I'm the Boxernaut Bitch

So where does one go when one gets a new computer from Ted (thanks mate), and can surf the Internet at home again?

Why it must be YouTube of course, so that the Juggernaut video can be seen. It's pretty funny for the first couple of minutes (it's about 9 in total), but it's kind of repetitive. I recommend switching off after the first fade out and you'll be left in stitches.

And wow isn't the new version of Mozilla's Firefox just kick ass. The spell checker while you're typing is a gift for the lexically challenged such as myself. Put that with the tab browsing and there really is no reason to keep torturing yourself with IE. If you haven't switched now, what are you waiting for?

And then there was Skype. In a stroke of good fortune in my first time back on in what must be 6 months Dave, Jimbo, Simon and Alix were on at the same time. Much talk about a future game ensued. I'm in the early stages of planning something that I hope will come together around New Year. Stay tuned gamers.

It's almost 11pm. Probably too late to return to the monsters, so it'll have to be straight to bed.

Oh no. She's shooting at my helmet!

The Hunt cont.

Ted was free again on Saturday arvo, so we met up in Ebisu to try and once more justify our PSP purchases.

Damn hunting is fun. The plan seems to be to find a dark, not too noisy coffee shop and then kill, kill, kill. Works for me. In our next meeting we should finish off the 1st level treasure hunt missions. Then it's onward and upward to level 2. Yippee!

Now if only we could find another hunter, then we could start to tackle the group missions.

Lest it should appear that I only inhabit a fantasy world populated by monsters (unlike the fantasy world I regularly live in populated by Yamada Yuu) after the hunt I and a few friends knocked back a couple of beers. I also ate the finest damn burger I've ever eaten. It had fried pumpkin in it.

Hmm, wish I had something more salubrious to write about, but really that's about it. Sitting on my arse, drinking, eating and PSPing. At least I (mostly) went outside to do them.

In my further slothful adventures I did read Fight Club, and found it to be one of those rare cases where the film is (marginally) better than the book. The slight changes the film made were for the better.

Let's Hunting, Motto

Last night Ted and I were to play our first game of squash. I was looking forward to this with trepidation. It's been about six years since I’ve played at all, and frankly winston ain’t the man he was (or even fooled himself into thinking he was).

Fortunately the day before, fearing my serve’s fury, Ted threw himself down some stairs and busted his knee. I was saved embarrassment.

We decided to spend the allotted squash time hunting monsters on the PSP.

This was the first time to play Monster Hunter Freedom in multiplayer mode, and it was frankly pretty cool. I’m sure this is the same enjoyment those of the World of Warcraft ilk get from mindless hack –n- slash with their friends and acquaintances. Even with just the two of us, both who had little idea of how to complete the missions (I didn’t help with some horrendously wrong advice about depositing treasure), I really, really had a great time.

Once again it was confirmed that my gaming skills are pretty lame. I’ve played quite a bit of single player MHF, and have equipped my character Sydney (appearance based on the red-headed Sydney Bristow of Alias) with weapons and armor beyond the starting gear. Yet there was Ted, clad only in hides and wielding a completely unmodified sword and shield, going toe-to-toe with the same critters as me.

At least it was only virtual lameness. The real pain begins when his knee heals.

Hassled by da’Man

After the near typhoon-like weather of Friday, Saturday was a glorious day. So what should I do? I know, let’s stay in and watch Stargate SG-1, Miami Vice, and Lost.

The great weather continued all long weekend. Sunday night was a Korean restaurant with friends. Yummy.

Monday afternoon I thought to get out the skates and go to Yoyogi Park. I’ve been there a few times skating. It being a public holiday the park was filled with children on bikes being followed by parents who squawked, “Danger! Danger! Slow down!” every few seconds.

I’d just finished my first circuit when the old man security guard on his bicycle stopped me to inform me there was no skating in the park. This was news to me. He assured me there was a notice on the park’s gate. Despondent I left the park, and sure enough there was a notice. I then realized that in all the times I’d been to the park, I was the only skater I’d ever seen.

Two wheels gooooood. Eight wheels baaaaaad. 8-(

Fooled You

Obviously rumors or my backness are greatly exaggerated.

I now have internet on at my new place, but no computer to use it with. This leaves me with the option of stealing work’s time, which recently has been impossible due to much workidness. And as I really should be doing something else more workified right now, let’s get this over with.

A lot has happened, but I’m not sure if it’s such interesting reading for your good selves.
I went to 2 weddings in the one day a couple of weeks ago. The first one’s service was Christian, but in Japanese (“Amen”, however, remained “Amen”). It was interesting because the service was understandable for those even without much Japanese simply because it copies the service in English. The priest even had the same intonation as an English-speaking priest. Stand up now, sit down now, vows now, reading of goat entrails now.

The second was a full-on Japanese service with costumes and bells. And the reception was very Japanese, with the couple changing clothes twice, many speeches, candle lighting, cake cutting, the whole works. It was the second time for me to see this style, and it’s really interesting – these disparate elements are put together with the formality and timing of a military tattoo. The already long day extended into beer and karaoke for the late evening. The next day was slow.

Recently I’ve become interested again in Torg. The mailing list for the game has had some great debates (that usually end in flame wars. sigh) about fundamentals of the game. It’s a shame that really good ideas get lost amid the egos, but I’ve taken some of the elements away and opened up the old rules once more. I’m half forming a long term plan to one day (maybe in the New Year) look at a game based on its excellent rules. Much like Pulp-Fiction based on Masterbook that I once GMed. I’m not interested in playing out the Possibility Wars again. The canvas is simple too big, and it just wouldn’t be the same without Dave co-GMing. But a smaller mythos might suit me just fine. No promises.