Wow.

It's been a while since I've posted a (real) blog, and a LOT has happened in that time. More than I thought was actual blogging material. I don't know wher to start, so I'll just think out loud.

I got glasses. Always had a trouble seeing things in the distance. Now I can make 'em out withouit having to squint and look twice as geeky as before. Plus, they're Dwight Schruteglasses - double bonus!

Birthday passed. Now officially 17. Only one more year before i'm out of the hellhole that is San Jose. The "creeks" have been getting dryer to the point that there's no life in them besides dead weeds anymore. The frogs, the ducks, the plants - all gone underneath a layer of trash and crud. Always thought it was a seasonal thing, but those seasons are getting shorter.....

Got some clouds recently. They keep coming in the morning and die by midday. Today though, they're staying.

Found some new friends at school, we now play Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic: The Gathering at lunch every day, while listening to music such as only we geeks listen to.

Had some trouble with my union, but sorted it out (kind of). I really wish people would participate though - what are they joining for, cookies!?

Discoverd some new things to keep me from being bored (it's like Spore's space stage, except better). I just love simulations.

Don't have P.E. anymore - a relief considering the hell it's been since middle school. I never did like it anyway.

Started getting into anime more, seeing how popular it is at school and on the internet.

More and more interesting news continues to come from my favorite magazines - I'd really love to work in this sort of stuff as soon as i'm out of college.

Using photoshop more - starting to make better pictures too. I've also heard of something called SketchUp - Sounds really intriguing.

Heard the world's dumbest rap song (then again, aren't they all), which basically consisted of two phrases, "F*** YOU!" "YEAH!? WELL F*** YOU TOO!". This went on over and over, as I was walking home from the mall from the car that was playing it (it did not help that their volume was on max either).

Got Metroid Prime Trilogies, due to what I thought was my incompatibility with the gamecube controls of the first two games, and I now know the reason I keep dying is not because of the weird controls, but because I genuinely suck at it. Then again, why would I let a silly reason like that stop a fanbboy like me?

Been reading more - used to all the time, then I discovered the internet. There's alot of books out there. A LOT

Finally finished paying off a vet bill that's been looming over my head since I weas TWELVE - now I can spend more money on games, books, and trading cards (that is, if I spend it at all. Haven't been buying anything lately).

I checked online today and found out tprezzy12 left mprezzy - there's something I never expected. I read about breakups and divorces all the time in the papers and on the internet, but I've never had it happen to anyone I knew. I hope it resolves itself.

Thinking of giving up theposition of leader of the Maxis Union, maybe I'm just not leader material. I never was gonna be leader the whole time; as soon as it was on it's feet I would've given the mantle to someone else and leave. I just wanted a union where people could come and talk about Maxis games, since ther seems to be none on Gamespot. I love simulation games - guesd there aren't that many people on Gamespot who do.

NASA nuked the moon. Well, basically, they actually just chucked a $583 million spacecraft that, after sputtering halfway there, finally hit the thing in the attempts to create a pretty fireworks explosion that could somehow tell us if there is ice on the moon. Yeah, I don't get it either but hey, it's NASA. They havea history screw-ups all the way back to their beginnings.

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, as the saying goes, give credit where credit is due. I'm not sure exactly what he did for it, but I have no doubt he's gonna do great things in the future.

Halloween's coming up, would make some props, but for some reason my folks have a problem with them. What is so wrong about this!?

So, discuss.

*UPDATE* A HUGE rainstorm came here and has been going on for at leawst 24 hours straight. It was so great to see the Canoas Creek filled to the brim for the first time, like, ever! But then I saw the water level drop 4 inches in fron of my eyes - as the rainstorm continued around me. Just goes to show how much water-wasters live here. So, if another city in the state of California is reading this, Feel free to beat the crap out of us politically.

Kevin-V: Personally, It's not that i'm upset that my picks didn't win. This IS a neighborhood contest after all, but that's also the problem. You can't really choose the "All-Time Greatest Game Hero" Just from members of one site. This should have been a collab thing with IGN and the like. Also, Some of the match-ups and picks ARE questionable. You really have to wonder how characters like Mario and Bonk got paired up. Some of these matches are just ridiculous. Also, this is mainly a popularity contest. If you were to have a TRUE All-Time Greatest, You would have to have different factors measured up as well. For instance, who would fare better in a fight? Who has more strategy? Which characters have contributed the most to gaming history? Which one's games were more innovative? Popularity would be just ONE of the factors. Also, I highly doubt that just having the one title would work. You would need to include others, like All-time Greatest Puzzle Icon, All-time Greatest Fighter, Thinker and the like, for those who excelled in those categorys. Besides, this isn't just a "friendly poll". There is a prize at stake and no matter what you do, people will be pissed they didn't win. And to finish this point, having such high stakes is a bad idea anyway. There are many ways to cheat at this contest, and that involves both vote-changing AND bracket-forming.

Also, we aren't "whining" just because of this. There have been far too many instances in Gamespot history where shoddy worksmanship and corruption have shown themselves, including, but not limited to, Gerstmann's dismissal due to pressure from advertisers, which promted OTHERS to leave, the freezing of union levels and emblems, which causes all unions, no matter HOW big they are, to appear as noob unions, the withdrawall of the old complete membership's 10% discount at EB Games, the shutdown of GameCenter, the crappy E3 coverage, and their increasingly ignorant reviews. And NOW? I am certainly pissed that you tell NOT JUST ME, but the WHOLE GAMING COMMUNITY "What are you going to do, leave?". Do not tempt us. We come here because we are TOLERANT of your bias, but if you continue to do the same compliant, s*** that you continue to do on an increasing rate, people WILL leave. You are not the only gaming site around. There is NextGen Wars, Gametrailers, G4TV, and a million other forum sites out there. We can blog on numerous other sites on the internet, and we can form our "unions" elsewhere as well.

You USED to be better. You USED to give decent reviews and make the community happy. But now we are pissed. And Guybrush610, mjax211, Hunter 07, HaRRicH, Vandelay16, kphantom, minoumaster and Iare not the only ones who agree.

http://nexgenwars.com/forum/wii/11292-good-things-bad-bad-things-good-lol-gamespot-7.html
http://forum.ragezone.com/f81/jeff-gerstmann-fired-from-gamespot-for-giving-a-bad-review-332948/
http://nexgenwars.com/forum/playstation-3/12838-gamespot-sucks.html

Well, i've returned to school.

It's easier without the daily dosage of testosterone-fueled monkeys, but I still can't shake the feeling that i've been cheated out of a summer.The air here has been getting impossible to breath too. 4 days out of the past 9, the smog has gotten so bad that you can't see Mount Hamilton at all. From where I live, you can't even make out the observatory. It's all just a thick purple haze on the horizon, with not a goddamn cloud in the sky, which also bugs me. It's always either WAY too hot or barely tolerable here and when people go "Ahh what a beautiful day! Not a cloud in the sky!", I just tend to grit my teeth a little. I mean, LOOK AT THE PLACE! The Canoas creek is a dry ditch, the horizons are filled with smog, there are too many heat waves and- *has rage-induced appleplexy*

*Ten minutes later after I stop twitching*

*Okay, 20 minutes later*

Soon as I get my diploma, I'm outta here.