Up To Date

I finally tore open my copy of Final Fantasy XIII over the weekend.  I’ve been waiting for this game for a while now, eager in my anticipation, ready for an excellent story and classic RPG experience.  So far, the game has been more than beautiful, and the HD viewing makes it even more eye-pleasing.  I only had time to play for about and hour-and-a-half, so I didn’t really get very far into the Exposition, but the plot seems like it will be grandiose.  The only negative thing (besides the occasional eye-rolling cheesiness) has been the voice acting/ character development of Vanille.  She’s quickly getting on my nerves.  Other than that, so far so good.  Now, if I can only find time to play the game…

I also started two new books over the weekend.  Coming off the dark, grittiness of Best Served Cold, I wanted to read something different.  Why You Say It, provided to me by Thomas Nelson Publishing House, traces the history to over 600 common everyday words and phrases, and it’s definitely a different type of reading for me.  The other, The Good Thief, has been on my TBR pile for a while.  Neither are in the typical genre I read, but I’m ready for a break.

The Sunday School class had a board game night on Saturday.  Several of us got together and ate and played a few games.  Good fellowship.  Great food.  Excellent time.  Then, on Sunday morning, we started a new study (which I think I mentioned a week or so ago) called Forgotten God, a book by Francis Chan.  One chapter in and I’m already hit hard.  Should be a challenging book.

I started a new regime today.  I normally get up near 7:00am, which gives me the amount of time to get ready and commute to work.  Today, I set my alarm for 6:16am.  I rearranged our study over the weekend, pulling the desk closer to the window and moving some bookshelves around.  Now, in the mornings, I fully intend on reading and studying Scripture before I head off to work.  I’ve sadly been neglecting the Bible for a while, reading only a verse or two each day (RSS Feeds!) as opposed to reading and meditating on a passage.  I pray that I’ll glean from this and get closer to God.

My boss is on vacation all week, which worked out great for me taking off early on Wednesday to go see Pat Rothfuss.  I didn’t realize it until last night, but Wednesday is St. Patrick’s day.  Pat has mentioned on the Facebook event page that he might do something special for this reading.  Heck, maybe he celebrates it for a completely different reason, as he shares the name with the Irish (?) saint.  To me it’s just another day, but not this year.  No sirree.  But I need to think of some sort of memento to bring and give him.

I’ve been listening to a lot of harder music here lately.  Mainly Coheed & Cambria.  As some of you know, I usually listen to folk or bluegrass or acoustic music, stuff that’s mostly soft and simple.  C&C, on the other hand, is really pretty heavy.  They’re a prog-rock band telling a complex narrative through concept albums, with titles like The Second Stage Turbine Blade, In Keeping the Secrets of Silent Earth or Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Vol One: From Fear through the Eyes of Madness.  It’s hard for me to follow or understand the story, but it’s interesting and surprisingly entertaining.  You can check out one of their more famous songs here or here.  These videos are silly, and the lead singer, Claudio Sanchez, definitely doesn’t match his voice.  Good songs, though.

I’m not entirely sure how to manage my layers with MicroStation.  I have my USGS Quad map on one scale.  I have my different contour layer on another, which is matched and scaled differently, anchored to a certain point location.  Getting the two aligned is proving more difficult than it should be.

Sophie and Stella are getting along better, though there’s still a way to go.