Divorce Distractions

I separated from my wife, Lealle, last August. The divorce is imminent. There was no hope of reconciliation -- I had been trying to work things out between us for ten years already.

Even though I had support from friends, and a wonderful new romance started unexpectedly, it was still a difficult time and I have sought distraction. I could have buried myself in work, but, well, that is not me. I turned to less productive diversions.

Computer Games 

Three games have dominated the last twelve months for me are listed below. I can recommend all of them. 

• Clash Royale: This is a phone and tablet game, a mix of real time strategy and tower defence. The games are very short (2-5 minutes) and the gameplay is quite engaging. There is some real strategy involved and a metagame. It is a freemium game. You can play quite enjoyably without paying any money, but of course I have spent some on this game and the ones below. 
• Hearthstone: A Blizzard phone app as well as desktop version. I played this a couple of years ago and came back to it this Spring. Turn based play, so more relaxing. It also has some strategy involved in play and in deck construction (you collect cards and put them into a deck that has some synergistic elements). There are a variety of playing modes. Like Clash Royale, you move up and down in rankings to equilibrate to winning about half the time, no matter your skill level. 
• Path of Exile: An older, independent game much like Diablo 2 but with some innovative gaming elements and a huge skill tree that really makes a difference. It is a well put together game with a good community. They just had a major update which I am checking out. 

TV Shows (mostly Netflix)

I'll mark shows I actually recommend with a [*]

I am watching Game of Thrones with buddies, so that's not a distraction but a real social event. I am also watching 3% [*], a Brazilian show, near future societal science fiction, with my girlfriend. We are only halfway through the only season but it is quite good so far. She also got me on to Big Bang Theory, which is good light entertainment. 

• Daredevil: A superhero show, season 2. I thought it suffered compared to the first season. It seemed a bit repetitive. I think he should date that nurse. 
• Luke Cage: Another superhero show in the same universe as Daredevil. Interesting for the African American cultural references but otherwise not worth watching. Apparently they are together now in a team show called "Defenders". Someone I trust said that this was good. 
• Supergirl: The only thing I can say is that it was better than The Arrow. Hey, I was bored in East Lansing. 
• Dark Matter[*]: Season 2 came out this year. Actually, I think this one is pretty good. It is reminiscent of Firefly and Farscape. Everyone on board the ship is quite attractive. 
• Travellers[*]: Science fiction show with time travel to the past to prevent future dystopia. Some disbelief is required on the science, but the mechanism of time travel is interesting and has consequences. First season was well written and acted. 
• Sense8: Wonderful show with great writing and a deep message. I can't bear to watch the second season since I heard it was cancelled. Sigh...
• iZombie: A recommendation from my daughter. It made it to three seasons, not deep but actually pretty interesting. Acting and writing are variable, but some high points. 
• Helsing: I watched to the end of the first season. Not bad for yet another vampire/zombie show.
• Ash versus Evil Undead[*]: You can watch the movie, Army of Darkness, that it follows from, but it can stand alone. Campy, supernatural goodness. Ash voices many things that men feel inside but are too smart to actually say out loud. 
• The Shannara Chronicles: Based off a terrible book series and produced by MTV, I expected to watch the pilot episode and mock. It turned out to be not too bad, however, and I watched to the end of the first season. This was another show I watched in East Lansing, only available on Netflix US.  My main criticism is that all fantasy characters should have British accents. I found the American accents of some of the elvish characters especially jarring. 

Lansing Airport, NYC subway, and Graffiti

So there is no graffiti here at the Lansing airport. But, there is a business centre with free internet and coffee, comfortable chairs and desks. The free internet is allowing me to post this blog and listen to a progressive rock playlist on 8tracks (by Canibal_NoFM, pretty good so far). The airport is really pleasant. There was no line up and six security people just for me at the screening. The only trouble is you can basically only fly to Detroit and Chicago (oh -- I looked it up and DC and Minneapolis are also destinations). I usually fly through Detroit and take the bus to exciting East Lansing, where I visit a colleague at Michigan State University every year for several weeks. The connections were just better to Lansing this year. One of the only other two times I have been here before, my flight (in the tiny propeller plane) was delayed overnight due to thunderstorms. Today looks clear - keep your fingers crossed.

So the graffiti is on MSU campus, in a pedestrian underpass by the river.

I know some people find graffiti like that upsetting and threatening. I find it really creative and beautiful. This example reminded me of the graffiti'd subway cars I saw in NYC when I was a student there 88-91. At that time they were upgrading the subway system and removing graffiti. However much I like graffiti, I get that, since many people regard it as anarchistic, it encourages vandalism and criminal behaviour. I had been there a year and was used to the professional, clean subway cars and then one day one of the last old trains covered with graffiti showed up. I was blown away. I don't have a picture of the one I saw, but below is one I found online from around that time. 

Note the World Trade Centre in the background. That dates the NYC skyline...