Having met my weight goal after a non-restricted day, the only thing I can attribute the success to is the incredibly long sleep I had last night (which, embarrassingly, kept me from going to church). I was a little fuzzy this morning, so I pounded down an intense protein shake (which included vitamin C) and a mug of coffee.

Spent the morning with a little mind-stress on Cook, Serve, Delicious! - frustratingly intense, and yet incredibly addictive (probably a link in there somewhere - masochistic tendencies?). I've switched to the far more educational and informationally dense Europa Universalis IV - an early modern strategy game based around Europe - and Crusader Kings II, similar to the previous except set in the Feudal Era. These games are preposterously detailed, and will take a while to master. But on the plus side, mastering them will give me an intensely detailed picture of European geography and the political intricacies of the era.

I keep telling myself that I'd love for my future children to have educational and yet entertaining and fulfilling games to play on their free time and using this as justification for buying games on Steam (since, if the reader is unaware, Steam keys are held for life and games can be downloaded from their servers if your computer were to kick the bucket). Very few of these games, however, are worthy of meeting this justification - Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings II are definitely worthy. They're graduate level history lessons packed into mind-bogglingly complex interactive simulations. Example: I'm just going through the tutorial right now, but I'm learning how, as the King of Scotland, I can use my half-brother Malmure - a Scottish Earl - as a piece in the political game by arranging a betrothal to an Earl from a neighboring and conflicting kingdom. Or arranging a marriage for him. Or imprisoning him. Or giving him a vassalage. Or giving him an honorary title. Agh! What do all of these things do? Such subtlety in interactivity!

Anyway. I should probably start studying my Russian pretty soon. And I should probably write something real in the future. My mind has wandered lately... stuck in this world again. Sigh...