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Talk about stupid. Why bother demoting Pluto? Not everything in life fits in nice, easy categories. Silly scientists.

Well, apparently, I’m still alive. Most things in my working life are largely under control and I’ve been able to finally start enjoying some of my spare time after working hours. After a short break, I’ll probably try and find another hobby or something. I’m not sure yet though, because my current hobbies are highly expensive and actually have been making quite a dent in my ability to spend. It really doesn’t help that I have far too many interests right now but hardly the time to do everything.

I have so many things on pre-order it scares me. I should be getting at least a box every week until the end of the year. I have no idea how I am supposed to afford a house in the future with my current habits. I need to find hobbies that don’t necessarily break the bank. That and I need to cut down on the recent steak dinners.

Anyways, there should be lots of good stuff coming out in the near future. We got some Star Wars DVD’s, another console, a bunch of cool games, and some good books. Hopefully, I won’t find myself bored during this second half of the year.

What in the world? After practically a decade TF2 might actually get released. I’ll try not to keep my hopes up considering I used to play QWTF, but maybe it can be something that finally replaces Counter-Strike for me…

So, in a general nutshell, I’m starting a new job today. In many ways, I believe it will probably cause me loads more stress than what I was doing previously. However, assuming I can survive this, then I believe I will have forced myself up a notch in terms of what I will be able to do. Of course, I could also fail miserably, but I guess the worse that could really come from this is that I learn where my current limits are. I can’t say I’d ever considered losing a job as a true negative, but then again, I’ve also yet to be fired from any place either. Regardless, as long as something is learned in the process, it is not a total loss.

However, it probably does not help that I’m feeling like I might be catching something. My general eating and sleeping habits have been poor at best lately. It could be the weather, or it could be something else, but I just cannot sleep for a good chunk of time at all without randomly waking up. I just hope my body can hang in there for a while. It would be annoying to get sick right now, but then again, when isn’t it annoying to get sick? I could just take this all as a bad omen, but I am trying to look on the bright side — at least I’m now forcing myself to do something different with regards to work.

It’s always bothered me whenever I felt like I was stagnating. It didn’t particularly matter what it was, just the mere principle that I was on some sort of plateau. While I realize that everything has its limits, part of the drive is to always try and reach a little higher. I’ve had more than my share of reaching for a bit more than I could chew, but ultimately, I believe that the struggle helps define the experience in a positive fashion. As a general rule, nothing worth getting is gotten for free.

Wade gets a ring! Woo Woo!

It’s May again. That means E3 is around the corner. I don’t really think there is anything in particular out there that I am waiting for other than the new Zelda. But then again, I’ve already been waiting for that since last year as well. Since this is still a transition year for the industry most of the stuff we will see probably still won’t be out for another year or two. While I like the idea for Nintendo’s console, I can’t say I am really fond of the name. I guess they found a way to distinguish themselves though.

The interface seems to be very much designed with the console in mind. Where are the resizeable windows? Why is everything limited to one screen with a bunch of tabs to go through the various windows?

Once you get past the interface though and dig into the heart of the game, it ends up starting to feel like the classic Elder Scrolls series. At least, until you run into the itemization and leveled system they’ve implemented. By that point you end up realizing how much they’ve potentially gimped Thieves and other “non-action” oriented classes. One of the best things about the Elder Scrolls series was that it was the first RPG series to do Thieves justice. Unfortunately, with the leveled loot system, thievery just completely sucks now. There’s absolutely no point to explorer all of the nooks and crannies to find something worthwhile. When you finally do level up to the higher levels, suddenly it seems like every common bandit is in full Glass. I mean, why do they continue to be bandits if they can afford Glass armor?

While the new leveled system does allow for a greater degree of challenge while you level, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can potentially gimp yourself if you are unfamiliar with the Elder Scrolls system and level up too fast.

Is it a better game than Morrowind? That depends. They did improve on a few things, but it seems as though they’ve possible taken some steps back in other areas. Is it still fun though? Yes. Will I play this longer than Morrowind? No.

There’s a lot of hand-holding in Oblivion. In essence, they’ve had to dumb it down in order to sell even more units. The game also feel strangely linear while questing simply because your compass and map automatically point out where to go. While it was a good business decision, I don’t know if it was actually a step up in terms of gameplay value.

Oblivion managed to improve on a couple of areas. However, it seems that they might have taken a few steps back as well. The overall simplification, or “streamlining”, if you prefer, of the game I don’t think makes it feel quite as in depth as Morrowind. The interface itself has a couple of oddities that don’t quite make sense for the PC environment either. While I am sure that, overall, it is still a decent game, I think that history will look at Oblivion as a step back in terms of “openness” for the series.

It already doesn’t look like the replay value will be quite up there with Morrowind, but it should still be a decent romp for a while.

So, despite my better judgement, I splurged and bought myself an iPod. In hindsight, I probably could’ve settled for a Nano and still been fine, but unfortunately, trying to tell me otherwise is hopeless once I’ve made up my mind on something.

Of course, there was the initial “oh shit I spent way too much money” … but after playing around with it and using it for a while, I no longer have any regrets. I really should try to listen to music more if only to help pass time.

Granted, time is something I am now in short supply. I am still contemplating whether I should use a melee, stealth, or caster. However, I still need to figure out how to get out of the starting dungeon without triggering any skill level ups. Either ways, Oblivion now awaits…

It’s been quite some time since I’ve been able to sit down and listen to a bit of music. I have to say, I think my favorite instruments to hear are the piano followed by the harp. Thanks to my dad though, I think I am able to appreciate anything classical. Otherwise, I have a tendancy towards soft rock and basically game music.

Vegas trip starts later today. It’s only two more hours before I “peace outside”. The overall goal is to not lose money gambling. I went ahead and bought myself a few gifts during lunch as well for when I return :P.