Klepto-Glasses

So, I'm sitting here with about a half an hour left to post a blog entry because I didn't realize I'd be out until 11PM tonight. Basically, tonight was just a whirlwind of crazy, sketch parks, and me committing minor felonies (except not) with a bunch of my high school friends.

First, we attempted to eat at Olive Garden, except the one near my house is ridiculously busy all the time, even on Monday nights, so it was a 2 hour wait. Not feeling the need to wait until 9PM to get food, we drove over to the Old Spaghetti Factory. Now, when you order an Italian soda there, you get to keep the glass, and this is the entire reason why I ordered it. My friends, however, did not realize this, so when they saw me putting the glass into my bag they thought I was stealing it. Because I make a habit of stealing kitchenware from restaurants I go to.

Then we went to a few different sketchy parks in the dark, including a private one where we were definitely trespassing(sort of). So, in conclusion, I was able to put both petty theft and trespassing on my list of crimes committed today. Except, not.

As I'm really tired from running 4.5 miles this morning (Woot!) I'm going to go to bed so I can get up and do that again tomorrow morning.

As a side note, I'm a little worried that I'm going to run out of things to blog about, so are there any suggestions out there on what you think I should write about?

Bleh

Today was just one of those off days. I can't say that is was a bad day, but just that something felt off the entire day. Plus, you know that feeling you get right before your foot goes to sleep and you know that if you sit there too much longer that you're going to get those tingly needles once you move your feet? Yeah, I felt that way like every where today. I'm not sure if my circulation just sucks, or what. Anyway, that is why this blog post is probably going to be short, and feel really weird and just... off.

And these pictures pretty much describe my feelings on today. Like, perfectly.

I straightened my hair again today,

because

I woke up 20 minutes earlier

than I needed to. And

then, because I am super classy,

I took webcam pictures of it in my

PJs.

That was definitely just a random sentence I wrote down, and then due to accidentally formatting things weird when inserting the pictures, it's almost a poem. Okay, not even almost. It's kind of like it might have been a poem, but then it got hit by a car and is now freaking out little kids with their parents having to assure them that "it's only sleeping" to avoid the screaming.

So I was watching some science-y sort of channel of these guys diving into some sea somewhere looking for hammerhead sharks. Apparently the diver just felt so sure that the sharks were going to be there, but then it turned out that like 90% of the sharks had been fished out of that sea so they could use the fins to cure cancer. Then, they decide that during what looks to be an impending storm, they should dive into the water to look at these squid that have taken over at the top predator since the sharks are all gone. As the divers are getting ready, they describe how the squid have an affinity for pulling down divers to the DEPTHS OF THE SEA. Or something like that. This is extreme marine biology, kids.

See? This whole thing has been odd and disjointed. I'm going to go before I start talking about 10-year-old Hitler again.

Oops.

The Conversations I Get into with my Brother (Part 2)

As I was working on last night's blog post, my brother and I got into one of our usual conversation topics: how close I am to his definition of a hardcore gamer. Most of the time during these conversations I feel like it's easier to achieve self actualization than for him to consider you a hardcore gamer, so I asked him to explain his hierarchy of gamers. After he finished explaining, I told him I would turn it into a blog post complete with a paint diagram.

You can sort of read it in its smaller form, but if you click on it you can see it a bit larger. If you can't tell, he decided to explain his views in the form of an analogy, comparing the levels of gamer to levels/layers/whatever of the Earth.

Alright, here we go. We start in the inner core of the Earth, because that's how Nathan explained it to me. Here you have hardcore gamers. As the inner core of the Earth is solid, it is "hard"core. Yeah, I'm not making this up. Apparently to achieve this level of awesome you have to have almost all of the following characteristics: be interested in and enjoy playing nearly every type of video game genre out there, be good at most of those genres, have completed at least one 24 hour gaming session, and own an Xbox 360. You might get somewhere if you own a PS3 instead of an Xbox, but knowing Nathan he might not let it slide if you don't own a console that can play Halo. If you own both a PS3 and an Xbox you're golden. He does, however, allow for hardcore Wii gamers, but he didn't say where handheld console lovers fall into this category. Sad face for my DS lite :(

Next is the outer core layer, where I apparently have moved up to recently (I guess before I was in the mantle? He says my Assassin's Creed obsession is to "thank" for this graduation, but I feel like his placement of people is slightly arbitrary). These are the "core" gamers. You are still in the core, but you are in the fluid outer core so you are not hardcore. What exactly denies you entrance into the inner core? I'm not sure. Maybe if you suck at FPS (like I mostly do) or don't like some genre of video game. Nathan's reason for baring me from the inner core is that I don't like those RTS games, like Starcraft 2 and Halo Wars. I mean, I do like Starcraft 2, but that's about it. I find most of them boring due to the waiting for units to be trained or for them to gather resources. I feel like this layer is also the same thing as when teacher's give you an A- on something, and I've always viewed the A- as an unnecessary grade.

The next layer out is the mantle. Here, you have average gamers. Nathan says these are the people who only like one type of genre or one type of franchise. For example if I played a lot of Mass Effect or Assassin's Creed, but not much beyond that. I feel like he's placed me here forever because when we were kids I ALWAYS beat him at Super Smash Bros. Kirby FTW.

The crust is for casual gamers. Here lies the Lego Star Wars/Mario Party/general party game lovers. So, if you only really play the occasional Pokemon game or game at your friend's house this is where you go. He has nothing against casual gamers. I mean, casual gamers get water and plant life and things. They get the whole Earth to explore instead of being inside a cave playing video games all day.

Casual Wii gamers get their very own section; he launched them to the moon. Hey, I still maintain that the moon is cool. The moon gets Kirby's Epic Yarn.

Lastly, he's exiled the most casual of wii gamers to some asteroid that was going to destroy the Earth. I suppose the idea behind this is that casual gaming is leading to the downfall of core gamers, and caused Microsoft to come out with Kinectimals* and Kinect Adventures!. Which, honestly, was not as cool as I was hoping Kinect (formerly called Project Natal) would be. I've added my own classification for this one as well: people who give their money to facebook games. Ridiculous.

So there you have it. Nathan's classification of gamers. Where do you fit?

Currently Reading: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (also just ordered City of Ashes and City of Glass by Cassandra Clare)

Currently Playing: Star Ocean: The Last Hope by Square Enix and Tri-Ace

*Yeah, Kinectimals looks cute with that baby tiger named Skittles, but how stupid are you going to feel petting the air? I felt dumb speaking into the DS mic when I tried to play Nintendogs.

The Conversations I Get into with my Brother (Part 1!)

I talk about a lot of things with my brother. We talk about books, and we talk about video games. He also explains to me entire plots of Star Wars novels that I'm never going to read. Things like that.

On the way to VBS this morning we were both incredibly tired, and I was in an odd mood from having to deal with small children who were managing to stretch my pretty good amount of patience to its breaking point. Due to this, our conversation drifted to weirder areas than it normally does. We started talking about how despite the fact that kids can misbehave and be ridiculously hard to handle, I've yet to meet a kid that I would call a bad kid. I'm sure other's might call them bad, but I don't think kids can actually be bad. Then our conversation went something like this.

Nathan: So, what would you have done if you met 10-year-old Hitler?

Me: Was Hitler killing Jews at age ten?

Nathan: Yes, you watched him kill his first one.

Me: Honestly? I would be really freaked out at what his home life and what his parents were like. Actually, that's another thing. I would probably just go up to him and ask, "Now, where are your parents?" (said in a sort of stern voice emphasizing each word).

Yes, these are the things my brother and I talk about. I was going to explain in detail the other conversation we just had, but I feel like that deserves its own post. So look forward to that tomorrow! It will even have its own diagram.

And I apologize for the large amount political incorrectness of his post, but it was early this morning and this week has driven me a little crazy.

As a side note, according to wikipedia the whole "Hitler was part Jewish" thing is actually a myth (although it was generally believed until the 1990s). Apparently, Hitler's father was an illegitimate child of a woman who was working for a rich Jewish family, so it was guessed that someone in that family might have fathered Hitler's father. Except, no one can really prove one way or another. Hmmm. This kind of feels like the first time someone tells you that scientifically tomatoes aren't vegetables.

Being a Nerd

If you know me in any sort of capacity, be it solely online or in real life, I'm sure it did not take you long to come to the conclusion that I am definitely a nerd. Maybe if you only sat next to me in Chemistry in 11th grade you might not have realize that. No, that's a lie. I talked about video games with the guys next to me in that class. Maybe if you sat across the room from me in a class I never talked in. Then maybe in that case you would have missed the undeniable and nearly unmissable fact that I am a proud card carrying member of Geekdom and Nerdfighteria (By the way, that second one is real. Unfortunately, we don't carry cards but we definitely should).

I love both webcomics and comic book stores. I think the most peaceful place is in the back of used bookstore, hidden between ceiling high bookshelves crammed with books. I enjoyed the free response section of the AP Calculus BC exam. I think grinding is something you do in dungeons against monsters, not on the dance floor. My ideal guy is more likely able to pwn me in video games (which, despite my love of video games, isn't that hard) than able to bench press some impressive number. I'm offended when people mix up Star Wars and Star Trek. I can easily rank my favorite Star Trek captains (Janeway, Archer, Picard, Kirk, Sisko) although my favorite Star Trek series doesn't exactly correspond to the list of captains (Voyager, Original, Enterprise, Next Generation, DS9) (and to all you Star Trek fans aghast at my list, you try watching The Next Generation the first time for four days straight while you're throwing up and then see if that's a good memory). The list of science fiction shows I've watched is ridiculously long, and the average person hasn't heard of half of them (Babylon 5 anyone? Farscape?). I learned how to knit because I wanted to make my own Gryffindor scarf (because I've FINALLY decided that I'm a Gryffindor). And if you understood everything I mentioned in this paragraph you get +10 to INT. (If you read the entire paragraph, you get +5).

If you're still reading this, I've probably trained you to be impervious to ridiculous amounts of nerd lingo, you were already a nerd when I met you, or I turned you into a nerd. Unfortunately for you, I'm not exactly sure what my point is in this post beyond just trying to make a post for BEDA.

If anything, this post was spurned on by a conversation I was having with Chelsea earlier: my place in Geekdom is in danger until I have played Final Fantasy 7 (or really any Final Fantasy title). It's like my nerd blind spot. I realize Final Fantasy can be mainstream nerd at times (if there is such a thing) but still. One day I will find it, play it, and it will be awesome. Or I will complain about it because it's an original Playstation game. One of the two.

Onigiri!

Today after a much easier day at VBS, I came home and my mom and I decided that it was high time to break in the new rice cooker she bought. Due to the fact it arrived on Saturday (right before VBS) no one has felt a desire to cook anything more complicated than pasta or take-out food. I've been trying to eat a little healthier this summer, so in an attempt to do so I ate grapes while we figured out the rice cooker. As a side note, this rice cooker electronically "sang" Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when we started it. Oh Japan and the things you do.

An hour later when the rice was done, I felt that just putting the rice in a bowl to eat it is a little boring (although still delicious), so I made some onigiri (rice balls).

My onigiri making station! Except I already made them all. The bowl on the far left had rice in it and he stuff in the little canister on the right is some wasabi furikake I bought ages ago that I've been wanting to try.

Yay onigiri! And then after my lunch I did a walk/jog/run thing for four miles. Which was awesome, and hopefully as I go through blogging every day I can also manage to exercise everyday. I don't really feel like making it an official part of my blog, but it's definitely a goal that's there.

On Puppy Love

So I was all ready to make today's blog about all of the ridiculous, weird, and stressful things that happened today. I had half a blog post written up in my head about how I was sick of being me, and tired of hitting my head up against the wall while doing things I thought I was good at. I did get to see a friend I hadn't seen in a very long time for about an hour today. However, my day was mostly a mix of that feeling you get when you hit all the red lights when you're really late, and when your computer crashes right before you finish a project/essay and you have no back-up.

But then I decided to ignore the universe and a large portion of the people in it by running on the treadmill until my feet couldn't quite run anymore while reading Harry Potter and listening to Superchick songs. While this definitely helped, I was still kind of angry at myself and the things that happened today, so I sat out on the deck in my backyard under a pretty blue sky in the shade while my dog switched between running around me, licking my face, and sitting down as close to me as she possibly could.

I really don't understand people who don't like animals because my dog honestly made everything better.

Because this post isn't sappy enough as it is, here's a picture with both a puppy and a little kid (even though I think half the people that read this blog have already seen this in some form or another).

That's me right after turning nine, with my dog pretty soon after we got her. Complete with an old Sunday School craft colored by a meticulous eight-year-old who didn't like coloring outside the lines (but couldn't quite stay inside them).

Hopefully I will figure out a way to make tomorrow's BEDA post more fun than the first three. Until then, farewell internet!