Back from Costa Rica, and I had a total blast! Kind of surprisingly, I didn't get much art in during the trip because I was too busy running around doing all sorts of things, including but not limited to kayaking (my personal favorite), canopy zip-lining tours, swamp rides, swimming at the beach, boy-watching (my other favorite), and a little bit of sleeping/eating.
I just wanted to let it be known that I got back safely, and had a really fun time. :) It was really hard living without internet for 8 days, lol! My iPod touch went on the fritz the second day of the trip, so I wasn't able to check in on everyone.
I hope that you guys are having a fun summer so far!!! Go outside if you have sunshine, or stay inside if you have bad weather/hate the sun!
This guy is a totally amazing composer! I've downloaded nearly all of his songs from Newgrounds (his account is danman87), and I listen to other music on his site daily (mainly Serpent's Grave Trailer). Check him out at his personal site. I honestly wish I was this talented.
1. Tornado season! We just had a huge storm pass over us last night around 7:15, which knocked out the power (causing it to flicker until around 11) and part of our fence (which I think needs reinforcement; it falls down every storm). It was kind of scary, because apparently there was a tornado in Plano, which is about 20 minutes SW of us, blowing east at 55mph. The winds were, like, 70-80mph, the sky was green, and the rain was literally blowing sideways! My mom made my sister and I go into the pantry with our Macs. :) Chelsea played Bubble Bazinga while I sat and contemplated how to beat Portal. Then we escaped our lackluster imprisonment and read books (I read Salem's Lot, Chelsea read some Twilight book) until the power came back 2 hours later.
2. Storms are supposed to continue through the weekend, and I got a taste of it this morning at 7:15 (darn you, 7s!!) when driving rain pounded against my window, disallowing me sleep. And somehow I wonder why people like storms, but I'm not doubting any opinions.
3. Beat Portal in about 3 hours last night (before and after the storm), and I'm seriously considering replaying it later. It was too short!!! ; ; I absolutely loved the challenge, my favorite part being the disarming of turrets. My favorite part had to be in the final stage when you're escaping, and you're in the huge room with the sludge and turrets all along the walls. Lol, I'm such a puzzle maniac! I don't like defense games or time-challenge games; I don't like pressure all together. :S But this was a really awesome game, one of the only games where one of my favorite parts is the boss fight! That was the only time where I was like "YES" to time constraint, because it gave you plenty of time (though I would like to see what happened if you got gassed).
4. Now I'm speculating about what'll happen in Half-Life 2 Episode 3, concerning Aperture Science, based on the ending of Portal. I wonder if they're even in the same time period...I think it would be cool if you met up with Chell, who survived the blast with the portal gun intact, that way Gordon would have a silent buddy to communicate telepathically with. Or that she would give you the portal gun, and go on her way to somewhere to find out who she is. Or maybe since she was an employee (which I figured when GlaDoS read her "personnel file") she would upgrade the gravity gun or something. I don't know.
5. I just wish Gabe Newell would stop playing WoW and get to work. I'm considering the boycotting of HL2E3 because of Valve's insanely dispersed release dates. I mean, come on! I know that it takes a while to make a good game, but 3 years? And in TF2's case, 6 years?? And Left 4 Dead 2 is already set to come out this year? I think they should at least try to give Half Life fans some sort of closure, maybe a trailer, a few screenshots, or something fans can use to make lousy Linkin Park AMVs, in the meantime. I'm tired of "Half-Life 2 Episode 3 ***LEAKED FOOTAGE!!!***" and "NEW TRAILER" videos that end up being Rick Rolls. It was funny at first, and I like the song, but when you're actually looking for something it can get a little tedious. I think the only good thing coming out of this immense time frame is Full-Life Consequences. That's probably the best parody of any video game that I've ever seen. :)
6. TL;DR version of 5: Start working, Valve!
7. I'm honestly not thinking of anything else except for HL. Considering replaying, but still pretty angry at Valve, so I might not. I kind of want to play Team Fortress, but I'm afraid of picking a group and having a bad time/being called a noob/having them be a joke group. I've never been savvy with online playing, but I still think it might be fun. :S IDK.
8. My mom is now addicted to Facebook. :) It's cool to have her on there.
9. I watched Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds and Bakugan Brawlers this morning. Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds: What is with all these Yu[insert other letters here] protagonists and their hair? I mean, at least in Yu-Gi-Oh GX the kid was Jaden in English and had relatively normal hair. But Yugi and Yuusei, no. If I was their mother, I would disapprove in a heartbeat. The episode that I watched had them breaking all the convicts out of a prison through a duel. What if some of those guys were actually in there because they belonged there? As in, rape, murder, thievery, assault, etc? Honestly, 4Kids? Not the best message to send. Bakugan: Is that white/purple-haired girl planning to be a stripper when she grows up? When she says Bakugan Brawl, she looks like she's about ready to start pole dancing. She's such a pussy, always breaking down and crying when anything happens, or, if something is in her favor, gaining an infuriatingly smug attitude. A lot of the characters are stereotypical bimbos, save the black-haired guy (stereotypical high-on-his-horse badboy) and red-head girl (stereotypical psychic damsel). But, I suppose 4Kids does that to a character.
10. I miss Sheep in the Big City and Dexter's Lab and a lot of the Cartoon Network shows I watched when I was a kid. Now, all of those shows are stuffed into Cartoon Cartoons, and all that are on during the day are anime 4Kids shows about cards. Why don't they schedule World Poker Tour, too? That's a card show.
F. HALF LIFE.
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NM. PROTOTYPE FTW!!!
Very mellow song, in contrast to the crashing of thunder and sparks of lightning outside. Very good song by one of my favorite bands! <33333
OK so I'm like obsessed with one-shots and supernatural/mystery things. I went on OneManga today and read Pandora's Box and Rust Blaster, both of which were so gooooood! ; ;;;;;;;;;; The endings are always so sweet. Pandora's Box was perfect as is, but I really do wish that Rust Blaster was so much longer. Like, a whole series. But, I guess it was good just being short and succinct due to the time constraints they had on the gate opening.
Other than one-shots, what am I reading...Kuroshitsuji (whose author made Rust Blaster), D. Gray-man (get better soon, Mrs. Hoshino!), Katekyo Hitman Reborn (which I need to catch up on, lol), Nabari on Ou, Amatsuki, Tegami Bachi, Muhyo to Rouji... and more I can't think of, lol. I'm so super lame.
WHO AM I KIDDING I am never satisfied with endings, lol.
Anyway, short post. I might post later this weekend with more recommendations. :) If not, pick out some one-shots! Most of the time, they're reeeeeally good with very good stories!
AAAAAAH I WANT TO DRAW FANART. Tomorrow though. After projects.
Aaah, this whole Swine Flu thing is really freaking me out!! :S There have already been a few cases in Texas! I know that 6 or 7 is not a lot, but still, this is pretty scary. I'm really worried that it might become a pandemic, and that it might even worsen the state of the economy and everything right now. It's right about now that you really start hating those illegal aliens.
I can only imagine that Obama must be having a field day; swine flu, economic crisis, and the ongoing war in the Middle East.... I would have gladly let someone else handle all that. I know it sounds cowardly of me, but I'm being totally honest in that I would be completely overwhelmed. I swear, that guy's a freaking saint.
But yeah, swine flu. I have a newfound dislike for pork all of the sudden, lol. I know that it doesn't come from pork, but you can't be too careful, in my opinion. I really just hope and pray that it's only a unique case of the seasonal flu, nothing more, and that people will be okay. I don't want any of my family or friends to be hurt!
I guess it's good to have OCD at this point in time, though, right? :) Everyone wash your hands, get your vitamins, and please please please stay safe! <3
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Oh, Spikey whatshisface, the Otaku mascot dude, sniffed me out on Facebook. If you want to add me, just look for Taylor Smith and tell me who you are. :)
So I attended the VASE State event this Friday and Saturday down in Houston. It was terribly execrable because of the constant pouring rain and flooding streets, so I was totally and completely miserable half the time. While we were leaving Houston, we accidentally took an access road that was flooded. Like literally, cars were floating, and when people went to help them, the water was up to the stomach of 6-foot tall men. We waited to see if the water would go down a little bit, but it just kept rising and cars kept on trying to drive through it and stalling, so in the end we just followed a truck (which, if we tail-gated it, lowered the wake against our car) and got through it without stalling. It was probably the scariest moment of my life though, lol.
I digress, though!
I did win a Gold Seal, meaning my art was in the top .07% of all 20,043 entries submitted to VASE. Only 127 pieces received the Gold Seal, and I was one of them! :)
Also, that means that I am the first student in the history of my high school to receive the Gold Seal (because Lovejoy HS is only 3 years old) so yayyyyy! I thought that all of the people who went from my school deserved Gold Seals, but we'll all try again next year.
Oh, and one of the girls there won 2 Gold Seals every year of high school, so in total she received 8 Gold Seals in her high school career. She also has gotten $400,000 worth of scholarships from colleges nation wide! I want to be like her. ; ; As conceited as I portray myself to be, being surrounded by this breathtaking artwork really does a number on your self-confidence, lol. To me, Marcelline looked like a sixth-grader's project than a Gold Seal work.
The results should be up on the VASE State Result page in either a few days or a couple weeks. IDK.
I also won a $100 scholarship prize by drawing a pasta monster at a workshop while we were there. :) It was absolutely terrible like a third-grader did it, but I guess the judges thought it was funny or something.
In other news, I want to play Assassin's Creed 2 right now at this very nanosecond. If you read the article in GameInformer, DOESN'T IT LOOK SO COOL?????? I adored the original game, but 2 looks like it's going to be everything awesome and amazing that gaming life has to offer. Still waiting for Dante's Inferno and I Am Alive and Half Life 2: Episode 3 and Portal 2 though.
OK that's enough. Sorry for taking your time by gabbling your brains out. I'll try to post a painting or something soon. But for now I'm going to try and beat Mehrunes Dagon.
PS: I GET TO GO TO COLLEGE YAYYYYYYYY!
