Life; replay; books!
Hi everybody, it's been a little while. My last posts were kinda up and down in terms of issues and drama. I'm really happy to say that in the month since beginning a new treatment and health regimen I've made a lot of progress. Whereas I had hyperinsulinemia before and was in danger of becoming diabetic, new bloodwork that we did last week shows that my insulin levels have dropped back down into a normal range (which is an incredible change in just over a month, if I do say so myself - LOL). 202 in April down to 16 as of last Tuesday. It's amazing! I'm really proud and I'll continue to work hard. Managing my weight should just get easier and easier as things continue to improve. Thanks to all my friends and family for their amazing support! Without you guys this would have been so much harder and lonesome.
In geekdom news I have fallen back into the old Zelda hype because of all the Skyward Sword/Zelda talk and news generated by E3. Of course since it was Zelda's 25th anniversary Nintendo put on a great show with a live orchestral performance and some seriously amazing news. 4 new titles (well more like one new title and 3 re-releases) this year: Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening for the 3DS, Ocarina of Time for the 3DS, and Four Swords on the DSi. As much as I'd love to play OoT on the super-amazing-sounding 3DS, I certainly do not have the money to buy that console, so for now I can't. The remake got a really great review (9.25/10) from Game Informer so I'm really excited to hear that OoT is still living up to its name as an epic classic, despite the shifts and console upgrade.
Even though I can't get a 3DS and play this new version, I still got back into the OoT mood so I revisited the gamecube port version that I played through a few years ago. There's no difference whatsoever between the original N64 version and this one, aside from the obvious use of different consoles and controllers (also minus the original N64 glitches). I had to get used to the more primitive L-targeting scheme and camera setup, which was a doozy at first, since during the past few years I've been spoiled on the newer Zelda games' (e.g. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess) smoother camera work, higher quality graphics, more accurate and responsive controls and more fluid movement. Plus I am now 100% sure after playing OoT again that it is most certainly a harder game than any of its major home console successors; argue with me if you will but I feel like I had considerably less of a struggle with WW and TP, even during the first run through. Well visuals and sound are huge for me in gaming and since TP and WW arguably sound better and are prettier to look at, I probably enjoyed the atmosphere of both of them relatively more than OoT (however for the end of the 90's OoT is considerably a masterpiece and I still think so today). Again just call me spoiled on the new age 2000s graphics and sound. XD I wasn't really around or active in gaming to appreciate the original impact that older titles had.
LOLZ I've run off on a tangent again. Well, do allow me to continue (because I feel like it - good thing all this is under a cut, wouldn't you say? XD).
My brother, who lately has been inseparable from his Xbox 360, has started up a Master Quest file on our copy of its gamecube port, something I attempted a while ago and decided to "come back to later". While Ocarina of Time is hard enough....Master Quest is ridiculous (but amazingly so! I swear I will conquer it eventually). The enemies are larger, stronger, and higher in number, and the puzzles are more difficult than ever (how that was even possible to do, I have no idea...). Well while Shaun suffers through that I am attempting Majora's Mask again! After all OoT took me a week, and I'm still in the Zelda zone! LOL I have attemped MM before, but because of the stupid owl-saving mechanism I screwed up my file and everything got deleted, so now I'm just starting from scratch. It's fun so far, the mechanics are of course almost the same as OoT (although why we couldn't keep the normal "save" button I do not know). After MM I should probably get around to finishing Spirit Tracks on the DS. whoops LOL
On to the final topic: books! I read manga constantly but I need to give my mind some substance to really chew on without the aid of illustration. Not to say that isn't a good thing, but variety is also good, so I want to work on getting some new reads in, such as (may add to this list for reference)
- The Count of Monte Cristo
- Anthem by Ayn Rand
- Anne Rice's Vampire Diaries
- The Da Vinci Code
- Luka and the Fire of Life
- Sherlock Holmes
- Voyage of Slaves (3rd in Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series by Brian Jacques)
- Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass
- Dracula
....Now I need to go find said books.
I also want to give a huge thank you to my dear friend patipati who helped me finally get my hands on the access 15th anniversary box set and of course, the PLUSHIES!! I now have a cute chibi Hiro and Daichan of my very own. Pictures to come soon!!!!!!!
In geekdom news I have fallen back into the old Zelda hype because of all the Skyward Sword/Zelda talk and news generated by E3. Of course since it was Zelda's 25th anniversary Nintendo put on a great show with a live orchestral performance and some seriously amazing news. 4 new titles (well more like one new title and 3 re-releases) this year: Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening for the 3DS, Ocarina of Time for the 3DS, and Four Swords on the DSi. As much as I'd love to play OoT on the super-amazing-sounding 3DS, I certainly do not have the money to buy that console, so for now I can't. The remake got a really great review (9.25/10) from Game Informer so I'm really excited to hear that OoT is still living up to its name as an epic classic, despite the shifts and console upgrade.
Even though I can't get a 3DS and play this new version, I still got back into the OoT mood so I revisited the gamecube port version that I played through a few years ago. There's no difference whatsoever between the original N64 version and this one, aside from the obvious use of different consoles and controllers (also minus the original N64 glitches). I had to get used to the more primitive L-targeting scheme and camera setup, which was a doozy at first, since during the past few years I've been spoiled on the newer Zelda games' (e.g. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess) smoother camera work, higher quality graphics, more accurate and responsive controls and more fluid movement. Plus I am now 100% sure after playing OoT again that it is most certainly a harder game than any of its major home console successors; argue with me if you will but I feel like I had considerably less of a struggle with WW and TP, even during the first run through. Well visuals and sound are huge for me in gaming and since TP and WW arguably sound better and are prettier to look at, I probably enjoyed the atmosphere of both of them relatively more than OoT (however for the end of the 90's OoT is considerably a masterpiece and I still think so today). Again just call me spoiled on the new age 2000s graphics and sound. XD I wasn't really around or active in gaming to appreciate the original impact that older titles had.
LOLZ I've run off on a tangent again. Well, do allow me to continue (because I feel like it - good thing all this is under a cut, wouldn't you say? XD).
My brother, who lately has been inseparable from his Xbox 360, has started up a Master Quest file on our copy of its gamecube port, something I attempted a while ago and decided to "come back to later". While Ocarina of Time is hard enough....Master Quest is ridiculous (but amazingly so! I swear I will conquer it eventually). The enemies are larger, stronger, and higher in number, and the puzzles are more difficult than ever (how that was even possible to do, I have no idea...). Well while Shaun suffers through that I am attempting Majora's Mask again! After all OoT took me a week, and I'm still in the Zelda zone! LOL I have attemped MM before, but because of the stupid owl-saving mechanism I screwed up my file and everything got deleted, so now I'm just starting from scratch. It's fun so far, the mechanics are of course almost the same as OoT (although why we couldn't keep the normal "save" button I do not know). After MM I should probably get around to finishing Spirit Tracks on the DS. whoops LOL
On to the final topic: books! I read manga constantly but I need to give my mind some substance to really chew on without the aid of illustration. Not to say that isn't a good thing, but variety is also good, so I want to work on getting some new reads in, such as (may add to this list for reference)
- The Count of Monte Cristo
- Anthem by Ayn Rand
- Anne Rice's Vampire Diaries
- The Da Vinci Code
- Luka and the Fire of Life
- Sherlock Holmes
- Voyage of Slaves (3rd in Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series by Brian Jacques)
- Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass
- Dracula
....Now I need to go find said books.
I also want to give a huge thank you to my dear friend patipati who helped me finally get my hands on the access 15th anniversary box set and of course, the PLUSHIES!! I now have a cute chibi Hiro and Daichan of my very own. Pictures to come soon!!!!!!!