Christmas and Boxing Week 2014
I wish you all a good New Year! Here's how my Christmas and Boxing Week went.
When I got home from work from the Elan on Wednesday night, Dec.23, I came down with a fever and felt body aches, mainly around my lower back. I turned up the heat to 22C and it helped counter-act how cold I was feeling. Before going to bed, I turned it down to 20C (which is what we use typically during the day in the colder months) instead of the usual 18C. I had real problems trying to sleep as I couldn't get comfortable. I spent the whole night tossing and turning due to the body aches as there was no perfect position to sleep in. Sleeping on my back as usual helped, but it wouldn't last that long. I also noticed I was starting to get a sore throat. I woke up at 6:02am and despite the lack of energy I had, I managed to make my bus on time to work. On my way to Vancouver I kind of felt like I was about to throw up! I was sluggish walking all the way to the Elan but managed to get there before 8am. During my shift, I stopped at the Shoppers Drug Mart next door to mail a couple of packages to the US and some papers to the provincial government on behalf of the Knights. I relaxed the rest of my shift at work and left at 12:30pm as it was only a half-day shift (but with full pay of course!). I traveled all the way down to Langley with my dad picking me up and bringing me back to my family's place. Since I was sick, I wasn't that expressive and didn't join in things much. The finger food my mom had out was stuff I don't really eat so I munched on some chips instead. Earlier, my mom made me a couple of steak burgers but only had one. In the recreation room, I checked Best Buy Canada's website to look at the deals before they were going to let people order. I listed 4 things that looked good. 6pm hits and I immediately search for them and add them to my cart though at first, some of them wouldn't do this as the "add to cart" button was greyed! But as a few minutes passed, I would come back and find it ungreyed. I managed to snag the 4 items I wanted: a Silicon Power Armor A80 1TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive ($65), Super Smash Bros. WiiU ($44), Tomb Raider Definitive Edition for PS4 ($20), and Beyond Two Souls for PS3 ($15). I would eventually get two separate email confirmations that the items were mailed. One of the two came the next day with the first three items and the second one showed up on Sunday with Beyond Two Souls coming in by itself. I played some Dragon Warrior VII until I went downstairs to spend time with my older sister and brother-in-law. We watched some funny Christmas episodes of the Nostalgia Critic including The Christmas Tree (shit!), Santa Claus - The Movie (woofy Santa!), and Ernest Saves Christmas (another woofy Santa!). Before heading back upstairs my brother-in-law tells me that he and my sister will be moving to Grand Prairie (he was there in the fall) next week to look for work opportunities. I let that sink in but I would see them again during the weekend. Back upstairs, I made up a Neo Citran and while chatting online, I eventually finished it and it was starting to take affect as I was dosing off. I went to bed at 1am relatively comfortably but after sunrise, I ended up going to the bathroom three times to pee and had a very dry mouth. I tried swishing water around and even drinking water to hydrate but whenever I woke up after an hour or two, my mouth was near bone-dry. I thought it was part of my being sick but most likely, a side-effect of the Neo Citran. It did calm my body aches though. I noticed as I was sleeping in that my younger sister and her family were downstairs and could tell that they must have opened their family presents already and were just visiting.
I got out of bed around noon and after showering, went downstairs to do my usual stuff on the computer. I noticed my younger sister tuckered out on the couch. My mom asked if I wanted anything to eat before dinner but I wasn't that hungry due to being sick. I worked on Dragon Warrior VII some more while I did a little snacking plus drinking water and apple juice. I got some messages of "Merry Christmas" from bear friends and Leatherdaddies (awwww...) throughout the day and I sent off my yearly "Merry Beary Christmas" email with 4 new leather pics taken this month (below). Around 4pm, we did the unwrapping of Christmas gifts for my immediate family. Everyone was there except my older sister and brother-in-law who came a bit later. My niece got a lot of clothes and she was happy with the copy of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for her Nintendo 3DS that I got her. My younger sister and brother-in-law laughed when they saw the copy of South Park: The Stick of Truth I got them for PS3. I let them know that their copies of Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie was on the way and should arrive soon (I didn't say it was the movie to keep it a surprise - they'll expect it will be the same season-based DVD!). The Christmas cards I gave out had last year's Christmas pictures which won high praise. There was only one gift for me... one I never expected. Together: my folks and my younger sister's family, pooled their money together and got me... a Sony Playstation 4 bundled with The Last of Us Remastered! That took me off guard and while I was grateful, I was sick and couldn't get much excited over it. I said my thank yous and gave my hugs. I cannot take it with me currently as I'm not ready to play it. I still have my large backlog of games to work through. I would also like to get a new HDTV or even a 4K one as mine is 7 years old now. It would compliment this current console generation well. Anyways, I'm glad to have it so I can concentrate on getting a WiiU and possibly Xbox One in the future. After the presents were done, my folks soon finished preparing Christmas dinner with help from my younger sister. Everyone plus my older sister and brother-in-law gathering together for the dinner. We had the same general thing as previous years: lobster, steak, sliced potato fries, roasted veggies, stuffed potatoes, and garlic bread. I left out the lobster - of course - and the stuffed potato. I didn't eat as much and there wasn't much to drink but it was a nice dinner. My older sister and in-law opened their gifts and cards. They liked the usual gift card from Willow Video Games. I guess it'll be good for a new or used PS4 game that they can play when they move. For the rest of the visit I - of course - play some more Dragon Warrior VII until I leave at 7pm. My dad dropped me off at the bus loop. The bus going to Maple Ridge had myself as the only passenger for two-thirds the way, and only one person for the last third. I got home relatively quickly but kind of moody. I didn't do much on my computer and went to bed around 2am. Instead of body aches, my sore throat was keeping me awake a lot.
When I finally had some sleep, the alarm goes off but I sleep in just past 6am. With only 10 minutes to get ready but sluggish like shit, I quickly do everything and get out the door. I get to my bus stop but find the bus isn't coming. I thought maybe I missed it so I got to the alternative one on Prarie. The time passes and no buses or shuttles have come. I was getting suspicious and think that Translink has changed the schedule. I got home and look on their website and yep, it was a Sunday/Holiday schedule so I woke up an hour too early. The earliest bus was around 7:20am and it obviously meant I would be very late for work. My bus came earlier than scheduled and I caught the connecting bus to Vancouver too. The ride was fast though I was getting a little nauseated. I got off downtown just after 8am. On the way, I first went to London Drugs on Granville & Georgia and found there was no crowd of people! Looking at their Boxing Week flyer, there was next to nothing of interest so after a quick look around, I left and went to Future Shop nearby. Again, nothing of interest and it was quite crowded though manageable. Golden Age Collectables wasn't open yet so I continued onto work. It was 8:30am when my manager (the father) called wondering where I was and I told him the reason and he understood. I was less than 10 minutes away, anyways. I got there and saw his new worker for the weekends. Arnold, the weekday janitor (different company) gave him the rundown on the jobs the new guy needs to do on weekends. My day wasn't too hard and after noon, I walked up Davie to Little Sisters Bookstore though purchased a couple of non-sale items: a wedding card for David & Agustin and a leather pride eagle pin, all for $12.21. The rest of the day wasn't bad either than one of the elevators fob system going down. I emailed Will and no reply for the rest of my shift. I left after 5:15pm after dropping off my keys and putting the iPhone off. I then went up Davie to Nando's to meet Daddybear Bert for dinner, which I paid for this time. We spent over an hour chatting, mainly about our families. I gave him his Christmas card and he liked the pics I included. After we parted, I went to Chapters on Robson & Howe and found it closed at 6pm (it was about 7pm when I arrived)! WTF? On Boxing Day? It was disappointing to say the least! I then went to Golden Age Collectables and there were a couple of Juggernaut - from X-Men - busts I would love to own at 20% off. One of them was $140 and the other $400 but I didn't bother to get them. I then went back to London Drugs and picked up a new photo book for $14.31. There was no other place for me to go that was on my mind so I took the 160 back home to PoCo.
I did my shopping Saturday in Metropolis at Metrotown first. Peter was having a quick visit and after handing him his Christmas card, he dropped me off at Edmonds skytrain and I went to the mall. It was packed as expected but manageable. I first went to Carlton Cards and picked up a couple of boxes of cards for $13.44. I then checked out Sakura Media and nothing I wanted was on sale or was good enough. I went to Chapters and found nothing worth buying. I didn't bother going over to the Metrotown side of the mall so I skytrained down to Surrey and caught the bus to Langley. I went to the Blessings Christian bookstore and was shocked to find that their boxes of Christmas cards were all sold out! First time that's ever happened as there are usually plenty of them! Anyways, it was 50% off almost everything in store. I only found one book of interest: God and Evil, for $11.54. I then went to Willow Video Games but there was nothing of interest. Across the street I went to Willowbrook Mall. At Toys R' Us, I picked up a "Samus Aran" Amiibo figure though it wasn't on sale or anything. I noticed that their selection of action figures have been pathetic lately. EB Games was packed and there was nothing on sale that I noticed. At Target, there didn't seem to be much as most likely they were sold out of the good stuff. My dad picked me up later and I spent some of the night with my older stster and brother-in-law. We watched a few Nostalgia Critic episodes. Not much else happened throughout my visit.
The following Monday, I spent most of my work day catching up on the mess left since I was gone. While Anil did an "okay" job on my lobbies, I'm sure he neglected the hallways because I had to change a number of burnt out lights. I spent around an hour in the garbage room of my first building, cleaning and throwing away so much Christmas and Boxing weekend junk. Prisicilla didn't come to clean the other two buildings for some reason and it was too late by the time I found out. I went to Coquitlam Centre after work and browsed around the stores. There was nothing of interest and only bought a few groceries from Target. Across the street I went to Best Buy but again, nothing of interest.
For New Years Eve, David and I went to Sui Sha Ya in Coquitlam for dinner after my shift. While the place had a lot of people coming in after us, David and I didn't say much. Back at home, he couldn't stay up until midnight and I was just starting my review of South Park: The Stick of Truth after just finishing it. At midnight, I could hear the fireworks going off. I was getting very much into watching on YouTube a fan-made game, Crimson Echoes, an unofficial sequel to Chrono Trigger that bridges the gap between it and Chrono Cross. The game was almost completed until Square-Enix caught wind of the project and sent a Cease & Desist letter to the developers. They complied but the game still exists, just it cannot be worked on any further nor sent out to the public... despite it being free and was meant to be a fan project of appreciation since the company hasn't made a new game in years but would rather re-release Chrono Trigger and Cross. Anyways, it was very interesting to see them use the ROM from Chrono Trigger and re-use sprites to create new levels and maps, tinker with the programming (random battles!), and do their own story to bridge the two games together. This wasn't the first time SE has done this. Years ago, a fan was working on a 3D version of Chrono Trigger that looked very promising until the C&D order came. It's a shame that game companies do this to their fans. These fans weren't getting paid or asking for money, they were simply filling in the void that the company wouldn't fill or giving their fans what they wanted.
Throughout my work week, I just stuck to keeping things clean and caught up on vacuuming all the hallways on Friday. My last Boxing Week purchase was at Willowbrook after work. Since the Christian bookstore didn't have anymore boxed cards, I went to Carlton Cards in the mall and got a box for $7.84.
Boxing week was very pathetic this year compared to previous years. The deals just keep getting worse and worse but I can look on the bright side, I saved some money which can be used for my upcoming trips this year. I plan one or two major trips to the US to meet my Leatherdaddies and possibly check out Convergence 2015 in Seattle.
Wishing you all a prosperous 2015!
- Steve "Cub" M.
Sneak peak at some games for 2015:
Xbox 360: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD (XBLA)
PS3: God of War Origins Collection, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Resident Evil 6, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Wii: New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles
PSP: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
DS: Kirby: Mass Attack
PS2: Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Very soon I will have completed my reading of the KJV of the Bible. My thoughts on it will be posted at a later date.
Perhaps I can get to work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine...
When I got home from work from the Elan on Wednesday night, Dec.23, I came down with a fever and felt body aches, mainly around my lower back. I turned up the heat to 22C and it helped counter-act how cold I was feeling. Before going to bed, I turned it down to 20C (which is what we use typically during the day in the colder months) instead of the usual 18C. I had real problems trying to sleep as I couldn't get comfortable. I spent the whole night tossing and turning due to the body aches as there was no perfect position to sleep in. Sleeping on my back as usual helped, but it wouldn't last that long. I also noticed I was starting to get a sore throat. I woke up at 6:02am and despite the lack of energy I had, I managed to make my bus on time to work. On my way to Vancouver I kind of felt like I was about to throw up! I was sluggish walking all the way to the Elan but managed to get there before 8am. During my shift, I stopped at the Shoppers Drug Mart next door to mail a couple of packages to the US and some papers to the provincial government on behalf of the Knights. I relaxed the rest of my shift at work and left at 12:30pm as it was only a half-day shift (but with full pay of course!). I traveled all the way down to Langley with my dad picking me up and bringing me back to my family's place. Since I was sick, I wasn't that expressive and didn't join in things much. The finger food my mom had out was stuff I don't really eat so I munched on some chips instead. Earlier, my mom made me a couple of steak burgers but only had one. In the recreation room, I checked Best Buy Canada's website to look at the deals before they were going to let people order. I listed 4 things that looked good. 6pm hits and I immediately search for them and add them to my cart though at first, some of them wouldn't do this as the "add to cart" button was greyed! But as a few minutes passed, I would come back and find it ungreyed. I managed to snag the 4 items I wanted: a Silicon Power Armor A80 1TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive ($65), Super Smash Bros. WiiU ($44), Tomb Raider Definitive Edition for PS4 ($20), and Beyond Two Souls for PS3 ($15). I would eventually get two separate email confirmations that the items were mailed. One of the two came the next day with the first three items and the second one showed up on Sunday with Beyond Two Souls coming in by itself. I played some Dragon Warrior VII until I went downstairs to spend time with my older sister and brother-in-law. We watched some funny Christmas episodes of the Nostalgia Critic including The Christmas Tree (shit!), Santa Claus - The Movie (woofy Santa!), and Ernest Saves Christmas (another woofy Santa!). Before heading back upstairs my brother-in-law tells me that he and my sister will be moving to Grand Prairie (he was there in the fall) next week to look for work opportunities. I let that sink in but I would see them again during the weekend. Back upstairs, I made up a Neo Citran and while chatting online, I eventually finished it and it was starting to take affect as I was dosing off. I went to bed at 1am relatively comfortably but after sunrise, I ended up going to the bathroom three times to pee and had a very dry mouth. I tried swishing water around and even drinking water to hydrate but whenever I woke up after an hour or two, my mouth was near bone-dry. I thought it was part of my being sick but most likely, a side-effect of the Neo Citran. It did calm my body aches though. I noticed as I was sleeping in that my younger sister and her family were downstairs and could tell that they must have opened their family presents already and were just visiting.
Click to viewI got out of bed around noon and after showering, went downstairs to do my usual stuff on the computer. I noticed my younger sister tuckered out on the couch. My mom asked if I wanted anything to eat before dinner but I wasn't that hungry due to being sick. I worked on Dragon Warrior VII some more while I did a little snacking plus drinking water and apple juice. I got some messages of "Merry Christmas" from bear friends and Leatherdaddies (awwww...) throughout the day and I sent off my yearly "Merry Beary Christmas" email with 4 new leather pics taken this month (below). Around 4pm, we did the unwrapping of Christmas gifts for my immediate family. Everyone was there except my older sister and brother-in-law who came a bit later. My niece got a lot of clothes and she was happy with the copy of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for her Nintendo 3DS that I got her. My younger sister and brother-in-law laughed when they saw the copy of South Park: The Stick of Truth I got them for PS3. I let them know that their copies of Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie was on the way and should arrive soon (I didn't say it was the movie to keep it a surprise - they'll expect it will be the same season-based DVD!). The Christmas cards I gave out had last year's Christmas pictures which won high praise. There was only one gift for me... one I never expected. Together: my folks and my younger sister's family, pooled their money together and got me... a Sony Playstation 4 bundled with The Last of Us Remastered! That took me off guard and while I was grateful, I was sick and couldn't get much excited over it. I said my thank yous and gave my hugs. I cannot take it with me currently as I'm not ready to play it. I still have my large backlog of games to work through. I would also like to get a new HDTV or even a 4K one as mine is 7 years old now. It would compliment this current console generation well. Anyways, I'm glad to have it so I can concentrate on getting a WiiU and possibly Xbox One in the future. After the presents were done, my folks soon finished preparing Christmas dinner with help from my younger sister. Everyone plus my older sister and brother-in-law gathering together for the dinner. We had the same general thing as previous years: lobster, steak, sliced potato fries, roasted veggies, stuffed potatoes, and garlic bread. I left out the lobster - of course - and the stuffed potato. I didn't eat as much and there wasn't much to drink but it was a nice dinner. My older sister and in-law opened their gifts and cards. They liked the usual gift card from Willow Video Games. I guess it'll be good for a new or used PS4 game that they can play when they move. For the rest of the visit I - of course - play some more Dragon Warrior VII until I leave at 7pm. My dad dropped me off at the bus loop. The bus going to Maple Ridge had myself as the only passenger for two-thirds the way, and only one person for the last third. I got home relatively quickly but kind of moody. I didn't do much on my computer and went to bed around 2am. Instead of body aches, my sore throat was keeping me awake a lot.
When I finally had some sleep, the alarm goes off but I sleep in just past 6am. With only 10 minutes to get ready but sluggish like shit, I quickly do everything and get out the door. I get to my bus stop but find the bus isn't coming. I thought maybe I missed it so I got to the alternative one on Prarie. The time passes and no buses or shuttles have come. I was getting suspicious and think that Translink has changed the schedule. I got home and look on their website and yep, it was a Sunday/Holiday schedule so I woke up an hour too early. The earliest bus was around 7:20am and it obviously meant I would be very late for work. My bus came earlier than scheduled and I caught the connecting bus to Vancouver too. The ride was fast though I was getting a little nauseated. I got off downtown just after 8am. On the way, I first went to London Drugs on Granville & Georgia and found there was no crowd of people! Looking at their Boxing Week flyer, there was next to nothing of interest so after a quick look around, I left and went to Future Shop nearby. Again, nothing of interest and it was quite crowded though manageable. Golden Age Collectables wasn't open yet so I continued onto work. It was 8:30am when my manager (the father) called wondering where I was and I told him the reason and he understood. I was less than 10 minutes away, anyways. I got there and saw his new worker for the weekends. Arnold, the weekday janitor (different company) gave him the rundown on the jobs the new guy needs to do on weekends. My day wasn't too hard and after noon, I walked up Davie to Little Sisters Bookstore though purchased a couple of non-sale items: a wedding card for David & Agustin and a leather pride eagle pin, all for $12.21. The rest of the day wasn't bad either than one of the elevators fob system going down. I emailed Will and no reply for the rest of my shift. I left after 5:15pm after dropping off my keys and putting the iPhone off. I then went up Davie to Nando's to meet Daddybear Bert for dinner, which I paid for this time. We spent over an hour chatting, mainly about our families. I gave him his Christmas card and he liked the pics I included. After we parted, I went to Chapters on Robson & Howe and found it closed at 6pm (it was about 7pm when I arrived)! WTF? On Boxing Day? It was disappointing to say the least! I then went to Golden Age Collectables and there were a couple of Juggernaut - from X-Men - busts I would love to own at 20% off. One of them was $140 and the other $400 but I didn't bother to get them. I then went back to London Drugs and picked up a new photo book for $14.31. There was no other place for me to go that was on my mind so I took the 160 back home to PoCo.
I did my shopping Saturday in Metropolis at Metrotown first. Peter was having a quick visit and after handing him his Christmas card, he dropped me off at Edmonds skytrain and I went to the mall. It was packed as expected but manageable. I first went to Carlton Cards and picked up a couple of boxes of cards for $13.44. I then checked out Sakura Media and nothing I wanted was on sale or was good enough. I went to Chapters and found nothing worth buying. I didn't bother going over to the Metrotown side of the mall so I skytrained down to Surrey and caught the bus to Langley. I went to the Blessings Christian bookstore and was shocked to find that their boxes of Christmas cards were all sold out! First time that's ever happened as there are usually plenty of them! Anyways, it was 50% off almost everything in store. I only found one book of interest: God and Evil, for $11.54. I then went to Willow Video Games but there was nothing of interest. Across the street I went to Willowbrook Mall. At Toys R' Us, I picked up a "Samus Aran" Amiibo figure though it wasn't on sale or anything. I noticed that their selection of action figures have been pathetic lately. EB Games was packed and there was nothing on sale that I noticed. At Target, there didn't seem to be much as most likely they were sold out of the good stuff. My dad picked me up later and I spent some of the night with my older stster and brother-in-law. We watched a few Nostalgia Critic episodes. Not much else happened throughout my visit.
The following Monday, I spent most of my work day catching up on the mess left since I was gone. While Anil did an "okay" job on my lobbies, I'm sure he neglected the hallways because I had to change a number of burnt out lights. I spent around an hour in the garbage room of my first building, cleaning and throwing away so much Christmas and Boxing weekend junk. Prisicilla didn't come to clean the other two buildings for some reason and it was too late by the time I found out. I went to Coquitlam Centre after work and browsed around the stores. There was nothing of interest and only bought a few groceries from Target. Across the street I went to Best Buy but again, nothing of interest.
For New Years Eve, David and I went to Sui Sha Ya in Coquitlam for dinner after my shift. While the place had a lot of people coming in after us, David and I didn't say much. Back at home, he couldn't stay up until midnight and I was just starting my review of South Park: The Stick of Truth after just finishing it. At midnight, I could hear the fireworks going off. I was getting very much into watching on YouTube a fan-made game, Crimson Echoes, an unofficial sequel to Chrono Trigger that bridges the gap between it and Chrono Cross. The game was almost completed until Square-Enix caught wind of the project and sent a Cease & Desist letter to the developers. They complied but the game still exists, just it cannot be worked on any further nor sent out to the public... despite it being free and was meant to be a fan project of appreciation since the company hasn't made a new game in years but would rather re-release Chrono Trigger and Cross. Anyways, it was very interesting to see them use the ROM from Chrono Trigger and re-use sprites to create new levels and maps, tinker with the programming (random battles!), and do their own story to bridge the two games together. This wasn't the first time SE has done this. Years ago, a fan was working on a 3D version of Chrono Trigger that looked very promising until the C&D order came. It's a shame that game companies do this to their fans. These fans weren't getting paid or asking for money, they were simply filling in the void that the company wouldn't fill or giving their fans what they wanted.
Throughout my work week, I just stuck to keeping things clean and caught up on vacuuming all the hallways on Friday. My last Boxing Week purchase was at Willowbrook after work. Since the Christian bookstore didn't have anymore boxed cards, I went to Carlton Cards in the mall and got a box for $7.84.
Boxing week was very pathetic this year compared to previous years. The deals just keep getting worse and worse but I can look on the bright side, I saved some money which can be used for my upcoming trips this year. I plan one or two major trips to the US to meet my Leatherdaddies and possibly check out Convergence 2015 in Seattle.
Wishing you all a prosperous 2015!
- Steve "Cub" M.
Sneak peak at some games for 2015:
Xbox 360: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD (XBLA)
PS3: God of War Origins Collection, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Resident Evil 6, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Wii: New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles
PSP: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
DS: Kirby: Mass Attack
PS2: Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Very soon I will have completed my reading of the KJV of the Bible. My thoughts on it will be posted at a later date.
Perhaps I can get to work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine...