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Day: Friday - 25th October 2002
Time: 1:05 pm
Listening to: Next - Butta Love
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Got up nice and early this morning, about 8:30 am. Got ICQ messages from Dei last night and they urgently needed some documents. Went off to see whichever manager on duty today so that I could ask them to write out a letter of employment for me. Ben's back after his 5 weeks off.

Decided to have my breakfast as well. Was a pig. I had:
- Chive and Omelette Roll (Khanh made a super special one with an extra slice of cheese for me!)
- Sausage and Egg McMuffin
- 3 Hash browns
- Large orange juice

Looks like they all missed me..Khanh..Chris...Got a big hug from Marlene before I left. Nice to know that I'm missed. Hehehe

Went out yesterday afternoon at last. Staying home 4 days in a row kind of took its toll on me. The hail on the Wednesday didn't help either. Just when I planned to go out. DT has got a shot of the hail pellets. Might link it up for the heck of it if he posts it on his site. The backyard looked like someone emptied a bean-bag when it was raining the hail. Lots of little white pellets all over the grass and ground which eventually melted. Now I see the benefits of owning a digital camera. "See a phenomenon or picture perfect shot, snap, save, upload". Simple as that.

Went to have my burrito yesterday for lunch. Stopped by at Pulsar to see if they had "Deathrow" for the XBOX on sale. Non there. Might have sold out. Managed to try out "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" though. Didn't impress me that much. Might rent before I buy this one.

Next stop was Myer. I went looking for new t-shirts. Yes. Something I seldom do. Tried on 2 Nike t-shirts but just didn't like them. Some other time I suppose. A pity because they looked nice. I also walked around looking at other apparel. Saw a really nice denim Levi's Engineered Jeans jacket. With a price tag of $ 199.90, it had better be nice. Didn't try that on. Dangerous - might want it! What's wrong with me these days with all the shopping? Is this what people talk about, referred to when one reaches financial independence? Is this what everyone does once they start applying for their credit cards - they go on shopping sprees? Good thing I don't have one of my own. Also equally noteworthy is that I haven't used the card mum gave me. Only once actually - to reserve movie tickets.

I actually bought a CD and another single. Yes - I do too much shopping for a guy. I was looking for this CD for ages! "Next - Rated Next". Got this on cassette back in Malaysia. I went around the whole of Melbourne City Centre looking for this CD and couldn't find it. Good ol' Myer had the last one. Good that they keep stock that are heaps old. This album came out in 1997! The other disc I got was Nelly's "Dilemma" single. Paid for them after browsing through the rest of the CDs. Also found the song I wanted to download. I knew it featured Dido. It's by a group called "Faithless" and the song is "One Step Too Far" I think. Will have to download and give it a listen. Hrm - I seem to be promoting music piracy which is a big NO NO actually. :|

Yay! Myer had "Deathrow". Tried out the new "Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2", on the Playstation 2 demo unit. Its addictive. Oh no! That's not good. It's got gorgeous cars....who doesn't like driving a Porsche 911 Turbo?? Ferraris in the game as well. Whats more, you even get to drive the police car to chase down illegal races. Yes - a virtual "Fast And Furious" for you. Also, buying "Burnout 2: Point Of Impact" gets you a $ 20 cash back from Acclaim! Walked around - looked at stuff.

Headed off to Toys R Us to check if they had "Deathrow". They didn't have it in stock. What caught my eye? "Super Mario Sunshine" for $ 89.95 which is $ 10 off the normal price! And I still have the $ 10 coupons which means I pay only $ 79.95 IF I were to get it. Don't know. Might have outgrown Mario....too old for that now. Finally went back to Myer and got "Deathrow". Only 5 copies left. And I couldn't find it elsewhere. Could sell out! Good reviews generally = good game and good games = sell outs!

The weird thing of it all was - I didn't even intend to get it in the first place! Now you must be thinking, "what in the hell is Deathrow?". Here's a "little" synopsis for you, in my own words.

It's a sport/fighting game set in the future called Blitz. Two opposing teams are made up of 4 players on each side. The object of the game is to score points by throwing a frisbee-like disc through a goal about 10 m of the ground. The other way to win is to beat the shit out of your opponents to stop them from scoring. All this is easier said than done though. It's a violent and brutal game. Blood splatters all over the arena floor as characters are injured, there are sounds of bones breaking, injured players move around leaving puddles of blood on the floor. There are things you can get in the arena like power-ups, health, credits (used for steroids and performance enhancing drugs for the players) amongst other items.

What are the cool things about this game? Here's a few:

- You can customize the music by playing your own song off the XBOX hard disk.
- There is a Matrix style slow motion effect in which the camera goes 360 degrees around you when you attack opponents by grabbing them. So far I've seen breaking of arms, a knee to the abdomen or face and a flip as well as other wrestling-like moves.
- Last but not least - the swearing in the game. This isn't a game for kiddies actually. The language is uncensored. Some of the stuff you hear "@sswipe, f*ckhead, motherf*cker,@sshole". There are taunts and threats like "I'm going to break your f*cking neck!" or "You've gotta be shittin' me!!" (this one I heard when I threw the disc from one end of the arena to the other and managed to score a goal!). I actually found the swearing more humourous as to feel offended by it. It enriches the experience methinks :D

It's a bloody addictive game, I must have spent about 4 - 5 hours last night trying to beat the weakest team on "Conquest" mode! I finally beat them. It wasn't easy but I beat the "Sea Cats" by ONE measly point. Pathetic I know - but fun.

I guess my ramblings aren't good enough as say an experienced reviewer. So here's a link for you - "Deathrow Review", should you decide to check it out.

OK - this should be enough for now. Time for more "Deathrow" goodness. My XBOX is my new best friend. Not to say my PS2 and GameCube aren't.