I'll be picking up Jak 3 this week and hopefully have a PS2 to play it on (damn those EB bastages! ). I can honestly say that I haven't been this excited about a game in a while. I know I've pre-ordered games in the past with intentions on being the first one in line to pick them up on release. But this one, for some reason, struck a chord with me. I'm anxious to see how this story ends, as much as I don't want it to.

I hope that after this one that Naughty Dog will keep the characters in other spin off games. I'm not a game designer, but a Daxter game would be pretty cool. I know that I'd buy it. I just hope they don't put out a kart racer featruing the characters from Jak. To me...kart racers (with the exception of Mario Kart) are a bad idea to continue memorable characters. We've all seen what happend with Crash. Square had an attempt at kart racing. It was OK, but nothing good.

I hope the review is right, if this is the last one let it be the last one. That way I can sit back and remember the series with satisfaction instead of watching the series fail.

I just finsihed Halo, not Halo 2. I must say that I was slightly surprised. I'll probably get Halo 2 sometime in the future, but I think I'll wait on it.

This has been an overall good week for me. Nothing really special happened, but nothing bad happened either.

Work was pretty slow. I don't mind that at all since I get to read a book in between calls. And since there's like 30 minutes between calls, I can make significant progress. Since I'm talking about work, I found out that Thursday and Friday were training days for me. So I was able to skip out on taking calls. Let's see...two days of training. I can handle that so long as I'm not taking calls. I also get an extra vacation day for taking the training class. So it all works out nicely.

A Perfect Circle's new album eMOTIVe came out on Tuesday. I't pretty good. I like it but I can do without all the political overtones in it. I managed to make to game purchases this week. The first was Um Jammer Lammy for the PS1. It was $1.50. I couldn't pass that up. I'm not sure how it is as I haven't played it yet, but it's another addition to the ever growing collections. The second was Jojo's Bizarre Adventures for the PS1. It was only $5. Not bad...$5 for a Capcom fighter. I'm pretty sure I'll have some fun with it.

I'm pretty angry at EB / GameStop / Sony or whoever. I've been without my PS2 for two weeks now. I traded it in to get the new one, but the stores, and I'm quoting, "do not have enough allocated." I'm thinking Sony f*cked up somewhere. Trying to create a shortage so that people want to by the PS2 right when Halo 2 comes out. I don't know if what I just wrote made sense, but maybe you'll understand that. Grrrrr!!!!! I want my PS2 back!

I'm done talking for now. I just got done with grocery shopping and got some sheets right out of the dryer. So I'm pretty tired. I'll talk at you some more later.

I had a great weekend!!! It was a nice long weekend for me since I didn't work Friday. Thursday we had to pass out candy to all of the little kids. That was fun since my friend showed up in a preist outfit with a satan mask. It was cute watching the little kids walk up to the house then run in terror. Friday we went to Cedar Point for the Halloweekend thing they have. Weather was great! Got two free tickets at the booth so it only cost $25 for three people. Lines for the rides were less than 15 minutes. I was able to ride everything I wanted It was awesome. Saturday I had to pick up my dogs from my mother-in-law's house. Wasn't bad at all as I was still feeling the effects of my free burrito from Chipotle! I love that place. Their burritos are sooooooo gooooooooood!!!! Sunday I had to do some work around the house, but it was cool as I just got a new tool to do it with. I finally broke down and bought a leaf blower. Those things are handy not only for blowing leaves, but for clearing out gutters too. So...yeah I had a good weekend.

I'm still without my PS2. Damn people at EB didn't get any in so I'm corssing my fingers for this week. I'm dying to get back into Shadow Hearts, but Tales of Symphonia is keeping me busy. I forgot how good that game was and I haven't finished it yet.

Is anyone else sick of the plitical bullsh*t that spews out of the TV? I sure am. Not only that, but I have at lease five to six calls a day from various political groups asking me if they can count on my vote. I'M GOING TO VOTE!!!! Quite calling me. I've even received calls from the Secretary of State, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and other people (recorded of course), STOP CALLING ME!!!!! PLEASE!!!! I'll be so glad when this election is over.

w00t!

Another entry in a journal that on one reads. <sigh>

Do your friends just want you to get drunk all the time? Or do your friends think that you're not having fun because you didn't have the five shots of Jager that he put down for you? Why is that? Just because someone isn't drinking doesn't mean that they are not having fun. It just annoys me. I don't need to drink to have a good time. Sometimes I'm in the mood to drink, other times not. Well...that's off my mind now.

I'm going to be getting the new PStwo this week. I made a deal with my friend. I may have said this in an earlier entry, but don't feel like going back to see if I did. Anyways, he has a PS2 that gets DRE's. He's too lazy to get the thing fixed so I told him I'd give him my PS2 and trade in his to get the newest one. SHHHH!!!! Don't tell the guys at EB! They don't test the system anyway. Right now they are doing a promotional upgrade special. If you trade in a specific system towards another system you'll get $100 trade in credit. That's right. That broken old PS2 system will be worth 100 smackers towards another PStwo. A network adapter is worth $10. So that's $110 toward a $150 console. So for $40 I get a newer PStwo and my friend gets a working PS2. Not bad.

****DISCLAIMER****
To fully understand what I'm about to say would require a load of backstory, which I don't want to get into. Just view this segment as venting and only that. Hey, everyone's gotta do it.
****END DISCLAIMER****

So...I go back to my parents and my mother-in-law's house. Something today bothered me. As I was leaving from my mother-in-law's house I had to pick up some pumpkins. She said to me that my wife could put them on HER porch, like our house is my wife's and I just happen to live there. Now normally this sort of thing wouldn't bother me, but today I just realized that I don't think my wife's mother thinks that we (my wife and I) are together. On the way home this kind of brewed in my head and festered. I don't know why I'm annoyed with this and I feel like I shouldn't. Something about this is making me go bonkers! Nevermind my rantings. I'm just going crazy.

Just thought I would mention this. If any of you out there are A Perfect Circle fans, you should check out their website:
http://www.aperfectcircle.com/
Go to the music section and watch the video for their cover of John Lennon's Imagine. It's pretty interesting.

So I managed to get a copy of Sly 2: Band of Thieves. I feel kind of bad about it, but I keep getting told not to. I work technical support for an insurance company. There is an on-call pager that gets rotated through all of the employees. Well, we used to get paid extra for this, but now we don't. One of my co-workers hates having the pager so much that he actually said that he would buy me a game if I took it for him when it comes his turn. Being the opportunist I am, I took him up on the offer. I don't know if he was joking at the time, but he came in today and gave me the game. Apparently he hates the thing so much that he'll be willing to shell out $40 to $50 just to keep from having it. He asked me to take it again when his turn comes. What am I going to say..."No?" I don't really mind having the pager and I don't mind having people buy me games. So I'll take it for him again. This doesn't make me an a-hole, does it?

Anyway, my back is feeling a little better. The doctor put me on some nice pain medication, but I forgot to take some this morning before I came to work. Doh! Hopefully I'll be better before Oct. 29th. That's when my wife and I are going to Cedar Point. If it isn't better by then, riding those coasters won't make it any better.

Other news, I started reading again. I used to read a lot in high school, but not so much anymore. My wife has wanted me to start reading for a while now. I don't read anything you would consider thought provoking or insightful. I just like to be caught up in a good story. The story I'm reading now is called Spearwielder's Tale, by R.A. Salvatore. It's a compilation fo three books- The Woods Out Back, The Dragon's Dagger, and Dragonslayer's Return. I don't know if any of you are interested in this kind of stuff, but if you are I would suggest reading it. It's not too bad, but very cliched.

Well...I think I'm done talking right now.

EDIT: Oh yeah. i forgot to mention that I picked up Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. The guys at GameStop didn't know what I was talking about so I had to spell it out for them. I also had to make a change. I have to save money now so I've decreed to not buy as many games as I used to. I cancelled my pre-orders for Growlanser: Generations, Dead or Alive Ulitmate, and (the kicker) Halo 2. I'm probably the only person in the world that has cancelled a pre-order for Halo 2. I did pre-order Jak III. I do want to get Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, but that will have to wait. I chose Jak III over Ratchet only because I like the story in Jak. I think I'm turning into a platforming nut. I've been going away from RPG's over the years. Wait a minute...I just got SMT: Nocturne. No...I'm still into RPG's. Forget what I just said.

Yeah...I got one of those. Right at the base of my spine where it meets the pelvic bone...yeah. Pleasant, you ask? Yeah...Great fun. That last remark was sarcastic if you didn't get it. I was cleaning the house on Saturday and managed to screw up my back. If any of you out there have any type of back pain, I feel for you and GO GET IT CHECKED OUT!!!! It's not funny. I'm 26 years old and feel like an old man. Work today was horrible. Sitting at my desk, a feat that I normally have no problem with, was excruciating! I couldn't lean back in my chair. I couldn't sit straight up. I couldn't lean forward. I couldn't stand up. Eventually I found a happy medium kneeling on my knees. My knees hurt, but at least my back was someone tolerable.

I lost interest in Xenosaga. I don't really like the fact that I'll play for 10 minutes then watch 20 minutes. It makes it difficult to progress. Also...I don't think I like the character progression. T Points, E Points, S Points...STOP IT!!!! When a character levels...stats should go up. There should only be that much micromanaging in a SRPG, like Final Fantasy Tactics. And getting into battles...that's another problem. I may be one of those old-school RPG players, but I happen to like random battles. It has a certain charm. I hate having to exit and re-enter an area just to get enemies to spawn. I will admit that Tales of Symphonia did this rather well, but I want my random battles! I'll give it a few months then try it again. Maybe I won't be so sick of it.

So...I stopped playing Xenosaga and started Shadow Hearts. Wow! That's all I got to say right now. It's a little weird, but I love the battle system and the Judgement Ring. It adds a new 'flavor' to the RPG genre. I'm not too far into it. I love the random battles though. I've been in the cannibal village for about two hours now just to level up and get money. Fun fun fun! You can probably guess...I got the game with the pre-order of Shadow Hearts: Covenant. More companies should do bonus offers like that. You owe it to yourselves to at leas check out one of these two games. I'm sure, if you like RPG's, you won't be disappointed. Well...I'm gonna go smoke a cig and get back to my game. In the words of Tigger, "TTFN, Ta Ta For Now!"