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I've been gone for a while now though I got to admit, this place hasn't really done much to keep me interested. Some cool new items and whatnot popping around but prices have gotten too out of hand that if you're not spending half a day's worth of time on here, you likely won't be getting too many of those 'cool new items'. 'cuz let's be honest, talking and hanging out here just isn't fun anymore, especially when many of the friends you've grown fond of over the years don't spend as much time on here as we all used to. Instead the place seems to have been run amok with people greedily purchasing collectibles, which were once called donation items (I still laugh at that), and selling them around the tens of thousands, if not more. Anyway, enough of the degradation that I'm claiming this whole site's gone through and more about me, more about what I've been doing because, well, I'm narcissistic like that and this is my journal and I feel like talking about what I've been up to.

Not much, actually. Well, I went through an artistic kick actually this past month. Haven't had one of those in, I guess, over a year now. It was nice getting back into it, and made me realize that drawing is always going to be my first and one true addiction. Though I love it and can't get enough of it, there are far too many things around that make it hard for me not to stray. Writing is one, though, I actually haven't written anything but mostly listened to a ton of spoken word poetry I've come across and had a kick with that. It actually reminded me of a time when I used to write poetry a lot and all of a sudden stopped. Wanted to get back into it but I just couldn't so I got distracted by another love of mine, video games. I'm a geek, nerd, whatever you wanna call it so I get sucked into gaming a lot.

I finally played The Punisher that was released a couple years back and loved it. I knew that it wouldn't feel like the games that're out now so it got some leeway, it was 2-3 years old, it wouldn't be right to dock it for not being cutting edge, hehe. Still, it did right what Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (which I'm also playing again) did right and that was capture the character the game was trying to portray. Only gripe I had about it was that your points got deducted by killing the scum you were interrogating, just seemed weird to me. I mean, it's The Punisher! Who cares if they gave you the information you wanted out of them, does that allow them to live? No, he was ******** shooting at you just a few moments ago! And it's not like Frank made a deal with the person about letting them live if they helped him. Anyway, it was a fun game regardless. I just wish I had gotten it the proper way 'cuz the copy I got had no sound effects or music during the cutscenes, only the voice work, hehe. So even though there were explosions and whatnot going on in the cutscenes, you couldn't really be immersed by it 'cuz you couldn't hear anything. Poop, that showed me.

That actually isn't the only game I've been playing lately. Other than NCAA Football 08 and Madden NFL 08, I've been graced by the masterpiece that is called BioShock which I conveniently purchased last week. I considered it a late birthday present to myself, plus it came with a statue of a Big Daddy and that always tickles me 'cuz I'm such a huge nerd for action figures. All I gotta say is this, I don't normally like first person shooters but being an XBOX360 owner, or even just a gamer of this generation, it's hard not to be saturated with these types of games. So while you're being flooded with tons and tons of FPS games it's sorta hard to appreciate them while not thinking that they're pretty much all the same game. However, BioShock manages to blow every FPS I've ever played in my life out of the water. It is ******** brilliant. The storytelling, the atmosphere, the plot twists, the length, the replayablity, the voicework, the music, EVERYTHING about this game I absolutely love. I've yet to beat this game and it's not because it's difficult, it's not because I'm taking my time to be fully immersed by the game (though I really am being immersed by it) it's because this game scares me shitless and I'm willing to admit that to everyone that happens to cross this journal entry. I don't believe there's been anything in my life that has gotten me this frightened that I have trouble not saving after every few steps. The strangest thing about it is that the "main baddy" or at least the one enemy that's been pushed to be the face of BioShock, the Big Daddies *points to link above*, aren't what's scaring me. It's the other enemies of the game, the Splicers. Just from hearing their insanity either through their wailing screams, chilling laughter or crazy dialogue that they speak to themselves is always enough to have me back up to a corner so I can at least save myself from a back attack. But no! Sometimes they ******** burst out of conveniently placed "locked" doors that you have your back to. And it doesn't help when the lights flicker on and off or rooms fill up with steam right when you're about to sneak up on a Splicer with their shadow casting only to have the shadows disappear after the room returns to normal only to have them ambush you instead a few moments later. The Big Daddies are your toughest enemies? That may be true but they won't attack you unless provoked and I'm actually ******** glad whenever I hear their echoing groans in a room 'cuz I actually feel safe whenever they're around. Anyway, enough of making myself out to be a p***y and I know many people probably won't appreciate the game as much as I'm appreciating it but it'd be wrong of me not to recommend this game to everyone. It's awesome and I'd have a hard time believing anyone saying they absolutely abhorred the game.

Now to share some of the insanity that you have to deal with in BioShock, may contain spoilers:

Dr. Steinman