Stormblade's blog

There are some things that shouldn't be put together for any length of time.

1) An obsessive-compulsive personality
2) A mindboggingly addictive video game
3) An enclosed space including an XBox, a monitor, a chair, a fridge and a toaster oven
4) A total lack of external commitments

What day is it again? Read more

Ok, first let me say that I am most certainly behind the times writing this article, but let me explain the context a little.

I got my XBox360 well after the core HoC group did, and I spent most of the first few months just trying to catch up to them in the online games they played. Then came Halo3, COD4 and Burnout: Paradise in relatively short order, basically taking up all of my gaming bandwidth. There is currently a lull in the release of quality multiplayer games (it looks like Fronlines: Fuel of War is going to be a dud), so I decided to fire up eBay and pick up a couple of games that fell under my radar.

So I bought Gears of War and Assassin's Creed. Read more

Dear Diary,

I did it. I broke down. I abandoned my convictions - the very core of my being - and succumbed to the peer pressure of my so-called friends.

I went to Walmart and forked out 60 bucks for, yes I am sad to say, Burnout Paradise. I just couldn't handle the pressure! I was being mocked, ridiculed and ostracized by those I had once considered my friends.

They laughed.

They mocked.

It was just too much to bear. Read more

Ok, this isn't the first time this has happened, and each time it does I keep meaning to mention it here, but last night I was ambushed, mugged, and otherwise attacked. Read more

He's not at work, we all know that. In order to be at work, one has to have a job.

It's unlikely he's trying to reproduce. He's succeeded more than once, which many of us consider a minor miracle, and Pebbles is probably swatting him away ... again. Read more

So I was playing COD4 last night, waiting for Coxxorz to finish dinner and join me (BlackWalt wasn't supposed to join because he was supposed to be spending quality time with his wife, who fell asleep on him. Figures.) when I notice MoriceRevek appear online. I think, great!. We have another HoC member to sacrifice to the COD4 wolves. So I send him an invite. Read more

Last night Coxxorz and I witnessed the unmanning of Blackwalt. It was a sad moment. There he was finishing not once or twice, but three times at or near the bottom of the points list in COD4. On the last map, he finished five kills behind me!

Now, for me, this is no big deal. I suck. I admit it. On one map, I finished with ZERO kills. But hey, that's me. Read more

K, so I was told my Mac Mini would arrive on Christmas Eve ... via the US Postal Service.

Yeah, right.

The same US Postal Service that makes Canada Post look good.

So, there I am, at my Brother's house, waiting patiently for the box to arrive. It doesn't. Go figure. Instead, I decide to get wildly intoxicated. Ok, I was doing that anyway, but it was easier once I accepted my Mini wasn't showing up. Read more

Where did the games go? Did Guba throw them out to stop the madness? Did Halfpint take them to play them himself? Did Rolly take them because "Master Chief Funny"?

Who knows the truth?

They all have the initials 'BW' on the disks.

Mine don't.

At least, not after a little rubbing alcohol ...

So, I am here for my first day of work. I got in late Monday and used yesterday to do things like get a bank account and a SIM card for my Treo. Neither of these things were easy. I had nice people helping me, but the computer systems in both places had real issues with a Canadian wanting their services. So the nice people had to lie to their computer systems to get me what I wanted. At least they did it. Apparently there is a new town in Colorado called Kars. Can't imagine why. Read more

Blackwalt is a good friend, but sometimes you have to take the bad with the good. Take for instance his propensity for finding obscure, really bad science fiction and fantasy series and buying me the second in the series, knowing full well that I will feel obliged to read it. He also knows I will be unable to find the other books in the series, even if I wanted them. As I have mentioned in my blog in the past, this has happened more than once. Read more

Yes I am stuck in Toronto for the week. Really, what could be worse? Yes, I don't have my XBox.

So, what to do. Hmm, well I could watch the Leafs ... of course that's kind of like sticking a knife in my eye and twisting it around. Hey! that sounds like fun! Better than watching the Leafs.

I brought Thraxas with me, but I've already read it three times. Got a couple of movies ...

Sheesh, I'm bored already and I haven't even checked into the hotel!!

Yes, I have been out of action the last couple of weeks as my personal and professional lives have been simultaneously imploding. I am slowly regaining the urge to kill things again. Unfortunately, I have now been away from Halo 3 long enough that the modicum of competitiveness I once had is gone. I am sure I will just be cannon fodder (see Q-Bert).

Anyway, I will be back online tonight and ready to die ... er, kill.

or How I ate TWO Halo Burgers and Lived!!

General Musings:

I must be missing something.

I arrived home yesterday, after picking up my new car (yay!) to find Halo 3 waiting for me. I proceeded to tell everyone else to go away and leave me alone as I sat down to play the much anticipated game.

And I was severely disappointed. Read more