Two New Sites

I've started a new blog that anyone interested should feel free to check out.

http://dryoshimanworld.blogspot.com/

Yoshiman's World is going to be my "whatever comes to mind" blog. As my social life has picked up and there are things worth venting about now-a-days. Go here in if you want to hear me yap about my day, my game playthroughs, and my failure of a love life. I might use the blog to elaborate on some of my sorta reviews. Odds are this thing won't be updated that frequently though.

http://www.backloggery.com/yoshiman

The second site I'm running isn't much of a blog as it is a catalogue of video games that I own and the completion status of them. Go there if you're curious about what I'm playing, what games and systems I own and how far I am in them.

My Weekend at AWA 2009

This past weekend I unexpectedly went off with a large group of friends to Amine Weekend Atlanta (AWA) in... well Atlanta. AWA is some kind of 3 day anime, video game, pop culture convention that one of my friends go to every year and this year I was invited to go with him and his friends at the cost of 70 bucks. So I figured "what the hell", I've never been to anything like this before and it's been years since I've been on anything even remotely resembling a vacation. What followed may as well have been the most fun I've have all year.

("Part of my motley crew")

There were 12 of us on this trip, a few I've met before (most of them only a week ago) and we plowed into 2 vans and spent about 5 hours on the road heading to Atlanta. The hotel we spent our weekend at was ritzy, but cheap, charging five dollars for some stupid bottle of water and fifteen bucks a night for an internet connection. While in our conjoining rooms, I slowly but surely started bonding with these people. We all had similar interest and attitudes and just had a blast screwing around with each other. The day before leaving I bought the new Mario & Luigi game with intention of playing it when there was dull down-time between events, but I barely touched the thing as I was spending all my time laughing and messing around with my new friends in the room and during the convention itself. ("Various Kingdom Hearts Characters" )
("Angry Video Game Nerd Vs. Nostalgia Critic" )

The main attraction to this convention is seeing a bunch of people cos-play as bunch of different characters. Over the course of the weekend I saw a lot people dressed as my favorite characters: Mario Bros, Zelda, Pokemon, The Joker, and even The Angry Video Game Nerd and The Nostalgia Critic. The thing I learned from all of this is that cos-play is less about people actually wanting to be these characters and more about people just wanting to show off some cool stuff that they made. One of the only things my friends complained about that I noticed more towards the end of the convention is that the cos-players showed an over reliance on certain franchises. Well over 80% of the people dressed up as characters from Bleach, Naurto, or Kingdom Hearts. It would have been nice if there had been more variety of franchise representation.

(It's Over 9000!!!!)

(The Comedian(Justin) and Rorschach)
(The Mario Sisters)

There was quite a full list of events planned at this convention from watching various anime to pokemon trivia contest to cos-play 101, but I didn't attend most of them. Usually the lines to these things were too long for me to tolerate, so I usually spent most of time with one of my friends in the dealer's room where you can buy rare Japanese merchandise. There were action figures, DVDs, video games, dolls, and swords. I managed to walk out there with a Dragonball Z and Sonic the Hedgehog figure, a Kirby doll, and a couple of Mario Galaxy cards. The downside was that everything was overpriced, a side effect of most of the items being imported I suppose.

(Rikki Simons: the voice of GIR)

(Set phasers to stunning)

The place I spent a huge chunk of time at towards the end of the convention was the artist room where people can go and view and buy fan art. Nathan and I spent too much time and money here, but all of the drawings were just too good to pass up. The coolest thing we managed to do in this room was meet Rosearik Rikki Simons who did the voice of GIR from Invader Zim. We got pictures with him and he autographed some pictures and it was just too cool for words. I really wished I had job so I could buy some more stuff. (I think I just rediscovered my love of Pokemon)
(A yeti eating chris's head, a flamer, and Nathan)

Come Sunday afternoon it was time for us to depart this wonderful locale and head back to our dull reality. Overall I had a blast and have come to find the friends I roomed with as people I can't wait to see again. Nathan and I made plans to go another convention in November, but I seriously doubt that would actually come to be. I'll definitely go back to AWA next year if these people go as well.

I'm Not Dead

I hate that I always go a little while without posting in here. It really bothers me, I swear it. I just don't know why that always happens. Even when I say it's not going to happen, it seems to anyway. Next time, don't believe me when I say it won't, because it seems that I will always prove myself wrong.

Money, Money...Money!

Hoorah! My tax return finally came to me today. I got $360 which put my "for fun" account up to $400 on the dot. I really needed this money. I had $1000 saved up as "for fun"when I quit my job back in October and I was suppose to find another job by now, but of course that hasn't come to pass yet.

Before the tax return came, I was down to last $60. I have a couple thousand in my savings, but I've been trying to resist the urge to use it. I'm not gonna buy too much with this money though, just Pokemon Platinum, Venture Bros Season 3 dvd and a much needed haircut. All this really means to me is that I need to buckle down and try harder to find another job.

What A Waste

I hate it when I don't do anything of actual interest over my weekends. It feels like I accomplished nothing and didn't have fun. There are several things that I do over the weekend and it usually depends on what weekend it is in the month to determine what's done. One of the dullest things that can come up is visiting my relatives in Tennessee.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family; but I seriously don't have anything in common with any of them. So when my parents decided to go up there for the day on Saturday and maybe go to the mall in Nashville, it goes without saying that I was more interested in the mall than anything else. But we would never get to go to the mall and spent the whole day talking to relatives. I got so bored I wound of taking a nap....which I almost never do.

The only thing my parents did on Sunday was do yard work. I was unable to get a hold of one of my friends so I spent the day holed up in my room. I did manage to do most of the prep work for my third exams I have on Tuesday. The good news is that after I takes these exams I'm off on spring break for 2 weeks...yay!

Oh well, maybe I can do something more interesting next weekend.

Snow, Snow, I Love It So

It snowed last night and actually stuck. When I got up and looked outside, the backyard was winter wonderland! Alabama has really crappy weather and we only get snow to stick about once every 2 years...even then it will stay for about 4 hours. Alas as I am typing this the snow has already melted and gone away. At least I while it was here I got to go out in it. the snow wasn't high enough to make snowballs or anything but it was just great to be around. My dog Porkchop really seemed to enjoy it though as he was alot more active outside than he had been all week. The snow started melting by the time I went out there and by the time I went back in, it was already half gone. I've lived out in Madison, Alabama for 10 years and I think we've only had one real long snow day and I think that was the year after we moved here from Huntsville, Alabama in 1998. I really wish we would get another, but knowing the south that will probably never happen.

Bah...

Well I went on my date...it was a solo date. Jordan stood me up. We were suppose to meet at noon, I was there for about 40 minutes and he never showed up. I tried to text him but he never texted or called back. I was so upset and walking around the mall didn't help much seeing all the cute guys with hanger on girlfriends...yeah I was bitter. I walked around FYE looking at music and stuff and The Killers "Spaceman" video started playing. Music from that band always cheers me up so I left the mall and decided to forget all about Jordan. And honestly, I still don't feel too bad, I'm sure I'll get bummed out later when I think about love in general but oh well.

Moving on from that.....
I had planned to be out for at least 2 hours so I decided to head out to the Publix where I used to work. I quit back in October and I haven't been back there since then so it was time to see what had changed...and my god the place looks completely different. Things rearranged, recolored and modernized. The bakery seems to be doing fine. Good old Maggie still works there and so does that horrid manager Tracey. It also seems that they finally got a new assistant manager for bakery too. Dora still works in the deli along with a new woman, I didn't see anybody else in there and I didn't see Evan over at the produce department (although he mainly works nights). The one thing I'll say about this shiny new Publix is that I'm glad I don't work there because it looks like it's twice as strict as when I worked there.

From there I went home and watched the Family Guy Star Wars DVD I bought at moviestop for $5 and basically acted like the whole Jordan thing didn't happen. I'm seriously taking being stood up much better than I thought and I think maybe (for like a week or two) I'll try to enjoy being single.

I'm Freaking Out

I'm so nervous, in a few hours I will be on my first date with a another guy. I've only been on 2 dates before: I took my really bad high school girlfriend to the prom 2 years in a row.

For the past month I decided I was tired of the lonely life and since trying to find a bi or gay guy in person in Alabama is borderline impossible, I decided to go to the forbidden (in my mind anyway) world of online dating. I've spent my time on okcupid.com and was surprised to see so many good looking men looking for love right here in my town. After 2 depressing rejections I finally I caught the attention of a 20 yr old guy named Jordan. He seems to like the same things as me and in a few short messages, he actually gave me his phone number. We set a date at the mall noon today.

I've never done anything like this before and my mind has been racing on the possible outcome of this date. I haven't told my parents I'm Bi and I worried about what will happen if me and Jordan actually start see each other. I actually really disaponited that I have to go on a blind date. I always hung on to the possiblity that I might hook up with one my crushes like Damon, despite the chances being pretty much non-existant. So now I have to meet this guy I don't know whose interested in me and I don't know I will even like him.

Oh well, I guess the first step to love is suppose to be this scary...

I Hate My Dreams

For the past month I've really come to despise my dreams. I wouldn't say I have full on nightmares, but I would I definitely say my dreams have been very unpleasant. As a result, I've come to dislike going to sleep because as much I don't won't to dream, I do so anyway. When I don't have a unpleasant dream, my dreams are very dull and pointless. The last time I had a good dream that made me kinda happy was last month when I dreamed that Damon and I were a couple and we got in a little kissing action. sigh, if I had more dreams like that, then I think it goes without saying that I would love to dream more.

Let's Play Catch Up

My new years resolutions? Update this damn blog more often...I'm might not succeed at that.So starting with my last post about my life, let me play catch you up on my recent events.

Bought The Killers Day & Age CD. Loved it! Easily their most addictive release since their Hot Fuss debut. My 3 favorite tracks: Joyride, I Can't Stay, and The World We Live In.

My great grandmother passed away round the second of December. My only remaining great family members include 2 great aunts on my father's side. I never spent time with my great grandmother so I wasn't affected by her death, but my mother was devastated, which affected me.

I said in early post about my college classes that maybe a miracle would happen and I would pass my Algebra course. Well the miracle happened, I passed that class and my micro-economics course, but I failed the legal business course. No big loss, the teacher of that class was actually fired for receiving too many complaints from students. Works just fine for me.

Christmas was pretty good. I got a couple of surprise gifts like a new jacket and Guitar Hero 3. Among my gifts was Sonic Unleashed for Wii which, while not perfect, was easily the best 3d sonic game since Sonic Adventure 1 & 2.

New Years came and went without much interesting happening. The only thing that really hit me was how quickly the year went by.

I enjoyed the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed so much that I had to purchase the 360 version (which for those who don't know is actually a different game from the wii version). I enjoyed it, but it not as much as the wii version. The overall level design of the 360 was more varied than the wii but a lot less well put together. The only really big thing the 360 version has over Wii is more content and a better balance between the number of sonic and werehog levels. On the wii you get 3 to 4 werehog levels for every one sonic level. All in all though, I really enjoyed the game.

Lastly I started my next semester of college. I only have 2 classes this time and they are at night on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The classes I'm taking are extensions of one another: Small Business Management and Marketing Management. Same teacher for both classes and hot guys in both classes. The best part about this that these classes are really really easy. The teacher pretty much tells us exactly what will be on test. A nice change from my last few semesters.

Well that's it, that's everything that's happened since December. Like I said before, maybe I'll actually post more often.

What's Up Now?

Well my college work is what's up now. There's only 2 weeks left in the school year and we've now reached that time where everyone is worried about passing their classes. I am really worried about my classes. Mostly my Algebra and Legal Business classes. I've yet to see a single passing grade in either class and I've got 3 more tests in each class. I have one online tomorrow for Business and 1 on Monday after the Thanksgiving break for algebra. I seriously hate algebra, math is my biggest weakness. I think what pisses me off the most about it is that algebra has nothing to do with my major in college. oh well maybe a miracle will happen and I'll pull a C in that class.

Sweet Freedom

As of Wedensday night, I finally finished my 12 day work week and I got 2 days to rest up before I have to go back to being tortured there for a couple of days again. If course I've really failed at using these off days to recoperate. Last night I went with my co-worker Evan and his 2 friends to play paintball. This was the second time I decided to this with and I actually managed to do better than I did the first time, although the first time I actually managed to hit someone, this time I managed to survive a lot longer and move around the field a bit better. The injuries I substained this go round were less servere exculding a powerful blow to my left hand that drew alittle blood. Tonight I'm all set to go to the movies to see The Dark Knight with my friend Damon (the one who quit publix) and his girlfriend. I've never met her but I really wish he wouldn't bring her along. Anyway, I'm not really use to being this social, the fact that I actually invited someone to do something with me is pretty progressive for overall shy nature. Well tonight I'm gonna see if I can if I can't break down some my reserved nature.

Intro

I've decided to start a weblog so I can more easily share my opinions no one's asking for. Sometimes I'll talk about my boring life and other times I'll stick to hopefully-interesting topics that distract me from whatever I'm supposed to be doing.