I am the biggest bundle of nerves right now. My fiance got a job interview over on the other side of the state. It's at the same company he works for now, only he'll be second in charge and it comes with a huge pay increase. I told my work what was going on, and we've been looking at a house. It's a HUGE house, about twice the size of the one we live in now with a gigantic shop for the boy to work on the cars and a dishwasher (yay!) and granite countertops in the kitchen. The kids love it. His daughter who is 6 actually called it her "dream house."It's god awful ugly on the outside, but I love the inside and the landlady seems to be tripping over herself to rent to us.

The only thing is that he doesn't technically have the job yet. He is supposed to speaking with the woman in charge today to find out, but as hard as I've tried not to, I have my hopes sky high right now. This would mean that we'd be moving back to the area we moved to Seattle from.This is where most of our family and friends live. Ireally, really want this to happen, but if he doesn't get this job, there's no way we can make it work. I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack.

So I got an email indicating someone had bought something for me on Amazon. Before I reveal the results, lets look at the voting.

In the lead we have Shadow Hearts Covenant withn 7 votes, second is Persona 3 with three votes, and last is Suikoden III with zero votes (World of Warcraft was also nominated but since Chris is a stupid dog fart, we're not counting it).

Clearly Shadow Hearts was the favorite. But was it the winner.

I am pleased to announce that I have added (dramatic drumroll) .................................................................................................................

SUIKODEN III to my game collection. Thanks to all who participated. You're all losers today, but you will always be losers in my book.

So because of the extra cash we got this month, Jed is buying me a game. I have so many I want, I couldn't pick, so I gave him three choices and I am leaving it up to him to pick which one he wants to buy me. He's not telling me what he's getting, I'll find out when the arrive at my house VIA Amazon.

I want YOU guys to try to predict which out of the three he will get me. The winner wins the prize of being right.

The three choices are: Suikoden III, Persona 3 FES or Shadow Hearts Covenant. Have at it guys!

I'm not in the habit of being a whiner about my life online. As my friends in the Temple can tell you, I'm a tough girl. A hardass, if you will. Today has turned me into a quivering, weepy shell of a woman.

Apperently someone took a crap in my boss' Cheerios this morning, and she decided to unleash a turrid of hellfire upon me as soon as I walked in the door, jumping on everything I did and even some things I didn't do. The fact that her customer didn't pay her? My fault. The fact that a customer she lent a display faucet to got all scratched to hell at their jobsite? My fault. Also for some reason I have three hours of overtime clocked on my timecard. I'm never early, or late to work I never leave early or late from work, but somehow the time clock messing up my hours? Still my fault.

Later on in the day I'm trying to show a couple customers a handshower on a tub filler. Now some idiot at this particular company decided it would be a marvelous idea to put a porcelain handle on a handshower that sits on the most rickety, unbalanced cradel ever. I barely even looked at the thing and it takes a kamakazi dive onto the stone floor shattering into a million pieces. TOTALLY MY FAULT.

Then there's all the other stuff. We're totally broke for the rest of the week, nevermind the fact my car is running on empty and we're supposed to be adopting this dog at the end of the week. I'm riding the crimson wave so I'm even more of an emotional wreck than usual, and the fact that we're supposed to be getting married in MAY and we haven't done ANY preparing.

If I were a real woman, I'd want some ice cream and a weepy movie. Right now I just want some booze and a dark room with my PS2.

I am overloading on games. I have too many games I want to play at once, too many games I need to beat and too many games I want to buy.

I'm nearing the end of Arc the Lad Twilight of the Spirits and I'm still way into it.

I'm almost at the end of Shadow Hearts, I just need to do some grinding and I'll be ready to tackel the final dungeon, I'm getting the end of the game ADD I always get and I just don't want to play it.

I've pretty much given up on Mass Effect and Fallout 3 because they just can't hold my intrest right now.

I'm 1/3rd of the way through Kingdom Hearts RE Chain of Memories but the boss fights are so freaking hard I keep throwing it down in frustration.

I like Castle Crashers but it's so hard to make time for it in addition to my "real" games.

I want to play Rogue Galaxy so bad I catch myself reading the FAQ's online longingly.

I want Guild Wars but I'm worried it's going to cut into my console gaming.

I still haven't played Persona 3 or 4.

Suikoden is on the PSN, but I can't justify getting it.

Then there's all my other must have games, Valkyria Chronicles, Star Ocean, Prince of Persia. I'm never going to live long enough to beat all these games.

The bad economy has finally hit me. My bosses have been cutting corners everywhere and have figured out that they don't want to give me overtime anymore, so my check was WAY less this month that previously. They also forgot to pay me vacation hours for a day I took off last week, so I opened my check today and almost puked. They cut me a check for the vacation hours, but the total is still about $200 less then what I'm used to. At this point I really want to get out of the city.

In gaming news, I've almost completed Shadow Hearts, I'm about 20% away from the end. Great game and I intend to complete the series. In Fallout 3, I've just been putzing around and doing sidequests, same for Mass Effect. I put a few games on my Christmas list this year, first and foremost is Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories, second is Valkyria Chronicles and third is Shadow Hearts Covenant.

Welcome to my first ever top 5! Today we are exploring the world of my top five favorite male protagonists. And trust me I had a hard time choosing. Male protagonists are not exactly in short supply. But these are the few that I became very attached to.

5.

Jaster Rogue from Rogue Galaxy

Now, I don't want to spend the whole time talking about how much I loved Rogue Galaxy, but good god I loved Rogue Galaxy. And Jaster is the glue that pulls the whole shebang together. Enthusiastic but not overly so. Doesn't talk too much but doesn't fall into brooding silences where his only dialogue is "…", Jaster is a great character with a great story that everyone should try.

4.

Zidane from Final Fantasy IX

Now I know some people (Casey) will disagree with me, but Final Fantasy IX is one of my favorite games. It was the first RPG that I played to completion. After Final Fantasy VII and VIII, Zidane was very refreshing. What's this? A lead who doesn't look like he leapt fully formed out of the mind of a 14 year old goth girl? Surely you jest! Zidane was also different in that instead of the normal overpowered skinny boy with a giant sword, he was a thief. His job matched his character and appearance, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for most male leads.

3.

Yuri of the Shadow Hearts series

I love Yuri. I love his dialogue, I love his fighting technique I love pretty much everything about the character. I don't know what to say beyond that.

2.

Fei from Xenogears

It's really hard to say why I love Fei without ruining the plot of Xenogears which is almost all spoilers from start to finish. Let me just say that Fei is the ultimate badass. No questions asked. Fei will destroy you.

1.

So I was playing Halo 2 the other day when I got a DRE. Given my love of doing things in chronological order, I can't start Halo 3 until I finish Halo 2, so I started Mass Effect. I have to say this game is pretty freaking sweet. I'm playing as a Soldier/Paragon. I always do my good playthrough the first time around.

I've been putting off Lost Odyssey for the past couple weeks because quite frankly that game is starting to get on my nerves. I don't know what it is, but I just don't feel like playing it that much, but I'm so far through it I feel like I have to beat it.

I took a break from Fallout because that game can be frustratingly difficult sometimes. After about my 7th time being torched by those stupid fire ants, I pretty much gave that quest the old heave ho and started on the "Blood Ties" quest. I'm also getting myself nice and radiated so Moria can write about me.

I finally placeed my order for Shadow Hearts the other day. I got a used copy with the game, case and manuel for about $36 shipped, which isn't too shabby in my opinion. I'm very excited for this game and I have very high hopes for it.

Ciao.

I came home weary after a long day at work the other day and what should I find waiting on the couch for me but Fallout 3 along with the full strategy guide! My fiance just smiled. I love this game. I chose the PS3 version, because even though I have a 360, when it comes to multi-platform titles, I'm a Sony loyalist. Fallout is amazing. I've never played a game with this level of freedom. You can literally do anything or become anyone you want. The graphics are beautiful and I love the VATs system. I'll be putting a lot of hours into this.

I beat Halo this week as well, which is kind of a big deal for me. You see, I've never beaten an FPS before. It's been this hurdle of my video game career that's always mocked me. But I dominated that game. The last level with the Warthog was bad enough that it almost got me to throw in the towel, but after about 15 tries, I finally made it. I had tears in my eyes, I kid you not. The next morning I started Halo 2.

I'm coming up to the tail end of Lost Odyssey. I'm in the Ancient Ruins. I hate platform/switch hitting puzzles. They're not fun or challenging, they're just a tedious cheap trick developers throw in games to add playtime. Why add another dungeon or level if you can just throw 2 hours of running back and forth hitting switches? I'm getting anxious to finish so I can finally start Mass Effect, which I put off playing so I could start Fallout 3.

Ciao.

I've developed an attachment to this spider that lives outside my work. A couple weeks ago I noticed this spider spinning it's web outside my window, and I thought it was pretty cool. I checked on it's progress throughout the day and by the end it had a totally sweet web constructed. The next day when the warehouse guy went outside to clean up leaves, I showed him the spider and asked him to not kill it or destroy it's web.

So every day I've been coming in and checking up on it, just to see how he's doing. Well this morning I came in and the spider and it's web were gone. I was devastated, I'm not even joking, I felt like crying. I spent the next 10 minutes moping around the showroom, mourning the loss of my spider. Then I noticed it had just relocated it's web to another, more sheltered corner of the window. I can't even express my relief.

In gaming news, I beat Tales of Vesperia a couple weeks ago, there's a review up for those who haven't read it. I started on Halo, my fledgling attempt to try to get into first person shooters. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I'm also still plugging away at Lost Odyssey. I'm about 60% of the way through disk 3. It's a great game, but it can get tedious.

Ciao.

So today at work I was walking into the back to go on my lunch break. Another coworker was walking in front of me. He started to move off to the side to let me pass, but didn't stop walking and tripped over a floor matt, throwing his back out. Now my manager has taken this accusitory tone with me. The way she's acting it's like I pushed him and stomped on his spine.

I seriously do not make enough money to put up with this crap. I'm going through thousands of orders at the moment, to pull out ones that will provide bonus money to people in the showroom, of which I am not one, while doing my regular job of answering the phones, helping customers, doing UPS, doing will call and generally everything else short of sales in the showroom.

I know business is slow. We're in a recession, get used to it people, but stop treating the people around you like crap. Because if you drive to the breaking point and I quit my job, you would be up sh*t creek without a paddle so far you'd need a map and a compass to navigate your way back.

I have to decide between paying off the rest of the bills, paying off some debt, or starting to work on this wedding that's supposed to happen next April. We've got the food, lodging, tables, linens and place settings taken care of, but we still have all the invitations, registering our gifts, my dress, Jed's kilt, the bride's and groom's party to dress, the kids clothes and music. It's all very overwhelming.

Last night I bumped my run up to 25 minutes. I've been going 20 for the past couple weeks, but I just went a little bit further, and it felt pretty awesome.

In gaming news, still working on Tales of Vesperia. I could just go beat the game now, but I'm going to try to do at least some of the side quests. This is definitely a two play game. There's too much to get done on your first play through. Plus the level cap is 200.

Ciao

It's my birthday today. I turned 23. Since it's Monday and therefore a work day we celebrated over the weekend. My fiance gave me the choice of either getting a Wii or two games. I chose the two 360 games because we're short on money right now and have more pressing matters to take care of.

My boyfriend got me Lost Odyssey and his 9 year old son got me the first Halo. His daughter gave me a cute little green ring. Yesterday we went over to my parents house for dinner. My dad, who wasn't there, left a broach that belonged to his mother for me, my mom gave me a green throw and a bread knife and my grandma gave me a little box of chocolate from the shop where my sister works. My dad also passed on his copy of Mass Effect to me, which I will start playing after I finish Tales of Vesperia.

I'm starting to feel guilty for neglecting my PS3, but with Eternal Sonata coming out next month as well as a few other games, it will get plenty of attention soon.

Ciao

I started Tales of Vesperia this week. It's everything I hoped for and more. The only complaints I can really give is 1) as always voice actors in JRPG's need to learn how to turn it down about 3-20 notches. You can speak like a normal person. It is not necessary to over exaggerate every line. Karol is the most guilty of this. It brings the dulcet tones of Brave "I'M GONNA BE A FAMOUS SAMURAI" Fencer Musashi to mind. Enthusiasm is great, but don't overdue it.

As always, the problem with the first week of a new game is that it's all I can think about. I'm seriously losing sleep.

I finally got my 360 last weekend. We found it on Craigslist; a Halo edition with like 10 games (most of which I traded in) for $325. I bought Viva Pinata and Beautiful Katamari and have been playing the hell out of both. I like Beautiful Katamari, but it doesn't have the same charm as some of the previous installments, and I don't know if I'm just out of practise, but it's hard. Like, I can't get past the third level hard.

Viva Pinata is evil. I've been waking up an hour early every day just to play it before I go to work. When we bought the 360 it came with Halo 2 and 3. Neither my boyfriend or myself are fans of FPS' but we figured that we'd keep them, just to see what the Halo experience was like. I have to say that I now understand what everyone has been talking about for so long. That game is so fun and so satisfying it defys logic. I've been playing Halo 2 for the past couple days and I'm loving it.

Hopefully within the next week or so I'll be picking up Tales of Vesperia, which I lust after so hard.

I beat Heavenly Sword this morning before work. What a great game! I'm disappointed that it was over so soon. I started a new game of Enchanted Arms because, despite the dissenters, it's a great game with fantastic replay value and I'm having a blast.

In other news my wonderful fiance is buying me an XBox 360! I am the happiest camper in the world. Now to pick which game to get with it.

I finally picked up Heavenly Sword and I have to say that it does not disappoint. The story is wonderful, the gameplay is consistantly fun and the voice acting is stellar. If you're a PS3 owner this is a game you cannot miss.

Holy crap, has it really been since January? I've been totally swamped these past few months. I got promoted at work, but a couple people quit so things have just been insane for me lately.

My boyfriend bought me a PSP the other day because he's awesome. I picked up Crisis Core and I think I'm in love. I find that I have too many games I want to play and books I want to read and not enough time to do them, so my OCD brain came up with a solution. I alternate weeks for systems and books, play one system one week, another the next. That way EVERYONE gets a turn.

I am so sick right now. It feels like something crawled into my chest nose and throat and vomited all over the place. I'm miserable but still working because I need the monies. D:

I finally picked up Folklore after a month of waiting. I love it. It's a gorgeous game with interesting characters and fantastic gameplay. I've been playing Enchanted Arms for over a month and it's nice to finally play something else.

Reguarding Enchanted Arms, I finally beat it, but I need to beat it again because I wasn't paying attention and got the "bad" ending.

Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get one video game. My boyfriend says he won't buy me another game until I beat at least one of the 20 in our house that I've failed to complete. Instead from him I got three books: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami, Anasi Boys by Neil Gaiman, andDandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. I got the cutest pair of shoes from his kids, a $25 gift card to Olive Garden from his ex-wife and a whole slew of cute little things from my mom. I also got lots of monies from various relatives that I will be using to purchase the video games I did not receive.

I went a little overboard with gifts this year. I got my boy the first season of House M.D. on DVD, mechanic's gloves and coveralls for when he's working on the car and a book called Look Me in the Eye: My life with Aspburgur's (his son has it). For the kids I got them each a stereo and a CD, I got his son the complete Chronicles of Narnia book series and his daughter the Golden Compass series. For my parents I got them the first (and only) season of Firefly. I always did enjoy giving gifts more than I did getting them.