Family Matters

Been re-interested in genealogy stuff again lately. I still find it amazing that Emily's 4th great-grandfather fought in the American Revolution. It's difficult to trace my family tree back that far because of my parents' extremely common last names. Davies and Jones, both with roots in Wales...

Connor Kenway

I love the Assassin's Creed series and I've never really made a secret of it. Ever since playing the first game, my imagination was captured by the possibilities of the storyline and the simple pleasure of exploring an ancient world with hand and foot. The mystique of the game universe Ubisoft have created still makes me marvel.

So naturally I'm playing Assassin's Creed III and enjoying it immensely. America (before it was America) is laid out beautifully and I'm agape at the sheer amount of additional stuff there is to do. Hunting deer or slitting throats, it's all brilliant and I don't know if I'll ever get enough of it.

Wakefield CeX

CeX is the greatest shop!

First, some DVDs to watch:

• The Ultimate Fast Show Collection - this is what we actually came for, so naturally we bought a billion other things too.
• Lord of the Rings Complete - Special Extended DVD Edition - Emily wanted to see these again; I wonder what the extended edition adds?
• Iron Man - Emily also wants to see the backstories of the Avengers, as we both really enjoyed that film.
• Captain America - The First Avenger - ditto
• I Am Legend - it's not quite the book, but I think it's a really good take, also Will Smith

So now down to the real meat... JAMES:

• TimeSplitters [PS2] - I have TimeSplitters 2 and like it, so why not?
• Haven: Call of the King [PS2] - I have no idea what this game is!
• Eternal Quest [PS2] - I have no idea what this game is either!
• Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 [360] - ahahaha
• White Knight Chronicles: Origins [PSP] - kind of a strange entry to the series, but I don't have a PS3

Also went to Games Workshop and bought Warhammer: The Island of Blood, a starter set for Warhammer Fantasy with High Elves vs. Skaven. Emily really wants to paint this stuff! To help with that we also got Hobby Starter Set (set of 9 paints, flocking, brush, glue etc.) and a Chaos Black spray.

No money left now. Noodles for the rest of the month.

Buffalo Bill's Limited Edition Extra Smokey Beef Sticks

Why is there an E in that title? I'm not sure, but I have some in front of me.

"Flavor from the Old Country"

They sure are beefy. But mainly salty.

Also apparently they come from Lebanon. I didn't know Lebanon was in Pennsylvania.

Strangely, 'smoke' isn't one of the ingredients. But Paprika is.

what it is my doge

So I've been doing a fair amount of gaming and programming lately, here's some highlights:

• Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is still a lot of fun albeit a little derivative. Sure, the series basically doesn't change, but it still does what it does, well. I've got most of the achievements already. Just need to finish Guan Du and Chi Bi and play as a bunch of other people. I wish they'd make more interesting achievements for the DW games. Maybe I'll get DW Gundam, those look better.
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is also on my Now Playing list. Looks good so far, very WRPG-lets-you-do-anything-you-damn-well-want although the enemies I'm getting to now hit me for about a billion damage so you probably can't do things THAT out of order. I know Aphox speedran the game in about 4 hours so it must be fairly breakable. I'm playing as a Mage which probably blows but whatever. I feel like I'll end up playing this game multiple times.
• Pokémon SoulSilver is back in my DS and I'm actually playing it. It's probably my favourite one yet; the pokémon don't look dumb yet, and the mechanics of Gen4, though there's about eight thousand moves I don't know the effect of now. I just caught Lugia, and now I have to do the dreaded Victory Road. My party isn't very powerful.
• League of Legends still occupies a lot of my time; I've found a few people to play ARAMs with and they're a bunch of laughs.

Back to life, back to reality

Sorry! I've been pretty quiet lately. That's not an indication that I'm either dead or plotting something, I'm just not that interesting. Things have also slowed down on the game-buying side, as I'm trying to focus more on game-finishing right now.

If I ever decide to actually knuckle down and do some work on a speedrun I guess I'll mention it here.

Emily's still not awfully well but hopefully might get some tests and shit done to see if she's suitable for surgery on her stomach.

Soulcalibur V is fun. Ezio is interesting to play, though I'm not sure how good he actually is. Crossbows are awesome.

Picked up Lost Planet: Colonies for criminally low. I've heard it's pretty okay.

Don't Throw Stones

Not had the most pleasant few months. :)

Had to move out of my flat because the ventilation was deemed unsatisfactory for new regulation. Okay... but it's taken them 9 weeks to put in the vent required (2 hour job).
Emily has been in and out of the hospital repeatedly with what was at first suspected as gallstones and has now moved onto a severe case of 'nobody knows'. Thankfully she's a bit better now.
During those 9 weeks at some point the electricity in my flat turned off so all the food in my fridge/freezer spoilt. Just threw it out, got the electrician in, it's back on now.

Soon I might be able to live in the building I pay all the bills on, what do you think?