I meant to write something bigger tonight, but I just didn’t have it in me. Such, I guess, is life. But here are three quick things:

-I’m bummed that EA closed Pandemic, not just because a bunch of folks lost their jobs (though that’s reason enough), but also because the studio is right down the street from me here in LA and I went over to visit them a few weeks ago. They seemed to me like a studio work keeping open, even if you had to make some cuts — they regularly delivered quality games. They may not have been total AAA bestselling titles, but they were solid games that I believe were making enough money to justify themselves. Of course, the founders had already left, so who knows what else there is to the story. I will say, though, that I continue to be shocked that big companies have tons of money for new acquisitions while they’re closing down previous ones. I’ve never managed a corporation but that seems like a bad decision, or at least a symptom of bigger problems.

-I bought this book the other day because I felt like I needed a quick and interesting genre novel to read, and I like it so far. It doesn’t hurt, I’m kind of embarrassed to say, that it begins in a Fall harvest and I’m reading it in Fall. I like Fall a lot (even though it’s been 70 and sunny constantly here in LA, not a problem that I can or want to whine about, but there you go), and I like reading stories of wights and dark magical forests and mysterious travelers during the season. Don’t know why.

I am still working on A General Theory of Love, and it is still extremely fascinating, but it tends to be pretty clinical (more of a Summer book, in that sense, I think — go figure), and it’s sometimes depressing to be reading about love and emotion while in a new place and trying to make friends. Don’t pity me or anything, it just is. Sorry.

-Speaking of sorry, I was at the gym today and I sat down to use a certain machine (calf extensions, if you must know), and it turns out that I had stolen it from someone who was using it. He was doing multiple sets in multiple places and one of them was this machine, and I had interrupted him. “Never mind,” he said, apparently frustrated with me, “do your set.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know you were using it.” He walked away in a huff, and went to go lift a significant amount of weight elsewhere.

There was another guy next to us doing squats who witnessed this exchange, and he came over to me afterwards. “You don’t have to apologize for using an empty machine,” he told me. “You belong here just as much as we do.”

“No big deal,” I said, and it really wasn’t. “I don’t want to interrupt anybody.” I finished my few sets, and moved on to do some leg presses.

But it was a weird bit of — consolation? Advice? A few people have told me not to apologize so much before, and to tell the truth, I don’t think I do. “Sorry” can mean lots of things besides apologies, and even when I am apologizing for something that’s not really my fault, what’s the problem? Someone might as well take responsibility for it, and my life is good enough that I can probably handle a few more troubles. I don’t really have an issue with saying, “sorry.” Not that I go out of my way to be timid, but if you mess up, or if you play a part in some accident, better to step up, take possession, and apologize. That’s what I think.

I’m more worried about the “belong here just as much as we do” part. What was that all about?