I felt nauseous from #1 being sick, #2 having two drinks, and #3 pigging out on Chinese leftovers last night, so I decided to just go to bed really early, at 10:30 PM (yes, that’s early to me, considering I normally crash around 1), and I dreamt of the perfect foamed milk, no doubt inspired by this image that the lovely Charmaine had taken.

Oh, cruel, cruel reality, for there is not a coffee shop around here that has replicated the wonders of the “cashmere perfect” froth. Ever since I saw that picture, I’ve been ordering cappuccinos at any and every coffee shop (or place that served reputable coffee) around. My conclusion is that I need to froth the milk myself, but the steaming mechanism at my work’s espresso machine is out of commission. Maybe, soon enough, I will find my perfect froth… but, for now, I will have my dark beverage the way Laurie likes it: “Black as the devil, sweet as a stolen kiss … no milk, two sugars.”

Being overwhelmed by work and social obligations has left me little to no time to play video games or to finish reading the D&D 4E Player’s Handbook; however, from what I’ve gathered from old timer players (namely my boyfriend), they seem to have stripped down a lot of things about D&D 4E. It seems, in his words, “dumbed down so that WoW players can start getting into D&D.” I can’t say since I never played the older editions, but he used to play 2E with his friends all the time. Some of the changes makes me a little sad, but I think our DM might accomdate for those changes We will see though. I am way excited to play, but I have to wait a week and a couple days. Why so far away!?

It seems a funny balance to try to strike when coming up with content for this journal. Is it supposed to be personal? Is it supposed to revolve around certain interests? I know that there’s no such thing as “supposed to” when it comes to these mediums, but I can’t help it. I’ve rallied for so long against the current “fad” of blogism, so to speak–that a blog has to be geared toward something, that it needs to be about something.

No, but really–my dilemma is more that I already have a medium that serves as my word vomit canvas (no, you can’t have my LJ account, and no, I will not add you even if you know what it is). That is certainly the reason, though–the very fact that I know who is reading my content and that I am able to thusly restrict my readership makes it an optimal choice for personal blogging journaling.

We shall see–the conversation is not completely lost.

In other news, 2009 is shaping up to be an exciting year for me!

This pic was snapped by Kiko, from PAX 2007. I couldn't believe he caught myself and Justin!

First off, PAX 2009′s pre-registration is up. Not that anyone reads this, but for those who ask, PAX is not a church-related event but is, in fact, a gaming convention (and no, not the kind of gaming that involves winning or losing money, nor is it the kind that involves killing animals. It’s the other kind). PAX stands for Penny Arcade Expo, an idea brought on by these brilliant guys who have, almost against their own will, become the voices of gamers all over the world by giving honest, no-nonsense, no-bullshit opinions points of views about nearly every aspect of the video game industry, including its games, its publications, and its bad marketing and PR stints.

The convention itself is more of a festival. All things gaming-related are involved, from pencil-and-paper RPGs, board games, to video games, convention-wide LARPs and ARGs. In fact, the only thing I think is missing is an arcade room, but who knows why such a thing does not exist (probably has something to do with cost and licensing–maybe I will ask Mr. Khoo). There is an expo hall, full of exhibitors from many walks of the video game industry, selling and displaying their jewels for the gamer to enjoy. There are concerts. There are tournaments, panels, keynotes, hell, there are even pranks! But mostly, there is a community that no one seems to know about until they attend this. There is a definitely anime community, sci-fi/fantasy community, comic community, but the gamer community? This is where PAX is for them, and this is what home feels like for us.

This year, like all previous years, the convention is in Seattle, Washington, but next year it will be in Boston. Needless to say, I am psyched.

I have also always been curious about pencil-and-paper RPing a la Dungeons & Dragons, but those kinds of games are never introduced to one unless they know of one who played, and growing up, I never knew anyone who played such things. Hell, I can admit that the only reason why I’m into video games today is because my older brother played (and today, I am much more hardcore about it than he is). So, you can imagine my excitement when my friends agreed to starting a D&D 4th Edition group. The first meeting will be on March 20, since half of us is in the Bay Area and the other half in LA. I can’t wait!!

I snuck a few rounds in. Oops :X

I also just recently tried out Quake Live! It’s not so bad. The only thing I did was “train” … I haven’t played against real people yet, but it looks to be a great distraction from work

Finally, the last bit of blogworthy news: Braid will be available for download for PC for $14.95. The game is brilliant, so if you don’t have Xbox Live, you definitely should consider getting this game.

I’ve downloaded The Damned and the Lost, but I barely played two missions before I got too busy to play the rest. My next visit will be a fruitful gaming weekend … I hope.

(I was going to write about fooding, but I am beginning to think I nee another journal for that! Alas, I will make an effort to make my next post food-oriented!)

What I once thought would be a clever pun, is actually just a character based on a console made by Microsoft of the same name–but, of course, of an earlier iteration. I drew him, fell in love with his misery, and decided to feature him on this design.

The story goes that the Xbox had a good girlfriend who left him for a more exhilarating, younger, more user-friendly competitor. The new beau focused on her, not himself. He wanted her to have fun, to play the video games he provided, to establish a sense of accomplishment within her via Animal Crossing, Super Mario Galaxy, etc. She couldn’t understand XBox’s wiley ways. Perhaps he’d crushed one too many beer cans upon his plastic face, or encouraged raucous behavior amongst his friends–whatever the case, she no longer felt the same way about him as she did when he first arrived upon her doorstep as a simple DVD player that happened to be able to play video games. Their relationship morphed. He could not no longer fancy her attention with his capability to display 3D graphics, and he certainly could not satisfy her cravings with his Halo and his what have yous. Besides, the new Nintendo Wii is so adorable and cute. Xbox? Not so much.

So, thus, he is now known as the Ex-box, and he keeps the secrets and pains of this past relationship inside, always feeling a little sorry for himself, and being even more emo when his younger brother was born.

I may or may not introduce a whole world of consoles that have identity issues (I have some characters in the works), but for now, this cute but sad, lonely Xbox will have to do.

I have not been posting lately! For that, I do apologise. I haven’t been on top of my blogging shenanigans, I’m afraid
I’ve been swamped at work, and with a bunch of schoolwork due every Sunday night, it’s sort of hard to find time to just sit down and breathe!

This weekend I’m heading out to LA~! Am very much looking forward to that. I love LA
End of this month, I’m going to Vegas, which I’m also looking forward to. I heard that Virgin America is like the partybus? I’m flying for the first time with it, so I’m very excited for that. AND it’s a flight into Vegas! Hahaha Vaishnavi and I are gonna hop off the plane happy

… and then nothing really exciting after that!
The only thing that sucks about weekend getaways is that my homework for my online classes are always due on Sunday night–which is retarded to me. It should be due on Monday nights because that’s more like a school schedule right? But nooo, they’re due on Sunday nights, so if I’m out for a weekend, I have to make sure I finish my homework before I leave. Which I guess is good practice anyway, but still. I don’t like feeling rushed with my hw, and on top of having so much stuff to do at work, I really don’t need all that additional pressure to meet the deadline 3 days earlier, which really compromises the quality of my work. Boo.

What’s more exciting though is that I have 2 new hostees I won’t reveal them until they finish their sites, but wow! I’m super happy to be hosting again! It’s been awhile desune…
I need to launch my site as well! :O Ahh, so much to do, so little time~!

I recently started playing Audiosurf and it’s SO BOMB! *_* The colors! The music! The maps! They’re all so fun. If you have Steam, you should buy it!

Anddddddddd I’m thinking about starting an instant noodle blog I LOVE instant noodles~! Hohoho! Even though they’re absolutely bad for you, I can’t help it. They’re yummy and convenient P:

This President’s Day weekend was spent mostly lounging around, although I guess you could say we were the most active on Saturday, when Justin and I helped Derek move into the city.

On Friday, after work, I went over to Justin’s house and we ate leftovers from the absolutely terrific Valentine’s Day dinner he’d prepared for me the night before (herb-crusted rack of lambs, spinach and pinenut salad, penne pasta) while watching Moyashimon, an anime about fermentation and a boy who can see bacteria. Really, the only reason why I watch it is because the bacteria are SO freakin’ cute!

Moyashimon Wallpaper

Saturday, we were supposed to get Justin’s loverly STi’s transmission fluid drained at a shop in Hayward, but something or other happened and we decided we’d come back next week. We instead decided to head out to Berkeley for lunch!

Stopped by the Epicurious Garden on Shattuck! Actually, we had originally planned for Cheeseboard but we were there early and we hadn’t eaten breakfast, so we opted for some soup from Soop and a steak torta from Picoso. YUM! Oh my dear gosh that Coq au Vin was soooo good!

Afterward, we trekked over to Charle’s Chocolates for a gander at their fine selection while waiting for Derek to return to his apartment. I bought a jasmine tea-infused chocolate truffle. So yummy

The next however many hours were spent packing, loading, packing, loading, etc … except since Derek’s apartment has lingering reminders that he once had a cat there, I was basically dying! Sneezed like crazy, nose running, coughing, etc etc, so all I was good for was holding the door open. Ha. :X

After we loaded everything in SF, Justin and I were paid in FOOD. Oh how I love food! We went to Manivanh in the Mission:

Great, I’m drooling now. Freakin’ aye! It’s lunch time, son!

Afterward, we moved some more stuff in Emeryville, and then we stopped by Fenton’s for (celebratory?) dessert. Mmm, the traditional fare of Fenton’s fries and ice cream! Sounds like an odd combination but damn son, it was GOOD. Cookies ‘n cream ice cream pie! haha! I can’t believe they finished their ice cream. They give you so much food there

On Sunday, I worked out in the morning and wanted to buy Professor Layton and the Curious Village. While at Target, I saw that they had Rock Band for … PS2?! I called Justin for advice, but finding that he was rather preoccupied, I decided to just buy it (and, if anything, return it later!).

I showered really fast once I got home and drove over to Justin’s house! Afterward we met up with Chandler and Laura (Lauren?) at Pepper Lunch. Had Hamburg Steak! Yum! I haven’t had Pepper Lunch in ages! Then Justin called his cousin to see if we could borrow his Xbox 360, seeing as how the PS2 version of Rock Band had a lot of features that were missing. We got a Go, so we traded our PS2 version for the Xbox 360 version (which, btw, was on sale at Target, without us really knowing! That’s so awesome. I love getting an unexpected deal!), dropped by his cousin’s house to pick up the 360, then drove back to Justin’s house to set it all up.

Oh man. Spent the past TWO DAYS playing! SO FUN! I hate the guitar though! The strummer has no tactile feedback, the buttons are depressed and therefore not as responsive, and the yellow button (or the 3rd fret) isn’t physically different enough to distinguish where your fingers are (they have these tiny ass dots on them that really do not do a good job of telling you where your finger is until it’s TOO LATE!). I think we’re gonna use masking tape for the button, but I don’t know what to do about the strumming lever. It just sucks :\ It registers my strum as doing it twice, sometimes! So fucking annoying.

Otherwise though, Justin’s usually on the drums and I’m usually either vocals or guitar. Welcome Home by Coheed & Cambria is fun to play!

If not playing Rock Band though, Justin and I attempt to solve puzzles on Professor Layton. I’ve unlocked/solved 28 puzzles so far. It’s frustrating but in a good way! Your brain is getting some well-needed logic practice I do pretty well with the visual puzzles, but the logic and math ones are freakin’ annoying

Overall, a relaxing weekend! I haven’t spent time playing video games in awhile, so this is definitely a welcomed break!