I wouldn't be surprised if the last time I posted one of these was last year.


Top Picture: the pear blossoms in my front yard. Photo was taken probably mid to late April, just as they started to open up. My family's always had a pear tree at our house, but these flowers are always really quite beautiful.


Even earlier than April, I took this shot. If you look carefully, there's a little bird in the branches of the tree. It's a common bird, almost a constant sight in the city. Can't tell because of how poor the image quality is, but I'm almost certain it's a Black Capped Chickadee.


I also recently dug up some of the Instruction Manuals to my old GBA games. I kind of wish that GBA games came in a reusable case instead of those cardboard boxes. Probably would've been easier to keep track of them as time went on. Pictured here are some of my favourite games back when I played the crap out of this portable console. Bottom left, Blender Bros. was probably one of the first games I had on the GBA.



It was an interesting game. More or less your typical platformer (think Metroid). What makes it memorable are the multitude of 'Mini Bros', little creatures that each have their own specific abilities when equipped. Another thing that really sticks out to me was that the Mini Bros evolved by listening to different genres of music. I believe it was Rock, Reggae, Classical...and a few other things. It was a fun game while it lasted.


Pretty much my favourite games. Not pictured are Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, Super Puzzle Fighter and Pokemon Ruby. I played the crap out of these games (except for Blender Bros.) The two Fire Emblems were beaten multiple times. I've featured the Golden Sun series a while back when I picked up the third game in the series, Dark Dawn on the DS. Fun times. I freaking love Golden Sun. I also freaking loved Sword of Mana. A remake of the Game Boy, Legend of Mana. The gameplay was great, similar to Zelda, which I also loved, but it had a story that was really good. It didn't have the typical 'and they lived happily ever after' ending that I was so used to.


Perhaps one of the most important games of my GBA days is this: Robotech. This game essentially got me interested in the Macross franchise. After playing the game, I looked up the series (my cousin said it had a TV series back in the day), and sure enough, I found stuff about it. The more I read, however, the more curious I became of what Robotech was, and how it was related to the Japanese Macross. It'd be another few years before I learned of what Macross was and another few years before I had my first taste of the original Macross, in the form of Do You Remember Love?.

Anywho, the game was hard as balls. Or at least it was to me. I'm pretty bad at side scrolling bullet hell games (like Darius). It came with Max's valkyrie as a little bonus. Would've thought they'd have Hikaru's valkyrie. The story didn't make much sense to me when I played it. It was pretty choppy, and was about as cohesive as a 3rd grade essay.


I don't think I've put up a picture of this yet. Dug out my old Pokedex. Got it back when Pokemon was absolutely massive. Can't say it did me much good though. It's essentially a glorified calculator with the names and images of the 150 Pokemon stored on it. If it was to be released today, good freaking lord it'd be amazing. It'd be in 3D, and would give you all the information you need to know about a pokemon: it's weaknesses and where to find it. Heck, throw AR in just for fun, and tie it into the card game!


On to more recent happenings, this be what I got my girlfriend for her birthday. Soundtracks to her two favourite book (and later movie) series, plus a little extra geekiness from me. It's a great and hilarious read though. You can read more of Beaton's comics at her site, "Hark a Vagrant!".


And on to yet even more recent news. The first reading for my summer semester English course is the highly acclaimed A Game of You, the fifth story in the Sandman series. I have to say, I was most amused to see a graphic novel on the reading list for a course like this. My friend at another institution has The Watchmen on his reading list. Good times.

That's all I've got for now. I'll be back for sure on Tuesday. I'll be updating on what games I'm playing, trying to finish and what I'm not playing. And I can tell you that Diablo 3 is on the 'not playing' list.