Years and Years

In a few hours it will be 2009.

I won't lie. New years eve means nothing to me. It's a total non event, and has been since I was old enough to realize time just passes by all the same. No matter what.

And so, I'm sitting here doing nothing but listening to music and playing games and I'm enjoying myself. Thankful more than anything, for an extra night off work...and so some extra sleep.

Boring? maybe. lame? if you say so.

But it's all I want right now.

Last year end I made a list of BEST OF things trying to mock the way that every single website ever does it, but I don't want to this time.

So here's a short, vague and hopefully not too confusing version that I find more interesting.

- The Dark Knight.
- Motorcycle + license.
- Music becoming an even more important factor in my life.
- Feeling shitty + meds.
- Early morning jogs.
- No More Heroes, Endless Ocean.
- Some high speed internet.
- A few people who are more important than they know.

As far as resolutions go I have a few goals and ambitions in mind. Things I'll probably play pretty close to the chest for my own reasons.

This is where I wish you all a good new year.

Post Christmas.

So.

As usual seeing the extended family wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I ate a lot and got some games and junk, so it's all good.

It never really did feel like Christmas. I don't know that I'll get the same feeling I did when I was a kid, but that is to be expected.

Honestly, I enjoyed the bits in between all the getting together shit. Just sitting and relaxing at home felt nice and I am glad for the break from work.

I got Gears of war 2 which is a lot better so far than the first. Quite enjoyable.

I also got Mirror's Edge and it is stealing pretty much all of my time at the moment. Geoff, we can add another game to the small list of current EA games that are awesome because this game is great.



I get the feeling it is a "love it or hate it" affair but anybody looking for something fresh needs to play it. Free running/parkour or whatever you want to call it isn't exactly brand new in games, but bringing it into a first person perspective and letting it be the main focus certainly is.

I'll spare the story details but needless to say the game is almost entirely about running and jumping. There is combat. With and without guns, but so far I've chosen to run and mostly just disarm enemies because the combat really isn't a standout feature. (that, and I just enjoy not shooting people for some reason)

The game is at its best when you are simply flowing from area to area, roof top to roof top without stopping. It's quite incredible and so natural feeling when that part of it gets nailed.

It is also probably the only game ever that has been able to scare me without any real horror. Jumping across a 100 foot drop just does that to me, I guess.

Sometimes it's frustrating (due to enemies and guns) and there is some trial and error involved, but it's still worth looking into.

Colour me very impressed. Certainly a welcome break from WoW, which has become a bit dull as of late.

And that has been my un-planned game review for today.

Back to Christmas...I hope everybody had a good one.

Raven, the other, other, other, other white meat.

So the other day while digging through some crap in my brothers old room, I came across this:












Apparently it is my Dad's guitar from when he was a lad. It is in pretty great shape despite having only one string at the moment.

I did some research and found out it was probably built in Japan by a different company, imported into Canada, slapped with a "Raven" badge and sold sometime during the mid to late 60's

I highly doubt it's some priceless antique, but I still find it pretty cool and I am tempted to make it live again just to see how it sounds with my talentless fingers on the strings.

That's all for me.

Oh wait.

Also:

I seriously hate Christmas music I think.

I never used to. I always thought it stupid, but lately I just want it all to burn. Especially the ones by pop stars and the like. Christina Agulellrlrla or whatever her name is deserves to be punched in the mouth for taking 5 minutes to sing one line of a fucking song. Draw it out some more you stupid bitch!

most irritating shit ever.

OOOOOH...so close.

Damn...

Homage.

I figure I should update this sack of shit, so it is time for some randomness.

I think it's about the time I'm supposed to post a "boy it sure doesn't feel like Christmas time" post...and it doesn't.

I say it every year and it tends to get worse and worse, but it's crazy how little I care and how quickly that day is coming up.

I look forward to certain parts of the holiday, but not others. I sort of dread having to talk to some members of my extended family because...well, I just don't care what they have to say. Not in a mean way, really. I just...don't.

In the end it always ends up being fine, but you know.

In other news I have another job, sort of.

I am helping my brother and his girlfriends' dad do some computer related shit. It's his own company and he's busy as fuck.

At the moment I am only doing a few days a week so I can see how it goes and still work nights. So far it's been fine/cool.

We go to the movie theaters and fix all their shit including those automatic ticket kiosks (which break down every day) and it's easy because for the most part, the problems boil down to the fact that the staff doesn't know anything.

But there's also a lot of other stuff, he has clients and people all over the place. Yesterday, for instance, I was downtown in the city center mall testing reprogrammed access cards, which was tedious but easy.

Anyway, at the very least it's nice to have some extra money, and I'm gonna try and balance both jobs for the time being before I dump one for the other, but who knows how it will work out, I'm just rolling with it and not really committing to anything either way.

In gaming news I bought Chrono Trigger for the DS, because...well, how could I resist? and guess what? it's still my favourite game of all time.

I'm also making decent but slow progress in Dead Space finally, since I beat Fallout 3. I heart the plasma cutter. Imagine the shit you could do with that in real life.

Well that's all I've got.

two wheels are better than four.

Many moons ago I picked up a DVD of a series called "Long way round" which was about Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman riding motorcycles from London to New York...going east, some 20,000 miles.

I don't remember writing about it, but I should have. It was one of the coolest things I've ever watched. Beautiful and inspiring to a crazy degree and often very funny. I loved it.

A few weeks ago I discovered that "Long way down" was available and bought it instantly. In this follow up the guys ride from Scotland to Cape Down through Africa and 18 countries over 15,000 miles.

A decent preview for anyone interested.

It too, is a great and inspiring experience.

Even before I was interested (owned) a motorcycle I found the idea absolutely incredible... and basically if the prospect of viewing all the situations they get themselves in and all the beautiful places they see sounds even the least bit intriguing, I would bet money you would be entertained by the series.

Also worth noting is that Ewan McGregor isn't your typical pretty boy celebrity. He's hilarious and awesome and seems like a totally cool guy, so don't let that put you off.

Overall, I would say "Long way round" is "better" but it's kind of a stupid thing to say. Certainly worth watching first if you can, though.

Anyway. Like I said, pretty powerful and moving stuff...but maybe I'm just weird.

It's just incredible how much fucking world there is out there that people never see. I guess watching this is as close to that as you can get.

The thought of riding and seeing it on a motorcycle gives me chills.

So yup.

awesome!

So I've been playing WoW pretty much all morning because I started this retardedly long quest chain and didn't want to stop, and I am glad I didn't, because once you complete it you get to see a badass cutscene.

It's pretty bitchin' and you can see it here if you don't mind being spoiled a bit (or don't care)

anyway, I thought it was awesome because I wasn't expecting it from a game like this. I hope there are more like that.

anyway, I have nothing else to report and am now going to do something that isn't world of warcraft related.

EDIT: The quests after were even cooler. I got to talk to Thrall and battle through the forsaken taking over the undercity with the king of Stormwind.

BEST QUEST EVER.