Well tomorrow (actually, since I’m writing this past midnight, its technically tomorrow already, and furthermore, since most people are reading this the very next morning, make that today) is my very last day as a twenty-something. And holy shit…
Gotta say, the idea of being a thirty-something is just plain weird. It?s hard to explain; maybe there’s really nothing to fuss over, yet I find myself feeling somewhat confused, even conflicted. It’s not so much that I suddenly feel as if I should “act my age” and stop obsessing over childish pursuits like Transformers, Iron Man, the Electric Company, and finally beating Super Mario 2, from beginning to end, without warping, and with only Luigi. Its how I don’t feel that way at all, despite somewhat expecting to, and how maybe I should (never mind that at least one of the things mentioned is tied into my “career”). Furthermore how everyone else is also still into the same crap that they were into as a 12 year old. Maybe its because nerdom is “hip” these days (and I won’t even go down that road and come off as some huge douchebag by going on about how I was into such-and-such before it was rediscovered by the masses… even though its true!). Or maybe its because that’s just the way its going to be? Will I be just as into Tron when I’m 40? 50? Who am I kidding… by that time, I will be, just like everyone else, enslaved by aliens, mining for spice on a slaver ship, and wearing nothing but a body suit made entirely out of their mucus. And my prediction will be that the only form of entertainment will be the comedy stylings of the one human that the aliens have chosen to entertain us all, that being Jay Leno. But I digress…
Anyway, I guess what I’m also trying to say is that, for whatever reason, turning 30 is this huge, momentous occasion in any person’s life, and on the cusp of that very moment, I’m just not feeling it. Instead of being on the brink of profound clarity, I just find myself wondering when the fuck am I going to get my PlayStation 2 chipped so I can finally play King of Fighters XI and Dodonpachi dai Ou Jou? Though I kid… I’m actually quite happy at the moment, especially since I was so seriously bummed out as the big day approached, at least a few weeks back, after having just been fired from a new job that held much promise but turned out to be a totally nightmare, plus being unemployed as a result. But after a rocky few weeks, I managed to score some good freelance gigs, and now I’m actually in the midst of entertaining a new full-time opportunity that also holds much potential. So expect an announcement sometime very soon!
So I normally use each birthday of mine as an excuse to have some get-together or party, but not this year, though not because I’m melancholy or anything, I’ve just been too busy to plan anything out (plus it seems like everyone else is too busy around this time as well). Hence why I was totally taken aback by the surprise little shindig that MK and Dave whipped together for me this past Saturday night. What I originally thought was going to be just the three of us hanging out to play Def Jam Icon was actually the six of us… Mike, his wife Liz, and Joe were all on-hand. Dave even baked a cake to mark the occasion, with LEVEL 30 in white on blue frosting, to match this site’s design! What a guy.
Along with food, folks, and beers, we played some games, such as the aforementioned Def Jam game for the Xbox 360. I recall a recent thread over at Gaming Age in which folks complained about its broken fight system, unbalanced characters, and blah, blah, blah. They clearly don’t get it. It?s all about Little Jon fighting Ludacris! And, as previously mentioned, the insanely, drop-dead gorgeous graphics (with “blue, blue, skies” that would put Sega racing games to shame), and the outrageous graphics are simply phenomenal…. never-mind the vaguely racist underpinnings of it all. Too bad the soundtrack was devoid of both MK’s and my favorite song at the moment (which we were singing all night long the night prior), but that’s what the 360′s hard drive is for. Unfortunately, the one wireless remote flaked out on us, so we had to switched gears, and have an impromptu Fight Weapon Battle Of The Pale Face tournament with Tech Romancer, which then became Mike’s new favorite game. The animu is good and strong in that one. And then we played Melty Blood for a bit, if only to show the rest of the crowd Wolf Cock, then Dave popped in Gears of War for Mike. At one point, Dave played online with a bunch of Select Button folks, while I tried chatting with them on the headset. It wasn’t long before a few got really annoyed with my drunken attempts at conversation, but whatevas. The night concluded with a MST3K film, Teenagers From Mars to be exact. Actually, it ended with me accidentally grabbing GoW instead of Teenagers From Mars before heading out, and last I heard, Dave’s Xbox is acting all funky and I’m afraid I might have broken it somehow, though I can’t understand how. Those things are so friggin’ sensitive…
Wow, its almost two in the morning, so perhaps I should wrap it up, but I will mention that the third annual i am 8-bit art show is coming up later this day, and like before, I should hopefully have some pics from the event, so stay tuned. Plus there’s a couple of game related thing happening in the Big Apple as well, which I will be covering myself, for GameSetWatch.
Also, two quick links. First, a YouTube clip featuring 50 cosplayers, all gathered on a Japanese street, and dancing in unison, till they get run off by the cops.
And second, meet Oliver Laric, my new fave artist at the moment. He’s got a bunch of neat videos on this site including a bunch of clipart and a bunch of dropkicks.
