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First week back to work and it's such a stark contrast to my vacation week. To see how much more tired I am, how much less time I've got, and how less patient I am with the kids. Also, I don't think much about blogging, gaming is condensed, and there's such a limited window to everything, including meals.

In a way though, it provides an insight on what I need to change about certain habits, like how I should crave out some time for the kids no matter what, and how I don't really need to put this imaginary pressure on myself to consume as much media as possible when I've got a slice of time. If I don't obsess about how much time I've got left to do anything, it just brings me to a level of stress that is purely self manufactured.

Even when I played through Bioshock, I just started all over on easy and I'm actually having fun with the game instead of stressing out about getting my ass handed to me by a Big Daddy.

No plans for the weekend, save for saving some pods of whales or fixing the ozone. After the snow, the weather just seems tame regardless that its still winter and slightly icky outside. So maybe we will do something outside. Or go to Costco.

They have a process here called the Super Backflush. What the hell, dude.

Last Rites

Look at me, all morose that it's my last day of vacation. Nevermind, at least I got a few more hours that I'll probably spend in Bioshock or Far Cry 2. Wasting the life away playing video games. Spend some time last night playing Burnout with Kenneth online, and that was a lot of fun, even if time never seems to be on our side. But considering the 17-18 time difference, we do pretty well. Before I dozed off, I was watching some trailers for Resident Evil 5, which features a completely co-op experience either with a buddy or an AI counterpart, so that got my juices pumping. Nothing like hordes of zombies zeroing in on a couple of geeks.

Anyway, uploaded a few of the scans I did the past few days.

Maybe Mom, but at least I'm glad I'm not the boy with the handbag around my neck.

Scan20099, originally uploaded by diegomcnamara.

Friend

Scan20051, originally uploaded by diegomcnamara.

One of my Mom's friends. Evidently rocked the crap out of that awesome hairstyle.

Goodbye

Scan20140, originally uploaded by diegomcnamara.

My Mom saw me scanning this and said my Dad took this photo while she was on a train back to Kuala Lipis. They were pen pals and she'd come to visit in Singapore.

Mom and Dad

Scan20147, originally uploaded by diegomcnamara.

This is my Mom and Dad before I was born, maybe 1969 or 1970.

Two Days to Reality

I can't say completely that I'm loathing the idea of going back to work, really. Maybe it's the fear that I'll go back and there'll be nothing to do but sit around, lay floor tape, and do stupid busywork to give the illusion of productivity. That I hate. But actually going back to work is all right with me. Ah, yeah, there's the waking up at 4:30am part. Not too hot about that.

So during my vacation, I didn't really get all those grand plans realized, no short movie made, no song composed, no laptop per child in the world. Kinda ran out of money there. But I did manage to do a whole lot of goofing off and some work, like beginning (and probably stopping prematurely scanning all of Mom's old photos), playing a good chunk of video games, and just generally enjoy being a complete lazy butt. Part of the vacation was taken up by the holidays and the snow, but otherwise I've had fun finding out how to make a massive stockpile of fuel tanks in the map editor in Far Cry 2, and then blowing it up just to see stuff explode. Also encoding concerts and putting them on the PS3 for easy accessibility.

Anyway, couple more days. Might want to put some thought into taking the tree down and also cut my nails, shave, etc.

Feeling a little dulled after going to sleep late last night, I believe at around 3:30am. Might consider staying up again on a gaming binge because I think a little mature gaming is in store for me. Half the games I have are okay for general viewing, and half of them would give the kids nightmares or bad ideas if they were too exposed to them.

Last night Alex rang in the New Year by exclaiming, "Happy New Year to Everybody, except Bad Guys!"

"And monsters... because they're bad!"

Last post before the New Year

The kids managed to stay up, waiting to watch the fireworks on the TV. Of course, having chocolate fondue at 10 at night sure does help keep one awake. We had some pretzel rods, some bananas, and some pound cake and we didn't chip more than a couple of inches of chocolate off the ceramic. There's about 4 more inches of chocolate that we'll save for tomorrow...

Anyway, Happy New Year to all.

I stole a PS3.

This blows my mind.

In a paragraph, "Sony's second-generation PS3 features a 35 percent total cost reduction from the first-generation model. In dollars and cents, today's PS3 costs Sony about $448.73 to produce, compared to the old model's $690.23 price tag. That said, the lower cost doesn't include software, box contents, and royalty expenses."

And it retails for $399. So it's actually a steal, really.