Hey.  It’s that time again.

So I haven’t posted in about a week, but at least I’m keeping to my minimum amount of posts… which is looking more like a quota to me.  ANYWAY.  I have a week of events to share oh man are you in for such a treat like I’m so serious it’s not like my life is completely normal.

Some cool things have happened, and some really dull things have happened.  First off, Halloween.  So all the awesome parties have either already happened or I dunno, maybe there are still some to come tomorrow, but honestly I had the best time at the UBC Anime Club Dance.  Nerdy? WHAT MAKES YOU SAY THAT?!  I cosplayed for the first time, and had a lot of fun.  (If you don’t know what cosplaying is… Google it.) My parents have been verrrry much against the idea of cosplaying since I was really young, but my mom gave in finally.  I guess the fact that I haven’t royally screwed anything up at university and am relatively good at being responsible, she figures as long as the costume isn’t freakishly weird (like this) I can do it.  It sounds like a pretty simple breakthrough, but trust me, had you seen my past history at high school, you would know what a struggle it’s been to change my parents’ minds about the things I want to do in my free time.  So if you have controlling parents and are going into first-year, sometimes a little reponsibility goes a long way, depending on the issue and the family, of course.  Just don’t screw up after you get their trust, getting it back the second time may be even harder or never happen at all wow so deep herptyderp

Secondly, Batman Arkham City.  DEAR LORD GIVE ME A SECOND TO CLEAN THESE TEARS OF JOY.  If you’re not interested in listening to a rant about a video game I suggest skipping to the next paragraph kthxbai.  This is arguably the best superhero game out there, and really a great game in general even if you aren’t a huge Batman fan.  I love the gameplay, for one thing, since you actually have to use some brain power to figure out how you’re going to tackle a certain battle.  I love the arsenal of gadgets you get that not only help you complete obstacles along the way in the open world but also actually have uses during battles, both in combat and in stealth.  And while the story isn’t as focused as Arkham Asylum, it’s still pretty damn good.  I HAVEN’T FINISHED YET THOUGH IF YOU SPOIL ANYTHING FOR ME I WILL FIND YOU AND… don’t make me finish that sentence.  Anyways, while the graphics are obviously great (wish I had a 3D television), unfortunately during dialogue scenes the characters still feel a little… I don’t know, stiff maybe.  I like games where movements and expressions are very well animated, to the point where gestures and reactions seem very, very realistic, but that’s personal.  Besides, this is a superhero video game, and what the animation may lack in terms of seeming more realistic, the voice acting definitely makes up for that.  I don’t have any qualms about any of the characters so far.  This game has been beautifully orchestrated, and there’s obviously so much care that was taken to make this game the masterpiece it is.  The main story, the characters, the voice actors, the side quests (SO MANY BLOODY RIDDLER TROPHIES), the combat, and best of all, the fact that you actually feel like the Bat when you glide around the city and beat up some punk-ass group of thugs.  This is one of the funnest open world games I’ve played, and I never feel bored or like I’m at a loss for things to do.  I cannot wait to finish this!

Hello, presumably you might have skipped the last paragraph.  Trust me you might have just saved yourself an eyesore.
Anyways, this week, other news involves me getting back another midterm mark… and yikes.  While I believe it would be about a B+ or A-, I’m really not too thrilled, since I thought I’d done better on it.  There’s a “I’ve failed my first midterm… now what?” talk at my residence (Vanier) this Tuesday from I think 7-9PM that I’ll be checking out just to see if there’s anything I can take from it.  Especially after having my first Econ midterm mark back, I feel I need the help… AND I HAVE ANOTHER MIDTERM ON FRIDAY.  FFFFFFFFFFFF.  Where’d I put that gosh darn noose?

Also, NaNoWriMo.  If you don’t know about it, I think tomorrow would logically be the last day to sign up on the site.  It’s the “National Novel Writing Month”, where the challenge is to write 50,000 words in a month (if you have no idea what that looks like it’s like the size of a novel.  It’s about 1,667 words a day or something, I don’t know, I hate math too much to try and validate this approximation).  I’m doing it for the first time, since I didn’t even know about it last year.  I’m joining the Vanier group here, and we’re meeting on October 31st pretty late to do a kick-off thing.  Wish me luck, because as we all know, I have a huge commitment problem… I’m hoping this will be something to help me get past it >>  But I swear what I’m going to write will never see the light of day.  It will be crap beyond crap (crapception?).

Nothing much else to report in my life.  Other little UBC-related tidbits:
–ECON 101 W/ Gateman has study sessions?: There are now ECON 101 study sessions on Thursday evenings for Gateman’s class, or so I’ve heard.  I’m sure the info’s up on Vista, I just haven’t really been checking.
–Shia Labeouf: People spazzed the other day because of Shia Labeouf’s appearance on campus.  ‘Gratz to those of you who are so proud of your blurry half-assed pictures of him on your cellphone.  Really.
–Hot Running Water, Oh my!: There was ACTUALLY hot water at Vanier this Friday.  Anyone not living in residence and is in first-year, at least you don’t have to deal with this.
–Investigative Team: The Ubyssey investigative team had its first(?) meeting this Friday.  Wanted to join, but alas, I have a conflicting class.  WHO PUTS A CLASS FROM 2-3PM EVERY MONDAY, TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND FRIDAY.

And here are some non-UBC-related tidbits:
–Comics: The New 52 DC comics are still pretty awesome in my opinion, every week I pick up some stuff.  If you’ve always wanted to get into comics, this has recently been a good time, though you don’t have to stick to New 52 obviously.  I’m stoked for Batman: Noel anyways 😀  And unfortunately I’m not a Marvel fan…
–Games: I really wanna try Assassin’s Creed Revelations.  I’m such a sad person that I’ve never played an AC game and NEED TO please don’t kill me.  Also psyched for Uncharted 3, maybe even the new LotR game because my friend’s a huge LotR nerd, finishing Arkham City, finishing Amnesia (wish me luck getting through the mental scars) and I really really really want to play Professor Layton and the Last Specter.  WHY AM I TOO POOR TO PURCHASE THESE oh right I still don’t have a job…
–COMPLETELY RANDOM: I’ve tasted pumpkin pie for the first time.  That was DELICIOUS.  Also, Flex Dollars scam me.  I wish I had a pet fiddler crab.
…And, I’m wondering if I should put up a video? Like a vlog sort of thing, but obviously just for fun.  I realize the UBC Blog Squad is supposed to have a lot to do with, y’know, the written medium.  Still, the idea is elusive :3
–Google+: Does anyone else have this? Seriously.  Everyone says: “I’ll wait until it’s popular”.  Well if everyone did that it will never be popular.

That is all.  Have a Happy Halloween, folks.  And I promise I’ll have those picture scans coming soon.  Soon as in… relatively soon.  Eventually.  That word is probably my signature word by now.

-Alyssa