a farewell transmission
Tonight we are going to Casbah to see Magnolia Electric Company (songs:ohia)!
Last week, I ended up getting Liz’s sickness. I had fevers and chills throughout the weekend. I’m still all congested. It sucked since we were both sick, trying to take care of one another.
But tonight is the show, and then we both have tomorrow off for a chill three day weekend.
liz is sick
I blogged about Katamari Damacy a while ago.
Here is a conversation I had with my friend Dale (blogged about him earlier too), who is in Korea with his wife doing ESL (we chat over skype with webcams and all, but this is from googletalk)(I am shabam) a few days ago:
shabam: yeah we should play that [Hero's Quest {an old, old dos pc game we played when we were kids}] together for sure.
houser.dale: and of course some singu hikaru
shabam: huh?
houser.dale: that super ball game
shabam: wha?
houser.dale: you know the fucking ball that sticks to everything … rigu teshi
shabam: katamari damacy!
houser.dale: I said two japanes words — close enough.
Needless to say, Katamari Damacy will from this day forward be referred to only as “Rigu Teshi.”
Hooooge
Liz and I had nothing to do last weekend, and we both weren’t feeling that well (didn’t feel like going outside or anything). So, I bought Shadows of the Colossus, which had just gone into the bargain bin (19.99). It is awesome with all the next generation coming out (xbox36 and the wii and ps3 soon) all of the older games are going down in price rapidly (we also got a new DDR game for $15!).
Anyways, this game, Shadows of the Colossus, is friggin amazing. During the game you search for and take down these monstrous things. There isn’t much story. You start off with your girl dead, and you journy to this weird land, a land where the dead can be brought back to life. A voice booms down and tells you that if you destroy the 16 huge creatures, this will be done. So you set off and search for and kill them, one by one.
It’s an extremely selfish quest. And this tone develops with the game. You ride accross vast expanses of this beautiful and desolate landscape, and then a you find a huge creature. The creatures aren’t particularly hostile: they usually ignore you or look at you curiously–until you begin to harm them.
And harming them is no easy task. They tower like 50 feet above you. You have to climb up them, grab onto hair, use pieces of the landscape, and so on. The game is actually more of a puzzle game (figuring out how to take them down) than an action game. When you finally stab them enough in their vital spots (on top of the head or neck or somewhere), they come crashing down. It’s almost sad, each time, to see such a huge beast fall and to hear it moan.
The Colossus’ are all very different. One is like a leviathon swimming in the water, a couple are four legged beasts, another is a worm in the sand, another is a bird in the air,…. And the music orchestrated for the battles is amazing. You feel like you are in the middle of an epic movie while playing. This is the game that makes you ask why more games can’t be made at this high of a quality. Sort of like those great movies that rarely come out.
So, since we both didn’t feel like doing much of anything last Sunday, Liz and I played this game all day long. We took a break only to make a real good dinner (Red Snapper cooked on a bed of onions and red peppers). Which reminds me, I was going to post about how Liz and I are making a new hobby out of finding good recipes and cooking delicious meals … but these huge colossus’ (is Colussi the plural?)seemed more interesting.
been chillin’
I’ve been enjoying RPG Maker 3 way too much. After messing around with it a bunch with some friends, I started my own serious adventure. This is where all my freetime has been going. I bought a keyboard for the ps2 so I can enter in all my dialogue quickly. I’ll update on my project again as it more fully forms.
The weekend before last, Roy, Phil, Liz and I hung around the Encinitas beach. That’s me–the one with the water bottle filled with cranberry&vodka.
And here is Phil, looking extra sexy:
Other than that, we haven’t been doing that much. Still watching a lot of Firefly (watched all the episodes 3-4 times now). Liz has been real busy with her job and trying to figure out whether she wants to stay there or not. The weather is cooling down nicely.
vakayshun
Check out this friggin’ turtle!
We went to the zoo today.
Of course, we made sure to get some good ass shots:
awaiting
Two more days until my first entire week of vacation. Liz’s Sister, Katherine, is coming down. We don’t really have any plans yet, so I am looking forward to some serious chilling. And by serious chillin, I mean I’m gaming it up like crazy, drinking a 24-pack of beer a day, up all night, pancakes every morning, the ******** plane has crashed into the mountain. You can tell I’m excited.
First compelling reason to buy an xbox360: Settlers of Cataan is coming to the live service. You can download it for like 5 bucks and play it online. oman.
Liz brought home 43 bagels last night. That’s Fourtyfuckinthree. We got half of them stored in the freezer.
storytime
I ordered RPG Maker 3 for the ps2! 
It’s a toolset to make a 3d RPG without having to worry about programming language or graphic design. There are a ton of limitations, but it should be fun. Should at least me get off my uncreative ass for a while (A very very long while).
Hopefully it comes soon, so that I can begin tinkering with it during my vacation next week. I’m really looking forward to doing something new. I haven’t thought about my story or characters too precisely yet, since I want to see exactly what the toolset has to offer before deciding what to tell. As of now I am taking suggestions;).
god among men
My best friend since I was seven, Dale, came back home for a few weeks
He and his fiance were in Argentina teaching ESL for a year, and just came back to the states to get married. This Thursday they will be going to Korea to do another year of ESL.
Last Thursday, his wife had her own plans, so he took the Coaster (a train) up to see me. I got off work a bit early and scheduled Friday off.
It was a great night of beer, video games and general chillin. I went to bed around midnight. Even though I had the day off, I still had to get up around 6am to drive Liz to work. Liz told me that during the night she woke up and at 4am Dale was still up playing video games. Dale was making the most of his night because he hasn’t been able to play video games in some time. His wife cannot stand them. So before they had left for Argentina, he gave away all his goods; his gamecube went to me.
Anyways, when I got back home from dropping Liz off around 7:15, I heard a lot of loud noises coming from my apartment out the open windows. Dale was already back up, playing Metroid:Prime and drinking a beer.
He was up all night, drank tons of beer (including a 22 of Stone’s infamous 10.8% Imperial Russian Stout) and was back at it after only three hours sleep.
