The forecast calls for 98% chance of brainstorm!

Since I'm all active on this blog again and whatnot I'm brainstorming possible different weekly posts. Naturally being a gamer I think I'm going to do some kind of "what I'm playing this week" sort of deal. I play tons of games, and many are not widely known. NO, that was not a hipster comment because the majority of them are in this generation. Think of it more along the lines of giving credit where credit is due.

I also have a couple articles I was working on for 8bit so I'm just going to swing those here instead. It'll be easier I think to do, since I don't have to worry about damaging a site's reputation with my opinions lol. To be completely honest it's good not to have to worry about that sometimes.

So thats where I'm standing right now.

Of ourse I'll also do non-gaming related entries as well... comics, movies, cards, music, general geekery. You all know the drill by now.

In the meantime I think I'll cover a few recent game's I've bought and which ones stand out. Yeah, I think that's a great idea!

C is for 100! C is for Corsair!

Well, this is my 100th post! Yay!

My Corsair is 80! Yay

My old friends are returning to FFXI! Yay!

They're updating XI soon and getting rid of that awful +5 min and persistant buff on COR rolls! Yay!

Seriously I don't know what they were thinking when they did that, it's like they've never even played the job. But enough about them... let's talk more about meeeee!

As I mentioned before I finally hit level 80 last weekend just a few days after my wife did. Abyssea of course. The place is literally like dying and going to EXP heaven. When I finally did ding of course I figured it was time for 3 things.

First is new gun. In the works are the Trial of Magians gun which gives STR and ranged attack, perfect for my COR and my (so far) 6/8 merits in marksmanship.

Second is new armor. Now I'm not all that interested in that new stuff... you know... it's pink... so I'm going to finish my add-ons finally for some great COR tailored gear.

Third is, as unlikely as it sounds, I'm making an iPhone theme based on FFXI. I found this website that does the coding for you as long as you create your own images. So I spent the better part of yesterday in fireworks making some icons. I'll post a link here when I finish it but as of right now I'm not entirely satisfied with it.

Tonight is another Abyssea party in which I hope to get another 10 merits and hopefully some headway on 81 when the cap raises again after the update! Feel sorry for mobs that'll be taking my barrages tonight!

Phones, Phones, Phones.

Its been sort of a transitionary phase for me in the phones department. my Gravity was messing up severely, (not that it was ever any good) so my bro is trying to get it fixed. in the meantime he lent me his old Samsung Blackjack.

That was actually a little exciting cause its a phone i wanted when it came out.

I have no idea why.

that phone literally does nothing.

Now my friend has a Blackjack II. That phone does something. it actually does somethingS as in plural. its a neat phone. the first is not.

So then last night my mom lends me her old phone, a Samsung Behold. Now that phone is actually pretty cool and it has a great camera (5mega) its touchscreen and it lets me do things like SEARCH MY CONTACTS.

seriously aside from having better reception that Blackjack was worthless.

So i have this Behold nad its a pretty cool guy except for one thing. Its pink and has one of those Amy Brown fairy art skins.

So how bad did i want to ditch the Blackjack?

My sim card is now inside a pink Samsung Behold with an Amy Brown fairy art skin, thats how bad.

So now im dailing from a fruity phone and hoping and praying i get an iPhone soon

Pleeeeeaaasse!

Here Wii Go!

Well, My birthday was pretty awesome.

you know, if any of you cared :p

first we went for sushi at my favorite sushi restaurant, Sakura Sushi (on Lee Trevino past Pebble Hills GO THERE!) with my dear wife and friends and then back to my place for cards, video games and desert!

My lovely wife got me New Super Mario Bros Wii which if you dont yet know is the 4 player old-school-style Mario game for Wii.

since its 4 players theres basically 2 modes, cooperative, where youre *supposed* to help each other and complete levels, and coin battle where you try to see which one of you can get the most coins from the group.

now i say "supposed to" because frankly its pretty damn hard not to knock your friends off ledges and into lava, off a platform floating above a cliff, or straight into the path of a hammer bro. and dont even get me started on the green and red shells!

now, although its hard as hell to not kill each other in coop mode, dont let that dissuade you. good times were had by all, no matter how many times you heard someone shout "damn you! that was my fire flower!". in fact i think people were so wrapped up in playing NSMBW that people forgot i even had Super Smash Bros Brawl.

after all that i watched funny people (actually a very good movie) and then played some WoW TCG against Mike and then went to sleep.

and that was the day BEFORE my birthday. lol

actually we celebrated sat so we didnt do much on my actual birthday, just applebees and playing Fallout 3. Rock!

My Xbox 360 is Inspector Gadget...

Remember that show? lol., well it does have everything to do with the point im trying to make so i'll run it down for you.

Inspector Gadget was a secret agent who's body was augmented with all sorts of gadgets to help him in his espionage. in actuality he was kind of a loser and his gadgets although cool, never helped him much. it always came down to his niece Penny and her dog to help him save the day and accomplish his missions

ok, what the hell does this have to do with my Xbox? well they just added 4 new distinct features to the Xbox 360 console a couple days ago, Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, and the Zune Marketplace.

The Facebook and Twitter tabs are an Xbox 360 way to bring social networking to games. mostly its just a slightly watered version of the 2 current most popular social networking sites (cutting out the facebook aps, and facebook chat functions only). Its good for you if the computer is currently occupied (or dead if youre like me :/ ) but otherwise the web version will still be your best bet. Twitter is twitter so if youre all about the tweeting than its pretty much the same actually lol.

Last.fm is quite cool, ice never heard of it before but it builds radio stations around particular artists that stream songs by them and by bands of singers that are similar. if all you want are the popular singers, listen to your top 40 station back home, but this is a great tool for finding new or less popular bands. and thankfully if there is too much you dont like, there is a skip button or simply move to a new station. the absolute best part is after youve browsed other stations and told Last.fm what you like, it can build you a radio station with your favorite songs/genres. the only problem with this is it doesnt run behind anything else. you cant listen to this with custom soundtracks or anything. so if youre like me and when you actually DO get a chance to use your Xbox, you probably wont waste time by listening to Last.fm, no matter how cool it is.

and last but not least is the Zune marketplace. this isnt an add-on so much as its an update. they are now using the Zune marketplace for all Xbox Live marketplace media downloads. i'm not sure if game DLC is also through the Zune marketplace, but i think its just music, videos, and movies. the good news is theyve added a couple features like viewing parties where people on your Xbox Live friends list can come in and watch streaming videos with you in a mystery science theater 3000 kinda way. the good news is since all this is from the Zune marketplace theres more content now in the movie and tv categories, yay!

Now what does this have to do with Inspector Gadget? I feel about most of these exactly what i feel about Inspector gadget. Alot of cool features, but he still can't get the job done alone. Xbox has had a recent decline of 360 exclusives in the last year, and although alot of former Playstation exclusive developers are taking games to both consoles Microsoft needs to encourage developers to go Xbox onry! Thats what will sell consoles, not fancy features, not project natal, not Facebook and Twitter for Xbox Live. and while these things are great and add a wide range of things you can do with the console, none of them truly expand on what people buy the console in the first place: the games.

Like Christmas... in November....

Today is a good day.

No seriously, as far as days go there will probably be only 3 others this year that will that have been/will be better.

one is Christmas, what? i love presents.

another will be my birthday... once again... presents, awesome.

and of course, the most shining day this year will be my wedding day, (not that its why it will be awesome, but coincidently will be another present giving occasion...)

but today ranks firmly on the 4th most awesome day of the year award. why?

presents, of course!

Today marks the release of not one, not two, but THREE awesome things.

1. Left 4 Dead 2
2. Assassin's Creed II
3. Star Trek on DVD&Blu-Ray

What makes today so awesome is that i will have (sorta) all three today!

My lovely soon-to-be bride bought Left 4 Dead 2 and we decided to go at midnight to go pick it up. while there we saw all the lovely Assassin's Creed II boxes, and because she is quite literally the most awesome female in the world, she basically bought me Assassin's Creed II there to pick up at midnight. (see now why my wedding day is going to be so awesome, i get to MARRY her!)

so at midnight we picked 2 of the biggest game releases of the year!

and of course Star Trek will be waiting at home thanks to my wonderful mother!

and on a sort-of-completely unrelated note, c'mon people, stop decorating for Christmas, its not even thanksgiving. Pilgrims everywhere are calling bullshit on Jesus and Santa for encroaching on their only 15 minutes of fame

Once your diggin'

Well the Pokédex is coming along rather nicely if you havent seen this recently. just for shits and giggles i checked Bulbapedia on some random things yesterday and came across the trainer stars article.

seems if you accomplish certain feats you get stars for your trainer case that also changes the backround color of your trainer card.

now this isnt a huge deal but if you complete the Pokédex with all the non event exclusive Pokémon you get a star.

since that is totally possible for me, and im heading in that direction anyway i decided to see what else i could do in the meantime to add some more stars to my trainer case.

one is in the Underground:

now, ive been here before. to get Spiritomb i had to talk to "myself" 30-something times.

i say myself because i was supposed to talk to another person, but instead i just talked to myself between my diamond and platinum games.

well its a return to the same formula this time around as i think ill be capturing my own flag over and over from one game to the other, hell i might just build my bases in each game right next to each other haha, hows that for a loop hole huh?

and while im down there i'll pick up a couple water stones, lord knows i need em to evolve my staryu and shellder :(

It's Over 9000!!!!11

and by It's i mean my Xbox live gamerscore

a.k.a. my dickhat.

actually it has been for a little while but i guess it never really occured to me

lets see.... what else is new........

i made this for my Deviant art ID:

i think its nifty i dont know aout you. its officially the first FFXI related artwork ive completed in fireworks since i got it... say... i dunno a year ago?

yeah i know i poke it. anyways

Halloween is tomorrow and if anyone i know decides to be not lame and dress up ill post pics

damn, what a boring blog entry....

Avast ye Heatran!

Made this in Fireworks this morning, like? If Heatran were a pirate he would defiantly fly this flag!

Har har har!

anyways... My pokédex is coming along awesomely

i've figured theres only 2 i can never catch/obtain without cheating, both were available through one-time nintendo special events :(

(Deoxys and Celebi in case youre wondering)

as for tonight, if i have the time i have 2 pursuits: Catching Heatran in Platinum and catching Feebas

and what a pain in the ass that last ones gonna be :(

GIT ME SOME LEARNIN'!

I know, i know its been like FOREVER since i posted anything FFXI related.

what can i say, i was going through a non-FFXI phase or something

in any case i'm back now and ill prolly play a couple times a week (more than the once a week, if even, i was playing before lol)

and because im Corsair is very well merrited at this point i thought i would take some time off from that and level another job i like: Scholar

yessum, its no wonder what the people at the Square-Enix design team were thinking when they designed the AF for this job...

in any case i got it from 27 to 29 yesterday night in a LS low level manaburn that was simply awesome, we were taking IT mandies in Yhoater Jungle with 4 Black Mages, me (SCH/BLM), and a Bard.

and when 2 of us had to leave we moved back to Yuhntunga and took gobbies with just us 4

of course im a little over 1k tnl and i think im going to solo some worms in Qufim tonight so i can round myself off to 30 and get Addendum: Black! (hurray for having a sleep spell finally!)

which brings me to a point... i'll need spells.

the only other traditional mage jobs i have are WHM at 59, BLM at 17, and RDM at 25.

I'm covered for awhile on white magic... but as you can imagine im a bit lacking in the black magic department.

Gotta Catch 'Em All!

... and GOD DAMN is it hard!

ugh, seriously did you all know theres 493 Pokémon in total across 4 generations of games?

its a little unfair when you think about it.

so right now, in my Platinum game im at 309(seen) and in my Diamond game im at 378(seen)

notable Pokémon im missing: damn near everything from the Gold/Silver/Crystal games, Mew, Mewtwo, Celebi, Jiraichi, Deoxys, Arceus, Entei, Suicune, Raikou, Manaphy, Lugia, Ho-oh, Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Regigias, Latias, Latios, Kygore, Groudon, and Rayquaza.

*breathes deeply*

in Pokémon terms, thats like a million, cause some of those are only available through limited time events.

i was lucky enough to get Darkrai, Shaymin and Phione which are normally part of that event Pokémon genre.

the ones above i *can* get will require hundres more hours of play across several GBA games :( why oh why did i ever decide to try to complete my pokédex?

P.S. This is my Platinum trainer card, with my Platinum friend number thingy, feel free to give me your number and we can battle and all that stuff.

View from the top... Sort of

like this?

this is the view from the second floor of my new office

you dont wanna know what the second floor looks like

you dont want to know what the first floor looks like for that matter

but yes... i found a job, well rather my father found one for me

i guess it doesnt sound good to admit your family helps you find jobs

its better than not having a job though

this new gig is data entry

it ranges between alot of work you have to rush through to having no work at all on certain days

sounds like a really lazy kinda gig. i.e. my kinda gig

so thankfully im back on my feet again although my mom and buddies arent yet

im just gonna keep hoping for em really

The Great Purging

Well i know ive slacked it posting...

but ive actually been really busy.

too busy to post?

not quite but hey... i did warn you.

well christmas, got alot of cool stuff, if i find the time ill review some of it for yall, but im gonna fast forward to two weeks ago.

(hurray for time paradoxes in my blog)

we call it... The Great Purging

as you may or may not know i got laid off from C&R on the 4th or so.

the owners of the company let me go to make room for people coming in from howdys, a subsidiary of a company the recently purchased.

but... it wasnt just me

they also let my mom (HR manager and 20 year employee), my bud Omega (Billing entry, 3+ years) and my bud Zeta (Safety assistant, like me, and about 2 years)

i was with them for 6 years

what a deal huh?

so i was left with housework and watching anime to occupy me while i searched for a job.

good news: i watched Macross Frontier

good news: i found a job

bad news: housework sucks

well at least thats over with eh?

My GF is an AWESOME GF! pt.2

Well.... yet again. i have to speak of how totally wicked awesome my GF is.

y'see... we celebrated our 18 month anniversary just wednesday.

i bought her a very nice Citizen Eco-drive stainless steal and Swarsky Crystal watch. i ended up paying way less than i expected to

thanks to her, and a little luck :)

and for me.... she pulled me aside and asked me what i would rather have...

a PS3 or a Xbox 360 Elite.

Wow

no really, WOW.

she told me if i didnt mind combining this gift with my b-day/christmas gift i could have one of these magical consoles.

now i already have a 20gig Xbox system from way back.

like initial launch way back

needless to say its in poor health. 

all those launch Xboxes had some sorta issue, and mine still works but barely. 

it actually freezes up.

no real red ring though

so i could replace that, with its already full hard drive and dimishing health, with a crisp new (and black) 120 gig HDMI cable havin' Xbox 360 Elite or an 80 gig PS3.

what did i choose??

Oh yeah, you know it baby.

ok well i do have to say i own one PS3 game. do you know how many PS3 games im interested in owning?

one.

Metal Gear Solid 4.

thats pretty much it.

so to fix both my dying Xbox problem and my HDD space problem i went with the Elite.

lol i know Sony fanboys everywhere are cursing my name.

all in all though.... thanks my wonderful lover. you are indeed the best.

even better than Solid Snake!

(and thats saying alot!)

Admiral On Deck! /salute

Got me hat from a Xarc run last sunday! 

Thanks PA!

in any case i now can earn meself the right to be called Commodore, 

but since im a ham when it somes ta titles, i think ill go by Admiral

fitting since i have an entire nother LS should i need the manpower!

not to mention alot of friends ive made in Pocket Aces too.

so all in all i have my veritable fleet.

heheh... 

hehehehh... 

hehehehehehh. 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

BWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

My GF is an AWESOME GF!

lol excuse the title's... lack of wittyness

im pretty ecstatic atm.

well ya see.... my GF got me Force Unleashed. 

if you dont know what that is... well wow... i really cant help you. 

go get help.

professional help.

anyways so yes. im over here totally happy

don't believe me?

Yep.

thats it there

its love... shrink wrapped in a green clamshell :)

honey i love you!!

Were not in Kansas anymore Toto.

well were off to Toto's Burger Barn.

never been there but i hear good thing

im also updating from my phone.

yes i rock that much

anyways im mostly just testing this out.

shout out to skull-ito.

ill be on tomorrow bud ive been busy w/ stuff XD

well i have... nothing elso to say so... see ya!

edit: Apparently its TORO's burger BAR...

i sure fucked up that name lmao. 

this also fucks up my Wizard of Oz referance... damn.

burgers were FUCKING DELISH though!

total orgasm im mouth. i high recomend the American Kobe, was 100% american grass fed wagyu beef.

im totally serious. best meat ive ever had, and ive had some awesome ribs and succelent brisket and flavorful NY strip..... but this takes the cake!

...and then there was VERSION UPDATE!

Ok, i know this isnt news for any of you FFXI players.. but wow, i still feel the need to reitterate.

you know... just in case.

seriously, its that big.

First off theres this nifty thing:

LEVEL SYNC!

i like it, i love it, i want some more of it. (god i just quoted a country song didnt it? please shoot me)

anyways so yes, ive actually experimented with this. and for those of you that don't know it lets anyone of a higher level join your party and cap themselves to gain the same EXP.

now i know what youre sayin... "but what about all my gear whaaaa~"

never fear!!! you can wear the same armor, they scale its attributes down proportionate to your level. 

now that means your Hauby wont be as badass at level 10, in fact itll be just a heap of metal on your chest, but youd be surprised how well some peices keep thier attributes. 

My buddy shadowwind partied with me and other members of my LS in Yhoater jungle, level 29 sync party, and he still had more INT from his reg gear (black cotahardie etc) than from any equip unsynced at that level.

in fact, i myself have noticed i get to keep quite a bit of acc bonuses from my equip when i Sync.

EXP? its exactly the same as if you WERE that level. 

Can you merit? yes. i have, like 5 merits total even. 

its GENIUS, seriously. this about sums it up:

Other than that we also have... RELIC!!!! $@#%ING FINALLY! ive run COR ever since the ToAU expansion first day and ive been waiting for this for a very long time.

oh yeah and BLU and PUP get some too >.>

also win: Mythic Weapons.

because who doesnt want to point a smaller version of a ship's cannon at his enemy and blow thier face off <3<3<3

(im really happy about that one!)

and accordingly theyve also made Nyzul a little easier.

more quests

more campaign shiz

more WotG missions.

seriously this was a damn good one guys, bravo

just bravo!

Something Amiss...

Theres something wrong with this picture:

can you guess what it is? Its a hot girl dressed as a female blood elf from World of Warcraft. she obviously does not PLAY World of Warcraft.

cause that would be a contradiction.

ha. just kidding, actually ive noticed WoW has the highest concentration of female gamers. i have no idea why... maybe because its easy. who knows.

In other news i got my Jeep back from the shop today... man does it rock again. my drivers seat is a freakin throne!

i can't really see myself driving anything else but my jeep, its kinda weird and best of all i like being able to see over other vehicles.

i figure one of these days when im in a bad enough mood i will DRIVE over said vehicles. we'll see im still waiting for the road rage to bubble up that high.

now if only i could stop playing FFTA2 on my drive to work.

id be great!

F$#%^&@

Apparently i'm innept. why you ask? because i can't figure out how to add a damn slideshow to the gadget thingy on this thingy.

yeah i know thats very scientific commentary there.
in all seriousness though i just can't figure it out, its on the Alchemic Blues page, so if anyone knows please help me out >.>

Other than that i got [GM]Dave's first half of the fan pack today, if you dont know who he is read here.

Its hilarious stuff. seriously, i should probably feel guilty for this but i've donated to this guy, who probably does not need any money whatsoever, rather then people who actually need it, like hurricane victims and whatnot.

I'm sure theres some sort of killer hurricane going on right now.

(i haven't been watching the news >.>)

Other than that weekend was good, did alot of lazing around which i love, and also got to take my buddies to Sakura, which i had started to think impossible.

I didn't get to go see the Dark Knight again, but i will sometime this week. (if you haven't seen it yet im wondering what exactly is wrong with you >.>)

Anyways ill be updating Alchemic Blues later on today. hopefully that goes well. if not... well then you'll have to wait. Ha ha.