The Arkham Gazette

On Tuesday, on the ballot there will be an amendment, Amendment 1. This amendment promises to lower property tax but will only save the average home owner around $70. This amendment on the other hand will cost local government millions. Fire Departments and Police Stations will be hit hard, as will schools. Local government will be hit hardest. My father's department, Urban Redevelopment will be dissolved and he will be without a job. I will also lose my job at the UCF library due to the budget there already being stretched thin. There is some optimism that I will be able to keep my job till the summer but I doubt this.  My dad will also be getting about a year and half paid vacation from this but if I can't finish my degree in that time, I will lose my FAFSA if he has to find work out of state.

This amendment was designed to save the incredibly rich and to bail out the building industry that over speculated and is now suffering for their greed. People say this will save our economy but in reality all it will do is lower our standard of living tremendously for under $100 to you, the taxpayer.

So please, vote no in the upcoming ballot.

Happy Kwanzaa everyone! Here is the customary traditional Kwanzaa gift.

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you all have a wonderful today and tomorrow.

Also, I Am Legend is a terrible movie unless you like nonsensical plots, 90's level cg "vampires", and a movie that shits on the original source material.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=teq5Wtg3VGA

Merry Christmas to those who haven't seen it yet.

Since break started, I've been playing though all the HL2 games since break started and I have to say that I've forgotten how amazing the series is. Over the last couple of days I beat HL2 and Episode 1 and it's probably one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Playing the games at full settings has also made the experience so much better than it was before. I also appreciate the games more than I did 3 years ago when HL2 came out. I'm probably going to play through Episode 2 tomorrow and then work on Mario Galaxy before I go home for the next couple of weeks.

I need to decide what I want my Grandmother to get me for Christmas. I'm thinking of either asking for Call of Duty 4, a pretty badass game from what I've seen, or World in Conflict, nothing does it for me quite like USA v. USSR WWIII.

I also need to finalize my Warhammer army and get it finished over the break. I only need 20 more State Troops and 20 Greatswords and my army should be about done.

I beat Bioshock after a week hiatus. It was pretty awesome and I won't say anything to spoil it for you guys. Probably one of the most, if not the most, enjoyable game experiences I have had in my 18 years of playing video games.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This semester needs to be done with. I'm so restless right now it's not even funny. I want this semester to be done with. So much work, so little time.

I found out last night that there is a new Macross series, Macross F, which is fucking awesome. I love me some Macross and a series that takes place after the first one that does not involve adventures along the lines of an episode of Jem is pretty cool in my book.

I'm trying to decide if I want to bring my Wii home for Thanksgiving considering only my sister's tv has the audio/visual connectors. My family is that technologically backwards to not have a TV made with the audio/visual connectors. I think it's best if I don't bring it though, I should spend time with my family and relatives. My grandmothers will be down for this Thanksgiving which will be nice but could also could be bad. It'll be nice to have a four day weekend though.

I want to get started on my Eldar Army but I need to finish up my Tau and Empire armies. I got shafted in the birthday department, well not really because I got a computer, but I didn't get that much from relatives even though it was my 21st. Time is my friend though and waiting longer is not a bad thing. It just makes me hate all those guys a little more that have 5-6 armies and get them propainted. I already hate them because they get awards for an army they didn't even paint but also because I wish I had that kind of disposable income, though I doubt I ever will.

I think I need to get a haircut. My hair is too uncontrollable to grow this long but a general sense of apathy just takes hold. I want to see how it would look if I let it grow out more but I think I might need a trim soon. I have a fear that if I let it go for a couple of months without getting a trim that I will have a mullet and I don't want that.

Also, I think it's sad that people think a lack of objectivity and relativism in the classroom is a bad thing. Seriously, fuck those people.

So for Winter Break I've set myself some goals. I need to play and hopefully beat the following games,

Half-Life 2
HL2: Episode 1
Portal
HL2: Episode 2
(All in that order as my HL2 extravaganza)

Bioshock (might finish this before break but I need to beat this game so I can actually talk to people about it)

Final Fantasy XII (need to start over again, get Zodiac Spears and destroy the game)

Persona 3 (need to play this hardcore)

Super Mario Galaxy (will probably beat this before break but if I don't it's on the list)

Devil Summoner (one of my barely played games that I honestly should give more attention)

This shouldn't be too hard. I know I can beat the Half-Lifes in a week at the most. I'm also not working over Winter Break and will have time to just relax, paint my Warhammer army, get started on my Eldar army, and maybe go on an epic road trip to Kentucky.

Also, I think I might finish out this semester with mostly A's. Go me.

Bioshock is seriously one of the most amazing games I've ever played. I've never had so much fun electrocuting someone and then beating them to death with a monkey wrench. The atmosphere and look of the game is intense. When I first really started running into Splicers it gave me a feeling I haven't experienced since Resident Evil 4.

A++ would definitely play again.

I have lived 21 of your Earth years mortals. You best respect myself or I shalt wreck yourself.

I hate running a game so much right now it's not even funny.

Things have been pretty odd lately. I think my schedule is starting to drive me insane and I just feel numb lately. I have to do so much and if I had known my schedule was going to be like this I would have not ran for Requiem VST but I only have about 3 more games under my current schedule so I should be fine.

The Darjeeling Limited was incredible, I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Wes Anderson movies and good movies in general.

I got a new computer, it's pretty nice. My new video card is very nice, I can play TF2 at full specs and not lag. I also have 480 gigs of HDD space which is a vast improvement of the 80 gigs of space I had for almost 5 years.

The new Ork codex is very well done and I like the changes they've made to the army. I want to make an army but I think I'll hold off for a year or two. I want to let "green fever" die down before I jump on the bandwagon. I think I'm going to make an Eldar army though in the near future now that I pretty much have my Empire Fantasy Army and my Tau are about maxed out in terms of how much more I want to put into them.

Halloween was fun but I was disappointed that I was so busy that I couldn't put together a proper costume. I'm also sort of scared of my drinking habits because there are pictures of me from my party doing stuff I don't remember. Alcoholism runs in my family so it's something always on my mind. I think I'm going to restrain myself on my 21st birthday because I really don't like looking like an ass. I have a lot of issues with my own self image and I worry a lot about how others perceive me. I really don't want to be the short stocky guy that makes an ass of himself when he drinks. I also don't appreciate that people think it's funny, it's not. If someone I knew was doing something stupid or dangerous while drunk I would try to stop them but I guess others don't see it that way.

I talked to Dr. Zhang about a career in teaching Chinese History. She's a very nice woman but she's a bit odd, cultural differences between older Chinese people and young Americans is very apparent in my interactions with her and Yu laoshi. She confirmed what I thought, in a year or so I'm probably going to be going to UF for grad school, if I can get in that is. If that doesn't work I'm going to try to get a job as an analyst or join the foreign service. I feel very uneasy about my future at times but I guess I'll take it as it comes. I have fight or flight moments but I mainly blame that on being over worked and my irrational disliking of sleep.

I'm ready to kick some ass today at the RTT. Wish me luck.

So, I saw Minus the Bear tonight. It was pretty fucking awesome even though they had technical difficulties and we missed the first opening act, heard they sucked, and then a good deal of the second, they were pretty good. The first half of the show sucked for me because a group of anorexic hipster whores and their robotic unemotional tall lanky hipster guy friend muscled their way into me and parked right in front of me. These girls all weighed collectively around 200 pounds and they had the same bad blond dye jobs that all hipster whores have. They proceeded to not move during the time I was behind them, text the whole show, and elbow me several times. Also, please note that a spiderweb tattoo on your elbow means you've killed someone, not been to a Killers concert which I'm guessing that dumb bitch was unaware of. I was able to get in their spot though and muscle them out after they all left to go to the bathroom in the standard formation most womenfolk use, which oddly enough is the same formation seen in matriarchal pack hunting animals like hyenas. After the show, we went to Dunkin Donuts and I got my favorite thing to get there, pumpkin pie ice cream, even though it was subpar.

So in conclusion, Minus the Bear = awesome, hipster whores = bad, unemotional lanky hipster guy = skinny wall, and pumpkin pie ice cream = pretty fucking rad.

P.S. For Rebecca and Kate, the concert was pretty tits. ;p

Through a trade, I have now received my first Ork models and the WAAAAGH is in the making.

Also, Ghostface Killah was pretty good, well worth the price of admission.

I only have 9 more months left and I'll be done with this mess. I really don't know what to say or write about what happened tonight, how I feel about it, or about what I had to deal with. I really don't know what to write or say.

The Cross Venue Game was a big success. I was pleasantly surprised with how well everything went and how well behaved people were. I would say we should do it again but I know that's not going to happen for a while. I also was able to further my own plots and spread the legend of the magical pumpkin spray that makes you human, damnable Mages and their playing god. There was also the interaction between Sammy and Fee which was hilarious, the only character to scare/creep out Fee. Sammy breathing again was also pretty funny too. I would have probably played Cicero if I did play but I decided to just ST so I could handle anything that came up.

The Changeling info session was pretty good. We worked out the background for the Freehold, my character was one of the founders and was the Autumn King for a succession of years and is now the Autumn Ace.

After the game, we played some pretty epic Karaoke Revolution. I was moderately inebriated which I'm sure only served to aid my masterful singing abilities and good times were had by all.

So, not much has been going on but I feel like I should post something.

Well for one I'm still sick, not as much as I was before but I'm still coughing randomly and have the occasional coarse voice. I really want to be well soon, I don't like being sick because I'm so busy and getting sick has led me to get mediocre grades in my glass, I can do better than a B. It's also gotten rainy lately, I don't mind the rain but when you spend most of your day walking around outside it tends to get old fast, especially with people not building things up to code which results in flooding.

Friday night was a lot of fun and satisfying but really tiring. I'm really happy with my game and my players, new and old. I honestly think I have one of the best games in the SE because of my players. There have been some problems relating to that recently but they've been solved as best they could right now and I'm happy with that.

Saturday was also fun but equally tiring. I was supposed to wake up 6 to drive to Palm Bay around 7:00-7:30 for my appointment at the optometrist at 9:30. I instead woke up at 7 because as I subconsciously sabotaged myself for my own good and woke up at 7. I made it to Palm Bay around 8:45 so I was still in the black in terms of time tables. I picked out some new glasses, got some Star Wars stamps when I went to the Post Office with my mother, and spent most the morning being repulsed by light due to the dilation of my pupils. I stopped by and saw Jesse at the Anime Pavilion as I normally do and he told me about how the store is getting closed down next weekend and how he's going to be working at the Wizard's Wall starting October, which is awesome. A new game store has also opened in Palm Bay called Dogs of War Gaming which my dad told me about and wanted consultation on what to expect from it. I then went and picked up Jeremy after dinner and we headed over to Jesse's, not to be confused with the previous Jesse, to pick up Arkham Horror with The King in Yellow expansion. We then proceeded to Rachel's to play the greatest board game ever made. The expansion with Hastur as the Elder God is really hard, especially considering you have to stop the play which brings Hastur faster, cultists are ridiculous, and gates need 8 clue tokens to close. We almost beat Hastur, we were 2 away from sending him away but my character, the psychologist, who was the last one left fell when she got hit for 2 sanity. We then went and watch The Forbidden Zone at Jesse's, which was incredible. I then ended the night driving Jeremy home and then crashing at my parent's place. It was nice to see some of my Palm Bay friends again, especially Rachel who I haven't seen in a while and is always a pleasure to see.

Sunday, today has been good so far. I woke up around 9 which, was too early considering I didn't get home last night until 3, left my car in Palm Bay to get painted, and caught a ride home with Grant and Bryan. We got caught up in traffic on the way back but in that time we devoured delicious post Yom Kippur "Jew food" as Bryan called it. After I came home I slept for about 4 hours and then got up and wrote this.

Also, the new High Elf and Ork models are amazing. I want both of those armies and I will eventually have them one day.

The Mice Templar is probably the most badass comic involving mice ever made. The art is done in the style of Mignola and it's about a legendary order of mice that once existed in a dark medieval fantasy world that fell due to an internal conflict and picks up following those that still carry on its legacy. It's got a pretty cool setting and it looks like it's going to be a very epic story. I don't know how many issues it's going to be but it's made by Image so I'm at least hoping it makes it to a decent end.

Also, Justice Society of America is one of the few comics that is always consistently good and I love the New Avengers, which is the first Avengers book I've really liked and read consistently. X-Factor was also pretty good, I like where it's going and it'll be interesting where things end up at the end of it.

I feel pretty woozy right now, meds plus my eternal lack of sleep kicking in, so I'm going to go pass out now.