Jinx

Friday, August 21, 2009

The Guild

So...I'm a little obsessed with Felicia Day. She's kinda my girl-crush, but mainly I just want to BE her. She's a geek, an actress, a musician, and an Internet phenomenon.

For those of you who have not heard of "The Guild," let me explain. Felicia Day is an actress who has made appearances in Buffy, Dollhouse, and many other shows. She's been in a Sears commercial. She's an adorable redhead and she pops up everywhere.


She plays WoW. She decided to make a show about people who play WoW. Only none of the networks wanted it, so she put it online. And a cult was born...

It is called "The Guild" (www.watchtheguild.com) and stars:
They play an MMORPG together (WoW is never specifically referenced) and are in a guild called The Knights of Good. They decide to meet in real life, and hilariousness ensues. They have two seasons done already (both of which I own on DVD) and a third is coming soon. They recently released the funniest music video ever that is GUARANTEED to get stuck in your head (in a good way):



You can buy the MP3 and music video on iTunes and Amazon (search for "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar"). Help support them!

I seriously look up to Felicia Day. She makes me want to lose weight so I can be an adorable geek like her. She's smart and talented and knows how to use her talents to entertain the masses. She's turned an obscure group of people into an Internet sensation.

Simon thinks I'm a little nuts, since I only found out about her in the last year. I entered a video contest The Guild ran because you could be included in the Season 3 DVD, but I lost. My life goal is to meet her (which shouldn't be hard since she shows up at ComiCon and BlizzCon but those are always so far away and I haven't made it to either yet). I follow her on Twitter, read her blog, and buy books she likes and recommends. I have a picture of The Guild cast as the desktop background on my work computer.

Seriously though, am I insane? Felicia Day is my idol. =)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

WoW woes

Whoops, sorry for the hiatus, the geek-man and I went to Maine for our anniversary. =)

I just started playing WoW again; we normally take a break from it in the summer and actually go outside. I'm not hardcore back into it again, just doing my fishing daily and such. My main is a level 80 blood elf paladin. I have my own guild of just my fiance and our friends, but I'm thinking we will need to join a bigger guild to get into any raids for decent equipment. I have a level 40-something tauren druid, a level 30 blood elf mage, and a level 14 orc hunter that I occassionally play as well. I'm trying to level my engineering and jewelcrafting on two of the lower ones.

As much as I love the game, I'm having a hard time getting back into it. Maybe I'm spreading myself too thin between characters, but I just get so bored after only an hour. I can't even stay motivated leveling my lowbies. I still love it and want to play, but it's lacking the excitement it used to have.

Anyone else getting bored with their game of choice, but don't want to give it up? What do you do to get back into it?

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

teenSpeak

I may be showing my age here, but I have to say, I am getting really annoyed at the way teens communicate online. It's not all of them, but some have such an atrocious grasp of the English language, it makes me want to cry.

Case study: I have two cousins, both around age 15, both female, both live in Arizona. Cousin S is on my dad's side of the family, Cousin J is on my mom's side (she's my mother's cousin's granddaughter, but that counts as a cousin in my huge Italian family, hehe). I am friends with both of them on Facebook. See some of their updates:

Cousin S:
...the orange hair is back!!!!
...doesn't want to go to physical therapy tomorrow!!!!
...feels stupid

Teenager-ish, but reasonable. Now see...

Cousin J:
...bord dont want to go to school:(
...dance tonight then gym ugh not looking forward to it haah so tired from schoolhow many days until the next break
...goingt to apple bees with the fam. haha

For some reason, half or more of her updates include "haha" even when it's not something funny (like "goin 2 the mall haha"). Her spelling is awful, and her friends' responses are even worse (all caps, complete netspeak, etc.). I feel like I need to decode her messages sometimes. All of her pics are completely inappropriate for a girl her age (she and her friends in bikinis trying to look sexy) and she's constantly begging for people to comment on her photos.

Cousin S, if she posts pictures of herself and her friends in bathing suits, always is in a funny or dorky pose, just trying to be funny. She uses Facebook to keep in contact with out-of-state family, and her friends seem to leave very respectful comments.

Now I know these kids are growing up texting, which I didn't start until after college. By neccesity, abbreviations are used in texting, and it has spilled over into all of their online communication. I admit to using lol, omg, zomg, brb, and wtf quite a bit, but only because they're fun, and MUCH shorter than the original phrase. I have never typed wuteva, 2 instead of to/too, 4 instead of for, u instead of you, ur instead of you are, etc. I'd rather shoot myself.

If I make a typo on Twitter, I erase the tweet and re-do it. I am a completely anal spelling/grammar Nazi. Still, I feel like I'm from another world sometimes when my 21-year-old sister, only six years younger than me, types emails and texts in a seemingly different language.

Some teen tweets that make me laugh:

~~~~~
BISH, I LOVE YOU SHUT UP. LMFAO

its been obvious dat wuteva i like, u and tnice will say da opposite.

ha! gyrl wuteva workz!

yeah! for realz! i wanna see dat!
~~~~~

Yeah. 'Nuff sed. =P

Friday, August 7, 2009

Geeky decorating

This is sort of a follow-up to yesterday's post about LAN parties. I want to decorate our computer/LAN party room in the geekiest way possible. I want video game/movie paraphernalia everywhere. Here's the plan:

Line the mantle with World of Warcraft figurines:












Decorate the walls with PacMan, Space Invaders, and Asteroids wall decals:





























Hang various dragon, Harry Potter, and Entourage posters (just for some variety, we already have these):































Place my lightsaber on the window sill:



















I'm also lusting after these Super Mario Bros. wall decals!

Okay, that's all I've got for now, but I'm sure we'll come up with more. I also have Woot lights and a USB lightning ball. =)

Thursday, August 6, 2009

LAN parties

Many people are incredulous that not only do I like LAN parties, but that I wanted to set our basement up as a LAN party room!

Okay, for non-geeks, a LAN party is when a bunch of people bring their gaming computers to a friend's house, they all hook up to the Internet, and play some sort of multiplayer, online game, like World of Warcraft, Dawn of War, etc. It usually starts in the afternoon and lasts all night. I attended a 14-hour one once, and it was pretty bad-ass.

Until now, these have only occurred for us at Chris's house. The condo Simon and I lived in didn't have a big enough room for us to host one. But now...he he he. We have an entire finished basement room just BEGGING for five or so computers to be set up in it. We now live closer to everyone too, and we have guest bedrooms if anyone needs to stay the night.

We have a grill for feeding the masses, we're buying a mini-fridge to stock with soda and energy drinks, we have ample desks and folding tables, and a HUGE 65" TV for when we take a break from computer games to play other video games, like Guitar Hero World Tour. The second I saw this room when we were house-hunting, I exclaimed, "LAN party room!"

And that is when Simon professed, "Is there any question why I'm marrying her?"

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Drunk driving

Today is a serious post. I am absolutely horrified by a story I heard this morning. A mother in NY loaded her two children and three nieces into the car and drove the wrong way down the highway under the influence of alcohol and marijuana. She hit an SUV head-on and killed all three passengers in that vehicle, herself, her daughter, and her three nieces. Her son was the lone survivor.

Read the article here...

Another man in MA was arrested for drunk driving...for the 12th time! Why is he still on the road???

Read the article here...

The problem is, as Jon Keller said on WBZ radio this morning, people make the choice to drive drunk. They may have a drinking problem, and they may need help, but they make the choice to be selfish and risk lives by driving drunk. Maybe they're too cheap to take a cab, or they don't want the inconvenience of retrieving their car the next day, or they just don't care.

But they make that choice.

Luckily, no one I know has ever been injured by a drunk driver. It has not affected my life directly. I do feel for the people affected by them, because I am far too empathetic and sensitive sometimes. I grieve for that little boy who survived and will probably be mentally scarred for life with survivor's guilt (he's five years old; he'll remember). I cry for the lives wasted, the futures that will never be, and the absolute horror of how preventable these tragedies are.

It sickens me. And it will never end.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Getting carded

I get carded for a variety of reasons. My height (I'm 4'11"), my hair (I recently got bangs and they make me look a bit younger), etc. I'm 27, so I'm still in a reasonable range for carding. But Saturday, I got carded for a brand new reason: my voice.

I walked in, grabbed two 6-packs of beer, and put them on the counter. He rang them up, I handed him my debit card. He asked me, "Credit or debit?" and I answered, "Debit." That was when he asked for my ID.

See, when I talk to strangers, I use my "polite voice," which is a bit higher than my casual speaking voice. I don't do it on purpose, and sometimes people giggle when I talk to them normally but answer the phone in a completely different voice. It's just one of my quirks.

Apparently, my "polite voice" also makes me sound younger. I actually got carded because I "sound" young. I find that hilarious.

Anyone else have any funny reasons for getting carded?