Friday I lost my sense of taste. I'm not sure when, I just know that it happened some time after lunch. The hot roast beef and mashed potatoes were very good, I know that much. But that night, I discovered the pizza had no flavor. It wasn't just the pizza, though. Nothing had any flavor. Obviously, the problem is me. The only thing I can think of was the hot chocolate I drank too quickly Friday morning. But my tongue doesn't feel burned, and lunch, which came after the drink, was certainly flavorful. So here I am, with no apparent sense of taste at all. Sometimes loss of taste can actually be attributed to loss of smell. However, my sense of smell seems as good as ever.

It's depressing suddenly being without one of the basic five senses. Every food is now more bland than plain white rice. Every drink is as tasteless as a glass of water. Will I never be able to again taste the flavor of a perfectly seasoned medium-cooked sirloin? Or chocolate? Or even root beer?

Yes! Homeworld 2 lives. I know that I never put a lot of playtime into the game after I beat it (never could seem to find anyone to play multiplayer), but the singleplayer aspects of Homeworld and Homeworld: Cataclysm were spectacular. The Homeworld series is a superb RTS series, and I can't wait for the next one.

I'm trying to convince Bad Mojo, LouZiffer, and others to start up a weekly RPG. Not sure what we'll be playing... though I know it won't be the unfinished RPS-Squared. ;) Likely it'll be something science-fiction based. We have Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles source books, but since we have several beginners among our possible players, the focus on both character rules and tactical mech rules might be a little too much to start with. I really don't care that much what it is we play, it's the interaction that really makes role-playing. Well, except that I definitely don't want to play anything White Wolf. Gah, their system is just so horrible.

Max Payne. The one thing really missing from it is penetration. I mean bullet penetration, you perv. You know, bullets passing through walls or chairs or other things like that. A rifle bullet can go through a hollow wooden door like a hot knife through butter. And those cubicle walls are like tissue paper. There were a number of times while playing the game where it would have been handy, and very appropriate, to be able to shoot an enemy through some sort of obstacle. Alas, it was not to be.