Gūn's Scizor WINNER!

Gūn's Scizor WINNER!

I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON


(Real post tomorrow)


-David

5 Months

It's been wonderful having Emily back in town. I've spent just about all of my time over at her house! :D

We saw Inception and Rocky Horror on Saturday, we've played a lot of Apples to Apples (We've tied both games. :3 ), and it's just been great having her back. I've missed her so much. She gets her wisdom teeth today. :/

I remember getting mine out. It wasn't that bad, but it was definitely not the best experience. I hope things go well. She's actually on her way to the dentist right now.
What a great way to spend our 5-month anniversary, eh?

Also, I have some news on the Nuzlocke front.
I beat Whitney without any of my Pokemon dying! :D It was a tough fight, but I managed to pull through. :3
...But then FUCK YEAH got killed by an unlucky Critical Hit on our way up to Ecruteak City. ;____;
Emily had to give me a hug, I was so sad. :'( This is my first Pokemon that's died since Sprout Tower, and the first one I've been really attached to! To make things worse, he was only a level or two away from evolving. :/

My team now is this:

Combo, the Slowpoke, level 10
Shandi, the Sandslash, level 22
Georgia, the Geodude, level 18
Togebrii, the Togepi, level 17
Isabella, the Quilava, level 19
Zippity, the Flaafy, level 17.

I also have a Metapod, Rattata, Nidoran (F), Sunkern, Sudowoodo, and the Stantler that killed FUCK YEAH in my box, too, all usable.
Well, I'm in Ecruteak City now, and I'll probably be training a bit to get my whole team as close to level 20 as possible before the gym fight. Without FUCK YEAH, this will be a hard gym. :/


-David

If life gives you Nuzlocke...

Okay, busy weekend is over. All of my awesome family has left, things have slowly returned to normal. :3

I sorted out some band issues with the school yesterday. Apparently, I forgot to tell them I planned to be in band. So I had to call them yesterday. Ooops!

But you guys don't care about that. You guys just care about my Heart Gold run, don't you? DON'T YOU?!
Well, I'm not one to disappoint. I made it through Union Cave and into Azalea. I didn't fight any wild Pokemon on Route 33 or in Slowpoke Well (In case I want to come back later, I guess), I took down Team Rocket and my Rival (God, Silver had much higher levels than me! D:), and managed to do it all without losing anybody.

My team right now:

Shandi (The Sandshrew), level 12
Zippity (The Flaafy), level 15
Isabella (The Quilava), level 15
FUCK YEAH (The Zubat), level 13
Georgia (The Geodude), level 13
Togebrii (The Togepi), level 13

I'm in the Gym right now. Hopefully I can take them down easily enough. I plan on using mostly Georgia and Isabella, I think. Shandi also knows Rock Tomb, which will help.

Also, after Togebrii hatched, I was walking back to New Bark Town to show it to Elm. As I ventured through the grass, I found a shiny Sentret. I broke the rules of my run momentarily to catch it. I don't plan on using it, it just went right into the Box. But still... fuck yeah, dudes. I named it Atton. My logic: Sentret sounds kind of like Sentinel. Sentinel made me think of Jedi Sentinels (one of the three classes of Jedi) and that made me think of Atton Rand, who you can turn into a Sentinel in KotOR2. So yeah. Complicated names! :D


Well, Emily comes home in just two more days. God, I'm so excited. ^.^
And, in about an hour, I'm going to lunch with Sam. Good times.

-David

Welcome home, son.

It is 4:15 and I am still awake.

Playing Pokemon, no less. I haven't been playing too much, unfortunately. But I've made some progress, at least. An update: Edgar died to a Crit in Sprout Tower. :'( I trained a bit, picked up the Event Jirachi (It's in the PC, don't really feel like using it), eventually went to the gym. Almost lost FUCK YEAH to a Fury Attack, but he survived. :3

Solo'd Falkner with Georgia, just spammed Rock Throw. Lulz, easy as hell. I got the Togepi egg, and luckily for me, managed to get a MAREEP, so I am EXCITED. I named it Zippity. So my team, as of right now, is as follows:

Isabella, level 14
Georgia, level 13
FUCK YEAH, level 10
Zippity, level 8
Egg


Not bad. On my way to Union Cave now!



Also, my grandmother's surprise party was today. I had literally all of my family on my mother's side here. It was ridiculous, I love my family so so much. Not going into details right now, so fuck off. :3

I'm going to bed. Might post tomorrow.

-David

Nuzlocke

So, it's been a while since I've blogged. But that's mostly because there hasn't been anything worth blogging about. I don't think you'd want twelve posts saying that I woke up, played Left 4 Dead 2, ate a sandwich, played more Left 4 Dead 2, ate dinner, played more L4D2, and went to bed. Because that's basically what I've been doing.

Of course, that's extremely oversimplified, but the point still stands.

Regardless, I'm posting now because I actually have something to post about!

Today is my Grandmother's 80th birthday! I'm going to run by her house later today to drop off a card for her and talk for a bit. :3
Her party's on Saturday, and I can't wait.


In the next few days, I have a lot of stuff to do. I need to pick up my room for when Matt (My cousin) comes over, clean out my car, mow the lawn (again), edge, lay some more bricks in the back yard, laundry, school stuff... Is that it? I'm sure there's more. Oh well, I'm sure my mother will remind me that I'm being lazy and give me more stuff to do.


On an unrelated note, I'm starting my Nuzlocke run in Pokemon Heart Gold. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's essentially a challenge run. You can only catch the first Pokemon you find in each area, and once a Pokemon faints, you have to release it. There are more rules if you want to make it more challenging, but I'm just going by the basic framework.




I picked Cyndaquil for my starter (Named her Isabella!) and eventually caught a female Geodude (Named Georgia) who KICKS ASS, a female Pidgey (I nicknamed Cherry. :3 It died. ;__; ), a female Zubat, aptly named FUCK YEAH, and I just caught my first male pokemon, a Rattata named Edgar. I'm in Sprout Tower right now, gonna challenge the gym pretty soon.

I think that's everything? I'll be blogging more often about my run and my Grandma's party soon, so... expect more posts. Woo?


-David

Oh god oh god oh god

Nintendo announced the new Pokemon games: Pokemon Black and Pokemon White.



http://www.pokemon.co.jp/bw/index.html



...I will have a real post later today. But this is... Awesome.

We're falling right into the dénouement...

Ugh, yesterday was terrible.

Class was fine, I guess. Theory was Theory, and I just played Pokemon in Anthropology.
And I WOULD have been able to leave school and head home around 11:00 in the morning, but noooooo I had to go to a required Master Class at 3:45. So I had to kill time for four hours. I couldn't practice, either, because all the practice rooms were occupied by Horn students. Blech.

And then, when I finally got on the road at 5:30, I got rear-ended in Mobile. My trunk is fucked up now, which is JUST what I needed. Some idiot sixteen year old girl was too busy staring at her boyfriend to realise that there was a red light. And of course, it took a good hour before the police actually showed up. I didn't get home until after eight, ughhh.

So I've spent most of the morning dealing with insurance stuff. Blech.


But at least the rest of last night was pretty fun! After a quick dinner at home, I went to Chis's house and played COD MW2 with Chis and Cleveland until about 2 in the morning. It was a pretty lulzy experience. :)


Oh, and now it's time for your Heart Gold Update!
I'm in Blackthorne City, but I haven't challenged the gym yet. I've been training and messing around with the Pokeathelon a lot, so eh.
But my team:
Lvl 41 Feraligatr
Lvl 40 Espeon
Lvl 40 Scizor
Lvl 38 Pupitar
Lvl 37 Dunsparce

And then some HM slaves that I occasionally swap in and out of my team. Oh, but I've come in first in every event in the Pokeathelon (Except Pennant Grab, fuck that one) and I've won every category a few times. It's a pretty addicting minigame, much better than contests. I really hope they expand upon it and include it in other games.



Well, tonight is Prom. I've been looking forward to this for the past month, and I am so excited. Like, you don't even know. I find it funny that in High School, I couldn't care any less about Prom (I didn't even go senior year) but now it's like the highlight of my month. Funny how that works. :P
I picked up a gorgeous corsage for Emily this morning. I think it'll look great with her dress and I'm sure she'll like it too. :3

I'm not quite sure on the details beforehand, but I know we'll be having dinner at the Yacht Club at 6:30. And then we're going to the dance after that, so woo. I'm really out of the loop with all the planning, haha. Oh well. It'll still be a blast.
And my mum's letting me drive her Civic, because my car is a piece of crap (Even worse now). I need to vacuum it soon, after I finish this blag post and after I finish filling out this INSURANCE PAPERWORK GAH.


Well, I'm fairly certain that's all for now. I hope all of you have a great weekend! I'll post some pictures tomorrow, methinks. :)


-David

I return victorious!

So, I am back at school now.

It's so nice to be back in my crappy dorm room instead of in nice hotels and with host families. Haha.
Actually, I just care about INTERNET and NOT SPENDING HALF OF MY DAY IN A CAR.

But here, let me sum up the highlights of the past few days:

Heart Gold: I've just beat Team Rocket at the Goldenrod Radio Tower. I haven't been playing too much, really- Tackitt is much farther than I am. But my team is still higher-leveled. I find that amusing.

My team is Feraligatr (Nicknamed "Pan"), Dunsparce, Scizor, Espeon, Farfetch'd, Red Gyarados (HM Slave). Pretty badass.


Eastern Trombone Workshop: Well, it was pretty okay as a whole. I spent most of my time with Tackitt, playing Pokemon. xD
There were some amazing trombonists there, though. I am STILL in awe of some of them. It was great.

Our performance was a disaster, unfortunately. Basically everything that could have gone wrong did. Oh well, what's done is done. I had fun on the trip and I enjoyed my time at the ETW. Isn't that the point?


Oh man, I have so many stories to tell. I don't think I can tell them all. D:
Let's see... We left Adam Johnson on the Army Base, my bookbag got ran over, my slide fell off on stage, Eddie "pulled a Byron," I mooned Eddie on the drive back, Andrew has the bladder of a twelve-year old girl, terrorists, Adam is a whiny little bitch... uh... I'm sure there's more, but I'm a bit tired. It's been a long day.


I got back and read the letters that Emily mailed me while I was away. It really made me glad to be back, and I feel so lucky that someone as amazing as her actually likes me. :3
This weekend is Prom, and I am looking forward to it more that pretty much anything else. This week needs to hurry up. <3


Anyway, I think that's it. Excuse me, I'm gonna go pass out.

Blah blah blah trip.

Quick post.

Heart Gold is awesome. Tackitt and I have been playing (We each got a copy) and it is sweeeet. My team right now is Croconaw and Dunsparce HELL YEAH.

Also, my phone died and my charger broke. :(

We were in Pittsburgh yesterday, and I've deided I don't like Pittsburgh. I did like Duquesne University, though.
We spent today at Penn State, and that was a neat school, too. Tomorrow we're going to Altoona, PA. Woooo.

Anyway, that's about it. Later!



-David

I'm alive!

Oh hai there.

I'm currently laying in a bed at a host family's house in Greensburg, PA right now, blagging on my DS. I have internet here, so I figured I'd let you all know that I'm alive. :3

It's been a great trip so far. Drove about twelve hours on Friday, stayed in a really fancy hotel. My room consisted of the four Freshman boys and Melissa, the only girl in the trombone choir. Poor her, haha. :p
But we all had fun.

I can sum up the next two days in a mere two words: Ohio sucks.

Seriously, worst state EVAR. But now that we're in Pennsylvania (I just know I spelled that wrong), it's all good.

Also, my internal clock is ALL MESSED UP. We lost an hour switching to Eastern Time, and then another for Daylight Savings. Blech.


Pokémon Heart Gold came out today. I want it. To get me in the mood, I've picked Platinum up again. Trained my Giratina, my Shaymin, and an Anorith I found, haha. :p


I think that's about it. I hope all of you are doing fine. :)
Don't worry about me!





-David

More vidja games

Other vidja games coming out this month that I want:

Dragon Age Origins: Awakenings - $40




Pokemon: Heart Gold - $35 (Already paid a $10 for it)




Left 4 Dead 2 DLC: "The Passing" - cost unknown





And I'll also be needing a Harddrive for my 360, as well as the other Dragon Age DLC. Blah, luckily no other good games come out for a few months (As far as I know, at least) so I'll have plenty of time to get these bad boys. :P

-David

Oh God... Muscle March

Not much has been going on these past few days that's been worth blagging about, so pardon my lack of updates.

So yeah, some things that are coming up: This weekend is going to be great. Saturday morning/early afternoon, I'm going to go see the new Alice in Wonderland with Kathy and a few other people. It's going to be pretty sweet, I think! And that evening I'm going to be spending some time with Emily. :3
Saturday's gonna be fun.

Then Sunday is Colin Byrne's Eagle Scout ceremony, so I'm going to that. And then I have midterms next week (Bleh) and then it's SPRING BREAK!

But Spring Break is going to be eh because I'm going to be spending the whole break with the Trombone Choir on a trip up to Washington DC. I mean, it's not that bad (I'm kind of excited) but there are other things I'd rather be doing, you know? Oh well!

And then I'm going to be going to Fairhope's Prom at the end of the month. That should be exciting. Hopefully it won't be lame but I can manage to have fun if it is.

"If it is" is a fun phrase. Three two letter words starting with 'i'? Ooooh, I could make it "If it is in" and that would make it even MORE awesome! I think that's about as good as it can get? Unless I'm allowed to repeat words, making the sentence "If it is in it" and thereby COMPLETING THE CIRCLE OF AWESOMENESS

...An odd tangent to go off on. I apologise. But yeah, so all of that is happening this month(!), so it's going to be pretty hectic.

But, stress doesn't worry me, because I just bought the best game ever. It's called "Muscle March."



Just... wow. It's amazing. Words can't describe how much fun it is. Seriously. And for just $5? (I already had $9 credit left in my Nintendo account, so I didn't even have to spend any money [right now] to buy it!) Great deal. It's colourful, upbeat, quirky, and fast-paced. Fun stuff.

But yeah, that's about it. :3


-David

They're all hookers when they're dead!

I am in Fairhope for the weekend! And I got my weekend started off RIGHT.

I went to Theory this morning at 10:00. We got our tests back (I made a 91) and then went on a FIELD TRIP!
But the field trip was boring as hell- we got to sit in on a MUSIC THEORY CONVENTION. It's about as exciting as thirty Theorists sitting in a room talking can be, unfortunately. But there was a refreshments table, so it was worth it! And being bored outside of class is much better than being bored in class, anyway.

After that, I went back to my room and threw all my stuff together. Packed it all up, got in my car, and hit the road around 11:30. Made it back to Fairhope just after 1:00 and made a beeline to the Coffee Loft. I got myself an Iced Coffee and a Hummus Bagel (So good) and got back to work on Lucidity for a bit. Tom and some girl showed up and hung out with me while I worked, and then after about two hours, I finished! So I invited people to come, and LOTS OF PEOPLE CAME.

Within almost no time, there was Macey and Hannah and Lowell and Tom and Cleveland and Wally and Dane and Taylor and Houston a few other people I don't know/don't like. :D
It was a real party.

After spending a good five hours at the Coffee Loft with people, we ("We" being me, Hannah, Kathy, and Wally) went over to my house and played some Left 4 Dead 2 all evening. Lulz were had when I stole Sarah's Coke and more lulz were had when Wally and I talked to Bulger over LIVE. They all ended up leaving around 11:00.

Overall, it's been a GREAT Friday. I can't wait to see how the rest of the weekend turns out. I'm hoping... <3


-David

Pokémon

So, they've confirmed that a fifth generation of Pokémon games are on the way, and have posted pictures of the first Pokémon from Gen V:



That's Zorua on the left, which evolves to Zoroark on the right.

First of all, I think that's pretty badass. On February 7th, they showed a silhouette of Zoroark (I love this name, by the way- it's right on par with some of the genius names they usually have. More on this in a sec.) and I managed to accurately predict that it would be a Fox and that it would be Dark type.
Which is where the name comes from. "Zorro" is Spanish for fox, and the "ark" at the end of his name likely comes from the word "Dark." Thus, he's a dark fox. Fairly creative, I'm impressed. Although, the creators of Pokémon don't get nearly as much credit as they deserve.


Which brings me to my next point: the social stigma of teenagers (and older) playing Pokémon games, when they're clearly marketed to kids. I don't know how many times I've gotten a "Aren't you a bit old to play Pokémon?" or "Yeah, I played Pokémon when I was a kid, but I play games for my age group now. I've grown up." comment from someone, and I find it amazing how incredibly stupid these comments are.

As a comparison, I'll use Disney.


As you can see, pretty much anything you can say about Disney applies to Pokémon.

I mean, the Pokémon games have the exterior of friendship and love, but if you look past that godawful message and ignore the stupid (lack of a) plot, Pokémon is one of the most extensive and in-depth competitive RPGs in existence.

I link you to sites such as Smogon, The Libelldra Forge, and Shoddy Battle as examples of how large the competitive Pokémon community is. The mechanics of the games are extremely complex and the metagame is constantly changing. It's a game of prediction and skill, kind of like chess but more difficult. Like Disney, if you look past the kiddy façade, there is a ton of stuff made just for older gamers.

And then you have the purists, who believe that the designs for the newer Pokémon are getting more and more lazy and uninspired. I can't help but to disagree there as well- the original 151 have more lazy, lackluster, and uninspired Pokémon than any other generation. I'll give you a sample of a debate I was in earlier today:

In each newer generation of pokemon, the pokemon are always lamer and less-creative than the previous generation. so i'm kind of scared to see what they come up with this time considering they started to make pokemon out of inanimate objects in the 4th generation.

To which I replied

That simply isn't true.

For one, they've had Pokemon based off of inanimate objects in 1st Gen (Voltorb, Electrode, Magnemite, Magneton, Grimer, Muk, Porygon) and the first gen was extremely uninspired and lazy (Seel/Dewgong and Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff are some of the most uninspired Pokemon I've seen; Diglett -> Dugtrio is lazy, along with Magnemite -> Magneton, Grimer -> Muk, Voltorb -> Electrode, Poliwag -> Poliwhirl -> Poliwrath are all examples of laziness in designing evolutions for the original Pokemon.)

Also, the simplistic nature of the first gen is something that simply doesn't exist in a natural setting- the newer Pokemon are much more detailed and defined.... See more

And that's just in the first gen. There are good and bad Pokemon in each Gen, but if you look at it objectively, you have to see that the first gen was the worst. Each subsequent game improves the gameplay mechanics and the concepts. Take off the nostalgia goggles.

And lastly, the Pokemon they've revealed for Gen V so far are extremely badass: http://www.serebii.net/generation5/

If you're going to make a point (Newer pokemon are inferior to older Pokemon) at least cite some examples. :3

(If you'd like some examples as to the aesthetics of the Pokémon in each generation, you can look here for the sprites of all 493 Pokemon, divided by generation)

Arguing Pokémon like it's srs bsns. Awwww yeah.

I really don't know where I'm going with this. I guess TL;DR is that if something is fun when you're a kid, don't limit yourself by societal standards. There's no reason you're ever "too old" for something that you love, and if other people tell you that you are, they're idiots. You can never be too old for fun.

And that's why I still play Pokémon.


-David

It's curtains for you!

Lacy, gently wafting curtains...


I'm thinking of rewatching Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog this afternoon, so I'm listening to the music while I do my laundry. I was singing "Freeze Ray" aloud earlier, just because of the first line ("Laundry day, see you there, under things tumbling) and because the setting is in the laundromat. It's weird how the mind works, isn't it? Doing laundry makes me want to watch a movie, ha.

Anyway, this is going to be a fairly short post, as I haven't been up to anything exciting.

First things first: Brawl.

So, as I mentioned here a week or so back, I've started to talking to Crim, Argol, Suichi, Angie, and all of them again, and we're having a Brawl tourney sometime next month.
Well, I'm not exactly the best player at Brawl. I mean, I hardly ever shield, I have trouble dodging, and I rely too much on my smashes. -__-;
But nonetheless, I'm entering the tourney. So I'm going to need to be practising. I think I'm probably going to enter as Snake, since I seem to be the best with him.

To test my school's connection, though, I had a few matches with Angie last night. The connection was surprisingly good, no lag whatsoever. We played probably close to 20 matches, and she slaughtered me. ;____;
Seriously, I only won one match. (And even then, it was close!)

So.... yeah. I need practice.


And now, I must move my laundry from the washer to the drier. Joy!



-David

The colour of infinity inside an empty glass...

Whew. It's been a busy few days.

A few things to talk about tonight. First on my agenda will be school.
I have a relatively light courseload this semester (Only 13 hours ;__;),so I have a lot of free time to practice (Which I really need to get into the habit of doing) and to relax and play some video games. But more on this later.

My classes aren't too bad, really:
-Music Theory 102: MWF 10:00
How much I like it: 6/10
-Anthropology 101: MWF 11:00
How much I like it: 5/10
-Piano 201: MW 13:00
How much I like it: 8/10
-Trombone Choir: M 19:00
How much I like it: 8/10
-Aural Skills 102: TuTh 8:00
How much I like it: 9/10
-Trombone Lessons: Tu 10:00
How much I like it: 6/10
-Recital Class: Tu 11:00
How much I like it: 5/10
-Jazz Bones: Th 11:00
How much I like it: ?/10*

*I haven't had this one yet, so I can't judge


Anyway, those are all of my classes. Like I said, a fairly light load. Most of my teachers seem to be alright, so that's good.

You may have seen above that I said I've had more room for practising and playing video games. Which is true. Over the past few days, I've gotten back into Mario Kart, and I've been playing online for a while each night. I've mostly just played with Vaati or on random Worldwide VS Races, but it's been fun. Stuck at about 8500VR, though. >:|

I recently talked to Argol online again, and he gave me the link for a chat that has a lot of my old friends from when I was a member of the Semi-Pros. So, it's been nice talking to Crim and others again. :D

Also, voice chatting. I want. For some reason, I just got the urge to get into voice/video chatting again. Which means I'll need to pick up a webcam. Those are only like $20, right? >___>
Either way, I'm going to be getting one soon. I really don't know where the urge came from, but it'll be fun. :D
And I'll be able to talk to friends while I'm playing Mario Kart, instead of saying one or two sentences between races. Or use it to talk -during- races, even!

Sigh, I need to get my mind off of Mario Kart. Seriously.



And now, for something completely different.

There are a few things coming up. First and foremost, not this weekend, but the weekend AFTER is Trombone Day, which is kind of a big deal. And it's an even bigger deal for me, because I'll be getting my new Bass Trombone! :D
You don't know how excited I am.

Also, in a few more weeks, I'll be coming home again for Mardi Gras. I'll leave school after classes on the 12th, spend all of the 13th helping with and playing the the K.O.M.M. Parade down in Point Clear, and then I don't really know what I'll be doing on Valentine's Day. Rin won't be in town. Sigh.
And then I have the 15th and 16th off, too, so I'll be hanging out with friends and such. There are a few people I haven't seen in ages that I -really- hope I can spend time with.

And I think that's about it for tonight. I've been thinking a lot recently and I need to stop. Thinking about feelings. Blech. No good can come of this.
Goodnight, all.


-David

The Trials of Televisions and Technology: A True Tale

First of all, I want to congratulate myself on the awesome alliteration as the title for this post. <3

Secondly, let me actually tell you the story. It started off YEARS ago, when I first got my trusty Nintendo 64 gaming system for Christmas. I didn't want to have to play it in the LIVING ROOM where other FAMILY MEMBERS would often reside! No, this device was mine, and subsequently, I wanted to enjoy my gaming in the comfort and privacy of my own bedroom.

But alas, my parents denied my pleas for my own television. Even if I bought it with my own money, they wouldn't let me keep it in my room. "We want to see you sometimes," they would say with a laugh while I was dying on the inside.

Again and again the argument would be brought up, when I got my Gamecube, my Xbox and my Wii, but I was always met with the same opposition.
This changed slightly when we moved into our new house about a year ago- the family tv would be in MY room, so even though I didn't own a TV of my own, it was fairly irrelevant. I was happy for a while, free to game and never go downstairs except for dinner sometimes.

And then, school came. Specifically, college. I was going off away from home, and with no TV, I was forced to leave my games at home. I told myself bitterly that they would be "Something to look forward to" whenever I came home, but I could barely stomach my own lie.

I survived, though. I don't know how, but I did it. And then, over Christmas Break, something miraculous happened: I got a TV.

Nate, my youth minister, gave one to me. I was ecstatic! It had two AV plugs, so I could have my 360 and my Wii connected at the same time, without having to worry about the whole "I have to manually plug in whatever system I wanted to play each time I play it" deal that I was afraid of. I rushed home to test the TV (I didn't want a faulty television) and had all of those hopes utterly crushed when I realised that I needed a remote control to get the Video Mode 1 and 2 of the television, which was essential for playing games. After all that effort, I was left dejected and helpless.
That is, until I remembered a nifty invention called the Universal Remote.

Of course, I had no money, but it gave me hope. A dream of a time when I could have my cake and eat it, too! A wonderful vision of me and my television, playing games with my friends here at school instead of studying for that music test the next day... It was a glorious dream, and I knew the steps I'd have to take. Maybe, for once, I'd be able to achieve one of my dreams. (I gave up on being a Ninja Astronaut Chef years ago)

But, a mere three days later, it seemed as if all my worrying was unfounded- another gift, this time from my good friend Macey. It turned out that she had a universal remote control that she no longer needed. It was wonderful! I was all set to head back to school, with all my wonderful toys close behind me. It was going to be a wonderful semester.

I arrived at school yesterday afternoon, and started moving stuff up to my room. Within mere minutes, I had my gaming set-up... well, set up. And it was beautiful:





My TV facing my bed, so I could recline and play video games, BUT with enough room to angle it (Should friends come over).
My 360 placed in front of the television (Low enough not to block any screen) and plugged into Video Mode 1.
My Wii placed behind my television to plug into Video Mode 2. It's seemingly out of the way, but it can be turned on wirelessly, so that isn't really a problem.
My games nestled in one of the many cubbies just to the right of my desk, in a conveniently out-of-the-way, but still aesthetic location.
And, should I need it, more than enough room for a textbook or two on my desk (If I'm actually going to be doing work there, which I doubt- I always did my assignments on my bed. I rarely used my desk last term)

So there you go, the perfect gaming set up (relatively speaking).

But no, that's not the end. After setting it all up I realised a few things:
1) I'm only allowed to connect 2 things to the school's wireless network.
2) I have 3 (four if you count my DS, but psh) things I want to connect.
3) I don't have a wireless adapter for my 360 anyway, but I have an ethernet cable.
4) There isn't a plug for my ethernet cable in my dorm.

So, I was in a sticky situation. I figured that first of all, I'd set up internet on my computer. It's the most important one of the three things- schoolwork (email, assignments, Cracked.com) comes before gaming (360 and Wii).

Now, the obvious choice would be to connect my Wii in the second slot because I don't have a wireless adapter for my 360. But the problem with that is, I play my 360 more than I do my Wii, and if I get a wireless adapter in the near future, I'm SOL.

So here I am, stuck in a debate over what to do, when it hits me. I connect the Wii to the wireless internet. Problem solved.

"But David," you readers at home must be asking, "What about your ExBawx?"
Well, I realised that I could cheat the system using a computer with internet access (Check) and an ethernet cable (Check).

If I enable internet sharing over a Network on my computer, I can connect it to my 360 with the eternet cable, and my Xbox will ALSO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET, as long as the system is connected to my computer which is connected to the internet. I'm sure my dad would be proud.

So, my friends, THAT is the end of my adventure. (For now, at least)
It was long and hard, but at least it has a happy ending.



-David

Addiction

Excuse me if I don't post for a while.

You see, I just bought myself an XBox 360, and I'm playing through Dragon Age right now. It currently has almost all of my attention. If you don't mind, I'm going to go back to playing it.


-David

My Christmas loot.

I'll go ahead and say this right now: This was a good Christmas.

My first Christmas where I actually had to come home from school, my first Christmas in our new house (Is it really that new? It feels much older), and a lot of other things that just made it spectacular.

Last night, for instance. I went over to the Davis household for a delightful dinner with some cool people (And Emily was there, too) and had a wonderful time being moderately social. Did I use enough descriptive terms in that sentence?

After that, we went to my Grandmother's house for some hot wassail (My favourite Christmas tradition) and our tradition reading of "The Night Before Christmas" and Luke 2:1-20 and then lighting the candles on the tree. With Uncle Mike there, it was very enjoyable. :)

And then the Christmas Eve service at 11:00. I showed up at 9:30 because I was playing trombone there and I needed to rehearse with the choir before-hand. I met this girl named Mary (A fitting name for Christmas) and she was singing with the choir that evening. I played the 6 songs in total for the service:
Two variations of "Good Christian Friends, Rejoice"
"Riu Riu Chiu"
"O Holy Night"
"O Come, All Ye Faithful"
and "Away in a Manger"

Overall, I did pretty well. I kind of botched "Away in a Manger" because it was right after Communion and goddamn, that wine dries up your mouth. Other than that, though, it went well. Oh, and I got paid $100 for my services (Which was an unexpected gift).

After the service, Mary and I went to go get some food at IHOP because both of us were hungry. We saw Mr. Starling there, along with his wife and (What I assume are) some friends. I talked to him for a bit, and he mistook Mary for my girlfriend (AWKWARD).
>.<
But, it was still neat.

So then I took Mary home and then went home and slept. I woke up dreadfully early this morning, but it's okay because it's CHRISTMAS. So I woke up my parents and sister at the bright hour of 7:30, and we began our festivities.

Here is all my Christmas loot:










And, in case the picture quality is bad, here is a list of everything I've received thus far:

Edibles:
-A box of Pizza Rolls
-3 boxes of Hot Pockets
-Marshmallows
-Hot Chocolate
-A shit-ton of chocolate (Not pictured)
-Satsumas (Not pictured)
-Assorted nuts (Not Pictured)

Stocking Stuffers:
-$35 worth of iTunes cards
-$50 Best Buy gift card
-Tic-Tacs
-A comb
-A toothbrush
-Carmex
-Dentine Ice gum
-A Mario Kart PEZ-style dispenser
-2 bags of Pop Rocks
-Air Heads Xtreme Sweetly Sour Belts
-2 Pokemon Pencils (Featuring Chimchar and Piplup)
-Trolli Sour Gummy Worms

Actual Presents:
-A microphone
-"The Ultimate Nap Kit"
-"The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks"
-"Roger von Oech's Ball of Whacks"
-A black dress shirt
-A T-shirt with the image of a trombone and the caption "WWJP? What would Jesus Play?"
-A T-shirt that says "Haikus are easy/But sometimes they don't make sense/Refrigerator"
-A Trombone (Not yet, actually, just the promise that I'm getting one)

Actually, on that note, I'd like to talk about my potential trombone for a bit. It's going to be a Shire, which is a great brand. But that also means it's going to cost close to $4,000...
But it's a great horn, and I'm excited! We're going to go up to Birmingham sometime soon and get one custom-made. :D


Oh, and I'm also excited because I have enough money (I'm fairly sure) to buy myself a 360! So yes, this has been a great Christmas.
We're going to my Grandparent's house again this evening for Christmas Dinner and more presents.

Happy Christmas to all of my readers. :)


-David

Busy day, busy day.

As you can undoubtedly tell by the title of today's post, today was busy busy. But in a good way.

Well, I woke up exceptionally early today (Around 10) and got up, got dressed. That stuff. I was planning on meeting my grandmother at around noon to bake some delicious cookies with her. :3
So, I went to the Coffee Loft to get some breakfast and kill time. I just got a cup of coffee (a medium roast, pretty good) and a hummus bagel with sliced tomatoes. Yum.
I sat down with my breakfast and read the latest issues of This That and the Other and Lagniappe. It was a pretty relaxing morning.

I called her when I was finished, but she wasn't ready for me to come over yet, so I decided to go home and REVIEW SOME MUSIC.
I recently downloaded some Lady Gaga stuff (I'd never even heard "Poker Face" until about a week ago), but I hadn't listened to it yet. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I sat down and listened to all 20 tracks I've downloaded. I was originally going to do a song-by-song review and post it here, so I wrote detailed reactions to the first 9 or so songs, but around track 10 or 11, I just stopped caring.

Overall, it was a lot better than I expected it to be. She has her share of mindless pop tracks (I counted about 4 of the 20 I sampled) and then she has her masterpieces (5/20). Everything else was somewhere in between. But seriously, I can see what all the hype is about. Now, I don't think she deserves all of the hype, but I can at least see where it's coming from (Something I'm STILL trying to find with all the "musicians" Disney is spouting out).

DAVID'S OFFICIAL RATING:
ORIGINALITY: 6.5/10
LYRICS: 4/10
MUSIC: 8/10
EFFECTS: 9/10
OVERALL: 7.5/10
RATING: "Pretty Okay."


So, after my MUSIC REVIEW SESSION and EXCESSIVE USE OF CAPS LOCK, I headed over to my Grandmother's house to begin our awesome cookie cooking... thing.
Anyway.
I get there, we made some delicious cookies. While the cookies are cooking, we play cards. She hands my ass to me, seriously. >:|
But the cookies turned out well, and I had a lot of fun. And we (she) melted a spatula!




After that exciting installment, our hero finds himself in the dreaded Middle School Car Line, waiting to pick up his sister from school. He succeeds.

After briefly stopping at the house (I had to finish the touches on my Christmas Present to Macey), Sarah and I decided to do some Christmas Shopping up in Malbis. On the way, though, we stopped at Macey's house so she and I could exchange gifts.

I GAVE:
-A bag of cookies that I baked today
-A Christmas Mix CD that is simultaneously AWWWWWWWW and KICKASS
-An insense burner in the shape of the Triforce. (That I made in Art)

I RECEIEVED:


This. Sorry for no direct picture, Blogger is being retarded. Just click this and behold the adorable-ness.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D



Not only is Spheal my favourite Pokemon, he's the MOST ADORABLE Pokemon, too! Macey made this for me, and I think that she is the most amazing person ever for doing so. And, for those of you who know nothing of Pokemon, here's a picture of Spheal's art:






...Pretty spot-on. You're the best, Macey!



Then Sarah and I went on our CHRISTMAS SHOPPING ADVENTURE and we ended up just buying 2 DVDs, some candy, and some other assorted things. Yay Christmas!


And that brings us to the highlight of every Wednesday ever: Youth Group.
Wally, Mosher, and Kathy (Plus other little kids) were there, and it was alright. But then, Cleveland and I decided to play Ping Pong. But oh no, this wouldn't be REGULAR Ping Pong. We ended up inventing the game SUPER RIDICULOUS BOOGIE BALL, and damn, this needs to be like an Olympic Sport or something.

It's basically Ping Pong mixed with Calvinball. In other words, the best thing on earth. Ever.

After a match lasting close to an hour, the final score was
David with: 3 Ghosts (Not counted)
29 Dinosaurs
619 Points

And Cleveland with: 0 Ghosts
201 Dinosaurs
310 Points
1 Boogey Man

So, of course, Cleveland won. The game ended with us going into Boogey Man (Which is the most exciting round of any game you will ever play ever), and since he initiated it, I challenged him. I barely failed the challenge, so Cleveland was considered the Boogie Master and the game was over. It was a great match.

After Youth, I went over to Cleveland's house for a bit. We played the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo (Yes, I know it's already out, but he doesn't have it yet. Stfu) and then ate some delicious Ramen-hotdog-cheese mix while we watched a new X-Men motion comic (Based off of Amazing X-Men and WRITTEN BY JOSS WHEDEN). It was a pretty good night.

And now I'm here, in front of my dad's computer (Mine isn't connecting to the internet), typing all of this up. Hurrah.

Quick notes about THE FUTURE:
Friday will be amazing. Going to spend all afternoon with Rin, and then go to a Dirty Santa party hosted by her friend. I'm excited.

Saturday will be like negative amazing. Fuck you, Saturday. Leaving the house a little after 6 to drive to Hattiesburg so the band can go play in some stupid football game in New Orleans. Blech.

Sunday will be a continuation of Saturday.

And we have two events in the making:
"Operation: Dragon Roll" and "Operation: Lovecraft Bludgeon."
I feel like both are aptly named and both will be glorious.
No details on either one, yet.


And that is it. I will be going to bed early tonight (Well... Before 300) because I am relatively tired. Until next time.



-David