It's been awhile, hasn't it?
After writing the snow post I figured I should look back and see how long its been since I actually posted anything on here. Apparently I haven't given you any real life updates since I moved into the house. So here goes:
A couple weeks after I moved in, Jak Locke went on his first tour. It was a small one... going from Birmingham, AL, stopping in Tuscaloosa and then on to a suburb of Atlanta that I'm totally forgetting the name of right now. Oops. We were supposed to go all the way to Greenville, SC but the show got canceled and all attempts to reschedule in the area didn't work out. I went along doing my usual camera duties as well as being full time merch girl this time around. That part sucked.. having to stand near the merch and cash drawer while everyone else got to hang out and have fun. But we still met a lot of interesting characters and nice people, discovered the Mellow Mushroom as a great place to eat, and got to see some cities we wouldn't otherwise. We also had a lot of trouble sleeping, got cranky with each other but never actually had any fights, and got really drunk the last night when that show was canceled. That makes it sound like a bad experience but it really wasn't. Somehow even through the exhaustion and crankiness we all had a good time.... well with the exception of the anti-social couple, who may or may not have had one but it wasn't really with us so I couldn't tell you.
The good part of that being that soon that anti-social couple may be leaving us permanently. OR I may have to deal with them twice as often because Jak doesn't like firing people who used to be friends even though they aren't anymore. Fug. I don't feel like going into it all right now but if you know me well enough that you know who I'm talking about, ask me over email or IM and I'll tell you later. I'm in a good mood right now and I don't want to spoil it thinking about the misery twins.
Most of October was pretty quiet. I debated on doing a housewarming party but honestly I just couldn't bring myself to invite a bunch of people over and ask them to bring presents for it. Like at least on your birthday or Christmas it makes a little more sense. I guess I'll just have to wait until I'm married before I get all the cool kitchen stuff. :)
In November we decided to have Thanksgiving at my new place. It was a small one.. just me, my brother and sister in law, and my parents. Oddly this was the one year all my extended relatives decided to start doing a big gathering again after doing nothing the last 5 yrs, but I'm kind of glad we had our own small version. My dad made the turkey in my oven and I did the stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, and a pumpkin cheesecake. I also made deviled eggs, Alton Brown's veggie spread and stuffed mushrooms as appetizers because it was a late meal.. around 5. We watched the Arrested Development marathon on G4 all day too. That is an interesting show. There are times when its so boring I literally forget I'm watching it and walk off... and there are others where I'm laughing hysterically at something that happened. Going to watch the other two seasons through Netflix eventually just to see it through to the end.
Shortly before Thanksgiving, and of course afterwards, I've decided I'm getting too much pudge on me again. I guess this is just going to be a constant thing for me... work out for awhile, lose 5 lbs, get lazy, eat good food, gain it back again. Hopefully one of these days I'll find something that actually sticks. I'm walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes every day I'm at work, but that seems to just help me maintain rather than lose. So I bought some 5 lb weights for some mild strength training and I plan to start up the DDR again for my cardio. The last couple of weeks I haven't been doing so good but Jak is leaving for another tour, this one for 9 days so I figure I can do my exercises to keep me busy and not notice that I can't talk to him on the phone like I normally would in the evenings.
Yeah, I'm not going along this time. They are going NORTH. IN WINTER. Right. I was shivering on my way into work this morning, and it was 40 degrees or so out there. Plus I don't have the vacation time left anyway. Next Wednesday/Thursday he will get to meet Martheev. Hopefully everything will go well and he will sell lots of merch and gain more fans and meet even more friendly, interesting people than we did on the last one.
Christmas shopping has been agonizing this year. I think I need to set myself a reminder on my calendar to start Christmas shopping, or at least coming up with what to buy people, in October next year. I'd really like to enjoy this holiday, but I'm always so worried about trying to figure out what to get people that I don't get to enjoy enough of it. Plus I really hate shopping in the madness so I hate going out there, and I'm getting near the point where online won't be an option anymore.
I won't be putting up a tree this year. I'd like to, but with Logan there's just no way that can happen. There's no where in my house that I can display it yet close him off from it when I'm not around, and no where high enough to put it that he can't reach (I have a little one.. maybe two feet high? it has branches that partially light up and change colors.. pretty neat). I'm hoping maybe by the time next year comes around he will have chilled out enough that I might be able to risk it. Either that or I just need to figure out what other kind of inside decorations are safe from his swatting paws and gnashing teeth.
I started on my outside display this past weekend. Figured out before I even started how I could start from the one outside outlet by the laundry room and still allow my gate to be opened right next to it. As such, the gate came out beautifully. My attempts at going around the windows and front door with lights however, came out horrible. I had two different types of lights that I thought might blend together but totally didn't. So I had to take it all down. I adjusted the front door but there's currently no electricity running through it. I have another idea though so hopefully that will work out when I try again this weekend. I'm also thinking about going to Big Lots to look for some not so expensive outside displays of some kind. I've always like the kind that run along the borders of the sidewalk. I'll take pictures when I'm done all this and maybe actually post them this time. :)
Oh, on the geeky side of things, beyond going through the entire run of Avatar, I also bought Metal Gear Solid 4 for Jak to play and me to watch. He's told me a lot about the rest of the series and I've even watched the endings of 2 & 3 before so I wanted to know how the whole thing wrapped up. It's a great story, better than a movie. But you probably do need to have a good understanding of the others before you jump into it.. there's a lot going on. Because the game didn't last long enough, we've decided to go through the entire series in chronological order. Our friend Dennis is also joining us for this, though Jak is still the one actually playing. We're almost finished Metal Gear Solid 3 and plan to wrap it up tonight. We'll then at least start if not finish Metal Gear 1 (no solid there) which is the original 8 bit game. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until he gets back from the tour to do the rest but from there its: Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid 1, Metal Gear Solid 2, and then 4 again. Well, there's some doubt on doing 4 again but I think we should.
Granted, we'll see how far we actually get. We originally did this with the final fantasy series... Jak played 1-3. I can't remember who did 4.. I think I did 5. I definitely played 6 and Mystic Quest. He did 7... I started 8 but god I couldn't finish it.. that game is awful. He played 9 because he had never before and I had. I don't remember who was actually playing 10... I just know we didn't finish it. I was supposed to play X-2 after that, and I guess now we'd also have to play 12... but yeah, that's totally forgotten and buried. I think I will eventually restart 10 because I'd really like to finish it.. similar to MGS4, that game is more movie than gameplay anyway, so I'd like to see what happens. 12 I am iffy about since they changed the combat system. I've been playing the DS remake of 4 lately. It's really weird hearing them talk. I made it all the way to the end of the 3 remake... and then found out I was no where near leveled enough to beat the 5 FINAL BOSSES IN A ROW WITHOUT SAVING and pretty much gave up.
I also really need to give Dragon Quest 8 another try. There was really nothing wrong with that game at all, but for some reason I never finished it.
Sadly, I haven't touched Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour for weeks. No real reason why beyond not having much time in the evenings and being busy doing other things on the weekends. However the No Doubt track pack comes out today for RB2 and I will be buying that and that may restart the bug in me. Not that the Foo Fighters album did...
It probably doesn't help that I got Animal Crossing City Folk. Anyone whose ever played AC knows that its a near daily investment for awhile until you pay off your house and collect most of the fossils/bugs/fish. I don't even have enough time to play that every night, but try. I was ridiculously excited when Hopper moved into my town. I can't explain what it is that separates him from the other "grumpy gus" characters in the game but I'm in love with that penguin. I've fought to keep him from moving away from my Wild World town many times so I was overjoyed to have him in City Folk.
For those of you who might be curious about City Folk (I know at least two of you out there have played past versions), I'll give you a little scoop. Yes, in a lot of ways, it is the same game yet again. For me its extra aggravating in that respect because YET AGAIN, pears were my hometown fruit. I hate pears. They're ugly. Anyway, there are some differences. Talking to the animals is not quite so formulaic as it used to be. You don't get to choose between "I need work!" or "Just to talk.." anymore. You talk to them, and usually the first time will be a greeting. Talk one or two more times and if they have something they would like you to do, they'll ask it. This is a little frustrating if you're specifically going around looking for work, but it also breaks the monotony of the conversations, so I like it overall. Sahara now wants old carpets to trade with.. she will only take ones you specifically get from another town member who doesn't want it anymore. You can't bring her one of your own. There are at least two new activities you can do with the other animals... I played hide and seek with 3 of them one time, and sometimes one of them will lock themselves out of their house.. you have to go fishing and eventually you will catch the key to bring back to them. I thought those were both cute ideas.
The city is neat but really there's nothing too new here. No more password for Redd which is nice.. and he'll be there for a few days with the same stuff if you decide you wish you would have bought that overpriced item from him. The Happy Room Academy place seems useless so far.. both contests have ended up with no winners and I'm starting to wonder if its all a fake. Though you can elect to stop receiving letters, which will be good once I get my house finished. The emotions thing is basically the same except set in a theater, GracieGrace's shop will be useful whenever you start having so many bells and there's not much left to do with them (There's furniture in there that costs over 100,000 bells), there's a guy who will "shine" your shoes (change the color to match your outfit), the fortune teller is the same, as is the hair dresser with the addition of putting on your Mii mask. Which I have yet to get removed since I got it because the AC face they gave me is UGLY. Like constant two red dots on my cheeks ugly. The Mii faces actually fit pretty well on the bodies.
My overall impression: If you don't have a Wii and can't afford/don't have the patience to get one; keep playing your gamecube or DS version because you're not missing out on much. If you haven't touched either your GC or DS version in ages and don't particularly miss it, don't bother wanting this game. Its not THAT different. If you still take out either of those copies (or both!) from time to time to play, go get this one and start all over again.
That's all for now... I'll try to update a bit more regularly if I can.
A couple weeks after I moved in, Jak Locke went on his first tour. It was a small one... going from Birmingham, AL, stopping in Tuscaloosa and then on to a suburb of Atlanta that I'm totally forgetting the name of right now. Oops. We were supposed to go all the way to Greenville, SC but the show got canceled and all attempts to reschedule in the area didn't work out. I went along doing my usual camera duties as well as being full time merch girl this time around. That part sucked.. having to stand near the merch and cash drawer while everyone else got to hang out and have fun. But we still met a lot of interesting characters and nice people, discovered the Mellow Mushroom as a great place to eat, and got to see some cities we wouldn't otherwise. We also had a lot of trouble sleeping, got cranky with each other but never actually had any fights, and got really drunk the last night when that show was canceled. That makes it sound like a bad experience but it really wasn't. Somehow even through the exhaustion and crankiness we all had a good time.... well with the exception of the anti-social couple, who may or may not have had one but it wasn't really with us so I couldn't tell you.
The good part of that being that soon that anti-social couple may be leaving us permanently. OR I may have to deal with them twice as often because Jak doesn't like firing people who used to be friends even though they aren't anymore. Fug. I don't feel like going into it all right now but if you know me well enough that you know who I'm talking about, ask me over email or IM and I'll tell you later. I'm in a good mood right now and I don't want to spoil it thinking about the misery twins.
Most of October was pretty quiet. I debated on doing a housewarming party but honestly I just couldn't bring myself to invite a bunch of people over and ask them to bring presents for it. Like at least on your birthday or Christmas it makes a little more sense. I guess I'll just have to wait until I'm married before I get all the cool kitchen stuff. :)
In November we decided to have Thanksgiving at my new place. It was a small one.. just me, my brother and sister in law, and my parents. Oddly this was the one year all my extended relatives decided to start doing a big gathering again after doing nothing the last 5 yrs, but I'm kind of glad we had our own small version. My dad made the turkey in my oven and I did the stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, and a pumpkin cheesecake. I also made deviled eggs, Alton Brown's veggie spread and stuffed mushrooms as appetizers because it was a late meal.. around 5. We watched the Arrested Development marathon on G4 all day too. That is an interesting show. There are times when its so boring I literally forget I'm watching it and walk off... and there are others where I'm laughing hysterically at something that happened. Going to watch the other two seasons through Netflix eventually just to see it through to the end.
Shortly before Thanksgiving, and of course afterwards, I've decided I'm getting too much pudge on me again. I guess this is just going to be a constant thing for me... work out for awhile, lose 5 lbs, get lazy, eat good food, gain it back again. Hopefully one of these days I'll find something that actually sticks. I'm walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes every day I'm at work, but that seems to just help me maintain rather than lose. So I bought some 5 lb weights for some mild strength training and I plan to start up the DDR again for my cardio. The last couple of weeks I haven't been doing so good but Jak is leaving for another tour, this one for 9 days so I figure I can do my exercises to keep me busy and not notice that I can't talk to him on the phone like I normally would in the evenings.
Yeah, I'm not going along this time. They are going NORTH. IN WINTER. Right. I was shivering on my way into work this morning, and it was 40 degrees or so out there. Plus I don't have the vacation time left anyway. Next Wednesday/Thursday he will get to meet Martheev. Hopefully everything will go well and he will sell lots of merch and gain more fans and meet even more friendly, interesting people than we did on the last one.
Christmas shopping has been agonizing this year. I think I need to set myself a reminder on my calendar to start Christmas shopping, or at least coming up with what to buy people, in October next year. I'd really like to enjoy this holiday, but I'm always so worried about trying to figure out what to get people that I don't get to enjoy enough of it. Plus I really hate shopping in the madness so I hate going out there, and I'm getting near the point where online won't be an option anymore.
I won't be putting up a tree this year. I'd like to, but with Logan there's just no way that can happen. There's no where in my house that I can display it yet close him off from it when I'm not around, and no where high enough to put it that he can't reach (I have a little one.. maybe two feet high? it has branches that partially light up and change colors.. pretty neat). I'm hoping maybe by the time next year comes around he will have chilled out enough that I might be able to risk it. Either that or I just need to figure out what other kind of inside decorations are safe from his swatting paws and gnashing teeth.
I started on my outside display this past weekend. Figured out before I even started how I could start from the one outside outlet by the laundry room and still allow my gate to be opened right next to it. As such, the gate came out beautifully. My attempts at going around the windows and front door with lights however, came out horrible. I had two different types of lights that I thought might blend together but totally didn't. So I had to take it all down. I adjusted the front door but there's currently no electricity running through it. I have another idea though so hopefully that will work out when I try again this weekend. I'm also thinking about going to Big Lots to look for some not so expensive outside displays of some kind. I've always like the kind that run along the borders of the sidewalk. I'll take pictures when I'm done all this and maybe actually post them this time. :)
Oh, on the geeky side of things, beyond going through the entire run of Avatar, I also bought Metal Gear Solid 4 for Jak to play and me to watch. He's told me a lot about the rest of the series and I've even watched the endings of 2 & 3 before so I wanted to know how the whole thing wrapped up. It's a great story, better than a movie. But you probably do need to have a good understanding of the others before you jump into it.. there's a lot going on. Because the game didn't last long enough, we've decided to go through the entire series in chronological order. Our friend Dennis is also joining us for this, though Jak is still the one actually playing. We're almost finished Metal Gear Solid 3 and plan to wrap it up tonight. We'll then at least start if not finish Metal Gear 1 (no solid there) which is the original 8 bit game. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until he gets back from the tour to do the rest but from there its: Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid 1, Metal Gear Solid 2, and then 4 again. Well, there's some doubt on doing 4 again but I think we should.
Granted, we'll see how far we actually get. We originally did this with the final fantasy series... Jak played 1-3. I can't remember who did 4.. I think I did 5. I definitely played 6 and Mystic Quest. He did 7... I started 8 but god I couldn't finish it.. that game is awful. He played 9 because he had never before and I had. I don't remember who was actually playing 10... I just know we didn't finish it. I was supposed to play X-2 after that, and I guess now we'd also have to play 12... but yeah, that's totally forgotten and buried. I think I will eventually restart 10 because I'd really like to finish it.. similar to MGS4, that game is more movie than gameplay anyway, so I'd like to see what happens. 12 I am iffy about since they changed the combat system. I've been playing the DS remake of 4 lately. It's really weird hearing them talk. I made it all the way to the end of the 3 remake... and then found out I was no where near leveled enough to beat the 5 FINAL BOSSES IN A ROW WITHOUT SAVING and pretty much gave up.
I also really need to give Dragon Quest 8 another try. There was really nothing wrong with that game at all, but for some reason I never finished it.
Sadly, I haven't touched Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour for weeks. No real reason why beyond not having much time in the evenings and being busy doing other things on the weekends. However the No Doubt track pack comes out today for RB2 and I will be buying that and that may restart the bug in me. Not that the Foo Fighters album did...
It probably doesn't help that I got Animal Crossing City Folk. Anyone whose ever played AC knows that its a near daily investment for awhile until you pay off your house and collect most of the fossils/bugs/fish. I don't even have enough time to play that every night, but try. I was ridiculously excited when Hopper moved into my town. I can't explain what it is that separates him from the other "grumpy gus" characters in the game but I'm in love with that penguin. I've fought to keep him from moving away from my Wild World town many times so I was overjoyed to have him in City Folk.
For those of you who might be curious about City Folk (I know at least two of you out there have played past versions), I'll give you a little scoop. Yes, in a lot of ways, it is the same game yet again. For me its extra aggravating in that respect because YET AGAIN, pears were my hometown fruit. I hate pears. They're ugly. Anyway, there are some differences. Talking to the animals is not quite so formulaic as it used to be. You don't get to choose between "I need work!" or "Just to talk.." anymore. You talk to them, and usually the first time will be a greeting. Talk one or two more times and if they have something they would like you to do, they'll ask it. This is a little frustrating if you're specifically going around looking for work, but it also breaks the monotony of the conversations, so I like it overall. Sahara now wants old carpets to trade with.. she will only take ones you specifically get from another town member who doesn't want it anymore. You can't bring her one of your own. There are at least two new activities you can do with the other animals... I played hide and seek with 3 of them one time, and sometimes one of them will lock themselves out of their house.. you have to go fishing and eventually you will catch the key to bring back to them. I thought those were both cute ideas.
The city is neat but really there's nothing too new here. No more password for Redd which is nice.. and he'll be there for a few days with the same stuff if you decide you wish you would have bought that overpriced item from him. The Happy Room Academy place seems useless so far.. both contests have ended up with no winners and I'm starting to wonder if its all a fake. Though you can elect to stop receiving letters, which will be good once I get my house finished. The emotions thing is basically the same except set in a theater, GracieGrace's shop will be useful whenever you start having so many bells and there's not much left to do with them (There's furniture in there that costs over 100,000 bells), there's a guy who will "shine" your shoes (change the color to match your outfit), the fortune teller is the same, as is the hair dresser with the addition of putting on your Mii mask. Which I have yet to get removed since I got it because the AC face they gave me is UGLY. Like constant two red dots on my cheeks ugly. The Mii faces actually fit pretty well on the bodies.
My overall impression: If you don't have a Wii and can't afford/don't have the patience to get one; keep playing your gamecube or DS version because you're not missing out on much. If you haven't touched either your GC or DS version in ages and don't particularly miss it, don't bother wanting this game. Its not THAT different. If you still take out either of those copies (or both!) from time to time to play, go get this one and start all over again.
That's all for now... I'll try to update a bit more regularly if I can.