Well its getting to be that time of year again. Over the last week or so a bunch of the young people (called XL) at church have been going around the local neighbourhood singing carols. That has been really cool, lots have people have been braving the wet weather to come and listen to us carol in the street. Not that we are great by any stretch of the imagination, but it is really good to share Christmas and help build community.

Also this week the church is having its annual 'Real Experience' for Christmas. They've always been great fun. Last year the theme was The Grinch. Teams from the church spent weeks preparing the place until ultimately it was a walk through a little town, a snowy mountain, the Grinch's cave and into a lair... and some other stuff. Ahh good times. This year we have a Christmas Carnivale where, as you may guess, it will basically be a big carnival. Should be lots of fun. I'm going to be running a pass the football competition. Check out http://www.daptoanglican.org.au.

I believe my wonderful wife has also purchased a copy of Guitar Hero 3 for me and it is hidden somewhere at home as I type. I tried to convince her to let me have it early so I could check out the whole mono/stereo sound debacle, but that didn't fly. Not that I really care too much... I don't find mono to be a problem... my speakers aren't wide enough apart for any real effect.

Oh, and well done to the Australian cricket team for winning back the Chappell-Hadlee trophy.

B.

Well, it has been a few days and I've gotta say, that I am thoroughly enjoying both SSX Blur and Super Mario Galaxy.

SSX was exactly what I was looking for in terms of a snow sports game. I've changed the sound settings a bit so I can basically just carve down the slopes and hear the SFX of the board or skis over the snow & ice. There is plenty to do and see in SSX and it has been a whole lot of fun so far.

Super Mario Galaxy is without a doubt, one of the greats. The gameplay is just so much fun, the puzzles are great to look at and it is just a joy to play. I'm trying not to play it too much because I know I'll miss it when it's all over. At the moment I've collected 29 stars of the 120.

B.

While many people would probably not appreciate having a birthday close to Christmas, I'm quite happy about the whole situation. As a result, my family is more than happy to give me a single present as apposed to 2 smaller presents, which means, that the $100 price tag that games usually attract in Australia seems more reasonable when split over two presents.

So this birthday/Christmas season I'm adding 4 new titles to my collection...

• Super Mario Galaxy
• SSX Blur
• Prince of Persia: Rival Swords
• Guitar Hero 3

So far I've only been able to play Super Mario Galaxy and I am loving every minute. I've only collected 12 stars so far as I am trying not to play it for too long. I know when I finish it I'll be wishing I had taken more time to savor the experience, so I am attempting to do just that.

I really wanted to get SSX Blur because of the shear number of hours I spent playing 1080 Snowboarding on the Nintendo 64. It hasn't been rated as high by Gamespot, namely because of the difficulty of pulling off 'Uber' (let me just say that I hate that word :s) tricks, but I think that is one thing that attracts me to the game as well. IT will be good fun trying to nail those tricks time and again.

Prince of Persia, well, I haven't played that since it was a side scrolling game in the 80s and it looks pretty good for a half price game.

Guitar Hero 3... this looks fun, I haven't played any of the games from the franchise yet, but, I did once play something similar on a computer where you pick up the keyboard and hold it like a guitar and use the F1-F4 keys to fret the notes. I also play guitar for real.. should be an interesting step, can't wait to challenge Tom Morello.

The only problem now is finding time to play the games... such a shame that one has to work.

B.

I've come into work this morning and checked my email... yesterday I left at 4pm and didn't check my mail since. I received an email at 4:22pm to tell me that Super Mario Galaxy has been despatched! This means that it should be on my door step... tomorrow, maybe Monday?

But here comes the bad news...

It is a birthday present *long drawn out movie style* nnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooo! Which means that my wife will be wrapping it up and storing it somewhere for another few days until I officially grow another year older.

On the up side, I should be having a decent distraction for the coming week as I am going on a little holiday with my mates...

At least I shall have the satisfaction of knowing that I am the proud owner of Super Mario Galaxy.

This morning I was ranting on about games which I have been doing increasingly these days... I'm waiting for my birthday and Christmas to get some new Wii games... one of which is SSX Blur... I was telling my wife about how cool I thought the sound track is how it builds up as you get faster & perform better tricks... I turned around and looked at her to see her smiling face that said 'I have no interest in this what so ever but am listening and love you'.

Thankyou to my beautiful wife for putting up with my frequent rants :D

B.

Well, I've been playing Wii sports, in particular boxing. This week I ran up against Matt who is like no one else I've fought. You'll face Matt in Wii boxing when you get over 1500 xp, you'll get beaten up and lose xp, have to gain it again and fight him again. He beat the crap out of me in about 15 seconds... but today, I beat him, not just once, but twice! Onwards and upwards I go... 2000 xp is in sight :D

Well, yesterday was quite a good day. I got to spend a lot of time talking to people from all aspects of life. The morning was quite subdued, basically just playing Wii Sports. I'm trying to beat Matt in Boxing... I managed it once, but I believe you have to beat him two times in a row... the second time he knocked me out in under 10 seconds.. so much for a pro rating and skill rating of 1550.

At midday my wife and I headed to our friends', Sev & Beth, engagement party. It was truly an interesting gathering. For myself, I had church friends, work friends and school friends all coming together in an environment that I would usually associate with most of them. My wife also had old family friends and long lost school friends as well. Lots of catching up to be done... all in all, a great time. Afterwards, we stayed back and helped pack up the place and also carrying the gifts to cars etc. Having driven back to Sev's we carried the presents up a very steep backyard and inside... good work out for your calf muscles ;)

In the evening Christine and I headed to my old church Wollongong Baptist for my older brothers Baptism. It was so bizarre to be back in the church where I grew up, everything so similar, yet slightly different. When I left that church for Dapto Anglican about 7 or 8 years ago, I had never seen a drum in the church, or really any instrument besides the good old piano or organ. Last night we were treated to a violin, acoustic guitar electric guitar, bass guitar, sax and a drummer! Not quite rock music, but I liked it a lot more than a plain old piano.

Anyway, the point, my Brother got baptised! He got up and gave his testimony, and not being very close as kids, it was all new to me, and everyone else. He told the congregation that loving the dark quite corners was more his style, and in all the years he had been at the church, he had never been up in front of it. But he did a magnificent job, he spoke well and shared about how God has brought him back to himself through the years. It was great to hear. More power to ya Bro!

During that evening I prayed several times in thanks for my family, who at that point were sitting all around, some of them absent, but still remembered. I've come to realise why my dad has always emphasised loving each other so much... and I've come to agree. Our natural familles are so wonderful to have around, sometimes a trial, but always more than worth it. The same goes for my spiritual family. Our heavenly father puts so much emphasis on loving one another, and again, as my brother stood up and proclaimed his allegiance to Christ's family, it hit me on two levels, natural and spiritual. My natural brother is my spiritual brother, and for that I thank my Father in heaven.

B.

Well, since jumping on GameSpot.com.au and actually looking into what is out there for my Wii, I've discovered that painful experience of waiting, waiting for games to be released in Australia.

Coming up to my birthday and Christmas, I'm faced with the usual barrage of questions from my family.. 'what do you want for your birthday and Christmas?'. Usually I am a hard person to buy for, but since getting a Wii, I've found no end of goodies that I would like. So this year 'Wii Games' has been my response to everyone.

I've spent a fair bit of time on GameSpot checking out the reviews and videos etc, loving the site. I've become painfully aware of the wait that Australia gamers can have. Two of the games that I am waiting for are Battalion Wars 2 and Medal of Honour Heros 2. Both of these have been released in the US. Just the other day I was happy to see a release date of Feb 7 for Heros 2, but still waiting on Battalion Wars 2.

I'm wondering if these delays have something to do with the online nature of the games? At the moment there are only a few online games that are released into Australia, I'm just hoping that more games to make it to Australia with online features, and do so in a timely manner.

B.