Whoops! And I was doing so well for a while, too.

Well, the DDR tournament last weekend went well. Ten people actually entered, though we had about five more people who showed up to give their support, and people were wandering in and out during the entire process. I have many pictures and a video of the last three matches and an exhibition game between Ryan and Darren that ended with Ryan getting a full combo on Paranoia Survivor Heavy. Last week was so hectic, I didn’t have time to export everything from the video cam, but hopefully I’ll be able to do it this week.

Well, I’ve just started the long process of updating my resume site. It’s not perfect, but I like the new layout much better. As an added bonus, it’s also XHTML 1.1 valid! Take that, subspace! I still have a lot of work to do in the portfolio section, and I also plan on adding descriptive links to each of the major job duties I outlined–launching a historical account of everything my job entails. Should anyone actually spend more than a passing glance at the site, my idea is to impress the hell out of them. Let’s see if I succeed.

I’ve not discussed In The Groove as often as DDR, but to be fair, the game hasn’t been out long. Now that I’ve played every song and passed almost all of them on Hard, and a hand-full on Expert, I can say I’m pretty well acquainted with its offerings in terms of difficulty. Recently I’ve been replaying any song with a score of less than 90%, and finding that I’m almost always increasing the percentage by at least three percent. In some cases, I’ve gone from a failing mark to a low B. Most remarkably, my nemesis Bouff, a somewhat ridiculous chain of 1/8th note jumps and runs at 200bpm presented only average challenge, and I slapped it around for 87%. On a roll, I attempted Disconnected and thwacked it for a resounding 93%. I may have mentioned that ITG songs are basically a foot harder than they claim, so I feel majorly accomplished with this advancement in my skill.

So, my furnace started refusing to blow air into the house yesterday. I tried the usual: throw some breakers, try different settings on the thermostat, all to no avail. So I called a repair company to come fix it this evening. Sleeping last night in an 88-degree house was not fun.

Before I begin, I’d like to set your mind at ease: this review contains no spoilers. It’s hardly even a review, in the strictest sense. For those who have read the book, and would like to discuss particulars, I’d be happy to do so through email. Otherwise, enjoy!