• 22Aug 12

  Here at the End of All Things...

  I never thought that this day would come. Never in a million years did I think that I would be writing one of these blogs. But here I am, writing my requisite "I am leaving GameSpot" blog.

  It's not that I want to leave, either. The fact of the matter is, the site has become so utterly broken that I feel like I am being forced to leave. I cannot check my private messages, I cannot visit my favorite unions, and I probably won't be able to post this blog without encountering the Server Time-out glitch five or six times (or more). I know that GameSpot is working on a brand new site, but given their most unfortunate track record, I don't have much faith in their ability to deliver something stable. And, given their continued neglect of the unions, it would not surprise me if they abolished them completely in favor of something similar under the Fuse branch of the website, but ultimately nowhere near as good.

  So I am really leaving. I'm leaving the place that has been my Internet home for more than three years. I have met so many wonderful people during that time, and in a very rare exception to the Internet rule, the people that I met when I first arrived three years ago are the same people that are my closest friends today. This could be quite a sad day!

  But the people who have become my second family, the myriad denizens of the Catz Clan... they are all leaving with me. Aidan, twilightlullaby, MrJenkins... We have all fled to the Catz Clan Sanctuary, a newer and better Catz Clan that exists in a world far, far away from the eternal glitchiness of GameSpot.

  And I must admit, it's quite nice to click on a link and have it open right away. It's nice to submit a message and not get BONK'd five times before the message actually posts.

  If you were not a part of the Catz Clan, you are, of course, more than welcome to join us at the new Catz Clan Sanctuary. If you're not a cat person, fear not, we don't actually talk about kitties anymore. Discussions range from video games to My Little Pony, to television and Aidan's love of Goldeen. I truly hope to see you there!

  And if I do not see you there... then you should know that it has been an honor and a privelege to know all of you, and I wish you all the best of luck in whatever you do in the future!

  Blogging for the very last time,

  ~Courtney!~

  • Posted Aug 22, 2012 11:21 am GMT
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• 5Aug 11

  Resolution

  

  Perhaps a picture of cute bunnies will help lessen the blow? If you remember my previous blog, my garden was under constant attack from bunnies! Well, the situation has since been resolved, and it did not end the way I had been hoping. Not long after I wrote that blog, my garden was doing well for about a week, before the bunnies returned en masse. It turns out that they had built not one, but two new nests in the yard! As you might imagine, with so many bunnies hopping around, they were quite liberal in their destruction of my flowers. With Aidan's help, I was able to get rid of the nests. The bunnies inside were old enough to fend for themselves, so we moved them into the woods behind Aidan's house. But the parents were still around, and I had no idea how to stop them! Aidan's mother actually got a trap, but before we had to use it, his sister Katie brought her pets over to run around the in the backyard...

  ...Suffice to say, the bunnies picked a bad time to show up. The kitty, Tonka, outright killed one of them, and that got Mo, the dog, riled up, so he started barking like crazy and chasing after the other bunnies. He killed one and wounded another. The wounded bunny escaped with the only uninjured critter into the neighbor's yard, whose dogs were also quite aware of the fiasco. They finished the job.

  My goodness, this was all so terrible! I wanted those bunnies gone, but I didn't want them all dead! What a disaster that was! Of course, looking on the bright side, since they are no longer present to eat all of my flowers, the garden is actually doing very well!

  
  Now that I actually have flowers in my garden, you can see I had a theme for each one. The one on top was the "warm garden," featuring mostly warm colors like orange, red, and yellow. And then the garden pictured below was the "cool garden," with softer colors like blue, purple, and pink.

  
  I like the fountain in this picture, but I'm always finding frogs in it! I love frogs, but hate touching them, and if the water isn't filled to the top, they can't escape, so I have to help them out.

  
  The vegetable garden is doing well, too! I've plucked a few beans, peas, tomatoes and cucumbers all ready, and I'll be harvesting some broccoli and peppers very soon!

  ---

  I must admit, my gaming over the summer has been sorely lacking! I've been working on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D since the day it came out, but after all of that time, I'm only in the Fire Temple! I'm near the end, though. I just have to get the Boss Key and then face Volvagia! Unfortunately, other than Zelda, I've barely sat down to play any video games, which is rather disappointing since I had planned on doing a fair amount of gaming.

  I don't know how, but I'm going to have to find time to do some serious gaming later this year! Super Mario 3D Land (with its very unfortunate title. What's wrong with "Super Mario Land 3D"? It sounds so much better!) and Mario Kart 7 both come out later this year. Tales of the Abyss 3D and Skyward Sword should also be coming out. And Kirby Mass Attack! My goodness! And then Tales of Graces F apparently comes out early next year. When am I going to find time to play all these games?

  I pre-ordered Skyward Sword, too. I didn't plan on it, but when I was at Best Buy to get FMA: Brotherhood (see below!), I was in the video game section and the boy working there... my goodness... shock: When he started telling me all about that new pre-order station they have available, I was enthralled. He was so good looking.

  

  One thing that I have not been ignoring is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The very last chapter was released on DVD this week, and I purchased it right away! I'm only a few episodes into this final set, and I'm enjoying every second of it. It's too bad that I spoiled the ending for myself months ago. Still, I guess it's reassuring to know that I will be completely satisfied with the ending, and I didn't spoil anything outside the final episode, so while I know how everything ends, I don't know how Ed and Al get to that exciting conclusion.

  ***SPOILER***

  I'm so happy that Ed and Winry finally get together, though! I've only been wanting that since the first anime series!

  Oh, and in case you're wondering why I buy the DVDs instead of just watching the episodes for free on YouTube, I am absolutely terrible at watching anything on YouTube. I'll watch a few episodes and then forget all about it. I think that I started watching Brotherhood about three times on YouTube, and each time, I never got past the third or fourth episode before it completely slipped my mind. Besides, when I have the DVDs, I can watch them on the big screen at a much higher quality. And a comfy sofa!

  ---

  Lexie's birthday is next week (on August 10! ). As you might imagine, she's quite excited. It really is hard to believe that she's going to be two-years old! Where does the time go! We went to the park this morning so that she could have her fun on the playground before it got too hot outside--and it has been so hot recently. We're in the 80s this week, but it's been over the 90 degree mark quite a lot this summer. The temperature even cracked 100 degrees (38 C) twice, which is unusual. And after that gloomy spring, I thought we were going to have a rotten summer!

  

  

  My first day of college is fast approaching! I'm excited, but I'm also very nervous. Actually, I am mostly just nervous at this point. It's just going to be so much different from what I'm used to. I'm sure that once I'm there I'll calm down, but until then, I'm going to have butterflies in my stomach. I'll be able to register for cIasses on August 17 (my birthday!), so I will be sure to update you on all of that!

  Aside from turning 19 on August 17, I'll also be coming home from a trip to Chicago that day! We didn't meticulously plan our trip like last time, so I don't know exactly what we'll be doing in the Windy City, but I suspect it will be quite fun regardless of what happens. I'm also a little nervous because I've never been on a trip like this without any sort of parent coming. It's going to be me, Aidan, Lexie, my friend Dylan, Aidan's friend Brandon, and... of all people, Aidan's sister Katie. So this is going to be a most interesting trip.

  Anyway, that's enough from me!Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

  • Posted Aug 5, 2011 8:31 am GMT
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• 30Jun 11

  Nemesis

  

  Has it really been more than a month since I last wrote a blog? Perhaps the lazy days of summer have taken hold? I assure you, they have not. In fact, to the contrary, I have been quite busy, but much to my chagrin, none of that busy business has been particularly noteworthy.

  I've been playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D quite frequently. I had previously played a fair amount of the GameCube iteration of the game, and while I enjoyed it, I never actually got around to beating it. This time, things will be different! Of course, I'm moving at a snail's pace. After almost two weeks, I'm just now nearing the end of the Dodongo Cavern! Still, I'm in no mad rush to finish the game, and it if takes the vast majority of the summer for me to beat it, then so be it!

  As much fun as Ocarina of Time is, the Zelda game that I'm really anticipating is Skyward Sword. I was plenty excited for the game already, but thanks to E3, my anticipation has gone through the roof! I love everything that I've watched/read about the game. It seems to me that, while there are indeed temples scattered across the land, Hyrule itself is going to be one large dungeon that you must conquer--and after seeing Ocarina of Time's rather underwhelming Hyrule Field, I think this is excellent news! Also, Link is very cute in Skyward Sword.

  I'm also very excited about this Hyrule Symphony that was announced at E3! I hope that there is a concert in or near Detroit, because I would very much like to go to that! Aidan has had the opportunity to go to several similar concerts in the past, and has spoken highly of the experience!

  I think that Nintendo is going to bankrupt me later this year! Between all of this Zelda goodness there are two new Kirby games, Kid Icarus Uprising, Mario Party 9, Super Mario 3D, Mario Kart 3D... and I'm also going to purchase Tales of the Abyss. When am I going to find time to play all of these games?

  And of course, on top of all that, Nintendo announced the Wii-U is coming next year, so I'm going to have to start saving my pennies for that! Plus, two new Smash Bros. games! As many of you know, I am quite good at those games, so I'm definitely looking forward to trying out the new ones. We've been talking a lot about the new games in the Catz Clan, and have come up with some good ideas for what the new games might be like! What stages/characters do you want to see in the new games?I'm hoping for a stages based upon Kirby's Epic Yarn and Bowser's Castle, Mii as a playable character, and the return of styIe points, among other things!

  ---

  Many of you have been asking about my garden! It certainly got off to a very rocky start this year. The weather in April and May was so very cold and gloomy that I had to delay planting for several weeks, but I was finally able to get everything in the ground around Memorial Day! But, shortly thereafter, my nemesis appeared.

  

  While this bunny certainly looks cute and innocent, he and his little friends decided that my garden was quite tasty, so they would sweep across the yard every night, eating all of my flowers. They left the plants intact, thank goodness, but they would strip every plant of every bloom. Every night. For weeks, I had no flowers in my garden! Aidan suggested that we kill the poor things! That was clearly not an option, though! I tried everything, from anti-bunny spray to owl statues, and nothing worked. I would wake up every morning to find those fiends had attacked again, despite my efforts. As a last resort, I was considering erecting a chicken wire fence around my gardens. It might not have been very pretty, but it would keep them away.

  But then, I was dealt a stroke of luck! One evening when I was outside with Lexie, I saw him sleeping in the garden! I quickly got Aidan-kun, and we used bricks and stones to cut off his usual escape routes, and hoped that we would be able to direct him into a big bucket. We proceeded to chase him around the yard for a good five or ten minutes. With his usual escape routes cut off, he didn't quite know what to do, but he eventually smartened up and bolted in another direction. Unfortunately for him, he went straight into one of the gutters on the side of the house. I simply had Aidan step on the end of the gutter so that the bunny couldn't escape, then we just took the gutter off and dumped the bunny into a bucket!

  

  I made Aidan take him deep into the woods and drop him off. This little guy was the primary source of my troubles, because he was actually living in the garden. His friends still drop by every now and then, but not every night, so I actually have enough flowers on my plants to give a garden update! As you can see, it's starting to look good!

  The vegetable garden, which I have not pictured, is also doing well. Since it was fenced off to begin with, the bunnies were never able to touch it. I've got the usual suspects growing--tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, beans, cucumbers, broccoli, peppers. I've already used the lettuce to make a few salads, and I should be able to pick my first tomato in a few weeks!

  

  

  

  ---

  
  I graduated high school a few weeks ago! Much as I mentioned in my previous blogs, I finished third in my cIass. For a long while, I was disappointed with that finish; I felt that I could have come in second if I had worked just a little harder. But then, as I sat there on graduation day listening to my peers give their speeches, I was suddenly quite glad that I finished third, because I really did not want to be up there giving a speech. Better them than me! Also, both the valedictorian and salutatorian were my loathsome National Honor Society comrades, so I took some minor pleasure in watching them squirm up on stage. I know that really is quite mean, but after everything they put me through... Well...

  I'm going up to Traverse City with Aidan and his family this weekend to celebrate Independence Day! They do have Internet up there, but if this trip is anything like last year, I am going to be so busy that I probably won't have time to come and visit GameSpot! So, in case I don't make it online, I'll see you Tuesday night or Wednesday!

  • Posted Jun 30, 2011 4:27 pm GMT
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