I'm only allergic to cats with almonds in them

OH man, this is a shitty weekend. Most of them are. The only thing that makes them better than any other day is the fact that I don't have to work, but then again, that's roughly fifty bucks I'm giving up. I've got a few thousand stashed away in the bank, and I don't have any immediate need for money, but maybe when my life picks up, I'll have something worth spending it on.

Yesterday I didn't even leave the house. My day was pretty much walking back and forth between the computer and the television. Of course no one was on MSN, so I couldn't find anyone to do anything with. Adam has four days off, but lo and behold, he's spending his free time at camp. I was supposed to meet him for breakfast the other day, but he stood me up. I guess he showed up at either the wrong place or the wrong time.

Now my mom is nagging at me to do something that will help me meet people and get me out of the house. You know you've reached a low point in your life when even your mom doesn't think you have any friends. You know what though? I figure it's too late. What's the point in trying to meet people when I'm leaving back to Waterloo in a month? I have a habit of doing things with the ends in mind. That's why I have so much money stashed away; I'm saving it for longterm plans.

I'm getting some good progress in FFX. I'm at the point where I could probably beat the game, but I plan to beat all the optional bosses and tinker around with stuff I never got around to the first time I played it.

I got two really bad beats handed to me playing poker with my friends last Tuesday. I was getting short on chips, so I went all in with QJ, and Sheena called with 8-10. Checking online, it looks like I had about 70% odds to win. The flop came K-10-something, which gave her a pair of tens. Although if you look at it, I would have won with 9, A, J, or Q, so at that point we were still 50-50. Regardless, nothing came and I lost. The next one was even worse. I had AA, and the flop came something like 9,8,5. I pushed all in, and Sheena called with pocket fours. At this point, I had a ninety percent chance to win. Of course, the four came on the turn, and I lost yet another sure thing hand. Well at least I can take solice in the fact that other than some bad hands, I played pretty well.

Today looks like another pile of shit. Playing video games, sitting on MSN, and eating leftover chinese. You know, maybe that's not all that bad. It's just that a little too much time alone can make a person go stir crazy.

Listening to... Live Death By Stereo show
Link of the moment... You'll either find it hilarious, or pointless. Completely absurd comics.

OMG DBS CD!

Looks like Death By Stereo has their new CD out! I was waiting for SNL to start with Martine and Holly last night, when I decided to see what was on the punk show. It was a commercial, but the first video to come on was DBS' new video for Entombed We Collide. I was so pumped when I realized their new CD was finally out. Right after that, they showed a video from Rise Against.

DBS is playing a show here at War on the Shore on August 26th. I think I'm going to have to go for sure. I haven't been to a show in such a long time. I think I've seen DBS in August for two years in a row now. Perhaps I'll do myself a favour and bring earplugs this time.

Apparently their lineup is still changing. Looks like Tito is gone now, and I still haven't seen them play with their new bass player.

Hehe, seeing two good videos made me think of how long it's been since I've seen a Snapcase video. I miss those guys...they were by far the best band I've ever seen. I guess I should just consider myself lucky that one of my other favourite bands (DBS) is still together and plays in Thunder Bay.

Listening to... Death By Stereo - This is Not the End
Link of the moment... Official Site with sound clips and the new video

My name is Kevin, but you can call me Mr. Tournament Director

I held a small tournament in my basement last Tuesday. There were seven contedners, including myself, Grant, Chanel, Dan, Sheena, Veebs, and Michalak. I had fun organizing the whole thing, and it went off pretty well aside from the fact that it went a little past midnight, and the final three were playing for over an hour without much action. I was one of the first ones out, but I allowed one rebuy for anyone who got knocked out in the first hour. I made it to third, and lost a really bad hand to Chris (my three aces lost to his flush), and I was crippled past that point. Michalak came second, and Chris came first. Next time I'm going to keep the blinds at twenty minute intervals. It seems a little fast at first, but it's necessary after a while.

I'm deeply considering doing this again, perhaps even once a week. I'm also considering calling it quits with the other guys on Wednesday nights if I do get this thing off the ground. I figure I'll have better odds, and if I lose it won't be nearly as much. The money I would normally lose with the other guys could be put towards something better. Of course, there's always that very slim chance that one of these nights I'll leave with more in my wallet than when I came, but I think that judging from the lsat 12 weeks, I can make a good guess that I won't. I guess I might as well finish off the summer since I'm already past halfway. I just hope I don't come in last place!

As I suspected, I've lost all desire to play my PS2 games, opting to fall victim to the allure of portable gaming. I'm going to try my damndest to put the whole thing off until I get to school. I figure I might save ten or fifteen bucks if I wait til Walmart/FutureShop/Amazon has a sale, and Waterloo probably has more pawn shops with a better selection of games. I'm surprised the Nintendo DS hasn't forced a price drop in the GBA already.

Work is getting very monotonous now. Every day it's the same thing, at a different school. It's a bloody shame that I'm unable to do the classrooms in so many of the schools. Most of the computers in the rooms are either dragged out into the hall, or otherwise nowhere near an outlet. I get out of work at about 2:30, even though I'm supposed to be there til 4. Hey, don't look at me like that. I don't take any breaks outside of lunch when I start work, and like I said, once the lab is done, there are rarely any classrooms that I'm able to finish. All I know is that I'm going to have a hectic last week in August, when the custodians will hopefully have the classrooms done.

I've got to find someone who can pick a game out of a list for me, and keep nagging me to finish it, otherwise I'll never finish anything. Haha, because obviously, it is absolutely vital to my life to finish video games from beginning to end. Ratchet and Clank has gotten to the part where I get too frustrated dying at the same part over and over, and I sincerely doubt I can finish FFX-2, with the terrible plot, characters, and script.

Listening to... Billy Talent - Beach Balls
Link of the moment... My precious...

Home court advantage?

I think everytime I have a poker game at my house, I wind up winning. I had Chris, Adam Michalak, and Ryan Latimer over last night for a tournament style game, and I took it. Two big hands happened when both Adam and I hit a flush, and Chris had trips. The pot got up to about 500 dollars on that hand, and we all started with 500. My flush was nine high, and I wasn't sure if that was high enough, but luckily Adam's was only five high.

Another great hand happened shortly after it got down to just Chris and I. He only had about a hundred more than me, and I pushed all in with pocket nines on a flop with a nine high. After that, he doubled up on me twice, and then it took at least a half hour before I got anything worth pushing all in for, and it won the hand.

Holly came over too, she was over until about 2. Oddly enough, we were watching porn. Not only does she not mind it, but she loves making fun of everything. She was borrowing her cousin's Gameboy Advance, and I played a race in Mario Kart. Again, I'm deeply considering buying one, but I've got better reasoning for it now. I won't buy it for work, but rather for school. I have a few breaks between classes that aren't long enough to walk home for. I like to tell myself that I'll be finishing all my homework in that time, but I tend to say stuff like that and then neglect it. Sitting down in the SLC or the math comfy lounge and playing a handheld RPG might be a really nice break between classes to freshen me up.

Poker last Wednesday was terrible. I lost forty bucks, the most I've lost in one night. No matter how many times I tell myself not to make the same stupid mistakes, I keep doing it.

I kind of want to get a sidebag...kinda like a purse, but manlier. Think 'laptop case'. It would be a nice accessory if I do get a GBA. Good for carrying around a wallet, cell phone, GBA, keys, pen and paper, and any other tidbits one might accumulate on a trip through the town. If I didn't have a car in Waterloo, I'd get it for sure, since going back for something you didn't think you'd need is a luxury you really can't afford. On the other hand though, I'm not sure if I would actually carry it everywhere. I'd probably just take the wallet and keys out if I'm going somewhere for a short visit, and that defeats the whole purpose of having it. Hopefully I'll get to the mall and see what's on the market these days. Haha, or maybe I should just buy a laptop so I can have a laptop case to carry around.

Listening to... Rob Zombie - Scum of the Earth (Internet Radio on winamp 5)
Link of the moment... This is nice, but I'd still rather have the GBA SP: bigger screen and it's not exposed for scratches.

Top five songs

Adam asked me the other day what my top five songs of all time are. That's definitely not something you can come up with on the spot, but I've put some thought into it and I think I have my five. In no particular order, they are:

White Wedding - Billy Idol
Leaving - Catch 22
Across Waters Again - Blindside
The Hitchhiker - Chore
Caboose - Snapcase

Listening to... Blinside - Eye of the Storm (Close sixth)
Link of the moment... I'm almost considering buying one of these for those slow moments at work.

Eh, why not.

It's been over a week since my last post. Maybe I'm slipping? Maybe I have nothing to talk about? Maybe I play too many video games when I'd normally be sitting on the computer? Who knows. Probably some combination of the above.

Poker last Wednesday was great. Just awesome. I won my first hand in three weeks, and even a few more after that. I made off with +$20 that night, but I've still got a long way to go if I'm going to get out of the hole.

I guess I'm a little disappointed with how I haven't been exercising like I planned to over the summer. I guess my apathy levels are critical lately. I'm skeptical that I'll meet anyone for whom I will feel obliged to look good. I almost ended a sentence in a preposition (who I'll feel obliged to look good for). That's bad. That was one of my most common grammatical errors.

Well Adam came in for a few days. Now I've finally got Final Fantasy X-2 and Ratchet and Clank. Playing FFX-2 has only proceeded to make me want to play FFX again. I love the graphics, the characters are likable, the story is decent, and the battle system is one of the best ones I've ever played. I still wish the sphere grid was a little more customizable...I have ideas that I think would make the game so much more interesting...it almost makes me want to make my own game. I have ideas for FFX-2 that would make the job system better too, but unfortunately, I've got to play the game as it sits in front of me.

There was another viscious thunderstorm this morning. That's the fourth one in the last two weeks. It's cutting back on my sleep. At least it makes the rest of the day a bit less hot.

Well, I moved about 100 computers in a day and a half over at Ignatius. They're taking asbestos out of the 500 wing, and unfortunately there are four computer labs in that wing alone. Taking them out wasn't that bad, but putting them back in during the first week of August will be very tiring. For this month, it looks like I'll be imaging the elementary schools, which will be quite easy. No heavy lifting, just carrying around a few hard drives.

It looks like I'll be going to see Star Wars Episode 3 this Tuesday. I watched Ep1 last night, and really enjoyed it. I was going to rent and watch Ep 2 today, but they had no copies at Video Network. I might have to go to Rogers and pay more than a dollar to see it.

Let's once again go through my backlog of video games that I want to play:
Ratchet and Clank
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Disgaea
Growlanser 2
Growlanser 3
Diablo 2
Shining Tears

On a final note, I highly recommend you listen to Hocus Pocus by Focus. It's by a Dutch band in the 70's. It's very odd, but I love the drums, bass guitar, and yodelling.

Listening to... Focus - Hocus Pocus
Link of the moment... Great Canadian gaming webcomic