Category Archives: Journal

May Update

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
I’ve been much more active now that I’m back in Carpe just because there are so many more people around. Also, with the 4.1 changes to heroics, I can do multiple heroics on my off days and still get valor points for all of them. I did four tonight with guildies, and it’s very nice to be able to do this! I should be able to buy a new piece of valor gear soon, and I only have a neck piece and two rings to buy as far as honor gear. Of course, I need honor enchants as well. I’m at ilvl 350 in PVE, but I haven’t done the new dungeons because I’m waiting for gem. In PVP gear I’m currently at 2.8k resilience. Also, I finished Children’s Week, and I love the new lore in the quests!
Portal 2
I managed to play through the single player campaign in Portal 2, and it was fantastic. It wasn’t as good as the original, but it was still amazingly great. I’m looking forward to playing co-op with gem as soon as she finishes the single-player campaign. Alex has also played it a few times at my house, and it’s even wonderful just to watch him play.
Hoard
I don’t really want to talk about this too much since I’m reviewing it for Game-Boyz, but I’ve been playing it too. It’s very fun, especially since each round is only about ten minutes.
Plants vs. Zombies
I finally got all the achievements in PvZ on iOS! The one I was missing was the achievement for getting all the plants. Of course, that was just a grind for money away! I kind of wish there was more to do in the game though. I know I could just play it for fun, but it’s more difficult to play when there isn’t a goal in mind. Even games that can’t be completed usually have a high score mode or something. Now this one is all done.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
After all this time, I finally got to play Scott Pilgrim! I played with gem, Justina, and Collin. God, it is so much fun. It feels like such a great throw back to River City Ransom while containing modern gameplay mechanics and beautiful aesthetics. I can’t wait to finish it.
Rush
Rush is basically Chu Chu Rocket with more panels and a third dimension. I picked it up on Steam when it was on sale and have been having a lot of fun with it. I still have a lot of puzzles left to do, but it’s pretty interesting. There doesn’t seem to be any stages comparable to the arcade stages in CCR, but that’s okay, because the puzzles are fun.
Chu Chu Rocket
Speaking of Chu Chu Rocket, I started playing the iOS version of it again in an attempt to get more achievements. It has a lot of puzzles!
Capsized
Capsized is a new, indie platformer on Steam. I downloaded the demo and enjoyed it but haven’t yet purchased the full game. You move your character with WASD, aim with the mouse, and can shoot, jump, and interact with the environment in a few other ways. The game is gorgeous. Check out the screenshots here.
Mass Effect
I didn’t play this at all, but I did pick it up when it was on sale on Steam. I’m sure I’ll get to it eventually!
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
I found it! This had been lost for a couple months now I think, but I finally found the game today. Now I can get back to it.

Hiking! and Other Stuff!

On Thursday I went hiking with Jessica and Andrew! It was a lot of fun! I’ve already uploaded a couple photos of some of the things I saw. There was a turtle crossing the street that Jessica kept scaring while trying to get a picture of it. On the way back to the car, we also came across a snake in the middle of the road. I was… less keen on the snake. Ugh. There were a few cool caves and lots of great scenery, including the tree and cave of which I posted photos. I also took some photos of them while we were out for them to use as engagement photos!
Speaking of Jessica and Andrew, we’ve hung out a couple other times recently. We’ve watched a few movies because Jessica realized that gem hasn’t actually seen anything, and we played Cranium with a few other friends too. We also failed at opening a bottle of win; Jessica had to ask one of her neighbors for help. Andrew wasn’t too happy about that when he found out, heh. Anyways, it’s been a lot of fun hanging out!

Alex!

Hello! Things happen that I want to write about, but I never get around to it. I went to Darnell’s bridal shower a few weeks ago. It was at a bowling alley, and it was a lot of fun. I wasn’t very good, but neither were the people I was with. We also played pool, which gem had never done. She was looking forward to it, so that was cool.
Of course, it was great to see Alex and Darnell. I also got to visit with his parents and sister. It was nice seeing them again, because they’re all great. Unfortunately, we had to leave early because I worked. Everyone in the wedding party got a fun shirt, and I like mine very much. I hope Alex and Darnell like the bowls we painted for them. One says “Once upon a time…” and the other says “…and they lived happily ever after.”
Last week I got to go to the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra! Dev has been working as the personal assistant to a retired judge in Long Beach. They have season tickets and with them get guest tickets. Dev gave two to Alex, but Darnell couldn’t make it, so he brought me. It was a lot of fun! Seeing Dev and his dog Speedy was cool too. Coolest of all, Alex asked me to be his best man! I’m pretty excited!

Inventory

I’m off of work, and Andy’s giving me a ride home. Pretty tired. Inventory was easier than a normal shift though. Just later. Rich asked if we were gonna play WoW when we got home.
No.
Gonna sleep. Or maybe play Pok

Days Come Once

I like riding the bus. I don’t always needing to take the bus, but for some reason, it seems like a chance for me to reflect and to consider those around me. I like to wonder what the lives are like of the other passengers and the driver. Riding the bus isn’t the worst thing in the world by far, but here, you’re not supposed to be on the bus. You should have a car. If you’re on the bus, something’s wrong. I like to wonder what’s wrong.
For a portion of my bus ride, he bus is filled mostly with UCI students. For them, nothing’s wrong with this, but once they get off near UCI, then things have changed. Usually there’s a few asian girls who don’t speak English very well and have trouble figuring out how the bus works. They bother the driver slow us down. I wonder where they’re from and what they’re doing here. Then there are the senior citizens getting groceries. I like to wonder about their lives. They’ve been alive so much longer than me. Being old doesn’t inherently mean deserving of respect, but they definitely have a lot to tell me about if I took the time to listen. And then there are the everyday people going to work or returning home. I wonder if they’re happy in life and why they have to take the bus.
Yesterday I Was watching the date scroll by on the little sign on the bus. Suddenly the fact that the day’s date was unique and would never exist again after today popped into my head. March 4, 2011. It only happened once. What did I do with March 4, 2011? I woke up, rolled around in bed for a while, and generally fought the beginning of the day by trying to remain asleep as long as possible. Next I screwed around on the Internet. Man, what minor changes are being made to World of Warcraft? Yeah, there was something about ZG and ZA. I needed to know. Did my friends do anything interesting and share it on Facebook? Did I get any good PR announcements for Game-Boyz? No, I didn’t. Got to scroll through reblogged photos by Nicole and Blair to search for written posts. Did Alex share any sweet Back to the Future photos? I wonder if my favorite author, John Scalzi, has anything new on his blog (he always does). Okay, okay, time to shower. And after I shower, I go get greasy Del Taco with Andy. Del Taco, like I have four or so times per week. Then I walk to the bus, sit down, and watch people while reading my book, Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland by Patton Oswalt. And finally I reach the bookstore, where I do the oh-so-important, irreplaceable job of ringing people up and telling them where books are. Good bye March 4, 2011. I should really put you down in the history books for what good use of you I made.
It just suddenly seemed strange and kind of sad that time is limited, but I spend it so worthlessly, like most people do. Not that I’ll change this. There are tons of unique, exciting experiences out in there world. And they’re ready to make my blood pressure shoot up, give me headaches, and cause me stress. Why try something new?

Head Cashier

Today was my first day of training as a head cashier! I was pretty nervous, but it went alright! I was scared about dealing with customers and people, but after one day of training, I’m now much more nervous about forgetting to do something or screwing something up “behind the scenes” so to speak. But it’s really great to be able to correct minor things easily.
I did a bunch of returns without any problems, and even refused a return without too much of a fuss. Amanda pointed it out as my first refusal! 🙂 It was also kind of exciting to answer the HC phone for a change. Now I’m on the other side of it. There was also a customer that purchased a $9.99 book for $60-something because it rang up wrong. It was nice to be able to fix that myself.
I just wish I wasn’t feeling so sick for this. I took cold medicine all day, and luckily for me, Rich had cough drops. I don’t know why I didn’t think of buying some.

Birthdays!

On the 21st, gem and I picked up a pizza from Gina’s and went to Stephanie’s to hang out, eat dinner, and play Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun! We got to meet her boyfriend for the first time, and he was super cool too. It’s nice making new, cool friends! Oh yeah, this is supposed to relate to birthdays, right? We were there at midnight when it became gem’s birthday!
For her actual birthday, we ate at BJ’s! Mmm, pizookie! We then made our way to Color Me Mine to paint bowls and a Horde cup! I didn’t finish my Horde cup, nor did we finish the bowls. We’ll have to come back again some other time. We also ran into Stephanie and Joe at Color Me Mine! They did know we were going to be there, so I suppose it wasn’t that big of a surprise…
After Color Me Mine, we went back home where I made gem hang out downstairs so she could be surprised by Antonio coming in with her cake! He texted me earlier that day about wanting to surprise gem with a birthday cake. He brought a delicious tres leches cake, and gem was surprised and very happy!
Speaking of Antonio, we had sushi with him, and the roommates later in the week. We ate so, so, so much there. Antonio paid for gem and me as a birthday present. He’s very nice. 🙂
On my birthday I threw a party after work. I invited a ton of people but assumed a lot wouldn’t come. It ended up being pretty perfect; Lots of people came, but it wasn’t too crazy. In attendance were all the roommates, Jessica, Antonio, Edward, Brittney, her boyfriend Austin, Luke, his girlfriend Melissa, Nicole, Blair, Paris, Taylor, and Alex (x3). A bunch of people brought beer, so there was plenty to go around. Blair came straight from the airport after getting back from Utah despite having a hyperextension injury earlier that day. I’m glad she could make it! I also got to sample some of Alex Hurst’s home brewed beer! I got pretty drunk I will admit. I talked to a lot of people on Facebook without remembering it seems.
From Nicole’s Tumblr:

I had an awesome time last night. Peter’s birthday was the best birthday ever haha(: But the real question of the day is this, how hungover is peter? Because I know I woke up with headache and an urge to purge. But none the less. It was awesome. the alex’s made me laugh so hard that if I had been unfortunate to have some liquid passing through my lips it probably would have come out my nose