What Was the Last Video Game You Played?

Kitty Paw · February 26, 2015

ehehe, sorry.

I didn't mean to bombard this thread with our ramblings, haha.

--begin YouTube story--

When I first created that YouTube channel, I didn't upload any videos for months. I just did it to interact with people because of how friendly the community seemed at the time. I only started uploading videos after there was this one person who influenced me to begin graphic design. At the time, I didn't even realize that I was creating graphics--I just thought it was a fun way to make "art". I uploaded pretty stupid videos at first, but later shifted to speed-arts and tutorials. Most of them were pretty amateur, but I still got tons of positive feedback--which only motivated me to upload more. It was kind of the golden age of prosperity for my channel, and I did loads of fun stuff with it. A few YouTube friends even gave me codes/passwords for programs like Camtasia (which is a few hundred dollars worth), so these were very kind people. I'm not sure how they managed to get their hands on them (though there was this one guy who knew how to hack the programs for the codes/passwords), but I was still tremendously grateful for their kind gestures.

Then YouTube began experimenting with different channel layouts and I had to create different graphic templates in order to compensate for the changes. It was a pain, and everyone absolutely hated the changes to the website. With that said, the lively atmosphere began diminishing afterwards. People and friends began leaving because it was too drastic of a change, while a few of the more dedicated people decided to stay. This was around the time when I decided to partner my channel with a YouTube network. At first, I only did it because I wanted a branding/banner on my channel that was only exclusive to YouTube partners. Then I realized that I could potentially gain money from partnering my channel. This still didn't change my uploading schedule though. If anything, I began uploading videos less frequently because of how busy I was getting (actually, I still didn't have that many videos up)--the money was just an extra luxury. After high school began, I couldn't keep up with the requests so I put a price on YouTube background graphics while still keeping my icon/avatar making services free of charge. Afterwards, I was sitting comfortably at a rate at which I could process requests regularly while occasionally making a buck or two out of it.

But once again, YouTube made another drastic change to the channel layout. Suddenly, I no longer had an exclusive branding/banner, and everyone's channel now looked the same (what the current YouTube looks like right now). YouTube was no longer formatted as a chat-friendly site (probably because it wanted to seem more "professional") so the rest of my YouTube friends left at that point. I was still hanging on with the occasional request popping up once in a while, but it was enough to discourage me from being active anymore even though I still logged on daily.

My channel kinda just plateaued. It stayed this way for many months until the summer after sophomore year. The one day I decided not to log on was the one day my channel got hacked. I can't even begin to describe how infuriating it was--especially with all that history I had on there. It felt almost insulting that this random commonplace hacker felt the need to do such a thing. It was all I could think about and I could only anxiously wait for a reply from YouTube about this situation after messaging them. I managed to get a reply after a few hours and I got my channel back. The first thing I did was change my password, and suddenly everything was all right again. I was overjoyed. Then, my channel got suspended again the next day. I was shocked, and to this day, I don't even know how or why they reverted their decision. Of course, I messaged them multiple times afterwards, but it was all fruitless effort by then. My channel was gone, and I had no way of clearing up the misunderstanding. I'm a bit more stoic towards what happened now, but I'm still a little salty.

--end YouTube story--

Despite my channel getting suspended, I'm still really grateful for everything I have gained because of this experience. To be able to have these skills and programs was simply a stroke of luck for me. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if my channel never existed. After reflecting back on this, losing my channel wasn't all too bad. I have the abilities to continue my hobbies by leisure, I still have most of what I made on my laptop, and I have my memories. I'm totally okay with this now. Shit happens, and you just have to get over it, haha.

I apologize for how long it was (and trust me, there's a lot more), but I'm just so touched that someone is willing to listen.

If I had told this to anyone else, they'd probably dismiss it as tl;dr. You have no idea how much your ear means to me.

And with that said, I haven't mentioned any of the above to anyone, nor would I have planned to if it weren't for how much I've warmed up to you. You're the only person who knows about this, haha.

Gosh, you're making the college ordeal sound like a nightmare, lol. I'm probably not going to apply to sixteen schools. Probably ten at most. My parents aren't any higher than upper middle class either. My sister went to a school out of state, so the tuition was relatively high. For that reason, my parents want me to stay in state. That is, unless I manage to find a scholarship out of state (which I'm really considering). The only other way I'd be able to find my way out of state is if I get accepted into some top tier college like Stanford, but even then, I wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly became hesitant just because of the cost. Evidently, that's out of the question since I'm not even planning to apply to most of those (or at least for now). I'm definitely not a genius and I've been treading water for most of junior year so far. I still don't have a solid list of colleges I plan to apply to. I'm going to wait a month or two--when I feel more stabilized--before I start making plans. I'm struggling a bit as a junior, and it's probably because I'm not putting in as much effort as I should be. I'm pretty ashamed because it has bit me back numerous times, yet I still haven't learned. I guess there really is no right or wrong choice for these kinds of things when it comes to colleges. However, I'd much rather focus on my academics in the meantime because it's typically the single most important aspect that colleges look at (though I understand that there are exceptions). The other stuff tends to be extra padding from what I've heard. Feel free to disagree because I'm actually hoping that this assumption is wrong.

The most I use my phone for is calling, texting, and checking my emails. A few of my friends don't have Facebook, so texting is a convenient and quick way to get back to them. Don't worry, I'm not one of those people who compulsively texts just for the heck of it, lol. Having a cell phone these days almost seems like a necessity. It shouldn't be, but it really feels like it is now. The fact that your parents don't mind paying for the plan probably means that it wouldn't hurt to try using it. Definitely make use of your cell phone soon, or at least carry it around with you. Even if you don't plan on using it often, it saves you the trouble of having to borrow from others, haha. Ahh, that makes a lot more sense. I was having a hard time grasping that 95 percent of the kids there are Indian, lol. Still, 50 percent is a lot. Is there a particular reason why they like to settle there? This is a bit of an interesting town you have here--I'm still a little shocked, haha.

I'm a bit wary with the shinies I managed to hunt down on the GTS. The multiple shiny Deoxys I received were probably hacked to say the least. It's rare to find a legitimate shiny on the GTS (since why would anyone bother giving one up? lol). I definitely agree with what you did with that Cresselia. I also would have sacked some IVs for the sake of it being shiny. To be honest, I'm probably never going to get into RNG abuse. I haven't touched my 4th gen games in ages, and as silly as it sounds, I'd rather leave them be for sentimental reasons, haha.

Naw, I can also relate. If I told you the name of the mall in our town, you'd also be able to locate where I live, lol. We don't have any historical monuments around here (or at least from my knowledge), so this town of ours is relatively unknown. The only significant landmark that stands out around here is the mall I was talking about earlier. It's pretty classy, and probably the only thing around here that attracts visitors. Don't worry about rambling! I've skewed off-topic loads of times (probably the reason why our responses have gotten increasingly longer, lol), and I really don't mind reading it at all. It's always nice to know a little more about you, haha. I'm really excited for college for the sole reason that I want to go somewhere new. I also want to have a little more control over my life instead of having my parents treat me like a puppet. You say that it wouldn't feel much different if you stay in state, but I'd have to disagree with you here. I've traveled to places 30 minutes from where I live and the scenery can change drastically. I don't remember what New Jersey's like since I haven't been there in years, but I'd assume that it's also something similar? Haha, I'll always be a kid at heart, even if I have to hide it from others. I'm not willing to throw away my childhood (though there are a few memories I'd rather leave behind me). I like looking back on things and seeing it with a new perspective. I love going through how I was like in the past and comparing it who I am now since it makes me happy seeing how much I've grown as a person. It's corny, but it's true. I like the idea of growing up in that sense, I suppose. I'm sure I'll have a new perspective in a few years, and you as well. I mean, what could a 16 year old possibly understand about life anyway?

I used to be that one person who was somewhat self-conscious about how I typed. Everything had to be punctuated properly and everything had to be spelled right. It'd make me sound more mature, right? I'm completely over that phase now--I've embraced my immature self, haha. If you saw some of the informal messages I send to my friends nowadays, you'd be shocked. You probably wouldn't even recognize that it's me, lol. Although I don't use emoticons often on DCW, it use them pretty often in Facebook messages and emails--I prefer typed out emoticons to picture emoticons if that makes sense. It really depends on the person I'm talking to, because obviously, I wouldn't send something like "oh hey i forgot the hw from thurs can u send me a pic pl0x, thx!!" to a teacher. I find that using improper punctuation with friends is the best way for me to indicate that we're on the same page, and it's also a lot easier to convey different emotions. I also find that the use of "lol" makes sentences seem a lot more lighthearted. For example, "stop worrying" sounds a lot more harsh than "stop worrying, lol". It's now a habit for me to frequently use stuff like that over the internet. It's hard to convey emotion or undertone through formal words on a screen, so I find that it helps to use that along with emoticons in order to prevent something from sounding unintentionally serious or hurtful. You don't seem like the kind of person who would use stuff like emoticons, so I understand how awkward it can be when you have to type out unnecessarily long messages as a compensation. But in all honesty, emails are just emails, messages are just messages. Most people tend not to dwell on typical everyday emails or messages, so be as terse as you want! I'm sure that you don't come off as cold as you think you do, haha. My parents tend to focus on the past more than the future: "you failed this test, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up with a D in this class." They always take everything to the extreme and imagine the worse case scenario for every slipup I have. So yeah, it's hard for me to stay positive at times when they're constantly ripping through my self-esteem. I'd like to think of myself as an optimist, but it doesn't happen very often. Okay, you're not a stereotypical dork, lol. You most certainly don't come off as one. You're pretty well-rounded in a lot of other aspects too, you know? haha. You also seem pretty content with your life from what I've seen so far, so it's good that you have such a positive outlook on life!

I usually don't mind the length of anime at all. I've sat through both FMA and FMAB, and as long as it isn't a never-ending series like DC (or anything past 100 episodes), I won't complain about jumping in (you know, as long as the plot's good, lol). Sure, it might take me a while to finish it, but it's nothing I'd be mad about. The prologue was...a lot better than I expected it to be. After watching it, I was so tempted to continue, but I know that if I did, I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything, haha. In other words, I was pretty impressed with the introduction. I'll be looking forward to the rest of it, but it won't be until a while from now before I pick it back up again. But holy........ 50 hours? Ahaha, I think I'll just cherry pick what I want to watch from the visual novel then. I'm also rather impressed with the music and animation, so I guess it wasn't a bad thing that Ufotable only decided to use the budget to animate one route. Being a president/founder of a club is always a lot of work, but I think it's awesome how well you manage to juggle your anime schedule with schoolwork!

Haha, I'd have to agree with you there. Over time, physical items can begin gaining sentimental value that downloadable games usually can't provide. It's also nice that the Elite Member rewards will be open just in time for your birthday! But if the physical items don't seem that great, I still don't think it's a bad idea to nab some downloadable games. I found this a bit funny: your parents tried to discourage you from taking it as a sophomore, but now they're mad that you don't want to take it as a senior? Although it's true that people can prefer different lifestyles, it's probably not a bad idea to take the class. Even if you aren't planning to drive, taking the class can at least get your parents off your back. And if you happen to come across a situation when you do need to drive (maybe you have to rent a car?), you'll be able to whip out your license without a problem. Back in NYC, my parents didn't drive at all. We walked, took taxis, and rode buses and subways to places. But after moving, they were forced to buy a car since there wasn't a single taxis, bus, or subway here. Driving almost seems universal nowadays. Hrmm, I guess it wouldn't matter as much if you're planning to live in a bustling city that provides public transportation, but it's always nice to have the skill in your back pocket in cases when you do need it. Haha, I've definitely been in your position in a few times. My parents are constantly comparing me to others: "why can't you be like her," "why aren't you as talented," "your sister always did this, why can't you," "I wish this person was my child instead!" etc. I used to be really affected by their comments, but they do it so often, I just tune them out now--though I'd be lying if I said that it still didn't hurt once in a while. I can't blame you for not wanting to go to prom, but there really isn't much to lose. Your parents won't be pissed anymore, and maybe something unexpectedly nice could happen. At the very least, it'd be another thing to add on your list of things you've done in high school, haha.

College is easier than high school? One more thing to look forward to! Actually, I'm still a bit doubtful, but there's nothing wrong with getting my hopes up, heh. Dartmouth? Not gonna lie--that's impressive, and to be frank, I'm a bit jealous, haha. I love the school I go to, but I hate it at the same time. Some of the classes are unusually difficult (I recently just found out that my bio teacher makes her tests loads harder than the actual AP test, and I'm a bit ticked right now because of how much my grades have been suffering), and my sleep schedule is more wrecked than ever. My high school schedule is so tightly packed together I barely have any breathing space. Heck, sometimes I'm forced to sack a few grades for the sake of my sanity. Probably not the best decision, but I'm absolutely sick of the constant stress I'm under. To be honest, despite how much I love this school, I can't wait to get out of here. From my sister, I heard that college life allows for more leg room, so that's definitely something I look forward to. I'm not sure if I'm going to bring my violin with me to college. It's most certainly not going to do anything sitting at home, but that also doesn't mean my parents are willing to let me join another music program. They think it's pointless, and my mom even tried to persuade me to quit senior year (not going to happen). I'll probably bring my tennis racquet though, haha. I'm not planning to play for anyone, but that isn't going to stop me from hitting on the courts with a few friends every once in a while.

Gosh, I can't wait for spring break. I'm 110 percent done with everything right now, and I'm way past my breaking point. I've gone deeper than rock bottom, and my motivation is practically nonexistent at this point. I would love something to help take my mind off academics like Smash, but the closest I can manage is finding videos and streams. I'll also keep your birthday in the back of my mind, heh.

Haha, I feel like most of these brief posts are made for the sake of post count. I never saw post count as any sort of goal, but apparently, some people seem to care about it a lot, lol.

Ahh, I think I'll be repping your posts on here from now own. As always, I appreciate the time and effort you put into these responses, so just consider them as tokens of appreciation!

Sorry? What for? That was supposed to be good. Another very long message. Lol

Akazora · March 1, 2015

--begin YouTube story--

When I first created that YouTube channel, I didn't upload any videos for months. I just did it to interact with people because of how friendly the community seemed at the time. I only started uploading videos after there was this one person who influenced me to begin graphic design. At the time, I didn't even realize that I was creating graphics--I just thought it was a fun way to make "art". I uploaded pretty stupid videos at first, but later shifted to speed-arts and tutorials. Most of them were pretty amateur, but I still got tons of positive feedback--which only motivated me to upload more. It was kind of the golden age of prosperity for my channel, and I did loads of fun stuff with it. A few YouTube friends even gave me codes/passwords for programs like Camtasia (which is a few hundred dollars worth), so these were very kind people. I'm not sure how they managed to get their hands on them (though there was this one guy who knew how to hack the programs for the codes/passwords), but I was still tremendously grateful for their kind gestures.

Then YouTube began experimenting with different channel layouts and I had to create different graphic templates in order to compensate for the changes. It was a pain, and everyone absolutely hated the changes to the website. With that said, the lively atmosphere began diminishing afterwards. People and friends began leaving because it was too drastic of a change, while a few of the more dedicated people decided to stay. This was around the time when I decided to partner my channel with a YouTube network. At first, I only did it because I wanted a branding/banner on my channel that was only exclusive to YouTube partners. Then I realized that I could potentially gain money from partnering my channel. This still didn't change my uploading schedule though. If anything, I began uploading videos less frequently because of how busy I was getting (actually, I still didn't have that many videos up)--the money was just an extra luxury. After high school began, I couldn't keep up with the requests so I put a price on YouTube background graphics while still keeping my icon/avatar making services free of charge. Afterwards, I was sitting comfortably at a rate at which I could process requests regularly while occasionally making a buck or two out of it.

But once again, YouTube made another drastic change to the channel layout. Suddenly, I no longer had an exclusive branding/banner, and everyone's channel now looked the same (what the current YouTube looks like right now). YouTube was no longer formatted as a chat-friendly site (probably because it wanted to seem more "professional") so the rest of my YouTube friends left at that point. I was still hanging on with the occasional request popping up once in a while, but it was enough to discourage me from being active anymore even though I still logged on daily.

My channel kinda just plateaued. It stayed this way for many months until the summer after sophomore year. The one day I decided not to log on was the one day my channel got hacked. I can't even begin to describe how infuriating it was--especially with all that history I had on there. It felt almost insulting that this random commonplace hacker felt the need to do such a thing. It was all I could think about and I could only anxiously wait for a reply from YouTube about this situation after messaging them. I managed to get a reply after a few hours and I got my channel back. The first thing I did was change my password, and suddenly everything was all right again. I was overjoyed. Then, my channel got suspended again the next day. I was shocked, and to this day, I don't even know how or why they reverted their decision. Of course, I messaged them multiple times afterwards, but it was all fruitless effort by then. My channel was gone, and I had no way of clearing up the misunderstanding. I'm a bit more stoic towards what happened now, but I'm still a little salty.

--end YouTube story--

Despite my channel getting suspended, I'm still really grateful for everything I have gained because of this experience. To be able to have these skills and programs was simply a stroke of luck for me. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if my channel never existed. After reflecting back on this, losing my channel wasn't all too bad. I have the abilities to continue my hobbies by leisure, I still have most of what I made on my laptop, and I have my memories. I'm totally okay with this now. Shit happens, and you just have to get over it, haha.

I apologize for how long it was (and trust me, there's a lot more), but I'm just so touched that someone is willing to listen.

If I had told this to anyone else, they'd probably dismiss it as tl;dr. You have no idea how much your ear means to me.

And with that said, I haven't mentioned any of the above to anyone, nor would I have planned to if it weren't for how much I've warmed up to you. You're the only person who knows about this, haha.

Gosh, you're making the college ordeal sound like a nightmare, lol. I'm probably not going to apply to sixteen schools. Probably ten at most. My parents aren't any higher than upper middle class either. My sister went to a school out of state, so the tuition was relatively high. For that reason, my parents want me to stay in state. That is, unless I manage to find a scholarship out of state (which I'm really considering). The only other way I'd be able to find my way out of state is if I get accepted into some top tier college like Stanford, but even then, I wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly became hesitant just because of the cost. Evidently, that's out of the question since I'm not even planning to apply to most of those (or at least for now). I'm definitely not a genius and I've been treading water for most of junior year so far. I still don't have a solid list of colleges I plan to apply to. I'm going to wait a month or two--when I feel more stabilized--before I start making plans. I'm struggling a bit as a junior, and it's probably because I'm not putting in as much effort as I should be. I'm pretty ashamed because it has bit me back numerous times, yet I still haven't learned. I guess there really is no right or wrong choice for these kinds of things when it comes to colleges. However, I'd much rather focus on my academics in the meantime because it's typically the single most important aspect that colleges look at (though I understand that there are exceptions). The other stuff tends to be extra padding from what I've heard. Feel free to disagree because I'm actually hoping that this assumption is wrong.

The most I use my phone for is calling, texting, and checking my emails. A few of my friends don't have Facebook, so texting is a convenient and quick way to get back to them. Don't worry, I'm not one of those people who compulsively texts just for the heck of it, lol. Having a cell phone these days almost seems like a necessity. It shouldn't be, but it really feels like it is now. The fact that your parents don't mind paying for the plan probably means that it wouldn't hurt to try using it. Definitely make use of your cell phone soon, or at least carry it around with you. Even if you don't plan on using it often, it saves you the trouble of having to borrow from others, haha. Ahh, that makes a lot more sense. I was having a hard time grasping that 95 percent of the kids there are Indian, lol. Still, 50 percent is a lot. Is there a particular reason why they like to settle there? This is a bit of an interesting town you have here--I'm still a little shocked, haha.

I'm a bit wary with the shinies I managed to hunt down on the GTS. The multiple shiny Deoxys I received were probably hacked to say the least. It's rare to find a legitimate shiny on the GTS (since why would anyone bother giving one up? lol). I definitely agree with what you did with that Cresselia. I also would have sacked some IVs for the sake of it being shiny. To be honest, I'm probably never going to get into RNG abuse. I haven't touched my 4th gen games in ages, and as silly as it sounds, I'd rather leave them be for sentimental reasons, haha.

Naw, I can also relate. If I told you the name of the mall in our town, you'd also be able to locate where I live, lol. We don't have any historical monuments around here (or at least from my knowledge), so this town of ours is relatively unknown. The only significant landmark that stands out around here is the mall I was talking about earlier. It's pretty classy, and probably the only thing around here that attracts visitors. Don't worry about rambling! I've skewed off-topic loads of times (probably the reason why our responses have gotten increasingly longer, lol), and I really don't mind reading it at all. It's always nice to know a little more about you, haha. I'm really excited for college for the sole reason that I want to go somewhere new. I also want to have a little more control over my life instead of having my parents treat me like a puppet. You say that it wouldn't feel much different if you stay in state, but I'd have to disagree with you here. I've traveled to places 30 minutes from where I live and the scenery can change drastically. I don't remember what New Jersey's like since I haven't been there in years, but I'd assume that it's also something similar? Haha, I'll always be a kid at heart, even if I have to hide it from others. I'm not willing to throw away my childhood (though there are a few memories I'd rather leave behind me). I like looking back on things and seeing it with a new perspective. I love going through how I was like in the past and comparing it who I am now since it makes me happy seeing how much I've grown as a person. It's corny, but it's true. I like the idea of growing up in that sense, I suppose. I'm sure I'll have a new perspective in a few years, and you as well. I mean, what could a 16 year old possibly understand about life anyway?

I used to be that one person who was somewhat self-conscious about how I typed. Everything had to be punctuated properly and everything had to be spelled right. It'd make me sound more mature, right? I'm completely over that phase now--I've embraced my immature self, haha. If you saw some of the informal messages I send to my friends nowadays, you'd be shocked. You probably wouldn't even recognize that it's me, lol. Although I don't use emoticons often on DCW, it use them pretty often in Facebook messages and emails--I prefer typed out emoticons to picture emoticons if that makes sense. It really depends on the person I'm talking to, because obviously, I wouldn't send something like "oh hey i forgot the hw from thurs can u send me a pic pl0x, thx!!" to a teacher. I find that using improper punctuation with friends is the best way for me to indicate that we're on the same page, and it's also a lot easier to convey different emotions. I also find that the use of "lol" makes sentences seem a lot more lighthearted. For example, "stop worrying" sounds a lot more harsh than "stop worrying, lol". It's now a habit for me to frequently use stuff like that over the internet. It's hard to convey emotion or undertone through formal words on a screen, so I find that it helps to use that along with emoticons in order to prevent something from sounding unintentionally serious or hurtful. You don't seem like the kind of person who would use stuff like emoticons, so I understand how awkward it can be when you have to type out unnecessarily long messages as a compensation. But in all honesty, emails are just emails, messages are just messages. Most people tend not to dwell on typical everyday emails or messages, so be as terse as you want! I'm sure that you don't come off as cold as you think you do, haha. My parents tend to focus on the past more than the future: "you failed this test, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up with a D in this class." They always take everything to the extreme and imagine the worse case scenario for every slipup I have. So yeah, it's hard for me to stay positive at times when they're constantly ripping through my self-esteem. I'd like to think of myself as an optimist, but it doesn't happen very often. Okay, you're not a stereotypical dork, lol. You most certainly don't come off as one. You're pretty well-rounded in a lot of other aspects too, you know? haha. You also seem pretty content with your life from what I've seen so far, so it's good that you have such a positive outlook on life!

I usually don't mind the length of anime at all. I've sat through both FMA and FMAB, and as long as it isn't a never-ending series like DC (or anything past 100 episodes), I won't complain about jumping in (you know, as long as the plot's good, lol). Sure, it might take me a while to finish it, but it's nothing I'd be mad about. The prologue was...a lot better than I expected it to be. After watching it, I was so tempted to continue, but I know that if I did, I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything, haha. In other words, I was pretty impressed with the introduction. I'll be looking forward to the rest of it, but it won't be until a while from now before I pick it back up again. But holy........ 50 hours? Ahaha, I think I'll just cherry pick what I want to watch from the visual novel then. I'm also rather impressed with the music and animation, so I guess it wasn't a bad thing that Ufotable only decided to use the budget to animate one route. Being a president/founder of a club is always a lot of work, but I think it's awesome how well you manage to juggle your anime schedule with schoolwork!

Haha, I'd have to agree with you there. Over time, physical items can begin gaining sentimental value that downloadable games usually can't provide. It's also nice that the Elite Member rewards will be open just in time for your birthday! But if the physical items don't seem that great, I still don't think it's a bad idea to nab some downloadable games. I found this a bit funny: your parents tried to discourage you from taking it as a sophomore, but now they're mad that you don't want to take it as a senior? Although it's true that people can prefer different lifestyles, it's probably not a bad idea to take the class. Even if you aren't planning to drive, taking the class can at least get your parents off your back. And if you happen to come across a situation when you do need to drive (maybe you have to rent a car?), you'll be able to whip out your license without a problem. Back in NYC, my parents didn't drive at all. We walked, took taxis, and rode buses and subways to places. But after moving, they were forced to buy a car since there wasn't a single taxis, bus, or subway here. Driving almost seems universal nowadays. Hrmm, I guess it wouldn't matter as much if you're planning to live in a bustling city that provides public transportation, but it's always nice to have the skill in your back pocket in cases when you do need it. Haha, I've definitely been in your position in a few times. My parents are constantly comparing me to others: "why can't you be like her," "why aren't you as talented," "your sister always did this, why can't you," "I wish this person was my child instead!" etc. I used to be really affected by their comments, but they do it so often, I just tune them out now--though I'd be lying if I said that it still didn't hurt once in a while. I can't blame you for not wanting to go to prom, but there really isn't much to lose. Your parents won't be pissed anymore, and maybe something unexpectedly nice could happen. At the very least, it'd be another thing to add on your list of things you've done in high school, haha.

College is easier than high school? One more thing to look forward to! Actually, I'm still a bit doubtful, but there's nothing wrong with getting my hopes up, heh. Dartmouth? Not gonna lie--that's impressive, and to be frank, I'm a bit jealous, haha. I love the school I go to, but I hate it at the same time. Some of the classes are unusually difficult (I recently just found out that my bio teacher makes her tests loads harder than the actual AP test, and I'm a bit ticked right now because of how much my grades have been suffering), and my sleep schedule is more wrecked than ever. My high school schedule is so tightly packed together I barely have any breathing space. Heck, sometimes I'm forced to sack a few grades for the sake of my sanity. Probably not the best decision, but I'm absolutely sick of the constant stress I'm under. To be honest, despite how much I love this school, I can't wait to get out of here. From my sister, I heard that college life allows for more leg room, so that's definitely something I look forward to. I'm not sure if I'm going to bring my violin with me to college. It's most certainly not going to do anything sitting at home, but that also doesn't mean my parents are willing to let me join another music program. They think it's pointless, and my mom even tried to persuade me to quit senior year (not going to happen). I'll probably bring my tennis racquet though, haha. I'm not planning to play for anyone, but that isn't going to stop me from hitting on the courts with a few friends every once in a while.

Gosh, I can't wait for spring break. I'm 110 percent done with everything right now, and I'm way past my breaking point. I've gone deeper than rock bottom, and my motivation is practically nonexistent at this point. I would love something to help take my mind off academics like Smash, but the closest I can manage is finding videos and streams. I'll also keep your birthday in the back of my mind, heh.

Haha, I feel like most of these brief posts are made for the sake of post count. I never saw post count as any sort of goal, but apparently, some people seem to care about it a lot, lol.

Ahh, I think I'll be repping your posts on here from now own. As always, I appreciate the time and effort you put into these responses, so just consider them as tokens of appreciation!

Your YouTube story’s really fascinating. It was definitely interesting to read about. I never realized how involved you had gotten in the whole community until now; I had a feeling you definitely spent a lot of time on graphic design (how could you not have with all those works of yours?), but really it’s honestly amazing. I wasn’t nearly as productive as you when I was that age, for sure. It’s hard to wrap my mind around it almost. The closest thing I experienced that even vaguely resembles your experience with YouTube was this small MMO app game I had for my old 2 gen iPod Touch. It was a rather unknown Japanese based MMO called Seven Swords, in which you’re a part of one of three factions that occasionally goes to war with each other in hectic, glitchy, but fun as anything battles. It was a lot of fun working with complete strangers in your faction to rout out or conquer an enemy faction, as much of a mess as communication was. You could also take a break and hunt monsters to level up and gets drops, many times with members of your faction or rival factions. These are all pretty standard features of MMOs and it wasn’t very impressive from an objective standpoint, but each team had its own tightknit community. I was part of team Nox, arguably the weakest of all the factions, but being the underdog made winning wars that much better, haha. I wasted away a lot of time on this app game on an aged device and only stopped when the servers shut down because they felt the game wasn’t profitable anymore (the company had already published new MMOs). It was sad to see the game go, and it was a shame I don’t have any actual record of my time spent there. I’ll always have the memory of it though, haha. I know it’s not much but it’s still fun to reminisce nonetheless. Sorry to digress; I didn’t mean to hijack your story about YouTube and insert a nerdy little story of my own, eheheh… Anyway, back on topic.

As a YouTube lurker, whenever the layout changed I remember being bothered. Of course eventually I would get used to the new interface, and then move on with life. Since I didn’t have an account (or rather never used the one attached to my Gmail) I didn’t follow or experience the trouble that YouTubers had with their channels behind the scenes. I can imagine if it irked casual viewers it really messed things up for people who make videos. I vaguely remember the whole banner thing. I never knew how people got those, haha. It’s awesome you had one too, for a while. I only realize now that I didn’t even notice when that branding thing was removed. I’m surprised at how much has changed without me noticing, honestly. It’s too bad that a lot of YouTube friends you made started to leave. It was kind of like in Seven Sword when some of the higher leveled and big name members of the factions stopped coming online, long before servers were finally taken down. When flagship members begin to leave, the spirit and soul of a place can drastically change. I’m assuming you haven’t been keeping in touch with your fellow graphic making YouTubers?

Your experience with the channel shutdown sounds awful. I’d probably have felt really angry about it, too. Especially with that tease with them giving you your channel back for a little bit before changing their minds, it must have been a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I know what it’s like to just have something nagging at you and getting you all boiled up while you just sit there, unable to do homework or enjoy things you usually do while waiting for an answer. Funny thing is, I don’t actually remember the circumstances under which I’ve felt that way. I do know it’s happened to me before, and it’s a bad feeling. It’s good to hear it doesn’t bother you too much now, though it’s still a bummer your channel is even gone in the first place. It seems you handled the situation nicely though, and that’s very mature of you. It was mature of you when you got as into graphics and YouTube as young as you did, and I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again: you’re really impressive. I was a bumbling idiot at the age you started graphic art and never got anything productive done, unless video games count. Ahaha, it’s actually not much different for me today, given my interests, but at least I feel that I have a more realistic grasp on things.

There’s no need to apologize; it was a lot of fun reading about this and responding in turn. It doesn’t really matter what you write about; I love hearing what you have to say, honest. You could write up a five paragraph essay on how you misplaced your eraser and I probably wouldn’t mind. I don’t take your replies for granted. I know we’ve been getting into a pretty comfortable cycle of one message a week, me on Saturdays and you on Wednesdays, but even then I’m elated whenever I see you post in the “What Was the Last Vide Game You Played?” topic. Of course, don’t feel pressured to always send a response every week if you can’t manage; if you ever miss a “deadline” in the future I would just appreciate the consistent responses I’m getting right now that much more. Hm, I hope that makes sense. Oh goodness, it’s really flattering to know I’m the only person you’ve told in that much detail about your YouTube account. It makes me very very happy, silly as that may sound, haha. You’ve told me before, but I never knew I was this special. I don’t want to come off as selfish, but it makes me really glad knowing I’m this special to someone.

Oh no no, I don’t want the college application process to sound all that stressful. It’s really only has stressful as you make, depending on how much effort you’re willing to put into the essays, which and how many schools you’re applying to, and how emotionally attached you get to the school(s) you apply to. Getting scholarships from out of state schools shouldn’t be too difficult. For my Early Action schools, I’ve been offered quite a bit, even from one private university. If I can get these scholarships, you should definitely be able to do the same, if not even more. There’s also no rush to know what kind of schools you’re interested in, let one any few in particular. I thought I had an idea at the end of junior year but then received a rude awakening come summer when I began exploring my opinions in more detail. I then thought I fell I love with a school around late September, and applied to it Early Decision. When I was rejected and didn’t really feel as disappointed as I thought I would feel, I realized I didn’t like that school as much as I had originally thought. Then I procrastinated and binge-applied to a ton of extra schools I wasn’t even considering the week before apps were due. Yeeah, I sure do have everything under control, don’t I? I was a mess junior year myself; it was without a doubt my weakest academic year. I’m doing loads better senior year, though that might just be an illusion caused by my lack of band now, haha. Hm, it’s hard to say what schools consider to be the most important factor in deciding who to accept and reject. To say grades are the single most important thing is probably a bit too absolute, but they’re definitely really important. From what I can gather, it works like this: to narrow down the large number of initial applications, GPA and standardize tests are used. With that smaller group of applicants, essays and extracurricular activities are used to make final acceptance decisions. Of course, this is just a general rule for most schools and there are a lot of other factors to take into consideration. Most notably, things like sports (football and basketball more so than one vs one sports), race, ad legacies can throw a kink in the system and produce some unexpected results.

I’ll definitely use the phone they bought for me when I go to college. I feel kind of bad it’s just sitting there, but don’t really want to use it during high school either, even just to carry it around. My town is kind of strange. I really don’t know why so many Indians have moved in. There’s an “Indiatown” where I live, on the outskirts of my town. Nobody calls it that, but it’s a long stretch of street dedicated to Indian cuisine and shopping centers, so practically an Indian version of Chinatown. Funny thing is, we don’t even have a designated Chinatown or area that’s mainly Eastern Asian.

The last bits of our conversation that are even related to video gaming have dwindled down into nearly nothing. I want to save it by saying something about Pokemon, but since I haven’t touched my Pokemon games since I RNG abused that shiny Cresselia, I don’t really know what to add, haha. Oh well, if this paragraph goes entirely extinct by next week, so be it. None of the mods seem to mind (isn’t it Akakata’s job to maintain this part of the forum?), so I guess it’s okay to be completely off topic at this point.

Your mall sounds really nice; the one here attracts no visitors and I only like it because the smell of it is nostalgic. I can’t really describe it, but yeah the scent brings back some fond memories, haha. Only bad thing is that the GameStop in that mall has an atrocious set of amiibos, haha. I don’t think you follow the craze that is amiibos, but the store only ever has really common old figurines, none of the new ones that just came out. Bit of a bummer. Well, the thing about the state university is that it’s only a few miles away from my house. Even though it takes 25 minutes to drive there, there’s really no difference in scenery, haha. Maybe more highways and stuff, but otherwise it’s the same. A lot of people from my school go to that university, so even the social vibe is the same (a lot of Indians, too). I’m sure it’ll still feel different being it’s a college and all, but it’s kind of hard to get into that stereotypical “away from home” feel when you parents can always stop by to give you cold medicine whenever you're sick. It’s really good that you’re excited to grow up and yet still treasure the child in you. Some people grow up too fast and in the worst of ways, and others never grow up in equally as bad ways. For a sixteen year old, you really have a capable mind on those shoulders of yours. Even if you’re still young and have a lot in life yet to experience, you’re definitely in a very good place to be. Make sure never to lose your way, even when you grow up, haha. But hey, I’m only a year older than you so what do I know?

Hm, you do make pretty good points about typing. I don’t know why I refuse to just let loose when chatting with friends, because at times it can admittedly get in the way of things and slow me down. Ah gosh, it’s like me with cell phones and Facebook and driving and prom: I’m usually pretty laid back about things and do things in moderation, but for whatever I’m really stubborn with when it comes to what I’ve listed above. I probably get it from my mom or something, since she’s pretty hardheaded about stuff, too. Yeah, I’ve never used an emoticon in my life, haha. Maybe I should start being a bit shorter with my responses. I know my closer friends know that a “Yes.” or “Okay.” doesn’t mean that I’m angry or annoyed, but people I don’t talk to often probably won’t realize that. To compromise, I guess I’ll have to explain things a bit more to people I don’t know that well, and if I don’t scare them off with my wordiness can start to reply with shorter messages. Bleh, it seems counterproductive and contradictory, but I’ll see how it holds up through college, haha.

I’m glad you liked the prologue episode! It’s also good you’ve managed to control yourself from wanting to watch on. The break between the two seasons has been brutal, only made easier by my (relative) lack of school work, amiibos, and Death Parade. Also, since F/sn is a visual novel, there was never meant to be a significant break at the midway point of UBW. Though the season finale of UBW’s first season ends in a pretty good place, executed much better than F/Z’s first season at least, it would have been even better if I could jump into the next season immediately. If your spring break is around the same time as mine (early April), the second half will start airing right on time for you to binge watch the first season and then watch the rest weekly. Yeah, the visual is really long. UBW will be a full anime adaptation, so I don’t think reading the visual novel for that route will add much to your experience, but if the Heaven’s Feel movie(s) is just a summary and not a paced series of movies like Kara no Kyoukai, you might need to read that part. The Fate route will most definitely not be getting an adaptation, so that’s going to be a must read if you want to finish up all of F/sn.

I traded a Kid Icarus: Uprising download code for an unopened mint condition Shulk amiibo, haha. He’s a pretty rare one and since none of the downloadable games were ones I’d find the time to play, I wanted to see if anyone on reddit would be willing to make a download code for amiibo trade and someone was! He just arrived today and looks great. He’s not one of the original seven I had planned to get, but if I somehow miss out on preorders for a future amiibo I want, I could use him as trading leverage. I now have 600 coins left to burn, and I’ll try to find another trade partner for another extra amiibo if I can. If not, I guess I’ll just buy a game and be done with that. Hm, I guess I’ll try to get a driver’s license when I find the time. Of course, there are a lot of time sensitive things to worry about, so will I be able to get one before I go off to college? And if not, do I have to be a permanent Jersey resident? If I attend a school out of state, will that count as where I live? Gosh, too much to think about. This is probably irresponsible of me, but I’ll worry about it come summer time. I think my sister also got her driver’s license late, so I’ll ask her how she managed it. Everyone’s getting ready for prom now. Girls are huddled together over phones gushing at dresses and guys are figuring out how to prompose to a girl or are trying to hook up single guys with single girls. Ehhh, while part of me doesn’t want to be left out of the loop, the stupidly stubborn me is holding back. Prom is mid-May for us, which is in two and a half months. I didn’t realize preparations started so early. While I guess I’ll keep my options open, realistically as each day passes I’m probably lowering my chances of going.

I’m going to diverge a bit off topic. I couldn’t help but over-read (the reading version of overhear, not actually reading something too many times) your conversations with machine about your parents. I just want to say that your life sounds really tough right now, but things will definitely take a turn for the better when you’re off to college. My parents aren’t nearly as overbearing as yours, so I can’t relate as much as I’d like to. However, I do know that I wouldn’t fare very well in a situation like yours. Sure my parents can be demeaning and they sometimes don’t always take my opinions seriously, but that’s because I can make stupid life decisions and they’re keeping me on the right track, haha. That doesn’t seem to be the case with you, and I really do wonder why your parents can be so… for lack of a better word, mean. I don’t want to sound like I’m disrespecting your parents or anything, and since I’m only seventeen maybe it’s not my place to say this, but if I had a daughter, one as amazing as you, I wouldn’t treat you the way your parents do. Eheh, I hope that didn’t come off as weird or anything. Well, apart from that, I don’t really think I have any way of making your life any easier. Just hold out until college!

Yeeah, there’s no way I’d be able to match my sister and get accepted into an Ivy League. I applied to a few for fun, but I know I’m not getting in. Gosh, your school still sounds really intense. My AP Bio teacher is very chill guy; he’s really into science and he’s letting us participate in actual research to potentially be published all the while keeping us in shape for the AP exam. His test questions are no harder than the AP level ones, and it’s one of my favorite classes. He’s a rarer breed of pretty good teacher that’s becoming extinct at my school, haha. Your life sounds really rough. I know I keep on saying it and I wish I could do more than just be a broken record and remind you of the stresses in your life, but I can’t give you a very convincing hug over the Internet. My sister tells me I don’t even give very good hugs in person. You say you’ll keep my birthday in mind, but if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking and are planning to do something for the occasion, while I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t want you to worry about it. Really, even if you have some big test to worry about and forget to even wish me a happy birthday come April, I wouldn’t mind. If it’s for the sake of giving you at least one less thing to stress over, I’d be fine with having my birthday pass without much occasion. That’s how it usually is anyway, haha. Worry about yourself first, alright?

machine · March 2, 2015

jet set radio for ps vita

SwiftFeather · March 2, 2015

3DS Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask :B

HeijiBourbon · March 5, 2015

The legend of Zelda: Phantom hourglass( i couldn't´t find all the ship parts)

Kenzi · March 5, 2015

Your YouTube story’s really fascinating. It was definitely interesting to read about. I never realized how involved you had gotten in the whole community until now; I had a feeling you definitely spent a lot of time on graphic design (how could you not have with all those works of yours?), but really it’s honestly amazing. I wasn’t nearly as productive as you when I was that age, for sure. It’s hard to wrap my mind around it almost. The closest thing I experienced that even vaguely resembles your experience with YouTube was this small MMO app game I had for my old 2 gen iPod Touch. It was a rather unknown Japanese based MMO called Seven Swords, in which you’re a part of one of three factions that occasionally goes to war with each other in hectic, glitchy, but fun as anything battles. It was a lot of fun working with complete strangers in your faction to rout out or conquer an enemy faction, as much of a mess as communication was. You could also take a break and hunt monsters to level up and gets drops, many times with members of your faction or rival factions. These are all pretty standard features of MMOs and it wasn’t very impressive from an objective standpoint, but each team had its own tightknit community. I was part of team Nox, arguably the weakest of all the factions, but being the underdog made winning wars that much better, haha. I wasted away a lot of time on this app game on an aged device and only stopped when the servers shut down because they felt the game wasn’t profitable anymore (the company had already published new MMOs). It was sad to see the game go, and it was a shame I don’t have any actual record of my time spent there. I’ll always have the memory of it though, haha. I know it’s not much but it’s still fun to reminisce nonetheless. Sorry to digress; I didn’t mean to hijack your story about YouTube and insert a nerdy little story of my own, eheheh… Anyway, back on topic.

As a YouTube lurker, whenever the layout changed I remember being bothered. Of course eventually I would get used to the new interface, and then move on with life. Since I didn’t have an account (or rather never used the one attached to my Gmail) I didn’t follow or experience the trouble that YouTubers had with their channels behind the scenes. I can imagine if it irked casual viewers it really messed things up for people who make videos. I vaguely remember the whole banner thing. I never knew how people got those, haha. It’s awesome you had one too, for a while. I only realize now that I didn’t even notice when that branding thing was removed. I’m surprised at how much has changed without me noticing, honestly. It’s too bad that a lot of YouTube friends you made started to leave. It was kind of like in Seven Sword when some of the higher leveled and big name members of the factions stopped coming online, long before servers were finally taken down. When flagship members begin to leave, the spirit and soul of a place can drastically change. I’m assuming you haven’t been keeping in touch with your fellow graphic making YouTubers?

Your experience with the channel shutdown sounds awful. I’d probably have felt really angry about it, too. Especially with that tease with them giving you your channel back for a little bit before changing their minds, it must have been a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I know what it’s like to just have something nagging at you and getting you all boiled up while you just sit there, unable to do homework or enjoy things you usually do while waiting for an answer. Funny thing is, I don’t actually remember the circumstances under which I’ve felt that way. I do know it’s happened to me before, and it’s a bad feeling. It’s good to hear it doesn’t bother you too much now, though it’s still a bummer your channel is even gone in the first place. It seems you handled the situation nicely though, and that’s very mature of you. It was mature of you when you got as into graphics and YouTube as young as you did, and I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again: you’re really impressive. I was a bumbling idiot at the age you started graphic art and never got anything productive done, unless video games count. Ahaha, it’s actually not much different for me today, given my interests, but at least I feel that I have a more realistic grasp on things.

There’s no need to apologize; it was a lot of fun reading about this and responding in turn. It doesn’t really matter what you write about; I love hearing what you have to say, honest. You could write up a five paragraph essay on how you misplaced your eraser and I probably wouldn’t mind. I don’t take your replies for granted. I know we’ve been getting into a pretty comfortable cycle of one message a week, me on Saturdays and you on Wednesdays, but even then I’m elated whenever I see you post in the “What Was the Last Vide Game You Played?” topic. Of course, don’t feel pressured to always send a response every week if you can’t manage; if you ever miss a “deadline” in the future I would just appreciate the consistent responses I’m getting right now that much more. Hm, I hope that makes sense. Oh goodness, it’s really flattering to know I’m the only person you’ve told in that much detail about your YouTube account. It makes me very very happy, silly as that may sound, haha. You’ve told me before, but I never knew I was this special. I don’t want to come off as selfish, but it makes me really glad knowing I’m this special to someone.

Oh no no, I don’t want the college application process to sound all that stressful. It’s really only has stressful as you make, depending on how much effort you’re willing to put into the essays, which and how many schools you’re applying to, and how emotionally attached you get to the school(s) you apply to. Getting scholarships from out of state schools shouldn’t be too difficult. For my Early Action schools, I’ve been offered quite a bit, even from one private university. If I can get these scholarships, you should definitely be able to do the same, if not even more. There’s also no rush to know what kind of schools you’re interested in, let one any few in particular. I thought I had an idea at the end of junior year but then received a rude awakening come summer when I began exploring my opinions in more detail. I then thought I fell I love with a school around late September, and applied to it Early Decision. When I was rejected and didn’t really feel as disappointed as I thought I would feel, I realized I didn’t like that school as much as I had originally thought. Then I procrastinated and binge-applied to a ton of extra schools I wasn’t even considering the week before apps were due. Yeeah, I sure do have everything under control, don’t I? I was a mess junior year myself; it was without a doubt my weakest academic year. I’m doing loads better senior year, though that might just be an illusion caused by my lack of band now, haha. Hm, it’s hard to say what schools consider to be the most important factor in deciding who to accept and reject. To say grades are the single most important thing is probably a bit too absolute, but they’re definitely really important. From what I can gather, it works like this: to narrow down the large number of initial applications, GPA and standardize tests are used. With that smaller group of applicants, essays and extracurricular activities are used to make final acceptance decisions. Of course, this is just a general rule for most schools and there are a lot of other factors to take into consideration. Most notably, things like sports (football and basketball more so than one vs one sports), race, ad legacies can throw a kink in the system and produce some unexpected results.

I’ll definitely use the phone they bought for me when I go to college. I feel kind of bad it’s just sitting there, but don’t really want to use it during high school either, even just to carry it around. My town is kind of strange. I really don’t know why so many Indians have moved in. There’s an “Indiatown” where I live, on the outskirts of my town. Nobody calls it that, but it’s a long stretch of street dedicated to Indian cuisine and shopping centers, so practically an Indian version of Chinatown. Funny thing is, we don’t even have a designated Chinatown or area that’s mainly Eastern Asian.

The last bits of our conversation that are even related to video gaming have dwindled down into nearly nothing. I want to save it by saying something about Pokemon, but since I haven’t touched my Pokemon games since I RNG abused that shiny Cresselia, I don’t really know what to add, haha. Oh well, if this paragraph goes entirely extinct by next week, so be it. None of the mods seem to mind (isn’t it Akakata’s job to maintain this part of the forum?), so I guess it’s okay to be completely off topic at this point.

Your mall sounds really nice; the one here attracts no visitors and I only like it because the smell of it is nostalgic. I can’t really describe it, but yeah the scent brings back some fond memories, haha. Only bad thing is that the GameStop in that mall has an atrocious set of amiibos, haha. I don’t think you follow the craze that is amiibos, but the store only ever has really common old figurines, none of the new ones that just came out. Bit of a bummer. Well, the thing about the state university is that it’s only a few miles away from my house. Even though it takes 25 minutes to drive there, there’s really no difference in scenery, haha. Maybe more highways and stuff, but otherwise it’s the same. A lot of people from my school go to that university, so even the social vibe is the same (a lot of Indians, too). I’m sure it’ll still feel different being it’s a college and all, but it’s kind of hard to get into that stereotypical “away from home” feel when you parents can always stop by to give you cold medicine whenever you're sick. It’s really good that you’re excited to grow up and yet still treasure the child in you. Some people grow up too fast and in the worst of ways, and others never grow up in equally as bad ways. For a sixteen year old, you really have a capable mind on those shoulders of yours. Even if you’re still young and have a lot in life yet to experience, you’re definitely in a very good place to be. Make sure never to lose your way, even when you grow up, haha. But hey, I’m only a year older than you so what do I know?

Hm, you do make pretty good points about typing. I don’t know why I refuse to just let loose when chatting with friends, because at times it can admittedly get in the way of things and slow me down. Ah gosh, it’s like me with cell phones and Facebook and driving and prom: I’m usually pretty laid back about things and do things in moderation, but for whatever I’m really stubborn with when it comes to what I’ve listed above. I probably get it from my mom or something, since she’s pretty hardheaded about stuff, too. Yeah, I’ve never used an emoticon in my life, haha. Maybe I should start being a bit shorter with my responses. I know my closer friends know that a “Yes.” or “Okay.” doesn’t mean that I’m angry or annoyed, but people I don’t talk to often probably won’t realize that. To compromise, I guess I’ll have to explain things a bit more to people I don’t know that well, and if I don’t scare them off with my wordiness can start to reply with shorter messages. Bleh, it seems counterproductive and contradictory, but I’ll see how it holds up through college, haha.

I’m glad you liked the prologue episode! It’s also good you’ve managed to control yourself from wanting to watch on. The break between the two seasons has been brutal, only made easier by my (relative) lack of school work, amiibos, and Death Parade. Also, since F/sn is a visual novel, there was never meant to be a significant break at the midway point of UBW. Though the season finale of UBW’s first season ends in a pretty good place, executed much better than F/Z’s first season at least, it would have been even better if I could jump into the next season immediately. If your spring break is around the same time as mine (early April), the second half will start airing right on time for you to binge watch the first season and then watch the rest weekly. Yeah, the visual is really long. UBW will be a full anime adaptation, so I don’t think reading the visual novel for that route will add much to your experience, but if the Heaven’s Feel movie(s) is just a summary and not a paced series of movies like Kara no Kyoukai, you might need to read that part. The Fate route will most definitely not be getting an adaptation, so that’s going to be a must read if you want to finish up all of F/sn.

I traded a Kid Icarus: Uprising download code for an unopened mint condition Shulk amiibo, haha. He’s a pretty rare one and since none of the downloadable games were ones I’d find the time to play, I wanted to see if anyone on reddit would be willing to make a download code for amiibo trade and someone was! He just arrived today and looks great. He’s not one of the original seven I had planned to get, but if I somehow miss out on preorders for a future amiibo I want, I could use him as trading leverage. I now have 600 coins left to burn, and I’ll try to find another trade partner for another extra amiibo if I can. If not, I guess I’ll just buy a game and be done with that. Hm, I guess I’ll try to get a driver’s license when I find the time. Of course, there are a lot of time sensitive things to worry about, so will I be able to get one before I go off to college? And if not, do I have to be a permanent Jersey resident? If I attend a school out of state, will that count as where I live? Gosh, too much to think about. This is probably irresponsible of me, but I’ll worry about it come summer time. I think my sister also got her driver’s license late, so I’ll ask her how she managed it. Everyone’s getting ready for prom now. Girls are huddled together over phones gushing at dresses and guys are figuring out how to prompose to a girl or are trying to hook up single guys with single girls. Ehhh, while part of me doesn’t want to be left out of the loop, the stupidly stubborn me is holding back. Prom is mid-May for us, which is in two and a half months. I didn’t realize preparations started so early. While I guess I’ll keep my options open, realistically as each day passes I’m probably lowering my chances of going.

I’m going to diverge a bit off topic. I couldn’t help but over-read (the reading version of overhear, not actually reading something too many times) your conversations with machine about your parents. I just want to say that your life sounds really tough right now, but things will definitely take a turn for the better when you’re off to college. My parents aren’t nearly as overbearing as yours, so I can’t relate as much as I’d like to. However, I do know that I wouldn’t fare very well in a situation like yours. Sure my parents can be demeaning and they sometimes don’t always take my opinions seriously, but that’s because I can make stupid life decisions and they’re keeping me on the right track, haha. That doesn’t seem to be the case with you, and I really do wonder why your parents can be so… for lack of a better word, mean. I don’t want to sound like I’m disrespecting your parents or anything, and since I’m only seventeen maybe it’s not my place to say this, but if I had a daughter, one as amazing as you, I wouldn’t treat you the way your parents do. Eheh, I hope that didn’t come off as weird or anything. Well, apart from that, I don’t really think I have any way of making your life any easier. Just hold out until college!

Yeeah, there’s no way I’d be able to match my sister and get accepted into an Ivy League. I applied to a few for fun, but I know I’m not getting in. Gosh, your school still sounds really intense. My AP Bio teacher is very chill guy; he’s really into science and he’s letting us participate in actual research to potentially be published all the while keeping us in shape for the AP exam. His test questions are no harder than the AP level ones, and it’s one of my favorite classes. He’s a rarer breed of pretty good teacher that’s becoming extinct at my school, haha. Your life sounds really rough. I know I keep on saying it and I wish I could do more than just be a broken record and remind you of the stresses in your life, but I can’t give you a very convincing hug over the Internet. My sister tells me I don’t even give very good hugs in person. You say you’ll keep my birthday in mind, but if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking and are planning to do something for the occasion, while I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t want you to worry about it. Really, even if you have some big test to worry about and forget to even wish me a happy birthday come April, I wouldn’t mind. If it’s for the sake of giving you at least one less thing to stress over, I’d be fine with having my birthday pass without much occasion. That’s how it usually is anyway, haha. Worry about yourself first, alright?

Ahaha, it was all completely by chance. My middle school self was lurking around the website searching for YouTube poops to watch when I stumbled across a Pokemon AMV/RP channel. I don't know why, but it compelled me to create my own YouTube channel. That's it. That was probably the only reason why I'm where I am today. It's amazing that such an insignificant event can become a catalyst that ends up taking hold of a good chunk of my life, haha. Back then, I wouldn't have called it "productive". I think a better term would be "addicted" (it certainly didn't feel productive). I spent way too much time on there--even to the point where I'd get a headache from staring at the computer screen for hours on end, simply because I thought it was fun. Believe it or not, but your experience with Seven Swords is a decent summation of my YouTube experience, and it was also an interesting read. We had the people who specialized in AMVs, people who specialized in playthroughs/LPs, the RPers, the graphic designers, the digital artists (who drew on tablets), and the remixers--which kinda felt like factions. Leveling up for you could be comparable to obtaining a certain number of subscribers. Even hitting 100 would attract tons of congratulations from the community (all of which were from strangers), so it certainly was heartwarming. I also know how it feels to be the underdog since I was surrounded by some experienced graphic designers when I first joined, so even getting a little recognition felt like an accomplishment.

The changes in interface definitely spurred up the community and generated some chaos, but most of us would be over it after a few months. It was certainly a nuisance having to deal with them, but my irritability toward the changes didn't peak until after the branding feature was removed. I dreamed of having one for the longest time, and I was only able to grab ownership of one for a few months before the changes were implemented. I think the only reason I made such a big deal out of it is because it mainly affected the graphic designers. Everyone else also had their fair share of complaints, but most went on their merry ways a lot quicker than us. Nope, I'm not in touch with a single one of my old YouTube friends, though I still follow the one YouTuber who inspired me to go into graphics (she's gotten pretty big now but I still remember the good old days when she had less than 1k). The people who managed to make it big usually left everyone else in the dust, while the people who felt too discouraged to continue decided to quit. So in a way, it is like your experience with Seven Swords since the spirit of the community kinda just died out afterwards.

The weird thing is, I got over it a lot quicker than I thought I would. I guess that just goes to show how detached the community became. That nagging feeling is the worst. I couldn't sleep, I could barely eat, and I couldn't even surf the web without the butterflies in my stomach. I know I've also experienced this feeling a few times, but I can't remember the context behind most of them either (probably because I'd rather not, lol). If you saw what was going on inside my head at the time, you definitely wouldn't have addressed me as mature, ehehe... Haha, what I did with graphic design could sound mature in hindsight, but it's quite the opposite, actually. It was my escape from reality and the only reason I did it was because it was fun. I had no motive other than to make some online friends when I first started. I originally never thought that I'd end up where I am today. But it wasn't all just sunshine and rainbows. I also had a bit of dark history on there that I'd rather not venture into. There were disgustingly thirsty perverts and pedos that I, along with others seldom came across, and much of the community was also cancerous. It shouldn't come off as too surprising since it is the internet, after all. However, I was a complete idiot when it came to these things and I often fell victim to troll bait--usually unaware as well. I facepalm so much at my naive middle school self, haha. I also played my fair share of videos games in middle school (pulling all-nighters for Pokemon was definitely one of the highlights of my weekends). Trust me on this when I say that everything that happened on YouTube was a stroke of luck for me. I never aspired to "make it big" or even go into anything as "productive" as graphic design. It just... happened. As much as I'd hate to admit it, my channel was suspended at a pretty convenient time for me. It was right before junior year started and I definitely wouldn't be able to maintain it today if it were still around.

It really means a lot to me that someone genuinely cares about what I have to say. I've had this hunch that if I told anyone about this story, internally, they'd be thinking, "oh wow, that's what you're concerned about these days?"...or at least that's the impression I got from my sister when I told her a small snippet of what happened to my channel. I've learned to trust you more with every passing conversation--you really are like no other person, haha. I also get unusually happy when I see a response from you in this topic. I've also been pretty comfortable with the rate at which we exchange replies. I don't think I'll be having much trouble reaching the "deadline", but I'll let you know beforehand if this ever becomes a problem, if at all.

I only have a few colleges I'm a bit attached to, but I'm sure that'll expand as I continue to search, haha. I'm planning to pour all my effort into most of my applications and essays, so I'm prepared to be completely drained after I'm finished with the process. But for now, I'm trying to focus on my academics so that it doesn't bite me back later when the time comes. Yeah, junior year is definitely showing itself to be the weakest year of mine as well, but I'm not going to make the same mistake I did last semester. I don't think I've made myself stand out too much from most applicants, so my main worry is being blown off just because of the rough time I had last semester. I'm planning to attend a college summer program I applied to a few weeks ago, and if I don't get accepted, there are still a few more backup programs I have in mind. Hopefully that'll give me a boost, haha. I've heard weird stories about this school accepting and deferring the most unexpected groups of people, but I heard that they favor interest a lot, so I'm kinda relying on that a bit with the summer program--perhaps a bit too much, haha. I guess that just means that I need to work a lot harder this semester in order to make up for last semester's ordeal...ahahaha...haha........ha....................................

I think cell phones are a nice way to keep in touch with friends if you're not planning to get a Facebook, but I can see where you're coming from in your stance since there isn't much benefit of having a cell phone for the last few months of high school. Our town is also a bit strange. We have a small corner dedicated to the Polish and some pretty diverse grocery stores around here (East Asian, Indian, Polish, etc.). The closest we have to a Chinatown is a small parking lot with a Chinese grocery store, restaurant, and bakery in a neighboring town. Haha, I found "Indiatown" as an interesting way to address it, though I also probably would have used the same term if I lived there, lol.

The forum games tend to get more attention than this topic, so I wouldn't be surprised if the mods managed to skip over this thread entirely (oops, might have jinxed it). Feel free to keep me updated on your progress on the games whenever you have the time though! Considering how little we discuss about video games in this thread these days, it probably wouldn't matter if this portion of our responses actually went "extinct" though, haha.

I don't follow the amiibo craze just because I already have a lot on my plate. I might if I manage to get my hands on Smash though, haha. Whoa, whoa, the state university is only a few miles away, yet it takes you 25 minutes to drive there? Is the traffic really that bad, or is your definition of "few" a lot more variant than mine? 30 minutes away from here and everything becomes a lot more crowded and tons more urban. I live near a somewhat trashed up city (it has a very big name with a bit of a cruddy reputation), and it contrasts a lot with the nice, safe, and clean town I live in. I'm sure that the social vibe of that university will be a lot different. Even if much of your high school feeds into it, you have to keep in mind that those people will only be a small chunk of the entire community. But if worst comes to worst, you could always transfer into a different university if it bothers you too much, though I doubt it'll happen, haha. I've had a few friends who've succumbed to the urge to want to grow up. I don't want to become like them, so I'm just trying to enjoy myself while I can. You're not much older than me, but I can also say that you have a pretty capable mind yourself. Despite what you may believe, I really don't think I'm as good in that regard as you make me out to be. I appreciate the remark though, haha. I'll try not to lose sight of myself along the way, and I'll wish you the same!

The informal way I type with my friends at times kinda matches up with my somewhat carefree personality, so typing like that is something I'm certainly comfortable with. Hrmm, now that you mention it, I don't think I share many traits with my parents. My mom likes being neat and tidy, while I prefer my clutter. Geez, I can't locate any of my papers when she "reorganizes" my stuff--which has gotten on my nerves far too many times to count. Oh, the irony of it all. My dad is very, very stubborn and hardheaded. Heck, he even argues with people about how to do their profession when things don't go his way. I'm trying my darndest to avoid being like that, so I try to be a lot more open-minded than him. Sometimes the capitalization of words can also add some subtle undertone. "Yes" is more formal than "yes", or maybe if you'd rather show some more informality, you could use "yup". "uh huh" denotes some hesitance, while "yeah" signifies some lack of interest. These are the kinds of impressions I keep in mind when I type one-liners to friends. Although they all mean the same thing, some of these words have largely differing connotations from others--though you've probably already figured that out already. Haha, sorry, I didn't mean for this to become an English lecture. But when you head off to college, essentially, you're going to have a clean slate. Most of high school isn't going to follow you into college, so try something new! Maybe try being a bit more loose and see how it goes, haha.

My spring break also starts early April, but whether or not I can binge depends on my schoolwork. I have a lot coming up this spring (competitions, tennis season, trips, etc.) so I'm not too sure if I'll have time to fit in F/SN. The cliffhangers were hurting me internally when SnK was airing, so maybe it isn't such a bad idea to wait until F/SN finishes entirely before jumping into it again, haha. I'll wait until I finish F/SN before I decide on diving into the visual novel, but chances are I probably will.

Reddit is a magical place indeed. I've heard stories of people getting duped when trading, so I'm glad to hear that you managed to get your hands on a new amiibo! Haha, you're beginning to sound like me now. I also tend to put off looming deadlines (aka procrastination), so it's totally understandable where you're coming from. It's almost been a year since I've taken my drivers ed class, and I still haven't gotten around to taking my driving test yet. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to end up putting it off. To be honest, I'm probably not going to take it until senior year at this rate. I don't know about you guys, but people at our school have already begun promposing (thanks, Facebook). I've heard rumors around here about this 12 AP teacher who pairs people together upon request (awk.), and I think prom for us is in April this year. I'm not sure why they pushed it so early this year because it's usually in May. I've even had one of my guy friends show me the dress he's wearing to prom (don't worry, you heard me right). He's a good friend of mine, and I'm not gonna lie--the picture of it that he showed me actually looked pretty nice on him, haha. Prom is less than two months away for us, so it's not too surprising that people are already preparing, lol.

I was mainly referring to my dad in those situations so I feel bit bad for antagonizing the both of them as much as I did. I probably shouldn't have put my parents in such a negative light because they do care about me a lot. It's really not as bad as you think. They disagree with a lot of what I do, and they're even trying to discourage me from volunteering for NHS for the sake of my academics. I guess it's understandable since my grades have been slipping lately, but their overbearing-ness has gone overdrive now, and it's beginning to get on my nerves. "Make sure you don't fail your tests or else you won't get into a good college." Yeah, like that's gonna help me. It's frustrating, but they do mean well. I hope that clarifies things up a bit. Also, that last portion of this paragraph didn't come off as weird at all. I'm actually really flattered. I appreciate the sentiment, so I'll try to hang on as much as possible, heh.

Haha, even if you "know" that you're not getting in, miracles do happen! I'll be rooting for you when decisions come out! Whaaa, you guys get to participate in research? We mainly take notes in our class with the occasional video or lab. Our test average tends to lie in the 60-70% range if that gives you an idea of our test difficulty, so our bio teacher curves them somewhat generously. It's hard to show appreciation during times like these, but your words really do make a difference. So, I thank you once again. *hugs* I'm already a tired mess right now, so there really is no going back, lol. The only thing that might be able to fix me is the summer after senior year, which seems so. far. away... (sorry, that's just my senioritis talking for me). Nah, your birthday coincides with our spring break, so I'm sure I'll have the time to come up with something for the occasion, haha.

xxelement · March 5, 2015

Playing through Skyrim...again.

I'm thinking of getting the PS3 version of Oblivion GOTY. I had the 360 version but my brother took it when he moved 2 years ago.

machine · March 7, 2015

persona 4 racing all afternoon

Kitty Paw · March 7, 2015

Minecraft

Maltavite · March 7, 2015

The Darkness 2

Akazora · March 7, 2015

Ahaha, it was all completely by chance. My middle school self was lurking around the website searching for YouTube poops to watch when I stumbled across a Pokemon AMV/RP channel. I don't know why, but it compelled me to create my own YouTube channel. That's it. That was probably the only reason why I'm where I am today. It's amazing that such an insignificant event can become a catalyst that ends up taking hold of a good chunk of my life, haha. Back then, I wouldn't have called it "productive". I think a better term would be "addicted" (it certainly didn't feel productive). I spent way too much time on there--even to the point where I'd get a headache from staring at the computer screen for hours on end, simply because I thought it was fun. Believe it or not, but your experience with Seven Swords is a decent summation of my YouTube experience, and it was also an interesting read. We had the people who specialized in AMVs, people who specialized in playthroughs/LPs, the RPers, the graphic designers, the digital artists (who drew on tablets), and the remixers--which kinda felt like factions. Leveling up for you could be comparable to obtaining a certain number of subscribers. Even hitting 100 would attract tons of congratulations from the community (all of which were from strangers), so it certainly was heartwarming. I also know how it feels to be the underdog since I was surrounded by some experienced graphic designers when I first joined, so even getting a little recognition felt like an accomplishment.

The changes in interface definitely spurred up the community and generated some chaos, but most of us would be over it after a few months. It was certainly a nuisance having to deal with them, but my irritability toward the changes didn't peak until after the branding feature was removed. I dreamed of having one for the longest time, and I was only able to grab ownership of one for a few months before the changes were implemented. I think the only reason I made such a big deal out of it is because it mainly affected the graphic designers. Everyone else also had their fair share of complaints, but most went on their merry ways a lot quicker than us. Nope, I'm not in touch with a single one of my old YouTube friends, though I still follow the one YouTuber who inspired me to go into graphics (she's gotten pretty big now but I still remember the good old days when she had less than 1k). The people who managed to make it big usually left everyone else in the dust, while the people who felt too discouraged to continue decided to quit. So in a way, it is like your experience with Seven Swords since the spirit of the community kinda just died out afterwards.

The weird thing is, I got over it a lot quicker than I thought I would. I guess that just goes to show how detached the community became. That nagging feeling is the worst. I couldn't sleep, I could barely eat, and I couldn't even surf the web without the butterflies in my stomach. I know I've also experienced this feeling a few times, but I can't remember the context behind most of them either (probably because I'd rather not, lol). If you saw what was going on inside my head at the time, you definitely wouldn't have addressed me as mature, ehehe... Haha, what I did with graphic design could sound mature in hindsight, but it's quite the opposite, actually. It was my escape from reality and the only reason I did it was because it was fun. I had no motive other than to make some online friends when I first started. I originally never thought that I'd end up where I am today. But it wasn't all just sunshine and rainbows. I also had a bit of dark history on there that I'd rather not venture into. There were disgustingly thirsty perverts and pedos that I, along with others seldom came across, and much of the community was also cancerous. It shouldn't come off as too surprising since it is the internet, after all. However, I was a complete idiot when it came to these things and I often fell victim to troll bait--usually unaware as well. I facepalm so much at my naive middle school self, haha. I also played my fair share of videos games in middle school (pulling all-nighters for Pokemon was definitely one of the highlights of my weekends). Trust me on this when I say that everything that happened on YouTube was a stroke of luck for me. I never aspired to "make it big" or even go into anything as "productive" as graphic design. It just... happened. As much as I'd hate to admit it, my channel was suspended at a pretty convenient time for me. It was right before junior year started and I definitely wouldn't be able to maintain it today if it were still around.

It really means a lot to me that someone genuinely cares about what I have to say. I've had this hunch that if I told anyone about this story, internally, they'd be thinking, "oh wow, that's what you're concerned about these days?"...or at least that's the impression I got from my sister when I told her a small snippet of what happened to my channel. I've learned to trust you more with every passing conversation--you really are like no other person, haha. I also get unusually happy when I see a response from you in this topic. I've also been pretty comfortable with the rate at which we exchange replies. I don't think I'll be having much trouble reaching the "deadline", but I'll let you know beforehand if this ever becomes a problem, if at all.

I only have a few colleges I'm a bit attached to, but I'm sure that'll expand as I continue to search, haha. I'm planning to pour all my effort into most of my applications and essays, so I'm prepared to be completely drained after I'm finished with the process. But for now, I'm trying to focus on my academics so that it doesn't bite me back later when the time comes. Yeah, junior year is definitely showing itself to be the weakest year of mine as well, but I'm not going to make the same mistake I did last semester. I don't think I've made myself stand out too much from most applicants, so my main worry is being blown off just because of the rough time I had last semester. I'm planning to attend a college summer program I applied to a few weeks ago, and if I don't get accepted, there are still a few more backup programs I have in mind. Hopefully that'll give me a boost, haha. I've heard weird stories about this school accepting and deferring the most unexpected groups of people, but I heard that they favor interest a lot, so I'm kinda relying on that a bit with the summer program--perhaps a bit too much, haha. I guess that just means that I need to work a lot harder this semester in order to make up for last semester's ordeal...ahahaha...haha........ha....................................

I think cell phones are a nice way to keep in touch with friends if you're not planning to get a Facebook, but I can see where you're coming from in your stance since there isn't much benefit of having a cell phone for the last few months of high school. Our town is also a bit strange. We have a small corner dedicated to the Polish and some pretty diverse grocery stores around here (East Asian, Indian, Polish, etc.). The closest we have to a Chinatown is a small parking lot with a Chinese grocery store, restaurant, and bakery in a neighboring town. Haha, I found "Indiatown" as an interesting way to address it, though I also probably would have used the same term if I lived there, lol.

The forum games tend to get more attention than this topic, so I wouldn't be surprised if the mods managed to skip over this thread entirely (oops, might have jinxed it). Feel free to keep me updated on your progress on the games whenever you have the time though! Considering how little we discuss about video games in this thread these days, it probably wouldn't matter if this portion of our responses actually went "extinct" though, haha.

I don't follow the amiibo craze just because I already have a lot on my plate. I might if I manage to get my hands on Smash though, haha. Whoa, whoa, the state university is only a few miles away, yet it takes you 25 minutes to drive there? Is the traffic really that bad, or is your definition of "few" a lot more variant than mine? 30 minutes away from here and everything becomes a lot more crowded and tons more urban. I live near a somewhat trashed up city (it has a very big name with a bit of a cruddy reputation), and it contrasts a lot with the nice, safe, and clean town I live in. I'm sure that the social vibe of that university will be a lot different. Even if much of your high school feeds into it, you have to keep in mind that those people will only be a small chunk of the entire community. But if worst comes to worst, you could always transfer into a different university if it bothers you too much, though I doubt it'll happen, haha. I've had a few friends who've succumbed to the urge to want to grow up. I don't want to become like them, so I'm just trying to enjoy myself while I can. You're not much older than me, but I can also say that you have a pretty capable mind yourself. Despite what you may believe, I really don't think I'm as good in that regard as you make me out to be. I appreciate the remark though, haha. I'll try not to lose sight of myself along the way, and I'll wish you the same!

The informal way I type with my friends at times kinda matches up with my somewhat carefree personality, so typing like that is something I'm certainly comfortable with. Hrmm, now that you mention it, I don't think I share many traits with my parents. My mom likes being neat and tidy, while I prefer my clutter. Geez, I can't locate any of my papers when she "reorganizes" my stuff--which has gotten on my nerves far too many times to count. Oh, the irony of it all. My dad is very, very stubborn and hardheaded. Heck, he even argues with people about how to do their profession when things don't go his way. I'm trying my darndest to avoid being like that, so I try to be a lot more open-minded than him. Sometimes the capitalization of words can also add some subtle undertone. "Yes" is more formal than "yes", or maybe if you'd rather show some more informality, you could use "yup". "uh huh" denotes some hesitance, while "yeah" signifies some lack of interest. These are the kinds of impressions I keep in mind when I type one-liners to friends. Although they all mean the same thing, some of these words have largely differing connotations from others--though you've probably already figured that out already. Haha, sorry, I didn't mean for this to become an English lecture. But when you head off to college, essentially, you're going to have a clean slate. Most of high school isn't going to follow you into college, so try something new! Maybe try being a bit more loose and see how it goes, haha.

My spring break also starts early April, but whether or not I can binge depends on my schoolwork. I have a lot coming up this spring (competitions, tennis season, trips, etc.) so I'm not too sure if I'll have time to fit in F/SN. The cliffhangers were hurting me internally when SnK was airing, so maybe it isn't such a bad idea to wait until F/SN finishes entirely before jumping into it again, haha. I'll wait until I finish F/SN before I decide on diving into the visual novel, but chances are I probably will.

Reddit is a magical place indeed. I've heard stories of people getting duped when trading, so I'm glad to hear that you managed to get your hands on a new amiibo! Haha, you're beginning to sound like me now. I also tend to put off looming deadlines (aka procrastination), so it's totally understandable where you're coming from. It's almost been a year since I've taken my drivers ed class, and I still haven't gotten around to taking my driving test yet. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to end up putting it off. To be honest, I'm probably not going to take it until senior year at this rate. I don't know about you guys, but people at our school have already begun promposing (thanks, Facebook). I've heard rumors around here about this 12 AP teacher who pairs people together upon request (awk.), and I think prom for us is in April this year. I'm not sure why they pushed it so early this year because it's usually in May. I've even had one of my guy friends show me the dress he's wearing to prom (don't worry, you heard me right). He's a good friend of mine, and I'm not gonna lie--the picture of it that he showed me actually looked pretty nice on him, haha. Prom is less than two months away for us, so it's not too surprising that people are already preparing, lol.

I was mainly referring to my dad in those situations so I feel bit bad for antagonizing the both of them as much as I did. I probably shouldn't have put my parents in such a negative light because they do care about me a lot. It's really not as bad as you think. They disagree with a lot of what I do, and they're even trying to discourage me from volunteering for NHS for the sake of my academics. I guess it's understandable since my grades have been slipping lately, but their overbearing-ness has gone overdrive now, and it's beginning to get on my nerves. "Make sure you don't fail your tests or else you won't get into a good college." Yeah, like that's gonna help me. It's frustrating, but they do mean well. I hope that clarifies things up a bit. Also, that last portion of this paragraph didn't come off as weird at all. I'm actually really flattered. I appreciate the sentiment, so I'll try to hang on as much as possible, heh.

Haha, even if you "know" that you're not getting in, miracles do happen! I'll be rooting for you when decisions come out! Whaaa, you guys get to participate in research? We mainly take notes in our class with the occasional video or lab. Our test average tends to lie in the 60-70% range if that gives you an idea of our test difficulty, so our bio teacher curves them somewhat generously. It's hard to show appreciation during times like these, but your words really do make a difference. So, I thank you once again. *hugs* I'm already a tired mess right now, so there really is no going back, lol. The only thing that might be able to fix me is the summer after senior year, which seems so. far. away... (sorry, that's just my senioritis talking for me). Nah, your birthday coincides with our spring break, so I'm sure I'll have the time to come up with something for the occasion, haha.

Well, a lot of things just happen by chance. There are many things that have drastically shaped the way I am that came about by one specific moment in time, one choice I made. It’s crazy how life works like that, isn’t it? Heck, even our long conversations with each other can be traced back to when we first exchanged a few words about Smash 4 with each other months ago. Goodness, neither of us knew how far that would take us. Haha, I guess my experience with Seven Swords could be seen as a bit of an addiction as well. I spent long days and nights partaking in wars to collect the spoils which could be used to potentially win really good items in lotteries. There’s no doubt the raffle system for the good equipment was fixed (it didn’t take many tries at it to realize not all the items in the lottery were treated equally) but I couldn’t help myself from trying it time and time again. Gosh, I need to stay away from casinos when I grow up. I don’t think I’d be able to control myself, ehehe…

Hm, I don’t I recall Seven Swords going through any major updates when it came to either interface or gameplay. Occasionally there were updates to implement special holiday themed quests, like during Christmas time, but the core features were all there. Thank goodness, too, because it was difficult trying to crunch the numbers based off of hands-on experience. It took a lot of work from everyone in the community to figure which monsters were best for grinding, how coins were distributed after wars, and which exploits worked best for each boss. Since the game is Japanese based, there was never any official guide and apart from a wiki for the game that was never kept up to date or fully taken advantage of, everyone had to jump in and learn things the hard way. If there was ever a change to the gameplay, everyone would have been royally screwed. But I guess there wasn’t really ever a chance of that happening since the “spiritual successor” to Seven Swords, Avabel Online, was already in the works. I had joined the Seven Sword community relatively late, after all the really special and interesting events happened. Ah, it’s too bad you never really kept in touch with everyone, but I guess memories are enough.

Nah, I’m not much different; when I get upset or frustrated you’d be surprised at the things I can think, too. We’re all human after all and we all get wound up over things. Even if you didn’t go into things with the intention of expanding your horizons and being productive, it’s still good you got something out of it. Usually when I get myself wrapped up in near addicting situations, it doesn’t very often benefit me. With video games and anime for example, it’s not like I’m learning new skills as I go. I’m never going to play Smash or Pokemon competitively; there’s just not enough time for it. I’m also not going to work in the Western side of the anime industry. Translating for companies like Funimation and Crunchyroll? Haha, yeah, that’s not going to happen. While I do intend to learn Japanese in the future, I’m never going to reach the point where I can reply on it for an income. Well, I’ll just keep hobbies as hobbies and let it be. I know some people who want to go into what they’re passionate about, be it visual art or music. There’s this one friend of mine who wants to learn animation in college, has a dream school picked out already and is taking really legit courses like life drawing, as a junior no less. Sometimes I’m a bit envious and wish I could be like that by having my hobbies coincide with a potential career, but oh well. Ehhh, perverts and pedos huh? Can’t say I’ve had to deal with my fair share of them, as being a guy doesn’t really make me a prime target or anything, but yeah there will always be people like that. Sevens Swords didn’t actually have too much of a pervert problem, given the chat was automatically censored. However, guys usually ended up treating people behind female avatars in skimpy armor better than your average bearded cleric, eheh. And you can’t really blame yourself for falling for trolls, since we all at one time have, haha. I’ve been pretty stupid many times in my life as well, and also have dark moments that make me ashamed thinking back on them. There’s no helping it, I guess.

Gosh, you really do flatter me. I’m really glad you’ve come to trust me, because likewise I feel like I could tell you anything as well. A lot of what I’ve said I haven’t told anyone else either, I guess also because I feel that others would just brush it off as petty interests. Whenever I try to talk about either video games or anime or even something like stargazing with someone else, people never really listen. Or rather, they don’t really care or take what I say seriously. You know, they gush over the newest episode of House of Cards but when I bring up Fate they’re just like “Oh, that’s an anime right? That’s nice...” and then the conversation ends. Other times, when I mention Pokemon a lot of people think of the anime and not the game, which makes me cringe. Or when they think Smash 4 is “Brawl 2”… I guess that’s the struggle of finding interest in “childish” things, haha. It’s nice knowing you’re not just brushing me off as some weird shut-in senior though. I’m not very good at putting these things into words either, but you really mean a lot to me, more than you think.

Personally, I never took any college summer programs, but know a couple of people who have. Part of me regrets not at least applying to a few, but the thing is I wasn’t even aware summer programs like that even existed. I didn’t really have many upperclassman friends, and those that I did have I never really talked about the college application process with, eheh. By the time I realized a lot of people around me were applying to all these programs, it was already too late. There’s no point in regretting it now though. I think I’m doing alright with the number of acceptances I’ve received as well as the amount of scholarship money that’s been thrown my way. From what I’ve read in your other posts, it looks like you got into the program that you really wanted! Congratulations! I’m really happy for you! I’m sure you’re going to have a great time there, haha. I can’t speak from personal experience of course, but I don’t know anyone who disliked their time attending a summer program. Only person who even remotely complained was someone who said it was a lot of work, but she’s known for taking everything way too seriously. She’s the only senior I know who still works hard in school and is chronically unhappy but doesn’t take it easy anyway… Waaay too obsessed with those A’s, if I may say so myself. Also, attending the program will give you a good firsthand experience with the potential school of your dreams. Even if a school is touted as being Ivy-level, it won’t be for everyone. I’ve visited a lot of high ranked schools and walked away with a sour taste in my mouth. Whether it was the overall vibe, certain aspects that irked me, the fact that I could find an equally as good if not better educational deal in a cheaper college, or something really off-putting like the admissions officer not looking like he/she really cared about visitors when giving a presentation on the school, there have been many cases where a school I had high hopes for didn’t meet those expectations. I good thing to remember about college that most people forget to keep in mind until they’re a senior is that when it all comes down to it, you’re the customer. It may seem it’s the other way around with the power to reject or deny in the hands of the schools, but it’s still your money on the line. All the schools are vying for four years of your life, and it’s up to you to give it to them. Don’t just fall for the simple and misleading ploy of “oh, look how high we’re ranked” and attend a school you don’t really love. It’s kind of like with relationships: just because everyone says that guy over there is really attractive and a great person, if your personalities don’t jive it wouldn’t be a very good idea to go out with him. Anyway, I don’t mean to go on too long about this, but I just felt like I needed to get that out there, haha.

Well, I’ve made a bit of progress with my video games. I RNG abused for a shiny Scyther, to be evolved into a Scizor for my Battle Tower run of course. Adamant, perfect IVs in Attack and Speed, very good IVs in HP and defenses, basic stuff like that. This sucker was quite a bit harder to get than the Cresselia. I used a similar method to get him as I did with Cresselia, but given certain circumstances with a randomly moving NPC that threw off my numbers there was a lot of guessing involved with the very last step. It was methodical as it should have been up until that point, but instead of getting it done in one day it took three. It’s hard to explain if you aren’t familiar with RNG abuse, and I don’t want to bore you with the details, haha. I’ll move on to getting a shiny Latios to finish up my team when I find the time for it. I’ll use my SoulSilver for this guy, and from what I’ve read it might be the hardest one to get of them all. Apart from that, I’ve played a bit of Sapphire, inching closer and closer to that shiny Kyogre. It’s low priority for now, but it’ll get done eventually. Finally, I’ve been finishing up The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I started the game a long time ago and for whatever reason lost interest in it right before the climax. Honestly it’s not a very good Zelda game and the controls are kind of wonky, so it’s nothing I would recommend, but heck I already got so far so why not finish it? I guess I’ll stick some amiibo stuff on this paragraph to beef it up and save it from complete extinction. I traded my Japanese Marth for a North American Rosalina and Sonic. You’re probably wondering why I traded one of the original seven I wanted for two that I have no interest in, and the answer is that, well, I’m a bit OCD and Marth being the only imported amiibo bothers me, eheheheh… I know you don’t follow the amiibo craze, but I’ll briefly explain. Marth is impossible to find in stores because he’s considered a “unicorn” and he’s only available online by individual resellers for exorbitant prices. However, he’s officially being restocked in late April and I’m going to take that opportunity to get him, North American and all. That would leave my Japanese Marth useless: with the restock his sell value with go down as will his trade value. That’s why I found someone on reddit willing to trade a Rosalina (also a unicorn) as well as a Sonic for my Marth. Rosalina’s value is actually increasing while Marth’s is decreasing, so I’d say it’s a good investment. To recap, I have two of the seven that I want: Ike and Sheik. I’m still missing five: Marth, Lucina, Dark Pit, Ganondorf, and Palutena. Marth will be restocked soon and Lucina will be up for preorder any day now. I have a lot of things to trade in case I’m unlucky and am not able to purchase any of the amiibos directly: Shulk, Rosalina, Sonic, and Samus (I got the Samus in a free giveaway on a Twitch stream, and she’s slated to arrive on Monday). Also, to give you an idea of what’s rare, here’s a nifty little chart the amiibo subreddit made: http://www.reddit.com/r/amiibo/wiki/rarity

According to Google Maps, I live 12.5 miles from my state university and it takes about 25 minutes to drive there. I wouldn’t say the traffic is that bad, it’s just that there are a lot of smaller roads that need to be traversed so you can’t really drive too fast all the time, haha. Also, I don’t want this to come off as weird or anything, but do you by any chance happen to live in Troy, Michigan? I hope you won’t think I’m some kind of creepy stalker or anything. You’ve dropped some small hints here and there about where you live, and with all the clues laid on the table I couldn’t resist taking a stab at where you’re located. As for my line of reasoning, I guess I started off knowing (or figuring out somehow, can’t remember) that you live in a region with Eastern Standard Time. Of course, this didn’t really narrow down my options to much. Then, just recently, you heavily implied you live in a place where people prefer to say “pop” over “soda”. Referencing a map showing the frequency of generic soft drink names, and cross referencing it with the EST states, I narrowed your state down to either Ohio or Michigan, potentially West Virginia, and maybe parts of New York state, Pennsylvania, Indiana, or Kentucky. The biggest hint was when you said you live next to a city with “a very big name” but “a bit of a cruddy reputation”. Of course, the very first city that comes to most anyone’s mind is Detroit. It coincided with my earlier guess of Michigan, so at this point I felt I was on to something. After consulting Google for a bit more help, and searching something along the lines “nice places around Detroit” I stumbled upon a list of nice places in Michigan, one of which was Troy. The author of the article said it had “good schools” as well as the Somerset Collection luxury mall. Well, after checking to make sure Troy was indeed very close to Detroit and spotting palm trees in Google images of Somerset Collection, I was fairly convinced I had figured out where you live. The only thing that concerns me is that you call where you live a “town” and, well, no matter how I look at Troy it seems to be a city to me, haha. Well, with all that being said, you don’t need to either confirm or deny my guess if you don’t want to. I know you like to keep your location secret, so I’ll completely understand. Ehhh, goodness, I keep on sidetracking this conversation. I turned a few sentences into a whole paragraph, like I did with amiibos. Anyway, the issue with NJ’s state university is that it’s, in all honestly, hideous. It’s consistently ranked as one of the ugliest colleges in the country and the campus is so spread out it’s the only university I visited that went out of their way to give bus tours (in fact, the only campus tours available were bus tours as walking tours don’t exist). The only way you’d be able to get to all the buildings necessary for your classes is if you take their bus. There is actually no other physical way for you to get around, that’s how much of a mess it is. Bleh, I really don’t want to go there because it’s the farthest thing you can get from what a “university” usually feels like, but on the other hand they did give me a lot in scholarship money. It’ll be practically a free ride. Huh, I don’t know, maybe I’d be able to put up with four years of a glorified high school (because that’s what it’s pretty much like) if it meant not having to pay much.

Haha, I don’t think I’d be able to really loosen up. The way I type has been so ingrained in me it’s something I won’t be able to just change. I’m really looking forward to leaving high school behind and starting on a clean slate that is promised with college though. Even so, the way I type will probably stick with me. Sure, maybe I’ll rub people the wrong way as I’ve been doing since forever (you may say otherwise, but seriously I give pretty bad first impressions) and perhaps I’ll miss out on a few friends I otherwise would have had, but I’ve managed thus far well enough.

According to people I know who are part of the yearbook and newspaper, who are scouring Facebook for confirmed promposals in the name of “research”, there are actually significantly less promposals as of now than last year at the same time. I’m not too sure why that’s the case. Maybe more couples are just opting out of the formalities and just quietly agreeing to go to prom with each other and single guys like me are going to be spending the night with a bag of chips and a movie? … Or maybe my year’s full of lazy, uncreative bums, haha. I know some teachers who are cool with allowing promposals to happen in class, but that’s about it. And it really is kind of strange to have prom in April. It would just feel like there’s still so much of the school year left. Hm, maybe the venue your school rented out was only free then? That’s probably what happened.

Oh my, sorry sorry, in retrospect what I said about your parents was probably really harsh. I didn’t mean any offense, heheh… But yeah, my parents can also be a bit closed minded, maybe not to quite the extent of your parents as they do begrudgingly buy me video games and anime accessories as long as I don’t over-ask them, haha. They do care a lot about money and what others think of them, which is why it’s taken them a while to understand I don’t want to live a very exorbitant life. Funny thing is, it seems my dad is the one more understanding of how I feel than my mom. My mom’s the one who compares me to her friend’s children and who points to young Asians in the news and says “Aren’t they amazing? Are you not jealous? Does it not make you go ‘waa’? Hm?! Well hmm?!” Hahaha, my mom keeps on hinting that she wants me to earn a fortune and give her lots of grandchildren, while my dad just stands back and smiles to himself when I say “Maaaaaaaa!” Anyway, it’s good that I misunderstood, haha. It wouldn’t be good if you were in an abusive and negligent household or anything. Sorry again for overreacting.

Aw thanks, I’ll definitely be keeping you posted with how my college decisions go. I’ve been holding back only because I want to announce everything at once: acceptances, rejections, scholarships and all. I’m still waiting on 11 schools, heh. Mhm, the research is actually pretty legit, the only downside being you can’t really use it as leverage for college applications because AP Bio is a senior-only class in my school and you aren't officially published until around May. Our tests are kind of hard, but not nearly as difficult as yours, and my teacher is nice and always gives people extra points for the heck of it because he understands we’re all seniors who aren’t trying as hard we used to last year. Well, I’ll always be here to listen to any rants you may have and I’m going to try my best to make junior year and the rest of high school as easy for you as possible. It can be tough, so I’ll be praying every time I go to sleep that you’re already in bed. *hugs* Sleep is still important you know, you can’t have your health fail on you. You had said previously that you have a lot lined up for spring, like tennis and competitions, so if you end up bring busy over spring break don’t worry about it. Since my birthday is always over spring break, not many people remember to wish me a happy birthday anyway, so I don’t really expect much, haha. I hope your week is as stress-free as possible!

3DS Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask :B

Kirsch · March 10, 2015

Well, a lot of things just happen by chance. There are many things that have drastically shaped the way I am that came about by one specific moment in time, one choice I made. It’s crazy how life works like that, isn’t it? Heck, even our long conversations with each other can be traced back to when we first exchanged a few words about Smash 4 with each other months ago. Goodness, neither of us knew how far that would take us. Haha, I guess my experience with Seven Swords could be seen as a bit of an addiction as well. I spent long days and nights partaking in wars to collect the spoils which could be used to potentially win really good items in lotteries. There’s no doubt the raffle system for the good equipment was fixed (it didn’t take many tries at it to realize not all the items in the lottery were treated equally) but I couldn’t help myself from trying it time and time again. Gosh, I need to stay away from casinos when I grow up. I don’t think I’d be able to control myself, ehehe…

Hm, I don’t I recall Seven Swords going through any major updates when it came to either interface or gameplay. Occasionally there were updates to implement special holiday themed quests, like during Christmas time, but the core features were all there. Thank goodness, too, because it was difficult trying to crunch the numbers based off of hands-on experience. It took a lot of work from everyone in the community to figure which monsters were best for grinding, how coins were distributed after wars, and which exploits worked best for each boss. Since the game is Japanese based, there was never any official guide and apart from a wiki for the game that was never kept up to date or fully taken advantage of, everyone had to jump in and learn things the hard way. If there was ever a change to the gameplay, everyone would have been royally screwed. But I guess there wasn’t really ever a chance of that happening since the “spiritual successor” to Seven Swords, Avabel Online, was already in the works. I had joined the Seven Sword community relatively late, after all the really special and interesting events happened. Ah, it’s too bad you never really kept in touch with everyone, but I guess memories are enough.

Nah, I’m not much different; when I get upset or frustrated you’d be surprised at the things I can think, too. We’re all human after all and we all get wound up over things. Even if you didn’t go into things with the intention of expanding your horizons and being productive, it’s still good you got something out of it. Usually when I get myself wrapped up in near addicting situations, it doesn’t very often benefit me. With video games and anime for example, it’s not like I’m learning new skills as I go. I’m never going to play Smash or Pokemon competitively; there’s just not enough time for it. I’m also not going to work in the Western side of the anime industry. Translating for companies like Funimation and Crunchyroll? Haha, yeah, that’s not going to happen. While I do intend to learn Japanese in the future, I’m never going to reach the point where I can reply on it for an income. Well, I’ll just keep hobbies as hobbies and let it be. I know some people who want to go into what they’re passionate about, be it visual art or music. There’s this one friend of mine who wants to learn animation in college, has a dream school picked out already and is taking really legit courses like life drawing, as a junior no less. Sometimes I’m a bit envious and wish I could be like that by having my hobbies coincide with a potential career, but oh well. Ehhh, perverts and pedos huh? Can’t say I’ve had to deal with my fair share of them, as being a guy doesn’t really make me a prime target or anything, but yeah there will always be people like that. Sevens Swords didn’t actually have too much of a pervert problem, given the chat was automatically censored. However, guys usually ended up treating people behind female avatars in skimpy armor better than your average bearded cleric, eheh. And you can’t really blame yourself for falling for trolls, since we all at one time have, haha. I’ve been pretty stupid many times in my life as well, and also have dark moments that make me ashamed thinking back on them. There’s no helping it, I guess.

Gosh, you really do flatter me. I’m really glad you’ve come to trust me, because likewise I feel like I could tell you anything as well. A lot of what I’ve said I haven’t told anyone else either, I guess also because I feel that others would just brush it off as petty interests. Whenever I try to talk about either video games or anime or even something like stargazing with someone else, people never really listen. Or rather, they don’t really care or take what I say seriously. You know, they gush over the newest episode of House of Cards but when I bring up Fate they’re just like “Oh, that’s an anime right? That’s nice...” and then the conversation ends. Other times, when I mention Pokemon a lot of people think of the anime and not the game, which makes me cringe. Or when they think Smash 4 is “Brawl 2”… I guess that’s the struggle of finding interest in “childish” things, haha. It’s nice knowing you’re not just brushing me off as some weird shut-in senior though. I’m not very good at putting these things into words either, but you really mean a lot to me, more than you think.

Personally, I never took any college summer programs, but know a couple of people who have. Part of me regrets not at least applying to a few, but the thing is I wasn’t even aware summer programs like that even existed. I didn’t really have many upperclassman friends, and those that I did have I never really talked about the college application process with, eheh. By the time I realized a lot of people around me were applying to all these programs, it was already too late. There’s no point in regretting it now though. I think I’m doing alright with the number of acceptances I’ve received as well as the amount of scholarship money that’s been thrown my way. From what I’ve read in your other posts, it looks like you got into the program that you really wanted! Congratulations! I’m really happy for you! I’m sure you’re going to have a great time there, haha. I can’t speak from personal experience of course, but I don’t know anyone who disliked their time attending a summer program. Only person who even remotely complained was someone who said it was a lot of work, but she’s known for taking everything way too seriously. She’s the only senior I know who still works hard in school and is chronically unhappy but doesn’t take it easy anyway… Waaay too obsessed with those A’s, if I may say so myself. Also, attending the program will give you a good firsthand experience with the potential school of your dreams. Even if a school is touted as being Ivy-level, it won’t be for everyone. I’ve visited a lot of high ranked schools and walked away with a sour taste in my mouth. Whether it was the overall vibe, certain aspects that irked me, the fact that I could find an equally as good if not better educational deal in a cheaper college, or something really off-putting like the admissions officer not looking like he/she really cared about visitors when giving a presentation on the school, there have been many cases where a school I had high hopes for didn’t meet those expectations. I good thing to remember about college that most people forget to keep in mind until they’re a senior is that when it all comes down to it, you’re the customer. It may seem it’s the other way around with the power to reject or deny in the hands of the schools, but it’s still your money on the line. All the schools are vying for four years of your life, and it’s up to you to give it to them. Don’t just fall for the simple and misleading ploy of “oh, look how high we’re ranked” and attend a school you don’t really love. It’s kind of like with relationships: just because everyone says that guy over there is really attractive and a great person, if your personalities don’t jive it wouldn’t be a very good idea to go out with him. Anyway, I don’t mean to go on too long about this, but I just felt like I needed to get that out there, haha.

Well, I’ve made a bit of progress with my video games. I RNG abused for a shiny Scyther, to be evolved into a Scizor for my Battle Tower run of course. Adamant, perfect IVs in Attack and Speed, very good IVs in HP and defenses, basic stuff like that. This sucker was quite a bit harder to get than the Cresselia. I used a similar method to get him as I did with Cresselia, but given certain circumstances with a randomly moving NPC that threw off my numbers there was a lot of guessing involved with the very last step. It was methodical as it should have been up until that point, but instead of getting it done in one day it took three. It’s hard to explain if you aren’t familiar with RNG abuse, and I don’t want to bore you with the details, haha. I’ll move on to getting a shiny Latios to finish up my team when I find the time for it. I’ll use my SoulSilver for this guy, and from what I’ve read it might be the hardest one to get of them all. Apart from that, I’ve played a bit of Sapphire, inching closer and closer to that shiny Kyogre. It’s low priority for now, but it’ll get done eventually. Finally, I’ve been finishing up The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I started the game a long time ago and for whatever reason lost interest in it right before the climax. Honestly it’s not a very good Zelda game and the controls are kind of wonky, so it’s nothing I would recommend, but heck I already got so far so why not finish it? I guess I’ll stick some amiibo stuff on this paragraph to beef it up and save it from complete extinction. I traded my Japanese Marth for a North American Rosalina and Sonic. You’re probably wondering why I traded one of the original seven I wanted for two that I have no interest in, and the answer is that, well, I’m a bit OCD and Marth being the only imported amiibo bothers me, eheheheh… I know you don’t follow the amiibo craze, but I’ll briefly explain. Marth is impossible to find in stores because he’s considered a “unicorn” and he’s only available online by individual resellers for exorbitant prices. However, he’s officially being restocked in late April and I’m going to take that opportunity to get him, North American and all. That would leave my Japanese Marth useless: with the restock his sell value with go down as will his trade value. That’s why I found someone on reddit willing to trade a Rosalina (also a unicorn) as well as a Sonic for my Marth. Rosalina’s value is actually increasing while Marth’s is decreasing, so I’d say it’s a good investment. To recap, I have two of the seven that I want: Ike and Sheik. I’m still missing five: Marth, Lucina, Dark Pit, Ganondorf, and Palutena. Marth will be restocked soon and Lucina will be up for preorder any day now. I have a lot of things to trade in case I’m unlucky and am not able to purchase any of the amiibos directly: Shulk, Rosalina, Sonic, and Samus (I got the Samus in a free giveaway on a Twitch stream, and she’s slated to arrive on Monday). Also, to give you an idea of what’s rare, here’s a nifty little chart the amiibo subreddit made: http://www.reddit.com/r/amiibo/wiki/rarity

According to Google Maps, I live 12.5 miles from my state university and it takes about 25 minutes to drive there. I wouldn’t say the traffic is that bad, it’s just that there are a lot of smaller roads that need to be traversed so you can’t really drive too fast all the time, haha. Also, I don’t want this to come off as weird or anything, but do you by any chance happen to live in Troy, Michigan? I hope you won’t think I’m some kind of creepy stalker or anything. You’ve dropped some small hints here and there about where you live, and with all the clues laid on the table I couldn’t resist taking a stab at where you’re located. As for my line of reasoning, I guess I started off knowing (or figuring out somehow, can’t remember) that you live in a region with Eastern Standard Time. Of course, this didn’t really narrow down my options to much. Then, just recently, you heavily implied you live in a place where people prefer to say “pop” over “soda”. Referencing a map showing the frequency of generic soft drink names, and cross referencing it with the EST states, I narrowed your state down to either Ohio or Michigan, potentially West Virginia, and maybe parts of New York state, Pennsylvania, Indiana, or Kentucky. The biggest hint was when you said you live next to a city with “a very big name” but “a bit of a cruddy reputation”. Of course, the very first city that comes to most anyone’s mind is Detroit. It coincided with my earlier guess of Michigan, so at this point I felt I was on to something. After consulting Google for a bit more help, and searching something along the lines “nice places around Detroit” I stumbled upon a list of nice places in Michigan, one of which was Troy. The author of the article said it had “good schools” as well as the Somerset Collection luxury mall. Well, after checking to make sure Troy was indeed very close to Detroit and spotting palm trees in Google images of Somerset Collection, I was fairly convinced I had figured out where you live. The only thing that concerns me is that you call where you live a “town” and, well, no matter how I look at Troy it seems to be a city to me, haha. Well, with all that being said, you don’t need to either confirm or deny my guess if you don’t want to. I know you like to keep your location secret, so I’ll completely understand. Ehhh, goodness, I keep on sidetracking this conversation. I turned a few sentences into a whole paragraph, like I did with amiibos. Anyway, the issue with NJ’s state university is that it’s, in all honestly, hideous. It’s consistently ranked as one of the ugliest colleges in the country and the campus is so spread out it’s the only university I visited that went out of their way to give bus tours (in fact, the only campus tours available were bus tours as walking tours don’t exist). The only way you’d be able to get to all the buildings necessary for your classes is if you take their bus. There is actually no other physical way for you to get around, that’s how much of a mess it is. Bleh, I really don’t want to go there because it’s the farthest thing you can get from what a “university” usually feels like, but on the other hand they did give me a lot in scholarship money. It’ll be practically a free ride. Huh, I don’t know, maybe I’d be able to put up with four years of a glorified high school (because that’s what it’s pretty much like) if it meant not having to pay much.

Haha, I don’t think I’d be able to really loosen up. The way I type has been so ingrained in me it’s something I won’t be able to just change. I’m really looking forward to leaving high school behind and starting on a clean slate that is promised with college though. Even so, the way I type will probably stick with me. Sure, maybe I’ll rub people the wrong way as I’ve been doing since forever (you may say otherwise, but seriously I give pretty bad first impressions) and perhaps I’ll miss out on a few friends I otherwise would have had, but I’ve managed thus far well enough.

According to people I know who are part of the yearbook and newspaper, who are scouring Facebook for confirmed promposals in the name of “research”, there are actually significantly less promposals as of now than last year at the same time. I’m not too sure why that’s the case. Maybe more couples are just opting out of the formalities and just quietly agreeing to go to prom with each other and single guys like me are going to be spending the night with a bag of chips and a movie? … Or maybe my year’s full of lazy, uncreative bums, haha. I know some teachers who are cool with allowing promposals to happen in class, but that’s about it. And it really is kind of strange to have prom in April. It would just feel like there’s still so much of the school year left. Hm, maybe the venue your school rented out was only free then? That’s probably what happened.

Oh my, sorry sorry, in retrospect what I said about your parents was probably really harsh. I didn’t mean any offense, heheh… But yeah, my parents can also be a bit closed minded, maybe not to quite the extent of your parents as they do begrudgingly buy me video games and anime accessories as long as I don’t over-ask them, haha. They do care a lot about money and what others think of them, which is why it’s taken them a while to understand I don’t want to live a very exorbitant life. Funny thing is, it seems my dad is the one more understanding of how I feel than my mom. My mom’s the one who compares me to her friend’s children and who points to young Asians in the news and says “Aren’t they amazing? Are you not jealous? Does it not make you go ‘waa’? Hm?! Well hmm?!” Hahaha, my mom keeps on hinting that she wants me to earn a fortune and give her lots of grandchildren, while my dad just stands back and smiles to himself when I say “Maaaaaaaa!” Anyway, it’s good that I misunderstood, haha. It wouldn’t be good if you were in an abusive and negligent household or anything. Sorry again for overreacting.

Aw thanks, I’ll definitely be keeping you posted with how my college decisions go. I’ve been holding back only because I want to announce everything at once: acceptances, rejections, scholarships and all. I’m still waiting on 11 schools, heh. Mhm, the research is actually pretty legit, the only downside being you can’t really use it as leverage for college applications because AP Bio is a senior-only class in my school and you aren't officially published until around May. Our tests are kind of hard, but not nearly as difficult as yours, and my teacher is nice and always gives people extra points for the heck of it because he understands we’re all seniors who aren’t trying as hard we used to last year. Well, I’ll always be here to listen to any rants you may have and I’m going to try my best to make junior year and the rest of high school as easy for you as possible. It can be tough, so I’ll be praying every time I go to sleep that you’re already in bed. *hugs* Sleep is still important you know, you can’t have your health fail on you. You had said previously that you have a lot lined up for spring, like tennis and competitions, so if you end up bring busy over spring break don’t worry about it. Since my birthday is always over spring break, not many people remember to wish me a happy birthday anyway, so I don’t really expect much, haha. I hope your week is as stress-free as possible!

I know you're aware of this, but wouldn't talking via PM be better? Don't get me wrong, I'm not going for an undertone saying "PLZ STOP". Just wanted to make sure you guys wouldn't mind this being seen publicly.

She lives in NYC, probably in the more suburban areas. Hehe.

Akazora · March 11, 2015

I know you're aware of this, but wouldn't talking via PM be better? Don't get me wrong, I'm not going for an undertone saying "PLZ STOP". Just wanted to make sure you guys wouldn't mind this being seen publicly.

She lives in NYC, probably in the more suburban areas. Hehe.

Ohh, you actually stopped by! We were talking about you a few weeks ago, wondering why you haven't been stalking this thread for info. It seems you haven't had the time to read through all of the paragraphs we've typed between each other otherwise you'd have realize that we both are fine with this being a "public PM" (there's nothing to hide after all) and that Kenzi herself confirmed she doesn't live in NYC anymore. Tsk tsk Kirsch, you've been slacking off.

Nah, I'm just kidding. In fact, if you revealed that you had in fact been following this thread, then..................

Kenzi · March 12, 2015

Well, a lot of things just happen by chance. There are many things that have drastically shaped the way I am that came about by one specific moment in time, one choice I made. It’s crazy how life works like that, isn’t it? Heck, even our long conversations with each other can be traced back to when we first exchanged a few words about Smash 4 with each other months ago. Goodness, neither of us knew how far that would take us. Haha, I guess my experience with Seven Swords could be seen as a bit of an addiction as well. I spent long days and nights partaking in wars to collect the spoils which could be used to potentially win really good items in lotteries. There’s no doubt the raffle system for the good equipment was fixed (it didn’t take many tries at it to realize not all the items in the lottery were treated equally) but I couldn’t help myself from trying it time and time again. Gosh, I need to stay away from casinos when I grow up. I don’t think I’d be able to control myself, ehehe…

Hm, I don’t I recall Seven Swords going through any major updates when it came to either interface or gameplay. Occasionally there were updates to implement special holiday themed quests, like during Christmas time, but the core features were all there. Thank goodness, too, because it was difficult trying to crunch the numbers based off of hands-on experience. It took a lot of work from everyone in the community to figure which monsters were best for grinding, how coins were distributed after wars, and which exploits worked best for each boss. Since the game is Japanese based, there was never any official guide and apart from a wiki for the game that was never kept up to date or fully taken advantage of, everyone had to jump in and learn things the hard way. If there was ever a change to the gameplay, everyone would have been royally screwed. But I guess there wasn’t really ever a chance of that happening since the “spiritual successor” to Seven Swords, Avabel Online, was already in the works. I had joined the Seven Sword community relatively late, after all the really special and interesting events happened. Ah, it’s too bad you never really kept in touch with everyone, but I guess memories are enough.

Nah, I’m not much different; when I get upset or frustrated you’d be surprised at the things I can think, too. We’re all human after all and we all get wound up over things. Even if you didn’t go into things with the intention of expanding your horizons and being productive, it’s still good you got something out of it. Usually when I get myself wrapped up in near addicting situations, it doesn’t very often benefit me. With video games and anime for example, it’s not like I’m learning new skills as I go. I’m never going to play Smash or Pokemon competitively; there’s just not enough time for it. I’m also not going to work in the Western side of the anime industry. Translating for companies like Funimation and Crunchyroll? Haha, yeah, that’s not going to happen. While I do intend to learn Japanese in the future, I’m never going to reach the point where I can reply on it for an income. Well, I’ll just keep hobbies as hobbies and let it be. I know some people who want to go into what they’re passionate about, be it visual art or music. There’s this one friend of mine who wants to learn animation in college, has a dream school picked out already and is taking really legit courses like life drawing, as a junior no less. Sometimes I’m a bit envious and wish I could be like that by having my hobbies coincide with a potential career, but oh well. Ehhh, perverts and pedos huh? Can’t say I’ve had to deal with my fair share of them, as being a guy doesn’t really make me a prime target or anything, but yeah there will always be people like that. Sevens Swords didn’t actually have too much of a pervert problem, given the chat was automatically censored. However, guys usually ended up treating people behind female avatars in skimpy armor better than your average bearded cleric, eheh. And you can’t really blame yourself for falling for trolls, since we all at one time have, haha. I’ve been pretty stupid many times in my life as well, and also have dark moments that make me ashamed thinking back on them. There’s no helping it, I guess.

Gosh, you really do flatter me. I’m really glad you’ve come to trust me, because likewise I feel like I could tell you anything as well. A lot of what I’ve said I haven’t told anyone else either, I guess also because I feel that others would just brush it off as petty interests. Whenever I try to talk about either video games or anime or even something like stargazing with someone else, people never really listen. Or rather, they don’t really care or take what I say seriously. You know, they gush over the newest episode of House of Cards but when I bring up Fate they’re just like “Oh, that’s an anime right? That’s nice...” and then the conversation ends. Other times, when I mention Pokemon a lot of people think of the anime and not the game, which makes me cringe. Or when they think Smash 4 is “Brawl 2”… I guess that’s the struggle of finding interest in “childish” things, haha. It’s nice knowing you’re not just brushing me off as some weird shut-in senior though. I’m not very good at putting these things into words either, but you really mean a lot to me, more than you think.

Personally, I never took any college summer programs, but know a couple of people who have. Part of me regrets not at least applying to a few, but the thing is I wasn’t even aware summer programs like that even existed. I didn’t really have many upperclassman friends, and those that I did have I never really talked about the college application process with, eheh. By the time I realized a lot of people around me were applying to all these programs, it was already too late. There’s no point in regretting it now though. I think I’m doing alright with the number of acceptances I’ve received as well as the amount of scholarship money that’s been thrown my way. From what I’ve read in your other posts, it looks like you got into the program that you really wanted! Congratulations! I’m really happy for you! I’m sure you’re going to have a great time there, haha. I can’t speak from personal experience of course, but I don’t know anyone who disliked their time attending a summer program. Only person who even remotely complained was someone who said it was a lot of work, but she’s known for taking everything way too seriously. She’s the only senior I know who still works hard in school and is chronically unhappy but doesn’t take it easy anyway… Waaay too obsessed with those A’s, if I may say so myself. Also, attending the program will give you a good firsthand experience with the potential school of your dreams. Even if a school is touted as being Ivy-level, it won’t be for everyone. I’ve visited a lot of high ranked schools and walked away with a sour taste in my mouth. Whether it was the overall vibe, certain aspects that irked me, the fact that I could find an equally as good if not better educational deal in a cheaper college, or something really off-putting like the admissions officer not looking like he/she really cared about visitors when giving a presentation on the school, there have been many cases where a school I had high hopes for didn’t meet those expectations. I good thing to remember about college that most people forget to keep in mind until they’re a senior is that when it all comes down to it, you’re the customer. It may seem it’s the other way around with the power to reject or deny in the hands of the schools, but it’s still your money on the line. All the schools are vying for four years of your life, and it’s up to you to give it to them. Don’t just fall for the simple and misleading ploy of “oh, look how high we’re ranked” and attend a school you don’t really love. It’s kind of like with relationships: just because everyone says that guy over there is really attractive and a great person, if your personalities don’t jive it wouldn’t be a very good idea to go out with him. Anyway, I don’t mean to go on too long about this, but I just felt like I needed to get that out there, haha.

Well, I’ve made a bit of progress with my video games. I RNG abused for a shiny Scyther, to be evolved into a Scizor for my Battle Tower run of course. Adamant, perfect IVs in Attack and Speed, very good IVs in HP and defenses, basic stuff like that. This sucker was quite a bit harder to get than the Cresselia. I used a similar method to get him as I did with Cresselia, but given certain circumstances with a randomly moving NPC that threw off my numbers there was a lot of guessing involved with the very last step. It was methodical as it should have been up until that point, but instead of getting it done in one day it took three. It’s hard to explain if you aren’t familiar with RNG abuse, and I don’t want to bore you with the details, haha. I’ll move on to getting a shiny Latios to finish up my team when I find the time for it. I’ll use my SoulSilver for this guy, and from what I’ve read it might be the hardest one to get of them all. Apart from that, I’ve played a bit of Sapphire, inching closer and closer to that shiny Kyogre. It’s low priority for now, but it’ll get done eventually. Finally, I’ve been finishing up The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I started the game a long time ago and for whatever reason lost interest in it right before the climax. Honestly it’s not a very good Zelda game and the controls are kind of wonky, so it’s nothing I would recommend, but heck I already got so far so why not finish it? I guess I’ll stick some amiibo stuff on this paragraph to beef it up and save it from complete extinction. I traded my Japanese Marth for a North American Rosalina and Sonic. You’re probably wondering why I traded one of the original seven I wanted for two that I have no interest in, and the answer is that, well, I’m a bit OCD and Marth being the only imported amiibo bothers me, eheheheh… I know you don’t follow the amiibo craze, but I’ll briefly explain. Marth is impossible to find in stores because he’s considered a “unicorn” and he’s only available online by individual resellers for exorbitant prices. However, he’s officially being restocked in late April and I’m going to take that opportunity to get him, North American and all. That would leave my Japanese Marth useless: with the restock his sell value with go down as will his trade value. That’s why I found someone on reddit willing to trade a Rosalina (also a unicorn) as well as a Sonic for my Marth. Rosalina’s value is actually increasing while Marth’s is decreasing, so I’d say it’s a good investment. To recap, I have two of the seven that I want: Ike and Sheik. I’m still missing five: Marth, Lucina, Dark Pit, Ganondorf, and Palutena. Marth will be restocked soon and Lucina will be up for preorder any day now. I have a lot of things to trade in case I’m unlucky and am not able to purchase any of the amiibos directly: Shulk, Rosalina, Sonic, and Samus (I got the Samus in a free giveaway on a Twitch stream, and she’s slated to arrive on Monday). Also, to give you an idea of what’s rare, here’s a nifty little chart the amiibo subreddit made: http://www.reddit.com/r/amiibo/wiki/rarity

According to Google Maps, I live 12.5 miles from my state university and it takes about 25 minutes to drive there. I wouldn’t say the traffic is that bad, it’s just that there are a lot of smaller roads that need to be traversed so you can’t really drive too fast all the time, haha. Also, I don’t want this to come off as weird or anything, but do you by any chance happen to live in Troy, Michigan? I hope you won’t think I’m some kind of creepy stalker or anything. You’ve dropped some small hints here and there about where you live, and with all the clues laid on the table I couldn’t resist taking a stab at where you’re located. As for my line of reasoning, I guess I started off knowing (or figuring out somehow, can’t remember) that you live in a region with Eastern Standard Time. Of course, this didn’t really narrow down my options to much. Then, just recently, you heavily implied you live in a place where people prefer to say “pop” over “soda”. Referencing a map showing the frequency of generic soft drink names, and cross referencing it with the EST states, I narrowed your state down to either Ohio or Michigan, potentially West Virginia, and maybe parts of New York state, Pennsylvania, Indiana, or Kentucky. The biggest hint was when you said you live next to a city with “a very big name” but “a bit of a cruddy reputation”. Of course, the very first city that comes to most anyone’s mind is Detroit. It coincided with my earlier guess of Michigan, so at this point I felt I was on to something. After consulting Google for a bit more help, and searching something along the lines “nice places around Detroit” I stumbled upon a list of nice places in Michigan, one of which was Troy. The author of the article said it had “good schools” as well as the Somerset Collection luxury mall. Well, after checking to make sure Troy was indeed very close to Detroit and spotting palm trees in Google images of Somerset Collection, I was fairly convinced I had figured out where you live. The only thing that concerns me is that you call where you live a “town” and, well, no matter how I look at Troy it seems to be a city to me, haha. Well, with all that being said, you don’t need to either confirm or deny my guess if you don’t want to. I know you like to keep your location secret, so I’ll completely understand. Ehhh, goodness, I keep on sidetracking this conversation. I turned a few sentences into a whole paragraph, like I did with amiibos. Anyway, the issue with NJ’s state university is that it’s, in all honestly, hideous. It’s consistently ranked as one of the ugliest colleges in the country and the campus is so spread out it’s the only university I visited that went out of their way to give bus tours (in fact, the only campus tours available were bus tours as walking tours don’t exist). The only way you’d be able to get to all the buildings necessary for your classes is if you take their bus. There is actually no other physical way for you to get around, that’s how much of a mess it is. Bleh, I really don’t want to go there because it’s the farthest thing you can get from what a “university” usually feels like, but on the other hand they did give me a lot in scholarship money. It’ll be practically a free ride. Huh, I don’t know, maybe I’d be able to put up with four years of a glorified high school (because that’s what it’s pretty much like) if it meant not having to pay much.

Haha, I don’t think I’d be able to really loosen up. The way I type has been so ingrained in me it’s something I won’t be able to just change. I’m really looking forward to leaving high school behind and starting on a clean slate that is promised with college though. Even so, the way I type will probably stick with me. Sure, maybe I’ll rub people the wrong way as I’ve been doing since forever (you may say otherwise, but seriously I give pretty bad first impressions) and perhaps I’ll miss out on a few friends I otherwise would have had, but I’ve managed thus far well enough.

According to people I know who are part of the yearbook and newspaper, who are scouring Facebook for confirmed promposals in the name of “research”, there are actually significantly less promposals as of now than last year at the same time. I’m not too sure why that’s the case. Maybe more couples are just opting out of the formalities and just quietly agreeing to go to prom with each other and single guys like me are going to be spending the night with a bag of chips and a movie? … Or maybe my year’s full of lazy, uncreative bums, haha. I know some teachers who are cool with allowing promposals to happen in class, but that’s about it. And it really is kind of strange to have prom in April. It would just feel like there’s still so much of the school year left. Hm, maybe the venue your school rented out was only free then? That’s probably what happened.

Oh my, sorry sorry, in retrospect what I said about your parents was probably really harsh. I didn’t mean any offense, heheh… But yeah, my parents can also be a bit closed minded, maybe not to quite the extent of your parents as they do begrudgingly buy me video games and anime accessories as long as I don’t over-ask them, haha. They do care a lot about money and what others think of them, which is why it’s taken them a while to understand I don’t want to live a very exorbitant life. Funny thing is, it seems my dad is the one more understanding of how I feel than my mom. My mom’s the one who compares me to her friend’s children and who points to young Asians in the news and says “Aren’t they amazing? Are you not jealous? Does it not make you go ‘waa’? Hm?! Well hmm?!” Hahaha, my mom keeps on hinting that she wants me to earn a fortune and give her lots of grandchildren, while my dad just stands back and smiles to himself when I say “Maaaaaaaa!” Anyway, it’s good that I misunderstood, haha. It wouldn’t be good if you were in an abusive and negligent household or anything. Sorry again for overreacting.

Aw thanks, I’ll definitely be keeping you posted with how my college decisions go. I’ve been holding back only because I want to announce everything at once: acceptances, rejections, scholarships and all. I’m still waiting on 11 schools, heh. Mhm, the research is actually pretty legit, the only downside being you can’t really use it as leverage for college applications because AP Bio is a senior-only class in my school and you aren't officially published until around May. Our tests are kind of hard, but not nearly as difficult as yours, and my teacher is nice and always gives people extra points for the heck of it because he understands we’re all seniors who aren’t trying as hard we used to last year. Well, I’ll always be here to listen to any rants you may have and I’m going to try my best to make junior year and the rest of high school as easy for you as possible. It can be tough, so I’ll be praying every time I go to sleep that you’re already in bed. *hugs* Sleep is still important you know, you can’t have your health fail on you. You had said previously that you have a lot lined up for spring, like tennis and competitions, so if you end up bring busy over spring break don’t worry about it. Since my birthday is always over spring break, not many people remember to wish me a happy birthday anyway, so I don’t really expect much, haha. I hope your week is as stress-free as possible!

This might sound strange, but I'm really grateful towards your post that started this long conversation string because I'm really glad to have met someone as amazing and considerate as you. Everything happens by chance, and I can't help but feel thankful that life has led me to where I am at this point--even the seemingly insignificant events. I guess that means there's no doubt that we're firm believers of the butterfly effect then, haha. Oh my gosh, I know exactly what you mean. I remember when my sister and I went into a casino on a cruise ship and decided to try our luck with some of the slot machines and along with various other casino games. We easily cashed out $20 with little payback before the manager kicked us out for being underage, lol. The place reeked of cigar smoke and there's no telling how much more money we would have wasted if we weren't kicked out, ehehe. I know I've also encountered your same situation in games before (like some of those neopet wheels I used to play ages ago). It sucks how these lotteries tend to be rigged, but it can't be helped.

I'm not sure if you remember, but YouTube also had some Easter Eggs they would implement during certain times of the year (ex. the option of animated snowflakes appearing on the video player a few Decembers ago). Oh geez, I can't imagine how hard it must have been to jump in blindly without a guide of some sort. Was there anything about the game that intrigued you to dive in? It's good that the gameplay stayed relatively consistent because of the amount of imminent rage quits that probably would have ended up happening with the latter option, haha.

This was one of the rare occasions where my "addiction" actually helped me gain a few somewhat useful skills. Hmm, I wouldn't say that watching anime and playing video games are completely useless. I've learned about basic stereotypes and archetypes, and a few inspirational quotes about humanity and morals (even some vocab from Pokemon lol)...and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. It's all in good fun, and they're great sources of entertainment for me. Yeah, school can be rigid and limited with classes that feed into potential dream careers, but that's all the more reason to look forward to college, right? I have a few friends taking AP studio art, but I think only 2-3 of them are actually going to pursue a career in art. The others are probably taking the class for fun. I also kinda wanted to take art for fun, but I'm already taking orchestra, so having another elective is pushing it a bit. It was rare for me to come across perverts and pedos since most of them were tagged by the community, so it was fairly easy to identify them. However, the ones I did come across posted and commented tremendously disturbing...stuff. Most of them were RPers, which made it that much worse--it didn't even matter what gender you were--they wouldn't leave you alone. Haha, the internet will always be the internet. It's only "natural" for those under sparsely clothed female avatars to be treated better, I guess. I'm pretty used to it now. I've been desensitized by the internet far more than I should have been, so it all comes across as either stale or humorous instead of appalling or offensive now. yikes.

But if you think about it, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Even if most people don't take part in similar interests as you, the ones who do can end up becoming some of your closest friends. I recently discovered that a real life friend of mine also actively watched ATLA/LOK. This eventually branched off to other shows, and now that's all we talk about when we're together. There's no need to dwell on how people are missing out on quality games and anime. Sure, anyone can watch Doctor Who or How I Met Your Mother, but the ones who actually enjoy endeavors that you enjoy are different. They're not like everyone else--they're unique. That's kinda how I view you right now. I guess it would be nice if everyone enjoyed the same pursuits that you enjoy, but how would you end up distinguishing everyone from one another? Dare to be different, lol. Those who do tend to stand out more. Like you stated in one of your previous posts, they become more special. And with that said, this paragraph also applies to you because you also mean a lot to me, haha.

Aw, thank you. I've heard nice things about this program from online sources, and I'm really looking forward to it! The only reason I discovered this summer program was because my calc teacher recommended it to me. I was struggling in his class last semester, but despite this, he encouraged me to apply and even wrote my letter of rec for me. And for that, I'm really thankful. Many of my friends also keep their mouths shut about summer programs. It's probably because no one ever asks about them, so it's not like everyone's trying to be secretive with one another, lol. But it's great that things are looking good for you so far! The admissions officer for this college really seems to care about the students when she came to our school though. She even went as far as to visit students while they were working to congratulate them on getting accepted. I have really high expectations for this college, and I have no doubt that I won't be let down when I take a visit to the campus. A great school giving me a bad time, or an average school giving me a great time? I know reputation tends to be a huge factor, but I'll make sure to do a fair amount of research on the schools before applying. Thank you so much for the heads up!

It's really fascinating reading your stories about RNG abuse! Although I usually don't have much to contribute to the discussion, just know that I do take an interest in your updates, haha. I don't want this paragraph to die out either since I love reading about how everything's going for you so far. Hmm, I've never played Spirit Tracks before, but from what I've seen, a lot of people seem to like it. Is there any reason why you don't like it as much? I'm still wondering why that reddittor wanted your Japanese Marth. Perhaps he/she only collects imported amiibos, haha. I never realized that they were all assigned such specific values. It's awesome how you have so many though! Good luck on getting the rest!

Holy mother of god...you're right on point. I can thank my lucky stars I wasn't drinking anything when I first read this or else I would have done an enormous spit take all over my laptop; you really took me by surprise there, haha. I had to examine it over a few times to make sure I wasn't misreading anything. I can't wrap my head around this. I didn't realize I gave away that much information about myself. I'm shocked, but really amazed. I knew you were observant but, wow. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if you managed to deduce which school I go to or even my address, lol. I'm just stunned that you managed to narrow it down so much. I mean, I easily could've been living in some of the other towns or cities surrounding Detroit, so being able to narrow it down to my city location, not just my state or county location, with such little and general information is unbelievably impressive. The "hints" I supposedly gave weren't intentional either, lol. I'll assume that you either went through a lot of digging, or that you got really lucky from the article you managed to stumble across, heh. Oh, I use "city" and "town" interchangeably since The "City" of Troy is nothing compared to The City of New York--it's not nearly as urban as NYC, so "suburban" would be more suitable. Was it anything in particular that made you feel compelled to piece everything together? As for your location, I felt like venturing into uncharted territory after a few minutes of examining various distance comparisons/locations and characteristics, ehehe... New Jersey itself is known for its high population of Indians, so I figured that Middlesex County would be a good stopping point--it's in close proximity to NYC and it's very populous in Indians. Hmm, actually, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and go for Edison. Earlier, you mentioned something about a small museum and a historic monument next to it: Thomas Edison Museum and Edison Tower, perhaps? The landmarks are roughly 20 minutes away from Rutgers University and Edison is also directly southwest from NYC. I can't recall much other info on where you live, and Edison didn't seem too farfetched either. Now, I don't know how much of NYC you can see from there since you said that you could see a "faint glow" from where you live, so I was a bit hesitant to insert in this portion of my response. I originally wasn't planning on guessing your location but I wanted to give it a shot and see how close I get, lol. It's definitely not nearly as impressive as your deduction though; I'm still really taken aback, haha. But, of course, you don't have to confirm or deny it either. Oh geez, if you really dislike the university that much, even it is practically a free ride, it's probably best to head elsewhere. You're going to spend four years of your life there, so why not make the most out of it? It's good that you managed to get so many scholarships! Definitely consider those, because four years can be a pretty long time unless you plan to transfer.

That's totally understandable, haha. Old habits tend to stick and it's not like how anyone types is a big deal or anything, lol. Having a clean slate is also one of the many reasons I look forward to college as well. I'm still gonna be same old me, but it's always nice to have a clean start for a new period of life. And I'm sure your first impressions aren't as bad as you think! Depending on the person I'm talking to, I can come off as pretty derpy since I laugh a lot. Perhaps it's because I'm so simple-minded since I'm so easily amused, haha.

The promposals are still going strong around here and it doesn't seem to show any signs of slowing down. Hmm, I'm not too sure about your situation. Maybe March is still too early? haha. Perhaps prom is beginning to lose its hype? Nah, I'm seeing promposals happening everywhere: in people's houses, in parking lots, at school, after competitions--and these people are going all out. Guitars, sushi, yogurt, videos, slideshows, posters, etc. (and they're all really creative as well). These are also the same people who're probably going to end up renting limos there. April does seem a bit too soon, but I'm still not entirely sure why they decided to move it so early this year. I'm seeing a lot more of these than I did last year though.

Oh, it's not a problem! It's my fault for putting them in such a negative light. I haven't asked for a video game or console for years. There's no way in hell they'll buy me any at this point. Haha, my mom is a lot more understanding than my dad. It's probably because her communication or social skills are a lot better. Both of them still compare me to others, but I think they've finally picked up on how bothered I tend to get when that happens. The whole "why can't you be like him/her??" has been slowly losing prevalence, so that's a bit more relieving. Whenever my dad yells at me, my mom usually helps ease the stress because she also understands how hard-headed he can be. She rarely gets mad at me nowadays, whereas my dad's fuse seems to be getting shorter. It's gotten to the point where I avoid talking to my dad in order to minimize any chance of him blowing up--I don't even ask him for help anymore. If you couldn't tell already, I'm absolutely terrified of my dad. I've been getting increasingly hostile towards him for this reason even though I know I shouldn't. I know that he cares about me. I've been living under his roof for the entirety of my life so far, and I can't help but feel like an ungrateful freeloader for treating him like this. I always thought that maybe getting good grades and making him proud of me will make up for this, or that I could always patch up our relationship when I'm finally able to hold my own ground after college. I feel awful on the inside because it's almost as if I forgot how to even talk to him. His English isn't that great, and my Chinese isn't good enough to articulate what I want to say to him, so the language barrier has become one of the primary issues for me--I can only talk to him in broken English. It's a lot easier to talk to my mom. I love my parents to pieces, so I hope this didn't give off the wrong impression. Gosh, I'm really sorry for unloading all of this on you. I didn't even realize how much I typed until after reading over this.

I'm sure you'll have no problem with those remaining schools, heh. Our bio class is split pretty evenly between juniors and seniors and our teacher doesn't round or give us extra points out of pity. We seldom receive extra credit so every point matters in the class. It kinda sucks that the research won't help on college apps, but at least the experience sounds awesome! I know I'd probably enjoy it a lot, haha. Aw, you're the sweetest. I know I've said this time and time again, but your words really do mean a lot to me, and I'm touched that you care so much. Although my sleep schedule is still pretty screwed up, I think it's starting to improve a bit. Baby steps, lol. Most of my teachers plan to leave us with as little work as possible before spring break starts, so remembering your birthday definitely won't be a problem for me. Don't worry about it! haha.

I know you're aware of this, but wouldn't talking via PM be better? Don't get me wrong, I'm not going for an undertone saying "PLZ STOP". Just wanted to make sure you guys wouldn't mind this being seen publicly.

lol, no one ever bothers to read these extensive conversations of ours anyway. I appreciate the concern though, haha.

Akazora · March 14, 2015

This might sound strange, but I'm really grateful towards your post that started this long conversation string because I'm really glad to have met someone as amazing and considerate as you. Everything happens by chance, and I can't help but feel thankful that life has led me to where I am at this point--even the seemingly insignificant events. I guess that means there's no doubt that we're firm believers of the butterfly effect then, haha. Oh my gosh, I know exactly what you mean. I remember when my sister and I went into a casino on a cruise ship and decided to try our luck with some of the slot machines and along with various other casino games. We easily cashed out $20 with little payback before the manager kicked us out for being underage, lol. The place reeked of cigar smoke and there's no telling how much more money we would have wasted if we weren't kicked out, ehehe. I know I've also encountered your same situation in games before (like some of those neopet wheels I used to play ages ago). It sucks how these lotteries tend to be rigged, but it can't be helped.

I'm not sure if you remember, but YouTube also had some Easter Eggs they would implement during certain times of the year (ex. the option of animated snowflakes appearing on the video player a few Decembers ago). Oh geez, I can't imagine how hard it must have been to jump in blindly without a guide of some sort. Was there anything about the game that intrigued you to dive in? It's good that the gameplay stayed relatively consistent because of the amount of imminent rage quits that probably would have ended up happening with the latter option, haha.

This was one of the rare occasions where my "addiction" actually helped me gain a few somewhat useful skills. Hmm, I wouldn't say that watching anime and playing video games are completely useless. I've learned about basic stereotypes and archetypes, and a few inspirational quotes about humanity and morals (even some vocab from Pokemon lol)...and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. It's all in good fun, and they're great sources of entertainment for me. Yeah, school can be rigid and limited with classes that feed into potential dream careers, but that's all the more reason to look forward to college, right? I have a few friends taking AP studio art, but I think only 2-3 of them are actually going to pursue a career in art. The others are probably taking the class for fun. I also kinda wanted to take art for fun, but I'm already taking orchestra, so having another elective is pushing it a bit. It was rare for me to come across perverts and pedos since most of them were tagged by the community, so it was fairly easy to identify them. However, the ones I did come across posted and commented tremendously disturbing...stuff. Most of them were RPers, which made it that much worse--it didn't even matter what gender you were--they wouldn't leave you alone. Haha, the internet will always be the internet. It's only "natural" for those under sparsely clothed female avatars to be treated better, I guess. I'm pretty used to it now. I've been desensitized by the internet far more than I should have been, so it all comes across as either stale or humorous instead of appalling or offensive now. yikes.

But if you think about it, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Even if most people don't take part in similar interests as you, the ones who do can end up becoming some of your closest friends. I recently discovered that a real life friend of mine also actively watched ATLA/LOK. This eventually branched off to other shows, and now that's all we talk about when we're together. There's no need to dwell on how people are missing out on quality games and anime. Sure, anyone can watch Doctor Who or How I Met Your Mother, but the ones who actually enjoy endeavors that you enjoy are different. They're not like everyone else--they're unique. That's kinda how I view you right now. I guess it would be nice if everyone enjoyed the same pursuits that you enjoy, but how would you end up distinguishing everyone from one another? Dare to be different, lol. Those who do tend to stand out more. Like you stated in one of your previous posts, they become more special. And with that said, this paragraph also applies to you because you also mean a lot to me, haha.

Aw, thank you. I've heard nice things about this program from online sources, and I'm really looking forward to it! The only reason I discovered this summer program was because my calc teacher recommended it to me. I was struggling in his class last semester, but despite this, he encouraged me to apply and even wrote my letter of rec for me. And for that, I'm really thankful. Many of my friends also keep their mouths shut about summer programs. It's probably because no one ever asks about them, so it's not like everyone's trying to be secretive with one another, lol. But it's great that things are looking good for you so far! The admissions officer for this college really seems to care about the students when she came to our school though. She even went as far as to visit students while they were working to congratulate them on getting accepted. I have really high expectations for this college, and I have no doubt that I won't be let down when I take a visit to the campus. A great school giving me a bad time, or an average school giving me a great time? I know reputation tends to be a huge factor, but I'll make sure to do a fair amount of research on the schools before applying. Thank you so much for the heads up!

It's really fascinating reading your stories about RNG abuse! Although I usually don't have much to contribute to the discussion, just know that I do take an interest in your updates, haha. I don't want this paragraph to die out either since I love reading about how everything's going for you so far. Hmm, I've never played Spirit Tracks before, but from what I've seen, a lot of people seem to like it. Is there any reason why you don't like it as much? I'm still wondering why that reddittor wanted your Japanese Marth. Perhaps he/she only collects imported amiibos, haha. I never realized that they were all assigned such specific values. It's awesome how you have so many though! Good luck on getting the rest!

Holy mother of god...you're right on point. I can thank my lucky stars I wasn't drinking anything when I first read this or else I would have done an enormous spit take all over my laptop; you really took me by surprise there, haha. I had to examine it over a few times to make sure I wasn't misreading anything. I can't wrap my head around this. I didn't realize I gave away that much information about myself. I'm shocked, but really amazed. I knew you were observant but, wow. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if you managed to deduce which school I go to or even my address, lol. I'm just stunned that you managed to narrow it down so much. I mean, I easily could've been living in some of the other towns or cities surrounding Detroit, so being able to narrow it down to my city location, not just my state or county location, with such little and general information is unbelievably impressive. The "hints" I supposedly gave weren't intentional either, lol. I'll assume that you either went through a lot of digging, or that you got really lucky from the article you managed to stumble across, heh. Oh, I use "city" and "town" interchangeably since The "City" of Troy is nothing compared to The City of New York--it's not nearly as urban as NYC, so "suburban" would be more suitable. Was it anything in particular that made you feel compelled to piece everything together? As for your location, I felt like venturing into uncharted territory after a few minutes of examining various distance comparisons/locations and characteristics, ehehe... New Jersey itself is known for its high population of Indians, so I figured that Middlesex County would be a good stopping point--it's in close proximity to NYC and it's very populous in Indians. Hmm, actually, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and go for Edison. Earlier, you mentioned something about a small museum and a historic monument next to it: Thomas Edison Museum and Edison Tower, perhaps? The landmarks are roughly 20 minutes away from Rutgers University and Edison is also directly southwest from NYC. I can't recall much other info on where you live, and Edison didn't seem too farfetched either. Now, I don't know how much of NYC you can see from there since you said that you could see a "faint glow" from where you live, so I was a bit hesitant to insert in this portion of my response. I originally wasn't planning on guessing your location but I wanted to give it a shot and see how close I get, lol. It's definitely not nearly as impressive as your deduction though; I'm still really taken aback, haha. But, of course, you don't have to confirm or deny it either. Oh geez, if you really dislike the university that much, even it is practically a free ride, it's probably best to head elsewhere. You're going to spend four years of your life there, so why not make the most out of it? It's good that you managed to get so many scholarships! Definitely consider those, because four years can be a pretty long time unless you plan to transfer.

That's totally understandable, haha. Old habits tend to stick and it's not like how anyone types is a big deal or anything, lol. Having a clean slate is also one of the many reasons I look forward to college as well. I'm still gonna be same old me, but it's always nice to have a clean start for a new period of life. And I'm sure your first impressions aren't as bad as you think! Depending on the person I'm talking to, I can come off as pretty derpy since I laugh a lot. Perhaps it's because I'm so simple-minded since I'm so easily amused, haha.

The promposals are still going strong around here and it doesn't seem to show any signs of slowing down. Hmm, I'm not too sure about your situation. Maybe March is still too early? haha. Perhaps prom is beginning to lose its hype? Nah, I'm seeing promposals happening everywhere: in people's houses, in parking lots, at school, after competitions--and these people are going all out. Guitars, sushi, yogurt, videos, slideshows, posters, etc. (and they're all really creative as well). These are also the same people who're probably going to end up renting limos there. April does seem a bit too soon, but I'm still not entirely sure why they decided to move it so early this year. I'm seeing a lot more of these than I did last year though.

Oh, it's not a problem! It's my fault for putting them in such a negative light. I haven't asked for a video game or console for years. There's no way in hell they'll buy me any at this point. Haha, my mom is a lot more understanding than my dad. It's probably because her communication or social skills are a lot better. Both of them still compare me to others, but I think they've finally picked up on how bothered I tend to get when that happens. The whole "why can't you be like him/her??" has been slowly losing prevalence, so that's a bit more relieving. Whenever my dad yells at me, my mom usually helps ease the stress because she also understands how hard-headed he can be. She rarely gets mad at me nowadays, whereas my dad's fuse seems to be getting shorter. It's gotten to the point where I avoid talking to my dad in order to minimize any chance of him blowing up--I don't even ask him for help anymore. If you couldn't tell already, I'm absolutely terrified of my dad. I've been getting increasingly hostile towards him for this reason even though I know I shouldn't. I know that he cares about me. I've been living under his roof for the entirety of my life so far, and I can't help but feel like an ungrateful freeloader for treating him like this. I always thought that maybe getting good grades and making him proud of me will make up for this, or that I could always patch up our relationship when I'm finally able to hold my own ground after college. I feel awful on the inside because it's almost as if I forgot how to even talk to him. His English isn't that great, and my Chinese isn't good enough to articulate what I want to say to him, so the language barrier has become one of the primary issues for me--I can only talk to him in broken English. It's a lot easier to talk to my mom. I love my parents to pieces, so I hope this didn't give off the wrong impression. Gosh, I'm really sorry for unloading all of this on you. I didn't even realize how much I typed until after reading over this.

I'm sure you'll have no problem with those remaining schools, heh. Our bio class is split pretty evenly between juniors and seniors and our teacher doesn't round or give us extra points out of pity. We seldom receive extra credit so every point matters in the class. It kinda sucks that the research won't help on college apps, but at least the experience sounds awesome! I know I'd probably enjoy it a lot, haha. Aw, you're the sweetest. I know I've said this time and time again, but your words really do mean a lot to me, and I'm touched that you care so much. Although my sleep schedule is still pretty screwed up, I think it's starting to improve a bit. Baby steps, lol. Most of my teachers plan to leave us with as little work as possible before spring break starts, so remembering your birthday definitely won't be a problem for me. Don't worry about it! haha.

[removing these extra spoiler tags because I realize I've strayed this conversation too far off topic again...]

Oh no, that doesn’t sound weird at all; I’m grateful for it as well. I went back looking for it, and it was that offhanded post about playing a little bit of Pokemon Y way back at the end of October, right? We’ve come such a long way, it’s crazy, haha. I wonder how far this conversation will take us? Woah, you had the guts to sneak into a casino and gamble? Goodness me, I wouldn’t have dared to do something like that. That might be because my parents always had an eye on my brother and I whenever we were in casinos, be they on cruises or in Las Vegas. I’ve done some illegal things with my brother myself, but only stuff like stealing Pokemon card booster packs from Target. (It was actually pretty legit with us using the security camera’s blind spot to unwrap the packs and walk out with the cards alone, leaving the wrappers buried somewhere random in the store.) I didn’t even know how to play the trading card game and only liked the art, eheh.

Hm, the whole snowflakes things only vaguely rings a bell. I think I remember stumbling upon it and thinking it was cool but quickly forgot about it. Either that or I read about it somewhere? Aha, since I’ve always just lurked around YouTube I didn’t (and kind of still don’t) check in every day to see what’s new. The only reason I even found Seven Swords was because of Sword Art Online, bleh. It’s a pretty bad anime that I’m sure you’ve heard about, though since I hadn’t ever experienced an MMORPG I was fascinated by the very base concept of the show, or at least the gaming aspect of it. I think I was just looking for MMOs on the App Shop and found this that looked pretty promising: Japanese based, 3D models, classes, leveling up, monster hunting, item collecting, events, faction, etc. Nothing special in hindsight, but it was still fun in its own right. Even the struggle of figuring out the way the game worked and which sets worked bet had its charms. Ehh, not sure if that makes sense, haha.

I guess I don’t really see video games and anime as a waste of time, but more so as things I can’t really be recognized for investing time in regardless of the benefits I reap. Ah well, I’m not going to be stopping any time soon either so it must not bother me all that much. Though, I will admit I’ve wasted countless hours on terrible anime because stupid me doesn’t recognize a bad anime when I see one and stubborn me must finish what I start. Right now, because I have the time, I’ve been going through my dropped and on-hold lists clearing them out to the best of my abilities, since they’ve been bothering me, eheh. As a junior, you’re definitely pressed for time. You don’t even stop by DCW nearly as much as you did earlier in the year. That’s probably for the better though, since you say you struggled last semester. (I hope these exchanges between us aren’t getting in the way of your schoolwork.) And it’s not just orchestra you’re worrying about now, since it looks like tennis season has started up for you. I’ve never participated in school athletics before; the closest I got was joining marching band as a freshman. Good luck with that! Let me know how things go, once things really start getting underway. I only know the basics of tennis, but even if it’s just to complain about grueling practice sessions or something I wouldn’t mind reading about it, haha. Ah, I never knew what those people were! So they have a name: RPers. Hmm, Google is providing some interesting info, to say the least… And I guess it’s better to be desensitized than always upset and disturbed by things on the Internet.

I guess you do bring up a good point. I may not have many friends I truly share interests with, but those that I do are the ones I like most and the ones I most enough talking to, like you. And having a few really close friends definitely beats having a thousand “friends” who won’t be there when you really need them. The thing is, I actually have this habit of being pretty selective when it comes to calling people “friends” since I feel the overuse of the word “friend” in the Internet age (probably stemming from my abstinence from Facebook) dilutes its meaning. I consider most people acquaintances or just people I know. (I think this might rub some people the wrong way, eh.)

It’s really great you’ve found a school you like so much! Part of me wishes I had a dream college I was aiming for throughout high school; I might have worked harder and done better junior year, bleh. But I’m still really happy with where I am now. After all, there are definitely pros to behind emotionally detached from schools, too. I won’t be completely crushed or heartbroken if I receive a rejection. There are quite a few people I know who haven’t taken rejections very well, and I was thankful for not having been put through that ordeal. On the other hand, I don’t get very happy when I am accepted, so I miss out on that high. Also, instead of an acceptance being a “Yes! I know where I’m going now! I can kick back and relax!” it’s more like a “Hm, I still have about a month to stress over which college I’ll be going to for the next four years of my life…” I guess there’s a give and take, either way. Regardless, I’ll be rooting for you when you start to college application process!

Aw, thanks, it’s nice to know all my rambling about RNG abuse isn’t boring you. I don’t have anything to report this week, since I had a pretty busy school week and didn’t find any time (or snow days) to nab that shiny Latios, or even play Spirit Tracks. I’m going to have a hectic week next week as well, if my calc schedule is anything to go by, so I don’t think I’ll get much done any time soon. I wouldn’t say Spirit Tracks is a bad game, but just relatively weak when it comes to Zelda games. The only other Zelda game that I’ve played is actually Ocarina of Time, the 3DS version. It’s generally considered the best Zelda game by far and one of the best video games of all time by some. I’ll be honest, it completely blew me away even with all the hype behind it. If you ever want to get into the large Zelda series, I suggest starting with OoT. Spirit Tracks in comparison wasn’t all that great. While it wasn’t a letdown since I had kept my expectations in check, it didn’t do anything to surprise me either. My biggest complaint is with the controls, since you control Link using the stylus. You just drag it across the touch screen and he follows along. It feels really weird, and the D-pad almost sees no use, which is kind of strange. It just toggles a few things in the menu and with the maps. Yeah, something the like the D-pad is reduced to a back shelf control. I’m always holding my DS weird and still haven’t really gotten too used to it yet, and I’m already one more dungeon and a final boss battle away from beating the whole game, sans side quests. Ah well, at least now I can relate to Toon Link in Smash, haha. Speaking of Zelda, I just got Majora’s Mask 3D (sequel to OoT) and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward in the mail today as an early birthday present. Of course, I won’t be able to play either of them until I’m off to college and have full reign over my 3DS, and even then Pokemon Y and Alpha Sapphire have priority. Oh, and Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies went on sale in the eShop for a few weeks (download only; physical versions don’t exist in America), so I’ll be picking that up when I can. Sigh, looks like the last 3DS game on my radar is Fire Emblem: if, which won’t be out for a long while now anyway. I have so many games I’ll be binging on after summer break, not even including Awakening’s Lunatic mode that I am determined to beat and OoT’s Master Quest mode I want to try my hand at. I think the other guy was collecting out-of-box amiibos, and since amiibos all look identical once out of their boxes (there’s nothing to differentiate a Japanese from a North American Marth, not even all the text and numbers on the bottom of the stand) he was fine with settling for an imported Marth. He said Marth and Villager were the only ones he needed to complete his collection, so I guess the Rosalina and Sonic I got were extras he had. Rarity values for amiibos are always changing. I was surprised to check and find that my Ike is now considered a unicorn. While that’s great and all, he’s not nearly as valuable as Villager, who was rare before people knew certain amiibos would be rare. Not all unicorns are created equal, in the same way not all uncommons are created equal. In NJ at least, Mega Man is significantly harder to find than a Kirby. Looking at the chart now, amiibos are becoming more and more polarized. Either they’re relatively easy to find or absolutely impossible to find. There’s not really any middle ground anymore (semi-rares have gone extinct).

Haha, well I’m rather happy I guessed right, though I think you’re giving me a bit too much credit. You may not have meant to give out so much information, but what you did disclose was all very useful in figuring out where you live. Not to mention, I did get pretty lucky with the article since it happened to be the first one I clicked on. While I might be able to deduce which high school you attend, there’s no way for me to figure out your address. Unless of course, you start describing in detail what you can see from your doorstep and I pore hours into Google Maps. But that would be crazy and I know you like your privacy so I’d feel guilty for doing something like that anyway, eheh. Hm, there wasn’t anything specifically that made me want to piece everything together, at least I don’t think so. I was just curious, though I was a bit hesitant because I didn’t want to come off as some kind of creepy stalker. Well actually, I think it might have been the whole soda vs pop thing. Since we had so much in common, I guess realizing you live in a place far enough away that people said “pop” instead of “soda” threw me off. It made me even more curious than I usually was, so I consulted Google-senpai and everything just sort of fell into place. If anything, you’re just as impressive as I am if not more so; I do indeed live in Edison, haha. I guess the whole Edison Tower thing can be a bit of a giveaway. And yup, Rutgers is the ugly university that requires bus travel that’s offering me a lot of money, heh. The faint glow from NYC while stargazing is really really faint. I only noticed it because I happened to be looking for a constellation in that direction one night. I was looking for Cassiopeia, the star formation my friend who grew up too fast wanted to find, and searched around mid-November, which is if I recall when Cassiopeia is most visible in the sky. After taking far too long deciphering star maps, I learned it was positioned a certain direction away from Polaris (actually can’t remember now, since it’s been over a year). I found Cassiopeia relatively fast since I had the star map engraved in my head for that night, but I realized that the patch of sky near it was kind of light. I remembering thinking that was odd since it was already one in the morning, and wondering why the sun was taking so long to set. Then I facepalmed realizing that the sun didn’t set to the north east and deduced that it was actually light pollution from NYC. I was surprised myself as to how much leaked all the way over to Edison. I actually just attended an event at Rutgers one more time yesterday. I was accepted into their Honors College, and I’ll be part of their first class if I attend. They’ve had honors programs and the like before, but this is their first honors college, for Rutgers-New Brunswick at least. They’re building a new dorm exclusively for those in the Honors College. It’s not even finished yet; we drove by it and it’s in the process of being constructed. Ehh, as much as I hate to admit it, Rutgers is growing on me. Maybe it’s only because of the Honors College though, since it would feel pretty good to be the first of anything, especially something like this, since upperclassmen aren’t eligible for the Honors College, only rising non-international freshmen. But maybe it’s just my bias getting the best of me, since the to-be academic dean of New Brunswick’s Honors College is Japanese and he’s a pretty chill guy from what I could gather. Not to mention, at the event I had lunch with a professor who grew up in Edison and attended the same high school I’m in. Grrr, it’s like the heavens are determined to get me to attend Rutgers no matter what. Heh, I have a better impression of the school now, and while it has its faults I may be able to get used to them considering all the good the school has to offer.

I’m going to stray a bit off topic; I hope you don’t mind. Since you (and anyone else reading this ~~I’m watching you~~) know I live in Edison now, I felt like I need to say a few things, regarding the Edison Tower specifically. I was thinking of putting this in the paragraph above, but then it would have been even fatter than it already is. As you might be able to figure out from research, Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb in a laboratory where the Tower is now located. While I’m not the biggest fan of Edison (more of a Tesla supporter in the War of Currents), it’s kind of interesting how such a historically significant event is reduced to a something residents don’t think about more than once every other month, if even. All of the big info on Edison can be found at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange which, unlike the laboratories in Edison, is well preserved (I visited it once, and I must say it’s impressive). Everything in Edison burned down or was relocated because the location just wasn’t profitable enough for anything more than a memorial tower and a two-room museum. Even the tower has been falling into disrepair. The ball at the top is apparently considered “the world’s largest light bulb” though I think it’s a bit of a misnomer since there are multiple bulbs inside. They had to repair and renovate everything recently, though it still hasn’t seen many visitors. You still can’t go inside the tower itself, which is a pity. The museum used to be in there I think, but they permanently closed it off to the public ever since the tower started to literally fall apart. I feel kind of bad for the “curator” of the small museum/gift shop since he really seemed to enjoy and care about the history of the place last time I visited. Edison does have a lot of history, though a lot of it is forgotten or lost. Oak Tree Pond Park is dedicated to the Oak Tree Engagement of the Battle of Short Hills of the American Revolution, and is just down the road from my middle school which isn’t very far from my high school (ah, you’ll easily be able to figure out my high school from this…). The battle took place right at the intersection of two roads I’ve crossed thousands of times in my life. Old Post Road is a street that Washington allegedly traveled along as he made his way to his inauguration in NYC. There’s this one church that’s still around that apparently housed wounded British soldiers, and of course if you look hard enough you may be able to find some cemeteries with pre-Revolutionary headstones. Haha, sorry for rambling, but history fascinates me. Not so much the memorization of textbooks, unless the text is really good, but more so the discovery and exploration of old and forgotten places. For APUSH two years ago, we were given extra credit for visiting a bunch of historical sites, and while at first I only went around for the extra credit, I soon realized I was having a ton of fun making out faded writing on old tombstones and creeping through creaky old buildings. My parents weren’t very happy with me “wasting” my time like that, but I’ll always think it was worth it. Alright, I need to get myself back on topic before this gets out of hand. Sorry, I realize most of the time we stray onto different trains of thought it’s my fault. Gomen, gomen…

Aw, there’s nothing wrong with laughing too much, even if you come off as derpy. It’s a lot better than moping around all unhappy and serious like. And I wouldn’t say it’s because you’re simpleminded. If anything, it means you have a god sense of humor. You’d be a lot of fun hanging around with in real life, I can tell. There’s no way I’d have been able to keep a conversation going with you for so long otherwise. I get along a lot better with people who smile and explode with laughter, which is actually kind of ironic given that doesn’t really describe me. I don’t smile all that much, nor laugh as often as I should. I think I have a disagreeable “resting” face, too. Hm, maybe unlike you I have a poor sense of humor? Goodness, what if I grow into one of those old men with stern and unhappy faces but who aren’t really so bad when you get to know them? That’s kind of like my grandpa. He always has this serious look, and when I tell him to smile he claims he doesn’t have a good smile. With enough provoking, I’m able to get him to chuckle and if I’m lucky I can get a picture of it, which I show him to prove he does indeed have a nice smile. Funny thing is, I used to smile and laugh a lot when I was a baby, according to old pictures and videos and my mom’s stories.

Huh, either last year’s seniors were super creative with promposals, or my class really is a dull group of people. Or maybe even both, heh. I haven’t heard of any promposals yet, and while I guess not having a Facebook doesn’t help you’d think that at least the very creative ones would make their way around the school, right? Oh well, maybe all the couples are putting it off to the end since they’re guaranteed success. Perhaps there are just more people riding solo this year than last year? I guess that’s a possibility, too. It’s good your school seems to have so much spirit though! To put that much effort into something you know you can’t really fail at (for guys with girlfriends at least) is really impressive. Haha, it’s sweet though, what young people will do for love. (Okay, I sounded old for a second there.) Have you heard of any promposal rejections at your school yet?

Oh no no, you didn’t give the wrong impression at all. I know where you’re coming from. My mom is the overbearing and occasionally frightening one, and sometimes I regret the way I treat her as well. Or rather, I used to regret the way I’ve been to her. Before, when my parents were making a huge stink over my grades, especially in sophomore and junior year, my mom would rag on me all the time and I retaliated a lot more than I should have. We had a lot of heated arguments over my future and looking back on it I was being a really inconsiderate person. I should have understood why my mom was losing her cool over my grades, given how successful she was when she was younger and how driven my sister was. I probably did look like the lazy, dud child that wouldn’t amount to anything more than a hall sweeper in her eyes. If it’s any reassurance, my relationship with both of my parents, but my mom in particular, has drastically improved since the college decisions have rolled in. I guess they can rest easy now knowing my atrocious grades are somehow not ruining my chances of being an eldest son they can be proud of. They’ve given me a lot more freedom; my grades are actually better this year than last year for the sole reason that my classes are just overall a lot easier and I’m allowed on the computer for hours every day. I’ve been watching significantly more anime and I’ve been having the time of my life, I’m not going to lie. My mom isn’t bawling he eyes out over my idiocy and I’m not losing my temper over her nagging. I have nearly everything I could want from life at my age, even if a lot of it is still off limits like my 3DS and Wii U. I have faith that things will start looking up for you once the ordeal that is junior year has ended. The fact that you’re recognizing your faults is evidence enough that you’re going to end up on top of things once all is said and done. And there’s no need to apologize. I’ve offered to listen to whatever you throw at me, so feel free to unload your feelings as much as you want. Also, that last line is my life in a sentence, haha: “I didn't even realize how much I typed until after reading over this.”

Oh gosh, thanks, you’re really sweet yourself. I’m just unspeakably grateful there’s someone who’s willing to listen to my long winded-ness and off topic-ness and fat paragraph-ness. It appears my teachers are also going wild right before spring break, so I’m also going to be having a rough two or three weeks myself before I can “relax” during spring break, haha. And since college decisions are coming in, things are going to get hectic soon. Hopefully I can still manage some time for Steins;Gate (don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten) over spring break.

Oh an unrelated note, has anyone played Never Alone? I think it's already released for PS4, Xbox One and PC, but I only discovered it when Nintendo revealed it would be available on the eShop for the Wii U in June of this year. There have been a few indie games on the eShop that piqued my interest, but this is on a whole new level of wow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGlbdC9i8t4

Moonlit Flower · March 14, 2015

Okami

Kenzi · March 18, 2015

[removing these extra spoiler tags because I realize I've strayed this conversation too far off topic again...]

Oh no, that doesn’t sound weird at all; I’m grateful for it as well. I went back looking for it, and it was that offhanded post about playing a little bit of Pokemon Y way back at the end of October, right? We’ve come such a long way, it’s crazy, haha. I wonder how far this conversation will take us? Woah, you had the guts to sneak into a casino and gamble? Goodness me, I wouldn’t have dared to do something like that. That might be because my parents always had an eye on my brother and I whenever we were in casinos, be they on cruises or in Las Vegas. I’ve done some illegal things with my brother myself, but only stuff like stealing Pokemon card booster packs from Target. (It was actually pretty legit with us using the security camera’s blind spot to unwrap the packs and walk out with the cards alone, leaving the wrappers buried somewhere random in the store.) I didn’t even know how to play the trading card game and only liked the art, eheh.

Hm, the whole snowflakes things only vaguely rings a bell. I think I remember stumbling upon it and thinking it was cool but quickly forgot about it. Either that or I read about it somewhere? Aha, since I’ve always just lurked around YouTube I didn’t (and kind of still don’t) check in every day to see what’s new. The only reason I even found Seven Swords was because of Sword Art Online, bleh. It’s a pretty bad anime that I’m sure you’ve heard about, though since I hadn’t ever experienced an MMORPG I was fascinated by the very base concept of the show, or at least the gaming aspect of it. I think I was just looking for MMOs on the App Shop and found this that looked pretty promising: Japanese based, 3D models, classes, leveling up, monster hunting, item collecting, events, faction, etc. Nothing special in hindsight, but it was still fun in its own right. Even the struggle of figuring out the way the game worked and which sets worked bet had its charms. Ehh, not sure if that makes sense, haha.

I guess I don’t really see video games and anime as a waste of time, but more so as things I can’t really be recognized for investing time in regardless of the benefits I reap. Ah well, I’m not going to be stopping any time soon either so it must not bother me all that much. Though, I will admit I’ve wasted countless hours on terrible anime because stupid me doesn’t recognize a bad anime when I see one and stubborn me must finish what I start. Right now, because I have the time, I’ve been going through my dropped and on-hold lists clearing them out to the best of my abilities, since they’ve been bothering me, eheh. As a junior, you’re definitely pressed for time. You don’t even stop by DCW nearly as much as you did earlier in the year. That’s probably for the better though, since you say you struggled last semester. (I hope these exchanges between us aren’t getting in the way of your schoolwork.) And it’s not just orchestra you’re worrying about now, since it looks like tennis season has started up for you. I’ve never participated in school athletics before; the closest I got was joining marching band as a freshman. Good luck with that! Let me know how things go, once things really start getting underway. I only know the basics of tennis, but even if it’s just to complain about grueling practice sessions or something I wouldn’t mind reading about it, haha. Ah, I never knew what those people were! So they have a name: RPers. Hmm, Google is providing some interesting info, to say the least… And I guess it’s better to be desensitized than always upset and disturbed by things on the Internet.

I guess you do bring up a good point. I may not have many friends I truly share interests with, but those that I do are the ones I like most and the ones I most enough talking to, like you. And having a few really close friends definitely beats having a thousand “friends” who won’t be there when you really need them. The thing is, I actually have this habit of being pretty selective when it comes to calling people “friends” since I feel the overuse of the word “friend” in the Internet age (probably stemming from my abstinence from Facebook) dilutes its meaning. I consider most people acquaintances or just people I know. (I think this might rub some people the wrong way, eh.)

It’s really great you’ve found a school you like so much! Part of me wishes I had a dream college I was aiming for throughout high school; I might have worked harder and done better junior year, bleh. But I’m still really happy with where I am now. After all, there are definitely pros to behind emotionally detached from schools, too. I won’t be completely crushed or heartbroken if I receive a rejection. There are quite a few people I know who haven’t taken rejections very well, and I was thankful for not having been put through that ordeal. On the other hand, I don’t get very happy when I am accepted, so I miss out on that high. Also, instead of an acceptance being a “Yes! I know where I’m going now! I can kick back and relax!” it’s more like a “Hm, I still have about a month to stress over which college I’ll be going to for the next four years of my life…” I guess there’s a give and take, either way. Regardless, I’ll be rooting for you when you start to college application process!

Aw, thanks, it’s nice to know all my rambling about RNG abuse isn’t boring you. I don’t have anything to report this week, since I had a pretty busy school week and didn’t find any time (or snow days) to nab that shiny Latios, or even play Spirit Tracks. I’m going to have a hectic week next week as well, if my calc schedule is anything to go by, so I don’t think I’ll get much done any time soon. I wouldn’t say Spirit Tracks is a bad game, but just relatively weak when it comes to Zelda games. The only other Zelda game that I’ve played is actually Ocarina of Time, the 3DS version. It’s generally considered the best Zelda game by far and one of the best video games of all time by some. I’ll be honest, it completely blew me away even with all the hype behind it. If you ever want to get into the large Zelda series, I suggest starting with OoT. Spirit Tracks in comparison wasn’t all that great. While it wasn’t a letdown since I had kept my expectations in check, it didn’t do anything to surprise me either. My biggest complaint is with the controls, since you control Link using the stylus. You just drag it across the touch screen and he follows along. It feels really weird, and the D-pad almost sees no use, which is kind of strange. It just toggles a few things in the menu and with the maps. Yeah, something the like the D-pad is reduced to a back shelf control. I’m always holding my DS weird and still haven’t really gotten too used to it yet, and I’m already one more dungeon and a final boss battle away from beating the whole game, sans side quests. Ah well, at least now I can relate to Toon Link in Smash, haha. Speaking of Zelda, I just got Majora’s Mask 3D (sequel to OoT) and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward in the mail today as an early birthday present. Of course, I won’t be able to play either of them until I’m off to college and have full reign over my 3DS, and even then Pokemon Y and Alpha Sapphire have priority. Oh, and Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies went on sale in the eShop for a few weeks (download only; physical versions don’t exist in America), so I’ll be picking that up when I can. Sigh, looks like the last 3DS game on my radar is Fire Emblem: if, which won’t be out for a long while now anyway. I have so many games I’ll be binging on after summer break, not even including Awakening’s Lunatic mode that I am determined to beat and OoT’s Master Quest mode I want to try my hand at. I think the other guy was collecting out-of-box amiibos, and since amiibos all look identical once out of their boxes (there’s nothing to differentiate a Japanese from a North American Marth, not even all the text and numbers on the bottom of the stand) he was fine with settling for an imported Marth. He said Marth and Villager were the only ones he needed to complete his collection, so I guess the Rosalina and Sonic I got were extras he had. Rarity values for amiibos are always changing. I was surprised to check and find that my Ike is now considered a unicorn. While that’s great and all, he’s not nearly as valuable as Villager, who was rare before people knew certain amiibos would be rare. Not all unicorns are created equal, in the same way not all uncommons are created equal. In NJ at least, Mega Man is significantly harder to find than a Kirby. Looking at the chart now, amiibos are becoming more and more polarized. Either they’re relatively easy to find or absolutely impossible to find. There’s not really any middle ground anymore (semi-rares have gone extinct).

Haha, well I’m rather happy I guessed right, though I think you’re giving me a bit too much credit. You may not have meant to give out so much information, but what you did disclose was all very useful in figuring out where you live. Not to mention, I did get pretty lucky with the article since it happened to be the first one I clicked on. While I might be able to deduce which high school you attend, there’s no way for me to figure out your address. Unless of course, you start describing in detail what you can see from your doorstep and I pore hours into Google Maps. But that would be crazy and I know you like your privacy so I’d feel guilty for doing something like that anyway, eheh. Hm, there wasn’t anything specifically that made me want to piece everything together, at least I don’t think so. I was just curious, though I was a bit hesitant because I didn’t want to come off as some kind of creepy stalker. Well actually, I think it might have been the whole soda vs pop thing. Since we had so much in common, I guess realizing you live in a place far enough away that people said “pop” instead of “soda” threw me off. It made me even more curious than I usually was, so I consulted Google-senpai and everything just sort of fell into place. If anything, you’re just as impressive as I am if not more so; I do indeed live in Edison, haha. I guess the whole Edison Tower thing can be a bit of a giveaway. And yup, Rutgers is the ugly university that requires bus travel that’s offering me a lot of money, heh. The faint glow from NYC while stargazing is really really faint. I only noticed it because I happened to be looking for a constellation in that direction one night. I was looking for Cassiopeia, the star formation my friend who grew up too fast wanted to find, and searched around mid-November, which is if I recall when Cassiopeia is most visible in the sky. After taking far too long deciphering star maps, I learned it was positioned a certain direction away from Polaris (actually can’t remember now, since it’s been over a year). I found Cassiopeia relatively fast since I had the star map engraved in my head for that night, but I realized that the patch of sky near it was kind of light. I remembering thinking that was odd since it was already one in the morning, and wondering why the sun was taking so long to set. Then I facepalmed realizing that the sun didn’t set to the north east and deduced that it was actually light pollution from NYC. I was surprised myself as to how much leaked all the way over to Edison. I actually just attended an event at Rutgers one more time yesterday. I was accepted into their Honors College, and I’ll be part of their first class if I attend. They’ve had honors programs and the like before, but this is their first honors college, for Rutgers-New Brunswick at least. They’re building a new dorm exclusively for those in the Honors College. It’s not even finished yet; we drove by it and it’s in the process of being constructed. Ehh, as much as I hate to admit it, Rutgers is growing on me. Maybe it’s only because of the Honors College though, since it would feel pretty good to be the first of anything, especially something like this, since upperclassmen aren’t eligible for the Honors College, only rising non-international freshmen. But maybe it’s just my bias getting the best of me, since the to-be academic dean of New Brunswick’s Honors College is Japanese and he’s a pretty chill guy from what I could gather. Not to mention, at the event I had lunch with a professor who grew up in Edison and attended the same high school I’m in. Grrr, it’s like the heavens are determined to get me to attend Rutgers no matter what. Heh, I have a better impression of the school now, and while it has its faults I may be able to get used to them considering all the good the school has to offer.

I’m going to stray a bit off topic; I hope you don’t mind. Since you (and anyone else reading this ~~I’m watching you~~) know I live in Edison now, I felt like I need to say a few things, regarding the Edison Tower specifically. I was thinking of putting this in the paragraph above, but then it would have been even fatter than it already is. As you might be able to figure out from research, Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb in a laboratory where the Tower is now located. While I’m not the biggest fan of Edison (more of a Tesla supporter in the War of Currents), it’s kind of interesting how such a historically significant event is reduced to a something residents don’t think about more than once every other month, if even. All of the big info on Edison can be found at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange which, unlike the laboratories in Edison, is well preserved (I visited it once, and I must say it’s impressive). Everything in Edison burned down or was relocated because the location just wasn’t profitable enough for anything more than a memorial tower and a two-room museum. Even the tower has been falling into disrepair. The ball at the top is apparently considered “the world’s largest light bulb” though I think it’s a bit of a misnomer since there are multiple bulbs inside. They had to repair and renovate everything recently, though it still hasn’t seen many visitors. You still can’t go inside the tower itself, which is a pity. The museum used to be in there I think, but they permanently closed it off to the public ever since the tower started to literally fall apart. I feel kind of bad for the “curator” of the small museum/gift shop since he really seemed to enjoy and care about the history of the place last time I visited. Edison does have a lot of history, though a lot of it is forgotten or lost. Oak Tree Pond Park is dedicated to the Oak Tree Engagement of the Battle of Short Hills of the American Revolution, and is just down the road from my middle school which isn’t very far from my high school (ah, you’ll easily be able to figure out my high school from this…). The battle took place right at the intersection of two roads I’ve crossed thousands of times in my life. Old Post Road is a street that Washington allegedly traveled along as he made his way to his inauguration in NYC. There’s this one church that’s still around that apparently housed wounded British soldiers, and of course if you look hard enough you may be able to find some cemeteries with pre-Revolutionary headstones. Haha, sorry for rambling, but history fascinates me. Not so much the memorization of textbooks, unless the text is really good, but more so the discovery and exploration of old and forgotten places. For APUSH two years ago, we were given extra credit for visiting a bunch of historical sites, and while at first I only went around for the extra credit, I soon realized I was having a ton of fun making out faded writing on old tombstones and creeping through creaky old buildings. My parents weren’t very happy with me “wasting” my time like that, but I’ll always think it was worth it. Alright, I need to get myself back on topic before this gets out of hand. Sorry, I realize most of the time we stray onto different trains of thought it’s my fault. Gomen, gomen…

Aw, there’s nothing wrong with laughing too much, even if you come off as derpy. It’s a lot better than moping around all unhappy and serious like. And I wouldn’t say it’s because you’re simpleminded. If anything, it means you have a god sense of humor. You’d be a lot of fun hanging around with in real life, I can tell. There’s no way I’d have been able to keep a conversation going with you for so long otherwise. I get along a lot better with people who smile and explode with laughter, which is actually kind of ironic given that doesn’t really describe me. I don’t smile all that much, nor laugh as often as I should. I think I have a disagreeable “resting” face, too. Hm, maybe unlike you I have a poor sense of humor? Goodness, what if I grow into one of those old men with stern and unhappy faces but who aren’t really so bad when you get to know them? That’s kind of like my grandpa. He always has this serious look, and when I tell him to smile he claims he doesn’t have a good smile. With enough provoking, I’m able to get him to chuckle and if I’m lucky I can get a picture of it, which I show him to prove he does indeed have a nice smile. Funny thing is, I used to smile and laugh a lot when I was a baby, according to old pictures and videos and my mom’s stories.

Huh, either last year’s seniors were super creative with promposals, or my class really is a dull group of people. Or maybe even both, heh. I haven’t heard of any promposals yet, and while I guess not having a Facebook doesn’t help you’d think that at least the very creative ones would make their way around the school, right? Oh well, maybe all the couples are putting it off to the end since they’re guaranteed success. Perhaps there are just more people riding solo this year than last year? I guess that’s a possibility, too. It’s good your school seems to have so much spirit though! To put that much effort into something you know you can’t really fail at (for guys with girlfriends at least) is really impressive. Haha, it’s sweet though, what young people will do for love. (Okay, I sounded old for a second there.) Have you heard of any promposal rejections at your school yet?

Oh no no, you didn’t give the wrong impression at all. I know where you’re coming from. My mom is the overbearing and occasionally frightening one, and sometimes I regret the way I treat her as well. Or rather, I used to regret the way I’ve been to her. Before, when my parents were making a huge stink over my grades, especially in sophomore and junior year, my mom would rag on me all the time and I retaliated a lot more than I should have. We had a lot of heated arguments over my future and looking back on it I was being a really inconsiderate person. I should have understood why my mom was losing her cool over my grades, given how successful she was when she was younger and how driven my sister was. I probably did look like the lazy, dud child that wouldn’t amount to anything more than a hall sweeper in her eyes. If it’s any reassurance, my relationship with both of my parents, but my mom in particular, has drastically improved since the college decisions have rolled in. I guess they can rest easy now knowing my atrocious grades are somehow not ruining my chances of being an eldest son they can be proud of. They’ve given me a lot more freedom; my grades are actually better this year than last year for the sole reason that my classes are just overall a lot easier and I’m allowed on the computer for hours every day. I’ve been watching significantly more anime and I’ve been having the time of my life, I’m not going to lie. My mom isn’t bawling he eyes out over my idiocy and I’m not losing my temper over her nagging. I have nearly everything I could want from life at my age, even if a lot of it is still off limits like my 3DS and Wii U. I have faith that things will start looking up for you once the ordeal that is junior year has ended. The fact that you’re recognizing your faults is evidence enough that you’re going to end up on top of things once all is said and done. And there’s no need to apologize. I’ve offered to listen to whatever you throw at me, so feel free to unload your feelings as much as you want. Also, that last line is my life in a sentence, haha: “I didn't even realize how much I typed until after reading over this.”

Oh gosh, thanks, you’re really sweet yourself. I’m just unspeakably grateful there’s someone who’s willing to listen to my long winded-ness and off topic-ness and fat paragraph-ness. It appears my teachers are also going wild right before spring break, so I’m also going to be having a rough two or three weeks myself before I can “relax” during spring break, haha. And since college decisions are coming in, things are going to get hectic soon. Hopefully I can still manage some time for Steins;Gate (don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten) over spring break.

Oh an unrelated note, has anyone played Never Alone? I think it's already released for PS4, Xbox One and PC, but I only discovered it when Nintendo revealed it would be available on the eShop for the Wii U in June of this year. There have been a few indie games on the eShop that piqued my interest, but this is on a whole new level of wow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGlbdC9i8t4

Ahaha, the closest I've ever got to legit gambling was when I was playing Texas Hold'em with a bunch of friends late at night on the cruise ship (not in the casino, of course). Neither my sister nor I knew how to gamble, so we only tested our luck with the machines that looked easy to operate, lol. My parents don't keep as close of an eye on me when my sister's around, so I didn't have to worry about their supervision at the time. Haha, I also used to collect Pokemon cards because of the art. I didn't pay attention to any other aspect of the cards except for the HP number. I can't remember times when I've stolen anything other than that one time I took a pebble from Michael's because I thought it looked nice, lol. Though I must say (I'm not trying to advocate for stealing or anything), what you did at Target was pretty legit, haha.

I mainly use YouTube to catch up on my subscriptions nowadays, but it's always nice to run into those Easter Eggs every once in a while. Yeah, I've heard of SAO. I was actually considering watching it until a friend of mine started ranting about how bad it was a few years ago. I'm not a fan of harems (DC is beginning to turn into one, and it's kinda ticking me off), and after reading a few reviews on MAL, I decided to stay away from it. The concept of SAO is pretty cool, I'll give you that much. Haha, that actually makes total sense. Perhaps it was the blend of those aspects that made the game appealing? I've watched playthroughs of a few games that implemented some pretty strange features, but ended up having a great premise anyway, so I know what you mean.

Most of the anime I've watched branched off of recommendations from friends. I don't want to dive into a series that isn't worth my time so I almost always wait for reviews to come out before I consider watching a show. One of the primary reasons is because I also have trouble dropping what I start, regardless of whether the show is good or not. It's probably why I usually avoid watching shows with ratings lower than 8 on MAL. Everyone's rating system is different, but mine tends to be as follows: 9 = definitely recommend, 8 = would recommend in certain circumstances, 7 = my guilty pleasures, 6 = wouldn't recommend, and everything else below 6 is pretty much nonexistent since I've only encountered a handful of shows worthy of those ratings (MK1412 is starting to get real close to being one of them though). These DCW posts are beginning to look like a Twitter feed (ex. "I ate breakfast"), so it's rather difficult to find points of discussion these days, haha. I'm also trying to limit myself so I can focus on my schoolwork more, though our exchanges isn't much of a problem at all. Joining athletics is a requirement around here (everyone needs at least two seasons worth in order to graduate). The only exceptions are for people who manage to get a waiver (not sure how) and for people who decide to take another phys ed class instead. Despite how much I love tennis, going to practice sessions is a pain because of how much time it takes away from schoolwork. But at the same time, I also love it since the team is like a second family to me.

People who I refer to as true "friends" tend to be people I talk to often, or people I'm not afraid to rely on. They don't necessarily have to be people I share interests with--that's just icing on the cake, haha. Nothing on Facebook will ever compare to having actual friends. It's still a good way to keep in contact with old friends though. Hmm, I don't think I have a very solid definition of a "friend". I guess I just know one when I see one then? I agree that the "friend" is overused with the rise of social media, though most have enough common sense to differentiate between an actual friend and an acquaintance, lol.

Haha, the stress of getting rejected from a dream college is something I dread. It has certainly motivated me to work harder since even the thought of getting rejected is something I'd rather not dwell on. I love the high I get from hard work that has paid off. Motivation is key for me, so how much work I get done depends on how motivated I am. Funny thing is, I still haven't found many colleges that I've become emotionally attached to. But after reading that paragraph of yours, I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing, haha. I'd rather have to deal with the stress of deciding on a college than the stress coming from a rejection.

I've only played one Zelda game. It was Minish Cap, and it was loads of fun. I regret not diving into more Zelda games since that one gave me a pretty good impression, and since I've heard so many positive things on the series. Haha, once again, my lack of a 3DS is limiting me from playing some of the more recent ones. I'll be sure to check out OoT if I ever get the chance. If not, I might just end up watching a playthrough of it. Gosh, I envy you so much, haha. Hmm, I still don't have a good grasp that all unicorns or uncommons aren't created equal. Are you saying that in the sense that they have different rarity values depending on where you live? Also, what causes the sudden shifts in value? Please excuse my ignorance on this subject, I'm still a newbie, ehehe...

I'm still rather taken aback that you've managed to deduce my location, haha. To think that you've narrowed it down so thoroughly based on mainly linguistics, a minor detail of a mall, and a petty description of a surrounding city is crazy. It's mind-blowing, and you deserve every little bit of credit for utilizing such general information. Hmm, so the soda vs. pop was what piqued your curiosity? Was it because you expected me to reside near NYC? I guess that's understandable since it would have been more likely for me to make a small move instead of one hundreds of miles away, haha. The tower and the museum was what gave it away, lol. I could only narrow it down to Middlesex County without it, and I probably never would have figured it out if it weren't for that detail you happened to drop--definitely not nearly as impressive as your deduction, to be honest. Although Edison is relatively close to NYC, I was doubting my guess since I didn't think NYC's light pollution had the capability to be that far-reaching. I stand corrected, lol (though it still comes as a surprise to me). Congrats on getting accepted into their Honors College! I'd also probably have a difficult time deciding on whether to pass on this offer or not, but it's great that you're getting a better impression of the school now! If you decide to go, I'll wish you good luck! Maybe tell me how it goes, haha.

I was never a fan of history, but it's a real shame that these historical monuments aren't holding themselves up anymore. I've always liked the idea of the history associated with an object as well as what it had to go through to be where it is today. But at the same time, what the delegates did in the Constitutional Convention doesn't interest me at all. History is a very broad subject, so I don't see myself as ignorant enough to hate every aspect of it with a passion. The history I enjoy reading or learning are like plagues or WWII ethics (can't think of a category for those). But the kinds of history that schools have shoved down our throats were bland enough to discourage me from investing time in most social studies classes (by taking them over the summer) as well as APUSH. I know how much you love history, so I apologize for coming off this way. But with that said, your paragraph was most certainly a fascinating read for me. I think it's awesome to be able to live near a historic site--especially one you can visit regularly. Most of the places I've been were very easily forgotten, and my parents cared more about taking pictures than actually enjoying it for what it was--which probably contributed a bit to why I don't like history as much as I should. To be able to visit historic monuments without being interrupted for a picture is a near impossible feat for me, and I always end up leaving the site with a bad aftertaste. I'm glad that you have found a passion for history! I also find it a bit strange that the people around there don't think much about the tower. Edison is a pretty big name, and I'm rather surprised that they don't treat the monuments as such. I think it's really cool that you cross paths with so much history on a near daily basis. Troy doesn't have much to offer in these aspects, which is a shame since I'd love to visit some sites one day (without being pestered for pictures).

A poor sense of humor? Nonsense! Many of your posts in the other parts of the forum are absolutely golden. Some of them make me laugh a bit, and a lot of them make me smile. It really helps for me to have a spontaneous spark of joy once in a while, so I thought I'd just point that out. You're a lot more fun than you make yourself out to be, haha. I'm sure you have a fantastic smile as well--I'd prove it to you if we ever met in real life, heh.

Maybe our class of seniors is just really audacious, lol. Our class of seniors is a really tight-knit group of people, so everyone is good friends with each other. It's probably why I've been seeing a lot of promposals lately, because that means there's little to no chance that anyone's going to get rejected. And with that said, I haven't seen a single person getting rejected for prom this year. Most of these people are also single so I've only seen one promposal so far that's relationship-based.

Oh gosh, reading that felt really reassuring. Things have begun looking up so far even though my habits have stayed relatively the same. I'm still trying to break my procrastinating tendencies and fix my sleep schedule, haha. My sister also struggled a bit in her junior year. I can remember how stressed she was even though she had better study habits than me. My parents always ask her to give me advice since they still think that I need someone to hold my hand. However, my sister and I differ in many ways so it's a bit hard to see eye to eye with her at times. But the thing is, I care about my grades just as much as my parents do. Yeah, I'll get pissed when I receive a crappy grade on a calc test, but it's almost as if my parents don't realize that. They yell at me thinking I'm just this incompetent child who's going to end up turning into some shady drug dealer after I drop out of high school. I can't explain to them my problems either since they won't be able to empathize with me at all. My grades are improving a bit, so that's a plus, I guess. I'm still feeling pretty mentally drained, and a lot of my friends have been noticing how tired I've looked lately. I fall asleep in class way too often because I'm having trouble staying awake. This just means I have to cram a lot harder when I go home--it's a vicious cycle I've been in for far too long now. Maybe I am the dud child of the family, ahahaha... My schedule for next year isn't looking so great either. I want to drop a few APs, but I also want to take them. I know my senioritis is going to kick into overdrive next year, so I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up biting me back.

Likewise, I'm glad that we've been able to hold up this conversation for so long! Haha, I honestly can't wait for spring break to come. It's only a few weeks away, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll leave school on a happy note when the time comes. Even though it seems that you already have your mind set on Rutgers, I hope decisions still go well for you! I know you have a huge backlog of anime to catch up on, so it's fine if you want to push back Steins;Gate for later. I'm glad you haven't forgotten about it though, haha.

I've never heard of Never Alone until now, but geez, I'm impressed. I'll definitely keep an eye out for it--maybe watch a playthrough of it if I have time, haha.

Metantei Kiddo · March 21, 2015

RA1 Aftermath ... This game is still good and addictive

Akazora · March 22, 2015

Ahaha, the closest I've ever got to legit gambling was when I was playing Texas Hold'em with a bunch of friends late at night on the cruise ship (not in the casino, of course). Neither my sister nor I knew how to gamble, so we only tested our luck with the machines that looked easy to operate, lol. My parents don't keep as close of an eye on me when my sister's around, so I didn't have to worry about their supervision at the time. Haha, I also used to collect Pokemon cards because of the art. I didn't pay attention to any other aspect of the cards except for the HP number. I can't remember times when I've stolen anything other than that one time I took a pebble from Michael's because I thought it looked nice, lol. Though I must say (I'm not trying to advocate for stealing or anything), what you did at Target was pretty legit, haha.

I mainly use YouTube to catch up on my subscriptions nowadays, but it's always nice to run into those Easter Eggs every once in a while. Yeah, I've heard of SAO. I was actually considering watching it until a friend of mine started ranting about how bad it was a few years ago. I'm not a fan of harems (DC is beginning to turn into one, and it's kinda ticking me off), and after reading a few reviews on MAL, I decided to stay away from it. The concept of SAO is pretty cool, I'll give you that much. Haha, that actually makes total sense. Perhaps it was the blend of those aspects that made the game appealing? I've watched playthroughs of a few games that implemented some pretty strange features, but ended up having a great premise anyway, so I know what you mean.

Most of the anime I've watched branched off of recommendations from friends. I don't want to dive into a series that isn't worth my time so I almost always wait for reviews to come out before I consider watching a show. One of the primary reasons is because I also have trouble dropping what I start, regardless of whether the show is good or not. It's probably why I usually avoid watching shows with ratings lower than 8 on MAL. Everyone's rating system is different, but mine tends to be as follows: 9 = definitely recommend, 8 = would recommend in certain circumstances, 7 = my guilty pleasures, 6 = wouldn't recommend, and everything else below 6 is pretty much nonexistent since I've only encountered a handful of shows worthy of those ratings (MK1412 is starting to get real close to being one of them though). These DCW posts are beginning to look like a Twitter feed (ex. "I ate breakfast"), so it's rather difficult to find points of discussion these days, haha. I'm also trying to limit myself so I can focus on my schoolwork more, though our exchanges isn't much of a problem at all. Joining athletics is a requirement around here (everyone needs at least two seasons worth in order to graduate). The only exceptions are for people who manage to get a waiver (not sure how) and for people who decide to take another phys ed class instead. Despite how much I love tennis, going to practice sessions is a pain because of how much time it takes away from schoolwork. But at the same time, I also love it since the team is like a second family to me.

People who I refer to as true "friends" tend to be people I talk to often, or people I'm not afraid to rely on. They don't necessarily have to be people I share interests with--that's just icing on the cake, haha. Nothing on Facebook will ever compare to having actual friends. It's still a good way to keep in contact with old friends though. Hmm, I don't think I have a very solid definition of a "friend". I guess I just know one when I see one then? I agree that the "friend" is overused with the rise of social media, though most have enough common sense to differentiate between an actual friend and an acquaintance, lol.

Haha, the stress of getting rejected from a dream college is something I dread. It has certainly motivated me to work harder since even the thought of getting rejected is something I'd rather not dwell on. I love the high I get from hard work that has paid off. Motivation is key for me, so how much work I get done depends on how motivated I am. Funny thing is, I still haven't found many colleges that I've become emotionally attached to. But after reading that paragraph of yours, I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing, haha. I'd rather have to deal with the stress of deciding on a college than the stress coming from a rejection.

I've only played one Zelda game. It was Minish Cap, and it was loads of fun. I regret not diving into more Zelda games since that one gave me a pretty good impression, and since I've heard so many positive things on the series. Haha, once again, my lack of a 3DS is limiting me from playing some of the more recent ones. I'll be sure to check out OoT if I ever get the chance. If not, I might just end up watching a playthrough of it. Gosh, I envy you so much, haha. Hmm, I still don't have a good grasp that all unicorns or uncommons aren't created equal. Are you saying that in the sense that they have different rarity values depending on where you live? Also, what causes the sudden shifts in value? Please excuse my ignorance on this subject, I'm still a newbie, ehehe...

I'm still rather taken aback that you've managed to deduce my location, haha. To think that you've narrowed it down so thoroughly based on mainly linguistics, a minor detail of a mall, and a petty description of a surrounding city is crazy. It's mind-blowing, and you deserve every little bit of credit for utilizing such general information. Hmm, so the soda vs. pop was what piqued your curiosity? Was it because you expected me to reside near NYC? I guess that's understandable since it would have been more likely for me to make a small move instead of one hundreds of miles away, haha. The tower and the museum was what gave it away, lol. I could only narrow it down to Middlesex County without it, and I probably never would have figured it out if it weren't for that detail you happened to drop--definitely not nearly as impressive as your deduction, to be honest. Although Edison is relatively close to NYC, I was doubting my guess since I didn't think NYC's light pollution had the capability to be that far-reaching. I stand corrected, lol (though it still comes as a surprise to me). Congrats on getting accepted into their Honors College! I'd also probably have a difficult time deciding on whether to pass on this offer or not, but it's great that you're getting a better impression of the school now! If you decide to go, I'll wish you good luck! Maybe tell me how it goes, haha.

I was never a fan of history, but it's a real shame that these historical monuments aren't holding themselves up anymore. I've always liked the idea of the history associated with an object as well as what it had to go through to be where it is today. But at the same time, what the delegates did in the Constitutional Convention doesn't interest me at all. History is a very broad subject, so I don't see myself as ignorant enough to hate every aspect of it with a passion. The history I enjoy reading or learning are like plagues or WWII ethics (can't think of a category for those). But the kinds of history that schools have shoved down our throats were bland enough to discourage me from investing time in most social studies classes (by taking them over the summer) as well as APUSH. I know how much you love history, so I apologize for coming off this way. But with that said, your paragraph was most certainly a fascinating read for me. I think it's awesome to be able to live near a historic site--especially one you can visit regularly. Most of the places I've been were very easily forgotten, and my parents cared more about taking pictures than actually enjoying it for what it was--which probably contributed a bit to why I don't like history as much as I should. To be able to visit historic monuments without being interrupted for a picture is a near impossible feat for me, and I always end up leaving the site with a bad aftertaste. I'm glad that you have found a passion for history! I also find it a bit strange that the people around there don't think much about the tower. Edison is a pretty big name, and I'm rather surprised that they don't treat the monuments as such. I think it's really cool that you cross paths with so much history on a near daily basis. Troy doesn't have much to offer in these aspects, which is a shame since I'd love to visit some sites one day (without being pestered for pictures).

A poor sense of humor? Nonsense! Many of your posts in the other parts of the forum are absolutely golden. Some of them make me laugh a bit, and a lot of them make me smile. It really helps for me to have a spontaneous spark of joy once in a while, so I thought I'd just point that out. You're a lot more fun than you make yourself out to be, haha. I'm sure you have a fantastic smile as well--I'd prove it to you if we ever met in real life, heh.

Maybe our class of seniors is just really audacious, lol. Our class of seniors is a really tight-knit group of people, so everyone is good friends with each other. It's probably why I've been seeing a lot of promposals lately, because that means there's little to no chance that anyone's going to get rejected. And with that said, I haven't seen a single person getting rejected for prom this year. Most of these people are also single so I've only seen one promposal so far that's relationship-based.

Oh gosh, reading that felt really reassuring. Things have begun looking up so far even though my habits have stayed relatively the same. I'm still trying to break my procrastinating tendencies and fix my sleep schedule, haha. My sister also struggled a bit in her junior year. I can remember how stressed she was even though she had better study habits than me. My parents always ask her to give me advice since they still think that I need someone to hold my hand. However, my sister and I differ in many ways so it's a bit hard to see eye to eye with her at times. But the thing is, I care about my grades just as much as my parents do. Yeah, I'll get pissed when I receive a crappy grade on a calc test, but it's almost as if my parents don't realize that. They yell at me thinking I'm just this incompetent child who's going to end up turning into some shady drug dealer after I drop out of high school. I can't explain to them my problems either since they won't be able to empathize with me at all. My grades are improving a bit, so that's a plus, I guess. I'm still feeling pretty mentally drained, and a lot of my friends have been noticing how tired I've looked lately. I fall asleep in class way too often because I'm having trouble staying awake. This just means I have to cram a lot harder when I go home--it's a vicious cycle I've been in for far too long now. Maybe I am the dud child of the family, ahahaha... My schedule for next year isn't looking so great either. I want to drop a few APs, but I also want to take them. I know my senioritis is going to kick into overdrive next year, so I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up biting me back.

Likewise, I'm glad that we've been able to hold up this conversation for so long! Haha, I honestly can't wait for spring break to come. It's only a few weeks away, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll leave school on a happy note when the time comes. Even though it seems that you already have your mind set on Rutgers, I hope decisions still go well for you! I know you have a huge backlog of anime to catch up on, so it's fine if you want to push back Steins;Gate for later. I'm glad you haven't forgotten about it though, haha.

I've never heard of Never Alone until now, but geez, I'm impressed. I'll definitely keep an eye out for it--maybe watch a playthrough of it if I have time, haha.

I know you briefly mentioned this before, but you went on a cruise with friends? That’s really awesome, I’ve only ever been on one with my family. I’m sure it was a lot of fun. In fact, I’ve only ever really vacationed with my immediate family. The only other times I’ve “traveled” was with my band program to Universal Studios in freshman year and Disney Word in junior year. And you know, those don’t really count, since I wasn’t enjoying myself as much as I should have. Do you travel with friends often or was the cruise a one-time thing?

Oh thank goodness you didn’t watch SAO, it really wasn’t very good at all. I may not have minded it that much if I had walked in expecting a harem, but I watched it on a whim when the first episode came out, not realizing what a mess I was getting myself into. The premise was terribly misleading, heh. The thing is, I actually plan to watch a lot of new, unaired shows, even if they risk being bad. It’s a gamble, a bad one at that, but sometimes it’s worth it. Watching an anime grow from a simple announcement/teaser to a full blown trailer to a weekly airing show to something people really started hyping to something everyone and their grandmother was watching is really amazing *ahem* SnK *ahem*. I still remember the day I first watched the SnK trailer the day it was revealed. No one had any idea how much it would shake up the anime community or could have guessed how popular it would end up being. Shows like SnK don’t come around very often, but I like to keep my eyes peeled for that next big one. I’m a bit of a hard grader as I rate my anime on a 3 to 9 scale, with 6 as average. 4/5 are between terrible (3) and average while 7/8 are between amazing (9) and average. I’m actually planning on adjusting my rating system to make it even harder: a 1 to 9 scale with 5 as average. Having two increments between terrible/amazing and average just isn’t cutting it for me with all the anime I’ve been watching, and MAL itself lists a 5 as “average”. It’s going to take a huge overall, since this whole time I’ve been keeping everything on my Completed List at a flat 6.0, and if it starts riding either up or down I adjust a few entries to bring it back to average. Now I’m going to try and somehow make everything average out to a 5.0. Call me OCD, but that’s just how I rate, eheheh. As much as I like anime, Sturgeon’s law still applies to it, which is why I guess I grade so strictly. Of course, for the same reason you probably don’t rate 10s, I never give anything a 10/10 because that implies perfection, and nothing’s perfect, haha.

Ah, your school’s system makes sense. My high school requires phys ed for pretty much everyone, even those who participate in the athletic program. The only people who are waived are those with medical conditions and super athletes, haha. I know this one person with some kind of heart problem, so she doesn’t have to take any phys ed classes and there’s this friend of mine who’s apparently a nationally ranked swimmer. He’s so good, he was recruited (actually recruited) by Columbia University. If you’re not like either of them, then you’re out of luck and have to take gym. Ah well, as much I feel like phys ed is a waste of school time, it’s not particularly difficult of course and I’ve met and made a handful of friends through the classes. There’s always a good side to a bad situation I guess. In my high school, girls tennis is actually during the fall while boys tennis is during the spring. When do your games start?

It’s still far too early for me to really settle on a school (well, maybe not that early considering how I only have until May 1st). I think as of now I’ve gotten back 7 decisions and am waiting on 9 more. I have a really good success rate, but it’s nothing that impressive since the schools that have contacted me already are nearly all safety schools. The reach schools are among the 9 I’m still waiting on, and I’m preparing for a wave of rejections, haha. It might have seemed I was set on Rutgers, but I’m actually still completely undecided. I may have praised the Honors College a lot, but it was just because I was pleasantly surprised.

I’ve never played the Minish Cap, but it seems like a fun little game. Top-down Zelda games aren’t too bad, and Spirit Tracks had its fair share of interesting puzzles, but in my opinion nothing can beat a 3D Zelda game. There’s just so much potential for the puzzles and dungeons. 3D Zelda games tend to me the more popular ones: OoT and MM, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and potentially the new Wii U game that’s been previewed. Haha, if it were possible I would have sent some games and a 3DS or something your way, but alas I’m broke and just freeloading off of my parents. The thing about amiibos is that no one knew there would be a shortage of a lot of the characters. When they were first put on shelves, everyone naively bought their favorite character (Link, Peach), ignoring unicorns like Villager and Wii Fit Trainer because who would want those, right? Those that did buy the to-be rares tore opened the packaging and played with them the way they were meant to be played, no worries in the world. Then, people started claiming they couldn’t find things like Marth. They became unavailable online, stores started running out, and people started to realize not all amiibos were treated equally. Some people had the bright idea of purchasing these amiibos in bulk to individually sell at exorbitant prices on eBay or Amazon. These people soon became known as scalpers, and they’re hated by amiibo collected and get no respect. Marth, Villager, and Wii Fit Trainer became known as the “Holy Trinity” and the craze of amiibos began. A lot of people want to catch ‘em all, some others even want to keep them in mint condition in the box. Others are in the unfortunate situation of wanting only character, and that one happens to be a unicorn. The collectors and OCD people are the ones who have made NIB (new in box) NA (North American) amiibos so sought after. Anything taken out of its original packaging lessens in value, not just amiibos. But some things are nearly impossible to find now. A NIB NA Villager is extremely rare, the unicorn of all unicorns, as he flew off the shelves in less than a week and since most people didn’t realize amiibos would be rare they all opened him up unsuspectingly. NIB collectors are having a really rough time finding him without stooping low enough to buy him from a scalper, and there’s no sign of him being restocked. Why not import? There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you’re not a NIB NA collector. Japan and Europe have a somewhat better stock than North America, so NIB JP and NIB EU unicorns are worth less than NIB NA unicorns. Of course, it’s still a hefty price regardless, and most Japanese and European sellers are still scalpers so you’re just encouraging an unfair and crooked practice, even if it’s not in America. The reason why my Rosalina and Shulk can’t hold a candle to a Villager is because now everyone knows some amiibos will be rare. When people get an amiibo, they don’t open it and instead hold on to it to either sell or trade. When Villager came out, everyone opened him. That’s why there are more NIB NA Shulks in circulation than NIB NA Villagers. As for uncommons, though Kirby and Sonic are both listed as uncommon, Kirby’s been around since November and he’s almost always on shelves. Sonic’s been out only for a month. Though they may both appear on shelves equally as often, just because of their different release dates more people would be looking for a Sonic than a Kirby thus making Sonic somewhat more in demand than Kirby. Also, a new wave of Super Mario Bros amiibos were just released yesterday, consisting of redone versions of Mario, Yoshi, Luigi, Bowser, and Peach. In order to make room for these new guys, sores have been clearing their inventory of the old Smash variants of these characters, which is why SSB Yoshi, once an everyday sight, is now considered semi-rare as of just a few hours ago. Does that mean people want SSB Yoshi nearly as much as Fox or DDD now? Nope, because those that really wanted a Yoshi would have already gotten one by now, given he was part of wave one and was even discounted at every store by three dollars for a few weeks to clear out the inventory. Sorry, I might have typed more than you expected or wanted me to. There’s so much I still haven’t told you and I could honestly lecture about amiibos all day, but I wouldn’t want to bore you. I hope this gives you a better perspective of just how crazy (and not all in very good ways) amiibos have gotten, haha.

Yeah, I thought you were either still pretty close or somewhere along the east coast. I actually haven’t really traveled in-land that much. Most of the colleges I’ve applied to run along the coast, and whenever my family travels it’s either a road trip north and south or involves a cruise or plane to cover longer distances. I can only recall driving to Chicago once, when I was younger, and that’s pretty much it. (Though, I guess I’ll be visiting Cleveland soon to visit a college…) I’m surprised you even narrowed it down to Middlesex County though, since county lines are usually forgotten about until political elections come up, haha.

Gosh, there’s no need to apologize just because we don’t see perfectly eye to eye about some things. I’m the kind of guy who would rate the four main subjects groups as English first, history second, sciences next, and math last. In other words, the farther away I get from numbers the better, haha. And I agree that history isn’t really all that fun to learn about. American history is my favorite, and world history is just kind of bleh, though that may be in part due to my horridly biased teacher (not the hot pedophilic one, but the chronically PMS-ing that hates boys). In general, I’ve found the Gilded Age, the conformist society of the 1950s, and presidents in general to be the most fascinating parts of American history. For world history, nothing really stands out apart from the French Revolution. I agree though, being forced to pose next to something for a picture never really resonated with me either, and not just because I’m not vey photogenic. History is best experienced and observed in silence and contemplation I feel. It should be treated like a good book or a movie, if that makes any sense. Getting your face all up in some grainy, filtered out picture ruins the atmosphere, especially if you’re visiting some place not very well-known and no one else is there.

Aw, that’s really sweet of you to think I have a “fantastic” smile, even if you don’t really have anything to base that off of, haha. I’d venture to guess you have a really nice smile as well; someone who laughs as much and who has as good a sense of humor as you do must have a smile to match.

My class is actually kind of on shaky terms. I used to think all seniors were friendly and tight-knit, but there are definitely quite a few folks who are causing ripples. Since I don’t have a Facebook, I’m not really sure of the details, but I’ve heard my fair share of rumors in school and all that. You know, petty stuff, like people with rotten personalities and homewreckers trying to stir up some trouble before high school ends. Since these are all rumors I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and I’d rather not get myself tangled up in messy dramas, especially since I've been in a great mood the past few months. I don’t think I know of any rejections either, but then again what would I know, haha.

I’m glad I was able to put your mind at ease and that things are looking up for you! I don’t think you’re going to fix your sleep schedule until at least the summer time, possibly senior year, though I sometimes doze off in class so I’m not exactly a good example, eheh. And procrastination is really hard to beat down. I push things back all the time. But that’s just human nature, it doesn’t mean you’re the dud child or anything. Still though, I guess it’s not good to have a wacked up sleep schedule. That’s something we’re both going to be working to fix. If your friends can tell you look groggy, you must be in pretty bad shape. I hope you manage to work things out soon! While it’s a shame you won’t be posting on DCW that often anymore, if it’s for the sake of your sleep schedule then take off as much as you want. I know you said that our exchanges don’t give you much trouble, but don’t feel the need to respond every week if you happen to have an especially busy few days or so. I’ll admit myself that I had somewhat of a hectic past few days, otherwise I would have typed up more than I did for this response to you.

My anime watch schedule is very strict. I watch at least four episodes of anime each day without fail, and thus I’m able to predict when I will finish things in advance. That being said, if everything goes as planned I’ll actually be able to start Steins;Gate on Monday. My new plan is to hopefully finish it before the new spring season of anime starts. While I do have a backlog of anime to catch up on, as I said before I’ve been clearing out my dropped and on-hold lists so I’ve been watching some pretty subpar stuff recently and it’s wearing me out. I think now’s a better time than ever to watch Steins;Gate, ahaha.

Moonlit Flower · March 23, 2015

Detective Conan: Karakuri Jiin Satsujin Jiken

Kirsch · March 23, 2015

Ohh, you actually stopped by! We were talking about you a few weeks ago, wondering why you haven't been stalking this thread for info. It seems you haven't had the time to read through all of the paragraphs we've typed between each other otherwise you'd have realize that we both are fine with this being a "public PM" (there's nothing to hide after all) and that Kenzi herself confirmed she doesn't live in NYC anymore. Tsk tsk Kirsch, you've been slacking off.

Nah, I'm just kidding. In fact, if you revealed that you had in fact been following this thread, then..................

On the other hand, if read with the sentence immediately preceding it, it sounds as if you can't imagine how different your life would have been if you hadn't met me, which sounds like some kind of indirect confession (the shippers are going to jump all over this).

This might sound strange, but I'm really grateful towards your post that started this long conversation string because I'm really glad to have met someone as amazing and considerate as you. Everything happens by chance, and I can't help but feel thankful that life has led me to where I am at this point--even the seemingly insignificant events. I guess that means there's no doubt that we're firm believers of the butterfly effect then, haha. Oh my gosh, I know exactly what you mean. I remember when my sister and I went into a casino on a cruise ship and decided to try our luck with some of the slot machines and along with various other casino games. We easily cashed out $20 with little payback before the manager kicked us out for being underage, lol. The place reeked of cigar smoke and there's no telling how much more money we would have wasted if we weren't kicked out, ehehe. I know I've also encountered your same situation in games before (like some of those neopet wheels I used to play ages ago). It sucks how these lotteries tend to be rigged, but it can't be helped.

I'm not sure if you remember, but YouTube also had some Easter Eggs they would implement during certain times of the year (ex. the option of animated snowflakes appearing on the video player a few Decembers ago). Oh geez, I can't imagine how hard it must have been to jump in blindly without a guide of some sort. Was there anything about the game that intrigued you to dive in? It's good that the gameplay stayed relatively consistent because of the amount of imminent rage quits that probably would have ended up happening with the latter option, haha.

This was one of the rare occasions where my "addiction" actually helped me gain a few somewhat useful skills. Hmm, I wouldn't say that watching anime and playing video games are completely useless. I've learned about basic stereotypes and archetypes, and a few inspirational quotes about humanity and morals (even some vocab from Pokemon lol)...and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. It's all in good fun, and they're great sources of entertainment for me. Yeah, school can be rigid and limited with classes that feed into potential dream careers, but that's all the more reason to look forward to college, right? I have a few friends taking AP studio art, but I think only 2-3 of them are actually going to pursue a career in art. The others are probably taking the class for fun. I also kinda wanted to take art for fun, but I'm already taking orchestra, so having another elective is pushing it a bit. It was rare for me to come across perverts and pedos since most of them were tagged by the community, so it was fairly easy to identify them. However, the ones I did come across posted and commented tremendously disturbing...stuff. Most of them were RPers, which made it that much worse--it didn't even matter what gender you were--they wouldn't leave you alone. Haha, the internet will always be the internet. It's only "natural" for those under sparsely clothed female avatars to be treated better, I guess. I'm pretty used to it now. I've been desensitized by the internet far more than I should have been, so it all comes across as either stale or humorous instead of appalling or offensive now. yikes.

But if you think about it, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Even if most people don't take part in similar interests as you, the ones who do can end up becoming some of your closest friends. I recently discovered that a real life friend of mine also actively watched ATLA/LOK. This eventually branched off to other shows, and now that's all we talk about when we're together. There's no need to dwell on how people are missing out on quality games and anime. Sure, anyone can watch Doctor Who or How I Met Your Mother, but the ones who actually enjoy endeavors that you enjoy are different. They're not like everyone else--they're unique. That's kinda how I view you right now. I guess it would be nice if everyone enjoyed the same pursuits that you enjoy, but how would you end up distinguishing everyone from one another? Dare to be different, lol. Those who do tend to stand out more. Like you stated in one of your previous posts, they become more special. And with that said, this paragraph also applies to you because you also mean a lot to me, haha.

Aw, thank you. I've heard nice things about this program from online sources, and I'm really looking forward to it! The only reason I discovered this summer program was because my calc teacher recommended it to me. I was struggling in his class last semester, but despite this, he encouraged me to apply and even wrote my letter of rec for me. And for that, I'm really thankful. Many of my friends also keep their mouths shut about summer programs. It's probably because no one ever asks about them, so it's not like everyone's trying to be secretive with one another, lol. But it's great that things are looking good for you so far! The admissions officer for this college really seems to care about the students when she came to our school though. She even went as far as to visit students while they were working to congratulate them on getting accepted. I have really high expectations for this college, and I have no doubt that I won't be let down when I take a visit to the campus. A great school giving me a bad time, or an average school giving me a great time? I know reputation tends to be a huge factor, but I'll make sure to do a fair amount of research on the schools before applying. Thank you so much for the heads up!

It's really fascinating reading your stories about RNG abuse! Although I usually don't have much to contribute to the discussion, just know that I do take an interest in your updates, haha. I don't want this paragraph to die out either since I love reading about how everything's going for you so far. Hmm, I've never played Spirit Tracks before, but from what I've seen, a lot of people seem to like it. Is there any reason why you don't like it as much? I'm still wondering why that reddittor wanted your Japanese Marth. Perhaps he/she only collects imported amiibos, haha. I never realized that they were all assigned such specific values. It's awesome how you have so many though! Good luck on getting the rest!

Holy mother of god...you're right on point. I can thank my lucky stars I wasn't drinking anything when I first read this or else I would have done an enormous spit take all over my laptop; you really took me by surprise there, haha. I had to examine it over a few times to make sure I wasn't misreading anything. I can't wrap my head around this. I didn't realize I gave away that much information about myself. I'm shocked, but really amazed. I knew you were observant but, wow. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if you managed to deduce which school I go to or even my address, lol. I'm just stunned that you managed to narrow it down so much. I mean, I easily could've been living in some of the other towns or cities surrounding Detroit, so being able to narrow it down to my city location, not just my state or county location, with such little and general information is unbelievably impressive. The "hints" I supposedly gave weren't intentional either, lol. I'll assume that you either went through a lot of digging, or that you got really lucky from the article you managed to stumble across, heh. Oh, I use "city" and "town" interchangeably since The "City" of Troy is nothing compared to The City of New York--it's not nearly as urban as NYC, so "suburban" would be more suitable. Was it anything in particular that made you feel compelled to piece everything together? As for your location, I felt like venturing into uncharted territory after a few minutes of examining various distance comparisons/locations and characteristics, ehehe... New Jersey itself is known for its high population of Indians, so I figured that Middlesex County would be a good stopping point--it's in close proximity to NYC and it's very populous in Indians. Hmm, actually, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and go for Edison. Earlier, you mentioned something about a small museum and a historic monument next to it: Thomas Edison Museum and Edison Tower, perhaps? The landmarks are roughly 20 minutes away from Rutgers University and Edison is also directly southwest from NYC. I can't recall much other info on where you live, and Edison didn't seem too farfetched either. Now, I don't know how much of NYC you can see from there since you said that you could see a "faint glow" from where you live, so I was a bit hesitant to insert in this portion of my response. I originally wasn't planning on guessing your location but I wanted to give it a shot and see how close I get, lol. It's definitely not nearly as impressive as your deduction though; I'm still really taken aback, haha. But, of course, you don't have to confirm or deny it either. Oh geez, if you really dislike the university that much, even it is practically a free ride, it's probably best to head elsewhere. You're going to spend four years of your life there, so why not make the most out of it? It's good that you managed to get so many scholarships! Definitely consider those, because four years can be a pretty long time unless you plan to transfer.

That's totally understandable, haha. Old habits tend to stick and it's not like how anyone types is a big deal or anything, lol. Having a clean slate is also one of the many reasons I look forward to college as well. I'm still gonna be same old me, but it's always nice to have a clean start for a new period of life. And I'm sure your first impressions aren't as bad as you think! Depending on the person I'm talking to, I can come off as pretty derpy since I laugh a lot. Perhaps it's because I'm so simple-minded since I'm so easily amused, haha.

The promposals are still going strong around here and it doesn't seem to show any signs of slowing down. Hmm, I'm not too sure about your situation. Maybe March is still too early? haha. Perhaps prom is beginning to lose its hype? Nah, I'm seeing promposals happening everywhere: in people's houses, in parking lots, at school, after competitions--and these people are going all out. Guitars, sushi, yogurt, videos, slideshows, posters, etc. (and they're all really creative as well). These are also the same people who're probably going to end up renting limos there. April does seem a bit too soon, but I'm still not entirely sure why they decided to move it so early this year. I'm seeing a lot more of these than I did last year though.

Oh, it's not a problem! It's my fault for putting them in such a negative light. I haven't asked for a video game or console for years. There's no way in hell they'll buy me any at this point. Haha, my mom is a lot more understanding than my dad. It's probably because her communication or social skills are a lot better. Both of them still compare me to others, but I think they've finally picked up on how bothered I tend to get when that happens. The whole "why can't you be like him/her??" has been slowly losing prevalence, so that's a bit more relieving. Whenever my dad yells at me, my mom usually helps ease the stress because she also understands how hard-headed he can be. She rarely gets mad at me nowadays, whereas my dad's fuse seems to be getting shorter. It's gotten to the point where I avoid talking to my dad in order to minimize any chance of him blowing up--I don't even ask him for help anymore. If you couldn't tell already, I'm absolutely terrified of my dad. I've been getting increasingly hostile towards him for this reason even though I know I shouldn't. I know that he cares about me. I've been living under his roof for the entirety of my life so far, and I can't help but feel like an ungrateful freeloader for treating him like this. I always thought that maybe getting good grades and making him proud of me will make up for this, or that I could always patch up our relationship when I'm finally able to hold my own ground after college. I feel awful on the inside because it's almost as if I forgot how to even talk to him. His English isn't that great, and my Chinese isn't good enough to articulate what I want to say to him, so the language barrier has become one of the primary issues for me--I can only talk to him in broken English. It's a lot easier to talk to my mom. I love my parents to pieces, so I hope this didn't give off the wrong impression. Gosh, I'm really sorry for unloading all of this on you. I didn't even realize how much I typed until after reading over this.

I'm sure you'll have no problem with those remaining schools, heh. Our bio class is split pretty evenly between juniors and seniors and our teacher doesn't round or give us extra points out of pity. We seldom receive extra credit so every point matters in the class. It kinda sucks that the research won't help on college apps, but at least the experience sounds awesome! I know I'd probably enjoy it a lot, haha. Aw, you're the sweetest. I know I've said this time and time again, but your words really do mean a lot to me, and I'm touched that you care so much. Although my sleep schedule is still pretty screwed up, I think it's starting to improve a bit. Baby steps, lol. Most of my teachers plan to leave us with as little work as possible before spring break starts, so remembering your birthday definitely won't be a problem for me. Don't worry about it! haha.

lol, no one ever bothers to read these extensive conversations of ours anyway. I appreciate the concern though, haha.

So NYC isn't accurate anymore? I'll find out O-O

Akazora · March 24, 2015

10930870_603723493093820_765575998565084

machine · March 28, 2015

Valkryia Chronicles

Hirito · April 1, 2015

Kingdom Hearts 2.5 Remix (BBB), Terra's Story

Kenzi · April 2, 2015

I know you briefly mentioned this before, but you went on a cruise with friends? That’s really awesome, I’ve only ever been on one with my family. I’m sure it was a lot of fun. In fact, I’ve only ever really vacationed with my immediate family. The only other times I’ve “traveled” was with my band program to Universal Studios in freshman year and Disney Word in junior year. And you know, those don’t really count, since I wasn’t enjoying myself as much as I should have. Do you travel with friends often or was the cruise a one-time thing?

Oh thank goodness you didn’t watch SAO, it really wasn’t very good at all. I may not have minded it that much if I had walked in expecting a harem, but I watched it on a whim when the first episode came out, not realizing what a mess I was getting myself into. The premise was terribly misleading, heh. The thing is, I actually plan to watch a lot of new, unaired shows, even if they risk being bad. It’s a gamble, a bad one at that, but sometimes it’s worth it. Watching an anime grow from a simple announcement/teaser to a full blown trailer to a weekly airing show to something people really started hyping to something everyone and their grandmother was watching is really amazing *ahem* SnK *ahem*. I still remember the day I first watched the SnK trailer the day it was revealed. No one had any idea how much it would shake up the anime community or could have guessed how popular it would end up being. Shows like SnK don’t come around very often, but I like to keep my eyes peeled for that next big one. I’m a bit of a hard grader as I rate my anime on a 3 to 9 scale, with 6 as average. 4/5 are between terrible (3) and average while 7/8 are between amazing (9) and average. I’m actually planning on adjusting my rating system to make it even harder: a 1 to 9 scale with 5 as average. Having two increments between terrible/amazing and average just isn’t cutting it for me with all the anime I’ve been watching, and MAL itself lists a 5 as “average”. It’s going to take a huge overall, since this whole time I’ve been keeping everything on my Completed List at a flat 6.0, and if it starts riding either up or down I adjust a few entries to bring it back to average. Now I’m going to try and somehow make everything average out to a 5.0. Call me OCD, but that’s just how I rate, eheheh. As much as I like anime, Sturgeon’s law still applies to it, which is why I guess I grade so strictly. Of course, for the same reason you probably don’t rate 10s, I never give anything a 10/10 because that implies perfection, and nothing’s perfect, haha.

Ah, your school’s system makes sense. My high school requires phys ed for pretty much everyone, even those who participate in the athletic program. The only people who are waived are those with medical conditions and super athletes, haha. I know this one person with some kind of heart problem, so she doesn’t have to take any phys ed classes and there’s this friend of mine who’s apparently a nationally ranked swimmer. He’s so good, he was recruited (actually recruited) by Columbia University. If you’re not like either of them, then you’re out of luck and have to take gym. Ah well, as much I feel like phys ed is a waste of school time, it’s not particularly difficult of course and I’ve met and made a handful of friends through the classes. There’s always a good side to a bad situation I guess. In my high school, girls tennis is actually during the fall while boys tennis is during the spring. When do your games start?

It’s still far too early for me to really settle on a school (well, maybe not that early considering how I only have until May 1st). I think as of now I’ve gotten back 7 decisions and am waiting on 9 more. I have a really good success rate, but it’s nothing that impressive since the schools that have contacted me already are nearly all safety schools. The reach schools are among the 9 I’m still waiting on, and I’m preparing for a wave of rejections, haha. It might have seemed I was set on Rutgers, but I’m actually still completely undecided. I may have praised the Honors College a lot, but it was just because I was pleasantly surprised.

I’ve never played the Minish Cap, but it seems like a fun little game. Top-down Zelda games aren’t too bad, and Spirit Tracks had its fair share of interesting puzzles, but in my opinion nothing can beat a 3D Zelda game. There’s just so much potential for the puzzles and dungeons. 3D Zelda games tend to me the more popular ones: OoT and MM, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and potentially the new Wii U game that’s been previewed. Haha, if it were possible I would have sent some games and a 3DS or something your way, but alas I’m broke and just freeloading off of my parents. The thing about amiibos is that no one knew there would be a shortage of a lot of the characters. When they were first put on shelves, everyone naively bought their favorite character (Link, Peach), ignoring unicorns like Villager and Wii Fit Trainer because who would want those, right? Those that did buy the to-be rares tore opened the packaging and played with them the way they were meant to be played, no worries in the world. Then, people started claiming they couldn’t find things like Marth. They became unavailable online, stores started running out, and people started to realize not all amiibos were treated equally. Some people had the bright idea of purchasing these amiibos in bulk to individually sell at exorbitant prices on eBay or Amazon. These people soon became known as scalpers, and they’re hated by amiibo collected and get no respect. Marth, Villager, and Wii Fit Trainer became known as the “Holy Trinity” and the craze of amiibos began. A lot of people want to catch ‘em all, some others even want to keep them in mint condition in the box. Others are in the unfortunate situation of wanting only character, and that one happens to be a unicorn. The collectors and OCD people are the ones who have made NIB (new in box) NA (North American) amiibos so sought after. Anything taken out of its original packaging lessens in value, not just amiibos. But some things are nearly impossible to find now. A NIB NA Villager is extremely rare, the unicorn of all unicorns, as he flew off the shelves in less than a week and since most people didn’t realize amiibos would be rare they all opened him up unsuspectingly. NIB collectors are having a really rough time finding him without stooping low enough to buy him from a scalper, and there’s no sign of him being restocked. Why not import? There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you’re not a NIB NA collector. Japan and Europe have a somewhat better stock than North America, so NIB JP and NIB EU unicorns are worth less than NIB NA unicorns. Of course, it’s still a hefty price regardless, and most Japanese and European sellers are still scalpers so you’re just encouraging an unfair and crooked practice, even if it’s not in America. The reason why my Rosalina and Shulk can’t hold a candle to a Villager is because now everyone knows some amiibos will be rare. When people get an amiibo, they don’t open it and instead hold on to it to either sell or trade. When Villager came out, everyone opened him. That’s why there are more NIB NA Shulks in circulation than NIB NA Villagers. As for uncommons, though Kirby and Sonic are both listed as uncommon, Kirby’s been around since November and he’s almost always on shelves. Sonic’s been out only for a month. Though they may both appear on shelves equally as often, just because of their different release dates more people would be looking for a Sonic than a Kirby thus making Sonic somewhat more in demand than Kirby. Also, a new wave of Super Mario Bros amiibos were just released yesterday, consisting of redone versions of Mario, Yoshi, Luigi, Bowser, and Peach. In order to make room for these new guys, sores have been clearing their inventory of the old Smash variants of these characters, which is why SSB Yoshi, once an everyday sight, is now considered semi-rare as of just a few hours ago. Does that mean people want SSB Yoshi nearly as much as Fox or DDD now? Nope, because those that really wanted a Yoshi would have already gotten one by now, given he was part of wave one and was even discounted at every store by three dollars for a few weeks to clear out the inventory. Sorry, I might have typed more than you expected or wanted me to. There’s so much I still haven’t told you and I could honestly lecture about amiibos all day, but I wouldn’t want to bore you. I hope this gives you a better perspective of just how crazy (and not all in very good ways) amiibos have gotten, haha.

Yeah, I thought you were either still pretty close or somewhere along the east coast. I actually haven’t really traveled in-land that much. Most of the colleges I’ve applied to run along the coast, and whenever my family travels it’s either a road trip north and south or involves a cruise or plane to cover longer distances. I can only recall driving to Chicago once, when I was younger, and that’s pretty much it. (Though, I guess I’ll be visiting Cleveland soon to visit a college…) I’m surprised you even narrowed it down to Middlesex County though, since county lines are usually forgotten about until political elections come up, haha.

Gosh, there’s no need to apologize just because we don’t see perfectly eye to eye about some things. I’m the kind of guy who would rate the four main subjects groups as English first, history second, sciences next, and math last. In other words, the farther away I get from numbers the better, haha. And I agree that history isn’t really all that fun to learn about. American history is my favorite, and world history is just kind of bleh, though that may be in part due to my horridly biased teacher (not the hot pedophilic one, but the chronically PMS-ing that hates boys). In general, I’ve found the Gilded Age, the conformist society of the 1950s, and presidents in general to be the most fascinating parts of American history. For world history, nothing really stands out apart from the French Revolution. I agree though, being forced to pose next to something for a picture never really resonated with me either, and not just because I’m not vey photogenic. History is best experienced and observed in silence and contemplation I feel. It should be treated like a good book or a movie, if that makes any sense. Getting your face all up in some grainy, filtered out picture ruins the atmosphere, especially if you’re visiting some place not very well-known and no one else is there.

Aw, that’s really sweet of you to think I have a “fantastic” smile, even if you don’t really have anything to base that off of, haha. I’d venture to guess you have a really nice smile as well; someone who laughs as much and who has as good a sense of humor as you do must have a smile to match.

My class is actually kind of on shaky terms. I used to think all seniors were friendly and tight-knit, but there are definitely quite a few folks who are causing ripples. Since I don’t have a Facebook, I’m not really sure of the details, but I’ve heard my fair share of rumors in school and all that. You know, petty stuff, like people with rotten personalities and homewreckers trying to stir up some trouble before high school ends. Since these are all rumors I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and I’d rather not get myself tangled up in messy dramas, especially since I've been in a great mood the past few months. I don’t think I know of any rejections either, but then again what would I know, haha.

I’m glad I was able to put your mind at ease and that things are looking up for you! I don’t think you’re going to fix your sleep schedule until at least the summer time, possibly senior year, though I sometimes doze off in class so I’m not exactly a good example, eheh. And procrastination is really hard to beat down. I push things back all the time. But that’s just human nature, it doesn’t mean you’re the dud child or anything. Still though, I guess it’s not good to have a wacked up sleep schedule. That’s something we’re both going to be working to fix. If your friends can tell you look groggy, you must be in pretty bad shape. I hope you manage to work things out soon! While it’s a shame you won’t be posting on DCW that often anymore, if it’s for the sake of your sleep schedule then take off as much as you want. I know you said that our exchanges don’t give you much trouble, but don’t feel the need to respond every week if you happen to have an especially busy few days or so. I’ll admit myself that I had somewhat of a hectic past few days, otherwise I would have typed up more than I did for this response to you.

My anime watch schedule is very strict. I watch at least four episodes of anime each day without fail, and thus I’m able to predict when I will finish things in advance. That being said, if everything goes as planned I’ll actually be able to start Steins;Gate on Monday. My new plan is to hopefully finish it before the new spring season of anime starts. While I do have a backlog of anime to catch up on, as I said before I’ve been clearing out my dropped and on-hold lists so I’ve been watching some pretty subpar stuff recently and it’s wearing me out. I think now’s a better time than ever to watch Steins;Gate, ahaha.

loljk happy april fools c:

Traveling with friends is a blast, so definitely try it sometime! My dad's always in a better mood when he's around people he knows, there's another plus, haha. Most of the time I only travel with my family, and although that's also fun, nothing can beat traveling with friends. We also have band/orchestra trips around here. Freshman year was NYC, sophomore year was Disney World, and this year is going to be some place in Tennessee, lol. It's a shame that you weren't able to enjoy yourself during the trips since those trips are all about having fun. I don't travel with friends often unless their families are people my parents know really well. My parents like bringing people with them on certain occasions, so if they're not bringing families of my friends, they're bringing families of my sister's friends, haha.

I really hate being disappointed from something I had high hopes for, which is why I usually avoid unaired shows. And from what I've seen, most of the shows on MAL get ratings lower than 8, so I feel that it's safe to assume that most unaired shows receive similar ratings as well. Actually, I trust the user reviews more than the ratings. Heck, even Mirai Nikki got a score higher than 8 and I thought that show was deserving of a 6 at best. The entire rating system is kinda misleading at times so most of the stuff I watch are shows that my friends recommend--most of which I do end up enjoying. Mirai Nikki is the exception since my friend recommended it to me before he finished it, haha. I think it's awesome that you managed to get your grandmother to watch SnK! I have to hide my anime watching from my parents, so I only watch when they're sleeping or when they're not around. Gosh, they'd murder me if they found out how much time I "waste" watching anime, although to be honest, I don't think I've watched that many. I have a few friends who also managed to get their parents to watch anime and other shows with them, and frankly, I'm a bit envious. But back on topic-ish, sometimes, I feel that I should also adopt MAL's rating system with 5 as average, but giving shows like DC a 5 or Mirai Nikki a 3-4 seems a bit harsh, doesn't it? Also, I haven't watched enough anime to have a good grasp of what is considered average. I tend to keep my ratings above 5 for this reason and save the lower ratings for shows that really deserve it *cough Lucky Star and MK1412 *cough*. I haven't encountered many shows that are that terrible either since I rely on recommendations and reviews most of the time. But to make up for this, I always round down. Shows that might get a 8.7 from me will get an 8 instead of a 9. You've been an anime veteran for quite a while so if I were you, I'd probably be too lazy to adjust all of my ratings on MAL--especially for those I haven't watched in years. Plus, impressions constantly change so a show you gave a 7 today might end up getting a 5, years later. I wouldn't be willing to go through all of that, lol. I don't think I'll ever give a show a 10. My enjoyment might be a 10, but like you said, there is no anime without flaws.

We need phys ed as a prerequisite for participating in athletics, so most people end up taking it the summer before freshman year. However, we also need to take a second phys ed class if we're not going to do at least two seasons worth of athletics or if we don't get a waiver. Most people at our school end up taking track or cross country for this reason. The lazier people just take on sports that have no competition at our school, like lacrosse. I know a few people at our school who've been accepted (not sure if actually recruited though) by colleges mainly based on their athletic record. I know this one guy who got accepted into Yale to play on their soccer team, but he also had the grades to back him up. Of course, he also played varsity soccer at our school as well. So this friend of yours didn't join your school's swim team? I think it's nice how he didn't have to, but still, haha. Nearly all of my friends took phys ed over the summer to leave space for other classes (and for the prerequisite) since it's a pointless class to waste an entire semester for. Girls tennis is in the spring while boys tennis is in the fall. It used to be the other way around quite a while ago, but I kinda like this current system. Our games have already started, and we even had our first tournament of the season not too long ago.

I think it's great how you have a lot of schools to fall back on! I've heard surprising stories about students getting accepted mainly because of their essays and letters of rec into schools that no one expected. You wrote a pretty awesome essay, plus you already have a bunch of acceptances behind you, so I think you're in a pretty good position at the moment! Then again, I'm only a junior, so what would I know, haha. You're getting quite a bargain with Rutgers, so going there probably wouldn't be a bad idea at all.

I’m definitely going to take the Zelda games into consideration once I get a 3DS—they look awesome from the playthroughs I’ve seen so far. Oh my gosh, I didn’t realize how much more value certain amiibos have over others. I think it’s awesome how they’re like collectibles! It’s also interesting how the “less popular” characters tend to be ones with the most value (with exceptions, of course). Once again, I apologize for not being able to contribute to discussion much. However, this was still a fascinating read for me, so I’d love to read more if you don’t mind writing about it, haha.

The places I've been are really wide-spread. I've been to many corners of this country just through random vacations, lol. Most of these trips occurred when I was little though, so I can't recall much from them. Is there a reason why you developed a preference for coastal colleges? Since I already knew your state location, I figured my next best bet would be to figure out your county location. I just assumed that narrowing it down to a county would make pinpointing a city location easier. Our county name is mentioned a lot around here, so I was a bit surprised when you implied that mentioning it was a bit out of the ordinary where you live. Also, I'm going to trail a bit off topic again because I recently discovered that I may or may not have visited Edison before. I think I heard my mom mention that one of our road trips a few years ago might have crossed paths with the town when we were heading back to NYC for a bit. One of my old friends back in NYC also moved there a while ago. I barely remember him since we never kept contact, but he was a relatively good friend of mine back then. My parents even planned to visit his family in Edison at one point but never got around to it. Haha, I just found that interesting.

For me, it would be science first, then math (math used to be first, haha). English would be third and history would be last. Actually, if I could, I would bundle the entire social studies package under history. I never liked learning about the government and "global studies". It just wasn't very interesting and never appealed to me. I love learning about the world around me. I also love numbers because everything falls into place once you make sense of them. I used to struggle in English quite a bit since I used to be so math-oriented, but it's kinda growing on me. Sometimes, I feel that our teacher is going overboard with all this analysis stuff though. What if the author just wanted to write it like that? What if the conch shell in Lord of the Flies was never meant to represent democracy? (okay, yeah, there's a lot of backing that disproves this, but you get the gist, haha). My teacher would slap me for this. Hmm, that's interesting. I've always found world history to be a lot more fascinating than American history. It's probably because the American history that schools force us to regurgitate is way too over-glorified. Everything they've taught us seems so subjective and it just doesn't feel like they give us the overall picture. In other words, the American history curriculum just feels like it's loaded with white-washed pro American propaganda. They antagonize the British, treat most wars as if we managed to rise to the top single-handedly, and exhibit a martyr complex towards wars we lost. How about giving us an outsider's perspective of these colonizations and revolutions rather than playing the victim and brainwashing us into idolizing America more than we should? I guess I'm not really in any position to say this since I've kinda given up on learning any history at this point. If I could add anything more, the witch trials in Europe and people like Joan of Arc are subjects of history that seem a lot more intriguing than American history in my opinion.

Ahaha, you're far too kind. I think smiles in general are one of the best aspects of people. In fact, a person's smile is one of the first things I look at when I meet someone--it can say quite a bit about the person. Not to mention, I just love seeing people smile in general. Kinda sucks that I don’t smile as often as I should though, haha..

The seniors at our school usually don't gossip about anyone unless it's about promposals or college acceptances. But even then, I wouldn't call it "gossiping" since they're typically congratulating those people most of the time, lol. I never liked getting into drama, and there's not a lot of it around here--thank goodness. Most of the "drama" is about grades and complaints about certain teachers, but usually never any trash-talking. I guess it mainly depends on what kind of friend group you have since our school can be quite divided in terms of social groups.

I’ll definitely be able to catch on sleep during spring break. I doze off in class far too often, and not because the class is boring, but because I’m just so gosh darn tired. My procrastination tendencies definitely contribute to this issue, or maybe it’s because I can’t manage my time as well as others. I appreciate your concern though, so thank you for that, haha.

Four episodes a day? Phew, I don’t think I’ll ever have that much commitment for watching anime. That’s pretty impressive, haha. I’m glad you’ve decided on starting Steins;Gate! Let me know what you think of it when you’re finished! I also suggest for you to watch the OVA and movie afterwards. The OVA had a nice comic spin on the show and the movie is also a good supplement. Both provide for some pretty decent closure.

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