Whoa, Updates! Also, 360 Talk
This whole “new job” thing really cuts down on your free time, especially right at the beginning when you have to move everything you own and get silly things like utilities or food. However, now that things have calmed down a little bit, I should start updating again.
The new apartment has been treating me pretty well. Everything seems to work, although it would be nice to get the kitchen faucet fixed since it always feels like the handle is about to come off in my hand and the drain in the bathtub is glacially slow. Oh, and there is absolutely nowhere to put a trashcan in the kitchen. I’ve had to stick it in the closet next to the kitchen instead, which works out alright. I can just see in my mind the first time I drop something messy on the short path of carpet outside the kitchen before I get to the closet, though. That probably won’t be fun.
I started work the day before Catan passed Certification for Xbox Live Arcade, so I got free food and a Catan shirt, even though I didn’t do squat on the game. I wasn’t going to take one, but I was practically forced to take one against my will by a co-worker (Him: “You didn’t get a shirt yet?” Me: “I just started working here yesterday.” Him: “You should get a shirt anyway.”). I was clearly coerced.
In other news, I finally cracked and bought an Xbox 360 to entertain me in my scant free time. I figured it would be the easiest way to keep in touch with people from school, and it would solve this whole boredom problem I had been having with basically nothing to do once I got home from work. I had been resisting the call until now because I was sure it would be just as buggy as I had heard and witnessed already, and it did not disappoint! It locks up more than any previous console I’ve owned, and for no apparent reason. The only thing preventing me from taking it back and demanding my money back is that the games I’ve bought for it are still pretty fun and it isn’t all that difficult to get back in to whatever game it was.
GRAW 2 is fun to play with friends online, but actually getting the game to work without someone getting dropped at the start of the map or someone not being able to hear someone else in voice chat is a lot harder than it should be, involving mostly luck and gory pagan ritual sacrifices to the Live deities. Crackdown is also a lot of fun, although I’ve been having problems with the game freaking out and locking up for a minute until I try to bring up one of the Xbox OS menus. Thereafter, until I restart the game, I get no music and all the buildings either switch to their low poly versions or get the pseudo cel shading effect that is used on the characters applied to them. And the bosses refuse to show up anymore, which is always fun when it happens just as I finish slaughtering all their guards. Would I recommend buying a 360? I don’t know! It is certainly a like/hate relationship. When it works, it’s great fun. When it doesn’t, it can be incredibly annoying and cause you to waste more than an hour trying to get in at least one game before Live drops you. Curse you, Bill Gates. I hold you personally responsible for all my problems.
