I Love Thursdays!

Thursday... how I love Thursdays. I love Thursdays the same way most people love Saturdays. For the past 4 years, Thursdays have been my off day. I think it's a perfect day to be off. It's near the end of the week when people are getting a bit more relaxed in anticipation of the coming weekend and yet still captured within the confines of a work day, which makes it perfect for shopping, going to the beach, catching a movie, having coffee, etc... as opposed to a weekend, where you have to squeeze with the weekend crowd and stand in lines for everything.

Of course the only drawback to having a Thursday off day means that most of your friends are at work. So in order to maintain a social life, my other off day is on a Saturday. That means my Thursdays are all to myself and my two idiots.

Today, I work up at 2 in the afternoon, did some cleaning up around the house, gave Perseus a shower and spent the rest of the afternoon reformatting my computer and giving the 2 idiots hugs and belly rubs in between.

I guess they were having so much fun today that when as I was leaving the house to meet Weng for dinner, Perseus felt quite surprised and just stood in the middle of the living room with his ball still in his mouth and gave me a look that made me feel so guilty about leaving them at home.

"Where are you going? I'm not done playing!"

I then spent the entire lift ride down to the ground floor battling emotions of guilt but the fantastic weather that greeted me when the lift doors opened washed away any feelings of negative emotion. The sun was just setting and there was a nice cool breeze blowing. The sky was cloudless and had a wonderful blue colour which faded into a stunning orange in the horizon. It was such a welcome change in weather following weeks of sweltering heat and humidity.

Weng and I then went to the Subway at Tampines for dinner. I had a foot long Italian BMT sandwich on Honey Oat bread along with 2 adequately soft White Chip Macadamia cookies and an iced tea. After that, we met up with Kimmie at Siglap where we did some grocery shopping. As usual, I went overboard and bought lots of junk food, including a six-pack of Dr Peppers! One of the treasures I uncovered among the supermarket shelves was this irresistible item...

Even with a 12" sandwich making its way down my ol' digestive tract, I could feel a buildup of saliva in my mouth...

I also bought a loaf of Banana Carrot bread, lots of carrots (for the 2 idiots and myself), a slab of Emmental Cheese, some creamed corn, a bag of Kim Chi (yum!) and 2 cans of Tuna in brine.

To top off the day, we then went to Coffee Club where the 3 of us shared a Fresh Fruit Chocolate Fondue, some Fried Calamari and I had a Coffee Milk Shake. Sinfully delicious!

What's more, the staff at Coffee Club were fantastic! Fast, polite and effecient. Really good service.

What a relaxing way to spend an off day. I haven't felt so re-energized in a long time. As I type, the 2 idiots are asleep. Watching them sleep has a kind of calming effect.

Now Playing: X-Men Legends II - Rise of Apocalypse (PSP)

I actually bought this game quite some time back and have been playing it on and off. It is a must have (in my opinion) for any PSP owning, true blue fan of the X-Men.

The storyline is a timeless X-Men classic. Apocalypse tries to take over the world, the X-men teams up with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to stop him.

You get to choose a team of 4 high octane, power seeping from their fingertips mutants from a whole line up which includes Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Magneto, Storm, Toad, Bishop, Sunfire, Gambit, Rogue, Nightcrawler, The Juggernaut, Scarlet Witch, Cable and unlockable special characters such as Professor X (who is actually able to walk & run and is in fact the fastest moving character in the whole game), Ironman, Deadpool and the Dark Phoenix.

The graphics are fantastic and fans of the super powered mutants get to see their heroes and their evil counterparts unleash devastating powers that you get to unlock by spending points that you earn when each character levels up. That's not all though... after unlocking a certain skill, you get to increase its potency and strength by spending more points on it. It is impossible to unlock every single ability by the end of the game but enough to make your character sufficiently powerful to face Apocalypse. That's if you spend enough time running around to level up.

However, the game allows you to start a new game using the data of a saved game (ie after completing the game) and that allows you to further improve your characters. I've gone through the game at least 10 times and I still haven't managed to completely fill up my characters' skill points.

The game consists of 5 levels with each level boasting several lavish maps in which your team of 4 mutants gets to explore. Each map contains familiar enemies from the comics such as the Brood, the Morlocks, the awesome Sentinels and mini bosses such as Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red, The Sugarman, Strife and Bastion (from Operation: Zero Tolerance). The major bosses are the Four Horsemen of Apocaplyse, mainly Abyss, Mikhal Rusputin (who is interestingly enough, Colossus' brother), Holocaust, Archangel and of course, the man himself... En Sabah Nur. The Apocalypse.

In between levels, you are treated to a stunning FMV sequence which can be accessed again anytime in the review library, along with production sketches and stunning artwork of the characters. There are also mini sub games such as Danger Room training sessions that consist of lessons of increasing difficulty that incorporates the basic game play as well as individual character challenges. These courses are unlocked as you find hidden Danger room discs throughout the game. There's also playable comic book mini missions that you can unlock such as the famous "Fatal Attractions" story in which Wolverine faces off with Magneto in what I consider to be the most fantastic showdown in X-men history.

One of the things I like about the game is the amount of detail that the game makers placed in the relationships between characters (Unlike the crap that was shown in the movies. Iceman and Angel were two of the original X-Men! Do your homework Brian Singer!). For instances, when choosing your 4-member team, a combination of related characters from the comics gives the team an advantage such as increased damage, health or experience earned. Also, when certain related characters meet each other in the game, special animated conversation sequences are activated that would not be played if it was another unrelated character present. Personally, this was the factor that gave me the most pleasure in playing this game over and over. Every time I used a different character, some small element of the game changed.

Oh and there's also a Trivia game which is unlock with each level. Lots of interesting facts about the X-Men Universe that can be learnt. And it's accurate too!

This game is truly a gem, packed with lots of playable action and eye catching graphics. Despite the numerous loadings in between maps and occasional lagging, it is generally extremely fantastic. (That plus I am biased when it comes to the X-Men.) I bought it months ago when it first launched for SGD$86 but I'm sure it's much lower than that now. Go get it if you don't already have it. It's worth every cent for X-Men fans!