OK, so I really lagged on this entry, sue me. I basically crashed hard when I got home after the game. I just didn’t feel good. I just came home from working (if you can call it that) from 9:30AM until 11PM and have to cut it short ’cause moO’s giving me dirty looks ’cause she just got here and then I tell her I’m gonna blog.

During the game I couldn’t play very well, despite my scoring chances (which I couldn’t convert). Even though I was on the ice, I was extremely hot. It could be the gear and the fact that I’m ”exercising,” I’m not sure, but I felt OVERLY hot. I’m sure I showed it in the game. Oh well, it’s just pre-season… now where the hell is the schedule?! I need to know what days I need to take off work! Grrrr.

So, is this whole KaZaA/MP3 scare going to really scare all the people from trading mp3s massively? Your thoughts? Please respond. Even you random people that come here =)

My thoughts? Well, I don’t think they can get rid of MP3s as a medium, period. I also don’t think they can get rid of the companies with programs that allow people to share music massively. If you close one, someone out there will see an opportunity to build one up and the whole cycle will start again. HOWEVER, I do think that singleing out people and suing them or whatnot, IS a start. It won’t hurt the companies directly, but it WILL scare people from sharing and downloading. Maybe… Ha. I’m not sure… We’ll soon see. Even after the whole scare in the newspaper, I see 3,567,487 users online… How are you going to scare all of them? (I say as I CLOSE my KaZaA Lite, while my brother in the other room deletes his copy from his computer) I think pay MP3 WOULD be a good idea if it was implemented in the FIRST place; try to do that now, I’m sure it’ll happen but with a BIG struggle. A BIG plauss for pay MP3s is the quality. How many times have you DLed a song and it was either corroded, cut off, or looped? Don’t have to worry about that anymore with the pay services. I know Apple is running one, I can’t recall who else is. Supposedly, Apple is only Mac right now. Not sure if they ported to the PC yet… Do YOU remember the last time YOU bought a CD? I don’t. Mainly ’cause I hated spending $11-15 something for a CD when I ONLY LIKED ONE FRIGGEN SONG! Singles were cool, but some songs never even came out on single CDs. If the music company wants to be jankie about it, fine. But, don’t expect me to buy any CDs soon. I’ll just listen to the radio or listen to a DVD in the car. Yes, I said listen… Maybe, if the music companies were smart they’d sell custom CDs or something. Pick the songs I want and buy the CDs close at a cheap price somewhat close to cost. We all know how much a CD costs nowadays, you buy/manufacture them in BULK! I’m not asking for 200 MP3s on one disc, but at leasst give me a choice of songs if I’m to pay my hard earned cash (yeah right) for a CD. Alas, I write this all purely for flame, since it’s too late, no one’s changing and MP3s WILL stay here for good! <^> Music companies. We all know alot of artists don’t care, they make a sh*t load of money from concerts, public appearances, commercials, ETC. YOU’RE just greedy to fill your pockets with MY money from MY EMPTY pockets… Once again <^>

So, after four days off of work, I get back and find I’m no longer working on Command and Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour Expansion. BOOOOOO. (I have to buy C&C soon, after I get a new comp that can handle it, and ZH when it comes out! But, I know moO will kill me) I’m now working on EA’s new Lego game called Bionicle. Ah, the greatest thing about my job, other than playing video games for 8 hours, is the fact that I get to play games (and beat it too, heh) that I would probably not likely ever dream about playing. Well, that’s a little harsh but somewhat true. I don’t think I would have rushed out to the store and bought this game. I think there are only a few games I WOULD rush out and buy; maybe a Final Fantasy series, or a tactical espionage game like Metal Gear Solid or Socom, maybe even an Everquest expantion LOL …(wait, I hear they just made one live yesterday)… Bionicle is just some adventure game which stars the robots famed from those little blocks we used to play with as kids. But, now they have robots? That’s not Lego-ish, HA. It’s a VERY basic game, easy, but very trying on the mind. Hard to imagine something easy but hard, eh? I don’t really know how to explain it. I mean, even the easiest of games has its moments where it can be hard… Now I’m just rambling… Ok, its hard but easy. I’ll leave it as that. But, yeah, if a game has a save function and it’s supposed to have a 3-5 hour play time, there’s something wrong and it’s too easy… Now, finding EVERYTHING in the game is a little harder. I’m like missing 1 gem from like every lvl, and they’re like hard to find. Damnit!

Yeah, it was a shame Sean wasn’t at the game tonight, (Yeah, right. He’s in Hawaii and will miss the other pre-season game too) he woulda had a field day with this team. We played a team that was 2 divisions below us. Apparently, they have a few ringers. You could actually see that a few of the other team members didn’t belong in this division, good and bad.

I managed to get 2 penalties today. Ha, I have to let it out of my system early, all before the actual season begins. After I scored a goal I was checked from behind, so I got up and pushed the guys head behind me away from me and both of us were called. I just laughed all the way to the box. The second was just some bullsh*t that he wanted to pick a fight with someone smaller than he ’cause he’s a big p*ssy. LOL, I had to have a ref hold me back. Lucky you, punk b*tch.

Before I forget, they did the cutest little group huddle and yelled “break” or “lynx” or whatever before the game and at the intermissions. You know, the kinda thing you did when you were like 10 years old. I just had to make a comment like “aw, how cute.” LOL, sarcastically of course…

Kinda funny thing, we were short benched in the first period, and then it was like we got reinforcements when the two Riches and one of the Joes game in. (Did I miss anyone?) It was kind of like, oh you’re in the lead? Here comes the Cavalry…

Well, I can’t wait for next week. We have a sorta rematch vs. the team we played in the finals last week. Maybe we’ll have a full team this time? Everyone who missed today better get there asses back in town and play, HA. Oh, and it’s nice to have our captain back on the ice. Way to heal, Kelly.

WTF? Adam has a job now? Yeah, and it’s about time too. I interviewed last Friday for a CQC Game Testing position at Electronic Arts in Redwood City, and they called me back later on that afternoon asking me to come back and work the day after Labor Day; that’s today! So, my morning didn’t start out too good since my alarm woke me up. I don’t like alarms and I don’t like mornings. As if waking up at 7:45 AM in order to leave by 8:30 and get to Redwood City wasn’t enough, when I got to the 85 – 101 interchange, it was packed full-on bumper to bumper. But, once I got on 101 it was a little better.

You’re probably thinking to yourself, “Come on, game testing? That’s SO easy. I wish I could do that.” Well, you can’t. All the 7 positions are closed. And, no, it’s not easy. Sure the job is as simple as playing video games for 8 hours, however, there’s a lot more too it. You have to find playability issues. I find that if you don’t find any, it makes you look bad. So there is some stress within. Sure it’s fun and games, but it still is work.

Curse the new tech companies for making all the damn electronics with stupid cameras. Because of them I’m not allowed to bring in my cell phone AND my CLI?(Sony PDA). So, if you need to get a hold of me… too bad. I can have it, but it needs to be turned off while I’m on my floor. If need be, I can be reached between ~ 12:30 – 1:30. I don’t have my own desk nor my own computer, but I will have email. However, that, too, is limited. Gosh I miss having my own office…

One of the coolest perks of having the job, other than the obvious playing video games 40+ hours a week, is the company store and the video library. The company store is a bunch of EA games at a nice discount. The library is a bunch of DVD/video rentals and tons o’ video games, not just EA games mind you, that you can rent for free for a week. Oh, the discount? What have you done for me? HA!

You may still be thinking, “Oh, what a cool job. I wish I could do it.” Well, apply. But, just be sure you can sit in front of a monitor/TV for like 8 hours straight. It’s tougher than you think. Luckily, being unemployed for 2 and a half years now, I’ve gotten used to it.

And that ends a great season. Maybe next time we can win the championship game. A big part of the game we were tied at 1. Some how we let it slip away. Last time we tied them with a full bench, this time we were missing a few. I don’t want it to seem like an excuse or anything, or blame anyone, but I’m sure we could have won if we constantly had fresh legs on the ice. Maybe not, who knows. Maybe we would have still lost. But, then, maybe we would have won. Either way, how we played our final game this summer season was full of valor. Ok, maybe not valor, but really strong down to the last minute where it looked like Joe wanted to pick a fight with someone, what was up with that, Joe? LOL. Well, great season guys. Lets see if we can skill all the losses in the beginning of the season and just go to the wins!!! LOL

On a separate note… Damn, another goalie got up in my face again. I’m going to take less and less from them next season. If a goalie starts to talk sh*t to me about watching out and not hitting them when I KNOW I’m pushed into them and can’t do anything about it myself, you can be sure a fist will be thrown. F*ck if you can’t take a hit, you p*ssy, don’t play hockey. I don’t care if you’re a goalie, don’t talk sh*t to me if YOUR f’n teammate pushes me into you. If it’s my fault and I could control how I skate fine. But if you talk sh*t to me and it’s NOT my fault be ready for my uppercut to the f’n chin you GD p*ssy. Anyone know any goalies in the league better warn them I don’t like being sh*t talked to when there was nothing I could to. Ph4g. FU Ahole. I’m gonna try to get a goalie kicked out next season, thats my goal. I goalies think they have too much power, untouchable. I understand the whole no check/contact to the goalies, but if there’s nothing I can do, and someone pushes me into them WTF am I supposed to do about it? Bah. It’s hockey, a contact sport. If you can’t take a hit on the ice go golfing, go bowling, play solitaire, or maybe you can find something a p*ssy would do.

Right after the game, I looked to the southeastern sky to see a huge blast of light. It wasn’t raining, so it was a little weird. I thought it was either a lightning bolt or a nuclear explosion. HA. My dad said it was humid, but I couldn’t tell when I got out of the rink, ’cause I was already hot and sticky from the game.

Shortly after we got home, the lightning was picking up so Shia, moO and I got some Carl’s Jr. and went up to Parker Ranch in the Saratoga Hills to check out the lighting storm. Apparently everyone already thought of it cause people were leaving the top, and when we got there we were greeted by the Saratoga Sheriffs. We turned around and stopped halfway down the hill and parked on the side of the street with a decent view. I wish I brought a camera ’cause it was a nice sight. It must have been pretty far away, because up in the Saratoga hills, I only heard one little rumble.

After finishing out Carl’s junk food we went home. While trying to sleep, that’s when the rain picked up, and finally in came the thunder. I liked the lightning, but I don’t think moO appreciated it. Thunder and lightning is scary.

Quite a game we played last night. This was a team we beat one time in the pre-season but lost to TWICE in the season. We had quite a struggle during the game. After the two goals scored on us early in the first period, it had to dampen some spirits. But, not to worry, we had enough juice to score three unanswered goals in the second period. One goal was scored by our center, Mike, while he was on his ass. Nice goal. It still wasn’t over yet when the other team scored the equalizer in the third. This brought us into five minutes of overtime. Nothing extravagant happened in the overtime period so it was all down to a shootout. Hrmm… can someone recall the shooting order? It was all a blur from all the cheering. All I can recall is Byron, our first line right winger, scored the winning goal.

On a totally unrelated subject, I just noticed a big amount of bruises all over my legs and arms. HA, I’m getting too rough out there. I guess it’s time to check my gear again. Right now in both arms my ulnas hurt, I believe that’s what it’s called. Someone in the locker room after the game, was it Jay, said it might be a stress fracture. Bah, back to the hospital, maybe. At least I have a few days, maybe a week, before we have to play in the finals.

Next is the championship game! Who would have known we would gone this far? What will the outcome be? When or where is it going to be? Will Adam get a playoff goal or even a hat trick? I don’t know. But keep looking here for exact details.

I’ll keep it quick ’cause despite my being unemployed still and I rarely ever wake up early (especially the morning after a hockey game), i have to wake up early tomorrow… er, today… In a few hours. Lazy sits in when you don’t do sh*t with your life. But, tomorrow I have a allergy/asthma study appointment and a dentist appointment both actually scheduled for 30 minutes apart and the study takes like 2 hours. So, I gotta wake up early tomorrow to do the study early.

Oh, the game. Playing the second place team may be intimidating; for us, we worked hard to make it seem like we’re fearless. After being let down early in the first period by a goal from the other team, we wouldn’t let it completely stop us in our tracks, and after 7 unanswered goals we were on top of the world… for now.

Grabbing an assist in the second to my center, Mike, he was nice enough to return the favor in the third period when he gave me the puck where I shot a no-looker off the back hand and scored.

Having my lady finally in the stands after a long time of no shows, makes me play better =). Or worse, depends on what you think. On top of my 2 point game, I managed to grab myself 2 penalties, roughing and hooking. Hey, Sean kept his cool and didn’t get any, LOL. The hooking I can’t really explain, the guy just skated into my stick and got stuck. I should have dropped my stick, but I didn’t – my fault, bah. However, my roughing penalty was pretty lame. I guess somehow we connected and he didn’t like it and took a shot at my head and I stood there and talked sh*t like, “what’s your problem?” I don’t really know why I got a penalty. The guys said I caught myself basically in mid swing. You don’t normally take a swing at me without me beating the sh*t out of you. Consider yourself crazy lucky. I’m not sure, but I think he was the guy who got kicked out in the middle of the 3rd period and we were on a 9 minute power play, LOL.

So, on to round three. Can the team who started out the season 0-5 make it all the way?! I hope so. Tune in next time, Mon, Aug 25 @ 9:30PM Logitech Ice – South Rink

Something to learn, don’t play in the playoffs with DQed players or if you don’t know if your players were DQed. Although, I think we played just about the same people anyway. Only THIS time we had many of our absent players and were ready to earn that “W” fair and square.

We started out fiercely with a 2-1 lead in the first period, one being mine =). It was a big mess in front of the opposing goal, I got the puck, took a shot, basically hit the goalie in the shoulder and it some how ricochet behind him crossing the goal line, yay goal for me.

In the second period (I think), I decided to get up in the goalie’s face, ’cause he was in mine. Basically, I was pushed into him, he bitched, I bitched back to him saying I was pushed into him, he further bitched that I should have stopped, I bitched even further saying how could I stop if I was pushed. Yeah… We both got unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for that. I think it’s lame that goalies don’t have to serve penalties, why should they not do the time if they do the crime. So basically I totally got under his skin, ’cause in the penalty box, I still taunting the goalie and I know he saw me. To further acknowledge that I got under his skin, he came to me at our bench and try to explain he wasn’t complaining about me, or whatnot, I don’t think he got his point across ’cause I still don’t think I did anything wrong. I still just wanted to go at it with the goalie, ’cause you don’t just get in my face when I know I’m right. I wonder if I could kick out a goalie that way… Ah, the possibilities…

It’s funny, because for a long while Sean and I haven’t had a penalty, and somehow we served both of our penalties roughly the same time. HA. Too bad they don’t note the penalty minutes on the Logitech Ice webpage. I don’t even think they have my points right. I’m missing a goal. Ha, I’m obviously a points junky.

I managed to end the game with 2 goals and a +1. My second goal was kinda awarded to me ’cause it was another mess in front of the goal, only this time the goalie was on top of the puck and was basically in the net and the puck passed the goal line. The goal was awarded to me by our captain, Kelly, ’cause he said I was the last one to touch it. After the goalie got in my face, I so wanted my first hat trick in this league to be on him. But, alas, it’ll have to be another day.

So what’s the moral of the story, boys and girls? Don’t play if you don’t know if you have DQed players. Maybe next time we won’t be so nice and give you another chance. HA. Next game, Sunday 8/24 8:15PM North Ice.