Novinha’s Headquarters

One thing I dislike about living in an apartment is that I don’t get to know much about my neighbours - and vice-versa. Maybe because we spent most of the day at work and come home too tired to socialize, or maybe because we are all ignorant SoBs, but even after nearly four years I only know a few people in my floor - though when some of the neighbours don’t even bother to say hi or return my greetings, it sometimes seem to be a wonder that I have as many friends here as I do now in the first place.

Yesterday one of them, a young woman only three apartments away from my place, was found dead, beaten and possibly raped. The shocking news is… that she had been dead undiscovered for three days!

What little was left of my social consciousness is deeply disturbed. In a very closely spaced apartment, how could we neighbours didn’t hear or see (or smell!) anything at all while a woman was being beaten, raped, and killed next door? Why did we not wonder at all when she didn’t show up or go out to work for three days straight? Bloody hell until I read the news in the net I didn’t even know her name or see her face!

Granted she never introduced herself even to the local authorities (RT/RW chief and the apartment management), granted she never went out or speak with her neighbors, granted that until her death she maybe lived in her own little world, but still the fact that me and my neighborhood is ignorant enough to let a neighbor dead for three days undetected is very disturbing… and makes me wonder how long, if I’m suddenly dead, would it take for my neighbors to discover it

P.S: I pass in front of her place twice every day, when I go out to work and come home… the door and window are closed all the time. I only knew something was wrong when yesterday I came home and saw the door nailed shut and taped all over with police line

Maybe after reading the blog this far you’re getting the impression that I’m a nerdy h-game maniac who does nothing better in his spare time than hacking h-games… Although it’s not entirely incorrect (sweatdrops), I do have interest in a much wider range of games than that, especially those of the strategy genre. There are a lot of good games out there that I surely recommend to anyone - I’d even go so far to make playing them a must to complete high school education ;-P

Some titles worthy of note:

Uncharted Waters series: What, you don’t know what this is? Can’t blame you, it’s been a VERY long time since its last English incarnation came out… but this game will teach you A LOT about the world’s geography (its primary strongpoint), economic and trading, and the cultures and life of the medieval world.

The Oregon Trail: Haven’t heard of this either? Hmmm…. either your gaming horizon severely needs to be expanded or I have played some very uncommon games ^_^; At any rate, especially for American elementary students, this game will give you a glimpse on how the early settlers made it to the Wild Wild West - in a simple but exciting way

The Sims series: Go ahead, say you haven’t heard of this, I have a shotgun sticking to your head… If you like to learn about people and what makes them tick, this is about the closest thing to having live subjects to experiment with

Civilization series: I have an itchy trigger finger in case you still say you haven’t heard of this ^_^; THE ultimate history game. A history lesson you can actually learn through with great pleasure!

Obviously there are a lot more out there that I haven’t mentioned or played… comments welcome!

I used to kinda look down on H-Games storyline and their anime adaptation, viewing them as weak excuses to show the H scenes… until I watched great hits like Kanon, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, and, more recently, Air - with solid (though sometimes rather surreal) characters and a touching storyline.

Maybe the only complaint I have with these works are that they put completely innocent characters into suffering and painful circumstances that they have no way to get out of…