Re: No Pain, No Game...
- Posted by Jiri Babor <jbabor at PARADISE.NET.NZ> Mar 30, 2001
- 462 views
Hi, David, Thanks for the update. I have a soft spot for sokoban. I played it quite a lot on my Amiga a decade or two ago. I even made a couple of decent versions myself, one in forth and the other in pascal, but to be honest I do not even know, whether my Amiga in the basement is still in working order. More than a year ago I installed a nice version on my PC, Sokomind by a German guy Gerald Holler (www.sokomind.de), written in Delphi. I was hoping Monique would play it, but she has not shown any interest so far - perhaps later, she is only five after all. Talking about kids, when I went to fetch your version, I noticed your younger boy, in the family photograph, has exactly the same sly smile as our Henry, little rascals. Right here I must admit I have not even played your version yet - I lost interest when I saw no source. Not that I would be too keen on windows machinations anyway ;). I seem to be drifting more and more away from Euphoria. I have not done anything substantial in it since Christmas. Now, occasionally, I even feel a bit guilty about it. Only because Peter Robinson (you probably know him only as tacitus), an Australian Euphorian from Brisbane, just a short distance from here across the ditch, spent a lot of time writing pretty thorough docs for my widgets, and I do not seem to be able to generate enough enthusiasm to resume work on the last major rewrite that I started just before our holidays in the South Island. The list is also getting on my nerves. Somehow even the return of Michael Packard feels like an added shriek factor! And, generally speaking, quite rare traces of intelligence are invariably swamped by all sorts of ignorant proclamations, and also increasingly by obnoxious advertisements - in this respect I think Robert is cutting his own throat... On the whole, when I worked I used to spend an awful lot of time behind a monitor, sixteen to twenty hours a day. Now I seem to be spending much more time lying on my back in the dunes, listening to the wind and waves lapping of the beach, endlessly watching the birds rising in the sky until they become mere speckles flickering in the sun, almost invisible. And when I get tired of the birds and the sea, I read. (Perhaps it has something to do with the marvelous weather we have had recently. Wellington is normally known as 'Windy City', and on a nasty winter day it can get just as bad as anything down in the worst parts of Patagonia. But for last few years, probably thanks to the global warming, our Indian summers have become really incredible. During the week I play in two separate business house tennis competitions, on Wednesday and also on Thursday night. They both started towards the end of January, and so far we have not had a cancellation. In fact every single evening has been warm and calm, perfectly perfect, sweet velvety nights...) I am sure I shall revert to my old bad habits, eventually. But not yet. Before I succumb again I must also read the books I got for my sixtieth birthday last Saturday. They should take me safely through autumn, just in case it rains... jiri