Recently, I got the Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds after hearing some good things from the Game Grumps (Barry did a Hot Pepper Gaming review and Arin/Egoraptor did a mention during his Sequelitis about Zelda) and other people. And it's amazing! Having only had it for about a week or so, it's a super fun game that is smooth and nostalgic. It looks like Link to the Past with upgraded graphics with the added puzzle mechanic of merging with the wall.

Now, as a kid, I didn't have a SNES so I never played any of the Zelda games until high school where I watched a friend play Ocarina of Time on N64. It was an awesome game, but I will admit that even the Wii and 3DS remakes have some touchy controls. I don't like the fact that I can't take off the reversed Z-axis (flight-style) controls while aiming, and what Arin says about the auto-targeting is true. Sure, by today's standards, Ocarina is a clunky game. But this...Link Between Worlds is just fun and slick. Hell, I'm almost to the point where I'm fighting the final boss, but I still have a whole dungeon and collecting all the Maiamais because I want to upgrade all my items and get the new spin attack. It's a fun adventure and it makes me feel good adventuring.

Once I'm done, I'll probably go back to playing Pokemon Y because I need to finish it. Hell, I only have one gym badge. It's sad. But, vici showed me a video yesterday that was a new preview of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Secret bases are back! Now, I didn't play through Gen III of Pokemon pretty much at all. I had the games, but it was just one of those things where my GBA was in storage for a long time. I did play Diamond and Platinum which had secret bases, and that shit was fun. The only thing that I wished with the more recent games was something similar to secret bases, but not necessarily the same thing. Like personalizing your room, like in the original Silver and Gold. Yeah, you could do that. Look it up. If they had done that in X and Y, which is totally what I thought you could do considering the empty shelf space, it would have made me feel nostalgic. But they didn't, and I guess secret bases is the trade-off. Honestly, I feel like with all the money you make from being an awesome Pokemon training, and the Champion, should net you the ability to get an apartment or house somewhere and then you can decorate it. But that's silly.

Enough about me harping on video games for a bit. Time to talk about something Vici and I talked about in the car last night. My birthday is coming up in less than a month and I'll be 30. Honestly, I'm not scared about being 30 as it's just a number. No, what I wanted to talk about was the sense of receiving things for my birthday. I'm sure my friends and watchers will give their well-wishes, and that's great. What I don't get is why artists and other members put up wishlists that they expect random strangers to buy them or expect free art from their artists friends. Nope, not this guy. If you want to do something for me, you don't have to. Most likely, if I get free art from someone, I'll send them a tip because they deserve something for their time. I'm not worth the 2-3 hours or however long you took to draw me a thing just as a birthday gift. I'm simply happy to get comments saying "happy birthday" or "go fuck yourself, old man" or something in between. The only people I'm expecting real gifts from are Vici and my relatives.

...

Okay, that's it.