I don't typically post leveling up blogs since they are just a space filler. However, i got a super boost from participating in the super hero contest GS did for comic con and it seems i've jumped up to a level i've been anticipating for a long time. I actually first heard the expression when i played Final Fantasy 2 (North America version) when the wizard Tellah calls prince Damcyan a spoony bard (the guy was a bard. duh). Not really something you hear every day. I don't know why that was so amusing to me at the time, but that has since become a part of my repertoire of insults. So now that i've reached level 52 here on GS, i can finally quit and walk away. Well, i can...but i wont. Considering that i got a super boost into the level, i wont be spending much time in it. So my title will soon change and i'll be forced to work my way back around to level 52 again...or get the **** modded out of me to remain on this level. Either way, i have my work cut out for me.

So i've been playing GTA4 for well over 25 hours now and that seems like enough time to form a pretty good opinion of the game. So far I have finished all of the Packie and Francis missions and everything prior to that. I've done a few random missions for people standing on the side of the road. I've been driving around and i've been taking some taxis to my destinations. I've flown helicopters and done some boat driving. I've dated some girls and have been maintaining my relationships with most of my "friends". So far, i must say i'm quite annoyed at this game. I've been talking to a few people so far about my experience, and most of them can tell you that my biggest complaint is the driving. I understand that most of the time you can take a taxi to wherever you want to go. But there are a few missions that force you to use a vehicle to get yourself from one place to another. I must say, that has been my most painful experience in the game so far. They don't seem to encourage speeding in this game like others. Any time you pick up enough momentum, the game seems to execute program lose-control-and-crash. And it never fails that when i lose control of my car, a police car is sitting there to take the hit...and then the chase starts. I've even been so fortunate to lose control of my car when driving slow. People keep telling me i just have to adjust, but damn. I shouldn't have to adjust this much. Something else that really gets on my nerves is the fact that people want to hang out with you all the time. And when you aren't able to hang out with them, they get all pissed off and start shooting lasers out of their eyes. I notice there's a way to turn off calls from story focused people, but why not turn off calls from people that want to randomly hang out with you? Of course, it would be just as easy to ignore them and let them hate you, but it's a bit difficult when you are a little obsessive about doing things in a game. I'm still iffy on Niko's character too. I'm not sure i should be cheering for him if they are trying to portray the guy as an immigrant that's trying to live the American dream. He seems to keep doing some seriously questionable things for someone trying to get away from his checkered past. Even then, aren't you supposed to have some decision points? So far i've come across one (1) decision point and i'm not seeing how that has had any kind of impact on me. I'm still keeping my eye open for them, but at this stage in the game, it seems like they've abandoned that idea. Anyway, i'm still playing the game and trying to finish the main story so i can move on to The Lost and The Damned and Gay Tony. It just seems to be somewhat tedious at times. This is definitely one of those moments where i seriously do not agree with the 10 GS gave this game.

I really do. I actually had a friend join me this time, and being new to the whole wine tasting thing, she had a lot of fun. I can't wait until next month when they have a tasting at the bigger store.

Finally finished this damn game. According to Raptr, i gave it a good 75 hours of my life. I'm sure about 50 hours of that time spent playing was cut scenes. Maybe that is an over exaggeration, but there were a ton of cut scenes. The game reminded me of a long episode of Dragon Ball GT. It wasn't completely horrible but it just wasn't good. Pretty much, some super villain decides he wants to rule the world and 4 kids and a mercenary decide it's up to them to stop him. Standard story. Truth be told, the game had a decent start. I had hoped they would do something that wouldn't make me groan out loud. Unfortunately, the dialogue turned to crap during the second disc and the story literally pissed me off. But rather than tossing this game to the side, i bit the bullet and suffered through it. There were some redeeming qualities from the third disc but the story seemed to constantly keep getting thrown in my face. I did enjoy getting to the last part of the game and fighting bosses who were horribly below my level. Having a boss die before they even get a chance to attack just gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Beyond that, bleh. For anybody that is into RPGs and have gone through the gambit, make sure to skip this game. It wasn't bad, but you could probably do a lot better. So now on to something new...ish. I'm gonna retry playing GTA4 and the additional content. Not sure if i will aim for beating it in under 25 hours (that's an achievement), but i will at least try to get as much enjoyment out of it as everybody says i should.

Rather than trying to remember Canada and America holidays, I'd just like to say Happy (insert appropriate holiday here) to everybody. I hope you all have a good and safe holiday to those that get their respective days off. :)

We can all agree that the unions need, nay deserve some nice things of their own every now and then. A few weeks ago we showcased a union but we couldn't help but feel like there was something missing? A nice shiny border to frame that awesome union to help make their announcement stand out! While at first we thought we should take the time to craft one for the Union Spotlight we here at the community thought that it would be so much more interesting if we saw what kind of border the unions could come up with! You are already so creative with the work that you put into your Unions so clearly whatever borders you come up with will be nothing short of fantastic. The criteria for your Union Spotlight Border submission are the following requirements: *Size of the border should be 400x380. *Be in gif format. *Image size less than 200k. *No animated borders. *When you submit your border make sure that you leave the center blank. *We want the content to be original. That being said, don't steal other peoples work! Example: Once you've settled on the perfect stage for your Union Spotlight, display your entries in your union for all your fellow members to see, then link to it in this forum page here. We will be taking submissions for the Union Spotlight Border Contest until June 30th, 12:00PM PT after we've collected the submissions the Staff will cherry pick the ones that we feel best fit the desired concept for a Union Spotlight Border. Then on Friday the 1st we will display the top submission and let you unionists vote on which border you like most! Voting period will go from Friday when the weekly report is posted until July 7th at 12:00PM PT when your votes will be tallied. The union with the winning border will be featured in the weekly report, a union level up, and of course have their border featured for all future Union Spotlights! So unions, lets see what you got!

I shouldn't have bought stuff, but i did bought stuff :P. Amazon had a sale for buy-one-get-one half off on various games and i ended up purchasing some PS3 games - specifically Uncharted and Demon Souls. Both are good pick ups i think. Not sure when i will get around to them since i can never seem to lower my backlog, but at least i got them for cheap and they will be ready for me to tackle them soon enough. While i was at it, i picked up Tekken Tag for the PS2 which i thoroughly enjoyed in the arcade. I figured it would be just as fun on the home console. They should (hopefully) be here this week. I still have to finish my game of Blue Dragon which, so far, has turned out to be pretty damn average. It's not really good, but at the same time it's not really bad. It's just meh. And i never did mention i finished Dead Rising 1 finally! I actually started playing it in 2009 and it took me well into 2011 to finish it. I guess my biggest flaw was trying to do things by the book as opposed to just killing zombies. Then again, i'm not sure how long i can avoid the story and strictly just play the zombie killing part of the game. But i'm glad i got through the game. I am a little pissed at the ending since the developers seemed to have copped out. For those that haven't finished the game, i wont spoil it for you. Just know that it wasn't a full motion ending that a lot of games these days have. It was a text based ending. :| yeah. BTW, is anybody still playing Borderlands? I'm just curious for my own secretive reasons.

So the main purpose of this blog is to let certain people know i made it home safely. But yest, there was a wine tasting today and i attended. And it was great. There were well over 50 wines there to try out and i had fun trying out (only) the red wines...with a few white wines. There were also beers there to try, which i tried an apple cider and a few different beers. There were also a few hard liquors there that rocked such as one call...something....i can't remember. But it was like a firecracker. Wait, it was called Firecracker and it tasted like the firecracker candy. Cinnamon and spicy; It was great. There were a few good wines that were available as well as a few champagnes. I had fun :D They had food too! Sammiches which had bacon on them. Bacon rocks! Oh and i went out afterward and had some more to drink...some mudslides :P...and they were good too. But i kept myself from buying any wine. And i didn't go out of my way to spend money. What? Yeah...i made it home safe ^_^ Yay!

Happy Friday everybody :P

BIG PEOPLE WORDS

A group of kindergartners were trying very hard to become accustomed to the first grade. The biggest hurdle they faced was that the teacher insisted on NO baby talk! You need to use 'Big People' words,' she was always reminding them. She asked John what he had done over the weekend? - "I went to visit my Nana." - "No, you went to visit your GRANDMOTHER. Use 'Big People' words!" She then asked Mitchell what he had done. - "I took a ride on a choo-choo." - She said "No, you took a ride on a TRAIN. You must remember to use 'Big People' words." She then asked little Alex what he had done? - "I read a book" he replied. - "That's WONDERFUL!" the teacher said. "What book did you read?" Alex thought real hard about it, then puffed out his chest with great pride, and said, - "Winnie the s***"

Just a little something to put a smile on your face A DEA officer stopped at a ranch in Texas , and talked with an old rancher. He told the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs." The rancher said, "Okay , but don't go in that field over there...", as he pointed out the location. The DEA officer verbally exploded saying, "Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me!" Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removed his badge and proudly displayed it to the rancher. "See this badge?! This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish...On any land!! No questions asked or answers given!! Have I made myself clear...do you understand?!!" The rancher nodded politely, apologized, and went about his chores. A short time later, the old rancher heard loud screams, looked up, and saw the DEA officer running for his life, being chased by the rancher's big Santa Gertrudis bull. With every step the bull was gaining ground on the officer, and it seemed likely that he'd sure enough get gored before he reached safety. The officer was clearly terrified. The rancher threw down his tools, ran to the fence and yelled at the top of his lungs... "Your badge, show him your BADGE!!"