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Thursday, May 8th, 2008
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9:48 pm - I wasn't going to post this, but...
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FUCK YOU BETH. :P
Last night we were sitting around bullshitting and Andy and I decided to play some Guitar Hero. Booted up the 360 with GH3 in the drive, picked a song, waited forever on the loading screen and finally decided the thing was frozen again. It happens all the time with GH3 for some reason, I never thought it was a big deal... Beth jokingly said "Haha, watch it red ring now!"
When I turned it back on, it red ringed.
Ugh.
We tried some stuff, turned it off and on and got the ring again, and oddly enough shaking it up and down violently a few times and then turning it back on got it to boot up again. We were able to play GH3 for a few songs.
Then tonight, I played some Dynasty Warriors Gundam. Got about 20 minutes into a level with Amuro when BAM! Video froze. Turned off the system, switched to component instead of HDMI, rebooted, and BAM! Video froze on the dashboard. My x-box is fuxored.
I'd be mad, but I'm leaving the country for 3 weeks. I asked my mom to put the system in the box when it arrives from Microsoft. Hopefully it will be fixed or almost fixed by the time I get back.
So I guess it didn't die 100% from the red ring, but since it did red ring that's all I told Microsoft. I guess the next step is to call them up and bitch about my DRM not working once I get a "new" console from them. -_-
current mood:  irritated
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, February 11th, 2008
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10:34 pm - Devil may cry?
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More like devil will weep like a little sissy girl!
DMC4 was fantastic. If you liked the previous games at all, this one is worth your time. If you've never played a DMC game, this is a decent way to start (although I'd recommend DMC3 Special Edition since it's easier). My only complaint about the game is that after the 10 and a half hours it took me to finish, I still want more. I guess that's what harder difficulty levels are for... >:D
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| Saturday, February 9th, 2008
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9:18 am - Quick rant
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I'm sick of video game critics. They're all retarded. Not quite as much as the random morons posting on the GameFAQs boards, but still stupid.
One recent review that pisses me off now that I'm playing the game is IGN's review of Devil May Cry 4. They said that DMC4 should have been called something else because Dante isn't the main character so it's more like a side-story with a cameo of the main character rather than a new entry of the main series. Now, if it had starred Dante, I'm sure they would have rated the game lower and said "It's just more of the same, but that's not really a bad thing."
Nero brings a giant pile of new innovation to the Devil May Cry series. It's a huge departure (ignoring DMC2 anyhow). You've got just one sword and one gun for the whole game. However, that sword is really fucking cool in that you can rev it up for more powerful attacks if your current situation allows you enough time. That's kinda cool, and I'd be very disappointed in Nero as a character if he didn't have the Devil Bringer. Nero's demonic arm is so incredibly badass and amazingly fun to use. Do a huge combo that ends with a knockback and quickly hit the devil bringer button to up your style points and pull the enemy back toward you while it's flying away (or pull you toward it!) so you can do even more damage. Grab on to a medium sized enemy and fling him around as a weapon, taking out other bad guys. Use enemies as a shield! The special attacks you can do to the boss characters using the Devil Bringer are incredibly cool to watch on top of being superbly powerful and very satisfying. In short, Nero brings innovation.
Now, I guess I can't pass final judgement since I haven't finished the game. I'm really only halfway through... But I have a pretty good idea where this story is going, and I am absolutely giddy at the thought of what the Devil Bringer actually is and why Dante is involved in this mess.
I guess what I really want to say is that you don't need to criticize every single detail of every single game that comes out. It sounds to me like the IGN editors were just looking for extra words to make their review longer and appear more intelligent. I don't hate them for it, I am just getting sick of reading contradictions in their reviews, and I know they would ream this game for being derivative if Dante was the only character. Just look at the Mass Effect review... Something like "The game has framerate problems and that is absolutely unforgivable... But it's the best game ever." If nothing, they're consistently inconsistent. :)
When will ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) takuansoho finally get a job as a game critic? I want a reviewer I know I can trust...
current mood:  pleased
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| Thursday, January 17th, 2008
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7:41 pm - Obligatory
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I feel obliged to ask just because I do every year. And yes I know I said I wouldn't go back this year, but if there's enough interest I will.
Anyone want to go to ACen? If so we need to book a hotel and start putting costumes together...
Let me know... I'm expecting a response from all of you whether it's a yes or no.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, January 13th, 2008
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11:56 am - New Year's Eve
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The last weekend of last year.
I took Monday through Thursday off work. I had 5 days of vacation time left for the year, but after my grandma died I had to take a day off for her funeral because our company sucks and doesn't give any time off for funerals (well, they do as of 1/1/2008, but that didn't help me). Given that I was taking new year's eve off since Sarah was going to be in town, I had to work Friday. Since I didn't want to go in, I just called in and said I was sick. As a side note, I looked at my last check and they didn't penalize me for it. I was happy about that.
Anyhow, Sarah's flight was supposed to be here at 6:00. I called her early in the day and tried to tell her to get to the airport early because flights were being cancelled left and right, but she was sleeping. She called me back around 2:00 and told me that her flight had been cancelled and that her next flight would be in at 9:00 the next morning. I asked if she was going to make it there in time and she said no problem.
Saturday morning, I got up nice and early. When I hadn't gotten a call from her by 8:00, I knew something was up. She called and told me that she had missed her flight and that the next one would be in around 1:00. I was a little annoyed, so I just sat around waiting for her to arrive. She called and told me that she was actually on the plane, so I headed out to pick her up. As soon as I saw her, my mood turned around completely. We went out for lunch at Panera Bread and then went shopping for some last minute Christmas gifts. We wound up coming home and spending a little time together alone in the afternoon. We exchanged presents. She got me a really nice sweater, a fancy bookmark from England, and a couple of CDs. We went out to Fuji-ya for dinner and went to the Brave New Workshop after that. The show got over around 12:00, so we just came home and went to bed after that.
Sunday we got up late and watched most of the Vikings game. It was pretty much a lost cause since the Redskins were dominating their game. We went to the grocery store and bought some stuff to make cookies and then came home and made said cookies. My parents made us a nice dinner and then we all sat down and watched the Simpsons movie together. It was pretty funny. We finished watching the second season of Genshiken and went to bed. (Note that the order of these events may be incorrect, my memory is getting that bad... some of these events may have occurred on Monday or Tuesday... Ugh, stupid brain...).
Monday we got up late again. We relaxed around the house until it was time to go to Josh's. At Josh's, we sat around talking for a while and then went out to get some pizza for dinner. After dinner, we set up Rock Band and played that until around midnight. We were all drinking a little, but I didn't get anywhere near drunk this year. I much preferred being able to remember kissing Sarah at midnight this year... After that we played Apples to Apples and Cranium. I won Apples to Apples and Sarah and I won Cranium. We all had a good time. After that, Matt and Rachel went home and Sarah got tired so she layed down on the couch. Josh, Paul and I watched a couple episodes of Metalocalypse before Paul decided to head home. Sarah and I headed up to the guest bedroom and went to bed.
Tuesday we woke up around 10 and packed up to head home. Josh was still asleep so we just left without waking him to say goodbye. We came home and showered and tried to get moving, but we were too tired so we layed down and took a nap. When we woke up we wound up talking and cuddling for a couple more hours and were generally lazy in the afternoon. She got packed up and ready to go. My parents made us dinner again, and after that it was time to take her to the airport.
It was a great weekend, and I feel like we grew a lot closer because of it. I really miss her... I hope this year we can make some progress toward being together more.
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
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9:56 pm - Goodbye, grandma.
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You will be missed by everyone you left behind. I know not of a single person in this world that knew you and did not love you. I'm glad you're finally at peace. Your presence in this world over the last 93 years will not soon be forgotten.
current mood:  sad
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| Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
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10:45 pm - Every other weekend
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I feel normal.
Two weeks ago, Sarah came to town for Thanksgiving. Thursday was nice; despite snow in Chicago, her flight was on time. I took her home and waited for family to arrive. I introduced her to my extended family, of which there were about 18 attending at some point during the day. I don't handle crowds like that well, especially when the basement is cordoned off due to small children attempting to roll down the stairs. I was a little freaky, but thankfully Sarah didn't get weirded out by my social anxiety. We called it a fairly early night since neither of us had slept much (she, in particular, had been awake for about 30 hours at that point).
Friday we took it easy. We were four episodes behind on Genshiken, so we watched all of that. We played some Rock Band in the afternoon and then went down to hang out with Eric and Jessi, bringing Rock Band with us. Obento-ya was the choice for dinner, and a fine choice it was! I would gladly go back there any time anyone suggested it. It's inexpensive and you get a lot of delicious food for your money. We played Rock Band with the four of us, then Eric and I tried out Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. After that we all watched Shinesman (which is always a good time) and called it a night.
Saturday there was DDR and Rock Band. We went shopping after a nice lunch at Perkins due to a lack of food in the house. I think we played Guitar Hero 3 on saturday in co-op mode since I had finally gotten a second guitar, but maybe that was friday... We watched Animaniacs at one point too. I don't really clearly remember what happened that day... Maybe I'm confusing some of Friday's events with Saturday. Curse my failing memory... I'm getting more and more frustrated with this all the time. It used to be impeccable, but now it is becoming very obviously flawed... I do remember that we watched football for most of the day Sunday, and that my parents took us out to Red Robin for dinner after going to visit my grandma in the hospital.
The weekend between there was snow. I was frustrated to no end. To make things worse, my grandma was getting a lot worse. It was a pretty crappy weekend.
Last weekend was nice however. I went to Chicago and once again had no delay from NWA. It's amazing how they can be on time if they actually make an effort at it. I hope it keeps up even after the holiday travel rush. I arrived at 8:15, just a little early. Sarah picked me up and took me to a little trendy Korean restaurant for dinner. It was pretty good, but a little pricey. We went to a theater to see Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the movie), but it was closed due to a gas leak so we just headed back home and cuddled on the couch until bed.
Saturday we got up late and puttered around the house for a bit. I was feeling kind of sick so I fell asleep on the couch while she was getting ready to go. We headed downtown and it took forever to find a parking spot. One thing I hate the most about Chicago is the lack of public parking anywhere you go. After finally finding a spot, we hopped on the train and rode the last couple of miles into downtown to go to the Christkindlemarket. At least, I assume it's all one word since it's German. We ate some nice authentic German food (braten mit sauerkraut, mmm). I wound up finding some gifts for my family members and she did as well. It was nice, but we were totally freezing by the end of it. After a couple hours of that, we went walking down Michigan Avenue to do some more shopping/idea hunting. We stopped at a bunch of stores and I got a few ideas for various people. Around the time we got to Watertower Place, my left hip started hurting. It kept getting worse and worse as we walked around the mall. By the time we were heading out of the mall, I was slowed to a limp. Sarah kept walking off ahead of me, and I started getting kind of annoyed that she kept walking away even though she knew I was in a lot of pain. She led me to the Cheesecake Factory where we faced a 70-90 minute wait for a table, so we just decided to head on over toward the theater we were going to later to find dinner in a less crowded part of town.
We wound up going to a little Japanese place, but they had no bathroom and I had to go pretty bad so we just kept walking. We found a Chinese place a little further down the same street. It was an ok atmosphere, very quiet and not crowded at all. I went to the bathroom and discovered a nice sized cockroach on the wall and wondered if that was why the place was so empty. Seeing that made me not want to eat the Sweet & Sour Chicken I had ordered. Sarah had ordered some other chicken dish that looked like it could have had cockroaches as a main ingredient, so I really didn't want to touch that... Ugh. It at least tasted pretty good. We headed over to the theater which was about 3 blocks away. I was limping pretty bad at that point so she ran to the car while I walked to the theater and waited for her. We went inside and saw "The Santaland Diaries". It was pretty funny for a one man play. It felt almost like standup comedy at times. I guess it was just the diary entries read out loud with emotion and some props and action. I'd recommend it if you are in the Chicago area and looking for a holiday play. After that it was back home for some snuggling on the couch.
She fell asleep but I wasn't quite tired yet. I went upstairs to take my contacts out and brush my teeth and she said to come back when I was done. Remember now, my hips were killing me so the stairs weren't much fun. I was on pain killers but they only dulled the pain. I went back down to wake her up and she only woke momentarily when I stirred her. She said she wanted another minute or two to just lay there so I gave it to her, tried to wake her again (unsuccessfully), and went back upstairs to bed to wait for her. After half an hour or so, I felt restless so I went back downstairs and tried to wake her up again. This time she said "oh sorry, I'm coming." I started walking back upstairs, pretty annoyed at this point, and crawled back into bed. About 15 minutes later, I went back down and found her still laying there. I shut all the lights off and accidentally woke her up while trying to shut off the one next to her. She apologized and came up to bed finally. At this point I was kind of angry because I was in pain and I didn't like having to go up and down the stairs so much to get her to come to bed. We kind of argued a bit and finally I cooled down, but then got a little upset again for no good reason. We went to sleep with me kind of annoyed and her feeling bad for hurting my feelings.
This is a key point for me. I got mad for no good reason. It was stupid, and I'm assuming it was just because I was in pain and still a little annoyed from when she was walking away from me while I was limping. I find that I do this a lot -- I get upset about something and wind up falling into victim mode and dramatizing things far more than they need to be, which in turn hurts Sarah and makes me feel like a total ass in the long run. I really need to catch myself in the early stages of this so I can stop doing it. It seriously is retarded, and I find myself doing it more often lately (probably because of the amount of stress I'm under).
Anyhow, we got up really late on Sunday (like noon) and ate breakfast. We sat on the couch and read the ads in the Sunday paper. After that we showered and got ready to head out for the afternoon. We took her mom to church and went to Mitsuwa. On the way there my annoyance came to a peak and we wound up having a long conversation about our feelings (something I've found very hard to talk about lately). We did some shopping, mostly for candy and sushi for dinner, and then headed back to her house (having more conversation on the way back). I apologized for acting the way I did and we made up. We had dinner and I got packed up, then we headed for the airport. We said a long goodbye as usual and I hobbled to my gate where I got on the plane just in time. I'm glad we ended on an up note -- we wound up talking for another hour or so after I got home and called her to say goodnight.
It's kind of funny to think about how stupid I acted, but I can't forgive myself for it very easily. I'm still apologizing to her for it even though I know she forgave me right from the start. I'm such a jerk sometimes. -_-
Anyhow, things are good in general. I'm very busy at work and very stressed out (and somewhat depressed) because of it. I just need to keep myself focused on the positive aspects of my life so I can stay happy. I really miss Sarah, but there's nothing I can do about it right now. I think I might have to start thinking about moving there, but it's hard considering how much I'm starting to like my job and how it's improving. We're getting 401(k) matching in January, and they've enhanced the PTO policy to include floating holidays and 4 weeks after 5 years. More and more it's starting to feel like I work for a professional software development firm.
I get to see her again at the end of this month. She'll be in town for new year's eve, so hopefully this year I won't make a total ass out of myself and wind up pushing her away from me like I did last year. Ugh, somebody please watch me and tell me when I'm acting totally stupid. I think I'm perfectly capable of ruining the best thing that's ever happened to me if I'm left unwatched.
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| Saturday, November 17th, 2007
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1:26 pm - Dear Mario,
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I forgive you. Your new game totally made up for your last game. Super Mario Sunshine sucked, but Super Mario Galaxy was amazing.
I am once again a believer that your games can be fun in 3-D.
But don't think you've surpassed Super Mario 64 or most of your 2-D outings. Keep trying and maybe someday you'll finally get it 100% right.
Love,
Scott
P.S. Can we get another new 2-D game for the DS or something? New Super Mario Bros. was also fantastic.
Yeah, so I finished Galaxy. Got 61 stars. It's a good point to stop at I think so I'll move on to Assassin's Creed now... But I will be coming back to get the remaining 59 stars (and the 120 repeat stars... and the bonus star).
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| Monday, November 12th, 2007
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6:38 pm - Last weekend
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I went to Chicago to visit Sarah. It was a good time, fo sheezy.
Friday, my flight was actually on time. Due to a communication error between Sarah and I (read: she didn't answer her phone :P), she had to wait for me for half an hour at the airport. We went out for dinner at a middle eastern place called Noon O Kebab. It was quite tasty, I got a combo of one ribeye and one chicken kebab with plenty of rice. Sarah got the game hen on the bone kebab, which was also quite tasty. Neither of us could finish, but both were quite satisfied. I was exhausted, so we just went home and went to bed (mind you, it was about 11:00 at this point). It sucks because I don't get there until 9, so we don't really have time to do anything Friday...
Saturday we got up nice and late and took it easy until the afternoon. Her plan was to take me to see They Might Be Giants, but she couldn't get tickets in time so we just went out to see a movie and get dinner instead. We saw No Country For Old Men, which was absolutely fantastic. The ending was the only thing I didn't really like, but the more I think about it the more I like it. It's definitely worth seeing, and I will be buying the DVD when it comes out. By the way, the most terrifying weapon ever conceived is a silenced shotgun. Creepy. After that, we went for a walk until the restaurant opened. It was a nice evening, so it was quite pleasant. We stopped at a Starbucks and each got a hot cocoa since it was a bit chilly. It's very nice to just hang out with Sarah; we always have such nice conversations. Dinner was at a Japanese place called Itto Sushi, and was very good. We ordered a traditional chef's choice sushi platter along with some California maki and some winter rolls. All of it was fantastic, especially the winter rolls. I love sushi a little too much I think... >_>
We went back to her house after that since we didn't have anything else to do but had planned on having cake with her family. It was also her brother's girlfriend's birthday this week, so we celebrated with a magnificent cake from Whole Foods. It had a layer of carrot cake, white cake, chocolate cake, and some raspberry preserves all held together with a banana nut frosting... So good. We played a little Guitar Hero 3 and a game of Yahtzee before calling it a night.
Sunday was just a usual relaxing day. We watched some football and cooked a meal together, and she gave me my birthday presents (two books, one that I really wanted and one that I'm excited to read because it sounds intriguing). Sundays are always cut short because I have to take such an early flight home (NWA is the only cheap ticket out of Chicago, and the last flight is at 8:00). I got really really depressed on the car ride to the airport. I didn't want to leave her behind, but I have to work and so does she.
I'm feeling mostly better now, but I need to keep busy. I'll see her again next Thursday... Until then, I'll be gaming. Mario Galaxy, Assassin's Creed, FFXII: Revenant Wings, and Rock Band all come out in the next 8 days... Add that to my job and my ever growing list of other things to do and I think I'll be able to find something to keep me busy until then. :)
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| Saturday, November 3rd, 2007
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9:19 am - Adventurelog
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Trail of Tears edition. The sign said Trail of Terror, but we all know the truth now.
I decided to start logging my weekends with Sarah again. I don't write enough lately, and my LJ is severely lacking in the updates area.
Last weekend was great. It started off kinda bad for me; I had a really stressful day at work, Sarah's flight took off and landed about half an hour early, and my manager kept asking me to do stuff toward the end of the day. I finally just said to him "My girlfriend will be at the airport in about 20 minutes, I need to go." and he told me I could just finish my work on Monday. He's a nice guy, but he really pushes us hard. I don't mind; it actually helps keep me motivated. As long as he doesn't push too hard, it's all good. I guess that's what makes him a good manager. So I got to the airport and picked Sarah up at the baggage claim instead of meeting her at the doors like I usually do. I was really stressed out and she was worried about me, but after spending an hour or so with her I started to feel back to my normal relaxed self.
We came home and had a quick bite to eat and changed into our halloween costumes. I'd have a picture but I just spent a half hour trying to figure out how to link to pictures on the new myspacewannabe comcast shitastic personal webpage thingy. It's so bad, I wish I wasn't forced to use them for internet... I guess I need to find a new online storage space for my pictures. Anyhow, we went to a party at Stacey's house. It was pretty boring, nobody was doing anything. It was a typical high school garage party except the average age of the attendees was about 23... I guess some things never change. We only stayed a couple hours because we were both really tired and really bored.
Saturday we lounged around for a while. We wound up getting up around noon and played some x-box arcade games and watched Genshiken 2. We also played some DDR (yay, Supernova) and went to the store. We bought a bunch of food because my parents never do. We made pitas for dinner and they were delicious. We called up Josh and headed down to pick him up and went to the Trail of Terror. The only thing scary about it was the line. Or I should say, lines. When we got there it looked like there was hardly anyone there. We parked and got in line for this school bus (of terror). As we were getting on I heard someone say on a walkie talkie "people want to come back already, the lines are too long." I was like "huh?" So we ride on this bus for about a mile and then we see the real parking lot. Thousands and thousands of cars. It was like Valleyfair's parking lot size, completely full. We tried anyhow. Stood in line for half an hour for tickets. Stood in line another 5 minutes to be let in. Saw shittons of lines. Wanted to go in the maze but couldn't figure out where the fuck we needed to go to get a ticket. None of us saw any employees, just crowds of people standing in line. There was a booth that said "Get Maze Tickets Here!" but nobody working at it. We went and got in line for the hay ride because it looked like the shortest line and we needed to be out of there by 10:30 (and it was 9:30 at the time). After an hour, we found out that the line we were in was the line to get into the line for the hay ride. Another 10 minutes and we just said fuck it and left since it was going to be at least another hour and we were all fucking freezing.
They advertise indoor heated attractions. They don't advertise 4 hour waits to get into them. We were not dressed approprately, so we fucking froze because of this. We finally found an employee (we had to be directed to her by the ticket taker guy). She was a total bitch. When I read the fifth Harry Potter book, this was exactly how I imagined Delores Umbridge. We argued with her for a long time, she contradicted everything that the website said, and just said "we say open until all the lines are empty, just go back and get in line or leave. No refunds." Her name was something like Celeste. I hope she dies in a fire. I hope it's accidentally caused by one of her cats knocking over a scented candle. I hope her whole family is in the house at the time and that they all live but are disfigured from sitting in the smoke and flames too long. That's how much I hate this woman that I spent 3 minutes yelling at. Anyhow, never ever ever go to the trail of terror.
We went back to Josh's house and got some hot cocoa to warm up. We were supposed to go to gamestop to pick up Guitar Hero 3 at midnight but Sarah and Josh got into a long conversation and we didn't leave until about 2:00 AM. We got home around 3:00 and went to bed, but I couldn't sleep. I woke up around 7:00 after falling asleep around 4:00, so I was totally exhausted on Sunday.
We watched the first quarter of the Vikings game and it seemed to be going well. I took her to Gamestop and we picked up GH3 (360 for me, PS2 for her) and came home and played it all afternoon. It's a good time, not as good as GH2, but still very fun and worth my money. Matt and Rachel came over and played with us. We ordered pizza and hung out for a while. After they left, we sat around and cuddled for a while before she had to get ready to go. I took her to the airport and we parted ways once again.
I'm heading to Chicago next weekend. I can't wait. ^_^
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| Thursday, September 20th, 2007
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12:01 am - Watch this!
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| Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
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10:52 pm - Holy shit.
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| Monday, August 27th, 2007
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10:53 pm - More like EMoJOURNAL
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Look at the logo, the i is lower case. So emo.
That and everyone always makes emo posts here.
Notice how my posts haven't been emo lately?
Notice how I haven't posted lately?
I must be happy or something. ^_^
Enough of the one line thoughts.
Really.
I guess I decided to stop chronicling my adventures with Sarah. I felt like nobody really was interested in reading them, and I guess I was doing it more for myself. My memory has been failing me more often lately, and that kind of bugs me... I'm only 25 and my once vivid memory is starting to turn sort of sepia-tone. Alas, I don't need to keep hammering my relationship in to the eyes of those who don't really care to know the details... I know the important facts will stick with me and the best memories will remain vivid forever. I kept it up for a year, and that impresses me. If anyone actually does care, you can always ask me about what we've been up to. :)
I've been wasting a lot of my money on new games lately. Typically I wait to buy a game until the price drops unless I'm really really interested in it or I think it will become rare. In the past week, I bought two DS games that all in all I don't really care for and I kind of regret buying. The first is Heroes of Mana. The game is interesting, and looks pretty. It even controls fairly well for a DS real-time strategy game. The problem is that the AI is so amazingly bad. This was not apparent until chapter 9 or so. Sure, I had noticed that the pathing was kind of bad, but for the most part the maps in the first 8 chapters are wide open with few obstacles. In chapter 9, you have to defend a castle that is under siege. And they also give the enemies a base to produce more units. Let's attack the base! Ok, but first let's walk around the entire castle, walk up the stairs, then back down some other stairs and back out the other side of the castle. Did I mention the enemy base was like 15 squares away? I'm not joking, the pathing AI is that bad. The game was fun up until chapter 9, so maybe I'll give it a little more of a chance, but I'm thinking it was a waste of $40 and I should trade it in and put the credit down on Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (which will probably do everything this game does and do it far better). The story of Heroes seems epic, so I'm sure I'd enjoy it, I'd just have to get around the horrible pathing AI that ruined my fun in chapter 9. I guess I'm just a whore for any game that ends in "of Mana".
I also picked up Rune Factory. It's medieval Harvest Moon (hey, it even says so on the box). It's been sorta fun so far, but I'm not really sure I like it. I have a small farm set up. I water my crops in the morning, then wander into the dungeon to kill monsters. What I'm supposed to do other than that, I'm not sure. There appears to be no real point to the game other than just wasting time. I guess I can try to make that girl that works at the shop fall in love with me... And upgrade my house... And... This game feels like Animal Crossing all over, only with sword and crops instead of Tom Nook (who likes boys) and trees. I've never played Harvest Moon and this game isn't really doing much to turn me into a fan.
I did pick up Burnout Dominator for PSP since it finally dropped in price. It is, in a word, fantastic. It's all of the speed of the X-Box Burnout games I own and love, but in the palm of my hand. If I have one complaint, it's that there is less traffic than in previous burnout games (hey, the first game was entirely based on racing through traffic). That and the soundtrack is a little lacking (but still robust and varied, save for 4 versions of Avril Levigne's song Girlfriend). Overall a very worthy purchase.
So $70 in games I could do without, and $20 for a fantastic game that is worth owning. I really need to be more careful with my money... I could be a rich man if I would just stop listening to the consumer whore in the back of my head. -_-;
Also, Balls of Fury has several genuinely funny moments. I would have actually been willing to pay money to see it, but thanks to Josh I got to see it for free two days before it came out. And Maggie Q is in it. :D
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, July 8th, 2007
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9:58 pm - I've been meaning to update...
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I've just been lazy.
Two weeks ago, I went to Chicago. I drove there alone. It was boring. I left work a little early and traffic going out of town wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, so I managed to make it to Hudson by 5:00. The rest was smooth sailing. I pulled into Chicago at 11:00, not really knowing what to expect. Sarah and I hadn't been having very good conversations on the phone and I was starting to feel like she just didn't care. That wasn't the case though, as made apparent by the fact that you couldn't have peeled us apart with a crowbar for the first 12 hours or so we were together. ^_^
Since it was so late, we just went right to bed, but we knew the day was going to be short so we got up early to make the most of it. We started off with a light breakfast and then headed out to a park for a nice walk. The sky was overcast, but it wasn't rainy. It was a bit cooler than I had anticipated, but I wasn't freezing in my shorts and t-shirt. After that, we went to this little cafe where I got a buffalo burger with sweet potato fries (weird, but tasty) and she got some hearty lasanga. There were these little birds that kept sneaking in through a little hole in the wall, and they clearly did it often because they weren't afraid of people and came right up begging for food. It was cute, although I'm sure highly unsanitary. After that, we went and saw Paprika, an animated movie directed by Satoshi Kon. It was pretty interesting, and a bit tough to figure out what was real and what was a dream at times. It made both of us think a bit. I'd recommend it, although it wasn't quite as good as Tokyo Godfathers. We went back to her house, both pretty exhausted (her because of allergies, me because I didn't sleep very well) so we took a nap. We got up and ate some dinner, then just spent some quiet time together before going to bed.
She had to work at 7:00 Sunday morning, so after she left I went back to bed and slept until 10:00 or so. I got up and spent a little time with her mom and dad, then headed home. I stopped at Mitsuwa on the way out of town for a quick lunch and some candy (uh, $30 worth of candy and tea actually >_>). It was a long lonely drive home, but I got to talk to her a little bit.
Last weekend, she came here. For once, her flight was actually a little early, so we got the full evening together on Friday. She actually got some sleep on her shift at the firehouse this time, so we had a nice evening together. We met up with some people I work with -- Sajin's wife just moved to America, so it was sort of a welcome dinner for her. We went to Stella's Fish Cafe in uptown. Sarah got Fish and Chips and I got Cedar Plank Salmon (which was actually cooked and served on a little plank of cedar... and no, I didn't eat the plank). After that, the two of us went to see Sicko at the Lagoon theater. We were going to see it at the Uptown, but there were a bunch of idiots picketing so we decided to avoid the freak show. It was a pretty good movie, although I felt at times he was depicting only the good side of the foreign healthcare systems. I'd accuse him of only showing the opposite for the American system, but everyone knows that there's only one side... It was disturbing and frustrating, and I'd recommend seeing it. I want to move to France because of it... Afterwards, we came home and crawled into bed since it was after 1:00.
Saturday we got off to a bit of a late start. We had some breakfast and then went down to the Walker (Texas Art Center?) to check it out. I had never been there, but I wasn't really impressed. I like taking her to contemporary art museums because she gets very angry at what people think constitutes art, and I find her anger at it highly amusing! But in reality, 95% of what we saw there wasn't art at all. The Picasso and American Art exhibit was interesting though, and walking through the sculpture garden was nice. She took a nap on my shoulder when we found a bench to sit down on since it was so hot and we had been walking for about three hours straight. Oh, and we didn't have to pay for parking because as we got out of the car the guy in the car next to us gave us his parking stub, so that was really nice. I took her to Pei Wei for dinner since I'm always talking to her about it. We came home and watched the end of FLCL, then played Mario Party 8 for a while, then watched some Genshiken and went to bed around midnight.
Sunday we were going to go play tennis early, but we were feeling kinda lazy. We watched more Genshiken, then went for a walk. Matt and Rachel came over in the afternoon and we played Wii games all day. It was a lot of fun, although I was brutally beaten at Mario Party. Totally unfair... My parents ordered pizza for everyone, which was very nice of them. After Matt and Rachel left, we wound up cuddling on the futon for a while until it was time for her to pack up and leave. We got to the airport in plenty of time, but due to stupidity at the checkpoint (not the airport security, just the stupid people in line), she was running a bit late. As I was walking out of the terminal, I heard them announce final boarding for her flight, so I was worried she wouldn't make it. She sent me a text message a few minutes later telling me she barely made it, so that was a relief.
It was a good couple of weekends and we really needed it. Being apart this much is hard, and I think it's especially hard on her because she's constantly working either at her job or the firehouse. When she's not working, she's got papers to write and other stuff to take care of so she's constantly busy and burned out. I know things are going to be ok because we have a great time when we're together, but the time we spend apart is pretty awful at this point. Oh well, I'm driving out there again next weekend, so at least we'll only have spent two weeks apart this time.
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, June 16th, 2007
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10:21 pm - Unreliable people.
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I'm sick of people being completely unreliable.
If you're not sure you can do something, don't say you can.
If you think you can, but aren't 100% sure, check before you say you can.
This is twice I've been screwed by friends in the past week. First was Andy saying he can't go to AI, leaving us to find people to fill the open spot in the car and room.
Now Beth can't go to Chicago next weekend. That means I either have to risk driving alone, which is NOT a good idea, or I have to pay $240 for last minute plane tickets.
I have had a shitty week, and I don't need to deal with this.
I'm not relying on any of you ever again.
current mood:  angry
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| Thursday, June 14th, 2007
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7:18 pm - I guess I should say this...
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I may be late for a lot of stuff in the forseeable future. Why? I got a promotion at work.
I am now the product owner of Two-Settlement Markets. In addition, I am continuing to "support" RTO Settlements. By that, it seems to mean I have to keep doing as much work as before along with a full extra person's work.
I haven't gotten my yearly review yet, but I get my first paycheck for the new year tomorrow. I have heard nothing of a pay increase. I would assume that since they're giving me more responsibility, that means they think I'm doing a good job and I'll get a good raise... But who knows... Guess I'll find out tomorrow.
SO yeah, I'm now very very busy, so expect me to be late for things for a while if they happen on a weeknight.
current mood:  busy
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, June 10th, 2007
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9:49 am - Last weekend was pleasant
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So I shall write about it.
Friday was a little iffy at first. Work was slow, and I was anticipating seeing Sarah since it had been 3 weeks. Her flight was delayed by an hour or so (which means it got here a half hour late with NWA's patented built-in half hour delay time). We were both hungry, so we went to downtown St. Paul to try to find a greek restaurant called Christo's. We drove around for a good half hour looking for it at the place where the map on Yahoo (which was a link from their website) said it would be, but no luck. Eventually, we just went to Sakura since we knew the food was good and we knew where it was. I had the Tonkatsu and she had the Sushi Combination and we shared some Ebi Tempura and I forget the name of it but it was lightly seared thin sliced Tuna. It was all delicious. After that we headed home and went right to bed since she had only gotten a couple hours of sleep the night before.
Saturday we tried to find people to play tennis with, but everyone had other plans. She was so tired that she slept until after noon, so we just went out to Perkins for brunch. After that, we went to Cub and bought some stuff to make pizza roll-ups for Rachel's party. We hung out and played Guitar Hero all afternoon. We went to Rachel's in the evening and had a good time playing Skip-Bo and Clue. Rachel got sick, so we left early and came home and watched the first two episodes of FLCL before going to bed.
Sunday we got up a bit earlier. My parents took us out to Pannekoeken for breakfast. Afterwards, we watched more FLCL and then went out to play tennis despite the weather looking bad. It was actually a very nice day for it, there was no rain and it was nice and cool. I took her to Kinko's after that so she could make copies of some stuff for her class, and then we headed home. We sat around and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon until it was time for her to leave. It was a pretty uneventful weekend, but it was nice just to hang out with her. I wish we could do that more often...
Two more weeks until I see her again. I think I'm going to drive out there Friday night and come home Sunday morning since she has to work Sunday. Beth, I'll call you later today or tomorrow to solidify plans if you are still interested in coming with to visit your friends.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, May 24th, 2007
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7:25 pm - Stuff that's going on
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I live in my own little world.
Lucky Star sucks. It's like watching a conversation me and my friends would have if we were high school girls. I watched 3 episodes because EVERYONE I know loves it, and by the end of the third episode I wanted to tear my eyes out. It's not my thing, I'm not going to watch any more, don't tell me I should watch more or I *will* go ballistic. End of story.
Pokemon Diamond does not suck. Quite the opposite; I really loved it. It's the first Pokemon game I've ever managed to finish, and now that I'm done with it I've got so much more to do. It's really MMO levels of crap to do, and I'm loving it. I even went out and picked up a copy of Leaf Green to play through and get all the pokemon from Kanto to transfer to Sinnoh. I'm such a nerd.
My job sucks. I've been doing boring stuff lately, and while that's coming to an end very soon, they changed some of the policies in the office. One of them is the internet usage policy. Google is now blocked. NWA.com is now blocked. The latter I can see. The former makes everyone in the office say "WTF?" They used to allow 60 minutes per day of time to view these blocked sites. Both of the sites I mentioned were not blocked before. Now, they only allow 30 minutes of time to view blocked sites. So if I have a day where I need to look up some advanced programming techniques, and I also have to watch NWA.com to see if Sarah's plane is on time or not, I'm totally fucked. We're about one step shy of starting a petition, getting every developer to sign it, and then going Martin Luther on the president of the company's door. 50 websites we want unblocked, or something like that... Ugh, so annoying.
People that dislike Elite Beat Agents also suck. You know what? The songs they put in Ouendan were annoying to Japanese people. The songs they chose for EBA were the same way to Americans. You know why they did it? Because they were catchy, well known, and they fit. And they were amazingly fun to play. EBA was, in my opinion, a much better game than Ouendan, and this coming from someone who listens to a crapton of Japanese music. Apparently Ouendan 2 takes everything that made EBA better than Ouendan and adds a little more, so I'm excited for my copy to arrive. Bottom line, stop bitching that you hate Ashlee Simpson's song La La. It doesn't matter because it's fun to play and I'm sure that 75% of Japanese people hate Morning Musume's song Koi no Dansu Saito. Get off your elitist high horse and go buy EBA so that we get a second one.
I have Odin Sphere. I don't want to play it until I finish Super Paper Mario, but I know that due to my Pokemon addiction it may be a long long time before I do that... Stupid pokemon...
I think that's it for now.
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| Monday, May 14th, 2007
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9:07 pm - ACen or bust?
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Definitely bust.
I got in to Chicago Thursday night a little later than planned, but I walked off the plane straight to the transportation center and right on to the Hyatt bus. The driver (Mario XD) jumped on (pun intended) and said we were leaving for the Hyatt about 10 seconds after I sat down, so it seemed like things would be going quite well. I got there, ran into Beth in the lobby and went up to the room to chill for a bit. Sarah showed up a little before 10, so I went and helped her get her stuff. She was still in her work clothes, but I must say she looks rather cute in her uniform! We worked on her costume for an hour or so and went to bed, both of us completely exhausted.
Friday was panic day. I still needed to finish her costume, so I worked on it for a bit with the help of Beth (just teaching me how to do a couple things). After I learned what I needed, we went out to grab lunch and get food from Target. We got back and I finished working on her costume around 4:30, much much later than I had planned. We put on our costumes and headed down to the dealers room to find out what we could waste our money on. We were assaulted by about 20 people wanting to take our pictures (or hers at least >_>), so that was neat. After that we headed back to the room and got changed for the concert. We skipped Spiral Spiders and I'm kinda glad, their last song was weird and not very interesting. High and Mighty Color would have rocked, but the sound system was totally fucked up. Bass up. Drums up. Guitars down. Vocals nonexistent. What the fuck? Good jaerb sound techs. We relaxed for a bit and then went to Anime Hell. We were late so we had to sit on the floor in front. In retrospect, I'm absolutely amazed they let us do that. It was a pretty decent showing from what I saw; I wound up getting sick about halfway through so Sarah and I left and found the nearest bathroom where I shot concentrated evil from my rear for a good 20 minutes. I had enough, so we just went back up to the room and crashed. The highlight of the night was when everyone came in at 2AM and gave me cold chicken nuggets. They were delicious.
Saturday, I was hopeful that things would be better. There were some interesting panels, and the dance, and it was Josh's birthday. We went down to the dealers room again and I got a couple models. Sarah got a poster for her sister (she also got a little plush Boo from Mario Party the day before). There was nothing really interesting going on con-wise, so we went to Mitsuwa for lunch. I got this spare rib thing Tim told me was good. It was ok, but very fatty and had little chunks of bone in it. I bought a ton of candy and we headed back. I should have bought some Calorie Mate to give to the hungry snake eaters I saw running around, but oh well. We put on our costumes and headed out and about for a bit. We got about 50 more pictures taken as we wandered around and saw some more stuff. We checked out the game room (very impressive this year, all HDTVs for the consoles and a pretty decent selection of arcade machines) and chuckled as this guy tried to find someone willing to scalp their masquerade tickets (he actually had a huge wad of cash with him). Funny, none of us even heard you needed to get tickets to get in... Smart idea, but bad bad bad planning. We waited for the J-Rock panel to start, but it never did because the panel before it (Visual Kei, yuck) kept going and going and going and was far more important or something. Eventually we got tired of waiting and went back to the room and got ready for dinner. We took Josh out to the Rosewood for his birthday meal, and it was delicious but very spendy. After that, we all got ready to go get our soap bubble on. The problem arose when we got down there and found out that they had only allowed a certain number of people in and you had to wait in line for people to leave before you could get in. The line was about 3/4 of the way down the main programming hallway, so we said fuck it and just went upstairs. Sarah was feeling sick, so she just went to bed and I played my DS feeling totally irritated with how poorly run this con was.
Sunday morning I wanted to go to the Bleach TCG event, but nobody but Sarah was awake. Paul was interested but had gotten like an hour of sleep or something so I just let it be. Sarah would have gone, but I thought it was kind of pointless -- the reason I wanted to go with Paul is because he and I are always talking about playing Card Fighters, so I thought if we each had some Bleach cards maybe we'd play it. I thought about going with Sarah, but I know we wouldn't really play because I know I'd much rather spend our little bit of time together doing other things. Oh well, if nothing else I guess we can go invest like 20 bucks in the game and see if it's any fun after it's been released. Everyone got up and we got checked out and left. Everyone was sick of the horrible horrible convention.
It really was pretty horrible. There was no communication to the guests as to what was going on (where are tickets? nobody knows!). The IRT might as well have been called the Fourth Reich with all the crap they pulled. One example: someone was taking the stairs two at a time and an IRT member was also in the stairwell. IRT Guy: "WALK OR I WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR BADGE!!!!!1" Fucker. Another example is when Tim tried to get in to the hotel while the fire alarm was going off. He had no idea it was happening, but the IRT member felt it necessary to start yelling at him and telling him what an idiot he was for trying to walk back over to the hotel when he had clearly just been evacuated from it. High and Might Bullshit was found from the IRT all weekend, and it really ruined the con. Also, there was a line for EVERYTHING (even video rooms) this year. Hell, there was a line to get in line to register. And I couldn't even FIND the AMV room. I think this picture sums it up.
( Darker than what? )
Oh well. It was a shitty shitty con. There were other things beyond the con's control that sucked, like me being sick on Friday night and Sarah being sick on Saturday night, but the rest was just poor planning and lack of screening for idiots for the IRT. There should be some sort of test they have to take to make sure they are capable of doing their job without being a total cock-off.
At the very least, our costumes turned out pretty darn good. I got the "Hey there Eureka, can I take your pict... Oh and Holland too I guess" thing a lot, but I kind of expected it. Sarah's hot as it is, so put her in a cute anime costume and she's bound to become the center of attention. I really don't want to go back to ACen next year, but I think I might try AI again. It's been a couple years, maybe they've learned from their mistakes by now. Sarah said she'd go again, so I'm glad that even though it was disorganized and not too fun she still had a good time. I was afraid it would scare her away or tear us apart or something, but I feel a little closer to her now. And now she knows when we talk in those weird voices while making fun of nerds that we're not kidding, that's how they really talk.
I spent the rest of the day Sunday with her. I was totally drained. We just ran some errands and went for a walk and rested on the couch for a while. I was going to wish her mom a happy Mothers' Day, but they didn't get home before I had to leave. I got a glimpse of my summer visitation rights (since the paramedic program has her imprisoned) and it looks like she only gets one weekend per month off. I guess I'll have to take time off or only see her for a day; I can't go a whole month without her. Saying goodbye was extra tough since I won't see her again until June... But there's nothing I can do about it other than try to keep myself busy. :(
I leave you with this:
( Holy crap, it's Gekko State! )
current mood:  annoyed
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, April 30th, 2007
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9:04 pm - Slight heroes spoilers. Shades.
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FriedSPAM (8:03:53 PM): this is already the best episode of heroes ever o_o
Carnage212 (8:06:13 PM): I was just about to say the same thing ._.
Carnage212 (8:06:30 PM): oh man oh man oh man
Carnage212 (8:17:49 PM): oh good god
Carnage212 (8:18:29 PM): Peter become the tragic hero
Carnage212 (8:18:33 PM): became*
Carnage212 (8:31:34 PM): ;_; it gets better at every commercial
FriedSPAM (8:29:30 PM): I need to change my pants
Carnage212 (8:31:48 PM): Peter is fucking awesome
Carnage212 (8:31:53 PM): Oh god
FriedSPAM (8:29:48 PM): he's fucking Neo
Carnage212 (8:32:00 PM): XD
Carnage212 (8:32:18 PM): I wasn't wrong, this is the best week of entertainment ever
FriedSPAM (8:30:23 PM): there is only one word to describe it
FriedSPAM (8:30:25 PM): shades
Carnage212 (8:32:35 PM): XD
Carnage212 (8:32:48 PM): Heroes is awesome and Friday is Spider-Man shades
FriedSPAM (8:30:48 PM): shades
Carnage212 (8:33:00 PM): shades
FriedSPAM (8:30:56 PM): shades
Carnage212 (8:33:08 PM): shades
FriedSPAM (8:31:11 PM): 8-)
Carnage212 (8:33:29 PM): haha
Carnage212 (8:34:05 PM): Okay, getting myself situated back on the couch
Carnage212 (8:44:11 PM): !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FriedSPAM (8:42:05 PM): fuck beans!
Carnage212 (8:44:16 PM): shades
Carnage212 (8:44:18 PM): mother fucking shades
FriedSPAM (8:42:12 PM): shades
FriedSPAM (8:42:16 PM): shadesshadesshades
Carnage212 (8:44:40 PM): shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
shades
FriedSPAM (8:42:41 PM): roflshades
Carnage212 (8:44:51 PM): full frontal shades
FriedSPAM (8:43:14 PM): shades^2
Carnage212 (8:45:46 PM): There is still 15 minutes left
Carnage212 (8:45:50 PM): Anything could still happen
FriedSPAM (8:43:50 PM): so much will happen
FriedSPAM (8:44:02 PM): I need to do laundry, I've gone through like 4 pairs of pants
Carnage212 (8:46:11 PM): My pants are already so wet
Carnage212 (8:46:20 PM): ack, it's coming back
FriedSPAM (8:44:19 PM): to the couch!
FriedSPAM (8:51:28 PM): aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Carnage212 (8:53:35 PM): aaaaargh
FriedSPAM (8:51:30 PM): shades
Carnage212 (8:53:40 PM): shades
Carnage212 (8:54:57 PM): I am not sure how they are going to top this episode next week
Carnage212 (8:55:07 PM): I am not sure my loins can take it
Carnage212 (8:55:15 PM): Think of the season finale
Carnage212 (8:55:27 PM): We're talking oceans of cum
FriedSPAM (8:53:23 PM): think I need a diaper
Carnage212 (8:55:41 PM): The last episode of Heroes isthe explosion
FriedSPAM (8:53:43 PM): it's the episode where we explode
Carnage212 (8:55:54 PM): Yes
Carnage212 (8:56:00 PM): People all over the world will go nuclear
Carnage212 (8:56:10 PM): We all reach critical orgasm
Carnage212 (8:56:23 PM): It will destroy everything
FriedSPAM (8:54:22 PM): critical mass-teurbation
Carnage212 (8:56:32 PM): XD
FriedSPAM (8:54:32 PM): shades
Carnage212 (8:56:41 PM): To the couch!
Carnage212 (8:56:44 PM): shades
FriedSPAM (8:59:56 PM): buckets
Carnage212 (9:02:52 PM): oh
Carnage212 (9:02:53 PM): my
Carnage212 (9:02:54 PM): fucking
Carnage212 (9:02:57 PM): shades
FriedSPAM (9:01:05 PM): shades
FriedSPAM (9:01:09 PM): I wish I had Hiro's power.
FriedSPAM (9:01:16 PM): I would travel to next monday
FriedSPAM (9:01:19 PM): shades
Carnage212 (9:03:49 PM): yeah
Carnage212 (9:03:51 PM): if I had super powers
Carnage212 (9:03:58 PM): I would travel through time to watch more Heroes
Carnage212 (9:04:17 PM): who cares about all this saving the world bullshit
FriedSPAM (9:02:17 PM): yeah
Carnage212 (9:04:28 PM): I've got fine programming to watch
FriedSPAM (9:02:22 PM): fuck the world... I want heroes
FriedSPAM (9:02:28 PM): hey, you know what?
Carnage212 (9:04:58 PM): What?
FriedSPAM (9:02:52 PM): shades
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amused
happy