Almighty Shippo

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:24:36 GMT

Okay, it's been what seems like an eternity since my last entry. I keep going to start writing an entry, I open up Semagic to write it, then I realise that I don't feel like writing. Gah. Going to write something now though.

Saturday, 24th, was my Birthday. Got an AWESOME book from Troden. Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It's the novel that the game STALKER was loosely based on.

Finished reading Revelation Space a while back now. The overall story was great, but I wasn't a big fan of the way the book was written. I'm glad I know as much about physics as I do, and that I am a Sci-Fi fan, or else I would have given up on the book a short way into the book. So, one day, I can return the book to it's owner.

Also recently read The Colour of Magic, the first Discworld book, and it was great. I need to get more of the Discworld books now. MORE!

I need to catch up with Ponty some time soon, might try doing that tomorrow. Already gonna be hanging with Kiba tomorrow, at least in the morning, so it might be a good day for it.

Just an entry to let everyone know I'm still alive. Later, all.

Down with the sickness...

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:33:42 GMT

Gah... what a fantastic way to end 2008. SICK! Troden was sick over Christmas and his birthday, and now that he was over it, it moved on to me. I was a bit sick over the last 2 days (started Sunday afternoon), but it wasn't too bad. Flu like syptoms, but they were mild. I thought I was lucky and that was it, and it actually seemed like I was getting better. Today, I feel like I was hit by a truck.

Really sucks coz I was looking forward to Kibas New Years party tomorrow. I hope I feel better tomorrow. Problem is, like normal with the flu, after you feel better, you're still contagious for like 24 hours or something. GAH! Tro was feeling better when I got it from him. So I'm kinda torn apart here. If I feel better, I want to go, but I also don't want to get others sick because of me.

Yeah, it sucks.

Whatever happens, I hope people enjoy their New Years. Have a safe holiday everyone, and don't get sick :P

Ho ho ho...

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:10:32 GMT

Merry Christmas

Lets get this started with a random Christmas video. Also wanted to link to Blizzards '12 days of Christmas' but don't know where to download it from. Might just send it to some people later today.

I've been playing Assassins Creed and the game is just too damn easy, and at times, too damn automated. I just hold down a couple of buttons and that's all I need to do to jump from roof to roof. Still, it has been a fun game. The fighting system is a bit too lazy... just sit there and press a button here and there. I don't think they give the user enough control in the game. It makes it an organic game, and nice to watch with all the pretty graphics, but I also want something to do in a game (with the exception of Indigo Prophecy, where even though you don't have a great deal of things to do, the pattern key pressing was mad at times, and the story was so damn awesome).

Has anyone else who's played the game noticed that Atair (can't be bothered putting the accents on his name) has a missing finger? I noticed it right away, and a lot of others I have spoken to have not noticed it at all.

Made a slight change to my LJ a few days ago. Added a book list over on the right ----->
Still trying to read Revelation Space, but it's a bit annoying to read. I'm not overly enjoying the book so far (not that I'm too far into it), but I really want to get further into it. I'm interested in the overall story about the Amarantin and so on, it's just taking me forever to get that far. :(

I plan to read some more of it tonight, but I don't seem to get too far when I sit down to read it. The author seems to leave the reader in the dark too often, talking about things as if we should know about them, and using terms and words that aren't in popular use. It's almost as if he hates the reader, and is trying to make them suffer, but I don't want to give him the satisfaction. Might be over reacting a bit, but that's how I tend to feel after reading the book for a while. There have been parts of the book that I like, so there is something to cling on to, something to get me through the long winded parts.

I wanna go get some lunch now, so we'll end here. Enjoy your Christmas everyone, that's an order. :P

Laterz.

Week in review...

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 04:48:02 GMT

Earlier this week (Monday for those that care), I was having a nice stoll around the area, and saw something quite unexpected. A kangaroo. I've never seen one around this area... or even evidence of them being around this area. I've also heard that there has been the occasional fox seen around the area. Good to know this area can still surprise me.

I've had to take my dog to the vet a couple of times recently. First was last Saturday (weekend visits don't come cheap), then again on Tuesday. She had an infection, and had to have surgery as a result. So, now I'm broke, and I still have an electricity bill and phone bill to pay off. Over $300 in vet bills is never welcome. I care about my dogs health though, and without the surgery she would have died. I guess that makes it worth it.

Saw the latest Resident Evil movie today, Resident Evil : Degeneration, and it was pretty good. This one is CG, and actually made by CAPCOM (you can tell their animation anywhere). It's set several years after Racoon City was blown up, and follows one of the Racoon City survivors as she has some more zombie fun. The story starts with a terrorist releasing the T-virus in an airport, and the story evolves from there. There is also an appearance from G-virus, but that's a story for another day.
The animation is nice, but in typical CAPCOM style, fairly rigid. It reminds me a lot of the FMV sequences from their games. Story-wise, they did well with this movie, IMO. It wasn't too complex, so it's good for the average viewer, but there were elements there for a slightly more sophisticated viewer. Some of the voice acting was below average, but that's to be expected. Overall though, it was quite an enjoyable movie. One and a half thumbs up (damn zombies ate the other half).

For anyone who cares, Dattebayo is dropping Naruto Shippuuden on the 15th of January. Apparently, this is NOT a troll this time. They will be doing so because TVTokyo (off memory) will be streaming NS on the internet with English subtitles an hour after the show airs. This will most likely be a premium/paid service, but VIZ will be streaming the same episodes with their own subtitles a week later for free. So, free Naruto for the world... if they can read English. I just hope the quality will be good, but coming from official channels, it should be great. On the other hand, it will be streaming video, and that generally sucks.

I think it must be time to grab an afternoon snack now, so later everyone.

Now with more spam...

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 07:31:33 GMT

It's been while, once again, since the last time I posted anything. So, here's another edition of the Shippo News.

Been trying to get some Christmas shopping done in the last few weeks, but I never know what to get anyone... and then the damn electricity and phone bills came in, plus the internet gets reset next week. It looks like I'll be broke for a few more weeks, and have to finish off the Christmas shopping at the last minute. At least I don't have a lot of people to buy things for. Troden doesn't want anything for Christmas, so that makes things easier, but I still need to get him something more for his birthday. Already got him something, but I want to get him more.

He doesn't read this, but on the off chance that he does actually come here, I won't say what I got him. If anyone wants to know, I'm sure I'll talk to you at some point and I can tell you. On the subject of birthdays, I believe I just missed Kiba's birthday... Happy Birthday if I have... ignore this if I'm wrong.

Still meaning to plan a LAN, but I haven't got very far with that yet. Should be able to figure out something soon though, since holidays are about to start and all. Well, not holidays for everyone, but for a couple of us at least. Makes things a little easier. Means Troden won't be on trips all the time.

Kitsune, I might need to look at getting my DS ROMs back from you sometime in the near future too. Trodens been pestering me to play Ridge Racer, and I don't have it on my DS. Just thought I'd give you some warning.

About to have tea, so I'm outa here now. Take care, all.

Sunday goodness...

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:54:56 GMT

Update time.

Went to a Melbourne Cup lunch this week, and it was interesting. Had a really nice lunch, and drank some Champagne. Spent too much money on drinks (more than I planned anyway).

I've been meaning to read the book that Eddles lent me, but I got about 15+ pages into it and put it down, and that was a few weeks ago. It's not that it was bad, but it reminded me why I don't read that many sci-fi books. They try too hard to use all the most sophisticated words they can find, and don't care about making the books enjoyable. I like the subject matter, I just don't like the authors and how they write. I'll try to read more of it soon though. Can't give up on it at the start.

Found a new toy I wouldn't mind having, but it's kinda redundant at this point. Wish they had these out back when I got my DS. I think this is everything a DS should have been in the first place. Oh well.

Also, I hope everyone has accepted Obama as thier supreme overlord.

And for the Spore fans, a little vid you may almost find amusing. Or, if you aren't Kitsune, you might even laugh :P

Was thinking of writing a bit about some of the movies I have seen lately, but I can't be bothered at the moment. Maybe some other time. Which means that I'll forget about it and it won't happen. Or something like that.

Enough rambling for now, I need something for dessert. Later.

I'M BACK!...

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:46:26 GMT

It's been way too long since I updated here... but a lot has been happening lately. Just something that happens I guess.

Had to put up with a lot of fun stuff, like one of my aunties trying to kill her sister with a knife on the morning of their mothers funeral, for starters. But, lets not go into too many details about that here.

I wanna catch up with everyone soon, so I want to try arranging a LAN for some time in the near future. Maybe in a few weeks. I need to check Trodens schedule to see when he has camps and whatever else, but it's something in the works anyway, so I thought people might want to know to look out for it. I want to invite Jon to the LAN, so if anyone has any problems with that, please shoot me an e-mail or give me a buzz, and we'll see what we can do. Whether it be alternate seating arrangements, or maybe even going as far as trying for the first time ever to setup a combination LAN/WAN party, I want to try to make this work. I think people are getting over any problems they may have had with Jon anyway, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

I need to find out about this paintball thing at some point, see how much it'll cost and so on, so I can plan to put the money aside. I saw Kiba on the weekend but I totally forgot to ask him about it. Silly me. I'd like to start putting money aside for it now while I have the chance, before the next crippling electricity bill comes in.

I bought myself a laptop last week, and have been messing with it quite a bit. It's a HP 2133 Mini-notebook PC (it's quite small). 1.6GHz CPU, 1Gb RAM, 120Gb harddrive. The video card is some sort of Via onboard video card, so it's nothing too spectacular. Didn't get it to play games on though, so that's fine. I've been testing the capabilities of it though, and am already getting annoyed with Vista. I think I'll put XP on it before long (I already know where to get the drivers from). I had to look around for a suitable carry case for it, but I finally settled on a Playstation 2 carry case (for the newer PS2's that are smaller). It fits perfectly. I just need to put up with the case having PS2 written on it, but I can deal with that.

I think I'll cut this off here for now and follow up soon with more non-sense entries. Maybe I can talk about some of the movies I've watched lately, or some books I've been reading. 'till then, laterz.

It's over NINE THOUSAND!...

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:23:01 GMT

I recently had to buy a new keyboard, since for some reason my old one died. I'm still getting used to the new one, since it's ever so slightly different to my old keyboard. I had the last one for a few years, so it might take me a few days. Had a bit of trouble too. I bought a keyboard from BigW late in the afternoon on Monday, got home with it and found the stupid thing was dead. Completely dead. So, the next day I took it back to get another one and the new one works fine. It's a Genius multimedia keyboard, so it should be good.

If anyone is looking for a movie to hire, I suggest having a look at Dragon Wars (aka D-Wars, but the one in the DVD stores should be titled Dragon Wars). It may seem a little corny at times, but it is quite an entertaining movie. I'm having a lot of trouble trying to make a 'backup' of the thing, so I don't know that I'll have a copy to share around. Worth the few bucks to hire, anyway.

Another good movie to hire is Alien Apocalypse, with the ever amazing Bruce Campbell. Yes, it's a B movie, but it's so bad it's good. I really enjoyed it, and all of it's attempted seriousness. Then again, I'm a big Bruce fan.

Just finished reading an X-files book last night, and it was a lot better than expected. I didn't think I'd enjoy an X-files book, but since one was given to me I thought I really should give it a go. There are 2 stories in the book, and when I say I finished reading the book, I actually mean that I finished the first story in it... I'll come back to the other one after I read a Matthew Reilly book (Area 7, for those of you playing at home).

I've been playing a bit of Battlefield 2 online again lately, and I'm really getting sick of all the aimbots being used. It's sickening how many are being used these days. Can't people just accept that their skills suck, and enjoy the game on the same level as everyone else? Also finding a lot of spawn campers in the game lately. :(
Troden and I have started our own Clan in the game, O9K (Over 9000). I'm working on a banner for it at the moment, and some other random graphics for when we setup a site for it. The banner currently says: "[O9K]" And "It's Over 9000."
I was originally going to write "It's Over 9000, Mother Fucker!" but thought that it wouldn't really be too appropriate. :P
We're also in the middle of working on an alliance with another clan at the moment, so we have exclusive rights to their server, and so on. They offered, and we wanna talk to the other clan members about it before we accept. They seem like good guys.

That's it for the news, join us again at six for the weather.

trying to find a gun that matches my shoes...

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:50:54 GMT

Well, it's been while now since my last blog. Feels like an eternity. Haven't felt much like writing entries of late, but I suppose it happens.

I've been spending a good amount of my free time reading Matthew Reilly books. Looooove his work. At the moment I am reading one called Temple, which is about a man, Professor William Race, that is 'encouraged' to go along with some US special forces one morning, to translate an old manuscript. The team that he is assisting are after an old Incan idol, that was claimed to have been the source of the Incans power. The idol, carved out of a meteor rock that came from a binary solar system (two suns orbiting each other), is made out of an increadibly dense material known as Thyrium... the final piece to make the worlds most advanced superweapon. This super weapon, the Supernova, is theorised to be able to destroy a third of the Earths' mass with the initial blast. The decreased mass of the planet would make it's orbit shift radically, killing anything that survives the blast.

The team of American troops, with the help of Professor Race, must translate the manuscript and find the Incan idol before the NAZIs do, and use the Thyrium to activate their own Supernova prototype.

So anyway, completely wrapped in this book at the moment, it's pretty sweet. Sorry to anyone that cares about me not being online the last few days, I've been sick over the weekend and haven't felt like sitting around in MSN. Well, I'm online right now so it's all good. Oh, and for the first time in a few years, it wasn't Ponty that got me sick this time. *waits for everyone to get back in their seats after falling out*
I know, strange eh? Every other time in the last few years (except for one occasion I think), it has been Ponty coming over while sick with the Flu and passing it on to everyone in my household.

Well, just a ramble again to let you know I'm still alive. I would sing a song about being still alive, but my voice is shot at the moment from coughing too much. Laterz.

I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves...

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:19:50 GMT

Lately, I think even though the LANs we've been having have been fun, I feel that we generally have trouble finding games to play (since not many good LAN games have come out in the past year). Before hosting another LAN, I want to look around and see if I can find some more games to throw into the mix. Maybe something different.... something we haven't played to death. I have no idea what I'll find, but there has to be something out there worth playing. I wouldn't mind getting 3 or so games that we aren't bored of (or sick of) before hosting another LAN. This isn't a solid rule, just a personal mision I suppose.

Of course, if anyone else finds anything, let me know and I'll have a look at it and see if it'll be any good (I have a network setup constantly, and I generally have up to 4 computers here on any given weekend, so there are plenty of chances for me to test LAN games to see if they are any good).

Hopefully at the next LAN we'll have some surprises in the form of new games. Keep your fingers crossed. I also wouldn't mind playing The Ship again at a LAN, if we can get the game working on Pontathons compie.

Just a few thoughts. I'll end with a couple of quotes :

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.
~Ronald Reagan, Said during a radio microphone test, 1984

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'
~Ronald Reagan

Before noon LAN stuff...

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:22:27 GMT

I've been checking a few things in preparation for the upcoming LAN, making sure we have enough chairs, which we do, and enough table space, which we also do. At the moment, it's all looking good. Need to move some things around a bit to fit us all in, but that can be done in the days just before the LAN (when Troden is back).

For the one of us that doesn't know yet (coz he was the one I called first), we have a couple of additions to the normal line up. Kirsty and Clarice have been invited, and they have both accepted, so we have 8 people lined up for this LAN. Hooray for us!

That's the news for now. Don't forget to check out the new YGO:TAS ep.

Back on da air...

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:14:25 GMT

Yay, I'm back on the air. Troden decided to buy another modem today (and I'm paying him back half) so we have the net again. An official reminder for the regulars, LAN is on Saturday, the 19th. We're probably starting around 10am. Just thought I'd write that down as a reminder, since there are no e-mails this time. I could send out e-mails, but I'm not even sure what e-mail addresses everyone is using these days... so I might need to ask everyone at some point.

Y'all probably already know this, but I have some magic theme decks now. I've played a few games with the Critical Mass deck, but it's main failing is that it seems to be a late game deck. I will mod it some day, or make a deck from scratch, but for now, it's alright for my purposes. I've also got another deck sleeved and ready for use, so we can see how that one goes too.

Not much else to say at the moment... feeling a bit tired actually. Might read a book... or watch some Threshold. Laterz.

Mid-week Madness...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:08:24 GMT

Blog time again.

Time for a list of my top 10 Jonathan Coulton songs... in no specific order:

I Feel Fantastic
Bills, Bills, Bills (If you don't know it, it's a Destinys Child song)
Code Monkey
Skullcrusher Mountain
The Future Soon
Still Alive (Since everyone already has this song, here's a remix)
We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions
W's Duty
When I'm 25 or 64
A Talk with George

I really recommend Skullcrusher Mountain, The Future Soon, and I feel Fantastic. And if you're after a more serious song, A Talk With George. All great, really. A couple of runner ups for the top 10, Creepy Doll and Mandlebrot Set.

And, since everyone is probably still bored after that, a nice little news article that will make you all love the U.S. a lot more than you already did </SARCASM>

So, there it is... take it or leave it. And don't forget, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is always watching.

Edit: Super-link for Kitsune, BACON ICECREAM!

Critical Mass...

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:04:35 GMT

Since I've decided to get back into MTG, I decided to get myself some decks. I've just ordered (with someone elses money, since I'm broke) 4 Saviors of Kamigawa decks for just over $30. Still gotta wait for them to get here. I'm going to use the Critical Mass deck, me thinks. I've had a look at some of the cards, and how the deck works, and it's pretty kewl.

"Critical Mass: A Red/Black deck that combines elements of beatdown with discard and a touch of land destuction. Thoughts of Ruin and Akuta, Born of Ash are the featured rares."

Sounds like a fun deck to me. Especially clearing out all that annoying mana for everyone. They don't need it.

I played some 3-way matches tonight with Ponty and Troden, and I actually won one of them... and finished still with my initial 20 life... lol. Not bad really, considering I was using a deck that I knew nothing about. All of us were using Tro's decks, so he obviously had the upper hand. I only made a few minor mistakes (and they weren't too forgiving about it, not even letting me take back my actions... but oh well). I still remember more than I thought I did. Still after a bit more help though, since I still have a ways to go. But, that can come from playing it more. *slaps Eddles with glove to challenge him, although he still needs to wait for me to get my deck (maybe 2 weeks)*

So anyway, when my decks get here I'll be all set to play. I'm getting a deck box tommorow and some plastic sleeves (again, on someone else's dime for now). I wanna get this deck box, except in black (which I haven't found a picture of). It looks pretty sweet. Might still get a green one later down the track if I decide to play as green... just to be fancy. So yeah, I'm getting ready for any game of magic anyone wishes to play. Since I'm starting from scratch, it may take a bit.

Later all.

EDIT:

Some cards I got hold of today.
1x Temporal Extortion
3x Vampiric Link
2x Cradle to Grave
1x Shivan Meteor
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (Legendary Land)
3x Akroma, Angel of Fury (Legendary Creature - Angel)

Neo Cube, I choose you!...

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:16:40 GMT

Sorry I haven't been online much lately, I really haven't been in the mood much for it. If anyone wants me though, feel free to send me an offline message and I'll get back to you. Or, leave me a message here. Whatever works for you. So, anyway, must be blog time again, even if I don't have much to say, like normal.

I've become mildly obsessed with something called the Neo Cube the last few weeks. I know it's just a bunch of magnets and all, but damn it's cool. Their site seems to have dropped out, so I can't buy one (not that I have the $45 to spare at the moment anyway). I'm gonna keep my eyes open though. Don't really know why I want a Neo Cube, other than a little toy to have sitting around on my desk. Like a stress reliever or the like, I suppose.

What else...? Oh, finished FEAR : Perseus Mandate. Another fine addition to the FEAR series. Can't wait for Project Origin : Fear Alma Again to come out. It should be awesome.

Come back again some time.

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:59:57 GMT

Alright, so that didn't last long at all. That job was a load of shit. I was thrown into the hardest crap they could find, and never even got a chance to pack firewood into the bags. My back was getting sore with the crap they had me doing this morning, and for the puny pay they were offering, it was definitely not worth ruining my back. Even a guy doing the lightest work there was having back problems, and he only started today.

I started the day with repeatedly lifting a bunch (maybe 20 or so) of 15 kilo bags of logs, and putting them back into the 'bin' they fell out of. Even lifting things properly, it starts messing up your back (we were taught safe lifting techniques at Anglicare). Then after that, I had to move a lot of logs, by hand, that were in the way, and/or spilling over to the other piles. Then, there was the ever wonderful task of crawling under the main log table (probably not what it's called, but whatever) with a rake and try to get all the discarded bits of wood and logs out so they could be discarded. All this was in the first few hours, and I had to stop before I permenately damaged my back (if I haven't already).

Apparently they go through a lot of people there, and it's no wonder. The conditions there are actually quite bad. Then on top of it all, you get paid per bag. 40 cents per 15.5Kg bag of logs, 30 cents per super kindling bag, and 20 cents per 5Kg kindling bag. So, even if you manage to do 30 bags of logs per hour, that's only $12 per hour (if you can do that many, which is unlikely)... definitely not worth the risk of back injury.

That's me for another day. 'till a later date.

Stuff...

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:15:30 GMT

Well, this has been an interesting day so far. I woke up to a phone call, and next thing I know I'm down in Elizabeth West slaving my guts out... in a good, paid way.

I only worked a couple of hours, since my EC from Jobs Statewide never told me that I'd be working today and I didn't have any breakfast before I left, and I didn't pack any lunch. But anyway, all I was told was that they had a job lined up for me and to get down to a place nearby and talk to Tracy. A bit of aimless wandering later, and I found myself at the right place. Enviro Systems. A place that packs logs into bags to be sold at service stations. So I was asked if I wanted to have a try straight away, and I leapt into it, barely knowing what they do.

Well, as you can imagine, I hadn't eaten anything so I didn't get far. I talked to the boss and explained the situation, and asked if it was alright that I come in tommorow and start. So, I'm to be there at around 8am tommorow, to see how this job works out. It's not gonna be easy, and I don't know what the pay is yet, but I'm willing to give it a go for the week at least and see how I go.

Now I think I should run off and have some lunch. Later all.

How to install FEAR : Perseus Mandate...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:50:00 GMT

I bought a copy of FEAR : Perseus Mandate on Wednesday, since it was only $15, and I've been trying to install the damn thing ever since. I don't have the 7.5Gb necessary for this stand alone expansion on my Windows XP partition, which is generally fine since I can select where to install games. Well, in F:PM, when I change the installation directory to another drive, it reports that the required space to install is 0 K (Zero K). Then when I click next, it tells me that I don't have enough space to install. As far as I can tell, 0 K goes into 463Gb... hmmm... infinite times.

Well, a few days of e-mails to Vivendi later, and I finally have a solution to my problem. I have to HACK MY DAMN REGISTRY! In order to install it, I need to do the following :

1. Click on Start, type “regedit” in the ‘Start Search’ box and hit the Enter button on your keyboard.

2. This will open the Registry editor.

3. On the Registry Editor, click on

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version.

4. On the right side of this menu you will find “ProgramFilesDir " under the Name column.

5. Right click on "ProgramFilesDir” and click on Modify.

6. Change the Value data "C:\Program Files" to "X:\Program Files" ("X" is drive letter of

the partition you wish to install the game on. To avoid issues, please do not install the game on an external hard drive.)

7. Click on OK.

8. Right click on "ProgramFilesDir” and click on Modify.

9. Change the Value data "C:\Program Files" to "X:\Program Files" ("X" is drive letter of the partition you wish to install the game on. To avoid issues, please do not install the game on an external hard drive.)

10. Click on OK and then close the Registry Editor.

11. Restart you computer and install the game on the desired location.

12. Once you have finished the installation please follow steps 1-9 to put the registry entry Value data back to "C:\Program Files" for "ProgramFilesDir”.

13. Restart your computer and test the game.

Like, WTF? Other games are perfectly fine with me changing my installation path onto another drive. Why do they give you an option that doesn't work? I'm not the only one with the problem either, Troden had the exact same thing. So anyway, I'm kinda pissed that I have to do so much to just install a game, especially when it's the only damn game that requires me to do that. That'll teach me for actually getting a legit copy of a game I suppose.

Just a rant today, deal with it :P
Laters.

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:45:40 GMT

I just added 1.2 Terabytes of storage to my computer, and it's goooood. I bought two 640Gb SATA II 7200rpm drives, and an additional SATA cable, and it's all very welcome in my system. Of course, I've been cramming my new harddrives (well, only one of them so far) with crap. So, my problems with harddrive room have been solved for now. My 320Gb drive dies, and I get two 640Gb drives. I suppose that's just the way these things go.

Plus, they were cheap. I paid just over $100 each for them. Oh, and a $5 cable. And then I suppose there was fuel money getting into the city and back. I'm very happy with that.

I know, this is a crappy entry so far, so how about I ramble about something else. My stupid dog, after just getting better from whatever was stopping her from eating, decided to stick her left-front paw into the neighbours dogs mouth, and she's got a sore leg. We're not sure how exactly it happened, but our dogs (well, mainly Tro's dog, Sky) have a tendancy to attack/bark at the back fence where there are dogs on the other side. The fence has wooden horizontal beams, and has been slowly rotting since well before we moved in here, and the fence has been, in one section, coming loose. My mum was out tending to her garden, and Kira started yelping. She had her leg through the loose section of fence, and the neighbours dog (who is extremely aggressive) was on the other side with her foot in his mouth.

Her leg seems to be alright, no serious damage. Even though the other dog was trying to tear her leg off. She has been limping around for the last couple of days, but she's starting to put some weight on the leg again so hopefully it will all be fine.

Anyway, got guests over, so it's time to go. Have fun peoples.

Rewind that...

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:22:17 GMT

So, I suppose I should write about Vantage Point, since I had the pleasure of watching it last night. Ponty, Troden and me, sat down last night with a bucket of KFC and a copy of Vantage Point, with the hopes of seeing a decent movie. What we got was a movie that kept you guessing, and left everyone on the edge of their seats. Vantage Point is definitely one of the better movies to come out of America in the last few years.

The movie is about an attempted assassination on the President of the United States, revealed piece by piece through the perspectives of several people (hence the name, Vantage Point). That probably isn't news to anyone (if it is, click here now). The movie starts out strong, and powers on all the way to the end. It was good to see an action movie that didn't need to overuse special effects and far out action sequences to hook the audience. I really enjoyed the movie, and would give it two thumbs up if I actually used the thumbs system to rate things.

Watch it. Enjoy it.
TTFN.

Sat, 24 May 2008 08:19:50 GMT

It all makes sense now, we're in the wrong damn galaxy!

Apparently our solar system is from the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy, and we were sucked into the Milky Way galaxy at some point in Earths long history.

Use Gopher Repellant on Strange Little Man...

Sun, 18 May 2008 14:11:40 GMT

So, in the last week, I've actually managed to read 2 books. Well, one was a novella, but it's still the same thing. Yesterday, I started and finished Hell Island. It's such a sweet book. I thought I'd never like Matthew Reilly books coz they are all about military stuff, but it was an awesome story. It's quite a bit like the story from FarCry, but done sooo much better. It flows effortlessly from one action sequence to the next, and the whole 100 odd page story takes place over a few hours. It took less time to read the book than the amount of time it spanned over. Always good.

So I've read 2 great books in the last week, and now I just need to figure out what to read next. Plenty of options. I think soon I'll need to get some more Matthew Reilly books and start a collection. They are only about $13 each at BigW, so it might be a good time to get them.

Was gonna say more, but I got caught up with MSN convo's and other stuff while writing this, and now I'm off to bed, so I'll have to leave it there. Bye all.

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:58:03 GMT

Well, my poor dog still seems to be sick. We're having trouble getting her to eat still, so it looks like I will need to take her back to the vet. So, there goes even more money. It's kinda odd, coz she seems to be okay with eating some things, like meat (raw or cooked), but she won't touch the fat off the meat. She usually loves bacon fat, for example, and she's even avoiding that. We can sometime get her to eat a fair amount, and other times she doesn't even want to know about it. We fed her a reasonable amount last night just to have her throw it all up again 10 minutes later.

Kira still has one more tablet to go, so we'll see how that goes, and probably take her to the vet again on Monday. I seriously can't afford too many vet visits. Not when it's $49.50 just to walk through the door.

Well, at least we have some rain, so it can't all be bad.

In other news, I finished The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde yesterday (after about 3.5 hours of reading all up). Brilliant book, I think I'm gonna have to get a copy it for myself, since it's probably something I'll want to read again oneday. Next on my list of readings is a novella by Matthew Reilly called Hell Island. I haven't read any of the other books that have the same main character, but I do know quite a bit about the series so I should be fine. I think it's intended to be a seperate read anyway, not a direct continuation of anything (since it's about a military group and what they discover, more than anything). It's only about 100+ pages, so it should be a fairly short read, like Jekyll and Hyde.

Well, rant over, time to play some more FEAR : Extraction Point. It's awesome so far, so I can't wait to see what else happens. Also, before I go, when I have the $$$, I wanna get a pack off eBay with FEAR, Extraction Point, and Perseus Mandate in it for about $56 (including postage). Tro is offering to go halves, so we'll have to wait and see.

P.S. Kitsune, your items have both been sent, got confirmation today. Time to play the waiting game.

Sat, 10 May 2008 06:25:25 GMT

So anyway, to continue the last story, I took Kira to the Vet. There is a cut in her mouth which is slightly infected that is most likely the cause of her not eating much. She also apparently has a bad tooth on the other side of her mouth that might also need to come out at some point, but the Vet remarked that she has great teeth for her age and that it's just that one tooth that might cause problems. So far it has cost me $126.85, and we'll just have to wait and see, and maybe cross our fingers that everything goes well. If we have to take her back to have a tooth pulled, we're looking at quite a bit of money, with the overnight boarding fees and all.

I still have some money in the bank, but I'm holding onto it in case we need to take Kira back to the Vet. I have a phone bill to pay, but I'm putting that on hold for now too. Gah!

Well, since there are four of us here at the moment, I might see if peoples want to watch a MST3K ep, The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy. Old black and white movie, looks pretty funny. I think Troden needs to do some work on Ponty's car first though, so we'll see what happens. Or maybe we won't. Whatever. Later, peeps.

P.S. GuardianTim, is it possible to grab those MST3K movies that you grabbed last weeked off you at some point if you still have them? Not in any hurry, but just thought I'd ask you for them before you got rid of them. I didn't get a chance to see one of them before my harddrive died :(

Gah x Infinity - Part 2...

Thu, 08 May 2008 02:11:07 GMT

Ever heard about bad luck coming in three's? Well, I'm up to 2 now. The harddrive died at the start of the week, and now I need to take my dog to the vet. She hasn't been eating much over the past few days and hasn't really been acting like herself. She's usually energetic and running around, and at the moment she's just laying around and isn't getting interested in anything. Then last night, I got her to eat more than she has been, and noticed she was quite happy about eating some nice soft meat off our pork roast that we had for dinner (well, who wouldn't be). Then later I noticed she has a bit of a lump on her cheek (don't know why I didn't notice it before), so she most likely has a tooth problem, or else she might have a grass seed in her cheek. Our aunties dog used to get them in his cheek all the time.

Gah, it's probably gonna cost me a damn fortune. Can't wait to see how this week is gonna end.