I also have a presentation on friday that I’m not finished writing yet…

So I’m trying to decide whether I want an xbox 360 or not.  I’m kinda thinking about asking for it for christmas, but really, what would I play?  I’m probably about as casual a gamer as they come, I like rpg’s and that’s about it.  The only games out now that look worth playing are assassin’s creed (and yes, I am aware of all the negative reviews, but I say nuts to them, it looks cool to me) bioshock, and metal gear solid 4.  I’ve never really been into the whole Halo idea; I don’t play it very well, so it’s not much fun to play with other people, especially when they’re THAT GUY…(thank you, Yahtzee, for coining a term for the loser who spends all his free time in single player mode so he can whoop his friends asses when he plays them later.)  And I refuse to become THAT GUY, so that game’s pretty much out.  I’ve always thought the rock band/guitar hero phenomenon to be stupid…seriously, learn to play a real instrument.  (Actually I’m probably just bitter because I’ve been playing piano for some 11 or 12 years now and the guitar off and on for about that and I still can’t manage to press a stupid button and strum that stupid plastic guitar on beat…)  And then there’s Final Fantasy XIII…I still can’t believe square enix gave up their pride and joy to microsoft…oh wait, maybe that’s because there hasn’t been a good final fantasy game since VIII…

Ok, maybe I’m biased.  I started with VIII, went to VII, then played tactics and chronicles, and I liked them.  They were challenging, the characters were likable, the story was complex and interesting.  And then I tried IX…maybe I just didn’t give it a fair chance, but I didn’t like it.  I got through the entire first disk without enjoying myself once.  And then X happened.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a good story, and I’ve played through it about 3 or 4 times; but that’s just it.  I’ve been able to play it all the way through that many times because it’s EASY.  It took me a year and a half to beat VIII (that’s with doing about every side quest), and a year to beat VII (with most of the sidequests).  X took me about 6 months, tops, and again, that was with most of the sidequests completed.  I never played XI or XII; I’ve never been one for online play, and XII just looked like a joke.  I played X-2 all the way through once (don’t ask me why) and at just about every minigame I contemplated gouging my eyes out with a rusty nail.  I played Dirge of Cerberus, and the only reason I liked it is because it was Vincent…any other Final Fantasy character and I would have been shouting at the screen to just let me play the damn game already and quit with all the annoying cutscenes.  I played Crisis Core and was, again, severely disappointed to find a game completely lacking in complexity, and it didn’t even have a decent story…Zack’s character was so unlikeable I found myself wondering when he would just die already, since I knew it would happen eventually.  And that’s nothing compared to the hollow soulless characters of Angeal and Genesis.  And so, I find myself wondering if XIII is going to be worth spending between 200 and 400 dollars (depending on whether I buy a 360 or PS3.)  The way I’m leaning now is to wait for it to come out, and see what reviews say (although I had heard good reviews for crisis core…clearly the reviewers’ brains had been removed before trying the game and replaced with lemon pudding.)  Maybe by then the PS3 won’t be worth half of me…

I feel like I’ve been going non-stop since monday, but today is a nice break; we don’t have classes for advising day.  So, instead of working on my second century grant presentation like I SHOULD be doing, I’m sitting on my bed knitting and listening to Cat Power…god her voice is just gorgeous!  This cd has cycled through about 4 times already this morning, and it doesn’t concern me at all.  I probably should go visit people so I’m not a complete hermit today like I have been for the past two months, but that’s probably not going to happen   Oh well, I think the reason I’ve been so secluded lately is because between work, classes, and homework I haven’t really had any ME time lately, so whenever I get the chance to breathe I just want to knit or read or watch tv or play piano or listen to music and stare at the wall…hey, a girl needs her vegging time!

But the paper’s in the final stages today!  I should be able to send it in tonight…now I just have to write a paper in german before 11:00 this morning….

Ok, I’m done.  Sorry about being a complainatron, but I figure if I do my bitching here I won’t bother my friends or family with it.  But hey, at least I’m not saying how my soul is pure darkness.

And I had a dream last night that the KKK was at the mall near my house…and it made me really angry…I just remembered that.  Clearly I should not eat sour patch kids directly before bed time, because it makes for some weird and slightly horrifying dreams.

So basically, THS had a KICK ASS show last night.  The color guard was frikin’ ON the money, almost the entire show…and the band only went up .5 points, and the guard’s score dropped an entire point.  At chapters.

Time to get up on my soapbox here.  I have a big problem with judges critiquing show design at chapter championships.  (For those of you not versed in band-lingo, chapter championships for Tournament of Bands is like the semifinals of the marching season.)  It’s one thing to critique things like drill formations being too tight (which, coincidentally, is what the visual judges reamed us on last night) at the beginning of the season, but to put one of the visual scores in fucking BOX TWO at CHAPTERS is completely unnecessary.  Critique at chapters should be about execution of a show, not about design, because we have one week (two this year, for some odd reason) between chapters and ACC’s (finals).  Two weeks.  That is most definitely not enough time to re-write the color guard’s drill for the ENTIRE show.  And you know what?  It happens every effin’ year.  Every single year, there is a judge at chapters who wants the design staff to change something in their show the week before ACC’s.

Ok, I’m stepping down now.

(paper update: I am now officially on the 14th page…woohoo!)

(oh, btw, in my about section where I mentioned the job that I love, this is that job: teaching color guard at Tuscarora high school).

Anyway, just an overview of what this blog will be about: EVERYTHING.  I used to write in composition books, but I get writers cramp and it makes me irritated, so lets hope this will make things a little easier.  This will be a place for my thoughts on things as philosophical as the nature of humanity and things as anti-philosophical as what I wanted to eat for breakfast this morning but couldn’t because the stupid dining hall decided to not serve it today…jerks…

So, if you do end up reading my blog, hey, I hope you get a kick out of it.  If not, then that’s ok too, because this is mostly for my own entertainment anyway.