And...I don't know. I really didn't know where to go with that, but I bet you thought it was going to be pages of me waxing philosophical about politics. Nope! Sorry, not on this watch. I only have a passing interest in politics, and even that interest is tempered with extreme caution and tepid feelings.

If I may just make this one remark about politics: How the hell are you supposed to believe either party? Seriously, you may have noticed that there's a "little" convention in my town (and I've made sure to stay as far away from downtown as I can; they even closed our school campus for this week), and I've been watching all this happen on TV. Then I was watching Larry King Live last night as he hosted a bunch of Republicans to give their feedback (so far) of the convention and everything that's been said, and if anything I'm more confused now than I was going in because all "politics" consists of is hearsay. Truly, because it's always the Rep. blaming the Dem. for something they did/didn't do and vice versa; and each party professes to want to help the country and calls out the flaws with the other party to the point of insanity.

How the hell are you supposed to believe anything that anyone says?! I just don't know. Maybe if someone out there that follows politics or has a better grasp on understanding all the reading between the lines that must be done to understand any of this crap, you can let me know. Because I am seriously lost...and this is only the FIRST convention; the Republicans host theirs next week. Oy vey! I'm not sure if I want to let it be known who I support on here lest I inadvertently manifest enemies from my previous friends. So I'll stay neutral for now...

*Phew* Sorry, that went on longer than I intended. Anyway, I haven't really been gaming that much. Today I went out and bought a pre-owned copy of Resistance: Fall of Man. I rented the game a while back from Gamefly and was moderately impressed. While I didn't feel it was worth $65 (after tax), I found it worth the more accomodating price of $26 and change.

The next game I plan on buying brand new is Mercenaries 2 which releases this upcoming Sunday (8/31). I really liked the first one on Xbox so it was almost a no-brainer when I heard about the sequel.

I'm also seriously debating whether or not I should trade-in my 360 altogether, or wait until Sept. 7th when the purported price drop will happen. If I trade it in now I was quoted to get back $160 for the console itself (not including any extra peripherals). I'm really leaning to trading it in since I really don't like MS, and most of the games I'm looking forward to are coming to PS3 anyway so why do I need a 360? So that's an issue gnawing on my mind recently. As always your suggestions are welcome.

I'm also planning on picking up the new model PSP when it releases in October. I was going to pick up the GoW theme pack bundle shortly after it came out, but I hesitated (mostly due to lack of money at the time), but then I heard about the new model and decided to wait. Good thing I did since the new model boasts a better LCD screen and mic option right in the unit itself.

Other than that not much has been happening on my end. Work and school are going great. I'm loving my elementary Japanese course; it's so interesting and for once in a long time I can honestly say I'm learning something while at school. Imagine that! Oh yeah, please don't forget about my 1UP blog: Unkn0wn3ntity.1up.com as I regularly tend to update that profile/blog more often than over here. Yeah, their community may not be on par with GS, but I still prefer 1UP to this place. Thanks for reading!

I'm reminded just how quickly the year has gone by...it's a bit scary, actually. We're sitting at half-way through August right now and I'm just a bit dumbfounded as to where all the time went. Is it just me or does it seem that time is moving faster than it should?

Also, don't you just hate it when you set your mind to do something only to incur some obstacle that prevents you from completing it? As it is my situation currently. For my schedule this year at college I'm taking "Intro to Japanese" as well as two other courses that are exclusively online. This is my first time taking online courses as I'm not a big fan of them because I lack the discipline to sit down and actually do all the required work. Hell, I have enough trouble motivating myself to do the work when I actually have a physical room to go to. So removing that altogether coupled with my penchant for getting distracted easily (especially when it comes to working on the computer), historically this does not bode well. But I must take these courses and, more importantly, PASS to remove my academic probation status that has been following me around like a bad stink for the past two semesters. Needless to say this is important that I not screw around and dig in my heels for serious work.

Which brings me back to my initial question at the beginning of the paragraph. Today I planned to sit down and get going with my online courses. But wouldn't you know it the website that I have to access is not allowing me to access it. In fact, it's not loading at all. I e-mailed my professor but I can't do anything until I hear back from him, and even that is tentative at best since I don't know what's even wrong and why I'm not allowed to access the site. I don't know if this problem is afflicting me exclusively or if other students are experiencing this same problem also; another reason I'm not a big fan of online courses.

So frustration sets in and I am more than a little bit irked that the time I planned to dedicate to starting my school work I can't for some unknown reason. That figures, right?

[EDIT] 2044hrs: I heard back from my professor and apparently it is not exclusive to me as he said he thinks the servers are down for the weekend So good news and bad, I guess. Good that it's not just me, but bad because I was hoping to get started on my first assignment over the weekend since it is due next Thursday.

But is it really improved? One simple way to test:

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