The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

I enjoy candy.
I’m not really a chocolate person. I more lean towards either your pure sugar candies (Pixie Sticks, Nerds, Sweet Tarts) or more your fruit-flavored candies (Spree, Fruit Mentos, Skittles). One of my go-to candies of the latter variety would be Mike and Ike, which are those wonderful little wax fruit-ish candies that always come in a movie-theater-style box. I tend to go with the standard flavors of course. It’s their standard mixture for a reason. It’s got good variety, and you can enjoy them mixed, or individually with little trouble.

There are variants of Mike and Ike. Obviously, the best is the excellently citrus and sour Lemonade Mix. But I only know of one place to buy that, and I’m rarely there. So I’ve been attempting to branch out and try the other, easily available mixes.

For example: Mike and Ike Berry Blast. I see this basically everywhere I see the standard Mike and Ike Mix. I’ve been picking it up instead recently to give it a go.

It leaves something to be desired.

I mean, I like berry stuff, certainly. Not as much as citrus, but berry? Good. And this mix has Blue Raspberry, and I have a huge fan of Raspberry. It seems like it would be pretty great.
However, I find that, individually, each flavor lacks punch. They’re all very dull, slight flavors on the tongue. None of them are disgusting or bad, mind you. We’re not having a Banana Runts situation here. But none of them make you want to pull another out of the box. They’re just weak.
Mixing them in twos or threes does help to alleviate this, but when mixed, they tend to form one combined flavor, instead of being a mix of tastes. This, again, doesn’t taste bad. But it doesn’t leave me wanting to buy another box of them or anything.

I’ll eat Berry Blast. It’s not bad. But I should really stop buying it, I think. I’ve given it a chance, but it just isn’t as awesome as the standard mix.

Also, side note: Look at the Mike and Ike website. Oh my goodness. And what is up with that music player? I have no idea. But I highly suggest you change the music to “Baller.”

Welcome to Linkuary, where I will provide you with links every day for a month!
…okay, yeah, that would be completely lame.

Still, my browsers are completely full of tabs that I’m keeping open for another one of these posts, so let’s empty them out and give you something else to do other than reading this bloeg, eh?

First off, on the Youtube front, here is something my mother called an educational video about how to present a news story. It’s pretty damn funny, and painfully accurate.

Speaking of actually educational, though, Brer shared with me this intense rap about Economic theory. Learn yourself.

On a more visual side, shivam tweeted this awhile back, and it’s still completely amazing. I don’t care how many times I see it, but when you successfully switch art styles on a property, some really cool stuff happens. This is some of the best Pokemon fan art I’ve seen in awhile.

Also, man, I guess I’m easily entertained, but this has, by far, been my favorite Chainsawsuit in awhile. So true to how furries actually work, with the punchline not being an insult, so much. I just kind of love it.

There’s a few little things for you, hm? Anyway, I’m going to get back to Mass Effect 2. (Yes, this lazy post was just an excuse to play more Mass Effect.)

Before my session today, I had homework to do. I had to write a script about how I was going to talk to my parents about the whole gender identity thing. This seemed like a great idea. I mean, I’m a writer. I write from time to time. Some people might even say I write every day on some sort of “bloeg.” Surely I could come up with something effective, especially since I was prepped on a good method of doing such a speech, and it seemed completely logical and effective to me.

I then went about putting off writing this script for the entire week, and wrote it at something approximating the last minute. I just finished it a second ago.

And now I kind of feel like I’m falling apart.

In some ways, I almost wish I didn’t have a good relationship with my parents. I almost wish I didn’t give a shit about what they think. But I do. I really do. And I feel like they’re the biggest obstacle I have. Just attempting to write something that explained my situation to them, and how I love them, this isn’t a personal attack, and I can’t help it, and I have to do something about it. Dammit, just doing that put me on the verge of tears.

How the hell am I going to talk to them?

I know I’ll do it. I know I’ll move on afterwards. I know my parents are completely awesome, and they will, eventually come around once they understand. It just… the idea of fighting with them over this again makes me want to hide under the covers all day.

I mean, nobody, least of all me, said this would be easy.

Okay, so at this point, school has started back up again, but dammit, I read like a million let’s plays over break, and they’re all fun, so I wanted to share them all. So here’s two more to read if you’re bored.

This is the sort of Let’s Play I’d love to write. I love the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, probably more than I should, because I love the silly little stories and the roguelike gameplay. This is exactly the sort of Let’s Play I would have loved to do of the first game. It takes the rather childish subject matter seriously. It has some amazing fanart. It’s just… I found it really fun to read. Maybe it isn’t your thing? But man, it was my thing.

Now this, this can be everyone’s thing. The Dark Id, who did many wonderful Let’s Plays of the Resident Evil series which I also really enjoyed, did this Let’s Play of the amazingly nonsensical Clock Tower 3 for the Playedstation 2 Console. It, much like his previous outings, is a great read, and a great trip that makes every single ridiculous plot hole extremely clear. I like it. Give it a go. And while you’re at it, why not try his Dead Aim Let’s Play! Now there’s a game that’s just mind-blowingly awful.

Okay, that’s the last of them, I swear. Not going to have any time to actually read anything for months, so you don’t have to worry about more of these posts! Really. Promise.

I hate March, and I hate every game developer releasing a game in March. Seriously, why are you doing this to me? Let’s run down the games that there is no way I’m not buying that come out in March.

1) Pokemon Heart Gold/ Soul Silver. I may have not beat a Pokemon game in a long while, but I still love them to death, and this is a remake of my favorite of the series, and it comes with the fucking re-imagining of the Pokemon Pikachu. I am so in. It’s coming out March 14th.
2) Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. I’m a MegaTen fangirl now, so I have to get this. Plus, people say it’s one of the best installments of the series in forever. It comes out March 23rd.
3) Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising. I upgraded a computer to play Dawn of War II, and I loved every second of it. You better believe I’m getting the expansion day 1, which would be March 11th.
4) Final Fantasy XIII. Honestly, this is the only one I don’t need day 1, but only because of all this other amazing shit coming out in the same time frame. I will completely play it eventually, though, especially if it goes through with what I hear about “nice and linear, straightforward, with intriguing combat” that people are murmuring. It comes out March 9th.

That is way, way more RPG-esque goodness than I can handle in that kind of time period. Especially considering that I am going to be so, so busy with work, school, teaching, and, hopefully transitioning.

So yeah, fuck you, March. Shame on you for giving me so much awesome shit to look forward to.
Dicks.

Sometimes, there is a game so passable, so strongly mediocre, that you would never play it.
However, sometimes this game is so full of yuri undertones that you just cannot help but grin and scheme while searching for maximum awkward.
At the same time, do you really want to play that game?

Well, that’s what the brilliance of LPs comes in.
This Hammer can Forge a Woman! is really, really excellent. I read through it over the pass few days, and damn, it’s just a really entertaining read. Plus, and I do consider this a benefit, it’s all about a game I have no interest in ever playing, so there’s no chance of me ever spoiling anything for myself. It’s an all-around win!

Additional let’s plays I have been reading (because apparently that’s what I do when I’m bored) that are worth your time include this one, which is just an amazing, amazing playthrough of the amazing game Nancy Drew and the White Wolf of Icicle Creek. It’s written in a specific sort of internet humor style that, perhaps, will not please you. But it certainly pleased me. There were a lot of laughs to be had.

And, hell, if you’re looking for additional excellent Let’s Plays on the homefront, it would be silly not to read Over A Thousand Nights… Every day!, a playthrough of a game I’ve never heard of, The Magic of Scheherazade, in classic excellent Octopus Prime fashion. Still continuing, still awesome!

Yep, so this was another post of links. DEAL WITH IT! Get reading! There will be a test!
Okay, there won’t be, but someday I may be so excited about something like this to make a test! I swear!

A few nights ago, I had an issue. I wanted to play a vidjeo game in bed, but I had no such vidjeo game! Yes, I had nothing new on the DS. I didn’t know what to pop in and fiddle around with. I’ll be honest, I was jonesing to try Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, but I am being good and strong-willed and am waiting for that one on Gamefly. I was without anything.

I looked around on the desk, and saw my copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor staring at me. Now, I didn’t get very far in this. I could play it. Eventually, I did end up playing it. But it took incredible effort to get myself to take it to my room and pop it in. It was an old game! I didn’t want to play that!

But seriously, it just kind of overwhelmed me how much I was against booting an old game up again and playing it. I don’t do that very often, I admit. If I were to do some sort of Backloggery, I would put so many games on there… I never beat games. I never want to go back and beat them either, apparently so much so that I find it difficult to make myself. It got me thinking about why…

I think it goes back to something Jick said, actually, on the podcast. He says he rarely beats games, he just plays them until he feels he understands them. Then he has no want to keep going. I feel like that describes me pretty well. A huge part of why I play games it to be able to talk about games. At a point, I understand a game’s systems enough to be able to talk about them. Yes, there’s plenty of plot stuff I’m missing. But I can hold my own in a discussion of Devil Survivor without getting lost, and that’s really what’s important to me. That’s a lot of why I play a lot of the games I do. I mean, they’re fun to, but I want to understand them and be able to talk about them.

You know, thinking about it, it’s been shocking that, fairly recently, I did dig back into my backlog and finish games, namely Layton 2 and Bowser’s Inside Story. Of course, that happened mostly because I was sick, on my ass, and had little better to do. But yeah, that’s clearly an exception, and not a rule.

Anyway, I guess the point of this is that… yeah, I have a Backlog, and yeah, I don’t care. It should probably concern me about how much money I’ve spent and haven’t gotten enough value out of, but you know what? That’s why I got Gamefly. To cut down on that shit. And I have. And what I haven’t completed? Well, who the fuck cares, you know? I had fun. I’m having fun.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
If you’ve decided to work on your Backlog this year, more power to you. I’ll just keep letting my grow until it crushes me under the weight of all the unplayed vidjeo gamez.

Often, I will leave a tab open, going “Hey, I’ll put that in a blog or something!” Then I’ll end up with tabs open in Flock for like… weeks. So right now, I’m a bit tired of those tabs, so hey, let me throw a few links at you.

Yes, this is one of those posts that are just links.

At some point, someone showed me WTF Comcast, and much hilarity was has. Completely worth a read. I want that job.

Man, this has been on a mix CD that Essner puts on sometimes, because it’s there? And I really love the song? But I could never remember the name of it, even when I asked Essner like… five times? But now I finally have the name? So enjoy it.

On the LP front, I recently read through this one, and it was completely awesome. Who knew RE0 was so stupid? (Well, I could have guessed, but, you know.) So that’s worth your time. Apparently this guy has LP’d like… every single Resident Evil game. I need to read the rest.

Uh, so, it’s no mystery that I really like all the Persona 3 and 4 music and whatnot, so the fact that the Persona 3 Portable soundtrack is out there now makes me happy. It made my day the other day. I’ve been listening to the Female Other Self’s battle theme and enjoying it, and now you can too! Beware, though, as I am kind of wanting to do an “Evolution of Mass Destruction” post so, uh, you may be listening to it again. Just have to completely collect my thoughts on it.

If you haven’t watched the Blamimations, you probably should. Laughter is likely to follow.

On the Let’s Play front once again, Brickroad finally pulled out a new LP. It won’t take you too long, but it’s, once again, a fun time.

Well, that’s about all I can think of off of the top of my head. Hopefully it has entertained you, perhaps maybe?
Or not. But that’s fine.

BLOEG OVER.

Welcome to a new decade, I suppose.

How far have I come?
Not far enough.

At the same time, it’s not like it’s been a total waste, I suppose. I mean, it took most of the decade, but I now have a college degree, and hell, I’ll soon have another one. That’s something, right?
I spent a lot of time with some really, really fucking great friends, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything, so that’s definitely something.
I became dependable, and something bordering on vaguely self-sufficient, so that’s also something, right?

Things happened, and, guess what, in this new year, even more things will happen. Maybe things much bigger in my life than anything that came before.

That is scary as fuck.

But I can make it. I can do this. We all can make it. We all can do it, whatever our own personal “it” is.

A new year isn’t a new beginning, it’s just more. But it can be a great more.
I’ll do my best to make it a great more.

Christmas has come and gone. It was a good one! I’m sure you’ll hear all about a lot of the stuff I got, reviews and whatnot, for weeks. But hey, let’s get it all out there and give some thanks and stuff, hm?

From Shauna, I got the 5 and 6 Player expansion for Catan. I am interested to see how it plays! I’ve always heard that it’s still best with 4 players, but it’ll still be nice to give some extra people in on the awesomeness of Catan.

From my brother, I got Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, as well as both Dominion promotional decks! Especially excited about those promo decks. Always wanted to try out Black Market.

From Brer, I got all of xXxholic on DVD. Don’t really love the dub, but I’m such a complete fan that it just feels right to own.

Aesa bought me a copy of Cogs off of the Steam Holiday Sale, right before I was going to! A little, but very nice gesture. Awesome.

Kale, of course, bought be a copy of Borderlands months ago, which I am very thankful for. He also bought me the Zombie Island DLC for it the other day. He’s too nice.

I got a bunch of nice stuff from the Festivus exchange, of course. Bunny hats, cookies I need to try, points of the XBLA variety. Nice things!

I also got a board game I hadn’t heard of until I opened it from Bradley Bo for the Friends Exchange, called Last Night on Earth. I’m looking forward to digging into it more. It’s neat.

My parents, of course, were very nice. I scored a copy of Dominion: Seaside, DJ Hero, and a stand for my plastic guitars! I also got a CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE. Fuck yeah.

My grandparents were also similarly nice, as I recieved a copy of Lego Rock Band, New Super Mario Brothers Wii, some Batman Beyond DVDs and a MLA HANDBOOK FOR WRITERS OF RESEARCH PAPERS. YAY FOR STYLE MANUALS!

But yeah, lots of good stuff. I have some very generous friends and very awesome family. I hope my gifts were good on them, too.
Whelp, I’m going to get back to enjoying said gifts now. Later!