LIVESTREAM UPDATE:

Just a reminder, there won’t be a livestream this week as I’ll be up at the camp for some preliminary work.  Other than setting up the computers, word has come from Dan that we’ll be replacing old ceiling tiles… sounds super awesome.

I’ll try really hard not to breathe in any harmful stuff, but if I fail I suppose it’s alright; my lungs will be bedazzled.

That’s gotta be worth something, right?

END LIVESTREAM UPDATE!

So playing as Gaige in Borderlands 2 has been massively fun: as I’ve mentioned before, her skill tree is so damage focused that enemies often drop just seconds after being spotted.  The core ability of her skill tree is “Anarchy,” which she can gain by engaging in combat.

She can get a “stack” of Anarchy in one of two ways: by fully emptying a clip (not prematurely reloading), and by killing an enemy.  Each stack of Anarchy gives Gaige +1.75% gun damage, but reduces her accuracy by 1.75%.

That might not seem like a big deal, but Gaige can have hundreds of stacks, so the damage output is huuuuuggggeeee.  Combined with the “Close Enough” skill, which allows 50% of missed bullets to hit nearby targets at reduced damage, the accuracy reduction isn’t too much of a problem.

…in combat, anyway.  For regular mission objectives the low accuracy can be a real hinderance, like the McShooty quest seen in the strip.  In case you haven’t played the game, click here to see the McShooty quest (no major plot spoilers, but a fun scene to see while playing).

Just last week I, amongst other things, stated that getting stuck on the subway doesn’t get me too riled up.  I still assert that’s true, but getting home from Brooklyn yesterday morning was a pretty awful experience.

The Brooklyn to Manhattan part was pretty run of the mill; I arrived at 34th street on the B train and went to transfer at the NQR platform without incident.  Normally I could take either the N or the Q to my stop in Queens, but the Q line was running only as far as 57th street.

It was 11:04am when I arrived at the platform and began waiting for an N.

A Q arrived, sat for a few minutes, then left.

Another Q arrived and was idle for a bit longer before taking off again.

A third Q rolled into the station, opened its doors, and promptly did nothing.  I kept near one of the open doors, and heard the conductor say that they were held up by the dispatcher.

Three Q trains in a row is unlikely, sure, but not impossible.  Things only went off the deep end when another train showed up across from the Q.

It was a fourth friggin Q.

So these two Qs stared each other down for a while without moving.  During this time, people who actually needed the Q kept running back and forth between the two identical trains, frantically guessing which one they thought would leave first.

It was truly a wonderful sight.

The Q that arrived first (the third overall) finally got the heck out of there.  The next train in?

An R of course!

Mercifully, the R left in under a minute and an N quickly followed.

As for the fourth Q train, well… I had already left on the N; for all I know it’s still sitting there, full of passengers who have given up all hope.

Anyways, we finally get to Queens and the N is running express, bypassing my stop and forcing me to transfer to a Manhattan bound N and go back the way I came.

Earlier I stated that I arrived at the 34th street station at 11:04am.  I arrived at my stop in Queens at 12:34pm.  It took literally an hour and a half to travel roughly a mile or two.  I wasn’t pissed or anything, but then again, I wasn’t in a rush.  My condolences go out to those straphangers who were late to wherever they were headed, they really took a blow yesterday.

One final note, a reader named Ian was nice enough to reach out to me, so I’d like to return the favor by mentioning his blog Give Life Back to Music.  So… take a look!