I’ve decided that no matter how mundane or self-indulgent my writing becomes I will stick to a daily schedule. So, I hope you like reading deeply into my semi-public diary.

This week has been appallingly slow and tiring. Just had another midterm today, which ends my slew of testing for at least the next 3 weeks. So now I am in a strange state, where I know I should try to do something productive, but I just can’t bring myself to do a reading or even stay awake in class. Everyday that I proceed through this year, the more and more likely it becomes that I won’t get my scholarship back. This, as I’m sure you can imagine is discouraging.

The saddest part is that I don’t even have the satisfaction of knowing that I put my best effort forward. It’s certainly more than I put forward in high school, but that just isn’t saying much at all. Saying that I don’t put any effort into school isn’t some form of defense mechanism to protect a conceited idea that I am just a misunderstood genius. Being extremely lazy is a bigger flaw than just being stupid.

The ability to just sit down and work is completely foreign to me. I just don’t work like that. This is a funny thing to say; because I usually don’t end up working at all. My skills seem to be focused in the quest to avoid work. Whenever I turn on my computer, I have a complete routine to go through before ever having to open up my notes. Check Facebook, see the new front page at Digg, scroll through Kotaku and Joystiq, peruse through Team Fremont forums, then finally I would start up MSN. There are so many redundancies to keep me from being productive, it’s like I am the Hoover Dam of procrastination.

Regardless, this is a behavior that I have been trying to change for years. I have tried a variety of measures to change this. I’ve unplugged my game consoles and TV, my laptop has no computer games on it at all, I’ve even tried to stay at school well after class to prevent the distractions of home from getting the best of me.

However, when you simply aren’t interested in getting down to business, no measures can make it easy. This is why my present plan of medicine isn’t looking too good. Slowly I am getting the feeling that this just isn’t for me. There are many things I like about becoming a doctor, but when the whole passion isn’t there, what can you do?

 

To be continued tomorrow….

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It’s time to go diarytastic on this blog.

 Presently, I am in the midst of a bit of an academic dilemma. For the first time in my life I have actually started to put some work into my school-work. The reason for this is mostly due to the $2500 scholarship that I have the potential to earn with the right GPA. However, my first semester did not go quite as planned leaving me with a slight deficit in marks. So, this present semester now requires that I obtain stellar to marks to balance the budget and get me my money. I ended up registering for 7 courses to aid this correction. As these courses rolled on, I decided to play a little academic triage, dropping the courses which looked like they would bring down my GPA to increase my chances of getting my scholarship monies.

            First to go was Anatomy of the Endocrine System, which I dropped like it was hot. However, with only one more course left available to drop, my sights are set on American History. Frankly, I don’t like that it has come to this. Of all the courses I have, American History has easily become my favourite. Good professor, entertaining lectures, actually interesting material. It is much like Mary Poppins being practically perfect in everyway. However, the course requires that I write two academic term papers that will account for 80% of the courses final grade. Keep in mind that the last time I had to seriously write a formal paper, I was in Grade 12…. Which was a long 3 years ago. Needless to say, I am used to a certain low expectation for writing quality. It is astounding how far the ability to write a sentence can get you in a faculty of science… but I digress.

Even if I could pull off a surprise victory here and get a great mark in both of these papers, there is also the problem of time. I would have to put a lot of effort into assuring a good mark in history. This effort could have been put towards my other courses. Dropping history could save me a great deal of trouble and ensure better marks in my other easier courses. Logically, it makes complete sense for me to drop. However, I cannot bring myself to do it; I am racked with doubt over this.

I keep thinking of the money I spent on the course packs, the fact that the professor whom I respect might think badly of me, the waste of my previous work in the course, and even the thought that I might not learn all I want to about those hilarious post-war Presidents. There is even a part of me that wants to write a 10 page paper on the Cuban Missile Crisis.  I know…. I am that crazy.

It’s really sad that it has to come to this… sacrificing a genuinely good learning experience in order to subsidize further “education”. I know I can take the course again, but I’m not sure how much fun it would be to re-learn everything else. There is even the risk of the book changing, or the paper’s topic changing, or even the professor changing. I like the experience as is, and hate the idea that I am dropping it simply because it will be more difficult.

I also am inevitably going to feel guilty if I drop it, because I will wonder if I could have done the course had I simply cut down on hanging out and gaming with friends. On the other hand, I enjoy my lackadaisical lifestyle. There is the even worse possibility of if I still don’t get my scholarship back after dropping the course, how big a jackass am I then?

This entire stream of consciousness is probably just as entertaining to read as it was for me to write. I sincerely hope you enjoyed this nice glimpse into the bizarre decision making processes of my mind.

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It appears as though I have contracted a severely chronic case of the Mondays. With my well loved and appreciated reading week at an end, so ends a brief stint of relaxed bliss. I was really happy with what I was able to catch up on with a completely blank schedule. This included readings, other course work, friends, and surprisingly a lot of games.

Particularly I spent a lot of time with The Orange Box. I had beaten Portal and HL2 already, and TF2 on Xbox Live is a joke. This left me the sequel episodes to Half-Life 2 to finally play through. Personally, I have been a huge fan of the Half-Life series ever since first setting foot on the Black Mesa tram system in 1997.  

I beat Half-Life 1 at least 3 times, even going through all the expansion storylines of Col. Sheppard in Opposing Force and the lovable rent-a-cop Barney Calhoun in Blue Shift. The storylines in all three were enthralling, the level of polish that Valve put into their game worlds astounded me in all iterations of the Half-Life universe. Needless to say, I was not let down by Episode 1 and 2.  

Episode 1 delivered what I felt like some strange mix of survival horror and hilarious physics puzzles.  The environments delivered all the tools a gravity gun wielding protagonist needed, with flares and explosive barrels up the wazoo. Also, the inclusion of Alyx as a constant companion wasn’t a chore, like most escort missions are. Alyx was one of the most capable in-game AI that I have ever seen.

Episode 2 was even more fun as it made Half-Life break out of its usual linear hallway/alley running (which was fine in my eyes) and moved into the wide open White Forest. Driving around in my post-apocalyptic Camaro with bombs strapped to the back and a lawn gnome sitting next to me just made my freaking day. Running down Hunters, and jumping out of to take out looming striders just felt right for Dr. Freeman. It’s amazing how Valve can put single player shooters to shame in a year with Halo 3 and the finest Call of Duty iteration. While its no Joseph Conrad novella, I still have really enjoyed the Half-Life universe. It’s like a mix of The Mist and 1984…which makes for such an awesome combination.

Point is, I don’t think I can recommend The Orange Box enough. Best value in a current-gen game ever with 5 top notch titles for the price of one. Even the achievements are well done, with many making for some fun replayability or just a good incentive to play through a game with an alternative strategy. BUY IT NOW!

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I understand how ridiculously long it has been since I have posted. It is funny how life gets in the way of things. With a multitude of midterms and the need to sustain my other screen-related habits I tend to neglect my other duties. Regardless, I suggest you read up.

*****

The article title is no typo. After hearing relentlessly on a variety of podcasts about how outstanding a year 2007 was for gaming(some even say greatest), and how it 2008 will pale next to it. I tend to agree with the first part of their assesement. While its rank of being the “greatest year for games” is both a confusing and debatable title, I am willing to say that it was a year that brought us a cavalcade of great games. However, people seem far too eager to write off 08. Looking at the line-up it has to offer, I am even willing to say that 2008’s library is shaping up to be even more outstanding than that of 2007.

There are two games from two franchises that really define 2007’s year of games, at least in terms of hype, not necessarily quality. First off is Halo 3. While it has already sold somewhere in the region of 2 billion units, and has brought Jesus back in disc form the game series is over. At least in FPS form for now. Mega-popular franchises come and go just like anything else. When September comes around in 08, College frat boys and racist 8 year olds will still have money to spend on games. Something will fill that void left in their wallets when Master Chief went MIA (presumably to fight on Marathon). While I highly doubt that one specific game will fill this void, I do believe that a variety of other games in the fall will get a nice boost in sales from that gap, which in my mind is much better than having Halo fever repeat itself.

The other unique game is of course Mario Galaxy. Like George Washington, I cannot tell a lie about Mario. It is an amazing game, actually making me pick up my Wiimote in 2007, not having played it since I beat Zelda and Trauma Center in November 2006. And even looking into ’08, I doubt anything will take the platforming crown from the Italian plumber. While ushering in a new generation of gameplay and an head-stomping, the pipe-traveling phenom does not complete a Nintendo system.

There are still a myriad of other Nintendo franchises to be re-imagined with the Wiimote in mind. So far the franchises expected to grace the console include Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, and lets not forget Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Despite what you may expect, Brawl’s predecessor, Super Smash Brothers Melee was the best selling game on the Gamecube, handedly beating Metroid, Mario and both Zelda adventures. While Galaxy was a return to form and a great nod to the days of cartridge blowing and two buttons, Smash Brothers is the game that the fanatical Nintendo fanboys have been clamoring for. With Sonic finally swallowing his pride and joining his former 16 bit adversary this will be another Nintendo product that will be hard to get day one, and will probably once again perform on the NPD numbers with much more vigor than Galaxy or Twilight Princess.

With Microsoft finally spreading away from rings in space, and Nintendo poised to go balls to wall with the rest of its franchises, this leaves us with the last and certainly least successful Sony.

While 2007 wasn’t a terrible year for the console with some high profile titles like Rachet and Clank, Warhawk and Uncharted the console certainly didn’t shine. This makes 2008 another easy step up for its Blu-Ray Monstrosity. This year might be the one that finally brings the Playstation brand out of the gutter. Finally flagship series like Metal Gear Solid and new talent such as Little Big Planet will arrive to defibrillate the HD sarcophagus that is the PS3. While it probably won’t be enough to change a third place finish this round, it certainly will be an improvement on 07.

Even the PC has a wide array of hot titles to hit home. Starcraft 2 will probably cause Korea to explode from pure excitement. We will finally be able to see if Spore deserved its eternal hype-train. Even Valve seems poised for another Orange Box with Left 4 Dead and Half Life 2: Episode 3.

As a gamer, this is a great time to be picking up a controller or keyboard. And while 2007 should be looked back on with fondness, we should realize that this is only the beginning of this new generation of games, there are still many more gems to come.

To further my arguments, I have posted a list of AAA titles that could have a possible 2008 release. I know some will be pushed but a man can dream can’t he?

Feel free to add any games I missed in the comments as long as you realize you are supporting my post.

*****

Grand Theft Auto 4

Devil May Cry 4

Burnout Paradise

Mario Kart Wii

Smash Bros Brawl

Too Human

Alan Wake

Killzone 2

Silent Hill 5

Resident Evil 5

Metal Gear Solid 4

Final Fantasy XIII

Little Big Planet

Resistance 2

Dragon Quest IX

Fable 2

Halo Wars

Force Unleashed

Lego Batman

Lego Indiana Jones

Gears of War 2

The Agency

SOCOM PS3

Fallout 3

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

Ninja Gaiden 2

Mercenaries 2

Spore

Starcraft 2

Animal Crossing Wii

Tomb Raider Underworld

Wii Fit

Street Fighter 4

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