I gave the DS a bit of a break yesterday (ok it ran out of power and had to re-charge). Instead I turned my efforts to my GBA player for my Gamecube, something that I've sorley neglected ever since I bought it. I've really only ever used it about half a dozen times, probably only finished a grand total of 3 games on it. So I based in Metroid Zero Mission, I'm a big fan of the mroid series, been playing it since Metroid 2 was released.

I finsihed it in a total of 4 hours, with 63% completion, it was 2 am by the time I'd finished up and I wasn't in the mood to back track. Now I'm looking forward to playing Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. I should be able to get that done in roughly 5 or six hours, if it's anything like the first.

Probably a 2 nighter, considering I'll be sure to look after Zack and Xavier sometime soon.

OK, the DS, I'm loving it! I wouldn't have uput it down if it wasn't for work. As good as feel the magic is the mini games do get tedious after a while. Some of them are realyl hard as well... *thinks back to unicycle - shudders*

Today I'm on a hunt to look for Super Mario DS. which will involve me driveing around to 100 places trying to find someone that's got it in stock and not asking a mint for it... :-/

Ok, so I was late to work today, me (and about 12 other nerds) lined up at EB Tea Tree Plaza to get our DS's at 8am this morning. I sped to work and plugged it in. I didn't get a chance to touch it until Lunch today, the DS I mean, by that time it had fully charged...

First up I pooped in the Metroid Prime Hunters Demo. Took me a few mins to work it out but I had to aim with the stylus on the touch screen. Odd yes, genius definatly. Makes the game that much more involed and you have to be co-ordinated to pull it off. The graphics for a hand held system are truly amazing, remember what it was like when you first saw Mario's face pop up in 3D on the 64? Well you get the same feeling.

After 10 mins, unfortunatly my demo was over, leaving me with a mixed feeling of satisfaction, hunger for more and slight annoyance. Although the touchsceen is amazing to play with, you do adjust quickly, the only thing I can pick at wit the console is the size of the ABXY buttons. Very tiny and clost together, anyone with hand any larger than mine is going to have trouble with them.

Although the size of the unit isn't small, it's surprisingly light-weight. And the games come in neat little Memory card format, think SD card but thicker and double the size. The main menu is easily naviagated and you can customize your console, with background colours and a few bits and peices.

Now I can't stop playing xx:xy Feel the Magic. Mini games rock, although I'm yet to pick up Wario Ware, and I hear Mario 64 DS has some pretty neat ones. I am a little dissapointed though. I didn't get to try out the Pictochat with someone yet. I'm guessing it just doesn't have much range, about 30 or so meters or so I've heard. But it stacks with more people, so maybe it will be decent.

The touch screen alone makes it worth the money. It adds a whole new dimension to gaming, and although some people might brand this as another Nintendo "Kiddy Console" what you have to remember is that with Nintendo stuff it's quality not quantity. Having a fat plumer eat mushrooms and save princesses might look boring to the uneducated but if you've ever actually done it, it's actually fun. Something thats hard to find with Playstation's 5,000 games selection.

Nintendo consistently produce quaility systems and games, they don't just flood the market with 1,000's of games and hope that 5 of them are good, which people the buy their console and are forced to waste money on games that are crap just to warrent to themselves they didn't waste their money.

I did have high expectations for te DS, it's exceed them.

If you don't buy one you are either a nazi or a commie. Either way your ghey. So don't over look the console, just because it's got a 'Nintendo' sticker on it. Get into your local store have a demo and see for yourself.

*** The games selection is getting much better, trust me. By the end of the year there should be more than 50 games out***

The one good thing about today is that not lonly did my Xenosaga 2 ship, albeit via cheap ass normal povy airmail, more surprisingly my Sakura Taisen 3 {Limited Edition} shipped. Color me impressed. That's a few days early!

Even better news is that it looks like my area is finally getting the upgrade so I can get ADSL! I've placed my order in with a company called TPG, personally I've never heard of them but I've been told they are fairly well established. For a sweet $50AU a month I get a 1.5 line throttled after 20 gig. Not bad at all. SO-MUCH-STUFF-TO-DOWNLOAD... *drools* Unfrotunatly I just sold my old ADSL modem, it was just sitting in the cupboard gathering dust cause it couldn't be used. So now I have to head out and get another one, something similar. I'll probably do that on the weekend or Friday night though... and head to the markets after I imagine.

Not only that but I'm finding myself more and more addicted to my Piano Collections Mp3's. Somehow, and I honestly can't remember how, I've come accross Final Fantasy 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 10-2 Piano Collections MP3's. So Far my favourite songs are:

• Final Fantasy X - Bisaido Island


• Final Fantasy VII - Tifa's Theme


• Final Fanasty X-2 - Yuna's Ballad


• Final Fantasy VIII - Fishermans Horizon

I actually got adventourous today and updated the mutsumi fanlisting it was in dire need of a little something so I spent an hours or so this afternoon doing a few new codes and things for it. All very exciting let me tell you. My original plan was to get started on the new layout. but hey, I've at least changed the default skin to the FF one (the least crappy out of all of them). *remembers old bebop layout and shudders...*

Headed into the city last night with the S-man for a few drinks and really, other than that it's been a pretty piss porr weekend. Ive got a lot to look forward to this week though, the DS, my US order (minus Xenosaga 2 of course) and with any luck my Sakura Taisen 3 PS2 will ship. I should really start watching my money a little better... :-/

Pulp Fiction Comics A new magnificent place that I was more than happy to finish off a few manga series that I've had some trouble getting. Banner of the Stars, Kill Me Kiss Me and an A.I Love you were all on the table. And now at least I've gotten something to read for a few weeks.

I headed to he markets as well last night picked up a Star Fruit (something I havn't had in ages!) and this wierd thing called a Dragon Fruit. I cut it up when I got home but I guess I was expecting too much. It was kind of bland, in a nice way though. I got a red Dragon Fruit but I also saw them in white as well, which I'll be sure to pick up next week. I also tracked down som Furikake (rice seasoning) and Umeboshi (pickled plums) althohg both are fairly pricey for what you get there also on the list for next week. There were about 7 different types of umeboshi, not sure which one I'll settle on just yet though.

Well it was bound to happen wasn't it. I've learnt a lesson today, which is don't pre-order anything from CDuniverse. They are bound top mess it up. I placed my order for Xenosaga 2 and a few other things, that's fine, what do they do? Xenosaga 2 comes out today, assume that it's getting delivered sometime around midday, they ship the rest of my order this morning and tell me that Xenosaga 2 will ship tomorrow. Obviously they have no clue about pre-orders and selecting their 'ship together' option is almost useless because with a pre-order your guaranteed that they aren't going to ship them together. Now if the order was in Australia I wouldn't be too fussed, but coming from the US theres two problems with this:

1. I paid for Express shipping, 3 items = express Xenosaga 2 = cheapass shipping :-/
2. More parcels means more chance for something to get stolen, lost or damaged.

So once again I'm not too pleased with them, it's only their pre-orders that mess me up. It'll be interesting to see if I actually get the bonus DVD with it, as I should cause it's been pre-ordered. I seriously doubt it though.

That's my rant for this morning. :-/ Sorry to dump.

I finally got around to watching the classic anime film Laupta: Castle in the Sky from Stuido Ghibli. Color me impressed, it's actually a fantastic movie, despite it's age. I can really recommend it to those that enjoyed Spirited Away or My Neighbour Totoro (both excellent films).

So pick it up, enjoy it. You'll love it.

I headed down to Semaphore last night and got myself a nice ice-cream. The one Valentines sms that I sent out I got no reply. :-< It's a little disheartning. I'll have to make sure to send a bunch next year, I'll be bound to get something back. It'll lessen the shame and dissapointment of being ignored.

I'm unusually tired today. I know I don't always feel super great but this is a joke. I'm really almost about to fall asleep. I could possibly getting sick. Perhaps my body's telling my to get a grip and go home. That could be wishful thinking though... I haven't been nice enough for something like that to happen.

With little luck my Xenosaga 2 shipment will get sent tonight. That's a ssuming that gamesuniverse have gotten the pre-order right, they've buggered it before.

All this negitivity makes me thirsty, is it coffee time? I think so, perhaps I'll have one of the Bueno bars I've got stashed in my bag as well. Oh, I misbehave sometimes don't I?

Yet again it's that time of year where everyone scrambles for the approval from the opposite sex. Those of us lucky enough to have a long (or short) term partner are probably headed out for dinner to some fancy restaurant to be wined and dined. It's not all that bad though, chances are you'll get a decent present, maybe even a little bit of action.

For me though, it's just a quite one this evening. I actually got adventurous last night and headed down to the beach for an ice cream. Although drastically tired, it's surprising how much ice-cream I can eat if I'm not paying attention. I'm defiantly headed back to do the ominous "Big Lick" Although I'm sure it's a lot easier than some people make it out to be.

I'm joining a few more fanlistings when I get home. And contemplating if I should import the Naruto 3 GCN game. Yes, I'm supposed to be working, but that just hasn't been happening all day. I'm distracted by all those flying cupids and love hearts in the air... :-/

Not really a lot to report today. It's been a relitivley short week at work. Next week I'm looking forward to my Xenosaga 2 shipping and me finally getting back into some games. I've been terrible slack these past couple of months. The up-side is I'm really running out of anime to watch. There's not really a lot that interests me over here. I'm sure I'm going to pick up Star Ocean EX and Sister Princess, one of these days.

Yesterday I went for a drink after work. Sausage was nice enough to download the first 3 eps of Negima! TV for me. Unfortunatly I havn't gotten around to picking them up off him yet. HeE starts Uni in two weeks. So it's either going to be I never get to go out drinking with him or I'm going to see him all the time. I know what I'd reather, he's a dude.

Damn sore back, pulled a bloddy muscle on Tuesday and now it's flaring up. :-/

It's the eve of the Lunar New Year of the chinese zodiac. Which reminds me of the story of the zodiac animals.

A long, long time ago, the Cat and the Rat were the best of friends. They accompanied each other everywhere they went and they shared their food. One day, the Cat learnt that the Jade Emperor was going to elect twelve animals to represent the twelve calendar years, and invited all animals to a party. The Cat suggested to the Rat that both of them should make a presence.

When the day finally arrived, the Cat told the Rat, 'I am going to take a nap so that I will be in my top form. Can you please wake me up when it's time to go to the party?' 'No problem.' the Rat replied, 'Just relax and rest. I will wake you up when the time comes.'

After the Cat fell asleep, the Rat thought to himself, 'I am among the smallest of all animals and I don't stand a chance in making one of the twelve if the Cat will go.' So when the time came, the Rat left on his own without waking up the Cat, and was elected as one of the twelve Zodiac Animals.

Yes, yes, my recent absence can all be attributed to that GCN wonder, Harvest Moon. It's just so damn addictive! I've passed the first chapter, somehow I managed to get married (which wasn't much of a ceremony) have a child and get a house extension and 3 years had passed with me doing nothing! I'm finding it hard being a dad, for five mins tonight I kept on showing my son my sickle, why he was telling me he didn't like it... little nancy boy, talks back to much... where's the button to hit him?

BACK-UP BACK-UP BACK-UP BACK-UP BACK-UP BACK-UP...

DONE!

Tonight I also got around to backing up my all important Mp3 and Rom collections, as well as almost everything else I have. Damn cheap stolen DVD-RW's from work, all but 1 shat itself and I was forced to use once only ones :-( Next time I'm stealing big time baby! Only the best for my DVD burner. Gay work... yeah stupid gay work.

I got beaten at Budokai 3 last ngiht 5-3... I'm not happy. The problem is there's so many exploights that you can do with that game. The introduction of that teleporting systen just drags matches out and plays unfair advantages to those who can gain more kai, usually my self but I don't like to play like that. The dude I was playing uses the whole block-dodge-teleport-counterteleport tech. Now peronsally I think that's boring. I could sand back and just wait there and he wouldn't come over to me. I was always on the attack. Very lame fighting skills. If your going to play a fighting game at least get in there and give it your all. Goku would be so diaapointed if he knew how those matches went!

Before that though I spent a good 5 hours at the hair salon making my self pretty! LOL well what can I say, even that wasn't enough. I had to get done in-between appointments. And lets face it it needed to be done really bad. That's pretty much the only thing I hate about my self, My hair is just so damn wavey! Arrg, impossible to ever get looking nice, unless you've spent 5 hours in a salon. We'd all like to do that, no-one has the time, money or patience to do that though.

Friday night. No plans, as far as I can tell it's going to be a pretty un-eventful weekend. I'm not too worried about it though. I really need to do get a back-up done of my home computer. I've got so many new Mp3's etc since the last time it was done. that's a whole day thing though I'm guessing it's going to at least wait until Sunday.

For tonight though, because of the crappy weather. I'm thinking it might just be another trip to the elephant walk. It's a little cold and Jacob's bugging me to let him do whatever I end up doing. I don't particularly mind sometimes but he can get very long in the tooth, very quickly.

Oh well!

Now this makes me jeaous. How come I don't get all the cool stuff? That desktop accessories pack would be awesome! I'd love to have it as well as the Love Hina ones. Well to be honest all I'm after really is the Mascots. I've got the Love Hina collection, I'm pretty sure it's all of them, but the Negima! ones are just so cute! Oh woe is me. Hopefully I might be able to pick it up in Japan if/when I go in August... Maybe...

And also found this interesting tidbit of a site. It's in Japanese, so unless you just like looking at pictures...well you get the point. I fumbled my way through it without too much hassle.

I seem to have recovered somewhat from my lack of energy. I quick trip to McDonalds this afternoon for lunch with a Double Quaterpunder meal so had it under control. It's strange that I had such a craving for it. I rarley eat McDonalds now that I've finished school. Even with the influence from some thrid parties that can't seem to live with out the stuff.

Well I've also started to work out what I'm going to be doing about my money situation. I'm have to think about it lots if I ever have the hope of getting to Japan. There's not much stuff that I have to pay for. One more games shipment and the Sakura Taisen 3, which I could probably pick up there anyway, the Nintendo DS and that's about it. After I speak with a travel agent I'll have a better idea of where I'm headed.

***Would you look at that. I've just been disconnected. It's been a very long time since that happened....***

I'm also looking forward to getting a few books that i've been meaning to read/re-read out of the way, over the next few weeks.

I'm so tired tonight. I havn't gone anywhere that requires that much energy. I did happen to get my graphic novels today, which was a plesant surprise considering. Not only did I get the latest volume of Negima! (something I seem to be really into at the moment) but I also got vol 2 of Kill Me, Kiss Me & 1 & 3 of Crest/Banner of the stars (which I'm enjoying on DVD at the moment).

Despite all this I still managed to drag my butt to the Elephant and have a beer with the Sasugamiester after work. It was good to catch up, been a long time. He's starting Uni soon so I don't know if we'll be able to keep it up.

I've been meaning to look at doing another few layouts for the blog. It's just so hard to get the motivation. I've slacked of a lot and it doens't look like it's going to get much better in the next few weeks. I'm also going to change the default skin the the FF7 one. It's by far the best that I have at the moment, which is strange cause it took the least amount of time to do... Wierd...