Two announcements:

1) Resident Evil 4 will be coming to the Wii, using the Wiimote for aiming and stabbing. While I would normally be reluctant to bother with such a purchase, Miyamoto has said that moving older games to the Wii with new controls is likely to happen, but such a product will be sold with a reduced price tag. If the entire bundle includes Seperate Ways (exclusive to the PS2 so far), then count me in.

2) Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles appears to be the game that details the fall of Umbrella that everyone always wanted. Once again, visions of running around a courthouse finding pieces of evidence comes to mind. You may remember that prophetic speech from me during my “It would be awesome to work for Capcom” phase.

Anyway, the game is said to be an on-rail shooter. I’m assuming that it will be like Killer 7, a game that I never got near due to its description as an on-rails shooter. To me, that terminology spells doom. They should seriously rebrand it. Heavily scripted, gun toting adventure perhaps? Dangerous way to spend your money?

Who am I kidding? I’ll probably buy it after reading the first review that scores above 80%.

Work is still trudging along. We’re not officially open yet, so I do not feel any shred of guilt for making this post.

I finally got paid. Hurray for me, I know. It was truly a delightful experience to get handed a cheque which held the funds of a small country within it. A very small country. Possibly the country of Jordan.

I saw something interesting on the drive to work today. We were driving behind a white pick-up truck that appeared to have something hanging from its undercarriage, if that term is even close to correct. As an aside, it should be noted that I do not know cars. I do not particularly care about cars. I have never named a car with a girl’s name.

Nevertheless, this car was particularly interesting. Something was hanging from the undercarriage, and it looked somewhat disturbing. As we neared the vehicle, eventually pulling up alongside it, we noticed that the mysterious red package underneath the truck was a pair of plastic testicles hanging from just behind the trailer hitch. Apparently, while other car owners were calling their vehicle Stella or Nancy Drew, this farmer had decided that his truck did have a pair, and it was going to leave them dangling for all the world to see.

It was very humorous. Still…I cannot help but feel sorry for that truck whenever the driver takes it off road, or over a speed bump. But, I guess that explains why the truck’s balls were red.

PD2 is complete. I submitted my report at 11:30 tonight, a full 29 minutes before the deadline. You will all be shocked to know that I drafted and completed the report in a span of twelve hours. I began at noon, and completed at 11:24. I reviewed it quickly, and submitted originally at 11:26. After editing it more thoroughly, I corrected two errors and resubmited for 11:30.

A noble victory. I fought PD2 on the lowest dungeon and the highest peak. And I smote his ruin on the mountain side.

The damn thing was a pain in the ass. First of all, their resources are great when you go through them sequentially. But when you try to bring all the information back together towards the end of the term, it is impossible to find anything. So, I adhered to the Co-op Student Manual as best as I could and submitted. My writing will hopefully impress them enough to award me pity marks at the very least.

But, to be frank, I cannot care about the PD courses. Without someone actually caring enough to teach you the material, who the fuck cares. At least arrange IRC question and answer sessions for the students or something. Show us that you actually give a fuck about us.

Anyway, the report caused me more trouble than just assembling it. I encountered a problem when I went to do page numbers. The title page and letter of submission (page 1 and 2) were to have no page numbers. The table of contents (page 3) was supposed to be page ii. List of figures was supposed to be page iii. And the summary was page iv. The introduction was supposed to follow as page 1, and the rest of the report continued from there. The problem is, when it comes to page numbers, Microsoft Word is a complete asshole. In desperation (and fear of failing the course), I actually made page number .bmp files, loaded them into word one at a time, and put them “behind the text” so they didn’t mess with the formatting. Then, I created a ruler with two internet browsers, so I knew where to place the images.

And for half an hour, I went and placed individual page number icons. It was a royal pain in the ass. I should get money from Rob C. and Tim P. to compensate for psychological damages.

Anyway, no harm no foul. And I have Tim P. as a professor during the summer…so, maybe, I’ll just be a dick in his lectures.

Or not. Who knows.

I’m going to watch Scrubs and kick back. I’ve got tomorrow off. PD1 and PD2 are done. I’m going to kick back, watch some TV, and not panic about whatever crazy shit needs to be completed.

I have finally finished that God forsaken PD1 course. It was such a chore to complete, but I have submitted everything and I am finished (unless I receive poor marks on something). Now, I just have to submit my PD2 report (read: start writing my PD2 report) before April 3rd, and I will be finished and done.

Man. I hate co-op work terms. You work a mediocre job. You do not get paid. And you have to do pointless online courses. I’m looking forward to returning to Calculus. And that is physically painful.

Well, I think this term is going to be a fair bit cheaper than last time around. This is thanks to the fact that one of my books carrys over from the first term (Calculus, whoo) and my English course books are pretty cheap. Although, there are thousands of them. But that’s an English course for you. Some I already have. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass are on the list, and I have them and have read them. Anne of Green Gables is on the list…which I think I read in Grade 6. Also included is the Robert Munsch (he’s Canadian, people!) classic, Paper Bag Princess. A picture book. Exciting.

Thank God this term will be easier on my pocket. Oh yeah. Still haven’t gotten paid. Worth noting, I think.

I was unable to fully reflect on the game last night, because I was just leaving work when I remembered that the trailer had gone up. And - as usual - when I got home I consumed a hastily prepared dinner and went to sleep.

Alright. Grand Theft Auto IV. It looks to be quite impressive. I don’t know why everyone instantly assumed that the main character was a Russian. Keep in mind I was listening to it through headphones, so the accent was difficult to make out. When I first saw the character model, I thought that you were perhaps playing as a young Salvatore Leone on his arrival to Liberty City, before becoming the all-powerful head of the Leone family.

However, a Russian character would certainly be exciting. Presumably - due to his description of all those awful things he has done - this is set shortly after the Fall of the Berlin wall, and this guy is a retiree from the military. Probably fought in Afghanistan or something.

It is interesting though because it seems - from his brief inner monologue - that he does not wish to be involved in criminal activities. I wonder how this will actually factor into the gameplay. Do you have a choice to be a criminal or subvert criminal activity? Or will you the story just force you into the darkest depths of the criminal underworld?

I guess we will have to wait and see. I’m looking forward to it. The graphics are certainly an impressive leap. And I wonder if they are going to have more varied mission styles. Also, I wonder if we’re going to see a larger area (like San Andreas), or if that will be set aside due to the improvement in graphics.

Who is to say.

ASIDE: There is this girl who works here named Simona, and she is smokin’. Although - to be honest - I’m not sure if I’d want to date another girl employed at a retail outlet. The last one got kind of rocky towards the end.