Monday, December 6, 2004

An AMD 3400+ processor set on sexy.

Comment Commentary

Shin- I have had Pixies tunes stuck in my head for the past three days, and after a while even Debaser makes me want to blow my brains out.

Karmi- It's okay the first time, but it gets old.

Solo- Is Art of Life a ballad? I've never heard it before.

Syk- I dunno, I guess I was too busy chortling at his fanboy banter.

Shin- I need you to help me comprehend it for the sake of AR.

--

Alex- Bah, it's over and I only got to play for an hour or two.

Mimmi- Maybe. <.<

Alea- Lack of internetness = :(

Syk- At least I bother to do anything. Zing.

Stacie- You've invited me to the mall ONCE, and Melissa was there. >.o

Stacie- Oh noes.

--

As I subtly hinted at yesterday, I finally got the computer yesterday. After buying a couple of cool jackets at the mall, I went up to my dad's workplace and gently placed the computer into the car.

The parts weren't quite at my spec sheet's level- instead of a GeForce 6600 it's a 5700, which gets the job done (if GuildWars is any indication), and the processor went from a 3500+ to a 3400+, and the case isn't the same.

It's not necessarily bad- it's some case that has the temperature readout on the front and a side window. Admittedly, the window is quite cool (it gives me something to stare blankly at while things are loading), but the temperature readout is making me paranoid. I don't know what the norm is, and because of that I have started checking it every few seconds.

There's three fans, two of them glow an ominous blue, and most of the time it's about 81 degrees.

Not that I'm asking for help or anything.

I never realized how different XP is compared to 98. I'm adjusting easily enough, but it's still odd.

GuildWars ran wonderfully on it.. Whereas the the old computer had it going so that it was literally incohesive, everything seems near-perfect on this one. A couple of textures were a bit blurred, and I had one instance of aliasing doom, but it was nice. Destroying.. Volgs, or whatever those things were called alongside Alex and some crazy treasure-hoarding noob.

And nobody seemed to be that idiotic. D3re wuz n0t much of diS>

I'd like to buy it when it comes out, but Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga is probably going to take priority. Limited printings = immediate purchase, you know.

Jumping back a couple subtopics, it was relatively easy hooking things up, though this desk is retarded and has no room for this humongous case in the small space provided. Thus, the little alien on the side fan stares at me from the armrest / desk to my right, with the networking cable invading my mouse's personal space.

That isn't too much of a problem. I would say setting up the speaker system was this biggest pain. The furst hurdle was the packaging. Each speaker had its own little wrapper from hell, blistering my fingers effortlessly as I toiled on and on to undo that damned twisty-tie. Finding places for the speakers, small as they are, was a bit of an issue. As Azure suggested, I have one behind the monitor, one to each side, and two above (off to the left and right). There were no holes in this crappy-ass cabinet for the far ones, so I had to break out a steak knife and violently make little pathways for the wires.

Speaking of wires, you don't want to see the underside of my desk. It's insanity. I think my dog went down there yesterday, and I haven't seen him since.

--

For the moment, because of the computer transition, I am officially MP3 and Photoshopless. First off, there is no place to set up the old computer. I was sort of hoping I could put it on the other desk, but it doesn't fit. Second, there's no burning software. I had some before the hard drive crash, and it did the job, but that's lost (it came with the computer, no disc). Third, even if I did have software, it would take a while. Almost 4GB of music spread across 700MB CDs.. That would take a while. If that computer had a DVD burner it wouldn't be so bad, but even then it wouldn't be a snap.

--

I finally transferred today. I was given the green slip in first period, ran over to the journalism teacher's class to have her sign it ("So you finally did it, huh?"), and went back into the room to read Catch 22 for a while.

So far, some parts of it are freaking hilarious, and other parts are just mildly amusing. I think my biggest laugh so far was when they said that everybody who knew the guy liked the guy.

"They hated that son of a bitch."

I'm only about a tenth of the way through the book, and I have to have it done by the seventeenth.. Boo, commitment.

Art was okay. I sat in the back of the room at a big table with the "veterans" from last year, and did a bit of a comic. It's funny because I spent all period making sure my faux-stick figures were perfect.

PE was.. Odd. When you switch classes at this school, you have to get signatures from all of the teachers affected. My PE teacher wasn't here today, so someone else had to sign it.. After that I went out to where we sit, talking to people I know and getting violated by people I don't.

If you compared my previous class and my new one, it goes without saying that I'm now in the less orderly one. The squads were all lopsided, with people just running around, and I just sat wherever. We stood around and talked for most of the period, and for a minute I felt a minor sense of regret.

But whatever. I'm sure it'll get better.

I guess I don't have much else to say. I have tomorrow off for parent teacher conferences (thanks, lazy school system!), and I'll probably just read all day. I'm not in the best of moods, and this feels like one that won't go away for a while.

Closing statement: This monitor seems more blurred than the last one.. And that's not a good thing.
Comments (2) | Permalink

GuildWars is very, very cool. That's all I can say right now.
Comments (8) | Permalink

Sunday, December 5, 2004

Why do they make Special Edition DVDs if there are never any regular ones?

Comment Commentary

Shin- I should probably start reading it today.

Alex- Bleh.. I may not have it until late tonight.

Mimmi- Laptops on beds are fun.

Solo- Man, that sounds so British. Altercations between the Grungers and the Townies at Chinchester High School.

I kid because I care.

Mal- *shrugs* I'll read it eventually.

Solo- Yesterday I noticed a bunch of Marvel graphic novels mixed in with the manga, despite having their own section.. They weren't really trying to imitate the visual style, either.

Tony- Man, I hope so. On a side note: I haven't beaten Nocturne yet, but I hope to do so by the time Digital Devil Saga comes out.

Godel- But I draw them on the top margin while you draw them on the left. There must be some sort of disturbance in the connection.

Syk- From the way our teacher described the nudity, it wasn't hot at all, but I do remember one eighth grader last year going "Yeah, man! Schindler got laid!"

Shin- Shin is mad. :o

--

This may sound odd, but I've been listening to music a lot more recently. Not just having it in the background as I type.. I'm actually listening. Instead of just mindlessly playing it in the background and half-listening to the guitar riffs (I often find myself forgetting which song I'm listening to), I've been looking up lyrics, interpreting them, and associating emotions with specific songs.

For example, I had no idea how deep X Japan's Silent Jealousy is until I looked up the lyrics a week or two ago. Now I find myself enjoying the song eight hundred times more.

Of course, when you have a ton of music in Japanese, that can sort of hinder advancements, but as I've said before I tend to figure the feelings for these songs by listening to the singer's tone of voice and the overall mood of the song. Sometimes that can create even stronger emotions.

--

I actually ended up going to the mall yesterday instead of being unable to get a ride. We all met up quickly enough this time (nobody was that late), and it turns out that a couple of people had already bought tickets for The Incredibles. Not wanting to be separated from anyone else, Ethan and I bought tickets for the same one, despite having seen it before.

It was good the second time, but it was more fun seeing everyone else's reactions to certain things. Last time, when I saw it with family, I pretty much watched in silence, but when you're sitting there with friends you can heckle it and have one hell of a time.

Again, I'm surprised with some of the maturity this movie shows. Guns, suicide, terrorism, suspected adultery, and a little comment from Syndrome that I didn't notice last time. When he figured out that Mr. Incredible married Elastigirl, and saw the kids, he said "Whoa, and you got BI-ZAY!"

Good old Disney. :)

After that we kind of got separated for a while. Ethan and I decided to go play DS for a while (strafing in MP: Hunters is such a freaing pain), and after a cell phone call confirming that we hadn't been ditched came in, we regrouped at Spencer's and looked at all of the perverse and profane T-shirts and birthday cards.

I dislike that store, frankly.

We went into Waldenbooks, browsed some manga and then I read aloud from "Letters to Hustler XXI". That got old rather fast, so we went to a few other stores.

We only spent a dollar on DDR, which must be some sort of new record of restraint. We shared, and this particular machine, being the ever-shitty Megamix, had a five-songs-per-play thing going on, so that cut back the price.

I played Tsugaru and 321 Stars, and I was surprised at my overall suckiness. It was sad. I'm just thankful that none of the "regulars" that do nothing but sit in the arcade all day were there.

Speaking of those guys, I've been trying to keep track of who they are. I've memorized a few of their faces, though I'm not quite sure of all their names, but I know enough about them. For the most part, it seems that they never go to school and literally play DDR all day.

Except for maybe Raver Dude. He seems to be an upstanding member of society. :P

And we left around 8:30. Overall, I think it was a bit awkward, and not the best trip ever, though I won't explain why. You never know who's reading, right?

--

If I don't have that computer today I'm going to shoot myself. The GuildWars Beta is almost over, and I have no way of playing it. I should probably call about it, actually..

--

Closing statement: I still consider .hack//SIGN's closing theme, Yasashii Yoake, to be one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard.
Comments (6) | Permalink

Saturday, December 4, 2004

Not long until I can finally take a mallet to this computer..

Comment Commentary

Shin- There's supposedly a Shin Megami Tensei DS game coming out.. I really hope Atlus continues bringing SMT games over here.

Syk- Nah, I'm not. My friend just pressed the face buttons to see what they did and found they worked as movement.

Alea- Non-gamers should be ashamed of being non-gamers. Duh.

Karmi- I read in a magazine that left-handed people are more creative and unique because they use the right side of their brain more.

But it's not like we right-handers can't fend for ourselves, right? Viva la revolution.

Mal- Weather and Christmas decorations in the mall.

--

Today was the last day of the trimester, and so it was a half day. To keep us from having lunch at freaking 10:30, we go to seventh period first, which meant Journalism for me.

I installed Photoshop and Pagemaker into this computer in another room.. The teacher thinks that I just want silence while I work. I humored her and went along with it, smirking as I went to first period.

Which was some sort of spelling competition. The way it's run is sort of stupid. It's like baseball, and you can go for a single, double or triple. The hole is that one team could consistently do easy singles and keep going forever, and the other team couldn't do anything about it.

We were allowed to have blank papers in front of us, which was a big help for me. I tend to be a visual speller, and the inability to visualize words has been my bane in previous spelling bees.

Nothing interesting ever happens in Science. That's why I never talk about it. Moving on.

I don't even remember what we did in History. We begin Schindler's List next week, and for me that's what matters.

My Accelerated Reader class was number one in our division this trimester, so we got to parttake in the elusive double lunch (There are two lunch periods, and we got to go to both of them today). This got us out of math (glee!), but overall it was pretty boring. I went up to the library to return a book, and I checked out Catch 22. I had originally gone up there to get Catcher in the Rye, but that didn't happen because I discovered it's two levels below my AR range. I'll read it over the summer for fun.

I don't even know what Catch 22 is about. I've just heard the name, and it's worth 30 points.

Near the end of fifth a big racial orgy of violence (i.e. black-versus-mexican fight) went down on the field. For the rest of the day we weren't allowed to walk around in groups more than three, because there was supposedly a second one happening. I actually heard a lot about it in Phys Ed afterwards, though the people I heard it from weren't really planning on joining in.

And then the day ended. I went over to a friend's house, played Melee for a while, ate Pizza Hut, and sat around watching TV bored out of our skulls until five or so. We watched Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, criticizing the corners they cut in animation (Yu-Gi-Oh isn't as bad with reusing frames, but the character models are always atrocious), Elimidate and some lame hip-hop show with 360 in the title. It had half of the Kenan and Kel duo on the show, hosting alongside some other guy. The formula was basic, and went as follows:

Kel: YO, THAT DANCE WAS SWEET! WHERE YOU AT, JERMAINE?

Jermaine: OVER HERE, YO. WHAT'S YOUR NAME, GIRL (or man)?

Audience girl: [whatever]

Jermaine: WHAT'S YOUR MOVE CALLED?

Then they do it, and the contestants try to replicate it. It had a very softcore air around it, as if a fifty-year-old white dude produced it.

The dances were odd. All of the contestants were male, and they seemed to always end up dry-humping each other. There were two white guys (twins), who seemed to have taken urban dance courses at an all-girls college or something. It was.. Quite unnerving.

Then I left.

Turns out the second GuildWars beta began today, and thanks to Alex I was able to try it out. As expected, the computer could not run the thing at all. Well, I shouldn't say that- technically it ran- but it was total shit. The graphics, the framerate, lagged controls.. Thankfully, the computer should be done by tomorrow, and I shall be able to join in the recommended setting bliss.

I just wanted to start playing, so I used the name "Samsa Nacht." Spot the reference and you win a pat on the back and an all-expenses-paid trip for four to Jamaica.

But not really.

I'll probably be at the mall tomorrow, assuming I can get a ride. My friends want to see Finding Neverland, but as usual I would prefer not seeing a movie at all.

Woot for running around haphazardly with no particular plan in mind.

EDIT: Oh God, The One Ring to Rule Them All 3 is hilarious. It runs circles around The Matrix Still Has You, which was a major disappointment in my opinion. Note the Silmarillion references!
Comments (10) | Permalink

Thursday, December 2, 2004

Thy game is over.

Comment Commentary

Mimmi- Speaking of volleyball, it's finally over. But now we're on basketball.. Gah, bring me football and hockey.

Syk- Maybe you just need to get your mind out of the gutter. >:O

Shin- But not close enough, sadly. If it were an anime-style game, it may be more likely.. Maybe Kojima could show up because of Zone of the Enders?

Alea- *Simpsons reference* You should ask the Japanese mafia. :P

Karmi- ONLY seven? That makes me feel a lot better. -_-

--

Today may be the latest I've woken up for school this year. I suddenly jerked out of my napping state at 6:53, seven minutes before I normally leave for school. I threw on some clothes (under normal circumstances, I would never wear that sweater), grabbed a banana and a granola bar, and jumped into the car.

I got there a minute after the bell rang, but thankfully my homeroom teacher doesn't really care about a minor offense like that.

We finished up the last of the oral presentations today. Oddly enough, I was the last person to be selected, and I guess I did okay. I improvised a lot more than I had expected to with parts, but it didn't seem to matter because at this point nobody was even listening anymore. After that I got my grade for the written report. It was a 94, because I forgot a concluding sentence in the first paragraph and I "needed to divide my paragraphs into smaller ones." In retrospect, a lot of them really are long (some three pages), but I was afraid of dividing them losing me points.

We read a few famous pamphlets and speeches in History today. "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine is on page 666 of our books, and somehow when I wasn't looking the entire class ended up in a debate about how to draw pentagrams properly. According to the class's agreement, Satanic pentagrams have one of the points going directly downward, and simple magic ones have one pointing up.

We read them, but that was dwarfed by the "discussion."

I have been trying to return this one library book ("Murder in Mesopotamia" by Agatha Christie, totally lame) for a week now, but every single day at lunch there has been a class in there. When there's a class in the library, nobody else is allowed in. It's times like these I'm thankful that we aren't charged late fees.

Near the end of math I got a phone call from the school counselor / scheduling person. She said she had received a note from my Journalism teacher that I had "shown the desire to transfer." Considering I haven't talked to her about it at all, I find it odd that this is what the schedulers looked at first. My mom put the request in two weeks ago, and the art teacher was supposed to reference me in.

She said that they normally don't switch periods, but she will "see what she can do." I'm not quite sure how it happened, but it has been decided that if she can't switch the periods, I am going to be my Phys Ed coach's second T.A. for seventh period. That is nowhere near the top of my Ideal Electives list, but it's the lesser of two evils. Besides, a ton of people have that teacher for seventh, and it would be fun to laugh at (and maybe support?) them as they run laps. :P

In Journalism the teacher announced that she went with the lame company from New Jersey to public the yearbook. They have cheap prices, yeah, but their pamphlet was very unimpressive. I find that a bad sign.

Not that it matters for me, though. I'll end up buying it regardless of the quality, because of two things: The mugshots and signatures. Sigs are always my favorite part of the yearbook, because you can go back years later and go "Oh yeah, I remember that guy".

Do I care about the amount of clipart on the poser-cheerleader page? Not anymore. Just give me a few blank pages.

--

My friend came over after school, and we played Melee for the first time since forever. He totally owned me the first time, but I beat his ass in the rematch. We went to Best Buy after that and actually played Metroid Prime: Hunters on a DS. It was cool, but I got tired of it rather quickly.

I find it cool that they have it set up so that you don't have to go into the menu and change the control scheme if you're left-handed. You just swap L for R, the D-pad for the four face buttons, and there you go.

Tapping the screen to jump was a tad awkward, but it's better than tapping to shoot, no?

The parts for my pimptastic computer are being purchased tomorrow at wholesale prices, and I'm not having to put it together or install the drivers. It's going to pretty sweet; according to my dad, the only thing he changed was the processor. They were out of 3500s, so I settled for a 3400. Assuming he didn't forget to mention anything else, I am confident that it will turn out well. I opted for a Thermaltake Tsunami case at the last minute instead of any flashier ones, with blue LEDs. If I ever get tired of it I might switch to greens, in honor of my favorite Alienware color scheme (For the record, I hate the green cases, but the green LEDs with the black case is beyond cool).

I'm sure somebody's going to identify the reference in this post's title, and if nobody knows it you should all be ashamed. Except for non-gamers.. But they should be ashamed for other reasons. :P

EDIT: Oh, and happy December. It's my favorite month of the year, so woot for me.
Comments (4) | Permalink

Wednesday, December 1, 2004

Profanity. Gasp!

Comment Commentary

Alex- Hm.. Bloody, you say? *strokes chin*

Shin- Let me take this oppurtunity to say that you are completely and utterly insane, and that for every pair of shorts you wear this winter I shall kill you.

Alea- Yeah, but there weren't any other synonyms at all.

Stacie- I ruined fine art. Imprison me!

Mal- :}

Stacie- Argh, Durvin haunts me.

DDG- Our prizes are okay, for the most part, but the beach trip at the end of the year is the biggie. It's my highest priority to go.

--

It wasn't quite as cold today. There was no ice outside, and the grass did not crunch as I walked on it, and for some reason they decided to let everybody inside the gym TODAY. I didn't even bother going in..

Many oral presentations were had in English today, though by some divine miracle I wasn't selected. It felt like the teacher was shooting a flaming arrow into the air, and we were running back and forth frantically trying to avoid it. Tomorrow I'm pretty much guaranteed to go, and in the back of my mind I know I'll do fine, but I have anxieties about these things.

The insane math teacher was gone today, and we had a substitute. All of this year we have always had the same sub in that class: Some crazy old dude who prefers teaching us magic tricks to having us do work. Our teacher today was one Mr. Grimm, and he taught us our lesson in ten minutes whereas our regular teacher would have taken the entire period. She's very long-winded, you see, and fun to laugh at. I got my homework done in class.

The PE volleyball championship was today. My team, of course, was nowhere near the top four teams, so we got to sit in the bleachers and watch. I didn't really pay attention, though I was attentively watching- I was thinking. What about, you say? Well, that's for me to know and you to speculate over for hours on end.

One of the AR prizes I mentioned earlier is a "party" during seventh period where you get some sort of food. This trimester it was root bear floats, which admittedly tasted like shit, but at least it got me out of Journalism.

Speaking of Journalism, the November issue of the newsletter is finally printed and in circulation. It was supposed to be out on the sixth, but here we are, in the beginning of December (yay), and it's just coming up. It's so miserably outdated that it's not even funny. Admittedly, this issue is better than the last (no clipart, though I didn't bother enforcing it there). It was even printed on real newspaper-sized paper.

--

Piano was sort of pathetic. I didn't practice at all this week except for my own little procrastinated hour before the lesson, and for once it sort of turned into a "pity lesson." I have been doing these two songs for what seems like years now (in reality it's only been like three months) and today she finally said, "..You know what? You want to just move on?"

Score one for me.

I mourned for about an hour as Kojima and Shinkawa were signing things in Citywalk. I'm just hoping that somebody really cool comes to AX 2005, and that I can handle standing in line long enough to get some signatures.
Comments (5) | Permalink

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

It's like a spider bite on your eyelid.

Comment Commentary

DDG- We also get earthquakes and fanciful celebrity politicians. ~_^

Miss Stacie- Damn right I am.

Shin- Speaking of which, are those test results in yet?

Karmi- Make sure they're high-capacity memory cards.. Hint hint.

Solo- What did I say about manga? o_O

--

It was very cold this morning. After six to eight restless, futile hours of trying to find a comfortable position in my bed (Well, more like four), my cursed alarm went off and I went through the normal morning routine.

The highlight of the morning news: There was a big manure pile in Chino that caught fire.. Heh heh. Stupid Chino.

Oh, and the "star" of some petting zoo (this is the all-encompassing LA news, not just some hokey one-town thing) has gone missing, and for some reason they're making a big deal out of it. Isn't it obvious that the other farm animals got tired of living in Trixie's shadow, and so they conspired to take her out on their boat on Thanksgiving and dump her body into the harbor?

*cough* But this is Shin's job, not mine.

I wore a T shirt under a turtleneck under another T shirt under a jacket this morning. It was 25 degrees, and I was well-insulated, so all of you "California iznt codl!11" purists out there can go.. Wear shorts or something.

We had an unsuspecting newbie substitute teacher in Language Arts, and we basically manipulated her so that we didn't have to read for AR. After that we had little grammar puzzle worksheets, involving a lot of synonyms. Being the lazy underachiever that I am, I pulled out a thesaurus to find the answers.

Little did I know that our school's thesauruses are demented little mind games devised by the anti-Websters to destroy student morale.

1. Toss. See throw 1.

(Flip back five or six pages)

1. Throw. See toss 1.

The only synonym they had for "grass" was "Marijuana." Not even I would have thought of that.. Makes you wonder who makes these books.

We're going to be watching Schindler's List in History in a couple weeks. I'm looking forward to it, though I'm sure the tone will be ruined by some a-hole who can't ever take a moment of drama seriously.

We played volleyball in thirty degree weather. Whoop-de-doo, my arm froze as I was waiting for the opposing team to serve and it shattered like an ice cube thrown against asphalt.

Well, not really, but it was that cold. I served surprisingly well, but we still lost because of some insane ghetto girl (there are more harsh terms, but I'm too tired for profanities) who insisted that they get points for whatever reason. Got fifty pushups for losing.

Journalism was enjoyable for once. The teacher didn't say a word to me (though the clipart junkie still harrassed me as she floundered through Photoshop), but I mostly sat there and drew some odd heavily-shaded, Shinkawa-inspired drawing of a random guy whose head was at an angle so anatomically incorrect that it looked like someone had snapped it.

Praise! Critical acclaim!

And then the day ended. Went over to a friend's house and played Goldeneye: Rogue Agent and Super Mario Sunshine for two or three hours.

I haven't played Metal Gear in days. Volgin was such a pain in the ass that I haven't bothered going back to it, and I've been on a roll in Nocturne and Echoes (just got Samus's Dark Suit, and I'm almost through the Second Kalpa in Nocturne).

So there you have it. Nothing too eventful, nothing too interesting, but if you've gotten this far you deserve a pat on the back.

But I'm sure as hell not doing it. Who knows what kind of germs are on that jacket you're wearing?
Comments (6) | Permalink

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Ominous!

Comment Commentary

Mimmi- It's mostly my dad's side that I dislike.. My mom's family feels more "family-ish," as I like to say it.

Juu- Hooray for irrational stereotypes.

Shin- You can be the sixth, never-before-seen one.. How about a leprechaun costume?

Mal- Impossible. You must have eaten some sort of reverse-turkey.

Syk- No, no, but my dad seems to think that you have to tie in someone's military service with every little conversation. Try to top that.

Godel- Posters! I want posters!

Laura- Holiday < Fun

--

I woke up at 1:00 PM yesterday. The rest of the daylight hours were pretty much wasted on eating and playing games.

But I dare not talk about them, because if I did Karmi would punish me. Oh, tragedy, thine name is OtakuSennen.

Once it got darker, I sat down and turned on the television (productive, no?). The TV Guide Channel, my number one souce for half-assed channel surfing information, told me that Galaxy Quest was on TBS's Dinner and a Movie. The mention of the name caught my attention- I immediately had a flashback to Albertson's several years ago as I read the back of the box in the rentals section.

The movie was okay, I guess. It had its moments, but like most Tim Allen movies, I didn't find it genuinely funny. Some of the convention moments were interesting, and Crewman #6 was pretty funny, but it ultimately became a time-waster for me. I'm glad that I didn't waste any money on it back in the day.

After that I went on the computer for a while. I had been in a creative mood all day, and at the moment I felt like satisfying that hunger through Photoshop. The thought of doing another Industrialization thing sounded tempting, so I went with that for a while.

Only this time, it evolved into a myOtaku theme.

It crashed and burned before it even took off. Even after I found decent images to use, and tracked down a decent font, I couldn't replicate the feel of the previous two. It's too bad, though- I had some good ideas for a background and avatar. Maybe I'll come back to it someday.

(I also toyed around with a film-noir styled theme, but that, too, went nowhere. *shakes fist at James* Stop setting such high standards!)

On my own personal Completion Monitor, my creative juices had only been 38% squeezed, so I turned to drawing. I didn't really have an idea of what I wanted to draw- like I usually do- but I ended up drawing a semi-portrait of Jack White (because my copy of De Stijl was on my desk). After completing that, I came up with an idea: Put on De Stijl, and draw what I see in my mind as I listen. It only makes sense. Every time I listen to it, I make up little music video sequences that correspond with various songs. As an extra bit of challenge, I tried to finish each drawing before the song was done, to see how good I can make things with the least effort.

I now refer to it as "Power Drawing." It's like power walking, only not.

In the end, I was pretty freaking impressed by some of the stuff that I did. My favorite is the one that I did while listening to "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise" (my favorite track) and "Death Letter." I won't spoil it, because I want to put a little more effort into it and eventually scan it.

Perspective rocks my socks.

By then it was pretty late, and I watched the South Park Movie, completely uncut, on Comedy Central. By the time "Blame Canada" was over, I was getting a little bored and I went to bed.

As punishment, I have had that song stuck in my head all day.

--

I woke up a little earlier today- 10:30- just as my brother was about to go to his saxaphone lesson. I asked if I could come along, because I wanted to go up to the comic book store and buy I Feel Sick. Unfortunately, I had to wait a while, and walk around in Walmart for a while. I ran into a few people, picked up my brother, and then we went to Bases Cards and Comics. They were having some sort of Role-Playing tournament going on, so the place was rather crowded (They weren't using the back room), and I didn't find I Feel Sick or the Metal Gear Solid comic (which, admittedly, seems lame. It's not even Shinkawa-ey!), but I didn't bother asking.

Got dragged to the mall after that. I walked around for about an hour looking around desperately for anybody that I might know, and musing over possible Christmas gifts for people.

The mall sort of sucks recently. All of the arcade-lurking regulars have been absent as of late, and coincidental run-ins have reached an all-time low. There were still a few encounters that I found interesting, though, so I may as well list them.

- Fat DDR kid. This really fat kid about my age was playing DDR by the movie theatre. As fat as he was, he was incredibly light on his feet, though he didn't do too well on most of the songs.

- Crazy horny otaku couple. I didn't think that attractive college-going youngsters were into anime, but sure enough, in Suncoast there was a guy and a girl straight out of Vogue skimming through manga and making out inbetween.

o.o

- The guy in the cutlery store. As per usual, he was juggling knives. I swear, you'd think he was a boss in Metal Gear or something.

- Small child three-car pileup. As I was walking to EB, this four-year-old girl ran into this five-year-old girl, and in the process her brother fell on top of them. Being the vile bastard that I am, I laughed to myself, because I dislike small children.

- I used the DS. They had a couple sitting in Gamestop. There was no game in it, so I just had to use Pictochat. The touch screen is so incredibly sensitive, I was very very impressed. Too bad I couldn't do freaking anything with it.

- They added a new bookshelf of manga in Waldens. Not just one or two shelves, but the entire "tower," if you get what I'm saying. That makes three in total.

I guess that's about it, spare one tantalizing fact: I bought the Shin Megami Tensei Official Strategy Guide. Normally I am against purchasing strategy guides in any shape or form, but Nocturne's is different. It's 387 pages, and while most of it is a basic guide book, it also includes a bunch of the kickass and inspiring artwork of the game. Maybe there's not as much as the Kaneko Kazuma Graphics Tony has on Digital Devil Database (God, I love plugging that), but I'm mostly into the human characters, anyway.

The character profiles are impressive, too. Instead of giving small little snippets about their backstories, this book tends to analyze the characters' motivations, and their roles in the game. That is what Nocturne deserves, I suppose- at its core, it's all about Reason.

I'm not going to use it as an actual strategy guide, though. It's primarily an art resource.

On the record, anyway. ~_^

EDIT: Oh.. My.. Freaking.. God. I think I'm going to go get a soda just for the sake of spitting it out in surprise.

EDIT 2:

You Are the Investigator

5 You're independent - and a logical analytical thinker. You love learning and ideas... and know things no one else does. Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations. You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it.

What number are you?

Celebrate.

You Are a Snarky Blogger!

You've got a razor sharp wit that bloggers are secretly scared of. And that's why they read your posts as often as they can!

What kind of blogger are you?

Haha.. Right.

Also, I just remembered that I have piano on Tuesdays, and the lessons end at six. Thus, I am freaking screwed. :/
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Friday, November 26, 2004

It's a sad day when Shin resorts to another Futurama rant.

But that would be the jackpot over here.

Comment Commentary

Shin- You're just saying that because you're over 17. :P

James- That's exactly what I was trying to say, but run-on sentences are the death of me. ~_^

Shinji- Well when you put it that way..

Alex- But then what would the sickly, submissive husbands do?

Mal- Uh.. Yay? (swing and miss.)

Solo- *looks over the list again* I rented Psi-Ops, but other than that I'm with you.

Laura- As soon as I turn 18, I'm sure. :/

Godel- Heh heh.. Burning kitties.

Karmi- Don't you just hate it when that happens?

--

Gah, finally some alone time.

Cleaning.. All of yesterday. No need to go into detail. That carried on to today, which is a little more clear in my mind. I finalized all of the leaf raking (it's not that we have a ton of leaves- I'm just slow as hell), broke out the vacuum and picked up all of the little bits of lint, and hid a bunch of crap I didn't know where to drop on top of this desk, where nobody can see it, like some sort of lame Molly Maid ninja.

It's sort of weird to see this room "clean".. In fact, any "clean" room in this house is a bad one, I think. To me, clutter creates personality, and while it may not be the most aesthetically pleasing thing in the world, it's better than sterile order.

For example, my room is pretty simple: Light blue walls, dark blue ceiling, bunkbed (top bunk never used anymore), desks. Nothing that "me" stands out in the room, but when you add drawings strewn across the desk, shoes thrown haphazardly on the floor and the blankets tangled up in a big knot of fabric on top of the bed, it becomes a place I am proud to call my own.

Around one the guests came: First there was our semi-cousin (his mom never really married my uncle, but they may as well be), who has lived up in San Francisco for a long time and my mom feels that he may be gay, his faux-supermodel girlfriend, and her brother, whom we have never seen before in our lives. Turns out he is in the navy, which made my dad lay the gratefulness on way too thick, and my brother dragged him into playing F-Zero GX for a long time, so he was cool. Then came the uncle and semi-wife, but there's not much to say about them.

After they all stood around talking for a while, as I drifted around eating crackers and avoiding any sort of awkward conversation, the food finally got done. It was a good meal, though the turkey was incredibly dry, but I ate. Maybe I didn't eat as much as I do at our traditional "go-to-the-uncle's-house-and-don't-do-any-cooking" Thanksgivings, but I got full.

To keep the dog from begging at the table, I dropped a little bit of turkey onto his plate. He ate it up very quickly, and he practically looked dead on our stairs.

Thanks, that chemical in turkey that makes you lethargic! *thumbs up*

Somehow the topic of computers came up, and that was probably the only time I appeared enthusiastic about anything all night. Navy dude actually knew what Alienware was.. In fact, he even brought it up.

Then I went upstairs and fell asleep on my parents' bedroom's floor.

I woke up an hour later to the sound of my dad screaming for me because they all wanted help in Medal of Honor.

Then I ate some Jolly Ranchers. They have a new wrapper style, you know. It's more "oldschool," one could say.

Once most of them left, I sat down and played Nocturne (Why not Metal Gear? Because Volgin's an asshole). I blazed through the Obelisk until I got to the part where you have to fight the three sisters. I fight them, and I do okay, but then they run. Without healing or anything, I fought one of them a second time and she had a different opening line, but that seemed to do nothing. After doing four of those fights without healing, I wobbled over to the Terminal and quit.

Now they're all gone, and my family's upstairs watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles. That movie is okay, but I would rather not watch it. Besides, I've only spent, what, six hours online in the past three days? :P

EDIT: ..Oh, yeah, happy Thanksgiving, to anybody who celebrates it.
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Wednesday, November 24, 2004

The difference between myself and me.

Comment Commentary

Godel- Lost in Translation, perhaps? :O Heh, I wonder if one of the results is a hardcore porno or something..

Shin- It's one of my mom's favorite movies, but I've never bothered.

Karmi- *mutters*

Mal- Gasp! Rivalry! ..Oh well, better add it to the pile.

-

Mal- I can understand being excited about family visits if it's like that, but if it's an aunt that leads to my mom doing nothing but bitch about her for a week, count me out.

Godel- *shakes fist* Let's take this outside.. To the Food Channel.

I am reminded of my second cousin, though. In past Thanksgivings, he wouldn't let us in the house unless we had my mom's sugar cookies, and he's 30-something.

Shin- Wish I could say the same, heh.

--

Hm, a more substantial update. Celebrate.

Has anybody else seen that "Video Game Report Card" that a whole bunch of conservative housewives put together this year? I saw it on the Eyewitness News, and they were talking about how you should not buy your children the following games:

1) Doom 3
2) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
3) Half Life 2
4) Halo 2
5) Resident Evil: Outbreak
6) Psi Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
7) The Guy Game
8)Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
9)Motal Kombat Deception
10) Rumble Roses

When I saw the list, despite my disgust, I still shouted in glee and threw up the horns. The reason: Half-Life 2 > Halo 2. Screw connation, it's about time the game got some respect.

Parts of the list are understandable, but other parts are just full of shit. Why the hell is Leisure Suit Larry, quite possibly one of the raunchiest games of all time, so low on the list while Psi-Ops is on it at all? I believe there was more blood in Deception than The Mindgate Conspiracy. Oh, and last time I checked, Killzone and Vampire: The Masquerade existed.

I'm trying to keep myself from exploding into one of those big "video games aren't as bad as you say" rants that I so often get into, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to have a little bit of it trickle out. The media seems to present every crime that a kid committed "thanks to video games," but how many other underage murders go on in the world without the influence of video games? And of those "victims of the violence," how many of them have otherwise unstable home lives, with their parents' irresponsibility with buying entertainment being one of the most minute of their issues? How many of these people had their goals set straight long before they picked up San Andreas? It's all contextual bullshit.

Whoo, I feel better.

--

Surprisingly enough, my mom hasn't been her craziest in these past 24 hours. Generally, by now, her head is exploding because there's still dust on the cat (?), but she's been pleasantly mellow most of the time.

But considering this is a very special time of the year, I suppose that I should say that I am thankful that I don't live with any of my aunts, who are all much, much more obsessive compulsive about these things.

--

Beat The Fury and went through the creepy Sorrow thing today. The Fury was incredibly cool, in character and in gameplay (think faster-paced Vulcan Raven with lots of spiffy lighting effects), but his death cutscene was quite possibly the lamest yet. Apparently, Mr. Fury used to be an astronaut, and he started vomiting up all of these campy astronaut terms. That sort of killed it for me.

The Sorrow was insanely cool, though, and for some reason I got his camo after the fight. I beat The Fury using only the handgun, which I believe is what you need to do to get bosses' camo, but I didn't. Oh well.

Coolest cutscene ever: The Volgin torture sequence. A little gratuitous in the bloodspray department, but I'm not complaining.

...My God, I need a life.

I wish I had something more interesting to say, but I never do these days, so I guess you're all stuck with Metal Gear rantings for a while. :P

EDIT: Today I realized that I need to find more music from The Clash. Thought you would want to know.
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