Tag Archives: lost entries

Personal Blog

Samurai Virus

So, while chatting with Jaster tonight, it dawned on me that I never posted my addition to the ashcan comic we (we being me, Jaster, Brendan, and Stephen) did for Comic Con last summer.

I’m warning you, it was thought up, drawn, and inked in a big fat hurry. I called on characters long forgotten to re-create, and made my usual mistake of thinking up characters first and trying to shove them into a too-long story. Still, it was a learning experience, and it has its moments. This year we’ve given ourselves PLENTY more time to prepare. Anyway, here you go: Samurai Virus

(WARNING: A puppy dies on the first page)

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Massachusetts Visit

I just got back from a weekend visit with Steph and it was a blast and a half! Or no, make that 2 whole blasts.

After a tasty lunch, we went to this awesome candy store. You can pick out your own assorted chocolates, so it’s like getting a box of chocolates, only just with the kinds you like, and no scary surprises. I also got a sucker in the shape of a lobster (don’t worry, it was not lobster flavored)

Steph showed me around Salem, MA, and we went to some dinky-but-fun history museums about the witch trials. We also hit up a comic store, where I *finally* indulged myself in snagging the last volume of Bone, only to see the new color reprints! Now I want the whole set all over again. We also rooted through a secondhand bookstore, snagging children’s books with inspiring illustrations out of the 50% off box.

We spent the rest of the evening playing various video games, with a brief break for sushi. After a bit of gaming the next morning, we went out for lunch, and then adventured on the shore (we did not find any critters, only a shoe-full of cold water, oh well!)

I’m really glad I got to visit! It was good fun, and I also got to see a bunch of Steph’s art up close, including her in-progress raven thief sculpture. I also got to meet her sweet little rat, Oreo, who is adorable and has inspired me to add rats to my “potential pets” list Yay for visits!

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Birthday Madness

My parents sent me a cast iron teapot with 2 matching cast iron cups. It’s reeeeeeeeeally cool looking, and holds a lot of tea. I guess I’ll have to expand my tea horizons beyond Oolong now. It also has a dragon on it, and since I got a dragon teapot last year for my birthday, and another dragon themed teapot a few years ago for Christmas, I guess I might as well say I’m collecting them now ^_^

I also got, from my parents, money that was specifically intended for me to buy myself a Nintendo DS. This was great, because it’s been a long time since I’ve been excited over getting a toy for a present. Plus, I haven’t had a hand-held console since the original Game Boy and the Sega Game Gear. I went to the game store with Scott, and discovered they were selling Game Cubes for $60! This was highly tempting, because I’ve always said I’d like to get a Game Cube for cheap, for the sole purpose of getting Warioware and MarioKart, which would probably be the only two games I’d play for it. Tempting, yes, but I stuck with my original plan and got a DS. I’ll need something to keep my occupied on that flight to Japan!

Today at work, the prop shop threw me a little birthday party, complete with donuts and video games at lunch time. Then the most surreal thing happened. Billy the props carp showed me this crazy game for the PS2, Katamari Damacy, which is very silly and quirky, and great fun. I thought it’d be a fun game to get, and I almost considered asking to borrow it to show Scott and Geoff at home. Well, when I got home, Geoff started leading into a story about this crraaaaaaazy game he got for PS2, and I thought “Oh man, it’s going to be the same game.” Sure enough, Katamari Damacy. I think this is an omen telling me to go out and buy it.

So we had a birthday dinner at the house, and then Carleton’s family surprised me with a gift! Not just any gift…Scott sneakily heard my temptation lament at the game store, and the whole family went out and bought me one of those $60 gamecubes, along with the my 2 coveted games. SO EXCITED!

It’s been a very long time since I’ve gotten so many fun toys for my birthday, and I don’t think I’ve been so excited about video games since that Christmas when I got my Sega Genesis. I am endlessly grateful!

Personal Blog

Linguisticky

This gave me my first laugh for the day…

Most professional writers have a cutesy answer to the common question “where do you get your ideas?” They’ll say things like “I don’t know,” or “stop asking me that,” or “I make them up, okay? I make them up.” Hilarious! But unhelpful nonsense all the same…

The past couple days at work, Billy and I have been discussing odd little features about language–weird origin things, like how pie came from magpie, where you’re not really sure if that is the true origin or if someone made it up who thought they were clever…or who really was insane. (to quote Tony Haigh, “If the hat fits, wear it!”)

Anyway, aside from all that, I think my favorite word is “vicarious.” I can remember distinctly the moment I learned that word. It was a vocabulary word in some high school English class. Through a drone of nonsense words that would only show up on the SAT, this little gem popped up. I read the definition, blinked, and thought to myself..

“This is the single most useful word I have ever learned in school, ever.”

What a great word. It is such a complicated and yet very common abstract experience. Several sentences’ (or at least one lengthy one) worth of sufficient explanation summed up into one tiny, glorious, USEFUL word. Because of its usefulness in life, I learned the word instantly. I cannot remember another word I learned from a vocabulary list, though by now I’m sure they’ve been submitted somewhere in my language database.

Billy said there was a German word that means “something you don’t want to do, but have to do,” and that we needed such a word in English, since that pretty much sums up most of life. I forget what the German word was.

Words are so cool. That’s why I keep linguistical word magicians under my eye: Dave , Ryan , Brendan , Mariah , and all you other writer sorts.

Personal Blog

Cowboy Beebop

Someday, I’m going to make an animated TV series. And you know what? It’s going to have a happy freakin ending. Warm, fuzzy, self-gratification happy.

It might not be the correct ending. It might not be the appropriate ending. It would certainly make the Centre drama department shake their heads and tsk-tsk, such an ending. But I don’t care.

The end will make people so happy that they’ll finish watching it, go outside, and dance on clouds and make sunshine. The kind of sun with the smiley face. It will be so happy that people will pee spring water and their sweat will evaporate into euphoric gases. People will be so freakin happy they won’t know what to do with themselves.

So…so there! *sobs in her pillow*

Personal Blog

Good Readin’

My recent bought of indecision and anxiety about my post-school life have been comforted somewhat by the recent articles discussed by Brendan, and also the discussion going on about them in his LJ feed: here and here

I get the “not being alone feeling” not from the articles, but the people posting in response to them. GO TEAM TWIXTER! *cringe*

Personal Blog

NYC

I could talk about Singing Forest right now, but I don’t think I’m ready to talk about that yet, so instead I’ll give a simple weekend review.

I went with Carleton to New York to visit his friend, Mike. I hadn’t been to the city since the 6th grade, and that trip mostly involved me scurrying to keep up with my dad and uncle, occasionally gazing at the tall buildings because that’s what I figured tourists were supposed to do.

It was a nice train ride from Milford (which is just near where I work, and has free parking on the weekends for their station, woo!). Mike’s apartment is in the Upper West side of Manhattan and is quite nice. Friday night we went to the planetarium for some music-and-show-off-computer-rendering deal. ‘Twas nice.

The next day we went to get bagels, at some place that Carleton spouts is the best bagel place in the WORLD!!! (Just tasted like normal bagels to me, perhaps my palette for bagels is just not sophisticated). The main mission of the day was to help Mike buy a betta. I wish I’d brought my camera so I can add Rocky’s picture to the growing list of “Friend’s Bettas”.

That night we went and saw Carleton’s Cousin play a set at some club/bar place. His music is very good, and we’d seen him play at a coffee shop in CT last weekend. This time he was with a band, and it was a very lively set.

We then retired to Mike’s apartment and watched City of God, a very powerful and awesome movie. Mike’s mom is from Brazil, and used to teach in the City of God, and apparently said that the movie is quite accurate as far as how things are there. The individual story is very uplifting, but the truthfulness of the situation is rather depressing.

Overall, a very nice visit. It’s much more pleasant to visit the city when you are with people who know how to get around.