A list of achievements.

I think that once I finish this dissertation, that will be an accomplishment. I feel like I've accomplished one or two things in my life. I had a few papers published. I won a couple of trombone-playing awards. I was third in the state of West Virginia at the parallel bars when I was in second grade.

So why do I feel like my greatest achievements are beating video games?

The first day I beat Castlevania II, I felt like I just scaled Mt. Everest. Or K2. Or whichever one they talk about being the hardest one to climb. I called everybody I knew. Some of them long distance. Most of the conversations went like this:

D
I just won Castlevania II!!

Friend
Oh. That's cool...I did that, like, three months ago.

Ugh. It was a little disheartening. As I don't win video games all that often, it's a big thing to me. Which is why, I think, I've been neglecting work quite a bit these days in favor of playing MegaMan I on my Nestopia emulator. So far, I've beaten Cutman, Fireman (or Burnman, I can't remember his name), Elecman, and Bombman. The tough ones are Iceman and Gutsman, and I have no clue how to do either. Both of them involve some serious precision jumping, at which I've never been all that good. But stay tuned, people. If I beat this thing, it's making headlines.