Tuesday Night Tunes

There's still a slight pulse...

Rock
Breaking Benjamin - "Diary of Jane"
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Rap
Jim Jones - "We Fly High (Ballin)"
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Retro
Chicago - "You're The Inspiration"
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Reminscing
K-Ci & JoJo - "Crazy"
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Random
The Fruit Guys - "Blue"

2006 In Review

Just a quick recap of 2006, done in the same style that I did last year.

1. What did you do in 2006 that you hadn't done before? Go on vacation with someone else's family that wasn't mine. Talk about the ultimate away game. I also managed to go to a WWE Pay-Per-View, Vengeance. I also got a speeding ticket. Joy.
2. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope. But Rachel is expecting a baby come March, so that's close enough.
3. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully the answer is the same as last year.
4. Did you travel? Where did you go? Best holiday memory? Loads of traveling - and the Camry has the miles to prove it. Random trips to Charlotte, Clemson, Atlanta became status quo, while a trip to Cleveland and Orlando/Tallahasee managed to sneak into the mix. There's also a trip to Nashville left in the cards. The best holiday memory would probably go to July 4th "weekend" (the 4th was a Tuesday, so I'm referring to the 2nd) -- I got a chance to go down to Atlanta and hang out with Mike, Phil, and Tristan. Considering that they're three of my most favorite people on that planet, there's no way that weekend could have gone wrong. Thanksgiving weekend with Denny and Cecil get high marks too, but losing the Carolina game brings that down a spot.
5. Best thing you bought? Camille - my 2007 Toyota Camry LE. I love her.
6. Where did most of your money go? See #5
7. What do you wish you had done more of? Exercising. (yeah, I didn't change this answer from last year)
8. What do you wish you had done less of? Driving. I love doing it, but between working for Progressive, football season, and all the random trips everywhere I've had more than my fair share of windshield time.
9. What kept you sane? Music. In times when I've just wanted to choke people a few key mp3s kept me from snapping.
10. What drove you mad? Clemson losing to Maryland by 1 point. All things considered, that one hurt worse than the USC loss. And women as always.
11. What made you celebrate? Wii Get! Seeing Pit in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl trailer also excited me way more than it should have. And Katie Couric leaving the Today Show. I threw a small party on her last day.
12. What made you sad? Leaving Progressive. I really enjoyed it there.
13. How was your birthday this year? To be honest, I really don't remember it. Not because I was drunk or anything, but because I kind of wanted a low key affair. I took the day off, but I don't think I really did anything.
14. What political issue stirred you the most this year? The treatment of my Mexican brothers and sisters...
15. Were you in love in 2006? Contrary to popular belief, no.
16. What would you like to have in 2006 that you didn't have this year? Man, that's a big question. I'll have to come back to that one in a few days...
17. What date from 2006 will be etched in your memory and why? July 8, 2006. Eric said that is a date that will live in infamy. Nothing special happened outside of picking his drunk ass up from in front of Tiger Town Tavern, but he said it was important so good enough for me.
18. What song will remind you of 2006? Album? Song: 1st half of 2006 - Gnarls Barkley "Crazy," 2nd half of 2006 - The Killers "When You Were Young." Album: The Killers "Sam's Town"
19. Compared to this time last year are you happier? Truthfully, I don't know. There are a few things I'm really happy and excited about. Then there are others I'm a little down about. I'm probably more confused than anything else right now.
20. Biggest achievement this year? Getting into the graduate program at Clemson. As a Clemson alum, that's not a big achievement, but at the same time I should be thankful that I had the opportunity to do so.
21. Biggest disappointment this year? Not being to transfer to the Progressive office in Greenville. Kinda sucks, but there's a reason for everything.
22. What is the one thing that would have made you more satisfied? Being able to answer all the questions I have/had in my head.
23. Best new person you met this year? Believe it or not, I don't think I've met anyone new this year that I still keep up with and/or made an impact on my life. With that being said, the girl at some house party who let me punch her in the face gets my nod.
24. A valuable life lesson you learnt this year? “Bros before hos. Why? Because your bros are always there for you. They got your back after your ho rips your heart out, for no good reason. And you were nothing but great to your ho, and you told her that she was the only ho for you. And that she was better than all the other ho’s in the world. And then suddenly, she’s not your ho no mo.”

- Michael Scott

Cobby's Top 5 Roleplaying Games

5.) Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - This game has a great story trapped in a buggy game. Of course, considering the developer (Troika), that's to be expected. They had a very bad habit of doing this. If you play this, be sure to install both the last official patch (which made the game 85% playable) and the latest fan patch (that raises the playability to about 95%).

In this game, you're a new vampire out to carve a place for yourself in the vampire hierarchy. I know, it sounds kind of lame, but the plot is pretty involved and there are a decent number of ways to play through every quest.

4.) Baldur's Gate - This game is solely responsible for breathing new life into the RPG genre. It started the trend of moving RPGs away from the stereotypical grind (killing monsters for experience and loot to become more powerful to kill more monsters for experience and loot...) and placed a much larger emphasis on dialogue, story, and character development.

3.) Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn + Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal - The first game was, essentially, perfect. The sequel found some way to take perfect and make it better in every conceivable way. If you played the first game, you have the option to import your character to use in this one. You can also just make a new character, and with the new class options, this may be the better way to go, especially on subsequent playthroughs. And there will be more than one playthrough. This game is epic in every way, and there's simply no way to experience all it has to offer on one (or even two or three) playthrough(s).

2.) Fallout and Fallout 2 - I love both of these games equally which is why they're getting lumped together. The story of these games center around the West and Pacific Northwest some time after nuclear war turns America into a wasteland. Gameplay-wise, these games were true breakthroughs. Your options are almost limitless (within reason) as far as what sort of character you have. The same goes for choices within the game. Sure, there's an overarching plot, but how you get from Point A to Point B is entirely up to you. I can't recommend these games enough.

1.) Planescape: Torment - This is, quite simply, the best RPG ever made. Anyone that knows anything about RPGs will not dispute this fact. This game is as story-driven as is possible while still letting the player have actual options. Your choices have far-reaching effects on the story. How you play has a far-reaching effect on the story. Do you want to play a brute and just smash everything in your path? Go for it. But to get the most out of this game, it helps to invest some time developing those social skills and actually talking to NPCs. You can skip something like 90% of all combat, including the final encounters, if you talk to people instead of hitting them.