Zel-kun’s Words

One of the true tests of a classic is the ability to still be an enjoyable experience years after it’s time.

Since acquiring my PSP, I haven’t really played many new games.  In fact, nearly every game I own is a remake.

I picked up Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth when I was at the EBGames saturday.  Valkyrie Profile is one of my favorite games, and perhaps one of the last Enix titles to be released before the merger with Squaresoft, so it still felt like an Enix title.

While it’s technically a remake, there isn’t any new content.  It’s basically a port that has been remastered to display on a wide screen, with some CGI FMV’s thrown in for good measure.  For someone like myself who was a fan of the original game, it was quite a treat.

VP was revolutionary in terms of story and gameplay.  While it was still turn-based combat, you were able to control all your characters simultaneously and create custom combos.  Each character is associated with a button, and pressing that button triggers the attack, so battle is played out more dynamically without losing the strategy of turn-based combat.

Unlike your typical ’save-the-world’ storyline, or the ‘I’m-too-badass-to-save-the-world’ storyline, VP let you play as a god.  More specifically, the goddess Lenneth Valkyrie (based on Norse Mythology).  Lenneth is something of a psychopomp, only instead of guiding the souls she takes to the afterlife, she trains them to fight in Ragnarok (the Norse apocaplypse).

Instead of the ‘go here, get stopped by obstacle, do dungeon, advance plot, repeat’ scheme, it’s more open-ended.  You meditate to reveal worthy souls and sources of corruption on Midgard (Earth), and you go to witness their final moments and cleanse the corruption.

Time is kept in ‘periods.’  Visiting places in Midgard take up periods.  A typical game has a set amount of periods based on the difficulty mode.  When the periods are up, the final battle takes place.

You can spend your time gathering souls and following the storyline, or simply running through various dungeons.  So if you already played through the game and just want the experience of the fighting and adventure, you can forego most of the plot.

Rendered in fluid 2d graphics, the game aged well since it came out.  Unlike early 3d that looks blocky and primitive, the late-era 2d graphics still look amazing.  Add to that the brilliant orchestrated compositions by Motoi Sakuraba (of Star Ocean fame), and it ends up being a rich experience.

So, if you have the means to either pick up a copy of Valkyrie Profile for PS1, or Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth for the PSP, I highly suggest doing so.

Zel-kun out.

To say that I’ve been busy would be an understatement.  I’ve been putting in some overtime and working in the field.  Sure, it makes the day go by, but can be a hinderer to updating.  So I apologize for worrying my online friends with my disappearances.  This is actually the first time I sat in front of my computer at home in a few days.  I also noticed quite a pile of mail piling up on the corner of my desk here.  Quite an accomplishment, being as I don’t even get stacks of paper on my desk at work.

I’m going through the papers, and the cat is going crazy chasing my shadow cast by my desk lamp.  For some reason, watching a cat climbing up a wall never seems to lose its entertainment value.  Although, I honestly could do without her climbing up my desk chair and my reading chair here in my study, arguably the nicest pieces of furniture I own.

My reading chair is a nice white winged-back easy chair complete with ottoman that my grandmother gave me as a moving-out present.  Sure it was a hand-me-down, but it is in pristine condition, like all things from that house.  My desk chair is a high-backed executive-style chair, one of the few chairs in the world I can be comfortable in.  It truly is a shame I don’t sit in it more these days.

I always get these credit card offers in the mail.  It’s bad enough to have them clogging up your mailbox, but now the credit card companies fancy themselves spies.  They attempt to sneak into my home masquerading as legitimate pieces of mail.  They’ll come in plain envelopes and even spell my name correctly.  Sometimes there will be an official-looking ‘dated material’ stamped on top.  I guess they’re going with the spam theory that if I’m tricked to open it, not only will I NOT be upset at being tricked, I will be duped into applying for another credit card.

If that’s not bad enough, even my bank tries to offer me a credit card.  I already have a credit card through my bank, so it’s easy to see a letter and think it’s something important.

Et tu bank?

I also got a booklet telling me to enroll in the 2008 benefits for my company.  That dates are in October of ‘07.  Good to know.

Got my last free issue of Game Informer too.  I got it when I applied for my EBGames discount card, which I’ve used a total of one time.   I used to be an avid reader of both GamePro and Game Informer.  But in this age of the internet, the magazine just seems archaic and awkward.  I can get the latest game news instantly, and see years and years of game reviews any time I want.  With a magazine, it’s once a month, and usually only one review per game.  The kicker is the price tag that comes on every issue.

Also have my W-2… I should probably do those taxes soon…

Welp, hope you enjoyed the journey through the crap on my desk.

Maybe I should have titled this post ‘Zel-kun’s Mailbag Special?’

Zel-kun out.

Well, I never thought I’d be one of those people, but it ended up being my idea.

The planning of the wedding was becoming increasingly stressful for Zai.  It was to the point that the mere mention of the wedding would send her spiraling into frustration and depression.

She had a giant family, and despite our wishes, every single one was insisting on coming to the wedding.

So I suggested we elope.  We go to Vegas and have a wedding there, to get away from everything and just enjoy ourselves.  She liked this idea and smiled for the first time ever while thinking about the wedding.  We’d decided we could have a small and tasteful ceremony there, stay in a nice hotel for a few days, and maybe catch a show or two.

It sounds like it’s going to be very memorable.

Zel-kun out.

Sorry for the silence, I’ve been very busy lately.  With blizzards, working in the field, and doing various bits of training, my schedule has been booked.

I spent all day Monday out in the field, stopping at various stores with one of my senior co-workers.  The work is fairly straighforward, we were doing ’store checks.’  Theres a list of tasks to accomplish, and proceedures for completing them.  It’s very organized, unlike other jobs I’ve had.

Wednesday I worked from 9:00am until 5:30am the next day, doing a project in Orland Park.  That’s a story in and of itself I’ll be sure to relate some time.

Friday I went to Sebu after work, which is this European-Asian fusion restaraunt.  They play some very good Spanish intrumental music there and have some good food.  They also have the world’s best tiramisu.

The tiramisu is homemade in the restaraunt, and is light and delicious, the way tiramisu should be.  I have eaten tiramisu from the fanciest of Italian restaraunts, as well as homemade tiramisu at my family reunion (yes, we’re Italian, in case you didn’t know), and nothing comes close to it.

One of the waitresses was an older Philipino woman, and I recall the waitress we had last time saying her mother makes the tiramisu herself.  So I took a stab in the dark and guessed the older woman was the maker of this delicious tiramisu herself.  As she passed and asked if everything was all right, I ask her, “I hear this is the place we can get the world’s best tiramisu?”

Ladies and gentleman, I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I have seen a face light up so completely as I did just then.  Sometimes it’s good to spread a little happiness.

More to come.

Zel-kun out.

Last night Zai and I went to a local Mexican restaraunt for dinner.  I live in the Mexican part of town, so there’s an abundance, but this one is right next to our apartment and has delicious food.

We sit down and order our food.  We begin eating our complementary chips and soup when an old homeless man walks in.

I guess I didn’t KNOW he was homeless.  I just sort of assumed.  He had that crazy-eyed look and his hair was disheveled in a way that could only have been done on a park bench.

He ambled up to our table, and despite our best efforts to ignore him, he asked for some money to buy some tacos in a speech that resembled the English language.  He also took the time to tell us he was a diabetic.

Zai, being the good-hearted person she is, fished in her purse and handed him a couple dollars.  He thanked us and made his way to the back of the restaraunt where the servers were.

I tried to focus on my chips but my ears caught the beginnings of an argument between the homeless man and the waitress.  The problem being that the waitress doesn’t speak English, and neither did the homeless man.  From what I could gather from my sparse knowledge in Spanish, is that two dollars really wasn’t enough to buy anything.

Being the sympathetic yutz I am, I make the mistake of asking Zai to give him a five so he could actually buy a meal.  The homeless man walked over to thank us… then helped himself to a seat.

He took the basket of complimentary chips and began talking, and talking…. and talking.  I wish I was raised to be more rude, that I was not so ingrained with tact and manners, that I couldn’t tell a homeless man who sat scant inches from me with an overpowering stench to leave me to my food in peace.

But we sat, eating as quickly as possible so we can get up and get out of there.  He continued to ramble on about social security, ‘the black man who stole his check,’ and the Russian guy in the park who gave him bad baked chicken, which is why his speech is to messed up.

Personally, I would say it was his black, crooked, rotting teeth that slurred his speech.

He eventually introduced himself as Ziggy.  Whether or not this was true, I don’t know.  We focused on our food until he said the most terrifying thing…

“I’m a lonely man… and I’m bisexual.”

I can honestly say I’ve never came close to the level of awkward I felt at that moment.  Finally we finish about half our plates and Ziggy scavenges the leftovers.  He asks us to buy him a couple of tacos and we agree, anything that gets us out of there faster.

As it turns out, with the seven dollars we gave Ziggy, and the food we bought him, we had EXACTLY enough on us to pay the bill.  We promised the waitress we’d leave double tip next time.  She believed us, we’re there all the time.

We walked out of there, made sure Ziggy wasn’t following us, and ran into our apartment.

All discomfort and strangeness aside, we bought a hungry man some food.  That’s what it’s all about, really.  Although next time, I’d rather just give my money to a shelter and avoid the whole ordeal.

Zel-kun out.

After a lot of hard thinking, I have finally decided to purchase a portable system.  I used to have no use for one, being as any free time I would have I am also near a television or computer, but life on my own with my fiance has changed that.

See, maybe she wants to watch that television sometimes.  Or maybe when I’m dragged out for laundry day or shopping, I might need something to occupy myself.  So now I have need of one.

I am incredibly cheap when it comes to buying something for myself.  Sure I’ll buy something for someone else, but when it comes to me, I tend to just keep that money in an account.  So, Zai decided she’d buy me a Nintendo DS.  And this is why I love that woman.

I left the apartment with every intention of getting a DS.  After an abysmal lunch at the Olive Garden (waitress was slow, didn’t offer us any fresh paremsan, and the food was subpar), we headed to the Best Buy.  When I got there, I couldn’t find any DS games I really wanted to play, other than Zelda.  And even then, I was a little iffy because it was based on WindWaker, not exactly my favorite Zelda.

On the other side of the aisle was the PSP.  I saw about half a dozen games I wanted to play, including a remastered Final Fantasy Tactics (one of my all-time favorites).  I picked up the games and decided to buy a PSP.

They were out of PSP’s, as was the Target, the other Target, and the other Target.  The GameCrazy, EBGames, and Gamestop were also out.  So, five hours after I left, I return home emptyhanded.  Luckily, we could order it online, even if that meant I had to wait.

The PSP arrived Tuesday, the day of a huge blizzard.  It was so bad I crashed at my mother’s house, which was much closer to work.  Even the weather conspired against me.

I was finally able to try out the PSP yesterday, and I was very impressed.  It has a large widescreen with a clear and bright picture.  The last portable device I played was a GameBoy Color, so this blew me away.

It has a nice menu to set up networking and you can connect it to the computer for audio and video files.  In effect, it’s kinda like an iPod.  It’s also the newest game system I own.  It makes my GameCube and PS2 show their age.  Sure, they work as well as they always had, but they’re not sleek or shiny.

It’s funny how that works.

I still plan on getting a DS.  Just not yet…

Zel-kun out.

Chicago continues to get pelted with snow, with another blizzard yesterday.  Looks pretty quiet outside now, hopefully we can get a warmup and some of the snow piling up can melt.

It’s getting hard to find parking, most of the back of the parking lot is covered in mountains of snow, effectively cutting the size of the parking lot by a third.  I also hear of reports of roofs collapsing from the weight of the snow.  The mayor is considering calling an emergency situation.

Honestly, I have no idea what that means.

Been very busy here at work.  The snow is creating all sorts of issues, and with most of us either leaving early or avoiding coming in altogether, we’re shorthanded.

Also, my hair is finally long enough to tie it back.  Friends and family say it looks good,but my boss has presented me with no less than five hundred Steven Segal jokes this week.

Zel-kun out.

There’s a blizzard in Chicago now.  In fact the last few weeks have been full of some of the worst weather I’ve ever seen.  Temperatures around zero, sometimes going up to twenty long enough for some snow fall.  This morning it was nearly a three-hour trip into work, and I left at 5:30 in the morning, when there’s normally no traffic.

Sorry for the lack of posting, been really busy.

I have officially been offered the new job, so I’ve been running around going to meetings, getting forms together, and working on my transition from contractor to employee.

I came in on the day I had to do my drug screening, just to be told the place to do it was four miles from home, so I lost nearly a whole day to travel there.  I’ve been working with this lady performing my background check, and apparently my history is more shady than I would have believed.  Two companies I worked for in the last seven years have gone belly-up.  While I have W-2’s for one of them (albeit it’s a pain because my records from 2004 aren’t the most organized), the other company paid me with a personal check, so I have NO record of ever working for them.  My boss doesn’t think that should be a problem, and has had me contact HR just to make sure.

I hope it pans out.  The IT business in this area is not exactly booming, I’m very lucky to have been offered this job and it would be a shame to lose it on a technicality.

Zel-kun out.