So I got off work today and asked a friend from work to help me move some of the bigger items I couldn’t move myself. It took us about two hours to move my bed, love seat, tv, and a book case. When we finished, I was exhausted. I’m not tired so much, I can just tell every muscle in my body is tired and weak. I know already that I am going to hurt come Saturday morning. It’s good to be about halfway done with the move though. I’m able to start moving things around and deciding how I want to set up my stuff. Hopefully I’ll get to talk more with Kevin tomorrow to see if he has an entertainment center we can use and any other furniture. I need to get a van again tomorrow to finish moving some of the larger items still left, like my desk and dining room table. I’ve already scheduled the first party we are going to have for next Wednesday. It will be the second “Man-Fest” to coincide with the wedding shower that is going on that night. It is kind of fun to be hosting events like that for guys to get together and hang out. We had a bunch of fun last time playing Fight Night boxing on 360. I’ve got a couple people psyched up already to play Halo 3 next time.

Speaking of Halo, I beat the game. It was once again shorter than I thought it would be, just like Halo 2. Fortunately this time though, there wasn’t a “throw your controller at the screen” ending. The second game ends so suddenly and at such a high point that you wanted to scream and play the rest of the story right then. Bungie definitely comes through and cashes in on letting you “Finish the Fight.” The ending does, as many have said, leave the door open for more games in the future featuring Master Chief, which would be very welcome if you ask me. I think the character of Master Chief might be the greatest video game character ever created. Certainly characters like Mario and Sonic (maybe others?) have sold more games and been much more successful when it comes to number of titles moved, but do either of them feature the rich back story and “bad-ass” mentality of Master Chief? One of the things I love most about the game is that they nailed the sense of scale. When you are playing as Master Chief (which you fortunately spend the entire time doing in Halo 3) you are a full head taller than any of the earth marines and when jumping or running, you clearly outclass their physical ability. The way the NPC’s in the game (both human/Elite and Covenant) react to your presence is perfect. The story is also set up perfectly and paid off perfectly. When you finally rescue Cortana, you truly feel a sense of release and like you/Master Chief are whole again with Cortana back in your head. The way that Master Chief acts around Cortana (and vise versa) is also telling, they have a crush on each other, at the very least they share a special connection. The Master Chief knows that no human woman will ever understand who he is or what he has done and Cortana knows that Master Chief is the only living being that will ever live up to her expectations. Any one else would have failed to save her from the Gravemind but Master Chief makes good on his promise. I watched a review of the game today where they talked about how this isn’t a perfect game, but it is a 10 out of 10 because it is everything you want a great game to be. The story draws you in and makes you want to keep playing. In the first two games, there are too many levels where you are just mindlessly killing flood with no real purpose or goal other than to survive. This time around, you feel a sense of urgency as you play through the game, you know what’s at stake and you know you can’t fail. Bioshock may have been more “shocking” (no pun intended, well, may it was ) and surprising in how good it turned out to be, but Halo 3 (from the series that set the bar in each of it’s previous releases for what a great game should be) once again delivered what it promised and once again establishes itself as the measuring stick for what great games should be like. Anyway, I’m back to the “Man Pad,” as Brenda named it, to do some more unpacking and settling in before my big push tomorrow. I’ll post pics on flickr as soon as I get everything set up. Ciao!

Filed under: life by Jonathan Assink