So all this year, upstate New York has been short on snowfall. A lot of storms have dodged us to the south, including the ones that hit places like Virginia and D.C. a few weeks ago. However, starting last night, my area got about a foot of snow, and much more is on the way tonight. Bad thing is, I still have to go to work, seeing as people want their DD coffee no matter what the weather. >_> I can't wait to get a real job...

OK, I'll start this blog off with what's going on with my gaming life. As promised, I got a new Xbox 360 the other day - a brand-new Elite model. I'm hoping this one will last me a good few years, even though I never had problems with my old Pro model, either. (knock on wood) I also got Dead Rising along with that console, and even though I haven't played much of it yet, I'm expecting a good deal out of this game. I've heard from several people that it's a lot of fun, which makes sense given the mall-full-of-zombies-that-you-must-kill-with-whatever-you-can-find premise. :P I'm also anticipating Alan Wake when it comes out later this year. Finally, I'm also looking into getting Saint's Row 1 or 2 sometime soon, since one of my co-workers likes that game. Now, onto what allowed me to get a new 360 in the first place - my job. I've been working a lot at Dunkin' lately, given the fact that everyone I work with agrees that I do an excellent job at work. I even got an offer to be the second shift manager, but I told them that it'll at least have to wait until I get out of school. Even then, there's no guarantee, as I'll probably be looking for an actual career-oriented job at the same time. Oh well, at least I have some time to think about it. That's about all I wanted to share for now... Believe me, there's more going on, but I'm keeping the details private for now.

I was at Best Buy today and decided to get a couple of albums. First one I got was Full Circle (Creed's newest album... I'm a Creed fan, if you haven't guessed. :P) The second one took me some time to look for, as I wasn't sure what to get. However, I remembered that my online friend Shawn (aka "certifieddata") once told me about a Judas Priest song called "Leather Rebel", which he said was full of win, so I decided to look for the album it came on. And I ended up buying that album ("Painkiller"). I haven't listened to Full Circle yet, but Painkiller is indeed full of win. It's heavy metal stuff, so if you're into that, check it out. Other than that, not much else to say.

A few things for my blog today. 1: My most recent game purchase I bought Tatsunoko vs. Capcom last Tuesday, because I've been anticipating having fun with this game since it was shown at the last E3. And believe me - it is a blast. As every advocate of this game tells you, don't let the unfamiliar Tatsunoko roster faze you - this is one of those rare fighting games that is deep enough for fighting veterans, yet accessible enough for newcomers. And it's excellent-looking to boot. I haven't tried the online features yet, mostly because I want to get used to the game a little more first. (As a side note, I was thinking of getting Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on PSN first, but my money situation caused me to wait. I may change my mind to see what it's like, but for now, TvC is good enough.) 2: New Emblem I managed to snag the Best of 2009 emblem for voting in the Reader's Choice awards. For a while, I was afraid I wouldn't get the emblem due to my votes not saving, but as Jody reassured us all, everyone who voted should have received one, myself included. Since I haven't received an emblem since the ATG competition, it's a welcome addition to my collection. 3: Life My job is going well so far. I was lucky enough to get yesterday off, so I spent more time playing games than working. :P Everyone at work has been positive about me, and I feel like I deserve the praise, because I work my butt off there. School-wise, my schedule is almost finalized. I had some problems with scheduling conflicts and mangling with Student Services in getting required courses on my schedule, but all's well now. All I have to do is put in a request to drop an extra course and put in my graduation application before the deadline next month. It's hard to believe I'm almost done after close to three years, but I'm at the homestretch. Only problem with all this is that all the work is making me feel dog-tired when I get home for the night. I'll have to find a way to "train" myself to keep up with everything. And lastly, I'll be away Friday and Saturday, since I'm going to Boston for a family event. Just thought you'd all like to know. *phew* I think that's about it. Quite a lot to write out, but I do enjoy writing long blogs when I have stuff to write about. :P See you later!

Regarding what I said about getting a job at RadioShack in my previous blog, well... the stores I called were all full-staffed. One even had to lay off a couple of workers. So, naturally, I do not work for them and won't anytime soon. However, after finding out that piece of bad news, I promptly schlepped over to the Dunkin' Donuts where I used to work and asked for my job back. Well, I got it back. ^_^ I started this morning and it's been great so far. The manager of that store is currently on vacation and doesn't know I'm back yet, so I'm gonna wait to see what his reaction will be. :P

A few things going on in my life now: 1. I go back to school tomorrow. >_> 2. I may be getting a job at RadioShack, here's hoping they hire me :o 3. I've been playing more Bowser's Inside Story lately... I've reached Peach's Castle now. 4. I've become hooked on "anime hell" videos on YouTube... I wish I could post one, but they're mostly too vulgar to post here, unfortunately. That's all. See, that was quick, wasn't it? EDIT: Not quite... 5. Part 10-A of the Majora's Mask ER is now up here.

View it here.

Yikes, I haven't written a blog in quite a while. Nor have I commented on anyone's blog for a while... although I'll try to catch up in the next few days with everyone. So, it's my turn to catch up on what's been happening with my life: 1. Christmas Didn't get much this year, but I did get a new office chair for my room. It replaces the metal folding chair I had before, which was really uncomfortable. At least I can relax in this chair. :P Other things I got included new earphones, a Monopoly card game that I don't know how to play, and a pair of jeans that didn't fit me (I'm exchanging them today). However, my sister did get the PS2 game "We Love Katamari". It's a really bizarre game, but she likes it, so I can't complain. :P 2. New Year's For starters, I was asleep at midnight, so I couldn't see the ball drop in NYC's Times Square this year. I've been dog tired this whole vacation, and I've also been trying to adjust my sleep schedule to a "normal" pattern, so that explains why I was asleep. Anyway, I'm both happy and sad to say goodbye to 2009. I'm sad because the latter half of 2009 was a good time for me, but happy because the former half wasn't, and I'm looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store. Even so, it's still just another year. 3. Gaming As of now, my PS2 and DS are the consoles getting the most use. I've been trying my hand at the games in Megaman X Collection, since the only game I beat out of that series was the first. But damn, the other games are tough as nails... I did make some progress in X2 and X4, but the others are just downright hard. For example, the farthest I've ever gotten in X4 was the final boss, but beating it is no simple task... definitely harder than the final fight in X1, that's for sure. So, for now, I put those games on hold. Currently, I'm playing through my second journey in Persona 4, which was left unplayed for a while. I'm currently up to July 10 in that playthrough. As for the DS, I'm still playing Bowser's Inside Story, yet slowly making progress since I haven't played it much lately. Currently, I am here: [spoiler] I just got the last Star Cure and am heading to Peach's Castle [/spoiler] Finally, on the PC gaming front, I took advantage of Steam's holiday sale and bought Mirror's Edge and GTA4. I'll get to them when I have the time. That's about it from me. School starts the week of the 17th, so that's when I'll start to cut back again. EDIT: Oh yes, I forgot two things: 1. I achieved level 50 on GS. 2. The game I want the most this month is Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars. From what I've seen, it looks like a ton of fun.

The other day, I was faced with a dilemma. As many of you know, I am currently unemployed and running out of cash. I still have a list of games I'm awaiting, so I needed some money. Well, this is where it gets tough. I decided to sell my Xbox 360 and the games I had for it. I haven't played it in quite some time and I already canceled my Gold subscription due to the PS3 getting Netflix streaming, so selling it seemed like the right thing to do. (I already pledged to get an Elite "Jasper" model when I get money again.) The troubling thing is, I had no choice but to take it to GameStop, who only gave me $100 for everything. Can you say "ripoff"? I know, I might have made more cash selling it online, but I had a very bad experience trying to sell a 40GB PS3 on eBay, so that wasn't an option. Anyway, it was a done deal last week. That also explains why I took my gamertag off my profile, since I'll only be using it for Games for Windows purposes now. If you want to de-friend me on XBL because of this, that's fine. Just know that if you hold out for a while, I will have a 360 again... eventually. In other gaming news, I recently bought Spirit Tracks from Amazon for the great price of $25 during their DS best-sellers sale a few days ago. It should arrive by sometime after Christmas, so that'll be my present to myself. I still have to buy presents for Mom and my sister, though, so my shopping isn't over yet. Finally, I know some of you have been wondering where I've been, since I haven't been posting as much lately. I just finished my fall semester of school, so I'll have more time now. I have been doing other things in my spare time, such as playing games and watching Netflix DVD's, so that explains my lack of activity. I'm gonna try and bring it back up, but that also depends on you people who post in OT RC as well as the OCC... I hardly find time to post when those places are active anymore.

Now, first off, let me say it's unusual to blog twice in one day, but I've had this on my mind for a bit. As you know from my previous blog, I got The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya from Netflix, and I've been watching Vol. 2. However, up until about an hour ago, I only watched the Japanese voice-over with English sub-titles. Now, as a comparison, I watched the English dub. I'm not going to go into the specifics of translation, but rather the voice actors. It seems there aren't a whole lot of talented voice-over actors in the US, because I heard a lot of familiar voices in the dub, as I explain below: The voice of Kyon, Crispin Freeman, also voiced Togusa from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The voice of Haruhi Suzumiya, Wendee Lee, also voiced several female NPC's in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2). The voice of Yuki Nagato, Michelle Ruff, also played Togusa's wife in SAC, as well as several video game roles (Yukari Takeba in Persona 3, Shirley Crowley in Guitar Hero World Tour, etc.) The voice of Koizumi, Johnny Yong Bosch, voiced Adachi in Persona 4. I'm sure there's several other "small-world" occurrences in Haruhi Suzumiya and other animes/video games, but these are the ones I recognized right off the bat. It's interesting stuff, but it also makes me realize just how tough a profession it is. Now, I've been interested in voice acting for several years (since junior high), but I never took the initiative to put stuff out because I never knew how I'd act in a real role. Sure, I can do impressions (you should hear some of my impressions from The Simpsons... hell, I may even put that stuff up someday), but I don't know how I'd do at inflection. So, I'm stuck with what I've got. Hey, if anyone knows where I can show interest in that kind of thing (I'm sure there's places like that), shoot me a PM or something, because I may just try to show what I'm made of.