I forgot how addictive and awesome this game is.

In other recent news, I felt really shitty yesterday and spent most of my day laying on the couch, watching Scare Tactics and trying not to puke. I didn't puke, woohoo. But I was sporting a fever the entire day and felt really nauseous. I'm a bit better now but not 100%.

I also have my concentrated study presentation on Friday. At this point I really don't give a fuck, I hate the study so goddamn much. I hate the head of the independent study because he's a douchebag, I hate all the forced work I have to do, I hate having to wake up at 5:30am to get ready for a presentation at 7am, blah blah bullshit. But I just want to be done with it, I'll present and if I fail, I fail, if I pass, I pass. Once that's done, I'll feel a lot more freedom for the school year. I won't have this cloud hanging over my head and all I have left is Anthropology (a stupid class which is terribly boring) and Sociology (which is wrapping up sorta). I took my AP Euro final last Tuesday and my AP exam last Friday so all that's left is a silly "Eurolypmics" project which shouldn't be too hard. Oh, I also have a Shakespeare final to do but IDGAF. I already have like a 96 in the class and odds are my jerkoff classmates won't do it or do a shit job with the final (we have to make a silent film about Hamlet). Even if I get a zero on the assignment I'll have like... an 86% or so overall?

So yeah, that's life so far.

Greatest movie ever made.

I'm not even fucking joking.

So I've finally gotten around to deciding what my college major (and future) will be despite graduation being like two months away. I was hoping you could help since I've been really torn by this and even talking to both my parents in depth about it hasn't made the decision easier. So here's the situation:

I've been doing television production for my entire high school career and I'd say I'm pretty good at it. The first three years were television production courses, basically all the technical skills you learn in college. The last (and current) year I took an independent study. And I fucking hate it. I really do. The supervisor is a dickhole and it's not very "independent" feeling. There's so many guidelines and restrictions that it's basically taking a class without a teacher. I'm struggling to get the required hours and I'm completely apathetic towards it. I know it's not just the supervisor, it's just made me really find out something: that I absolutely cannot stand doing TV production on a schedule. Which is what a career in the field would mean. I first decided to do film critiquing. It seemed like an easy gig, watch movies, write reviews for them, and get hours easily. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't force myself to watch movies constantly and write reviews. It's something I enjoy doing for fun for like video games here. When it became required and the constant need for hours and textbooks were factored in, I just couldn't do it. So I switched over to directing the television program at the school. That was short lived since the program went on "hiatus" as the students involved had to do other projects. Now I'm making a short film and I can't stand scheduling it. I don't want to film it. I have it written (well, I wrote half, then said "fuck it" and made the ending comically abrupt) but I don't want to put it into motion. I have to give my presentation on the study later this month and I have half a mind to just e-mail everyone involved saying basically "I don't care, I'm out of this study" and flip a bird to it.

I was just so adamant on being a television student and television major for all these years that I never realized that I may just not like it. What could I do in the field? Do I want to be a cameraman my entire life, or edit video for my entire life, or sit in a chair and tell cameramen what to do for the rest of my life? Absolutely not. It's taken my three years to work my way up to the top of the TV food chain in my school, to be the "pro" and the director of a lot of the school's video program. How long will it take in the real world? Ten years? Twenty years? Never?

On the creative side, I just don't see it. I'm honestly not a creative person. I'd like to think I'm rather funny (you may not know it here but in person and with my friends we do have plenty of laughs) and can write well when I need to. But as mentioned, on a schedule, it doesn't work. Even if I wanted to make movies for a living, how will that work? Dump a bunch of money into making a film and hope people like it? Be forced on a treadmill of producing video segments? It just doesn't work.

tl;dr for this section: After three years of TV and being sure of TV as my major, I've learned I want absolutely nothing to do with TV.

Fortunately, it's not like I put all my money on the TV route. I've been a relatively successful history student. I took an honors course as a sophomore and I'm taking an AP course right now. I'm also on two (what's considered) history electives for sociology and anthropology. And I do like the material. I like learning history, it's something that I've really found interesting. Well, anthropology excluded, that class is fucking awful. But for like European History, even if it's just a day of taking pages of notes, I enjoy it. Hell, I enjoy taking these notes then watching videos in class. It's a subject that I've found that I not only have a knack for, but it's something I enjoy.

But what would a history major do? I mean I could teach history and it's actually not a bad option. Out of all my courses throughout the years, I can safely say I've never had a bad history teacher. I've found having quite a deep respect for them. And I'd like to think I can one day be that.

However, if teaching isn't an option, what is? I just don't see many career paths for someone who knows the French Revolution like the back of their hand. It's such a narrow path while film is rather diverse. With a film degree I can do a lot of things. Direct, produce, film, technical stuff, a lot of things.

tl;dr for this section: I really want to pursue history but there's practically no careers in the field.

So if you cared reading this then I would like some input. I mean I basically have to decide my future and I'd like to do it soon. Either I pursue my passion and get stuck with few options in life or pursue something I've really grown to not like any more (if this is because of the curriculum or the study I don't know) and get more options professionally. It's a rock and a hard place here.

http://www.wizards.c...ynrestored/cig#

It has begun.

Cards that make me hard:

• Angel of Jubilation: lolphyrexianmana
  
• Cloudshift: I'm loving this blinking stuff. It works almost as a white Ranger's Guile/Vines of Vastwood to some extent. Use it to counter a spell coming towards a creature of yours, to remove an enchantment, just a lot of things. For 1 mana it's really nifty.
  
• Banishing Stroke: It's almost basically this except more universal and sorcery speed (since you need to draw it for the one mana). Still really awesome.
  
• Temporal Mastery: UHHHHHHHH
  
• Thunderous Wrath: Kinda like Lightning Axe
  
• Vexing Devil: Either get like the best turn one drop I've seen in years or pay 4 life off the bat. Not bad at all, especially with one-mana red options being a bit limited nowadays (no Lightning Bolt)
  
• Descendants' Path: A cheap costing Changeling card + this = play any creature on the top of your library for free.
  
• Gisela, Blade of Goldnight: Not a great card by any means (mainly because almost any card with a high mana cost is lacking in use outside of the correct decks) but I love red/white color combos, and this card does a good job of capturing the spirit of both colors.

Can't say I'm psyched about the news Planeswalker at the moment, but I'm not a big fan of mono-blue Planeswalkers either (like Jace). Plus the card seems to kinda go against the whole idea of Miracle. It's a card focused on drawing massive amounts of cards, but only the first card you draw can be Miracle'd. So if you want to play any sweet Miracle cards (like Temporal Mastery) then you're shit out of luck.

I can see them trying to make it Jace TMS 2.0 but I don't see it working as well.

IT HAS BEGUN.

IT HAS BEGUN.

I'll be ordering it Monday once my deposit finally goes in.

Accurate description of me upon ordering:



Gonna get Uncharted, Dynasty Warriors, and a 4GB memory card. This will be FUCKING AWESOME. Tempted to get overnight shipping because I'M THAT FUCKING AWESOME.

With this week's paycheck I should be able to get a Vita finally with games and what not. I should be getting the paycheck tomorrow and can deposit sufficient bullion to purchase it the next day. Then it's just a case of ordering it and waiting.

I'm eying the system, an 8GB memory card, Dynasty Warriors Next, and Lumines. Suggestions? Uncharted looks cool but $50 for a relatively short game that's basically a glorified tech demo isn't exactly my thing. Maybe if it was cheaper then I'd bite.

So I was in need of a new headset (my current one is garbage) for my Xbox 360 so I decided to do a bit of online shopping. I just got a pay check so I had a bit to spend. But one thing I noticed was how shit some game pricing is.

First off, I decided to check the Gamestop site for some reason. Usually they're really shit compared to Amazon but once in a while they have good deals. This was one of the times. Rayman Origins, brand new, for $20. Fuck yeah I bought it. But I also found it funny that it was released in November, the same times as Skyrim, Saint's Row The Third, and Modern Warfare 3, but it's $20 now and all those are still at around $60. I understand it's a bit more "niche" (I guess platformers are "niche" now) than those games but god. Also, I noticed Black Ops is still like $50-$60. Seriously, what is this shit. I thought BlOps was fun but $50 still? Most any other game from November 2010 will probably be quite cheap.

I also noticed AC: Brotherhood was a bit pricey still. I mean Revelations came out already, why is this still expensive? Unlike CoD games which are practically all played constantly, I saw Brotherhood drop off the Xbox Live charts once Revelations came out. I'd buy it regardless because the single player is actually rather fantastic (although I have the OnLive version) but still, it's like $35 brand new or something.

For the headset, I got a standard Microsoft-brand Xbox 360 headset for around $7. I also decided to buy Divinity II. I played a bit of it a while back and it was actually pretty fun (if not a bit generic). Still, it's $20 brand new and it's pretty lengthy. It'll be another nice open world high fantasy WRPG to distract me from Skyrim.

On a side note, Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. My god. I'm like level 82 or something. I played it for about 7 hours straight yesterday, then took an hour break at around 5 pm to shower/eat, then played it until about 1am. So. Much. Fun. I've been playing Krogan Soldier a lot and I still laugh when I charge people for an instant kill. Still, if I'm putting this much time into A GODDAMN DEMO with only two maps and one enemy type, I'm sure I'll be lost when the full game comes out.

I also have a four day weekend to play it so fuck yeah.

My two recent purchases came in the mail (Nier a few days ago and Vanquish today) so here's a brief rundown of what I've played so far:

• Nier: I'm really enjoying it. Usually JRPGs I find have good combat (or at least scratch that turn based itch we get every now and then) and crap stories but it seems opposite here. Well, not necessarily opposite, but the criticisms are a bit odd. The story is rather well crafted in terms of dialogue and characters. It really feels like they took a lot of time to avoid the typical JRPG cliches that usually kill the stories for me. It's humorous at times, serious at others, and does feel "adult" and isn't restricted by that T-rating garbage (something that usually hampers the likes of Final Fantasy). My complaint would have to be that combat is a bit dull but I'm only a few hours into the game so I don't know about the rest of the magic or how combat will evolve (if it does). Side quests are also a nice addition although it'd be nice to be able to label objectives on your map. Great game though, definitely one of the stronger JRPGs I've played in recent memory. Also voice acting is surprisingly good although your character's voice is a bit too gruff. I swear I've heard whoever voices Weiss in other things.
  
• Vanquish: Ah, so much fun. That's really all it can be described as it. It's constant action, lots of shooting, and lots of slow-mo, just the way I like it. My complaint would have to be that it gets a bit repetitive. Still, it's tons of fun and definitely feels like a good "candy bar" game. Worth every penny. I'm just starting Act 3 so I don't have too much left.

Uh, that's about it. I have a three day weekend for MLK Day so that's nice. I can probably knock out Vanquish by tonight/tomorrow morning and god knows how long Nier is. JRPGs are a bit notorious for length, and Nier is rather packed with sidequests and other stuff to do.


Walking Dead starts up again next month, so that's nice. Then in March I have Mass Effect 3 (and my birthday) to look forward to. Should be a good couple of months for me.

Oh, and exams are in like two weeks, but I only have one exam. So basically on one day I go in for a 90 minute test and then I get another day off. May just call out sick that Friday for a four day weekend type of thing.

EDIT: Oh yeah, my 360 "red ringed". I use that term lightly. I turned it on, had some weird error screen with a message in like a bunch of different languages, and the ring was, well, red. So I turned it off and on again and its been fine ever since. Fuck you red rings.

Ordered some games off Amazon in the past few days with some money I got from work.

• Mass Effect 3 pre-order: The game I want for the new year. I've got a raging boner knowing it'll arrive on March 6th in my mailbox. Just getting home from school, opening that mailbox, and getting this game... Aw man...
  
• Nier: All I've heard is praise about it but I've just kinda ignored it. I found it on Amazon for about $10 ($13 with shipping) so I nabbed it after reading emigre's blog.
  
• Vanquish: Also been meaning to get this for a while but never got around to it. Got it for about $12 ($15 with shipping) on Amazon as well.

Also, app games are fun, fuck y'all haters. There are genuinely shitty games out there but there are fun puzzlers that keep my addicted. I've been playing quite a bit of Where's My Water? and Cut the Rope recently and it's fun. Also started playing Plants vs. Zombies which can't be bad. So yeah, shove it up your asses app haters.