Ups and downs
Last night was LPP's Halloween show, and it was a good one. Large, lively audience; pretty good cast. I enjoyed it. However, it was the cast's last show. Oh, we may do con shows or next Halloween, and we may put on non-RHPS stuff, but that's pretty much it. Though I haven't been in the center of things for a while, still, I'll miss it. It makes me sad to think that that was likely the last time I'll play Frank.
Work goes well. They're hiring a few new people where I'm doing contract work, which means musical offices, and I ended up in a converted meeting room with a roommate. However, I'm there three days a week, she's there two, and we only have one day in common. Looking at it objectively, it's the best solution I see, but, still... oh well, she seems nice, so I think it'll be fine.
I just finished the first draft of my second Oz manuscript, "Imposters in Oz." Well, more or less finished; I left a few holes where I need to stick in some poetry. Some of it is Scraps's's typical babbling, which isn't too hard to write, but one section requires that I write three spells in succession, and everyone knows magic spells are always cast in rhyming couplets. Rather than let that hold me up I just made notes about what the spells needed to say and moved on. I'm playing with ideas for a third one, which should be a lot lighter and sillier than these first two. Origami with magic paper, the land above the rainbow, hang-gliding on a kite...
I got DDR X-2, and, wow, I have to hand it to Konami. If they wanted to disappoint and tick off PS2 users, they did a top-notch job. The game feels cheap and unfinished for a number of reasons...
I bought purple cauliflower today. I don't even like cauliflower that much, but, see, it's PURPLE. Those who know me don't have to ask. Drown it in butter and it's not too objectionable.
I also recently bought a Snuggie. You know, those blankets with sleeves. Kroger had 'em on a display for $12, and they looked so cozy, but they were PINK. Baby pink. I don't do pink. But they looked cozy... so the next time I looked at the display again, and on the other side I saw that they had leopard and zebra print ones as well. It was all over. And, y'know what, they really are cozy, and the fleece is light enough that you don't get hot and sweaty underneath 'em. It feels positively decadent to loaf around, playing video games, under one of those.
Work goes well. They're hiring a few new people where I'm doing contract work, which means musical offices, and I ended up in a converted meeting room with a roommate. However, I'm there three days a week, she's there two, and we only have one day in common. Looking at it objectively, it's the best solution I see, but, still... oh well, she seems nice, so I think it'll be fine.
I just finished the first draft of my second Oz manuscript, "Imposters in Oz." Well, more or less finished; I left a few holes where I need to stick in some poetry. Some of it is Scraps's's typical babbling, which isn't too hard to write, but one section requires that I write three spells in succession, and everyone knows magic spells are always cast in rhyming couplets. Rather than let that hold me up I just made notes about what the spells needed to say and moved on. I'm playing with ideas for a third one, which should be a lot lighter and sillier than these first two. Origami with magic paper, the land above the rainbow, hang-gliding on a kite...
I got DDR X-2, and, wow, I have to hand it to Konami. If they wanted to disappoint and tick off PS2 users, they did a top-notch job. The game feels cheap and unfinished for a number of reasons...
- Short song list. PS2 DDR mixes have had 70-75 songs; this one has 62.
- Six of those are Challenge-only songs. If you're a lower-level player they might as well not exist for you.
- Loads of songs that have already been on PS2 DDRs. Let the Beat Hit 'Em, Love is Orange, Baile la Samba, Hysteria,Tierra Buena, Un Deux Trois... Come on, Konami, you have plenty of other songs that we want, don't shovel these rehashes at us.
- The title screen and some other screen lack background music. That's kind of eerie, and makes it look unfinished.
- Dice Master Mode is the most tedious and frustrating unlock mode I've seen in any DDR mix. Skip it entirely and just play the regular game. You'll unlock everything that way eventually.
- The game is also known to frequently crash during Dice Master Mode. EPIC FAIL.
- The game was marketed as a bundle only, at bundle prices. You can't buy the game by itself. I have good RedOctane Ignitions; what do I need a cheap floppy pancake pad for?
- Some of the licenses are just ridiculous. Ice Ice Baby? Oh, come on. That song is crap, and boring to dance to.
- A lot of the songs have Challenge levels. Yay! Most of the Challenge levels are just easy charts with DDRX's "shock arrows" thrown in. Blah. I want the Challenge level to contain challenging steps, not lazy crud like this.
I bought purple cauliflower today. I don't even like cauliflower that much, but, see, it's PURPLE. Those who know me don't have to ask. Drown it in butter and it's not too objectionable.
I also recently bought a Snuggie. You know, those blankets with sleeves. Kroger had 'em on a display for $12, and they looked so cozy, but they were PINK. Baby pink. I don't do pink. But they looked cozy... so the next time I looked at the display again, and on the other side I saw that they had leopard and zebra print ones as well. It was all over. And, y'know what, they really are cozy, and the fleece is light enough that you don't get hot and sweaty underneath 'em. It feels positively decadent to loaf around, playing video games, under one of those.