Dragon naturally speaking...

I wouldn't imagine that many people know what my blog title is referring to. Both of my friends who are named Steve know what this says. Steve from work told me about it, and I told my good friend Steve about it. Dragon Naturally Speaking is the voice recognition program.I can dictate more or less to a microphone plugged in to my computer and the program will tie words for me in a live browser word processing tool and many other things. You have to use various vocal commands to do the things that you want and it's a little weird of dictating your punctuation as well. I think it's going to save me a lot of time when it comes to blog entries. As we all know I really do value my spare time. I think you will also be beneficial for when I go back to school in September and have to write notes. I would really like to take this opportunity and thanks Steve for lending me a microphone so I could test this program and my friend Steve from work for telling me about the program.

Speaking of my good friends he he was recently married. Congratulations Steve!! The wedding was on the fifth of August and I meant to update my blog since then but I was waiting to use this program for my next entry. The ceremony itself was very nice and everyone looked really spiffy as well. Sarah was worried that the kids would not be well behaved for the ceremony because they were not well behaved for the rehearsal but they did surprise her. Kevin, whose blog you can read by clicking on the link to the right, came all the way from England to go to the wedding and MC the reception. After the wedding I picked up some Chinese food because I was worried I wouldn't like the food of the reception. After picking up Jon and Beth we wandered around trying to find where the reception was located. We went to a gas station to get directions and an older gentleman was trying to help us that they were probably the worst directions we've ever received. We did manage to find a place okay.

I decided to drive because I didn't want to drink. I had gone to a wedding in August the year before this one and I was very drunk. Being drunk wasn't that but the hangover was horrible. I hadn't drank the whole year since that wedding and since it was another wedding in August I thought it would be a bad omen to drink. Kevin did a good job hosting the reception and everyone who made its toast did a good job in my opinion. In fact, I half wanted to make a toast myself but I decided against it because I'm not very good at public speaking. The food at the reception was pretty good but I wasn't that hungry since I had Chinese food prior to getting there. After food and the toasts the dancing began and of course I was nowhere to be found on the dance floor. Actually, I did dance with Chuck for a short while. I was just mostly speaking with people the whole night. Nearing the end of the night I'd drove Steve and Sarah after to a bed and breakfast which I found a bit of an honor.

With the wedding money Steve ended up getting a 50 inch high-definition TV. It's really quite a magnificent machine. Chris joked that we should get married so you can get lots and lots of money and then get a divorce a few weeks later. While Steve was on holiday and managed to watch Indiana Jones and Raiders of the lost Ark as well as the last Crusade. It was fun to see the Indian Jones movies again and I hope we get the opportunity to see the temple of doom to as well. I haven't really watch that many other movies lately. We did get a scanner darkly in the theater afterwards which I wanted to go see but it doesn't look like I'll get a chance before it leaves theater again. I also downloaded Slither to today and I hope I get the opportunity to watch it soon.

The unimaginable happened recently. Just the other day I asked a coworker out on the date. Well, I actually asked them out for coffee not a date but I was thinking of it in terms of getting to know them as if it were a date. She said she was going to be going out of town and I believe her. I did find out however that she has a boyfriend but I still think she interpreted my offer for coffee as a platonic friendship sort of deal. The weird part of it was that I wasn't even very nervous and I didn't feel totally rejected afterwards. There's actually another girl at work that I considered asking out. I don't think I will though because I haven't spoken with her as much as the other girl that I asked out. Maybe after a few more conversations. I have also increased my activity on the dating web site that I go to every now and again because I think they am getting sick of being single.

There's not really much else that I can think of to say today especially since I'm using this program to make the blog entry it feels very weird. Since this can save me a lot of time I think I'm going to try updating my blog more often. Then again I always say that and it doesn't usually happen but you never know maybe it will happen this time. I'm sure that there are plenty of grammatical errors in this blog entry due to using this program and I apologize ahead of time. Have a good day people!

~M

Work and Play...

Well, I just got home from work. Work is actually alright, which is surprising for me because I'm extaordinarily picky about everything in my life and I usually dislike anything that cuts into my free time. If you haven't read any of my previous posts, I work at Teletech which is a call center that services Sprint's mobile phones. I've been working there since the end of March and have been working night shifts, usually ranging from 4 - 12:30 or 6 - 2:30 but on Monday I start a new shift (shifts are given out monthly by the way) which I'll usually be working 11 - 7:30pm, The only unfortunate aspect about the new shift is that I don't get fri & sat off which I've become accustomed to over the past 3 months. I figure it's a small sacrifice because now when my friends get off at 6 or 10pm I can get together with them. I don't think weekends are going to be that bad anyways because less people will call on the weekends and you can dress casually for those two days.

What is there to say about the work? Well, I sit down and answer phone calls all day. Sure you get your occasional irate customer but I think it also depends on how you talk with the customer. I think I do a very good job there because I usually sell the most attachable options on my team and I have been getting a lot of compliment calls which is pretty rewarding. Speaking of rewarding, since my attendance and monitored calls were excellent, the past two months I have recieved 10% of my monthly wages. This has been a big help in setting out to complete one of my objectives which is to pay of my credit card. My other object is to have my Futureshop card aid of by September but that doesn't look like it's going to happen. I should get fairly close to doing that however. Why September? Well, September is when I will be quitting Teletech and starting my Practical Nursing course. Some people have said I should be able to stay on part-time, but others have said that they don't offer part-time. I guess I'll find out eventually. If I don't think I'll like nursing I'll probably go back to Teletech. The other option is to try one of the other call centers because I heard if you have 3 months call center experience under your belt that you can get higher starting wages. If I don't like the new call centers I can always quit after training and then go back to Teletech.

I have also met quite a few nice people at Teletech which almost makes me sad for leaving. It's a pity that the nice ladies that I have met have all been taken... not that I would have asked them out anyway. Well, there was one I had seriously considered asking on a date until I found out for a fact she was taken. I'm sure some of them I will still see when I leave Teletech but strangely enough I think I will miss when I walk by certain people and they say "hey ballz!!" and a few heads turn. I'm also worried that when I leave Teletech that I'm going to have a major change in diet which would be unfortunate because I've actually manages to lose approximately 20 - 25 lbs. in the past 4 months. I realize that not everyone is cut out for call center work, but I do actually think it was something I was good at and it didn't drive me crazy. It's probably the best job that I've had so far. Microplay would have been a better job if the owners had been more nice to me. At Microplay I always felt like I was living in fear at of the owners whereas at Teletech I feel somewhat respected and/or looked up to by my coworkers and supervisors.

Ok, well enough about work. What else is there to talk about? Well, I try to keep bitching to a minimum on my blog but I really do feel like complaining about being single. Well, it's really not that bad because I know how twisty and turvy relationships can go, and how much time they take up. I think moreso than anything else is that being single for so long is just worsening my self-esteem because my mind is really playing tricks on me. I constantly begin to wonder if there is something wrong with me, since I have been single now for more than 3 and a half years. Well, I was dating someone around new years for a few weeks but there's not much to say about that. Actually there's no need to wonder if something is wrong with me because I know that my friends would tease that I'm too picky. They are right and maybe I will be alone forever because of it but I think if I'm patient enough that I'll eventually find what I'm looking for. As I said, being single isn't that bad but after being single for as long as I have, I think it's time for a change, even if it's just a temporary change. I don't actually see things changing for a while yet though because I don't put myself in situations to meet new people often. I've met a lot of people through work but outside of that I spend my time home or with my friends. I don't tend to do activities which would facilitate talking to strangers. I do have a lot of trouble just initiating conversations with random people. Don't take that to mean that I'm shy because I don't really think that I am, I just don't like to initiate conversations or talk in a large group setting.

Another thing that's been irritating me is that I don't feel like I have a creative outlet. I guess this is as close to anything creative that I do but it's not like I put a lot of thought into my blog postins because I just tend to type what I'm thinking. I can't draw/paint, I'm not into photograpy, I can't play any instruments, and I don't think I could write poetry or have the patience to write a story unless it's of my own life. I do actually own a bass guitar which I bought with the intention of taking lessons but about a week after I bought it, I was told by my boss that I was going to be laid off. I knew I wouldn't have the money for taking lessons, so I never did learn. It's not really an excuse because at one point I did buy a book to help teach as well as I know friends that play guitar but I just never did get into it. I regret not learning and it's never to late to start but I don't actually see myself starting.

The closest thing that I've had to a real creative outlet in my life is when I was playing a collectible card game known as Magic: The Gathering and I apologize for the nerdish comments that I'm about to make and if that seems pathetic, but I am who I am :) Anyway, one might wonder: "how is magic a creative outlet?" Well, playing Magic itself is not an outlet for creativity, though it definitely gets the strategic thought processes moving in your brain. If you know anything about competitive Magic, it's that having a good deck is half of the battle when it comes to being successful, so the deck creation process is very important. Making your own decks as well as testing them out and fine-tuning them to be effective is not only a creative outlet but something I really miss doing. I just miss Magic in general. I quit because I played to be competitive and when you do that, Magic is a very expensive hobby. Just to give you an idea, I collected Magic for about a year or a little longer and when I sold my collection about 6 years ago I recieved about $1200 Canadian (it was $800 US at the time). I may have actually pumped more money than that into my collection but for that amount beyond what I got back I look at it as a worthy cost for the year of entertainment.

Gaming is something I've always really been into, whether it's a card game, board game, video game or pen and paper rpg. I don't think it's ever going to leave me. At one point (sometime after I finished up at Microplay) I sold basically all my video game systems and games but now I have a fair amount of them again. After high school I sold all of my pen and paper rpg books and stopped playing, but I play occasionally now with a few of my friends. I quit Magic but every now and again I think about picking it up since I make ok money. I probably won't but you never know what can happen in the future. In fact sometimes I think I would be better off playing Magic than video games because I but video games and some of them I just don't play and don't feel like I'm ever going to play them. With Magic, it's a game which is fun in and of itself, but collecting the cards is great too because the cards are worth money, they have excellent art work, as well as interesting writing on them which is known as flavor text. Then again being naturally picky doesn't make me alone forever, a huge Magic card collection might hahaha. Video games have definitely broken the 'nerd barrier' appealing to a wide variety of audiences, but I can't see Magic as being thought of as anything but nerdy. I guess it shouldn't really concern me though because you are who you are and if people don't like you for who you are then they aren't worth knowing.

I don't know where all of this random thoughts have come from tonight but I said I would update on Sat so here it is at Sat at 4:22am. Enjoy!

~M

The unrelenting laziness...

Well, here I am posting again. I know that I haven't been a very good blogger and only updating every now and again. I know I have lots of things to talk about but I'm just not used to having so little free time now that I'm working. I also kind of tend to think that my entries are not that interesting but I guess I shouldn't let that discourage me from writing. Ok, so to star things off, I'm going to quote one of the comments in my last post which said "Mark, I need you and I want you. I'm sorry that you don't." I would just like to comment on this. I would like to say primarily that if this is not some sort of prank by a random person then I am extremely flattered because I tend to not think of myself very highly. In fact since I've been single for so long I was beginning to wonder if there's something wrong with me. Well, I do know that I'm not a normal person but I just figured most would consider me unattractive or I wouldn't have been single so long. I was complaining to Steve about this on Sun night and he made a point that some people do like me, but I just don't reciprocate it. I guess it's sort of true because I am extrodinarily picky and sometime you women just freak me out. Perhap I will pay for my pickiness with eternal lonliness but I'm willing to risk that to get what I want. I would also like to point out that I'm not so narcissistic to think that I have any right being as picky as I am but you can't help who you are and what you like right?

I'm going to continue on with that comment that was made, just because it's odd... I apologize in advance for going on about it :) Well, obviously I wish I had known who posted it because it makes wonder who could possible think that. If you feel like you want to indulge me please e-mail me (it should be on my blog somewhere) and let me know. Even if I don't reciprocate your feelings sometimes it's just good to talk about it, and I wouldn't be the sort to make fun of you behind your back or anything. That's not how I roll. I just think it's good to get things in the open. Take for example my friend Andrea. I like her but she doesn't feel the same way about me. We've talked about it and it doesn't seem to have hindered our friendship. Well, she might not go with me to my good friend Steve's Wedding (Congrats buddy!!!) because I get the impression that she might not be comfortable which I found out through Divine Intervention... Praise Jesus! ;) It's ok Andrea, I completely understand. The point being is that I just think that it's better to talk about things that dwell on your mind, whether it's positive or negative.

Ok, so enough about the comment. What else do I have to talk about? Well, there is no chance of me getting addicted to World of Warcraft again. I did post about this game before, with it's horrible addictiveness and waste of time I consider it to have been. I no longer possess the game or my account which had my characters on it. Recently I was talking to a friend of mine named Jon who wanted to sell his PSP which I had been wanting for a while, but the $300 price tag was really turning me off so I waited. When Jon offered to sell his PSP to me with 3 games for $130, I jumped on the opportunity. I knew that Jon was a WoW (World of Warcraft) nut and that he didn't posses the Collectors Edition that I did. Well, I offered to trade it to him with $40 for his PSP and 3 games and he decided to go for it. That basically put my WoW CE at $90, it's not really what I wanted to sell it for but considering how cheap I got the PSP it was completely worth it. Now that I have no game and the inability for me to ever access my characters again (meaning that if I did restart I would have to start from scratch) there's no chance I'm going to play again. The PSP is an awesome little system that has a nice huge screen and also good sound as well. How do I think of it in comparison to the DS Lite? Well, I think the PSP has better capabilities (in terms of programs and things it's caable of doing outside of gaming) than the DS Lite but there are more games that I like and have what I consider to be better games on the Nintendo portable.

So I have a PSP, and I guess I'll tell you a bit about what I've been playing. The main game that I have been playing is a Tetris-esque puzzle game by the name of Lumines. I think it's perhaps the best puzzle game that I've played or at least the most addictive. Well, it probably resembles Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (which I still wish I had on PS1 >_< ) moreso than Tetris. I know at least two people who crave to get a PSP just because I let them play a few games of Lumines. Besides Lumines, the other two games I've been playing is Mega Man Powered Up and Loco Roco (which has only been released in Europe so far but will be out in North America soon enough). Mega Man Powered Up is basically a kiddified version of the original Mega Man game but with a lot of additional features. New graphics, new levels, new bosses (Oil Man and Time Man), playable boss characters and a level editor. There is more features than that but that alone is worth sinking hours into the game LocoRoco is a very odd game. Basically your main characters is a rolly ball with a face. You tilt the world left and right by using your L and R buttons on your PSP which causes him to roll and press you can press both and then release to jump. As your ball rolls around and eats fruit he will become a fatter blob. You'll traverse through the gorgeous wold with the singing blob of fat with crazy japanese tunage going on (think Katamari but actually catchy). It's just a simplistic side-scroller that's very fun due to the visuals and level design. I can't wait to get into more.

Onto movies. I think the only movie that I've mentioned so far this summer was Mission Impossible 3. Well, I'm after seeing in this order: MI:3, The DaVinci Code, X-Men 3, Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean II and Clerks II. Well, I already stated that I wasn't fussy on MI3. The DaVinci Code was decent but the thing I found most interesting about it was the actual comments on Catholocism and I probably would have been better served with a documentary. Well, Ian McKellen (spelling) was great as always. Speaking of Ian, I had insanely high hopes for the latest X-Men move since X-Men 2 was probably my favorite super hero movie I've watched. Well, I saw it and again it was decent but it was very underwhelming considering how much I enjoyed the others. I guess it would have a lot to do with the new director, since Bryan Singer is no longer associated with it. Now Singer left X-Men to do Superman Returns so I was actually getting excited about it, especially with Kevin Spacey playing Lex Luthor. I have to say that again I was pretty underwhelmed by the movie. It was about 45 mins too long and not entirely entertaing. I was expecting a little more action but I thought the actors (note: actors and not actresses) played their roles very well. Maybe the next will be better.

After seeing all of the above movies, I was beginning to think that this was not a very good summer for movies and it had me worried about the remainding films. I had been anticipating the new Pirates movie for quite some time and figured it would probably only be decent. Upon going though I was completely blown away. It was exceptional and the best movie that I've seen so far this summer. I'm not going to go into any specifics, so just go see it for yourself. I didn't even really know about Clerks II or when it was being released, heck I hadn't even seen Clerks until about 3 weeks ago. I went to it and I have to say it was as funny as the original. Most people I know that have watched it tend to think the same thing which is surprising because people hold the original in such a high regard. If you liked the first you should feel safe going to the sequel. So, after seeing two good movies I'm hoping the trend will continue when Trailer Park Boys The Movie is released, I believe, sometime in August. I'm a huge TPB fan and have all of the seasons so far on DVD and the trailer looks awesome so I'll definitely be going to this one asap.

What else have I been watching? Well, I watched 4 animes lately... 2 series and two movies. After seein the amazing Samurai Champloo, I had to sit down and watch Cowboy Bebop. Bebop is a good series but I vastly prefer Champloo, with the exception of the music. The other series that I've watched lately is Serial Experiments Lain. All I have to say is: EWW EWW EWW!!!! It was very weird, and not even in a weird but enjoyable fashion such as Akira. I'm not even gonig to talk about the series anymore because I consider it to have been such a waste of time. The two movies I watched are Samurai X and Howl's Moving Castle. I really enjoyed Samurai X which is based on the anime show called Rorouni Kenshin. Samurai X is just another Samurai flick but I guess they aren't all the same because Samurai X and Samurai Champloo have a completely different feel to one another. As for Howl's Moving Castle, it was alright. There were things about it that bugged me and I vastly preferred other Miyazaki's work such as: Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. I think I would definitely have to sit through Howl's Moving Castle again thought before I could give it a final verdict.

Well, I've type a fair amount and I haven't even touched on music yet so I will only mention on CD that I've been listening to lately and that's Black Holes And Revelations by Muse. Most people consider this a 'love it' or 'hate it' sort of album. At first I thought it was their worst album to date but I could instantly apprciate the songs 'City of Delusion' and 'Knights of Cydonia'. Upon repeated listenings of this album it's really begun to grow on me like mold. I still don't consider it to be their best work, aka Origin of Symmetry, but it definitely is a solid album that deserves some recognition. Well, I wasn't going to talk about any other bands but I just remembered that I ordered the US version of Pure Reason Revolution's The Dark Third album which is simply a masterpiece in my mind. I've owned the UK version of the album for quite some time but the US version has at least one new song that wasn't on the UK edition so I ordered it. It was released today but I ordered mine from amazon.ca so I probably won't see it for a bit. Go out and see what your missing!!

Ok, well, that's all I have for now but I do have some other things to talk about so hopefully it won't be a month until I do another update. In fact I'm hoping it will be this weekend, but I can't predict whether I will or not. I hope everyone is doing well and keep in touch, ok people? :)

~M

Sausage in my mouth spewing warm fluid...

No, no, no I haven't become homosexual. What I'm referring to in my topic is this food I've been addicted to for about the last month. Steve was oh so kind enough to introduce me to these Butterball Montery Jack Turkey Sausage. Well, it's as I've said: they are turkey sausage and they have montery jack within them. The best part is that they're only like 10 grams of fat per sausage which is good considering how big these things are. It's funny because I remember when Krista and I used BBQ these 'Cowboy Sized' Calgary Stampede burgers and those things had like 30 - 40 grams of fat per burger which is absolutely crazy but I do remember them being pretty tasty. I will say that it's good to see the sun coming out and the weather getting a little warmer because it means my friends and I can BBQ a lot, or at least I can go to my friends house and dirty up their grill if they aren't doing any BBQing (sorry Steve/Chris :) ). As for the other joys of summer, it looks like Salmonfest will be coming soon to Grand Falls and since I went last summer I think I would like to go again. I know this year that Billy Talent and Live are playing. I know there's supposed to be another band but I just can't remember them. I don't even care that much about seeing Live but I did see Billy Talent when they were at Mile One Stadium before and they put on a completely amazing show. I do like some of their material as well. I think I just want to go to Salmonfest to go on a roadtrip and just sort of get a way from it all here in St. John's. My only problem in this endeavor is trying to find someone to go with me. I had considered posting on our work bulletin board but people probably would like going with me because I would have to lay down the law beforehand: paying an equal portion of gas for the trip, no eating/drinking in the car, no smoking, my car so I get to listen to my music, willingness to go out and come back in the same day which I don't think too many people would have the stamina to do even though they wouldn't be driving. I really want to go to Salmonfest but I bet it's just not going to happen.

Ok, for a second post in a row I'm going to have to give a big shout out to Krista. Steve gets a shout out too. Why? Well, I found out recently that I was accepting into the LPN program. What is LPN for those of you who don't know? Well, that would be the Liscenced Practical Nurse Program. I applied way back in March and Steve and Krista were gracious enough to give my my references. Told you that you would be a good reference Krista :P Anyway, I was told I was going to hear back from them in the end April or beginning of May but then at the beginning of June I began to wonder what happened. Myself and Chris made our way down to the Center of Nursing Studies and they told me that I was the first on the waiting list and if anyone drops that I would be accepted. I knew that someone would drop and that even if they didn't I could just get the Newfie Mafia located in Gouldigan territory could certainly address the issue :) Well, someone did decide that they wouldn't go so now I'm in. This is what I had written up in my other post but I forgot to copy/paste.

So it looks like thise Sept I get to go to nursing school and be surrounded by mass amounts of women... as good as this sounds I'm having some major apprehension not only because I don't know how well suited I'm going to be changing bedpans, washing the elderly/incapacitaed, and other yuckiness. Beyond the 'I don't know if I'm going to like it' I've been working hard in trying to get myself out of debt with credit cards and this is hard enough, but that would be considered chump change compard to a student loan. So yeah, I don't know how well this is going to go down. I am gonig to go and try it though because I'm sure there's a period where you can go to the school and get a full refund if you decide not to stay. The thing is that doing this in school could be very lucrative because the program is only about a year or year and a half I think and when you get out I think you usually make $16 - 19/hour here in Newfoundland. My father was telling me that just recently that they were looking for LPN's up north (I guess Yukon or Whitehorse) and the job would pay about $30/hour not including isloation pay/benefits. That's pretty damn good. The other thing to consider is that even if I don't like the LPN program I could always stick with it for a while and then upgrade my diploma into a full on Nursing Degree by doing more schooling. 'What to do' has always been a big problem in my life and even after being accepted in to school, it doesn't looking to be getting anywhere. What I need is an office job where I have my own office away from other people doing boring repetitive work where I can listen to music. In fact away from other people and doing musicy sort of stuff (perhaps mixing/engineering at a studio) would be an ideal job. Blah, kill me.

Well, there is a crazy amount of stuff that I've been doing lately that I've written down to talk about in my blog but I don't know where to start since there are so many things to talk about. I guess first I'll talk about what I've done most recently and that is: I've finished The New Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo DS. Well, I've completed everything there is to be completed in the game and I would have to say that it was a very satisfying experience. Almost everyone that I know that has played this game has really enjoyed it as well. If you like Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World then this game would be right up your alley for some old school sidescrolling platforming. The only thing it lacks compared to these previously mentioned Mario titles is a flying item. I only looked up about 5 things on the internet to unlock so that I could have everything completed. I'm sure I could have figured out about 2 of these 5 things but I was getting impatient. Well enough about Mario, I do want to say though that I'm really loving my DS system. Yes, it was super expensive (mainly due to importing and my flash cart), but I really love a lot of the games on GBA/DS, the crazy bright screen on the DS Lite and the convenience of having this gaming on the go, so if there's crazy amounts of FPS's going on at Steve's I can keep my sanity ;) j/k haha

The next thing I would like to discuss is the album I'm currently listening to while typing up this entry. I'm listening to 'The Blue Notebooks' by Max Richter. I would describe it as very subtle but moody instrumental music, in an almost classical/ambient sort way. It's the perfect music for when I'm just writing or browsing the web to have in the background. One odd thing that I found out is that Tilda Swinton does the only vocals on this album, but it's spoken words and only sprinkled throughout the album. The music on the album is beautiful and haunting in the way that Shadow of the Colossi' soundtrack is, but without the heroic and fighting anthems. What else have I been up to in the realm of music? Well, I have bought 3 Porcupine Tree DVD-A's which sound absolutely amazing. Through this I've gotten Steve into Porcupine Tree which is awesome and had also rekindled my interest in them. Not that I have ever really lost interest in the band but I've just been listening to so much new music that I hadn't listened to them for a while. I think I've also criminally undervalued how PT's album Deadwing should have been assessed for my top 10 of 2005 but I knew tastes would be bound to change over time.

And as always there's a lot more I could talk about but I'm pretty much finished for today and hopefully I'll update again next weekend. I can't promise that I will but the more people bug me to update in my comments the more likely I am to update sooner. Take care for now everyone!

~M

I... Live... Again...

Yeah, I know I said I was going to start doing more frequent short posts but as we can see that didn't go according to plan. Why didn't it happen? Work. When you're somewhat used to having 7 days off a week to do whatever you want and you still don't find the time to do everything you want and then you start working full-time, then sacrifices do have to be made. I don't really mean to sacrifice my blog but it is hard sometimes to force myself to write. When I see comments that people want me to keep writing then that helps to encourage me. The truth of it is that I have so much to talk about now that I really do have to start writing or I would probably have to do some 10 hour marathon writing session of what I have been doing lately. So here's what's been going on lately...

Ok, first and foremost I would like to give a big shout out to my ex Krista who I'm still friends with but don't talk to nearly enough. I'm giving her a shout out because her and her husband Curtis just recently had a child. I would like to think I had a part in making the baby... well not directly you sickos :) You see many years ago when myself and Krista were going out I heard about Warcraft 3 and that there was an 'unofficial' beta testing which I wanted to get into. Eventually that lead me to a site called war3pub.com (which is mainly just a message board) and that's when I met Curtis who helped me set up the beta. I was immediately hooked to warcraft 3 and introduced it to Krista who also became quite hooked. Eventually I convinced her to join the site and we started running Warcraft 3 tournaments together for the war3pub patrons which was a ton of fun. Eventually things became very clear to the both of us that things weren't going to work out so it was sort of a mutual break-up. Well, that's in the past long ago, but we managed to stay friends. Both of us stayed on war3pub and she started to talk to Curtis more and more until they decided to meet one another and develop a relationship. Of course the distance was a challenge in the beginning (her living in Newfoundland and him living in the US) but after she finished her degree she moved to the States. Who would have known that she would find love on the internet, move to the US, get married and as of the past week have a child! Big congrats!! So you can see how I had a hand in making her baby and helping her find love, so now she needs to find me a Wife. Good luck with that one :)

Ok, so the next huge piece of news is one of my best friends from all the way back in Jr. High has moved back here to Newfoundland. I'm sorry to hear that the circumstances revolving around the reason for his move back aren't good ones but it is great to see him again and I'm sure he is happy to see all of his friends once again. We'e been getting together almost everyday since he's been back either playing some Mario Party (> Halo), wandering around the town or watching a movie. Just yesterday we watch Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Shaolin Soccor. I've already talked about Advent Children so here are my thoughts on the latter. It was pretty weird. Basically the synopsis is that a bunch of Kung Fu monks get together to play soccor. It was a pretty fun movie and has a very similar feel to the movie Kung Fu Hustle, both staring Stephen Chow.

I have recently made a very expensive purchase. For a long time I have been wanting a portable system and I did used to own a GBA but I sold it when I was in my anti-gaming frame of mind. There have been quite a few games that had been released on the DS system that had caught my attention but as soon as I had heard that they were releasing a new design for the DS called the DS Lite (more battery power, lighter, smaller, and brighter screen) as well as a new top down Zelda game called The Phantom Hourglass. The DS Lite isn't out yet in North America but it will be released on June 11th, 2006. I happened to import mine from Japan because mainly I wanted a Navy Blue DS instead of the White one that was going to be released here. It wasn't really an issue for importing it because the Japanese use the same electical outlets with the same voltage as North America so I don't have to worry about frying the system. All GBA and DS games are not restricted by region like you would see with console games and DVD movies which is very convenient. The last concern was being able to read the settings of the system, but thankfully you can change the systems defualt language as well. Since purchasing the system I've been playing the following games a fair bit: The New Super Mario Bros. and Tetris DS. I had thought about getting a PSP but I decided that I would rather have DS Lite because I just like more of the games that are currently released on DS than the PSP and the same goes for upcomming games as well. I acknowledge the PSP is quite the beast but I prefer my DS Lite.


I could write a pile more I'm sure but that's all I'm going to do for now. I would like to say that I'll update again soon but I'd rather not say that incase I don't end up making a new post for a while. I do hope it will be soon however. Have a nice day people!!

PS - 2 points to anyone who knows what this blog post title is quoting

PPS - Tried to post this earlier but blogspot was down so I'm just getting it up now.