Battle Against Boredom

I am here to type a kickass post and chew bubble gum... but you bastards stole all of it and threw it away so you can use that cheesy one-liner!

So instead, I'm going to use a different pick-me-up. *munches*

This post is sponsored in part by Calorie Mate! (Not really, but seeing as how Naked Snake loves the stuff, I'll have to slap it on here anyway.)





CURRENT MUSIC:
Bear McCreary - "Battlestar Operatica"
Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 Original Soundtrack

I found my dominant demeanor for today to be a particularly amused one. So, to match that, I present to you "Battlestar Operatica" - a piece from Battlestar Galactica that I find highly amusing.

True to its name, "Battlestar Operatica" possesses an operatic sound. It plays near the start of "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" (season 1, episode 9) as Gaius Baltar cynically contemplates suicide over having to perform over 60 years' worth of blood sample testing. The musical piece adds a bit of musical irony - the first time one hears it, it almost sounds happy and uplifting. One would think this to be some nicely-crafted song from an Italian opera.

So why do I find this track to be amusing? Well, when you look at the lyrics (which again, are in Italian), you'll probably get a kick out of it as well.

Original Lyrics (Italian)	Translated Lyrics (English)
Maledetto sia tuo cuore Cylone C'è una tostapane nella tua testa E porta tacchi a spillo Numero Sei ti chiama Il rivelatore Cylone impone La tua ragazza è un tostapane Maledetto sia tuo cuore Cylone Ahimè, disgrazia! Ahimè, tristezza e miseria! Il tostapane ha un bel vestito Rosso come la sua spina dorsale ardente sussura Numero Sei: "Per tuo comando" Maledetto sia tuo cuore Cylone	Woe upon your Cylon heart There's a toaster in your head And it wears high heels Number Six calls to you The Cylon Detector beckons Your girlfriend is a toaster Woe upon your Cylon heart Alas, disgrace! Alas, sadness and misery! The toaster has a pretty dress Red like it's glowing spine Number Six whispers: "By your command" Woe upon your Cylon heart

Do you see the humor inherent in the song? After giving it a few listens (once without knowing the lyrics, once with), you'll probably see why I chuckle a bit whenever this pops up.


Harry Gregson-Williams and Norihiko Hibino - "Ocelot Youth ~ Confrontation"
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Original Soundtrack

Sometimes you have to have a standoff with whoever or whatever's in your way. In today's case, I had to stand my ground against lethargy and having to wake up early. I won the fight of course, but it would have been better if I had matching music to fight with.

Enter "Ocelot Youth ~ Confrontation," the twelfth track from Snake Eater's amazing soundtrack that plays two parts - the encounter between Snake and Ocelot before their duel, and the resulting fight afterwards. It has a sound that I swear could make almost any confrontation between two people sound so much better. (Or at the very least: hammier.)



"The writer is a spiritual anarchist, as in the depth of his soul every man is. He is discontented with everything and everybody. The writer is everybody's best friend and only true enemy – the good and great enemy. He neither walks with the multitude nor cheers with them. The writer who is a writer is a rebel who never stops."
- William Saroyan

This is one of the big quotes that inspires me to be a writer. I've often found myself separated from the rest of the crowd in one aspect or another, and no matter how much I think I agree with something or think that everything's okay, there's a part of me that still disagrees... that still wants change... that wants satisfaction.

And you thought writers were the quiet types... oh, no.





Afternoon, everyone! How're y'all doin' today? Well, it's a sunny afternoon here in my part of southern California, so I'm just going to relax a bit before I head off to work.

So, what is there to talk about today? Let's find out. *begins typing*





Stuck Doin' Nothing
(*flat "yay"*)

Between getting caught up at work and having days off that my friends don't have (among other things), there hasn't been much going on in the life of me. It's almost at the brink of boredom, and when you're someone like me (a guy who detests boredom more than anything else... and the Hate List), that spells disaster.

Just ask Dr. Baltar here. At least he would prefer to kill himself instead of doing 60.1534 years' worth of menial blood testing.

As such, it's been kind of hard on me. A whole lot of nothing stretched out for hours on end... it kinda makes me a bit batty. We don't need that - I'm already (not-so-)crazy enough as it is.





Diving Into the Abyss
(At least I'm not diving into a pool of foam head-first.)

Of course, with how stern I'm sounding about being bored, this just begs one question to ask:

Jade asks Luke this question looooooong before the Joker ever did.

Why am I so serious about boredom? Because to put it bluntly: it sucks. Of course, that's why video games were invented - to curb my boredom and the boredom that every poor soul out there suffers from. Yaaaaay, video games!

So I've been playing a lot of Tales of the Abyss on my 3DS lately, and by that I mean I've been doing more leveling than anything else. I'm not exactly sure how far I am in the game, so for you Tales fans out there, maybe you can gauge how well I'm doing.

Currently, I'm in Sheridan and nearing 37 hours of playtime. This is what my party looks like thus far.

Luke fon Fabre, child of nobility and the player character whom the story revolves around. Having no recollection of his childhood memories after being kidnapped, he is thrust into an adventure he wants no part of.

For a while, Luke was actually one of my weakest characters (level-wise). Then I got him caught up to the rest and he ended up surpassing them. (Thank you, moments where Luke's the only guy in your party.) Currently he's my highest character and the only one at Lv40.

Tear Grants, the first person to join your party as the adventure begins.

Tear's been acting as my primary healer. Barring moments where she's not in my party, I've yet to make a group that didn't include her. Healing Circle's really nice for her to cast when Luke and Guy start getting hammered by a boss...

Colonel Jade Curtiss, spellcaster extraordinaire and king of deadpan snarking.

Jade is just awesome. Between casting fonic arts that could kill you into next year and his snark attitude, he's become one of my favorite characters in the game.

One of Luke's friends and servants: a guy named... Guy. Guy Cecil.

Guy's just a beast on the field. If Luke for some reason isn't in the party, Guy's usually the guy I'll play as. (It probably stems from my inability to use casters all that well...) However, I try to avoid doing so - he seems to be a tad too fast for me. Ironic considering that my favorite RPG class is the rogue/assassin-tyes - the fragile speedsters that can easily land some solid blows if they play well.

Anise Tatlin, a young girl with a magical fighting doll and a lust for money.

Anise is an interesting character for me to use - she has that "hybrid class" feel to her. A good portion of her artes are melee-based, but as can be seen here, she's more of a spellcaster. She's got her fair share of fonic artes, though, so no matter what she's doing she's able to hold her own.

Princess Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, your final party member and an archer of great skill.

Natalia is the only ranged specialist of your party and also doubles as a healer (which, when you look at her oh-so-abysmal stats, makes up for them). While she's not the strongest of my team, I still use her. I suck with aiming, though... so she's not the playable character (until she hits her Overlimit).

In terms of control usage (who I control the most during fights), I think my chart would look like this:

1. Luke
2. Guy
3. Anise
4. Jade
5. Tear
6. Natalia

But seeing as how I've already experienced moments where Luke and Guy weren't part of the party, I think I need to get some more practice in with the other characters. (But I don't like healing! It's sooo... boring! Why else do you think I had Chari specced as Protection?)





1000 Blank White Cards
(What're the odds that I'll have more than this by the end of June?)

So, more cards, huh? Let's hop to it!

Cupcakes!
Yum! Tasty!
+100, or -47 if you're a brony

While it may seem like a random card that takes a stab to fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the card refers to something so grotesque I dare not link to it. (EDIT: Too late. Bronies/Pegasisters/Overly-Curious People: read at your own risk lest ye be traumatized!)

To everypony in the audience who's not a (closet) brony/pegasister: "Cupcakes" is a fanfiction narrative that creeps out a large majority of the My Little Pony fanbase. As I love the show, I can't describe it (lest I subject myself to the horror again), but Know Your Meme certainly can. Fan sites have gone so far as implementing rules that anyone even mentioning that traumatizing story usually gets banned.

It's a nice card to play if you want to test if somepony's a closet brony/pegasister. If they cringe somewhat but play it off by claiming the +100 points... *arches eyebrow*

Jesus Christ
You were nailed to a cross. OUCH.
-3

Most Christians should see the reasoning behind "-3" no problem.

I'll admit: this card wasn't my idea - a friend of mine made it a looong time ago when he first introduced it to me. I just made a better picture out of it.

Pokémon School
Name the 17 types of Pokémon.
+10 for each successfully named Pokémon type

A game knowledge testing card. Always fun to show just how geeky smart you are.
Of course, when you try testing yourself without referring to anything else, you end up not being able to remember one or two of them.

Welcome Bear
Even the Forsaken need directions...
- 1000 and 10% durability loss

A World of Warcraft card! Huzzah; that's three now! For those of you who don't get the joke on this, allow me to explain:

The Forsaken's starting area, Tirisfal Glades is a relatively quiet area full of plagued creatures and zombies. As it's the beginning area for a decent amount of Horde players, the level range of the area is at a reasonable 1-10. Not counting the Horde zeppelin hubs in the area, there's only two regions that connect to the Glades: Silverpine Forest to the southwest (a 10-20 area) and the Western Plaguelands to the east.

Many players at the start of their WoW days would often explore when they didn't feel like questing. It was a great way to earn experience (by slaying the random mobs that you encountered) and earn some nice beginner loot. As such, people would often stumble across the paths leading out of Tirisfal Glades. Those that ventured eastward into the Western Plaguelands would look around at all the decrepit land and then suddenly get jumped by a plagued, diseased bear. After getting voraciously mauled to death, they then realize that the Western Plaguelands is a 50-55 zone.

An event like that is usually enough to shock the newbieness out of a new player. It's like the game sent you a bear to welcome you. Heh.

"When There's No More Room in Hell..."
Dead players are now ZOMBIES.
-666

Fans of George A. Romero will definitely love this card. So will players that are "dead." Think of all the fun you can have with this...





Not Lenting Up
(...that was a crappy pun. I apologize.)

To close us out, here's proof that I've been holding up to my Lent "pact" of not using Western utensils to eat.

Spam Jambalaya. Shame I didn't have any sausage or bacon - this would've turned out to be even better.

This is me eating Spam jambalaya with chopsticks. (Gotta love these collapsible things. Sushi places do.)

Marble cake. The counter was a tad too high for me.

...aaaaaaaaand thiiiis... is me eating cake. With chopsticks. God save us. I had to ignore so many weird looks on this one, but eh.





With that, I'll bid you adieu until the 'morrow! Stay cool, everypony!