So easy, so peasy

I should be in bed, like for serious. I haven't been up this late without any particular reason in, well, about a year. Amanda's asleep on the couch. I have no idea what time she has to work tomorrow so I'll have to try to wake her up and get her into the bedroom. If I knew it wasn't till later in the day, then I'd just leave her on the couch. It's easier for everyone.

I split today pretty evenly between cleaning, playing Phantasy Star Universe, and playing with Miranda. I got the kitchen relatively cleaned (mopped, which is a small miracle) and picked up the living room. Hurricane Miranda can literally make half of the room unnegotiable in about 15 minutes. But cleaning is cleaning and everyone does it at some point or another, like experiment with homosexuality, just some more than others and some other's choose to make it a lifestyle.

Or get paid for it.

I have a theory about homosexuality. I think everyone is born able to be homosexual. It's just a matter of what turns you on. I have a thing for large breasted women. Could I get aroused by a small breasted woman? Yep. Could I get aroused by a man? Sure, given the right circumstances. I seek out to be aroused by large breasted women, or woman. Married, you see. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is the ability to be sexually aroused is inherent in us as a species.

Wait, I think I was going to say that we all have a preference for a particular type of person and we then choose to be... whatever, I think my theory was that sexual preference exists, which it does. I'll work on it some more. I'd like to argue that it is both nature and choice. I'll work on it.

I've been splitting my XBox time between Oblivion and Phantasy Star Universe (PSU). Oblivion is great, as many famous historians have said. On the other hand, I like PSU in spite of myself. I'm six hours in and the story is drab at best, non existent at worse and I don't like/sympathize/understand/giveashit the main character whatsoever. I'm not sure what it is about JRPGs and the fact that every main character in them makes you want to punch them in the throat. Seriously, I haven't liked a main character in one of these games since Squall. Now, Squall was an asshole and a douche, but at least he created a responce in the player.

Maybe they make the mains unassuming so the player can more easily put themselves in thier place? I don't know. If so, that's fucking stupid. I don't want to be Tidus, I want to be told a story. And while it's been 11 years since FF7 came out (yeah, 11 years, holy shit and also: let the game just die) I remember what Cloud was all about. I remember him trying to figure out his identity and holding Aerith and all that. I don't remember one fucking thing that Tidus ever did.

Ever.

But back to PSU: it breaks the mold a bit in two ways, battles are in real time. Let's say Kingdom Hearts style, more on that in a bit and the main character wears clothes that make sense. He does, however, show a hint of his mid-drift, although he's wearing a space hoodie. I'm not happy about it, but it's better than what who-the-fuck was wearing in FF12. But it owes a lot to KH in that enemies suddenly spawn in and you hit the attack button until they go away. The computer controls any other party members.

And they're fucking useless. Occasionally they'll set off a special attack. They'll swing their laser swords once in a while. I'll tell you what, it would be a lot better if it had "Pull your fat from the fire" Donald and "Doom-Bringer" Goofy in it. Goddamn, but Goofy could beat down some MFs. So yeah, and on top of the moronic AI, retarded plot and repetitive combat, you have sterile environments and nonsensical design choices (such as a string of giant metal doors in the middle of the wilderness).

But I've been enjoying it so far. Will I finish it? Not unless it shows me something fancy in the next few chapters. Ah, yes: the game is split up into chapters each of which is put together like a TV show episode, including an opening and "Next Episode" segments. Not really sure how I feel about that yet.

Miranda is doing excellent. I mean, I'm beginning to see her personality develop and I do like her. Quiet and analytical, but open to bouts of loud silliness. She likes what she likes and ignores the rest with little complaint. She loves to eat and has enjoyed or tolerated everything we've fed to her. I love spending time with her. I followed her as she wandered around Home Depot. She stopped and looked at everyone, smiled at people, but didn't get in anyone's way and only touched things she wanted to see more of. Some kids just touch to touch. She's playing in a much more rational way now. The design of a toy is much more important to her and she has preferences.

Jeremy (B-in-L) is going to start coming to Monday night gaming and I couldn't be happier.

Capsize him in his fish mouth!

Ok, the title thing has already gotten ridiculous. But, like all geniuses I will suffer for my art.

I made pancakes this morning. Pancakes for breakfast is quickly becoming a mote of happiness in my household as they're yummy, easy to make, but still require a bit of work which makes me feel that I've accomplished something. I gave Miranda a few small bits, which she enjoyed and I'm looking forward to having a three-person breakfast.

I got a call today from one of the temp agencies I'm involved with and they have a job lined up for me. It'll just be a 5-week job answering phones for Amerigroup. I'm hardly excited about it, but I'm looking forward to working again. Just some sort of paycheck. I've worked two days since the beginning of August. We're doing ok, but we're one minor misfortune from being hobos. Well, maybe not, but still.

Speaking of Miranda, she's doing quite-well-thanks-for-asking. We're planning on getting Christmas pictures of her taken soon, maybe next week. My mother had planned to do it last month, but obviously couldn't thanks to the accident. We have a dress and hat picked out, and plan on picking up tights and shoes pretty soon. Maybe this weekend.

Shea let me borrow Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth for Xbox... One? Classic? Origional Flavor? Anyway, I own the PC version of it, but didn't get far because it played like I was trying to push the main character through molasses. The XBox version is already much more responsive and I look forward to witnessing Jack Walters spiral into insanity.

Speaking of Call of Chthulu, it's terribly unfortunate that Chaosium has, though the CoC role-playing game and Arham Horror has cemented the form of Lovecraft's creatures. His descriptions of the various entities went into the bizzare and upserd because they were meant to be beyond description. His descriptions were meant to be a gist. A "kinda-sorta" but instead we're subjected to a winged cucumber with a starfish for a head. While I have enjoyed the various games built around ol' H.P.'s work, a Yithian is a stupid thing to behold.