Growl Roar in Book One: The Not So Daily Briefs 2014

Giant Growl!

How is it supposed to be a calming study break when it frustrates me to the point of murder? My friend matt is also studying for the bar exam and has similar video games as I do. One of my “quick” study breaks is playing Destiny and other games on the PS4. These games… tend to allow people to join you while you are playing whether you want them to or not. Frankly, for a study break- I’d prefer to simply jump onto a game, do a few things, and leave. However, I also said I would help Matt out because he is a little slower with the game than I am. He also, notoriously, joins my game whenever he sees me on.

Today was one such day. Since today is supposed to be a study day for both of us, I wasn’t concerned. Y’know, he’d probably join in, ask me for help with something small, and move on to studying. NOPE. He wanted to do a level that he’d never done before… but one I had. Okay, should be easy- I can show him the tips and tricks and whatnot. NOPE. Even though he’d never done the level before… even though I’d only done the level on “Regular”… he wanted us to do the level on “Hard” because you get better rewards that way! Okay… whatever. I can try it. After an hour and a half… we kept getting to the level boss and getting just decimated. But… would he go down to a lower difficulty level? NOPE. And why were we getting decimated? Because… here’s the thing… I have a weapon that perfectly eliminates enemy shields. But… it doesn’t kill the enemy. But it allows a teammate to make the kill. Every time… “Sorry, wasn’t paying attention” or “sorry, the cat was jumping on the table” or “sorry, I was looking around for secrets” or excuses ad infinitum. Dude… no. If we are going to do a level harder than either of us should do, and not go to an easier difficulty… stop screwing around. After three hours we beat it. Want to know how? While I did the hard part of dodging enemies, getting killed, healing myself, and running out of ammo. .. HE hid in an almost inaccessible place until the boss came out and killed me. While the boss was killing me, and then repeatedly firing at my dead body… he dealt the killing blow.

So… I get that it is silly, stupid, and petty… but if the study break takes longer than the studying… that is an issue; if the study break makes you more pissed off than the actual studying… that is an issue. I do enjoy my friend Matt and I like his company but… I have to try to find a kind way to tell him (from time to time) that either “I don’t want to play with you” or “I’m only going to be on for a brief while” or something…. I mean, I know it is important to interact with people during bar study, it is good for the soul. And… I honestly like Matt… it is just… sometimes, man. Sometimes there are certain games that should not be played with certain people, I guess.