… no not really, actually not at all. Although I love Apple for their wonderful hardware and software, I hate them for releasing something new every couple of months leaving you behind with outdated “but I just bought it??” technology. After I got my 40Gb iPod barely a year ago, Apple already released the iPod mini, a new iPod 4th generation (i think? or is it 3rd?) and now finally the iPod Photo :( And let’s not forget the U2 Special edition, which us a black/red iPod… which requires a different kind of taste ;) (I have a feeling they asked MS to design this one ;p)

I don’t care about the Photo version though, since I don’t see the use of it, although I do envy the people buying the high end edition because it’s 60 gig . lol. Although after a year I still only have 27gig of music on mine, so I’ll survive. But that can change since Belgium finally has access to the iTunes Music Store!!!

Talking about Apple bringing out new hardware, what’s with the “let’s bring another iBook out every 2 months!” I bought one in March and just like with the iPod, I’m already 2 generations behind :( . But must say, if you are interested in buying an iBook, do it now! It has never been this cheap, and it’s as fast as a Powerbook. It comes WITH Airport built-in and it’s still as sexy as ever ;) Seeing this deal almost made me sell mine and get a new one :(

So anyway, I’m pissed at Apple for their new releases but I’m still happy I switched. I’ve never loved working with a piece of hardware as much before as with the iPod and iBook. (The Windows pc isn’t the same family, not even the same species.) It’s a glimpse of the future, and it’s hopefully where all hardware and software, including Microsofts, is heading to.

Okay, my alter ego is taking over all my precious life time ;) This weekend we almost OD’d on FFXI. I had to stop because my eyes were killing me after 25 hours of gameplay in one weekend.

And not only does Suibhne (that’s my character’s name.. which you would know if u’d read this blog anyway ;)) live in-game these days, he’s taking over sickb0y’s time and created a website! Not a personal weblog no, but something of a community site for our Linkshell. A what-shell I hear you ask? Well, a linkshell is some sort of chatroom, to which you are always connected if you are carrying a pearl of that linkshell. Not making any sense? lol. Well, a person starts a linkshell and gets these pearls with it. These he can distribute to others so they can join the linkshell. Now do you get it?

So it’s kind of a group of people you will get to know best since you’re chatting with them all the time you’re in the game. This one is called SilentDeath, started by an Elvaan called Silenteye. Aislynn and I are members now, and so are a bunch of Americans, English and Spanish people. No Japs though. So since we already are paying for webspace, we offered to run the site on 5 Dollar Shake and help them with our skills.

So I suggest you check it out, there’s going to be a great gallery section showing you all some wonderful places and events in Vana’diel. It’s online for a week now so don’t expect much yet, but keep an eye on it ;) (a silent one? :P)

My second celebrity autograph! Lol. This puny human met David Carradine! More on that later. First…

This weekend it was FACTS again, an anime/sci-fi convention held in Ghent. Filled with the newest games, the coolest anime/manga/jap stuff and the yearly necessairy presence of Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and the nerdy fanboys, it was a good day to spend all your hard earned money… again. (Note before getting flamed: I liked the original Star Wars alot and I loved the LotR movies aswell, but the merchandise, dressing up etc is just a tiny bit too much for me;)… plus these things except LotR are old! C’est passé damn it! .. and I don’t like Star Trek so flame ahead;p)

We finally bought the entire Love Hina! serie, got three more films from the people that brought us Spirited Away, being Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (Castle in the Sky), Majo no takkyûbin (Kiki’s Delivery Service) and Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke).

And last but not least, the Kill Bill 1 dvd. Big deal, u say? Well it is when it’s signed by the great Bill himself, David Carradine ! The man was invited to the conference and signed whatever you liked (for a price :s) without even saying a word! Lol. Although his interaction with the fans was limited to “Take picture, sign, hand over”, I did manage to get two handshakes from him! (Paying and no physical contact/conversation whatsoever? I don’t think so. lol) Tried conversation, the man knows how to avoid them though :( Got an autograph for my dad aswell, who’s a great fan of Tarantino movies and remembers the good old Kung Fu series. So he’ll be happy ;)

So it was a good and fruitful day. Except for the fact that every year anime seems to be less present and Star Wars/LotR/Star Trek is taking over. And this ain’t attracting the pretty people. Also the lack of hand-painted anime models is sad. For the first time we take enough money to be able to buy one and they are selling none! They had loads though, some nerd club doing nothing else but painting, but selling? No. Do you sell any? No. Can I order one or something? No. So you never sell any? No, we do it for fun… Damn it. Well FU! . lol.

I suggest you check it out next year, although I prefer you don’t. It was already crowded ;p

We’ve been quiet haven’t we. Our MSN Messengers were set to /away, /busy or completely offline the last week, the phone didn’t get picked up that often and sometimes we forgot to eat. Damn you Final Fantasy XI, what have you done!!

On the other hand, it has saved us money, since we eat less, phone less and don’t go out drinking/watching movies. So all by all it ain’t that bad. No we’re not addicts. Sure we’re not. We just like the virtual life we lead :D … Someone got the number of a good shrink? ;)

Since we’ve been leading a life nobody cares to hear about, it is damn hard to find something to post about. So I’ll just post on what’s playing in my head apart FFXI.

First of all, the Nintendo Gameboy DS and Sony’s PSP. Now I’m running out of cash so these things are not arriving at the right time. Still, ,I’m not really using my GBA SP, which I think is an awesome portable console. Only problem is, I never take public transportation or anything, so I never have any time to use it, except at home, where we have PC, Playstation2 and Gamecube :s Even the iPod I use mostly when connected to my stereo or car radio (through iTrip). Thank god I can listen to it at work, otherwise it’d be quite pointless.

So as you can see, portable devices are useless when you go everywhere by car (traffic jams aren’t ideal to play GBA). So buying a PSP or DS would just be a waste of money. The iPod however might get more used once I start skating again (which I’ve been saying for 2 years, plus it’s a tad too dangerous for a guy with my experience to hold an iPod when skating).

Them being completely useless doesn’t mean I wouldn’t buy it. I always end up wasting my money because I’m such a gadget whore ;)

As for other things on my mind, I’ll bother you with that in another post. Don’t wanna spill all my crap at once now ;)