The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

The future is hazy.

Yes, I mean, I’m about to graduate. That’s awesome. But we’re in a time when people are getting fired all the time, and I just… I don’t know if, once I start looking a month or two from now, if there will be good jobs out there for me. So I feel like I should exercise all options.

Which meant applying for Graduate School.
Ugh.
The last thing I want to do is have more school. THE LAST. But I was told about the Teaching Assisstantship thing on campus, and it just seems way too good to pass up. Basically, I can teach a class and work at the University Press some more and have all school fees waved, plus get paid for my work. So, basically, I can get paid to get more experience in the field I want to work in and get a few graduate course hours.
It really does seem like a good thing to do. I can’t just pass it up. So I’m not. I’m signing up. If I get a magic perfect job before the semester starts, I can always drop out.
It does bring up the question of what I’m doing about transition… I’ve been waiting forever. I’ve been waiting for graduation to move away, but if I do this, then I won’t be moving away for… hell… another 2 years at least? So, you know, I’m going to do it anyway. I’ve waited long enough. I deserve it. It’s only going to make more stress, especially with the parents, but who cares. I need to be happy.

Of course, just applying creates headaches. In a one week period I have to fill out all these forms, pester people for letters of recommendation… it’s been exciting times… but I think I’ve got it all in hand… still, it’s been a lot of extra stress. I’m too easily stressed.

Stress! Yes!

Anyway, I guess that’s what’s been going on with me in the “Real” world.

So, with the purchase of 1up, there was a sudden lack of podcasts and podblasts in my life. All the awesome people on Talking Time got… well… talking about a podcast called Idle Thumbs, and I had to try it. Because I was desperate for podcasts.

I laughed so hard. SO HARD.

Idle Thumbs claims to be mostly about Video games. And it is, you know, mostly about video games. But that’s not why you will become a constant, dedicated reader of Idle Thumbs. Oh no. You’ll do it because they are masters at refbacks and random humor. They are just so spontaneously humorous, it is amazing stuff. Amazing.
It’s so amazing, I actually went back and listened to every single past episode. I can’t remember a podcast that has caused me to want to do that besides Idle Thumbs. That’s a pretty big recommendation. Well, I think so.

Anyway, if I can’t convince you, just have a listen to this little ditty. Idle Thumbs often has songs. They also know all about… The Wizard.

So, as I sometimes do, I find myself unfocused, without a game I really feel drawn to playing. I’ve been trying about everything. While iced in, I gave many demos a try. Puzzle Quest Galactrix was better than the flash demo indicated. It’s certainly on my radar now, especially since it has a “space trader” buy high sell low mechanic built into it which sounds like a lot more fun than some of the side quests in Challenge of the Warlords. Defense Grid: The Awakening was a really great tower defense variant, but at 20 dollars, I really can’t justify the purchase. I even tried playing some more Peggle to think about whether or not I wanted to pick up Peggle nights, but dammit, the final boards in that game are kinda hard. I don’t know how you’re supposed to do them without getting lucky.

I feel like the main problem is that everything is coming out in the last two weeks of February. If just one thing would come out this week, I’d be satisfied, but no, it’s all then. Just look at this list: Dragon Quest V, Retro Game Challenge, Street Fighter IV, the aforementioned Puzzle Quest Galactrix… That is a lot of game power. Granted, Retro Game Challenge comes out one week earlier than the rest, but still. And the hits don’t stop in March either. I’m probably picking up The Dark Spire, Steal Princess, and Class of Heroes, and that’s just Atlus titles.
All these great games coming out at once just makes me grumpy. I wish what I wanted was spread out over the year a little better than it tends to be. I mean, Street Fighter and Dragon Quest on the same day is actually fine. I need something to play in between online matches while I’m chatting with people, and something simple like Dragon Quest fits the bill perfectly, but otherwise…
I’m especially disappointed in Atlus. They almost have games of theirs competing with other games of theirs. I mean, isn’t like… that Ys collection and My World My Way coming out on the same day now? And I think Steal Princess and Class of Heroes are on the sameish week as well… Mm, nope, I’m wrong on that one. Steal Princess comes out on my brithday and Class of Heroes is in April… but damn, still.
(I still love you, Atlus. You keep putting out everything you can, and I will buy the vast majority of it.)

But yeah, this is just mostly a post saying “Conform to my schedule, game publishers!” Which is stupid of me. I mean, if I didn’t buy so many games the day they were released, I probably wouldn’t have this problem. Oh well. I know my medium. I know my fun. I’ll chase it however I want, dammit.

OMG THERE’S ICE OUT THERE!

Yeah, so, the weather is pretty bad. Luckily, we’ve had no power or internet outages, or else I would be insane and wrecking the place by now. My Grandma wasn’t so lucky, and is probably going to be here until her power gets back on at her house, which could be, I dunno, a week or so. I’m glad she’s here safe, but the incredible temperatures she demands (correction, understandably demands. She is nothing but bones, it isn’t surprising she gets so cold so easy) means I’m going to be staying well away from downstairs for awhile. All that heat makes me feel sick.

None of this really changed my plans any. Sure, I went to a few less classes and I didn’t go to work tonight, but my life is so… up here on the computer-based that I really didn’t do much different. Just gamed away and interneting it up.

Still, those people without power… harsh stuff, and I hope the best for them… though it just makes it so clear why I’m not living out in the middle of nowhere, if I can swing it. Need constant power and internet connectivity, dammit. CONSTANT.

Anyway, I guess, tomorrow, I get to get out and about again, on the slippery streets. To watch Casablanca. Or… not, because they just closed the school for another day… And I might go to work, maybe. I’m not clear on that. Nobody has been at Kohl’s all day so I couldn’t figure that one out. We’ll see.

Welcome!

I am too easily entertained by completely ridiculous shit.

What other kinds of shit am I entertained by?
Maybe this.
Or this.

I dunno.

This too, maybe…

I’m so lame.

Still, finally… last but not least… this may be the greatest accomplishment of mankind. I can’t wait to own it.

So I had to write this letter to my classmates about me as a writer, to introduce myself to my writing group. I thought the idea really kinda cool. So I’m going to share now.

—

To Whom it May Concern:

Some say I was born with pencil in hand. They really don’t understand how, you know, gestation and birth and whatnot works.
But yeah, I’ve been writing in some capacity for as long as I can remember. I recall an amazing tale about three cops written, with illustrations, in the first grade. I recall attempting to write a poem about the very poetic topic of me throwing up in the car back in second grade. These masterpieces were, however, only the beginning.
Throughout all of grade school I was writing. I must have like… 10 notebooks mostly full of half-novels I wrote in pencil during campouts and whatnot. They were painfully Mary Sue. What else could they be? But they were always there, and I was always working with the adventures of my latest female protagonist in my head, for better or worse. Hell, I still do to this day, though I tend not to write them down anymore.
In high school, I picked up the poetry bug. It crawled all around, and was kind of disturbing to look at, so I decided to write poems instead of notes during class instead of collecting insects. They were very strong on the rhyme and very cute, for the most part. Greeting card-style, you could say. I still write those FOR Greeting cards, but I didn’t really think of them like that back then. I even think I read a few of them at a Journey reading during my first semester here, The thought very much embarrasses me.
There was an attempt at my high school to create a literary magazine called Harvest. It wasn’t very impressive, but I submitted, with a packet entitled “A Hostile Takeover of Harvest.” It did not get the reception that I was looking for, and I was told very clearly that I would not be taking over the entire magazine.
During my final years of high school, I acquired an old laptop, and with it, I started to write a real novel. It was still a bit Mary Sue-ish, but much more subtle about it. I wrote, hell, at least half of it. I had about 120 pages written, I believed, before I stopped, It was one of the biggest writing projects I ever undertook.
I also started “blogging” during this time period, though it wasn’t called that. I was writing on a fairly regular basis on OpenDiary.com, which then eventually all transferred over to my actual blog, GetMeOutOfThis.Net. I still write daily on it, talking about my responses to games and movies and whatnot in a vaguely review-like fashion, but ultimately just giving myself a dumping ground for the thoughts I have, and not really expecting anyone to read it.
College became a magical time where I discovered two of my great literary loves: The Parenthesis and the Personal Essay. The Parenthesis came to me during my first lit class, when I dived into the work of e.e. cummings for the first time. It hit me how limited I was taking my poetry, and I started making it look more like how my mind works. I did this by liberal use of the parenthesis, having layers and layers of them throughout, and abandoning non-internal rhyme most of the time. I think my poetry has improved quite a bit because of it, though I sometimes make things really hard to read. I also took a class called “The Art of the Essay” which taught me how completely awesome Personal Essays can be. They can be serious creative works, and not just assignments, and I started treating them as such, constructing them.
And that brings us to today. I’m busy with schoolwork and normal, money-getting work and vidjeo gamez, but I do attempt to take the time to write creatively every once and while. I especially enjoy classes that force me to do so, though I think I’ve taken just about every single one of them available to me, so I guess I’m out of look. Good thing I’m about to graduate, I suppose.

Seriously, what the heck is this “kick” thing of which you speak. Balrog knows not of this.

But seriously, I was really hesitant in picking up Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (or SSF2THDR for short) because they priced it at 15 bucks and because I never have anyone to play with in these things. Even though the Talking Tyrants were playing it, I thought for sure it would go to waste. So I hesitated and hesitated, and eventually gave in.
I’ve been totally getting my money’s worth. Not only have I had several nights of hawt Street Fighting Fun with the Tyrants, but I’ve also been learning the game. I’ve been winning against random people online! It’s crazy! And it’s all thanks to that crazy Mike Tyson clone.

It all started when I picked Balrog just for shits and giggles against my fellow Tyrants… and then I won. And then I won again. And then I won again. It was shocking to me. I’ve always been a keepawayfireball kind of player in these games, and Balrog is all about charging in and dealing heavy blows. Granted, I’m normally Kamakaze. I shouldn’t be suprised that I take to his methods. But I took to them.
This led me to actually practice with him, to figure out what was going on. Morbid Coffee jumped in with some tips, as he’s also taken up the Balrog call and really gotten good with him. Better than me! And he showed me two keys to victory with him, and probably in Street Fighter in general.

1) Balrog’s throw is the FUCKING SHIT. He has this like… endless throw loop? It’s a thing of beauty, and just one of his throws does so much damage. Me throwing in general was something that I never did before in the game, and it’s so very effective.
2) There are moves other than special moves. Being effective with Balrog requires you to use several of his normal attacks well. I’ve always been a special move spammer, and now that I’m not doing nothing BUT those moves, I’m being much, much more effective.

Anyway, it’s nice to not suck at Street Fighter! At least with one character. And I hope some of these skills transfer to SFIV… that would be nice… yep!

So, for the first time in a long time, I got to go Slap the Euches at Dustin’s. Playing Euchre used to be something we did quite, quite often, but now it’s kind of a nice rarity. I mean, I have all kinds of games I could be playing instead of this simple card game, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have a damn good time when we do it.

(We also played a little pool before I got in a Euchre game. Man, I did abysmal at that. It’s been even longer since I played pool, of course, but my shittiness was far beyond rusty. At least I was almost competent before the game was over. Geez.)

The thing about playing Euchre with Dustin is that… well… the man plays Euchre. He may be slow to pick up other games, but he knows Euchre backwards and forwards and backwards again and then forwards a little more. We play a hand, and then we spend minutes either talking about previous Euchre stories or much more in depth Euchre strategy that I would have ever envisioned existed before I started these games with Dustin. He discusses this card game like pro Magic players discuss deckbuilding. It’s kind of awesome and a little scary.
The result is that I really, really, really over-think myself when I play with Dustin a little. It makes me completely aware that there is always a correct move when I look at my hand, and when I’m thinking about calling, or whatever. Someone knows what I should be doing in this situation. So I stall for a little bit, and I also start asking questions after every hand where I was unsure, to figure out what I should have done. I take games seriously in general, and Dustin taking Euchre seriously (even though we’re just dicking around. If I make a wrong move, it’s not like anyone would be mad at me at all. Some friendly insulting, probably, but that would be it, and that could happen for… well… anything. Heh.) puts me in the mindset that I should. So I’ll try, for better or worse.

And then I do retarded shit like not going alone on 4 trump and a side ace, just because I didn’t know where the left was. Sigh.

Oh well.

So, we had another exciting adventure in Crystaengland tonight! It was strong session overall, although a horrible fate befell our party: The gift shop was blocked by rubble. Dreams of a Wind Temple snowglobe and commemorative jerkin were dashed. Horrid!

Still, our combat went insanely well this time, even though my lucky numbers were 2 and 11. I kept rolling 2 on my attack rolls, and when I did hit, I kept rolling 11 damage. Seriously, this happened more than enough times to be suspicious. It was kind of crazy. But yeah, even though I blew through too many healing surges again because I love getting critical hit, we were still extremely successful in battle.

Also, I killed four guys! Sort of. See, one of the issues with Warlord is that, so often, I’m not actually dealing my own damage on my turn. Commander’s Strike, the reason I love the class, means that very often, it’s Spants or Essner attacking during my turn instead of me, especially now that Spaeth has the Intelligent Blademaster feat (and seriously, let us all take a moment to savor the humor in the fact that Spaeth’s character has almost superhuman intelligence) and can connect most of the time when I use it. So most of my damage is actually Spaeth’s damage. I claimed all the kills anyway tonight. Essner’s Ranger Showboating had to be put in its place somehow.
But yeah, not actually getting credit for damage done is an issue with the class. A very minor issue. I don’t especially care. But, you know, we’re being dicks, so I’m acting like it. Still, it does make me feel like I’m just standing there sometimes.

Issue two is the fact that I can’t give myself temporary hit points. Myrmidon Formation is so completely useful, and Bastion of Defense is also nice to help with the healing by giving everyone a buffer of temporary HP to burn through. However, as far as I know, I don’t get any health boost when I use them. So while everyone else is well-protected, I get little benefit from these healing moves, and am sitting there ready to be critted to death. Maybe I’m wrong with my rule reading on those? Who knows.
This too, I don’t have much problem with. Warlord is a pretty powerful class in a lot of respects, I don’t really mind it having some drawbacks. It’s not fun to be NOTHING but unstoppable, is it?

Anyway, Jonathan’s campaign continues to go really well, as far as I’m concerned. The impending, scary semester coming up might slow it down considerably, but, you know, hopefully we can keep it going.

So, I got an Amazon Prime account.

I dunno, I was ordering Jonathan’s birthday present and I was looking at that button I always see… I freely admit, the one month free trial made me desperately want the service. So, coming from all the extra money I have coming in now, I decided to take the plunge. Bam.

I then spent the next 20 minutes pre-ordering at least a few hundred dollars worth of stuff with my new 2-day shipping.

Granted, the majority of this stuff are games I would have went to the store and bought anyway. Retro Game Challenge? Dragon Quest V? These were not options for me, so I shouldn’t feel so bad pre-ordering them. At the same time, MAN, I JUST SPENT AT LEAST 300 FUTURE DOLLARS IN 10 MINUTES WHAT HAVE I DOOOOOOOONE!

Still, I’m going to abuse this for all its worth now that I have it. I’m going to try to get all my games for Amazon to keep my money away from the bastard pawn shops that are EBGames (something I was trying to do anything, but still, I often want things so niche that my only options are there or the internet, and the internet shipped too slow… UNTIL NOW!) and hopefully that will help quite a bit in covering the cost. And I mean, I’ve already had Jonathan ask to order something for his ladyfriend using my shipping, so hopefully I can abuse it a bit for my friends as well.
No matter what, though, I do honestly thing that it’s fantastic that they offer it in the first place. It’s a fairly priced and completely cool little service. Amazon almost IS shopping on the internet, and I honestly think that’s for a good reason. I wish they were paying me for this plug, though. Heh.