I just can't seem to get into the habit of updating weekly so again I am just gonna do a general update of the last 2 and a bit weeks in no specific format. Things have just been so busy lately! As the end of June approaches we head into our busiest time of the year at work so I've been doing extra hours again in an effort to catch up but I just feel like I'm not getting anywhere quickly.
Aside from work, things are busy at home, too. Ivan and I finished our Japanese for Fun and Travel course but have decided to sign up for Japanese 1, which runs for 30 weeks! We went to our first class last week and it looks like a big and lively class so it will no doubt be enjoyable! We've also been going to the Pancake Kitchen every Tuesday night for the J Club, which is a Japanese language/social club with most people from Uni SA but a couple of ringins (like us) and has been fun for the last few weeks.
On top of that it was Grandma's 81st birthday a couple of weekends ago and with Mother's Day last weekend we've been seeing my family a bit. Also, as a followup to my last update I got in touch with an old high school/Uni friend and we went out for lunch and a catchup. It was really great actually, and I'll endeavour to keep in touch with her in the future. With emails being so easy there's no excuse really.
In other news I have my own new gaming addiction I must confess to. Darren gave me the buddy key he got with his Lord of the Rings Online game which meant I had a 10 day trial. Well, after day 1 I was addicted and on the second day of my 10 days Ivan had bought both of us the game so, although time to play it has been limited, it's very addictive once I start and several hours can easily pass.
Anyway, had better get back to work now :(
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Wow, just wow ...
I just took yet another walk down to my local Aust post branch to look in on a package Mel and her Duckman sent me over four weeks ago now through normal post and FINALY it was there waiting for me.
Strangely enough though it would seem it was there all along...
Yes it had been sitting there since the 19th of april apparently but despite going down there twice, citing my name, the names of the senders and where it was from somehow it was over looked both times.
The first notice I recieved in the mail sending me down for the third time today to finally get it apparently was the third written up before it was in only a few days to be returned to the senders.
I know it all seems incredible but it is all true *shakes head in bafflement*.
The lady today was very helpful and apologetic though and it was the first time she had served me so I think in future I know who I will be waiting in line for to serve me since the other two ladies there must be blind or incompetant or both :-/.
It has been some time since I updated last and now i have that particular rant off my chest I shall explain why.
Final Fantasy 12
To those who are fans of the series or fairly serious gamers that short line alone will probably have you nodding your heads in understanding but for the uneducated I shall explain a little.
So far I have sunk aproximately eighty five hours into this game and still havn't been everywhere, talked to everyone worth talking to or seen and fought all the extra sidequesty things there are yet to do in this spawling sandbox fantasy soap opera of sorts.
These games although decidedly foreign in design (the final fantasy series) being produced in japan have an amazing depth of play that only few western role playing computer games can hope to rival. (A few off the top of my head would be the Fallout series, Planescape Torment and the Baldurs Gate series).
If you have ever been umming and arring about getting into these console master pieces (as opposed to the PC master pieces I also listed) 12 is possibly not the game I would suggest as entry level as it is quite complex and doesn't have the best storyline out of the series I have played, I suggest starting with 10 for a story you will develop a connection with the characters in.
Despite this though its the gameplay in 12 that takes the cake, free flowing, non random battles with customisable party AI to allow you to tweak every fine deatil of how your party members react to many different types of enemies right from start to finish of the battle is what makes this game amazing.
I am still working my way through to the tougher rare and hidden away monsters at this time and loving every second of it as the challenge rating gets sooo much harder.
It's been well worth the time I have put into it so far though I do look forward to talking to estranged friends once more when its claws finally pry loose from my flesh *waves to people who thought he had died*, sorry for being so distant lately, I love you all :D.
Strangely enough though it would seem it was there all along...
Yes it had been sitting there since the 19th of april apparently but despite going down there twice, citing my name, the names of the senders and where it was from somehow it was over looked both times.
The first notice I recieved in the mail sending me down for the third time today to finally get it apparently was the third written up before it was in only a few days to be returned to the senders.
I know it all seems incredible but it is all true *shakes head in bafflement*.
The lady today was very helpful and apologetic though and it was the first time she had served me so I think in future I know who I will be waiting in line for to serve me since the other two ladies there must be blind or incompetant or both :-/.
It has been some time since I updated last and now i have that particular rant off my chest I shall explain why.
Final Fantasy 12
To those who are fans of the series or fairly serious gamers that short line alone will probably have you nodding your heads in understanding but for the uneducated I shall explain a little.
So far I have sunk aproximately eighty five hours into this game and still havn't been everywhere, talked to everyone worth talking to or seen and fought all the extra sidequesty things there are yet to do in this spawling sandbox fantasy soap opera of sorts.
These games although decidedly foreign in design (the final fantasy series) being produced in japan have an amazing depth of play that only few western role playing computer games can hope to rival. (A few off the top of my head would be the Fallout series, Planescape Torment and the Baldurs Gate series).
If you have ever been umming and arring about getting into these console master pieces (as opposed to the PC master pieces I also listed) 12 is possibly not the game I would suggest as entry level as it is quite complex and doesn't have the best storyline out of the series I have played, I suggest starting with 10 for a story you will develop a connection with the characters in.
Despite this though its the gameplay in 12 that takes the cake, free flowing, non random battles with customisable party AI to allow you to tweak every fine deatil of how your party members react to many different types of enemies right from start to finish of the battle is what makes this game amazing.
I am still working my way through to the tougher rare and hidden away monsters at this time and loving every second of it as the challenge rating gets sooo much harder.
It's been well worth the time I have put into it so far though I do look forward to talking to estranged friends once more when its claws finally pry loose from my flesh *waves to people who thought he had died*, sorry for being so distant lately, I love you all :D.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Format be damned
Yes yes, I realise I haven't done a weekly update in the correct format again. This time my excuse is it's been 3 weeks and so it would simply be too difficult. Also I didn't know what to say after Xy's last spooky post. Needless to say, I am concerned for my co-author's mental state. Just kidding, ofcourse Xy *giggles*.
Well as you can see by the time of my posting this, my sleeping patterns are very much out of whack. And who can we blame? Big Brother. The Up Late show is a hoot. I don't know what it is about Mike Goldman but he cracks me up and so I've been watching it, which means waking up with the alarm clock and cursing myself for staying up so late. In fact, I should be watching it right now, but after working on an assignment until around 11pm I got caught up checking my MySpace and then searching for people I knew in a past life (i.e. from school) and thus, I figured I should update my Blog finally, too. Seeing as how updating my Blog takes priority over watching Big Brother Up Late, which takes priority over sleeping, you can see I'm very poor at prioritising.
So anywho, I haven't been up to exciting things at all, I regret to inform you. We went out to Eric's a couple of weekends ago for dinner and some DVDs, it was Ivan's birthday last Friday so I had the day off work and showed him around a couple of Japanese stores in the city, but aside from that it's been business as usual. In other words, work, Japanese studies, reading, and TV shows. Yes, my life can be summarised into four broad categories it seems.
Now, a tangent.
It's strange, but for some reason lately I've been thinking a lot about the past. Like, one of my TAFE lecturers was talking about customers who may be lonely and so go into extended conversations with staff members and I remembered back in the day of working at Bi-Lo, there was this guy around 55, 60 years old who used to come down from the country every weekend and do his shopping with us and come through my checkout. But one day, he gave me a letter and a gift (I can't remember what it was, postcards from his town I think) and I got a little freaked. In hindsight the guy was probably just lonely, but at the time it troubled me. Anyway, I hadn't thought about him in years but that one TAFE lecture brought that old memory flooding back.
When we were at Eric's, when he'd finished fast forwarding The Big Lebowski, we flicked over to Rage who were playing a '20 years of Rage' special, and the 1997 songs really jogged my memory. I think, looking back, that time between the end of year 12 and the end of my first year of Uni was probably the most fun year of my life. Anyway, got to thinking about friends I don't speak to anymore and how I'd like to get back in touch with them, that kind of thing. Funny how the memory works...
Well, on that note I should stop putting off going to sleep I guess and perhaps go do it. Or catch the end of BB Up Late, either or.
Well as you can see by the time of my posting this, my sleeping patterns are very much out of whack. And who can we blame? Big Brother. The Up Late show is a hoot. I don't know what it is about Mike Goldman but he cracks me up and so I've been watching it, which means waking up with the alarm clock and cursing myself for staying up so late. In fact, I should be watching it right now, but after working on an assignment until around 11pm I got caught up checking my MySpace and then searching for people I knew in a past life (i.e. from school) and thus, I figured I should update my Blog finally, too. Seeing as how updating my Blog takes priority over watching Big Brother Up Late, which takes priority over sleeping, you can see I'm very poor at prioritising.
So anywho, I haven't been up to exciting things at all, I regret to inform you. We went out to Eric's a couple of weekends ago for dinner and some DVDs, it was Ivan's birthday last Friday so I had the day off work and showed him around a couple of Japanese stores in the city, but aside from that it's been business as usual. In other words, work, Japanese studies, reading, and TV shows. Yes, my life can be summarised into four broad categories it seems.
Now, a tangent.
It's strange, but for some reason lately I've been thinking a lot about the past. Like, one of my TAFE lecturers was talking about customers who may be lonely and so go into extended conversations with staff members and I remembered back in the day of working at Bi-Lo, there was this guy around 55, 60 years old who used to come down from the country every weekend and do his shopping with us and come through my checkout. But one day, he gave me a letter and a gift (I can't remember what it was, postcards from his town I think) and I got a little freaked. In hindsight the guy was probably just lonely, but at the time it troubled me. Anyway, I hadn't thought about him in years but that one TAFE lecture brought that old memory flooding back.
When we were at Eric's, when he'd finished fast forwarding The Big Lebowski, we flicked over to Rage who were playing a '20 years of Rage' special, and the 1997 songs really jogged my memory. I think, looking back, that time between the end of year 12 and the end of my first year of Uni was probably the most fun year of my life. Anyway, got to thinking about friends I don't speak to anymore and how I'd like to get back in touch with them, that kind of thing. Funny how the memory works...
Well, on that note I should stop putting off going to sleep I guess and perhaps go do it. Or catch the end of BB Up Late, either or.
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