April 20th, 2006 11:34 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Sazabi" by Coaltar of the Deepers
Feeling: hung over

The airiel/Arks/Rhineland Bastards/Walking Bicycles show at Double Door last night was a hit. We were loud as hell and not only did Griff give us an introduction but Jane from Essenza came on stage to sing Firefly. That was the first time we had ever played it live and it went off without a hitch.

Something I forgot to mention, I managed to score an Xbox 360 on Friday. I went to Pep Boys to get some ratchet straps to take my scooter to Scooterworks. I thought "hmmmmm I think I'll swing by EB to get the expansion for Far Cry for the Xbox". While the guy was ringing up my purchase I said jokingly: "So, when are you guys gonna get any Xbox 360's in stock? June?" To which the guy replied "Actually, we got 4 of them. You want one?"

Well, shit. I bought one and also got the 360 version of Far Cry. I did not intend at all to spend that much money out of nowhere, but my credit limit was just raised on my Mastercard and my brain took about 0.25 seconds to rationalize the expense and file it under "home improvement costs". My plan for this weekend is to clean my apartment and also hang out with Lisa since she's leaving for San Francisco next week. I need to pull my entertainment center out, clean behind it and also rewire everything. The Gamecube was using the component inputs of my TV, but the 360 takes priority over that. No contest.

About the 360: I'm already impressed with the graphical improvements with Far Cry. That game was gorgeous already on the Xbox and now it's even better on the 360. I swear they made the main campaign harder because I was getting my ass kicked and now that I'm in the Evolution campaign, it's a breeze. Anyway. The wireless controller is great. Being able to turn the console on and off with that controller is so nice. The size is fairly good, but my hands did get a bit sore after playing Geometry Wars. More on that later.

The Xbox live integration is excellent. I was playing Far Cry and DJ signed on and started chatting with me over our headsets while he was playing another game and I was still playing Far Cry. That's pretty damn cool. The Xbox Live Arcade is neat as well. Being able to download games like Geometry Wars and Marble Blast Ultra is rather cool, especially since you can see the leader boards for the high scores. Geometry Wars is pure crack, by the way. The graphics are gorgeous and the explosions are so huge at times that you actually lose sight of your ship. It's such a frantic game that I was screaming (or rather whimpering) to the TV.

One bad thing about the console is that it has to be the loudest piece of computer hardware that I've purchased since 1998. The fan on this thing is constantly heard and the DVD drive is loud as hell when it spins. My friends that have 360's have also said the same thing, so I'm glad it's not just me. There's a cooling unit that I may buy for it. Maybe that will get the fans to shut up a bit. Over all, I'm extremely happy with it and yes, I'm not looking at HDTV's even though I don't have the money. :P

April 18th, 2006 16:51 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Harlem" by The Rails
Feeling: stomach is weird, but things are good.

I'm still working on the journal for my last trip. The images are all resized. I still have lots to write about though, so stay tuned.

April 11th, 2006 09:12 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Just Forget" by Force Of Nature
Feeling: good, despite the time change

Under the cherry blossoms at Kyomizu temple in Kyoto, Japan, Yuka and I got engaged. ^_^