Games I Play and Want to Play

Finals are finally over (early compared to my classmates, but that's the mad fortune of being an English major -- useless, but done early), and I'm blearily wondering what I should do with all the free time I've got on my hands right about now. So far I've been charging around in my favourite old videogame, Diablo II, and getting trained up on Starcraft.

I've also started playing a new MMORPG, Allods Online, a free MMO set in a steampunkesque fantasy 'verse. It's set up very similarly to WoW (which I SO can't afford to play, so this is a positive development), and I've built myself two characters already, though I've only got one through the tutorial so far. My League character, Kallyndria is an Elven Mage and my Empire character Syrania is an Arisen Summoner (Arisen are basically undead with mechanical enhancements). I hope to have some fun with them in the coming weeks. So far I'm already really enjoying the graphics and style of the game, but the interface is really different from DDO, so it's taking some getting used to. Jeff's the one who pointed it out to me, so we'll hopefully get the chance to play together while we're in separate cities most of the summer.

There's also a chance I'll be getting a Starcraft II Beta key in the not too distant future, since Jeff might have an extra one coming to him through his pre-order. He's highly enthused about the thought of being able to play his favourite game with his girlfriend - that and teaching me to pwn people ("you can be all like 'oh, I's a newb and a girl' and your opponent will be all 'hah, I don't have to try' and then you can go 'HAH!' and rape them and they'll go 'what the hell? I just got beat by a girl?" I like the way he thinks).

Clearly I've got a good summer of gaming looming ahead of me. Among other things I'm hoping to take a crack at Dragon Age: Origins on my laptop (I've played a bit on the 360 but the controls are a pain in the ass), and Jeff is procrastinating his philosophy papers by making a list of games he wants to throw at me. I'm not going to complain - recommendations are helpful, and if I'm lucky I won't have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to get the games I want to play.

So that's my general post about gaming and such. I'm about to head into act IV of Nightmare in Diablo II and I'm still slogging through the Terran Campaign in Starcraft (I'm not bad at the RTS style, but it's still new to me and I'm taking a while to adjust). I'm also enjoying Pokemon Heartgold on my DS, though rather slowly since I've been doing all manner of other things in the gaming realm.

In non-gaming related news, my other summer projects include getting down to it on the next novel - that and cleaning up the old one. I'm also taking up piano again - It's been a couple years since I stopped playing and I want to get back up to my old standards. So I'm learning a few Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead songs on my crappy old keyboard in my spare time.

And as for TV, starting next week I'm hoping to begin borrowing Star Trek: The Next Generation from Amy to watch. Mmm, delicious Picard-y goodness.

The Silence is Deafening

Good afternoon, Blogosphere! It's been almost a month since I last updated and I've been living under the rock of impending finals and moving to a new apartment. I apologize for my radio silence, and hope to start updating a little more regularly from here on in.

Anyway, what's the last month been like?

Well, school devoured me for a brief period of time. I had multiple presentations to deal with in my reading classes, and lots of latin to translate. Our class has spent the last three weeks translating Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone out of Latin into English. Harder than it sounds, but a whole lot of fun for a nerd like me. I also completed the presentation for my Capstone paper, which is all about authors who defy fantasy cliche's in their writing. This has given me an excuse to read a ridiculous amount of Dresden Files -- seriously, I got through three this weekend alone. I'm hoping to spend the summer catching up with those books, more Goodkind, and maybe interspersing some other random fiction. I don't have any summer classes looming, so it's a good time to get my recreational reading done!

Writing-wise, I gave up on Script Frenzy right about the time I started packing up to move and getting bombarded with school stuff. It's a shame, but hopefully I'll be able to pick up the idea at another time. My plans for the summer include having a finished first draft of Stella Felicis, a second draft of Attunement, and to continue making notes for a new idea that doesn't have a name yet but is kind of sixth-sense, ghostbustersish.

Social life has been about the same - we've missed two weeks of D&D due to moving and Jim being out of town, but hopefully that'll start up again Sunday at the new apartment, which is looking great (I'll post pictures soon as I get everything moved in, I promise). The move went pretty smoothly, and my other task for this week besides school is to clean everything out of my old apartment in preparation for the lease going up on the 30th.

Also on a social note, I picked up a boyfriend at the beginning of April. Jeff's a videogame addict (he's won multiple Starcraft tournaments. I am a geek and consider this a hot commodity in a significant other) and a philosophy major. We hang out and talk about stuff a lot, as well as playing videogames and going out dancing and trying interesting beers.

Here's a picture of us at GuNk's Zombie Prom up in Omaha a couple weeks ago:

We look festive.

So yeah. Book wise I'm starting on Blood Rites, the sixth Dresden Files book. Gaming wise I'm finally back playing Diablo II in my spare time. Still in Act III of Nightmare, but I hope to celebrate the completion of my Gay and Lesbian Lit paper by stomping Mephisto's face before TV Monday (Who's excited for new Chuck tonight? This kid!). I also hope to be getting some new games after Thursday (when I'm finally done with finals). Not that I can afford that right now, but I have very kind friends. I'm also considering running something in the Serenity RPG system this summer. We'll see though.

Time for me to get back to work on the final that's due tomorrow. Adios bloggers, I'll hopefully be posting more as the days go by. :)