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.

Offensive?

I don't have much to say. I leave you a question:
In your opinion(s), is this offensive?

Lemonade

I like lemonade. Anyone else like it? I could drink a whole pitcher of it right now...but alas, I have none. I would love to have some right now. It's rather hot in here. But it's okay, soon I'll be in KMart doing inventory on their movies (even though I'm not an employee of theirs ^_^ SPAR ftw. I get paid to do very little work ^_^)...I've been playing drums a lot lately and...I'M GETTING SOME! All I know it that they're Pearl drums and have a "silent mode" (I believe that's how they worded it in the description Sumomo (which I use to refer to my fiancée on here, even though in real life, she and I use it to refer to a niece ^_^) showed me. I really just have nothing to write if you're wondering. Thank's for asking, though. I wasn't lying, though; I do love lemonade and want some right now. I know at least one reader who agrees with me...and a random member of a certain site that I go to (no idea why I don't just say it, it's in that list of links). I feel much stronger now that I've been playing drums for 3 days straight, a good portion of the day...like I could lift a sandwich! Mmm, sandwich...you know what else I could go for right now? A grilled cheese sandwich. Those are yummy. I just wonder how human flesh tastes...would it need to be marinated or would it be good on its own...and by human flesh, I mean muscles...and cheeks. I know what human FLESH tastes like...kinda salty and bitter...except when it tastes like lemons. Have I mentioned I like the flavor of lemons? Come to think of it, did I need to? I have a post about lemonade and a post about lemon Sno Cones, so I'd think it would be implied, but you know, whatever ^_^ Lemons are awesome. Hey, wait! That's the name of my unused blog! I think I may keep it but extend its use to something other than just food. What else should it include? Because I don't want to get rid of it. I thought I did, but now I don't...maybe I could use it as another literary blog? OR I could do updates on my novel there...no, I couldn't do that; this blog was named for it, after all.

AND, since this post is titled "Lemonade", why don't we make some? You'll need a LOT of lemons and sugar...and don't forget the water! This specific recipe is just my mind at work and probably won't be accurate, but I'm going to make this in my head to my liking.

Fill a pitcher about 3/4 full (or empty if you're a pessimist) with water. Add enough lemon to make it 7/8 full (1/8 empty). Add sugar to sweeten if you so choose (about a cup...no pessimist measurements for that ^_^). Use the remaining 1/8 to water it down or add more lemon! Oh, and if you want it to look pretty, use a clear (preferably glass), open pitcher (lids are EVIL), and add some lemon slices...OH, and optionally, you can replace about 1/4 of the water with ice (before adding the lemon, of course).

So, since I've decided to keep the other blog...what else should I put on it? I need it to be something that will make me update it more frequently. The OTHER other one doesn't get updated a lot, but it takes time to write a story.

And I ask again, lest anyone's forgotten: what should I use the food blog for?

What should I do?

I decided I should ask my wonderful readers -the four or so of you- what I should do.

"Honto?!"
"Majide?!"
"Really?!"
"Est-ce la verité?"
"Campbell's?"

YES.

I've been considering combining all three of my blogs since, frankly, no one really pays much attention to the others...well, instead of going into that blog pity, I'll offer a few pros and cons:

PROS:
-The others have no real activity and I often forget to post in them or can't come up with new material, so I can get rid of them
-Combination will allow people to read my works without having to go to other sites
-It will increase the randomness of this blog (since that's one of the main focuses, secondary to my novel...which has very few posts on here), meaning people will be more likely to find things they like on this blog
-It will shorten the excessively long list of external links, therefore cleaning up the sidebar

CONS:
-At least one of my other blogs has been linked to by someone else (thank you, Dudel)
-It creates a lot of work for me until it's over (Copypasta, Labeling)
-There will be a LOT of new posts this month (though I'm considering using the spoiler tag to make the posts a little smaller so you won't have to scroll as much. This also means I could possibly put them all in one post without it being too long)

RANDOM
-I'll be able to use the spoiler tag to separate comments from the story, though it was never a problem and I could have done that on the other blogs
-National Waffle Day (US) and International Waffle Day are in different seasons, 3 months apart.
-Cold Case is on right now
-Badgers can't break dance. They also can't tango...with each other, at least. They're not human after all.

My love is like first steps in this snow, baby,
I follow you everywhere you go, baby.
The pain as light has come to wake you
But you will never realize
That I inspire the dreams that guide you baby.

I follow the winds that bring the cold, baby,
I light a fire in your soul, baby.
The lightest touch of feathers falling
My love might be invisible
But I inspire the dreams that guide you, baby

You're a half a world away
But in my mind I whisper every single word you say.
And before you sleep at night
You pray to me, your lucky star, your singing satellite.

Your singing satellite

You say a prayer
You say a prayer

You're a half a world away
But in my mind I whisper every single word you say.
And before you sleep at night
You pray to me, your lucky star, your singing satellite.

You're a half a world away
But in my mind I whisper every single word you say.
And before you sleep at night
You pray to me, your lucky star, your singing satellite.

WoW, this game sucks...

Mind you, I've only played this game TODAY and only for like 3 hours, so I'm sure to get flak from hardcore people, but I don't really like it at all, especially after all the hype from people who buy Guild Wars and talk about how much it sucks compared to WoW. I'll rate this on points that people have brought up and on a comparative scale. Quests are on a comparative scale to introductory quests from GW, which serve the same purpose as the ones I've completed. Skills are being compared only to starter skills in GW and rated on the number available as compared to GW.

Interface      3/10
Char. Creation 9/10
Graphics       4/10
Quests         2/10
Skills         2/10
Armor          7/10
Sound/Music    6/10
-------------------
Overall       33/70

Wow, that's even lower than I thought I'd rate it.

-INTERFACE:
--Awkward placement
--Cluttered
-CHARACTER CREATION:
--There is an assortment of races, each with classes limited by the race.
--There are 6 available classes maximum for good or evil in both GW and WoW
--Lost a point for how horrible the creation interface is. ONLY one point. I'm being nice.
-GRAPHICS
--They suck. Period. They're just horrible, even on the highest settings.
-QUESTS
--While introductory quests are ALWAYS "kill this many enemies!", "pick this up!", or "Collect this many of this item!" in pretty much every MMO, many are rendered nigh impossible by spawn campers and high-leveled characters in newbie land.
-SKILLS
--The skills are visually appealing and effective; however, the enchantments last FAR too long for balanced gameplay and characters have FAR too many skills that they can use whenever. A limit on skills allows more strategy while playing, as does skill balancing. As much as people complain about ArenaNet nerfing skills, they're doing it for the overall enjoyment of the players as well as requiring a more intelligent group of players. Me saying this also comes as a surprise, because I RARELY defend ANet.
-ARMOR
--There is a good selection of armor early on and it is limited by class, level, and proficiency.
--Many armors are unrealistic/illogical, even for a fantasy world, like shoulder pads that are larger than the character's chest.
--The LOW LEVEL armors are actually attractive and I wouldn't mind seeing some in GW.
-SOUND/MUSIC
--Overall, it's pretty good. However, the music during character creation sounds a bit too much like it could be used as battle music in a Final Fantasy knockoff.
--It's hard to hear music of all the people casting spells (I know, you can change volume levels, but one shouldn't have to)
--Spells, actions, and monsters make "appropriate" sounds (what one would expect).
-OVERALL:
--If it was free, it'd be worth it. $12.99 a month for something so craptastic is a bigger waste than gardening supplies for the guy in Metallica's One.

Busy/Guild Wars

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy landscaping in my backyard. I had to dig a giant pond and plant some stuff around it. Now we have to work on making it look good. I'm rather itchy right now because I'm allergic to the tall grass that I had to carry (and it's heavy)...anyway...yeah. That's why I haven't posted. But...just to take up space: A review! It's a general information review rating personal opinions on the different Guild Wars campaigns!

---

PROPHECIES:  7/10
FACTIONS:   10/10
NIGHTFALL:   9/10
EOTN*:       9/10
-----------------
TOTAL:      35/40

*Eye of the North. The title was too long and would make the rest look weird ^_^

---

PROPHECIES
-Appears to be medieval Western Europe mostly, with a few tropical areas and deserts. Typical generic RPG settings.
-Mandatory Tutorial: You have to go through several quests in "Pre-Searing" (pre-apocalyptic castle town type setting) before you can advance into the largest portion of the game.
-Slow Development: The story takes many quests and missions that take a LONG time to finish at times to finish. You can hire runners to skip large areas, but there are some mandatory missions and there are some runs that can take up to 4 hours with a GOOD runner.
-Low Rewards: It takes a long time to level up and you might as well give up on making a fortune unless all you do is farm rare things (which is harder to do here)

---

FACTIONS
-Asia, Eastern Europe, The Middle East
-Lots of Otaku.
-Optional Tutorial QUEST. Just one. All you get from it is information, a few items, a few experience points, and a tiny bit of gold.
-Fast Developement: Though you DO start on a tutorial island, you get into the main plot almost immediately.
-HUGE rewards: You can generally leave the beginner island at max level with at least 10 platinum (10,000 Gold).
-Pretty armor

---

NIGHTFALL
-Africa, The Middle East, The Mediterranean Region
-Beautiful Scenery
-The Prettiest Armors (and the most expensive non-core elite armor)
-Optional Tutorial Quest. Gets better rewards than the factions one, like the possibility of rare materials that can sell for up to 1 platinum (1000 Gold)
-Medium rewards: You get less experience and gold than factions, but it's tolerable
-Fast Development: A little slower than Factions, but there's a LOT of new content (Heroes), and it's not painfully slow like Prophecies.

---

EYE OF THE NORTH
-The only expansion (other than the bonus mission pack). In other words, this is the only one that requires another expansion, though it doesn't matter which you have.
-Pretty armors. You also have to EARN the armors (reputation points gained from quests and hunting, as well as materials and gold). Most of them are worth the work.
-Fastest Advancement: You're into the story before you get into the place the story starts. You can also beat the game in a day or two if you play non-stop (It took me a few weeks playing in it about an hour or two a day 5 days a week...another time it took me about 3 days, 5 hours a day).
-High Rewards, BUT...: The rewards for everything are high, but everything's a little expensive. Also, due to how short it is, if you divided the time it took to get the stuff by the time it was useful (TIME TO GET / TIME USED), you end up with a positive number (meaning it takes longer to get it than you have time to use it).

---

BONUS MISSION PACK
-Not scored because it's 4 missions, nothing else.
-Explains a LOT of the GW history as seen through the eyes of 4 of its most prominent characters.
-When you finish the missions, you can trade the storybooks for some really pretty weapons (My favorite being the Undead skinned weapons from Palawa Joko's Story).
-I'd Give it a 10 if I were to actually count its score.

Ore Wa Homo Ja Nai

I'd never dance with panties on my head while singing into a remote (though I have been singing that song today), but I'm not a homo either; I'm just rather feminine in my actions. I also like very feminine things, like making things pretty (I'm an armor whore in Guild Wars, collecting all the armors I think are pretty [which are very feminine]). However, my gender preference is not that of a female. It IS female. I have often been called gay (rarely seriously, but there are people who suspect that I am), but I am engaged to my lovely Krison.

But that's not the main purpose of my post. I want to articulate an opinion. I believe people who are gay should be allowed to be married. I'm not a very religious person, so I shouldn't get married in a church. The church wouldn't like it if I got married there, either. On that note, the church doesn't want gays to get married there. Don't get married there. That's disrespectful to that church's beliefs. HOWEVER, I do believe they SHOULD be allowed to get married. The government, on the other hand, thinks otherwise. They can't state a single reason against it that doesn't also apply to straight marriages, nor does it necessarily apply to marriage at all. The only non-health reasons they offer are religious ones.

Separation of church and state, anyone?

But since when has the government ever cared about anything other than upholding Christan (and ONLY Christian) values?

Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against any religions. They're all valid belief systems. I just don't like when religions get into power. That's what's led to the war in Iraq, even before the US got involved. But when the US got involved, it became a war over DIFFERENT religions instead of between two religious sects.

But back to gay marriage: It should be allowed. There is nothing in the constitution about gay marriage. There is no other major, non-religious text in the US that forbids gay marriage as a civil union that does not cite biblical reasons or reasons not pertaining to MARRIAGE.

On that note, people who are gay should be allowed to adopt, as well. People are against it for one of two reasons, from the information I've gathered:
1) "They'll turn them gay!"
2) "They'll rape them."

1 is just laughable.
2 is just ignorant. Contrary to popular belief, gender preference does NOT equal pedophilia.

There's also a third point I want to bring up: Those children don't generally CARE who adopts them. They're happy to have a home and a loving family.

Don't misunderstand me, though. I think the rules for adoption should be tightened. I don't just think people should be able to adopt simply because they can. I think social services should do an in-depth background check of EVERY detail of these people's lives. This includes random PI checks BEFORE AND AFTER the adoption is complete. Simply checking on the child won't work if the child is scared or blindly loyal to the parents.

If you wish to share your opinions, please share them RESPECTFULLY as comments to this post. Thank you for taking the time to read this.