Josh Blanco and the Curry Desert

Less talk; more rolling!





CURRENT MUSIC:
Masayuki Tanaka - "Katamari on the Rocks (Main Theme)"
Katamari Fortissimo Damacy

When I think of the Katamari games, this song instantly pops up in mind. Possessing a tempo suitable for speed-working and a bunch of silliness to counteract the seriousness of work, this song's just perfect for your crunch times - whether it be writing a term paper due in two days that you just started, cleaning up after all the guests who just wrecked your store with a 45 minute time limit, or rolling up a katamari for your father to blow up into the moon and a bunch of broken constellations because "We broke it."

There's a reason why this is on here, and it's not just because of me having to work all hard on a time crunch or anything.


Matt Uelmen - "Mountains of Thunder"
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Soundtrack

Starting back up in World of Warcraft let me re-immerse myself in the music that helped make me love this game. As I've probably stated before, the two things that pull me into a game are the story and the music. WoW already has plenty of lore within its game history, and as for the music, it possesses that in spades.

"Mountains of Thunder" contains music heard predominantly in the Northrend zone known as the Storm Peaks. As the name would suggest, it is a cold and desolate mountainous area, and navigating to the key parts of this area requires that you be licensed to fly in Northrend. The music emulates the chilly, lonely wind one would encounter when trekking an arctic and majestic territory such as the Storm Peaks. Maybe that's why I like this place so much - back when Wrath of the Lich King was the latest expansion, I would farm all across Northrend, but a majority of my farming was spent here because of the music.



"It is not your fault. It is Our fault for believing in you."
- The King of All Cosmos
(Katamari Damacy)

Leave it to the King of All Cosmos to degrade your work, even when you tried oh-so-hard.





Evening, everybody! Welcome to today's not-so-silly entry, where I hope you'll enjoy -

So much for a silent alarm...

...aw, frak me. Let me just deal with this for one sec-

- SYSLINK TERMINATED -

- SYSLINK RE-ENGAGED -

...yeah. Sorry about that. Guess I lied - today's entry will probably be a silly one. Take my word for it - just read. =D





Curry Time!
(Sadly not quite as epic as Hammer Time.)

So today, I got this huge desire to chow down on some good ol' curry. I love the stuff and I hate how it's just hard to get any decent curry locally without having to spend top dollar. I mean, I could drive all the way to Los Angeles, walk to Little Tokyo, buy some inexpensive curry packages at the Japanese markets, drive back, cook curry, and then eat it, but that would probably cost a lot more than going to the supermarket, hoping they have curry packages, grumbling at the register about how overpriced it is, and then go home to cook and eat it.

As much as I love trips to Little Toyko, I didn't do the former option for two reasons:

1. Too much time/money is required to go there and back.
2. I was by myself. Little Tokyo trips should be a social thing.

So, the choice was to go for the latter, and I ended up going to the supermarket. After that little journey, I got home, cooked up some leftover rice I made the other day, fried a bunch of meat, and then threw the curry into the meat.

The end result?

Yum!

Food that'll keep me satisfied 'til later on tonight. The question I'm asking myself, however, is this: have the leftovers for dinner, or dine out? Hrm... *strokes imaginary fu manchu 'stache in thought*





Exploring the Deserted Desert
(Starring Gef and Chari, with a surprise guest appearance!)

So I decided to take a trip to the desert region of Uldum today, and I have to say that... uh... it didn't go well. "Uh... Josh," I hear some of you saying. "...by 'trip to the desert', don't you mean 'trekking in World of Warcraft', you nerd?" Yes. Yes, I do. Now shut up and enjoy my nerdy "storytelling." Hehehe.

*clears throat*

Anyway, like I said before, it didn't go so well.

Right now our heroine is asking herself, "Where the hell is Orgrimmar!?"

For starters, Chariselle, my Blood Elf Paladin, got lost. I'll admit: since it's been at least three months since I played, I got rusty. I forgot where things were, how to tank, how to play certain parts, and so on. I didn't expect my Paladin to get lost... but I guess I have to blame her still-present combat high. Getting that Brewfest Ram honestly is the greatest thing to happen this week so far, and that incident at work (estimated losses were around five hundred thousand dollars) trumps a close second, so I guess I could see why she didn't really find the place - too much of her being ecstatic.

And I thought Dwarves were bad drunks...

She got a set of directions from a drunk Goblin, but after following the... "directions" (because I doubt "go[ing] around the old barn and tell[ing] Charlie 'the dancing stones are restless'" are actually legitimate navigational guidelines), she ended up smack dab in the middle of the Brewfest celebration. Long story short: she got smashed and was therefore removed from the expedition.

It's times like these where Chari wished she didn't watch Dumbo while on hallucinogens...

She did, however, purportedly stop an "invasion" of pink elekks that were threatening to destry Thunder Bluff. So... yay to her, I guess? *shrugs*

Anyway, regardless of my Blood Elf Paladin's recent "achievements," her inebriated status meant Gefallen, my Human Rogue, had to make the journey to Uldum. Alone. In the desert sun. Buried up to his waist in sand. On foot.

WHILE RUNNING UPHILL.

This long and excruciating trek left him tired, and so Gef decided to take refuge in what appeared to be an old, abandoned temple. He dozed off for a bit and when he came to, he was face-to-face with one of Azeroth's greatest archaeologists...

...Harrison Jones! *cue Indiana Jones theme*

Yes, Gefallen met Harrison Jones. Matter-of-fact, he personally got to assist the good explorer on tackling his latest mystery: the very temple Gef decided to doze off in! So after working as assistant-slash-escort, they ended up solving the mysteries of this temple (later to be called "Obelisk of the Moon") and ended up activating its energies.

And wonders were beheld.

Unfortunately, things aren't quite so simple. While Harrison and Gefallen were busy activating the Obelisk, other nefarious beings began to take advantage of the situation! Oh, noes!

Because no Indiana Jones movie is complete without some kind of evil German...

Yes, that's right - the evil Commander Schnottz ended up apprehending our not-drunk hero and the archaeologist. It had been his plan to have us unearth the mysteries of Uldum and the Obelisk of the Moon and then eliminate us after we safely extracted any priceless artifacts. Needless to say, they were in a pickle. But by quick thinking, Harrison was able to distract Schnottz long enough so that Gef could be given a chance to escape.

"Our arrows will blot out the sun!"

Gef flew away. Far away. So far away, in fact, that he almost ended up getting shredded by a volley of arrows in a war that wasn't his.

And then without warning...

Gef was not able to "stand in the fire." Whether this is a blessing or a curse? I still don't know.

...Deathwing, the fearsome Aspect of Death, began ravaging Uldum by burning random strips of land. By sheer luck Gefallen was able to stay far away to not be noticed by him. The scorched earth, as miserable and tragic as it was, gave our hero an idea.

This idea was to get a giant ball, light it on fire, and rush back with it to aid Harrison Jones by running over Schnottz with this giant ball of fire.

Now you can see why "Katamari on the Rocks" is on today's playlist.

It worked. Matter-of-fact, it worked too well - Schnottz was reduced to a charred skeleton after he was run over. (Just ask the countless gnomes that were run over when they got in the fireball's warpath.)

Because of this event, Gefallen is now part of the Alliance Military Science Committee, doing research on how to apply these giant fireballs (now codenamed "Katamari") in combat against the Horde.

Even when playing as the Horde, my true colors shine through. =D

Chari, still apparently under the influence of a crapton of alcohol, got arrested after "invading" Silvermoon City under the guise of an Alliance soldier. No charges were pressed after it was revealed that she was "under orders" to test the defense network of the Horde capital cities (though a few investigators found that these "orders" were just papers in her handwriting...).





Well, that's enough stories out of me. I got stuff to do tonight - hanging out with people and grinding dailies (though not in that order). So, until the 'morrow!