tail Woes"
"Wii Envy"
"Woe is Mii"
"No EB for Mii"
"No Wii at E-Bii"
"A Hectic Wii-k"
"Next Stop: ii-Bay"
"Good Wii-sale Value"

I Almost Killed Kaepora Gaebora

Vern and I were driving back to Fredericton last night from Saint John at about 11:00PM, taking the notorious highway where evil moose are known to prowl the darkness, seeking the souls of living men for their arcane rituals. We didn't actually see any moose, but what we did see was in a way almost more unnerving-- I almost ended the life of a beloved Zelda character.


The trip began uneventfully enough. At first, the only animals were in my imagination, which was busy transforming roadside stumps and garbage into the aforementioned foul creatures of the night, thanks mostly to the flashing ominous sign depicting a giant moose attacking a car (seen above). However, when actual wildlife started making its presence known, it was much less ambiguous about it. A fair distance in front of us, something flew across the road from left to right, a couple of feet above its surface. I exclaimed "Hey, look, a bat!" as it saw it flapping its big, leathery-looking wings on the roadside, at which point, almost as if to contradict me, it quickly darted right back in front of us. I've been given to understand by Vern that it was chasing a mouse-- I didn't see any mouse, but I was understandably focused on other concerns.

As it loomed large in my high beams, it quickly became clear that I wasn't looking at a small bat, but instead a rather large owl. The shape and appearance of the wings mislead me-- I'd have expected something closer in appearance to normal bird wings than bat wings. I'll admit that I can count the number of owls I've seen up close after last night on one finger, but I still think I can safely say that this was one fucking big owl, although I'll grant that things a few feet in front of your windshield tend to look larger than they might otherwise. I sure as hell wouldn't want to meet it when not enclosed in a large metal frame.

Now, a smarter person would have slowed down the moment he saw the damn thing on the roadside, but I thought at first that I was looking a fairly small animal that was content to stay where it was, so I don't think that I even touched the brake until we were almost on top of it. This is especially embarrassing, given that the last time that I said, word for word, "Hey, look, a [animal]!" when I saw something on the side of the road, I ended up branding a deer. For whatever reason, I don't seem to have that essential reflexive braking instinct in these situations-- it's as if my curiosity supercedes caution in some way. It's clearly something that I'll need to work on.

In any case, I hadn't slowed down, so I was still staring out my windshield straight at The Owl that Time Forgot when it was only a couple scant meters away, with Vern screaming beside me (*rubs ears gingerly*), and it was one of those moments that seems frozen in time. There was this infinitely prolonged instant where he and I were staring at each other, separated by only a few feet, communicating using only our eyes (and his eyes looked very intelligent at that moment). It was as if everything else just fell away, and it was just him and me, standing there facing each other in some kind of stare-down, and I blinked first, despite the fact that I was hurtling at him in a large metal killing machine. I don't think there was any question which of us was the predator and which of us was the prey.

So, I jumped on the brakes, and precisely side-stepped around him. I may not have slowed down when I should have, but I still have a pretty deft wheel-hand, if I do say so myself, and I'd say that I missed him by a good couple of feet (although the clearance to his wings, which had an impressive span, was considerably less than that). Fortunately, unlike the deer, he was content to stay in one spot after darting in front of me. I find it kind of morbidly amusing that of the two, it was the owl that remained frozen in place (while, hovering in place, at any rate) once caught in my headlights.

After that climactic encounter, the rest of the drive was comparatively uneventful, although not entirely without incident. Shortly after the owl incident, while I was still coming down off the adrenaline high, I spotted a couple of animals in the darkness well off to the side (the light reflected off their eyes), although I couldn't make out for certain what they were. And after that, we saw two deer in separate staggered roadside encounters. Fortunately, we had advance warning of those two, as the fellow driving in front of us really had our back, and was kind enough to flash his four-ways both times.

So, I guess the long and short of this is that I saved the Zelda franchise by sparing its escaped supporting actor. Oh, and I think I might be afraid of owls now.