My shiny, new PS3.

Well, it was inevitable: I bought myself a shiny, new PlayStation 3. Thus far, I am thoroughly impressed by the machine.

I knew it was arriving yesterday, but I had to run errands outside the house; specifically, I had to go to the post office to send off PlayStation 1 memory cards customers bought through my Amazon store. As I was walking down Oregon Street, I saw the FedEx truck drive past me. I could also see the driver looking for house numbers. I was really excited, but I continued forth to the post office.

Once I made it back to the house, there was the box sitting on the front stoop. I picked it up and I realized it was heavy. I knew the system was heavy, but the weight took me off guard. I take the box inside the house and go to change my clothes since I got intentionally splashed by a driver while I was walking. Some people...

Once I'm dry I open the box in the living room. To my horror, both Amazon and FedEx totally botched the packing and shipping procedures and the contents of the shipping box got damaged! Along with the system, I also ordered Disgeae 3 and The House of Leaves. The BD case for the game somehow got smashed, and the book got water damaged – although not too badly. I was first pissed, and then worried. I thought that if a plastic case can be smashed open, would the system fare better?

Of course, I had to unhook my Sega Saturn from the TV and carefully put it back in its box.

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From ps3

From ps3

It was my intent to open the PS3 box and test out the system since sometimes hardware can malfunction between the assembly line and the customer. I didn't like the fact that both Amazon and FedEx increased the chances malfunction by their negligence. So I hook the system up to the TV and test all the media the disk drive can take: PS1, DVD, Blu-Ray, and Ps3 games all work. So I'm pleased the system didn't get damaged, but its box did.

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From ps3

Once I had the system connected to the TV, the stand-by light turned on. I was excited!

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Now I'm really excited! I wanted to chronicle the first activation of the system, so I took a picture of my finger on the power button.

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And it is on!

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From ps3

Much to my surprise, the PS3 can actually detect the intermittent wireless network from Trent's house. The system rates the signal strength at 65%. I'm surprised it is that high. I went ahead and downloaded the system update and created my PSN profile. Once I turned the system on, I knew I was in for a long system update. So once I created my PSN account, I initialized the system update. In the meantime I assembled a spinach pie for dinner since the system update took nearly 45 minutes.

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My PSN account username is “Gnurd,” which is the old way "nerd" used to be spelled in the 1960s before American pop culture got a hold of it and changed the spelling. While there may be millions of people on the PSN, I'm the only gnurd!

From ps3

I actually like how the x-media bar works for the system. I find it really sublime, especially when the violins gently massage my ears on system start-up. I can't wait to start playing the games I bought for the system (which I didn't own until yesterday) since they got good reviews.

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Just another horrible day.

I don't understand what The Universe is thinking when it shows the horribleness of humanity to me. I get so sad and furious at the stupidity and cruelty of people I can barely comprehend a compassionate God.

I wake up today early because I had an appointment with my academic adviser regarding my future plans for transferring to the University of Illinois. Naturally -- since I had an important engagement -- the weather is fucked-up, so I have to walk to the bus stop. This isn't so bad BUT there was freezing rain which made walking nearly impossible. I go to the post office first to send off a PlayStation 1 memory card that was bought through my store. After that I walk to the bus stop nearby. Since the weather made driving a little bit difficult, most drivers were panicking and driving incredibly defensively, which in turn made the buses incredibly late. I looked at my watch and realize both of my options for getting to school meant I was going to be late for an important meeting. I had two options for getting to Parkland College: Take the Gray bus and be really late, or; take the Green and connect to the Brown and be less late. I chose the green option because I thought I could save some time, but that was not the situation. I didn't work. I arrived at the bus terminal at 10:00am. I had to use the desk phone to call the adviser to tell her I couldn't make the appointment on time. (I felt like such a jerk for asking to use the desk phone.) She understood, and that was OK. I actually felt a bit relieved. We rescheduled the appointment for next Wednesday -- in the afternoon. Hell, at least I'll already be at the college so I shouldn't be late.

Of course, I wouldn't be so damn depressed if I didn't see what I saw next: I saw a mother abusing her child in the bus terminal. It wasn't the usual punishments that mothers usually dispense upon their children; This woman was thrashing her child right there! This little boy was screaming, "No, no, no," and no one did anything to stop her. It was so fucked-up. Yesterday I went to Target to buy a Ps2slim so I could test my Ps1 memory cards. After I did that I walked to the mall (about 1/5 of a mile) so I could catch the south-bound bus back to Urbana. In the mall, at the bus stop, I saw the same exact thing. This mother must have hit or grabbed her daughter really hard because the daughter started bawling right there. The mother was like, "Put your coat on!" Again, no one did anything to help the child. I sat in another part of the mall wing just so I could be away from that bitch and that situation. It was sickening to watch then.

It was sickening to watch again today. It is sickening to realize that right now -- this very instant -- little defenseless kids are being abused by their parents. I've asked this question before, but it deserves restating: Why do people have children if they simply cannot handle the pressure of parenthood? Is it really that hard to not get pregnant? Is it really too much to ask to put a condom on before you fuck? It must be, but that doesn't matter. It only matters that there are legions of children who will grow up to be abusers themselves. They will grow up in unimaginable home situations that will yield violent adults. The cycle of poverty and abuse continues.

So: If The Universe does show me these things, what am I supposed to do? Am I responsible for those children by those other adults? Am I supposed to stop the physical and emotional abuse whenever I see it? Is that my responsibility to do so when I see it -- to simply walk over to them in public and say, "Hey, stop beating your kid! You only have one chance to raise them right, so don't do it."? What about their responsibility -- the responsibility of adults -- to simply know their situations in their lives that would tell them they cannot have children?

I am not responsible for their kids. They are. I hate the fact I feel like I need to rescue these kids, but don't. I hate the fact people are stupid and cruel and fucking irresponsible. I truly grieve for those poor kids.

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My video game collection.

I spent years, and a ton of money, to build my game collection. It will never be complete, but I think it is pretty complete right now. I am proud of it.

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From gamecollection

From gamecollection

From gamecollection

From gamecollection

From gamecollection

RAIHO!

From gamecollection

From gamecollection

From gamecollection

From gamecollection

From gamecollection

I have the hologram edition of Majora's Mask.

From gamecollection

Games without boxes.

From gamecollection

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Shopping excursion

Yesterday Kevin and I went to BestBuy so that he could take advantage of a 10% off coupon. While we were there he made a bee-line for the flat-screen TVs, and I ran toward the video game section of the store. There, I came across a married couple discussing prices of XBox 360 controllers. The husband and wife were discussing the pluses and minuses of wired controllers and trying to figure out if a complete controller pack -- the SKU with the rechargeable battery, charger cable, and controller -- was better than the stand-alone controller. I couldn't stand this conversation: I had to interject my knowledge on this subject.

I nonchalantly walk over to the lady and tell her that she can save a ton of cash if she just orders the very same controllers from Amazon.com. She replies something along the lines of, "Oh yeah, if I could save about $8 to $10 on tax and shipping, I could wait for [the controllers] to arrive." I excused myself and walked away feeling victorious I accomplished a two-fer: Saving people money and reducing the profits of an unscrupulous big-box store.

Of course, I began thinking not too long after I had that discussion with that woman. Why would they [consumers] settle for buying merchandise in stores if ordering online saves money? From what she said to me, she was willing to wait if she could save money on tax and shipping. Why was she this close to buying the XBox 360 controller in the store? Was she trying to satisfy the itch of rampant consumerism? Was money just burning a hole in her pocket? I guess I'll never know.

Speaking of people who spent too much money: Steve L. just got himself a Nintendo Wii. I am not one to accuse people of spending money on shit they don't need: I do that all the time. However, I was especially vexed as to why a man who never played video games since the 1980s would want a Wii. He says he wanted the Wii for people to play when they come over to visit, but large groups of people rarely visit Steve at one time. Steve likes sports games, but those genres are better suited for Xbox 360 and PS3. If Steve is not a gamer, does not have regular visitors, and would have a better experience with a more advanced system, why did he get a Wii? I don't doubt he would have fun with it for now. I just think, in the future, he'll realize he really doesn't want, need, or like the Wii. I have a feeling that Wii will be mine by the end of 2010.

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Snow Season

I hate shoveling the snow. I always hated it. I always will.

Since beautiful Urbana got about ten inches of snow between yesterday and today, I spent the past two days shoveling! Yesterday was the worst. I was outside from 11am to 3:10pm just shoveling. There was one span of time in which I just stood, not moving, looking at the remaining snow that had to be shoveled. Since it was late I didn't have too much snow left, but my back was hurting, my fingers were hurting, and I was damn cold and tired. But I had to finish.

I did.

When I came inside the first thing I did was completely undress at the bottom of the stairs down to my skivvies. I didn't want to track wet snow all through the house. I went upstairs and turned on the shower. Yes! I waited for this! I've been waiting to unthaw my body since I've been working so hard outside. I made sure the shower was warm, but not too hot. I got naked and stepped under the shower. Suddenly, the areas of my body that experienced the most cold -- my thighs, butt, and face -- had the weirdest sensation come over them. The water was both hot and cold at the same time.

I freaked out a little bit.

I turned down the temperature of the water to luke-warm, but that weird dual-temperature sensation still persisted, although not as severely. Basically I turned myself around under the luke-warm shower-head, like a rotisserie chicken, to bring my surface temperature back to normal. Eventually I achieved normalcy. I washed my body, dried off, and got back in my pajamas!

Today there was more snow on the areas I did yesterday. I would estimate the snow drifts redeposited approximately two inches of snow back in the driveway. I spent about one hour and fifteen minutes clearing snow again. I then also shoveled some of the sidewalks, since Urbana expects its citizens to shovel state-owned property.

Now I am sitting here experiencing a sense of accomplishment. I am about to enjoy a delicious lunch -- a lunch that I think I earned today. I feel pretty good.

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Winter Weather

But I don't want to shovel!

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dream scape

For the second night in a row, I've had this reoccurring dream. In this dream I am me: that is; I am lucid, and I am looking at a once-beautiful mountain. Crawling up the side of this mountain is new urban sprawl: McMansion houses; big trucks excavating the soil; destruction. I am standing in the older part of this urban sprawl and I notice the trees were planted after this sprawl was built. I thought to myself: "Why didn't we just leave this mountain alone? It was beautiful as it was. Why do we need to plant trees after we destroy a beautiful place? Is it to gloss over the fact we completely destroyed an area that was doing fine without us? Are we trying to trick ourselves into thinking we aren't bad for the environment?"

And then I woke up.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again because I believe it: There will be nothing beautiful in the future. There will be no wide, open spaces for play or recreation. There will be no unspoiled wilderness areas. There will be no clean oceans or lakes. Humans will cut down everything, pave over everything, and pollute everything before we realize we don't really need another housing sub-division or shopping mall. By that time the Earth will be ugly and barren. I find the idea even more frightening knowing that I'll be alive long enough to see this inevitable future.

Good-bye. It was nice knowing you...even for a little while.

From ely2009

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