Uncle Ruckus in the flesh, nigga!

Wow, ok, anyone who watches the newspaper-comic-gone-cartoon The Boondocks knows who Uncle Ruckus is. A black man who hates black people and loves white people. I don't think I had ever seen a real life Uncle Ruckus until now. I happened to be watching a series of videos about black women being the Earth when I happened to see James David Manning (black man), preacher of ATLAH Worldwide on the side panel going on a diatribe about how the black man is America's biggest problem. Wow. Talk about lack of knowledge of self. Perpetuating stereotypes about your own people, dude? Really?

Really?

New Games = Bigger Backlog

I really need to stop getting so many games when I haven't even finished the ones I started on before. This goes for PC and console games. I've always been an internet nomad, not letting grass grow under my feet too long in most places and it seems that has carried over into my gaming habits. Not sure why because I love these games. Maybe I have some pseudo-digi-commitment issues? I've also noticed that I don't dedicate as much time to the games I do play like I used to. I remember back in the day when I'd only get a new game for birthday or Christmas (and maybe a couple other times throughout the year) I'd really dig into those games. I probably maxed the time twice over in Final Fantasy VII & VIII. But it's not like I had much of a choice either. It's kind of like how kids are these days with the overblown console wars. The parent buys the kid one console and because that's all they have, they defend it religiously, though in my case I would play the games religiously. I find that the older I get my gaming habits change toward more pick-up-and-play games. Not that that's all I play now, far from it, but I gravitate toward them more than before. Maybe that's why I seem so scatterbrained with these games now.

Here are some (alot) screenshots of the PC games I've been playing the past year. There's still some games this doesn't cover though. The screenshots you see with the really low frame rates are from when I had my GeForce 8400GS. It's meant for high-def video not for gaming, but I now have a GeForce 8800GT. The 1600x1000 resolution shots are actually 1920x1200, but I guess blogspot had to resize them.

P.S. (should P.S. be used in a blog? A blog that no one reads at that? Hmm.)

My PlayOnline and FFXI account are back to being deactivated. Ah, that couple of days of screwing around were fun though. =P

Rohan Online, Silva Server


The Longest Journey (one of the best adventure games around)


Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (sequel to previous game, very interesting series, can't wait for the episode content!)


World of Warcraft

Rikhea, Female Human Rogue


An interesting sight. Most people on PVP servers in WoW get a raging hard-on for attacking anyone that moves from the opposite faction. Kinda cool to just kick it with Horde sometimes hehe.


Malynda, Female Night Elf Priest


Janae, Female Human Death Knight with Frostmourne & Frostwyrm mount (dropped by Arthas)


Janae, character select close-up of Frostmourne. Incredible sword. :)


Diabolick, Male Undead Death Knight (forgot what sword he's wielding...)


Malynda (same one, different server) solo healing an Arthas raid


Paper Mario TTYD running choppily on Dolphin or GCEmu


Tony Hawk's Underground with my face mapped onto the custom skater with less than desirable results. And this was the best one. >_____>


Me smashin' the AI in Unreal Tournament 2004


Half-Life 2: Episode 2 - Sexy Alyx (you better not say she's just pixels! Look here)


Klonoa running on ePSXe


Call of Duty 4


CoD4 - Interracial love is a beautiful thing


Me smashin' the AI in Unreal Tournament 3


Mother 3 - The Japanese > English translation was finally finished! I'd been looking forward to it for quite awhile. :)


Call of Duty: World At War multiplayer beta (didn't play much)


Dead Space - Very good game from... EA! Even a broken clock is right at least two times a day. AMIRITE?


Left 4 Dead (Steam Demo) - Very fun, need to buy this, but I need friends who play PC games. :(


Frontlines Fuel of War - This came bundled with my GeForce 8800GT


Sonic Adventure DX - Memories from the early Dreamcast days. I forgot how absolutely fucking cornball the dialog is! Eh...


Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Haha, I love this shot


Psychonauts!


That bitch is crazy, yo...


Fallout 3


Daddy!

Now I know Bethesda is probably a mostly white staff and that's perfectly fine, but did anyone not think it might be a little bit... jarring to start the game off with a white father and if you chose an "ethnic" (this word in common context needs to be re-evaluated) character he all of a sudden changes ethnicity? Then there's the accent lol.


God bless you, Brianna! God bless you!


Prince of Persia (2008) - An absolutely gorgeous game and art direction. Controls very well once you get used to the controls and stringing combos together.





Look at the bright side, Prince, you lost one carpet to gain another one (hint hint, wink wink) ;)

Munch on, bruh.

Holy shit, 3 year blog hiatus!

What up, what up. Man, where do I begin with what's happened in the last 3 years? Well, on Sept. 9th 2005 (my mother's birthday) we moved from an apartment into a brand new home. Quite the upgrade from a cramped space, 2 bedroom, 1 bath place to 3 bedroom, family room, 2 bath, front porch, backyard, etc. God is good. This, of course, did not come without surprise expenses that no one told us about. I had some odd jobs for money here and there, but nothing steady until July 2007 when I got hired as a cashier at a grocery store down the street. I quit in late October due to some bullshit about money coming up missing. Just after getting hired I heard one of the employees in the accounting booth (they count up our money tills) was fired for stealing after falling on hard times. She worked for the company for 20 years. If she could do it, anyone could. Plus, I wasn't the only cashier complaining about false shortages. I haven't been able to land another job since, mostly due to limited means of transportation (read: bus) that won't run on weekends or at early enough hours. Life sucks like that sometimes.

I was able to build a modest computer in February 2008 from income tax. I was never much of PC gamer in the past mostly due to the fact I never had a PC capable of playing anything good, but this changed everything. I've barely touched my Xbox 360 since then. And my friends on Xbox Live wonder what the hell happened to me since they're not PC gamers themselves. One of the games that has consumed hours of my time is World of Warcraft, but not the retail version. I play on a private server (WoWScape, name: Rikhea and Malynda). I, along with long time in-game friends Atistab and Kriana quit Final Fantasy XI back in November. Turns out Kriana is male, but more importantly, had a wife and daughter who he said he was neglecting and it was due to his obsession with FFXI. Being such close friends, Ati was soon to follow and then me. But we had long gotten burnt out with FFXI anyway so it wasn't a random decision. I had always played the PS2 version and then at the tail end, the 360 version. Funnily enough I saw a 14-day free trial and since I now have a more than capable gaming PC, figured I'd try the PC version. So I signed up. However, I never did get a trial registration key. So out of boredom I signed into my old PlayOnline account and started messing around. I went to my FFXI content IDs and for lulz wanted to see what POL would say if I tried reactivating my characters. Keep in mind, the debit card on file is NOT supposed to be active, so I fully expected it to say declined or something. The damned thing actually worked. I wasn't expecting that. So now I'm back for limited time until the bank decides to charge me an overdraft fee on a card that is not supposed to be active. Some screenshots!

Melee Gloves and new recipes!

(|All right!|) During my LS's last Dynamis-Jeuno excursion, I obtained a pair of melee gloves! This makes for my first relic piece with 4 more down the road. He's what it looks like and the stats:



Only 4 attack less than the coveted Ochiudo's Kote, but with a few other rather nice and useful goodies. I love 'em and can't wait to use in an exp party and see how they compare to my Temple Gloves. Something is telling me that I won't see a noticable difference in hit-per-hit damge and that WS damage may be about the same also. I'll see though, and post my assessments.

During this past week, I've gotten it in my head that I would practice my culinary skills hook or crook. I love to cook, don't get me wrong, but often times I have to be in the mood to send all of my unnecessary equipment to my informants in each of the nations and concentrate on just cooking. Now lets see, last time I decided to concentrate on culinary I was learning to make crayfish paste for the fishermen, of which I'm nothing more than a fledgling at this point. My skillfulness in the culnary arts was guaged at a score of 51, which isn't too bad.

To begin my practice, I thought it'd be best (and cheapest) to try beaugreen sautee.

Ingredients:
fire crystal
selbina milk x1
clump of beaugreen x1

Generally, the recommended skill level to begin practicing this is 52, but 51 was close enough that it wouldn't make a difference. I talked to one of the chefs to gave me a glaring look and words of encouragement to help me focus and pump me up, which always helps when I practice cooking. I practiced this recipe for awhile and when I felt I could learn no more, I had reach a skill level of 55.

For my next dish, after reviewing a little on the prices of ingredients and what was avaiable for me to viably practice with, I decided to try stone cheese.

Ingredients:
dark crystal
selbina milk x1
rock salt

As you can see, the most expensive ingredient for this are the dark crystals. Being the sometimes lazy person I can be, I opted to just buy the crystals at the Auction House instead of waiting for the appropriate time to hunt dark elementals in the Northlands. I practiced this until 58. Ah yes! Now I am eligible for my next culinary rank exam! The head chef asked me to make for him a yagudo drink. So I ran to the AH in Windurst Walls to fetch a drink for him and ran straight back. I gave it to him, he looked at me inquisitively while I glared back nervously, he tasted, I lean in in anticipation... and he loved it! Thankfully, it was fresh enough that he believed I had made it myself.

The culinary guild now recognizes you as a craftsman!

YES! /dance

You know, stone cheese never sells at the AH, so I wondered if Apple au Laits do better. They do, but not enough to be a viable money making recipe. But that's fine with me, so I decided to try this.

Ingredients:
water crystal
selbina milk x1
honey x1
faerie apple x2

I used my San d'Orian and Bastokan scouts to fetch the apples and rock salt respectively, while I ventured to Selbina to personally get the milk, which is cheaper there. It is said that this drink can be used to practice until 63, but I only wanted 60 for the mean time. I said to myself that this night I would not rest until I've reached 60 and I stuck to it, hoping I wouldn't run out of supplies before I did, as I did not feel like gathering the ingredients again. Of course I had to, though. So now, I finally reach my goal for the night and notice that it's much later than I thought (4 am), so I head back to my mog house to reflect on my accomplishment and take a snooze.

Chronicles of Fury

My friend and battle partner, Tiger, has moved his live journal to this host site. His blog can now be found at:

>> Chronicles of Fury <<

Your blog is looking good, Tiger. Keep it up, man.

Random Thoughts

This entry has no particular focus or theme (not sure if any of them have) so here are random thoughts...

Zewt! I, along with my Dynamis linkshell completed Dynamis-Jeuno this past Wednesday. So that makes two nations under my belt so far. Should be 3 or 4, but all of our Windurst runs resulted in failure, and I couldn't attend the San d'Oria run. That's fine, though, as there will be plenty of time to get them done later on. I think HydraCorps is nearly ready (if not already) ready to take our excursions to the Northlands. Things should definitely become interesting there.

Recently I've found myself becoming a bit envious of the end-game Monks on my server. They all seem to be progressing at a pase that I currently can't keep up with, due to real life constraints and having one phone-line and dial-up internet access. Partying with Monks in Shura/God gear with HQ rings, mantles, etc, makes me feel like my character is what you'd call... gimped. My equipment isn't gimped, though, it's just not as good as some others. A recent money making venture has been brought to my LS's attention, but I won't explain what that is. Anyway, this should help further my character along.

I don't know why I hadn't done this when I discovered it, but here is a link to my linkshell mate's blog:

>> http://www.deadjournal.com/~tigerfury/ <<

Reading Tigerfury's blog made me finally go ahead and make my own, which I had been considering doing for awhile anyway, but just never got around to it. Tiger is generally quiet in LS and party chat unless he has something on his mind, so reading his live journal gives me a little insight to what he's thinking and feeling, which helps so I can be congnizant of whats going on with my friends. Keep posting Tiger! :)

After attaining Rank 9, I've become increasingly more interested in the game's storyline. I am Rank 9 with Windurst, and things started getting interesting (for me) around Rank 6 or 7. The Chains of Promathia story is intriguing as well as Zilart. Recently, I saw a shout in Jeuno for Zilart Mission 14, the fight with the 5 Arc Angels, but the party never really got off the ground. I was disappointed (a little) because I thought maybe I could get a Bushinomimi earring, but alas, maybe some other day.

I need to organize a time to gather friends to go kill Sabotender Bailarina in the Quicksand Caves for my Dune Boots (it way overdue, in my opinion). Possibly the same night as Tiger gets his Joyeuse. I'd really like to see he and Kriana have one. I think even Atistab can equip it also, but I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, more on my next entry.

After Monk, what lies ahead?

You know, having a job at the maximum level of 75 is nice. I can go to a slew of places where I get no aggressive monsters on my ass (although, many places still are dangerous), I can beat the shit out of many thing with my bare fists, although having a weapon will lay on the extra pain. I can participate in many activities that I couldn't just 10 level ago, let alone 50. More access to gil-making ventures, etc.

Although I will never stop loving the Monk job (it's my favorite), there's more to the game than beating the living crap out of things. As of late, I asked myself "What other jobs could I have fun with and potentially take to end game?" Currently, only 3 come to mind.

- White Mage
- Warrior
- Beastmaster

Now, why those three? Here's why. Before I started playing this game (June 12th, 2004 was the first day I logged into Vana'diel), I knew I wanted to be one of two jobs starting off. Monk has always been my passion, so it only makes sense that I take it up first. I also thought about being a White Mage. Most people find the role of a healer boring, tedious, and frustrating. In most cases, I believe the fun you have with a job is what you make of it. In the 25 level of White Magery that I have experienced, I can see why most people would find it boring. I actually enjoy curing status ailments, restoring lost HP, being the lifeline of the party. Everyone loves a good White Mage. A White Mage who doesn't have a stick up their ass and pretend the world revolves around them (even if it does). Not to mention it will be a nice change of pace from the skull crushing that my Monk loves so much.

I remember a time when Warrior and Monk were the black sheeps of the jobs. Everyone thought they sucked at any level other than 70+. It was during this time that I noticed the similarities between the two. Both are great damage dealers, both can tank (if geared for it, Warrior being the better choice in most instances), both having the same types of people dedicated to persevering to break the stigma attached to them. Then a time came when people realized the strengths of both jobs and began leveling them. I've always had respect for Warriors and their potential.

Ah yes, Beastmaster. This is another job I have profound respect for. Forgoing a party and experimenting with monsters, risking death and often getting it, this job has always intrigued me. I've had few direct experiences with Beastmasters. I've seen them in action, but never in my exp parties. This, too, seems like nice change of pace from my main job. Controlling a monster and having it do you bidding must be a pleasurable experience. I want to partake in that!

I eventually plan on leveling all three of these jobs to 75 someday. White Mage will be first, and the other two will probably be a toss-up. Maybe BST.

And I go live.

So it stands to reason that someday I would again create a new site/livejournal/blog at some point in the future again. My other free site and photo albums are found at:

http://www.freewebs.com/theslyone
- A site I haven't updated in years.

http://photobucket.com/albums/v71/FoxtheSly/FFXI/
- One of many photo hosted accounts, but only one of two most recent and up to date. Hosts a few pictures of myself, screenshots from console games and Final Fantasy XI (FFXI).

http://photobucket.com/albums/y224/FoxtheSly2/FFXI/
- Second of two most recent photo hosted accounts. Continues saga of FFXI screenshots.

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/profile.xml?27093
- My FFXI profile. Shows my equipment, job levels, skills, etc.

In Final Fantasy XI I have a character on the Phoenix world/server. I am currently level 75 with my main job which is Monk. My subjob of choice is Warrior, which is level 37, the maximum level allowed as a subjob. My character's name is Foxthesly (who'd have thunk?).

Here's a sexy shot of what I look like. This is me with my current Dynamis linkshell "HydraCorps."