Trouble's Braids

I have come to an astounding and yet incredibly bizarre conclusion that two of my obsession are perfectly attuned to one an other. This is an odd marriage, you know what I mean, like when you see that odd couple together: the guy is well over six foot tall and probably weighs no more than one hundred and fifty bills. He dresses impeccably and looks like the kind of guy that probably has a subscription to GQ and does actually read the articles on mens health. The girl is a tiny, little round thing, more than likely with brightly coloured and untamed hair and the kind of clothing that would suggest she got dressed in the dark. You can't hear it, but you can pretty much put money on that she would be singing to herself as she walks. . .come on, you must know a couple like that, don't we all?

Anyway, lets back away from my odd analogies and get back to my recent, fantabulous discovery.

If you have encoutered me at all before now, you will be more than aware not only of my slightly obsessive personality, but also that I am for one, a girl who games, in all senses of the words be it video, table top RPG (okay, it was once. . but nevermind, it would have been more had I not moved halfway across the globe), board games. . yeah, you get he picture. For two, I live my life to a constant soundtrack and frequently rediscover music from various points of my life, only to completely emerse myself in that artist or artists to the point of listening to nothing else for a few days. . .weeks. . months. Recently I have been introduce to an online role playing game, Guild Wars. . think World of Warcraft, but without the monthly subscription fee and you're pretty much there. I now have two characters, since I bought further expansions to the game and opened up more character classes, yes, obviously Ihad had to get a nice new shiny character for the new world.

This game comes with its own sound track besides the atmospherics, its a sweeping background of strings and orchestral celebrations when you are fighting creatures. Imagine Toto's soundtrack to Dune making sweet love to Mozart's Magic Flute minus the opera and you're almost there. It entirely unoffensive and you actually start to become entirely oblivous to it after playing for a while. Being me, I felt like I was missing out on some serious music listening time and thought that not only could my real life have a taliored soundtrack, but so too could these new online lives. Last night I was playing my character who communes with the spirt world and kicks arse in a decidedly stealthy ninja style fashion, she is set in a psedo oriental type world, complete with Kirins and Kappas. . so what did I listen to as I cut a bloody path through all that stood in my way? Well, Tom Waits OBVIOUSLY.

This odd blend seemed to work some kind of magic. My concentration improved and those enemies that had once been virtually unconquestable were now slain with total ease. Quests were ran through with the double blades of my trusty sai with flourish and all thanks to the chocolate coated, broken glass tones of Mister Waits. Who would have thought that the music of a burbon soaked Californian from the mid seventies would so inspire the sucess in a vaguely asian fantasy setting?

Right, I'm off to listen to Raindogs in its entirety and slay a few dozen more local infected with an infernal plague, till then. . . . .