My Teeth Hurt
Another random life update
Last Monday, I got all four of my wisdom teeth taken out. It is really weird to have no memory of 2-3 hours of my life that I was fully awake and responsive. The pain has been manageable, but having to flush out the holes where teeth used to be is so annoying.
Some cool stuff has happened since my last post. For one, I got to see a total solar eclipse on April 8. It was genuinely an experience I'll never forget, and if you ever have the chance to see one in real life, it's worth driving many hours to see even though it only lasts a few minutes. I can only imagine what ancient civilizations must have thought when they experiences them in the middle of the day throughout history. The fact that you could feel the temperature drop was kind of spooky. Overall, it will go down as a core memory for me.
What I'm reading
So far this year, I've read a few books, and I really liked Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance and White Noise by Don DeLillo. Right now, I'm reading Dune, and I'm loving it (even though I'm only 20% of the way through). But it's a tough read since there's kind of a lot going on. The world building is so good. I haven't seen the movies, so I'm excited to watch them after I finish the book.
A neat hack I thought of: I went a week without reading the book and forgot important details, so I asked Chat GPT, "Hey, I'm only 20% of the way through Dune, so no spoilers, but can you recap the main characters? Also, what is a 'mentat'?". The response was solid, but Dune has been out for a very long time and is one of the most popular science fiction novels ever, so the answers were probably far more reliable than some other random book you might read.
What I'm playing
The last few months, I've been playing EAFC 24, which I got on sale for $14, and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, which I got on sale for around $30. It's crazy how games from big studios like EA go on sale so quickly. In the case of EAFC, the game wasn't even 6 months old when I got it. It's an alright game. I've been playing through a manager career mode with Brighton & Hove Albion, which has been cool since it's given me a Premier League team to root for now.
Jedi Survivor is a great game. I remember seeing the reviews when the game came out. There were lots of complaints about it not being fully ready for release. I've kind of just accepted that that's how modern big games are now. For that reason, I waited a long time to buy. The result? I saved $40, and I'm playing a game that looks extremely polished. The story is fantastic, too. It's shaping up to be an incredible sequel to Fallen Order, which I highly recommend playing, even if you're not a big Star Wars fan.
The game I'm most excited to play this year is releasing next month. It's also by EA... I played so much of NCAA Football 14, and the series is finally getting rebooted with College Football 25. The moment I download the game, I will be creating a dynasty with the West Virginia Mountaineers. I genuinely haven't been this excited for a new game release my whole life, and I'm really hoping that EA does the fans justice. I might write a whole post about my thoughts on the game after I've played it for awhile.
Other stuff
I've been keeping up with soccer a lot more this year. I went to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final watch party for the Columbus Crew, but they lost 3-0. I've gone to a lot more matches this year though, and it's been a lot of fun! I'm really excited to watch Copa America and the Euros in the coming weeks, and also to take my little brothers to a friendly match between the Crew and Aston Villa. I'm also getting more excited as the college football season is just around the corner.