Torchlight 2: A Lesson in Lost Lessons

I bought Torchlight 2 on launch. Yesterday, about two hours into it, I found myself wondering why I wasn't having fun. And... it's because Torchlight 2 was more of the same - just more Torchlight. Torchlight itself was an exercise in frustrated design - it had so much promise that was ruined by poor mechanics and a misunderstanding of fun. How?

Outing

They came to pray for her
whether or not she wanted it,
and she quietly told the
organist that she had her
communion wafers, see,
and the little anti-nausea pills
rattled in her hands.

Sakura

I've heard you shouldn't
look a cat in the eyes
because it scares them.

Insight

The little cogs and fly-wheels
break through, or we broke
in, or somehow they’re exposed,
pulsing gutly in nakedness,
and the daemon known as
‘algorithm’ is visible, chanting
in strange, artificial languages,
where such things have heft.

Changes (Bowie)

The car goes into park easily,

as such old things are wont

(being easy off, but troubled on),

and I would have no sympathy,

but the fact that yesterday

was work again, and I felt

far past my listed mileage.

Bliss Pover

They typo'd her name once, like it was a superpower,
binomial, like categorical science, like Faust's child,
good company for Buttercup et. al. Her actual name
was paean to her father and his birds, to plovers and gulls and
pigeons - flightly little things. We spoke in pidgin, birdless,
little words in broken lines on solid wires. She had
a superpower. It was self-destruction,
but I hear she's getting over that.

Construction 101

I've been working on a construction site for a few weeks now, cleaning and doing odd jobs. It's an interesting place full of interesting people, and I've composed a short list of rules for blending in, should you ever end up working construction yourself...