Hello my lovelies!

I know you're all quite beside yourselves since you havent had your weekly dose of Alli inspired nonsense blogs for a few weeks now. I imagine you probably cant eat, cant work, cant kill zombies like you used too, etc. But the good news is, I'm back! (sorta). You may be asking yourselves, "where has she been??", well short answer, I've been here and there. Near and Far. Black and White. Wrong and Right? Hot n Cold? (hmm maybe I should just sing the whole song...). But I have done a few interesting things.

I bought a new cell! () It's my first cell in six years. My old cell was a blue flip phone, half the keypad didnt work, the antenna was bitten off in a fight (not by me, of course), and the screen was starting to leak some really odd tasting liquid.

The new one is kinda nice though. Its shiny and red and has a slide out keyboard and an sd card slot thingie. If it had four wheels and a cup holder, it would be a ferrari. Oh and all the keys work, which is nice. See the generic image below.

I also went to see "Observe and Report", with Seth Rogen and it was pretty silly. There were some gross parts too. Its definitely not the kind of movie I would have went to if I was by myself, but John wanted to see it. I'm not entirely sure if we're going to go see Wolverine. I know he wants to see Star Trek, not sure about X Men. I want to see X Men, mostly because of Hugh Jackman (dont act so surprised, even straight guys I know think he's hot =P).

Whats funny is that I know people who've seen it and come out saying, "well I thought it would have a better story.." and they look so disappointed. Come on, you dont go to an X Men movie expecting some Shakespearean story. (Let's face it, even some of the films that have been made from Shakespeare plays havent had killer stories, hehe). I dont go into any summer flick expecting a great story usually (I mean the ones that look like mindless action). I'm looking forward to "Angels and Demons" though, mainly because I read the book and thought it was way better than the Da Vinci Code.

In gaming news, I have a new obsession, Dragon Quest IV. Its lots of fun. Battles are short and sweet. Monsters look nice and funny, Graphics are pretty, music is relaxing. I'm about 35 hrs in, and hoping to stick up a review when im done.

Thats all for now. Happy May 2nd!

(PS: What happened to all those April showers?? All we had was a heat wave. Stupid desert.)

Hi Hi!

Hope you're all having a lovely Easter weekend (if you celebrate it. If not, then shaaaame =P). I think they have an egg finding thing for the kids in the park here this weekend, which is nice.

Anyway, I posted this on off topic, but it was quickly bumped off page 1 for more worthy topics, such as "What's this thing on the back of my neck?", and "does anyone else eat cat food when no one is looking?".

This kinda came about when me and John went to Third Planet a couple weeks ago. Its a small place that sells tabletop rpg games, D&D stuffs, dice, comics, miniatures, violent card games, and hosts live games in the back. In short, its Nerd Central. (John was a nerd in High School). Now , I have no problem with nerds, geeks, dorks, morlocks, mole people, eskimos, cannibals, living impaired, etc, but that store gives off some of the heaviest nerd vibes that Ive felt in awhile.

So while John browsed miniatures (he likes painting them), I was looking at the tabletop games, you know, the boxed ones? (I wasnt a nerd in high school =P). Any of you guys notice how much some of those boxed rpg games look like each other? Like they have different pieces and boards, but its like the same game? I saw two pirate games and except for the names, they looked almost alike. Almost the same board, same ship pieces, same dice, except I think one came with a leather eyepatch and one came with an imitation leather eyepatch =P. They should have at least thrown a parrot in one of em.

So I'm hanging out by the door, in case one of the kids in the back, who are engaged in a heated game of D&D ("You cant equip that shock shield!, your ranger cant use shields!"), decides to come at me for no reason. I'm also trying avoid the frequent stares of the eight year old behind the counter, who looks like he just walked out of Hot Topic.

Anyway, John comes over, and looks like hes about to puke. He says we should go, and that hes not feeling good. Being a humanitarian, I ask if hes okay. He shakes his head and whispers something that only Clark Kent could possibly hear. I blink and ask him what he said. He says it again (and I still barely hear this), but it sounds like, "I have the big C".

Duh huh?? (that was my reaction too).

"The who?"

"You know, starts with a C..". he whispers.

(Could he possibly be more vague? Thank God he isnt a pharmacist =P).

"chicken pox?", I ask.

He shakes his head.

"citric acid?"

He shakes his head again.

"Cancer? .....Cholera?"

He rolls his eyes, and yells, "I'm constipated!"

Now I dont know if it was the acoustics in the place or what, but when he yelled it, it kind of bounced off the walls and sounded more like "I'm constipated-ated-ated". Of course, he turned beet red and looked around. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. The D&D kids smirked, and the eight year old behind the counter almost inhaled the straw from his juice box.

Needless to say, it got me thinking. Oh, dont worry, John's fine. Sure, he'll never go anywhere near the place again, but like I told him, it isnt much of a loss.

So are there stores you wont go into? I know guys who wont set foot into Victoria's Secret, even though they're married and their wives go in all the time. (I assume they're a little too close to trying something on themselves, which isnt a pleasant thought).

Sooo phoenyx9 tagged me and I coulda sworn I've done this before, but what the heck. Following are 10 things about me. I'll try to pick ten you guys dont know yet.

1. I went to a strict Catholic school growing up (white blouse, plaid skirt, knee high socks, nuns whooping arses with rulers, the works, etc.)

2. I'm a natural redhead (but I dyed it blonde for about six months. Most people said I looked really weird =P)

3. One of my favorite poems is, "anyone lived in a pretty how town", by e. e. cummings.

4. I'd love to "boldly go where no one has gone before", because I think, "the truth is out there". *nerd alert*

5. Me and my friends used to hang out at the local cemetary and go "grave tipping", after dark.

6. Despite my nature, I was actually somewhat of an athlete in high school. I ran track, was a cheerleader, played tennis and even did a little gymnastics. (cause, you know, it was better than studying =P)

7. I was flipping through the "Twilight" books on my last trip to the bookstore, and it looked to me like they were written by an eight year old. *snob alert*

8. One of my guilty pleasures is Sarah Silverman. I think shes really cute, but I cant stand half the stuff she says and does. Its fascinating watching her though. Its like seeing a brand new Ferrari get hit by a train. You cant look away, but when its over you're like, "Why, God, Why??" , hehe.

9. My three favorite video games of all time are probably: Secret of Mana (SNES), Morrowind (PC), and Parasite Eve (PS)

10. I love strategy guides. I'm a big fan of going through a long role playing game and finding every secret and item using the guides. I have over 200 of them on my bookshelf. I've been using them since Prima and Bradygame's first guides were published. I'd gotten so used to reading them that in school, I'd take a sketch book and a bunch of colored pencils/markers to each c-l-a-s-s and make my own "guide" for the c-l-a-s-s instead of taking regular notes. =p

***

Lets be honest, Chrono Trigger was released in '95, and is often hailed by many to be the best, if not one of the best, role playing games of all time. Sure people talk about its outstanding soundtrack, lush graphics, deep, involving story, etc, but they never talk about the things it doesnt have. Where's the Grand Theft Auto-like carjacking, violence and foul language that our 3-8 year olds enjoy today? Wheres the first person shooter-esque mayhem, that made games like Crysis and Call of Duty so popular? I know where its not, its not in this game! Best Game of All Time? psssh. Square is lucky its still around after releasing this game. Actually, Square should change its name to Circle, cause this game gets a big, fat zero in my book.

The characters are so cliche too! A robot named Robo? Yeah, thats about as original as fruit punch. Whats next, a cartoon cyborg named Cyborg? A robot cop named RoboCop? Heck no, not in my reality! There are also talking animals in the game. I know, its a dude who's been cursed by another dude who's evil but somehow joins you anyway to fight a bigger evil than him..or something...(actually someone had to give me the gist of the plot, cause after playing through it about six or seven times, I still didnt get it, making me more than qualified to write an impartial review). Anyway, animals should only talk in Disney Movies, or on Family Guy, anything else is wrong.

The laws of physics seem to be absent from much of the game, as your character can carry around a seemingly unlimited amount of weapons/items, etc. How many pockets does this Chrono kid have, anyway? Hes not even wearing cargo pants! And Marle and Ayla? I'm pretty sure they dont have pockets at all! Ayla is barely wearing anything at all. Maybe this game should have been rated M?

The time travel effects in this game seem pretty cool, until you start wondering, how can a kid like Lucca build a sophisticated time machine? Are these black holes? wormholes? rifts in time? Frankly, I find the whole temporal mechanics thing quite suspect and I'm sure Stephen Hawking would have issues with this game. I also suspect the designers dont even have advanced degrees in any kind of temporal/physics based field.

These issues aside, I really tried to enjoy the game, on a deeper level, as kitch, as camp, even on a spiritual level. I would light four candles before and after playing, and kneel down before my grossly oversized golden Lavos statue (just one of the thousands of pieces of Chrono Trigger memorabilia in my closet), and pray for the strength to enjoy this game. Alas, it is not to be.

Hoping to enjoy this game on some level, I finally tossed the manual and case and box in the microwave and nuked it, since opening the shrink wrap depressed me to the point where I had to be committed for a few days in an institution by my shrink, for possibly being a danger to myself and others.

In retrospect, I may have been too harsh on this game, because the microwave really went up in flames pretty quickly, much faster than the kitchen and the rest of the house. Uh oh, I'd better get out of here, its getting kinda warm. Umm in conclusion, do not buy this game, do not play this game, and definitely do not microwave this game.

***

April Fools ! =P Chrono Trigger is one of my favoritest games ever! (that's right, I used the F word) Although, *glances at MAILER* I still think Secret of Mana is way better! bwa ha!

Soo its kinda funny how the new DSi has been constantly under fire by critics since its spec's were announced, and it was nowhere near being released. Well now that its April release date looms ever closer, I thought I'd take a look at some of the finer points of Nintendo's newest handheld.

The screen: The new DSi screen is 3.25 inches, compared to the original DS' 3 inches. That's right, 8 percent more real estate. Thats even more room to stare at those hot pixelated Final Fantasy white mages. Hubba Hubba!

Charging Time: The DSi clocks in at 2 hrs, 30mins to go from zero to sixty, compared to the original's 3 hours. That means you'll be playing Mario Kart DS 30 minutes sooner than your friends.

Battery Life: The bane of remote controls, children's Christmas presents, and ...uh..*cough* other items. The new DSi has a 4-6 hr shorter battery life than its predecessor. This is the chief complaint by many naysayers. But hang on, what if this is a great move by Nintendo to reduce the global percentage of handheld related muggings. Think about it, say you just get home from work, after a long day, having indulged in a bit of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia at lunch, and on the ride home (you do take public transportation, right?), you play a bit of Phantom Hourglass, and you might stop at the local Starbucks, for a cafe latte. While there, you manage to school a couple of 8 year olds in Pokemon Pearl, while mentioning the fact that they're far too young to drink coffee. You finally get home, and as you are unlocking your door, some thug comes out of nowhere and grabs your shiny new DSi. Well the joke's on him, cause once he gets back to his hideout and powers it on, chances are its probably dead. (I mean, you know, he'll probably take your wallet/purse too, and could very well leave you a bloody mess on your front porch). But the fact that your DSi is dead when he wants to play it, makes his victory less than total and ultimately shallow. Can you say epic win?

No GBA Slot: This one hurts. You probably dont need to play Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald again, but its nice to have the slot there for games like Fire Emblem and Golden Sun. But they did give you something to play with:

The DSi Camera: Thats right, a feature common on cell phones everywhere, now you get a nifty little camera! Its kind of neat, in that you can snap pictures of yourself while playing the DSi, or someone else who's watching you play the DSi, on the other side of the room. I know, it hardly sounds practical. But in a different context, the DSi camera could capture that cheating lover from around the corner, most of the inevitable murder and your eventual trial and incarceration. Your DSi could be your best friend behind bars (especially since your cellmate Bubba isnt much of a talker). Epic win? I think so.

Sorry, I'm getting off topic again. Actually I just wanted to get you guys/gals opinions, cause I'm thinking of preordering one, if I scrounge up some cash, and I'm not sure whether to go with the black, or that baby blue one. I'm leaning towards black, because black is slimming, it goes with any outfit and the dark background makes the screen stand out more I think. But that blue is kinda nice looking too, its almost periwinkle! (thats the gateway color to indigo and violet, you know!)

Happy Monday!

So John came over yesterday and depite recent inquires as to the wedding date, hes JUST a friend =P (besides hes way too old for me, hes 44 and divorced). Anyway he brought over Monopoly. You know, the board game where you somehow end up with even less money than you have in real life? First off, this is probably the newest Monopoly game I've ever played. The money and properties were all stuck together, even the pieces were shiny!

I started to wonder why it hadnt gotten much use, and it didnt take long to figure out. John plays like hardcore Monopoly. I'm kind of conservative usually, I dont buy like the expensive yellow/green or dark blue properties because they cost an arm and a leg, cost a ton to build up and when I have owned them, no one has ever landed there. John buys everything. If I land on something and dont buy it, he'll snap it up, even if he has to mortgage his other properties to do it.

Well needless to say, after hours of playing, I ended up with all the oranges and reds and utilities and railroads, he ended up with almost everything else and no less than four houses on all the dark purples, light blues, light purples, yellows, and dark blues. Needless to say, this didnt end well for yours truly.

I hadnt played in years and at the end, told him I had fun (kind of), and mentioned I'd definitely play him again (in 10 years or so). Now, I used to consider myself a fairly good player so this kinda had me wondering if I really was as good as I used to think. Maybe I'm just not cut out for the high stakes world of real estate?

Hello, my lovely Gamespotters!

I hope you're all well and gaming, I know I am (kinda). I've been playing Oblivion on the 360 and recently got all the achievements for it. I've gone through it before on pc, but this was my first experience with the Shivering Isles expansion, and it was really fun. The quests were creative and interesting and the new characters were nifty.

Its funny though, because when I started going through Oblivion again, I noticed a few of your blogs pop up saying you guys were playing it too, which is funny cause when I started playing the prequel, Morrowind, it seemed like a lot of my friends started playing it after I did. I know what you're thinking, and as I said on gbrading's blog, its such a curse being a trendsetter! =P

I know there are some games that just came out that a lot of people are playing...like Resident something or other..(must be an indie game =P), my friends have been asking if I'm gonna get it and I'm not sure. If I do, it'll be awhile. Not that I didnt really like the prequel, which I played a lot when it came out for Gamecube, its more that there are other games on the radar that I'd like to try (plus a huge backlog of games I'm gonna get to one day, I hope).

I'm sure a few of you might be skipping Spring Break in Palm Springs this year, but thats okay! (I'm not going either =P). I do hope to get started in Lost Odyssey this week though, hows that for a break? hehe

I also managed to get a few reviews up that I'd been putting off, feel free to check em out! (just dont read em on an empty tummy, cause you never know where that burrito might end up =P)

Happy Monday! (I hate Mondays too). I hope you guys remembered to change your clocks.

Have you guys been following the OctoMom's (sounds like a James Bond villain, doesnt it?) travels? (you know, the lady with six kids, who just had eight more?). Apparently, her publicist (the person who is supposed to improve her public image) said shes a nutjob, and quit, which is kinda funny. They say shes already made around 3 million though, for various tv appearances. You know how shows say they cant pay for her appearance, they get her compensated through other sources. Have you heard the latest OctoMom jokes?

Jon Stewart: "How do you go from six to fourteen? What, is she playing blackjack? I hope she doesnt bust!"

Now they have the Octo breakfast. Its fourteen eggs, no sausage, and the guy sitting next to you pays the bill.

I just found out something big. There's a 7:45 in the morning!

I dont remember there being a 7:45 in the morning since I was in high school. Most of you guys know I'm not a morning (or afternoon, or evening) person. Anyway, I'm supposed to have an ultrasound at 7:45 tomorrow and I'm pretty sure theres no way I can make it, since I usually sleep til like 10 or 11 (pm?). I also cant get to sleep if Im in bed too early, so its not good.

It was the only time that this obnoxious lady on the phone would give me, cutting off all my words with a loud "NO".

Alli: I'm not really a morning-

Lady: NO.

Alli: Do you have anything la-

Lady: NO.

Alli: But I-

Lady: NO.

You would have thought I was asking for a kidney! Hmm...*makes a note to ask for a kidney next time*

Some of you might be wondering why I need one. Not to worry, its just a routine check up thing, by which I mean its pretty much life or death.

-3 weeks earlier-

Soo me and my friend Lindy were at the doc's for my latest routine life or death check up, and one of the nurses, Alissa, comes in. Shes kinda chubby, but her face is cute.

Alissa: Werent you supposed to have an ultrasound last year? (She glares at me.)

Alli: Ive....been busy? (if she buys that, Ive got her, heh heh)

Alissa: with school?

Alli: Not really.

Alissa: work?

Alli: I'm in a transition phase.

Alissa: What do you do all day, then?

Alli: You know, the usual. Gamespot, eBay, Oh and eTrade, gotta watch the stocks, you know, bulls, bears, other animals that start with a B ......badgers?

Alissa: what else? (She gives me an odd look.)

Alli: naughty time?

Alissa: excuse me??

Alli: potty time.

Lindy: (tries not to giggle.)

Alissa: You're so not funny. (She gives me another odd look.)

-On the way home-

Lindy: She wants you, you know.

Alli: Who?

Lindy: Alissa.

Alli: She does not.

Lindy: Does too!

Alli: Alas, it can never be! For shes a humble healer and I'm ....umm..

Lindy: in transition?

Alli: Exactly.

So now whenever we go to the doc's, Lindy pokes me and tells me to ask Alissa out, hehe. Sorry, thought you guys might like to see what happens when I go to the doc. I left the boring stuff out, but I thought that was kinda funny.

Sooo I went to see a film this past weekend, and it was about a picturesque little retreat in the middle of nowhere. It offered lovely moonlit lake views,

There were quite a few rowdy teens too, and there was sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

You may have heard of the camp before.

Oh right, it also featured a rather familiar looking hockey masked figure weilding quite a large machete. I dont wanna spoil anything but there were some truly nice kills throughout the movie. For those of you wondering, the nudity scenes werent bad either, for a horror film. All in all, I definitely recommend it, if you're into psychotic killers with machetes (or watch a lot of Rachael Ray).