Hello there! The year is 2010, so be sure to update your calendars. In a move sure to shock many of you, I have purchased an Xbox360. Yes, that’s right, a Microsoft gaming console. Why this major departure from discounting all things Microsoft? Two reason. First, our Nintendo Wii is broken to the extent that it is unable to play Rock Band 2, and with an Xbox360 we can play again (albeit we need to get new instruments etc, but that’s roughly the cost of what we can sell our existing Wii equipment for). And the second is the soon-to-be-released Final Fantasy XIII. Though only the main title theme of 13 is being composed by Nobuo Uematsu, I still think the game will be pretty ok. 12 wasn’t a total letdown and it’s in the same musical situation. Thankfully, Uematsu has been signed to do the entire soundtrack for 14, so I’m looking forward to that, now that I’ve finally finished playing 12.

I’m thinking about taking some Japanese courses at the local community college this Summer. Could be fun.

I have a pretty big deadline at work this week, but hopefully after that it will be smooth sailing until new years. I can’t wait for my mini-vacation and to see my family. Living so spread out makes that a more special occasion than it would be otherwise. Downside: 7 dogs. Hopefully it won’t be too bad. Still have shopping to do! More to come soon.

Well, maybe not "done" done. But I did manage to hit my goal of 50,000 words during the month of November. Now I’m sending copies off to my four editors, so there will be lots of rewriting in my future, but for now I’m just glad that it’s finished.

About five minutes after I was done and had copied it to several different servers in different states, my main computer crashed. After almost a week of working on it, it’s finally to the point where it’s usable, but I’ve had to order replacement parts that aren’t here yet. They’ll be delivered between today and Wednesday, so I’m looking forward to having this completely fixed.

Christmas is coming up! I haven’t done any shopping yet! Onoes!! Presents to come soon?

Ok, so I’ve been back here since July/August and I haven’t bothered to update this thing since then. Too bad. I am back in Atlanta now, working for i2telecom as a system engineer and programmer among other things. I’m working part time to pay the bills, and it’s pretty fun. I’m also still doing iPhone games and other side work, and generally slacking off. Being back in Atlanta is great, I get to hang out with family and friends, my roommates are awesome, and there’s actual real weather! The novelty of 35 degree nights is starting to wear a little thin, but it was fun at first anyway! And the rain, wow. I’m sure you all saw on the news/experienced the Great Flood of 2k9. Chunks of interstate were under water or mudslide. It was pretty incredible.

I’m spinning up to participate in this year’s National Novel Writing Month competition. It’s not really so much competing against other people as it is the deadline. Participants have exactly 30 days, starting November 1st, to write a 50,000 word short novel. You can write outlines and notes beforehand, but you’re not supposed to start writing your story until the first, and you have to average about 1400 words a day to finish on time. My novel is titled Drexler One and is a Sci-Fi book set in the future, sort of. I’ll be posting updates about my progress on that site as I go, hopefully more frequently than I post here. So, if you don’t see an update here, head over to the novel blog!