The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

At the moment of writing this, I am sitting in the hallway of Grauel, waiting for my research class to start.

I’ve tried to explain why this class has frustrated me so much several times before, and I’m going to try again, because, you know, why not, right? Maybe this time I’ll get it.

Remember back in grade school where you had to write a report? This report was simply a statement of facts, and you added nothing to it. It was mostly busy work. Sure, it might have helped you to learn how to construct things, but you were really creating. You were just copying.
Eventually, as you moved into high school and beyond, you moved away from such reports. The focus was on critical thinking, on finding the evidence and the proof, but then using your noggin to work with them, and work it into something worthwhile, different, and more interesting. You put those facts and figures towards a point, and that point is yours. You own the point. It’s yours and you have created it. The end result is something that you can claim.

I’ve gotten used to being able to claim my work. I’ve gotten used to being able to use that personal connection to what I did in order to motivate me to complete things on time, and to work harder on them than maybe I should.

This class doesn’t have that. In fact, it is actively keeping me from having that.

The class’s main assignment is completely devoid of my touch. It is clinical. It is boring. I’m not used to doing that anymore. I don’t want to do that anymore. It seems, in some way, lesser in nature. It frustrates me a lot.

This is why I hate this class.
Time to go work on this class.

In Twilight Heroes, the IoTM this month is Gwneuthurwr Deganau’s hunllef puzzle. I have no idea how to pronounce that. Luckily, I don’t have to, because this is text. Probably luckily for the game, too.

In any case, this is another in a now-series of items which do a lot of random, color changing effects, such as the Amazing Technicolor Dreampants and the Prismatic Sports Bra. I have, in the past, very much liked these items. I enjoy a bit of randomness in my combat, and I enjoy feeling minorly rewarded every combat with the various effects. I also like the idea of wearing clothing that changes all kinds of crazy colors constantly. So I’ve liked the previous items.

However, this puzzles doesn’t have the benefit of being an article of clothing, which, conceptually, excites me less? This is a stupid reason, I guess, but really, I love those other two items, and have basically kept them equipped since I got them, because I enjoy the idea of wearing crazy clothing while being a superhero. The benefits are nice too, but I can get more static benefits which would probably help me more overall. It’s the flavor that makes me like them. I can imagine me jumping between rooftops, having the most horrible colors of clothing on, and general baffling enemies with it.

The puzzle also has some nice effects, (though some of them still aren’t spaded as of this writing and I honestly have no idea) but it also fills an accessory slot. This is a bigger issue than a shirt or pants for me, too, as those accessory slots are the biggest sources of +item that I have in Wolley’s Index and the Mask of Odysseus. Having to unequip one of those for the cube really makes this a much harder sell for me. I like my item find, especially since, until some sort of ascension-ish mechanic is brought into the game, getting items is the key benefit of playing. Normally, wanting randomness would be a no-brainer, but when you’re hitting that key buff, it’s a tough choice for me.

There’s nothing wrong with the puzzle (no, I’m not typing the name out again) but I find myself unable to be too excited about it. If you didn’t get the previous prismatic items, you might find a lot more fun in this one, and I admit I do get some pleasure out of having THREE prismatic messages filling up the screen during every combat. It doesn’t have me hopping up and down, though. It’s solid, but it just is.

Brickroad is doing another great FFI LP (how many times can the man play the same game and have me be entertained by it? I don’t know, but I want to find out.) and in thinking about it, it made me want to try things out. See, I never imagined, before reading all these things, doing all these challenge runs, and people make them seem pretty easy, especially in Dawn of Souls, the version I have. So I was thinking “Hey, let’s just do something different from the norm, and do a no-magic run. Fighter, Fighter, Bl. Belt, Thief.” I went so out of my way wanting to do this. I dug out my cart and my GBA SP, which has been unused for years. I was all ready to go.

Then I turned on the GBA SP.

I remember being amazed at how good that screen looked when I picked it up, but holy shit, it was a thing of the specific time period it was in. I could barely see the screen. I also remember how much of a godsend the lighting was, but not so much today. That front light is ridiculous and useless, and I was sitting in bed, trying to play, and was having trouble reading the text. It just looked hideous, and the screen looked dropped behind the front of the Gameboy by like an inch. My mind was kind of blown.

It is kind of amazing how much better my DSi’s screen is than that one. We have come a long, long way since the GBA days, even if some games on the DS don’t particularly look it. I’m not a graphics snob or anything, but we are talking the physical construction of the device. It’s amazing to me that I played so many games on this machine. Completely amazing.

Will I get over it and keep playing Dawn of Souls? Maybe. I only beat Garland before bed, though that involved several stupid, stupid mistakes getting my Fighters killed several times. We’ll see if I can go back to it, and that awful screen, again.

Dear person who is asking me to get on voice for Battlefield: Bad Company 2,

First off, let me just say that you’re awesome. I really appreciate you wanting me involved and wanting to talk to me. That’s really cool! You’re being all awesome and friendly, and that is great.

However, I don’t really want to get on voice, and it’s not about you. It’s about how I play the game.

You all are working to win. You’re calling out enemy positions and coordinating attacks. That’s neat, don’t get me wrong. But that’s, again, attempting to win, a goal I don’t really share. I mean, sure, winning is nice, and I’m not going to throw the game. And if our enjoyment depended on victory, you know I’d be there. Left 4 Dead? No way I’m not voice-chatting. You have to coordinate to have fun.

However, the main enjoyment I get from playing these kinds of shooters stems from two things. One is just completely and utterly zoning out. Maybe putting on a podcast or music and just relaxing while I mindlessly shoot dudes. The other is due to the level progression these games now offer. The second, voice chat does not affect. The first, it does.

Coordination takes energy. It takes thought, and work. It is the opposite of the completely stress-less, mindless enjoyment I work for when I boot up a shooter. Again, in a setting made uniquely for that, I’m down, but I don’t really feel like Battlefield is. I feel like I can be effective by actually playing the Medic role, unlike some people, even without coordinating. If spotting and other game systems are actually working right, which, honestly, is not always the case, most of the benefit of talking on voice chat is mitigated as well. It just often doesn’t seem worth it to me.

You guys are awesome. I enjoy playing with you, and it’s not like I’m not going to get on voice chat and enjoy playing with you all. You are cool. But if I seem hesitant, I just want you to know why. It’s just not how I play the game. It’s not that I don’t want to play with you, it’s just counter to how I approach the thing. That’s all.

Hope that clears up any confusion.

Sincerely,
poetfox

It occurs to me that I committed to starting this Let’s Play in May, and it’s starting to be almost May.

Seriously, I’m kind of insane for choosing to start this again. Like I’m not busy enough, right? So. Much. Shit. To. Do. At the same time, just thinking about it gets my brain rolling. I’m so excited about my plans, you can’t even imagine. It is going to be so much fun to write, and I hope everyone on Talking Time takes to it and plays along. I’m going to update with big updates every Saturday, and hopefully knock the whole game out in a month or three. It’s not a very long game, so hopefully my writing won’t spiral TOO out of control. Though that’s fun if it does, too.

It’s these kind of awesome plans that get one in trouble, though. Biting off more than they can chew, and so on. But eh, I’m throwing caution out there into a place known as “the wind.” I am going to embrace this shit, and write the ever-loving crap out of it. I hope the few of you who read this blog who don’t check it out over there will take a bit of a read on it as well and enjoying.

Seriously, so excited. I’ve been thinking of tag lines and horrible quotes all morning.

This summer, the action jumps above 98.6 degrees…

Take two of these, and if morning comes, call me.

In the balmy streets of Atlanta, four friends are about to discover their skills may be the only chance humanity has left.

Four Doctors.
Four Viruses.
One Solution.
Pandemic. Coming Summer, 2010.

Going to be so, so much fun. And it starts in May. I’m preparing. You should too.

Here’s the dream I had last night. Fascinating, I know.

I walked downstairs and yelled. Why I yelled, I don’t know, though I assume I was probably just being loud for fun. As in, a random whim, no real reason. So I yelled, and this scared my grandmother, who was apparently down in the living room, but I didn’t know it. She got very mad at me and I apologized like crazy and ran downstairs before my mom showed up to yell at me for making Grandma K mad. I remember Grandma having a tiny little dog, which is kind of hilarious, because she is the last person who would have a little dog, or any kind of pet.

I get downstairs, and go to find some clothes. I guess I was heading downstairs to get clothes for a shower or something. Only all my shirts are gone. Most of my clothes, really. All that was left were things I’d never wear, very masculine things, and pants without pockets. I looked through all the clothes for a long time, repeating the search again and again, trying to find something to wear. My clothes were gone. I knew my mother had hid them, but I didn’t want to demand to know their location because of the previous grandmother incident. I remember tabulating how much it would cost to replace some of my rarer apparel and being incredibly mad.

Eventually, Dad came down and saw me looking through clothes again and again, and pointed me to a series of very oddly-labeled boxes, where my mother had hid everything. I painstakingly re-hung every article of clothing, even though part of me knew my mother would just hide them again.

Then I woke up.

Some obvious dream-analysis bait there, though I suppose you’d learn that, gasp, I’m kind of having issues with my mother. Not the most useful. But, as per usual when I write these, it’s rare for me to remember a dream so vividly, so I wanted to record it. Just because.

I guess I should talk about the face-burning.

I started laser hair removal on my face.

Fuck, did it hurt.

To be fair, I was being stubborn for no reason and refusing anesthetic. I’m not going to make that mistake on future treatments, because my goodness, did it hurt. I have described the experience on the facebooks as being stabbed in the face by hundreds of bees. It’s really very similar. Maybe many tiny needles stabbing into my face is more accurate, but I don’t know, there’s something inherently funny about bees. BEES! It also smelled like burning popcorn as things were burnt from my face.

It was a really weird and painful experience.

But, dammit, it’s already shown some real effect, and that just amazes me. My mother complimented me on it, which confused me. “I don’t want to encourage you BUT your face was looking nice.” I… don’t… know what that’s supposed to mean! But that was nice of her. I’m going to pretend it’s an olive branch.

Real progress though! That’s cool, right? I’m kind of lost in being too busy to enjoy it though. Oh well, gotta finish this stupid semester up on the quick-fast! Then I can go and do… other things. Yeah.

Well, I mostly did two things.

One was that I was bad and bought Wario DIY and started playing that. It’s really neat. I’ll write it up later.

The other main thing I did was start blazing through this Killer 7 Let’s Play.

Let’s plays are the perfect sick-time companion, don’t you know. And they’re doing a pretty good job. I’ve heard funnier, but they’re entertaining, and it’s good to watch. If you’re looking for a Let’s Play, mayhaps you could give them a try?

My lappy was a real trooper while I was sick, too. It completely paid for itself in my eyes. Worked damn good. What a good lappy! And now I have a bag for it too, so that’s neat.

Anyway, back to the being insanely busy and stuff. Whee.

Tuesday fucking sucked.

It’s been a long time since I felt so out of control in my life. Everything started crashing down. I was sick in bed, assignments were due, I had been too sick to get them done… it was pretty awful. I was driving myself crazy with panic.

Maybe I’ve bitten too much off if 3 or so days of sickness can completely ruin me. Maybe I have too much going.

Maybe.

I’m going to catch up over the weekend. I’ll be okay. I’m the kind of person who is okay, and who will get things done correctly. Of that I have no doubt. But man, the panic I felt was… crazy… it was awful.

I really don’t want to feel that again.

Maybe I should think about rescheduling my stuff next semester to stop this… so it’s not like I’m working 3 jobs or whatever.

Fuck you, look at this cool song.

There was a metric fuck-load of hype and anticipation of MC Frontalot’s new album, Zero Day. Then they started playing tracks from it on the Jick and Skully show, and I was like “Man, that’s actually pretty fucking good.” I’ve always kind of liked Front in theory, but I’ve never been a huge rapping person, but every time I hear Front on a podcast or something he’s completely fantastic and entertaining. I also enjoy the tracks of his that I have in Rock Band quite a bit. After a little debate, I went ahead and threw him some money, and got the album.

It’s pretty amazing.

And at the tip of the amazingness is that song up there, Charisma Potion. It pretty well sums up everything I feel about this album. His previous songs were good, but were not… full. I know that’s a vague term, but you could kind of tell it was a one man show. It didn’t have all the oomph behind it that a huge, full production sort of song would. Or maybe I’m imagining that. In any case, the back beats and music in these tracks just really get me on their own. They’re energetic, exciting, and significantly less repetitive. I like that.

And, of course, Front’s lyrics are excellent. I mean, just listen to that up there. It’s completely geeky but also completely bad-ass. It’s pretty well perfect in this regard. I love it so much. I have to sing along with it. Of course, I am not a professional rapper, so it doesn’t go very good on a lot of tracks, but I try, dammit!

Yeah, I’m listening to this one over and over, and it deserves it. I’m glad I bought Zero Day. You should consider picking it up too. It’s completely sweet.