Let's Go Again

A love song based off of MarioKart... that actually doesn't suck. Who knew?

Another One Bites the Dust

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I utterly agree. Shotgun entrances even manage to completely beat out grenade entrances, if you can believe that.

In other news, I have now discovered the Firefox Facebook toolbar add-on, which is completely convenient, as well as Firefox's NASA Night Launch theme, which finally works for Firefox 3.0. This makes me very happy.

In addition to these, Mozilla is apparently working in tandem with Adaptive Path (the designers of MySpace's revamp/relaunch) in order to develop Aurora, a very interesting web browsing application. You should go see the concept videos, episodes one and two (more are on their way).

A-Grade Occupations

Okay. So. Updates.

I am currently working my way through Assassin's Creed on the 360, which is taking me far longer than usual due to my penchant for investigating every corner of each map. It's taking me a while, but I really love the game itself - the collecting flags, conquering Templar, sniping archers with throwing knives, pickpocketing and sneaking around? It suits me perfectly. One big puzzle to achieve. Completely awesome.

Also, watching the TV series The Avatar: The Last Airbender. There's currently a marathon showing on Nickelodeon. I keep forgetting how much I love this show.

Self-Decoration

It was a D&D game, and my character hadn't been introduced yet. I officially despise being a mere level 1 char.

Stumbling Into Addictiveness

LINK!

And

(wait for it)

...another link.

Internet Connections

I love the Internet.

I went from researching the board game Lotus, to looking through octopus photos, to learning about sword swallowing.

I'm not really sure how I made those leaps, either.

Also, the board games Ishi, Stare!, King Me!, Surakarta, Luxor, and Score Four look fascinating. I also found the game No Peeking!, which I had played as a kid and then totally forgotten about. Fun game, actually. I cheated at it all the time. :x

Hm. Been Awhile

New things: Mom's and sister's birthdays; Thanksgiving goings-on; saw Beowolf in 3D.

Birthdays weren't very exciting, but pleasant enough. Thanksgiving didn't end up in its usual location at my grandmother's due to her feeling ill, so the holiday was held at my parents' place this year. My cousins and I played lots of Live Halo 3, and that also was good.

As to Beowolf: If I hadn't already seen Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, and Lord of the Rings' Gollum, I would have been extremely impressed by the animation alone. But as I had seen all of those, it wasn't that big a deal. As a matter of fact, in not having real-life actors, I think the movie lost a bit of realism and depth. The three-dimensional aspect was the only thing that made the movie worth seeing, but even then there were some points were the dimension wasn't at all convincing. It was rather like having paper cutouts with rounded edges, an animation without anything deeper than what the audience was seeing on the surface. It was nice, but I think the animators were trying to pull something off in terms of realism which wasn't quite within their grasp.

I give the movie three-point-five of five stars, for good effort and the talent of Neil Gaiman, whose literary portrayers should stick to graphic novels.

As for the cell phone thing, we're still trying to work out the shipment of a new phone with the online sellers. We've already received two cell phones, the first of which had a bent shell, and the second of which had flawed programming. So far we haven't heard back about the shipment of a third. I'm of the opinion that they should give it to us for half price, but maybe that's just me.

I Feel Violated

My cell phone was stolen today.

I was riding the bus at the time. The guy sitting in the seat behind me stole it. He had asked me a couple of questions about my wireless headset, after which I continued to listen to my tunes, during which I really paid no attention at all. I watched him leave the bus without marking it as significant. I only really began to notice things when my headphones' reception began to break up. I reached for my phone to see what was the matter, only to press my hand to empty space.

I didn't realize how attached I was to the device until it was taken from underneath me. It was like an aficionado's favorite car - he may have set a couple of dents in his precious car, but they're his dents, and he knows each one by heart, because he put them there. His car has become far more than just a method of transportation. In the same way, my cell phone wasn't just my emergency telephone. It was my music library, my picture album, and a contacts list full of all the people in my life. It was completely customized to me: I had bought the clear plastic case protecting it (which I loved) as well as having completely tailored every setting and display. My 1-gig SD card the phone was equipped with was dear to me as well - I had just loaded my new favorite tunes on it the previous morning. When that man stole my cell phone he stole away my Linus' Blanket, my Prometheus Stone, my precious blue Mustang, a hank of my hair while I wasn't looking.

I didn't cry when our family's dog died. I cried when my cell phone was stolen. I wanted to choke the guy who had taken it, but I settled for annihilating Flood in Halo 3 instead. Just a way to run away from reality, really, but it was better than re-experiencing the same pain so many times over.

My mother, who had the same model of phone that I had had, offered hers as a temporary use for tomorrow. It almost makes me nauseous to even touch the thing, necessary though the evil is. I can't help thinking, "Why must I? It's a pathetic mimicry of my own precious, a copy which can never measure up, because that one was special."

My wireless headphones seem absolutely superfluous in their existence now. It seems rather ironic, for I praised them and valued them so highly before; they are nothing without the cell itself.

First Day of College

First quarter in college began today. I've been grateful for the late start in the school year... everyone else around me started classes up to three weeks ago. I've been taking full advantage of my free time to slack off by reading Austen and playing the 360.

Right now, however, I'm stalling in the college library until my next class, U.S. History. I expect it to be rather dull, especially considering that every other class I've had today has been an Introduction to the Course rather than the beginning of real work. I suppose I shouldn't be expecting to dive right into the material on the first day... alas, I am bored anyway. And nervous. Do you have any idea what kind of whacked combination that is, to be bored and nervous at the same time? It creates a lot of nervous energy, which is mostly being let out in the form of constantly jiggling my leg, or tapping my fingers around. And some whistling.

I'm not used to this sort of discomfort.

Next week should be better. I'll know where all my classes are by then, I shan't get lost and consequently late, and I'll know how to manipulate my teachers.

I'm joking, of course. I'll probably still get lost. ;P

Also, I adore the H3 version of the 360.

Been Gaming Awhile

My dad discovered the Fancy Pants Adventures on a site called Kongregate. I joined and have since gotten totally carried away, between 3D Logic, Speck Oppression, Particles, and Bubble Tanks. So I've been spending all my time upping my ranking on the site. I have 227 points, I'm a level 3, and I only need 33 more points to be a level 4.

My Lord, I'm a geek.

Maybe this tells me a little about myself, though: once I have a goal, I will strive after it until I get it (or just get really bored), and I'll try different methods to reach my destination. I can spend all my time distracted in my goal, once I have one.

Maybe this is why I like this site so much. It's a total distraction.

Just Exploring

Found a cool site with a ton of games. The site only went public recently, so it's not totally polished, but I've been having a lot of fun anyway.

Well, time for a lunch break.

Also Decyferdown has kind of a cool sound to them. Here's their mySpace.