Taking its toll

From my journal:

"I'm writing this at 5:20 in the morning. It's even earlier than when I got up yesterday, but I slept sounder, so I'm not sure what's going on. Last night, I started to naturally feel tired at around 10:30 and when I went to bed later, I fell asleep before my fan's timer shut itself off (30 minutes, I set it for 20 minutes last time and fell asleep after it turned off). Maybe my body's natural endurance is just strong enough so that I may appear to suffer no jet lag, but in truth I am. At least I'm not suffering from insomnia or anything; I wake up feeling refreshed, anyway."

My aunt took me out for some hotpot. It wasn't as good as when she took me to some different place last year, but I appreciate it, anyway. My little cousin's as cheeky as ever, but she's quieter, too. My aunt seemed intent on turning me into a lunchbox. I'm not growing nearly as much, anymore, but she still thinks I still have my appetite.

And in other news, I finally got to check out Cave Story by Pixel. If any of you have ever looked into the Indy gaming scene, it isn't long before you run into this little number. It's considered one of the crown jewels of Independent Gaming, with a large cast of charming characters, an expansive map, and multiple endings for replayability, it's really quite epic; and to think it was created by a single guy and released for free! The homebrew modding community is hard at work adapting it for the PSP and Nintendo DS, even though I think there's going to be a retail version for the PSP (no news on that for a while, good riddance). Upon playing, I can see why it's been so critically acclaimed. Gameplay is tight and the weapons system is original (but a little annoying for an OCD guy like me). It plays a lot like Metroid, but exploration is less about meticulous searching and backtracking and more "how do I figure out how to get to that ledge?" The enemies are original, but it can get a little tedious to blast your way through them when you want to get somewhere. But overall, I'm enjoying it thus far, even though I probably should be devoting this time on my college essays.

Whew, I felt really tired at around 5:30, and collapsed into bed. I didn't get up 'till 8. Maybe it is jet lag.