Monday, January 30, 2012

Triforce Mike

Mike,

Although you and I weren't particularly close, I'm still gonna miss you, man. You were one of my awesome Nerdy Show co-hosts, and Nerdy Show has become like a little family to me. We've lost one of our most crucial members, and I don't know what we're going to do without you now. No one will ever be able to fill your shoes. Every episode that I recorded with you was a blast, and it truly saddens me that I'll never be able to experience that again. We're certainly going to make sure that you're never forgotten.

Despite the fact that we didn't hang out much outside of Nerdy Show events, your presence was always known throughout town. Any time something cool was going on somewhere in the city, I'd always see you there.  You were the life of the party, and your infectious energy rubbed off on everyone around you. You had so much personality that it was impossible for anyone to forget you after spending even just a minute or two talking to you. You made a big impact on everyone who's ever known you, and you'll be missed terribly.

Nerdy Show won't be the same without you, Orlando won't be the same without you, the entire nerd world won't be the same without you there to express all those strong thoughts and opinions of the topics and fandoms you were so passionate about. My thoughts and prayers are with all of your friends, family and loved ones. I pray that all who know you can find solace in the incredible memories they have of you. Your amazing friends have a bunch of projects and events planned to honor your memory, and I hope you're able to see them and enjoy them from where ever you are.



 The world has lost an amazing soul, and I wish I had gotten a chance to know you better. Rest in peace, Mike Pandel. We love you and miss you so very much.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

TV Shows

My day at Universal on Wednesday was pretty fun, but like I've said in the past, I'm still really tired of those parks. We were done with  both Universal and Islands of Adventure in less than three hours. I did finally ride something that I was too much of a wuss to go on before, which is the Mummy roller coaster. It actually wasn't scary at all. I'm still a huge wuss, though.

I bought a bottle of yummy pumpkin juice from the Harry Potter area. Here's a blurry photo of the bottle cap on my friend's cat's head:

I had to put it on her head about 10 times before I could get her still enough for a photo. She hates me now.
So lately, I've been catching up on TV shows that I never got around to watching before. I got my way through all 7 seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia within a few weeks, and now I'm going through all of Arrested Development. Both shows are hilarious, and I've been enjoying them immensely. I'm not sure what to watch next after I'm done with Arrested Development. Any suggestions?

Gonna be moving all my stuff out of my current house in a couple days and putting it in a storage unit! I'm never home anymore, so it's been a huge waste of money to pay rent every month when I don't even use the place for anything but storage. Not anymore!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Dinner with friends

Had a really nice gathering last night with one of my best friends from high school and her boyfriend. She just moved to my city like a week or two ago, so it's super awesome that I can actually hang out with her again. We ate yummy food and caught up for a few hours. It's so crazy that she ended up living here just because I introduced her to Random Encounter back in the summer. It'll be nice to have a female friend to hang out with that I actually get along with well, because it's so rare for me to ever have good female friends.

Here's a photo of us:


I'm going to Universal in like an hour!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

The redone Sonic CD


A friend of mine just bought me Sonic CD on Steam. This game and I have a bit of a weird history. Although I've had it since I was a little kid, I've never really given it a fair chance. It has such a different feel from the other classic Sonic games that I could never quite get into it. The levels are, in my opinion, designed rather strangely, in ways that make the game very frustrating at parts. However, despite all that, this game is very special to me for one reason.

The game's soundtrack is AMAZING. Now, I'm referring to the Japanese soundtrack. The American soundtrack is okay, and it's the one I grew up with, but as soon as I heard the Japanese soundtrack, I could never go back. Definitely one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time, and I listen to it on a regular basis.

This version of Sonic CD is redone, with a lot of new features added. Now that there's a spiffy new version of it, I think I'm ready to finally give the game a fair chance. A lot of people think of it as the greatest Sonic game of all time, and while I know my opinion won't be changing THAT drastically, who knows, I might actually be able to say that I like the game. We'll see.

I'll be streaming it soon. Stay tuned!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Awesome new keyboard

So my old keyboard had been crapping out lately, and it was getting super annoying. Luckily for me, a really cool one from Logitech happened to go on sale around the same time. It's wireless and solar powered and super awesome! I love that I don't have to worry about batteries ever, and the charge hasn't even dropped below 100% yet. It's also extremely thin and pretty snazzy-looking, too! I'm in love.

Here's a pic!

If you need a new keyboard, I definitely recommend this one, especially since you can get it for so cheap right now. It's friggin' sweet! Here's the link: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/special-offers/closeout/devices/9244

And now for a ridiculous photo of one of my childhood Halloween costumes. My parents decided to dress me up as a fat girl for Halloween.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Workin' Workin'

Been trying to adjust back to normal life after my awesome trip. I apparently got some icky nerd germs during MAGFest, because I've been slightly sick since I got home. Annnnd I just had to take a break from typing to sneeze 5 times in a row. :<

We recorded our MAGFest Nerdy Show episode a couple days ago, so that'll be up soon.

The store I work at is currently in the process of moving into a new location. It's in the same shopping center, but it's still going to be weird to be working in a different room after 3 years.

I'm working full force on my online store again. I'm hoping to debut it very soon!

Man, I've barely been playing any games lately. That needs to change soon.

And now for a look at one of my favorite Christmas gifts, which I've been using and enjoying immensely:

I LOVE IT.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

omg MAGFest.

I had such an awesome time! Although driving all the way there and back (16 hours each way!) was super tedious, it was so worth it. I had such a blast with my friends, and they hopefully gained lots of new fans from the event!

Although they had that horrible sound issue during their main performance, they were given a second chance a couple days later when they were granted a quick performance at the jam space. As sad as it is to say, the sound setup at that little jam space was FAR superior to the sound setup from the main stage. They sounded awesome, and it gave people a chance to see them shine.

The headliner of the event, the Earthbound Papas, played on the final night. The show was FANTASTIC. I got to go into the backstage area with all the bands, so I was a few feet away from Nobuo Uematsu the entire time. He's such a character! He kept doing a bunch of hilarious stuff during the show. Here's a video of one of the songs they played, from the point of view where I was standing. It's Dancing Mad, the final boss song from Final Fantasy VI. It's a really long song, and they did the ENTIRE thing! Enjoy!


Go to youtube to view at full size!

On the final day of the show, we were hanging out by the Random Encounter merch table at one point before packing up, and Uematsu suddenly walked right by! That was awesome.

I'm going to be doing a more in-depth MAGFest trip report with Nerdy Show, so I'll be posting the link to that after it's up, if you're interested.

What a weekend.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Quick MAGFest Update

I've barely had any time to update, but I thought I'd make a quick one.

We arrived here on Thursday at 7 in the morning! After a 15 hour drive, it felt amazing to crash in the hotel bed for a nap. I think my sleep schedule is actually somewhat normal now, somehow.

I've been having an awesome time! I honestly haven't listened to many bands perform yet, but I've just been having a blast hanging out with my friends. The ones I did listen to were pretty good, though (I just had to endure lots of nerd stink in the crowds, yuck).

There's a dealer room that has a bunch of games and game-inspired merch. Most of the games are priced way too high, so I haven't purchased anything, but one table in particular has an incredible collection of rare consoles from Japan, most of them in box! It's amazing to see all that stuff in front of me.

Connected to the dealer room is a big arcade area, with the games all set to free-play mode. They have a ton of games that I love, but the problem is that most of the machines seem to have some sort of problem. :( Either a button doesn't work, or it keeps resetting mid-game, or it's just completely turned off. Oh well, I was able to play a few games, at least.

Random Encounter was the first band to play, and while they did an amazing job, the people working the sound board ruined everything! Their levels were off in some way the ENTIRE time, and it ruined many of their songs. It was extremely disappointing, and we've all been amazed that they've actually gained some new fans despite the sound issues. Thankfully they'll be jamming out at the jam space later today, so they'll have a second chance to show their stuff!

Uematsu's band will be playing today, so I'm super excited about that!

If any of you are actually here, I've been hanging out at the Random Encounter merch table a bunch. You can try to find me there!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Leaving for MAGFest TOMORROW!

It's almost time for MAGFest!!! I've been in serious need of a vacation, so I'm getting super excited! This will be the first time I've ever taken a road trip like this with a group of friends. I'm hoping it will be a blast!

I'm riding there with the Random Encounter crew, and I'll be hanging with them the whole time. I'm getting in for free as a member of Nerdy Show, so I'm really happy about that!

It's a 4-day show, so I'll be sure to post updates about whatever exciting stuff that's going on!