Anyway, Feet. You’re probably (not) wondering why I put up that particular title. Well I have them. I’d been having problems with my feet for a while – since the beginning of the year actually – and it got to a point that when I would walk from work to the train station (which could be a 20 minute walk and a casual pace) my feet would begin to ache, and then it got to a point that by the end of the working week I felt more like a cripple hobbling along with the amount of severe pain going through my feet, ankles, legs and knees. My Dr said that I may have a heel spur – a type of bone growth on the bottom of the heel so it feels like you are walking on a nail all day long (that was the pain I described I had). But the pain got really bad that I ended up going to a podiatrist who said “No , you don’t have a heel spur though you have similar symptoms. Your feet are flat – they have no arches so the muscles are pulling to a point where the muscle under the heel is tearing so it does actually feel like you might even be walking on the bone.” Not a nice description but that’s about what she said.She massaged my legs, said I need to do some calf stretches to un-tense the muscles and to do a few other things like roll my foot over a golf ball, and roll the heel of my foot over an iced bottle. She taped up my foot to give it a ‘pretend’ arch and said that when I come back we’ll check in progress. I told her on my second visit that it felt okay after she’d taped it so she came up with some solutions – have some injections, which would last a few months and all that does is get rid of the pain; have some electro-shock therapy (!!) actually I don’t think it was called that but it was basically sending electrical currents into the bottom of my foot to help get rid of any scar tissue or bone calcification (spurs) OR get some orthotics. I chose the orthotics because the electro-thingy sounded too crazy, and the injections don’t fix the problem. She then offered me some over-the-counter orthotics, or I could have some custom orthotics – the difference being that the otc ones would last about 6-9 months and then I’d have to buy some more whereas the custom orthotics last for 4 years and work out being worth the money you spend on them. So I picked custom orthotics.

When she taped up my foot on the second visit, we were so busy chatting I didn’t even check to see if she’d put any hypo-allergenic tape on first. I’m allergic to band-aids and anything sticky on my skin, especially on my legs/feet. So the second time the tape was on, it lasted for only a day! My foot itched and went bright red for two weeks! She apologised profusely when I went back on my last visit but I said it was also my fault for not noticing. So she’s cast my feet and I have to go back next week to pick up my orthotics. The whole process costs close to $600. Then I have to get some new shoes, specifically for custom orthotics, which can be anywhere in the vicinity of $150-$250 depending on the type of shoe you get. So I’m going to have some very expensive feet!

On other stuff, I did finish the Sinanju though I’m still (extremely) slowly putting on the decals. I’ll put up a gallery of images later. I’ve then got 3 other Gundam kits to put together which have been sitting patiently in the cupboard for quite a while now. I haven’t bought another kit in a while, and probably won’t for a long while just yet.

Last ‘new’ game I played was Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition. Its a good game but it eventually got boring. I like RPGs though I’m not into horror type games and this is a kind of mixture. I’ve been playing through Mass Effect 2 for a second time with a different Shepherd (female). In the first run of Mass Effect (3rd time playing it through in full) my female Shepherd got cosy with Alenko but when it came to the choice.. I actually chose Ashley over Kaiden so the ‘romance’ part didn’t complete. Not that I needed it to finish the game as I’d already achieved that in a previous run through. So in Mass Effect 2, Shepherd will come across Ashley who will be pissed off, but it will be a slightly different pissed off (lol) since in the previous run she was Shepherd’s partner and she survived. In terms of relationships this time around, I’m kind of pushing for Garrus since he’s my favourite alien in both games. I liked Thane as well but she can only have one lover.. I think?! Anyway I haven’t picked it up in a while as I’ve been busy with other things like updating Animay, work and doing some redecorating around the house.

I’ve yet to pick up Starcraft 2 though I really want it. Its on the “must have” list but it will have to wait until I have the money before I get it. The only other game I want is the next Final Fantasy. This FFXIII I haven’t picked up and played in ages and haven’t been wanting to do so. I probably should though and try it again. Usually when I try a game a second time around I find it easier, not just because I know the territory, but because I tend to relax a little more with the game a second time around lol. The FF Versus XIII game has been more appealing to me but unfortunately its only on PS3 so I’ll have to save to get one. That’s another far-off thing to do too. My list of things I need to get done/do is quite long and very expensive ;__;

This one is a Katoki version, meaning its been redesigned but because the gundam itself has not yet been seen this is its ‘original’ version. The Gundam comes from Universal Century: Gundam Unicorn and is to appear in the second episode of the OVA. This episode has not yet aired and isn’t yet due to air until around September this year. When the Unicorn Gundam first came out, it too was a Katoki version, but as soon as the first episode of the anime OVA aired, new versions were released to match the anime. They are also a lot cheaper than the Katoki version. There are also Titanium versions of both the Sinanju and Unicorn, which cost even more money but I was happy with just this version. I’m now thinking of getting the Unicorn (Ver Ka.) to match but the Unicorn has been a popular kit and I’m still waiting for it to be re-stocked.I also picked up some more action bases. The reason for this is that I have a few 1/144 kits that are sitting on the really large action bases designed more for 1/100 kits. So buying some more smaller bases meant that I could free up a couple of my 1/100 action bases. I’ve used one of them for the Gundam Exia that I’ve shown in my previous post. I had a white one of this but the grey looks better with the gundam.

Along with the two black bases I’ve also picked up the Sinanju base, in the same colour as the Gundam and suited specifically for this 1/100 kit.

Some kits will come with their own base which definitely comes in handy, while others don’t. Usually HobbySearch will have images of whats in the box itself so you can see if it comes with its own stand or not.

The Sinanju is a beautiful gundam, at least in my opinion! There are just certain gundams that attract my attention which leads to my weird buying pattern. I was intending to buy a couple of the cheaper MG kits, including replacing my first MG kit – Aile Strike Gundam – but changed my mind in the end. I have another MG kit on the way which I’m hoping will arrive in the next day or so and will reveal that when I get around to it. I probably will only end up having time to put this kit together during my time off. My other two kits (1/144), although smaller, will have to wait to be put together at a later date.

Today is actually the day I’m intending to begin work on this kit and will document it in the same way I did with the Hi-Nu Gundam kit, which is still my favourite kit.

Oh and no you’re eyes aren’t deceiving you, yes the theme changed again. Don’t ask why, I just felt like it lol.

I’ve got a few jobs to do around the place including working on Animay and getting that reasonably updated (as best I can) as well as other bits and pieces including putting together some more Gundam kits!!! I ordered a few a while back with the knowledge that I was taking this time off and so I will spend some of my time putting these gorgeous gundams together. There is still one on the way and I’m hoping that will arrive early next week so I can complete it before I go back to work.

I’m also keen to work a bit more on taking better pictures of my gundams so I can add them to the little library I’ve started creating on this site. One of the options is to buy one of those light tents, but they’re actually kind of expensive so the other option was to make my own. I’ve read the DIY versions on the internet about cutting out a box and putting all the material on it but unfortunately I didn’ t have any boxes, at least not that big, so I had to improvise. The shots turned out pretty good actually though I really think I need an overhead light or get some more cardboard to make the two side lights reflect a bit more. I’m still testing out various options and if the next Gundam that arrives comes in a decent sized shipping box, I may be able to use it to create a much better light box.

This is the Exia from Gundam 00. I made it a while ago but haven’t taken any images of it. This turned out okay with my makeshift light box though like I mentioned before, it could use a bit more lighting from above. The other thing was that I bought a proper tripod this time around too. I bought a small camera kit which included a tripod, however that didn’t move much, only the legs moved outwards to make it stable. The new one I got was still reasonably priced and its camera mount can move up and down and side to side, giving me better angles and options. The only thing is that my camera is giving me really grainy images – either that or I am not setting it properly. The image on the left is using the automatic option.

The image on the right is a close-up but without using the 3xoptical zoom which I think doesn’t look so good (more grainier images). I used the ‘baby’ mode which is supposed to give it a softer image without using the flash. It looks okay but again the camera seems to give out grainy images. Perhaps its the software that came with it? I probably need to get a better camera anyway but for now this one will have to do. I did try lighting it from above however the only additional light I have has a yellow (warm) glow rather than the cool daylight glow that my other two lamps have, so it was kind of visible that there was a yellow light from above. I’ll try and play around with that option too. Of course, I’ve got to build my gundam kits (the new ones) anyway so actually taking photos of my gundams is not a major priority.

Here’s the setup from a distant angle. lol yes those are tins of cat food that you can see! Basically what I did was I used one set of boxes (too small/narrow to use as a light box) for the back of the image to hold up the white cardboard which you can see is taped in place. I then used some old poster sized parcel-tubes to be the ends of the ‘frame’ where I’d hang the white fabric. These were empty and were too small to fit the tins into, but they fitted on top and seemed to help weigh them down a bit (I was careful not to continually bump the table though). The fabric was one large piece but I cut it in half and taped one side to the box and the other was being held over the parcel-tubes by the tins of cat food. The lamps were those clip on desk lamps that were pretty inexpensive. The light bulbs are apparently too strong in wattage for these particular lamps but they were the only cool daylight ones I could find that would fit the lamps. I shut all the curtains so that there wasn’t any other daylight that might make it look funny and just had the two desk lamps on. Its very much a diy version, probably not the best but its something that I could at least test out everything with (lights, fabric, background and new tripod). I will try and make a better one later.

I won’t post what gundams I have to build – at the moment I have 1 MG (which was reasonably expensive but it is a big one), 2 HGs and another MG on its way from Japan. I may be pushing it to get these kits done in the short time I have off but I love sitting down to work on them and will probably spend half of my time off putting them together. The other half will be playing games (xbox 360/PC), catching up on some DVDs, working on Animay to get the gallery organised and a few other little jobs around the house that need doing.

Yay for time off!!

Final Fantasy XIII is on its way! I received a phone call yesterday from EB Games Australia letting me know that my pre-order of the game would be there on Tuesday so I’ll be heading in straight after work to pick it up. I’m still waiting on Versus to come out as that’s the game I’m more interested in but I am still excited about this new FF game. I’ve seen very little in the way of video clips of in-game action – this was done deliberately as I wanted to play this out on my own without too much influence from the media and anyone else around me (like reviews in magazines and online). I’ve heard good stuff but I’ll be looking to play this game without too much concern on what others think.

I have finished Mass Effect 2. I finished it fairly quickly and am now eagerly awaiting Mass Effect 3 to see the outcome of my decisions in the game. Of course, there are still additional downloadable content (DLC) coming including the hover vehicle and extra missions, and I believe there is also another character you will be able to download. At the moment I’ve started Mass Effect over again with a new Commander Shepherd and ideas on how I want to play out the first game and porting them over to the second game.

Back to Gundam kits, I bought a couple of kits last week but have only finished one so far – the 105 Slaughter Dagger. It looks a lot like the Aile Strike Gundam though in black, grey and white colours. Its out of the Gundam Seed OVA “Stargazer” which I’m going to have to re-watch as I don’t remember much and certainly don’t remember these guys making an appearance. On the box it shows an image from the OVA with 3 of these Gundams just landing. It was an easy kit to construct as it was only a 1/144 and I was lucky to get it on special at the time. The other kit is Xist’s Mobile CGue which is also part of the Gundam SEED universe, namely the “Astrays”. I liked this one for 3 reasons: 1 – it has a good design, 2 – its red (I like red gundam kits) and 3 – it was cheap! I ran out of time this long weekend to build it so I’ll hold off on building it for another time. I’m also thinking seriously about getting 2 MG kits. I actually want the MG kit for the Sinanju, however that kit is expensive and the 2 MG kits I’ve been looking at are still good but cheaper to get together than seperately. One of them is the Aile Strike Gundam. I already have this kit but it has lost parts during a move around of rooms at my house and some parts are broken, so I’d like to get this kit again. The other is a white Zaku which is actually pretty cool and would be the first Zaku MG that I would be buying. Of course I could still buy the regular MG version of the Sinanju and be happy with that but the one kit I would like to get is the Kshatriya - I am hoping, however, that an MG will become available as I’d prefer to get an MG version than the HG version.

I imported my previous Shepherd across (original male but with a different first name) and although you don’t start off with the high level and paragon/renegade points, some of it does translate across so you are not starting out from the beginning again. There are a lot of aspects of this game that I really love but there are also a few downsides. For example, the loading times are too long and cumbersome. Yeah they put up interesting graphics relating to that particular moment (like if you are arriving on planet, you see a wireframe diagram of the shuttle taking off from the Normandy and landing planetside, and vice versa) but it just gets a bit boring after a while. The scanning of planets for minerals and metals was a good concept… to begin with, but then it too also got boring rather quickly.

I have had no problems with glitches so far, save for two which were kind of freaky. The first one happened on the Citadel where Shepherd meets up with Anderson. During their conversation, Anderson turns his back to Shepherd but continues to speak. His head was doing all sorts of freaky movements, like his head was trying to turn to face Shepherd but the body remained facing away from him. I was starting to think his head might spin all the way around ala Exorcist style lol, but it didn’t. The second glitch happened during the Zaeed mission. I don’t know if it would have happened with any other character but anyway, I had acquired Zaeed, Mordin Solus and Archangel at this point and put Archangel in my team (Zaeed was mandatory for this mission obviously) and we headed into the large plant. At the end of a large battle, Archangel (who if you played the game or have looked him up on the net you will know who he really is) got killed and I tried to use Unity to heal all my party members, presuming he had already been healed. I headed over to a particular door then turned around to go a different way and looked straight at my team behind me – Archangel was in a T position (like they use for designing characters) and he was apparently still dead! Yet his body was magically floating around in its T position following me around the room lol. It was kind of freaky but funny as hell.

The storyline has been pretty good so far, though at this point I’m spending lots of time on side missions. At this point in time (as I write this) I’ve secured Zaeed Massani – a human mercenary (he was actually a downloadable character through the Cerberus Network); Mordin Solus – a salarian scientist; Archangel – a Turian vigilante; Jack – a hostile human biotic and Grunt – a tank born Krogan warrior. You also start out with two characters when Shepherd first ‘awakens’ – Miranda Lawson – a genetically enhanced human who is the Illusive Man’s contact within Cerberus, and Jacob Taylor – a former alliance soldier now working for Cerberus.

In the last game I played of Mass Effect, Shepherd got ‘intimate’ with Ashley Williams, a fellow Alliance officer. She makes a reappearance after our first battle with the Collectors, and is quite upset that Shepherd would join up with a former enemy. At the moment, I have now been given the dossiers of some more team members to recruit while the Illusive Man (who is the rather eccentric leader of Cerberus) finds a way for Shepherd’s team to get through the Omega Relay and into the home worlds of the Collectors/Reapers. Two of my current team members have now given me extra missions to undertake for their own personal reasons, and there are still a few assignments I can undertake too before we go through this mass relay – which is basically, or possibly, a one way trip.

A lot of things have changed, since obviously its been two years since they destroyed Saren and Sovereign. On re-visiting the Citadel, we are taken into a new district which is actually what you are now limited to when visiting the Citadel – that and you can go to the Presidium but you only arrive in Anderson’s office and cannot go anywhere else. That was a little disappointing but I enjoyed the new area and the new views of the Citadel – much better than the original version. The Normandy has also had some upgrades, though this would be mostly due to the fact it was corporate built not government built so they go all out on luxuries lol. Its a bigger ship with four levels to visit and several areas are blocked off until you add new team members. For example, I could not go into the Tech Labs until after I’d acquired Mordin Solus. One of the cargo holds was also blocked off until I obtained Grunt. Shepherd’s quarters are fairly luxurious this time around, much bigger and includes a ‘wardrobe’ so you can change the armour (with any redeemable codes you can use the downloadable armours here) and you can also change his casual outfit that he wears around the Normandy. There’s also a large Aquarium in his room, which you can fill with fish from a store in the Citadel – make sure to feed them though, after a few missions I sent him back up to his room and they were all dead ;__; But interestingly enough, after the second visit to the market, I was able to buy a different type of fish. You can also buy other ‘souvenirs’ like model ships, which appear in a special display in Shepherd’s room. They look pretty cool actually. He also has a couple of computers where he can look at Team status, messages and upgrades, as well as a private terminal that lets you look at what achievements you’ve unlocked. There is also a personal computer terminal on the main deck and Shepherd’s assistant usually lets him know if a new message has arrived whenever he is in the area. The second deck is the Command Centre, where Joker pilots the ship, where the galaxy map is located and a few other important areas – armoury (Jacob is located in this room), Tech lab (Mordin is located in this room) and the briefing/communications room where Shepherd often gets summoned to speak with Illusive Man. On the third level is the Crew Quarters, the Mess Hall, the forward batteries (where Archangel is located), the medical bay and Miranda’s office. The fourth level is Engineering with additional areas such as cargo bays (for the yet to be released hammerhead vehicle), garbage disposal area (where Zaeed resides), a cargo hold area (where Grunt is located) and there’s also an area just below Engineering where Jack hides herself. There are still a few other areas located in the ship that I have yet to unlock as I do not have the characters for them.

Anyway, as I’ve said the game is really good so far. I’m kind of wanting to take my time a bit as I’d like to see what else Bioware intend to release for DLC for the game though probably I’ll get too involved in the game and end up finishing it first lol. Oh well, I have the intention of playing it through twice – from Mass Effect 1 (3rd time complete) through to Mass Effect 2 (2nd time complete). And will probably do it all over again when Mass Effect 3 eventually appears ^_^