So it's been a while, hasn't it? Actually, I doubt that I'll be resurrecting this blog anytime soon, because I'm not having much success in keeping even one going, but I figured I'd update my parting message to say that after taking a sabbatical, I've returned to playing video games as a pastime. Mainly because God of War II came out. I think I'd just started taking them *so* seriously that I burned myself out for a while. Now it's back to good times!

...And, since I'm not much of a videogame person anymore, I guess this isn't much of a videogame blog anymore.  Besides, the limited formatting options here irritate me.  So, I'm moving.  Follow me to my new place on the web!

I'm back, and still thinking about Japanese toys.  I think I'm starting to figure something out about myself, which is that I don't think I'm really much of a videogame person anymore.  Don't get me wrong, I still love the old classics, but most of these new games feel too much like work.

Miyamoto-san (creator of Mario & Zelda) stated recently that he thought that today's games were too big, and that they required too much input for not enough reward.  He was derided somewhat in the media for this statement, but I think I understand what he was getting at.  My job is way interactive enough as it is, I don't need to have to slog my way through my 'pastime' for months to get a feeling of accomplishment.  I've been working on Final Fantasy XII off and on for a month (which works out to be like 16 hours of game time) and I still haven't even rounded up all my main characters yet; if I keep on at this rate, I'll see the ending in 2010 or so.  Because of this, I find myself preferring either simple games like the little arcadey things you find on Pogo.com, or just watching TV. 

I think that's why, no matter how hard I try to steer myself back towards video games, telling myself that they're a rewarding, interactive hobby, that I end up preferring pretty things like Sentai toys, or rolling-ball clocks (the new reigning 'coolest thing ever'--thanks again Mom!).  Instead of having to work for days or months to get the reward, you just have to walk past the shelf, or maybe stop and pick it up, and it brings a little smile to your face.  *That's* what I get out of them that video games don't have:  Just owning them *is* the reward, they don't make you work for it.  And at the end of a long day at work, that's what I like.

Something very bad has happened inside my head.

Again.

See, it's kind of like this.  Say you're looking up something on Wikipedia, and while you're reading that article you come across a link to a different article that sounds interesting, so you click on it, and then you find another link in *that* article, and before you know it it's two hours later, you're reading something that has absolutely nothing to do with the reason you started looking up things in the first place, and you still never read the second half of that article that you started on, not that you remember what it was now anyway.  You know what I'm talking about, right?

Ok, so now imagine I'm thinking about this new computer I'm going to get, and I'm thinking about some of the things that this old one doesn't do that I'm looking forward to.  Like, being able to watch the TV-Nihon subs of the Japanese 'Super Sentai' shows.  Man, am I looking forward to that... I still never finished the last half of 'Boukenger', and now before you know it 'Gekiranger' is going to start....  Wow, and while I'm thinking about Super Sentai, now that I mention it, you know what else is super-cool about Sentai?  The toyline, of course.  Man, I wish I had me some more super-cool imported DX Super Sentai mecha.  Gee, I've got this christmas money here....

NO!!  BAD!!  THAT'S FOR THE COMPUTER!!! 

In retrospect, my PayPal account was probably not the best place to hide that money from myself while I save it for a computer.  :?  I'm going to do my best to get the computer first and then splurge on the gattai-mecha, but it doesn't feel like it's going to be easy.

Today was my tenth scheduled workout with Yourself!Fitness, and so instead of a 'normal' workout, it's my first "Physical Challenge" session, which is where I weigh in and do some physical fitness tests to measure my progress.  Here are the results:

Weight:  Actually, I don't think I'll tell my weight on the internet.  Instead I'll just say that I lost three pounds toward my goal of losing 100 pounds.  Considering that the time period in question included the holiday and the associated holiday dinners (one with Mom & Dad, one at work, one with Dana, etc.), that's probably not too bad.

Cardio:  Uhh... I'm not quite sure what this is measuring.  The chart went down, but I don't know if that's good or bad.

Upper Body Strength:  Went up to 5 push-ups, from 1 at the start.

Lower Body Strength:  Up to 28 squats, from 22.

Core Body Strength:  Up to 21 crunches, from 18.  (Then my stomach tried to cramp up for five minutes.  Owww.)

Flexibility:  Still 0.  (Yes, zero.)  Forget touching toes, I can barely reach the tops of my socks. :(  Of course, the fact that she just tried to kill me with tummy crunches right before this test might have worked against me, too.  (Then again, I just tried it again after resting and I still can't do it.  So never mind that.)

So, slow progress, but still progress.  I'd say that I'm still happy with the software itself; it's doing a pretty good job of mixing it up from day to day and being challenging without being too difficult.  I'm actually fairly impressed that it can lower the intensity all the way down to my level right now. 

The next Physical Challenge will be in around two weeks, once I've completed ten more workouts.  I'll report on it again then!

Last time on SFGMaster's Blog:

SFGMaster was faced with a heart-wrenching decision:  DS, Wii, or 360?  Which system will he choose?  Which ones will he heartlessly turn his back on?  Find out.... NOW!

As the above teaser paragraph so flippantly implies, I've come to a decision on what I'm going to do with the Christmas loot that's accumulated.  And the answer to the Question is...

D.)  None of the above.

Well, I did say it was a trick question.  As I sit here typing about buying brand-new video game consoles, I'm in front of a 5-year-old Pentium-III-800MHz computer that really doesn't do many of the things I wish it did at this point.  And if I save the money I have right now, I'm halfway towards a new PC, one that will actually play full-screen games and videos without getting all choppy and stuff; and that has a hard drive big enough to actually, you know, hold things; and that can burn DVD's.  So that's the plan; I'm buying a new computer sometime during Q1 of 2007.  Then after that, we might finally pick a side in the console wars.

Today is the end of the extended holiday weekend for me; tomorrow's back to work for three days before I get *another* three-day weekend.  And by the end of *that*, I'm sure I'll be ready to get everything back to normal.

Here we are, only one day left until the Christmas weekend.  After all the formalities are done with, things go back to normal.  Stores won't be overflowing with raving lunatics (just sparsely populated with them), people will use their work computers for working instead of shopping on Amazon, and this gamer will be left with a decision:

"Which new system do I want to buy?"

I'm considering a Nintendo DS Lite, a Nintendo Wii, and an XBox 360.  It's actually a trick question, because I'd really like to get all of them sometime this year, and then pick up a PS3 around this time next year when Final Fantasy XIII comes out.  But, I'm afraid that would cost more than I'm going to have, at least if I plan to buy any games to go with them. 

The DS has good innovative stuff on it, but it's a handheld and historically I've let those gather a lot of dust compared to my consoles.  The 360 is tempting because of Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion and Viva Pinata, as well as the DOA titles, but XBox tends to be mainly the First-Person-Shooter console and I don't generally like those.  Plus, it's the most expensive system on the list.  The Wii effectively has a huge library of good games I could pick up on the cheap, since I never got around to getting a GameCube, but it's going to be the hardest to find, and I usually prefer to let the rest of the public 'gamma-test' the new systems for a few months so any bugs get worked out.

I guess if that's the worst problem I have facing me after the holidays, I've got it okay.  I could also avoid the issue altogether by spending all my Christmas loot on vintage Transformers, too.  ;)

What will he decide?  Find out... next time, on SFGMaster's Blog!

(A note:  The entry titled 'Bullies' was removed by me, because on retrospect I felt that it was probably a little overly dramatic.  It was composed in the heat of the moment and no longer represented how I felt about that situation, so I deleted it.)

Well, I've got the night to myself at home tonight; Dana is out with the 'girls' having their office Christmas get-together.  I did my second workout... I am so totally out of shape.  The 'dialog' between myself and my virtual fitness trainer went something like this:

• Maya:  "So, how was that?"
• Me:  "AAAGHH!  I can't feel my legs!!  OHHH the humanity!"
• Maya:  "Ok.  Workouts aren't meant to be impossible, so I'll make these easier next time.
• Me:  "Oh good."
• Maya:  "Oooh, actually... I can't really do that because that *was* the easiest setting.  Well, just do as much as you can for now, don't get frustrated if you can't do the whole movement.  It'll get easier with practice."
• Me:  *cries*

All in all, though, I don't feel too bad *now*, so I guess it was ok.  I already want to see how tomorrow goes, so that's sort of like looking forward to it.

I did use the deep-fryer (probably my biggest weakness health-wise) tonight, but even that I tried to do better.  Normally I would have had two fish sandwiches and like 24 tater-tots, but tonight I made myself only one sandwich, more like 16 tater-tots, and had some baby carrots with it.  I still got full, but with just over half the fried stuff.  For dessert, instead of ice cream, I think I'll have some Frosted Flakes.  Those things are great. ;)

I also did most of the dishes until the drainer got full, so Dana won't have that to come home to.  I decided I'm kind of taking over that chore just because I don't mind it and I know that's her least favorite household chore.  I'll work on the rest tomorrow and that should catch us all up.  The way Dana is, the hard part is going to be convincing her to play along and let me do it.  She told me yesterday "not to worry about those dishes", and I think I did that, since never once did I feel the least bit concerned for their welfare.

Anyway, what with doing some things for my health, to better myself, and then doing some stuff to make myself feel more useful around the house, I'm feeling a little bit proud of myself.  Now all I have to do is keep it up, and maybe I won't feel so much like I'm just the baggage around here.  Wish me luck!  :D

With Christmas just over a week away, I think I may be finally getting around to finding some of that joy and goodwill stuff.  I knew it was around here somewhere...  I guess I had put it in the closet with the Transformers totes, because that's where I seemed to run across it. ;)

I did my first workout tonight on my new commitment.  In the past I'd used DDR games as an exercise but I don't know that it was a very focused workout, and it seemed like I would get to a point where I was frustrated with the game, not being able to pass songs at a certain difficulty, so I stopped exercising.  Let's face it, an announcer saying things like "No Good" and "Have you got a cold?" isn't the best for positive feedback.

So instead, I'm using Yourself Fitness for XBox, which is a dedicated exercise program 'game'.  It's more or less an exercise DVD that tailors itself to you based on how you tell it you feel.  One workout is too soon to tell but I think I'll like it ok.  It does pretty good at giving a sense of accomplishment afterward.

Once the holiday fervor dies down I may just have to get me a Wii.  That new Zelda game is getting perfect scores handed to it left and right, and it's not the only one that looks interesting for that system.  It's also the only next-gen system that doesn't immediately try to coerce you into buying an HDTV, which I am procrastinating, and the one that least tries to cram online-multiplayerish crap down your throat.  (Note to game corporations:  Introverts hate online-multiplayer.  We play video games *because* we don't want to need other people to be able to play.)

Anyway, in the meantime, I'm doing better and am looking forward to the holiday with the folks.  Also, getting the holiday over with so that shopping in stores can be something approaching fun again.  If somehow you've never tried shopping in December, let's just say I wouldn't recommend it unless you just have to.

My mind has simply not been working right recently.

I hesitate to even write about this stuff, because I feel like people are going to be disappointed or something.  I imagine I am being exceedingly hard to buy for this year, unless people noticed that I'm being rather unstable and are mainly doing cash like I suggested.  Anyway, first things first.

I'm kind of down on myself this week because I let myself gain a bunch of weight again.  It's not like I don't know how this happens, I just do it anyway.  So this past month, I basically replaced my Slim-Fast plan with a Fast-Food plan, and I'm feeling the effects.  I just need to be good to myself instead of just doing what *feels* good at the time.  I'm making it a point to change my commitment to health *NOW* rather than here in a couple weeks, after the holiday, because I think New Year's Resolutions are trite and meaningless and I refuse to make one if for no other reason than that I can tell people I didn't make one when they ask.

After a few visits out to the 'real world' where all the rude and stupid people live, I am already having second thoughts about the whole M:TG "2-player game" deal again.  It's not like I actually spent any money on it yet, so maybe I came to my senses in time to head off any damage.  It's just that the more I think about it, the more I think I don't want to give other people that much power over whether I enjoy myself or not.  I've probably spent too much time over the years giving my power away as it is.  If I play and my opponent is a bad sport, then I didn't enjoy myself.  If I want to play and can't pick up a game, then I didn't enjoy myself.  Why would I choose that?  Meanwhile, I don't really remember why I stopped doing Transformers at all, except that I was spending so much money at Harrah's there for a while that I couldn't afford them and still buy Okami.

I just need to take a step back.  Let's rewind a month and see where we were.... oh yes, Okami, Final Fantasy, Transformers, XBox 360.... that wasn't such a bad time.  Let's just try the whole thing over again; this time, I'm going to eat healthier and start exercising, and stick with the things I know I can enjoy instead of glamourizing things that I know haven't been all I wanted them to be in the past.

I do hope that I haven't disappointed everyone by overhauling the Christmas List again; this isn't a good time of year for me to be such a mess, I know.  I really am working on it, though.  And it's not like I won't know it's my fault if I get a gift that was from one or two 'episodes' ago; all I really want for Christmas is my family, who I mostly trust to approve of me no matter what, anyway.  I'll be OK, I promise!