I'M NOT DEAD I PROMISE
SO MUCH STUFF HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST WEEKS I DON'T EVEN.
I've been really, really busy, and I really should've been updating this journal consistently, but I'm a lazy bum and you all know that. No ponies this time - just lots and lots of text.
For those of you who don't know, I went to my sorority big sister Di's (selan's) wedding over Memorial Day weekend. This was my first time seeing her in four years, my first time in Houston (hell, my first time in Texas at all), and my first time meeting her fiance-now-husband. I wasn't a member of the wedding party, and I wasn't technically a member of the bride's family, but I was treated as both. This meant that I went to the rehearsal lunch and went in early before the wedding to help the bride and bridesmaids get ready.
I had a blast.
Texas is dry and really, really hot, and actually quite lovely - there were quite a few trees and green growing places, which I honestly don't see a lot of in LA - not of that magnitude. There were also some very friendly people, to include Di's family, who were nice enough to let me stay in their home, John's (the groom's) mother and entire family, and pretty much everyone involved in the wedding party.
Funny enough, I was the one that everyone told their secrets to. "I'm doing a surprise for the groom! Here it is, but don't tell him." "I have a surprise for the bride! This is what it is, but don't tell her." "I have a surprise for the couple! Don't tell them - I'm planning on doing this." I must've gotten half a dozen of those over the weekend. It was kind of awesome. XD
My job while I was there was basically to keep Di sane. I did whatever she needed done, I helped her pack for her honeymoon, I accompanied her on her errands, all that fun stuff. It was stressful for her - I'd never seen her that worked up, and I'd seen her after literal all-nighters her senior year. Still, we did get everything done, and she absolutely glowed at the wedding. It was beautiful, and she looked so happy. Watching her with John was just right - there was something about the two of them together that just clicked in all the right ways. I don't have the words for it, but I really think they'll be together for a very long time.
Though it was odd having John say that I brought the "spirit of peace" to Di. I was flattered, yeah, but it was definitely a headtilt moment. I don't really consider myself the most peaceful of people, but it was good to know that I helped Di out.
I walked away from that with an album of pictures, a few chocolate covered strawberries, and fantastic memories. Great weekend, for more reasons than one. ♥
On a different note, Kristin, amorsinseramada, Lynxgriffin, and I all went to Disneyland last weekend for the opening of Star Tours and of the Little Mermaid ride. They put Blackbeard on POTC, which was interesting but not really that different from Davey Jones. Waterside seats at Blue Bayou were really nice, though.
The line for Star Tours itself was a lying liar that lied. The sign said 120 minutes; we ended up waiting well over three hours to get on that ride. That said, the 3D was very well integrated (and has much better glasses than EO; then again, it's not tougher to have better 3D glasses than EO), pod racing was a blast, getting chased by Boba Fett sure made Megan happy, and the ride overall was a good amount of fun. I'd definitely go again - just not for another three-hour wait. It's the fastpass line for me all the way.
The Little Mermaid ride was a much shorter wait - only about an hour - and was done in the style of the older Disneyland dark rides. It was nice to see and had some pretty fun moments, but honestly, the best part for me was seeing Mr. Limpet hiding out in the seaweed during one part of the ride. That just made my old-school Disney geek squee like mad.
So yes, I love Disneyland. This is nothing new. 8Db
Finally, on the list of big events I've done the past few weeks, E3! E3 was an exercise in Doing Things I Wasn't Supposed to Be Able to Do, or Moose and Squirrel Catch More Flies With Honey.
The first part: getting in. Kristin's boss got her an extra pass and invited me (which induced a state of dancing-around-the-room glee), and my bosses let me take Wednesday to go, so long as I chatted with a few of the vendors they were interested in, so not only did I get to attend E3, I was paid to do so. So. Much. Glee. :D
The second part: lanyards. The official badges had Skyward Sword lanyards attached, which Kristin and I didn't have - we got wristbands with G4 printed on them, since that's technically who we were with. Asking for a lanyard from one registration desk didn't work - the guy there shut me down, so I walked over to another registration desk about thirty feet away. Before I could say much of anything, the lady working it saw my Keyblade necklace (because subtlety is fun) and went, "Kingdom Hearts!" Turned out she didn't know there was a trailer for 3DS and she didn't know that BBS episode 2 existed at all, so our discussion turned out to be Christmas for her in terms of new KH info. Finally, she asked me what my question was, I told her I was looking for a lanyard, and she looked surreptitiously each way, then handed me two of them and said, "You found these." Fellow KH fans tend to be pretty awesome people, all told. :Db
There was, unfortunately, no KH stuff in the show itself - Squeenix was focusing on FF13-2, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, and Dead Island. Still, the Nintendo booth was fun - Skyward Sword was a great game to demo, and I loved pretty much all the titles they had for the 3DS, even if I couldn't play Star Fox worth beans. Luigi's Mansion 2 was especially fun, considering I'd never played Luigi's Mansion before and had no idea what I was doing. Also, the Disneyland game for Kinect was more fun than I thought it'd be, and Konami is rebooting the DDR franchise, which induced even more glee.
The third thing: Sonic Boom. For Sonic's 20th birthday (the first game was released in 1991), Sega threw a big ticket-only party in Club Nokia. I managed to get a ticket, Megan didn't, and I finally told her to meet me anyway and we'd see if we could get her in. Long story short, I presented the guy at the front with my ticket and nodded at Megan, and he gave me and Megan both wristbands, no question asked. We're still not entirely sure how that worked, but it did and we got in.
And it was fantastic. There was free cupcakes, demos of Sonic Generations (which plays really smoothly, by the way), and musical talent in the form of Jun Senoue, the man who's been composing Sonic music since almost the beginning and plays a very mean guitar. He played an updated version of the Green Hill Zone theme, worked his way through a few other instrumental pieces, and then started up the riff for Open Your Heart, at which point he was joined on stage by a very familiar-sounding vocalist. I had a few moments of consideration, then turned to Megan, "Is that the original vocalist?"
"Yeah."
"...so we're watching Crush 40 perform live."
"Yyyyyep."
I cannot tell you how much screaming was had then. There was lots and lots of screaming, and we successfully marked that one off the bucket list. It helped that Jun Senoue came out on the floor later to sign autographs and take pictures, and he let Megan hold his guitar for our picture. She about melted.
So yeah, Sonic Boom was a great night. Hell, all of E3 was fantastic. A++, will go again if I can swing it.
In other, non-huge-event-related news, work's going smoothly - we finished one project and have another almost done, huzzah :D - I managed to find someone to make Razor Wit for $300 including shipping, RP's going well (until the mods throw another curveball at us, but hey, that happens), and I'm thinking of trundling down to Disneyland again on the 18th if anyone's interested. Also, I got a bitty!Terra drabble written for the first time in over two months - having nothing to do while your car gets new tires will definitely give you some focus.
So basically, life's pretty good. I'm okay with this. |Db
I've been really, really busy, and I really should've been updating this journal consistently, but I'm a lazy bum and you all know that. No ponies this time - just lots and lots of text.
For those of you who don't know, I went to my sorority big sister Di's (selan's) wedding over Memorial Day weekend. This was my first time seeing her in four years, my first time in Houston (hell, my first time in Texas at all), and my first time meeting her fiance-now-husband. I wasn't a member of the wedding party, and I wasn't technically a member of the bride's family, but I was treated as both. This meant that I went to the rehearsal lunch and went in early before the wedding to help the bride and bridesmaids get ready.
I had a blast.
Texas is dry and really, really hot, and actually quite lovely - there were quite a few trees and green growing places, which I honestly don't see a lot of in LA - not of that magnitude. There were also some very friendly people, to include Di's family, who were nice enough to let me stay in their home, John's (the groom's) mother and entire family, and pretty much everyone involved in the wedding party.
Funny enough, I was the one that everyone told their secrets to. "I'm doing a surprise for the groom! Here it is, but don't tell him." "I have a surprise for the bride! This is what it is, but don't tell her." "I have a surprise for the couple! Don't tell them - I'm planning on doing this." I must've gotten half a dozen of those over the weekend. It was kind of awesome. XD
My job while I was there was basically to keep Di sane. I did whatever she needed done, I helped her pack for her honeymoon, I accompanied her on her errands, all that fun stuff. It was stressful for her - I'd never seen her that worked up, and I'd seen her after literal all-nighters her senior year. Still, we did get everything done, and she absolutely glowed at the wedding. It was beautiful, and she looked so happy. Watching her with John was just right - there was something about the two of them together that just clicked in all the right ways. I don't have the words for it, but I really think they'll be together for a very long time.
Though it was odd having John say that I brought the "spirit of peace" to Di. I was flattered, yeah, but it was definitely a headtilt moment. I don't really consider myself the most peaceful of people, but it was good to know that I helped Di out.
I walked away from that with an album of pictures, a few chocolate covered strawberries, and fantastic memories. Great weekend, for more reasons than one. ♥
On a different note, Kristin, amorsinseramada, Lynxgriffin, and I all went to Disneyland last weekend for the opening of Star Tours and of the Little Mermaid ride. They put Blackbeard on POTC, which was interesting but not really that different from Davey Jones. Waterside seats at Blue Bayou were really nice, though.
The line for Star Tours itself was a lying liar that lied. The sign said 120 minutes; we ended up waiting well over three hours to get on that ride. That said, the 3D was very well integrated (and has much better glasses than EO; then again, it's not tougher to have better 3D glasses than EO), pod racing was a blast, getting chased by Boba Fett sure made Megan happy, and the ride overall was a good amount of fun. I'd definitely go again - just not for another three-hour wait. It's the fastpass line for me all the way.
The Little Mermaid ride was a much shorter wait - only about an hour - and was done in the style of the older Disneyland dark rides. It was nice to see and had some pretty fun moments, but honestly, the best part for me was seeing Mr. Limpet hiding out in the seaweed during one part of the ride. That just made my old-school Disney geek squee like mad.
So yes, I love Disneyland. This is nothing new. 8Db
Finally, on the list of big events I've done the past few weeks, E3! E3 was an exercise in Doing Things I Wasn't Supposed to Be Able to Do, or Moose and Squirrel Catch More Flies With Honey.
The first part: getting in. Kristin's boss got her an extra pass and invited me (which induced a state of dancing-around-the-room glee), and my bosses let me take Wednesday to go, so long as I chatted with a few of the vendors they were interested in, so not only did I get to attend E3, I was paid to do so. So. Much. Glee. :D
The second part: lanyards. The official badges had Skyward Sword lanyards attached, which Kristin and I didn't have - we got wristbands with G4 printed on them, since that's technically who we were with. Asking for a lanyard from one registration desk didn't work - the guy there shut me down, so I walked over to another registration desk about thirty feet away. Before I could say much of anything, the lady working it saw my Keyblade necklace (because subtlety is fun) and went, "Kingdom Hearts!" Turned out she didn't know there was a trailer for 3DS and she didn't know that BBS episode 2 existed at all, so our discussion turned out to be Christmas for her in terms of new KH info. Finally, she asked me what my question was, I told her I was looking for a lanyard, and she looked surreptitiously each way, then handed me two of them and said, "You found these." Fellow KH fans tend to be pretty awesome people, all told. :Db
There was, unfortunately, no KH stuff in the show itself - Squeenix was focusing on FF13-2, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, and Dead Island. Still, the Nintendo booth was fun - Skyward Sword was a great game to demo, and I loved pretty much all the titles they had for the 3DS, even if I couldn't play Star Fox worth beans. Luigi's Mansion 2 was especially fun, considering I'd never played Luigi's Mansion before and had no idea what I was doing. Also, the Disneyland game for Kinect was more fun than I thought it'd be, and Konami is rebooting the DDR franchise, which induced even more glee.
The third thing: Sonic Boom. For Sonic's 20th birthday (the first game was released in 1991), Sega threw a big ticket-only party in Club Nokia. I managed to get a ticket, Megan didn't, and I finally told her to meet me anyway and we'd see if we could get her in. Long story short, I presented the guy at the front with my ticket and nodded at Megan, and he gave me and Megan both wristbands, no question asked. We're still not entirely sure how that worked, but it did and we got in.
And it was fantastic. There was free cupcakes, demos of Sonic Generations (which plays really smoothly, by the way), and musical talent in the form of Jun Senoue, the man who's been composing Sonic music since almost the beginning and plays a very mean guitar. He played an updated version of the Green Hill Zone theme, worked his way through a few other instrumental pieces, and then started up the riff for Open Your Heart, at which point he was joined on stage by a very familiar-sounding vocalist. I had a few moments of consideration, then turned to Megan, "Is that the original vocalist?"
"Yeah."
"...so we're watching Crush 40 perform live."
"Yyyyyep."
I cannot tell you how much screaming was had then. There was lots and lots of screaming, and we successfully marked that one off the bucket list. It helped that Jun Senoue came out on the floor later to sign autographs and take pictures, and he let Megan hold his guitar for our picture. She about melted.
So yeah, Sonic Boom was a great night. Hell, all of E3 was fantastic. A++, will go again if I can swing it.
In other, non-huge-event-related news, work's going smoothly - we finished one project and have another almost done, huzzah :D - I managed to find someone to make Razor Wit for $300 including shipping, RP's going well (until the mods throw another curveball at us, but hey, that happens), and I'm thinking of trundling down to Disneyland again on the 18th if anyone's interested. Also, I got a bitty!Terra drabble written for the first time in over two months - having nothing to do while your car gets new tires will definitely give you some focus.
So basically, life's pretty good. I'm okay with this. |Db