I'm currently enrolled into a school for Game Production, and that's pretty cool. We started a few weeks back and I've been doing alright, I guess.
Anyways. There is this girl in my class. And this girl... Is quite possibly the most rage inducing person I have ever met. Every week on the discussion board, she goes on and on about how she knows so much on games because she plays with her boyfriend and how he is the reason why she breathes and plays games. Whatever. That's annoying, but I can see past that.
But, oh god. OH GOD, REALLY? Our first assignment was to talk about the transition of cartridge games to CD, right? Her whole main point in the discussion was about how all games that were in arcade cabs or on a cartridge was garbage. She made claims that the SNES and the N64 were terrible consoles because they didn't read discs. She then said things about pretty much every game before 2005 could have been better if they had improved graphics, or whatever. Um, what? She goes on and on about how wonderful Halo is and that it was the the game that changed the industry for forever and includes how extra wonderful it is because her and her boyfriend play it each day. Grinds. My. Gears.
Last week we had to write about how downloadable games and titles are impacting the gaming industry. And she was the first to put her discussion piece up. She went on about how downloadable titles are not doing anything at all for games these days and that this advancement was going to take years to perfect. She says that all downloadable titles are for casuals and provide no entertainment to "the real gamer." Here's a part from what she shared in our DB: "Improvements in download can be a plus and would definitely make the game experience much more enjoyable. Then again, it comes down to the honesty of the people that are selling. Do they want the people to enjoy games or do they really want to make money? I don't think that any game marketer out there is selling completely for the enjoyment of the gamer." She then goes on to add in how downloadable games are more buggy and glitched than games on discs and how they are full of viruses so that people in the industry can steal your information in an effort to make more money.
....I have to do a group project with this girl. And she rubs her opinion constantly into my face. FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU-
There is so much more I could say. I've never had a classmate infuriate me this much.
I never was one for deadlines or making it to events at a proper time, but oh well.
I also never got to go to those other scary places or haunted houses like we had planned. Everyone decided to last minute bail and so my plans were pretty topsy turvy. But, uh... I have been rather busy. For once. A few Thursdays back my friend came over unexpectedly and we ended up going to Wal-Mart and I looked at baby clothes and the like with her for about 2 hours. (No regrets!) And then there was a movie night at the cousin's, a cook out, and all that.
But enough about that blurb. I have no idea where that came from and I'm not taking it back! Shoot forward to Saturday night. My friend was hosting an anime themed Halloween party. But most of her friends were all... "Anime? What's that?" so it was Anime/Cartoon. I went as Generic Anime Cat School Girl #7 (Or the one with blue hair), my sister was the BLU Spy, complete with a Lucky Star mask, and Oliver was a cute little panda.
Gallery
Well, everything was all fine and dandy, but then Oliver hurt himself and broke his front left paw. :( And before you start blaming the 1 year old malamute, this was a self inflicted pain on Oliver's part. D: Olly had been over before and was pretty familiar with my friend's house. But he hurt himself by jumping off of the couch. A CHALLENGER APPROACHES. Does it look that high up to you? No? Me either. But somehow he managed to fracture his leg. Things he gets for having bones that are like straws. :( I tried to take a few pictures of him pre-surgery and post surgery, but he seems to get embarrassed over the fact that he hurt himself. The cry he made was the most terrifying animal noise I have ever heard ever ever ever. Not something I want to have to witness again.
Gallery
He has a metal plate there now that will be with him for the rest of his life. A 5 month old puppy doesn't need this kind of stress. And it makes me feel pretty terrible because he's our first real pet. D: We had to rush him to the emergency pet hospital, where they weren't exactly the kindest of people... We didn't want his surgery there, so we had to go to our vet which took far too long and he nearly didn't get his surgery in time. Not something I ever want to repeat again. Not only were they rude here and apathetic towards your pet, our wait to see the ER doctor here was 2 hours, with Olly being the only pet there. And it took another 3 and a half hours for him to be out of the back. They gave us no updates during our visit and that just put all of us on edge. Did not help that I was still in my costume and I kept getting weird looks from our Doc. >:(
So... Yeah. If I seem to be all over the place, it's because I'm helping to take care of my own little Frankenweenie or... Frankenhuahua. And mostly just updating for the people who weren't aware and just documenting this for my own purposes. Couches are scary and you should never jump off of them. No matter how big or comfy. D:<
3 Comments
And lemme tell ya: It was a pretty good experience! Mostly doing this because I told gingertastic_10 I would, as well. (Look, a plug! (And I needed a more fun blog. Because, let's face it, my last one was a real stinker.)
Anyways... We went last Saturday. Which was... The 8th? I went with my sister, my cousin Patrick, and his *nearly* nine year old daughter, Layla. She did so much better than me. I'm jealous. (I think I'll be reviewing all of the creepy and eerie places I go to this Halloween season. Hope it's not too much of a spam and more of a treat! :D)
But, uh, Indy Screampark has 5 haunted houses. Costs 25 to see them all, but that wasn't too awful. The scariest part was that line. Shit was intensely long. But after 40 minutes of waiting, we went into...
Bedlam
They sort of force you to go to the first 3 houses immediately after buying your wrist strap pass.
And Bedlam was the first part. This was really unique to me because it was a neon, 3D haunted house. Full of clowns and a few fun house surprises. Everything glows with a few black lights and it's got quite the handful of animatronics. And since you have your 3D glasses goofing with your vision, you can't tell if the certain things that pop out are just because of the glasses or if, HOLY SHIT, a dude pops out from behind it because it was a fake. You'd be surprised at the actual size of this, and they even included this spinning tunnel, that, when the moment you go in across the bizarre cat-walk like structure, it turns you over. It was quite possibly the coolest part to me. What with all the 3D stars and bricks to make it even more cosmic. This feature even included a rickety bridge, maze, and a few obstacles to run through like a classic fun house, which was neat. But if Killer Clowns totally give you the willies, then this won't be that enjoyable. They had quite a few to follow the haunted house goers. *Shudder*
But on a scale of 1 to 10? I give this one an 8/10 solely for the "Wow" factor in that it GLOWED and was like a miniature fun house. I'd go into more detail on this one, but the overall run through experience was only a few minutes. 4 or 5 tops.
After that, we were in line for...
Kurayami
Thank god we go into groups. T_T Or I would have lost my mind. Fun trivia fact for ya: Kurayami is the Japanese word for "black out," apparently. Go share that language knowledge with your friends!
This was a pitch black maze, littered with surprises and obstacles to throw you off. Such as walls that shock you, men who whisper bizarre chants from who knows what direction (They sounded as if they were everywhere around you), and air traps that feel like bee stings. If you've ever done one of those cheesy safari adventures or have seen Disney's Bug's Life Live, you'll know what I mean by the air things that feel like stings. This attraction was created to instill fear in its victims with the complete absence of light. It's advertised as being a tight maze with no hope of escape, but it's really just a twisted corridor with men dressed as creepy samurai warriors everywhere.
This would have been the one to give me the anxiety attack of a lifetime, but I wasn't completely alone in the dark. If I had been... I don't want to think about that. A few fellow patrons somewhat ruined the experience by using their cell phones as flashlights and not relying on their other senses. And because this one was completely boxed in and had no real ventilation so that no light could seep in, it was hot as hell. Only encouraging us to press through faster. Some would say that was a drawback, which it is when in a big group, but to go in that alone would probably increase my own fear and make that even more of a nightmare.
I found this stage of it to be pretty intense, but luckily, I had a really fun group to go with and made it more enjoyable. But you will sweat bullets when this is done. Considering this place is really popular and they don't vent that part of the experience out.
Overall, I give the Kurayami a 7/10 for it's fear factor. If patrons went alone? It'd be off the charts of scary for me.
Third up was...
Nachtmaur
More foreign language trivia! German for "nightmare."
I really liked this one because it played on the idea of having various nightmares be brought to life. And they conveyed this with over 15 horrifically detailed scenes and this one had the most actors. They start you off by opening up what replicates manor doors. Very nifty by my standards, and they open up with a video on what's supposed to be a mirror of a deranged butler, welcoming you into a wild dreamland. They then take you through a cemetery, a manor, an abandoned school bus, a slaughterhouse, mad scientist lab, a crime scene, a morgue... Whatever sort of more "classic" horror image you can think of, this location had. If my mother had gone, seeing the girl in the glass coffin surround by rats would have been the end for her. (I felt bad for the little guys, it seemed like it was really hot in there. =( ) The giant vats of radioactive looking human bodies was incredibly disgusting, but I let that slide because the man in the library? Was a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde combo and he was super attractive. *Biased*
This one was great, though. It really was. Especially if you're not into cornfield mazes, neon clowns, or pitch black for your horror kick. This pretty much catered to everyone and included a vast amount of terrifying scenes for you to enjoy.
The transitions here were done really well and blended perfectly to me. They start from the early days of Dracula all the way to the more modern horrors with a Saw like kind of deal. Overall, I enjoyed it, even if it wasn't that frightening to me. 8.5/10.
Backwoods
This one was in the wooded area. And had the common theme of creepy country folk hillbilly people...
The only light sources provided are those of glowsticks. They aren't that large, either. But they have you go in groups of around 12, with 4 or 5 glowsticks sprinkled through. They only lit up about 2-3 feet in front of you if you held them up above your head, but then that made you look like a target. T_T
Granted, this was really neat because you had to follow the pathway and they had different scenarios set up. The first you encounter is an enlarged outhouse. My cousin Patrick went in and we just watched him instead. (Even the people we didn't know. We were all pansies. Yep.) And he didn't see the guy in the back corner, I was the first to see him so I screamed and bolted past everyone. >.> Ditching the nearly 9 year old... >.>;; Don't judge me, shit was scary.
They had homes that belonged to all kinds of crazy people. Like a hunter with animal bodies and furs dangling all over the ceiling. The hunter himself was scary as hell and blocked the doorway andandandandand... D: Just all kinds of heeeeeeeebeeeeeeeeeejeebees. (It needed the emphasis, you weren't there!) There was the demented mechanic's place, but I had a tough time because scared there. It was Scooter's Auto and Body Shop. So of course I giggled. C'mon and catch a riiide! Only my sister understood the reference. Anyways, what followed were abandoned homes with creaky windows, a mobile home with an old woman who sang songs and yelled at people, men in ghillie suits who just crept up out of no where, and a house with a woman behind a shower curtain. Her silhouette alone was terrifying and seeing another appear behind her to take her out... D:
There were children in the last house just sitting and chanting and praying and then you go into their closet, with clothes you have to dodge (random body parts included!), where you encounter a giant steel door. This was the home of their boogey man. I didn't see him, I just heard him rev up a chainsaw and I was out of there. Finally was away enough to catch my breath, but they had another surprise just to fuck with people. I'll leave this one at that.
This one by far was the most terrifying of the 5. Even though we were with a big group, they had a lot of great actors in this part, chase scenes, and quite a bit of believable variety. The Kurayami gets to you when you're by yourself, this one doesn't matter the size of the group. This haunted attraction had a scary good execution (Lul, execution. I'm so punny.) and was good at giving the spooks.
I'd have to give this one a 10/10 for being capable to scare such large groups so easily and have them run for their lives in the finale. Possibly the highlight of Indy Screampark.
Dark Harvest
Cornfield mazes. D: Well, not so much a maze. More work was put into the other attractions than this one. And it's pretty apparent.
This featured a pre-determined pathway and easily took 10 minutes to just stroll through. We were so tired from the other ones that that is exactly what we did. Just walked through as if it was nothing. And it pretty much was.
Random bodies are sprawled out in some places and a ton of well placed scarecrows do make you jump a little, but only a few actors are here. The scarecrows favor the ones from a particular Doctor Who episode and that was the only reason why they freaked me out. (That exact episode title escapes me right now. Just look it up, okay? Haha. =P) They had a full size bus to climb through with eerie drawings from children sprinkled through, and upon exiting, you see a fire shoot up, paying tribute to the Children of the Corn film. I guess this would be more terrifying if these things were your phobias, but they really didn't have much of an effect considering I just had to go through hell in the Backwoods. That took a lot of energy out of me and still is freaking me out when I think about it too much, haha.
The end did feature a random guy posed as security, who gives a cue to yet ANOTHER DAMN CHAINSAW KILLER. The exit here was much more muddy than the Backwoods, so there was quite a bit of stumbling on my part. (To the point where I will admit that I got my shoe caught and, uh, slammed my shoulder into a pole. I have a wicked scar, though, right?)
Just... Dark Harvest didn't have much for it to be absolutely memorable. And the last thing you do for these sorts of things is meant to be the one you remember the most, right? They ended it on a pretty poor note. I have give this at 4/10.
Maybe Hanna Haunted Acres' Cornmaze will be more climatic and give me a better outlook for those. Sure hope so. Granted, this weekend I'll be going to the King's Island stuff they do. It'll be a first. Anyone else been? And should I blog about that experience? Maybe take pictures because Indy Screampark doesn't allow them?
7 Comments
So, I'm going to take a moment here and frowny face all over the place if you'll allow. ...Oh, you will? That'll be fantastic.
I had a date lined up this Saturday with a duder I've known for nearly 7 years, liked for 6. Been in this "We should go out sometime" limbo for 3 years. Last time we had date planned, he had to cancel because there was a death in the family. And I'm fine with that. I can understand. I'm not some psychopath, I promise. The time before that, I had to bail because I was hospitalized with a mysterious stomach virus. All the times before those, though, he said he was busy and had other plans. When I found out what they were afterwards, I was told that he had wanted to play Gary's Mod, WoW, or Battlefield Bad Company *Number Here*. The reason for this weekend not happening? Civilization V. He sent me a text today saying "Got a new game. Be on it for a few days. Maybe we'll see each other next month." D:< D:< D:<<<<<<<< This is all really upsetting and far too much for me. It's like I do this to myself. The only times we had to cancel, the things were pretty serious. But this? This is too much.
It's almost as if I do this to myself. Maybe I need to grow a backbone and be more assertive? I dunno. I would have no idea where to start.
Doesn't help my mood that my mom and sister have been leaving the house without me. (I lack my own car and whatnot.) So I get wrangled into "puppysitting" because they want to go and have fun. They always tell me these things last minute and when I say "Oh, that sounds like fun! Can I go?" They always pull the "No, you never watch Oliver" card and just leave me. It's complete and total crap because I've been watching the dog since day one. I love him to bits and it's not his fault that we don't have a pet friendly home. It's our first real pet, I don't mind giving him the extra TLC he's earned. I just hate being the one left behind. The places they go allow dogs, but they think he's too much of a handle. He was my sister's birthday present and she's already been neglecting him. It makes me feel terrible. It just rubs the wrong way even more because I have the worst allergies in the world and it took quite some time for my phobia of dogs to go away. (Really helps that Olly is so tiny... But him barking still scares me. I know, I'm weaksauce.)
Just, aaaaaaaaaargh. There has been a lot of tension in this household of mine and being able to go out on my own without my family there or the dog to watch would have been so great, y'know? Even if it wasn't going to be that good of a date, being out of the house would have been nice. Just wish my friends weren't all so busy. It's been years.
What do you mean it's only the 2nd? Ah well. That won't stop me. D:< Papa was a Rollin' Stone, neva 4get.
Originally, I had a pretty ridiculous blog about my day, because, hey, I was bored. And I filled it full of wondrous and terrible jokes for all. For I am a narcissistic comedienne. (Well, not really. I'm not funny, pfft. (That, and well, I'm not very narcissistic. (I am oh so very witty with the whole explaining myself process.)))
So, my sister didn't watch the puppy very closely today. She was so focused on being the highest level on Red Dead. And... And guess what puppy did? Literally a foot away from her? I came upstairs and he had eaten his way through my Rock Band guitar controller. ...Fuckity fuck fuck. And she assumed no responsibility and instead blamed me. Don't you love siblings? I SURE AS HELL DO.
But at least after loading up Dead Rising after not touching it or ever completed, I realized I had left poor Frank West in the best outfit ever. Dress shoes, Servbot hat, and Ratman children's clothes. That's right, my Frank West, expert photojournalist, was revived dressed as a pedophile. That was a great moment.
Although, after that, I was typing up stuff and it was lost because Google Chrome is a dick. Back to Firefox for me (I have missed you, I won't cheat on you ever again, Firefox, baby. I promise!) Also learned that Notepad is your friend.
This is a rundown of all the stuff I did at GenCon so I can look back, laugh at it, and prepare for next year. Whoop!
Saturday: Went to bed at 2am, woke up at 7. Helped my sister AKA BLU Scout's Mom get her hair did. Random waiting around and some breakfast... Arrive at 9am, see a Sexy Snake, get some pics, have him speak with that gravel voice to me. Day complete. :D 10am run into the hall and line up for autographs, we were near the front. :D Blush like mad when Zaboo says you make a picture cute. Laugh at sister who is in love with Jeff Lewis. Bropound Robin Thorsen and Post-It mustache it up with Felicia Day. Giggle like a manic. Wait in another line for Wil Wheaton. Who had a cold. Sadface. 11:30 am: Spent most of your money in one sitting buying autographs. 11:34 am: Spent the rest on one booth because you saw something sparkly and cute. (A dragon bracelet! (Don't judge me.)) 11:35 am - 2 pm: Wander around aimlessly in just the hall looking at merchandise. 2 pm - 2:45 pm: Watch sister spend all of her money in the artist corner. 3 pm: Costume parade! :D Flirt with Altair and Ezio. Get assassinated. 3:11 pm: WONDER CHEF! I LOVE YOU! :D Get distracted by a minor and lovable Tales of Symphonia character. 3:21 pm: Race over to where the costume contest will be to save a seat as you wait for your sister and the parade to get there. But only after standing in a HUGE line 'til a little before 4. 4 pm: Costume contest consisted of Link, Link, Link, Sexy Snake, Green Lantern, Sgt Frog, Link, Men in Tights, a marriage proposal, adorable baby Moogle, Link, Dr. Horrible, Captain Hammer, Link, amazing Big Daddy, and Captain America, risen from the dead! 6 pm: Horrible comedian sings songs and clears out most of the audience from the costume contest. 6:25 pm: Best of show was a Big Sister. 6:26 pm: Wander around before heading down to see the card towers. And a HUGE scorpion made of just Magic cards. Near 7 pm: Save a girl from some creepers. Girl had a "LET'S SYNC!" Pokewalker sign. Start bonding experience. 7 pm - 8: 15 pm: Run around with said girl who is dressed as a fox and whore out our Pokemon together. 8:20 pm: Play that one Japanese drum game and fail. Miserably. 8:25 pm: Continue to whore out my Phione. And share adventures! 8:45 pm: Realize that the PJ party at Union Station is about to start and we promised hot Assassin man we'd be there. 8:46 pm: Say good bye to fellow Pokefans, run into Team Rocket, get a little giddy, and continue rushing over to Union Station. 9-ish pm: Watch cosplayers dance and a Steampunk couple swing dance. Be in awe over their skill. Little after 9 pm: Wonder where Jason is. SURPRISE! He walks up to our table. Go down to the House Lounge to watch DnD players who are drunk try and play. Skip out on the dance party. 9:15 pm or so: Go with Assassin's idea of LARPing instead of dancing. 9pm - 1(?)am: Hilarity ensues. 2 am: Am home, fall asleep.
Log in to comment