Published on Thursday, January 31, 2008 .
Boy, I was having a lousy day. Not as bad as some of my friends, mind you; I know my misery is almost entirely school work related and that beats the serious stuff any day of the week. But it was a lousy day for me nonetheless. I was up entirely too late the night before reviewing for my C test today that I know I passed but still wish I did better on. I thought it was a quiz since that’s what he was calling it. I check the syllabus today when I wanted to see how far/close the midterm was and I realize that, no, this was a test and thus worth 10% of my final and not 2%. Grr. Not to mention that it was freeze-your-face-off cold outside so I decided not to go for a run and then chickened out from going to the gym. So I did my laundry, planned out my homework and study schedule for February, cleaned my room, dusted, swept, mopped, did the dishes and anything else I could think of to not do more homework or readings or anything productive in an academic sense. There was even free curling tonight and I couldn’t get a single soul here to come with me and that really made me sad. Fortunately, it was gaming to the rescue.
At 9pm I got a message from two friends that wanted to come downstairs and play Rock Band. Since my goal for today was to finish a small project for my ‘Advanced’ Web Design course (nothing advanced about it but at least I’m allowed to use CSS, finally) I figured that a small music break would do me good. Also, it was depressing to watch Penguins lose to the Thrashers so I jumped at the chance to put something else on the TV. I’m not sure which is more fun. Watching people struggle and die, frequently, on drums and love every second of it or playing the drums yourself. Man, too fun. Eventually they had to go and was in such a great groove that only playing with other people can provide. Solo career is nice and all but it’s nothing compared to the fun of playing with others. Thus, I went online with my skillz for the first time. It might be a little unfair since I play medium drums — I need to make them quieter before I tackle the rest of the hard career since I really go to town on them — and can 100% almost every song. My truskill ranking is low at the moment since it was my first foray into live competition and the only match I lost I still had 100% completion but the other player (song: Sabatoge) also had 100% and more notes. I wish it was more like pro face off so you don’t have to worry about getting the short side of the note chart but I can deal. It just makes it harder to get the achievement for 5 wins in a row since otherwise I would’ve had that tonight. Just before quiet hours kicked in I played co-op with a fan and that was also a ton of fun. I’m usually more into co-op than versus play but this might be the first game where I love the both the same. I can’t wait until I finish all my work tomorrow to jump back online.
If you have Rock Band and aren’t on my list — LadyGuardian — let me know. I don’t have any space on my friends list at the moment but I do read all my messages and we can always work out a time to jam.
Published on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 .
A few nights ago I had an awesome dream where I got to jump and fly around Mario Galaxy-style levels. It was great. Last night? Less great. My ‘dream’, since I didn’t know it at the time, entailed hitting my alarm at 8, reviewing my last-minute notes for the C test today, and making oatmeal before heading out the door. As I head out the door my alarm goes off, again. It’s 9 and I haven’t done any of the above. I was so annoyed that I slept until 9:50 and then sprinted to class for the test in the lovely -30C weather with 68km/h wind gusts. I wanted to play Rock Band after my test but, alas, my roommate came home and I do have lot of other work to do this week. If I keep myself on schedule then Sunday should be a dedicated gaming day like last Saturday was. I can hope, anyway. I haven’t written an essay in years so I’m not sure how long it’s going to take me.
Published on Sunday, January 27, 2008 .
Ok, now that I have a working Xbox and the crowds and notes in Rock Band are no longer see-through I was finally able to play! I played a lot, too. Yesterday I went through easy and medium on drums. Well, see, I went through medium drums until I hit Green Grass and High Tides and then I went back and did all of easy for the hell of it and found myself in an awesome groove and then passed the rest of medium and a chunk of hard. Then my rhythm went out the window when quiet hours came around so I had to switch to guitar. Good times. I <3 drums. I do need to make them quieter though since I don't need to add to the list of reasons my roommate has to kill me in my sleep*. I know there are options like this or this or I can do the very ugly but supposedly super-effective and score increasing sock mod. Of course, I want to mess around with this as well. It’s nice to get more than your money’s worth out something :)
Anyway, Rock Band (warning: annoying window resize link). It’s good. Get it if you have the means and a place to play. It was tricky finding space for everything in my dorm room but I did figure it out and now I’m not accidentally kicking the drums every single time I get in and out of bed. I haven’t played much of the vocals yet since I know so few of the songs. Yes, I know, I know. My rock knowledge is pitiful at best and that really showing here. As I hear the songs more and pick up the lyrics — or break down and find the songs and listen to them while walking about campus — I look forward to giving that a shot. The only thing in Rock Band I’m not totally sold on is the guitar and it’s hard to put my finger on why, exactly. Personally, I think it’s a finger issue. I’ve been lucky so far that my drum pedal is still intact and I can strum both up and down on my guitar but it’s just not all that comfortable to me as a leftie. Star power/overdrive seems a little easier to hit while holding the guitar upside down but it’s the frets I have the most issue with. Maybe I’m just overly accustomed to my Freedom V Wireless Guitar Controller (PS2) but I find the clacking of the fret buttons annoying and I can’t seem to slide up and down with ease like before. I’m slowly learning to use the lower fret buttons for solos on hard and expert but it’s an adjustment and takes time.
Alas, now I have to go back to prepping for the week ahead so that’s it for gaming for a few days since this week is filled with assignments and quizzes and report due :(
*
1.) I play music constantly
2.) I sing along to the music
3.) Even when music is not playing, I am probably singing
4.) Whether or not I play music, I’m probably gaming too (why gain levels and listen to the same theme over and over when I can hear new songs and sing to them over the clash of battle?)
5.) I now have Rock Band and want to get people together to play with me
6.) I’m a morning person with early classes and I’ve never seen her in the morning. Unless she stayed up all night.
7.) I cook fairly often so it seems like my dishes are always taking up the whole drying rack
… I think that’s enough reasons for now but, trust me, there are more.
Published on Friday, January 25, 2008 .
Let it be known that January 24th was pretty sweet and I <3 my friends :)
Published on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 .
It still drives me crazy that I was too far away from my 360 to get the last free game offered so don’t forget that all Silver and Gold members can download Undertow for the next few days at no charge. It took me a few attempts this morning with everyone hammering the system but it seems like a decent little adventure during my brief gaming foray before class.
