Random Dialogue

Thursday saw the publication of another review on Slashdot. Jade Empire be a ding dang good game, and you can check out my commentary on the game if you’re so inclined.

The review was done on Monday, but my coordination with Rob’s schedule has prevented getting the thing onto the site. Tomorrow or Friday, I think.

In the last few days I’ve been doing a lot of playing World of Warcraft with RL buddies. Brian, Katie, Elijah, and I actually got together to do some questing today in Elwynn. Brian is riding my 10 day pass, but he’s probably not going to up an account after the trial is up. Elijah and Katie, I think, are in for (at least part of) the haul. Here’s teh hope.

Monday I ended 20 years of dependence on frames and lenses by heading in to an eye doc and picking up the contacts I was fitted for last week. I’ve been wearing glasses since I was very young, and I can honestly say I look at the world differently with contacts in. Gaming, driving, looking out at trees and stuff….all very different. I’m still having a lot of problems putting them in, but I’m getting better. I’m working up my tolerance for them day by day, and today (Thursday) I’ll be up to 6 hours.

Tuesday I actually couldn’t get them into my eyes in time for gaming, so I was bespectacled when our party danced with the otyugh and centipede swarms of the fallen university. I’m getting ever closer to the crucial level of five with Freedix. At level five, the Wizard gets third level spells. Awww yeah. Can you say Fireball?

Yesterday I went in with Katie to provide moral support as she got her ears repierced. The doc was extremely competent and proffesional, and the girl said it was the best piercing experience she’s ever had. Since the place was right near the Monroe street comic shop, it was trade paperback time! Katie picked up some Birds of Prey, and I snagged some Spider-Man. Feel the webslinging love.

Yesterday ended up being a pretty busy day. Did some cleaning and writing, and was on-shift after noon. We hit Maharaja for dinner with a bunch of folks, followed up by a Star Cinema’s viewing of Kung Fu Hustle (commentary forthcoming).

Good movie, and a nice evening for the most part. I could have done without putting the whole bill on my card, but the guy at the counter was being assy.

Taxes out of the way, and anticipating purchases for the wedding to come, I took this last opportunity where I think I can swing fun things for myself to purchase a slimline PS2. Along with that, a copy of Katamari Damacy and the new release God of War.

Katamari Damacy is a wonderfully brilliant game. Everything good you’ve heard about it is completely true, and part of me wishes i was a pothead so I could enjoy the game to its fullest. Then I remember I like having a job and not being a loser, and the urge passes.

God of War is the story of a soldier somewhere in the ancient Mediterranean who has been forsaken by the Gods of old. Krytos laments the stuff that’s happened to him. Luckily he has an appropriate outlet: Horrible Violence. GOW is the most adult film I have ever played, topping even Chronicles of Riddick for the gore factor. And, to be fair, I haven’t even gotten to the sexual intercourse mini-game yet. (Hi Mom!)

God of War is going to join Riddick and Resident Evil 4 for a combo-review piece on Slashdot. But first! Jade Empire. For Monday, if all goes well.

Okay, not really.

Wednesday turned out alright. I didn’t bust everyone up, but I did okay and certainly held my own. I’m still hovering around even, but my trend of late has been upward.

Yesterday after my morning shift we had lunch with folks at Hubbard (very pleasant), and then dinner that evening with Katie’s folks and a friend of the family. Yesterday was actually quite lovely.

Which was nice, because today was very “eh”. Rainy and cold enough to prompt a quick heater burst to get the ambient temperature up, Friday was very much a blah experience.

There was, however, a neat me related thing put up on Gamasutra today. I did a quick interview with Jessica Mulligan for the site. And now she’s leaving Turbine. NOT MY FAULT.

Anyway….movie tomorrow night after shift, and writing all weekend for a Monday deadline.

Today is a personal best for me. Grodin is now level 35.

That’s the highest I’ve gotten a character in World of Warcraft, and to celebrate I went and beat the crap out of some centaurs in Desolace. Stranglethorn will wait until later this week, as I think I might be out of Azeroth for a day or so working on real life thingies.

Monday my eye appointment went pretty well. My eyes aren’t any worse per se, but my astigmatizm has increased over the years. Lunch with Katie and Alan at Red Robin was a nice middlepoint for the day.

Last night, Freedix got turned to stone by an angry Cockatrice. Luckily, my comrades spent the monies needed to get me turned back. I am apparently getting my Dungeons and Dragons karma returned to me for those years of DMing.

Today Sony Online went insane and opened a virtual property exchange. As you do, when you’re arguably one of the leaders of a niche industry.

Tonight we’re putting out the cards and playing some poker, where I’ll try to come back from last week’s downturn.

Review up on Slashdot yesterday for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Good game.

Lunch at the Great Dane turned out all right. I only really had time to stay for a beer and a round of pool, as duty called, but my ex-coworkers were very nice and gave me a neat desk clock as a gift.

Friday night’s socializing at Jabby’s was very nice. We had some foodstuffs, and did a lot of sitting around and talking. Brian and Kat also passed on to me their Christmas present, which took many moons to reach here because of seller difficulties. They got me a complete set of the 1980’s cartoon series The Mysterious Cities of Gold, a Nick favorite when I was growing up (alongside Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, etc.). I’ve only really watched the first episode or so, but…yeah. Wow. Childhood.

Saturday some dorks gathered at Alan’s for Twilight Imperium. Despite reservations, the game ended up only taking about four hours, mostly because some of us were asleep at the stick and allowed things to get out of hand too quickly. I generally ended up in a shitty part of the Galaxy, so I was never really in the running for Imperium Rex. S’okay, I had a good time anyway. After Imperium Ben went home for home-working, and we headed to my place for some more games. We tried out Corruption, played about 20 minutes of Illuminati: Crime Lords, Bang!, and did two games of Falling. Falling was mostly a time killer as we waited for our reservations at Biaggi’s to come due, where we had a lovely dinner to finish out the night.

Been a nice couple of days, all around. The weather has been beautiful, so we’ve had the door and windows open most of the day. A little light rain has only added to springy-ness of the moment.

On the gaming front my Splinter Cell review should go up today, and I continue apace in Azeroth and the Imperial Kingdom. I’m going to aim to have my review for Jade Empire up on the site a week from today. Grodin is currently pushing at the edges of level 33, meaning that next level I will meet back up with the quests and world I left behind when I stopped playing Trust, my magess.

I’m actually really looking forward to tackling 34, though. I’m in much better shape financially (been a better AH hawk), I’ve been hanging with the guildies a lot lately, and I still have a bunch of quests that I haven’t even tapped yet. At the moment I’m clearing out my Hillsbrad quests, and I’ll be moving to the Arathi Highlands when I’m done. When I hit 35 I’m going to head south and start causing trouble in Stranglethorn Vale. Mmm….parrots.

Today, though, I’m heading out into the big scary world to get my eyes looked at. It’s been some time since my last eye exam. I really missed having air blown into my eyes, obviously.