Senioritis

The first day of classes went well enough. I only have two classes per day, apart from Friday, when I have one; whenever my professor and I figure out my honors independent study time, I may wind up having three classes in a day. To put it mildly, I'm going to get rather bored, rather quickly, even with the numerous papers I have to write. So. Very. Bored. I went to Gays in the Park this afternoon; it mostly consisted of the EIU Pride members and myself sitting around at a local park eating pizza and reminiscing.

I already know I'm going to wind up playing far too much Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO), my MMO of choice. And I'm going to read way too many graphic novels and manga; just joking on that last statement--there's no such thing as too much reading.

As it stands, I'm too bored to even come up with a list. I sincerely hope that tomorrow is better, insofar as classes, social interactions, etc...
~Sushi

What An Angry God We Serve

I can't remember a time when I didn't know how to play Tetris. After all, I was born after 1985, when Tetris came out, so in my perspective, it has always been around. Tetris and I have always had a love-hate relationship. There are days when I'm absolutely wonderful at it, and others when I barely know a T-spin from a tetrimino. But, whether I love it or I hate it, I usually enjoy playing. I found a site called Tetris Friends through Facebook [no surprise there]; one day I wanted to play Tetris, and there was, naturally, an app available to me. I enjoy playing on the site rather than on Facebook, though. I being up against players world-wide, not just the few people I have on my friends list. Spock has joined me on Tetris Friends--I asked him to because they've just made a live multiplayer game, Arena Tetris. I should have known better. While I excel at single-player versions, he wipes me out in the multiplayer. I'll get over it soon enough, but for now, I'm still pretty sore over losing rank time and time again while playing with Spock. My favorite aspect of Tetris Friends is that it offers so much customization. You can pick your own tetriminos, ghost pieces, voices, and even backgrounds in Arena. The downside is that some of the cooler options are pay-only. I'm really getting tired of applications doing that, but no matter. Whether or not I'm any good at Tetris, though, I still encourage those of you who enjoy the game to sign up for Tetris Friends. And while you're at it, add me as a friend!
In Soviet Russia, lines make you!
~Sushi
P.S. The source of today's blog title is here!

We Have 200 Couches for You to Sleep On

As I may have mentioned, Satan Santa brought my family a PS3 and Beatles Rock Band. The great thing about Rock Band instruments is that they can be used with any version of the game. Well, Freak came over yesterday for a sleepover before she goes back out to university, so I rented Rock Band 2, just in case we got sick of the Beatles. _{For some people, that's blasphemy. For me, not so much, ever since my sister became obsessed with them.} We never even touched the Beatles version. I had no idea Rock Band 2 was so damn fun, especially since I had never played the PS3 version. I also never had any other instruments. Prior to Christmas, we had one set of drums I got from eBay for $25. I enjoy playing the drums, but singing is more my forte, and Freak prefers the guitar. So, Freak picked up the Hofner bass and I grabbed the mic, and we jammed with our weird-looking band, Hanging Skeletons, until 2AM.
One thing I noticed about the songs on Rock Band 2 is that many of them have ridiculously complicated lyrics. I know many of them, but the ones I don't, I just trip over. Even some songs I was familiar with, like "That's What You Get" and "Nine in the Afternoon" proved challenging. Also, when I've got the mic I notice a lot more on screen than I do on the drums. There are so many pretty colors...
In addition to Rock Band 2, I also rented Tekken 6. For the most part, I love the Tekken series, but it works much in the same way that Microsoft operating systems do; there's a good-bad-good-bad pattern. For example, the first Tekken was awesome, but Tekken 2 was wretched. Tekken 3 was a revolutionary video game for its platform, while Tekken 4 was nauseatingly awful. Tekken 5 had new features that had never been seen in a fighting game, and allowed the gamer to play arcade versions of the original games in the series. Tekken 6 has no original versions, a billion cut-scenes, and TAKES FOR-FUCKING-EVER TO LOAD! Sorry, but I'm really disappointed in this game. I was under the impression that Namco had broken the streak and made two good games in a row, but I suppose that's not possible for them.
In the spirit of video games, I present to you:
Six Amazing Tekken Characters
1. Yoshimitsu - The only Tekken character to appear in every incarnation of the game.

2. Eddy Gordo - The only character I could beat my cousin with.

3. Mokujin - It's a block of wood. That can kick your ass!

4. Jinpachi Mishima - He has a giant, evil mouth coming out of his tummy!

5. Marshall Law - There is only Law.

6. NANCY-MI847J - If anyone knows how to _legitimately beat her, please tell me.
Nancy has no official pictures, per se; there are mostly just crappy screenshots of her. So, here is a video of her. As a note, I don't approve of spamming in order to beat difficult bosses. That's just silly.
Here's hoping Tekken 7 comes out soon.
~Sushi

Bah Humbug

Call me a Grinch, or a Scrooge, or even a green llama, but I hate Christmas. I'm pretty sure that I've felt this way since I was eleven, when, in a temporary lapse of parental judgment, my mother spilled the beans to me about Santa Claus, three days before Christmas. She also told me about all the other mythological creatures that I was brought up to believe in: the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, St. Nicholas, etc. I know that Santa Claus and his rampant gift-giving are not meant to be the true meaning of Christmas, but it was a disappointment that I haven't forgotten in eight years, and probably still won't forget for a while. In fact, it makes me unsure as to whether or not I should tell my children, whenever I have them, about jolly ol' St. Nick and his ilk. In my pre-familial, teen-aged mind, it doesn't seem fair that parents can lie to their children, in the "spirit" of Christmas and various other holidays and occurrences, while children are never allowed to lie to their parents, for any reason at all. It's a trust-breaker. Sure, my parents have done other things that have shattered my trust in them, but I choose to bring this one up for the sake of so-called Christmas spirit.
Therefore, I offer up this list of different December holidays, many of which having nothing to do with Santa, or any other mythological figure.
Twenty-five Alternatives to Christmas
_{Thank you, Wikipedia, and various other wikis!}
1. Bodhi Day [Buddhist]
2. Winter Solstice [Celtic/Wiccan]
3. Signature of the Constitution of the Republic of China [Taiwanese]
4. Yule [Germanic]
5. Hanukkah [Jewish]
6. Eid ul-Adha [Muslim; sometimes occurs in November]
7. Holiday [Pastafarian]
8. Yalda [Persian]
9. Saturnalia [Roman]
10. Zamenhof Day [Esperantist]
11. Festivus [Seinfeldian]
12. HumanLight [Humanist]
13. Kwanzaa [Pan-African]
14. Hogmanay [Scottish]
15. Karachun [Slavic]
16. Decemberween [HomestarRunner]
17. Chrismahanukwanzakah [Paygoism]
18. Freezing Man [opposite of Burning Man]
19. Agnostica [agnostics, I suppose]
20. Kwansolhaneidmas [Facebookers, myself not included]
21. Alvistide [Sealab 2021
22. Wintersday [Guild Wars players]
23. Feast of Winter Veil [those loathsome WoWers]
24. Starlight Celebration [FFXI players]
25. Hogswatchnight [DiscWorlders]
Happy/merry various winter-time holidays!
~Sushi