the wonders of selective grammar usage

So.
There's this thing called "the internet."
Hm.

I'd say it's good to be back, but I wouldn't want anyone to count their chickens before they hatch. Two split days off next week, and then I'm whooshing straight into the holidays.  Five a.m. on Black Friday.  I'm very tempted to put in a rush order for Bawls, caffeinated mints, and some good ol' caffeinated soap to keep me going from 5 a.m. - 2 p.m.

In other news, I've got to download Word onto the lappy of <3 so I can get my reviews all formatted and whatnot.  All I've got to say is this: when a game makes you physically ill, that's generally not a good sign.

I called up Pete a while ago (as referenced in the last audio excursion) and resigned from my post at Deeko. Even more so than before, I know that I don't have the right amount of time for them. It still bothers me to an extent, because there is a part of me that feels like I should have been doing more, but it would have required me to sacrifice either time from Lor, Nick, the paying job, or GotNext... and I couldn't do that at all. I'm still cheerleading though, and I hope that things work out for them in the long run.

Well, the 'rents finally got back from their excursions and Lor took off for the weekend, so I'm off to the W to get paid. Pay raise, I hope you're in there. Mama needs a new pair of (work) shoes.

I've been sitting here, trying to mash together a skills-based resume. Under duress, the words that keep appearing on the page feel like a forgery, plagiarism, lies. I can't seem to keep my story straight, yet all I worry about is how I'm going to make this thing stand out. Be different. Stunning.

It's a fact -- when it comes to the printed word, I'm as shallow as can be.

My true colors come out in autumn, it seems. Maybe it's directly affected by the lack of sunlight -- the chlorophyll slowly draining from my face, coating the puddles of rain outside my doorstep with a pearly film. That seasonal disorder with its fitting acronym, SAD... I don't think I actually have that, mind you, but it's fun to play doctor and misdiagnose yourself every now and then. Something to pass the time.
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My list of titles to review is growing by leaps and bounds. D.I.C.E. (PS2), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS), The Nightmare Before Christmas (PS2), Animaniacs: Lights! Camera! Action! (DS), and most likely when I'm done with two of those mentioned, Zoo Tycoon (DS) and Bratz: Rock Angelz (GC).

... I just read that list aloud, and realized that I'm crazy.

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Last night, I got a message on MySpace from someone from the Ridge that was in Newspaper, and today I found that another found me through LiveJournal. See, now these are the reasons why I don't mind putting myself out there to an extent, because these are two people I don't mind finding me. The whole drama at work regarding people reading another's MySpace and gossiping about it is the main reason why I tried to tuck myself away in this little corner as much as possible. I don't want them to find me or my friends and use their vicious retail barbs for their sick little mindgames. I'm very close to deleting that MySpace account.

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Karissa, a coworker, and I were sharing our experiences as "tomboys" last night at work. She was more of the jock breed, where I was (obviously) the geek type. She's a gorgeous girl -- v. tall, v. slender, wonderful features -- so it was surprising to find that she went through many of the same things I did while growing up. We have a lot in common, though, be it in past relationships or just plain interests (we both prefer sniping and sniping alone during Halo parties).

Lumping this in with the work stuff...
I went to go pick up my pictures at work today, and my MoMoMo was the lucky stiff who developed them. When I opened up the envelope, a note fell out with an outburst of love and affection. Even though there are days where I yearn for random bouquets just because (Karissa and Wendy via samedi) or even just the "I was just in the neighborhood -- let's go to lunch" deals, it's those little things that mean just as much to me.

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I wish I had broadband right now. I'm craving some OC Remix goodness, mmhmm. Even though Orange County has immortalized by the nighttime soap (which I've never seen, mind you) as such, OC to me will always mean Overclocked and trigger thoughts of remixes galore.

Playing Pump it Up: Exceed* isn't good for what should be my kicking back time, but I've got to do something or else I'll scream as loud as my half-hoarse, half-gone voice will let me.

I tried to brave an errand run today once my father got home from the family shindig (I'd have gone, if it weren't for the fact that I'm effin' sick and I would've felt bad if the birthday boy caught anything from his oldest cousin). Yeah... it technically worked, but the whole time I was just sore all over and hot beyond belief. I hope I'm not running a fever... or becoming a hypochondriac.

There's this place that opened up a few doors down from samedi's old workplace called Bubble Heaven. The fresh fruit combo I had was quite delicious -- kiwi mango, yum -- but the incessant high pitched voice over the speakers taunting me about how I wish I was hot or something? The disaffected youth behind the counter that barely noticed I was there the whole time? All the writing on the Polaroids on the wall with the letter S replaced with a Z?

Hopefully the Legion Way haunt's more palatable, drinks and otherwise.

As for Exceed, I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. The diagonal thing's not hard to get used to at all (except when doubles are concerned, eesh), and the music selection's quite nice. Vivaldi's "Winter" continues to kick my ass to high heaven, though. I called Gamestop and EB to see what the trade-in value would be, though... and $22 is the best I can get for it. $22?! To hell with that, I say. The game's still entertaining me, and if keeping it means that I have to wait until... forever to play Trauma Center or Phoenix Wright, then I guess that's my fate. Anyway, I'd feel kinda bad trading in my first supplied game from GotNext. It'd be like selling a memory for a candy bar.

I can't stress enough how much I suck at Exceed, though, a point I drive home quite a bit in the review. In Nick's rundown of the trip, he mentions that we're going play some DDR either on Friday or Saturday. Now, I'm hoping that we're speaking the same language, and that "we" translates into "Vin and I" or just "I, Nick, by myself" because there's no way you're going to get me to embarrass myself on those godforsaken machines in front of people. Nope. Nuh-uh. Even Tipsy Luana'd say no to that.

* - Oh, and I've decided that for LiveJournal purposes, the Umilicious Stylebook deems that all game titles will be bolded, since quotations don't feel right and I like to italicize for emphasis. Good lord, a reference material for my LiveJournal. I've reached new geeky lows.

I know, I know, it's cool to hate on 1UP and all, but when they have people like Tetsuya Mizuguchi making posts like this, then it's hard to bag on them.  I've always been an avid admirer of his work, and I can easily say the same for his posts.  I can't wait for Every Extend Extra, personally.  Sometimes, you know when something is right up your alley, and it looks like E3 (the game! the game!) will be that very thing.

I'm being a slacker now, though -- I've got to run some errands, pick up a couple of things on the West Side, and then go home and finish my editorial, my blog post, and start exceeding at pumpin' it up.

Oh, and I need to take a "sexy" picture that lampoons the sexy avatars and such that all these women use.  It's for my editorial, and Chris thought it'd be funny if I did something like that to spoof 'em all.  I have no idea what to do, though... any thoughts?

I was talking to Chris for a long time after work last night. Through our conversation, he really just reinforced how much I want to make it in this volatile industry. It's everything I've always loved all wrapped up neatly in one package -- my passion for writing, my talent for soft news, and my knowledge of gaming. Ever since reading the second issue of EGM, I've known that it'd be something that I'd enjoy, and I've always shown an innate talent for the mechanisms of the journalism industry.

I've ran away from it for so long. I've been afraid to chase my dream, because once you've caught something like that, what drives you? It's a valid question, really, when you think about it. I truly believe that many people are afraid of success because of the calm that comes afterward, not because of an actual fear of achievement. I always felt that I did my best work when I was depressed, that I was creatively bankrupt in any other state... but I'm quickly finding that with this newfound passion and unwavering support, I'm driven to do better.

Honestly, one thing that's pushing me to improve and craft more than just purge words is njr and his reviews. I read his Rebelstar and Kirby: Canvas Curse reviews, and they're so fleshed out. His command and flow are just that top-notch, and I look at them and wonder if I ever produce anything that well-written. Lately, though, I've been looking back at what I've contributed to GotNext. It's interesting how much you notice once you get your mind completely cleared of the subject matter at hand.

Take, for example, my Sprung review. When I wrote it, I was absolutely livid about the game, and as Nick pointed out to me later, some of that rage probably rubbed off on my feelings toward my actual review. Now that I look at it, though, I can't get over my conclusion and how much I actually like it. As Chris and I said last night, intros are hard, but conclusions are even harder.

I guess I'm starting to find my inner rhythm again, and as such, my workload at GotNext will be increasing a billionfold very soon, with the upcoming launch of our UMD reviews section (something that I'll be helping run, with the assistance of my Safeway card -- you don't necessarily need a PSP for a movie review, you know) and an anime section (which... yeah, a bit harder for me there, but I'll try -- can anyone help me find "Ghost in the Shell" for as little cash as possible? It's technically for the UMD reviews, but yeah. No PSP. Unless... I watch it in NYC? :0 ). I've most recently become a reviewer of supplied content, and I've got an editorial going up on the site soon, as well as my Ouendan review... once I actually finish the damn thing.

Balancing all this will be fun, indeed... and it'll be worth every second, according to Chris.

[02:00] Umi: but my main goal is to just be respected as a writer, you know?
[02:00] Chris: and you will
[02:00] Chris: i guarantee you of that
[02:01] Chris: hard work and dedication reaps rewards

So... yes.
Lots of stuff have been going on in the last couple of days. I could put it in a bulleted list, but we're not doing that right now. I'll stick with the old-fashioned Luana-ramble that you're all used to by now (or, at least, I hope you're used to it).

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan came in on Monday, and boooooy, is it awesome or what? It's very reminiscent of Gitaroo Man, in both the humor and the gameplay. Oh, and the fact that the final level is kicking my ass hardcore. HARDCORE. The music is absolutely fantastic; it's apparently composed of popular Japanese rock/pop tunes over the years, and since I've had them stuck in my head all day long, I downloaded Bittorrent and now and in the process of waiting... waiting... waiting for them. Between the various Naruto intro/ending themes and Ouendan, my interest in Japanese popular music is really starting to grow.

Work-wise... it's been slow at the store, but I really think that's to make up for all the drama at Deeko. Good lord, THE DRAMA. I won't go into it any more here, for I don't think that it would be either appropriate professionally or personally (even though this is my blog), but man. It's crazy. Things are looking damn good in the GotNext corner, though -- not only do I have my latest contribution to GotGame up, but also my concise review of Nintendogs that, while I'm rather unsettled by, has some good traits that I'm proud of. In a recent e-mail, Chris informed me that I'm ready to make the jump from freelancer to regular reviewer, which means supplied games! :0 So excited. Of course, my next review? Ouendan.

Talked to Pat last night for some time. It has been decided that our parents are to be exchanged -- not for each other's, mind you, but just in general. While we love our parents, there're some things that are... shall we say lacking. Can't say more without compromising our... whatever's to be compromised, but yeah. 'Twas a relaxing conversation, to say the least.

I decided last night that it'd be a good idea to grab my flight information for the tandem NYC trip that Georgia and I were taking, so I checked my email and OMG NOOOOOOOO. We weren't coming in on Friday morning after all, but on Saturday. NOOOOOOOO
This just couldn't be (for I have to cover Digital Life on Friday for GotNext), so I panicked a bit before checking prices and then left Nick a hasty email of woe. Instead of us just settling for two days and one night, he went ahead and got me a ticket for a Thursday morning departure... so it's now three days and three nights. I mean, I can have dinner with him and his mom!

I'm starting to get very very excited now. I guess, when you get down to it, I really am a small-town girl in comparison to living somewhere as... metropolitan as New York City. Not only that, but the airline I'm flying on, Delta Song, is pretty damn fancypants for the price (Nick) paid. There's a screen on every seat -- every seat! -- so you can watch fairly new releases, and you can preorder meals. Actual meals. They're not cheap, mind you, but just look at the screenshot, dude. It actually looks comfy cozy and all. Now it's just telling my parents that they need to drop me off early early and that I'm staying with Nick and his mom. :0

Crazy.

Georgia said today that I was only to pay her back half the money owed since I only was using one of the tickets. Let it be known that this is my public statement of refusal. I refuse to comply with this, lady. I swear, if it means me getting you awesome birthday gifts for the next three years or so, then so be it. I will pay you back somehow. MARK MY WORDS.

Anyway, I went ahead and did some meme thing, and since I totally forgot the bio for swoontastic at home, I guess I can just go and scrounge up some food before crashing. Life's hectic, but in a happy way. I'm glad to be livin' it.

( memeriffic interests quiz )