Well it looks like I'm about to be employed. There is a company in downtown Knoxville called NetLearning which makes online learning modules for their clients, and I just had a good long talk with their network consultant and SI director yesterday at the office about a project they want me to work on. It's going to be contract-to-hire position, so it's probably a good idea to keep looking for other opportunities, but it's a good place to start and gain some experience while I'm at it. At the very least, it looks like I'll be here for Brent's wedding, which is a good thing. Now I need to start thinking about renewing my passport and visa. Dad's calling me this weekend (right dad???) so I can ask him to talk to the US embassy and Malaysian government and ask them about doing it over the mail.

In the meantime, I've still been MU-ing, without Adrian, who has dissappeared off my radar this week (Where are you??? scumzzz!!!). I also bought No One Lives Forever 2 for $10 (I traded in Silent Hill 2 for $14), which was short, but fun. I know I said I was gonna get Vietcong, but I played the demo and it was a little *too* realistic. I couldn't see a damn thing in those bushes! Maybe later, when I have a sweeter PC, and then at least the bushes will be nicer to look at. Anyway, NOLF2 has it all if you're into dryly humorous spy spoofs: gadgets, guns, one-liners, and racial stereotypes abound. The only problem is it's a first-person game; it's not a gameplay problem (I love first person views), but it does mean you only see Cate Archer, the game's protagonst, about 0.1% of the time. Anyone that cute ought to be onscreen more often. They could've snuck a mirror into her decoder gadget, or something. Yeesh...

On the upside, she's still very hot when she shows up in the cinematics, and it also turns out she's Scottish, which pretty much blows the dials of the hot-o-meter. And the game is the only one I know of that takes you in exotic Akron, Ohio, probably one of the most under-utilized locations in videogaming, ever. I'm sure Matt Forsythe could elaborate, since he's from Ohio. It's also the location of one of the most nerve-wracking boss battles I've played in a while . SPOILER ALERT.......................... During this boss battle, you pursue a ninja assassin into a trailer house, which gets lifted up into the eye of a tornado. The fight takes place as the airborne house slowly breaks apart around you. Great stuff :p..................... END SPOILER ALERT.

Well I'm of to go MU-ing again, and then at 1 o'clock I'm going in for my first day of work. I'll be working on a gratis basis for a couple of days, but hopefully I'll be on payroll by next week.