Oh Yikes.

Well, college is approaching... really, really, soon.

Wear Your Food!

There are new items in the Etsy Shop!
This batch has more delicious and adorable earrings based off of fruits.

Lemon or Lime? Why not both?

Red or White Wine? Or Red or White Grapes? Again, why not both?

More of a symmetrical kind of person? How about some strawberries?

Okay, so the bunny isn't food exactly, but the carrot sure is!

Okay, okay, this isn't food at all.

 I have never tried to eat a Poporing, but I'm quite sure they aren't edible either...

Ever had Pocky? If not, you haven't lived.

That's all for now!

A new batch of items are currently in queue to be fired up in the oven, so keep your eyes opened!

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Layout Coming Soon!

Due to Hello Interloper becoming larger, and with the addition of the Etsy shop, it's about time that the blog gets a makeover!

Within the next month or so I will begin to remodel the layout of the blog.

Don't worry, no content will be deleted!

I'll be aiming to accomplish a few things:

- Create a header instead of using plain text

- Make the page wider to better accommodate the rising number of visitors with widescreen monitors

- Make the Etsy Shop link more prominent

- Make the Etsy Shop page showcase the most recent additions

- Create a new color scheme

- Have less clutter on the sidebar

- Make the ads less obtrusive (I know they're annoying and it would be better to have them gone completely, but remember, I don't have an actual job!)

Keep your eyes peeled for new changes and improvements!

My Last.FM Page! + CopyTrans Review

Thanks to a handy program called CopyTrans, I finally was able to upload all of my playcounts from my old iPod onto last.fm!
You can now see my full list of songs I've loved and listened to over the past 4 or 5 years.
Feel free to add me as a friend!
Click here for my last.fm account page!

Please keep in mind that the playcounts do not always reflect my current taste in music!
These are songs I've listened to over the past 4-5 years, meaning from when I was 15-20.
That means that about 3 of those years were from when I was extremely depressed... eep!

To read more about the program CopyTrans, click "Read more" below!

Interscat

My submission into Urban Dictionary...
...because we totally need a word like this.

Brings Back Memories... and Ranting

As a young kid, I was absolutely obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog.

Seeing this video sure brought back memories, back when I used to beg to use my uncle's SEGA console to play Sonic 3... even if I was really just mashing buttons and dying constantly.

YouTube - Sega's Office Pranks - Aaron's Desk

Honestly though, these SEGA workers seem to love the oldschool stuff.

How about they take that enthusiasm and bring Sonic back to his former glory, rather than continue to put him in games that only a child could possibly appreciate?

The success that Sonic the Hedgehog reached in the 90's was due to the fact that the games were enjoyable by any age group.

Now that technology has moved forward, Sonic's target age group has moved backwards, so to speak, in the constrained direction of a younger target audience.

Just take a look at the E3 trailer for SEGA's newest Sonic title...

Sonic COLORS Trailer

Sonic now fuses together with strange colored creatures reminiscent of Pokemon's "Rotom" character to gain power-ups.

(See Rotom here)

I'm all for adding new features and gameplay to old series, but really?

Adding a whole new "species" of characters to an already cluttered cast is not the way to go, especially when they are placed at the center of the game's mechanics.

Sonic Adventure's "Chao" characters were a prime example of what DID work in the series. The addition of the Chao were intuitive, and generally unobtrusive.

Though they played a part in the plotline, they were seen in cutscenes and didn't factor into gameplay.

For those who wanted something extra to do while playing the game, the Chao were an interactive side show, a cross between a mini-game and pet simulator.

The fact that taking care of the Chao was a non-essential part of both Sonic Adventure games meant it could be ignored by those who saw it as a nuisance, though personally I embraced it.

The Chao were fun and time consuming, adding countless hours of extra play time, and ultimately game value.

Sonic Adventure and its sequel, Sonic Adventure 2, both proved that Sonic definitely could work in a 3D setting.

However, after seeing SEGA add magical storybooks, swords, "were-hog" transformations, and now superpowers based on color, that little blue hedgehog has become the center of a mess of random, yet unoriginal plotlines.

I think it's time to let Sonic walk, or should I say run, off into the sunset, and leave him with what little dignity he has left.

Blast from the Past #3

I was sorting through my old files, and I came upon my Creative Writing folder from my junior year of high school.

That's... hmm, about 4 years back or so.

Jeez, I feel old.

Anyway, here's a short story called "Chatter."

It's about two crow brothers and an incident...

Always Guilty

I awoke this morning at 4am to keep my promise that I would finish an essay before I left for Delaware.
I am guilty, always guilty when it comes to my schoolwork.
In class, I function great. I am a relentless note taker, I excel on tests and quizzes, I participate often, and almost always find myself in friendly conversations with my teachers.
Anybody who saw me in class would think I'm an amazing student, even maybe a teacher's pet because of my enthusiasm and comfort level around adults.
Outside of class, I am a wreck.
I procrastinate away every last minute I have for my assignments, and when the due date approaches, I sit frustrated and upset, paralyzed with guilt.
I end up not completing a course because of one or two essays or assignments, take an Incomplete, and grapple with my dysfunctional inability to get work done across the span of a whole vacation.
Most likely than not, I end up waiting until the last minute once again, and the process repeats itself, this time with me finally completing the work after an excruciating amount of effort and pain.

Though stumped at first, my psychiatrist told me I basically have a handicap.
Being used to excelling at academics to an incredible degree up until the beginning of high school made me practically obsessive-compulsive about my quality of work...
I either hand in the best example of work possible, or I hand in nothing at all.
My constant failures and depression in high school created such a fear of failure that I become "paralyzed" and unable to work under stressful situations, like incoming due dates.
I have a lot of trouble focusing on things I don't like or that bore me, which resulted in a diagnosis of ADHD, inattentive type. It basically means that things that bore me can't hold my attention, even if I know it's important. (I also have a cluttered room, yet know where everything is.)

All of that stuff combined creates a recipe for disaster whenever an out-of-class project is assigned.

I live with such guilt and frustration over this.
Years of struggling to make things easier hasn't worked.
Psychotherapy, organizational skills, counseling, medication, you name it.
Sometimes you just can't change the way a brain works...
...and I hate it.

So every school year, I end up getting a high GPA, which people marvel at and congratulate me on.
I smile and thank them, but once I'm alone, I cringe at the pain and suffering I have to go through just to even complete a class in the first place.
And I'm always guilty.

Blast from the Past #2

Date: 7/21/06
Age: 16
Title: "It's Funny When They Say 'HI YENA!'"
Content: An explanation of Warsong Gulch, a team-based player-vs-player game in World of Warcraft.

Blast from the Past #1

Date: 9/25/06
Title: "Music = LIFE, I swear!"
Age: 16
Content: A rant about music.

6 New Items in the Etsy Shop!

Yep, that's right... 6 new items have been put up for sale!

I'm feeling lazy, so I'm not going to post pictures this time...
You're going to have to check it out for yourselves! ;]

I added:
-Penguin Door Hanger
-Bee/Wasp Charm
-Puppy Dog Charm
-Marin from Ragnarok Online Charm
-Lunatic from Ragnarok Online Charm
-Mini Piggie Figurine

Click on the ETSY SHOP link at the top of the page to see what I have for sale!
Enjoy!

Blast from the Past! New Post Series

Bringing a new series of posts to the blog... BLAST FROM THE PAST!
Basically, I will be uploading old blog and journal posts that I wrote years ago.
Okay, okay, so I know I should be writing some new content, but since all of my old posts are going to waste right now, I thought I'd start reposting.
Some of my old writing is brilliant, some of it is kind of sad, and all of it reflects my views from my teenage years.

I'll be posting some within the next few days!

Animal Research: A Necessary Evil

Don't get me wrong.
I absolutely adore animals.
Fur products creep me out.
Puppy mills are terrible.
Animal abuse is awful.

BUT I am realistic... Animals will never get full rights.