Finally, after such a long wait, I bought my PS3. I got the slim version. I only have one game so far but that's okay. I plan to buy several more soon. Right now, I'm satisfied with having it and finally getting to play Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction. Sadly, I was playing Secret Agent Clank on my PSP so some of the story has been spoiled for me. That game takes place after Tools.It's okay though. I'm still loving every second of Tools of Destruction. I especially love my Groovitron. So awesome!

I haven't been here in almost 3 months. Oops! I got kind of busy this summer with real life issues. I'm excited about the new Professor Layton game that comes out next week. I have the new Kingdom Hearts game 358/2 on preorder. And the PS3 actually did go down in price with a slim version. I'm so buying that bad boy over Labor weekend.

Now, on to read the millions posts I've missed. >.

E3 has only just really begun and I'm already drooling over a few games. I can't wait to see what else is coming out and more importantly when.

I was so excited about this game coming out on the DS. Of course, when it first came out I was busy doing other things I kept forgetting to go pick it up. I always remember these things after the stores close but decide not to buy it online because I'll just hit the store the next day. In other words, I only just recently picked it up.

I love it! It's so pretty and the story is so interesting. The only problem I was having was I couldn't understand what I was trying to do when fighting. Last night, I picked it up determined to get the hang of battling as both Neku and Shiki. I finally did it! I still get a lot of E level victories but at least they're victories. I got tired of seeing game over.

I feel like this game is going to go faster for me now as I finally picked up the stragedy guide. That's really what helped me understand how to fight as both players. I've been playing RPGs forever so it was really surprising me how I wasn't getting the hang of it. Fortunately, I don't feel too bad as I heard a lot of people were in the same boat as me.

Now, I can't wait to get off work so I can go play again.

Really, I don't even know when it happened but I'm a member of 30 unions. That's WAY too many for me. Some I don't even remember accepting. One was for a system I don't even own. That one just blows my mind as I know I would never have accepted a union I wouldn't have anything to say in.

So basically if you're reading this and I resigned from your union, it's nothing against you. I just can't visit all of those unions. I need to get the number down to 10. That I can personally keep up with and be able to become more active everywhere.

Thanks to everyone who's sent me invites! But like so many others, I simply can't keep up with them all. I thought I could but I just can't. However, by lowering my number of unions, I vow to become a more active member of my remaining ones.

Thanks!

I'm so excited to announce that after months of frustration, countless attempts and many more months of collecting dust I pulled out Chain of Memories last night. Absolutely determined to defeat Captain Hook, I began my quest by pulling out my stragedy guide. I found the section on fighting Hook. Read it and digested it throughly. And then I played. Yeah, Captain Hook schooled me again! Okay! Calm down and think. What went wrong? I got it! I'll create a new deck.

Let's see. The guide suggests a couple of 0 cards and everything else high powered. Okay! Check! A fully-loaded deck according to the guide's plan. Will it work? Here I go again through the whole scene that I've long since stopped reading to get to the fight with Hook. Yeah, yeah, Peter Pan saves Wendy. Whatever! Bring on Hook! Now, the other suggestion the guide gives is my favorite. The guide is kind of sarcastic about it but they must not have met players like me. They suggest you build the deck like explained unless you're really good at hitting the A button rapidly. I'm really good at that. Why didn't they say so earlier? So the fight begins! Pass the 0 cards until you need them for a card break. Check! Rapid fire attack Hook by using all those high powered attack cards pressing A as quickly as possible. Done! Captain Hook went down!!! I beat him before the ship started rocking too badly. Once that happens, jump like mad or you're screwed no matter what your deck is like. All right! Bring on Riku!

The guide states you can use the same deck you used to fight Hook. Okay, check! SAVE! Done! I have my little cut scene with Riku. Ah, Riku . . . And then Sora starts the attack as he's fed up with Riku's attitude. I swear the fight didn't even last a minute. I schooled Riku so badly. I think it was all that leveling for Hook that I did. No challenge. But it was so nice to see Riku again. I played a little more journeying into Hollow Bastion on the 9th floor. It took me forever to get there so I wanted to explore a little and then off to dreamland I went. I hope to finish this game this year. I think I can as long as I don't get frustrated again like that.

I'm so happy! I doubt anyone noticed I haven't been around the past week. I've been on vacation celebrating my birthday. It was on Father's Day, the 15th. So Dad celebrated on Saturday while I partied on my actual birthday, Sunday. He and I made this agreement many years ago. It works for us.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the games I received for my birthday that I've been playing all week. I got Ratchet & Clank Size Matters for the PS2. It's so much fun playing a R&C game that's new to me instead of just replaying what I have. The only thing I have to complain about it is that I can tell it wasn't made for the PS2. Next time I'll get it for the PSP. I'm sure it's awesome on that system. It's a little clunky on the PS2 as the camera doesn't move as easily as the other R&C games. But it's still fun to play!

The other game I received was Professor Layton for the DS. I love puzzle games and this is no exception. Before I know it, I've been playing for hours. I spent one entire afternoon on my back porch playing until the sun went down. And then I played some more inside until the battery ran out. It's quite an addicting game.

So yeah, overall it was a successful birthday.

I'm so excited! I just got a new badge here. I was surprised but happy when I got my PS2 badge. I don't know what I did to get it but I'm fine with it. And just today, I noticed I got another badge.

I know there's someone out there going "big deal". Well, I just think it's cool. It really made me feel like a part of the community today.

I finally made it to the final boss in .hack//redemption. (I feel like I've been playing forever but I just don't have much time to play. ) Anyway, I attempted the boss battle and lost. It offered me to try again. Sure! I attempted it and lost. I had to quit at that time since I was sleepy and needed to go to bed. I'm going to try again this weekend. Hopefully, I'll get past it because I want to see the ending.

I checked online FAQs and walkthroughs. Every last one I've read breezed over this battle saying it's rather easy. What game were they playing?! Sure, getting through the dungeon and the outer dungeon to get to the boss was a snap. And even fighting the first avatar battle against Cubia Alpha was a cinch. But Cubia Beta is schooling me left and right. I barely took any of his HP when I got the dreaded "Game Over".

Anyone have any words of wisdom? I think I'm just going to jump in there and keep trying. Eventually, I'm sure I'll figure out what I need to do. It's one of those times I'm mad they didn't make any strategy guides. What's easy for one person may be hard for another. I like the guides for all the extra little things and especially the maps. Ah well!

I'm so excited! The mailman delivered my DS Lite today! I've been wanting a crimson & black DS for sometime now. Everytime I went to buy one, they were sold out. I patiently waited and finally they came back into stock. I know I could have bought one on ebay but they were running over the regular prices so I didn't want to go that route. Everyone I saw was going to about $200. I didn't want to spend that much.

I also had delivered in the same package my new Zelda game - Phantom Hourglass. I can't wait to start playing it. I really couldn't start playing it since I had to go to work. Of course, it's going to be tough for a while trying to decide what to play. I'm in the middle of .hack//G.U. Redemption on my PS2. It's the 3rd game of a 3 game series. I need to find out how the story ends. I'm completely addicted to it. Although, I feel the need to play with my new toy now. I don't want it to feel neglected.