I've been playing the game God of War at every chance I have for the last week. It's one that I haven't played in quite a long time. For those who know the game, I'm currently at the Cliffs of Madness, the start of the upper section of Pandora's Temple. Still quite a lot of game left, it is rather long, I'd forgotten.

After I get through God of War, I'll move on to GOW2. After that, I think I'll play through some of the other game series I have on PS2, e.g. Devil May Cry, Prince of Persia, Kingdom Hearts, maybe even Final Fantasy X and/or XII if I have the patience

Other news, I have been very pleased to find out that people that I've worked for in the past are giving out my phone number and recommending me to people. Just yesterday I received a call from a woman who was looking for a piano soloist in a choral concert. She asked me for my fee, as well. That was excellent, but I really didn't know what to tell her. It is very difficult in the music industry to have a standard pricing system. Thinking back to someone I worked for previously, I used to receive around $250 to perform in a concert, so I'll take that as a base fee to begin negotiating with.

Expect more on games, I'll try to regularly update about my progress through my PS2 collection, whether it's going well or I've given up

About the subject of my last blog, my sister's ex who had the gun, something I didn't know at first is that shots were fired during the stand-off, but nobody was hurt. This incident was of course triggered by an argument he'd had with his current girlfriend the night before. The guy is receiving psychiatric assessment and treatment and will be in court on August 6. He's charged with firing a firearm in a public place, possessing a loaded firearm in a public place, possessing an unauthorised pistol and use of an unauthorised pistol.

EDIT: I beat GOW earlier, and moved onto GOW2, however it seems that the disc is a little damaged. While playing one of the cutscenes early in the game, it freezes up and I can't go any further. Given that the game has been in possession of my younger brothers for a fairly long time leaves me really no doubt that they didn't take care of it The good news is that I have free access to a resurfacing machine, so I'll try and get the disc resurfaced as soon as possible, but until then I'm leaving GOW2 alone to play something else.

I want to play through one of my game series I have, so why not do something interesting and put it to a vote? Assuming I can get enough voters Choices are

-Devil May Cry Series - DMC1, DMC2, DMC3 Special Edition, DMC4

-Prince of Persia Trilogy - Sands of Time, Warrior Within, The Two Thrones

It's between DMC and POP, I don't think I would have the patience for any long RPGs such as Final Fantasies or Kingdom Hearts, at least not now.

Yesterday a guy in town here went a little crazy (news article)

I just had one of those days where nothing seemed to go right for me.

It started when I tried to investigate what was causing my car to not start. On tuesday morning, it seemed like a simple flat battery, but that is not it because we took the battery out and put it in my parents' car to see if it worked, which it did. The problem is likely in the starter motor, so I went to see the auto electrician in town to get his opinion. According to him, replacing this part is about $80 second-hand, or probably $300 new This guy is actually very familiar with the car, because the previous owner had taken it to him to fix on a very regular basis. He said that if it were him, he would not have sold it to anybody because it's not kind. He says that he could get it running again, but it's only a matter of time before some other problem comes up, it just has that kind of history. My decision is now, whether to take a chance with it and keep the car, or whether to scrap it. My dad happens to think that with the part replaced, and 12 months registration, it may actually be worth $1000 to sell. I just wonder if I'm that heartless, to sell a car with such a bad history.

So, the next thing that went wrong today is a huge combination of little things that added up to one big mess. There is a concert tomorrow night which I am performing in, and I supposed that it would be nice if I got my hair cut, I'd been starting to look like a bit of a hobo (which reminds me, I need to shave my face still ). I was having a piano lesson today as well, so I supposed that I would get it done afterwards, as it's Thursday and all the shops are open late. I made an appointment for 5.45pm. My lessons take place in the city, about 40km from where I live, which is a substantial drive itself. My sister found out that I was sticking around afterwards, so she, her boyfriend and their daughter came with me. None of them have a driver's licence. After I left them where they wanted to go, I went to my lesson, where I realised that I had left my wallet at home. Damn, so I supposed I would have to drive all the way home for after my lesson which is supposed to end at 4.30. That way I could make it back in time to still go to my appointment. Today wasn't kind to me. My mobile phone, which lets me keep track of time, had an inconveniently dead battery. My teacher doesn't really keep track of time too well either. By the time we were done, it was 5.15, and I had no time to go home for my wallet. Without it, I had no money to pay for a haircut, and without a haircut, I look like a bum during concert tomorrow .

I told this to my teacher, and she let me keep the money i had brought for her, which luckily was not in my wallet but in my pocket since I'd just withdrawn it from the bank earlier. I will pay her for two weeks lessons next week. This prompted a little discussion that actually owe her much more money for various things she has paid for me, such as the entry fee in the competition I took part it, the fee for a music theory exam to take place in august, and the theory book I need to work through before then. Altogether, it comes to almost $200 that I need to pay my teacher. That's just unbelievable. Bad day, oh yes.

So it was 5.15, and I had no time to go home, but at least I had enough money for a haircut. Then another problem came up. My phone was dead!! I had left my sister, her bf and my niece in the city at night with no way to contact them and find out where to pick them up from. They had no way of knowing this either. I drove to the hair salon and explained that an emergency had come up and I would need to make a later appointment, but stressed that it had to be tonight because I would not get a chance tomorrow. I then decided that I would drive home and call my sister to find out where to get her from. It would not be as simple as a payphone because I can't remember her number . Since I'd be driving another 40km 2 ways, I would need to refuel the car a little, my parents' car, which I am now forced to borrow. I figured $10 would do, I find that it suffices a few trips from home to city. While I was filling the car, I wasn't paying complete attention, and kept filling over $10, getting close to $15 before I realised. Not a big deal really, since I'd be retrieving my wallet soon, which contained my debit card with plenty of money, but still, it's another thing that didn't go to plan.

40kms later, I'm at home, and I've contacted my sister and arranged to pick her up, and then cut my hair. Before I left again, my brothers said that they planned to take the PS2 and use it to trade in because they want to buy a 360. Now, my first thought was "leave me the f*** alone I'm having a bad day" but as I was driving again, I got to thinking about it. True, the PS2 is not actually mine. I used to own one for a few years after I was 13, but that one stopped reading discs. After that, my parents bought a new one for christmas addressed to all of us (do you not hate it when they do that? ). After getting a PS3, my brothers (who are 10 and 12 by the way) decided to claim full time ownership of the ps2, which was "only fair" . OK, I could accept that, I would borrow it from time to time, blah blah. Now it sounds as though they are getting rid of it, and their games, after which I will have no means of playing my PS2 games. Whoa now, that can't happen!!

There was an ad on the radio, a store was having a massive sale until midnight, and it turned out I could by a new PS2 rather cheaply. Well, not bad, I've been meaning to buy one of my own for years, but never exactly gotten around to it, namely because there was a perfectly fine PS2 at home already. I made a point to visit this store after my haircut.

I retrieved my sister, I managed to get a nice haircut, and afterwards, I bought myself a new PS2. I bought a memory card with it as well, as you need of course. I did not choose the official sony brand memory card, I chose a third party brand because it was cheaper and I wanted to save a bit of money. I do have enough to cover my piano teacher, but I really need to save a bit. Bad idea I guess, when I finally got it all home, the PS2 did not detect this particular memory card when it was inserted. GAAAHHHH!!!! Things were actually starting to work out for me and then this!

Awful day, one of those where nearly everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. At least my parents' car didn't break down on the way.

Have a nice day