Sky PerfecTV

Happy New Year 2007. World of Warcraft is back on my time-stealing list of activities, but oh, how that list has grown. Until now, most of my time was spent watching the same 4 channels on TV, watching shows and anime I downloaded, surfing the internet, plinking with my M4 and Colt, and occasionally playing a game or two on my PS2. Of course, many JETs feel an excessive need to "explore all the rich culture of Japan". On some internet forums, this excessiveness is called "green tea and onsens" as in "I came to Japan for the green tea and onsens."

Now I'm in a slightly different boat. I'm already well acquainted with the culture, and many of these "tea and onsen" experiences I had as a child. In truth, there's a certain sense of familiarity setting in for me here (that whole routine thing I keep talking about), so I'm reacting accordingly, and filling my life with the things that make me comfortable. Namely, that involves expanding on the list above.

I'll handle how I've done so in backwards order.

I spent a pretty traditional New Years Eve and Day with my relatives. This involved end-of-the-year noodles, osechi-ryouri (traditional Japanese food on New Years), and visits to two shrines to pray for good fortune in the next year. I also got some shopping in at the fashionably Canal City shopping mall. But most memorable was the 3 cold, cold hours I spent with my cousin, waiting in line at Toys R Us to buy a DS Lite.

There were some 200 units of various colours coming in, along with some PS3 and Wiis. When we got there at 7am, there were about a 100 people already in line, and at least 60 of them were Chinese. They were in line to get Wiis, not for personal enjoyment, but to put them in the back of a van, which no doubt is destined for a shipping crate to Hong Kong or China. I'm not sure if I should really be annoyed at this or not, but the gamer in me feels that those Wiis should have gone to locals who wanted it. Ultimately they will go to people who want them, but I doubt it's legal to sell Japanese market units outside of Japan. Of course, I'm hardly in a position to accuse anyone of piracy.

The first game I picked up was Final Fantasy III, and man, they do NOT make RPGs like this anymore. As FF XII only held my interest for about 6 hours before the style-over-substance brand of boredom set in, I'm happy to report that I've racked up 9+ hours on FF III with no end in sight. Other games I'm looking forward to: Super Mario Bros., a Kanji Dictionary, and a DS Cookbook. Nintendo is truly genius in making a gaming device marketable to all ages.

About 2 weeks ago, I made a trip into the city and picked up a new BB gun. It's an H&K USP from Tanaka Works. Well made, it's quite heavy. Sadly, as there's no hop on it, it's shoots pretty poorly, and the slide sort of sticks. About 1 week ago, I saw Casino Royale. Let me first say that Dan Craig makes a superlative Bond, and I can say that he's the best Bond since Connery. All the P99 action however caused an impulse purchase of a Maruzen P99, used from my local airsoft shop, with upgraded barrel, return spring, silencer, and optional mounting rail. Of all my guns so far, this is my favourite plinker. It's just fun as hell. I'm going to be adding a wire-mesh rack soon so I can hang my various BB guns like some sort of armory. Sick? Yes. Twisted? Yes. Fun? Most definitely!

To aid my computing, I bought a stand and keyboard for my laptop. What was once an awkward hunching experience is now something that approaches a normal desktop. Of course, that also means I have since been lured back into the World of Warcraft. With the surplus of time I had I made more progress in a week than I had in 4 months. Danarhys is, as of this post, 1 bar away from 46. A week or so ago, I was at 37.

So that's gaming, plinking, and computers covered. The last thing is TV watching (I'm rolling downloaded stuff into this as well, as it's effectively the same thing). Just before New Years, I picked up a Sky PerfecTV tuner and satellite dish. I couldn't get it installed until today, but I am so glad it's up and running. For about $55 a month, I get 70 channels, running the gamut from News to sports, movies, drama, variety, shopping, anime, documentaries, music, and about 50 stations worth of satellite radio. If that weren't enough, it's these things which make me happiest. Included in the channels are Discovery, History, National Geographic, and Fox, which need to real explanation. Add to these two channels that show all anime all the time (Animax and AT-X), as well as AXN, which shows hit dramas from the States (among them Lost and CSI:Miami), and I might as well just give up and never leave my house. All the shows are generally shown without commercial breaks, and most of the ads that come in a 8 or 16 minute block after the show are generally previews or ads for other shows on that channel. Terribly, terribly addictive.

Well, guess that's from my end. Back to rotting my brain silly as I watch animated dramas while I shoot my gun and kill online monsters. I live a blessed life.