So, today was interesting.

I was involved in an automotive accident.

I’m ok physically and mentally, though it did shake me up of course. I’ll be brief about what happened.

I was on my way to work and I was very close to my destination when this all happened. I had just gone through the intersection before my turn when I started to slow down and activate my left turn signal. I then stopped and waited for traffic to clear so I could turn into the road where my place of work is located. The guy behind me didn’t slow down for whatever reason and rammed into me from behind. I was pushed into the lane of oncoming traffic (luckily I wasn’t hit from the front too) and the guy behind was himself rammed by another car behind us. So then the cops and ambulance came and I think one person was taken away and all the things that’s supposed to happen after an accident transpired and that’s basically it. I called my boss, asked for the night off, he understood completely, and I headed home.

So yeah, I’m fine, I don’t think anyone was mortally wounded and because I was rear ended it wasn’t my fault and the other guy’s insurance should cover the damage to my car, which was fairly minimal since it still runs fine.

All in all an interesting day.

My opinion of the PSP (which I just bought recently, something not yet mentioned on this blog) is largely positive, at which I will expound upon at length, ignoring the lateness of my pontification three years since its release.

As a handheld gaming device it does quite admirably in the requisite departments. For such a small device, indeed, it contains mighty powers and many possibilities that have only recently been tapped into. Knowing full well of its alias as a portable PS2, I was still taken aback when I first played Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters. Indeed, it literally is the slimmest version of the PS2 which is both a blessing and curse. Obviously the sleek little gadget has very potent, tantalizing prospects when it comes to graphics and portable gaming in general and seeing such prospects being played out on such a small stage seemed odd almost, as if it was wrong to be experiencing what should, for all intents and purposes, be a console “thing”. I was quite impressed and easily understood why some swear by the device, considering its unmatched ability to deliver the “wizbangs” and “hoo has” found quite commonly in the home arena.

Ideally though, and given my limited play of only two titles, you’d hope that developers would take a handheld design philosophy of bite-sized gaming with a console presentation. The presentation is certainly doable and being done, quite to my liking, but the bite-sized part seems to be hit or miss. Ratchet and Clank is surely a quality title that managed to translate a game that is very much a console experience into a smaller device, but it’s not so friendly to pick-up-and-play-then-put down gameplay, relying on the PSP’s sleep function if you need a break. This is disconcerting to me, and an oversight that I hope doesn’t pop up too many times in future titles also pining for a console presentation. It’s a dangerous line that developers should tread carefully. Wipeout does much better, but it’s sort of inherent in racing titles to be truthful.

The biggest gripe by far would have to be the game library itself, not it’s potential for quality games. It’s taken time, but I’ve found there is indeed a growing and already established list of titles that personally appeal to me and seem to exude that same aura of console gaming and the shiny baubles that accompany it. It took awhile, longer than what would make me comfortable, especially compared to the massive list of awesome presented on the DS, but it’s mostly there, and looking even better. It’s certainly enough to warrant the purchase, at least for me, but it’s easy to see how it may limit its demographic in the long run. Handhelds have notoriously been hiterto not home to a direct console experience. That’s the reason for PSP’s premium price though, as should be obvious.

I think that the PSP’s multimedia capabilities do not detract from it’s gaming persona after all, as they remain very much an extra frill of the device and not really a leech of its gaming potential. I’ve found it quite compelling to me, personally, considering I don’t have an MP3 player and the device’s gorgeous screen makes for a fantastic vehicle for watching torrented shows. Much more portable than a laptop, and much more unassuming (perfect for work). Using the straight forward PSP Video 9 has made the conversion and transfer of most video files simple and pain free, making the PSP my new best friend for killing time.

As for homebrew, I have not yet dabbled in it, but it’s potential there could possibly far outweigh anything else; if done right it could add useful features not present on the outside of the retail box. It’s a murky, confusing place fraught with unclear instructions and many paths; a never ending story lacking a young boy to spell out the narrative. It’s a journey worth taking though, I think, and one I intend on doing soon, for the PSP is a slick little gadget with much in the way of potential that is being tapped into more and more each day.

I have some sad news about the kittens and mommy cat…things haven’t been going as good as they could be.

First thing’s first, the mother cat of the kittens is dead. She had been acting very weird a few weeks ago–reclusive. She wouldn’t let the kittens feed and would lash out towards them when they tried. Naturally the kittens were getting very hungry. Then the mother cat disappeared altogether. We didn’t know whether she had went off somewhere to die or just ran away, but we know for sure that she’s dead. We’re not sure what she died from though. She had injuries near her bottom so we think she may have gotten into a fight, protecting her kittens against another cat or raccoon or some such. We debated whether a visit to the vet or treating her ourselves was the most prudent course, but she disappeared before we could do anything. Well, we found her. She was stuck away behind some stuff in the garage, rotting and smelling up the place (which is how my mom found her). Apparently she knew she was dying and found a good place to live out the final hours of her life. Sad, really…

Ah, but the kittens. You probably want to know what they’re up to.

Well, another sad thing to say, but, one of the black and white kittens is gone, presumably dead. It probably left the garage and met its end outside somewhere, we’re not sure. Three of the kittens survive though, and we started feeding them warmed up milk. Just regular ol’ cow’s milk from the grocery store. They’ve now come to love it and gobble it down in seconds. They’re very energetic and more and more curious by the day, and also extremely cute to watch. I think they’ll be fine as long as something doesn’t get them, or they wander out too far. So it’s not all sad! Also, I plan to try and get some video of them sometime soon. They’re best seen in motion.

That’s the latest with the kittehs, I just hope no more troubles plague their tiny little hearts. Oh, and you’ll notice my gamercard up there. My Xbox 360 did arrive and it’s quite a nice console. I’ll give a more in-depth opinion on it in the near future.

So, I decided to go ahead and order my Xbox 360 tonight. I was original gonna wait until closer to my birthday, then moved it to after I deposited my latest check, then moved it to…now! I had enough for one so there’s no reason to wait for the check to be deposited or any b-day money to come down the pipe. I bought the Premium SKU, the $400 version with the 20gb HDD and other goodies. I also bought Gears of War and Kameo (both used) to go along with it! Xbox Live will have to wait; GS mentioned one free month but I haven’t seen anything about that, so I’ll just wait until it gets here and then see what options I have when upgrading to Gold.

Speaking of GS, he hasn’t blogged about this yet, but he also bought an Xbox 360. The Elite SKU for $480, and Gears of War. He was trying to find the Starcraft Battlechest but I guess he thought the 360 was a better deal, hoho. Couldn’t have been better timing really, I’ll have my 360 in a few days because I decided to sign up for the one month Amazon Prime trial membership, which gets me free 2-day shipping on a lot of items sold by amazon (including the 360!). We’ll be Gears of..Warring it up in no time.

And I have ever so many demos waiting for me on XBL….

Or at least what they come packed in.

You see, last Friday at the car wash where I work, I arrived at the usual time and pulled into the back lot. Beforehand, when I had turned in from the main road, I noticed two people vacuuming their cars out at the 1 and 2 bays. Nothing out of the ordinary. I set about doing my usual stuff.

Well, I came out a little later and noticed little pink packing peanuts around the back lot. Curious, I further investigated and found a mass of them scattered around the grass by the bay 1 vacuum island. Obviously I was pretty upset, because some jerk had dumped or let free a buncha packing peanuts and they were getting all over the lot. I tried vacuuming them up, thinking it would be faster, but the vacuum filled up pretty fast and the hose kept getting clogged. I ended up just sweeping them up right out of the grass, worked good enough. So, I’ve cleaned up most of the peanuts and now have half a trashcan full of ‘em. Happy to be over that ordeal, I go about the rest of my uneventful day.

Fast forward to the next day, Saturday. I come in in the afternoon and what do I see? Packing peanuts. Everywhere now, not just near bays 1 & 2. Nope, all around the lot in the grass. According to my boss someone had knocked open the vacuum the guy used to suck up his packing peanuts and they had blown out and gotten everywhere, and my boss had been cleaning them up all day. The vacuum itself was packed full, from the bottom where the dirt goes, to the bags in the top, all the way to the hose. Unbelievable. At least it wasn’t the trash can from yesterday that had caused this mess. I thought it was my fault when I first pulled in. Anyhow, I spent half my day picking those freakin’ peanuts up so I could mow the stinkin’ grass. Blergh.

The point of this sob story is….how can someone willingly do that? Stuff a vacuum full of packing peanuts? Knowingly letting the rest of them litter the grass by his or her car? How is that in any way acceptable? Ever? Do I go to their house to dump trash on their property? So why do they get to come to this privately owned business (which by the way is a luxury, you DO NOT need to clean your car off to have it work or to see, beyond hosing it down in your driveway) and dump their crap all over the lot? It’s more than just packing peanuts, it’s stuff like truck bed washing (explicitly forbidden by signs in every bay) that leaves mud and debris and crap. It’s leaving your trash on the ground because you don’t feel like picking it up and putting it in the nearby trashcan (which is its inherit purpose, by the way), it’s being absurdly indignant because you “lost” $9 in the automatic and that’s somehow a great deal of money, it’s, well, people are stupid.

Meh, this is how my parents must have felt raising me whenever I didn’t do some simple task out of lethargy or apathy.

I’m back! Again. This isn’t another start, I’ve like..restarted my blog three times. This is just a long break. Yeah. Break over!