Just last night I lost a very good friend. We'd been together on many adventures. We'd slain giant beasts, overthrown vile dictators and trekked through barren wastes in search of family. Through it all he'd remained a tough and stalwart friend, but when those red lights flashed on the front panel, I knew my Xbox was dead.
He's in a better place now, or so I'm told. The poor thing has been sent to the repair center in a small, plain box. For now I am without a console for the first time in nearly a decade. It's strange to sit down in my living room and not be able to play. It's even stranger to suddenly feel the distance of my friends around the country. With the console around they were only a load screen away, a comfort that's all but gone now.
Am I upset about the red ring? Not really. I've had the console a while now and I understood the risks when I bought it in the first place. Do I wish this sort of thing didn't happen? Sure, but at least there is a system in place to deal with the problem when it does. The red ring is a part of owning this console, and I'm not going to bitch and moan about it. It's happened to me before and in my experience, getting angry about it doesn't speed up the process at all.
Live support tells me I won't have the console back until after the first of the year. It could be worse I suppose. With the Xbox off to the repair center I'll be able to catch up on a lot of reading and I'll be in a better position to fully appreciate my tabletop excursions. Hell, you might even see a few posts about them here. Stay tuned, as I'll still be posting as regularly as I can.
