Well, on New Year's Day, I was finally able to pick up the GBA version. It's good as always. The wacky games, good for short bursts, and the unique take on the games when the level goes higher, more depth than the GC version, including the story for the single-player. It's been occuping my GBA for a few days now.

In San Andreas, I got a few missions to improve to 40 percent in near 80 hours. I'm currently stuck on, let's say, the San Andreas version of "Phrom Penh '86" from Vice City. And of course the 2nd Zero mission. God, that plane's hard to control.

The Bengals fired their defensive coach Leslie Frazier today, and I see the reason in that. Besides INT's and fumbles, the defensive flaws proved costly. Wonder who the replacement will be?

Kentucky plays their 1st SEC game tonight at home against the South Carolina Gamecocks, a team that almost upset Kansas on the road, might be close, but I think we got the edge, and we always do (well, almost, UNC ruined it).

Later!

Well, this is my first journal entry in a couple of weeks. I didn't really want to write it then.

Well, in GTA: San Andreas, I have about 39 percent in 74 hours. Most of that has been story missions, let's just say I took care of 3 birds with one CJ. If you've seen this mission, you'll know what I'm talking about. And in portable, my Pac-Man high score has gone up to 26,990. And in my Crash Bandicoot GBA game, I've gotten past the first warp room and working on the 2nd. In Metroid: Zero Mission, I've gotten to the 2nd area of Zebes. I'll have to update my now playing and tracked soon too.

In sports, UK has won their past 2 games against William and Mary and Campbell easily. They finish the pre-SEC schedule with a 9-1 record (a 91-78 road loss to UNC is the only blemish). First up for the Cats in the SEC is South Carolina, a team that gave high ranked teams Pitt and No. 2 Kansas a run for their money. Thankfully, both the games against the Gamecocks and KANSAS are both in good ol' Rupp Arena. Plus, Kansas' Wayne Simien appears to be suffering from an injury.

The Bengals squeezed out a close one against the Giants at home last week 23-22, with Kitna once again playing for the injured Carson Palmer (is that good or bad?). Next up and last up is jekyll's Eagles, who will most likely sit their starters to prevent injury and prepare them for their playoff run, while we sit at home during the playoffs AGAIN. While jekyll brought up the Bungles and that's all part of history, a little payback of sorts:

Rod Martin.

See ya!

The Bengals, coming off an impressive win at Baltimore and a close win at New England, imploded at home, losing to the Buffalo Bills 33-17, mainly due to the play of Takeo Spikes, a former Bengal.

Summary: The Bengals get the ball 1st. A drive lasting 2:30 leads to a punt, muffed, but Buffalo still gets it. Buffalo and Cincinnati punt on their next drives. The next Bills drive, the Bengals recover a fumble that leads to a Rudi Johnson 3-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 Bengals. However, the next drive, Bledsoe gets a 5-yard TD pass to tie it at 7. Then a Bengals punt is blocked to a Buffalo touchdown. 14-7. And that's how the end of the 1st quarter ended.

In the 2nd quarter, the first Bengals drive leads to a Takeo Spikes INT for a TD. 21-7. Next Bengals drive= Shayne Graham FG for 24 yards. 21-10. No scoring till the end of the 3rd with a Bills FG- 24-10 end of 3rd quarter.

In the final quarter, another 3 FG's and Jon Kitna pass leads the final score. So, to sum it up, penalties and turnovers beat us again. The Bengals fall to 6-8, our 14TH non-winning season :(. The Bills are red-hot with their 6th straight win, going to 8-6 and the playoff hunt. Next up for the Bengals is home at the Giants.

Jon Kitna (CIN): 16/32, 151 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT's.

Drew Bledsoe (BUF): 15/30, 183 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Rudi Johnson (CIN): 23 attempts, 130 yards.

Lee Evans (BUF): 5 rec, 101 yards, 1 TD.

Visiting rival Louisville, the Wildcats overcome a 16-point halftime deficit to beat then No. 13 Louisville 60-58. Patrick Sparks played a key role in the game, including 3 game-winning free throws after a questioned three-point shot foul play with the refs checking the time, plus Sparks might have bumped in the player and walked. Sparks lead with 25 points for the Cats, while hitting the free throws coolly and chewing gum as the referees decided.

In the first half, Louisville dominated, outscoring UK 18-6 in the paint and 22-13 on the boards despite the fact that Louisville was much smaller team-wise than UK. All this after a 5-0 lead to start by UK. The Cats also went 5 of 24 (21 percent) from the field in that period.

Louisville's leading scorer was Larry O' Bannon with 16 points. Taquan Dean had 9, Juan Palacios had 11 and was accidentally poked in the eye and that effected his play. Kelenna was 2nd for UK with 12 points. The win makes UK Coach 2-7 against Rick Pitino, his former boss from the early 90's when Pitino coached UK. Kentucky advances to 7-1 and Louisville falls to 6-2. UK's next game is Dec. 22 in Rupp Arena against cupcake William and Mary.

I've decided to make a separate entry to my gaming progress.

Starting with San Andreas, I'm up to 65 hours and 34.22 percent. A mission to photo a meeting, revealed a plan to investigate with Woozie. Enter J-B (the pimp) and T-Bone Mendez. CJ, I assume doing his best to befriend then take action, is doing jobs for him do. I've finished the first couple of missions for him, named by their names. I attempted Mike Toreno, met him, then died. He seems to be a loose cannon. I still haven't finished Zero's 1st mission, and from the looks of my new EGM, his 2nd mission is near impossible. I attempted it once, but didn't come close. I also opened Woozie's missions at the betting shop, and found out his secret and why he had girls clinging on to him.

That's about it for now. (I couldn't say JB's name due to censoring).

The Cincinnati Bengals, .500 and on the brink of a playoff spot, suffered a 35-28 loss at New England, a moral victory- but that means nothing to Marvin Lewis.

3 turnovers killed our chances. And maybe an injury to Carson Palmer. And some stupid ref calls.

New England made it 7-0 on a 1-yard Corey Dillon run after Rudi Johnson fumbled for the 1st time this year inside the NE red zone. That New England score made it 18 straight games they have scored first, extending their NFL record.

The Bengals tied it early in the 2nd quarter with a 2-yard Carson Palmer pass to tight end Matt Schobel. The Pats quickly fired back with a long 48-yard pass from Tom Brady to David Patten, who was nearly wide open. That made it 14-7.

Not long after, a Palmer INT (of course) was returned 34 yards by A.Samuel to make it 21-7. But it wasn't over just yet.

A Bengals drive about 6 minutes led to a Carson Palmer 5-yard TD pass to Chad Johnson to close it to 21-14, but a two-minute Pats drive led to a 4-yard Kevin Faulk TD run to make it 28-14 at halftime.

To start the 3rd quarter, was a 6-minute Pat drive leading to a 17-yard TD pass to C.Fauria to stretch it to 35-14. But a fake FG run by Larson made it 35-21 and that ended period 3. But the last drive injured Palmer, who made way for Jon Kitna.

In the final quarter, Kitna marched to the red zone, but was INT's by 2-way player Troy Brown. Much penalties against CIN stopped chances to score, but neither could NE. A Kitna pass to Kelley Washington for 27 yards made it 35-28 with 4 minutes to go. But the Pats ran out the clock.

With the win, NE sealed the AFC East since PIT beat the Jets. CIN goes to 6-7, still on the edge of the 2nd wild-card spot in the AFC, with 2 home games against the Bills and Giants, before the RS finisher at jekyll's Eagles.

UK defeated Indiana 73-58 Saturday in Freedom Hall, the home of rival Louisville. Patrick Sparks lead UK with 16 points, with 2 of 6 3-PT shooting. Hayes, Morris, and Alleyne, had 14, 11 and 10, respectively. Indiana's Bracey Wright led all scorers with 31 points, over half of IU's points. To tell you the truth, I didn't watch the full game since I was a little ticked at their early playing, plus the trash computer acted up again. It wouldn't let me post a message! The nerve of it. Next up is next Sat. in that same Freedom Hall, but as a road team against Louisville. They creamed us in football, and we will do all we can to make sure we break even with them. (Though they beat us in Women's Basketball too).

The Bengals, at 6-6, find themselves in a position they don't know alot lately, but a trip to Foxboro this week looks to be the toughest test yet this year. Corey Dillon, a Bengal RB for several years (our best player then), frustrated with us, now with dominant New England. Fine by me. We have our own new offensive weapons. Housh, CJ, "INT" Carson Palmer (though the Balt. game was great), and RUDI. But the Patriots have Tom Brady, Adam Vinateri, and an all around solid team. I hope the Bengals can stay in the same. Strange in August we crushed the Pats 31-3 in preseason. Pray for a huge upset.

In video games, I finished a mission in EON, but just a bronze. Pfft. Other than that, played a bunch of my OPM demos, including MGS3 and Area 51.

Happy football!

What is this about? Well, it's the theme for tomorrow UK-Indiana game from Freedom Hall. See, Indiana and Kentucky is a battle of 2 passionate states, real basketball-happy. But in the past 10 years, the rivalry, both football and basketball, has been all in Kentucky's favor (since 1994, the only losses to IU have been 1999-00 in basketball 83-75 (Bob Knight's last year and one of "Ten-Loss Tubby" losses. The football came in 2001 on the road 26-15. In this rivalry lately, it's a neutral site in basketball. RCA Dome if Indiana is home team, Freedom Hall in Louisville for tomorrow. Indiana has def. struggled this year with poor shooting (around 35 percent). Their star, Bracey Wright, has shot only near 40 percent himself). Not to mention they have a tough schedule ahead and done (UNC, UK, undefeated Charlotte). As we bounce back from the UNC loss by crushing Morehead, this hopes to be another W for us.

I'm just playing NCAA 2004. I'm 2-2 at South Florida in my 1st year, 4th year overall. 2-2 right now, 1-0 in the C-USA with a 35-3 simulation of Army. Next up is Louisville, who lost at home to WYOMING, 110th-117th ranking that is. Should be a wild one.

As for Christmas, my parents called places and the DS was out of stock. Perhaps I'll just stick with GBA, fine with me, my games will mostly be: Wario Ware, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a Crash Bandicoot game, a Spyro game (the new console game has no bugs of ETD, but way too easy), Metroid: Zero Mission and Old NES game Ice Climber.

Later!

After struggling through 1 half, the UK Wildcats went on a 20-0 run to start the 2nd half to beat in-state rival Morehead St. 71-40. Azubuike lead all scorers with 21 points, 19 in the 2nd half. Senior Chuck Hayes continues to be our dominant rebounder with 10 last night. 7-3 Shageri Alleyne almost had a slim triple-drouble, with 10 points, 8 RB and 6 blocks. The Cats improve to 5-1 and are undefeated against Morehead State, coached by Kyle Macy, a member of the 1978 title team that beat Duke for the title. (Heh Heh.)

UK football has made some changes. Joker Phillips is our new offensive coordinator. He co-led UK to 31 points in a heartbreaking loss to the Vols in Knoxville. Rich Brooks will stay, but LB's coach Ron McBride will be the head coach at Weber State. McBride coached Utah from 1990-2002, and recruited some of Urban Meyer's players. (Well, soon to be former). Next year could be the final test for Brooks, since 3 years seems to be the new attention span for fans' patience.

In video games, I dug out James Bond 007: EON. Beat a graveyard level, than a fight with Le Rouge. Currently on a car bomb level in New Orleans.

No new additions for percentage in San Andreas, just 2 tags in Los Santos. That makes 31 out of 100. Waypoints really help, despite the fact you can only pick 1 area.

Wario Ware, I'm still stuck on the last one, the boss fight I have lost a couple of times. These retro Nintendo games might make me get an old console. They have them at EB Games (they should if they have NES/SNES games.

See ya! (No "Grab Bag" today, jekyll's the Master of that!)

The Cincinnati Bengals pull off a big win 27-26 visiting the Balitmore Ravens, 1 of 3 other division rivals. Carson Palmer, in what is possibly his greatest NFL game ever, threw 200 yards and 3 TD's in the 4TH QUARTER. This was their 1st win in Balitmore against the Ravens since 1996, the Ravens' 1st year and their 2nd best rally on the road ever since that Balitmore ever. It was the Bengals' 1st road win against an above .500 team since 1990 at Pittsburgh when they were 6-5. They were down 20-3 going to the final 15 minutes. Palmer's final stats were: 29 of 36, 382 yards, 3 TD's, and 1 INT that helped make their deficit bigger. Chad Johnson had 10 receptions for 161 yards, and T.J. Houshmanzadeh had 10 for 171. CJ had 2 TD catches and Housh had 1 and two big passing plays on the final drive which could have been necessary due to a Bengals fumble recovery called back for illegal procedure. The win brings the Bengals to 6-6 with a big matchup against the Patriots AT Foxboro. Strangely, we crushed them in preseason with Tom Brady on the field. Too bad we're in the AFC, not the average NFC, where the Eagles dominate.

The Wildcats suffered their 1st loss of the year at Chapel Hill, 91-78. We never lead, and actually were down 18 early, 24-6. Our main senior, Chuck Hayes, was largely ineffective with 4 points and 6 rebounds. Kelenna Azubuike lead with 24 points and 6 rebounds. UNC dominated with pressuring defense and offense lead by 28 points from Rashad McCants, 19 from Jawad Williams, and 14 from Sean May. It was Roy Williams' first win over Tubby Smith ever and UNC's 1st win over UK since 1995 in the NCAA Tourney Final 8 when UNC won 74-61. Next up for us is Dec. 8 vs. in-state rival Morehead State which should be easy to beat.

Now, the twist: Jekyll I think has one of the best written Journals on Gamespot. And I generally enjoy reading it. My recaps are largely due to him, but the other thing: The Bag O' Tricks on Thursday. I decided to come up with my own (without the useful links).

* The most funniest thing on C-Span ever? British gov't arguments. Not like dull U.S. lectures, they have daily quarrels and cool accents. I tell you, the British accent is a funny thing to repeat. (No offense to Brits.) :D

*Almost daily message sender mgs_fangirl finally sent a picture into the Photo Album thread of Tremor's Imperiate. Finally nice to be able to match a face to the voice of several months.

*I'm starting to learn taxes in school. Oh no. Complicated, but sadly something I have to deal with later on. Things can't be simple in life, sadly.

*Some friends seem to notice my ever-changing avatars. It's that there's so many good ones out there and I have a lot of favorites.

*Do you have Adelphia or DirectTV and love sports? ESPNNEWS is for you. Scores all the time and great coverage, but if you want games you got to go to the regular ESPN's. And ESPN Classic is great, but I don't have it. Great channels.

Good day, everyone!