Saturday, June 26, 2004

   Boo.
Today had good potential to be awesome, but didn't get the chance. But I shall get to that later, for I have to rant about what I did after I updated my mO yesterday.

"I was playing Splinter Cell until 11:00 last night, which was when Adult Swim started, and I haven't had a chance to play Psi-Ops yet. In fact, I'm going to do that right now, and edit this post later."

And play Psi-Ops I did. Ohh, the Psi-Ops I played.. That game is great fun. The only thing I really knew about the game before I played it was that it was a third-person shooter with psychic powers thrown in.

Well, I certainly had no idea that picking up enemies and smashing them into oil barrels could be this much fun.

I haven't really gone too far (I'm supposed to get into the odd Michael Jackson-esque guy's office right now), but it's just enjoyable.

I would do more of an in-depth, reasonable review, but I am tired. Let's move on.

Anyway, after watching The Andromeda Strain while playing Psi-Ops during commercial breaks for a while, my brother went with a friend to a local minor-league baseball game. We live twenty-something minutes from the local baseball field, where the Lancaster Jethawks play. Honestly, LA Dodgers games suck compared to Jethawks games. At Dodger stadium you have cramped seating, horrible views, and you spend more time watching commercials on the screen than actual baseball being played. The first time we went to a Dodgers game my dad got tickets for those really cool box/booth seats from our bank, which basically meant that we got our own private room high up above anybody else, people would go get our food for us, and we had a television, just in case we got bored. If I'm not describing it well enough, think of the episode of The Simpsons where they go to the hockey game, without the sushi and massages.

That's hardly all that makes the games good, though. These guys are our there trying to get into the major leagues, which generally makes for some pretty good games. Every time there's a home run fireworks go off, and on Sundays they have Dippin' Dots, the greatest ice cream to ever grace this planet (:D).

I, however, have Pandora Tomorrow and Psi-Ops to play. I didn't need any stupid baseball games. >:|

My dad then went out to get some El Pollo Loco, because my mom wasn't feeling well (he hates cooking, and I hate when either of us cooks). During general dinner conversation, with The Simpsons on in the background, I once again brought up the topic of reserving a hotel room for Anime Expo (You thought I could go a post without mentioning it, didn't you?). My father said we would, went upstairs, and didn't come down as I waited for him and his wonderful credit card. I eventually had to go upstairs, get him out of bed by force, and order the tickets.

You see, my father does not like to spend money. He's one of those cheap types, you know? This highly contrasts my mother, who loves the high life and fancy stuff. So my mom wanted to stay at the Hilton, while my dad wanted to stay at the Motel 6.

Well, guess who won. We ended up ordering the cheapest tickets for the Hilton (A fair compromise). Sorry, Karmi. :(

Today I woke up, played some Splinter Cell, the phone rang (I didn't bother picking it up- I was in the zone), and, oddly enough, my mom shouted down the stairs that the phone was for me.

It was the sister of a close friend (who is also a close friend), who invited me to the mall at 2. I asked my mother, who said that I could stay until 3:30, because she had some sort of formal affair to take care of at 4. That's hardly enough time at the mall with these fun-to-be-around people, but it's better than nothing, right? Well, then the friend calls back a few minutes later and says to change the meeting time to 2:30. I agreed, but went to the mall at 2 anyway to get some extra video game window shopping done. At about 2:20 I went over to the arcade, and found something very odd. Some regular arcade-goers were playing DDR, as usual, but the machine was different.. The sign said, in a very plain logo (compared to DDR Extreme or Max2), Dance Dance Revolution Megamix. Now, I have never heard of this version before, and the disturbingly blinding blue that was rampant on the song select screen. This led me to believe that it was an earlier version of the game, which would also explain the cheap logo- but the song-select system was identical to DDR Extreme's. Puzzled, I didn't bother playing, and decided to look into the matter later. When I got home, I checked DDRFreak.com, and found nothing on their Machine List page about any Megamix. I then did a Google search, and found that Megamix is just a hacked bootleg variation of DDR Extreme with variations in some animations, and that my arcade was stupid enough to "upgrade" the tried and true Extreme to this cheap knockoff.

I'll be sure to complain.

Anyway, by the time everybody met up, it was 2:45, and we spent most of our time checking out anime and manga in Suncoast. We also stormed Hot Topic, and spent a bit of time in the arcade watching my friend's friends (Who are much older than me, and are also strangers) play DDR. There was some Air Hockey, and some Time Crisis 2, but by that time I had to go.

;_; It would have been totally awesome if I could have stayed for several more hours. Every other time I've been to the mall with these people there were also bothersome people who I would rather not hang out with, or friends-of-friends that I do not know. This time it was just the cream of the crop, and it was cool.

And now for my Anime Expo update.



Hey, I talk about it enough. I think the better question is why not make a graphic out of it? :P

Well, actually, because I talked about the hotel booking thing earlier, there's not much else to rant about today, except for my mom being in "OMG THESE ONLINE PEOPLE AREN'T 13 OR YOUNGER?!?!" mode.

This came up while we were driving to the mall today, when my mom was being a "good, concerned parent" and asking me who I was meeting at the mall. I explained there were two classmates of mine, one older sister, age 15 (She's really sixteen, but my mom doesn't need to know that.. <_<), and possibly some of her friends. My mom got freaked out when she heard fifteen, and was talking about the huge difference between a thirteen-year-old and a fifteen-year-old. I explained that they're fine, and that they're not goths who shoplift painkillers from the back of Vitamin Barn, and she simmered down.

But then she asked me about the people I'm meeting at Anime Expo. I said one's 15, and one's 18, and she began screaming about me meeting people who say they're 18 on the internet but really aren't. I explained that I have pictures, I've talked to them over the mic ("WHAT? YOU'VE TALKED TO THEM!?"), and that they're both respectable members of society who aren't psychotic pedophiles. She asked about the 18-year-old and if he's heading off to college, and what he's majoring in, and I explained it all.

She seems fine with it all now, as long as she and my father "survey the situation" when we get there. I'm guessing my dad won't really worry about it much, and want to go back to the hotel room and relax by the pool, but my mom will be a bit more.. Let's say thorough about it.

I shall now go off and play Splinter Cell. Later.
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