For those who don’t know, my birthday was yesterday. I turned the ripe old age of thirty-eight. In some cultures, I would be considered..I don’t know…dead. No, but seriously, it was a very odd birthday. I did have a pretty decent day at work but I came home to the usual, some lonely walls and a couple of cats. I can’t even say I had a memorable dinner, or much of one at all. This should not be a blog that is filled with too much dread, we will keep this semi-light hearted and have the occasional sarcastic one-liners.
Birthday
Let me step back just a wee bit. We will go back to Friday night. It was an odd night and I was hoping to do at least something. I ended up going back and forth through email a ton with my musician friend from work. He’s obsessed with the Cure and somehow convinced me to watch a full episode from one of recent sets on Youtube. Two freaking hours. The odd part? It was actually pretty interesting. My Cure experience was from high school and it was not in a very good light. I associated them with all of the other depressing acts of the 1980’s like Morrissey, Smiths, Depeche Mode (which I also have come to like in recent years), etc. So in a weird way, I watched it with him, except he wasn’t anywhere near me.
Anyway, sometime after that we decide to talk on the phone and that’s where the shit started. To be honest, I thought he was at least partly drunk. How are you exactly partly drunk? Isn’t that like partly naked? You either are or you are not. But back to story. Talking on the phone and he’s all like, let’s get together man, we’ll hang out, we’ll go see his best friend (who I also work with), this and that. We will have a grand old time. So I go to bed thinking…alright I get to go out on my birthday weekend. Spoke too soon.
Wake up on Saturday about 8, 8:30 my usual. 10 o clock rolls around, and guess who I get a message from? My musician friend. He has to cancel, because of his ex that he is trying to get back with. REALLY? I guess he does not participate in the creedo, Bros before Hos. Or heck in the thought that I probably shouldn’t make plans only to break them less than 12 hours later. Cynical mode: oh wait, fuck…I was drunk and I made plans with that loser? Yeah, let’s see what my ex is doing. Cynical mode off. Okay, perhaps I am being a little dramatic. But it certainly felt like that.
The rest of the weekend ended up rather uneventful. Washed my clothes, made a couple of homemade pizzas (translation: pizza crusts plus my own ingredients), watched movies with a sprinkling of NFL preseason. Heck, I did not even play many video games, which I will go into later. Anyway, so we come to my birthday which was on Monday. I contemplated not going, but remembered that a good close friend was getting me a cake and we would probably go out to lunch. So I went, naturally.
So my close work friend, she certainly did bring a cake. But she actually did more than that…rather than going to Kroger, HEB, etc, she actually made it all on her own. Of course by typing this, I’m probably going to get kicked because she told me to not tell anyone. However, it was damn good. Nice lemon frosting and everything. If it wasn’t so sweet, I would have had two slices and I hardly ever eat cake. I kinda turned down the group lunch but later, that same friend did go out to lunch with me and literally snatched the meal receipt from my hand so I couldn’t pay. I have to watch her. She’s sneaky. *shrug*, I’m actually glad she’s my friend though.
Anyway, went home and wish I could say I did something all that special. It does lead into a few gaming topics, but yeah I went to bed a little early and tried to sleep. Monday nights seem to be my hardest to sleep nights. Sundays I am not half bad on because I follow a routine, but Mondays are often quite rough. I do not like the idea I am getting older, nobody does. But this year, it stung a ton, mostly because Sarah had only left a couple of weeks ago, but I just keep wonder if this is really it. I hope it gets much better down the road because right now, it blows.
Gaming
Let’s see. We’ll hit some quick points here but all of them are related to gaming. Got Skyrim-Legendary edition recently. I was able to sell my old copy for about $15 and then due to my selling on Half.com, I was given a $20 coupon I could use on Ebay. Skyrim – Legendary Edition runs about $40 on there, so when it was all said and done, I was out less than $10 and now I have all of the DLC and a brand new copy of the game I have spent close over 100 hours in. I also snagged a copy of Resident Evil 6 for $10 over at Amazon after Best Buy tried to charge me $15 to ship the damn thing. I DON’T THINK SO. I do love my Amazon prime. I’ve spent more on Amazon this year, but my Hastings and Best Buy have both went down to almost nothing and I get consistently great service (which I rarely did from Hastings and Best Buy).
For my birthday from my parents, I received a copy of Deadpool (yes, the Marvel character) for the Xbox 360. I had no idea what to ask for, I was content with not getting anything but they persisted. I am actually excited to play despite the fact I have heard mixed reviews. But honestly from the reviews I’ve read, you get the impression that they expect every comic book game now that comes out to play like the Batman: Arkham series and that’s just not going to happen. I might do a review, but I’ve had barely inspiration to put out a few movie reviews and I usually spend more time on my game reviews. We’ll see.
I am still playing Crackdown which was free to download from August 1st to the 15th on Xbox Live. I have beat both the Los Muertos and the Volks. I have the Shai-Gen left and I have already eliminated two out of the seven generals. I am 4 stars in my guns and melee while my agility is at 3 and both my explosives and driving are only at 1 measly star. The last gang has proven extremely difficult and I am scraping by. Honestly, the Muertos and Volks were barely blips on the radar so it has been difficult to adapt to absolute ridiculous numbers of the Shai-Gen. Thankfully, it is one of those games where your character can only get better (unless you just go crazy and just start shooting up tons and tons of civilians). I feel confident I will beat the game, but I just do not see myself scouring every inch of the three cities for orbs (green ones get you agility, blue ones get you a little bit of everything). Besides, I would like to get to Deadpool soon.
I finally also acquired a working copy of Midway Arcade for the Xbox 360. My first copy from Amazon Warehouse deals did not even work but it was my fault that I did not test it until two months later (the disc honestly looks clean as a whistle). So, I found a lot of 360 games on Ebay and won it for a reasonable $24.50 plus shipping which included Midway Arcade. I received the three games yesterday on my birthday. I thought joyous right? Wrong. Midway Arcade turned out to be excellent, no issues there. However the other two games (Mass Effect 3 / Just Cause), were clearly in not Like-New condition as described. Both Mass Effect and Just Cause had scratches on the disc, incorrect or damaged cases (Mass Effect is a two-disc game and was crammed into a one disc), and Just Cause had a pretty ratty manual. I already own the Mass Effect Trilogy and i was probably going to just re-sell Just Cause and Mass Effect 3. Now, I don’t feel good about re-selling at all (because I have a rating to protect) and they are about as good as coasters.
I dropped the Ebay seller a line because let’s face facts, the description was wrong. I am glad I got Midway Arcade, but I really shouldn’t have to deal with the other two in this condition. The Ebay seller has been completely unsympathetic and to this point I am almost thinking about filing a claim. Honestly, I wasn’t reselling the other two to make money, if anything I would take a loss. But there is a difference between a loss and scrap value. Right now, it’s scrap value and that was not in the listing. So I am not happy that I have been screwed twice to get this game and paid about twice what it was worth to get it in the correct condition. But this is why I don’t buy much on Ebay either anymore. Too many cheats. I sell on Half.com but I have always went above and beyond in my listings to be 100% accurate.
Quick Hits
I have been doing a steady dose of re-arranging since my wife left. It helps me to not think about things. All of the bookcases are now in the back bedroom and I used two of the smaller ones for my cds. It actually is working quite well and looks organized. I also decided to take the exercise bike from the garage, clean it off and put it in the same bedroom so I can exercise. Only problem is that the electronics don’t work, so its basically a simple pedal machine. However, I think I am going to use my Kindle Fire and use that for music while I pedal so at least I have some motivation.
My living room is turning into my movie room by default. I have my three Evil Dead posters along with a Resident Evil poster I hanged up this week (Thank you Command Poster Frame Strips). On the way I have a few Mel Brooks 11×17 posters I found on the ultra cheap ($2 a pop) and my gift to myself for my birthday, I am having a Forbidden Planet Vinyl Clock being made. It’s a sweet re-issue of the soundtrack where the vinyl was done in green (with a nice recognizable picture on the vinyl itself) and I am having a guy on Etsy do the clock work. After it is said and done, I should have only spent about $45 bucks. Which is not bad at all. I will surely post pictures when I get it.
The game room will be fixed up too, but that will take more time as its where I put everything I sell on Half.com. In time, in time but it will probably be last as far as the bedrooms go. Even though my own bedroom where I actually sleep has almost nothing on the walls, I am trying to brainstorm of something else to do with it. However, there will be no ticking clocks in this room. A good fan is enough for me. Any cheap & easy themes, feel free to add comments below.
In my writing, I believe I might just put down my Shadowrun story for a while. I think I am being way too adventurous at this current point in my writing to attempt that. I should just be writing some short stories and see how they come out. No defined content or having to adapt to a certain style, just a story with a beginning, middle and end. Who the hell cares if it makes sense? If I finish them, then figure it out. Most of my stories probably would not make sense to the average reader anyway. I have a horror story idea, something resembling a romantic story, and numerous sci-fi ideas all running around in my head. I just need to go for it.
Random Recommendation: if you have not watched the show: Community, you should consider it. It’s freaking hilarious and I am almost through the first season. The second season is already in my hands, and I look forward to starting it soon.
Random Wrestling Thought: Glad Daniel Bryan won the RAW World Title at Summerslam, pissed Orton cashed in Money in the Bank and won the title due to HHH. Furthermore, really disgusted with how last night’s Raw was handled with Daniel basically being pissed on by HHH, Stephanie, Randy Orton and the Shield. I DO NOT have faith in WWE to make this a heartwarming underdog eventually overcomes all story. Too many times I’ve bit in the butt to know that they eventually screw it up. Bryan is an awesome wrestler but they really should have waited at least one night instead of pulling the money in the bank plug so soon.
Final Thoughts
Work is going, I have realized recently that my friends at work are actually awesome people for the most part. They have been supportive, kind and good people to talk to. Hopefully like Will, I can actually morph those friendships into something beyond the workplace but that might take sometime. And I know people have lives. Maybe one of these days I’ll find somebody to date too, but I kinda doubt it. But in the same breath, maybe its best I don’t date or have any relations. I think I might need to evaluate my type a little better anyway. Too often I try to be the hero and save females like some knight saving a princess. I need a girl who maybe doesn’t need saving, but just needs a guy she can count on. It would also help if she would be in to wearing plaid skirts. Perhaps I’ve said too much. Until next time, kids.
P.S. I had to change my cell phone number recently due to well, the pending divorce (no sense in paying for two lines). Due to wonderful account complications, my number of over twelve years went away. If you do not have my new number as of today, please message me, facebook me, or however you normally get in touch with me and I will gladly give it to you. I emailed a bunch of people today, and there is always the chance that somehow I did not get in touch with you. Especially people from my past, well people I liked in my past, which I can probably count on my hands and toes tops. Anyway, later!
