I've taken a couple of months off from Pit Fighter to recompose myself. My sessions were absorbing, and satisfying, and gave me a strong sense of agency--simply delightful. Unfortunately, my grades began to slip and I suddenly found that I had become ostracized from many of my fellows. Pit Fighter was taking up too much of my time. So, I packed up my SNES and all its peripherals, dropped them into a plain white sack and shelved them. Instead of bowing into Southside Jim's deadly front kick and punching Executives, I started hitting the books. It was satisfying for a while, as I suddenly found several hours added to my every day. You see, to play Pit Fighter well (on the Super Nintendo, not the crap arcade or Genesis versions), a supreme level of technique and ample amounts of practice are required. Time passed, and my grades steadily improved. Then, eight months later, and Thanksgiving had gone by, and I just hit the equivalent of a Booker T scissors kick on my mid-terms. This was a good thing. I felt that I deserved a little relaxation time, so I busted out the SNES and Pit Fighter, the only console and game I have with me here at university and played for about two hours. And I have never felt so alive. No game before or since has been able to capture the pacing, depth, and sheer fun of the gameplay. As the martial arts master, Kato, I bowed to Southside Jim as our match began and he kicked me in the face. It was like being born again. And the music. Oh, my friend, the music. There's only one song on the soundtrack, but it's a good one. During my two hours with it, it only got better. It runs for about one minute and fifty seconds and then repeats itself. I know because it's in my playlist right now, and it's every bit as good, to me, as the songs on the new Audioslave album. And I love Audioslave. I think my SNES is going to remain plugged in for a long time to come. I have my hand on its AC adapter bulging out of the wall. It's very warm. Burning, actually. Burning with anticipation.