It's almost Christmas!

(I'm not really all that excited...same as celebrating Washington's or Lincoln's birthday...but different than MLK day because that actually has meaning to people. I'm not going to debate my feelings on Christmas, as for once, I agree (partially) with the religious nazis...as well as other Buddhists. If you really want to debate, bring facts)

The real purpose of this post was to get people into the spirit of Christmas...and promote [Dipdive], a media site owned by the Black Eyed Peas...if I'm correct, it's more specifically owned and run by will.i.am. So, enjoy this trailer of St. Nick and Kate plus 8 (which will run from 21-25 Dec.)!

New Story

I've started writing a new story that is completely unrelated to my book. It features a blind werewolf searching for lost love. I know, I kow, it's extremely cliché, but I like the way I'm writing it. I also know I should be working on my book -and I will-, but I've run out of ideas and inspiration for it. I'll get around to it eventually. That's all.

Karōshi Suicide Salaryman

Yes, you read that correctly. Karōshi literally means "Death from overwork" in Japanese (A growing problem in Japan, but some companies are taking measures to prevent/remedy this). The game is...kind of like that...well...

This game is the only game I know of where the entire purpose is to die. I don't mean this in the same sense as Demon's Souls, which is meant to prove how much you suck at gaming. I mean it's 50 levels of you dying. Some of the levels take a little thought, however, as you don't necessarily have to use the tools they give you.

If you are easily offended by obviously fake blood or the concept of suicide, I do NOT recommend this game. However, it is quite a good game. If I can get the Spoiler tags to work (I've forgotten how to use them, as they're custom and I used them once a long time ago), I will put a quick strategy guide, though I consider that cheating...and why should you cheat? But don't worry, it will be written clearly.

Click the link to play the game: Karōshi Suicide Salaryman
To save you the time of scrolling down the page to them, the controls are the arrow keys and the space bar. A few have other controls, like the one with the kitty.

Don't cheat! I took the time to finish, so why don't you? It's not THAT hard! I'll give you a clue for the boss fight: Don't accept praise. There, I helped.

EDIT: A reply that may or may not be spam was completely right that the act of suicide is a major problem everywhere in the world (though this specifically relates to Japan). Therefore, I'd like to amend this post with some information for those considering suicide:

Inochi no Denwa (Lifeline Telephone Service)
Japan: 0120-738-556
Tokyo: 3264-4343

USA National Suicide and Crisis Hotline: 1-800-448-3000

Thanksgiving

This post really only applies to those in the US, but feel free to read it no matter where you are.

I've noticed that for most of my life, they've been advertising Christmas since right after Halloween, but recently, they've even started advertising before that. That's right, we're SKIPPING HOLIDAYS to get to one that, at least to most Americans, is THE HOLIDAY WHERE YOU GET STUFF. Sure, Christmas is the holiday of giving, but not to Americans. No, we (excluding those of us who don't celebrate it and those who celebrate it correctly) brag as children that "I got this and this and this and this and this REALLY EXPENSIVE thing!", not about "I gave such and such something they needed" or "I donated the money I was going to spend on gifts to a homeless shelter". While that's bad enough, we're skipping a holiday that, in my opinion, should be more important (than the holiday that most of us think of, not the religious one, for those who celebrate Christmas correctly. It's Jesus's chronologically incorrect birthday party, not the holiday you buy crap and get more from some fat dude in an ugly suit). We're skipping a holiday for GIVING THANKS for what we have. No, we go straight from GIVE ME CANDY! to GIVE ME TOYS! Now, we're even skipping the candy. No, that's crap. Even worse, people are celebrating Halloween the wrong day because "it's a pagan holiday", which is TRUE, but it's not the satanic one they claim it is...just because you celebrate it the day before and call it something else doesn't mean it's a different holiday. Sorry.

Okay, no more ranting. I apologize if I offended anyone. It was more to make people think before they make stupid decisions like skipping holidays or calling them something else. It's just that this part of the year pisses me off, especially when I'm not in the best of moods anyway...

Well, I'll add to this post so it doesn't end on THAT bad of a note. So, keeping with the theme of notes, here's a song with a few of those.

Black Eyed Peas - Missing You

I can't stand another night
Stand another night
Without you

Since you've been away
Everything don't seem like they used to be
Between you and me
'Cause I'm missing your (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)

I'm missing your (love-love-love)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)

Yo. Yo. Yo.
Everyday-Everyday that you gone
I'm singing that sad song
If loving you is wrong
Then-Then I must be wrong
Even-Even when I'm gone (don't go away)
Our-Our love is strong (don't go away)
You the one I want (don't go away)
You're my nuh- You're my nuh- You're my number one
Yeah, our love ain't goin' out of fashion
I need your love, your passion
But love is everlasting, -lastin' (-lastin', lastin')
(-Lastin', -lastin', -lastin')

Since you've been away
Everything don't seem like they used to be
Between you and me
'Cause I'm missing your (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)

I'm missing your (love-love-love)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)

When I'm out on the road (I'm missin' you)
Rockin' them shows (Missin' you)
Up in Monaco (I'm missin' you)
Making gold
When I'm AC plus (I'm missin' you)
And glamorous (Miss kissin' you)
But I miss your touch (I'm missin' you - oh-oh-oh)
Yeah, I miss your touch
I spend all my time (Missin' you)
With you in mind (Missin' you)
My mind's on you
'Cause all I am is missing you (I'm missin' you - missin' you)
(I'm missin' you)
(I'm missin' you)

Since you've been away
Everything don't seem like they used to be
Between you and me
'Cause I'm missing your (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)

I'm missing your (love-love-love)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)
I'm missing your love (love-love-love)

Without you, girl I don't know what to do without you

Girl, I ain't never had nothin' like this
When I'm all sprung caught up like this
Maybe it's your face, girl
Maybe it's your lips
Maybe it's the way you shake them hips
Baby it's the way you do what you do
That got me all love struck on you
I'll be just like an umbrella
The way I'm all over you
I know the other voice be callin' you
But they just want a piece
I want all of you
Take my time just spoilin' you
'Cause I know I'm in love with you (with you - with you)

Please, baby, don't go
I'm needin' you now

I'm missin' you - Oh oh oh
I'm missin' you - Oh oh oh
I'm missin' you - Oh oh oh
I'm missin' you - Missin' you
I'm missin' you - I'm missin' you

Hey!
I miss your love, girl (love-love-love)
I miss - I miss your love
I miss your love, girl (love-love-love)
I miss - I miss your love

Hey!
I miss your love, girl (love-love-love)
I miss - I miss your love
I miss your love, girl (love-love-love)
I miss - I miss your love...love...love




Oh, and I've finally posted on the art blog in the sidebar.

Shale (Dragon Age)

This pretty much summarizes the character humor in Dragon Age: Origins. Shale has become my favorite playable character. Oh, and if I'm correct, the player-designed character (the one in the ugly hat) is wearing Tevinter robes and the Libertarian Cowl. This clip doesn't require any setup, except for the fact that this is right after you get Shale, when you're leaving the village she's been trapped in for 30 years. And yes, Shale is female.



And I'll leave this with a Shale conversation. It summarizes both Shale and Zevran simultaneously.

Shale: "Order me to do something."
Warden: "Give Zevran a hug."
Zevran: "Now, now. I don't care much for foreign objects invading my personal space. Well... usually."

Forgot

I completely forgot to post on here. I've been busy attempting to play violin (I can play a whopping 4 notes) and playing Dragon Age. I'm not really going to give a summary of it, but think of it as having the world/plot based on/ripped off of Guild Wars: Eye of the North and Final Fantasy XII, the systems of Dungeons and Dragons, and the NPC reactions of Fallout. Overall, I give it a 10/10, but it has some minor issues that bother me, but are just annoying and don't affect the game at all (like the quest to get the acorn for the rhyming tree...if you get the acorn before you know about the tree, the quest arrow never goes away -_- Another issue is that sometimes, it takes a LONG time for a corpse to allow you to loot it...which means you can wait a while to finish quests that involve killing stuff, because they don't update until the corpse can be looted...oh, and there's an annoying thing in Redcliffe where a skeleton gets stuck behind a building...it took me 20 minutes to find it...I ran around everywhere else and even left for a few minutes to see if it would update...but that quest seems to have a lot of waiting issues anyway...). So, if those annoyances DID take points off, it would still be a 9.9.

Here's a poem that summarizes how one of the bosses, the Brood Mother, came to be. It is chanted by Hespith, a member of the same royal house as the dwarf that became the Brood Mother.

First Day, they come and catch everyone.
Second Day, they beat us and eat some for meat.
Third Day, the men are all gnawed on again.
Fourth Day, we wait and fear for our fate.
Fifth Day, they return and it's another girl's turn.
Sixth Day, her screams we can hear in our dreams.
Seventh Day, she grew as in her mouth they spew.
Eighth Day, we hated as she was violated.
Ninth Day, she grins and devours her kin.
Now she does feast, as she's become the beast.

She continues it in prose after you finish talking to her, describing this person eating her husband's face. So yeah, the game is very dark. I love it.

Violin

I'm going to be getting a violin. It's currently being delivered. If I'm lucky, it'll be here tomorrow or early thursday. Later than that and I won't be here for it. Great. Well. It's a silent electric 4/4 violin in bright orange. The orange may or may not be permanent. I may later paint it a brass-like color or cover it in brass...whichever is most easily available. I may or may not add vacuum tubes, depending on if I can get them for much less than $20. I've seen them from $1 each to over $1000...yeah. Ebay is not always the best deal, but sometimes it's the easiest place to find stuff like that. It won't just be vacuum tubes that I add, of course; everything will be functional. Hopefully, my modifications won't drastically affect the sound...

Oh, still not cheerful. Just...numb.