Mmm. Life record~

[ibneko]

So it's been a while.

I'm alive.

Attended the Japan Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco. That was pretty nifty. I wish I had a group of people to hang out with though. Like, people my age. :\ Although then I wouldn't have been able to move around at my own pace (which is relatively fast).

Found another 99 Ranch (LARGE asian grocery store) in Mountain View. That's better than going to Cupertino, even though Cupertino has other awesome chinese stores all in one small cluster. Also discovered that I can caltrain to Mountain View at 8:30ish in the morning, bike about 3 miles, then caltrain back to Palo Alto before 10, just in time for work. I was quite pleased.

Mailed taxes. Flew to UIUC to see the girlfriend and attend the J-net Matsuri (festival). That was good. Saw other J-net Alumni. It's depressing, the number of people left on campus to give me reason to return will decrease this year.

Work is good. Could be happier with more developers / engineers.

I've started using Twitter. Other people are using it too. Some are exasperated by it. :D

I have carrots. And ice cream. Munching carrots right now.

There was a nasty really-hot-day tuesday. It was 91ºF. Much better now, but I learned that my AC works, but not amazingly.

I think I'm almost done with Fable. I need to tackle an RPG next, I think. Anyone have any suggestions for Wii or XBOX360?

Comments

[selphish.livejournal.com]

Mass Effect. It is amazing and epic and is in my top 5 video games of all time. Backwards compatible X-Box titles Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II also are amazing and are in my top five.

As far as Wii titles go, MadWorld is super violent but really awesome, as is No More Heroes, which plays like a Quentin Tarantino movie. The Conduit looks like a promising Wii title, but I don't think it's slated for release until June.

Hope this helps!

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

I strongly recommend KOTOR; I can't recommend KOTOR II, since it's really mixed quality (very rushed release leads to an utterly crappy ending, with lots of cut content). It was on track for being one of the best Star Wars games ever, but it crashes HARD.

I've heard nothing but awesome about ME and a friend of mine worked on it, so I approve. (Haven't played it myself yet, though.)

Morrowind's an excellent RPG; I'd recommend it over Oblivion, just because Morrowind is a far freer environment by far. Very explorable. Jade Empire - some people like it, some don't. Faux-Asian setting, which is a nice shift.

And of course, Fallout 3.

[selphish.livejournal.com]

I think Obsidian does a better job of developing characters than Bioware does, but that's an entirely different discussion. I also liked how KOTOR 2 explored a lot of the themes not really present in the other films--but were still things that you might have wondered about if you were a fan of the franchise. In short, LucasArt screwed up by pushing it for a Q4 release in time for Christmas, but the cut content is luckily being restored in a fan patch, and that cut content, imho, makes it indefinitely better than Bioware's game (though admittedly, the twist in the first game was jaw-dropping).

Mass Effect is amazing; I can't recommend it enough. The first novel was pretty mediocre, but the second novel seems to be a little bit better (not done it yet). Wish Bioware was better at developing their characters though, as some of the characters seemed pathetically one-dimensional at times. Still, the epic feel of the game makes up for it (as does fic). Just wish book one hadn't totally contradicted the characterization of the main villain, who was almost sympathetic in-game and came across as pitifully flat in the novel.

I also second the recommendation for Fallout 3, especially since the newly announced spinoff's going to be done by Obsidian. Oh, Obsidian. ILU.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

If you have a blender in the house, try making a purée of some carrots, and mixing it in with the ice cream, possibly adding a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg. I'm eager to discover if carrot cake ice cream can be made. ^_^ I'm sure I've had it, but not in quite a while - wouldn't it be utterly delicious?

(Perhaps a dash of frosting might need to be folded in? I suppose much depends on the carrot:ice cream ratio)