With my Platinum Trophy Finally obtained for Katamari Forever, all this free time has suddenly become available to me.

Since that time, I have been thinking about the fate of this web site.  Do I continue with the same “Politics as usual” or do I merely reduce this site as a den of solitude to record all my literary musings? As it is, my site attracts more spam than what the average Hawaiian could eat in a day.

No real bloggers, political and non political alike who visit here, traipsing around the political mire and ooze of our slowly decaying country.  For the record, I only have one real person who visits this blog on occasion.

Should I continue with the political route, I’m afraid it would be just a futile charade that would be updated on a semi-regular basis.  Don’t get me wrong.  I do care about politics, and what’s going on in this country.  I just don’t think my fascination is sufficient enough to reach “junkie” status.

I respect the experts that go out of their way to dig up this stuff for us to sort through.  It’s just that they get paid for it, and well….I don’t.

I hearby dub this blog the Blog of Literary Musings and Prevarications (meh….>_< I REALLY need to work on the title!).  I will talk about politics now and then, but just on a less frequent basis. Oh, and my last words to say about this topic?  A eulogy for our dear departed site.

Walker on Politics – January 27, 2009 – October 16, 2009

This has been a good experiment, while it lasted.   It’s now time to move on to my true passion: writing. In closing, I guess I can say the pen is mightier than the politician.

I am now playing through Drive Mode.  I am almost done with this game.  Normal posts will return in the future.  Stay tuned.

That’s right. I’m working on Eternal Mode right now.  Stay tuned as the progress unfolds…

That’s right.  TGS 2009 is in full swing, and it just started yesterday.  It  offically opens to the public tomorrow, so I may be reporting on what I find out then. In another news, I am just getting over the flu, so this update is going to be a quickie. I’ll see you later for more TGS updates.  If not, have a nice weekend!

What wait?  Katamari Forever! While this game was supposed to come out in 4 more days,  I was able to get it early.  That’s right.  Gamestop just got it in today, so I drove to the mall and got my reserved copy. With that copy, I got a Prince cellphone charm.

It’s supposed to light up when I get an incoming call, but I can’t seem to get it working.  I also heard that it can do this by tapping it against something.  Granted, the trinket is cheap but at least it comes free with the preorder.

I also got a red DualShock 3 controller, so that I could do all the challenges in the game for the Platinum trophy.  One of the challenges requires 2 player vs. mode, so that should come in handy for that. With that, I’ll be playing a lot of Katamari tonight. Let the Katamari celebration BEGIN!

I’m sure it is the same with a lot of you.  With it being 9/11 today, this is all that you’ll get for this Wild Card Friday. Have a nice weekend!

For this week’s Wild Card Friday,  I will attempt to explain my 1,000,000 rose ordeal.

What words can describe the agony of rolling a katamari through a frozen ice rink in a seemingly endless circle, in a futile attempt to roll up one million roses?  Well, it began with my recent completion of We ♥ Katamari, the sophomore PlayStation 2 release that I played, in eager anticipation for the upcoming PlayStation 3 release of Katamari Forever.

Having virtually everything done on my mental checklist,  only one thing stood in the way of completing the game: those frickin’ roses.

Okay, two things needed to be done if you count the myriad of objects that I inadvertantly failed to collect in various levels, but that’s a picnic compared to those dang roses. Having pleased every fan in the game, the King of all Cosmos brings a rose to life.  And this tiny rose utters the most absurd request my ears could ever bear to hear:  One million red roses.

So I’m taken to the level, where I’m expected to carry out this ordeal.  Scads of roses adorned the snow covered landscape everywhere.  Single roses and bouquets of 10.  With the counter starting at 0, I think to myself “What the heck have I gotten myself into? This is going to take a long frickin’ time.”

It then occured to me that I have completed this ordeal before.  Twice!  Once in 2005 and again in 2007.  This isn’t going to be so bad, right? My optimism faded when I completed 200,000 roses for the day.  Okay.  That’s 200,000.  But I still have 800,000 more of those crimson pests to collect!

The next day came, and then the next.  In each of those days, I coasted along, collecting 100,000 roses a day.  My count was now a slightly higher, but still low 400,000.  Not even halfway there. Then Wednesday came.  I thrust my katamari back into the sea of roses scattered around the frozen ice rink.  I languished in my room, rolling each thousand.  I rolled up a thousand, replenishing the roses with each reset.

I began to lose my sense of awareness with my surroundings.  All I saw was my controller and the screen.  The headaches began as my brain liquefied.    Roll a thousand.  Reset.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  Minute by minute.  Over and over.  The same route around the seemingly infinite rink of roses.

When the day was over,  300,000 more was rolled up.  700,000 roses now.  Almost there. The next day, I cruised along, much in the same way I did before.  Same level.  Same strategy.  Same speed.  Clicking the analog sticks up and down.  Making gradual turns to collect every bouquet of roses on my route.  Averaging 50 seconds per thousand.

In my adament pursuit to collect them all, my total was now 900,000.  Only 100,000 away from the million.  So close, yet so far away. The next morning was the home stretch.  The light at the end of the tunnel.  I inched my way forward and rolled each rose up, becoming ever closer to the million.

Suddenly, the moment was approaching.  I was at 990,000  roses.  Just 10,000 away.  A breath away from a million. Then it happened.  The climax.  The culmination of 16 hours of rolling all boiled down into a triumphant second of victory:  I rolled up a million roses.  The victory was signaled by a ridiculous anthem of bizarre absurdity.  An assorted cacophony of squeals, screams, and singing in Japanese. As I ran my crowned Prince to the other screen to save my game, I knew that it was finally over.  I have done it for the third time.   I have wasted countless hours, in a constant pursuit to reach the absurd goal of that little rose:  one million red roses.

There.  I’ve done it, you stupid rose!  I’ve done what you asked, so what more do you want from me?  If it’s more roses you want, I’ll burn you and your friends!  Understand, Mr. Rose? The trial is over.  The victory, won.  Just what is there left to do now?  Oh yeah, the objects.

And just as I said before,  the objects are a picnic. And now it’s time to feast, then wait in eager anticipation for Katamari Forever to come out.

Not much to say this week, with this August coming to a close. I have been playing lots of Katamari lately in anticipation for Katamari Forever. I have 100% completed Katamari Damacy and I am currently working on We ♥ Katamari.

Other than that, I am preparing for a speech pertaining to (no surprise) my video game hobby. That’s it for this edition of Wild Card Friday.  See you next week!

Summer has been quite busy.  With that, the politics as usual will return in September. Until then, have a good week!

Having my birthday two days ago and other issues this week, I have not be able to post anything new in the past week.  To make up for it, here is a post about my 25th birthday.  Enjoy!

Today is my 25th birthday!  Since it’s after 8:52,  I have already turned 25. For this year, it was a pretty typical setup for a birthday.  I ate at Genji and had beef gyoza, a super crazy roll, and Lobster Tail and Filet Mignon for dinner.

With it being my birthday, I got a 50% discount on the dinner.  The dinner of course, came with onion soup (or miso soup, which I will probably get next time), a salad with house dressing,  and the dinner, served with grillled vegetables, fried rice, and plenty of yum-yum sauce on the side.

At home, not expecting too many gifts this year, I received a Snickers bar, a Coleman light keychain, a $20 Marathon gas card, a $20 NCG cinema card, and 2 pairs of pants. Cake and ice cream followed.  It was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, something that hasn’t been done since my 21st birthday.

To balance the chocolate equation, I had two scoops of Bryer’s vanilla ice cream. All in all, it was a good birthday.  Thoughout the day, I played Katamari Damacy.

I will now play some more. Just one more thing:

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY

TO MOI!!!!! ^_^

(x-posted on LiveJournal)

Having neglected The Lord of the Rings for much of the summer, I have decided to continue reading this book.  Simply put, this week’s Wild Card Friday will briefly touch on this matter, as well as addressing my absence from this blog.

First of all, I plan on continuing The Lord of the Rings.  The plan is to read 2 chapters a day.  At that pace, the book should be read in about a month.  Knowing how I have stopped reading this in the past, we’ll see how far this commitment will go.

In addressing other matters,  it is increasingly obvious that I have not left any news on this journal since last week.  Chalk it up to being too busy and having a life outside this journal.  Granted, the political climate can be frustrating at times, which is why I have not immersed myself so much in the blogs, newspapers, and broadcast news lately.

You’ll see more news here, I assure you, after I figure out the best way to go about this juggling act. To all of you in the blogosphere, have a good Friday. I’ll see you back on Monday…I hope.

As I mentioned above, I will be making my journey back to Copia.  And so far, it looks like it’s going to be a long one.  For Wild Card Friday this week, I will be discussing my gradual return to Copia in the distant future.

For those of you who are not in the know with my story terminology, Copia is the world where the events of my story The Master’s Chronicles takes place.  In making my journey back there, you might be expecting another excerpt of my story.

Unfortunately, this is not the case.  In announcing my journey, I am referring to my gradual return to continuing on my story. Among other things that currently occupy my time,  I am in the midst of a story that one of my friends have written.  With them currently being in the country at the time, I willfully concede to undergo the task of reading every last page of their story.  An ordeal that could be completed in just a few short days.  The name of their story is Morgavia and I am reading Volume 0: The Chain that Links Two Hearts.  It is an invigorating story of high fantasy and adventure and I have only read the first six chapters in this eighteen chapter volume.

Another obstacle in my path is J.R.R. Tolkien’s magnum opus The Lord of the Rings.  Being almost finished with book 1  of the first volume: Fellowship of the Ring, I am not even halfway through the book yet. Even with these two stories diverting me from my journey, I am determined to reach Copia sooner or later.  While these stories won’t halt the progress of my story completely, they will only slow things down.

In the midst of reading these stories, gradual progress will be made on The Master Chronicles.  It just won’t be as fast as I want to see it. My, it has been a while since I last wrote anything.  In returning to my story, I feel like an artist returning to their easel and canvas.  Having a dried palette, the colors need some moisture added to them.  The trouble then comes with finding the right colors to use.

Before all this is formulated, they are faced with a daunting task.  What am I going to paint? What will I create? The pale pastels just won’t do.  Only the most vibrant colors will work.  They need that moment of inspiration that can’t be squandered.  Once it’s there, they have to run with it.  Just mix those colors, kiss the board with the paintbrush bristles, and create a masterpiece. So is true with me.

When that moment of inspiration comes, I must run with it and create the most vibrant colors imaginable.   And I must hurry, before that bursting flame of inspiration fades into oblivion. When I find that muse, I must capture it and bring it into submission before it escapes.  Because knowing this one reality shared among novices and great writers alike, they do escape.

And man, was it good!  For this week’s Wild Card Friday,  I will share with you my adoration and excitement towards the much anticipated title for Katamari fans everywhere:  Katamari Forever (Katamari Damacy Tribute in Japan).

To begin, I went to the PlayStation Store and downloaded a demo for Katamari Damacy Tribute.  I then played the two levels that were in the demo.  Both of them were pretty good. The first level was a sprinkler level, where you water a desert with your katamari.  After playing a few times, I was able to get over 1,400 square meters, which gave me a score of 100.

The second level was a repeat level from Beautiful Katamari: Delightful Dirigible.  I replayed that level a few times, and was able to get 35cm9mm.  That also gave me 100 points for the level.

While Japan can enjoy this game right now, this was a good appetizer of what to expect in Katamari Forever in just a couple months.  It was no Schloss Cosmos, but I will be able to enjoy that in the distant future.  It really wet my appetite for Katamari Forever.  I can hardly wait!