Seriously. I have a nasty cold and it's slowing down my reaction times 100%. I tried to play some Halo 2 and out of a dozen or so games was only on the winning team for a couple. Now of course I blamed it on crappy team mates (which in reality they were pretty terrible) but my scores reflected my condition. My kills were atleast 50% lower and my accuracy was terrible. So, do yourself a favor next time you get sick, don't make an ass out of yourself, watch a movie instead :P

I finally have a good concept for my next DFAD project (assuming there is a next dfad). It's one I had started thinking of last time around but didn't flesh out. Obviously I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag this early, but I will start up the hype engine again :P It's going to be a murder mystery of sorts.

I hate the fact that I'm so easily lured in by hype. I try my hardest not to be lured, but the harder I try the quicker I get sucked in. The main thing that did it for me was XBL support. My most memorable experiences with Halo came from playing multiplayer with friends. I was living with a friend when I bought it and we played it through in a couple of days, then later I went back to play it myself and something was lacking. I'm upset that XBL doesn't support co-op, mainly because my schedule is so weird that I hardly have time to play with friends, and I was hoping to be able to play online, but I think the number of multiplayer games avaliable with make up for the lack of online co-op. I'm going to try to convince my girlfriend to play it with me, right now she doesn't like most FPS games (with the exception of half-life) but I'm going to try to convince her it's a good way for us to spend time together :P I seem to have forgotten about my hype rant, oh well. I'm easily swayed by shiney things, and as soon as something I'm even slightly intrested in is put in a limited edition tin box then it's all over, and I have to own it. I'm a compulsive geek like that.

I don't quite know how to caption this...scary or creepy?

Things are going fairly smoothly for me now...and by smooth I mean I've got my schedule down, not smooth like I can take it easy. School is going well. It's strange being back since I've been gone so long, but it's nice to be given the oppertunity to learn new things again. I guess working full-time dulls the brain a little. It's also good to know that my artistic ability hasn't faltered too much. I've never considered myself to be very good, but an artist is always his own worst critic. I'm getting good grades and the other students like my stuff, so I'm pleased with that. Work is coming along well. I'm starting to get into a groove and understand how to best process the tasks at hand. You'd think making copies all day long would be easy, but it's a lot to juggle. I'm normally running both the black & white machine and the color machine, cutting things, laminating things, folding things and maybe scanning things all at the same time. It's nutty, but it makes the day go by quickly. Plus the people are cool, and good co-workers will always make up for a less than satisfactory work place. It's taken me a month to get my schedule down, but now that I've been doing it I feel more comfortable with what little time I have to myself and I can manage that time better. The only real gaming I've been able to do has been on the bus and between homework. I have Halo 2 pre-ordered, but don't know how often I'll be able to play, and I'll have to work hard not to slack off and wind up playing it too much. Plus there's still a huge list of older games I've missed, and a few others coming out in November that I'll want to get. I figure things can always get worse, so I just have to work with what I have. Plus in 6 weeks I'll have a 3 week break from school, so that will be nice. I'll be able to make up for some of the time I've missed. I'll probably wind up buying 3 or 4 games and finishing them all in that 3 week period. That should be an interesting challenge, especially if I want to enjoy the games while I'm playing them. Time will tell I guess.

So we've had a cat for a while, she's about a year and a half to two years old. Since we've moved to Seattle she's been lonley when we're away, so to remidy the problem we thought it would be a good idea to get another cat. I mean, it sounded good at the time. So, we got a cute little new kitty: The only problem is, the cat that we've had hates him. I've done my reading and I've introduced pets in the past, but damn if she's not being stubborn. It's only been 3 days now, but she's getting a little better with him around, but she still makes a hell of a noise when he gets too close. I don't want to have to give him up, but I can't live with this kitty war going on either. I just have to keep telling myself it'll work out.

I did a little math today and I figured out that I average, during any given week, 25 hours of "time". By "time" I mean parts of the week that I'm not A) sleeping B) working C) going to class and D) riding the bus. That's a mere 25 hours to eat, do home work, read and play video games. For example, it's midnight now and I have to get up at about 6:20am to go to school.....I just got home from work. I'm a cry baby....sue me. On the other hand, I have been able to keep my sanity by playing my GBA SP on the bus and during lunch at work. This has been helpful, especially since my time at home is filled with homework. Since I picked up Metroid Fusion and Sword of Mana I haven't touched my home consoles, heck I've even played my GBA at home. TV is a thing of the past unless I need some background noise while I do homework. This is going to drive me bonkers.

I've already babbled a bit about killzone here, but I wanted to add a few notes. There are two fun features I left out, melee attacks and stealth kills. I haven't tried melee attacks with any weapons other than the standard rifle that Templar (er, i think that's his name) but the effect is pretty cool. Basicly you walk up and beat the guy to death with the butt of the rifle. Lugar, the stealth chick, has a knife that can be used to pull off stealth kills. This effect is also very good looking. She walks up behind the enemy, pulls his head back and slits his throat, he makes a little gurgle and falls over. Good stuff. All in all I think Killzone will score in the neighborhood of 8.5 give or take .3 In other news, class is going well and work is progressing as well. As for school I'm lucky enough to like all my teachers and the homework has been fun to do (horray art school). Plus the people there are all awsome and very laid back. It's going to make meeting new people in a new city much easier. Work is getting better, I was bummed about figuring out a good bus route, but I got one that get's me there in about 45 minutes, which is better than an hour and a half. It's quick yet it still gives me time to play my GBA, which I'm buying a game for tomorrow. I don't know if I'm going to get Sword of Mana, FFTA, or a different game all together. I'm probably going to do a little more review, er, reviewing and decide tomorrow morning.

I'm not one to rant on about things that are bothering me, but I'm not one to say too quiet either. I've been following the travisties that our political leaders have been orchestrating for a while. I've been reading about the 9/11 conspiricies, the war on Iraq, the Patriot Act, the lack of attention paid to the American public and the fear that our "leaders" have ingrained into our minds. I can say, without a doubt, that George W Bush is one of, if not the worst, things to happen to America. I just finished watching Fahrenheit 9/11 and it only helped to support a lot of the things I have read. I'm not one to read a conspiricy theory and jump on the band wagon. I am not that easily persuaded, or brainwashed if you will. I like to soak in the facts, to try my best to understand what's happening. To play devils advocate. This, however, is just too damning for me to ignore. Between the news reports about the US government aiding in getting the bin Ladin family out of the states shortly after the 9/11 attack and the ongoing reports of US millitary personnel being killed or injured to the outstanding fact that there were no WMDs in Iraq I have lost faith in our political and news systems. News sources are feeding the American public the medicine the government is handing out: fear. And what's worse is that we're spooning it down and asking for more. It's like Christianity all over again. "Don't be a bad boy or bin Ladin will steal your soul." Hell, even the news about Mt. Saint Hellens has focused on the negetive. The reporters are telling us would "could" happen, and how bad the devistation "could" be. They should be using this event as a learning tool. They should be reporting the positive effects of such an event, the scientific facts about volcanos and mountains, not focusing what kinds of distruction they can produce. I'm tired of living in a society that so generously accepts fear and fear tactics. From politics to fashion we are told that we're in trouble, that we're not safe and that we're going to fail. I feel terrible for the teenage girls who read their teenage magazines and wonder why they arn't thin and beautiful, and make themselves sick in an attempt to be so. I feel terrible for the mothers and fathers who send their children off to war to DIE to line the pockets of our "leaders" with money. I feel terrible for the homless on the streets of my city who are unable to get the aid they need because our government can't afford it. It makes me want to puke. And what's worse is I don't see anything changing. If Kerry is elected president he may make some changes on the surface, he may save some soldiers lives by bringing them home, but the damage has already been done. Ad campaings will continue to focus on our fears, and the news organizations will continue to do the same. I don't like to think of myself as ignorant, but my lack of ignorance is driving me insane with fury. I can't look around and not be upset by our country. The only thing I can do is continue along my path and try to ignore what I don't agree with. There might be a better way of dealing with a situation like this, but I sure don't know it. All I can do is turn a blind eye and forget, but no matter how hard I try I won't be able to forget, and I won't be able to change the world either.

Day two of classes is over...now I'm just sitting around waiting to go to work...yay. I found out that Survey of Media is a very generalized class that's aimed at informing students about a range of media. IE video, animation, print, etc etc. The class is mainly comprised of Graphic Designers but there are a few Multi Media and Animation students in there as well. The teacher for this class is an odd lady from Jersey. She's super energetic and a lot of fun. Today I had Tools and Techniques, that one is pretty straight forward. It's all about the tools that a Graphic Designer would use, and how they use them. The teacher for that class is an older lady, but she seems very cool. I'll also have her again tomorrow for another class, Typography. The student body seems like a mix of about 80% 18-19 year old kids that are right of high school. The other 20% range from 21 to upper 40's. That's the day classes anyhow. I have night classes on Wednesday and Thursday so it'll be intresting to see the difference in the age of the students in those classes, if there is any. Work is draining my will to live. Each day I get there and hate it, then by the end of the day I'm liking it again. I hope it's just growing pains or something. I don't want to stay at a job I don't enjoy, and I really don't want to mess with getting a new job. So for now I'm just going to press on. If nothing else it's only for two years (i hope) then I can drop it like a bad habit.