First off, I went out last night. A couple buddies and I had a cool evening planned, we got to the nicest theater around and were going to get drunk and watch 300, which I've been trying to see for weeks. So, we got drunk, went upstairs to get tickets, only to be told by the punkass little 15 year old behind the counter that no movies play at that theater after 10. Man, we was pissed, yo! So, we went to this dude's house, which is where my story is going.

I finally played with a Nintendo Wii, for the first time ever, and damn, was I impressed! We just played Wii Bowling, but had so much fun with it (btw, I f'ing pwn at wii bowling, gaining 235 points in my first game!!). Even though I'm going on a road trip in a couple weeks for 2 weeks and missing 2 weeks of school, just spent about $600 on fixing my car, and $1,300 on tuition and books, and need to save for PAX this year, I'm seriously considering buying one.

Now that I mention the car thing, I'm not sure how much I've disclosed about it in my blog, if anything, but a few weeks ago, my car overheated, which I just found out today was due to a faulty radiator hose clip causing all my coolant to drain out, and I blew my head gasket and cracked the head to an unrepairable degree. At this point, I was quoted about $2,000 by a mechanic, in case I wanted to be lazy, but that's just not me. So, I bought a new head on ebay for $202, an awesome deal for a 15 yr old head in such perfect shape, with valves done and camshaft and all. Then, I took everything apart and put it all back together with the new head, and started it up, but it started pouring out oil. That blew, so i took everything apart again, just to find out that the guy who sold me the head never put a seal around the camshaft! Very lame. One $4 seal and a whole lot of work later, I got it back together. That brings us to about 10 minutes ago. My car's now back together and everything seems good to go, but I'll have to wait till tomorrow morning to find out for sure. A big plus is that I found out my O2 sensor was REALLY fouled, so I put a new one in, and the car ran amazing last time I had it on. So, I'll come back tomorrow and update what's going on with my car, hopefully gonna be good news!

Current gamerscore stands at: 24,512
Current world gamerscore rank: 5,346

Wow. I saw Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle's Reign Over Me tonight, and wow. Granted, I was kinda drunk, but that was a pretty powerful movie. I'll admit, it did bring a couple tears outta me, but I'm just the kinda guy who gets everything out of a movie. Anyway, I highly recommend checking out this flick, it is, like I said, a very powerful movie. The only thing I don't like about it is that it kinda tries to cash in on 9/11. I mean, we've all seen the trailers, so you all know that Adam Sandler's character's family was killed due to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, but did it really have to be that way? Couldn't they have just died in a fire or something? Well, I really don't like movies that in any way use that terrible day to sell tickets, but I don't think it helped this movie too much, so I went to see it anyway. Yeah, so I'm still drunk, much more so than before, so I'll just say go see this movie.

Well, I did it today. Some complications, couldn't find my team and wound up having to start almost an hour and a half late, but it went off pretty well. I feel like I really worked hard for something I wanted to do, as I've been climbing hundreds of flights of stairs each week, and it all paid off today. I was actually very amazed that I did so well. I had a couple varsity track runners behind me who took off in the beginning, but I wound up passing both and beating them by about 5 minutes. The whole thing just went so smoothly, I managed my energy perfectly and only stopped for a second a couple times because it was about 80-85 degrees and oxygen was sparse from all the climbers, but other than that I was burning all the way up the stairs.

So I did it, 69 flights, 1,311 steps to the top, and timed at about 15 minutes, several minutes faster than I realistically thought I would do it. I'll find out my exact time soon, but I was the only one who did it with a video camera, and I recorded the whole thing. It's pretty boring, but I'm going to edit it and put it on youtube soon. Till then, dyaballikl out!

[edit] Also, I'd like to thank CG and Mikethemonkey very much for their donations. And donations are still being accepted and would be very much appreciated. All donations go to the Leukemia Society and you can donate at the link below. Thanks again guys!

[new edit] here's the video, check it out, it's the entire climb. dont mind the close up shots of girls' asses on floors 59+!

[video=K3wxxjCt5bkEuzDW]

Leukemia Society Donations for Big Climb: $268 / Goal: $500
Current gamerscore stands at: 24,157
Current world gamerscore rank: 5,306

It's St. Patrick's day, the day everyone's Irish. Not for me, though, I got my big climb tomorrow morning, meaning.....no booze tonight!!!! Sucks for me. Oh well, I can be Irish the other 364 nights of the year! (Shortest blog ever, I know, I'll make it up to you all next time ;) )

 

[edit] I should also mention that today's a good gaming anniversary. Today's the 5 year anniversary of Virtua Fighter 4, the 8 year anniversary of an awesomely underrated game, Legend of Legaia, the 19th anniversary of Nobunaga's Ambition, and the 20th anniversary of the Goonies 2. Pretty cool stuff.

Leukemia Society Donations for Big Climb: $263 / Goal: $500
Current gamerscore stands at: 24,127
Current world gamerscore rank: 5,260

Ok, so I got 1 week left to finish off the Old Spice Challenge and finish collecting 1,500 gamer points to win my copy of Fuzion Frenzy 2. When I started this challenge over a month ago, I was like "1,500 points in over a month? I can easily get that in 2 weeks!" But, after being out of my house for like 2 weeks, and being bogged down with finals and working 40 hours, it's become less than an easy task.

So, a couple days ago I bought DDR Universe for 360. I figure, since I used to be a DDR master, it ought to be easy points, plus I've been wanting it lately. And pretty easy points it is. It's not the best DDR yet, in fact, the screen size is smaller and the game just seems less fun than previous titles, but is still pretty good. The points take a bit of work, but not too much, so I figure the 1,000 points from it would be about a 3-4/10 on the difficulty scale.

To date, I've got about 400 points towards my challenged 1,500. And I just passed 24,000 points last night, thanks to DDR Universe. And, as always, here's the breakdown of my last 1,000:

Days since 23,000: 42 days!!!!

Doom (0 points) - No new points, but I still can't stop playing this game on occasion. I really can't wait until the day Doom II comes out, even though it probably never will.

Geometry Wars Evolved (0 points) - Again, no new points, but a very fun game to pick up and play sometimes.

Cabela's Alaskan Adventures (240 points) - Not a good game. Not even great for points. I recommend avoiding this game, glitchy waste of time with a terrible engine.

Test Drive Unlimited (10 points) - Finally bought this game and finally got the Trade achievement, since it wasn't working before the most recent patch.

Condemned: Criminal Origins (200 points) - A pretty good game. Unfortunately, the disc from Blockbuster was scratched in such a way that I could not continue past I think chapter 4 and never got to finish the game.

Heavy Weapon & Root Beer Tapper (0 points) - Wouldn't buy either. Definitely not up my alley.

Paper Boy (35 points) - I forgot how hard this game can be. Definitely brought back some good memories, though. Very difficult achievements.

Rainbow Six Vegas (265 points) - Surprised me at its awesomeness. A very fun single player (I don't do multi). Game plays insanely similar to Gears of War. Realistic difficulty is reasonably easy and a lot of fun, but a glitch prevented me from getting the achievement for completing insane. Be sure to read up on it before starting Realistic, if you've played Normal difficulty at all.

Crackdown (20 points) - I still have it, will probably get back to it, but I'm not a big fan (as stated in previous blog entry).

DDR Universe (280 points) - So far so good, should get another couple hundred tonight, if all goes as planned

So, only other news is that I'm climbing the Columbia Tower on Sunday (3 days from today). I'll try to get some video and pictures, please wish me luck and (if it's your thing to do) say a bit of a prayer for me. Even though this is for the Leukemia Society, and it prides me greatly to be working so hard for such a great cause, I'm really doing this one more for myself, to prove that I still got it. So, I'm off, got a big test in an hour, gotta study!

Leukemia Society Donations for Big Climb: $263 / Goal: $500
Current gamerscore stands at: 24,017
Current world gamerscore rank: 5,273

Yeah, lotsa news. Starting off, I'm back at home for the time being. My car sprung a leak in the radiator and pretty much melted down. For the mechanics out there: my radiator's ruined, the head's cracked, my head gasket is blown, and my cylinder walls are trashed, not to mention my oil is full of coolant. Lotsa crap, quoted almost $2,000 for repair on this $700 car. So I'm bringing it home tomorrow and doing it myself for about $300, but it's gonna take atleast a week. So that sucks.

Bright side, I've got a warm bed for the time being. I haven't gotten back onto my 360 yet, but I have been playing with the new computer my Dad bought while I was gone. It's pretty impressive compared to the last, here's the breakdown:

              Old computer                      New computer:

CPU:    1.8GHZ                             5.73GHZ(with dual core)

Memory:  1GB                                 2GB

Video Card:  GeForce 5600 FX       GeForce 7300 SE

HDD:       80GB                                500GB

Monitor:   17" tube                             22" LCD

Disc writing:  CD-R                        Dual Layer DVD with 

          LightScribe (burns actual image onto certain DVD types)

OS:   Windows XP                    XP Media Center Edition

TV connectivity: None                    Analog and digital!

So, it's a pretty big deal for me to have a computer like this. So, I put my games onto it and played Half-Life 2 for a while, but was pretty disappointed, actually. I had it running about medium specs, and only managed to run on average about 25 fps, dropping to single digits with heavy on screen traffic. I was very surprised at that. Maybe I just need a better video card. My current one only has 256 MB video memory, that could be it, I dunno much about PC gaming, really. I did try the settings all the way up and all the way down and it really didn't make much difference, actually.

Beyond that, I saw Tenacious D in concert a couple weeks back, which was the greatest show ever, dunno if I mentioned that already. And I was very surprised to see Kyle Gass (Rage Kage) of the D in the movie Wild Hogs, which wasn't that great of a movie. I'm definitely a big D fan, so that was awesome.

There's a lot more news, but I'm forgetting most of it due to the hour, and leaving out the really boring stuff, but I will tell you that if you're planning to go to PAX 2007 this year, you should buy your tickets before the 31st. For those not in the know, PAX will be just about the biggest gaming show in America, and definitely the one most geared towards gamers in the whole world. It's an amazing show that I HIGHLY recommend going to, even if you're not from around Seattle. There are kickass cross country road trips scheduled on the Penny-Arcade website that I wish I could join. Basically, the show is a 3 day gaming orgasm in the end of August that nobody on earth should miss. This will be my 3rd year in a row attending, and it's the best weekend of the year, and beats the hell out of Christmas!!! Anyway, I bring this up now because if you buy your pass now (before the 31st), you get all 3 days for $40, and you get entered into the awesome Omegathon drawing (which is a big gaming tournament of all different game types to win a giant prize at the end of PAX). Please, if you even have a passing interest of going, go to the site now and get active in the forums, you'll be very glad you did. Laterz.

[edit]AHHHHH!!! How'd I forget this?! Yeah, I've started modding my 360. As you guys should know, I'm really into customization and modding absolutely everything I can, so I finally started on my 360, after owning it for almost a year. I bought a jigsaw today, and went to work on cutting my original case, which I plan to fill in with plexiglass. Here's a pic (keep in mind, it's a cell phone shot):

And, since we're on pictures, here's some shots I captured in Seattle over the weekend (all with cell phone. Click any of these images to see full size shot):

Here's one from West Seattle, viewing Seattle:

This is an awesome shot of the Space Needle (showing off my phone's image quality a bit ;) ):

A shot from the top of the Space Needle. The tallest building in this pic is the Columbia Tower, which I'll be climbing in 11 days from today!

This is possibly the best picture I've ever taken, and the fact that the cell phone pics are proportioned 3x4 is beautiful. This building will look familiar if you watch Grey's Anatomy. This is the building they show as the hospital from the show (although it's actually just an office building). Believe it or not, I snapped this one while driving past the building! Pure luck.

Leukemia Society Donations for Big Climb: $253 / Goal: $500 Current gamerscore stands at: 23,717
Current world gamerscore rank: 5,168

Last Thursday night, a buddy of mine and I were sitting in my living room playing a little Guitar Hero II very quietly when my buddy coughs, and my Dad wakes up and calls me upstairs. When I get up there, he tells me very frankly that "it's time for me to go." Boy, I was a little surprised! So, I used my fist to put a pretty hole in the wall (hence the cut I'm sporting right now), and took my buddy and my PS2 with axe and left for my buddy's place. After spending the night there, I went back to my apartment while my Dad was at work and packed a couple suitcases, as well as toilettries and all that, and made camp in my car.

On the bright side, I've been keeping fairly busy between school and working a lot more hours due to the new free time, on the downside, I've been sleeping in the back seat of my car, and it gets pretty frickin cold around here at night in February. Not to mention the pestering cops and security guards, as well as the a-hole teenagers who think it's funny to spray water in my car while I'm sleeping (ok, so that hasn't happened, YET, but I live in constant fear of it!). So, I'm at school right now, but I just wanted to let you guys know why I haven't been active, nor have played any Xbox 360 in days, in fact, I don't even have my 360 with me. That's it, I'll check back in occasionally, hopefully with some better news soon. Later.

There just couldn't be worse news to report on. This news effects my entire region. The alltime greatest arcade in the northwest, probably even the country, Illusionz, has gone out of business, after 7 extremely entertaining years of operation. They had a wicked lazer tag, the biggest DDR tournaments, and the world record for longest time spent consecutively playing DDR was set there. Not to mention, I maxed out my Joker on Gauntlet Dark Legacy there, spending a good $200 in the process. I've literally spent days there, and it was extremely sad for me to show up after school today to see the dreaded note on the door, with the "For Lease" signs in the window. Today's definitely not going to be a good day. Here's remember you, Illusionz.

I seriously think someone is out to get me. I know cheezyfrog is, but he's just a little man that is constantly obsessing over me, just because I have nothing but contempt for him. So, to the point, some of you may have seen the tutorial video I did and put up showing how to disassemble and reassemble your Xbox 360. Well, here's what the mods had to say about that: Well, now I say, "Johnny 5 is ALIVE!" That's right, I'm back. for some rediculous reason, they suspended me for "Illegal Activities." There's nothing illegal about taking apart your 360. I don't even think the mod ever even watched the video, I think he just got a report from some idiot and then just deleted it and suspended me for a week because he was too lazy. So I went to the ask the mods forum and asked to repost the vid. While I was there, though, I saw all the backwards ass reasons that people are getting suspended, and I got to thinking, this mod situation is getting absolutely insane. Someone really needs to do something. Leukemia Society Donations for Big Climb: $223 / Goal: $500 Current gamerscore stands at: 23,652
Current world gamerscore rank: 4,303

Yes, it's that time again, children. Another 1,000 on the gamerscore. This one taking twice as long as last one, with a full 12 days since 22,000. Still works, though. Games played this thousand were: Lost Planet (30 points) - I know, I know, I should go back and play more of this game. I actually brought it back from a very short time, and when I went back to check it out again, it was already checked out, so I got Just Cause. But I'll play it again. Just Cause (925 points) - Damn 49/50 achievements. See previous entries for details. Cabela's Alaskan Adventures (40 points) - Yeah, I'm a dirty little slut like that. Easy points for a crappy game, yep, that's me. Leukemia Society Donations for Big Climb: $223 / Goal: $500 Current gamerscore stands at: 23,007
Current world gamerscore rank: 4,336