Whose Blog is it Anyway

Get up, turn on the computer, and sign onto AIM and YIM. Depending on what day it is, I'll check to see if someone's online. Either way, the next stop is Facebook to catch up on whatever notifications and stuff I've been hit with (anime con people never sleep). I also check on the few games I play on there. After that, it's time for a tour of the rest of my Internet presence: dA, LJ, Twitter, TVTropes, and my email accounts. Finally, I take a quick look at Kotaku. After that, I just kind of idle about. ^_^;

I don't know if I could choose just one CD, but I would like the entire catalog of Shing02's music. Now, I know, there's a lot of other bands that I love, including Do As Infinity which is my namesake here on the Internet. But, Shingo Annen's compositions are just amazing. Born of Japan and now living in the Western world, the hip-hop artist's lyrics, rhyme, and beat flow just as freely in English as they do in his native tongue. And the words in his song speak to everyone, from the complex feelings of love (of which he's composed a trilogy of songs), to the generation gap that exists, not just in Tokyo, but across the entire world. It's a shame that not many people know about him because the majority of his work is released in Japan.

Now, a lot of people on my friend's list are going to be attending either Sugoicon or Youmacon on Halloween weekend this month. Personally, I'm already booked for Sugoi. But, there's a lot of you that are probably going to have very little to do that weekend. For you people, the team over at TheSpeedGamers are going to be running a marathon of the Resident Evil series. It'll start on the 30th, that's a Friday, and it'll run for 48 hours. Like usual, they'll be taking donations for charity as well, this time it's the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation. So, if you've got the time available, go check it out. They run a pretty good party over there.

http://www.thespeedgamers.com/

My dad got discharged from the hospital today. He's home!

Well, I've been making posts on my Facebook about the surgery, and then I realized I don't have some of your Facebooks or you don't use it often. So for you all, my dad's been doing alright. The surgery took a bit longer than expected, but it was successful. He just got out of the ICU and into a regular hospital room a few minutes ago. So... crisis ultimately averted for now. ^_^;

I haven't even posted here on LJ for about a month now, besides comments on other entries. So I guess I should let you all know what's up right now.

1) Matsuricon was a great time. I met a few people I'd only contacted online before that, which is always cool. I got to see all my friends from up in Cleveland again, as well as the Chicago crowd. The panel we did on Aniblogging went well, though the attendance was pretty poor. That's what you get from an early Friday slot at a small convention I suppose. Whose Line went about as well as it could. I'm really proud of Amara for finally getting her Best in Show at the Masquerade. I hope she can continue to get more in the future. :)

2) School's started back up again. I have two classes and a small "speaker's series" class that's basically me answering questions about presentations other people give ._.;. Logic is going very well, I'm really enjoying the course and the work. Programming Languages, on the other hand, feels like it might be the class that finally breaks my college GPA. Then again, I said the same thing about Computer Systems in the Spring semester, and I still got an A in that. Oh, and I got an A in my summer course too.

3) I had to get a new laptop. The old one had its graphics chipset blown out for the third time, and no one was willing to do anything about it. Sure, it was out of warranty, but they really should take responsibility for what is obviously a continuous defect. It's just as well, they'd just replace it with another motherboard that'd have the same problem in about a year's time. I can't wait to see if the class action actually goes through against HP/Nvidia. So, I now have a Toshiba A505-S6965. Plug that into google and you'll see it.

4) I've relocated. For the time being, I'm living in Illinois. I'll still be making it to conventions, no worries about seeing me at them. But it'll be about impossible to make trips to Ohio/Kentucky for anything other than that. I loved living in Indianapolis, but I still couldn't manage to find any work, and things were becoming very... *ahem* hectic in the house I was staying in. The calm here is nice.

5) Instead of foisting it on you the night before like last time, I'll say it now. On Tuesday, my dad goes in for invasive surgery. Surgery prep starts at 5:30 AM, the procedure starts at 7:30, and it'll take at least 4 hours from what I'm told. If it's successful, his survival chance and life expectancy increase a great deal. If not... well..... yeah...

Well, that's about it. Big shoutout to all my friends that I've been talking to over the past two months about things. I don't think I could get through this without you.

The Speed Gamers have just started their Mega Man Marathon.  All of the donations are going toward Earth Day Network.  They'll be playing from now until 6 in the evening on Monday, so if you've got any spare time on your hands, be sure to check it out!

http://www.thespeedgamers.com/

Mataime's in need of some funds for Ohayocon, so she's taken to selling some of her collection.  Most of it is in very good condition, and most of it is Inuyasha related.  So, if you've got some spare funds on hand, and are interested in any of it, make her a good offer.  Don't be giving any foolish offers like $1 though, that will make me rather... upset.

http://mataime.deviantart.com/journal/forum/1329808/

She's also a pretty good artist who does charm commissions, so if you're interested in those, definitely ask her about them.

SPIRIT SHOTGUN!

Okay, I've been reading Yu Yu Hakusho today.  I can see that my ability to analyze has improved, as I'm picking out all the devices being used (some of them quite poorly).  But, it's still entertaining, and that's what counts.

Also, Kuwabara owns your soul.  Just saying...

So here's the deal.  We go to put this cabinet thing up.  First problem is finding the studs.  Stud finder says where it's at, and my dad's like, "There's no way it's there."  So he goes to the other side of the wall to check, and yep, it's right there.  Then he goes into the other room to put the starter holes into the cabinet, and realizes the glass in the back might go up to high, which of course, would completely screw this over.  Fortunately, no.  Then we take the cabinet into the room to hang it, get it all aligned... and he realizes that he doesn't have the right bit for the screws.  So we put it down, he has to go out to his truck to find it.  Comes back, aligns it again, and the starter hole isn't big enough, the drill kickback ends up chipping the glass (we remarked that the 1/2 inch glass was a good investment).  Take it down, drill the hole bigger, put it back.  We miss the stud.  Find the stud, mark it again, miss it again.  Third time we finally hit it.  Then we realize that we don't know exactly where the left side stud is... but fortunately hit it on the first attempt.  Finally, we decide to find a stud in the middle.  He thinks he's got it, drills through, nope, missed.  Second try was good.  Then he's like, "okay, I'm done with this for now!" and goes upstairs. 

I think he's frustrated.

So as a few of you know, I'm a member of The Speed Gamers' community.  Basically, they're a small organization that runs gaming marathons for charity.  So far, they've raised over $30k with their efforts, with about a third of that being provided by their last marathon alone.  Anyway, they're planning a Final Fantasy marathon, to begin on July 17th.  And since these games tend to be pretty long, rather than try and fit everything into 72-hours, they're expanding into an entire week of game playing.  So if you've got some time during that week, stop in and see what's going on.  After I get back from Otakon, I'll probably be spending a fair amount of time in the chat room there, which usually remains fairly active during events.

Have you ever had one of those nights where you are just completely and utterly confused at everything that's going on?
This is one of those nights.  And it's now to the point that I'm worrying that something bad has happened and no one's telling me what the hell it is.

In other news, I'll be down in St. Louis all day tomorrow, my dad's getting a consultation from a liver specialist to see what the next step should be in his treatment.  For those of you just tuning in, his colon cancer spread to his liver.  So yeah, these two days are just going to be a blast all around...

Dreams are the mind's attempt to give shape to our desires. Hope is the emotional manifestation of those dreams. It's the tendrils of light that pierce through the darkness around us. To lose sight of it is to plunge oneself into the despair and miasma of the world. So keep grasping onto faith, hope, ideal, even against all odds, because it is what makes us strong and allows us to challenge the impossible.

It was flippin' awesome.

I managed to meet up with all my friends, even if only for a minute, including kittytreats and xhezachanx , the two most elusive ones.  You're all awesome.  Also, the events I was attatched to went pretty well.  Our early morning panel was actually filled to half capacity, that's about 150 people, which is amazing.  Cosplay Chess was a bit buggy, but we managed to get through it and I've got some ideas to improve the whole process.  And Whose Line... Whose Line... we played to our best crowd.  Period, end of story.  We had a fantastic time with it and I'll get those videos up soon.  In the meantime, my photos (mostly Code Geass) are on Facebook.

I spent the majority of my hang out time with slayer_sango and lord_il_palazzo .  They're both awesome, I don't get to see them much though.  I'll have to fix that if at all possible. ^_^

The m.o.v.e. concert was fantastic as well, I wish the performance would have gone on longer, but I guess we just can't have everything can we? 

Also, I got a little Maka charm from the Dealer's Room, because I'm a sucker for Soul Eater.

Well, I think that's about it.  I hope everyone else that went out there had a great time as well.  Next con for me is Colossal!

Short for International Saimoe League. Yes, I'm that bored today.


ARENA 01: [Suzumiya Haruhi] Vita
ARENA 02: Kōzuki Kallen [Misaka Mikoto]
ARENA 03: [Asahina Mikuru] Tōsaka Rin
ARENA 04: Ichinose Kotomi [Saber]
ARENA 05: Mizunashi Akari [Hiiragi Tsukasa]
ARENA 06: Shinku [Kirisame Marisa]
ARENA 07: Furude Rika [Kurata Sayuri]
ARENA 08: Ryōgi Shiki [Kamio Misuzu]
ARENA 09: [Nagato Yuki] Aisaka Taiga
ARENA 10: Furukawa Nagisa [Konjiki no Yami]
ARENA 11: [Minase Nayuki] Takamachi Nanoha
ARENA 12: [Kasuga “Ōsaka” Ayumu] Katagiri Yūhi
ARENA 13: [Illyasviel von Einzbern] Kawazoe Tamaki
ARENA 14: Tsukimiya Ayu [Suiseiseki]
ARENA 15: Chiba Kirino [Ryūgū Rena]
ARENA 16: [Suigintou] Ibuki Fūko
ARENA 17: [Louise Vallière] Holo
ARENA 18: Kawasumi Mai [Izumi Konata]
ARENA 19: Hinamori Amu [Katsura Hinagiku]
ARENA 20: [Alice Carroll] Nagi
ARENA 21: [C.C.] Furude Hanyū
ARENA 22: [Kinomoto Sakura] Maria
ARENA 23: Patchouli Knowledge [Sakagami Tomoyo]
ARENA 24: [Shameimaru Aya] Fujibayashi Kyō
ARENA 25: [Yagami Hayate] Anya Alstreim
ARENA 26: [Sanzen'in Nagi] Evangeline McDowell
ARENA 27: Hakurei Reimu [Abstained] Misaka Shiori
ARENA 28: Sawatari Makoto [Shana]
ARENA 29: [Fate Testarossa] Kushieda Minori
ARENA 30: [Hiiragi Kagami] Remilia Scarlet
ARENA 31: Sunohara Mei [Kawashima Ami]
ARENA 32: Chii [Index Prohibitorum]

I've started streaming games while I'm playing them on ZSNES or whatever other emulator I'm running at the time.  I'm going to start streaming until one of my friends starts later today, so if you're bored, come check it out.  Some people from TSG might drop by as well, they're a pretty cool bunch of people.  Please keep the chat PG rated, and if you don't have a ustream account, use /nick name to change your name so I know who you are. XD

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rakuen-gaming

The Speed Gamers are a group of awesome guys that run gaming marathons to try and raise money for charity. So far they've ran 8 marathons, generating a total of $15648.23. Right now, they're in hour two of a 72 hour gaming run through the Zelda series, attempting to clear 13 games by the end. All proceeds go to Ally's House, an Oklahoma based charity that supports children with cancer and their families. So if you've got a bit of time, please, give them some viewing love, and if you can, donate. And keep tabs on their site for future marathons.

Website (includes donate link): http://www.thespeedgamers.com/
Direct Video Stream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thespeedgamers
Information on Ally's House: http://www.allyshouse.net/

I'm bored and enjoy inflicting pain on you.

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