Healthy Living

I recently decided that I am going to live a little healthier. It's been about a month since I stopped drinking soda, which was a big step for me. I've also started taking a daily vitamin, making sure that I get the appropriate amount of antioxidants each day. This week I started exercising a bit more and I'm working on eating a bit healthier as well. Instead of having chocolate or candy as a nighttime snack, I've been eating kiwi fruit. I've replaced my afternoon junk food with a couple of Wheat Thin crackers. And, of course, I drink lots of water and fruit juice. I can't wait to see the effects of healthy living!

Music review: Peach Hips - Tuxedo Mirage

sailormoons.jpgArtist: Peach Hips Members: Mitsuishi Kotono (Sailor Moon), Tomizawa Michie (Sailor Mars), Hisakawa Aya (Sailor Mercury), Shinohara Emi (Sailor Jupiter), Fukami Rica (Sailor Venus) Album: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S Big Box (the song can be found on other albums as well) Release date: 11/21/94 Video link: Via YouTube

English Translation: In the dish of the moonlight I take off my star earrings What should I do, my heart is, my heart is filled to the top Even if these fireworks turn into stars, even if we lose our love into darkness I beg of you, do not stop your kisses You can steal me away with your scent of velvet This is love my heart found in the galaxy

*The mantle of the evening spreads out in a rainbow More and more, I love you Tuxedo mirage Tuxedo mirage

The canary music box softly fades out What should I do, my heart is, my heart is stuffed up Even if these tears turn into stars, even if we lose our merry-go-round I beg of you, do not stop your kisses I want to be taken in by your gaze of velvet This is love my heart pledged in the galaxy

Gently held close in a storm of flower petals Never, never, disappear Tuxedo mirage

*Repeat About the song: Sailor Moon is my favorite anime series. Tuxedo Mirage is the ending theme song to Sailor Moon S, the third season of the series after Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R. The song is sung by the voice actresses of the main characters. As love is one of the themes of the show, of course the ending theme embraces that feeling. Though it may not be my favorite song from the show, it is a sweet song with nice voices and soft music.

Game review: Magic Seeds

Magic Seeds is a weird sort of time management game. You are given some seeds and it is your job to grow the plants. While this sounds rather boring, the really interesting part comes from trying to cross-pollinate the plants. You start out with some sunflower seeds. Once the plants are mature, you can cross-breed them. Cross-breeding the two sunflowers will give you tomato seeds. (No, I'm not sure how that works either but it does in the game.) Then, after the tomatoes are mature, you can cross-breed the sunflowers with tomatoes and get corn. So even though the actual growing part isn't particularly fun, trying to figure out what pairs will give you different seeds is.

In very basic terms, this is a time management game. You have to water the plants and hoe the plants and pick the plants and sell the plants, if you so desire. There are even upgrades you can buy to help you with these chores. But I still think that this is not the point of the game. In my opinion, the point of the game is to try to obtain as many different types of seeds as you possibly can. That bumps it to more of a puzzle game than a time management one. No matter how you want to categorize it, it's still a lot of fun.

Website of the Week

This week's Website of the Week is one of my favorite webcomics. I've only been reading Questionable Content for a couple of months now (of course I read through the entire archive) and I'm absolutely hooked on it. QC follows the day-to-day life of Marten, Faye, Dora and the people around them. Everyone has quirks, which makes them a lot more personable. My weekends are always empty because the site is only updated Monday through Friday. Well, I suppose I can give the artist a few days off every week!

Watches

My husband's birthday is coming up soon. I was thinking about buying him a new watch as a present. I took a look at the Rolex Daytona. Wow, those things are expensive. I'd have to take out a small loan to buy one of those. Maybe one day we'll be rich enough to afford one. That would be nice. Until then, it'll be video games and cards for him.

Game review: Ice Cream Craze

In the restaurant-themed time management game Ice Cream Craze, you play Jan. Her parents own an ice cream shop but they have decided to close the shop and retire. However, Jan had dreamed of taking over the shop. As her parents head off for a two-month vacation, Jan takes over the shop in order to prove that she can handle the business. The gameplay follows a lot of the counter-based restaurant games. Customers come up to the counter, order an item, you make the item, give it to them and take their money. There is a bit of a change here though. Instead of just clicking on a machine that will make your food for you, you need to stack your items in the appropriate order. For example, if a customer wants an ice cream cone with a chocolate scoop on top of a vanilla scoop, you need to pick up a cone, then pick up a vanilla scoop then pick up a chocolate scoop. While this is easy in the beginning, it gets a lot more difficult in the higher levels when they add new flavors and toppings and pies.

I found the game to be extremely entertaining. Besides just having the "satisfy your customers" goal, the challenge of having to juggle the ice cream flavors and everything made it a bit more exciting. Of course, I felt really stupid when I screwed up since all it requires is paying close attention. Luckily, you can just restart a level and fix your mistake. This was probably one of the most fun time management games I've played in awhile.

Game review: Monster Mash

While Monster Mash is listed as a time management game, it doesn't really fall under that genre. If anything, it's a strategy game. You are presented with a small village that is about to be attacked by various monsters. It is your job to set up different towers to destroy the monsters before they reach the village. Generally, I'm not very good at strategy games. For some reason, I have a difficult time figuring out where to place troops in order to defeat my enemy. However, I had a wonderful time playing this one. Each tower type shows you a range circle so you know exactly how far their guns will shoot to kill the monsters. The game challenges you by giving you more than one type of monster, which may require more shots before it falls dead. Some of the monsters even give power-ups. Sadly, I can't get past the level where there is a constant stream of monsters. Perhaps one day I will figure out the magic combination to pass the level but, until then, I will keep fighting the good fight!

I think this game would be good for people that enjoy puzzles. Since the focus of the game is based on not leaving any gaps between your towers' ranges so you get the maximum shots at the monsters, it definitely fits within a puzzle genre. I also think that people that enjoy strategy games like Starcraft might like it as well