Wow, this year is just flying by. Been planning to post here for a while, but it just kept getting pushed off. My summer holiday was the longest I’d had in a few years really with me being off nearly four weeks. I managed to fit a lot in, but there’s always things we never get around to at such times.

I recently (i.e. January) bought another car which honestly has taken quite a load off my shoulders. The old one was fast becoming a money sink and it was clear big repair bills were on the horizon. It’s a shame in a way because the motor was still in great order, but the body was coming close to falling off it. It’s so nice not having to worry about the car again for the near future.

I didn’t really get in much gaming over the holidays, but I did finally complete Persona 3 FES, Fallout 3 and Disgaea 2 since my last post. Thoroughly enjoyed all three and I’m looking forward to their next iterations. I already have Disgaea 3 sitting on the shelf and the local release of Persona 4 isn’t too far away. The only game I’ve really played in the last two weeks has been Mass Effect. Picked the Xbox 360 version up for $40 which I was quite happy with.

Facing the inevitable upfront costs associated with my new car and with the way the currency performing poorly lately (especially against the yen) I’ve been cutting back on expenses a bit. While I’m quite pleased with the results, the areas I’ve been focusing on may seem a little backwards. I mean with DVDs for example rather than cutting back on the more costly Japanese R2 discs I’ve instead cut back on local R4 discs and American R1 discs. Sure I’m getting screwed on the prices, but at the end of the day I’m still spending less money overall and getting a quality product. I’m a big believer in quality over quantity.

Most of the anime series I’d been collecting on DVD through last year have recently had their last volumes released so I’ve moved on to some of the newer shows. Ga-Rei -Zero-, Akane-iro Ni Somaru Saka and Maria+Holic being the main ones all of which I’ve been enjoying a lot. I’m still not finished my code for adding subtitles to these discs, but I have a fully working proof of concept and it’s progressing nicely.

I also recently switched ISPs. I had been with ihug (now Vodafone) for 11 years, and have always had good dealings with them, but since the Vodafone buyout it’s like they’ve just stopped trying to compete any more. I’ve now switched to Orcon and while I have to admit I’m not 100% happy with their service either (the connection is noticeably slower) I’m happy to put up with because for the amount of bandwitdth I use they are a whopping NZ$70 a month cheaper than Vodafone. With numbers like that I’d have to be stupid not to switch even if it means a bit less speed.