So here's what's up with me lately.

Friday night this guy came to live with me:

http://twitpic.com/6pgu0

Tiny orange kitten, quarter shown for scale. He was without a name for a while, but I have since settled on Oskar, after the kid from Let The Right One In. Both blond, both whiny. Both friends with an inhuman predator! Amanda got him from a dude at work and brought him to my door and into my heart. FOREVER!

Jessica and I went to the pet store this weekend and I got him a little kitty condo, a mouse and a ball. He is fucking bananas for the mouse and neutral at best for the condo and ball. Typical!

He is pretty good, but I have to spray him with water when he does things like try to chew on electrical cables. Mostly pretty awesome. Loud motor, loves to sleep on me, full of energy. I am cutting back on his food intake because he is eating way too much. You hear me, boy! Your fat ass is going on a DIET.

Almost done with Persona 4, I think. I'm in what I believe to be the second to last dungeon. My interest in the gameplay of Persona 4 goes like this:

Ranking up my Social Links > Fusing powerful personas and filling out the compendium > furthering the plot line > maxing out my social stats > actually playing through the dungeons

Talk about TEDIUM. And I lied earlier. I managed to max out quite a few social links. Chariot, Priestess, Fortune, Empress, Star, Devil, Justice, Heirophant. I think that's it. I might actually beat this game which is almost unheard of for me, specially these days.

I've continued playing Persona 4. Picking up where I left off in January, which is right before Naoto's dungeon. My favorite party continues to be Chie/Yosuke/Yukiko, though I switch Teddy and Kanji in because I feel bad for neglecting them.

I doubt I'll actually max any S-Links this play through, but we'll see. I'm mostly just trying to get through the game.

I also refuse to do any more goddamn fishing. I am absolutely totally done with fishing minigames in RPGs. FUCK THAT

I love the Persona series so much that if Persona 5 is on the PS3, I will buy that machine just to play it. This is a fact. Also is that Devil Summoner 2 game worth playing? I played the first Digital Devil Saga, but did not like it because it was almost but not quite Persona. There is some kind of Shin Megami game coming out on the DS soonish and you know I will download that so fast my DSL will get whiplash.

I've been reading a lot lately. And watching a ton of TV. Jessica and I are (slowly) getting through Battlestar Galactica. I'm watching the Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job! and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by myself. Kind of getting back into an anime thing here.

My computer is almost paid off. All right!

I was born in 1981. Raised on the Mario Brothers.

I've had this journal for a long time. Since 2001. And I've been thinking about deleting it, or just not updating any more or whatever. It all means the same thing. An ending. Putting a period on it.

But I found an interview with Christopher Walken and for the first time in a long time I feel like saying something in more than the 140 characters Twitter gives me.

Maybe it's good practice to write something now and then. Do you know that I use a pen so infrequently now I have to stop and think of how to make certain letters? Or I have to remember how I make certain letters. Whatever. It's the same thing really.

I am chilling out on my couch, listening to the rain outside (and I am so goddamn sick of the rain) about to watch Battlestar Galactica and thinking about video games. I used to buy so many video games. For a long time at least one a week. At one point, before I starting unloading Playstation RPGs on ebay, I estimated I had around 400-500 games. Now it's down to maybe 50-60 games I can't or won't bring myself to get rid of. They will have to pry The Misadventures of Tron Bonne and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (black label) from my cold, dead hands. Nevermind that I will probably never play either of them again.

I haven't bought a video game since Fallout 3 came out last year. My girlfriend brought it to me at work and that's when I knew it was love. I had an idea before then but that's when I knew for sure.

There's something about the rain that reminds me of being in first grade. First grade, in Mrs. Newell's class and it's raining outside. Raining and I am inside, cozy, safe and warm and I don't hate the rain as much as I do now. If you could talk to a younger version of yourself, what would you say? What advice would you give yourself?

I haven't bought a video game since Fallout 3 came out. I mostly just download DS games because I don't have to pay for them. Not because I am all that up in boners to play most of the games I play but they're ok for what they are. Nothing's grabbed me since Fallout 3, really. And the Fallout series is one that has my undying loyalty. I will neither pirate nor borrow nor steal. I will pay full price, I will preorder, I will thank my lucky stars that another game even remotely tied to that gloriously depressing wasteland has seen the light of day.

And now that it's been on the 360, Fallout is the new Grand Theft Auto. And that's sad, but at least it's not dead.

Other series that have my undying loyalty (in various degrees of purity) may include: Bioshock, Mass Effect, Zelda, Castlevania, Megaman, Persona and the goddamn Mario Brothers.

Happiness is sore muscles, hot water, a locked door and a dark, quiet house.

Inspired by my girlfriend, I bought a jump rope at Target today. I have never liked nor have I ever been good at jumping rope, but it's a good, easily portable, pretty serious cardio work out and since halving my bicycle commute to and from work, I want a way to get into and stay in better shape.

So I jumped rope for 5 minutes tonight and now the big muscles in my legs are all F U, WE GET ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT ON THE BIKE

Jessica introduced me to Half-Price Books a few months ago. Since then we've been there 4 or 5 times. I sold some old graphic novels and picked up some CSS books. I bought a lot of science fiction. You know.

Today I got The Princess Bride, Stardust and All Tomorrow's Parties for something like $11.62. This almost but not quite beats Amazon in my book. Less selection, more fun browsing and immediate satisfaction.

Now I am torn between starting one of these books, playing Tenchu: Fatal Shadows or continuing Angela's Ashes. I am trying to get back into reading and while I will never recapture the rabid hunger for it I had as a child, it's good to know books still do it for me.

I like being in my cold little apartment, late at night, barely able to hear anything at all.
I like being tired. Sleepy in a way that feels comfortable and comforting.

So this weekend I got a new (used) couch, a tv stand and a rug. Next weekend Jessica and I are picking up my desk and I'm planning to buy a chair for it. Then I will be DONE buying furniture for a while. This place is finally starting to look like someone lives here.

The tv stand took about 2 hours to set up, including building time and getting all wires sorted for my video game systems. This couch is better than the one I had before, but I need some pillows for it I think.

I've been pretty against the idea of buying a lot of furniture and stuff, but I spend a lot of my time outside of work here, so I should be comfortable when I'm here.

Jessica and I saw Adventureland last night. Pretty good. Not as hilarious as I had expected, though still hilarious. Jessica didn't like it as much as I did, but I'm more into feel-good movies. The guy who played Bill on Freaks and Geeks was good. So was Freego, who really reminded me of Eric Simpson.

I pronounce this day DOA and I am going to hit the sack.

This is the background of my work computer.

Truth time: Little Big Planet might be worth buying a Playstation 3 for.

I have not been inspired to do much today besides eat, sleep and play video games. This is turning into my usual Monday routine which means it is kind of a Problem.

I keep a list of the books I've read, the movies I've seen and the video games I've played in 2009, as you may know. So far the ratio is about 10:5:1 for video games:movies:books. Remember when I used to read all the time? Remember those days, 8 year old Tyler?

Pretty awesome weekend! Miss Lady and I went hiking at Shades Park. I forgot how much I like hiking since I haven't really been in years. Then we drove back to Indy, she made some awesome sandwiches (avocado, bacon, apricot jam, some other things, all delicious) and then we went to a friend's party where I drank some beers and ate a bunch of food.

The bad part of hanging out with coworkers is too much work talk. Even after I banned it! UGH

Then yesterday we were so lazy we didn't even get up for breakfast. Jessica made a salad and we ate some Cadbury eggs. We came to my house and watched Girlfight (Michelle Rodriguez' defining role) and that was about it.

Today I didn't get out of bed until after noon. So lazy. Who cares?

I don't know if you guys knew about this or not, but Zack Snyder is a low down dirty thief of a SNAKE.

I've got a problem with sincerity. I am forward, blunt, too familiar too quickly but not all that sincere. I can be sincere with the people that matter most, my closest friends, my girlfriend, but for the most part I do not want to get into discussing important matters with people. I do not want to open up or have a heart to heart or even really get to know most people that well. I've always been into being part of things without really being a part of them.

I don't care if this comes across as fraudulent. I've felt like a fraud most of my life. All artifice.

I can't write like I used to. I don't know when or where it went. It's like an old friend I didn't care to see that often died.

Every time I run spell check on my blog posts and the no spelling errors found message pops up, I remember getting A+'s on every single spelling test I ever took. I remember the pride and hostility I felt towards the kids who just didn't get it. Kids who would take twice as long as I did and get half my score. IDIOTS!

I'm getting closer on my self-appointed quest in Fallout 3 to collect all of the bobbleheads. I've only got 5 left now, all skill bobbleheads. I just got the melee weapons bobblhead from the Dunwich Building. I like seeing Cthulu references even though I am not that into Lovecraft.

I've also been playing Ninjatown on the DS which is basically a Tower of Defense kind of game with cutesy graphics. Not bad.

I slept until noon today. I think I have some kind of illness. GROSS!

I ate pretty well this weekend. Miss Lady got this Valentine's Day special meal from Goose the Market, so we had steak, crab legs and a salad. I have never had a crab leg before. Diagnosis: fun to eat, delicious, shell looks as if it was made in a factory.

Then in the morning she made breakfast sandwiches, which were good despite having scrambled eggs on them.

Then we went to her grandma's house where we ate steak so bloody a vampire covets. Did you know I like rare steak? I do. ABSOLUTELY! Also there were some vegetables and things which were nice but not full of nature's A-1 sauce so it is hard for me to get that crazy about them.

I had a dream the other night that I was playing Fallout 3 and collecting all of the bobbleheads, so as soon as I woke up that is what I started doing. This time through I am mainly using energy weapons. I've also gotten into the judicious use of grenades which has come in handy when fighting super mutants and robo-brains. As of right now I only have a paltry little laser pistol. I need to get that laser rifle from Harkness in Rivet City.

It's been and continues to be a good day. Tiring, but good.

I'm back into doing push-ups and I always get bored when my body stops getting sore from working out.

I have made $600 selling games on ebay in the last two weeks. It's like my furlough didn't even happen!

I'm in negotiations with a guy who needs some copy writing done. Combine that with the graphic design site I am doing for a coworker and I am pretty happy with my work-outside-of-work situation.

The Office is on tonight. Miss Lady is coming by after her kickboxing class with Chinese food. I am shipping out 15 games tomorrow. This weekend I plan to paint my apartment and see Coraline with the previously mentioned lady.

Also: the light last noticeably longer these days. Winter is dying. GTFO

It's funny to remember things about myself that I had forgotten.

Living alone is giving me some glorious time to reflect and my thoughts just coil and coil and coil back in on themselves and I remember what it means to be a thunderhead, to be a memory bank. To remember that I am as powerful as I choose to be.

I think about old friends and enemies, about always making a bad first impression, about everything.

In more concrete news, every one of the three buses that run past my new place also run straight down town and vice versa, so I can just catch whichever one happens by first when I need to get to work or come home. And tonight it took me 24 minutes to get home by bus, as opposed to an hour at the old place.

I sleep well here. And the shower never runs out of hot water, even though it has too much chlorine. I plan to paint the walls this weekend. And get something new every paycheck. I want a better couch and a little office area behind the couch and a chair with an ottoman to read on behind that. And a decent sized dining room table to play board games on. And that should do it for furnishings. I am not sure how to feel about my sudden lust for big boy furniture, but whatever. Everything gets old.

Here are some shots of my new apartment, mostly empty:



As you enter my domain, you will see to your immediate left this magnificent storage unit.



When headshots are necessary, I sit upon this loveseat and bring peace to the wasteland through the judicious application of force.



I call this area the Big Empty, since there is nothing in the no man's land past my couch and through to the kitchen.



Hello, kitchen! Hello, 1950's tile! Fact: I made a double black bean burger sandwich today and it was AWESOME.



Scrub a dub dub. I love the tiny shower window.



Ridiculously huge bedroom.



And again. Also, there's Gozer. Hi Gozer!

That's it! Enjoy f-list