gonna try for the kingdom if i can

there have been a few things that i've been meaning to update on for awhile, but i keep putting it off. i got my 90 day notice for being laid off from work last week. come august 15, i will be gone. i will be getting some kind of severance pay, but i won't find out exactly how much till day 45 (around july 1). i'm taking a spanish class in the second term of the summer quarter, which starts around mid-july which is going to be in the middle of my current work schedule. so once i find out exactly how much severance i'll be getting, i'll decide whether to change my work schedule for the final month or just quit. oh, and i get a raise next month.

the first of half-life 2's episodic installments comes out june 1st. that is great timing for me, as a have two huge papers due on may 31st, so that will be a great way to relax and unwind. personally, i think the idea of episodic releases online is fantastic. instead of paying $50 for a game that has around 8 hours of single player content (for a standard first-person shooter), you get episodes of around 6 hours of gameplay for only $20. despite my original anger at valve's software's steam program when i first got half-life 2, it has been wonderful ever since. considering you can preorder games (usually at a discount price) and load all the content onto your computer ahead of time, all you have to do after that is activate the game when it's released and you're all set. i've been playing ritual software's sin:episode I which was released via steam, and it's quality. the fact that it made from hl2's source engine is one of the main reasons i like it (i will forever rave about the physics in this game. they add so much to the gaming experience, for me anyway).

this quarter is almost over. thank goodness for that. just one huge paper and a small one due in a week, then a couple exams and it's done.

as probably everyone has already heard, we found a house for next year. it's gonna be sweet, i wish we could move in there.