ria_oaks | FF ramblings

I happened to check Rpgamer.com a few minutes ago and noticed that FFIII:DS comes out today (I haven't really been keeping track...). I'm probably just being too over-emotional, but this day feels rather historic in the RPG world - the last Final Fantasy that wasn't released in the US is finally here. I checked, and it's been approximately 16.5 years since FFIII was released in Japan - well, better late than never, I guess. XD I mean sure, I played it years ago on a translated ROM and I won't be buying this version anytime soon (lack of a DS... and lack of time to play. woe.), but it's still cool to think that it's here. It's sort of a pity that the original version of the game will never make it here, most likely (how hard would it have been to include the orignal version in the new game, really...?), but the new version looks pretty spiffy. Hopefully I'll get to play it someday.

3 FF games in the past 2 weeks, 2 of which are new to the US (FFXII and FFIII:DS) and one of which only ever made it here in a mangled fashion (FFV Advance) - makes me miss the days when I could play all the time... I haven't really been into gaming as much the last few years, largely because of a. lack of time during school, b. other interests take up my free time, and c. i'm lazy., but I still get excited hearing about games and still want to play when I get the chance. I'm way behind on all the games I'm playing, but I still plan to ask for either FFXII or Disgaea 2 for Christmas (leaning towards the latter - FFXII will be easy enough to find for years to come, and it'll get cheap fairly quickly, whereas Disgaea 2 will start disappearing soon...). I am sorely tempted by FFXII, though - it's been getting fantastic reviews, and hell, it's FFXII! We've been waiting for this game for years, and it's finally here... and I really can't justify the time or money to get it. Part of me, too, is still a bit uncertain about it - but most of the reviews have said that the game is nothing like (and much better than) anything we've seen of it to this point, including the demo. I plan to give it a chance eventually, but can't do it yet.

And... I'm procrastinating. Back to my Farscape paper... it's due tomorrow at 9, so I need to get moving. Up to 5 pages, need about 12 - and I'm still blathering on about the context, haven't even gotten to analysing the series itself! Ehehehe. baaack to work.

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Yeah, we're probably always going to be coming down Monday for this term, since I have school Tuesday. Could come down Sunday, but unless there's a reason to I don't like spending more time in that house than I have to. o.o

How's your Mom doing?

It's my birthday. Instead of Sweeny Todd, we're watching Hostel. (kidding)

I dunno. Maybe we can go to that pub by Seymour for the hanging out part, and then come back and watch Prison Break or something.

Mmm, so-so. She had her first chemo treatment yesterday and was pretty sick. She's a lot better today, though. We had to go buy all the drugs she needs (mostly anti-nausea I think, little good though they did) the other day, and just one batch of them (and she'll need 6, one every 3 weeks) cost $2300. We only had a pay $600 of it, but still. o.o We'll have to pay the next one, too, but after that they should be covered. Yikes. It's amazing how much this stuff costs! At least the treatments themselves are free.

Aww come on, Sweeny Todd's got lots of blood and gore and shit. XD XD And it's all dark and disturbing. But with singing! ^__^

Sure, sounds good... Lol, I can bring my laptop and we can post to the LT while we're watching in the same room. XD

It's hard to imagine drugs costing $2300.. At times like this you have to be glad that we have a socialist health care system (even though it's currently facing an impending crisis).

I don't feel like doing too much on Monday, but if you're willing to come down on Sunday then I suppose we can go see Sweeny Todd in the evening.

I also don't have wireless, so you won't be able to hook up to the Internet unless you have a cable or something (I have a few).

Yup, yay for public health care... though I suppose if it were perfect then they'd pay for all of it. *sigh* Still, beats the USA where we'd probably be bankrupted. o.o Though I suppose we might be okay since we have extended coverage through mom's job and such. I don't understand much about the medical system. -_-

I'll think about it...

Heh, I was half-kidding, but I guess it'd be cool to hook it up via a cable. Or I might be able to tap into someone else's wireless. ;)

The US system is good in the sense that a lot more money circulates through it; doctors get paid a lot more, equipment is more current, crowding and wait times aren't as big an issue, and more procedures, which aren't approved by our Government, can be performed there. The downside is that it nearly bankrupts you.

Here it's almost just the opposite. While it's practically free in comparison (which is a huge plus), we have stupid wait times/crowding issues, and doctors don't have much incentive to practice here, so they're leaving for elsewhere where they can make a lot more. Calgary, for example, recently lost 45 family practicioners, each with about 2500 patients. So you have something like 60,000 people left without a family doctor.

Let me know what you think about Sunday later. If you'd rather we go see the movie on Monday instead of sitting around and watching Prison Break, we could do that, I guess.

True enough about overcrowing up here... it's hard to say what the solution is - probably semi-privitization, like I believe Australia has - a public system, but also private clinics/etc where people with the money can go to get treatment. It's unfortunate that wealth will still equal better health care, but if there's still a public system in place for those that can't afford it... Even now, really, you need to have money/extended insurance to get good care and certain procedures. I'm not sure that it's possible to have a really good fully public system, unfortunately.

We're coming down late Monday, now, either 5 or 6 ferry. Because our new oven is being delivered and installed at 3:30 on Monday. So I'm thinking just hanging out; I don't want to miss PB and T:TSCC, anyway. We can go to the pub and maybe I'll grab a bite to eat there, too, if I haven't eaten yet. Maybe movie next weekend? Sweeny Todd, or else I've heard that Michael Clayton is being re-relased into theatres so maybe that. Or maybe Cloverfield? Hearing good things about it, though suspect that the shaky-cam will make me sick. -_- (one reviewer said it gave him a headache) Might wait for DVD.

I actually heard someone talking about Cloverfiend today in the lab. It sounds pretty interesting.

I think good healthcare should be a basic right. But it's hard to pull off; perhaps even impossible. Especially with the way our government works - elections get held so often that so many long-term agendas don't really go all the way through. I'm actually curious if we'll be able to pull off the $14 billion BC transit and skytrain upgrades over the next 20 years. Digression aside, the only thing I'm cautious about with a semi-privitized healthcare system is that it might give the Government less incentive to put funding into public healthcare, which we really don't want to be neglected.

FF ramblings

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