As part of a continuing effort to Not Go Crazy, I’ve started playing a level or two of JGR for every hour or two that I read or grade or work on a freelance project. Yes, it’s a Dreamcast game - and an old one, even in Dreamcast terms, but until I manage to sufficiently rationalize that refurbished XBox to my own satisfaction, it’s the only crazy Japanese cel-shaded graffiti skating game I’ve got. (The recently-released GBA version has been brought to my attention, but the clips Chris and I saw on X-Play left me underwhelmed - it doesn’t look like it made the transition to the portable format any better than did Tony Hawk 2). It does work awfully well at soothing my poor abused brain after fifty pages of Plato (or whatever) - I seem to remember doing the same thing with SSX Tricky last semester with equally successful results. Only one question remains - where do I draw the line when determining what merits a JGR break? Grading thirty-something quizzes definitely counts, but does taking a shower? Of course it does.