Anniversary, Not Mensiversary

You know, there is a story that I have that I have told over and over again.  It's succinct, but the meaning behind that story has been a pivotal source of my life.

And three years to the day, that still applies.  I have been up, I have been down.  I have been across the world, and I have been host to an amazing woman.

I love you Jennifer.  I am happy that you have stayed with me for so long, and I can't wait to see more of our years together.

Another exercise in literary spewing

Happy Birthday Scott 2011

I've been staring at this blank page for about 2 hours now and I originally planned to write about how I wanted to go to scotts birthday, well I'm going but what i wanted to do like get a keg of cider but couldn't find anything but one keg which disappoints me because even though Pear and Strawberry sounds like a good cider, it's the lack of options that disappoint me, and that's a big thing too because sometimes I just want to get just 5L of Bulmers Pear Cider because it's a nice cheap cider, and I like the pear flavour better though Kel says he doesn't like pear cider because it's too sweet, but I just find it easier to drink, but anyway, Scott's birthday is this weekend and it's going all weekend so with my other plans of going to Kel and Tash's to see Alex on friday and then my nephews birthday on saturday (it's a lunch/dinner at sizzler) I can work it all together very well so long as I can get back to my house before mum heads off to sizzler, then I can get back to Scotts to play Warmachine, or Dystopian Wars, or Talisman and all the various expansions scotty has for it which will be crazy fun though I reckon we'll have to make an effort to do something about getting to the top because it can be very easy to just circle around the centre and level up and then climb your way to the top, so we might try and get a relic from each end of the three corner expansions and then climb up the middle, whether it's the normal version or the alternate dragon options, but that's something to sort out when we get there, otherwise we can play our xbox's like Borderlands and maybe even Halo 4 though I think I'll have to share with scott because i don't have a copy of Halo 4 and naturally that makes things difficult, but we'll find other games to play I'm sure because there are plenty of games out there, heck we might even play Gears of War 3 and finally get me to that level 50 of Horde Mode, and hopefully take on a goddamn lambent berserker and have her chase me while I Torque Bow her to death and, well, that'll be fun all in it's entirety, and now I'm really starting to run out of things to talk about even with this mindless ramble that I have because it's all I've been thinking about except for my arcade cabinet which I really want to do but can't because without a job i haven't any money and also if I leave it here it'll probably just rot away because it'll be made of wood and the dust might even set fire inside the playstation 2 that I would have inside it and Mum wouldn't appreciate me burning the house down while i'm living with Jenny, so I have to put that on hold until I move back and get my own place with jenny, and having my own man cave with a sonic the hedgehog arcade machine in the corner.

TAFE is Over

Its been 12 days of fun.  Over the last six weeks I've been learning how to operate a bar, how to make coffee's using the machine, how I should serve drinks, and identifying the correct glasses for what drinks, and now Mum's nagging me about making her some Fluffy Ducks.

Which I found has quite a few different variants.  Mum and I are going to try Cointreau, Advocaat, and Lemonade in the near future.  Should be fun.  Or terrible.  I'll report the results on facebook sooner or later.  At worst, I'm sure we can figure out other things to do with Cointreau and Advocaat.

The funniest part is that we've got some Highball glasses, but they're Sesame Street glasses.  So they'll be cute Fluffy Ducks.

But today we came across something interesting.  Our Teacher brought in some Junkmail, a thing for Dan Murphys, and it had a particularly expensive range of drinks.  One of which was particulary special.

The picture to the side is of the Johnnie Walker Queens Jubilee Scotch.  It's only a small, but gorgeous, bottle, containing a 60 year old Scotch.  And the price?  $200,000.  There are only 60 bottles in the world.

I wish I could get a whiff of that.

Remember November - Psygnosis

It may be a well known fact that I spent a LOT of time playing on my Sega Mega Drive during my youth. And a few games really stuck out. Two of which were published by Psygnosis: Puggsy, and Wiz'n'Liz.

Days were spent with Mum and I writing down Fruit and Veg combinations to the various spells available between chasing down Wabbits. And I'm sure there were months spent before I finished Puggsy, because it was that friggin hard.

You couldn't save the game (though apparently you could if you had the Sega CD version) but you got a password set. But the amount of levels were ridiculous, especially if you were trying to cover EVERYTHING. Secret rooms, difficult bosses, and even more difficult puzzles to figure out.

There were even levels that one could get stuck in. And I still remember a level at a Mill, and you had heaps of bundles of flour, but I got so much flour and just jammed myself in and couldn't get out, and had to reset the console. Oh how I cried. I didn't have the last password. I had to start from scratch.

The thing about it was that you had to move objects and swing yourself about, even leverage yourself over cliffs and up walls. It was a unique experience, and an amazing Puzzle game.

Same with Wiz'n'Liz. Though not as difficult as Puggsy, the game lived up to it's name of being a Frantic Wabbit Wescue. You get a set amount of time to start, which may be around a minute, and you complete more and more levels using whatever time you had left from the last level you finished.

Then you had to collect more Wabbits using less time, and it just keeps going and going and going. I don't think I've finished the game on it's hardest difficulty yet.

But I miss these games. And these are games that should be brought back. Show these kids what the fuck a hard game is.

I'll just add it to the wishlist though, shall I?

Halo 4

I have summoned you here for a purpose.
"Nobody summons Master Chief!"
Then it pleases me to be the first.

I'm in a bit of a financial rut at the moment, what with being a dole bludger and everything.  Mind, I'm doing that Bar and Gambling TAFE course, so it's not all bad.  But with the lack of dosh it stops me from getting brand new games.  Like Halo 4.

Now I wasn't particular optimistic about Halo 4.  Though I thought it was cool that the cover looks so be Unicron trying to gobble up the Master Chief.  But surely that wasn't going to happen, so I added a dash to my reserve of disappointment.

The last Halo game that involved the Master Chief, namely Halo 3, was disappointing.  It was pretty for a little while but before you even finished your cuppa, the game was over.  There wasn't really much to say about it after that.

The game as a whole was pretty much a series of encounters, nothing to motivate you along except to "Finish the Fight" before to moved on to being called a chap with a miniscule length of manhood by children who didn't even know what to do with their supposed manhood.

 So that's why I kept my reserves of disappointment.  Then the Reviews came out.

I take reviews with half a grain of salt, because there's always a chance that the other half of the grain will be the dignity half and will have been sucked off by those who want the game to sell well.  And I figured that was exactly the case when every single review that I came across said "Halo 4 is Top of the Pops".

But I let them be.  It's not my place to say "YOU'RE WRONG YOU SLAVE MONKEY" since I hadn't played the game itself.  But given time, I probably would.

And I did.  My friends picked up the game on the midnight launch, and they contacted me the next day to say that it was the best Halo Game to date.  And Scotty gave me an offer I wanted to take up.  He invited me to play the game with him at his place on Thursday, because he had the day off.

So Thursday, I rocked up to his place and woke him up because, expectedly, he was up until about 5am the night before playing.  We set up the Xbox and we began the latest chapter of the Master Chief.

One of the first things I noticed was the exempilary level of cinematic detail.  It's not just a set of crap looking muppets, I was almost convinced that they had gotten actual actors to play.  The twitches, the motions, all those little things that a person actually does.  Even the look of stunned silence was emphatic.

And slowly, but surely, all those reserves of disappointment drained away with the voice of Master Chief, speaking infinitely more than the entirety of the rest of the series.

The game at its core is still a Halo game, a rock-paper-scissors game with some new enemies and gear.  And new stuff is always fun.  But in the end, my only problems are that I would've liked more diverse range of enemies, and a better boss fight.  But if they're my only complaints, then that means I think it's a good game.

Reinventing Ogre Battle

You know, there has been a lot of rehashing of games lately, and better yet the reinvention of older games.  And I'm wondering if I threw out a game I'd like to play out there, that I would get to see it made.  It's not an unreasonable idea.  And considering one game I'm thinking of would be (somewhat) easily reinvented because the style has already been done by a few different developers now.

The game I'm thinking of is Ogre Battle.  Now I put it out there because I've been playing Tactics Ogre a LOT lately, and I've nothing bad to say about it after putting in 200 hours into it, but also because it's a game that can look a lot cooler now than it did then because it's a format that has been done quite a few times.

The one comparison that hit me was Dawn of War II, because as I played a little of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, I found that it had features that are similar to DoW2.  You customise your party in the World Map, and then in battle you command your parties across the field of play.

It seems like a straight forward thing because a lot of the groundwork has already been laid out.  It's just a matter of building the game from the ground up, though naturally that's easier said than done.

Where I'm headed

There have been some changes in my life of late, and I haven't told many people about them because some are a bit embarrassing, and others just aren't set in stone so I just don't want to get people excited until they are, but I just want to let it out what I want to do.

We'll start off back in July where I left my work.  The reason behind it was pretty straight forward: I was tired of it.  It was the same thing that I was doing 6 years ago, and it was very evident that I was burnt out.  So it was high time that I left.

Now it wasn't quite a dead end job.  Granted, there wasn't any different work for me to do because all positions in the 15-man company were filled up.  They literally couldn't give me any work.

Though they did give me the opportunity to advance myself a long time ago.  I was told I could ask the directors to pay for school if I went back to TAFE, and when I asked they happily said "Bring in the doco's and we'll organise your timetable."

Where I stopped was a lack of direction.  I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I didn't know where to look.  So I basically didn't bother.  I've been writing on here for quite a few years and it's all a bunch of crap in my opinion, very misdirected and loses momentum quickly and drops off without making any real point.  I'm aware of that and I put that down to my memory as I get halfway through an analogy and forget what my point was going to be, half of which I have trouble putting into words in the first place.

I'm working on that.  I've got drafts here and there with little notes about what I want to talk about, narrowing down subjects so I can elaborate on them throughout some big post that I want to make for when I get the motivation to write it up.  Not to mention I have a drawerful of writing pads and art pads that aren't being used, so what better way to use them than to put a pen in the ring spine, carry it with me and write up whenever I get an idea.

But back when I had the opportunity to go to TAFE, funded by my employers, I didn't take it up.  Cos I was silly and unmotivated to really get myself anywhere.

Now it's been six years and I'm unemployed, looking for work, and finally getting my finger out for TAFE.  But I'm not doing a writing course.  I've signed up for a Bar and Gaming course so I could get an RSA.  I chose to do this because 1: It's a Practical Skill that can be used anywhere.  If I were to go to America and stay with Jenny, I could easily get a job in a pub or bar.  I'm also looking at doing a MYOB course as well, but I need to wait a bit before I can actually afford it.

And 2: I am going to try and go to the 'Zoo to live with Jenny.  It's been almost 3 years we've been in a relationship, and we've spent almost 2 months together.  And it's getting harder and harder every day.

With my lack of job, it seemed the best opportunity for me to start somewhat afresh and look into going there until such time that we can return here.  I'm still not sure what all the little details are, like who I have to see, what documents I have to get and where to get them from, and finances are a big thing too.  Centrelink is a modest income, and it's getting me by, but it's not going to fund me all the way there.  So I will be pulling a few favours here and there from close friends and family.

That's where I am at the moment.  Aside from rambling about the games that I've been playing lately, and trying to apply for Temp Jobs, that's been about it for the past three months.  I'll be contacted by a Job Placement agency soon, I bet, to discuss Temp Work options, which would be nice.

I may also see about getting a second hand pushbike.  Start riding around the area and do some actual exercise aside from cleaning up around the house.  Its been ages since I've actually ridden a pushbike.  I still remember the last time I did though, I got out of breath so quickly surprised me immensely.  I also went through about 3 Bikes because they kept breaking on me.  Very frustrating, and luckily I got my money back.

But yeah.  That's my story to date.

The Poor Man's MMO

You know what I like about Borderlands?  It's not just a game that'll enterain you for a few hours.  It's an investment into your time and fun, and it was meant to as the poor mans MMO.

Tonight I spent about 7 hours playing with my friends playing a four girl army of Mechromancers.  Like a Necromancer, except less groaning and more robotic zappy zap.  And it's been awesome, not just because of the game, but because of how different the character is.  Gaige is a very different sort of character to play, especially if you follow the skill tree that Aaron and I did tonight: The Ordered Chaos.

To sum up what the tree does, your accuracy gets worse while your damage gets better, and continues to get better, so long as you don't force yourself to reload your gun.  For anyone who has played a First Person Shooter this concept is very weird, because you're asked to break a Good Habit.

Other characters don't quite have the same sort of condition, having to change your normal sense of comfort you would have with a First Person Shooter, but that's where the RPG feature comes in.  The game has 87 Bazillion guns, if you follow the advertising, and each gun is different in it's own way.

And no matter what, you'll practically be forced to change your guns after a few levels.  It'll take too much damage to kill an enemy and you'll be running out of ammunition as you scrounge around looking for a new gun to use.  And 9 of 10 times, you won't find something you want.

There's only 6 classes of weapon, but they branch off into their own manufacturers, of which there are eight, and each manufacturer makes certain weapon types and follow a particular pattern, like Maliwan Weapons always have an eleacment associated with them, while Jakobs guns will fire as quickly as you can pull the trigger, and Tediore guns don't reload, you actually throw it like a grenade and a new fully loaded gun will digistruct (digitally construct) in the players hand.

But wait, there's more: You have other equipment, such as personal Shields, Grenade Modifications, and Class Modifications, which all differentiate based on what their manufacturer!  One shield might be spiked, so if an enemy comes up and starts attacking you in melee, they'll regret it quickly!  Or you could throw a Fuster Cluck Grenade, which is like throwing anywhere between five and eight grenades at once!  And to boost that, you might have a class mod that not only increases your Gun damage and magazine size, and increases one or two of your skills.

Skills is one of the coolest part of your character, as I've already mentioned when I was talking about Gaige.

So far, there are five characters, and they're all very different in the way they play.  Especially with their action skills, whether it's something as simple as pulling out a secondary gun, or dropping a turret, or going invisible while a hologram of you slashes things around.

And you can do this all over Pandora, an expansive land of weird and wonderful creatures, and power driven Mega Corporations, all of which want to kill you: The Vault Hunter.  Especially Handsome Jack, the main antagonist, and someone who you really learn to hate.

The story of the Vault covers the two games and is significantly expanded on by the second game.  I'm even considering going back to Borderlands 1 to replay some stuff that I've missed out on, and even play characters that I haven't played before.

Not to mention the DLC's.  Some people might complain about having to pay for and download extra stuff, but this is worth it.  I've gone back to the expansion areas in Borderlands 1 several times over, and I have no regrets in doing so, and I expect to get the same feeling on Tuesday when the next expansion comes out, Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty.

I can't begin to say how much fun I'm having with this game.  And I don't see myself getting exhausted of it any time soon.  That's what I call a good investment.

Jumping up and down and screaming for Attention

It's been a while since I've talked seriously about Playstation.  Because in seriousness, they're a joke.

The Playstation Department have made some silly decisions in their long history.  And they continue to surprise me.  Because now they have the Playstation Super Slim.  And my first question was: Can it play my Playstation 2 Games.

The Answer: No.  So I lost interest until I realised that it was about the fifth Iteration of the Console, and that's disregarding the differences in Hard Drive.  And it made me wonder why.

Since the beginning, they have been taking away and taking away, giving little back to the device that started at a ridiculous four digit starting price and had everything for a gaming console and a Multimedia system.  Anyone who has an original release console has the model at it's prime, at the cost of it's tubbiness.

The only thing that any owner of the model needs to do is up the memory.  Which you can do by replacing it with a Laptop Hard Drive which will set you back about $100-150 on Ebay.

But now you can get yourself a PS3 Super Slim that doesn't play your old PS2 games, which are still in stock because its predecessor is still selling, and It doesn't allow you to plug in your camera memory cards, unless you get a USB device which will set you back about $20.

Consoles are meant to be designed for about 10 years worth of play.  There's criticism on that, as certain developers think that consoles designed like that are holding back creativity and implementing the full visual power of games.  That's a fair enough argument since computers are exponentially growing in power.  Heck, my computer is 3 years old and it may have trouble playing most high demand games these days, and for good reason: It's practically outdated.

Consoles don't change at all in those years of development.  They use the same technology developed when they were released.  And whether developers reach the full potential of the consoles capabilities, I don't know, but if they haven't it does beg the question of "Why not?"

But that's a different subject, though if I continue on I'll be beating a dead horse that has been dragged through mud and nettles and declined from the glue factory.

The fact is that console design should be straight forward.  Playstation did take a huge leap of faith with the PS3 by making it a multimedia device, not a gaming platform like Xbox did, who have been tacking on special features without a problem over the years while keeping everything else they could want on there.

Playstation won't follow old recipes, but are "happy to rectify that with this updated game if you pay another $15 a pop for these $80 titles you bought in the hay day".

I hope Xbox continue to improve on their old recipe, because it's doing them well and I would be more than happy to continue supporting them as such.

But with console design comes with sensible investment into development and research.  And frankly, there are better places to put money into than designing a smaller console.

The Dark art of Video Game Resurrection

Click the pic for the original site

A long time ago I was somewhat excited about HD Remakes of games for multiple reasons, the biggest two reasons were that I would be able to get games that I hadn't been able to get before, and games that I did have but couldn't play would be made available.

But after picking up a handful of them, I came to a realisation that they weren't putting in any effort into it.  Take Splinter Cell for example.  It's a good game in it's own right.  But the FMV's were literally torn from the original game and put in the remake.  No buffering, not even an upscale on resolution.  It looked like crap.  Even in-game, one could tell that little effort was put into it except for reskinning various awkward polygons.

Same with the Halo Anniversary Edition.  They advertised that the only thing that would be changed about the game is the environment details would be significantly updated.  And yes, they granted that, but I felt it was a bit dumbed down by the experience of fighting an AI that was about 10 years old.

It was disheartening to say the least.

Mind you, there were a few remakes that I haven't been disappointed in.  One of which is Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together.  It was rebuffed in style, fixed in a few areas and provided a few extras here and there.  Subsequently, I've spent over 150 hours on it.  Probably another 10 on top if you include the times that I deleted the save file to start again after a few months time.

But it's what you would want from a remade game.  It's like a sequel, it's cleverer, it's cleaner, it's smoother, and it's a more entertaining experience.  And remakes like that are few and far between.

One of which that came out sometime in the last month was Black Mesa.  It was a fan made remake of the first Half Life game, and they look to have done a fantastic job re-imagining the game with an up to date game engine.

And they admitted to performing a few tweaks to the game itself, and they were based on the changes made for Half Life 2.  That gets a massive Thumbs up in my opinion.  Rather than just buffering the visuals, empower the entire thing.

Returning to Halo Anniversary Edition, I voiced my opinion on how different the game would be like if the enemies reacted the same way as they do in Halo Reach, the last addition to the series, and how nice it would have been to simply have the option to go into the game thinking "I'm playing a game that started an era.  But not as I know it."

I had the same perverted thought with Borderlands.  When I started playing Borderlands 2, I picked up on all the little things they did to improve the game.  Like certain enemies zig-zagging around as they approached you; the Rock-Paper-Scissors effect of weapon elements and enemy types are more significant; the need to actually take cover because you're not as effective of a bullet sponge as you were in the first game.

The thought occurred that the developers of Borderlands could release a patch, an update with some of these changes, for the first game.  I for one would happily return back to the game and start playing again  Especially if they rehashed the Skill Trees.

But the point remains the same: Question whether the remake is worth it.  Because you could just be suckered into buying disappointment, rather than what you want: A steadier, cleaner reintroduction into familiar territory.

Jennicki in Brissy - Day 4 - 30 May

It pretty much explains itself

Australia Zoo Day.  This is the day that Jenny had been waiting for all her life, to indulge in their cuddlyness and cuteness of Koalas.  Anything else was just a bonus.  She knew what she was there for.

Y'see, Jenny has had a fondness for our little eucalypt monsters since she was a kiddilywink, and there wasn't a day that went by, in the time coming up to the trip, that she didn't mention how excited she was to finally cuddle a koala.  It seemed like I was just a formality.

Naturally we had to get there first, which was really quite easy.  First we get a bus out to the most available train station, Zillmere, take the train to Caboolture, then take the bus out to the Zoo.

Sounds simple, no?  Too bad it takes about 2 hours in total to get out there.  It's a good thing that there was a lot for Jenny to look at on the way, especially on the bus ride from Caboolture.  It was annoying though, because Jenny had her camera with her and we were passing the Glass House Mountains, but every time we saw them, they were gone just as quick.  Which is annoying when we were trying to take a photo of old Monkey Face.

Later, a lady on the bus gave us a tap on the shoulder and said that Jenny could get a good photo as we were coming up to a particular bridge going over a road that I wanted to call the Bruce Highway, but it wasn't.

Then we arrived.  It took one blink of the eye to see Jenny get off the bus and pull out the camera and take photos of just signs and trees and one of the Australia Zoo Staff who drive a minibus to one of the nearby stations.

Again, I was feeling like a bit of a third wheel while she drooled over the man in khaki.

Once I passed her a towel to wipe her chin, we began the walk into the Zoo itself.  I retrieved our tickets and we quickly had a wander over to the Gift Shop so Jenny could pick things out for gifts, and then tick them off if we found anything better later on.  Naturally I played silly buggers to recoup my place as the charming and funny boyfriend.

After such success, we began our walk through the brush and aimed for the one thing we really needed: Breakfast.  It was lunchtime by now, but damnit we were hungry.  But not so hungry to not stare at the leather skinned Alligators we walked past on the bridge.  We sat there for a good 10 or 15 minutes, taking photos, and wondering how quickly a feral Bush Turkey, a bird wandering around the grounds freely, would change its tune if it were dangled above the pit.

We were happily walking along, enjoying the foliage and more of me being eaten by creatures, until we were stopped and I was dropped like a bad habit because, you guessed it, she saw a Koala.

It's the most exciting moment of Jennys life

Reports from friends and certain family members about them being feral and terrifying and annoying and just downright unappealing.  But then you get a bit jaded when you've had them in your life from a young age.

But horror stories of any kind never put Jenny off at all.  She wanted to take him home and hug him and kiss him and squeeze him with all her heart.  Myself, three croc handlers and an Elephant Tranquiliser later, she was settled down and reassured that she would get to cuddle one later, after we had a walk around and especially after we had something to eat.

That wasn't so easy a plan to accomplish.  You see, Australia Zoo tries to be as stereotypical as can be imagined.  Not quite Paul Hogan level, but with enough -isms floating about on signs and such, it's hard to get the camera away from Jenny's face.

There was good that came out of it.  Jenny caught children in Uniform and remarked on their school hats; two girls holding a baby croc posed for her; and the fella holding a large snake offered her a hold which she giggled and shied away from, naturally.  And more of me playing silly buggers, of course.

Eventually she decided she was more hungry than photographer, and we made our way upstairs to the food court.  This was a new opportunity to get Jenny to try an Aussie Burger.

Sadly, she didn't go for it today.  I did and was only a little disappointed that there wasn't any pineapple.

We spent lunch fending off dumpster ducks and bush turkeys while admiring the large wood slice tables they had in the court.  They were very cool, and I kinda wished I could have one for my own home one day.  It'd be cool to have an office in that style.  I'm sure I've ranted about that before today.

Then we had to fill in time.  Jenny was getting desperate to hold a Koala, and we found the area where we were allowed to let Jenny hold one.  Under strict supervision, of course.  So we just had to faff around for about an hour and a bit.

Happily, there's plenty to do at Aus Zoo.  Like seeing the sheep mowing an area of lawn, and the petting zoo.  Jenny was delighted to see all the Goats just climbing the small platforms and staring at her blankly, while I enjoyed the piglets who were all too excited to just run around and round and squeal incessantly in their pen.  It was about this time that we found out about the croc show which was soon.

We wandered a little further away and saw the Camels gnawing away at a rather naked tree before returning to the Food Court and taking our seat to the croc show, where we laughed at the small flock of ducks waddling around the pool which hid an interesting white croc.  As we learnt, he wasn't albino, he was actually a white croc.

Then it was time.  Time to finally hold a Koala.  Jenny is a great smiler.  And if you saw the photos, you'd never see a smile bigger except in caricatures.

It took her a while to let go, but her life was now complete, fulfilled to the brim.  And to top it off, a few of the Dingo's were being walked about and Jenny whispered a few baby eating jokes.

Now it was time to really begin the excursion.  With camera in hand, she took photos of everything.  From encased spiders and creepy crawlies, to the long walls of tributes and memorials to Steve Irwin.  She was practically in tears at how much people loved him.

Then came one of the biggest surprises of the day for Jenny.

"It was heaven"

Jenny wasn't expecting Roo Heaven.  Sure, she was expecting Kangaroos, but not in an open enclosure where you could walk up to them and pet them and feed them.

The excitement was palpable.  She didn't know what to do with herself.  We spent a good few minutes disappointing a hungry kangaroo so we could take photos of Jenny with it while it looked around with someone with feed in their hands.

We let it move on and moved on to watch the short beaked Echidna's do laps around their enclosure; the wallabies stare at us from atop it's rock; and watch more Kangaroo's laze about while the bush turkeys wandered about doing whatever it is they do.  Aside from poop everywhere.

Our travels moved on to The Wetlands, where the Jabiru's plotted against us, Bruce Brolga (real name) remained adamant in keeping himself parked in the wrong area while he cleaned himself, the one Emu we saw refused to look at us, and I pointed out a few bottle brushes here and there.

Once we circled around, we were on to the Koala Walk.  Jenny was calm and collected as we walked around the Koalas in the trees and saw more Kangaroo's jumping about the open seating area that led into the Aviary, where i pointed out as many different birds as were flapping about.  Even saw a very silent and still Kookaburra.  It wouldn't be a few days until Jenny finally got to hear a Kookaburra making his morning laugh.

Then it would be my favourite area: The Wallabies.  And quite frankly, it was because we saw one scratching its arse on a wall.  Life's simple pleasures, y'know.

After was life's simple squirms.  Namely Snakes.  They were behind glass and I don't think any of them were moving, but Jenny was still feeling nervious watching them.  They're snakes after all.  The coolest thing I found about it was the snake skeleton wrapped around a tree and attacking a small pig (I think it was a pig).

By this time, we had finally circled the Zoo.  We had completely left out the Africa area, because Jenny said "Well, I can see african animals at home, so why see them here".  I looked at the map, and found there was a maze of small enclosures that we had completely missed filled with Taz Devils, more Dingos and a Cassowary.  Crimeny that's a weird bird.  No wonder it's so vicious.

After a few more photos of Koalas and a few pickups at the gift shop, we began the trip home.  I was clever enough to call mum and have her pick us up on the way.  And get Pizza on the way home.  It was too good an opportunity.

87 Bazillion Guns to Kill a Bad Guy

The cast of Borderlands 2

I was going to write a post about Borderlands 2 the other day, and frankly I'm glad I didn't because it wasn't going to bode too excitingly.

But now that I've gotten further through, I've been shocked and surprised at the bad guy in the game.  BECAUSE HE'S A BAD GUY.

I won't say why, because I would rather let others find the surprise that I have, but anyone who has felt a little lack lustered by the story, or the excitement of the game at all, push on through.  By about Chapter 15, you'll be motivated to kill Jack.  Not because he's an egotistic asshole with delusions of being everyone's hero to look up to him, but because he's a Bad Guy.  A Real Bad Guy.

And that shocked me.  He attacks other characters on a personal level, and you can almost see the heart wrenching those characters go through, and even a new perspective on other characters suffering.

Granted, throughout the rest of the game Jack is contacting you and being very flippant about the things he says and does.  You can't take him seriously because he's excessively descriptive of what he wants to do to you, and I've never been able to take anyone seriously when they're like that.

But slowly as I got further and further through the game, it came to me that he actually would do those things that he says, no matter how graphic or ridiculous they are.

And that makes me excited to play the game more.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Sega's Finest of the '90s

I was going through the Playstation Network the other night, just window shopping all the various games that I want, don't want, and simply can't afford, when I came across an odd entry: Wonder Boy In Monster Land.

Now I like Wonder Boy.  Especially the Monster Land versions, they are great fun.  I have played that game almost to it's death along with its sequel "The Dragons Trap".  I think I even got Mum to buy it on her Wii many moons ago just so I could play it again.

But when I saw it sitting in amongst the W-Z section of the PS3 Downloads, it hit me.  We still live in the 80's and 90's.

It's been over 2 decades since they released the Sega Master System.  Two Decades.  Video games have grown exponentially since then.  They no longer have cartridges or wired controllers with two buttons and a D-pad.  They aren't limited to 16 Colours and a resolution that's smaller than what my phone can produce.

Yet I can still pick up for $7.50 a game that I played as a child. (And didn't finish until I was in my 20's, on the same console no less)

Then I look at some of the other games I have.  They're fairly big games, like Crysis 2, Little Big Planet, Skylanders.  They're all fairly intricate games in their own rights, and are siginificantly prettier than a game like Wonder Boy.  Probably much better too, even though it doesn't have basic amenities that games have today, such as an Auto-save.  Mind you, the game could be completed in 20 minutes given a perfect run, so no need to worry about it.

It was then that I remembered a recend release, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the rain slice precipice of Darkness Episode 3.  This iteration of the game was released in an old 16-bit V-RPG format, a throwback to games like Final Fantasy, and a need to actually strategise when you enter a battle.

I was somewhat disappointed that the guys at Penny Arcade didn't make a competition with a prize of a remade Sega Mega Drive and a Cartridge with the game on it.  Maybe it's an idea for them in the future.  Like PAX Aus.  Though I suppose it doesn't stop others from porting it.

Anyone looking through digital distributors would find more and more games released in 16-bit formats.  And I can't help but look at it and think how ironic it is that even though we're at a point where a game can be as immense and intricate as your own city, yet there is still a place in the world for a world that could be drawn with Lego.

Does the world really need games like World of Warcraft when you could be playing a Final Fantasy MMO with a toon no more intricate than your desktop icons?

Well apparently not.  Introducing Minecraft.  While it incorporates the 3D sort of scale of a modern game environment, it has the graphical application of Pitfall.  Okay, I exagerrate a little, but it's only a little.  It's still not the most glamorous of games.  Yet it's still one of the most popular because of what you do in it.

What do you do?  Well you mine and you use various levels of cubes to create your very own personalised island of insanity in between mining for certain cubes and fending off monsters during the night.

While the game may sound as simple as the bitmap images for the cubes, it has brought forth many creative results.  So it's not all bad for those who are either determined, or have enough spare time to do these sorts of things.

So while there is a place in the world for high resolution and detailed scenery, it still makes you wonder how much worth blockbuster games will provide in the end.

Board to Video Translations

Every Tuesday Night, I go to a Local Game Store (LGS) and play a board game of whatever sort crops up.

I also like to play Video games, and there have been a good history of board games translating over to Video games quite well. Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, Risk: Factions and even Blood Bowl are good examples. They all have their own special features but they can still be played as the Base Board Game, with the added feature of playing across the internet.

One game that I would like to see a translation of is Talisman. Talisman is a massive board game, with many different characters and encounters, and variants as well! While it's all well and good to play it on a clear table, with drinks and food afoot, the same can be said for those mentioned before.

The thing about Talisman is that one can't be happy with just a basic set. You wouldn't necessarily want to play the same game again and again, which is why Fantasy Flight Games creates expansions for it, to provide a refreshing and expanded experience.

So can the same be said about the Video Games above? I own a copy of Risk: factions and Catan on my Xbox, both of which are very entertaining for what they're worth. They provide a handful of options, for example Risk: Factions allows you to play with objectives, or just World Domination, ala base Risk.

There are more options to Risk than what are provided though. And one feature I would like to see in Risk Factions is a long term Campaign, ala: Risk Legacy. Why? Because it has gotten a bit stale playing the various unique levels over and over again, no matter how much we mix it up, and a proper campaign setting, where you can influence your future actions, rather than play a new game on a larger map with more players, up to a total of 5 games.

But is there anything in sight?  Only if you're playing on Facebook.  And I feel that's unfair.  I bought Risk: Factions on my Playstation thinking it'd be hours of fun.  But I was disappointed to find that it wasn't.  I've hardly played it in months simply because I've gotten over the novelty and the lack of expansion in it.  And the Facebook game is nothing more than a town building game that I can spend money on if I had a diarrhetic stream of cash if I wanted to get anywhere quickly, or just sit there waiting for my Marching Grounds to refresh so I can get more troops.

However I can always just play one of the variants of Board Game, from various video game licenses to even their own variations that include conquering the moon.  They're all interesting and change the same in their own ways.  And that's what I would like to see in Board Game Translations.  Expansions and Variation.

If I wanted to play Settlers of Catan, I could play with the River, or with Seafarers, or I could even jump off into the future with Starfarers of Catan.  But I don't see the Video game providing such a variance.

So it saddens me to see interesting games like these going unappreciated as they are.  I hope that one day, just one day, a developer will translate to a Video game and expand on it just as any other Board Game developer would.

Crossing the Platform Barrier

I like to play games with my friends. However, there's always a problem with conflicting preferences. One likes Console X, while another prefers Desktop A, and another only has Console Y available. It's a difficult conflict when we all want to play the same game together, such as Borderlands 2 where two of my three friends follow the same situation.

So what's stopping Developers from crossing the Platform Barrier? Is it a compatibility issue with the programming? Is it business conflicts between the actual Platform Developers? Or is a big delivery of Wussy Pants to their front door and issued to all employees?

Insofar there is one game that can actually cross platforms, Portal 2 with the help of Steam, and it crosses the PC over with the Playstation 3. This was convenient for me and Scotty who wanted to play the Cooperation Mode.

What Problems did we have?
Voice Communication is a fairly important thing, especially when trying to solve puzzles.  The game panders to that by providing a waypoint feature for everyone involved to look at, but it was certainly no Voice Com, which is why we spent quite a good half hour talking on the phone until we got a grasp of what we were trying to convey with our pointing at random panels and devices through the game.

That was about it.  The game ran smoothly, the game ran well, and we didn't have any problem picking up the game.

So why don't we see this more often?  I could think of other games that would do well playing across platforms.  Your carbon copy sports and shooter games could do well, like Madden and Battlefield.  Granted, the PC players will have an advantage over the Console players (What with the snap firing) but that's where Survival Modes come in, I suppose.

I've got a game called Bloodbowl.  Now I love it, it's great fun.  But could I play it with my friend who has it on his Xbox?  No.  Even though they are basically the same game.

The most innovative application of Cross-Platform gaming I've seen is Skylanders.  Because regardless of what console you've got, so long as you have the figures then you can always play it on a different console.  Whether it's on your PC, your Xbox, your DS or even your Toaster.  It will play.

Only time will tell whether Cross-Platform gaming will boom, but frankly if I can get onto my Playstation and start playing the same game with my friend playing the same game on their Xbox, then I would be happy as a pig in shit.

Advertising Strategies

I've been very excited about Borderlands 2.  So excited that I time how quickly I poo my pants after I say it's name.  3.3 seconds, so far.

But a thought occurred to me and it was a thought that I didn't quite see coming because every thought I have about Borderlands are the various skills and weapons I'll have to play with through the game.  I'd even heard that since I'll be playing Axton, I may have an awesome looking Turret that not only makes it's mark on the battlefield, but may also move with me.

The thought however was about the advertising and the symbolism they make on the cover art of it.  It hadn't occurred to me that seeing a man in a gimp mask, of sorts, holding a pair of finger pistols to his chin and making double the mess across the backdrop might be offensive to some people.

I know that there are a lot of things that Americans take offense to, such as the Australian KFC Ad that was not taken as a racial stereotype where it was advertised, but I thought there would be some sort of problem with the image being on the side of a Bus, or even the previous cover art as well.

I base this on my piss poor knowledge of gang symbols, how various contortioning of the phalanges can mean either someone is part of a particular gang, or that arthritis has taken grasp.  Something I've seen in various shows and movies set in Detroit, crime capital of the world, was placing a finger pistol to someones head, supposedly meaning they're going to kill them sooner or later, possibly after they send a Youtube clip to Australian Advertising companies about their apparently racist overtones.

I'm pretty well aware that over here the finger pistols will mean two things, diddily and squat, but is it thought provoking enough to say "Hey, that might be taking it a bit far. Can you tone it down a little?"

Jennicki in Brissy - Day 3 - 29 May

"My first Go Card."

Oh Tuesday.  It's a day after that wretched bastard Monday, and a day before the lady lumps of Wednesday.  And where I started showing off my sexy girlfriend.

Again, we rose late, but not too late.  It wasn't quite midday when we got out of bed, but it wasn't far off, and we planned on making the long bus ride over to Windsor for Lunch.

Now normally for me to get to my work, I have to take two busses.  First to the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital, then another one around the corner which drops me practically on the door front of work.

Rather than take a second bus and risk stirring up Jennys motion sickness, I suggested we walk.  It's not a far distance, probably about ten minutes saunter, and it showed off some of the more interesting side of Windsor.  Like the Organic Nursery just around the corner from Hungry Jacks, and the nice houses along the street we walked up.  She was in awe at how if given a bit of elevation, you can see some of the Hills of Brisbane, and even the mountains in the distance.  Even with the rather muggy weather.

But we were getting hungry, and Harrys Diner was just around the corner.  And right outside my work, too.

Jenny has laughed at Harrys Diner before today, and she still laughs at it now just a little, but she was excited to see it.  "An American Themed Restaurant?  This will be hilarious!" she cried.  "I must laugh at their attempts at impersonating my own dear restaurants!"  That opinion changed very quickly.  I had a Rib Fillet Burger, an old favourite, but Jenny ordered a signature dish: The Harry Dog.

"Omg, this hot dog was amazing!
It even had bacon on it."

Jenny loves her hot dogs, she even got excited when I asked to get some hot dogs and root beer from that little place across the 'Zoo (I forgot the name of it, sorry dear).  And frankly, they weren't quite what I was expecting.  They were smaller, to start.  Compact, even.  Onion was diced, which was nice.  The cheese was a sauce, which boggled my mind.  And there was a bit of tomato sauce in there too.

Hot Dogs at Harrys were different.  The buns and sausages were larger; the onion wasn't dice, it was also fried; the cheese wasn't like a sauce, and it was warm and melted over the hot dog itself; and it had bacon bits in it too, to top it off; And naturally it had a lovely zig zag of tomato sauce and mustard.

By the end of lunch Jenny had to say to James, the owner, that it reminded her of home.  Needless to say, James is very happy to have Jenny back.

Then it was time to introduce her to my Work.  I was a bit nervous, as I wasn't sure what kind of questions they'd ask.  But really, what were they going to ask?  Whether I was any good in bed?

But no, we plowed through the questions they had, and Jenny told how excited she was to be there and everything.  A few weird questions were asked, like something about "Nightmare before Xmas", but otherwise it was great and we began our walk to Windsor Station for our last couple of stops at Toombul and Nundah.

Now surely Jenny wasn't going to get sick taking the Train.  There aren't any hills, pot holes, or even round-abouts to get thrown about in.  So luckily that's not what happened!  It wasn't until we reached Toombul that she pulled out the camera again to take a happy snappy of a bunch of kids who had just finished school.  "It's like Hogwarts!" she said.

Now today was the day that Jenny was going to see an Australian Target.  A long walk around and check it out, we would catch up with one of my friends "Del", who requested we see her Target store rather than the despicable Chermside store, before continuing on to browse the rest of Toombul.

To summarise, Jenny popped her Target Cherry with my friend.  Now where's that Rimshot.

As we enjoyed the afterglow, Jenny and I did a hunt for DVD's.  Jenny has wanted to see Australian shows for ages, and the only thing she has been able to get her hands on is Outrageous Fortune which I procured and provided to her.  So this was her best chance at getting something.

We hunted for what seemed like minutes to find names to remember until a time closer to Jennys departure.  But we settled on Underbelly, one recommended to her by many friends, and Packed to the Rafters, a show I thought she might like.  I had seen an episode or two and thought it was something she would enjoy.  So why not.

After our somewhat poor attempt at hunting, we moved on to our next destination in the next suburb over: Nundah Village.  I have a friend there, Paul, and on Tuesday Nights I go to visit Paul at his shop and play Board games and Card games.  Tonight was no exception, but had the inclusion of Jenny.  But before that, we had to have dinner.  And I knew just the thing to have.

Jenny laughed at me when I first said Kebab.  Then she asked me to say it again and she laughed harder.

"What?  What's so funny?"
"It's Kabob"
"No it's not."
"Yes it is."
"Wait, hold the phone.  We might be talking about something completely different."

Turns out we were.  And it's a good thing too, because Jenny had never had a Kebab before.  So just a small chicken one sufficed her for this new experience.  Twas good, was her response.  And I smiled, because if we ever go out on a bar crawl, I can know that she will enjoy a kebab with me, along with sexy kebab kisses afterwards.

Twas after that we caught up with one of my workmates and moved over to Fastbreak, aka: Paul's Shop.

Even the greatest super heros
have trouble with hygiene.

Jenny knows of this place as a Nerd Hole, a place where nerdy things happen.  And it's true.  I can't deny that.  Because we were going to play strange board games and card games for the night.  She was entertained at our eclectic group as well, ranging from an 8 year old boy with Arthritis in his ankle, to a sixty year old ex-army man, and everything in between.  Including a Pseuper Hero.  _{(That's me trying to be clever.)}

I had asked Mentos man to attend tonight because... Well you can't get the real impact of him until you see him in person.  And crimeny Jenny enjoyed it.  Mentos man even brought along a few new additions, such as the belt buckle and the bandolier pictured, and a wrist launcher which he fashioned out of tubes, springs and a gauntlet from somewhere within Bargain City.

Jenny couldn't stop laughing.  Except for when a tube of Mentos were shot across the room at me.  That was when she got shocked before laughing again.

By nine O'clock, Jenny had had enough.  We had gamed the night away, with a few board games and a many rounds of Viewpoint, Jenny was starting to loll her head around from exhaustion, and we made a break for home.

And we had to go home early anyway.  Tomorrow was Australia Zoo day.

Jennicki in Brissy - Day 2 - 28 May

"See how the light shines on the mall?
Like heaven shining down on consumerism"

It was a crisp Monday Morning, Sparrows farting until the the birds began yelling away at whatever the hell was rising over the horizon, and the gentle whisper of "Matt, Matt".

Up goes my head and there's mum whispering around the corner of the door.

"Can you come out here please?"

I clamber over a very sleepy Jenny to Mum in a bit of a panic. Her GoCard, that little card that holds her journey from home to work, was AWOL. And Mum didn't have any cash.

Jenny climbed out in a sleepy haze and helped with the search around the house for the elusive device, but to no avail. Lifting and searching and furrowing through everything that we could to find my necklace half hiding under the couch.

Luckily, we had an alternative. Kel and Tash happily provided Jenny and I a spare GoCard so Jenny could get around relatively cheaply. Works out to be about $2 a trip.

So to allow Mum to get to work we gave mum the card so she could get to work, while Jenny used the Pretty Money she collected yesterday on her way through the Duty Free section.

In the mean time, Jenny and I went back to bed and slept in until about Midday.  Because that's what you do the morning after your first bloody long overseas plane trip.

The day was taken easy too.  We were slow to rise from the warm envelope of the bed sheets, but we struggled our way to getting ready for our excursion to Chermside for lunch and a Movie.

Now, the thought of introducing my partner to a Shopping Centre seems a weird thing to do.  And that's a fair first thought since America is lauded for it's Shopping Malls as the popular teenage hangout.  Upon visiting one of the larger Malls of the 'Zoo, I was surprised to find it a little vacant.  Though that had something to do with the time period we attended.

Chermside was relatively vacant since it was a Monday day and children weren't allowed out of class except those who decided to wag.  But that was convenient since we didn't want to wade through the throngs of shoppers, and have Jennys various photos disrupted by the head of an oblivious passerby, giving us a strange looks as if we were some sort of spectacle to behold.

This was summarised by a friend: "They were looking because you're the first non-asian they've seen taking photos of a shopping centre"

But lunch was to be had.  We hadn't eaten anything for breakfast since we simply prepared ourselves and ran to the bus stop, had a crash course in Pretty Money, and Bussed our way through Jennys Motion sickness to our destination, where she quickly took a happy snap of the Police Beat placed out the front.

Little did she know it was primarily for one of the local franchise swill holes: Gilhooleys.

"We totally had to have lunch at the Irish Pub"

Now, I've never really heard a good thing about a Gilhooleys.  But Jenny wanted to go to an Australian-Irish Pub.  So fair enough, we went there and had our Lunch.

For Jenny a Chicken Caesar Salad, a food I could hardly see wrapped around the head of a Roman Dictator.  And a Fettucine Carbonara for myself.  Italian is kinda like Irish, right?

Our friend was disappointed. "you guys managed to order the two things I despise... plus why are you eating at gilhoolies if your not ordering a braised beef guiness pie FFS... Medway... this is all your fault"

Yep.  I'll cop that on the chin.  I didn't even think that the menu at Gilhooleys had even looked at an Irishman before, let alone had any food cooked to the theme.

But we enjoyed our overpriced meal as best we could.  Jenny didn't quite get through her whole salad so I finished it off well after my own Pasta was licked clean off the plate. Note: I didn't actually lick the plate, but damn if it wasn't tempting.

After lunch, our excursion through the shopping centre began, along with the gawking of what few strangers there were.  While we didn't get very far, we did take in the two sights that Jenny was very keen to see: Wendys and Target.  The 'Zoo has these establishments, however Wendys is actually a franchise Burger Restaurant, rather than an Ice Cream and Hotdog shop, and Target... well it's Target.

But she was most impressed by the hanging advertisement screen above the Cold Rock Ice Creamery.  It's nothing particularly special to myself, so I'll leave the description of awe to Jenny herself, while I move onto our Cinema experience.

"The movie theater! They actually give you an
assigned seat when you buy a ticket."

Jenny was undoubtably impressed by the size and design of the outside.  Then shocked and appalled when she saw the prices.  I assured her that the price gouging isn't the same everywhere, and that next time we would make a plan to go to the Imax Cinema at South Bank, where the prices are more reasonable and the screens are enormous.

The movie of choice though was the new Sasha Baron Cohen film, "The Dictator".  I can assure Mother Michelle* that while it's no Meatspin, it's still shocking where he loses his phone.

* Note: Must get Michelle a Habit for her Birthday.

The evening ended a little later than we had expected and we got home to a laughing Mum.  She was a little embarrassed at herself, but she was always one to laugh at the silliest things.

Such as where she left her GoCard, of which the realisation came to her during the day.  Through all our hard work early this morning, we missed the one spot that Mum had actually sworn she had already checked:  Between the envelopes she pulled out of the letter box yesterday.

We forgave her.  Especially since she made dinner.

The Dramatisation of Conflict

D&D has gotten a little... Stale, and our DM has gotten a bit burnt out.  So it's been a point of fact to discuss alternatives.  One alternative I suggested was a Theatre of War Campaign. We've all played the Iron Kingdoms Wargames and we all have our different factions.

But after thinking about it for a second, we came across a problem: Not all of us play Warmachine.  Some of us play Hordes, and the Theatres of War we have available are each designed for the two games.

I plowed on with the idea though, tackling the other big problem we have: the Theatres of War are designed for a previous iteration of Warmachine.  There are a few things different betwen the two systems, but nothing that can't be fine tuned over time.

But I've gotten my first draft of changes up, along with variant ideas, and posted them up on their own little blog.  If anyone wants to put their two cents in, throw it up in the comments.

http://dramaofconflict.blogspot.com.au/

Jennicki In Brissy - Day 1 - 27 May

In the two years and seven months that I have known Jenny, I have never seen a smile as big as hers. And I can remember the smile from when I first met her in person. She was smiling ear to ear. This time, her head was close to falling off.

That's what you get when you spend 12 days in a country you have been dreaming of since you were a kid. And I feel like AM the luckiest guy in the world to be part of her motivation to follow through on the act, and to escort her around Brisbane with the help of many of our friends.

I'll never forget waking up at Sparrows Fart o'clock on Sunday and getting myself dressed to pick up Jenny from the Airport with Mum. The trip was entertaining in itself. Mum and I driving down the highway, little idea what we should be looking out for, when suddenly I looked ahead and said to Mum "The Gateway Bridge, it's a bit close isn't it?"

Sure enough, it was. So over we went, and down the other side, through the e-toll gate and over the overpass, and back through the e-toll gate and then back down Southern Cross way, which Mum actually recognises.

That was when I started to Panic. Jenny was going to be at the airport, wasn't she. She was going to be waiting around looking for me and starting to think "He has forgotten about me and abandoned me" or something like that. She's going to be freaking out.

But no, it was half seven when Mum and I arrived. I bolted straight to the gate while Mum waited in the loading bay, the both of us thinking she will be fine waiting for a half hour or something.

A few minutes later, Mum calls me. "I can't wait in the loading bay, what should I do?"
"Go park, Mum"
"I don't know where it is!"
"There are signs, Mum. Should be one just as you leave the loading bay, or just as you come back in."

Sure enough, she quickly got her parking spot and joined me at the gate. Jenny hadn't come out yet, and it was past 8. I was panicking again. Have I missed her? Did she come out and I can't find her in the throng of people here? Or is she still in there and is lost since it's a very different place to America?

Turns out, her and the rest of the plane were held back, Quarantined, so to speak, because someone was Ill on the entire 14 hour flight from LAX. (One could not blame them. The smog will take your childrens lives, given the chance.)

Clever old me decided to make the announcement on Facebook that Jenny was finally here, and that she was Quarantined for a little bit.

Little did I know, that offhand comment caused a flurry of laughter and, more stressfully, worry. Jennys Mom and her Brother didn't quite understand the little joke, but luckily were easy to relieve after I told them what had actually happened.

It was a nice Sunday, and Jenny had about 3 hours sleep over the past 24+ hours. I had only had about 5 hours myself, which usually puts me into Zombie mode if it weren't for my excitement. But Jenny and I got to mine, I introduced her to the house we would (mostly) be staying at, and we crawled into bed for a couple hours of nap.

She couldn't sleep though. Why? Because she thought that someone was whistling outside the window.

"What?"
"Can you hear it? Someone's whistling!"
"I don't know wha-"
*Bird Whistle* (I'll get back to you on what bird it is)
"Ohhhh, that's a bird, babe."
"REALLY?!"

Back in the 'Zoo, you don't get that sort of background noise. I always knew something was off when I visited there, just something niggling in the back of my mind that something was missing that made Kalamazoo different, but little did I suspect that it would be the bloody birds.

Little did I realise before that day was that there was a festival on at Mcpherson Park. Every fourth Sunday of the Month the Miniature Steam Trains start running on the rails that were set back in '94, and the B-Ridge Central Lions Club run them along with a bunch of stalls and, much to my surprise, a concert stage. I thought it was perfect for such a nice day to go for a walk and get some lunch, since it was about 1pm before Jenny and I got up from our Nap.

It was an easy choice: Go to the Fish and Chip shop. Jenny wanted to try more fish, and she hasn't really had something like Fish and Chips before. Luckily, the shop around the corner from my mums place has the BEST fish and chips I've ever come across. And Jenny Agreed, between nibbling on her Crumbed Cod and taking photos of the Steam Trains as they circled around us.

She also took photos of all the unfamiliar birds, such as the Dumpster Ducks and the Willie Wagtails, to the Butcher Bird and even the Pigeons.

"Cool Tree!"

But on top of increasing her knowledge in Ornithology, she also dabbled in Botany starting with our own local plantlife. Gum Trees, Paper Bark trees and this one tree that I just couldn't Identify, though I think it's a small Paperbark with a bush that started growing at the base of its trunk. Cool though, and it's been there since I were a lad.

The sun beating down, Jenny was getting hot and cooling down when the wind blew her way, while I got a little chilly but braved it as best I could. We continued walking around, finding more interesting trees, houses and even got a few shots of Lorikeets as we followed the footpath around my old Primary School.

Now I wasn't sure if we were allowed, I don't think we were, but I stopped her for a moment to ask if she wanted to have a walk through the School. She was very keen, and very surprised.

"Why's that babe?"
"Well school at home is very enclosed, we have everything inside a building and it's not often that we go outside."
"Is that because only about 6 months of that time it's safe to go outside, and three of those months are School Holidays?"
"Exactly, so seeing your - What is it? Tuckshop? - and everything so open and in the sun, it's really amazing."

There you go, kiddilywinks. Appreciate the sunlight.

Mum gave us a mission before we had left. She wanted me to get ingredients for Dinner: A stuffed potato. I told her to write down the list of things we need because I'm either A: Bound to forget something, or B: get everything.

We slowly weaved through the aisles as she took photos of interesting things, and we discovered something as she took a photo of me holding a packet of Meat Pies.

"Matt holding his meat...pie. Meat pie."

*Jenny makes sound*
*I look up at her*
*She takes photo and starts laughing*
"Oh my god, I'm sorry!"
"For what babe?" I'm a little clueless
"I make that sound at Taz too when i want to take a photo of him."

She assured me that I'm not a puppy dog (though I do like a good petting) and she promised not to do it again. (She still did it though)

After that funny little episode at Woolworths, we got home and I gave Mum the groceries for her to start dinner. So she started it all off, and look at everything in front of her and thought 'There's something Missing'.

"Matt?"
"Yeah, mum?"
"Did you remember everything?"
"Pretty sure I did"
"What about Potatos?"
"..."
"Matt?"
"I'll be back in a few minutes, Mum."

I got a Gal from Kalamazoo to Visit Brisbane

Jenny's first Crocodile

Okay, I'm a bit late (three weeks) with writing up my post about Jennys arrival to Australia.  Frankly, it's been difficult to really get it down.  Even Jenny is having similar problems, worrying that she might not be able to express how amazing and fulfilling the experience was, even though some (if not all) have had a similar experience attaining your life-long dream.

That's what Jenny did and I feel proud that we got in as much as we did in the two weeks that we had.  By the end of it we were basically running on empty, but we had fun meeting people and showing her some cool things here in Brisneyland.

I would like to thank everyone for their help and support.  Mum for cooking for Jenny and I, Monster Yuppy and Birmo for chauffeuring us around some of Brisbane's hotspots and giving both of us a History lesson, Kel and Tash for joining us for Dinner, Erin for showing us an awesome Thai restaurant, James and Adam for the tour around Surfers Paradise, Stacey and Kenny for housing us and helping me entertain Jenny, Girl Clumsy and Dan Beeston for joining us at Movie World and having us giggle our heads off at Impro Mafia...

And to everyone who turned up to the Lock'n'Load Bistro on the Saturday night, Thank you so much.  Jenny was extremely humbled to have met so many people who were there to see her, especially the half dozen or so who came interstate for the night.

There hasn't been a day that I haven't heard my Fiance say "I miss Australia" since she returned to the 'Zoo.  Thank you all again.

On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness

Penny Arcade are one of the longest running gaming webcomics in the world.  They've built up a name using big words and satire to most, if not all, extents.  So after many years of drawing and building up their little animated world, and toying with the ideas in the back of their heads, they naturally made a game.

It's not an easy game, by any sense.  It sometimes take a little while for one to figure out what they should be doing in the game, but it does eventuate with entertaining cutscenes, familiar cameos, and a ridiculous storyline.  Oh boy is it ridiculous.

They released Episode 3 recently and were forced to change the style of the game from a Cell-shaded 3D graphics game to a classic 8-bit RPG format.  And frankly, I'm only a little surprised they didn't do that in the first place.  Were I in the position of Penny Arcade Aristocracy, I would have requested the suggestion of changing formats of each Episode.  A game about a Gaming Celebrant should celebrate Formats and their Generations.

Which is why I'm happy for Episode 3 to have changed the style.  I appreciate that they kept with the RPG format they intended, though I would be interested to see more.

Late to the Avengers Party

Lets face it.  Hulk is a Bully.

Most of my friends have gone and seen Avengers, and are foaming at the mouth at how awesome it was.  Even those who tend to be a bit picky with their movies enjoyed it.  Some even created an alternative story to appease those who thought it was a little lacking.  To them I say "There were Five Movies leading up to the film.  There's your in-depth story."

The stories of Nick Fury and Co?  I reckon that can earn a movie in itself.  A prequel covering the story of Hawkeye and Black Widow?  Sure.  I could totally dig that.  Even if I'm not a Gushing Fan of Scarlett Johansson.

Oh, what's that?  Sacrilege?  I should be burnt at the stake for committing such heresy?

Well throw me in water and see if I float, but I'm not a gushing fan.  Sure, she did a good job as Black Widow.  But I didn't care if I saw her arse completely covered in leather, as it was, or in a string bikini.  I was more excited seeing Gwyneth Paltrow in a pair of denim shorts.

Moving on before I get too distracted, the flick was fantastic.  Great Lines, Great emotion, and Great answers to interesting matchups.  There were fights EVERYWHERE.

So everyone who wants to go see it, but isn't sure whether they want to go see it?  Put it this way: if you enjoyed the other five movies, Iron Man 1 & 2, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, or Thor, then you will LOVE this movie.