i drew this for a zine zine zine!!!! hot tea/cold water was its name-o!!!! so there you go-oh!!!

Haven't really been in much of a mood for non-work writing lately. I'm busy working on this (now far too long) Comiket piece and getting strangely psyched for an event I'm not even attending this time around. I guess that's just what Comiket does to me!

My Christmas didn't involve a lot of material gifts... mostly cash. Nothing wrong with that! Though my sister got me Spirit Tracks, and aalfonso got me 5000 yen in Japanese Playstation Store credit! Okay, it's not really a present since he'll be getting something in exchange at a later date, but I'm still super happy he went out of his way for me. Why did I want that credit, you ask? To download this:



I've been pretty stoked for this - not quite as much as Futari, but Darius is easily my favorite non-Cave-made shooter series. It's kind of strange, when I think about it. I think we were all nervous when Square-Enix acquired Taito in 2005, since an RPG-heavy company and a firm mmore invested in the arcade business seemed like a strange match. However, within the last year or so we've had two Space Invaders Extreme titles, the first new Darius game in over a decade, and a revival of Lufia/Estpolis, things that I bet probably wouldn't have come to fruition without that Dragon Quest money backing them up. Now if only they'd make a new Bubble Bobble game that wasn't terrible!

I posted preliminary impressions here, but a full review should appear in a forthcoming Otaku USA issue!

I also went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox with McKinley from Gamepro (good stuff), and afterwards he stopped by the apartment for a bit and was pretty floored by the contents. It sure feels great to have people come into your place and be totally excited and eager to talk about your collection of neat things! If only my parents understood :(

And incoming, a rather twisty assessment of yesterday's Doctor Who episode...

( The End of Time Part One )

So, Christmas was pretty good. I visited my dad in our empty-ish house and he mixed drinks until I got drunk and passed out on a chair watching A Christmas Story. It was different this year because we didn't have a tree or money and nobody really got each other anything, but it was nice too. It was refreshing to skip all the shopping and the stress and in the end nobody cared and it wasn't such a big deal.

On Christmas eve when we were making perogies my dad got a phone call that said he got the house he put a bid on. :] It's in Shippensburg PA which is probably one of the most boring places in the world, lol! But it's good that it's something.

I went over to my moms house and everyone exchanged gifts. Since I'm not on T anymore and generally don't try and convince people I'm male I'm noticing that people are reverting to giving me everything with 'woman' tacked onto the end again. We all got deodorant in our stockings (haha) and mine of course was Degree... FOR WOMEN. I got a vest that was like WOMAN EDITION or something. Honestly I wouldn't mind so much but it kind of doesn't make any sense to me because I dress the same, I just get rid of my facial hair because I'm admitting I don't like it now, which is more important than just keeping it around for a statement. But I think people want to take it as a 'oh good she's done with that stuff now and she can be the girl we always wanted her to be again.' No, sorry... I still dress like a dyke and look like a little boy. I still act like a fag. I like men's deodorant better because it works better on me and I like whatever that smell is. And I probably would have liked the vest if it actually fit me properly, but it did this weird thing at the bottom which flared out to accentuate hips or something and it looked completely bizarre. So I simply said it didn't fit, which I still feel bad about, but I did like the rest of it.

I also got some NINTENDO DS GAMES and SOCKS and CANDLES. Haha. It was really nice not to get a lot too. :] My brother made me this sweatshirt with a picture of this dirty old bum from my hometown on it. I love it. I'll probably have to post a picture. Then my other brother got me an R4 card for my DS. I felt super bad because I actually bought one over the summer. But it's still in Canada because a certain someone is a real shit at sending post, so it's been so long he assumed I didn't have one because he never saw me using it. -shakes fist- :P

I came home Christmas night. It's so relieving to come back to somewhere with internet that actually works/isn't completely shitty, haha. It was nice to see everyone for Christmas. But at the same time, it makes me COMPLETELY LOVE THE FACT THAT I DON'T LIVE THERE ANYMORE. It was AMAZING to actually leave when I felt like it and come home to my own apartment! And now that it's happened I realize that I don't think I could go back to living there. The other week I was driving, thinking about how poor I am and if it's been worth the grand I've spent to be out of my house since summer. And now I'm like YEEEEAAAHHH ITS TOTALLY WORTH IT. Hahaha. ;]
I think that when I come home from Australia in June, I'd be ok staying with my dad in THE BORING LAND OF SHIPPENSBURG for a little while, however long that will be, until I get myself figured out with where I'm going to stay and where I'm going to work.

There is a fabulous article on WIRED right now looking deeper into Duke Nukem Forever's development quagmire. I think when people complain about the state of games journalism, what they're really bemoaning is the severe lack of pieces like these in our media. Lord knows that I would absolutely love to write something akin to this.

Unrelated: Since I'm taking advantage of Alex's hospitality during my stay in Lyon, I asked him if he wanted me to bring anything over from the States. He actually wanted a Real Arcade Pro SE, which are on sale at Amazon and apparently stupid expensive in Europe, so I had him order and ship one to me to bring over there. Of course, I also had permission to give to some test runs, which I did with Mushihimesama Futari.

I hadn't used a RAP much in anything beyond brief play sessions here and there, and after sitting down and really spending some time with it, all I can think of to describe the experience of using it to play Futari are metaphors that are probably better left unsaid for the sake of professionalism. Yeah, I think I might try to find a Deathsmiles or Futari model secondhand whenever I wind up in Japan next.

I did a guest comic a while back for Left-Handed Toons (by right handed people). It was a short one called "Meaning of Life" that I wrote about 2 years ago and never really used. So I used it for that. Here is the LEFT HANDED strip.



That took way too long to make with my left hand!! JEsus did it ever! Before I used it for a guest comic, tho, I originally wanted to re-draw it for another project that fell through. I had penciled it out normally, but never inked it. After I did the guest strip, I decided to go back to those pencils and finish it up, so I could see it as I normally imagined it. So here it is again, as done with my RIGHT HAND.



Woa! Mama I will never be ambidextrous!! More comics tomorrow!!

Y'know, I don't think people understand how AS folk define themselves and their lifestyles by the things they take an interest in.

I've mentioned before to some of my friends that I don't think I'd be able to live if I didn't have videogames. That might seem shocking or even laughably pathetic to some, but for someone like me, games aren't just a hobby, they're a means of income, a source of comfort, an area of study, a jumping-off point of conversation when meeting and relating to new people, a way of understanding the tastes and thought processes of others (by seeing what games they like and why they like them)...

So if I woke up tomorrow and video games suddenly vanished from the face of the planet, I don't know how I'd continue to exist. I'd probably have a total nervous breakdown at least.

People with AS tend to make their silly interests and obsessions a huge part of their life, and I'm no different. I wish it were a bit easier to explain that to people, I've heard "So are videogames, like, your entire life?" said to me in a shocked manner far too many times this month...

Phew, this has been a very busy week! I'm feeling quite accomplished after wrapping up everything I needed to play/submit, but I still have a few other things to turn in before the holidays, so I can't get too comfortable. Still, I think I'm gonna relax and play a lot of Mushihimesama Futari this weekend. Bug blasting ahoy~!

Another bit of news: Several of you have heard, but I'm visiting Europe for the first time next month! I'll be spending the bulk of my time with fishie_flop_oog at his place in Belgium, but I will also be heading over to France and Germany to visit some pals (the UK looks rather unlikely at this point, I'm afraid). Looking forward to AWESOME HANG-OUT TIMES, PAL format, and delicious cheeses :3

SAY HELLO TO MY REGISTRATION NIGHTMARE!

Key image is fucked to hell but YOU DON'T GET TO SEE THAT VERSON. Changed some fill areas too. Honestly I think it's the biggest print I've done. I don't know how big it is, I think it's like 3 feet or something.
What is it about? GEE GOLLY GUYS WHAT THE HELL

I am never online. I stopped existing a few weeks ago due to finals and stuff. Last final is Saturday at 8AM. Last final here. In PA. FOREVER.

The new issue of GamePro will be hitting newsstands soon! This is the first issue in the "new" format, and I've got two things in there: A Super Street Fighter IV preview (it's rad!) and a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers review (it's mediocre!). I'm actually more excited about the issue after next, though, which is being wrapped up this week...

Looks like an acquaintance of mine is hitting Fuyu Comic Market. Time to make a shoppping list for him... which reminds me that I never did post images of my Natsu-Comi haul. Maybe I should do that.