It’s strange to be having my birthday at home this year without any kind of travel planned in the immediate future. As previous birthday posts indicate, I often celebrate my birthdays in other countries, or take a major trip shortly thereafter (depending on the circumstances and the flexibility of Karli's workplace) but as you would expect, circumstances have grounded us this year.
Regardless, it's been a good day. We had a socially distanced lunch at Harvey's (a favourite since my Ryerson college days, sadly the last outlet in the Lower Mainland is shutting down next month) and barbecue ribs for dinner in memory of my last birthday in New York.
On the gift front, my friend Colin weighed in this year with a great selection of vintage Star Trek collectibles (perhaps inspired by my Star Trek convention program purchases during my last visit to Toronto): movie memorabilia, which included promotional one sheets and programs for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV, and a membership kit for Star Trek: The Next Generation, complete with cast photo* and sew-on patch. (There’s a membership card as well, but without a Membership Number, I don’t feel that I can legitimately make use of it.)
Thank you for the additions to my little collection, Colin!
In addition to continuing the Star Trek theme with a tin of Pink Peppermint Dilithium Crystals, Karli added to my gaming library by funding the purchase of The Outer Worlds, a plot-driven single-person science fiction RPG game from Obsidian Entertainment, the developers of Fallout: New Vegas. The Outer Worlds was originally released by Epic Games in October of 2019, but I’ve been waiting for it to arrive on the Steam™ gaming platform before making a purchase.
However, the Steam release has been delayed (for whatever reason), and the game was conveniently on sale at half price from Epic during the week of my birthday, which just seemed too fortuitous to pass up.
The game has a sort of retro-futuristic 1950s art direction, and relies on a reputation-based system similar to the one from New Vegas, where the player’s actions result in better or worse relations with the local factions. I’m looking forward to playing it - it appears to be somewhat less of an open world than Fallout, but reviews indicate that the storyline has enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.
Thank you very much, Karli, and thanks to everyone for their best wishes! Let's hope for next year in England!
*Wil Wheaton looks so painfully young, doesn't he?
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