The Professional Gamer - May 23, 2014

This week marked the resurrection of an older game for me, and another great week of science television and gardening. Read on to learn more about my geeky week.

Reading: Although I am still reading a lot about gardening (and this is definitely the season for it), I've decided that it is time for my periodic read through of all of Tolkien's works. This time I'm starting with The Hobbit for the simple reason that it was the first book that I found when I went looking. For whatever reason, I feel the need to allow my mind to stray for awhile in a fantastical landscape.

Watching: This week on Cosmos, Neil deGrasse Tyson discussed what the future of the universe might look like. I found this segment both uplifting and crushing at the same time. It is uplifting in the sense that we humans could do such great things. On the other hand, I lately feel that we are so stuck fighting about such petty things that we will never reach our ultimate potential. Hearing Chris Hadfield sing "Space Oddity" one last time helped to ease my melancholy.

Playing: This weekend marked a major effort by Blizzard Entertainment to attract players back to Diablo 3, largely through a greatly increased drop rate for legendary items. In my case, it worked. I've returned to guide my monk against the demon hordes. I have to say that the plot still seems lacking (I'm in Act 2 currently), but the gameplay has been much improved. I'll probably stick it out for a few more weeks at least. After that, we shall see.

That's about all for this week. We've had some great rain out here that is really helping my garden to grow, and I'm looking forward to a great harvest this year. Have a great week and game on!