SUN used HEAT WAVE! It's super effective!

It's really hot in the room I've moved to. Well, at least fall isn't too far away. And yes, we have the windows open. Just... ugh. Need a fan. Or a well-stocked fridge, I kinda wish I'd chosen to move mine anyway. I miss bottled water more than I thought I would or could.

Only a few weeks until Black and White are out in Japan and we learn everything about them. The recently-revealed combo attacks in triple battles sound interesting, although I hope they're only for certain moves. I have a feeling it'll just be the "Oath" moves of various types besides what we've seen, and of course the starters can learn them. Why wouldn't they show them off as such?

Play practice is going OK. Got to actually play my own character this time. Did I mention that before? I think I did. Also, I went home Saturday night and part of Sunday, because, well, I could. It was nice to be back for a while.

A number of the freshmen girls are quite pretty this year. *sigh* Ah, to not be dedicated to the pursuit of one woman alone.

It's been a hard day's night

I am moving out of my room. Why? Well, the people I got saddled with like being up late. Like, really really late. Three AM or so... yeah. I got hardly any sleep in there, so I'm going to go somewhere else so I can finally get some rest. I hadn't posted in a while for such reasons, but I'm staying in another room currently where my rest has greatly improved.

I have a class this morning. A Shakespeare class, and it will be a long one. Only a half-semester class, though, so that's good.

Also, I got a part in Love's Labour's Lost. A very nice one, I play a fantastical Spaniard. That's actually the term old Will used in his list of characters. Although at the readthrough last night, I didn't get to do it, because for whatever reason, we all read someone else's part. It was kinda weird, to say the least. But the show should be fun.

College: blink and you miss it

First day of classes... went by really fast. That's weird. Just one tomorrow, thankfully.

Auditions for Love's Labours Lost were tonight. It was rather different, there was no script-reading in lieu of a lot of exercises and on-our-feet acting with little prep time. It was good, I think I did well. Also, the freshmen this year seem to be a good batch. There were quite a few talented ones, hopefully they'll have fun with it. I hope they'll try out for improv as well, we have five people left.

Placed an order for series 2 of the collectible LEGO minifigures. Also, I found a mostly-complete list of what series 3 is expected to be. An alien, a gorilla, a samurai, and a hula girl, plus a lot of others, but those are the most intriguing to me. I look forward to pictures, and also to my own order coming soon. I want that witch and vampire and disturbingly Miley Cyrus-like pop star and... okay, yeah, all of them.

Auditions put me to the ultimate test of my newfound inner strength today: doing small group work with the girl I like. I passed. No freakouts, no depression, nothing bad. I got through it. This is a relief. And that sentence was an understatement.

It's only the third day of school, we have plenty of time to work this out. Should talk to her BFF about it sometime. No failure, not this time.

If I haven't used it before, this post's title is "School Daze." But I think I've used that.

I'm back at college, somehow. A couple days off until classes start, but at least it's only four days (Saturday class, but oh well). Unpacking was easy, but I got kinda snappy at my parents right before they left, for some reason. I apologized later and things are better, but I still feel bad.

Room is okay. Won't be spending much time here, probably, so I can endure until London. Internet reception is lousy, though.

I just heard someone yell "Suit up!" outside my door. Yep, it's college all right. But this first day seems a bit better. I just got back from the annual luau. By this time of night one year ago, I was in bed already, but now... it helps that people I know are here and are talking to me this time, and that I already know some people here too. It was a good night, at least.

And of course, I saw a certain someone at the luau. I was hoping she wouldn't show up. I wasn't ready to see her yet, after last year making me so depressed, and her breaking up with that jerk, and me never knowing what to say past "hi" in any social interaction... she left when I wasn't looking, I think. I kept looking out for her so I could figure out where to not look, which sounds really stupid in retrospect. I just don't want to force anything, and while my self-worth has astronomically increased, my shyness in public is still the same. Still... I have something to build on from last year. I'm not the same person I was even just a few months ago. Now I have the hope and will to make things work out for me, for once. No more depressive fits, no more tears. No more, never again.

I've said GERONIMO! at the end of a few posts before, so instead, I leave you with two words that express my attitude toward the coming year:
Let's rock.

And now for something... not COMPLETELY different....

Tired tonight. Electricity was off for a while again, we're all tired and frustrated here. Trust me, you'd be annoyed too, so... short post tonight. I think.

You might be aware that I'm one of those rare people who genuinely likes Pokemon and Digimon... chalk it up to being born at the right time and having an open mind. Besides some base similarities, they're very different, so it's hard to compare the two. So! I've been playing Digimon World Dawn/Dusk, and I thought to myself "what do I do when I complete this game? How could I get my Digimon fix then?"

And then I went online.

Japan recently got this game called "Digimon World: Lost Evolution." It uses basically the same engine as Dawn/Dusk (and the DS game before that which I never played), but with some improved mechanics and menus, and different monsters. Believe it or not, there's actually less in this game than Dawn/Dusk. They more or less trimmed the fat- got rid of a lot of cannon fodder or less popular mons, and especially pointless recolors. I went to an Internet message board to see the public opinion, and surprisingly, it's overwhelmingly positive. Basically, some of the dropped guys will be missed, but the new ones are more than awesome enough to make up for it. Let's see, more Royal Knights, the Sovereigns (the digital equivalent of China's Four Gods), previously unplayable villains from Dusk and Dawn, and the Ancient Warriors (who I can't be bothered to explain, look it up yourself if you're curious). If the game is localized in English, the expected release date is sometime in December. Huzzah!

Was that a short post? Eh, whatever. Long day, I've said my fill. G'night.

BLOGZAKU

I've spent a sizable chunk of today downloading music from the anime Code Geass with Firefox's YouTube-to-MP3 converter. I've only watched part of the first season, but really, it has amazing music. I also downloaded some other stuff...

First of all, I got Relient K's "Must Have Done Something Right" off iTunes. I found this Doctor Who video (spoilers for the end of Series Fnarg) and... well, it's a great video, and the song is practically tailor-made for it. Especially the first line. That just works so well, I laughed pretty hard the first time I watched the video.

I got a parody of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" based on the game Team Fortress 2 off YouTube. Check out "Spy Romance" for something pretty darn funny. And well-sung, at that. I want somebody to be Scout's mom to my RED Spy... *sigh* Well, we've got a whole year ahead of us, time to put my new self to work. And hopefully there will be London to work on that as well.

Looking forward to going back. College has been surprisingly good to me so far. Never thought before that I could miss a place and people like I do now. I'm... glad things have changed from those days.

She's the bloody queen, mate- she rules

I haven't posted in a while, and I realize that- however, I got busy. In between the stuff going on at our house... yeah, there's that, and yesterday we went to the Iowa State Fair for the first time in several years! Huzzah!

That was actually part of the reason I didn't post the night before last, so I could have stuff to talk about yesterday. But we got home really late- after midnight, at least, maybe after one- and I was pretty beat. A lot of things happened, a few of which I'll go over.

*We saw a number of animals that had been displayed. Of course there were the traditional cows and horses, but there were also some huge pigs (quick anecdote- my mom tried her hardest to snap a picture of the biggest, 1200-lb hog. When she took a look at it, she said it was "just a blob" to which I pointed out that was sorta what it was anyway), pygmy goats (which are just adorable), an elk with friggin' huge antlers, some kind of crested duck whose crest looked like a powdered wig, and an ostrich who was all too happy to pose for a good photo. I may make that one my Facebook display photo.

*Saw Jeff Dunham perform. It was a great show, he debuted a new dummy, which wasn't too bad for being a new bit, and great fun was had listening to Walter, Peanut, Achmed, and Jose Jalapeno on a Stick. We were pretty laughed out by the end of it. The audience just loved it, it was amazing to hear some of the reactions for these little puppets on a stage. For example:
Achmed: "Shut up!-"
(massive cheers from the audience)
Achmed: "Waaaait for it... I KEEL YOU!"
(and the audience goes wild!)

*Met the Fair Queen ever so briefly. We were passing through one of the animal stables when we happened to pass by her talking to some people. My mom convinced me to go get my picture taken with her... of course, she doesn't seem to realize (or is perfectly aware) that Troy + pretty girl= recipe for disaster. I was, well, rather nervous, but I composed myself masterfully and got through it unscathed. Looking at the picture, though, I wish someone had lent me a comb first. Stupid wind.

So that was our day. We got there around two in the afternoon, and the Jeff Dunham show started around 8:00, but the day went quickly and it was dark when we left. We went through McDonald's and got home, exhausted but happy with the day. Also I finally drew something. So that was good.

Like a hotel, but much cheaper

That's how the living situation has felt to me the past few days. I spend most of my time in my parents' ro om, where normally I hardly went in there. I sleep in my room, eat in the kitchen, and shower and stuff in the bathroom. And that's all there is. Other than Casey's donut runs I haven't left the house in a few days. Unless you count when I went to get mail.

We are going out tomorrow though, thank goodness for that. Just... yeah.

The other day I heard from somebody I hadn't heard from in a while, and had missed quite a bit. It's certainly made more than one day for me. Sometimes I forget how important having other people in my life is. Being me is weird sometimes, especially after coming out of some of the worst stuff one can go through emotionally. Now I have an altered perspective, which I didn't even really notice til I thought about it.

I got a comic idea. Some of the characters playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and some gags about the game, with the characters in the game costumed as their respective avatars. Time to make the magic happen.

Cue the choir

Fans removed from downstairs! Things are almost... starting to get back to normal. Yeah, it's gonna be a while.

Not a lot to say about what I've been doing, just hanging in there. I do, however, want to point your attention to something amazing I saw on TV tonight. You see, my parents somehow got into watching America's Got Talent, and I watch it with them for the sake of entertainment. Tonight they had a special where people found on YouTube got to perform, and the ones who get the most votes move on to the competition proper. So... they saved the best for last. Go do yourself a favor and go look up Jackie Evancho. She's a ten-year-old girl with an amazing voice that really has to be heard to be believed. I think everyone thought she was lip-synching to something at first, but no- she's really just fantastic. With kids like her around, there's still hope for the future of music.

I haven't drawn anything yet. Artist's block? I'm just not in the right mindset or something. Wish I could get back to those points when ideas and pencil lines just flowed out without stopping...

Hey. Hey, you. Yeah, look over here!

WE HAVE INTERNET, KIDS!

So it got plugged back in today, my parents decided to try it out just to see if it worked. Well... you can guess the result. We kinda needed our wireless by this point, at least I know I did.

My hair is already starting to grow back a bit. I swear the song "Hair" by The Grass Roots is the personal theme song for my follicles.

Not a whole lot has happened, thanks to our recent water troubles... I've been playing games a lot, Dad's been reading, Mom's been doing- well, a lot. She took a nap for about three hours or so today. She definitely needed it, though. It was right after lunch, anyway, so Dad and I entertained ourselves by listening to game shows in the background while we did whatever.

Ah, yes, having my parents' room as our current living room is nice. Since all the furniture from upstairs- including the TV- was removed, and most of it is in the upstairs sitting room, we all congregate in Mom and Dad's room to watch TV. We moved a couple of chairs in there as well, so it's a comfy little retreat. I've actually grown to enjoy it in there.

Tomorrow's Monday, right? Hmm... not sure what to do for sure. I'm not certain I want to keep playing DS or Mario all the time. Maybe I'll try to nap, or draw, or find a book.

Yeah, it's quiet here, but not as boring as you'd think.

Earth! Fire! Wind! Heart! ...sorry Linka, we've replaced you with Soy Beans.

Was Linka the one for water? I never actually watched Captain Planet. I've seen the opening on YouTube and that's about it.

So we had our carpet pulled up today to see if there was mold underneath. Apparently there wasn't, but it still required us to move everything up from downstairs (REALLY EXHAUSTING) and disconnect our net... I'm at the public library right now, which is how I'm posting, and why it's so early.

It's been pretty boring otherwise, but things are OK, I guess. Games are going well, not only have I gotten to World 7 in Mario Bros., but I've gotten pretty far with Digimon World Dusk as well. I'm playing more of my old Dawn file now that I've realized I got a special quest you can only get after doing wireless communications. This means more training, and I got the original team I used together (last time I played Dawn I was trying to collect every Digimon, which theoretically I can now do with both versions), which includes two holy angels, a pixel dragon, a Royal Knight, a Greek God, and a couple others. Legend Tamer quest, you're going down. Oh, I've also got some drawing ideas, at long last. I have plenty of time now...

I'll try to post again in a couple days, or whenever I'm next on. Things are a bit improvised from here on out, so if you don't see me it's because I can't get online. See you whenever!

Water water everywhere... in our basement

Bad weather over the past few days. Electricity went out twice, which is why I didn't post last night. Also, heavy storms+disabled sump from lack of electricity+LOTS OF WATER=flooded basement. And lots of cleaning work. So I am still exhausted. Also, can't wait to get back to college now. Getting a bit smothered here.

I'm getting good at New Super Mario Bros. Wii, however. Partway through... World 5, I think? I love Copter Caps.

My new sketchbook... still unused. Thinking of things to draw, may finally have a worthwhile idea soon. At least I hope, the book itself is so beautiful it's begging to have all its pages drawn upon.

Tired now. Sorry, short entry, with broken English. More later. *yawn*

T-minus one month and counting...

I have a lousy haircut now. I just wanted to get that out of the way.

Not much has happened in the last two days- we went out and got some stuff. I found a sketchbook at Cedar Rapids' Half-Price Bookstore (it's near Best Buy. In the area with the theater and the hobby shop). It's a full-size thing, too, spiral-bound (SPIRAL POWER, you say?) and a hardcover to boot. I've wanted to do some big full-size drawings for some time now, this may just be what I'm looking for to practice on. Plus, drawing big things is good practice for drawing them smaller. Probably. Yeah, I just made that up...

Back to school soon. Huh. Summer's been both really long and really short. I'm not entirely sure how to feel about that. Hopefully my streak of good moods won't get C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER'd and I can show off the new improved me. Plus my hair will likely grow back by then.

Did I mention my new sketchbook can be weaponized? My old one was only good for a projectile. If the need should ever arise, however, this one could likely be an effective makeshift melee weapon. Only in self-defense, of course.

I want to draw some poster-like art. I did a parody of one of the original Star Wars posters for a school project (it was the cover to a full-sized comic book I did). I have some ideas, some parodies/tributes, some original, some just plain weird. Yes, there shall be Gurren Lagann homages. If I can figure a good one out there shall be plenty of Doctor Who goodness as well, and Pokemon if I figure out the whole Power Rangers thing.

I have a lot of interests, why do I usually only mention just those three?

For some reason it feels like there's more to say, but... I've got nothing. So I'll probably remember it in about twenty minutes and feel like an idiot, but that's life.