Mini-Ramble: Gaming in Literature (The Braces Control Me).

     Hello all, G-star here.  First things first; a big happy birthday to MC!  She turned 15 today, two months before I do.... -_-  But whatever.  For some odd reason I'm wide awake first period and then start dozing off second period.  And second period is always ridiculously boring; first two terms it was French, now it's Physics.  Of course, I generally enjoy Physics, but we're currently going over everything I already learned at the beginning of Mechanics, so it'll be quite boring until we start learning about gravity, velocity, force, etc.  Until then I'll have to live with re-learning the metric system and 'sig figs'. 
     I wear braces (or more like they wear me; they have all control), but I get them off fairly soon.  Probably some time in the next month or two.  Anyway, until I do I have to wear these thick rubber bands on a few brackets.  I have no idea what they're for, but I don't understand a word the doctor says when he's messing with my mouth, so that's not really a surprise.  I was yawning second period (my aforementioned 'snooze class') and they both snapped.  I'm just giving up until I'm more awake.
     I started a book today called Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  It was recommended by a friend from Book Club, and it's great.  I've always liked books about intensely realistic video games (like Deadly Pink by Vivian Vande Velde), and this is one of the best for sure.  (Apparently there's even a movie.)  I wish I could play Oasis.
     A similar media about video games is the .Hack// manga series.  I'm sorry to the big fans, but I really didn't like most of it, because, although the art was great, I didn't understand any of the plot at all.  .Hack//Twilight was great and made sense, but none of the others did.  I've heard it said that you have to play the games and watch the anime for it to make much sense, but I think that sounds like too much trouble.  There was another gaming novel that I started reading, Game Boys: Triumph, Heartbreak, and the Quest For Cash in the Battleground of Competitive Gaming by Michael Kane, anticipating an interesting realistic fiction, but instead it was like a documentary; nonfiction, no consistent characters, no particular plot, just information.  I was disappointed.  If you like that sort of thing and wish to learn more about professional gaming, whatever, go at it, but I couldn't appreciate it.
     Until tomorrow, this is G-star, signing off.

The Drama of a High School Talent Show (The Video of Darkness/Chibi Gaming).

     Hello, all.  G-star here, blogging from my dad's iPad.  Have I ever mentioned how annoying digital keyboards are to use?  Anyway, my brother is currently working on a book report on the computer, so I had to resort to this since I'm already a day late posting.  Yay.  In a way, though, I'm glad I forgot yesterday, because a few interesting things have happened since Wednesday, which is more than I can say for the rest of the week.
     Firstly, an update on both that comic I've been "working" on and MC's and my telovelic.  Yeah...that comic...I finally settled on a name, and am currently at work on a sort of teaser picture, but I haven't added a single line to the actual comic for several weeks.  This is because, at the same time, I've been expending all my effort to finish the profile pictures for the telovelic.  I'm honestly not sure why we can't start without the profiles, but it seems to be an unsaid agreement between us.  In any case, I've finished two and a half, with a long way to go.  There's one character whom I really don't understand why she needs a profile.  I mean, she's not even an important character and possesses no defining personality or physical attributes... *shrug*  Just a pain.
     I had a test in my Mechanics class yesterday.  Everyone asks why it's called Mechanics.  Well, it's a science class dealing with states of matter, atoms, and everything else related to the all-essential building blocks of life that don't count as physics and don't involve combining acids to make things explode.  Mechanics.  Who knew.
     Anyway, it's my favorite class so far, and the teacher declared the day before he test that the person (which ended up being several "persons") with the highest score would earn a donut.  Now, you all know about my affinity for sweets (or do you?  Well, you do now), and this was the perfect motivation.  After some...extremely unintense studying and a five-second Bing, I ended up with two wrong answers and one delicious chocolate donut bar.  If she does this more often, I'll ace this class.  In fact, all my teachers should use candy and pastries as rewards for doing well on tests!  I would nominate the school for the Public School of the Year Award, even if it doesn't exist.  It also helped that I actually listened in class, unlike a lot of the boys in my period.  My main classes are so much different than IHS, and now I know just what my parents meant by "the people in this group WANT to be there."
     I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I signed up for the school talent show.  It has a prize and everything, yet only 18 people signed up, for some reason.  Originally, Patveli and I were going to do a team effort but it ended up not working out, so a day before I had to turn in the sign-up sheet I was forced to pick a song in a rush.  Luckily, there was one song that I had originally planned to do on piano and voice, so I just stuck with it.  Practice has had its hardships, including changing keys with only a day remaining to work on it and my voice cracking on the chorus.  But it was well worth it, as today I did my tech rehearsal and caused both the drama club and the choir to call dibs on me.  I have to admit, that was a little odd, but I'm actually considering joining drama club next year.  Anyway, another friend from my IHS group, Greann, is doing stand-up comedy.  He's really funny, and I'm looking forward to hearing his full routine at the show, which, oh joy, is in a week.  I desperately need to practice more.
     I do get a break, though, because over the three-day weekend the HDS (the acronym for the private club I'm a member of) will be filming another video, but just for fun and not as an assignment.  Though I don't see how it's going to be very fun to tape, since it ended up being about depression and, eventually, suicide.  Butterflies and kittens, everybody.  Before I left the Skype call dedicated to deciding the plot, it was just going to be a slightly creepy silent film.  This is what happens when you leave MC and Patveli alone with a world of death and doom to fashion into a movie.  We'll see how this turns out.
     One more thing before my fingers fall off.  My little brother has a Nintendo 3DS and both Pokemon X and Pokemon Y.  So we came to an agreement that I can play on the DS, mainly on Pokemon X, but only when he's not home.  Of course, I don't see why I can't play other times as well, especially since he plays basically 24/7, and I'm sure that amount of electronic exposure isn't good for him.  Either way, he was at a Bible study deal last night, so I got to play, and one thing in particular caught my eye: a Naruto Shippiden (chibi version or something similar) demo he had downloaded.  See, ever since I bought an old Naruto fighting Wii game at a used video game booth at the mall, he's become obsessed, but as I mentioned before, younger boys probably shouldn't read it, mostly the first couple of volumes.  I've tried to quell his efforts by telling him it's teen-rated, so he should wait until he's 13 to read it, but he keeps bugging me... *sigh* Woah, that got off-topic fast.  Anyway, the game is so....stinking....CUTE!!!!!  My favorite thing is that I can be Rock Lee, my favorite character.  Too bad it's only a demo....  I've also had plenty of other escapades on Pokemon X, including some extremely aggravating ones, and I'm thinking of starting a YouTube channel for those.  Please watch them!

     Agh, my hands are EXHAUSTED.  I need my own laptop, if only to blog from.  Sorry this post was a day late, and look forward to the next one, hopefully with our depressing video attached.  I just visited the library, so now I have a crudload of new manga to read.  This'll be fun.  Until next week (or whenever, at this point), this is G-star, signing off.

Sacrificed To the Horrors of Gaming (Oh, Caffeinated Seattle/Yet Another Dream).

     Hello, all.  G-star here, and no, I don't really have much to talk about...
     MC doesn't really want to say hi, since she's doing Spanish, but SHE WILL ANYWAY.
     I hardly remember the first week of Christmas vacation, which my health teacher deigned to call winter vacation because "some people don't celebrate Christmas".  And that is true, there's also Hanukkah, and other holidays I can't remember...but seriously.  We get that week off specifically for Christmas, and the next for New Year's.  That's just how it is.  I don't understand why the teacher would purposely point that out.  He even asked everyone if there was anything they noticed about what he says...
     Ah well.  Too late for that.
     Patveli has been pestering MC and I to read Homestuck, and while I was a tiny bit interested at first, it got annoying and slightly dirty.  MC, on the other hand, has become obsessed.  Dang you, Patveli.  You've stolen my best friend and sacrificed her to the horrors of the internet.  (Not that I haven't already committed self-sacrifice with all these roleplays and dating sims...)  The only reason I'm even trying to read it is because I want to find out who Davesprite is.  He was a character in a webcomic-based dating sim and my favorite character.  So yes...
     Speaking of MC, she went to Seattle over last weekend.  (I, on the other hand, stayed home all break reading, surfing the web, and playing my new Naruto game.  Which, by the way, my brother has become sadly obsessed with, even though he pronounces it "Nay-ra-too."  Sad, but MC finds it hilarious.  And yes, I have continued reading Naruto and am currently on volume 15.  My favorite character in the game is Rock Lee, by far, because of his epic Taijutsu skills.  He was also my favorite character in the manga, and his fighting style matches my playing style perfectly.  Unfortunately, I can't play very far in story mode because I haven't read far enough and I don't want any spoilers.  At the same time I bought the Naruto game I got Guitar Hero World Tour and am having a ball with it, though I discovered Patveli's favorite song in one of the first gigs of career mode.  Well, lookey there, I just filled a paragraph that was supposed to be dedicated to MC's Seattle trip with a parentheses comment about my newest video games.  Those are my priorities.)  Apparently the highlight of the trip was....going to an underground bus station that looked like a train station in a giant concrete tube.  While that is interesting, I don't see why it wouldn't be something like Fifth Street Market or Starbucks (her favorite store EVER and the most populous building in Seattle).  Whatever.  That is Miss Cappuccino.
    Since I don't have anything else to talk about, let me mention another odd dream I had last night.  The first part was myself, some old friends, and Stulte (the last member of my private club with MC and Patveli) at some sort of Minecraft racecar track.  Suddenly there was an odd tidal wave and everything was flooded, and I was on a large makeshift raft in the middle of a neighborhood at night with MC, two boys from IHS, possibly Patveli, and Symphony, a character from MC's and my telovelic.  A shark somehow broke the raft into four pieces by hitting the bottom, and I was on a piece with MC, possibly Patveli, and one of the boys from IHS.  We paddled toward the others to try to bring the raft back together (how would we do that?) and somehow we managed it.  The rest of the dream was pretty much nonsense, except for one part where someone said of Symphony "If he had any less testosterone, he'd be making daisy chains".  Oddly enough, this pretty much defines his character.  He's a WIMP.  Also, MC had a dream that my parents were running a sketchy business in the house where people had to actually come into the house, and for some reason my brother wasn't allowed to know and....hiding and...tonsils...you know what?  Nevermind.
     And that would pretty much be everything interesting that's happened in the last week.  Let's hope I get a life soon.  Until next week or whenever, this is G-star, signing off.

Let it Snow...and Snow...and...MAKE IT STOP (Creepers and Pikachus/Addictive Yet Useless)!!!

     Hello, all.  G-star here.  Sorry I didn't post earlier; I was playing Wii with my little brother, and though I had this nagging feeling there was something I needed to do on the computer, I couldn't pin it down.  I'm sorry for forgetting all you amazing readers out there. u.u  I forgot it was Wednesday mainly because I depend on school to keep me up-to-date on what day it is.  Why dodn't I have school, you ask?  That would be because the local roads have been blocked with ice and snow since Friday.  Yes, it is normally my city's duty to clear the roads with their ginormous street-sweepers, but although they cleared out the intersection leading to several stores and a couple schools, for some reason they (the ever-present, all-powerful "they") decided that the long street that leads down to my house, with over a hundred homes on it altogether, didn't deserve sweeping.  This, of course, basically nullified the purpose of clearing the big intersection of ice and snow, as no one could get to it to visit stores.  Being unable to leave the house has driven my mom to the brink of insanity.
     Of course, all this snow has its good sides, too.  On Friday it was too powdery to build anything with, so MC and I just walked around the neighborhood.  We found some icicles hanging off a car, and I broke one off and licked it...yes, I understand the health hazards of licking something you broke off a car, but it looked clean and I was thirsty.  (I was also kind of hoping it might stick to my tongue, but nothing happened.)  The next day we just stayed inside reading and playing video games (that's when MC and Ducis came over) and Sunday my family went outside and had a huge snowball fight, made an unsuccessful snowman,  tried to make the dog drag us around on a sled (which, unfortunately, didn't work), and made Dad drag us around on a sled (which, unfortunately for Dad, did work).  (I mentioned this in a comment after posting on Sunday.)
     Since "they" never cleared out the neighborhood and the snow is taking forever to melt, I haven't had school all week.  I'm not sure if I'll have it tomorrow; my extremely indecisive school says they're going to wait until tomorrow to make anything official.
     Most people would take full advantage of all this, but I'm personally kind of hoping that we'll have school tomorrow.  Why?  Well, remember that Gaming Club tournament I mentioned before?  It was supposed to have started yesterday and go on until, at least I think, the beginning of January (taking into account the two-week Christmas break), but since we missed the first day of the tournament and maybe the second day as well, I'm not sure what will happen.  Also, (and I don't think I've mentioned this before, and even though it's not relevant, I don't care because it's interesting,) the prize for the winner of the tournament is a quarter of the total profits from sign-ups (it costs $2 to sign up), while the other 3/4 will be going to new games, controllers, and overall equipment for the club.
     This is unrelated, but this entry has been slow going thanks to a website I just discovered called My Candy Love.  Well, I say 'just discovered', but I've actually been seeing ads for it for months now and only today decided to check it out.  So far it's interesting, but I can't go very many places...  Well, looks like Ken wants to go on a date with me.
     This really is an odd game.  Yet so addicting....  (Mostly because one of the characters looks like Tamaki Suoh. <-<)
     Speaking of computer simulation, MC has gotten me addicted to one called "Little Alchemist".  You're provided with four elements and have to combine them in all sorts of ways to create new ones.  It was fun at first, but now that I have a ton, it's sort of a pain to find two elements that might do something.  That wasn't really important, I just felt like I needed to make this entry longer.
      It's strange; when I first started blogging, every post was short, and I was fine with it.  But now that I've had so much to talk about (sort of) and they've been getting longer, I feel an obligation to make every post just as long, regardless of whether I actually have something to talk about.  Interesting.  Hopefully, at some point, I'll actually have a need instead of an urge because of my interesting social life.  (Yeah, like THAT'LL ever happen.  Why do you think I spend my time playing dating sims and roleplaying?)
     I just remembered something.  My little brother recently downloaded the Minecraft mod "Pixelmon", and I felt an immediate pull.  We're both Pokeheads and, though we only have two of the actual games (counting the Wii Battle Stadium game), collect the cards with wild abandon.  He with his ridiculously strong EX and Stage 3 cards; I with my strategic cards possessing only attack effects.  Oddly enough, I always beat him.  (I wonder why that is?  -v-)  Anyway, he went the "honest way" with his Pixelmon game, starting from scratch in Survival, cheats off, with nothing but a starter, living in Pokemon Centers and desperately scrounging for Apricorns, and guessing when it came to crafting Pokeballs.  While I, ever the logical one, started in Creative with cheats on and took the "reasonable way"; providing myself with a home, the essentials (crafting table, furnace, chests) and Pokemon Center supplies (as I was unable to find one, no matter how far I flew), and catching one Pokemon over level one with a Master Ball.  After that, though, I went Survival, actually bothering to LOOK UP Pokeball crafting recipes as I played.  And what was the result?  My brother still only has his starter (as he was unable to make any Pokeballs), no home, and is desperately trying to get along with no cheat abilities.  I, on the other hand, have a full team (and then some), plenty of self-crafted Dusk Balls and Level Balls, and manage to heal my Pokemon between battles.  Let's take a second and think about which one was the better idea.
     Now then, I need to go level up my recently acquired Miltank and track down an Abra that's been giving me the slip.  Until Saturday, this is G-star, signing off.

Mini-Ramble: Chapter 1 (Evil Static/The Endless Reading Cycle)

     Hello, all.  I'm sorry this is a day late; MC and Ducis (the aforementioned "private club's" fearless leader) came over yesterday to help me practice for the Gaming Club's upcoming "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" tournament.
     I don't think I mentioned this before; see, oddly enough, my school's video game club is really more serious than any of the others.  Last year's club president did absolutely nothing for the club, but this year's president (well, more like the second-in-command is doing all the work) is putting on a fundraiser to buy more games, remotes, and overall better equipment in the form of a tournament.  There's a two-dollar entry fee, and I was the first to sign up.  I plan on using Ike, because, although I've been using Pokemon Trainer the most during club meetings, Ike is my best character.
     Anyway, there's been something slightly concerning going on in my bedroom.  I've been sleeping with 3-5 blankets on top of my comforter since October, and now, whenever I shift any of them, you can hear crackling static.  I've been shocked a few times just getting out of bed.  And at night, when I sit up to fix the blankets at the bottom of the bed, you can see flashing sparks.
     It's kind of cool, but I'm a little scared I'll get a bad shock one of these days.  I already have static problems with my hair.
     Speaking of night, last night I sat down in bed at about 9:30 to read volume 4. of Loveless.  I had intended to read maybe two chapters, do a little drawing, and then get up, say goodnight to my parents, and go to bed so I could listen to an audiobook.  Next thing I knew, I looked up and it was 11.
     I had been reading like this: every couple of chapters I would decide to read another, since it wasn't that late yet and I was a fast reader, and I'd do that again, and again, and so forth, until I realized I had finished the book.  I didn't think it would take an hour and a half to read a manga, but I guess it did (and it makes sense since Loveless is longer than most).  By the time I got up the lights were off and I wasn't planning on crossing the house in the dark to see if they were awake -- I've been reading a reeeeaaaally good ghost novel by Jonathon Stroud, one of my favorite authors -- so I just went to bed, wondering if they would think I was mad at them.
     "Oh, one more chapter won't hurt....hm, I can't stop here, so I'll keep reading until I find a good cut-off spot...I'm almost done, so why stop now?...oh."  That pretty much describes my reading patterns.  Once I start, I can't stop, no matter what I promise myself.
     This leads to a lot of prematurely finished books and a lengthy period of boredom between me finishing every book to the next library visit.
     I need help.
     In any case, here are the last two chapters of my story, unparalleled in lack of perseverance.  I'm doing two at once because the last one is very short and it would be pointless to post it by itself.  Next week, if at all possible, I'll start posting bits and pieces of the comic instead, and if not, bits of roleplays I did or fan art, which will go along faster from now on since I finally have a drawing style I can work with quickly and well.  Until Wednesday, G-star out.

Chapter 1 -- Sensei

Geesh, maybe I should take that guy out shopping for people skills, thought Zane, when suddenly a petite, dark-haired girl came out of the other room (how there could be another room in a warehouse, Zane couldn’t guess) carrying a pile of boxes.  Even sweaty with effort and wearing a baggy hoodie that was rolled up to the elbows, Zane couldn’t stop gaping.  She flicked her short bangs out of her eyes (Zane could have sworn it was in slow motion with little flowers) and glanced up at Zane.  “As long as you’re doing nothing other than gaping open-mouthed at my forehead, could you give me a hand, newby?”  Zane nodded, still slightly jaw-dropped, and took a box off the top of the stack.  

“Oh, Zane, that’s my niece, Kenna.  She’s living here until her parents make up, and she’s a pretty skilled martial artist herself.”  No kidding, thought Zane, at the risk of sounding cheesy, she’s already karate chopped my heart for sure.  And then he dropped the cardboard box on his foot, emitting a yelp of pain.

This is Nonsense, But Video Games Come Up the Most (Smores are Delicious).

     Hello, all.  G-star here, with not much to talk about...  Well, firstly, here's a shoutout (no, I don't know what that is) to my friend Bianca (AKA Smore) at justmehighschool.blogspot.com!  I haven't checked it out yet (she won't let me open the page at school -3-) but you should!  I bet it's great!  Other than that, I don't know what to say.  Well, in that unofficial club I mentioned a few posts ago, we've finally decided what we're doing.  We've decided to make a video game; specifically, a dating sim.  We had two different versions; one where there's one protagonist and one main character, designed to make you like her.  The other was one customizable protagonist and a bunch of different main characters, each one with a different path should you choose them.  I think the latter would be too difficult, as it involves programming more paths and choices (not to mention characters), while the former would be simple and fun.  I made a survey and I'll edit this post and insert the link as soon as I can access it.  (Which I can't from the school computers.)  Anyway, so far my idea has been outvoted 8 to 2, but I think it has a better chance than the more complicated one.  Once the survey is up, please vote!  It's only one question; I'm sure you can find the time.  Please, blow their overconfidence in our collective abilities out of the water.
     Speaking of video games, my little brother bought a paintball Wii game.  (I didn't even know they had those.)  As he was taking the tutorial he could shoot the guide character in the face without it saying anything.  That's one resilient NPC.  Yes, I know, that was completely pointless, not to mention irrelevant.
     I'll see if I can talk about something more interesting.  Lessee... that book MC and I were working on maybe three months ago is finally being continued.  FINALLY.  I had written the second chapter and was waiting for her to continue the story, because I couldn't do anything more without her character doing something, but she took forever getting to Google Drive.  But now chapter three is on its way to being completed, so everything's okay!  And now I'm out of things to talk about again.
     UURRRGH.  This is like the problem I had with another blog website I attempted, trythistopic.weebly.com.  It was a complete and utter fail, mostly because I couldn't advertise it anywhere.  The biggest website I had presence on had a nasty habit of changing any link you posted to connect to said big website, so you couldn't advertise other websites.  The problem was, even worse than the fact I had no visitors, was that I needed comments to run the site.  People were supposed to comment with ideas about what the next entry would be on, and I would comply with my opinions.  Needless to say, it died after a week, though it is still active.  Comment on the latest post and I'll see if I can bring it back to life.
     This has to be the worst blog entry I've EVER written.  Normally, the night before I come up with a topic and outline for the next day's post but I fell asleep fairly quickly last night, and it doesn't help that hardly anything happened this week.  Seriously, all the things I just talked about were the most interesting happenings this week.  That seriously sucked.  In apology I'll do an update on my most recent reads.  Until Saturday, G-star out.  Gonen'nasai.

Recent Manga/Book/TV Update
Ouran Host Club (Bisco Hatori)- I actually watched the entire anime two months ago, but I'll count this as a recent read because I only just started reading the manga version, starting with volume 15 (I think?).  It's just as amazing as the anime, though the art is very different.  I've already read some of her series Millenium Snow, and that was definitely amazing, but this is even better.  Volume 16 contained a short story about when Haruhi's mother and father met...is it messed up that I'm now hopelessly obsessed now over Haruhi's father (pre-crossdress) and that I relate to her mother about how amazingly adorable he is?  ......
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.- I just love Fitz and Simmons.  LOVE LOVE LOVE XXX OOO {3{3.  Fitz is the best, of course, but the sibling-like duo's relationship is just so fun to watch!  The most recent episode was all about them, and I was sobbing like a small child when her goldfish dies when Simmons was about to die.  Ayaw........