Hi, everyone! I hope you all had a good Labor Day weekend! It felt short but I savored every minute I could with my parents and sister for 3 days because I knew that bliss would be cut short by the start of the football season at the school were I work. There's been a scrimmage game already but they hosted their first home game last night and I was on campus until 3 a.m. due to the mess. It wasn't the biggest I've ever seen: I expect nightmarish turnouts for Homecoming or when they play a certain rival (where I used to work) but it was enough to make me collapse on the bed and not wake up until 2:30 p.m. today.

I also think ragweed is coming back so my allergies have just become worse. Hopefully that's a sign of a season change but I usually get attacked when that happens. Or Nature is just fucking with me.

During the week I haven't had a lot of time to game on a console. I work late so I wake up mid-day, clean up, eat and check email/social networks/message boards and maybe get some tv in before I head off to work. The only constant I have is music and podcasts so there's that. The new Nine Inch Nails album is solid work. I've also added more songs to this classic country playlist I've made on Spotify. There's also podcasts like Edumacation, Retronauts, Filmspotting, Kevin & Bean, Weekend Confirmed and so on. I must have listened to 6 podcasts last night while working.

As far as gaming goes, my Vita has scratched that itch and I'll take breaks throughout my shift that sometime last longer than they should. The big draws so far has been Rayman Origins and Stealth, Inc. I finished the main world map but I need to collect 2 more of those Skull teeth to unlock the Land of the Livid Dead section. I also need some more Electoons points to unlock the last available "treasure chest" chase level. I just love this damn game.

After hearing great things about Stealth, Inc., I bought it and I find it very addicting. It's extremely difficult at times and you will die so fucking much but it compels me to finish stages and progress. It has the "one more level..." attraction about it. I highly recommend this one. It's $10 on PSN and has Cross-play/save.

Like I said before, not much action on the console front. Some friends of mine and I played Uncharted 3 multiplayer 2 weeks ago and that was a blast. The only thing I've done since then is rebuy Skyrim on Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live On Demand; it's $20 right now) so I can resume my game.

Watched some films over the weekend with my mom and sis: Silver Linings Playbook (loved it), Oblivion (I've seen it but it still holds up), Jack Reacher (seen it but I thought they would like it; they did), The In-Laws (I love it but they don't; Mom's not a Peter Falk fan) and John Carter (love it, Mom thought it was okay). My parents celebrated my birthday early so there were plenty of good meals, a Dairy Queen ice cream cake (NOM NOM) and a couple of early gifts.

I turn 33 next Friday so I plan to use my birthday money for 2 things: meals and a copy of Killzone: Mercenary. I really need the former since I'll be cleaning up a football game Friday night and Saturday night. Right now, I'm laying low for the next 2 days. I think I've got 3 or 4 game nights total next week; I also have to worry about volleyball home games but they're easy to clean up. And the hits just keep on comin'...