Wow, apparently there is this hour called 7 AM. I had forgotten it existed for a couple of weeks, but it is there, as I found out today when I had to get up for work again. Ouch.
Have had a very good Christmas and New Year. Not too hectic, but plenty enough merriment for me. Got everything I hoped for for Christmas, and then some. Nice little stack of xbox games to keep me busy through the next few months. A secret agent cheeseboard (it has a secret compartment with a set of cheese-cutting implements). And a breadmaker, which although I couldn’t be bothered with the concept before I got one, I now have to admit are absolutely brilliant. Have made a loaf a day since we got ours, something about that fresh bread you cannot beat. Having to get used to cutting non-doorstep size pieces, but hey, practice makes perfect.
My main resolution that I haven’t covered previously would have to be “Make more soup”. The Christmas dinner joint of lamb made, if I say so myself, one fucking awesome soup for Boxing Day. Combining that with fresh-made bread cannot be a bad thing.
On the gaming front, as I said, have a lot to be getting on with, but the absolute highlight has been Jade Empire, which is an RPG-style game with a great Chinese style to it, real-time combat, and a great deep story behind it. Very engrossing. Reminds me a lot of Shemue on the Dreamcast, which is handy, as I had forgotten that you could get Shemue II on the Xbox. Something I intend to pick up cheap on ebay once I’ve worked through my games stack a bit. Have also been enjoying Project Gotham Racing 2 still, top-notch racing game that in all honesty makes Gran Tourismo 4 seem a little flat, and Links 2004, cracking golf game with a great Xbox live implementation. Very nice to play late at night with mates for a mellow session that doesn’t impact too hard on the brain, nor the wrists for that matter.