A Better Weekend

Well it's that time again...that time I hate. Yes friends, the weekend is here. This is my first weekend in over three months that I have OFF. I have stuff to do (homework, laundry, other domestic chores) but I don't:

1. Have to go anywhere

2. Have to move

3. Have to carry anything heavy

3. Get up early

THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, next weekend is going to be back to the grind. For some reason, I thought it would be a good time to go back to KC NEXT weekend. I'm taking Lindsey to a concert! (of all things). We're going to see this really good Beatles tribute band 1964 at the Uptown. I saw them like three or four years ago and they amazed me. I've been wanting them to come back to KC so I could take her (Lindsey is a Beatle fan like me). I haven't told her what we're seeing yet (trying to build the suspense) but I know she's going to be stoked when I tell her next week. BUT that means I have to drive to KC again. Ugh. And since it's a Jewish holiday next weekend, I'll be doing it alone (no Leah, no Rusty). Rusty I can't say I'll miss...but going without Leah will suck. I'll have to bring a bunch of CD's.

But that's all next weekend. This weekend I'm playing Metroid, doing my homework, and sitting on my ass. Hope your weekend is as good as mine.

MoZILLA!!! Revolution

Well today I finally did it. I jumped on the Mozilla Firefox bandwagon. Not sure if you saw it, but I added a reader poll to my blog today (concerning a problem I'm having...I need advice, please help me by filling out it out). Anyway, I added this poll to my blog--and BOOM! Everything went to hell. I couldn't access my blog. It would load, then just cut out.

I had Leah check it out on her laptop, and everything loaded fine for her. But she uses Firefox, while I still running Internet Explorer. So, I bit the bullet and downloaded/installed it. What a difference!!! Everything is working fine again. If you're still using Internet Explorer I implore you to make the change!

Don't be a fool like I was!!!

Today's Literature class

Because my friend Katie missed class today (shame, shame) I'm going to recap what happened today in class (for her, and I guess...anyone else that reads this).

Katie, today was pretty boring. Sylvia finished up talking about THE DEERSLAYER. We took a quiz (naturally) then started right away discussing the character of Judith Hutter. If you recall from the last class, I made the statement that I found Judith's sudden hatred towards Thomas Hutter to be...a little shocking. Sylvia SAID she was going to take up the character of Judith--but she didn't. WELL today she made up for it by spending nearly the entire class time talking about Judith.

As you know from the last few pages of the book, the fate of Judith is left up in the air. Cooper hints that she might have gone (and I thought married, but in class it was stressed that there was no marriage) off with one of the soldiers from the local garrison. The Deerslayer decides not to find out if the beautiful woman living with the officer is Judith. I can't believe she would go and marry the soldier--but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, a bunch of the grad students kept the conversation going.

Here are ALL my notes from the class (yes, I'm a bad boy and only took one page worth):



Also, there is some problems with the reading assignment for next time. It seems that some of the books the bookstore carried were a newer edition that doesn't have the CORRECT Poe and O'Brien stories (it has SOME Poe and O'Brien stories...just not the ones she wants us to read). I haven't checked my copy yet, but she said if you don't have them to just get them from the Internet or the library. Good luck.

Also on the way out she handed us a handout with possible topics for the first paper (due in like 2 weeks):

Walk Hard

What I'm Not Supposed to Talk About...

My postings are becoming a little less frequent these days. Mostly this is because of school, but it's also because I have so little to say. Granted, not a whole lot is going on with me (seriously). But there is also another reason. I have two topics that have been sort of "big deals" but I haven't felt like I could really write about them.

Now, I usually don't hold back and censor myself...but these involve other people. So out of respect for them I have held back. Until now.

I'm worried about two people in my life. The first is my Dad. He recently had to give up (or just gave up of his own free will) his PTA Presidency at my sister's school. I don't know what happened, just that he's no longer President. My parents have always been heavily involved in their kids schools, but my Dad takes it above and beyond what the normal person does--it's almost a second job for him. Anyway, I have the feeling that my old man gets along with others about as well as I do (I am a chip of the 'ol block)...which probably had something to do with his departure. We Wendleton boys just don't play nice with others. He says he's fine, but I'm still worried about him. I hope he doesn't just sit at home...he should go out and find something new to do (then again, so should I).

Then there is my friend David (or Davu). He's the lad who runs HTTP 411: Cool Links with me. Well I guess he's in some sort of legal hot water. Like the big, big, BIG trouble. I don't know what the government is alleging he did, but I know it involved computers. I feel bad because I haven't been able to do much for him. That's about all I can (and should) say about that...but it's been on my mind a lot these past few weeks. Me and Leah want him to come over sometime and play video games (and see the new place, can you believe no one has come over except Leah's parents? Then again, you have to know people in order to get them to come over...I guess we don't know that many people). Anyway, I don't know (or really care) what he may or may not have done, just do me a favor and send him some positive NRG.

Weekends suck

Once again, my weekend sucks. I'm not sure when this happened, but it's been at least a month since I've had a weekend that wasn't shit. I was working all the time, then I moved out here (that was a shitty weekend). The following weekend was spent frantically trying to get unpacked before school started. Then school started. Last weekend was spent buried under homework and moving (again). Thankfully it wasn't me the one that was moving, but it still sucked.

This weekend I'm going home. I hate the long drive to KC. I have to go to a party I don't want to go to (I'm not very social, I admit it). Ugh...and then there is the homework. My last semester is tough. I have SO MUCH reading to do--I have to finish THE DEERSLAYER and read all of ROMEO AND JULIET. Also, I have a bunch of poems to read. Ugh...

With weekends like these, who need enemies?

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Leah rented the third Metroid game last night. We didn't get around to playing it though, because we both felt really crappy. Not sure what was going on, but we both woke up feeling better this morning. So, while I made blue berry muffins Leah fired up her Wii and started playing. Now before I go any further, I have to admit that I never did get into the "Prime" games on the Gamecube. Sure, they seemed well made...but from a graphical and control aspect they seemed a little poor. Then there is the HALO factor. I like HALO (a lot). The Prime games were always compared to HALO, however this is pretty unfair. Sure, both are first-person games, but HALO is a shooter. Plain and simple. The Prime games continued the proud Metroid tradition of adventure/exploration above wave after wave of baddies.

I like wave after wave of baddies more I guess, because I found the Prime games boring. What with their "scan-every-item-you-see" game play mechanic, and rather flaccid story telling. Then there was the control. Metroid Prime 2: Echos came with a (really crappy) multi-player...and Leah kicked my ass a lot because I could never get the one joy-stick control scheme down (sorry, after using two analogy sticks for the past 7 years I can't go back to Nintendo 64 style controls).

Anyway, I watched Leah play Corruption, and it looked damn cool. For one thing, Nintendo has FINALLY decided to use voice-overs instead of making you READ everything. This shocked me, even the latest Zelda had to be read...Then there are the graphics, which, while not as good as say GEARS OF WAR--are the finest on the Wii to date. The lighting effects are amazing, and the art style/art work is incredible and helps mask/make up for the Wii's graphical handicap. But the big story, is of course the controls. You use the nunchuk and Wii-mote. The nunchuk stick moves Samus, while the Wii-mote is used to look/aim. Like when the new Zelda game came out, I was dying to try the controls out. So, when Leah came to a slow part in the game I asked her if I could run around. I wasn't wowed initially. Then I started my own save file (after I took her to work). You really don't appreciate how good these controls are until you get yourself into a fire-fight. The Wii-mote is 1000 more accurate than any console control device being used in first-person shooters.

I noticed that Leah was having a bit of trouble aiming, but I(being a more advanced gamer) had zero problems jumping right into the fray. So far I'm only 5% into the game, but I've already had some AMAZING boss fights. One in particular struck me as awesome. I was in a room that resembled something out of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK's Cloud City. I was trying to switch on a large power generator, when a HUGE leathery bird-beast came out of the ceiling and attacked me. We both ended up falling down a long (really long) metal chute. The boss fight occurs AS YOU ARE FALLING. That's right! As you are both in free fall you have to fight this ferocious beast. It's snapping at you, firing a weird laser out it's mouth. Sometimes it grabs you in one of it's claws and you have to break free. A few times it tried to grab the sides of the tunnel to slow it's fall--when I shot it's hands it shrieked and let go, tumbling head over feet. This fight, and this fight alone impressed me more than anything. In fact, it's the best "gaming moment" I've had all year. Why, oh why can't more developers take a page out of Nintendo's play book? Games should be easy to get into and have fantastic/dramatic moments EARLY and OFTEN. Metroid Prime 3 does this over and over.