"A Dose of Cynicism, a Debt of Gratitude"

As some may have already guessed, I am an obnoxious and arrogant bastard. I'd have to be. As a police officer I am expected to arrive at someone's home and in 15 minutes or less solve problems that they have been cultivating and perfecting for years. Are they perfect solutions? No. A perfect solution would not only mend the issue in total but also make everyone involved equally happy.

Not happening.

Fortunately, I'm not in the business of making people happy which makes my job considerably easier.  I don't have to mend an issue, I only have to patch it up enough to make it pretty. I don't have to make everybody happy, I just have to keep them safe, if only from themselves.

Now, dealing with the type of people that I do on a continual basis for the past twelve years has made me a tad cynical. My own issues are depressing enough without having to clutter my brain with somebody elses crap. So, I tend to believe that people suck and richly deserve whatever end eventually comes to them.

Dose of cynicism administered.

My days off consisted of squirreling myself away at home with my family and trying to forget the world exists. Helping me in that pursuit were game consoles. I've been a console gamer most of my life. Starting with playing ansci graphic "Pitfall" on the Commodore 64, to an Atari 2600, Intellivision, Nintendo, SNES, 3DO, PS1, and PS2. Of course there were the customary PC titles, DOOM and Duke Nukem.

Life was good. I could single player myself into blissful oblivion, forgetting all the bad shit I had to learn about my fellow man if only for a few precious hours. I dabbled in online 2 player. Mostly with the odd PS2 title. But, it was found lacking. As interesting as "Star Wars: Battlefront" was, it was not fast paced or challenging enough. The connections were two laggy for any real multi-player communications. As a consequence, I remained a single player devotee. Cynicism safely intact.

Then Sony shit the bed with their debacle of a release for the PS3. There I was, all set to budget the money for the much touted console, hyped as the greatest thing since large breasts. However, when it was released I, like the rest of the known world, cried, "WTF"? Where the hell are the frickin' games Sony.

So, having nothing to do with my PS3 money I looked over at the XBox 360. I'd always considered a 360 but, I can't stand Microsoft. However, after looking at the 3 games for the PS3 and the 4 billion titles that were available for the 360, I decided, "WTF, I'll do it." Then, I bought a copy of Halo 2. I've been playing Halo for 2 months. For the last two weeks, Halo 3 Beta.

As odd as this sounds, thanks to the XBox and the Halo community, I have a slightly more positive outlook on at least a portion of humanity. While I run across the occasional dipshit, the majority of players are civil and just trying to enjoy themselves. Considering the potential level of anonymity the net offers, I expected the dipshit ratio to be much higher.

And in that lies the debt of gratitude owed. I still escape on my days off. I still primarily stay at home with my wife and kids. Now however, my precious few hours are spent realizing that every other biped on the planet is NOT a waste of God's time and oxygen. And THAT is a good feeling.

Thanks.