119. An Otherwisely Unromantic Life (Special)

Totally irelevant image. F. T. W.

Some things that I've encountered today:

I spent the morning surfing YouTube, trying to find inspiration for my new art project which involves me using a (preferably a pickaxe) weapon to BREAK OPEN a hole in an apparently opaque ball, revealing the light within. A simple concept really, but also a fun one to think about, and I ended up finding no predecessors to this and called it my own. I had to talk to my professor about it before I get the green light to making the piece of disaster.

It was gloomy, a chilly gloom, cloudy, and I imagine a little gust, outside, as I step, step, carefully over cracks, hop, to the bicycle lane and overtake, damn slow walkers. Okay. 20 minutes later I arrive at the professor's office doors, it starts to rain. I state my case, and my professor likes it. I realized, at the same time, that the concept sounds much more idealized and fun in the imaginations of NOT JUST ME, but a lot of people. However, it dawned on me that it won't be an easy feat to do.

Eventually I get out of the office, and started down the street toward a few hardware stores to get supplies. On the way I imagine the people on the 2nd floor flats, peeking out their windows, seeing me walking with haste down a rainy street. I imagine them doing cocaine, and laughing, and wondering what the rush was about. I imagine them not looking at me, but at all the people around me, everyone except for me. I saw a boarded-up house just then, and wondered if someone was secretly growing hemp inside the building. Oh, wait, maybe not, as it was somewhat of a major street, and the police wouldn't overlook it.

Every time it rains, I discover that in this city with no mountain, no river, and no sea, there are many beautiful things to look at. Two girls walk toward me, parallel to my direction, but not IN my direction, holding hands, one wearing a raincoat, the other not, but has a funny hat on. How sweet, I thought, and found it just as charming as seeing children playing hopscotch for the first time. I found my store, which had a street entrance of stairs leading to the second floor, where no doubt many murderers and serial rapists must camp, waiting for the best chance to hunt down geeks and nerds. And I remembered a comic book store with a lot of cats and weed and not really any rapists. So I should be fine. I went in, step on the "Gong Hee Fa Choi" mat, shake my coat of rain, walk up the stairs, now if this were Home Alone I would be worried.

As I browsed through rows among rows of on-off switches, light bulbs, and speaker wires, I realized something: These are the building blocks of our society! In a mechanical, crude sense, they are what we live in, on, with, every day of our lives. We hide them, of course, my friend's new 5th generation iPod Nano illustrates that point fairly well. However, for something as simple as installing a light bulb in a dark room, we must resort back to the basics: the input and output, the AC or the DC, the socket, the wires, the circuitry.

And WOW how little of these things have I learned! I was such an amateur, such a fool, but I keep my cool. In the past few days I've noticed my chin getting sharper, and my facial bones more visible to others. I clenched my teeth a bit, and felt the left side facial muscles clench, and possibly popping out, creating a sinister, hardcore airport-security type of asshole attitude. SO WHAT if I never went to a mechanical college and got training, I AM THE MAN!!!

I ended up spending $32 on simple tools, and took the bus back to campus. I think about Tomorrow, as I ACTUALLY do work, and a tingly feeling, almost like the word "purpose", climbed up my spine. A hooded person of a shorter height walked by me just then, and tipped the head up just a little for both of us to see each other's face. It was for less than half a second, but I remember the pair of round eyes, blue, with spirals and rings, sparkly, looking just a little off from my face, into the distance. Walking on. I instinctively read my watch, 4:29pm. I smiled. Somehow, if I knew just that little bit more information about a person, such as a possible time when they might show up at a certain place (notice only the place is certain), it makes me happy.

I will never see 4:29pm, or 8:58am, or 12:35pm in the near future, but I will always have those numbers in my mind.
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A post by micr0q, copyright 2009. No infringement intended to any of the names, icons, or logos said in the article.

118. Cave Story and PSP Go (Game)

It's the year 2009! How can you not know anything about the PSP?!
A parallel can be made to that statement:
It's the year 2009! How can you not know anything about Cave Story?!
(wag finger at you, you little console game loving gamer-wannabe you)

Cave Story is a freeware game on the PC, one of the underground adventure platformers much like that of ... I dunno, um, huh.... let's see, underground + action + awesome... Kinda like Iji, but not really, because this is less complex and has a far better gameplay satisfaction to it. Cave Story has save points, and differnt weapons on 1 main character, different routes to take, and 4 different endings. For a game created in the hands of ONE PERSON, that sounds like a pretty solid game already.





Of course, those of you who have played Cave Story will know its quirkiness, its charm, and its challenge all too well. CS is quirky when it gives you dialogue such as "Oh no, Toroko has been kidnapped? That means the only girl left in town is Sue..." "Chivalry is dead" "I will have you know that I'm a very valuable, valuable mushroom!" It is charming when it has characters like a magical puppy that you can wear on your head while running, or when you fight lovable characters like Balrog, or when you avenge King's death by using his sword and seeing his ghost come out of the sword. CS is a challenge when it suddenly increases its difficulty in boss fights and obstacles (darn you spikes! and sand crocadiles...) but laughs at you for keep trying because you have that save point to keep you going. And I havent even tried the last cave (Sacred Ground) but I've seen people play it and it seems like a super pain to beat.

But eventually, no matter which ending you get (unless it is the first, crappy ending), you feel nice that you spent time on this original little game. Cave Story has been remade into a Wiiware game!!!! YAYYYYY Hurrah! Happy Nintendo! Super Potatoes!

Now let's talk about the PSP Go! It was released less than 2 weeks ago on November 1st, 2009. The design has been analyzed by various websites, the comparisons have been made, and people have made up their minds about. What do I think? YAYYYYY! Hurrah! Happy Sony! Super Tomatos! I think it looks like a handheld game console I would carry in my bag and actually play on the bus and trains. Looks snazzy, don't it.

This blog has no other intention than to express my YAYYYYYs towards Cave Story and the PSP's recent remakse and updates. Now that that's done... CIAO.
-micr0q