Alright folks, I need some advice/input from you. I need to resist spending money on something when I don't have the money to spend in the first place, and I need you guys to be the voice of reason. Ok? Ok, here's the situation..

Once upon a time I fell in love with a computer game called Thief (The Dark Project), and it was good. Then I fell in love with Thief 2 (The Metal Age), and it was good too. It was long love affair in which I spent hour after hour locked away playing it, rarely coming out to see the light of day except to go to work. It is and always has been my very favourite game.

Then sadly the company that made the game had dissolved and it looked like Thief 3 would never be made. I was a sad sad girl. But than yay! Somebody else stepped in and breathed new life back into it and began making Thief 3. That was about 5 years ago. And I have been waiting...and WAITING..ever since.

Yesterday I was talking to Oren online and he mentioned Thief 3 (Deadly Shadows) had finally been released. Eeeek! I squealed with delight, though inside I was quietly dying because I just *knew* it was going to be so high-end that my computer wouldn't be able to run it (and my computer ain't that bad, trust me). Off to the mall I went last night to check it out...and sure enough there it was...just calling to me. Buy me! Buy me! Play me! And sure enough the system requirements are *brutal*. I would need more RAM, a better video card, a better processor, oh and gee, the effing game doesn't support Windows ME so I'd have to install Win 2000 or XP. Wonderful. I coulda handled the RAM and even the new vid card...but a processor?!?! Come on...

*pout* Then my friend who was with me made a suggestion...why not by an X-Box system which would be cheaper than upgrading my computer? (at that point I said no coz I thought I only needed RAM and a vid card. still affordable..until I found out about the processor). So at first I was saying no because at least by upgrading my computer I'll be putting it into something I use all the time, unlike a game system. But now that I see that upgrading my computer will be WAY more money that I don't have....suddenly buying an X-Box doesn't seem like such a bad idea. But let me tell you...I am an OLD school girl. These new gaming systems/consoles are way tougher to use than my last system.....a Sega Genesis. LOL!!! Gone are the days where you couldn't save a game, at best you could pause it for a washroom break. Gone are the days of a mere three buttons (A, B and C!). Just looking at the X-Box controllers scares me...and makes me feel *really* old. So I'd have to learn a new game system and a new game all at the same time. That's not too appealing, let me tell ya.

Anyway, therein lies my conundrum. It was all I could do to not just buy the X-Box in a fit of utter stupidity last night, since I have a habit of making rash decisions. Remarkably, in writing this just now I have actually rekindled the desire to run out and buy one despite knowing it's a really dumb idea. Aaarrrghh!! Must...not...spend money.