I had a review submission rejected today on another site.  I've never had one rejected before, from anywhere, and it beats me why  it happened this time. 

Not. Too. Happy. :cry:

A comment was made tonight, (I think by Greg Kasavin, but it all went by and I can't quite remember who said what) about whether TGS was going to replace E3.  To paraphrase, the answer was 'If Sony thinks its worthy of this kind of presentation, then the answer is NO'.

That just about sums up Sony's presentation (what I could hear and read of it).  More talk than interest, no games to speak of.  Something new? Errr... footage from Afrika that I didn't actually see yet?  Something old? Oh! The PS3 can do everything your PC ever dreamed of, and then some.  Actually, that seems a little toned down from the previous 'the PS3 will replace your PC'.

I don't know what I was hoping for, since all the earthshattering news has already been released... but one would think they could have come up with something slightly more interesting than that.  Couldn't they?

Perhaps it was lost in translation. 

I'm tired of this Wii is too expensive nonsense. We're only saying that now because we let all those rumors get our hopes up. Hopes, shmopes. Since when has any company made any business decision on anything other than business? When they're so much cheaper than the competition ($50 is a fair difference for many people), it doesn't make sense for Nintendo to go cheaper still just because we're hoping for some ridiculous price of $179.00. Sure I hoped with everyone else. $179.00 would have been a lot easier on my increasingly thin wallet. But I knew all along they were most likely only hopes.  The Wii's price point is completely reasonable.

I'm also tired of the "souped up GameCube" rhetoric. Nobody in their right mind is claiming that Wii is going to be as powerful as 360 or PS3. Wii is less powerful. Point taken. But calling it barely an advance over Gamecube is ridiculous. Companies simply do not make new systems that have no advantage over the old. We get the point you're making, stop exaggerating now. Xbox was clearly an advance over Gamecube and Wii is supposed to be more powerful than the original Xbox. Wii > GameCube. So the developers are working on Gamecube dev kits? It lets them get early games out much quicker and the early games aren't likely to be much of a strain on a new system. Developers never learn to take advantage of a system's full capabilities until near the end of its lifespan anyway. Who knows if they'll even manage to max out the capabilities of the 360 and PS3 before the next big and better thing comes along?

I am not a Wii fangirl. I am probably not even picking one up at launch. But I'm tired of listening to this mindlessness. It's like System Wars has taken over the entire site. Ugh.

I'm done now.

Today proved interesting for a multitude of reasons.  I spent a hefty part of the morning on the phone to our ISP trying to get the connection issues ironed out.  Then I took apart the wiring from the lone phone jack (what kind of house has only one phone jack?) through the kitchen wall, into the basement, up again through the floor in the room where the computer is.  Re-ran all that cord and reset the router.  Lo and behold, I'm connected.  Checked the phone, that works too.  I told the parents skanky old broken cords would screw up the signal.  I told them it could be interfering with the filter.  I told them broken things don't work as well as good things.  Well, look who's right.  The phone company is sending out a tech tomorrow.  I feel kinda bad that I did his job already.  Oh well, never hurts to have someone double check it.

This afternoon was interesting for a different reason.  My brother's part of a short-term exchange program with a school in Germany.  Last year he was over there for three weeks, this year we have one of his German classmates here.  He's a nice kid, not scared of the dachshunds like the last exchange student we had (but that one was scared of everything).  He likes my mom's chickens and he brought us all a little gift.  Which is where we come to the stereotype.  I know they say Americans all love food.  I guess we do.  He brought us big bags of gummi bears and boxes of chocolate.  Wine for my dad, candy for the women, and a sports jersey for my brother.  We went predictably gaga over the candy, and I felt like a walking bulls-eye. :P  He brought the gummi bears in a little German flag style purse thing, which is really kind of cool.  I'm excited to have him here, reminds me of a friend I left in Indiana (but German), and he reportedly loves video games.  Always welcome with me. 

Now that the last "big change" is over, hopefully I'll get to settle in a little bit.  I'm looking for jobs with career possibilities now.  Officially.  No more mucking around with Starbucks and dead end secreterial work.  Get me something that adds meat to my resume and will point me in the direction of a job I actually want.  Determination, here I come.

Just watch me eat those words when someone offers me decent pay to teach their pet poodle sign language. :roll: *sigh*

Maine > Indiana, said my friend.  Rather, he said it more eloquently... Maine > Suckiana.  I arrived today, after a drive that would numb a professional, and I hope that turns out to be true.  Right now I'm optimistic... despite the extremely slow computer which is currently my only internet connection.

Twenty one hours, even split up over two days, is a long time to drive without somebody else in the car.  To pass the time I did some deep-thinking exercises.  Otherwise known as writing a lot of blog posts in my head which probably bordered on works of literary importance.  Too bad I can only write such things in my head and as soon as I come to a keyboard they evaporate like so much spilled rubbing alcohol.  Among other things I debated the merits of various systems for titling these little ramblings of mine.  I settled on the AA Milne method, in which I begin each post with "In which". 

I sang aloud.  For a good 18 of those 21 hours.  Mostly classic rock and indie goodness.  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! was a mainstay of my "Stay Awake at the Wheel" campaign.  Though a friend who's met them informs me that the band is less than 100% personable, I can't seem to let that grim realization interfere with the great delight I get from their music.  My dog takes less delight in them, however.  She howled along in doggy protest every time things got too loud.  I howled along too... my voice hurts.

The second day I daydreamed about driving across the country in the other direction and setting up my very own apartment, not to share with any roommates.  It's amazing how much time one can take up just decorating an imaginary apartment on a fictional unlimited budget.  That was a sweet place.  Too bad I live with my parents.

I got here (finally) around four o' clock this afternoon and immediately began shoveling all the crap from my car and my dad's SUV into the house.  Boxed up it filled my room, the hallway, and half the living room.  Five years of my life was not meant to be crammed back into my parents' house.  I have been a household unto myself for too long.  Fortunately, with some creative rearranging and some careful arrangement I managed to get the most important things into suitable places.  Meaning my game systems are hooked up and my books are shelved (three bookshelves with the books stacked on top of each other instead of standing in rows, and I still had to put a row between bookends on top of my dresser!)  I still have to clean out the closetful of old high school keepsakes to store a lot of the things that aren't going to fit anywhere else (like more books?).  That's a job for tomorrow, as well as reboxing my dishes for storage in the basement.

Daltrey seems happy.  I'm pretty content, other than being dead tired.  My mom must be happy, she made apple pie today.  I'm dragging the SNES out and hooking it up tomorrow.  I miss you SNES!

And that, as they say, is that.

Today I packed away the PlayStation2, my awesome retro record player, and all my seasons of M*A*S*H.

Leaving the GameCube out for last minute Prince of Persia, but I expect that to go tomorrow.

There comes a time when one has to put aside the daydream and get down to the business of living. When is that time, exactly? They tell me I'm young and I have time to kill; they tell me to spend this time doing what I want to do, not what I have to do. But I have bills to pay like any other adult, and there's a lot to work for.

I have a younger brother who loves baseball. It's become pretty clear that he's never going to pay the bills playing baseball. He's pretty decent, good enough for college level, but he hasn't got a snowball's chance of going pro. When is it time for him to give up the idea and go get a job as a number-cruncher in some random business somewhere? Clearly, he doesn't think the time has come yet. He has the opportunity to go and work as a student coach for a college baseball team. It's unpaid, but he's willing to take a gamble on that, as though just having it listed on his resume will get him somewhere on that near-impossible career path. Who knows?

And then there's me. I am focus-less. Ambitionless. I am the one who can't bring myself to believe that the things I want to do will ever be possible for me. I'm running out of time. There are easy ways, only a few more interpreting classes and I could have a comfortable career in something I don't love but which comes easily to me. Only a few years of work and I could easily find myself in an academic career, slowly growing more bored. Or is there still time to find a goal, to find something I want and make it happen? Can I even make it happen?

Bah, when you graduate from high school you feel like there's so much pressure to decide things. I thought when I finished, found a degree, took responsibility for myself, that the decisions would be easier. Ha. Ha. Ha. I find myself without a job again, wondering whether to look for something that might lead me in a direction I want to go or to give up the daydreams and look for something in a direction I know I can go. I have long considered "you can do anything" to be feel-good nonsense, fit only for the Reading Rainbow theme song. Right now, I wish I was more idealistic, or driven, or something.

I gave up today and went out and bought the tools every girl needs when making a major life transition. Snickers bars. Or rather, Snickers minis. I'm probably the only girl I know who frequents a forum when she's troubled, or who goes out and buys games she can't afford as a stress reliever, but at least I'm with the majority on this one. Stress? Eat chocolate!

I'm winding these suckers right to me, playing some Prince of Persia, and waiting until the next week or so is over. Goodbye Indiana. Goodbye unidentifiable bad smell in my basement room. Goodbye ex-loves, ex-hates, and ex-friends.

Hello chocolate.

...I lied. I'm getting out of this moldy place! I could not be more excited. Freedom, be damned! My parents house is clean... I miss clean...

Saying goodbye is always hard. I think this particular goodbye gets harder every time we say it. Probably because we know each one is more and more likely to be the last.

We had that kind of unhealthily intense relationship one reads about in Evelyn Waugh novels. I was Sebastian, flighty and unstable, and she was my Charles Ryder, everything sane and reasonable in the world. We were both so right about life. We used to read aloud to each other at night. Even the most terrible fights never changed things between us. I think the nature of friendship has changed since Sebastian and Charles. I think we were uncommon.

I am, and always have been, completely unable to deal with changes in this relationship in a rational, adult, manner. She's the adult and I've got my Aloyisius. It's a good thing she's the adult, because she's married now, and they're having a baby. I'm going to be Auntie Sara and I hate change. But I'm the one putting a thousand extra miles between us this time.

Every thirteen-year-old, gore-and-hentai-obsessed, FPS-fan on this site is sure to find this post, just to misinterpret it. Sorry kids, no girl-on-girl here, just friendship so old fashioned the word barely applies anymore. I miss her.