Why do some people not like Ran?

[Why do some people not like Ran?]

to sum it up

-she's flat and predictable

-she not as headstrong as she used to be (this is just a personal gripe)

-her preachings and remarks about Shinichi are repetitive and tiresome

-she is more of a plot device than her own character and acts as a deus ex machina, which is just lazy writing

-her role as the damsel in distress in practically every DC movie leaves a real bad aftertaste

-she has cried so much that I can't sympathize with her "ordeal" anymore (crying isn't necessarily a bad thing, but geezus, the gimmick gets really old after twenty years)

 

can't really blame her though

DC is a more of a whodunit than a plot driven series, so any character development is minimal (if any at all) at best

 

 

I could understand why some people wouldn't be interested in her character and feel indifferent, but not the hatred. 

personally, I don't "hate" Ran

I just dislike how banal she is as a character since she'd be a perfectly fine person in real life

[Hello. Ladies and Gentlemen.]

I'm surprised a forum for a series that is close to getting to 1,000 chapters has so much inactivity. I'm guessing this is because the series is not that known in the west as it is in Japan, but I'm glad the forum is at least having some activity. For a couple of years, I always browsed around the Wiki spying government agencies, but never really wanted to joined the forum until now. 

it's more the fact that updates and plot progression for the series are mind-numbingly slow

a lot of threads were bustling with discussion when news about RUM came out; same with movie updates

but it's not hard to lose interest in the series after extensive periods of dormancy

 

of course, discussion is always welcome, so don't be afraid to start some new threads or contribute to previous ones since you seem to be rather well-acquainted with this forum

 

so welcome, and enjoy!

[What's on Your Mind?]

It's definitely time to get out our illuminate hats and alien footage and declare armageddon on the world.

 

Or we can blame it on Trump.

 

(... or global warming....)

 

And welcome back!

"thanks Obama!"

I'm more than willing to blame El Nino for this tragedy, but uh, that works too!

and thanks!

though I could say the same for you, lol

 

 

OMM1: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHxo5EAMn3c

I'd seriously watch hundreds of episodes of Twitch Watches Pokemon and not get bored.

"Dad, what happened to the gym?!"

"Your mother happened." 

 

rekt.

back when the anime still had a sense of humor...

 

but on another note, I thought they were only streaming movies

they're streaming episodes too??

 

 

Lolz, Clinton and Trump.

they're practically having a field day

 

 

 

--

OMM: guess we can't make fun of Leo anymore, huh

loljk, congrats to the guy :^)

 

 

OMM2: in spirit of current events...

still relevant

AND THEN WE'RE GOING TO WASHINGTON DC TO TAKE BACK THE THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!

 

BYAH!!!

[Movie 20: The Darkest Nightmare]

wait, there hasnt been overly dramatic soccer ball kick in a movie

the majority of DC movies feature Conan's soccer ball though, lol

 

 

agasa's quiz  should be in the trailers from now on, so that we see some mystery in these movies 

 

whaaaa??

now why would you want to spoil the best part of the movie???

 

:^)

[Movie 20: The Darkest Nightmare]

☑ Ran's Shinichi distress call

☑ Detective Boys

☑ explosions

☐ overly dramatic soccer ball kick (still waiting for this one)

 

but in all seriousness, I'm actually kinda looking forward to this

[What's on Your Mind?]

Holly...

Kenzi returns

--You're back! 

 

 

 

These might be the 3DS games you've been waiting for Kenzi ahhhhhhhhhhh get hype!!

TO THE MOON WE GOOOOOOOOOOO

BUT I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'M SO EXCITED SFJHSKFHSDKLHKDFLJGHSDFGHSKHJS

 

Charter school 

ahh, that makes a lot more sense

I was wondering why you started school so late in the day, haha

and I'm also a little envious, eheh...

 

OMM 2: "The New York Times reports that nearly 40% of millenials don't eat cereal for breakfast because they don't want to clean the bowl afterwards."

this sounds like something straight from the Onion aka best news source

 

yes this is some quality news

 

 

--

OMM: tfw it's 60* and raining outside

what

[What's on Your Mind?]

OMM2: [MUFFLED SCREAMING]

can we just take a moment to

holy moly what

 

OMM3: So wrong it's right, so bad it's good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6EbiAfeW2M

^And uhh, the video's NSFW I guess, for being unapologetically offensive more so than anything else.

geezus, did... did this person just

...

 

ebola-chan's pigtails

ebola-chan's pigtails

 

OMM 1: When your school cancels all classes that start after noon and your first class starts at 12:30 

 ...waitttttt

do you go to a public school?

 

--

OMM: snowday yay

[What Was the Last Song You Listened To?]

YOU'RE BACK

 

INDEED

[What Was the Last Song You Listened To?]

no title

[What Was the Last Video Game You Played?]

 

Soo, here's the response.  After reading over this again, given the current circumstances, the tone doesn't feel quite appropriate.  I'm sorry about that...  I've done my best to "fix" things up.

 

Hmm, what compelled me to ignore these social stigmas?  I don’t really know; I don’t think there was anything that particularly “compelled” me, it’s just something that happened naturally as time passed, ahah.  I love anime and video games, and while I may occasionally have harsh words for them, I’m still proud to be a fan.  If other people judge me, then so be it; I’m an introvert anyway so I don’t really mind if I lose any potential friends.  And friends of mine aren’t people who’d judge someone based off of their interests anyway, so there, heh.

 

Hahahah, I suppose that you could say that I’m determined, but I’ve always just felt that I’m too stubborn for my own good.  When I make commitments, I stick to them, though I often have the problem of making too commitments and get bogged down by a massive and never-ending to-do list. Thank you though, I’m definitely going to need quite a bit of luck to have RNGesus bless me.  It would definitely suck if I lost my streak at 99, though hopefully it doesn’t come down to that.  I’m not one to usually buy Ribbons or actively go out of my way to obtain them, but for Pokemon I especially treasure I make exceptions.  And not to mention, my pockets were overflowing with money and I didn’t know how to spend it all, so I figured why not?

 

Yeah, it definitely sucks to be burned out by a series that’s been such a big part of your childhood up until now.  It doesn’t help that you haven’t even had the chance to even play the most recent games and instead were forced to watch from a distance.  I’m glad you’ll get the chance with Pokemon Z, and hopefully Game Freak can deliver an impressive experience.  Oh my gosh, yeahh, I didn’t expect Undertale to blow up like it has either!  The demo was pretty interesting, but it wasn’t enough to convince me to actually play the game when it came out.  I’m not the biggest fan of RPGs in general, so despite the praise it’s received I’m not too sure I’ll go out of my way to try the full version.  You’re quite the trailblazer though; the first I had ever heard of the game was from you, so though it’s a shame you weren’t able to ride the hype train with everyone else you can at least have the satisfaction of being the very first person to tell me about the game, ahah.  Are you going to play it eventually though?  Aww, I wouldn’t recommend getting yourself all bummed out just because you’re behind on video games and by extension anime.  You’ll definitely find time in the future; high school life was pretty restricted.  It may not seem like you’ll find the time for anything now, but once you start chipping away at your backlog things will start to seem much more manageable.  As excited as I am for the two newcomers, it’s going to take a lot more than just that to get me back into the game.  I’ll probably have to take an extended break from the games for a few years and learn of Smash 5’s development to fully recover from my slump.  Luckily, I have a lot to keep me occupied in the meantime.

 

Closing the car windows for safety, huh?  Do you usually keep the car windows open then?  Isn’t that like, not aerodynamic and therefore not fuel efficient when driving?  And doesn’t that ruffle up your hair and get it all messed up?  Ah, well, I guess that second concern is more of just a problem specific to me, eheh.  My parents don’t keep the car windows open, though they occasionally and temporarily crack them open in the summer to air out heat from the car.  Edison’s a nice town too, and it’s generally perfectly safe to walk around and drive at night as well.  There are never any reports of crime or vandalism or anything.  There’s not much to do here either, same as Troy, but it’s not like I ever want to go out and do anything anyway.  Without public transportation I suppose it’s harder to purchase video games in person if I ever needed to, but getting my shopping done in Cleveland hasn’t proved to be much of a problem.  Hm, I don’t think it’s too surprising to learn you’re a bit sick of Michigan.  You’ve been living there for a while now, and because you’re merely a few months away from starting college, you’ve probably got that itch to get away from home for a bit.

 

Errrr, well, about that…  I haven’t been keeping up with my extra-curriculars at all.  After that failed attempt at trying to view the moon, I haven’t attended a single astronomy and physics meeting or event.  I also haven’t written anything for the newspaper for the longest time.  Ughhh, I know I know, this isn’t good, but it’s hard enough as it is keeping my grades up while finishing my video game backlog at a reasonable pace.  I feel kinda bad for not writing much anymore, and I don’t see my schedule freeing up any time soon with my packed class schedule this coming semester and all the Fire Emblem I need to get done in the coming months as a result of Fates’s release in February.  Wait, so are you saying waking up early to go to orchestra practice can cause headaches for when you head back home that day?  I just chose wombo combo because it was something loud that represented my interest in Smash Bros, eheh.  I like to incorporate my hobbies into anything that I can customize.  My phone’s wallpaper is Kino no Tabi and its lock screen is an Ace Attorney reference.  My ringtone is also an Ace Attorney reference (I changed it from UBW’s Brave Shine now that the hype has died down) and the notification sound is an Ocarina of Time reference.  My computer’s wallpaper is Zero Escape, the lock screen is ORAS, and my little Windows profile picture is Deemo.  My Chrome theme is Splatoon, and the background image I use for my main Gmail account is The Dog of Flanders.  As my interests change and develop, so do my customizations.  They usually reflect what’s current, meaningful, and hype, ahah.  What’s your alarm?  And I know you don’t like to show your interests so blatantly, but have you customized your phone and/or laptop in any way to reflect your hobbies?

 

Ohohoho, for someone who hasn’t identified as much of a health nut, you’re rather well versed in the intricacies of healthy eating!  At the very least, you’re conscious of what you put in your body and made decisions accordingly, even if you’re willing to indulge in some packaged foods on occasion.  That’s better than me, eheheh, I just eat what tastes good.  I’m not fool though; I obviously don’t consume a ridiculous amount of greasy and oily foods, but as I long as I don’t think something is too bad for my health I’m perfectly fine with eating it in moderation.  Ah, so your dad likes his food with lots of soy sauce or oil.  The food that my parents make isn’t that greasy, or at least not much greasier than what you find at your average Chinese restaurant.  Let’s see, as far as bread goes, I generally don’t like it alone.  I need something on it, like butter or cream cheese, or I need it to be flavored like garlic bread.  As for yogurt, I don’t actually mind yogurt too much.  It’s kind of like ice cream; even though it’s one dimensional it generally tastes good enough alone.  It doesn’t hurt if there’s granola in the yogurt though, much like ice cream topped with sprinkles and fudge sounds rather good too, eheh.

 

Phew, gotta love that feeling of sleeping at some weird time during the day and waking up all confused and disoriented.  Now I just wake up in the afternoon out of habit, but that’s only because I stay up until it’s five or six in the morning…  Setting up an alarm at 10:30 am or so would probably only help once I actually get my act together and not sleep so late, hahah.

 

My classes were all so relatively late that I ended up having brunch even when I wanted breakfast.  I generally just call the first meal of the day “breakfast” so long as it’s still before noon, even if it’s at 11:30.  That’s also probably why I don’t have lunch, eheh.  I would have liked to eat whenever I want to, but with my gym schedule and Leutner’s hours I figured the best way to go about things would be to establish a schedule of sorts.  They say it’s good for your health, though my sleep schedule is so messed up I’m not too sure how beneficial a meal routine is at this point.

 

Ohh, wow, your dad really has a low tolerance for this kind of stuff, sheesh.  He sounds rather frightening, and as annoying as it might be, I guess you could always think of it as him looking out for you in his own way…

 

I knowww, this weather sucks!  It’s very un-Christmas-like, and even though I’ve been blasting Christmas all day every day when I’m not playing video games or watching anime, it’s hard to get in the mood when it’s all rainy and mild outside.  Actually, now that I think about it, it won’t matter if Cleveland has a white Christmas, because I’ll always be home for the holidays!  So it won’t even make a difference; unless Edison delivers and gives me snow when I want it, I won’t be seeing a white Christmas for at least the next four years, ughh.  Ah yes, and I believe the heating was up too high, even though the actual heater by the window in my room wasn’t turned on.  There must be some central heating system that runs through the walls or something to prevent us silly college kids from accidentally freezing ourselves to death.  I only think this because now that I’m back home (and yes, I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I’m back in Edison!), because though it’s no colder here than in Cleveland, my house feels significantly colder than my dorm building.  I sleep with really thick blankets now, but instead of feeling clammy and uncomfortable I actually feel warm and toasty.  Huh, who woulda thunk it.  I guess I’ll just have to sleep with less layers on when I get back to Case in January.  I haven’t had a nightmare in a looooonnng time up until that point, so it was a bit unnerving to wake up remembering something unpleasant.  I don’t really think much of it, but you know how people say perhaps dreams are an alternate reality of sorts and all that……

 

Pfffttt, it’s ‘cause all y’all come from that swanky Troy High, check yer privilege, hurhurhur!  Ahahah, nah, I’m just playing, I’m not too sure what those guys are on.  I mean, I suppose college classes can be pretty tough, and professors are obviously huge factors in determining how much you’ll enjoy a class.  My First Seminar professor was amazing, and I absolutely loved her class.  She’s one of those grandmotherly type people who treats all her students like her children and she was so sweet and nice!  There was a lot of work involved, but she was a fair grader (if you put in effort, you got an A; she doesn’t nitpick every little grammar mistake you made) and I wanted to do well in that class not just for the sake of my GPA but also for her sake, to show that I cared about her class and appreciated her as a teacher.  My accounting professor on the other hand… ughh.  What a nightmare, that was one of the most stressful classes I’ve ever taken, even if just for the project alone.  Some parts of college classes are harder than high school classes, but a lot of it is up to the professor.  That being said, how difficult you find high school classes is also mostly attributed to the teachers, so it’s not like that should be anything new in college.  I know I said I was joking before, but maybe Troy High really does have amazing teachers.  I’ve had my fair share of deplorable teachers in JP (and Edison schools in general) so though I lamented the situation I was in with accounting it’s not a scenario I was entirely unused to.  Did the people who are complaining about college now just, like, not have bad teachers in high school?  You seem to have a lot of good to say about your teachers and experience at Troy, and if your classmates are in the same boat they may just be recoiling from the experience of an unfair professor.  As for why you’re not allowed to see the professors for First Seminars but not University Seminars, I’m not too sure.  I’m not even entirely sure why you’re designated a First Seminar from a selection of four but are allowed to specifically choose a University Seminar.  There’s probably a logistics reason I’m just not seeing, ahah.

 

Woah, you run off to the bookstore?  Well, I suppose if your parents being around make you that uncomfortable, eheh.  By bookstore do you mean a big chain like Barnes and Noble or a small local shop?  And do you drive or just walk there?  The brightness of screens only bothered me if it was pitch black, in which case I turned down the brightness of my Game Boy or (3)DS iPod or phone, but of course that’s only because I’d be using that device in bed when I should have been sleeping.  Those screens are otherwise kept at moderately high levels of brightness during the day.  I rarely use my laptop in pitch blackness, but when I do it’s because I’m watching an anime with the lights off and am looking for a cinematic atmosphere and therefore don’t mid keeping the brightness all the way up.  I never turn the brightness of my laptop down, but for the smaller devices I listed above I do in completely dark rooms.  Eheheh, maybe I’m just weird, or maybe my eyes are so fried and abused from years and years of mistreatment that high brightness contrast doesn’t affect me nearly as much as it might others.

 

Ohhhh, that explains it, I should have noticed sooner!  No wonder you watched Tatami Galaxy and LWA!  You heard about them from Demo!  Since you haven’t watched much anime and don’t even follow seasonal shows, I was a bit puzzled you found “obscure” works like those two.  They’re well known around the fandom, but only to those that follow the anime subreddit and browse through MAL and ANN on a daily basis, scouring for any hidden gems that lie just below the surface of the mainstream shows.  That someone like you discovered them was a bit strange, but if it was as a result of Douchebagchocolat’s videos then that would make sense.  Demo doesn’t make videos too often, but his sense of humor is on point and I occasionally check out his Twitch live streams (which he hosts relatively often).  He never plays games I’m interested in, as he’s not too interested in Nintendo games or consoles, but listening to him ramble on wittily is entertainment enough.  One of his more recent streams was absolutely hilarious.  It had me in tears from laughter, but that may have also been a result of my sleep deprivation that night.  Ah, parody channels I don’t usually watch too much.  I watch Fate/Cero, which is a Fate/Zero abridged series, but it’s not finished yet and it probably won’t be for a while.  I recommend checking it out after you rewatch Fate/Zero, not before.  Ohh, I remember finding If Google Was a Guy a while ago but didn’t really pay any of the other content CollegeHumor made much heed.  It’s pretty good!  And I recognize Cyanide and Happiness, but didn’t know that’s what it's called.

 

Oh my gosh… you actually got held back during recess and got a letter home??  Goodness, just how disruptive were you Kenzi???  No one in any of my elementary school classes talked that much!  Did you just… not listen when they said to stop talking??  Was talking something of a reflex for you?  Awww, but you still hugged your teachers, that’s adorable!  You might have been strange, but you were cute!

 

Ah, I’m not too sure why he was so ready to give his DS away either.  I think he had lost interest in it, and you know how middle schoolers are; he may not have had any way to buy a new charger and his parents may not have been willing to purchase one for him.  Yup, my very first video game ever was Star Fox Adventures for the GameCube and I absolutely love it to this day.  Nostalgia aside, the game was a gorgeous and fantastic Zelda-like title that a lot of people initially dismissed because it was a departure from the regular Star Fox games.  My second video game was Donkey Kong Country for the Game Boy Advance.  I’ve finally gotten back into that series, and gosh DKC Returns 3D, which I had just recently purchased pre-owned from Best Buy and have finished playing a couple days ago, was amazing!  The original DKC is such a source of nostalgia, and seeing how creative the levels are now while still retaining that same atmosphere was quite exciting.  Not to mention, the music composer who worked on Star Fox Adventures composed the music for DKCR3D, and his style is still recognizable, so there were two layers of nostalgia while playing that game!  Over winter break I want to finish Tropical Freeze for the Wii U, which I got free from Club Nintendo, and maybe after that I might buy DKC 2 and DKC 3, the more obscure and forgotten GBA titles that I wasn’t able to play when I was younger, to officially complete the series.

 

Smash and then Pokemon and then Awakening, hm?  That sounds pretty good to me!  Honestly, it shouldn’t really matter what I say, at the end of the day you should buy whichever game you want to buy.  But if you want to take personal preference and replayability into consideration then yes, those games should probably be the first ones you buy.  Smash gives you something you can quickly pick up and play with no plot or narrative to worry about, Pokemon gives you something light-hearted to play through that can be either laid-back or intense depending on how you want to go about it, and Awakening gives you something more story and strategy-based to think through when you have extensive consecutive hours of free time.  Ahh, I should have guessed that you'd reject my offer, though I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.  I hope you're just saying no because you're honestly not comfortable with revealing your address, and not because you don't want me to spend any money for your sake.

 

Oh geez, sometimes I can forget I’m in college as well.  You may think that’s ridiculous; how do you wake up hundreds of miles away from home without parental supervision every morning and not realize you’re not in high school anymore?  Shouldn’t the sheer amount of freedom be almost overwhelming?  For me I guess it wasn’t.  School is school, when it all comes down to it.  Call it college or call it high school, but you’re still taking tests and studying and doing homework.  I have to occasionally take a step back and realize just how much my life has actually changed between this year and last to fully appreciate how different it is, ahah.  

 

I’m actually pretty familiar with both Corrin and Bayonetta.  I’ve been following Fates since it was first revealed during the Direct many months ago.  I’ve been avoiding spoilers of any kind and am only getting my info from official announcements though, so there’s only so much that I know.  The moment that saw the red lobster samurai man (I don’t even know his name, oh my god) I went crazy.  I knew it was going to be Kamui, or rather Corrin, in that instant.  His gameplay looks really unique, so though he’s a sixth Fire Emblem rep I’m far from unhappy with his inclusion.  Better to get a character I can, or at least will, relate to in Smash than not, right?  Bayonetta I know because she was one of the more popular characters people speculated about back when Smash 4 was still in its infant stages.  People eventually dismissed her because they felt she was too sexy for Smash, especially with the game’s eventually revealed E10+ rating.  I haven’t played any of her games nor have I been particularly interested in them, but she’s bringing a lot of fresh mechanics to the table which is awesome!  There’s a Bayonetta anime movie apparently, and though it isn’t very good I may check it out in celebration of her inclusion.  Same goes for the FFVII: Advent Children movie for Cloud, ahah.  I can understand why a lot of people are angry that Sakurai added in another Fire Emblem character.  If he added another Mario rep, I’d be pretty upset too.  But since Corrin is so unique with his moveset and transformations into his/her dragon form, I can (and think other people should) overlook the Fire Emblem saturation.  I’d much rather Kamui than Shovel Knight, who’d just hit people with a shovel no different than Ike whacks people with a sword.  Significantly less people are pissed about Bayonetta though.  Only people who are upset with her inclusion are salty veteran/indie character supporters who have more rage than Corrin alone can receive, and SJWs.  It’s too bad Wolf couldn’t get in, but his gameplay style isn’t too unique.  We already have three returning veterans in the form of DLC anyway; any more past that magic number and people would start complaining Sakurai is lazy and charging us extra for characters that should've been included from the start.  Some say instead of Roy we should have gotten Wolf, but then the Roy fans would have ended up crying just as loudly as the current Wolf fans.  Only exception to the veteran rule is Snake, given his “mature” status and unique moveset, but since there’s been a lot of controversy with Konami recently (see the #FucKonami movement and Kojima joining Sega) negotiating with them was most likely not possible.  Ice Climbers were shafted as an unfortunate result of the 3DS and 8-player Smash limitations, and I suppose it’s a bit sad to see Charizard shut out Squirtle and Ivysaur as well.  Not everyone will be happy with the final roster, but all things considered it’s been an incredible ride on the hype train and I couldn’t have asked for more!  Sakurai definitely deserves a rest!

 

As I mentioned in my PM, feel free to take as much time off as you need.  You definitely need to refocus and collect your emotions.  Whenever you're ready to come back, I'll be right here waiting for you.  And I'm patient, so don't worry about me, eheh.  Anyway, despite all this, I hope you enjoy your winter break, as difficult as that may sound.  Christmastime is so magical; it would be a shame to have it ruined because of this.  Good luck when school starts back up in January and with the finals that will soon follow.  May you be blessed with headache-less days and not-too-frigid mornings.  I'll be thinking about you every day.

 

 

Ignoring them just happened naturally as time passed? Hrmm... that's kinda interesting. You'd think it'd be the other way around because people tend to become increasingly aware of these social stigmas as they get older. Ahh, well, no matter. It's nice to hear that you're so comfortable in your own skin! 

 

The amount of Pokemon Z news has been lacking lately. The most recent update is this one mechanical man-made Bakugan-like Pokemon. It doesn't look like anything too promising, but the thing could possibly have a connection to Diancie? I think? I'm not really feeling it right now. Ahhh, but I guess it turns out that you eventually caught up with the Undertale hype train despite your initial doubts! And you also seemed to like it quite a bit, hehe. I've been trying my hardest not to spoil myself, but fkdfldhsfklajhfkadjf it's every.where. Mark my words, I will play the full version one day. Hmm, so you're not too big on RPGs? Have you ever heard of Chrono Trigger? That's been on my list for a looonnngg time now (since middle school, damn). Oh gosh, my list of games to play and anime to watch just seems to get bigger, it's a bit overwhelming. I haven't had the opportunity to chip away at it like I wanted to, and I keep telling myself that I'll get to it eventually, but arghhhh, the world just wants to do everything in its power to prevent that from happening. I did, however, get around to watching that one Steins;Gate 0 OVA. I've been hearing rumors that Steins;Gate 0 might be even better than the original (apparently the VN was really good), and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can't contain myself! Oh yeah, and I've begun watching Monster. I know you told me to read the manga, but I decided to go with the anime after looking at a few reviews. I kinda wanted a somewhat long-running, episodic anime to cozy up with; something I can just watch one or two episodes of and then leave alone, and Monster fit the bill (or at least compared to the rest of my backlog). I guess I was just craving something to fill the DC void, eheh. I haven't gotten very far though, and I'm not entirely sure when I'll finish it either. It's kinda like a leisure anime at the moment. I was considering watching Hunter x Hunter instead, but I figured I didn't need my backlog to get any bigger, lol. Also, I know that Monster isn't as episodic or as laid back as DC is, but as long as I'm not getting gut-wrenching cliffhangers after every episode, I'm good, ahah. 

 

Yeah, I've stumbled across several articles claiming that it's more fuel efficient to just turn on the A/C rather than open the car windows, but we normally don't open the windows unless we're driving at low speeds. As for whether or not it ruffles up my hair, pfft, of course it does, but that's only when we're driving at 30+ mph. Actually, after the car reaches that speed, we just close the windows because that wind noise is pretty obnoxious, lol. Also, hear me out, if the car's been parked outside for a while, we sometimes open the windows and turn on the A/C. Screw fuel efficiency. Ahaha, jkjkjk. It's just to air out the car faster. We close the windows a few minutes afterwards, don't you worry. Oh yeah, it's pretty hard to get anywhere around here without a license. The biggest inconvenience seems to be whenever I'm forced to stay after school without a ride until two hours later, but that's mostly attributed to the fact that my parents need their cars to drive to places during the school day. Even though I usually can't drive myself to/from school, having a license is still pretty liberating! Speaking of which, have you gotten around to getting behind the wheel yet?

 

Maybe just commit to one activity you're really enthusiastic about then! There's bound to be something out of the dozens of clubs/organizations out there, haha. If not the anime club, maybe pick up the oboe again and join the marching band? Obviously you wouldn't want to overwhelm yourself with classes and the anime and video games you plan to watch/catch up on, but I think joining a club/organization is one of the best ways to be involved and make the most out of your college experience! And since time can be an issue, just join one you can really get into rather than a bunch that you're feeling kinda meh about. Quality over quantity, right? Oh nonono, when I said "practice" I meant tennis practice, not orchestra practice, lol (I normally call those "sectionals"). See, now if I got headaches from playing my violin, that would be a problem. I don't think I'd be able to handle all of those headaches on top of the ones I occasionally get from tennis, urgh. Oh wow, you're quite active in incorporating your interests into your everyday life! I kinda wish I had that freedom. My phone wallpaper has this aurora borealis feel to it, my ringtone is some generic pre-programmed ringtone, my laptop wallpaper changes every thirty minutes (most are just random scenic pictures anyway, some of which are truly eye-candy, might I add, heh), my main Chrome theme is a navy blue gradient (not even sure why I chose this, but it's been like this for years and I don't have the heart to change it), my "New Tab" theme is controlled by a Chrome extension called Momentum (it's worth checking out if you ask me, haha), and the background image I use for my main gmail account is a picture of some random celestial body that automatically changes daily. Truthfully speaking, you wouldn't be able tell what I'm interested in at all from just looking at my laptop or phone (though I do have a bunch of random images stored in the depths of my laptop). Well, part of this is due to fear of my dad, who sometimes uses my laptop when I'm not home. I'm not allowed to put a password on it since he'll just accuse me of "hiding" things. And you know, if I do change it to some random anime/video game wallpaper, I'll probably get reprimanded for investing my time in such trivial matters. I'm a closet nerd anyway, so using generic wallpapers doesn't bother me too much. My alarm is a random tune that gradually increases in volume. It's nothing special, really, lol. 

 

Ahah, about that... I'm not really much of a healthy eater. I have pretty bad eating habits, eheh. I'm hungry after I get home from school, so maybe I'll open up an avocado and a bag of crackers or something. Weirdly enough, after eating that (or something equally as filling), I'm usually not hungry at all once it's dinner time. If I don't eat enough during dinner, my parents just accuse me of snacking too much, and they're not wrong, eheh. But once it's 10-11pm, I'm hungry again and I have to microwave some leftovers. (Of course, I risk receiving the I-told-you-so lecture from my parents if they catch me though.) If the leftovers are too salty or greasy, I just dump some of it into a boiling vat of water and drain it. It removes the "flavorings" and makes the food more edible. So yeah, the only consistent meal I have is lunch. Hmm, so you don't like plain bread? What about toast then? Toast is pretty good, haha. Also, have you ever tried freezing fruit? Frozen bananas are great! Just peel one open, slice it, and freeze the pieces. They can get pretty cold though, so I wouldn't recommend it if you have sensitive teeth. Oh, or you can freeze yogurt! It's pretty great for the summertime! I sometimes put cereal in my yogurt when I get tired of milk. Cereal's usually a good substitute for granola, haha. I've also heard that you can make carbonated fruit using dry ice, which sounds freaking awesome. I haven't tried it yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list, heh.

 

Whoa whoa whoa... is staying up till five or six in the morning a regular thing for you now? Geez man, I know you have the luxury of waking up later in the day, but that's still insane. I hope that habit of yours has changed now that it's the start of a new semester, eheh... If getting out of bed is really that difficult, I recommend setting an alarm about 1-2 hours before you wake up, then set another one for your actual waking time. This way, you're given a real lag time to wake up as opposed to smashing the snooze button to oblivion. (The pun was unintentional, I swear.) This has been working a lot better for me than breaking up my REM sleep, so this is what I've been resorting to lately, haha. 

 

If I recall correctly, you said that this semester's classes were going to be earlier in the day, right? I guess that means you won't be able to skip lunch anymore, heh. How has college been going for you so far?

 

Oh, and speaking of sucky weather, the weather here still sucks. It was almost 60* a few days ago! How and whyyyyyyyyyyy. Barely any snow either. What the heck, Michigan. This is the second time you've let me down. Like geez, sometimes I don't even need to wear my winter coat. It's been so warm around here that I don't even need to turn on the heating in my room! Heck, it's raining at this very moment while I'm typing this. Hmm, and judging by the looks of it, you seemed to be pretty happy about the amount of snow you've received, and here I am, sitting enviously behind my laptop screen praying for an eventual snowday or cold day even though I'm certain we're not getting any this year. Hmph. Haha, don't worry, I'm kidding. ...'cause you know, the twenty inches of snow the East Coast got also contributed to some of this salt. But yeah! I'm glad you were able to experience what a real winter's like! Hopefully all of that good heating you have in your dorms is put to use now, heh. 

 

Ahh, actually... while Troy has some awesome teachers, I've also come across some pretty unpleasant teachers. My overall experience with them has been pretty mixed, but I've had enough awesome teachers to overshadow those that I didn't agree with. The teacher's job is to teach, and sometimes the teaching style just doesn't uhh... resonate with me, to say the least. Sometimes they're "unreasonable" or "biased" but there's no use in me constantly complaining about them since students usually don't have much say in anything, as irritating as that may be. At best, I'll be able to let off some steam, which sometimes helps when I'm around friends in similar predicaments. I haven't heard many complaints about college professors lately, so maybe those students have already adjusted. I'm not sure about the teachers they had back in high school since schedules tend to be pretty flexible around here, but I'm fairly certain that their experience with teachers wasn't entirely rainbows and gumdrops either. Yeah, I completely agree with you. It's even kinda disheartening how much the difficulty or your enjoyment of the class is dependent upon the teacher. Like geezus man, sometimes I've been learning more from outside reading (not just supplemental reading) and watching videos than from actual classroom instruction. Thank goodness we live in an era where information is so readily accessible. They don't call this the Information Age for nothing. I hope the professors you currently have are treating you well! I don't think I've ever had a teacher as unfair as your accounting professor (hopefully you won't have to deal with that kind of stress again), but judging by what you've written, were these kinds of teachers commonplace back in JP? Sheesh, that must've been awful.

 

We don't have any small local shops (or at least none that I know of), so I normally head over to Barnes and Noble. It's a few miles away, so I have to drive. Gosh, I love it there. It's almost like a haven where I can avoid my classmates and parents. I know it sounds bad when I put it that way, but I guess I just really like the idea of being alone by myself, undisturbed (with the exception of fellow bookstore visitors, of course). I can read and study whatever I want with minimal fear of being approached by someone I know. I'm surrounded by loads of resources and pleasure reading books I can indulge in (most of which are in mint condition as well). It has more up-to-date books than the library too! And while the books at the bookstore can't be checked-out, there's almost always a stock of them in the back (so they probably won't run out and you won't have to go through the hassle of waiting for books you've put on-hold). In other words, most books are readily available even during exams and for summer reading! But the main reason I prefer the bookstore over the library is because I rarely run into classmates at the bookstore and because I like its atmosphere a lot more. I prefer a bit of white noise to complete silence. It can be a little hard for me focus in complete silence sometimes, lol. Do you have some sort of haven you also frequent? Ohh, I'm not comfortable using my laptop in pitch darkness. I only have to shut off the lights when I'm approaching 6am (when my parents wake up for work) so that they don't catch me up so late early. Haha, I never thought to use darkness as a way of creating a cinematic atmosphere. I might have to try it sometime!

 

Actually, Tatami Galaxy and LWA were recommendations from a friend, ahah... I just happened to stumble across Demo along the way, lol. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how my friend discovered these anime though. Demo kinda reminds me of VideoGameDunkey for some reason. Or maybe it's just the dry humor. Hmm, obscure works? That's an interesting way to put it. Okay, so maybe Tatami Galaxy doesn't necessarily fit everyone's general perception of an anime, but don't tell me something like this doesn't pique your interest, haha. It's definitely obscure, but if you just happen to come across something like that during some mindless surfing, surely you'd want to look into it, right? It's what initially got me to watch it, lol. Oh, I've heard of Fate/Cero! I actually watched the pilot episode a while ago (so I wasn't able to catch your warning) and it had some good moments, haha. 

 

Yeah, I was pretty disruptive during class as a little kid. I just loved initiating conversation, eheh. Sometimes I was so absorbed in my conversations that I didn't realize the teacher told me to stop talking. It's no wonder why I got in trouble so often. But a lot has changed since then. If you asked each of my current teachers how sociable I am in class, you'd probably get a very wide range of answers.

 

I've definitely heard of Star Fox Adventures and DKC, but they were never titles I considered looking into. Is there a reason why you're so fond of them? Aside from nostalgia, of course, haha.

 

Smash, then Pokemon, then Awakening is definitely subject to change since I've also been meaning to get around to playing VLR (and the following game) ever since 999 blew me away. Ahhhh, so many games to play! Thank you for helping me through this process! The only thing I'm worried about is the lack of time, not that I plan to completely binge on these games or anything (I like to play through them gradually anyway, haha), but between these games and the anime I plan on watching, I'm admittedly a little afraid about whether I'll be able to make room for them.

 

Similarly, I'm still trying to process the fact that I'm in my last year of high school. Heck, I'm already in my last semester. Like geez, 2012 was four years ago?? I don't know why, but 2012 seems a lot more recent than it actually is for whatever reason. Breaks don't feel nearly as long as they used to be, oh and do you remember those times when summer seemed to last forever? You know, back in elementary school when we had all the time in the world? It's just strange to me that everything is so relative. I recently read an article stating that time goes by quicker the fewer things you do. Because it takes time for the brain to process information, the longer it takes for the brain to process this information, the longer time seems to stretch out. The more familiar everything is, the less you have to process, so time just flies by. Your comment about "school is school, when it all comes down to it" kinda reminded me of this. Apologies for the random tangent, but it's just a little disturbing how our experiences can affect our perceptions of time so greatly, especially considering how routine school can be nowadays.

 

Now that Corrin and Bayonetta have finally been released, how have they been working out for you? I'd never even heard of Bayonetta until she was announced, so it came as a surprise to me how popular she was. Corrin as well, but the fact that there were already so many FE characters made the announcement even more shocking. Perhaps it's because I hadn't followed the ballot too closely. I'm not at all disappointed that Pokemon Trainer/Ivysaur/Squirtle was shut out. Six Pokemon characters is more than enough, lol. I know that implementing Ice Climbers was a stretch, but I'm still a little bummed, eheh. Oh, and I'd also love to hear about your progress with FE Fates! Or rather, in fear of spoilers, your impression of the games so far, haha. 

 

Once again, I'm really sorry about this super delayed reply. Thank you for being so patient, and thank you so much for your kind words. I'm not sure how regular my replies will be for the time being though. I've decided to direct my attention towards school. And a lot of it, because it finally dawned on me that I need to prepare for six AP exams once May rolls around, urgh. That being said, I won't mind if you take some extra time writing these instead of cranking them out every Saturday. After all, you have some extra classes to focus your attention on! So yeah, this also means that I haven't gotten around to playing games or watching much anime, aside from what I've already told you, oh and a few episodes of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso with my sister over break, despite your warnings, eheh. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Could've done without that middle school drama/angst and some of those melodramatic monologues though. Also, the pacing was awful (even worse than the first half of Steins;Gate, geezus) and the ending was pretty cringey. So while the anime wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it was still... well, I guess I can see why many seem to tout this as some towering masterpiece, but wow, Shigatsu had so much potential, what a letdown. It had such a nice premise too... It did have some good moments though, haha. And the music, kfhaldfhdlfdfkjha it was really good. Oh my gosh, I'm such a sucker for piano and orchestral OSTs, oomph. I'm so unreasonably biased towards this kind of stuff it probably ended up skewing my perception of the anime to be better than it would've been otherwise. Oh, and the art/animation was also great! Hmm, I'm not too sure how to end this paragraph. I actually forgot what I was going to write next after going on that little tangent about Shigatsu, lol. Maybe I'm getting old. Sooooooo... how have you been?

 

--

 

well color me surprised

school ended early yesterday and we just got a snowday today

...and just as I said we weren't going to get any this year

 

 

well played Michigan, well played

 

oh yeah, also the fact that a new Pokemon Direct is coming out tomorrow just as I said that we haven't been getting any news lately

 

so if you'll excuse me, I'll be eating my words now

not that I'm complaining, really

 

also, I fixed a grammatical error in the third to last paragraph

I'm not a grammar nazi or anything, but something sounded really funny and it was bugging me, lol

[What Was the Last Video Game You Played?]

 

No worries at all!  I had to stay up late studying for my accounting final (because ya know, procrastination and all that) so it’s not like you kept me waiting or anything, ahah.

 

Hmm, until you brought it up, I realize that I didn’t even notice the little discrepancy between your words and your actions.  I suppose it certainly is a lot earlier to embrace that inner nerd on the Internet as opposed to wearing your interests on your sleeve for the world to judge.  That’s understandable though, and even though you say that you might try to open up more in the future, you really shouldn’t feel pressured to if you’d rather not.  There’s nothing wrong with being a closet nerd, and I honestly don’t think it’s that impressive I’m open about my hobbies either.  I’m self-conscious of other things, and video games and anime just don’t happen to be one of those things.

 

Ohh, I only realize they implemented that after I had completed the game and saw some pictures online myself.  I believe it only occurs in Route 120, as all the other bodies of water are rougher and therefore don’t reflect the sky.  Unfortunately, I believe I zipped through Route 120 as fast as I could during the day, so I completed missed that little addition.  I’ll have to remember to check it out in person when I’m in the mood for some Alpha Sapphire in the future.  It is absolutely gorgeous though, as you say, and it’s just another reason why ORAS are the best Pokemon games, hehe.  Speaking of Pokemon though, my Pearl Battle Tower team is 100% ready!  They’re all level 100, have their correct movesets, are at max friendship (I know this doesn’t mean anything in battles, but my OCD…), and have all three expensive Sinnoh ribbons (leveling them up gave me a ton of money, even without using an Amulet Coin).  Once I have the time for it, I’ll begin my Battle Tower challenge!  I’ll keep you posted with that, I suppose.  It’s a bit sad though, thinking about how close I am to finally “beating” the game.  I remember making it my goal to get a black trainer card way back in 7th grade, which felt like yesterday, and now I’m already halfway through my freshman year of college, geez.  I’ve put it off for as long I as I could though; all good things have to come to an end eventually.

 

Thinking more about it, the only reason I say I prefer Splatoon to Smash 4 for the Wii U is because I’m actually a bit tired of Smash.  Back when I first discovered the games, during the age of Melee, I thought I’d never get tired of it.  I thought I could play for hours and hours on end and never get bored or lose interest.  And for the longest time, this was the case.  I clocked hundreds of hours into both Melee and Brawl, and I truly believed Smash was a game that would never cease to entertain me.  I only started realizing I was getting a bit bored with the series when I first started playing Smash 4 with my brother and cousin(s) and to a lesser extent my sister.  It was a brand new game with completely new characters and 8-player Smash and gorgeous graphics but…… for some reason the relatives I played with just weren’t really into the game like they used to be with Brawl and Melee.  Was it because they were getting older and growing out of video games, even my brother?  However, not too long after that, I also started to tire of Smash 4.  It was a fantastic game, but if I played it too much I would lose interest.  I realized that the timelessness I felt with Melee and Brawl was gone; I had finally gotten to a point where the game just didn’t ignite that burning passion I used to feel.  I haven’t grown out of Smash or video games in general, and I still enjoy playing it, but I can’t overdose on the series like I used to.  I only can say I prefer Splatoon to Smash 4 because Splatoon is so new and fresh.  When I play it, I feel like I could play for hours on end and not get bored.  And honestly, I probably could, just like I did with Melee and Brawl.  My body will probably grow accustomed to the game in time, but not for a while.  In order to get back into Smash 4, I’ll just have to spend my time working through my massive backlog of other 3DS (and I suppose Wii U) titles, and once I get that Smash itch back I’ll relieve it accordingly.  Anyway, I rambled on for far too long on that, so I’ll get back on topic.  It kinda sucks you wouldn’t be able to get a home console of any kind, but hopefully that changes once you’re officially on your own!  Not just in college, but later when you’re living by yourself with a stable occupation.  At that point, as long as you manage your money correctly, your parents can’t really stop you from buying a television and Wii U/NX.  It’s not like they can use the whole “you need to study to bring up your grades” excuse anymore.

 

Ughhh, I had completely forgotten the anime introduced Ash-Greninja until you just mentioned it, and now my expectations for Z have been completely shattered.  That’s it, I’m packing my bags and moving on over to 7th gen, at least I’ll be first in line.  Joking joking, I’ll still anticipate the upcoming game, but still… Ash-Greninja……. oh gosh…  Hopefully my expectations are so low that I’m pleasantly surprised.

 

Well, apparently I could also make the claim that JP is rolling in the dough when compared to a lot of other schools.  New Jersey’s got cities like Camden (which is hot mess, just Google those pictures), Trenton (which is NJ’s capital but such a shell of its former self that more people remember its historical significance than anything it’s contributed in the past century), and Newark (the poor Jerseyman’s Cleveland, I suppose), all of which have their own shoddy school systems.  Of course, there are definitely some really nice schools I’ve been to because of regions and all-state (Montgomery Township has a fantastic high school), so I guess some parts of New Jersey are okay… but it’s expensive to live in those areas, so ehh.  It would probably be unfair to say New Jersey sucks, since I’m sure there are plenty of other states out there with problems just like ours or even worse, but at the same time it’s hard to find a lot to be proud of.  It’s nostalgic and it’s raised me well enough though, and that’s good enough for me, ahah.

 

Pfft, early morning sectionals, man I remember how those were for band.  Absolutely brutal, ughh.  Thank god I don’t have any obligations like that at Case.  I do believe some of the smaller and more hardcore clubs/sports have practice super early in the mornings, but that’s mainly a nationwide kind of problem since college students in general have trouble consistently getting groups of people together with how varied everyone’s schedule is.  Huh, I probably should change my alarm, though I’m not sure to what.  I need something obnoxious again…  Hm, perhaps Etika screaming or something……

 

I dunno, I guess fruits and vegetables are just too one dimensional for me.  It’s just… nutrition in its purest state, and it really bothers me.  There’s no flavor to fruit and vegetables.  No, that’s not quite right, in fact that doesn’t even make any sense.  In better terms, there’s only one flavor to fruits and vegetables.  With a dish, there’s always a variety of ingredients.  Whether it’s something simple like a sandwich or something complex like a beef bourguignon, there are layers and complex complementary and contrasting flavors that really give eat bite of whatever the food happens to be a kind of special story to it.  I rarely like eating anything that’s just one food, with exceptions being cheeses (the fancy European-styled kinds, not the sliced kinds) and smoked salmon.  And even then, I’d prefer them as part of a dish.  I don’t know if I’m making any sense, but that’s how food is to me, eheheh.  It’s not that I’m against eating healthy, I’m just against eating pure fruits and vegetables.  Salads are cool though, but even then it has to be well-made and blended in a way that it doesn’t taste like a random assortment of individual plants but a cohesive dish.  I-I realize typing this all up makes me sound like some kind of food elitist/expert…  I hope that doesn’t make me sound snobbish.  I’m actually typing this up really late and I’m hungry and I could seriously do with a full three course meal right about now, ughhh, so that probably explains it.  Mmmm, speaking of food, I suppose avocados are pretty good, but I definitely prefer them as part of a dip, like guacamole.  Celery and baby carrots would be really good right about now, but only with ranch dressing, eheh.  I actually don’t really like the taste of dates much, to be honest, though I haven’t tried any in a long time so my preferences might have changed.

 

It’s good that your sleeping is more consistent now!  You may think it’s weird that you’re waking up so early when you go to sleep early, but it’s better than me who’s so inconsistent that going to sleep frightens me because I don’t even know when I’ll wake up.  To give you an example, on weekends it’s common for me to try and go to sleep early (you know, to readjust my sleeping pattern) at around midnight and wake up at……… 2… pm…… That’s right, you’re counting correctly, 14 hours of sleep.  My alarm is a nonfactor; I can turn that thing off in my sleep at this point.  Other days, seemingly randomly, I fall asleep at 3-4 am and then shoot up awake at 8 am for no good reason.  My alarm isn’t even set for that early; why did I wake up?  Then I have trouble falling back asleep so I force myself out of bed.  This unpredictability is honestly pretty crippling.  It’s hard to plan in advance when you don’t know when your day starts or ends, sigh.  Man, if I could wake up consistently like you that would make my life so much easier.  Eheheh, well, I’m saying all this, but my procrastination tendencies are the main cause of this, so hopefully I find the opportunity to actually fix this weirdness over winter break.  I do have nearly a full month after all, so don’t you worry about me!

 

Hmm, if I had to incorporate lunch into my schedule that would mess up a lot of things.  First of all, I’d realistically probably have to drop breakfast.  However, since skipping breakfast in favor of lunch probably makes this hypothetical situation moot, I suppose I’ll just say I’ll make it the earliest I possibly could, at 7 am when Leutner first opens.  That means I’d have to wake up really early, obviously.  Then, I’d have lunch at around noon perhaps, or whenever I have time between my classes.  Since that’s pretty close to 5 pm, I’d have to push dinner back.  If I do that though, I won’t have much time for my food to digest before working out.  That being said, if I perhaps pushed my dinner to 7 pm, I could actually go to the gym at around 5 pm, which is sufficient time after my noon lunch.  Then, I could have dinner nearly immediately afterwards to satiate my newfound hunger.  That’s probably how it would map out, though a lot of things like my classes and how much I eat during meals and how it would affect my studying/free time aren’t taken into consideration.  Hahah, all in all, it sounds like a hassle, so though I know you’re advocating that I eat a lunch, it would only inconvenience me.  Thanks for the concern as always though!  Oh, yeah, extension cords are banned, but since there aren’t enough outlets you definitely need a surge protector.  If you don’t have a surge protector with a long cord, you’re going to have to buy one, which I did.  Apparently extension cords are a fire hazard and don’t meet the safety regulation standards, especially when paired with surge protectors.

 

Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever had the same problems with sunglasses.  That’s probably because the lens quality of vision glasses and sunglasses are completely different, as you surmised.  I’ve only ever had to wipe my glasses because of fingerprints as well, but that’s how they smeared and messed up the light.  It’s hard to explain, but to help you imagine it, it was like seeing these types of lens flares whenever you looked at a light source of any brightness.  I’m guessing the oil from the skin smeared over the lenses by the fabric caused this, since where there are fingerprints there is skin oil, even if it’s just a trace amount.  Wow, your father is so easily peeved.  You weren’t wearing your headphones 24/7 or something, like listening to music on your phone while you went about your daily activities or anything right?  As long as you weren’t plugged in during dinner or whatnot, then I don’t think it should have mattered too much.  Oh well, I hope you get your headphones back soon!

 

Huh, I suppose it’s technically not winter yet so I shouldn’t really have expected much, but then again this feels like New Jersey, if not warmer, which definitely was not what I expected from the famed Cleveland.  I guess the mild kind of cold is nice as well.  Not very Christmas-y and more Thankgiving/Halloween-y, but nice nonetheless.  B-But sometimes I wake up and I feel a very very light, clammy sweat over my body, and since I usually don’t remember my dreams I just sit there cooling down wondering what kind of nightmare I must have slept through to get so worked up.  It usually leaves me feeling a bit confused and uncertain with how the day is going to go; it’s rather unsettling.  I know what it’s like to be nice and toasty, but with how warm it is outside it’s almost too stuffy inside.  Maybe I should take off a layer of blankets and see if I can avoid that sweating business…  This has never happened to you?

 

The transition from high school to college was smooth sailing for me.  I know some kids freak out and completely lose it and are forced to get a counselor (not an academic advisor, but a legit psychiatrist type of person) to help them adjust.  Those are just the very small minority though, and eventually they get into the flow of things.  As for course load, it’s not much different from high school as long as you don’t procrastinate.  If you procrastinate it’s significantly harder than in high school though, probably because you’re without adult supervision.  I’m doing well in classes with nice, reasonable professors and “struggling” in classes with professors who are hard graders and expect an unreasonable amount from first years.  I’m not actually struggling in any classes, I’m just borderline in those, is all.  All in all, it’s really hard to predict how the transition will be.  In senior year of high school, no one is planning or expecting to get a counselor for homesickness or a professor who usually gives out C’s; those are just things that happen and you have to work with it if they do.  Ohh, for SAGES First Seminars you don’t actually “pick” the class you want to join.  You’re given a big list of everything that’s offered, without professor names attached but with the class times and dates available, and you select your top four picks, ranked in order of preference.  Case Western then assigns you a class from your choices, probably to make sure there’s a balance of students in each class as well as an even amount taking courses from the three different categories.  Since you can’t see the professors for First Seminar selections, just choose topics you’re interested in and hope that the professors behind those ideas aren’t bad ones, eheh.  For University and Departmental Seminars you can see the professor’s name, so if you so choose to do so you can make a decision based on the professor and not the actual course, though it’s generally best to strike a balance between the two, obviously.

 

My parents don’t allow me to lock the door either, but closing it is fine.  It at least gives me a false sense of privacy, heh.  Hahah, I’m not the only one who gets really annoyed when I’m constantly interrupted by random people coming in and out of my room, huh?  I suppose that’s a natural feeling most people would get, though since my parents barge in all the time they must not share those sentiments to the same degree as we do.  I don’t really mind working with my parents around though.  I can’t watch anime or play video games with peace of mind, so I might as well save those for the nighttime and just get my work done when my parents have their eyes on me.  Pffftt, see??  I knew it, you were the crazy one.  Crazy Kenzi.  Crazy Curious Kenzi.  Huh, that’s certainly an odd title to have…  As long as you aren’t straining your eyes, then I suppose having the brightness down should be fine.  It would probably be better than having the brightness turned up all through the night like I do, bleh.

 

Since your library of watched anime is so comparatively shallow and you don’t even follow seasonal anime, AMV channels wouldn’t do you much good as you say.  Occasionally they introduce me to shows I now plan to watch, but if you’re specifically looking for AMVs of anime you’ve already then it might be easier just to Google.  Those channels do highlight the general best of the best though, so it’s in a sense more efficient than just blindly YouTube “[anime title] amv” which will usually provide pretty bad AMVs up front.  It’s probably best you aren’t subscribed to them though, as that would be overkill if you could just search them up when you’re specifically looking for AMVs.  Woah, you’ve seen Etika comment on videos?  I’ve seen him too, but only because I follow his activities and therefore stumble upon the same videos he does.  What videos do/have you watch/ed that he’s commented on?  Oh, and I like Gigguk and Douchebagchocolat a lot, too.  They’re anime-ers but they don’t make videos very often anymore.  Reddit loves them both, so I know when they do rarely upload when a new video of theirs makes it to the front page.  Angry Video Game Nerd I kinda follow as well, but he’s sort of stopped making the types of videos that I originally discovered and enjoyed years ago.  Hmm, what do you mean comedy or parody channels?  There’s only so much time I’m willing to spend on YouTube and the channels I mentioned above seem to cover my bases nicely (there are others I also haven’t mentioned, but I don’t want to drag on for too long), but if there are any others you’d think I’d enjoy I might check them out if there’s a dry spell from the people I actively follow.

 

Houdini’s a strange fellow for elementary schoolers to focus on, but I can see how they might try to push Ben Franklin.  The Gates?  Goodness me, I had to Google that.  I’ve never heard of those before, and naturally nor have I ever heard of Christo and Jeanne-Claude.  I guess it must have been a NYC thing, eheh.  Ahaha, I can’t even begin to imagine how cute you must have been as a little kid, always talking in class, heheh.  That just sounds absolutely adorable!

 

Fufufu, the things I would do for video games.  I’ve pretty much cleared out my 3DS backlog though, and the only other games that are going to be released in the foreseeable future for the 3DS are Zero Time Dilemma, Ace Attorney 6, and Pokemon Z, all three of which I indeed to get on launch date.  Oh, and Fates as well, if you don’t consider my pre-order as an official purchase.  With this past Black Friday purchasing spree behind me, I believe I’ve bought all the released 3DS games I’m interested in getting.  Unless I get an inexplicable craving for some Bravely Default or Monster Hunter in the future, I won’t really need to take advantage of next year’s Black Friday deals. That’s a relief, because as interesting of an experience as it was in retrospect, shopping like that on my own terrified me in the moment. 

 

One of my neighbors (technically not a neighbor; he’s the neighbor of my neighbor) lost his DS charger, and since the console was rendered a useless scrap of junk to him as a result, he just gave it to me.  He was in middle school at the time, so it’s not like he could have sold it online.  Another DS was given to me by a friend in high school, junior year I believe.  It’s one of the original DS’s; it’s even the silver coloration, so this little sucker goes way back.  The top screen is already half de-hinged from the bottom, but it’s fully function regardless so I borrowed it from.  He hasn’t asked for it back and I don’t think he even wants it back; even if he sold it, who would pay anything more than a couple of bucks for a snapped in half DS?  With the rise of emulators and 3DS’s, a broken original DS is worth close to nothing.  I suppose I did get pretty luck with those spares, ahah.  One of the pros to being a shameless video game nerd, I suppose.  Ohh, I’ve failed to mention this before, but my parents took my games away indefinitely years ago, back when I was first playing on the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance SP.  They confiscated them and told me and my brother we were not allowed to play them except on holidays (even then they we weren’t guaranteed any time to play).  I must have been five at the time.  With that stipulation established, for the next thirteen years, all of my video game playing has been done while working around that rule.  If you took the time to do the math, I’m guessing 99.999999% of the time I spent on video games was done without my parents’ knowledge.  Thousands of hours were spent during those years, virtually all of it covert.  So if you’ve wondered why I’ve gone to such extreme lengths to play video games and why I have nearly no qualms about pulling the wool over my parents’ eyes, it’s because my parents said “no” all those years ago and never allowed me full access to my games for more than very brief periods of time, not even to this day.

 

Virtue’s Last Reward, oh gosh…  Yes, I finished it a lot faster than I expected, at the expense of my sleep of course, heh.  There’s so much I want to say that I obviously can’t.  You may not be happy with this response, but I’ve decided that since you don’t need any motivation to play the game (as you’ve already played 999 and liked it a lot) I won’t try to convince you since I know you’ll eventually get to it.  In fact, there is very little I will say at all.  I won't say what I liked about or what I disliked about it or even whether or not I felt it was better than 999.  I’d rather not skew your expectations with anything I say.  When you have the time, just play it and after that we can talk, ahah.  As for when you should play it, that’s really up to you.  I know you want to give Pokemon and games with replay-ability priority, and since VLR has just as much replay-ability as 999, that’s naturally lower on your list.  Since I doubt you’ll get Zero Time Dilemma on release date, there’s no rush to finish VLR either.  Ocarina of Time has a Master Quest mode you can unlock after completing the game, which is just a more difficult version of the same game, so there’s kinda some replay-ability there.  Definitely not as much as Awakening though.  You also have to find time for the Ace Attorney series on that DS emulator as well, so there’s that to think about as you plan what you want to do with your free time.  Hmmmm, since Christmas is in less than two weeks, why not ask your parents to buy you your first 3DS game?  Would they be willing to or is purchasing the 3DS still too fresh in their minds?  If I knew your address, I could have had a 3DS game of your choice sent your way lickety-split, as I have the free student trial version of Amazon Prime activated as well as plenty of Amazon gift cards accumulated through Swagbucks.  This is just an offer, so you don’t have to take it, but if you’re comfortable with sending me your address through a PM then I’ll definitely buy you whichever 3DS game you want.  If you refuse this offer, do so because you’re not comfortable revealing your address, not because you don’t want me to spend my money on you.  It’s Christmas after all, and I want to give my best friend a gift, hahah.

 

Anyway, it looks like this response wasn’t yet up to length with our past responses either, but that’s fine.  I don’t mind your noticeably shortened reply either.  We’ve already gotten a bit overboard with the word counts before, and taking a step back might not be such a bad idea.  I do have to say though, that short response you sent got me nostalgic remembering how we first started conversing.  Or no, that’s not quite right, our very first responses were even shorter, and they weren’t weekly either.  I suppose it reminded me of when we first started falling into a regular pattern, around early January.  To think we’re already a few weeks away from January of 2016 boggles my mind, ahah.  Thanks for the wishes of good luck and I wish you the best as well!  Especially since you’re getting Case Western’s results back soon, huh?  It sucks they're pushing it back to Saturday, but I guess that also gives you the chance to watch the final Smash broadcast live on Tuesday with a clear mind!  Whether you update your Wednesday response with the results on Saturday or send me a last second PM or even if you wait until the following week to let me know how you did is fine.  Either way, I once again want to wish you the best of luck and though it seems like you have quite a bit of work scheduled for this coming week I hope it isn't too stressful!

 

Ahaha, I just thought your idgaf mentality about your hobbies was kinda neat. And you have to remember that this is coming from someone who's afraid of openly expressing these interests, so I still stand by my word. Perhaps I'll never grow out of being a closet nerd. If it's a side of me I'm not comfortable with most people seeing, I suppose it'll probably stay that way. I'm curious though, what compelled you ignore these social stigmas?

 

Ahhhhhhhhhh, it's such a shame they didn't incorporate that feature in other bodies of water. It's not just that little lake though. It's in the ponds too!! Oh wow, you had the goal of getting a black trainer card since seventh grade? Six years?? Dang, I gave up on getting a black trainer card a longgggg while ago when I realized it'd be much too time consuming. My initial goal was just to get a streak of 49 (basically just beat Palmer twice), but I was cut off at 48 since I wasn't able to beat him despite the preparation beforehand, so I figured getting 100 would be completely out of reach. Plus, I think the stress would've been too much for me to handle. Imagine getting cut off at 99! I'm fairly certain I've mentioned this already, but still! Oh gosh, I'd be infuriated. You seem quite determined (even after six years), so hopefully all will go well for you! Hmm, I don't think I bought many ribbons for my Pokemon. I might've for my Infernape and Kyogre though (never really saw a point to them). But since this is pretty much your dream team and quite possibly your last runthrough in Pearl, I can imagine you'd want the ribbons to symbolize as much, haha.

 

Oh dang, what you experienced with Smash is almost how I felt about Pokemon for a brief period of time. Maybe it was because of the lack of involvement (enviously staring at my computer screen for the past few years didn't really help), but I was beginning to feel kinda detached after a while. The release of ORAS reignited my zeal (spoiling bingeing on the soundtrack was pretty exhilarating), but of course, I knew I wouldn't be able to experience the games for myself, so I fell back into that slump after a few months. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not terribly excited for Pokemon Z. I don't have very high hopes for the game, and seeing the "leaks" didn't invoke much of a response out of me, but I still intend to play it to make up for the lost years. I really wish I can indulge in something fresh. Undertale has been on my mind for a pretty long time. I was confident the game was going to be huge after seeing the trailer a few months ago, and geezus, it's freaking huge--far bigger than I anticipated it would be. So yeah, I missed out on the opportunity to hype about playing the game despite it being on my agenda since January (also happened to spoil one of the best soundtracks of the game for myself during the week of release, rip my life it's so goddamn eargasmic). And you know, I'm also going to be late to the party with a lot of other games I plan to get, so I guess I'll be stuck in this downward spiral of playing catch-up for a while. The more I think about it, the more daunting my backlog seems. Will I really get the opportunity to play all the games I plan to get? Will I have time? Will I have time even if I'm able to land a stable occupation? Kinda makes me regret not starting sooner (doubt I would've been able to change the outcome), but better late than never, I suppose. Oh, and now that the final DLC characters have been released, erm, "revealed" for Smash, would you consider your passion for the game revitalized?

 

Pfft, Ash-Greninja can't possibly be that bad. It's still an interesting concept, isn't it? A Pokemon resembling... its trainer. Um, it's a pretty original idea. I know there was a lot of uproar with the Fairy type, but it's all died out now. Maybe Ash-Greninja will be the same! Maybe it's really not that bad of a concept! Maybe the same can apply to all Pokemon... or maybe they're running out of ideas and have finally gone off the deep end...

 

I haven't been to too many places in Michigan, so I don't think I have a fair perception of Michigan. A lot of it is skewed from living near cities like Detroit, Flint, and Pontiac--all of which seem to be in complete shambles. It's honestly a wonder how Troy is holding itself up so well. I've heard that Flint is actually a lot more dangerous than Detroit, and wow, the last time I went to Detroit, my mom told me to close the car windows while we were on the road for safety measures, sheesh. And you know, looking at the graffiti and tattered infrastructures didn't exactly give off a good impression either. It was a little terrifying even in the safety of a moving car, and it's times like this when I'm really grateful we ended up moving to a city like Troy. I still can't get over how you had the guts to walk through the streets by yourself for some leisure Black Friday shopping, and in a city like Cleveland, no less. Troy may not be the most stimulating city (everything you can think to do here is exhausted pretty quickly), but I'm damn glad this place is secure enough for me to drive through the streets at night without any worries of getting assaulted or something. I suppose the same goes for most states though, seeing as NJ is in similar shape based on what I've gathered from your experience. I also intend to get out of Michigan as soon as I can. This may come as a surprise to you, but I'm a little sick of living here, ahah... 

 

Speaking of clubs, how are you doing with that physics and astronomy club? Oh yeah, and newspaper too! Has there been anything else you've pursued or plan on pursuing? Haha yeah, waking up for sectionals kinda sucks (especially since it cuts into my time for last minute cramming/homework), but I guess that's the price I have to pay for being in orchestra. Same can be applied to any club or sport though. Not gonna lie, going to practice can really take a toll on my productivity when I have to go home with another splitting headache, urgh. Also, would you mind telling me what inspired you to make wombo combo as your alarm? Of all things you could've chosen, ahaha.

 

Whoa, that's quite a fascinating counterargument you have there. Fruits and vegetables are too one-dimensional for you, hm? That's an interesting way to put it. I've never seen that kind of reasoning before, but I can see where you're coming from. And it's funny because the reason you dislike eating fruits and vegetables by themselves is the reason why I love eating them. You said it yourself; it's nutrition in its purest state! It gives you this cleansing feeling--this guilt-free feeling of knowing exactly what you're eating. No strings attached. No added sugar, no random chemicals or preservatives (why is xanthan gum in every ingredients list), no artificial flavorings, no "natural" flavorings like castoreum, which, by the way, is beaver secretions (kinda gross if you think about it too long, but still technically "natural", right?), etc. This is more of a problem in packaged food than in prepared food, but you really don't know what's in your prepared food either unless you explicitly ask the chefs for the ingredients they used (and even then, it's not like they'll tell you whether or not they used flavor enhancers like MSG). Of course, you could always put up the argument that these fruits and vegetables are all GMOs, but I won't be bothered by it. It sure beats consuming beaver secretions, that's for sure--and they must've realized that, so I'm confident that's why they created this academic-sounding name in replacement of its crude informal name (same applies to a bunch of other "natural" ingredients, so be wary of that label). I guess the reason why I'm so hung up on eating fresh/raw fruits and vegetables is because I'm pretty sick of the greasy and salty dishes my dad constantly makes for dinner. I swear it feels like everything is oozing with oil and soy sauce. And the restaurants my dad enjoys going to also tend to marinate everything in oil. I am far from a connoisseur (and I don't think I'm much of a picky eater either), but overly greasy and salty foods are not in the least bit palatable. I love chilled carrots and celery (just avoid the leaves and white parts since they tend to be the most bitter). Ranch dressing is pretty good, but it's too heavy in flavor in big doses. Hooray for Italian dressing. Oh, and despite what my little tangent may have insinuated, I actually don't mind eating packaged food, lol. I absolutely love eating fresh fruits and vegetables. There's nothing like that sharp sound of your first bite into a crisp, fresh apple or celery. Hmm, so if you don't like "one dimensional foods", does that include foods like plain bread or yogurt?

 

Well, there was this one time I took a "nap" at 5pm and woke up at 9am. Yeah, you can do the math. Apparently I was out cold because my parents tried jerking me out of bed for dinner that day, yet I have no memory of it. I was pretty sleep deprived that week, so thank goodness that was on a Friday, eheh. Of course, that was last year since I've been pretty good about my sleep lately. Part of the reason is definitely because my classes aren't as tough this year (so very incredibly grateful that my friend pushed me into taking comp sci despite how much of a pain it is). Kinda makes me wish I swapped out one or two of last year's classes with this year's so I could've eased up on the workload. Or maybe I should be thankful that I can kinda kick back a bit this year, hm. Oh geez, my summer sleep schedule was far from consistent. Sometimes I'd wake up at 8-9am, sometimes I'd wake up just before 12pm. I think waking up around 10-11am is pretty reasonable, so maybe you can try setting up an alarm around that time to ensure that you don't find yourself getting out of bed at 2pm, haha. 

 

Or, or, or you could bring a sack of bread or a granola bar to class as some pseudo-breakfast so you can enjoy lunch without having to worry about these time issues! Because, you know, breakfast is the worst meal of the day and everything, ahahah....hah............ha...... Have you thought about brunch instead of just breakfast? Haha dang, I didn't realize scheduling lunch into your day was such an inconvenience. You have a pretty strict schedule, so I guess it's not too much of a surprise. I'm more of a person who eats when my body tells me to. If I feel like having dinner at 5pm, I'll eat at 5pm. If I feel like having dinner at 7pm, I'll eat at 7pm. I also usually eat right before playing tennis, so I don't really give time for my food to digest, eheh... Well, you know yourself best, so if you decide that eating lunch is too much of a hassle, just make sure you have a snack to munch on! I have every intention of bringing a surge detector, don't you worry, lol. My laptop is actually plugged into one right now, and it's also within reach so I can cut off the power before I go to bed (basically to minimize trickle charging). 

 

Oh geez, what a bother. Maybe the magnification of the glasses plays a role in that effect because a fingerprint on a sunglass lens looks like, well, it just looks like smudge really up close. And it's not too hard to clean off either. Just take a shirt sleeve and make circling motions on the lens, and voila, it's gone! Ahaha, no wonder you need specialized fabric to clean off vision glasses. Actually, my headphones were plugged into my laptop, so I only listened to music when I was on my laptop. I don't have any music on my phone, lol. My dad just really hates it when he sees me listening to music because, apparently, you can't productively work while listening to music. So now I have to keep the volume down really low to prevent him from bugging me about it (my room is right by the staircase so he can peer in whenever he wants to). But like I said before, it's not a big deal. I can live without headphones, haha.  

 

Actually, I take that back. This year's El Nino is killing our winter. Since when did December have such mild temperatures? Why is everything in the 50s?? Why is it raining??? Sigh, I guess we'll be seeing a lack of snowdays this year. It hasn't snowed since November (solid foot of snow, damn), and all of it melted within a few days. We're probably not getting a White Christmas this year. Urghh, this better not be like 2012-2013--the most underwhelming winter I've ever experienced. Hmm, either you have too many blankets or your heating is too high. Then again, yeah, this winter's not really living up to expectations. Nightmares too? Geez, I don't think I've ever had a legitimate nightmare in a long while. The closest things I've had to nightmares lately were more or less shockingly vivid dreams at best. Wait no, there was this one "dream" I had not too long ago. I can't remember what it was about anymore, but I woke up to a single tear streaming down my face. I guess it must've affected me a lot seeing as the emotion I felt in the dream seemed to manifest into reality. I don't know if that counts as a nightmare since I just went about my day without paying much heed to it. It didn't seem too serious; it just felt kinda random. My skin only feels clammy in bed when it's too hot. So, mainly in the summer in 80-90* conditions when the A/C is off. But at that point, I just throw off my blankets and sleep with just the clothes on my back. 

 

Oh wow, really? It must vary depending on the school or classes you're taking then, because a lot of people seem to be complaining about the difficulty of college compared to high school, and just college in general. A friend told me that he'd rather be back in high school, interestingly enough. I don't think it has much to do with the social life though since he claims that he was pretty antisocial as a high schooler. Maybe it depends on the high school everyone's raised in? Everyone keeps saying "enjoy high school while you can" and ahhhhh I don't know anymore. I've seen people say that college is better than high school, but most people here seem to prefer high school over college. Granted, a lot of these people also go to UMich and MSU, so maybe that kinda skewed people's perceptions? Apparently college classes are a lot harder?? Well, that's to be expected, but I've been getting varying responses from various people, so I don't really know what to expect anymore dfklsjdlfkghdlgsdg. I've been told to look out for professors when picking out classes, so it kinda sucks that I can't see them for First Seminars, eheh... Is there a reason why the professors are hidden for First Seminars, but not for University and Departmental Seminars?

 

Well, the thing is, I don't mind working in front of friends, but I have a real problem working or doing anything productive in front of my parents. I get really fidgety and distracted thinking about it for whatever reason. Even when they're not watching me, just knowing that they can barge in my room at any moment is enough to put me on edge. But when situations are dire, I head off to the bookstore to help me focus. It's a pretty silly inclination to have, and honestly, I don't even know how it developed. I even feel uncomfortable with idea of them watching me eat. Hmm, doesn't the brightness of your laptop or phone ever bother you though? Isn't the contrasting brightness with a pitch-black room kinda irritating to your eyes? It can't be just me.

 

Etika tends to comment on playthroughs and reaction videos, so I've seen him around a few times. Oh my goshhh, I love Douchebagchocolat! I absolutely adore his dry humor. Gigguk is also hilarious, ahah. I'm not subscribed to either of them though (for the same reason I'm not subscribed to any AMV channels). A friend of mine introduced me to Douchebagchocolat's review of Tatami Galaxy, and I think that's what sold it for me. Same with LWA. Hmm, I don't think I've ever watched Angry Video Game Nerd before. Ohh, by parody channels, I mean channels like TeamFourStar and LittleKuriboh that upload DBZ Abridged and YuGiOh Abridged (LittleKuriboh is also responsible for Naruto Abridged, which is also gold). As for comedy channels, CollegeHumor has its ups and downs, but this was one of my favorite videos by them. Oh, and this too. Cyanide and Happiness is great with dark humor if you're into that kind of stuff.

 

Looking back at it, I'm not sure why Houdini was emphasized so much for us. Like sheesh, we went very deep into his history, read a biography, watched a documentary, and even learned about his wife. And I still remember more than I should for something that was taught such a long time ago. Haha yeah, I didn't expect you to recognize The Gates. In fact, I couldn't even remember the artists' names until I googled it, lol. Eheh, I talked way too much back in elementary school. I frequently got held back during recess as punishment (also got a note sent home to my parents at one point for talking so much), but I still hugged my teachers. Geez, I was a strange kid.

 

Ohoho, I'm sure all the games you managed to haul in (plus the three you're planning on getting) will keep you occupied for a pretty good amount of time! I'm actually a little envious, lol.

 

Haha, I guess that's one of the perks of having gamer friends. Wait a second... why did your neighbor just give away his DS when he could've just bought another charger? Geeezzz, you had consoles since you were five?? I don't think I received my SP until around 3rd grade-ish, and even then, it was my uncle in China who offered to buy me one. Hey man, if it's any consolation, I'm pretty sure the majority of us play video games without our parents' knowledge. I can imagine my parents blowing their tops off if I ever told them about the hundreds of hours I've clocked into playing video games, haha. Same for watching anime and surfing the internet in general, lol.

 

Oh geez, you're really teasing me, aren't ya. You're making me want to prioritize VLR now, eheh. I do have some rather high expectations for the game after playing 999, and you seemed to like it a lot (based on your OMM post at least). So for now, I'm thinking of Smash, then Pokemon (assuming that it comes out mid 2016 or something), then Awakening? Let me know if I should rearrange that or if I should add/replace anything. This is what I have in mind at the moment since I still need a 3DS game to play, so I haven't thought too far ahead yet. I've been thinking about asking my parents for a game, but I'm still waiting for the right moment. I'm going to have to persuade my mom somehow since it'll be pretty hard trying to convince my dad. Maybe during winter break...? One wrong move and I'm going to have to wait another few months. I don't want to keep pestering my parents, after all. Ahaha, as much as I appreciate the offer, I don't think I'm comfortable revealing my address or accepting such a gracious gesture. Thank you for being so considerate though!

 

Phew, it's almost January already? Gosh, time flies. Not too long ago (probably about a week ago, if I remember correctly), I forgot that I was a senior. It just completely slipped my mind that I don't have any high school upperclassmen to look up to anymore. My friends and I were reminiscing some bittersweet middle school memories, and wow, it's hard to wrap my mind around the idea that it was such a long time ago. Even crazier is the fact that we've been conversing for just a little over a year, yet it feels like I've known you forever. My life has been a real rollercoaster, haha. Geez, what a ride. As for the Smash broadcast, I... I-I don't how how to react. Okay, so I'm not familiar with either Corrin or Bayonetta but holy geezus, they look freaking badass. What on earth... ohmygosh, I'm going to need a moment to process this. So Corrin has these dragon themed attacks (damn, that's pretty awesome), and why does Bayonetta's smash attacks remind me of the mom from the Binding of Isaac. But hey, these characters were delivered well, so I don't have complaints. Just questions, lots and lots of questions. I dunno, there's just such an excessive amount of FE characters, so I kinda want to know what compelled Sakurai to put Corrin in the game. Also, lolololol Tails and Knuckles costumes, these people ahahahahahaha. Oh, and I hope your finals went well for you! And try to catch up on some sleep to give your immune system a boost! Hopefully you've been feeling better, haha.

[What Was the Last Song You Listened To?]

I-Is this a challenge to my authority as a non-moderating member of this of this forum?!?

(nah, I'm just kidding, you know I like you too much for that, hahah)

 

Well, to counteract Kenzi's trolling tendencies, I'll just post three songs today!

 

fite me irl

 

...and pls Akazora, every bit of that post was serious :^)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ASzHy5c9lA

 

i think it's tiem to listen to sum classic holiday songz!!!!!11!!//11!!!

[Avatar The Legend of Korra]

yeah, well, they can show them with different ages

they dont necessarily have to be 40ish

thats chief sokka and trusty chief boomerang

its a discount avatar, idk...i just can't live without that universe

so, we all know how roku and sozin were friends, grew up together, grew apart together

and you know how we thought how it was amazing that zuko came from rokus and sozins offspring

it turns out that after the fallout of the two and after rokus death

his children went into hiding from them

he fire sieges predicted that if their kids were to ever have kids together they would be of greatness

at the time ursa was a young adult and fire lord azulon found rokus family and went there with ozai

( awkward if ursa was a boy )

they forced the marriage on her, cause at the time she was with ikem and they were about to get married

ozai never let her leave the palace or see her parents again

in the comics it is shown just how psycho he is

as for the child, even though there are 2 of them

one being zuko and one azula

i always thought that special one was zuko given what great things he did for the world later on

when it comes to bending, azula rules all

Given what i saw and read in avatar, i understand why zuko is the greatest character

But toph for me

and even those sweet hanna barbera ones had their moments

i remember in one episode of cow and chicken

a band of muscular women came on motorcycles and idk the rest

but mom said why, are they chewing a carpet

i was like what does that even mean

now i know but still

the intros were better

no to mention the animation and it had plot

jet was an angry kid all the time

couldn't blame him but...meh

maybe we should open a petition to make anything wan related

and i would love to know what offspring did he left to the world

what would you think of a show consisted entirely of flashbacks

like the history of Sokka or the history of the fire nation or something

 

geez, the fire nation feels almost a bit too dated from that description

and I knew Ozai had problems, but sheesh, keeping Ursa away from her parents and isolating her from the outside world?

I like both Azula and Zuko

Azula is psychotic and Zuko, well, Zuko is always a pleasure

they're great

 

ohh, I didn't watch too many Hanna-Barbera shows

there were definitely some gems in there though

but I don't think my parents ever really criticized what I watched

they just disliked how "pointless" they were (basically insinuating that these cartoons were a waste of time)

they also sometimes let me watch R-rated movies when I was really young, so I think it's safe to say they're not too uptight about this censorship stuff

and not all newer cartoons are bad

I heard that Gravity Falls is pretty good

I've also been tempted to watch Over The Garden Wall

 

yessss

I want to see more Wan

[What Was the Last Song You Listened To?]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFtb3EtjEic

 

:^)

[What Was the Last Video Game You Played?]

 

Haha, for someone who promotes embracing your inner nerd, it’s interesting to see that you’re more of a “closet nerd” as you say.  I guess that would be a good way of putting it.  The thing is, I’m not really going to be super open about my interest in video games and anime either, but at the same time I’m not afraid to wear graphic tees and play video games in public.  Surprisingly, I haven’t actually gotten many people to outright react to the t-shirts I wear.  Of course, some of them are a bit discreet, but others are in-your-face obvious.  Hmm, either most geeks are closet dwellers or they just make up a smaller population of the general public than I think.  Gamers and otakus do tend to have a negative “loser” stigma associated with them, and as regrettable as it is to say there is some truth to that stereotype, so it’s understandable a lot of people would want to hide their interests until they know they can trust the people around them.

 

Aww, I kinda miss how there’s no place in the new Hoenn to just fall through a cracks in the ground.  They got rid of it in both Sky Pillar and Mt Pyre, sigh…  Nah, not really, it’s just curious that they did at all, since those cracks you had to bike over in Sky Pillar were so infamous, at least in my elementary school, ahah.  B-But that bright yellow TM ball was so enticing!  Once I saw it, I kinda stopped paying attention to what Zinnia was saying and tried figuring out how to get to it, eheheh…

 

Splatoon updates nearly regularly.  There are new weapons almost weekly, and sometimes (like with this most recent patch) they add big stuff like new outfits and new maps, and finally on very rare occasions, they add new gameplay modes.  Splatoon is a constantly evolving game and honestly… as much I love what Sakurai’s done with Smash 4, Splatoon is my personal favorite game on the Wii U.  Granted I haven’t even played that many games on the console, but still, ahah.  It probably has more to do with the fact that I’m kinda bored with Smash’s gameplay (it’s the same it’s been at its core for over a decade after all) as opposed to Splatoon’s fresh, unique style.  Objectively, it’s harder to say which is better.  Awww, the poor Wii's sitting in the basement…  I have to agree though, while I loved the Wii, much of that love just comes Brawl bias and Wii Sports nostalgia.  The DS had a better library, or at least a library I took the time to delve into, much like how the 3DS’s library is leaps and bounds above the Wii U’s.  I’d probably recommend waiting for the next gen home console, which is probably the NX, and just playing any Wii U games you want on that since there’s a 99.9% chance it’ll be backward compatible anyway.

 

Looks like I didn’t miss too much by just dropping White 2 after beating the champion after all.  Aha, that’s good to know.

 

Ahhh, true true, I nearly forgot that the anime is called XY & Z or something along those lines.  With the way the anime is going, Pokemon Z is all but guaranteed.  I can’t recall where I heard that Game Freak was practically forced to make B2W2 as opposed to Grey, but I believe it was a reliable source.  But I remember when Black and White were first announced thinking “Oh man, is this for the 3DS or the DS because there’s no way my parents are getting me a 3DS?!” and being really relieved that I didn’t have to buy a new console just yet.  It was the same story with B2W2, ahah.  I still would have purchased the game(s) regardless of whether it was B2W2 or Grey, since I was just a kid who didn’t have to funds or freedom to migrate over to the 3DS yet, but I can imagine those who already made the change probably wouldn’t have chosen Grey, an alternate version of BW, over the growing number of 3DS titles.  I know for a fact that Pokemon obtained the rights to Delta Emerald as well, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to make it.  They obtained rights to WaterBlue and ThunderYellow and some Crystal remake as well, or at least were rumored to, just to cover their bases.  Since they’ve done this in the past, the Pokemon Grey trademark was probably to avoid any potential legal infringement.  True, the lore behind the Kalos legendaries was a bit weak.  The focus was less on the Pokemon and more on the war, AZ, the ultimate weapon, etc.  It was an interesting change of pace, but the Pokemon felt so hollow as a result.  If they can balance things out in Z, then even if the “vibe” of Kalos still rubs me the wrong way, I might end up liking it more than Y.  Probably not more than ORAS though, ahah.

 

Funnily enough, I actually didn’t mind Castelia City.  My brother didn’t like the music even though I thought it was catchy enough.  My biggest complaint about the city isn’t the music or the population, but rather the controls.  Because the floor was still grid-based but a lot of areas were curved or angled, it just made exploring the city awkward.  Hmm, I suppose since we’re just not familiar with the layout of Japan, we probably just don’t notice the connections to real life in the earlier regions.  But I still think the references were more subtle in Kanto to Sinnoh as opposed to in Unova and Kalos.  As you said, they tried a bit too hard with Unova, and Kalos wasn’t much better.

 

No way?  Trust me, way.  New Jersey public schools are really meh and even our private schools can’t compare at all to the ones you apparently have in Michigan.  You have to remember that JP was actually considered one of the better schools, ahah.  I don’t really mind though; unlike A/C a pool sounds like more of a pain than a luxury, and from your description it seems that was the case for schools that implemented swimming.

 

I’m glad that my warning saved your eardrums, ahah.  Yeah, Sakurai lives for the hype; you can tell with the way he reveals things about Smash.  This isn’t the first time he’s retweeted live reactions to a character reveal, so it’s not much of a surprise this time around, but it’s still really awesome he’s so enthusiastic about his fans!  He’s put so much work into this game, and it’s leaps and bounds above Brawl.  I may prefer Splatoon over the Wii U version, but the 3DS version is still really fun to pick up every once in a while for my 3DS.  It’s not my favorite 3DS game either, but that’s only because the game has stiff competition.

 

Ohh, that’s rather fascinating how those cram sessions worked.  Even if I was struggling in that class, I don’t know if I’d find the time to go to those sessions only because my inability to wake up in a timely manner in the mornings is something not to be underestimated.  The world could be ending outside my window and I still wouldn’t be able to get up if I was tired enough.  My wombo combo alarm does nothing for me; it’s earsplittingly loud, but I sleep through it more times than not.  Hmm, that’s usually a good indication I need to find a new alarm…  And don’t you worry, I haven’t been afraid to ask people for help when I’ve needed to.  I don’t rely on it though, and apparently nobody finds me particularly helpful because people rarely ask me for help, eheheh…  And there’s no need to apologize, I wasn’t bothered by your “bugging” at all, haha.

 

This is going to sound really unhealthy of me, but I’m not really one to just eat fruit by itself.  It’s fine if it’s used as an ingredient in a dish, but just eating pieces of fruit individually is a bit too strong for my tastes.  As for when I usually wake up, it really depends on how late I go to sleep.  And even then, there are a lot of factors that determine how long I sleep.  Sometimes I go to sleep really early and still wake up crazy late, and other times I go to sleep super late and have trouble staying asleep, leading to my waking up early.  Hm??  What do you mean how late would I have my lunch?  I’ve mentioned it before, but I don’t make it a habit of eating lunch, not even if I have a time.  Two meals is just right for me and lunch is a bit redundant.  I suppose skipping a few days of working out isn’t too bad in the long run, and when I finally went back to the gym earlier in the week my body could still handle the exercises that I usually do, so you’re right, there wasn’t much to worry about.  Oh yeah, fans of pretty much any kind are fine, it’s just that electric kettles can pose a fire hazard is why I believe they’re a banned item.

 

I can’t remember much from when I used to wear glasses, but I know that I got used to them pretty fast.  They narrow your field of vision a tiny bit, but that was probably because I wore glasses with smaller lenses and not one of those really large ones.  They didn’t fall off your face unless you were doing some crazy gymnastic somersault and they didn’t usually break either.  Glasses are studier than you think, ahah.  In the rain they protect your eyes from the falling water I suppose, though of course you have to wipe them off once you’re under a roof.  They didn’t fog up too easily either.  In fact, the biggest hassle involved with glasses stems not from any of the worries you listed but from how easily they smear.  Maybe it was just me, but the glass smeared really easily and even when I wiped it off it left either dust from whatever I wiped it with or residual oil streaks that made light bend in weird ways.  That may make absolutely no sense to you, but any glasses-wearer out there knows what I’m talking about.  I only use headphones when I’m watching an anime I care about or listen to music I like.  Otherwise, I opt out of it just to preserve my ears.  Ahahah, yeah, I’m just joking.  I’m no perfect human being of course but I’m not going to get bummed out over what I’ve been born with.

 

Getting out of bed isn’t any more difficult now than it was during the summer, though that’s probably only because it hasn’t gotten too cold yet.  I haven’t used the heater in a long time, but my blankets are so thick that sometimes I even wake up feeling a bit too warm, eheh.

 

You could probably take more classes earlier on, just as you don’t overwhelm yourself in the very first semester or anything, ahah.  I personally don’t mind getting through all these basic gen ed classes done early and saving all the major specific classes for later.  It may seem like a lot of work, but the classes build off of each other, so I it shouldn’t be too bad, right?  Hmm, by the major-specific SAGES class, that person was probably talking about the Departmental Seminar.  After your First Seminar and your two University Seminars, you have to take a Departmental Seminar which is either a class required by the major you’re taking or one at least related to your major in some way.  And I believe the professors are the ones in charge of choosing what the First and Universal Seminars are about.  If a professor woke up one day and decided to plan an entire semester long course on the history of sandals and their significance in western culture, as long as Case approves it, then he can do just that.  Two-day 3 credit hour classes are an hour and fifteen minutes long each while three-day 3 credit hour classes are fifty minutes long each, so either way it totals to 150 minutes of class per week.

 

Oh gosh, I’m even more like your sister when it comes to my room setup; I also keep the door closed and almost always have it locked when it’s possible.  That’s usually because I’m watching anime and I don’t want the immersion to be ruined by someone just randomly walking in (knocking hasn’t been invented yet in my household).  Huh, I never felt that having the brightness way up on either my laptop or my phone made the colors oversaturated.  If anything, having the brightness down makes things dull and especially difficult to see.  Perhaps our different preferences stem from our drastically different vision qualities?  Or… maybe the differences in our eyesight is a result of our brightness settings??  Ahahah, oh dear, I wouldn’t be completely surprised if that was the case.  My room actually had exactly the same layout: lamp to my left behind my laptop and my window directly to my right.  For me though, there was a lot of glare, not just a little.  I don’t know if this is because the sun set in my window or if I’m just more sensitive to seeing reflections in my computer screen.  If I can hold my hand right up to screen and still see its reflection, then the brightness isn’t high enough.  Ohhh, I don’t really watch any of the channels you do.  Vsauce doesn’t make videos very often so I don’t actually check his channel much.  I used to check out Bestamvsofalltime before they kinda stopped uploading, and I have a few AMV channel replacements.  I follow a couple gamers(?) like Etika and video game related channels like Did You Know Gaming and Game Theories.  I also check out Honest Trailers and Everything Wrong With when I have time.  That’s pretty much it though; everything else I watch doesn’t come out often enough for me to check very often like Epic Rap Battles.  That’s usually enough to keep me entertained, between video games and anime.

 

Well, the pledge has been around for decades, and if anything it should be a surprise that certain schools don’t already have it mandatory and are only now implementing it.  If schools stopped making it mandatory, that would make more sense, but it’s a bit weird your school is doing it the other way around.  I figured most, if not all, schools still required the pledge, but I guess New Jersey isn’t much of a sample size, eheh.  It’s easy to get discouraged with how America is doing because of the media, but the media is so hard to trust that none of the headiness I see around the Internet even bother me.  They say all these negative things, but that doesn’t change how I see this nation.  Call it being ignorant, but I don’t see how it can be any worse than absorbing sensational misinformation.

 

Pfftt, at least [nervously laughs] isn’t ambiguously worded!  Nope, my school never made a big deal out of any single book.  Maybe Charlotte’s Web was “the big thing” for second graders, but that’s about it.  If anything, people made a bigger deal about historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Helen Keller, so that kids had role models to look up to at an early age or something.  Ahh, I remember finding some old elementary school “writing” a couple years back.  It was pretty funny to go back and see how I used to do things as a little kid.  Oh my gosh, as you say, I actually remembered doing some of that, like drawing those “pictures” and writing those “sentences”.

 

I actually never traveled to the good parts of Cleveland and just sort of took the buses to places in the opposite direction of downtown, so the areas I “explored” were a bit… cruddy.  It kinda sucks, but that’s where the nearest GameStop, Target, and McDonald’s are located, ahah. There’s not much to say, it’s pretty normal apart from the relatively high population of African Americans.  It doesn’t feel very safe at night (waiting for the bus after the Black Thursday shopping at Target on the side of the road late at night was all kinds of frightening, not going to lie) but it looks pretty normal during the day.  I believe downtown Cleveland is a lot nicer and feels more like a legit city.

 

Ahaha, my parents sometimes threaten to break my games, but those are just empty threats.  Worst comes to worst they’d just sell them, as they care about money enough to not break them.  And even if they did sell something, they don’t realize that I have backup consoles (things my friends have given to me for free after they grew out of their DS's) and they don’t know about all the DS and GameBoy games I have.  Like, legit, they don’t keep track of how many games I have and where they are.  They just assume all the games they’ve purchased for me are located in that single bag they put all the games in, but there are so many they wouldn’t notice if there were five extra games or five missing games, even if they peered in to check.  And as for when I could tell they stopped checking inactive hiding spots, I guess it was once when I asked if we could bring the games with us for a long trip and they agreed but spent a while finding them because they themselves had forgotten where they hid them.  After that, I could just feel when they’d forgotten about hiding spots and took nearly full possession of my games.  tl;dr my parents are forgetful, if you couldn’t already tell, ahah.  It’s too bad that you weren’t able to take advantage of your parents like I did……………  That sounded awful, I am a bad influence, don’t listen to me……

 

Those Black Friday tramplings are the minority and usually only really happen at stores that don’t take the precautions to prevent such incidents.  This Target handled everything really nicely, and everyone in line was a decent human being so there was no pushing, only quick walking and slight jogging.  All in all, it was a good experience.  I talked to the person behind me, and he was there for a television (like most people).  Unfortunately he wasn’t close enough to the front of the line to get a ticket for the specific television he was interested in, but I saw him run up ahead in an attempt to snag another television instead.  Yeah, my brother was planning on getting the Pokemon game released this year but… that never actually happened, so he figured he might as well get Omega Ruby in the meantime.  He would have gotten it himself, but being around my parents he obviously didn’t have the chance to take advantage of the Black Friday deals which is why he asked me for help.  I had my eye on Mario Kart 7 for a mere $15 anyway, so going to Target wasn’t much of a hassle.  All in all though, I was really happy with how things turned out!  The pre-owned games from Best Buy just came in the other day, though I’m not in much of a rush to start them.  Ahahah, starving myself for video games is pretty much just an extension of what I did in high school with my brother, so I’m used to it.  You might have to start doing that yourself too if you want to get all the 3DS on your to-do list, eheh.

 

Yup, Dual Destinies was pretty good.  It wasn’t the best Ace Attorney game, but it was a fun game.  I can’t remember how long it took me to beat my first Awakening run through.  It was the second 3DS game I had ever beaten after Ocarina of Time 3D, so this was a while ago.  My brother has the game right now, but once I get it back I’ll check my records and see how many hours I put into that game.  Oh, and don’t worry, Awakening has three save slots, so unless you want to run through the game four or more times, you won’t have to delete your save files.  Awakening has a lot of replay value and is a fun game, but goly it would require quite a bit of dedication to run through the game that many times.  Woo and thanks!  I’ve been making quite a lot of headway with Virtue’s Last Reward and am set to finish it on time, before break starts.

 

Ohhhhhhh pffffttt wow, I must not be very good of a detective if I didn’t even notice that you changed your profile picture to a Pokemon every December.  For some reason everyone seemed to be able to tell my brother is related to me and I’m related to my brother, even when we’re not with each other.  In high school, kids I had never seem before occasionally came up to me and said “Hey, aren’t you _____’s brother?” like whaaaaaa how I am different than any other Asian guy off the street; how did they know I was my brother’s brother?!?  It’s really weird, since I don’t believe I look like my brother at all, but apparently others can tell we’re related.

 

You weren’t in the mood to socialize and just wanted to be alone?  Eyyy, what a coincidence, that’s how I feel every day!  Hahah, guess that’s just the introvert inside of you stretching a bit.  Hm, well, even though your Thanksgiving was a bit bland and you didn’t do anything too special, it’s still nice that you got a chance to relax a bit.

 

Anyway, sorry that my response this time was a bit shorter than usual, since finals week is upon us for Case Western!  I have my math final on Tuesday and my accounting final on Thursday this coming week.  The week after, on Wednesday the 16th of December, I have my econ final and it’s also the day I hop on a plane back to New Jersey.  I have quite a bit of studying to do, but the good thing is, classes are finally over!  So unlike in high school, you don’t have classes or any other obligations like homework during finals and can spend all day if you wish focusing on the exams you have to take.

 

My friend started asking for help on those Webassign problems that were due at 11:59pm half an hour ago while I was in the middle of posting this, so I had to delay the response a bit. Sorry about that, ahah...

 

Haha, it's kinda funny that I mentioned something about eventually embracing my inner nerd when my younger self was actually a lot more open about it. Eighth grade was when I began retreating to my little "closet", and it was only recently that I was able to accept that I'm a closet nerd. But at the same time, being a closet nerd also means that I'm just not comfortable flaunting these interests anymore--which kinda includes wearing graphic tees and playing video games around most people I know (if I'm on vacation by myself for a few days, I wouldn't care less who sees me playing these games). I'm normally not very uptight about my self-image since I've done some pretty silly things (plus, uh... that Facebook profile picture you saw, lol), but my inner nerd is an exception since it's something I'm rather self-conscious about. I don't want to give off the impression that I'm ashamed of it or anything since I've met some pretty awesome gamers and otakus, but like you said, the whole stigma that comes with it can feel somewhat degrading. It's honestly quite admirable that you're comfortable displaying your interests in public like that. The internet is still my main outlet for expressing these interests of mine, but hopefully I can change that eventually, eheh. 

 

A bit off topic, and kinda random, but I thought it was really neat how you can see the reflection of the sky in bodies of water. Oh my gosh, it's gorgeous. I'm surprised you haven't commented on it, haha.

 

Oh dang, Splatoon > Smash? I didn't realize that Splatoon updated so frequently! I didn't think that you'd place it above Smash either, but I can see why now, though it still comes as a bit of a surprise to me, haha. I don't plan on purchasing any home consoles since I'm afraid they'll end up suffering the same fate as the Wii sitting in the basement, eheh. I might change my mind after seeing what the new gen home console has to offer, but I probably won't. It's not like I'll be able to bring it with me to college, so there's a good chance it'll end up sitting in the basement collecting dust just like I feared, even if I really do want to play with it.

 

Haha yeah, I was also really relieved to see that the BW sequels were made for the DS. It wouldn't have made a difference if the sequel turned out to be Grey since there'd be no way my parents would've bought me a 3DS at that time (after all, I received the DS only a few years prior). I would've gotten the sequel(s) regardless if it/they turned out to be Grey or B2W2. Honestly, I never really understood why they bothered to put so much emphasis on the war for XY. It was a nice change in pace, well sorta, but they really should've given the legendaries a bit more purpose; something for the fanbase to go off of for speculation. Even if they planned on developing the lore in Z (which, I'm sure they will), leaving behind such empty, purposeless legendaries in XY, like you said, did make the Pokemon (and even the games themselves) seem hollow. I dunno, maybe they did this on purpose. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since Z looks pretty nice (urgh, Ash Greninja though). 

 

Ehh, nope. I still think the Castelia City music is one of the worst soundtracks in the game. I always shut off my DS volume whenever I went into the city. The entire city was so dull. The music, color scheme, concept, everything. Even some of the towns felt more vibrant. I didn't mind the grid-based layout too much (it did make navigating a bit more tedious though; "was Game Freak's HQ in this path or this one, hm").

 

Actually, Troy is also one of the better schools in Michigan. A lot of the schools in Detroit are dirt poor, so I honestly don't think Troy is an accurate representation of the schools around Michigan. Heck, one of the schools that's frequently searched for drugs made it on the top list. While the drug problem isn't necessarily a indication of how solid of an education you'll get there (apparently it's actually pretty solid), it just goes to show that everything isn't exactly rainbows and gumdrops around here. Seriously, I've seen some pretty effed up stories about what happens in Flint, and the city's actually not too far from here. And uh, I recently learned there are schools that don't have A/C. Cranbrook being one of them (it's a pretty old school, so some of the buildings only have heaters). The pool was only a pain for summer school, but aside from that, its existence hasn't bothered me since I haven't stepped foot in there ever since. 

 

Oh trust me, going to school as early as 6am was not fun. Well, I still have to wake up at 6am for those biweekly sectionals, I guess. Those aren't fun either. Yeah, it was a struggle trying to force myself out of bed. I honestly don't know how I did it. I sometimes stayed up past 4am trying to do those chem problems, and still dragged myself to those cram sessions on 1-2 hours of sleep. Maybe my sophomore self was just a lot more motivated because I definitely don't have the endurance for those kinds of stunts anymore. Despite those early morning struggles, sophomore year was a pretty decent year. Actually, you probably should change your alarm if it's something your ears have adjusted to too much. It might turn out to be unreliable after a while if your ears begin perceiving it as white noise instead of an alarm (especially now that finals are upon you, ahah).

 

Whaaaaaaatttt, no fruit??? Geezus, my sister was the same way. She hated fruit back in high school, and I don't think she's changed much since then. She's fine eating fruit if it's on a pastry or in a smoothie or something, but you'll almost never see her eating fruit by itself. Same with vegetables, and I'm not sure why. Hmm, so fruit is just too strong for your tastes? Huh, that's kinda weird. Are they too sweet? What about dates? Dates tend to be pretty bland. They sorta taste like apples, but are softer in texture and are not as sharp in flavor (the raw/fresh dates, not the dried ones; specifically jujubes). Avocadoes are also very light in flavor, but make up in their rich texture. Um, what about vegetables? If you have a mini fridge in your room, you can store some celery or some pre-packaged baby carrots in there. Oh hey, that used to be kinda how I slept! Except that I almost never had trouble falling asleep, ahah... My sleep schedule used to be really out of whack, but I've been a lot more consistent lately. During the weekends nowadays, I tend to wake up before I reach seven hours of sleep for whatever reason. Sleep at 2am, wake up ~9am. Sleep at 12am, wake up ~7am, which, for the record, is before my parents typically wake up. Sometimes I can sleep as late as 3-4am and still wake up before 10am. This new... "tendency" of mine completely took me by surprise, and it's scaring me. Who on earth naturally wakes up at 7am?? It's unheard of!! Heck, it scared me so much that I don't even get out of bed when I wake up that early. I just force myself back to sleep again until my usual waking time around 10-11am. I asked you how late you "would" have your lunch because you don't eat lunch, lol. Ah, sorry if my wording wasn't clear enough. Here: If you were to incorporate lunch into your schedule, how late would it be? I also heard somewhere that extension cords aren't allowed? Gosh, that sounds like a pain.

 

I don't know if the same is supposed to apply to sunglasses, because based on my experience wearing sunglasses, I've never really had a problem with smearing. Maybe it has something to do with the quality of the lens or the material its made of, but the only times I've had to wipe it were when I could see fingerprints. They were surprisingly durable/stable when I wore them to tennis, but there's always the risk of being inattentive to your surroundings and getting the glasses knocked off by a ball or something. Oh yeah, and my dad confiscated my headphones a few days ago. He always has this bitter facial expression whenever he sees me wearing headphones, so I knew it was going to happen eventually, lol. It's not too big of a deal though since I can live without headphones, but I'm still a little bummed about it, ahah...

 

Yeah, it should be a lot colder in January. This "winter" feels a lot more mild compared to the one from last year and year prior, but maybe it's because of the polar vortex, lol. Ohh, I love waking up nice and toasty! Everything's cozy and comfortable and snug, yet I still feel refreshed and ready to get out of bed! Well, on the condition that I also feel well-rested, heh. Haha, don't you love that feeling?

 

No way am I going to take a bunch of ridiculously hard classes as a freshman, but I don't want to blow everything off either. I just want to avoid jamming all of my hard classes into my last couple of years. But at the same time, how well would I adjust to the transition from high school to college? Receiving a rude awakening from taking these difficult classes doesn't sound very appealing. I guess you can't always have the best of both worlds, so I'll have to make up my mind eventually, lol. Ohh, so the professors kinda choose what they want to teach the students? Does that mean I'll have to look out for the professor more than the actual class's subject matter then?

 

Haha, that's kinda why I only watch anime when my parents aren't home or when they're sleeping. My parents don't allow me to lock the door, which can be a bit annoying at times when I actually don't want to be disturbed. I still like having a door crack, but gosh, constantly getting interrupted while doing work or listening to music can really... just.. build up. So, as you can guess, knocking hasn't been invented in this household either. I honestly really dislike working when my parents are around, so that's kinda fed into my habit of doing my work late into the night when they're sleeping. Hmm, maybe it's just the fact that my eyes have adjusted to my laptop and phone being so dim. My parents and sister have also frequently complained about how they have trouble seeing the stuff on my phone and laptop (and tablet whenever I forget to turn the brightness back up). I don't have as much of a problem working in dim lighting either, really. It's also why I enjoy having my light all spread out as opposed to being concentrated in one area, if that makes sense. And I have to adjust the brightness of my phone for my friends sometimes, so I don't think it's a matter of our vision qualities. I think it's mainly just preference. Y'all are crazy. Ohh, the sun also sets from my window. I can easily see my reflection on my laptop screen when I focus on it, but most of the time I'm able to ignore it. If I recall correctly, Vsauce used to make videos weekly, but now he's kinda fallen into this irregular pattern of uploads. I don't mind though since he's still good ol', same ol' Vsauce (maybe it's because his videos have gotten a lot longer... and tend to stray more, lol). I'm actually not subscribed to a single AMV channel. I'm not too big on AMVs for anime I haven't watched yet, and I haven't watched enough anime to enjoy these AMV channels, so that's kinda discouraged me from subscribing to them even if the content's really good. I've definitely seen Etika commenting on videos I've watched, but I'm not subscribed. I'm not subscribed to Did You Know Gaming or Game Theories either, but I've watched quite a few of those Game Theory videos. Honest Trailers is pretty great, and so is Cinema Sins. Out of those two, I'm only subscribed to Cinema Sins, but I still rarely click on the videos they make unless it's a "critique" on a movie I've watched before. Oh yeah, and Epic Rap Battles. I'm actually rather surprised that you aren't subscribed to any comedy or parody channels. Some of them honestly make my day, haha. 

 

I also found it a bit strange that the pledge was implemented into the school only recently, but it's because the state made it mandatory--which I still find strange. I take most of these headlines with a grain of salt, but it's pretty difficult to ignore what's constantly in your face. I swear it feels like I'm seeing Facebook posts on some random shooting on a weekly basis. Like sheesh, when did coverage of these shootings become so widespread? It's depressing for sure, but half of the time all of these negative headlines just feel like exaggerated bs.

 

Ohh, we weren't too big on historical figures. We definitely spent a bit of time on Houdini and did projects on people like Ben Franklin, but I don't think it was to give us role models to look up to or anything. I remember The Gates being displayed in Central Park was a huge deal back when I was in NYC, so we did a lot of work on Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Field trips, research, and everything, haha. Ahh, I love rummaging through my old stuff and looking back. I wish I could go give little me a big hug. Gosh, elementary school was a blissful time; back when my only worries were talking too much in class and trying to not get scolded by my teachers and parents, ahhhhh...

 

I remember driving through Cleveland back in August, but I wasn't sure which part of the city I was in. Since it was like a mix of Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Queens, I can imagine how frightening it must've been at night. I've never wandered through those cities/areas by myself (some parts of Detroit are pretty... sketchy), and honestly, I'm not sure if I'd ever have the courage to be there by myself at night. Geez, you're gutsy, haha.

 

I don't feel as intimidated by my mom's threats, but phew, my dad can be absolutely terrifying. I still wholly believe that he would've thrown my DS into some garbage disposal if I ever effed up badly enough. It may have been an empty threat, but it sure didn't sound like one. Whaa, you have backup consoles?? Your friends grew out of their DS's and just gave them away?? Sheesh, lucky you, haha. I have all of my DS games lined together on a shelf, but I'm sure my parents wouldn't notice if I happened to add a couple of new games there. Hmm, how long did you wait before asking for your games back? Maybe your parents just forgot if it was a long period of time. I usually waited a few weeks before asking for my DS back. 

 

Haha, I'm still not willing to put myself through that Black Friday mess just to get some luxuries I don't really need, but it's good to hear your experience was relatively nice! Also, I still bring lunch to school, so I'm not going to gain any money by starving myself, lol. It's something I'd definitely look into if it was an option though.

 

Awakening has three save slots?? Ahhhhhhhhh, that's great! I have so many games I want to play, but I want to get the ones with highest replay value and post-game material first (and Pokemon also gets top priority). But I also want to play Virtue's Last Reward and I still need to experience the greatness of OoT and argghhh kfjdlhgsdjhsklghjsdfkg. Oh, and speaking of which, how was VLR? You finished it pretty quickly, haha.

 

You must be glad you got a Facebook now, otherwise you might not have been able to gather such solid evidence, ahah. Oh, hm, maybe it's because of your last name. Most people assume someone's related to someone else because they share the same surname. I know a few of my sister's friends came up to me and asked if I was her sister even though we look nothing alike and aren't very similar personality-wise. But at the same time, I had/have a few of my sister's teachers, and none of them seemed to question whether we're related. Then again, it's been five years (give or take a few years for certain classes), so... 

 

Best of luck for finals week(s)! Be sure to study hard and finish strong! Apologies for the relatively short response as well. This week has been pretty hectic, urghh... why are all the due dates and tests piled on this week...

 

...and next week apparently.

 

so uh, I received an email stating that Case is pushing back decisions to the 19th

just wanted to give you a heads up

added a few lines towards the end

[Avatar The Legend of Korra]

no money no filler

i always thought that if there were any fillers that they would be about the past characters

showing how they did things...but tats for the comics i guess

her name is kiyi, she looks like ursa...when ursa asked a spirit to change her face so that ozai would not find her

her husband's name is ikem

do you want me to tell you a fire siege prophecy or theory

spoiler territory 

i think of it as an adult show faking to be a kids show

the content is much more mature then they would have you believe, but they are hiding it with this silly kids stuff...which isn't a lot of

and kids should want more cartoons like this, not those new ones

in my day we had soooo much awesome cartoons that were for brain stimulation and not hello kitty

seeeee

the avatar has to be spiced up a bit, changed a little

wan to me was awesome

im more disappointed in the creators that during season 2 he wasn't more there for korra as an avatar guide

the situation begged for him

jet some tree got all the love

like their lives as grown-ups?

dad Aang and old Sokka would've been awesome to see

good ol' days with trusty boomerang

 

whattt??

hmm, well, I'm pretty certain I'm not going to read the comics so sure, go ahead and spoil me, lol

I appreciate the warning beforehand though!

 

dude, cartoons back in the day were bomb

like geezus, they didn't hold back

they cracked all of these adult jokes/crude humor and innuendos that flew over my head when I first watched them as a little kid

and after looking back at that, I appreciate them a lot more :') gonna go a bit off-topic here...

holy moly, it's a wonder how they got away with stuff like this:

but maybe it's because everyone's being a real prick about censorship and being "kid-friendly" nowadays, even though none of the kids would get this joke... erm, well, at least I know I didn't understand this as a little kid when I first watched this episode

 

I KNOW RIGHT Wan was pretty much the highlight of LoK

I wish they did a lot more stuff like this, and the whole connection back to the lion turtles was awesome

we need more Wan

Jet wasn't too bad, I think

he was a bit annoying though

[What Was the Last Song You Listened To?]

IT'S TIMEEEE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpxNNalLTB4

 

YAYYY :')

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0byH9h1ClBY

[Avatar The Legend of Korra]

it is more of an avatar day then it is about them

cant argue that, how dumB must you be to mess up that many times

even tho you faced tough situations before

well so far

zuko is bringing his mother back to the ffire nation along with her real, first, and now forever love...her husband and daughter

zuko has a baby sis

she is glad to be with zuko again but is stressed and in fear to be in the nation capital

thats part 1/3

what bothers me most is that nick has not addressed this yet

they can just come out and say...whatever

well, avatar has always been about politics if you think about it

it is only natural that with every new age its more and more messed up

so it will always pick off where it has always started

i like it, but only after he goes a bit darkseid for a season

you know what, LoK should've had filler episodes

then we could have an Avatar day episode, right

the love triangle arghhhhhh

dammit Korra, why would you dskfsklghjkghkg

 

wait what Zuko has a little sister

what

 

still, you can't only appeal to the older audiences with this politics stuff

ATLA was originally intended to be a kids show, after all

but yeah, I guess I wouldn't mind too much

 

wait, I just realized that this Robin Hood avatar sounds strangely similar to Wan

gosh I loved that Wan backstory

ohh, I'm liking this plot twist you came up with

a temporary dark avatar would be cool

[What Was the Last Song You Listened To?]

IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER, AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcZAwoip5aY

HOLIDAY SONGS ALL DAY EVERYDAY FROM NOW UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

(and no, I'm not exaggerating)

 

I'VE BEEN WAITING MY ENTIRE LIFE A WHOLE YEAR FOR THIS.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcXSm51UI5M

 

HUZZAH!!

[What Was the Last Video Game You Played?]

 

You first learned about natures mid to late middle school, hm?  That might have been around when I first learned about natures as well.  I remember already being aware of natures by the time Black and White first came out, since I soft resetted for a good natured Snivy.  Or at least, I thought it was a good nature at the time; I don’t think it ended up being great for the moveset it had, but I was still learning back then, eheh.  Oh man, I’ve left so many legendary and stationary Pokemon scattered throughout my games untouched.  And event Pokemon too, jeezus.  I just picked up Hoopa from my local McDonald’s yesterday, but I really doubt I’m going to actually receive it from the delivery girl any time in the near future, if ever.  Ohhhh, I hear it now!  Pffftt, how can anybody hear that without being told what to listen for [nervously laughs] my hearing isn’t that bad right…? ……right??

 

Hmm, you don’t want to completely geek out just because most people don’t know that hidden side of you?  I didn’t expect that to be a problem for someone like you.  You always seemed really open about yourself and your interests, but then again, I’ve only met you online and generally people are bit more honest with themselves behind a digital persona, heheh.  I never really geek out like some people do either, despite my intense passion for video games and anime, but at the same time I always just attributed that to my reserved personality.  I feel like it’s a bit of a shame you have to suppress your urges like that, but hopefully you get the chance to start off completely fresh in college!

 

When you say Sky Pillar was a pain, do you mean the original one or the new one?  The original on was a bit annoying with those holes you had to bike over, but much like the Team Aqua Hideout puzzle it gets easier with each passing playthrough.  The new Sky Pillar seemed to have an unusually high wild Pokemon encounter rate, though that may have just been my imagination.  There was also this TM among the rubble that I could see from multiple angles, but it took me far too long to find the path that actually led to it.  That was a bit of a time waster and ruined the mood of Zinnia giving her floor by floor explanation of the lore, but oh well, eheheh.

 

Ohh, I didn’t realize you liked Yoshi’s Athletic theme that much!  Well then, I’m glad I was able to help you relive some of those memories!

 

Oof, after all this time conversing, the thing that we seem to disagree on the most is Mirage Island(s), ahah.  They probably kept the name “Mirage Islands” as a reference to the original Mirage Island, but I really don’t feel that the new Mirage Spots are just an upgraded version of the original.  In the Delta Episode, the device that was going to be used to teleport the meteor into an alternate dimension was called a “Link Cable”, but that doesn’t mean they were going to use an actual Game Boy link cable.  It’s a neat little reference, but nothing more.  Also, the mechanic behind Mirage Spots appearing and Mirage Island appearing are completely differently, apart from the whole 24 hours thing, which is already a recurring theme with a lot of things like the Berry Master and the lottery tickets.  If anything, Mirage Spots work more like upgraded versions of Hidden Grottos.  Mirage Island and the Mirage Spots only share one substantial similarity, and that’s that they disappear and reappear.  But even then, it’s a bit different, since Mirage Island physically affects the route surrounding it, while Mirage Spots are technically off-the-map locations and cannot be walked to, only soared to.  And of course, even if you surf or walk by an activated Mirage Spot, there is no indication that it’s there unless you soar.  All I am willing to concede is that Mirage Spots are the spiritual successor to Mirage Island, but no more.  In the same way Brawl’s Ike, Lucario, and Yoshi’s Island were spiritual successors to Melee’s Roy, Mewtwo, and Yoshi’s Story, Mirage Spots are a completely new addition to Hoenn that replaces and alludes to the original Mirage Island.

 

This is only something that occurred to me after the fact, but the one thing that concerns me slightly is that Nintendo has always released their handheld console before their home console for the past three generations at least.  It’s no secret the Wii U has sold terribly (it’s Nintendo’s worst selling console I believe, even worse than the GameCube), and there aren’t honestly many games lined up for it in the future.  We have Star Fox Zero and the new Zelda game both coming out next year but… that’s it.  If they stick to releasing their new handheld before their new home console, and if they decide to milk the 3DS for all its worth putting its release in 2018 if I’m predicting correctly, then the next home console could potentially be released in 2019.  Geez, that’s going to be three to four years from now!  I love the Wii U and there are still tons of games for the console I’m interested in getting, but the general public doesn’t think so and it doesn’t help that there’s not much fuel to keep the system running with the relative lack of major titles even announced for the future.  Of course, since this is all speculation, Nintendo could always just change up their formula by releasing the home console first, or having a simultaneous release, or banking on the success of their upcoming mobile games to carry them in the upcoming year and maintaining a 2019 release date, and so on.  There are a lot of things this new president could do, and I’m interested in seeing how he handles the company!

 

I actually never entered the Battle Subway, not even once.  White was an exhilarating ride for me, but once the hype settled down after the credits played for the first time, I completely lost interest in it.  I don’t know if it was because of school or because of the game itself, but since I similarly dropped White 2 like a rock after beating the Champion I’m assuming it was probably the latter.  It’s a bit of a shame too, since there seemed to be a lot of post-game content in the form of exploring the remaining routes and towns and cities of Unova, which is something ORAS didn’t even have.  I would have loved ORAS even more if it pulled an FRLG and added in random islands somewhere off the coast that you could explore postgame, like the Sevii Islands from Kanto.  I loved the remixes of GSC themes used for those islands, and though they were a bit lonely and sometimes too empty, if Hoenn got their own set of islands with remixed DPPt music I would have lost my mind.

 

Ah yes, I definitely liked the idea of B2W2!  As you say, it was quite the curveball and definitely was a breath of fresh air, even if I ultimately didn’t entirely like the games too much (same complaints as BW).  I wonder what they’re going to do with the extra installment(s) to XY?  Z just seems obvious, but almost too obvious.  Then again, if they did X^2 and Y^2 that would just seem cheesy and forced.  I guess it depends on where they want to take the series.  The two alternate versions of Kalos didn’t have any conflicting towns/cities like Unova’s Opelucid, so consolidating the two games into a Z wouldn’t provide any more trouble than the first fourth generations did.  And correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t some bigwig from Nintendo tell Game Freak that unless the addition to Black and White was something more creative than the predictable Grey that it wouldn’t be made?  The DS was already at the end of its lifespan, and in fact the 3DS was already revealed months prior to Black and White’s announcement, let alone Black 2 and White 2’s release in the not-too-distant-past of late 2012.  Their reasoning was that “Gray” would ultimately be a complete failure if it was overshadowed by the 3DS and thus needed something “different” about it to make it sell, which is why they made a sequel as opposed to an alternate reality of Unova.  Since “Z” is not under those same restraints (not that we know of, at least) there wouldn’t be any need for Game Freak to go out of their way and make a sequel as opposed to an alternate reality.  “Z” would be easier to make, since the plot is already there and just needs to be tweaked and adjusted for the better, while an “X^2 and Y^2” would require significantly more changes, potentially resulting in unwanted costs for a game that is destined to sell well on an already very well received and established console.  While all signs point toward “Z”, I’m trying to imagine how XY sequels would work, and I personally wouldn’t mind getting one or the other.  I just hope Game Freak can change my opinion on Kalos for the better, eheh.

 

Okay wow, what’s wrong with me?  I keep on getting sidetracked speculating over release dates and stuff like an idiot.  Look at all that space I used up, urk.  I’ve split thing into separate paragraphs to make them easier to visually digest, sigh.  Anyway, continuing…  I guess what I mean by not very Pokemon-ish probably just has more to do with the atmosphere of the games as opposed to just the music.  Since Unova was the first region not based on an area in Japan, something about it just felt… off, you know?  I really can’t describe it, but in true American, or I suppose New York-ian fashion, the songs were such a hodgepodge of different styles.  It was even more prevalent with Kalos and their blatantly use of French words and phrases scattered throughout the region.  While I appreciate that they’re trying to diversify the world of Pokemon, when real life cultures are so shoehorned in there it just doesn’t sit very well with me.  Kanto through Sinnoh were all based on Japanese regions, but heck you could’ve fooled me.  Despite certain real-life landmarks and locations matching up with in-game towns and cities, it was all done in subtle ways that you wouldn’t have guessed it had Japanese origins. The only region that was “obviously” Japanese was Johto, with its Bell/Tin Tower, kimono girls, etc.  But at least the localization team named all the towns after flowers/foliage as opposed to Kalos’s so-Frech-it-hurts names for routes.  And people don’t break out into random Japanese phrases in Johto either, unlike in Kalos where apparently French is everyone’s second language.  The Pokemon world was so appealing because it was always so much like our world, and yet completely different.  All the regions had universal appeal and could be connected to real life in any way you wanted.  Goldenrod?  Man, that could be New York or Toronto or London or Madrid or Bueno Aires or Sydney or Hong Kong or Mumbai!  It’s the hub of life, the heart of the country!  Oh, Lumiose?  Well that… that… that’s Paris. That’s goddamn Paris.  You can’t even pretend it’s Shanghai else risk feeling really silly.  And Geosenge?  Seriously…?  I just feel that a lot of the magic is lost when Pokemon is tied so strongly with the real world like that.  It all started with Unova, during which part of me felt a bit uneasy with the American vibe of the region, but I just chalked it up to modernization and figured Kalos would bring me back to how Sinnoh felt.  Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, and if you want me to be honest, I would really like Game Freak to either go back to their Japanese roots or just completely make up a region with no ties to the real world for 7th gen.  …………I’ve rambled for far too long, again.  Sorry for complaining like that, just wanted to let off some steam.  I don’t even know if this kind of criticism is justified; it probably just makes me sound like some kind of deranged, conservative, xenophobe.  What do you think about this whole issue?  Aaaanyway, I’ve also seen Professor Sycamore get some attention.  It actually shocked me a bit since I avoided XY spoilers until I finished the game, so I only just recently, uhhh, started seeing how some girls feel about him.  It puzzles me quite a bit, but then again, that kind of stuff is none of my business, and I don’t think I'm very good at understand how girls think, soo, eheheh……

 

B-But why would most schools have swimming pools?  Most schools didn’t have a swimming team, not the other way around…  Is New Jersey’s entire school system really that bad??  Goddammit Christie, I believed in you!  Why can’t you be more like Michigan’s governor, hmm???  Hahah, I’m just joking, I know it has nothing to do with Christie, I’ll cut the guy some slack, especially since he’s lagging in the polls and I feel kinda bad for him (though admire his tenacity).  And no swimming reqs for phys ed either, thank god.  And JP probably won’t get one for years, especially since A/C has been in demand for decades and takes priority (over everything save for greenhouses apparently).

 

Watching people’s reactions over new character reveals is always absolutely amazing.  This guy created a mashup of a few popular reactions (there were so many he even had a part 2 and part 3), which Masahiro Sakurai himself tweeted out on his officially Twitter.  Do mind the volume though; wouldn’t want to hurt your ears any more than you already have!  I didn’t completely lose it like I did with Mewtwo’s reveal or Lucina and Robin’s reveal, just because I didn’t have an emotional attachment to Cloud, but going back and watching everyone else get excited gets me smiling like an idiot and hyped as heck anyway, ahah.  I cannot wait until December.  If it’s anything like the 50 Fact Extravaganza, the broadcast is going to kill me.  I don’t think my body is ready for hype of that level again.

 

Eck, you’re right, that was a rather petty attack and counter attack.  Come on Fiorina, just because you’re trailing in the polls to the likes of Cruz and Bush (admittedly, those are rather demeaning prospects…) doesn’t mean you should do something like that!  If she falls too low in the polls to be salvageable, I may have to give my vote to another candidate come March when the primary elections are held.

 

Woah, what a studious bunch of kids you have at your school!  I don’t know if people did anything like that in my high school.  I know certain groups of friends obviously studied together, but I don’t believe the entire class ever arrived early in the morning to corroborate on last-minute studying and review.  Or maybe, they did but I was never aware of it?  Hmm, I dunno, there were definitely Facebook pages through which notes were shared and compiled on occasion, which I pretty much always missed out on, but that’s it I think.  Eheh, things could get a bit too cutthroat for my tastes, so flying solo usually worked out.  It got me as far as I have, so I definitely have no complaints or regrets.  It does sound nice that your school was so open about helping each other out!  Hm, perhaps I should have looked into forming study groups in college, but before I knew it tests and exams were underway and I had acquainted myself with almost no one in any of my classes.  My grades are fairly good though (a bit too borderline to be lax about, however) so it didn’t prove to be entirely disadvantageous.  Ahh, people who’ll be there for me through thick and thin, huh?  There’s my family, though I suppose that goes without saying.  Apart from that though…… hrmmm.  I guess you’d fit the bill too, eheh, you crazy person who’s taken a liking to me.

 

B-But I don’t really like pretzels…  Ahah, I know that’s irrelevant, but perhaps I’ll look into purchasing some snacks to munch on when my stomachs starts to rumble.  And don’t worry, my roommate is a heavy sleeper.  He falls asleep fast, and once he begins to snore there’s nothing that can wake him up, not even his alarm clock on occasion.  But I know, I know, in order to promote muscle growth I need to make sure I stay fed.  I wouldn’t say staying full is difficult in college though.  You have to understand that I’m quite the night owl, so I spend a lot of my waking hours at night, when everything is closed and I can’t stop by someplace to grab a bite as a break from work, unlike someone who studies efficiently during the day.  And because I wake up late almost every day, there’s no guarantee I’ll have time for breakfast.  I almost always have time for lunch, but in order to stick to my five o’clock dinner routine, eating in close proximity to five would feel like a waste of effort, which is why I always choose not to.  Ultimately, my hunger stems from my stubbornness and penchant for sticking to schedules too strictly as well as my poor sleeping habits.  I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who are more than well fed (the freshman 15 exists for a reason after all, even if some people are affected in the completely opposite way).  Oh gosh, speaking of Thanksgiving, the gym is closed this entire weekend, and this past Thursday was the first day of working out I had skipped since I began my regimen.  The guilt… the guilt I’m feeling is so strong oh my gosh, you have no idea.  I’m going to work myself to the cartilage in my bones on Monday to make up for it, ahah.  Can’t let myself flab up during these days off after all.  And by the way, I believe electric kettles are banned in Case dorms.  There was a list of banned items we received prior to arriving, but I can’t find it right now, though I’m fairly certain electric kettles or stoves of any kind are not allowed.  You can just use the common kitchen area in the dorms for all your cooking needs anyway.

 

Ahaha, nah, I was just kidding.  I guess instinctively I don’t really expect anyone to “like” my name.  It’s not exotic or very interesting, nor does it roll off the tongue well, and to me it just seems kinda… there.  So when you said you liked my name I guess it caught me a bit off guard.  Erm… but I’ll admit it did make me happy to hear, so… thank you, eheh.  I guess the idea of night contacts can be somewhat frightening to someone who doesn’t know what it’s like to use them, but I hardly think anything of it nowadays.  I’m trying to remember how I felt when I was younger, and I was probably against the idea as well.  What was so wrong with glasses?  Lots of people have glasses.  That’s what I think I thought at the time, but I’ll admit that I’m grateful for my contacts now.  It gives me a heightened sense of appreciation for the beauty of vision, since it’s something I can very easily lose and gain in the blink of an eye (ayy you see what I did there??).  Of course, if you have such good vision naturally, then you should treasure that as well.  Walking around half blind is quite the experience, but it’s not one I would recommend, ahah.  Hm, I think my left eye is worse than my right as well.  Most people are like this though, if I’m not mistaken, though I’m not sure why.  It’s very noticeable too; switching between the use of both of them makes it clear that my right eye is superior.  I think you mentioned how you turned the volume up whenever you listened to music, or at the very least that you really liked your headphones.  I’m not much different; I can sometimes turn the volume up a bit too much.  Though, my ears can get really irritated really fast if I wear either headphones or earbuds for too long, so I try not to if I can help it.  Whaaa 20/15 isn’t rare??  B-But 20/20 is norm— ohhhhhhhhh…… that’s right, it’s almost like I forgot that “normal” entails a fair number of people are both worse and better than the status quo.  D-Does that mean my genes are just plain bad??  Oh woe is I, or at least, woe is my chromosomes……

 

The heating in my dorm is really good!  Perhaps, even too good.  A couple nights, er… mornings ago, it was pretty chilly.  I turned on the heating for the first time, and boy it really kicked into high gear.  Before long I was a bit too warm, so I had to turn it back off.  It’s especially nice since it doesn’t make any noise while it runs, surprisingly enough.  It was quite the stark difference from the A/C.  It clanked and clicked in the beginning as it started up, which freaked me out a bit, but once that settled down you wouldn’t even realize the heat was on unless you put your hand over the vents.  I can’t speak for the other dorms, but Taplin’s heating system is quite nice!

 

Well, calc is normally more than just one semester, but I got out of the first half with my AP credits.  And accounting doesn’t require any more than that, though I’m sure there are some majors that require more advanced levels of calculus of course.  The Excel course is required for accounting majors (and minors probably) in general.  I haven’t started any of the Integrated Studies-specific classes yet, mainly because I’m not allowed to until I officially apply for the program at the end of my sophomore year or something and because I have to get the general courses out of the way first before focusing on specifics.  Ahahah, come on now Kenzi, as much freedom as colleges have, every university has gen ed classes of some sort.  You’ll have plenty of time to specialize in later semesters.  You can use APs to get out of some of those classes, but not all (I mentioned before that SAGES cannot be opted out of).  However, you should be grateful that there is such a wide variety of SAGES courses to choose from.  No one forces you to take any specific class.  You’re forced to take one class from each section, but the class you take is up to you.  I honestly doubt you’re going to hate everything offered by the Symbolic World category.  And in fact, you proved that yourself by showing an interest in the Protest Drama course I’m taking.  So even if you just want to go ham on the physics in the labs, I’m sure there’s a part of you that will be drawn toward at least a handful of the varied and intriguing topics SAGES offers.  Some three credit hour courses are just split into three sections on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays instead of just Mondays and Wednesdays or just Tuesdays and Thursday.  I don’t really know why either; guess that’s just how the professor’s schedule worked out.  The individual MWF classes are shorter than the two-day classes of course, so it balances out in the end.  It sucks I won’t be able to enjoy perpetual three-day weekends next semester, but I’ll get my chance some other year, heh.  Thanks, I’ll definitely make sure I’m on top of my game this upcoming semester!  Six classes isn’t an insane amount, but it is a bit of a strain, so I’ll have to give it my all!

 

Oh man, what is it with younger siblings inhabiting the room of the older sibling once they leave the nest?  Do you think you’ll absorb some of that older siblings smarts if you do?  Cute as that may be, I hope my brother realizes I’ve spent many a distracted night in that room wasting my time when I should have been studying.  I don’t think he’s going to absorb much good from me…  Is your sister’s study room the same as her bedroom?  I know she probably doesn’t come back home very often, but during the holidays, assuming her study and bedroom are one and the same, where does she sleep if you’re occupying her room during the majority of the day?  Whaa— you keep your brightness all the way down??  Oh man, I can’t see anything when it’s turned down like that.  I actually always have my lamp behind and off to the side of my laptop, facing me.  I think it was mainly the natural light from my window back when I was home that really caused the problem.  The window was directly to my right.  I’ve tried turning the brightness on my laptop way down to test, and though there’s the new problem of just not being able to see anything because it’s so dull, I suppose I can’t really see my reflection.  However, even though the window is across the dorm room from me and blocked by this nifty little desk alcove, I won’t open the blinds.  After all, I’m paying to be here so why not waste as much of Case’s utility money as I can, ufufufufufufufufu!!  Hm, YouTube isn’t a huge source of entertainment for me, since anime and video games pretty much limit how often I can just lazy around watching videos, but when I want a quick break there are a few channels I check out.  I’m not subscribed to hundreds of channels like some people are, but there are a handful I have in the back of my head that I know to check out on occasion.  Some of them upload predictably, which is nice and makes checking easier, and others don’t, which causes some trouble.  I don’t really forget the channels I follow either.  If I’m in the mood for something that only they can provide one day, I usually remember them even if I’ve failed to check their channel for the past few months to catch up on what they’ve done.  It’s not a hassle at all, which I suppose is probably a bit strange, since I never thought I had much of an impressive memory.

 

Huh, that’s interesting, though I’m not entirely sure if it’s entirely my cup of tea.  It seems like a bit of a time sink if I tried starting from the top and reading as many HONY posts/stories as I could until I got bored.  If everything else I usually do to waste time fails, then I suppose I’ll keep HONY in mind.  Good on this Brandon guy for doing what he has and I’m glad to hear that a lot of people have benefitted as a result!  I’ll give it credit where it’s deserved.  The pledge wasn’t mandatory in NYC?  That’s certainly the first I’ve heard of that.  It’s always been mandatory where I lived, and the surrounding areas as well.  It wasn’t really a waste of time in middle school and beyond since it always took place during homeroom, during which you’re not really doing anything anyway (maybe cramming some last-second review or scribbling out homework, I suppose).  I guess it does seem a bit pointless, but it’s a tradition that some people are determined to maintain, especially since today’s youth are generally liberals and as a result less patriotic in the ways that were traditionally considered patriotic decades prior.

 

Hrmm, getting technical with me now aren’t you Kenzi?  Well fine, I’ll let it slide, though I’m awfully disappointed you were so lazy that you didn’t even bother to insert an actual gif and instead just typed up an ambiguous and debatable phrase instead, tsk tsk.  Ooh, I almost forgot about Sachar; yes I remember Sideways Stories from Wayside School, ahah.  I know I was impressed by it, but I can’t quite remember what was so good about those books.  I never read Lexi’s Tale or PeeWee’s Tale (in fact, I’m almost positive I haven’t heard of those in my life until just now) but I remember No David, ahah.  Oh goodness, Shel Silverstein.  His poems were creative and funny, but I’ll always consider “The Giving Tree” to be his best work.  When I’m in the mood for it, and paired with some sad music, reading through it gets me all emotionally messed up inside, eheheheh.  I never read The Little Engine That Could though I’ve heard of it.  On the other hand, yoooooooo woooooaaaaahhhhh I completely forgot about Polacco’s Thank You, Mr. Falker!  Holy— I must have read that in 2nd grade and remember thinking it was a pretty good book.  Sheesh, good times, back when I thought my town’s education system was still alright.

 

Ahh, no wonder you don’t consider your city much of a “city” since it doesn’t have any public transportation.  Cleveland’s public transportation system was a bit scary at first because I didn’t know how the buses and stops worked at all, but after intuitively figuring it out and using it a few times (for the sole purpose of, uhhh, video game purchases…) it wasn’t so bad.  I obviously don’t have all the lines and bus stop locations memorized, so I’m always the only one sitting there with Google Maps open on my phone to ensure I don’t miss my stop.  Ehh, I must look like such a college kid to the locals.  Since I’ve played in a fair number of orchestras, I do agree that playing with the strings can be rather fun.  Oh gosh, I never felt like the wind instruments overpowered the strings though; if anything, it was always the other way around.  I suppose it’s different depending on perspective.  

 

I learned how to pick locks, the real way, but only conceptually.  I had planned on putting it into practice, but the locked cabinet the games were in was very flimsy and I was able to manipulate it another way to get it open.  Goodness, your dad hid your laptop?  That sounds awfully unreasonable.  My parents only put a passcode on my laptop so that I was forced to ask them for permission whenever I wanted to use it, but after a while (many years…) they got pretty lax with when I was allowed to use the computer so it was like the passcode wasn’t even there.  Good on you for finding where he hid your laptop though, even if you used underhanded tactics!  Don’t worry, I’ve done similar things.  Most of the time I just relied on scouring every single inch of the house to eventually uncover where they hid the goods, but once they got better and the obvious hiding spots were all used up, I had to use tactics similar to the one you used on your dad to give me an edge.  I only needed to hide stuff from my parents when I had the guts to take the games from their own hiding spot.  This was only when I was sure they weren’t checking the hiding spot daily.  For example, if they put my games in their bed stand drawer, even if it would be easy to find, it’s something they’d check every night, even by accident.  Whenever they open the drawer to put away jewelry or something, they can see the games and ensure it’s been untouched.  This is an active hiding spot.  An inactive hiding spot would be putting the games in the empty cooler beneath the Lego box underneath the old dining table in the basement.  Once they placed the games there, after enough time had passed, they would eventually stop checking and even, more often than you’d imagine, forget that the games were there at all.  It’s safe to then take the games and stash them in my own hiding spots, usually in the empty space at the bottom of my clothes cabinets when you pull out and completely remove the lowest drawers.  This makes playing games at night much easier, heh.  There are also thin gaps between walls and furniture I can slip a few game boxes in.  This can be a bit dangerous though, since those boxes might slip too far back and end up out of reach.  I have to maneuver it out with a ruler or other long, thin object.  At least I know my parents will never find them back there, ahah.  And of course, since I’ve purchased games and consoles behind their backs, even if I didn’t touch the games they had in their possession, I’d need to hide the ones I’d bought, eheheheh…

 

Well, speaking of purchasing games… I bought a ton for Black Friday.  I went to Target on Thanksgiving to take advantage of their “Black Friday” deals which started at 6 pm on Thursday.  I wasn’t one of the fortunate ones eating a warm, tasty meal with family and friends, soo… why not join the discount driven masses in some early Black Friday festivities?  I got to Target early.  Over 2 hours early.  I messed around with my phone to keep me busy and chatting it up with the folks next to me.  When the doors opened, I rushed to the video game section to secure Omega Ruby ($25, nice!) for my brother and Mario Kart 7 ($15, sweet!) for myself.  I was about to leave but saw that there was a copy of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright on display.  This game is pretty rare now since production has stopped and it can only be bought from Amazon, where it goes for $45 new, yikes.  I was completely shocked to see Target still had one, since it was already taken off of their website when it sold out online.  I asked an employee to unlock and rescue it from its plastic prison.  It was the original $29.99 price, so it wasn’t part of the Black Friday deals (I’m surprised it was even still in the system) but it’s technically a huge discount from the inflated Amazon prices.  I’m really happy with my very first “Black Friday” hunt!  The store was a fustercluck though; I wouldn’t recommend it.  Everyone was there for the televisions and Apple products; almost no one paid the game section any heed, let alone the 3DS and Wii U section, which worked in my favor.  But if you’re not shopping for niche items like that, I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle.  It reminds me of the crazy demand for amiibo at MSRP, phew.  

 

When I got back to the safety of my dorm, I decided to take advantage of Best Buy’s buy two pre-owned games and get one free deal.  I purchased Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Code Name: STEAM, and Shin Megami Tensei IV, which were all listed as $19.99 pre-owned.  Three full games for only forty bucks is quite the deal, especially with the provided free shipping, heheh.  And of course, when I found the time yesterday, I purchased Cave Story from the eShop for the reduced price, and now it’s sitting amongst my other apps looking nice and pretty.  Just seeing it makes me want to play it, ooo!  But other games take priority, so I have to control myself.  Goodness, so when all is said and done, I had purchased seven 3DS games.  They were nearly all for a reduced price, but golly, seven games is a ton.  Even if you disregard Omega Ruby since I’ll be giving that to my brother when I get back home, I believe that nearly doubles my initial 3DS library, geez.  Ahhh, that doesn’t even include the Fates Special Edition I preordered, which is the length of three games in one!  The holiday spending bug bit me big time…  All those games I purchased (save for Cave Story of course, hehe) were ones I was interested in but wasn’t determined to get.  If I never found the chance to play any of those, I wouldn’t have minded.  But since Black Friday had such good deals I just couldn’t resist…… Heh, just as I start to clear out my 3DS game backlog, I fill it back up.  If you’re wondering how I afforded all of this, well… I’m practically broke now.  I hardly have any digital or physical money left.  The physical money was mostly what my parents gave me.  You know, to purchase any extra food or other necessities of life with.  Welp, looks like I’ll be making some excuses and cutting back on the food I was initially planning on buying this weekend, eheheheheh, whoops…  When I go back home, I’m going to have to restock on my finances with the help of my brother (he’s still doing the whole lunch money trick I detailed earlier).

 

Errr, sorry for the ramble, but I supposed before you asked what I did to relax for Thanksgiving I would just straight up tell you…  Well, I actually didn’t do just that.  I finished playing Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies as well as its DLC case (I had started it earlier in the month) and I plan on starting Virtue’s Last Reward after posting this.  I want to finish it before I get back home so I can hand it off to my brother (he also played 999) and he can give me Fire Emblem: Awakening.  I already beat Awakening once, but the game has a lot of replay value and I figured it would be a huge waste to only play it once before jumping right into Fates when it comes out in February.  So I’ll try my hand at beating it one more time on Lunatic mode (which is the farthest thing from a walk in the park apparently) before Fates come out.  I’ll then beat each route of Fates one time before I give the game to my brother during the summer.  That’s the plan at least; it’s a bit of a strict schedule but I’ll try my hand at sticking to it.

 

Anywayyyyy if you haven’t already, check out the PM I sent you, eheh.

 

Alright then, you have my word.  I won’t put these responses to you above schoolwork.  But I can’t promise that I won’t put them above anime and video games.  I love anime and video games dearly, but… there’s something about these responses that really hold a special place in my heart as well, ahah.  I don’t mind sacrificing a bit of those hobbies to converse with you, especially since I spend enough time on anime and video games every week as it is.  And I could say the same about you; thanks for putting up with me and my lengthy responses, especially given my bad habit of rambling, eh.

 

Speaking of which, since I’ve already gone on and on for as long as I have, I’d like to hear about your weekend!  I don’t believe you mentioned before what your Thanksgiving plans were (and if you did, I’m terribly sorry for not remembering).  I’m curious to hear how you spent the holidays, even if recent Thanksgivings for you haven’t been anything too special.  Tell me all about it!

 

I haven't "finished" HeartGold yet because I was reluctant to catch the legendaries for the same reason, haha. I also tried soft-resetting for a good natured Oshawott in Black and Tepig in Black 2 (or was it the other way around; I actually can't remember), but I eventually gave up and just settled for a neutral nature (probably because I couldn't decide whether I wanted them to be special or physical attackers). When I first listened to the Primal theme, something didn't sound consistent. It sounded awfully like the original at some points. I was kinda doubting myself though. I'm sure your hearing is fine. Like you said, you were just concentrating on the battle, haha.

 

Well, erm, I have to test the waters to make sure I'm around people I can geek out with, eheh. But even then, I can't completely let loose since I'm always around people who don't know about this side of me. And I don't think much is going to change when I head off to college. Would "closet nerd" be an appropriate term for this? It's why I sometimes (but seldom) drop subtle references to anime and video games instead of outright asking people. It usually doesn't work, but I have managed to fish out a few people using this method, hah. 

 

Yeah, I meant the old Sky Pillar, lol. I wasted a stupid amount of repels trying to bike over those holes. The holes were so frustrating, argh. I really liked the new Sky Pillar. It was creative how they redesigned its interior to fit the whole Delta theme. And that gigantic mural? Phew, that was awesome! Really great attention to detail! Hmm, couldn't you have finished listening to Zinnia's explanation of the lore before tracking down that TM you saw? It's probably what I would've done since I don't enjoy being left hanging, eheh.

 

Hm, you make a good argument there. I'm going to have to let this one go since you have a ton more experience with RSE and ORAS than I do. I just wanted to get across that Mirage Island and these Mirage Spots are still connected somehow. And you're right. After some thought, these Mirage Spots really are more like Hidden Grottos than the old Mirage Island!

 

I know the Wii U isn't terribly popular with the general public, but wasn't there quite a bit of hype for the new Splatoon update? But yeah, there aren't too many titles to keep the console afloat, and I'll admit that I'd rather invest my money into 3DS games instead of into a console that doesn't have as many games I'm interested in playing. The Wii I have sitting in the basement (technically my sister's though) hasn't seen much activity. I think we actually paid the PS2 more heed than the Wii, so that's also kinda discouraged me from getting a Wii U. Plus, I wouldn't be able to take it with me to college soooo.... Haha, I think it'll be interesting to see what the new president has in store for us, especially now that Nintendo is expanding to mobile platforms. Hopefully they won't disappoint!

 

Haha, I didn't even finish Black since I never fought the champion. And you didn't miss much by dropping White 2. The after game was pretty underwhelming. I guess Reversal Mountain was kinda cool with the lava and stuff (unless you had Black 2 since you'd have water/lakes instead). The Marine Tube was a nice way to showcase those nice graphics, and Black City/White Forest was a good time killer (no incentive to go back after beating it though). But aside from those, there really wasn't much to be excited about because the Battle Subway freaking blows. Hoenn getting its own set of islands remixed with DPPt music? Geezus, I would've been all over that (as I'm sure you could guess, lol). I think it would've been a bit too much to ask for though, haha. 

 

Nah, I'm actually fairly certain that its name is going to be some variation of "Pokemon Z". They already named the new anime series "Pokemon XY & Z" didn't they? Hmm, I don't think I've ever heard of some person discouraging Game Freak from creating the predictable Pokemon Gray, though the scenario doesn't seem too farfetched. I remember stumbling across an article years ago stating that they already obtained the "rights" to the Pokemon Grey title, but I can't track down the article anywhere. Game Freak might've just scrapped the idea after realizing that it'd be in their best interest to catch everyone off-guard as the 3DS release date loomed closer. Would it be worth the money buying something so predictable when you can just save up for the 3DS? Gotta milk out what's left of the DS since it'd be too drastic of an upgrade or change to develop an immediate B/W sequel for the 3DS. There's just so much mystery surrounding Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde that Game Freak won't have to pull another B2W2. It's obvious that "Z" is going to revolve around Zygarde, but I don't see what would compel them to create two "versions" of the same story like they did with B2W2. The shock factor won't appeal as much because, well, it already happened with B2W2. Ohh, I really hope they develop the lore a bit in "Z". I'm sure they will though since there was pretty much nothing in XY. At the very least, if "Z" doesn't appeal, you'll have a more complete story, haha.

 

Hmm, you do have a point there. BW and B2W2 just didn't give off the same vibe as the previous games for some reason. Unova just felt too urbanized; too New York-ish. And despite how much I love NYC, I really didn't like Castelia City. Ironically enough, it actually felt a lot emptier and duller than some of the other towns and cities. The Castelia City music was a bit weak, and is Driftveil City supposed to be based off of Chinatown? Isn't the gym led by some cowboy/rancher guy? It didn't feel very Pokemon-ish either. I just really dislike how urbanized the region was. Subways? Cargo planes? Sewers? A movie studio? And now that I think about it, weren't there heavy-duty construction equipment littered around the region? Sheesh, they're trying too hard. And you're right; it does ruin the magic. When you can associate parts of the region with real world landmarks, well, that's no fun. Even though nearly every vantage point in the Pokemon world is based off of something in the real world, like you said, the earlier regions were more subtle about it. And in turn, we can freely perceive each area to be whatever we want it to be. Once you incorporate blatant references to landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, Manhattan, Liberty Island, etc. the Pokemon world is no longer a world of its own. But the thing is, you can't be too harsh on the guy. I think part of the criticism stems from the idea that Unova and Kalos were trying to integrate entire cultures into their regions--cultures that we're pretty familiar with (or at least have an idea of), while Kanto through Sinnoh encompassed only small areas of Japan--areas that are pretty foreign to us. Perhaps that's also why a lot is left to the imagination when we explored those first four regions. So yes, I do agree with you to an extent. Also, a little irrelevant, but you can't base every region off of a region in Japan since you'd run out eventually, lol. Well, uh, I actually couldn't understand why Professor Sycamore was getting so much attention either. I never really saw Pokemon characters as characters people would fanboy/fangirl about.

 

Whaa... what do you mean most schools don't have a swim team? We have synchronized swimming, water polo, and a swim/dive team. And they all compete with other schools, which I guess would mean that most schools do have pools... right...? Or else they wouldn't be able to compete...? But by the sound of it, you're implying that most NJ schools don't have pools? There's no way. Yeah, it kinda sucked how we were forced to swim for phys ed (people who were fasting were excused though). The pool was over-chlorinated and everyone still reeked of chlorine even after a quick shower. Haha, you got lucky there. 

 

Holy... geezus, thank you for the volume warning, lol. No really, thank you. Ahhhhhh!! It's like I'm feeling the hype all over again!! Sheesh, I've never played Final Fantasy, but seeing everyone's reactions made me want to jump out of my seat and scream with them even though I've already watched the reveal, ahahahaha.... And what. w h a t. Sakurai tweeted it??? W H A T. Oh my gosh that's insane! Damn, I haven't even played the game yet, but I'm still unreasonably hyped for this special broadcast!

 

Yeahh, I don't think Fiorina's campaign is salvageable at this point since she's falling behind quite a bit. I think the main contenders for this election will end up being Trump, Sanders, Clinton, and Carson. Trump is a mess and Clinton isn't much better, Carson has some pretty debatable views, and Sanders is a bit too left for my taste though he does have some nice ideas. Lesser of two four evils?

 

Actually, it was more like a conglomerate of people from different periods that came to these last-minute cram study sessions. Some people never came either because they naturally excelled at the subject (and even then some of these people still attended these study sessions to further solidify their understanding of the subject) or because they were too lazy to come. Or maybe they just didn't have time. I think part of the reason these study sessions were so popular for chem is because the homework didn't count as a grade in that class. They were essentially recommended problems for you to work on since you were only graded on quizzes, tests, and labs. So rather than just asking the person next to you for the answer just to get homework points, we were basically encouraged to do them for our own understanding. Facebook was also especially useful (for Lang as well). Geezus, thank the lord for these people and this site. It's hard to imagine how everyone would've turned out if we had such a cutthroat environment. Good on you for being able to survive on flying solo, but don't be afraid to approach people for help once in a while! Erm, as happy as I am to hear that, I was referring to any fellow college students you might've been acquainted with, haha. Or possibly some close old high school friends (but I know you're trying to leave that behind you). I guess it shouldn't be a problem though since you're naturally introverted and because you've been flying solo for a good chunk of your life. Sorry for bugging you like that. It's just that your lifestyle is something I'm not particularly familiar with, eheh.

 

What do you mean you don't like pretzels?? Haha, nah, I'm kidding. Pretzels are great and all, but they are pretty tasteless. It's part of the reason why I like and dislike them. It mostly depends on what I'm in the mood for, lol. They can be quite filling though! I'm a bit of a night owl myself, but I tend to snack on these pretzels when I'm feeling famished, and it definitely helps, haha. If not pretzels, what about fruit then? See if you can sneak a few from the dining hall, hehe. Hmm, so you tend to wake up late almost everyday? I know we already had this discussion before, but times might've changed, so what time do you usually wake up nowadays? What on earth, if you're reluctant to eat lunch in close proximity to dinner, how late would you have your lunch...? And I'm sure missing out on one day of working out won't be too big of a deal considering how devoted you are, ahah. Oh wut, electric kettles are banned? Ah, that's fine since like you said, I can always use the common kitchen areas, lol. Are we at least allowed to bring electric fans for dorms without A/C?

 

Haha, it's just that I haven't met anyone with your name. Well, there was this one senior last year who was in band, interestingly enough, but I didn't really know him. Um, the thing with glasses is, aren't they kinda inconvenient? You know, if you have to play a sport or work out or something. I know some people wear sunglasses (I sometimes do), but at least they have the luxury to take them off. Heck, you can't even wear sunglasses if you have glasses on (unless you have those 2-in-1 glasses). Glasses can be bothersome in the rain, and don't they have a tendency to fog up on occasion? There's always the risk of accidentally knocking it off your face and/or breaking it as well. Or maybe this is just me being paranoid and thinking up of worst case scenarios. Either way, I'm just really grateful that I don't need any vision correctors. Contacts sound painful, and my mom and sister have already warned me about the inconvenience of glasses, so I'm going to try my best to stay away from them. Ahaha, same, my ears also get easily irritated with prolonged use of headphones. But that still hasn't deterred me from using them as often as I do, eheh. The sound quality and volume flexibility is much too glorious to just give up. Oh geez, just because you need contacts doesn't mean your genes are bad. I know you're probably joking, but it's not like wearing glasses/contacts is out of the ordinary or anything, lol. 

 

Ohh, so if you guys have such nice heating, I'd assume that getting out of bed in the mornings isn't as rough or difficult? That sounds really nice! Getting out of bed is probably my biggest morning struggle in cold weather, haha. Lucky you!

 

Ahaha, I know, I know. I just wanted to see if there was some way for me to spread out the specifics so that I'm not overwhelmed later on. I don't want to take some random general courses for the first few semesters and then cram all these insanely difficult courses for the later semesters. Hmm, maybe I'll just take some extra classes then. Freshman year is supposed to be kinda chill in comparison to the later years, right? Yeah, I might just take an extra class or two freshman year to even out the workload a bit. Erm, hopefully that's doable. Oh nono, I'm actually quite happy with the variety of SAGES courses (it's a wonder how they even come up with some of these). It's just that I was told by the end of sophomore year, students take SAGES courses within their major. I guess it's not too big of a deal though. Oh, so how much shorter are those MWF classes then? Also, do most college students take around four to five classes? Gosh, if you're planning on completing this program in just four years, I hope you don't overwhelm yourself too much with all these extra classes. There's a reason it's normally completed in five years, isn't there?

 

Haha yup, my sister's study room was her bedroom. She usually kept her door locked when she was in high school so I'm not entirely sure what she did in there. Anime probably? She was pretty into anime, and I sometimes caught her watching stuff like Code Geass (and the occasional DC episode) whenever she forgot to lock the door. Oh, and lots of music. Lots of mainstream lyrical music that was audible even when her door was closed. I like having a door crack rather than a locked door, so I rarely lock or close the door. I dunno, I guess it just feels more inviting, though I don't exactly want the door wide open either. I feel kinda bad for kicking her out. She sometimes still worked here when I wasn't home, and I guess we sometimes slept together. She did want her room back, but my dad actually made an argument for me to stay, so I feel even worse about it, eheh. But it's been a few years, and things have settled down, I guess. Wait, what's wrong with keeping my laptop brightness all the way down? I feel like it's much easier on the eyes. Gosh, whenever I saw my sister's laptop with the brightness cranked up to the max, it kinda hurt my eyes a bit. I also almost never max my phone brightness either for similar reasons (urgh, the colors are way too saturated when the brightness is turned up so much). Unless I'm using it outdoors or something, which, in that case, I'd have to turn it up a bit in order to offset the natural light. My lamp is directly left of my laptop and the window is on my right, but since I almost never move my laptop, there's always this little bit of glare in the daytime. Facing towards the window (laptop screen pointed away) could've reduced the glare, but my problematic powerjack prevents me from doing so. Also, you say that you can't see your reflection when your laptop brightness is way down, but doesn't turning down the brightness of your laptop actually increase the amount of glare/reflection? What the... you can't even utilize the natural light in your room? I probably would've tried to rearrange my workspace so I could expose the window, lol. You seem to be happy about your situation though, haha. I'm not subscribed to hundreds of people, but enough for me to easily lose track of them if I wasn't subscribed to them. Let's see, there are quite a few music channels I'm subscribed to, a few random science channels, RWBY is back, CollegeHumor rocks, Cyanide and Happiness is great, DBZ Abridged is hilarious, oh and I noticed that you also watch Vsauce yay, and there's a bunch of other people I can't remember off the top of my head. I don't have that great of a memory myself, so subscriptions make keeping track of these channels a crapload easier. 

 

Well, the pledge wasn't mandatory for the school I went to. Heck, I didn't even know it existed until I moved here. But NYC is pretty big, so I'd expect that there were at least some schools that made the pledge a requirement. The pledge always took place during second period for us, and occasionally during fifth period if there were technical difficulties or something. I honestly don't see the pledge as an effective way to promote patriotism. The media does a great job of trashing the country with headlines about butthurt nitpickers, school shootings, the election (particularly Trump), racist cops, etc. It's hard not to lose faith in America when this is all that's talked about around here. Implementing the pledge just seems like a futile last-ditch effort to reconcile whatever patriotism is left of today's youth. I feel kinda bad for saying this though since I'm taking a lot for granted (America's pretty great, after all). Patriotism is great for the unity of the country, but blind Patriotism in the form of a pledge is a cheap ploy (and an ineffective one at that) at best. 

 

Heyhey, I still have a bone to pick with you after you inserted "[nervously laughs]" in that first paragraph. You're not exactly coming off as guilt-free yourself, lol. Ahaha, I can't remember the plotline or story for a lot of these books. All I remember is the impression they gave me when I read them. Oh gosh, The Giving Tree was a bit depressing. I don't think I can muster up the courage to read it alongside sad music, eheh (geezus, you're insane). Whaaa... you never read The Little Engine That Could? We had this huge assembly with some guest speaker who read it to everyone so I assumed it must've been an important book for most elementary schools. Were there any books your school made a big deal of? Geez, elementary school was the best. I was digging through the basement over the weekend and I stumbled across this portfolio I made in first grade. The misspelled words and misshapen letters, oh my gosh. It was a mess, but it brought back a lot of memories. I can't believe I still have memories of this. I can't believe how long it's been. Urgh, I really need to start keeping a journal.

 

Ohh, so you've gone on the buses? Even if you only used them for the sake of video games, that still sounds kinda adventurous, haha. What is your impression of Cleveland so far from these trips? Hmm, actually, I think it was mainly the brass and percussion that were really... loud. It was definitely the case for Berlioz and Shostakovich at least. The pieces we're playing this year feel a bit more balanced, though I wouldn't go so far as to say that we've ever overpowered the band. I think it depends more on the piece rather than the perspective.

 

Your parents "only" put a passcode on your laptop? I mean, getting my laptop confiscated was just temporary, so I wouldn't say it was terribly unreasonable (or at least compared to having a passcode on it). I felt like I scoured every nook and cranny of the house whenever I was hunting for my DS, but whenever I couldn't find it, I always assumed that my parents took it with them to work or something. I got kinda desperate at one point and used a flashlight to look into the cracks of locked cabinets after realizing that I suck at picking locks, lol. Oh, my mom sometimes hid my DS in the bed stand drawer. I just made sure to return it before they came home, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Even if I found my stuff in an "inactive" hiding spot, I still made sure to return them in order to prevent myself from getting into more trouble. My dad threatened to break my DS at one point, so uhh... God knows what would've happened if my dad found out how much time I wasted opening and closing drawers and closets trying to look for it. I don't think they've ever forgotten about the stuff they hid from me though. The only way I was able to get my stuff back was by waiting and asking them at the right time when they're in a good mood. Like maybe it's winter break and we're heading off to California or something. If that was the case, I'd ask them if I could have my DS back to keep myself occupied during the plane ride. They'd agree to that. I don't think I'd ever have the audacity to hide what they've hidden from me. It's much too risky, and there's always the threat of getting my stuff "demolished". I'm sure it was an empty threat, but if you saw how firm my dad's yelling and hand gestures were, ohmygosh, I was so intimidated. I think I was on the brink of tears that day. So when/how did you know you were safe to recover your confiscated stuff? 

 

Whoaa, you're willing to drag yourself through those Black Friday shenanigans? Geezus, I've heard stories of people getting trampled in that mess. But I suppose since you were aiming for the video game section, it was okay for you, lol. Still though, you arrived over two hours early? Phew, haha. Ohh, and you also chatted with some strangers next to you? Nice! How did it go? Wait, so I'm assuming that your brother hasn't touched ORAS yet? Aw, what a nice gesture of you to buy Omega Ruby for him! And geez, Mario Kart 7 for $15?? Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright too??

 

Ahhh, three 3DS games for $40?? Even if they are used, that's unheard of! A total of six games for yourself plus the Fates Special Edition you preordered, gosh, I'm quite envious, you know. What an eventful day for you, haha. If I was in your shoes, I might've also splurged since I have quite a few games I want to get through as well, eheh. I could starve myself for a few games, ahah. Hopefully the toll that came from your video game splurge wasn't too drastic!

 

Ohh, so it took you around a month to finish Dual Destinies? What about your first runthrough of FE: Awakening? Haha, that's a nice system you have with your brother there! I don't have the heart to restart any of my games, so I usually only play through them once, eheh. Hrm, if FE: Awakening has a high replay value like you said, I might have to break this inclination of mine. Good luck with Virtue's Last Reward and FE: Awakening on Lunatic mode! 

 

I'll just respond to your PM here. You got a little lucky with that picture hunt of yours, haha. That Facebook picture you saw is the first picture I've ever uploaded of myself, lol. Ahaha, nono, I wasn't embarrassed. I was just a little taken aback that some of those pictures even existed since I don't have any memory of them being taken, hah. Oh, and I only changed my profile picture because December is Pokemon profile picture month. It's like a tradition! If you dig through my timeline, you'll notice that I've changed it to a Pokemon picture at the beginning of every December. Sorry for any confusion it caused. You haven't done anything wrong, ahah. Hmm, I don't think I'm very similar to my sister personality-wise. Friends can usually recognize her as my sister whenever I'm walking next to her though. Probably because it's the only logical conclusion to go to since they rarely see her around, lol.

 

Aw you... ahah, just make sure you're taking care of yourself. Oh, and it's not like I don't ramble on either, eheh...

 

Nothing too eventful went on this Thanksgiving aside from my parents inviting some family friends over to eat dinner. I wasn't feeling too ecstatic about it even though this one girl is a pretty close friend. Despite being well-rested and feeling relatively stress-free (well, kinda), I was exhausted. I wasn't in the mood to socialize, and I just wanted to be alone. It's a feeling that's been getting a lot more prevalent lately for some reason, but it's cool since I can just distract myself with schoolwork now, lol. For Black Friday, my parents decided to take me to the mall to buy some stuff late in the evening (you know, when everyone's angst from Black Friday has died a bit). Apologies for not having much of an adventure to share, but I'm glad to hear that you had a nice Thanksgiving! It'll be quite a feat trying to run through all of those games you managed to get your hands on though, haha.

 

whoops, I made a derp in the paragraph discussing regions

I meant Liberty Island, not Liberty Garden, lol

but! Liberty Garden is essentially the Liberty Island equivalent

fixed it though; just wanted to make that clarification in case any confusion might've arisen

[Closing 50 -- "Unmei no Roulette Mawashite" by La PomPon]

what on earth...

 

it's a freaking nostalgia-fest I tell you

 

I'm not ready

[What's on Your Mind?]

wOW, all of the snow has melted

is it spring already???///!!????//

:^)

[Avatar The Legend of Korra]

Love ya kenzi, but that one is a skip on my rewatch :-*

I was thinking more of an Aang day then korra would have had hers. How stupid she was aside, she did do some amazing things...or the writers did for her anyway.

Did you know that Ursa is back in the fire nation, and is somewhat happy/stressed out.

I wonder what will Azula do to her when they meet.

It gas to build up to that point, and she has waited for so long.

I have seen a petition about 15000 Signatures for korra to go to netflix

ATLA, new adventures, on dvd...would sell like crazy

The new dvds are sold out well

Man, that one i like

Mine was random, but that idea is fine

Mine would be a guy, in HS, around 16...kinda like peter parker

Having to go to both school and avatar training school by the white lotus

It sounds like smallville when you think about it.

The time and world they live in is similar to ours.

Politics are ofc the main prob, and at on point he is fed up and fires all the world leaders ant takes control of all governments cause they dont get along...just a thought

Would have a non bender so evil and sneaky to always slow him down.

And an airbender that can control water and fire because of you know

Well this is just a first draft. Improvements are always needed

an Aang and Korra day?

wouldn't that mean you'd have to dedicate a day to each avatar then, lol

even if Korra did do some amazing things (and she did, I won't deny that), that still doesn't change the fact that she's one of the worst avatars

 

what what what

Ursa is back

I'm really not in the mood to read the comic but arghhhhhhhhhhh

...do you think you can fill me in on what happens

 

whoa, I just checked the petition and it seems like it's gone up to 45k+ signatures

seriously, anything they animate will be huge

especially if it has anything to do with the original ATLA

this is driving me insane :c

 

oof, I don't think politics will be a good way to start off another season

if you think about it, a lot of it was already addressed in LoK

Amon- communism

Unalaq- theocracy

Zaheer- anarchism

Kuvira- fascism

it was rather subtle and they did a really good job of masking it for the little kids though

 

what would you think of a rebel-like avatar

kinda like Robin Hood

gosh, that'd be awesome

all in favor say "aye"

[Last Poster Wins]

 

I've been trying, but I can't find what movie this gif is from or who the actress is 

Orphans of the Storm?

[What Was the Last Video Game You Played?]

 

Ohhh, I believe you may have been aware of natures well before I was.  Or at least, you understood the significance of them well before I did.  I can’t remember when I first learned that natures affected stats.  Hm, was it when I first tried to beat the Pearl Battle Tower waaaaayyy back in the day and got royally screwed over by Palmer?  That was probably it.  Since then I’ve never been able to just randomly catch a stationary/legendary Pokemon in good conscious and not feel like I wasted it if it didn’t have a good nature.  Wha-- ummm, well, I actually didn’t hear the RSE soundfont in the Primal Groudon/Kyogre battle…………  M-My sensitivity to music just isn’t as sharp as yours is, and not to mention Kyogre was giving me a run for my money so it took all the concentration I had to focus on the battle, eheh… Errr, listening back to it, I guess I can hear the old soundfont… I think……

 

I find it curious you didn’t have many friends who played Pokemon when you were younger.  I guess if you just hung out with girls then that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise though.  All those guys who played Pokemon while I watched were, well, guys.  The girls in my elementary school never really played Pokemon.  I can remember about two or three in the entire school that regularly did.  I guess most girls just know Pokemon from the anime then?  Did you end up finding people in the future who shared the same passion for Pokemon as you do?  (aside from me of course, heh)

 

Shh shhh, it’s okay Kenzi, Lt. Surge’s gym is behind you now.  It may not have made much sense, but then again I have no idea how they fit some of those monstrously sized puzzles in those regularly sized buildings either.  If the Pokemon world has the technology for that, I’m sure disappearing switches activated by someone peering into trashcans isn’t outside the realm of possibility, heheh.  Route 13 is just atrocious, oh god.  And if Z utilizes those unused Power Plants, making that area more of an integral part of the story, I’ll be pissed if they don’t fix all the problems with the route as well.  Having to rely on a Flying/Levitating Pokemon is just ridiculous.  And it doesn’t prevent Pokemon from consecutively running into you while you just stand still either, so it’s still a rage inducing timewaster.  Please Game Freak, I have faith in you, don’t let me down, though I will admit my expectations are sky-high after ORAS, eheh.

 

G-Gomen, if a song I had only just discovered made me stop doing my work and get all nostalgic, than I should have known what something like that would have done to a person who grew up with the game, ehhh…  Ahaha, forgive me Kenzi, though I do hope you gained something from rediscovering those songs.  Ohh, the Athletic theme?  Gosh, I heard a remix of that so often in Smash.  That song brings back memories of Brawl shenanigans, goodness.

 

I guess everyone’s having a hard time categorizing the Mirage Islands.  I’m siding with Bulbapedia on this one.  Serebii seems to think ORAS’s Mirage Islands are the same as RSE’s Mirage Island, but based on the evidence I have to politely disagree with them.  Mirage Islands are just a part of a larger feature, Mirages Spots, which also encompass Mirage Forests, Mirage Caves, and Mirage Mountains.  Mirage Spots also include those special little areas and dimensional rifts and storm clouds that contain legendary Pokemon.  Paired with the fact that not a single Mirage Island in ORAS’s Hoenn is anywhere near the original Mirage Island from RSE’s Hoenn, and that no existing location in ORAS is located on the same Town Map tile that the original Mirage Island was found on leads me to believe that that mysterious island, for whatever reason, doesn’t randomly anymore appear in this universe.  Mirage Spots can be seen as a nod or reference to that strange island, but their differences are too great to call them the same thing.

 

Yeahhh, the 3DS is an amazing console with an even greater variety of good games than the DS, and it sucks that those on the outside looking in just think, “So it’s just a DS with 3D effects?  That’s dumb.” because in a sense they’re right.  The 3D is dumb and was a gimmicky ploy to get the system to sell.  It would have done just as well, if not better, if it just had the 3D feature removed and was given a new name.  But whatever, no point in getting worked up over a console that’s been around for nearly five years (hory shet, I know).  Speaking of which, the DS was released late 2004, which means there was a little over six years between its release and the release of the first 3DS.  Because it’s been nearly five years that the 3DS has been out, it’s very likely that the new generation handheld console will be revealed soon.  The 3DS was announced in March of 2010 and released in March of 2011, only a single year later.  If the 3DS and its successor follows the DS and 3DS’s pattern, then sometime in 2016 we’ll know what the new console is, whether it’s the rumored NX or not, and in 2017 it will be released.  On the other hand, the 3DS’s lifespan is probably even longer than the DS’s.  While the DS sold well, it was quickly out-teched by mobile games and faced stiff competition from the PSP later in its life.  The 3DS on the other hand is dominating this niche market it’s claimed, and with new games like Fates, the speculated Pokemon Z, and upcoming Smash DLC, this console is far from being dead.  If we take this into consideration, it might make more sense for them to put off the next gen’s console reveal until 2017 with a release date of 2018.  That should be plenty of time for you to finish those DS and 3DS games you have yet to play, right?

 

I-I didn’t expect myself to ramble like that, so I’ll just make the rest of this a new paragraph.  I remembering really liking Black and White’s plot when the games first came out.  This was back before I even watched anime critically, so despite how underwhelming the game would feel if I ever replayed it today, I just went along with the hype and believed for a time that White was the best Pokemon game ever made.  Then when I took a closer look at how bad the Pokemon designs were, how nonsensical Entralink was (Seriously, what in blazes is Entralink????  It’s been years and I still can’t figure it out.  This concept is harder to understand than physics, what the--), and how forced a lot of the characters and motivations were, I realized just how poor of a game 5th gen was.  I’ll give it credit for blowing me away with the graphics, though I’m not in middle school anymore and those tricks won’t fool me again, bleh.  The music is still nice.  Not very Pokemon-ish, but nice nonetheless.  Urgghh, and Bianca, geebuscdwkqcjdw!11!!onE!1!!  I believe you already know how she killed that poor shiny Skorupi right before my eyes.  What a goddamn savage.  Poor baby didn’t stand a chance, sniff…  I’ll never forgive her for that, grrrr.  Hugh was pretty bland indeed.  I don’t even remember what his personality was like.  He wanted to get his sister’s Pokemon back or something?  Wait, why was Team Plasma stealing Pokemon again?  Pfft, heck if I know, I can’t be bothered to remember that, heh.  But of course, Hugh will still have his fangirls, as will N.

 

Ehhhh?  Shouldn’t it be more of a surprise for a school to have a pool than not?  Our school technically had a swim team, but I believe they used the local YMCA to practice.  It was a dinky little team and a bit of a joke sport.  Remember that nationally ranked swimmer from our school I mentioned a while back?  He wasn’t on our school’s team because he thought the team sucked too much and it would be a waste of his time.  Ah, so you think you’d still be pretty conservative no matter where you grew up then, hm?  I guess if those were conscious choices then that would make sense.  Hahah, well no matter the reason, there’s nothing wrong with that!

 

Ohh, so you watched the Direct!  Cloud’s reveal definitely didn’t emotionally rile me up like Robin/Lucina’s reveal or Mewtwo’s reveal, because I never played Final Fantasy before much like you.  In retrospect, the barriers (or should I say limits, heh) that have been broken as a result of Cloud’s inclusion are what make me excited.  No one expected Cloud to get into Smash.  Some people way back when Brawl was new used to say they wanted Cloud, but they were immediately dismissed by those who “knew better”, claiming that Nintendo and Square Enix would never come to an agreement.  I'm sure you're familiar with Brawl Taunts?  After all, Smash is for “Nintendo characters only”.  At least that’s what everyone thought.  Who seriously believed that a “joke” character like Cloud would make it in?  Heck, Cloud didn’t even get into PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale… and that’s literally Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s Smash!  Now that we have a nearly exclusively Sony character in Smash, we’re one step away from having Master Chief in, two steps away from Goku, three steps away from Shrek, and four steps away from Home Depot.  Mickey Mouse is a viable contender.  Mickey Mouse.  I never thought I’d see the day… Smash 4 has broken so many expectations, it’s unbelievable.  Sakurai is going all out, and he definitely deserves praise.  So for the Fates Special Edition, as exciting as it was to have it announced, it wasn’t much of a surprise.  Japan had gotten the Special Edition previously (the game is already released over there) so it was just a matter of time before America would get the same treatment.  It’s such a good deal, though.  Only eighty bucks for three full games and merch in the form of an art book and a little pouch?  Damn, considering how expensive each of those items would have been separately, the Special Edition is an absolute steal.

 

Oh no no no, I didn’t watch the debate and the Direct at the same time, I watched the debate and a hype stream on Twitch preceding the Direct.  The Twitch stream was literally just some guy getting excited speculating about the Direct which would happen the next day.  That might sound absolutely pointless to watch to you, but hey, the dude’s fun to watch and just chill with, so why not, hah.  I had completely forgotten there was a Democratic debate this past week.  I didn’t expect them to host one on a Saturday, bleh.  I only realized I was missing out when I was at the gym and happened to see the debate on a television hung in front of the treadmills.  I watched a recording of it later though, so it’s all good.  Hahahah, are you talking about the whole Wall Street issue?  Yeahhh, Clinton was rekt.  Huh??  You’ll have to excuse me for not keeping up with the social media aspects of this campaign, eheh, but when and how did Fiorina attack Trump?  Regardless of what exactly went down though, going head to head with Trump as you say is definitely a risky move.  He has quite the sharp tongue and a rather strong following, and social media attacks are his forte.

 

I’m sure even if you go your separate ways, you’ll all find time to get back together again to hang out.  There’s always winter and summer breaks after all.  I know my sister got really emotional after high school because she’s an extrovert and had a ton of friends there.  Apparently she was so upset and distraught over not being able to see them regularly anymore.  In college though, she made new friends and moved on.  She still keeps in touch with some of her high school friends, even if the majority of those ties have been severed by time and/or distance.  So yeah, while I don’t doubt that you’ll be able to maintain those friendships, at the same time I also don’t think it would be unnatural or bad if you had a complete reset and made even better friends in colleges.  I actually usually figure things out by myself, so I rarely ask for homework assistance of any kind.  And as for others asking me for help, that almost never happens as well, eheh.  Hmm, since I only just got a phone, “ring up” wouldn’t be the greatest term for it, but if you mean randomly being chatted up then yeah that happens every once in a while.  Very infrequently though and I don’t think too much of those conversations nor do they get very far.  I guess in high school there were some people I hung out with who were pretty agreeable, but it’s not like I went out of my way to see them.  If they were in my phys ed or lunch periods and could help pass the time, then of course I’d take the opportunity to chill with them.  Eheheheh, gosh, I probably sound like such a loner.  But once again, I really do insist that I’m absolutely fine.  However, I appreciate your concern though, ahah.  It’s not that I’m avoiding long lasting relationships; it just seems like they don’t usually work out in my case.

 

Ah, you misunderstand, I am hungry.  A lot of the time.  But whenever I satiate that hunger by eating, I barely eat more than an average amount of food before I get really stuffed.  I’m constantly switching between “I’m so hungry I could eat eight cows” and “I’m so stuffed I could go for days without food” which is a bit of a hassle.  Usually my hunger peaks after I work out, but since I do that late in the evening I never have any food to eat.  By two in the morning, I’m craving some snacks.  If I’m staying up late, then by four my stomach really starts to growl.  If I’m pulling an all-nighter, then by six I’m more famished than I am tired.  But whenever I try to eat more to balance my hunger out, I get stuffed so quickly…  I feel like it’s a mix of both my higher metabolism as a result of going to the gym and my altered hunger threshold as a result of eating meals infrequently.  And I guess my variable sleep schedule probably doesn’t help matters, eheheh.  Uwah, but if you bought ramen then you’d be letting all those meal swipes go to waste!  I don’t want to make the food at Leutner sound inedible or something.  It’s not very scrumptious, but when you’re hungry you’re pretty much in the mood for anything (or at least I am; my stomach is rumbling as I type this, urgh) and it’s a better and generally healthier option than cupped noodles and bags of chips. 

 

Its vibe, huh…  I’ve never thought that name ever had a weird or negative vibe to it.  It’s pretty normal, and it’s nice in its simplicity.  It suits you, though I’m so used to calling you Kenzi that Kenzi suits you just as well, hahah.  Yeah, I can imagine my name probably wasn’t what you expected it to be, and it no doubt took some getting used to.  Aw, f-flattering me by saying you like my name isn’t going to get you anywhere, b-baka… okay maybe it might.  Whhhhaaaa you actually have 20/15 vision??  Yoooo, I don’t I know anyone with eyesight that good, holy geez!  Well, excuse me Kenzi ojou-sama, I didn’t realize you were of such noble caliber; you must feel disgusted knowing you’ve been mingling with the likes of me, who’d have 20/40-20/50 vision without contacts.  Ahah, all kidding aside, that’s really amazing.  My contacts give me temporary 20/10-20/15 eyesight when I have them in, and wow everything looks amazing!  Like, as much as they hurt when I first started wearing them, my mind was completely blown by how crisp the world could look to some people.  Of course, with that comes the drawbacks of seeing cosmetic flaws everywhere.  It doesn’t help that I pretty much only put on my contacts at night and so the first thing I see with them in is my tired face after a long day of work starting back at me through the mirror, eheheheh.  But it’s totally worth it considering how much detail and texture you can see in everything.  I never mentioned this before because I never found a good chance to, but whenever I stargaze I have to wear my contacts otherwise I wouldn’t be able to make out the celestial objects well.  I can kinda see stars without any visual aid, but if 20/20 vision is 480p then 20/15 vision is 720p.  Individual stars just look really blotchy and fuzzy, in the same way a 480p shot of the night sky would look distractingly pixelated as opposed to a 720p one.  My contacts bring everything up to a nice 1080p/720p, which is super helpful.  Just a few days ago, I pulled two pseudo-all-nighters in a row (took naps during the day, so they didn’t really count as true all-nighters) and failed to put my contacts in during those short naps.  I couldn’t see anything for the full day after.  It was awful.  Can you imagine seeing the world with perpetual 144p?  It’s worse experiencing than imaging, trust me.  I couldn’t see people’s faces; I felt like Ace from 999.  My mind was straining itself so hard just to comprehend what was going on with my reduced vision it was giving me a headache.  However, reverting back to HD vision with my contacts at the end of the day was such a satisfying feeling, ohohoho.  Anyway, I still can’t believe your eyesight is so good!  And you seem to have good ears too, so gosh it’s like you have the best of both worlds (assuming your senses of taste, smell, and touch are not compromised in some way)!  Geez Kenzi, so unfair, you should share your genes with the less fortunate, hmph!  Joking joking, I know that’s not possible, but your sister must have, and probably still is, really envious of your glorious chromosomes.

 

Woah, disturbing your REM sleep like that sounds both ingenious and rather torturous at the same time.  Good on you for having that idea, but don’t overdo it!  A good night’s sleep is the best, but at least you’re still getting those on the weekends.  Hrm, I may do something like that if there’s something I have to wake up unusually early for, but if it’s just a normal class day then I’ll try to train and build up my own willpower.  And of course, the cold has only barely started to settle in, so I have yet to see how my body handles the frigid Cleveland winters in the morning.  That aside, remember how I always stress that your health should be more important than anything else!  If you start seeing negative side effects to this REM sleep deprivation, then be sure to stop that alarm clock nonsense, heh.  

 

You actually mentioned that at a good time, as freshman registration for next semester classes finally opened just yesterday at seven in the morning.  Almost everything is finalized except for one class, which I’m on the waitlist for.  My advisor says that class’s student limit is usually raised and that people are shuffled around a lot so I’m nearly guaranteed to get a spot once all the paperwork is sorted through.  For a quick rundown, I’m taking six classes: a SAGES University Seminar, accounting 102, econ 103, an Excel course, management 201, and intro to political science.  The SAGES University Seminar is not to be confused with the First Seminar that I took (am taking) the first semester.  The University Seminar doesn’t have Fourth Hours and is on a different general topic than my First Seminar.  There are three general categories SAGES classes can fall under: Natural World, Social World, and Symbolic World.  I took an FSSO course this semester (First Seminar Social World), which means I am required to take a USNA (University Seminar Natural World) and USSY (University Seminar Symbolic World) in future semesters.  If someone took an FSNA, then they would later have to take a USSO and a USSY, while someone who took an FSSY would go on to take a USNA and a USSO.  I’m taking a USSY course for this coming spring semester, so when I’m a sophomore I’ll be taking a USNA class.  Case Western wants to make sure you stay well-rounded and not focus too exclusively on any one of the three categories, ahah.  I know SAGES can be a bit confusing, but hopefully I explained that well enough for you to understand.  As for what the class is specifically on, it’s actually called “Protest Drama” and explores the use of politics in plays and literature.  Sounds pretty fascinating if you ask me.  Accounting 102 is just a simple follow-up to accounting 101, and while I studied micro in econ 102 this semester I’ll be studying macro in econ 103 next semester.  The Excel class is just that, a class teaching you how to use Excel with a focus on accounting.  Management 201 is just an introduction to business and communications.  This is the class I’m waitlisted for, so there’s no guarantee they’ll find a spot for me in this class, but the chances are pretty high.  And finally, I’m taking an intro to comparative politics class.  I wasn’t initially planning on taking this class, but I lost the speed-clicking-at-seven-in-the-morning contest to those whose computers processed the pages faster than mine and so wasn’t able to snag myself a phys ed class this semester.  I wish I could have just gotten it done and out of the way with my freshman year, but there’s harm in taking it as a sophomore.  My chances of getting in a phys ed class will be higher when I’m older as well, since seniors choose first, juniors choose second, sophomores choose third, and freshman choose last.  They have to give priority to those graduating soon, after all.  So without a phys ed class my schedule was looking a bit empty, and on a spur of the moment I decided to get some of my prereqs out of the way.  I explained earlier how my APs covered my arts and humanities requirements and how I would be taking a summer course at Rutgers to cap off my natural and mathematical sciences requirements, so I was left with a choice between various intro level social science courses.  I found one that wasn’t full and fit into my schedule nicely and that was the political science class, so I signed up for it rather spur of the moment.  That brings me up to a total of 18 credit hours, a bit more than average.  None of my classes are joke classes either (unlike the wellness class I took this semester).  Accounting, the Excel class, and management are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while econ, SAGES, and political science are on Mondays and Wednesdays.  The only class I have on Friday is econ, which is split into three classes as opposed to the two classes all my other course are separated into.  Classes on Mondays and Wednesdays start at nine in the morning while those on Tuesday and Thursday begin at ten.  My econ class on Friday is at 11:30 am, which is nice.  I’m generally pretty happy with my schedule.  I’m moving at a bit of a brisk pace, but I don’t having much of a choice if I want to complete that dual degree program.  If it’s normal to complete it in five years, I need to take the extra strides early to get it done in four.  I also have to wake up earlier than I’m used to on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I’ll have to adjust for that as well as deal with the extra burden of two more (real) classes than this past semester.  It’s going to be a struggle, but I was pretty comfortable these past few months even with the excessive amount of slacking off I did.  I won’t be able to fully enjoy Fates when it comes out in February though, which is a bit of a bummer considering I have it pre-ordered, but oh well.  I’ll see if I find time over the weekends for a bit Fire Emblem.

 

Oh gosh, I’m just like your sister.  Doesn’t matter if it’s a sunny, gorgeous day outside; those blinds will be closed.  The room light and lamp are perfectly fine as sources of illumination, and they don’t fluctuate like natural does or cause as much glare.  I always have my brightness turned up to the max and still distractingly see my reflection in the computer screen in natural light.  I guess that’s less of a glare problem and more… whatever a good science term would be for that, but still.  My brother tries to get me to open the blinds all the time.  He only gave up after I taped the blinds shut, heheh, that’ll show him.  Though, he proudly informed me over the phone that he had taken over my old study spot and claimed it at his own, so I believe the tape is gone now.  Oh geez, winter break is going to be a power struggle.  Ahahah, of course I follow a lot of YouTube channels regularly, but I’ve gotten into the habit of manually checking their channels every day for new content, and watch their videos when/if they upload something.  I guess things might be easier if I subscribed, but I’m so used to just checking in whenever I want that I don’t think it would make much of a difference at this point.

 

Call me dumb, but I never figured out what Humans of New York is.  It’s one of those things that got all popular while I wasn’t paying attention and now I’m too afraid to ask.  When I first heard of it, I thought it was some sort of charity like the Red Cross, but evidently I’m wrong.  Is it a social media thing that’s Facebook specific or something?  Is it a book?  A newspaper?  A website?  A company?  A person?  A small group of people?  What’s so good about it/them/him/her?  This is almost as baffling as Entralink.  Goodness, you’re making lockers out to be the most dreaded part of your day.  Surely nothing can be worse than algebra II, right…?  Hmm, your attendance system isn’t actually too different from ours then.  We also have security at the front entrance and calls to parents if we’re absent, etc.  I’m surprised the pledge wasn’t mandatory until just last year for your high school, and a bit puzzled by the fact that it’s recited randomly during second period.  It’s been required K-12 for decades where I was from.  I wouldn’t be too hard on the pledge of allegiance; it’s rather nostalgic for me for some reason, eheh.  It evokes a lot of warm and fuzzy elementary school memories.

 

Yeah, they’re most definitely going to have to take an extra year or two before graduating.  It’s awfully silly, but the college doesn’t have much of a choice.  They can be as selective as they want, but once a trouble child falls into the system it’s going to be a struggle to get them out.  If the student’s parents can afford to pay for the extra time there, and they’re not doing any violent crimes to get them officially kicked out, you just have to force feed them like depressed sloths and hope that they graduate sooner rather than later.  Worst comes to worst, just shove a psychology major down their throats and chase them off-campus, ahah.

 

(Wait, but how can you insert an “inaudible gasp” if such a thing does not exist?  Wouldn’t a gasp have to be audible to exist??)  Ohhhhhhhhhh myyyy gooooooddddd I almost forgot Frog and Toad existed!  Those books were my jam when I was a kid!  I only recognize Olivia but never read it.  I definitely read Tuck Everlasting, though I hardly remember it so I can’t say whether I thought it was good or bad.  Allburg’s The Polar Express fascinated me as a child; it was one of the reasons I fell in love with Christmas, along with hundreds of other reasons of course, ahah.  For some reason the teachers at my elementary school loved reading Jan Brett books to us youngsters during story time.  The books were only okay, and since my eyesight sucked it’s not like I could see the pictures very well, but they were so prevalent I remember them rather vividly for some reason.  Honestly, I had forgotten about The Power of Five books for a time.  I only randomly happened to recall it one day (you know those moments when you just remember a forgotten life event like *bam* woah how did I ever forget that?) and luckily for me the fifth book was set to be released very soon afterwards, so I kept an eye on it.  Ehh, To Kill a Mockingbird didn’t give me a very strong impression the first time I read it during the summer program, and wasn’t much better two years later in high school.  It’s a fine book, but I really don’t think I’ll be re-reading it any time soon.  Ohh, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of those two books before.  It’s been so hard to find the time to read a book for pleasure nowadays, but I’ll try my best to find time for those!

 

Yay, that’s the spirit!  Play that 3DS on the subway, who cares if everyone else is either on their phones, sleeping, or grumpily glaring at the opposite wall.  Letting your inner geek loose is always so invigorating, ahah.  I believe there was this special club formed where they actually got orchestra members and band members together to play a few pieces for a small venue.  It was run by the orchestra conductor, and while it wasn’t “official” because they didn’t have their own holiday/winter/spring concerts and because the band instructor didn’t really pay it much heed, it was still surprisingly pretty legit.  Some people took it seriously enough, though there was always a shortage of more specific wind instruments like the bassoon or the bass clarinet.  Oh, well if you’re not comfortable talking to her and feel like it would be awkward for both of you to retrieve your art, then I suppose you don’t have to.  It’s up to you what you want to do in the end.  Ahh, don’t worry, I was just like you after college apps were done.  Well, I didn’t completely let loose until after/during winter break because of regular decision applications, but even so I barely did anything senior year.  It was only my classes and the anime club that I took seriously, and even then I never got that worked up over my grades.  Without band, there was a huge weight off my shoulders, even if part of me did feel a bit lazy for being so uncommitted to everything that wasn’t my own creation, heh.  Gosh Curious Kenzi, you’re saying online classes over winter break is something you want to do?  Pls, that’s far more than what I could muster.  Ahhhhh I used to get caught all the time, too!  I can’t even recall the number of times they’ve relocated the games.  They used to hide it in juvenile places but have upped their game dramatically by literally locking it away (that didn’t stop me from figuring out how to unlock it without a key) or by stashing it in their car and driving off to work with it every day (…okay, they stumped me there…......... nah, not really, this is what led me to actually purchase consoles and games behind their backs, ufufufufu).  The thrill and rush of finding where they hid the games was amazing, ahah.  As a result, I’ve also gotten really good at hiding my games from them as well, if I was ever in a position safe enough to keep the games in my room instead of return them to my parents’ hiding spot, heheh.

 

Hrm, while part of me wants to take on that challenge, that sounds like it could be an awful lot of work for naught.  If I correctly identify a picture of you though, will you confirm that I’m right at least?  Or will you just not comment on anything I find?

 

Nah, it’s nothing really.  While I spend a lot of time on these, the only thing I’m sacrificing is my anime and video game time, which I could do without if it meant being able to converse with you, heheh.  I’ve been late and had to take breaks before, so it’s not like I’m perfect either.  I really don’t mind if you have to take days off.  I’d much rather you deal with what you have to deal with instead of stress out over sending a response just because you feel bad for having missed a few in the past.  Hmph, if you do something like that I’ll never forgive you, b-b-baka!

 

Hahah, thanks, pretty much all of my papers and tests and projects are finally behind me, barring a few, so it’s mainly the finals I’m starting to worry about.  But because there’s an upcoming Thanksgiving break, I’ll have plenty of time to both work hard if I need to and de-stress when necessary.  That being said, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I’m so grateful for everything that you’ve done, so during my days off I’ll definitely be thinking about you, ahah!

 

EDIT:

Okay, so Nintendo just revealed their eShop Black Friday deals here, some of which are pretty decent.  What especially caught my eye was Cave Story.  I really feel terrible about putting off the game for about a year now, and I think this is my chance to finally play through it.  This version of Cave Story is the eShop version, which is different from Cave Story 3D as it retains the original graphics and music.  From the version differences page, the eShop version of the game seems to provide a pretty solid experience.  I know you originally recommended the free PC version since you weren't a fan of the 3D graphics and because the cartridge version was expensive, but since the digital eShop version uses the original graphics/music, is currently on sale, is on a handheld console, and helps support the developers to boot, I feel that it would be a worthy investment.  I've always preferred playing games on a console as opposed to the PC, and since Cave Story is a action/adventure platformer, I would probably have a better impression of it if I played it on my 3DS.  The sale ends in exactly a week which is why I wanted to ask you of your opinion for good measure, even though at this point I'm fairly certain I'll end up buying the eShop version regardless.

 

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your break!

Edit: Added a bit to the end...

 

I became familiar with natures after derping around on Serebii mid to late middle school. Whoa, I have the same problem! After discovering that natures had an effect on stats, I just couldn't enjoy the games as much anymore. I always felt compelled to soft-reset until I got a Pokemon with a decent nature, and I can't catch legendaries anymore in fear that I'll end up with less than stellar IVs even if they have good natures (especially roaming Pokemon, oh god). As for the Primal Kyogre/Groudon theme, if you're not sure whether you can hear snippets of the RSE soundfont, see if you can catch them around 0:15-0:19, 0:26-0:28, and 0:55-0:59. Try to listen to a minute straight through, and just keep an eye (or ear) out for them while you're listening! 

 

I only had one girl friend who actively played Pokemon, but she goes to a different school and I only met her through those card parties I sometimes went to. Aside from her, all of my friends who've played Pokemon are guys. Yeah, a few of my girl friends are familiar with Pokemon and have watched a few episodes when they were little, but they never actively played the games though. I recently discovered that there are a few people in my comp sci class who openly play on Pokemon Showdown during their free time. So yeah, I guess I made a couple of new friends, lol. I can't completely geek out with them though since most people don't know about this side of me. It sucks that I have to suppress this urge, but at least I have some new friends to talk to, haha.

 

Ahaha, oh my gosh, I've always wondered how they managed to fit those puzzles into such small buildings. Buildings like the Pokecenter also come to mind. In RSE, they were about four Brendan/Mays in length on the outside, but on the inside? They're huge?? They did a better job with the proportions in the later games, but I still like making fun of this, haha. Well, at the very least, Game Freak needs to allow repels to work on Route 13. Or you know, make those Pokemon easier to avoid by taking out the wind or something. I think it's a pretty creative route, but these annoyances are a bit much. And I thought Sky Pillar was a pain, lol.

 

I love Yoshi's Athletic theme so much! It brings back so many memories, ahhh... I remember downloading the sheet music at one point and even listening to dozens of covers of it... it's such an adorable tune! Haha no worries. I actually want to thank you reminding me to revisit the OST again, hehe.

 

But doesn't this have the same layout as RSE's Mirage Island? Of course, ORAS is not merely just a remake since the games also incorporate a bunch of new additions, but couldn't this be considered as an "enhancement" to the original Mirage Island instead of an entirely new area? I guess it's true that the differences are far too great to simply brush off, but why are they still called the "Mirage Islands" then? Surely they could've come up with a different name, right? I think it coincides with the idea of RSE's Mirage Island appearing and disappearing. Don't the new Mirage Islands follow a similar mechanic? I'm not really siding with anyone on this, but I still think the new Mirage Islands are similar enough to be connected to the original, even if they are vastly different. Good on Serebii for not completely categorizing them as new areas, and good on Bulbapedia for acknowledging the differences enough to give the new Mirage Islands a separate page.

 

What on earth, the 3DS has been around for nearly five years already?? Geezus, wtf wow, I'm really late to the party. I probably wouldn't have been able to wait until 2018 for the new console to be released so I'm glad you pushed me to get one back in August, ahaha... Hehe, yup, I think 2+ years is plenty of time to get through the games I want to play. Yeah, I'm also pretty confident that they'll reveal the new console soon. Wasn't the 3DS revealed just after the DSi was released? They seem to be following the same pattern after releasing the New 3DS XL not too long ago. But you're right. It's not like the 3DS is going to die out anytime soon, lol.

 

Oh wut, I actually didn't have that great of an impression after playing Black even though I wasn't playing it very critically either. Best Pokemon game ever made? Ehh, it was fun, but it was still a pretty underwhelming game aside from the music and graphics. Honestly, I was really disappointed with the Battle Subway. It was pretty boring in comparison to Platinum/HGSS's Battle Frontier. Bianca was just a really annoying character in general (apologies for bringing back the unwanted memories, gomen), and Cheren was also relatively bland. I never used the Entralink either, so I don't have an explanation for you there, haha. Even after looking at the game critically, I still don't see too many merits. Same with B2W2. Black 2 was a good enhancement to the originals though. I honestly expected a Pokemon Gray instead (or Grey, depending on how you want to spell it), so good on them for throwing that curveball. It was a creative twist, and I enjoyed that. Also, I'm curious; what do you mean by the music wasn't very "Pokemon-ish"? Ahaha, Hugh has fangirls? N too? I... I didn't realize people actually fangirled over Pokemon characters, lol. I jokingly spazzed about B2W2's Cheren with a friend if that counts as anything. Though I guess I've seen Professor Sycamore gain some attention from people...  

 

But I thought most high schools had pools... I mean, even a few of the middle schools I visited had pools... Barely any high schools would have swim teams if schools didn't have pools, lol. I mean, where would they compete? They can't just hog those public pools and water parks for all of their practices and competitions, after all. So yes, I do find it rather surprising that your school doesn't have a pool, haha. I'm guessing that swimming wasn't part of your P.E. curriculum then? 

 

Ahaha, I know right?? Who would've thought they'd include a character from Final Fantasy. And oh my goshhhhh I remember Brawl Taunts! I used to think it was the funniest thing (well, the first one at least). Yush, Mickey Mouse is very much possible use Kingdom Hearts as justification, huzzah. I watched a video reaction of one of my favorite YouTubers (a recording of his stream) and I could feel the hype coming even though I've never played Final Fantasy. Ohh, what a game changer, this is so exciting! Barriers have been broken and any character has potential to get into Smash! Sakurai still has to be careful though. With great power comes great responsibility, heh. Haha yeah, I figured the Fates Special Edition was a really good deal, so congrats! Hopefully you'll have time to play it over spring or summer break! 

 

I'm not the biggest fan of streams, but I love watching people getting hyped up over stuff, so I can see where you're coming from, hehe. Ahah, I don't follow the social media aspects of the campaign either, and I only happened to stumble upon Fiorina attacking Trump when I typed her name into the google search bar. One of the first "news" articles I saw displayed this petty argument between them. Fiorina was defending Carson and basically implied that Trump had no brains. Bad idea. Reallyyyy bad idea. It was a bit immature of both of them to attack each other like that--even if they're not exactly on good terms with each other either.

 

Haha yeah, I don't plan on not making new friends in college, and I guess I can always visit my old friends during break, lol. Hm, well figuring out stuff by myself is always fun, so I can relate, but you rarely approached teachers or friends for help? Oh geez, I regularly asked for help for my math and science classes. Before school during the day of every quiz and test in AP Chem, the classroom would be completely flooded with students asking questions and helping each other out. Same for days after school when labs were due by 3pm for all students. For the calc midterm last year, a couple of friends and I stayed at the library for nearly ten hours straight trying to cram for it. For Physics C, students sometimes stop by the classroom after school whenever they need help with these soul-sucking Webassigns. We call them "physics parties" to delude ourselves. People also sometimes chat me up asking for help, and sometimes I chat up others for help as well. What better way to learn than by offering and exploring different approaches or perspectives to a problem? I love having epiphanies and discovering things on my own, but I could never go without asking questions. Gosh, I know you keep insisting that you're fine, but I still find it hard to believe that long lasting relationships don't work out for you. You gotta have some people who'll be there for you through thick and thin, haha. Ah, well, you seem to be doing fine, so I'll take your word for it, eheh... 

 

Ahhhhhh, eat some food! Don't do this to yourself! :c Go place a jar of pretzels on the corner of your desk and munch on them when you're up late (quietly though since you wouldn't want to wake up your roommate, haha). You can't just come back from the gym late in the evening and not eat anything! You can't build muscle without eating either; your body needs the nutrients, after all. So when you eat, you barely eat anything more than average, yet you get stuffed anyway? Oh dear, I didn't realize how difficult it must be to address hunger as a college student. Isn't it also harder to pay attention in class feeling like this? You're kinda scaring me, eheh... Regardless, I hope you'll be able to fix this soon! Well, now that you're on break (and the fact that it's Thanksgiving), hopefully you'll take the time to treat yourself and eat something nice, heh. Haha, whether or not I'd use my meal swipes probably won't matter to me. I'll eat when I'm hungry, and I won't eat when I'm not. Unless I'm allowed to take food out of the dining hall or something. No point in eating when I'm not hungry, lol. I'll bring a few packages of ramen and maybe an electric kettle for days when I gotta stay up late though. 

 

Haha, yeah, I've learned to appreciate the normality of my name after realizing how inconvenient it was for one of my friends to have an oriental name (which she eventually changed). Well, I'm not sure what I would've expected your name to be, lol. I was so used to referring to you as "Akazora" that any name might've taken some getting used to, haha. And whaa... how was I trying to "get anywhere" with a simple compliment? W-What's wrong with me liking your name...? Oh gosh, I really have been taking my eyes for granted for so long... Contacts seem like such a pain--especially night contacts that physically push back on your eyeballs (which honestly sound really painful, even if you say you're already used to it). And the fact that lack of prolonged use can cause your eyes to revert back to their original shape. Geez, your analogy comparing vision with video quality really helped me gain a new perspective. Hmm, I guess not being forced to wear vision correctors is another thing I should be grateful for this Thanksgiving. Also, the eye doctor may not have mentioned this, but I'm pretty sure that my left eye is worse than my right eye. It's not a very noticeable difference, but I'm certain it's there. Nah, my ears actually aren't that great. I completely trashed them after discovering the magic of headphones. I'm trying my best to keep the volume at a reasonable level, but gah, I can't help it sometimes, eheh... Ahah, "glorious chromosomes" seems like a bit much. I'm really no different from the average person you pass by on the sidewalk (20/15 isn't as uncommon as you may think). Thanks though, haha.

 

Ehh, I'm not going to get a "good" night's sleep on 4-5 hours no matter how you look at it. So I may as well make the process of waking up easier, lol. I've been feeling all right so far, and weirdly enough, I'm not dozing off in my classes anymore. Hm, I will be continuing for the time being then. If anything, you need to look after yourself more since you'll be taking extra classes next semester, haha. Cleveland winters should be pretty rough since you guys are right beside a lake. Even though the amount of snow you received a few days ago was a bit underwhelming, I'm confident that you'll be able to experience a real winter soon. Hopefully you guys have good heating in your dorms! You'll need it, heh.

 

Ohh, so you're planning to take on six classes? And calc is only one semester? Geez, you guys move fast, haha. I also didn't know that colleges offered courses on Excel. Is it one of the required classes for that Integrated Study program you're in? Oh poo, so if I went to Case and had to enroll in some SAGES courses, I can't just focus on the more science-oriented ones? Aw, that's no fun. I guess I could always brush up on some history, but shouldn't the SAGES courses you take be tailored to the major you're planning to pursue? If someone wants to go into kinesiology, why should they be forced to enroll in some random course that focuses on languages or the environment? It's one thing if someone wants to take the class, but what if they don't really want to? Whoa, so the class you're taking focuses on politics in plays and literature? Oh dang, what the... that actually sounds kinda interesting, haha. I'm willing to bet that Shakespeare's Julius Caesar might make an appearance there, heh. Let me know how it goes! Also, is there a reason your econ class is split into three classes instead of two? And best of luck to you this upcoming semester! You'll be taking more courses than usual, so be sure to look after yourself as well!

 

Oh whaa, ahaha, I'm just like your brother then. I also moved into my sister's room right after she left for college, lol. I've gotten into the habit of calling it "my" room even though it's still technically hers (which I feel kinda bad about, ahah...). I keep the window exposed for the majority of the day and only cover them during the nighttime so the light coming from my window at 2am won't disturb any neighbors, eheh... Wow, you really are just like my sister. She also turns her laptop brightness up to the max and insists that she'd rather be working under artificial light. She never bothered taping the blinds though (dang, I didn't realize you were willing to go to such lengths, haha). We have those fabric blinds, so she wouldn't have been able to anyway, lol. My laptop brightness is always on the lowest setting since the highest setting is way too bright (plus it saves battery). The glare usually doesn't bother me, but I can always turn the laptop brightness up a notch or two when it does. The reflection you see on your laptop is likely caused by backlighting. If you worked beside a lamp situated in front of you rather than behind you, you probably won't experience as much glare. I'm not sure how your workspace is arranged, but that might help a bit. Oh geez, what's the point of having a YouTube account if you're not going to bother commenting or liking any videos, or subscribing to anyone? Haha, I can understand the part about not wanting to comment on (damn google+) or like anything (since I don't enjoy how it clogs my like history), but it's a lot easier to keep track of people by subscribing. And if you stumble across a video you enjoyed, you can always add it to a playlist. There are a couple of people I regularly follow who I'm not subscribed to, so I guess I can kinda understand where you're coming from, but how do you keep track of all of the people you follow without subscriptions?

 

I'm actually not entirely sure myself what Humans of New York is, lol. I have a pretty good idea though. I think it originally blew up as a Facebook page run by one person (Brandon) who went around NYC interviewing everyday people, and I guess his aim was to show people the everyday struggles (or profundities) these people were willing to share about themselves. And it worked. "Wow, I never realized the people I walk past everyday had such amazing stories and advice to share." I think that's the reaction HONY wanted from followers. It's a very powerful Facebook page that has garnered a lot of attention. If you haven't read some of HONY's Facebook posts yet, I highly recommend you dig through a few of them just to get an idea of what it is. It's a very diverse page as well (as you would expect from a place like NYC). There are people of all ethnicities, ages (so yes, little kids too), and occupations featured here. Brandon is a very generous man with wholeheartedly good intentions, and despite the popularity HONY has gotten, he's still the same man he was years ago. He has managed to raise thousands of dollars, and has truly changed people's lives for the better through this Facebook page. There are homeless people who end up getting noticed and hired by corporates because of Brandon. Seriously, it's absolutely incredible. Oh gosh, nope, lockers were godawful. You could ask any of my friends and they'd give you similar answers. And pfft, algebra II wasn't that bad. Couldn't possibly have been any worse than those summer school history classes I took (lol, I'm kidding; I know you love your history, hehe). I'm actually more surprised that the state decided to make the pledge mandatory for all schools (as opposed to only K-8 in years prior). I mean, I don't think it was required for any schools back in NYC. Gosh, what a waste of fifteen seconds that could be used to fill in a few answer bubbles on a test! But in all seriousness, it really is kinda pointless. It's not nostalgic for me at all. It feels like more of a nuisance nowadays, to be honest. Elementary and middle school were fun times, but the pledge isn't one of those things that evokes and warm and fuzzy memories from those days. As for why the pledge and announcements are recited and displayed during second period and not first period, I'm not too sure myself. It's probably so the kids who arrive late to school for first period (who might've skipped the pledge and announcements as a result) aren't left in the dark or something, lol.  

 

Wow, that's actually kinda depressing. Why bother staying in college longer than you have to? It's a waste of time, money, and if they really hated college enough to not want to try in classes anymore, well, they're going to have to continue to stay in college until they pass those classes anyway. So why not just pull through during that last stretch? Ahh, well, good luck to them, I guess.

 

Ohoho, I beg to differ. Can't you express inaudible gasps through gifs? Also, it's possible for someone to gasp very quietly. You might be able to see it in their facial expression even though you may not be able to hear it, heh. Yesss!! Frog and Toad was the bomb! Haha, I figured you probably haven't read Olivia since it doesn't seem like something guys would read, but I guess it didn't hurt to ask, lol. Ohh, yes, The Polar Express was also really nice. Hmm, so your teachers mainly read Jan Brett books to you guys? Back in NYC, we read a lot of Louis Sachar books. You remember Sideways Stories from Wayside School, right? Absolutely loved that book to pieces. We also read books like Lexi's Tale and PeeWee's Tale, haha. No David was also fun, oh and Shel Silverstein! Hmm, I dunno. Maybe I have read some of Jan Brett's books before. They do seem like books that little me would pick up, haha. What about The Little Engine That Could? Patricia Polacco? I remember reading quite a few of her books, and she even visited our school back when I was in fifth grade! Or was it fourth, I actually can't remember... It was quite inspiring and I remember each one of us got to touch a chunk of a meteor she brought in and make a wish (from her book Meteor!). I'm not even sure why I still remember these kinds of things, but I guess talking about some old books really brings back some old memories, ahah. So what did you do during that summer program you read To Kill a Mockingbird for?  

 

But we don't have subways around here... or any public transportation... I'm more likely to derp around with that 3DS on an airplane, heh. Ahhhh, whaaatttt, so your school's orchestra conductor never incorporated band members into the orchestra? Geez, but playing with the band is so much fun! Oh my gosh, they're so loud sometimes I can't hear myself play, ahahaha... (and this is only a small chunk of the entire band). It's nice to see that your school formed a special club where both band and orchestra members got together though, haha. Oh nono, I'm not planning on taking actual online classes over break (I already learned my lesson after taking online chem, urgh). Just some basic courses to help me learn a thing or two; stuff I can learn at my own pace, lol. Learning doesn't always have to be torturous you know, hehe. Eheh, whenever my parents confiscated my DS, it was always my dad I had to look out for. He was annoyingly good at hiding it. My mom, on the other hand, was pretty predictable and I knew all of her hiding spots. I don't think my parents ever locked it away though. But that still didn't stop me from attempting to pick locks with a straightened paperclip (except it never worked, lol). Once high school started, my dad finally decided to take away my laptop one day. Well, I had to seriously up my game since I actually kinda needed my laptop for schoolwork and because I didn't want my backlog of graphics requests to get any bigger. I've seen him take away my sister's laptop before, but I don't think she's ever found hers so I couldn't ask her for help. So I had this epiphany when my dad was calling for me one night. I decided to "disappear" in hopes that I could scout out where he hid it (so I never answered when he called my name). I figured one of the places he'd go looking for me was the very place he hid my laptop (probably to see whether or not the laptop was still there). He went into my room first. Not very surprising. Then I heard footsteps walking down to the basement, which was a bit suspicious since there's no reason why I'd be down there. Even more suspicious was the fact that the basement was the second place he searched even though the lights there were turned off. Of course, I eventually had to run back to my room so that he didn't get too worked up or frustrated trying to find me. My dad eventually found me in my room again, then brushed off the "incident" and went to bed after I told him I was in the bathroom and couldn't hear him when he was calling my name. After digging through the basement, I found my laptop inside a dusty shoe closet. It's honestly the last place I would've thought to look. I'll give him creativity points for that. I think that was the first time I was able to find something he hid from me. It was also one of the most exhilarating hunts I'd ever been on, haha. I think I've gotten a lot better at finding my confiscated stuff in recent years, though I don't think I've ever found the need to hide my stuff from them.

 

If you're perceptive enough to deduce my city location (I'm still baffled), school, and full name without any deliberate hints, you have the skills to find a picture of me, lol. Hmm, you know what... if you do happen to correctly identify a picture of me, I'll confirm it for you if it helps put your mind at ease, haha. 

 

Aw geez, you're too much. I'm quite flattered that you're willing to put aside your anime and video game time just to talk to me. If you ever feel that typing these up is too time consuming, please don't hesitate to take days off as well! Don't think you're going to leave scot-free either if you're putting these responses above schoolwork and times for unwinding (seriously, if you need to catch up on work, anime, or video games, that's totally fine, lol). I'm already touched by the fact that you were willing to put up with me for this long, ahah.

 

Oh geez, finals are coming up for you guys already?? Holy... gosh where did the time go wtf, it's almost December already?? Be sure to study hard! Just don't forget to take a small break this Thanksgiving, hehe.

 

Dang, Smash isn't up there for the Black Friday deals. Well, that's not unexpected though since it's only about a year old, haha. Oh there's no need to consult me for this! Do whatever you want; you're the one who's experiencing it, lol. If you think playing Cave Story on a handheld will give you a better impression, then by all means go for it! 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well! Relax a bit and go catch up on some sleep and anime and video games!