Beyond the Sword

I took a vacation from writing the novel and have escaped until after New Years' into a game of Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword. It lets off some pressure. Some. This is what's known as a cheap vacation, so cheap it's free. It's the only vacation I can afford to take right now on government disability.

I'm leading the Egyptians, because that way I don't have to worry so much about culture at the beginning. Civ teaches you that foreign relations are evil. I had to go to war with the Japanese, otherwise they'd get me. Besides I needed the space. A war of conquest and dominance just seems pragmatic. The game would have located the Japanese and two other aggressive civilizations right next to me, the Celts and the Zulus. So, I went to war with the Celts, too. Actually, the game assigned me a special quest, so I felt I had to take the challenge and declare war on the Celts.


Generally, Civ 4 and it's variants are so addicting I can only play "on vacation." Like someone who goes to Vegas, but if you can control addiction to anything that well, addictions wouldn't be the trouble that they are.

Now that I'm done with the war, I'm going to try to wrap this game up quickly, and start another one.

My niece gets married this weekend, and after that I'll finish the novel.

I realize this game's about ten-years old now. When I first began to play the very first version of Civ, I would play for 36 hours straight. I can't afford another addiction like that.