A Midget Is Slowly Killing Me

Do you know how you can tell when you're done working at a job that requires you to wear a tie? When you constantly feel like there a midget on your shoulders choking you with with his little midget hands.

Everyday I wake up wishing I wasn't doing what I'm currently doing. I'm tired of driving 45 minutes (sometimes an hour) to sit a listen to people bitch all day. I'm tired of the same conversations with every customer. I'm tired of some of my co-workers lame ass jokes day in and day out. Seriously, the horse is dead, stop beating on it. I'm tired of working for a company that dangles prospects in front of you only to snatch them away a month later.

And most importantly, I'm tired of working for somebody else.

I'm 30 years old and I'm tired to answering to people my age and, a lot of times, younger. Sure the current job I have may be, for some, a career but I'm slowly starting to realize it's not a career for me. Unfortunatly I can't just quit and find something else to do like I used to, having a wife and kids put an end to that lifestyle a long time ago.

I feel like something's missing here, or maybe something's missing in me. It may sound immature but I want to have fun doing whatever I'm doing. A lot of times, especially when working for a large company, anything that you say can be a potential lawsuit ready to bleed you dry. Luckily, for the most part, the people I work with aren't the stuffy type and there are a lot of non HR or PC comments made.

But that's not really fun for me, never has been.

Other than working for the same company I really have nothing in common with most of the people I work with. Sure they're a good group of the people, but my conversations with them can be pretty limited at times. I don't hang out with them outside of work, mostly due to the fact that I'm married and can't really get out all that often.

I think I'm going to stop venting now. I am working on something pretty big that hopefully I can have up and running by next summer, but that isn't soon enough for me.

Oh,by the way, there was supposed to be some new Guitar Hero II songs up in the marketplace but they haven't hit yet.

And I need some more Haloclix.

The Master Strategist Is Back!

In what seems like an eternity ago, I used to be a huge fan of Magic: The Gathering. I started playing back in tenth grade and through the rest of my high school years.

After high school my interest fell off a bit due to the fact that I really had no one to play with. My friends weren't really into it (I was always a little off the beaten path as far as they were concerned) and I could only beat on my brother for so long before it was no longer a challenge (Sengir Vampire FTW). Eventually I sold all of my cards and moved to Jersey.

After I moved here I fell into a group that played Magic and started up again. After the shop we used to play at closed up we all lost contact and again I sold all of my cards.

I never picked up Magic again but I did fall into another money sink.

Heroclix.

Mage Knight never really did anything for me but Heroclix had me hooked almost instantly. I had never played a tabletop strategy game before this but I was really into a computer game called Freedom Force at the time. To me HC was basically a tabletop version of FF so I was instantly hooked. I owned every figure (including most of the Limited Editions), won a ton of tournaments and had a lot of fun doing it.

My wife and I had just had our twins so my time was better spent at home. I sold all of my clix on eBay (I actually made a good amount of money from them) and figured I was done with the tabletop games othen than Chutes and Ladders and Memory.

The those bastards at Wizkids found a way to bring me back...

Haloclix

Halo Actionclix (as they are properly called) take the fun and fragging of the behemoth that is Halo and brings it to your kitchen table. The action is fast paced, the figures are nicely detailed and the rules are pretty straight forward.

I've only been able to find the booster packs around here (which come with a map, rules, tokens, 4 figures and the tiniest dice I've ever seen) but apparently the Warthog and Hunter packs (with a Fuel Rod Cannon!) came out today. I've pulled two Ultra-Rares (some brute and Sgt Johnson), two different Master Chiefs (you can apparenty weapon swap between like figures) and a lot of red and blue guys (I'm praying for LE editions of the Red vs Blue guys). I've been sucked back in. Dammit...

Now I have to convince my wife that I should spend $250 dollars on a Scarab Tank.

Guitar Hero III Track List Revealed?

If this is the actual List or the game we'll all be very happy: from qj.net:

Tier 1:

Foghat - Slow Ride
Poison - Talk Dirty to Me
Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Social Distortion - Story of My Life
Encore: Kiss - Rock and Roll All Nite
Co-op Encore: Beastie Boys - Sabotage
Tier 2:

Mountain - Mississippi Queen
Alice Cooper - School's Out
Cream - Sunshine of Your Life
Heart - Barracuda
Boss: Tom Morello - Guitar Battle
Encore: Rage Against the Machine - Bulls on Parade
Co-op Encore: The Strokes - Reptilia
Tier 3:

The Killers - When You Were Young
AFI - Miss Murder
The Who - The Seeker
Priestess - Lay Down
Encore: Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
Co-op Encore: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss
Tier 4:

Black Sabbath - Paranoid
The Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
Sonic Youth - Kool Thing
Weezer - My Name Is Jonas
Encore: Pearl Jam - Evenflow
Co-op Encore: Blue Oyster Cult - Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll
Tier 5:

The Dead Kennedy's - Holiday in Cambodia
Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane
Aerosmith - Same Old Song and Dance
ZZ Top - La Grange
Boss: Slash - Guitar Battle
Encore: Guns N Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
Co-op Encore: Bloc Party - Hellicopter
Tier 6:

Santana - Black Magic Woman
Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
White Zombie - Black Sunshine
Tenacious D - The Metal
Encore: Stevie Ray Vaughn - Pride and Joy
Co-op Encore: Matchbook Romance - Monsters
Tier 7:

Slipknot - Before I Forget
Disturbed - Stricken
Queens of the Stone Age - 3's and 7's
Muse - Knights of Cydonia
Encore: Living Colour - Cult of Personality
Tier 8:

Slayer - Raining Blood
Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast
Metallica - One
Boss: Lou - Guitar Battle
Encore: The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Bonus Tracks:

An Endless Sporadic - Impulse
Backyard Babies - Minus Celsius
Bret Michaels Band - Go That Far
Die Toten Hosen - Hier Kommit Alex
Dragonforce - Through the Fire and the Flames
Fall of Troy - FCP Remix
Gallows - In the Belly of a Shark
The Hellacopters - I'm in the Band
Heroes del Silencio - Avalancha
In Flames - Take This Life
Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
Killswitch Engage - My Curse
LA Slum Lords - Down N Dirty
Lacuna Coil - Closer
Lions - Metal Heavy Lady
NAAST - Mauvis Garcon
Prototype - The Way It Ends
Revolverhead - Generation Rock
Rise Against - Prayer of the Refugee
Scouts of St. Sebastian - In Love
Senses Fail - Can't Be Saved
The Sleeping - Don't Hold Back
The Stone Roses - She Bangs the Drums
Superbus - Radio Song

The Halo Effect

This drought of new games for the 360 is amazing. Stranglehold is really the only major release this month besides the beast that is Halo 3. A smart move marketing wise but what about us gamers?

The shine has come off of Bioshock now that I've beaten it and now that will be going towards my copy of Halo. I stil have my Madden but I just haven't been in the mood to play it latley. I have yet to pick up Metroid for the Wii but things are much rosier on that side of the fence either. I just picked up a PS2 on the cheap and I've been playing a lot of Soul Caliber 3 (I can't wait till SC4 for the 360. Ivy for the win).

Works been kinda plodding along on the book. I've been a little pre-occupied with trying to figure out how to get some start up money to open a store. My credit isn't so hot so getting a business loan will probably be a little difficult. I'm just tired of working for someone else and I've wanted to open a game store for a looong time. The closet ones to my area are about a 1/2 hour away and the Wal-Mart by my house hires the most clueless people in town.

So does anyone have any pointers? I'm open to suggestons on how to raise the money. I may be able to get a partner but I'd like to be able to do it myself.

I hate correcting myself...

Ok, a couple of mistakes from yesterday:

Fatal Fury released for 400 points, not 800.

The Flatout Demo is single player only...boo.....

I need to get out of this place...

I hate my job right now. My boss is a midget with a powertrip (seriously, my wife is 4ft 11in and he makes her look like a giant) and I really think I'm tired of doing what I'm currently doing. The location I'm in is't the busiest so at least I know I can work on my book some more, but I feel like a rat in a cage. I have to get out of here.

Sorry for rambling like that, I just had to vent for a minute. So what's new?

- Fatal Fury 3 comes out on XBLA tomorrow for 800 points.

- CoD beta is freaking incredible.

- I just bought a PS2 and a bunch of game. God of War is great but Tekken and Soul Caliber are a lot harder than I remember.

- I'll be going to the Opie and Anthony Travelling Virus in Camden, NJ (It's the Philly show) on 9/15. I will be putting some pictures up from the show (which I'm sure won't be work safe for the most part).

- Only a few more days until season two of Heroes followed by the release of Halo 3. Plan your sick days accordingly.

- The Flatout demo is due to be released this week on XBL. It's Multiplayer!!

That's all for now. Later