The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

In Twilight Heroes, the Heroes of Twilight have the option, for like another day or something, to purchase The Grouch’s Sack of Loot at the Wok of Stars, and thus increase the number of items they have that randomly makes more items everyday! Huzzah!

This item is almost kind of sort of a remake of the IoTM that started me buying Twilight IoTMs, the Pouch of Many Lost Things. It creates a collection of seasonal gifts, which you can then send to other players through a special menu, or use yourself. If you send them, you and your target receive a buff, this time called Holiday Cheer. It’s an extremely heart-y item, and I do love such things, so of course I had to pick it up.

However, I would go so far as to say that the gifts from the Grouch might be better, overall, than those from the Pouch. (HA! Rhyming!) The Sack of Loot is a constant supply of sugar, one of the two vectors to give yourself more playtime in the game. The Gumdrop, in particular, is the second-best sugar currently in the game right now, according to this handy chart. That’s power. Even though you can’t assure yourself to get many gumdrops in a day, that’s still a great gift to give someone, and a powerful item to be able to pull daily. The most powerful Pouch items are the Lost Phone, Lost Wallet, and Lost Toy. The Eggnog replicates the Lost Toy’s functionality in a debatably better way. Thus, the Pouch is only really better for the XP-grinding skills it grants. Which is a fine niche for it to be in, but man, I’d prefer the more fun stuff of the Sack, I’d think.

Yeah, this IoTM is a winner in my book. Granted, I have a kind of weird take on this stuff, sometimes, but eh, it’s awesome. You should get one, I think. And then you should gift me things, because that’s fun, too.

Well… okay… I guess I did go see a psychologist who has very much experience with gender identity issues Monday.
Yeah, I guess I am going to be seeing her weekly now.

I… yeah.

I mean, I really like this woman. She is just… very happy that I’m there. That positive energy does so, so much for me when this shit is so hard, expensive, and inevitably conflict-creating. I don’t need another thing to keep me away.
I even screwed this first meeting up: I got completely lost trying to find her office, and in the end, I wasted over half my session driving around in St. Louis. It was kind of my fault. I didn’t leave super-early, like I should have, because I was worried that I would sit in the parking lot for an hour and go insane with worry, which… was the last thing I wanted. So I didn’t, and I was late. Still, she was very understanding, and wonderful. It’s going to be a good thing.

It’s all going to be a good thing. This is the start. I… well, I sure as hell waited to the last possible minute of the year, of the decade, to start fixing this… but hey, at least I did it, right?
Right.
It’s been a long, long time coming. It’s certainly not any easier. But… yeah.

Deep breath now. Here we go.

The KoL Item which is sold for only one month could be known as the Stocking Mimic. It’s a Ka-Razee familiar that doesn’t level up as per normal. CRAZY.

Basically, this familiar doesn’t have the normal 20 pound cap. It caps at 100, and only levels up when you feed it candy. However, once you use it for a few turns, it drops its familiar equipment, which makes it level up as per normal, which kind of defeats the whole interesting nature of the “feed it candy” thing. I mean, you know, people really concerned with speed would feed it candy? But this familiar is a Cocoabo. It’s not about speed. It’s about doing cool random shit. So… I guess I don’t really get what the point of that mechanic is. It seems like it would be more interesting to put something like that on a Fairy or something relevant to ascension. But what do I know.

Anyway, once you have the thing equipped with its Bag of Confections, it also sometimes drops candy with some cool buffs. You can, of course, feed the Mimic this candy if you really, really want to, but it seems like it would be more fun to enjoy the buffs? Why does the stupid sock need more candy, I ask you? It has a whole BAG of it. I mean, if nothing else, the Polka Pop seems really, really good, giving a very good +item and +meat buff. Belch the Rainbow from the Piddles gives some great Chromatic damage, and Full of Wist from the BitterSweet Tarts gives you more stats. These are all great buffs, and if nothing else, since people probably won’t be running Stocking Mimics all the time, seeing as they really don’t seem THAT optimal, you can probably sell all these candies off at a good price, one would think. Well, okay, a quick check shows that apparently BitterSweet Tarts aren’t selling for much, but the other two are probably worth selling, and hell, use those Tarts yourself. Level up quicker. Why the fuck not? Don’t give it to the stupid sock.

I look forward to having fun with this one. I like the randomness and whatnot, and the fact that it grabs its familiar equipment for me makes it likely that I will use this familiar on my next 100% Hardcore run. Still, it’s probably not a game changer. It’s just a fun little thing. Maybe when they adapt the “feed for weight” thing to something a little more relevant, you’ll have something that really changes the game up.

On Christmas Eve, I was in charge of entertainment. I had a couple ideas: I bought a copy of Up so we could watch it. But then, that was pushed to a Christmas Day movie down at the Grandparents. So what to do? Well, I finally made the parents play a board game I knew they could handle: The Choo Choo Train game, also known as Ticket to Ride.

It was an interesting experience. Explaining the rules didn’t go too bad: Ticket to Ride is a simple game, and that’s why I thought the parents would enjoy it without too much issue. It took them a few turns before they really figured out what they were doing, but they caught on pretty well.

They both played so differently. I must get my options options options lock from my mother, because she often had to really think about what she was doing, and worried about what she was playing, and where she was buying tracks. Dad, on the other hand, found a strategy and stuck with it, as soon as he figured out the game rules. It was just kind of cool. I love when I get to share my passions with my parents, and show them I’m not COMPLETELY crazy.

In the end, though, neither of them won. They didn’t lose by too much, though! Jonathan beat me by exactly 10 points, and got the Longest Train. I almost had him! Damn. But still, it was a great little family game… thing. I’m sure I’ll keep trying to make it happen in the future. That’s just how I roll.

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!

A thread on Talking Time made me think about what my games of the year are. Surprisingly, I managed to make a list, and I’m actually pretty happy with it. So here it is, cross-posted, with some more comments.

And now, here are my top 10 games of 2009.

10) The Path: Not really a game as much as an Art thing, but it certainly got me thinking more than any other game this year. So much that I was inspired to write a pseudo-paper on it, just because it stuck in my mind. I really need to get around to playing Fatale.

9) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: This game really disappointed me. After how awesome the first game’s single player was, I admit I was expecting a lot. It left me down. I never would have guessed I would have ranked it so low. Still, I’ve had a lot of fun with multiplayer, both with my friends and alone. It’s still pretty solid stuff. Just not super-great, game-changing stuff.

8) Klonoa: I know it’s a remake, but dammit, I love Klonoa, and I loved playing through it another time on the Wii.

7) Left 4 Dead 2: It’s more Left 4 Dead, and it’s great. I’m honestly surprised that it isn’t higher on this list, but I just haven’t been playing it too much. I mean, it’s not that it’s not quality? But the focus of me and my friends has been elsewhere. I’m sure I’ll get back into it a bit more sometime soon. Doesn’t make it any less fun, though.

6) Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story: Like most Mario and Luigi games, it suffered from a last boss with too much HP, so I didn’t technically beat it. But I enjoyed the ride getting there. More Bowser is awesome. I heart Bowser in these RPGs, and his battles were surprisingly fairly different from that of the Bros. I liked it muchly.

5) Word Ace: I hate poker, but I love word games. Somehow, combining Texas Hold ’em with Scrabble basically created crack for me for awhile. It is just so, so much fun. I wish there were a desktop app, instead of just an iPhone and Pre app, so I could play it on my computer way, way too much.

4) Borderlands: A friend of mine just randomly bought me a copy of this on Steam so I could play with him, and man, it is just so well put together. It brings everything I love about playing RPGs co-op, but it puts it in a shooter scenario where there’s always action and it doesn’t get boring. I am totally going to buy a second copy of this on 360 next year to play with a completely different group of friends, and I’m probably going to buy some of the DLC on PC.

3) Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II: I literally bought a new gaming PC to play this game, and it completely delivered in every way. It mixes RTS with RPG so well that it rekindled my long-ended love of RTS, at least for a little while. But seriously, the single player in this game is completely fantastic, and I cannot wait until the expansion comes out next year. I didn’t much care for the multiplayer, though. I’m sure someone would get a kick out of it. I liked getting to paint my units? But the single player package is more than enough on its own. If you have a PC that can play it, you really should.

2) Beatles: Rock Band: This game has created some of my favorite gaming moments of the year. Standing for an hour, learning harmonies with my friends, and mastering singing while playing Guitar has been just so much fun. Granted, it helps that my friends love the Beatles, so they’re more willing to play this than normal Rock Band. But man, as far as games with friends go, this is, by far, the game of the year.

1) Red Faction: Guerrilla: This is probably the best open world game I’ve ever played. Granted, I only really got into playing such games after Crackdown surprised me and warmed my heart, but man, this game was excellent the entire way through, and came out of nowhere. I love the freedom felt by being able to smash every single thing. Great stuff. Add to that the nights me and my friends spent having a blast with Wrecking Crew, and you have a pretty solid choice for my game of the year, I think.

Notably Missing is Dragon Age, which I haven’t gotten a chance to play yet, but which I bet will deserve a pretty high spot when I finally get around to it. I just didn’t want to dig into a huge RPG while I was still so busy with school and shit.
Additionally noticeably missing is Plants vs Zombies. Maybe that should have been up there! But I’m pretty happy with the list. I could fiddle with it forever, but it’s probably best just to leave it be. Still, Plants vs Zombies is awesome, and you should play it.

Anyway, there’s my picks. Let me know what you think, hm?

Merry Christmas!

I always love Christmas. I don’t know. Few things make me more sentimental, and feel closer to my family, than looking at our Christmas tree. All kinds of memories. All kinds of nice things. All kinds of stuff that is just… perfect. Christmas is just a perfect time of year. I can’t remember ever having a “bad” Christmas. Perhaps slightly disappointing at times. The year I did not get Secret of Mana kind of disappointed me a little. Perhaps unfortunate. I can remember one or two Christmases where I was completely sick and on my ass. But bad? No. I have no real bad memories of Christmas. It’s just such a wonderful time. I feel so connected. It’s awesome.

I’m glad I feel that way. I’m glad I can be close to my family during this time of year. And I hope you can feel that closeness to me, and me to you, as well (because, again, let’s face it, if you’re reading this blog, chances are, you’re someone who I would consider part of my family: those super-close friends of mine who I love).

I love Christmas, and I love you all. I hope you have a great day. Get a good haul, but enjoy yourself, and that closeness, too. That’s what’s really important. That sounds lame, I know, but it’s just… so very true.

I got my Festivus Exchange Gift! A few days ago, really. It was pretty awesome. I wrote up the haul in the appropriate thread on Talking Time, of course. You can check it out here, if you’d like. Queen Possum was awesome. Perhaps more awesome than I was, in my gift-giving, though I’ve promised myself not to worry about it. However, in this post, I mostly just want to talk about one thing, and that is this hat, what I consider the centerpiece of the whole deal.

It has just kind of made me so happy and so sad at the same time.

Not that I think the gift was a bad thing, oh goodness, far, far, far from it. I look at such things online all the time, and think about buying them. I look with sort of jealous eyes at the occasional person in Kohl’s wearing a cat ear hat. I want to be cute, and wear cute animal hats. Embrace my furry side and grin, and look cute… cutecutecute… and this is pretty well completely cute. Not to mention someone made this thing by hand, for me specifically. It is perfectly fitted to my head. I. Love. It.

But during the process of making that post, I realized I needed to take a picture of me wearing it, to show off how well it fits. But I couldn’t take a picture of myself. I couldn’t wear the hat in public. I’m not that way. Yet.
That kind of spiraled me out of control for an evening.

I am closer than I have ever been to transitioning. I have an appointment with an actual doctor who specializes in gender identity on the 28th. Some number of months after that, after she’s all down with what’s up with me, I can start hormones and stuff. I’m not rich, but every time I evaluate this stuff, I am, for probably the first time in my life, in a good enough financial situation to do this. I can do this. I should be happy.

But being so close just brings what I can’t have yet into sharper focus. I think I’ve been more moody and depressed about these issues than I have been in a long while recently. And that’s likely almost completely because I have finally taken some action, and by doing so, brought all those issues and problems I buried deep, deep inside me to survive these years where I couldn’t due to my stupid parents and money and my own stupid holdups. They’re coming back. It’ll be nice to have someone to talk about them with, I suppose. But it is harder. It’s annoying.

I dunno. I’m on my way, though. Soon I’ll be able to wear that Rainbow bunny hat, perhaps. Soon things will start getting fixed. I know they will.

Yeah… they will. They have to.

CHECKLIST GO.
Mom: Check!
Dad: Check!
Jonathan: Check!
Grandpa: Check!
Grandma: Check!
Shauna: Check!
Brer: Checked a long while ago.
Friend Gift Exchange Victim: Check!
Kale: Check and sent out!
Festivus Gift Exchange Victim: Check and sent out!

That’s right! I win at Chrissymas Shopping! I am the best! And technically I was done much earlier in the week than this, so I was like… double the best! Maybe even triple!
Hopefully I got everyone something good. I try. I’m pretty happy with most of what I bought. There are a couple risks in there, though they are educated risks. Of course, we’ll have to wait until the Christingmas to see how those play out. Still, it’s nice to be prepared and not feel like I am all desperate to find something. Even with all my work, I managed to get all the shopping done! And, honestly, a lot of that was due to Amazon, with Prime shipping. Thanks, Amazon! I am sure as hell renewing my Prime membership.

But yeah, shit, Christmas is even starting tonight, as we’re doing a little Christmasing with Shauna before she leaves. Craziness. It’s so close. Here we go.

Hey, my first semester of teaching is over as of 2 PM today.

Yay for me?

Seriously, though, I think this semester went almost shockingly well. My class did not necessarily do great. I gave out, what, at least five F’s? But those were mostly to people who decided it was not in their best interest to show up and turn in papers, so I have little remorse for them. I managed to avoid completely falling apart or getting behind. I even forced myself to become a morning person, and worked every morning on all my shit.

What’s better, my final was pretty good for my ego. I swear it wasn’t actually my intent when I assigned it. I had to give some sort of final, and it just seemed easiest to assign a little no-stress essay. “How have I changed as a writer this semester?” was the topic. And yet, a vast majority of the essays ended up being about what the class did well and what it did badly. I had a few people who were kind of down on it. One in particular said the whole class was confusing and that they’re just going to go back to “writing like they did in high school.” But the vast majority cited various activities that I thought had fallen completely and utterly flat as being extremely useful. Apparently my whole class is just too shy to talk in class, but at least they’re getting a little out of it. Or at least they know how to flatter me really well, not that it affected their grades any.

Anyway, yeah, I am just really happy with how the semester went. Happy with all this teaching stuff. I feel legit and important, and I feel like I have my life together. Well, sort of, anyway. That’s a good feeling. Possibly even worth all the running myself ragged I was doing, hm?

Let me tell you, though, I am very much looking forward to the ability to sleep in and not have to do any of that stuff for awhile. I’m sure Christmas break won’t feel like near enough. I’ll try though, dammit. I’ll try.