5 Jun 07 - 8 Aug 07

So two things are underway:

1) I’m going to try and organize my blog a little better these next few days.
2) I want to beat a game.

I managed to get my PSP downgraded so I can emulate, run isos, homebrews, etc. I’ve got Monster Hunter on there (which I had bought and sold due to frustration), Puzzle Quest, and Earthbound (Mother 1). I think the game I’ll end up finishing is Puzzle Quest simply because of how addicting it is.

Also, I haven’t played IIDX in a VERY long time. It makes me a little sad, but whatever – as soon as my IIDASC gets to my house, I’ll start up again.

You know what sucks? School starts soon. I mean, I’m stoked to get going on things again. I really do love my major (Structural Engineering), so it’s not that. I think I’m just sad to have to leave my girlfriend again. I don’t like having to spend SO much time away from her. She goes to school in Peoria, IL. We try and get together once every 2-3 weeks, but that’s so little, ya know?

The other thing about that that sucks is that I don’t go out Friday and Saturday nights to drink and party. That’s not my style, which is fine, but she sometimes likes to go out (very rarely, but she does). It makes me a little uncomfortable when she goes to a frat party or goes to the local dance club type place. I’ve talked to her about it, but she just gets upset about how she never has anything to do. I don’t know how to deal with it really.

In other news, I found I-Doser…I’ll post on that soon.

http://www.desktoparcade.com/images/seandeck.jpg

He’ll be shipping it soon. Wow…

Well again, it’s been a few days. Whatever – my apologies. I’ve been busy at work and home. I’m studying to test out of my Electromagnetism and Optics class at Purdue. It’s fun to learn something interesting on your own.

I’ve been rocking out on my Zune a lot lately – I still love this thing. Also, my IIDASC still hasn’t shipped, and for that, I am sad. I REALLY want this thing – it was supposed to ship last Tuesday. I’ll be hounding Steve for it. *smile*

I’ve been itching to play Earthbound lately, too. Earthbound Zero has grabbed my interest again, but I’ll be honest – that game is long. I watched the ending last night on youtube, and again, the final boss battle is just SO neat (and creepy and creative). I still think Earthbound games have the most amazing stories of any video games out there. Chances are I won’t end up starting again, but it’s a nice wish.

Back to work for me…

My controller should be shipping soon. Good.

In other news, I say Ratatouille yesterday with my girlfriend, and it was actually quite funny! I recommend it.

The 4th is tomorrow! I’m kind of excited, because I’m not working, and I took off the 5th. It should be a good next couple of days. I was going to try and glowstring at some point for everyone, but I haven’t done it in a while, so I’m rusty. I even considered doing some fire spinning, but I don’t have a set of fire poi of my own (I borrowed a set during the school year from a friend, and then just spun with another friend’s set). I should post my fire spinning pictures. Haha – that’d be sweet…

Wow – it’s been what feels like forever since I’ve updated my blog. For anyone who reads this, my apologies. I’ve been busy at work and home. Now that I’m finding more time for this, I should be able to update daily or bi-daily again. *smile*

So what’s happened lately…I bought a Zune. I must say, for those of you in the market for an mp3 player, a Zune is the way to go. I’ve got all 4 seasons of Aqua Teen Hunger Force on there, Matrix 3, and a shit load of music. AND I’ve still got 22.4 GB left I think…It’s SO awesome. The best $250 I’ve spent in a while. Plus, it’s the Halo 3 Limited Edition one.

I also bout Sim City DS a short while back. It’s a lot of fun, but I’m not the best at Sim City, and it’s starting to show. Haha – but despite the terrible reviews, it’s really a great game. I also bought Elebits for the Wii. That’s a great game, too. Very Katamari Damaci-esque. I’m very happy with the money I spent on it - $35 used.

I sold my trombone last week, also. The money was nice, but more importantly, the horn is getting used by someone who has time for it. I had no time to devote to my instrument, but that’s OK.

I haven’t played much IIDX at all lately. It sucks, but my controller should be shipping today or tomorrow according to Steve from Desktop Arcade, and that’s going to totally boost my desire to play. I might be heading to Omaha’s FFC tournament. I need to get significantly better at IIDX, though. Otherwise, it’s a wasted trip for me.

I have been IIDX’ing it up on my computer on that flash simulator that’s out there. It’s actually a great remake of the game. It keeps me playing, and it’s a great estimate of my ability. I can’t pass all the 6’s, just like I can’t on the system. Hooray for that!

I’m going to probably purchase another fat PS2 so I can play IIDX easier. I don’t really know what to do about it all. We have a slim PS2 that’s kinda shot. We’re borrowing my brother’s friend’s fat PS2 for now, so…yeah. This is hard to figure out. I don’t want to blow a ton of money on this endeavor, but we’ll have to see. I might see if my brother wants to sell his Gamecube since we have the Wii. That will give us like, $50 towards the new PS2. We have 2 Xbox’s in my house, so we COULD sell one of those and have even more money towards the PS2 adventure, but I don’t know.

I’ll update as more develops. I have some more comments on movies in a little bit.

I wanted to add one more post! I bought a new set of grilling stuff for my girlfriend’s dad, and he loved it. He was REALLY excited about it, haha. He’s not big on hugs usually, but when he shakes my hand and then throws a hug in there, it makes me feel more like family, and I like that a lot!

And I laughed inside when my girlfriend was talking with her parents…They asked what I got my papi for father’s day, and I told them, “A golf game for the Wii.” And then my girlfriend chimes in, “I love Sean’s Wii.”

Insta win for my girlfriend!!!

So Etrian Odyssey for the DS is awesome. I haven’t played a game that challenged me like this has in a LONG time. IIDX is different, haha.

If you have a DS, pick it up – it’s an old school RPG that’s hard as balls. Plus, you have to draw your own maps on the bottom screen. A really fun use of the touch screen in my opinion. *yay*

More about this past weekend…I played IIDX either Friday or Saturday, I can’t remember. It was a moderately OK session. I think I got an A on one song? That pissed me off a bit, but it’s better to put some time in than none, right? *heart*

I also have seen major progress on my piano playing skills – that’s VERY exciting for me! I’m able to play both hands together pretty well now – my most recent achievement is playing the main line from Simple Gifts. It feels really good to be able to play music now. It’s going to take more and more practice always, but this is one of the most rewarding learning adventures I’ve ever gone on. If you ever wanted to learn piano, take it from someone with NO previous experience…ANYONE can learn piano!

I’d like to get some more IIDX in within the next few days. Hopefully my controller will still be on schedule like Steve said it would. The 5-6 wall is still not fully scaled on my part. Some 5’s kick the shit out of me still. 6’s can get pretty rough, too.

I realized my biggest issue thus far is when there are streams with chords in there – I just don’t have a solid way to hit the keys yet. I feel like my hands are too hectic. I’ll keep practicing. And Fake Time L7, those crazy chords at the beginning? That’s hard for me still. I need to get better at reading (chord, note, chord, note, chord, note, etc) patterns. And damn Blue Mirage L7 – all that TT!?!?! I seriously need to get better at the TT so I can progress.

Ah – and I’m at work again. Not much to do today. That’s why I brought my DS.

OH YEAH! And we bought my papi Tiger Woods 07 for the Wii. I *heart Wii.

A few little updates - I think I forgot to post yesterday, and for that, I apologize (for any of you who read my blog often, haha). Also, I’m sorry for not reading and responding to everyone else’s blogs these past 2 or 3 days. It’s been crazy at work (kind of), and even crazier at home.

As you’ve seen, my girlfriend and me are quite happy together (that was taken last year at some point). Her mother just blows my mind in her level of ridiculousness. Like, I guess she (my girlfriend) told her mother today about wanting to go on a cruise with my family. Well her mother started freaking out and yelling at her about how I never say hi to her when I’m at her house, or that I never pay attention to her stories? And my girlfriend was REALLY confused by this, since I’m probably too polite for my own good…

We’ve decided she’s crazy.

And while my girlfriend was crying, I told her every time she cried, a kitten died. She smiled and kind of stopped crying a little. Yay for the kittens!

I guess it just sucks because her father isn’t the one who’s going crazy, it’s her mother. Oh, and apparently, her mother is under the impression that every single weekend over the past school year, I went to her school to visit her. For those of you who are confused, that’s over a 3 hour drive every weekend from my school to hers. NOT gonna happen.

She claims that she’s coming on this cruise with us no matter what – I’m going to cross my fingers and hope she’s 100% going through with that, because that would be SO fucking awesome.

Me and my girl!

There you go - me and my beautiful girlfriend!

Well I didn’t update yesterday…I was minorly depressed I think. My girlfriend was at work all day, I had no drive to do anything, work was boring (all I did ALL day was attempt to locate permits online and in old project folders for the sewer I’m designing now since NOBODY knows what permits to use), and I found out that my girlfriend got asked out by a co-worker and gets hit on daily by another.

My point has been made.

But I digress…Work today has been a lot better – I found almost all the IDOT, IDNR, and USACOE permits needed. That’s a good thing for those who have NO idea what I’m talking about. My girlfriend bought me some dark chocolate covered graham crackers from Starbucks…Mmmmm – I’m content with those! Haha

I think I’ll find a good picture to post of her and I since I talk about her a lot. We’re trying to convince her parents to let her come on a cruise with my family this Christmas vacation.

Now about that – we would have been dating for just shy of 3 years at that point (shy by like, 2 weeks), I’ll be 21, she’ll be 19 (still), but her parents will probably STILL say no. Is that fucking retarded or what? They wouldn’t let her come on a 3 day/2 night trip to Wisconsin we took after we’d been together for 1.5 years, but they let her bother (who’s my age, dating a girl who just graduated high school) go with his girlfriend of less than 3 months at the time up to a hotel for the weekend after prom. WHAT THE HELL?!

So she says she’s going to just tell her parents she’s coming with my family, and damnit – they better let her. We haven’t had sex or anything – we’re not some crazy promiscuous couple. *sigh* I guess we’ll see what happens.

In other news – I’m going to probably get a flash cart for my DS so I can use it as an organizer of sorts. Yay for that! Ok – I’m going to do some more work (and get a picture!). Peace.

IIDASC

There it is - the preview of my IIDASC (IIDX Arcade Style Controller for you UN-EDUCATED lololol). It’s from Desktop Arcade, so obviously, I recommend them. Haha - I really do though - Steve is super nice and easy to deal with.

He said he should ship it by Friday. BALLIN’! I’ll be a IIDX machine come next week. *bliss*

I said I was going to make another post while at work, so here I am doing so.

I play Maple Story. Haha – yeah, I’m 20 years old and still play that game. But I have to say there is something strangely addictive about that game. I don’t play it much, but I do play it here and there. I play it more when there’s somebody to play WITH (that I know, not just some 12 year old accident child).

It’s free, too. And it wastes a HELLUVA lot of time, which is not something I probably should be doing, but whatever. I have things I should be doing, but it’s nice to just blow time every once in a while.

You know what I need to do? I need to get a new PS2 because the one I have at home (slim model) had its lens just eat shit and die. It works sometimes, but there are other times where the game will just not load, or while streaming a song from GH2, the song will skip. Whatever…I might just buy a refurbished fat model after I get my next paycheck.

Aight – that was my next blurb for the day. If you play MS by chance, let me know. I’m on Khaini. I’ll try and post again after work is done.

I probably need to organize my blog a little better. I know it’s in disarray, but not very many people read it, so it makes me feel less inclined. Although I have all day at work today to work out some sort of organizational method…That should keep me busy all day!

I’m at work right now, and it’s slightly boring. I tried to search for some tax maps I needed for some property, and it took (no joke) over an hour to find online. LAME.

My IIDASC should be on it’s merry little way soon…Oh yeah! My piano playing escapade is going well. I’m able to read the treble clef better (I’ve played jazz trombone for about 10 years now, so bass clef and general music theory is a joke to me at this point), and I’m about able to read both clefs simultaneously. That’s surprisingly harder than it looks. I mean, IIDX helps with hand eye coordination no doubt, but it doesn’t help as much for this unless you’re playing doubles (I think?).

My girlfriend works from 8:30 AM - 12. Then she works from 2 PM - 11 PM. That’s fucking retarded.

Whatever - so in her absence, today I will practice piano, read Stephen King’s The Dark Tower book 3 (The Waste Lands), wash my car, and play IIDX. ALL DAY. I mean, what the hell else should I do? I don’t feel like driving to who knows where with gas being $3.57 a gallon (that’s the cheapest in the area). Besides, there’s nowhere fun to drive to. I COULD drive up to the “local” arcade and play DDR/ITG, but I kind of quite arrow smash games.

I had a muffin for breakfast instead of my typical Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch. I wish I would’ve had the cereal - the muffin was just OK.

In other news, my roomies from school still owe me $52.50 since I paid the bills with my debit account last month. I’m still bothering them about it, and it sounds like it’ll work out perfectly OK…but that $52.50 would be really nice right now.

Maybe I’ll go up to Best Buy today? No - I can’t. Every time I do that, I want to buy something. I’m really bored already…I like work. I do. I enjoy going to work and being busy, I just don’t like getting up early. Meh.

Well I guess that’s all for now. I’m going to go try and see my girlfriend for a little bit between jobs. I’ll more than likely post again tonight.

What a day at work…I get out in less than 30 minutes, but it’s been GREAT! I’m designing a sewer that’s going to be put in about 2 miles from our office. I’m also going to be starting a design on re-paving a road. I feel important.

I guess it would be worthwhile to explain a little about what I do. I’m a Civil Engineering student at Purdue University, so I’m only an intern at this point. I’m going to emphasize in structures and then do my masters at Purdue to become a full-fledged Structural Engineer. I work at Robinson Engineering, LTD at their Frankfort, IL office. The nature of work here is not my major focus since I’m structurally inclined, but it’s great to see what actually goes on in the real world.

I’ve been doing a lot with wastewater and plan reviews, while also doing some design work and basic data entry and quasi-analysis. I did a study for getting a traffic light installed at a nearby intersection – I actually just turned in the final spreadsheet to my boss about 3 minutes ago. It’s so crazy how much goes into these things. Like, you wouldn’t even believe what has to happen before they can build even a small commercial park.

But whatever…It’s awesome, the pay is pretty good, and I’m getting huge experience! *smile*

I’m stoked to get home tonight…IIDX weekend! Fricken right! Hizah! I’ll try and update tomorrow as to the happenings of tonight.

I’m making it a goal of mine to pass all of the 1-4’s on Hard with FC’s. Well, that didn’t go as well as I had hoped…I have this weird habit of not scratching hard enough, haha. I pinky scratch and all, but I’m too lite with it sometimes. That gets me into trouble when I’m doing a 2 - yes, a 2 - and I miss one because I’m too floaty with my TT.

Damnit all.

Whatever, I’ll try and make more progress this weekend. Blue Mirage L7 is hard. It’s only a 5, but all the TT + notes with in between 8ths confuses the hell out of me. I’m going to practice that song to death this weekend. And Outer Limits 7k is a rough 5 also.

Someone on bemanistyle mentioned bringing back the flashing ratings and I totally agree with that. I mean, I go to play a song thinking it’s got a doable rating, like a 5 in this case, just to find out it’s one of those songs that could be considered an easier 6. Well that would be more notable since I only started doing 6’s a few days ago. Man, whatever. Haha – I guess I’ll just continue what I’m doing.

Also, I tried playing my favorite IIDX song to date (Bloody Tears and Nageki no Ki are competitors for this spot as soon as DD comes out), which happens to be Presto, on 7k mode. That’s a tough 7. I can almost kind of do it, but not really, lol. I’ll keep practicing. That’s one song I’m REALLY excited to pass one day.

I should get back to work for now. I’ll post again later.

If anyone reads this, can you let me know how to post my VJ Army stat thing in the forums? Thanks!!

So I finally started SERIOUSLY playing IIDX again. I mean, I used to play a lot here and there, but I’ve decided to really play hardcore. I played yesterday for the first time since Monday (I know, 2 days…but still), and I hadn’t played for about 5 days before playing Monday, and I randomly made the jump from 5-6 without much work at all. I played 5.1.1. 7k and passed it on my first Hard attempt.

I should mention I only play on Hard, no regular clears for me anymore. ^_^

Anywho, I dunno – it just felt really good playing again. IIDX is one of those games, I’ve decided, that you can actually feel progress in. My papi was downstairs watching me play, and he was shocked (and this was only playing 5’s and 6’s) at how much concentration the game took. He even said, and I quote, “This isn’t like any of those other video games you guys play. This looks like it actually takes a LOT of practice.”

He’s right…

But what I was getting at with the name of this post…I’ve started uploading my scores onto VJ Army, and I’m always welcoming a rival. I started the rivals thread over at Bemanistyle, so hopefully that will take off and get some good use. J One can only hope!

My IIDASC should be here no later than next week, based on my understanding from Steve over at Desktop Arcade. *crosses fingers* There isn’t a more perfect time than now! Besides, I’m still borrowing my KOC from a friend who quite playing after he realized this game was a LOT harder than other games he’s used to playing.

Damn, this is a long post! Whatever…I guess I have a lot to say today? I’ll need to start archiving my posts, making it easier to get around. I doubt anyone’s really going to want to read about my life in an archival format, but hell – it’ll at least keep me busy and feeling good!

You know what would be sweet? If you could get your web journal/blogs made into a book. That would be hot.

Oh yes! And probably the highlight of my night…my girlfriend FINALLY doesn’t have to work one of these weekday nights. So after work, I’m going home, picking up some piano books from my friend down the street, shaving, and relaxing with her while watching movies and sitting on my butt. I’m INCREDIBLY excited to finally sit down with her and relax. It feels good to have the most beautiful girl in the world right next to you! *smile*

Yeah - in my spare time, I like to do stuff like this. It goes in order…You can kind of see the problem. Enjoy!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Yes, I’m a mega nerd.

And damn proud of it. ^_^

I really must say kudos to him for getting all of this going. He was very prompt about getting me a domain for this all, and very helpful, too. Thanks!

As for the rest of the world, I have a lot of work to do today. I didn’t play any IIDX yesterday (or since Monday for that matter). I bought my new keyboard, which is fricken amazing…It has 5 tracks and a background beat track so I can record a 6 track song right onto my keyboard. I’m pretty much stoked - AND it was only 200 bucks. I’m content right now.

I’ve been working out a lot, and not to brag or anything, but it’s starting to show. My girlfriend is happy, so I guess that makes me happy, too! Hizah!!!

Alright, I need to do some work. I have a book I want to talk about when I get back here…

You know, I’m glad work is work and home is home. I mean, when I get home today, I’m going to Friday’s for dinner and then going to pick up my keyboard. Then I’ll play IIDX and go workout.

I say all that because I just got a design project for work and more data for the report I’m writing. AND I have traffic data to input so I can analyze that for warranting a new traffic light here in my home town. I don’t have to think about all of that when I’m at home, and I’m quite happy with that.

But I must say, it feels nice to be busy doing fun and life changing things. I’m going to enjoy driving past something and thinking, “Yeah, I helped design and implement that…” I

So I found this on bemanistyle in the forums, and I guess it’s probably not a bad idea. I mean, I sit at work for 8 hours a day and usually don’t have too much to do, even though I do ask for stuff…

Should I write about IIDX? I could, yes but…Well, I’m waiting for my Desktop Arcade controller to come in. I’m really stoked - I think that thing is going to push me to play even more. Hopefully things will work out and I’ll have it by the end of the month. *sigh* I better.

Oh yeah, and I’m going to be buying a new keyboard: Yamaha E403 model. Look it up - it’s sweet. Now I can make music in FL Studio SO much easier.

Back to work for now - but I’ll probably end up adding something else in a little bit.