Jeffrey H.
Posts: 3154
Joined: 4/13/2007
From: San Diego, Ca.
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: HintJ
I usually go to bed pretty early, and I often sleep for five hours and wake up, then I try to fall back asleep for a couple of more hours before I get out of bed. Last night was typical, except that after I awoke after my first five hours of sleep or so, I was laying in bed having difficulty falling back asleep, and then I heard a very load noise coming from my basement, as if a pile of stuff had been knocked over. I was not half-awake, the noise I heard was very distinct and quite loud.
Someone had knocked something over by accident in my basement! I was convinced it must be a thief!
I needed to investigate, but I wasn't about to go down to my basement and face a thief bare-handed, so I needed a weapon. I used to keep a rifle in my house, and I wished I still had it, but a cumbersome 30-30 lever-action rifle isn't exactly a good home defense weapon. Still, I wished that I had it.
I went and grabbed a kitchen knife. I opened to door to the stairway down to the basement and clicked the light on.
Looking down the stairway, I got this strange sensation. Long ago I used to feel this way whenever I drove delivery trucks into ghetto Philadelphia or Hunts Point in Bronx. Yeah, like I was entering a very bad situation. Also, since I turned the stairway light on, the thief will be surely hiding, see me first, and do everything he can to stop me. Alternatively, I could just yell down the stairs that "I'm calling the Cops!" and then set up my own ambush at the top of the stairs and hope he runs away empty-handed.
Here's where it gets amusing:
I thought, "What the hell is wrong with me? I play crazy games where I tell my pixel troops to do things ten times scarier and I get upset when they show reluctance!" Wow, what a hypocrite I am! No, I'm not calling the Cops first, I'm going into that basement and stab a man to death if necessary! Seriously.
Well, I went down there and apparently the thief was long gone. I searched the basement in great detail, being sure to not turn on any more lights! I thought of the game "Oblivion" when I was looking for him and fearing a surprise zombie attack--I was genuinely afraid.
Apparently, quickly after he made his loud noise he ran away, but I didn't know that at the time. My side basement door was not completely closed, and the lock was half-turned. I know a similar trick to break in though that door when I lock myself out/
I don't know what my point is here, but I would never ask an employee or subordinant to do anything I'm not willing to do. I guess I feel a little guilt playing some of these crazy wargames...
Funny story and I'm glad to hear you are not harmed or in any other sort of trouble. I've had similar times in my life when I thought I had to do something about an intruder, luckily for me it's always been something other than that. But I've never related anything to games while going through them, that's a new twist.
For me it was waking up to the sound if smashing glass and getting out of bed, grabbing the shot gun, grabbing a flashlight and slowly going along, room by room, trying to figure out what happened. This scene has repeated itself many times over the years but nothing has ever really happened. It's terrifying though and it really does take some courage to deal with it and be ready for anything, at least that's the way I feel about it.
_____________________________
History began July 4th, 1776. Anything before that was a mistake.
Ron Swanson
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RE: Fear, hypocracy, and wargames. - 
Good gaming and sleeping weather.
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