So I was driving home from work the other day, in the Miata, wearing recently installed Falken tires of the Ziex variety after being stuck with some non-descript Bridgestones for far too long (the difference between all-seasons and summer performance tires is significant, I just never realized HOW significant), and I was getting angry. Angry for a variety of reasons. To make a painfully long story more tolerably short, I was getting angry cause’ I wasn’t getting my way. And it’s not like I was asking for anything particularly fancy either. I just wanted to get from point A to destination B within a reasonable amount of time. I don’t really care to get into much detail, but for whatever reason, that was asking for too much. So I got home angry. As I was parking my car, I was uttering all sorts of obscenities and cursing Southern California at large. I started thinking about how hopeless things were and how America had definitely seen better days and how it seemed like most people only cared about things that concerned them directly. Pretty morbid thoughts, actually.
I got up to the apartment gate and reached into my pocket to find the gate key. A Korean lady was standing on the other side of the gate and near her, a little Korean girl, presumably her grand-daughter judging by the age differential. I took out my keys to unlock the gate, but before I could wrestle them out of my pocket, the little girl opened the flippin’ gate for me, and said in the most amiable of tones, “there you go!” I said thank you with a smile and began ascending the stairs. After no more than two steps, she said, “good night” and waved with a darling smile on her face. I was moved to semi-tears (I tend not to cry, for whatever reason) as I had just witnessed what I felt to be the most sincere, veritable kindness I’ve witnessed in quite a long time. I thought it was beautiful and I felt like sharing.

Also, after playing a bit of Metal Gear Solid 4, I began thinking about MGS2 and Raiden and how a lot of people seemed to hate him merely because he was the playable hero and Solid Snake wasn’t. I remember thinking to myself that Raiden wasn't all that bad and seeing the legendary Snake through the eyes of a rookie who was trying to live up to be like Solid Snake was the entire point. I’ve played through MGS 1-3, and still feel MGS2 to be the most successful. By successful, I refer to the game’s ability to leave me feeling satisfied.

If you’re interested, this guy has some really excellent insight on what I feel MGS2 is all about.
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