Shooting for the moon

So last night I had our first playoff game for Team Zissou (my intramural soccer team) and we won! Sure we had to make it through 2 halves, a 5 minute "golden goal" overtime, and then a shootout, but we did it! So we were excited. Plus, we beat the returning champions from last quarter so that's a pretty sweet bonus to our win.

Every win comes at a price though. I love soccer, and its a physical sport, but injuries are unavoidable. Especially for us defenders ("Q" and I have got that on lock). I came out of last night's game with a fat lip, bruised face (due to a totally illegal punch), and a nice deep muscle bruise in my calf. Q survived with a kicked-in ankle and a couple lovely bruise blobs on her legs.

And I'm glad our team is pretty good. We have good teamwork, communication (for the most part), and just skill in general. Sure we may mess up every once in a while, but who doesn't? The best part is: we all have fun with it.

But now with injuries in tow, we have another game tonight at 11:45 and we are READY TO ROCK.

Break? What break? I didn't see any break!

Thanksgiving is one of those times to sit back, relax, and take some time off with the family. Unless you're me and you're an RA and most everyone else wants to leave for Thanksgiving. In that case, you work, work, and work some more. I think I'm having over 30 hours put on my paycheck this week (when we normally only get 16 per week) because of all the extra holiday hours and time that I've put in. That's insane!

Plus I have to go do a key audit at some point... But I can do that later. I'm feeling a bit lazy. Other than work, I've spent all of my time doing homework or playing video games. When you're tied down to a building that's about the best you can do. I did manage to go to Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart for Black Friday though and shop a little bit for presents and for fun. Matt and Amber are terrible people for making me buy those things... Terrible, terrible people... But oh well. What's done is done.

But now I can start Christmas shopping for people! I love shopping for presents. Not so much the spending money part, but mostly the challenge of picking something unique for each individual that suits them best.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

I take a lot of pride in the gifts I get for people. They don't always have to be expensive, but I'd like to think that I do a pretty good job of picking out things that people would like and that reflect my relationship with them. It's a lot of fun! Plus I also get to go window shopping (online of course) at the same time which is fun.

Though I don't feel all that materialistic. There are very few *things* I really want in life. Most of the time I just like gifts with care. Even if it's just a card that someone wrote something special in; that's my favorite kind of gift in the world. Because things are just that to me: things. Care is something you can only get with something handmade or with a lot of thought put in to them. Not that I mind getting things, but it's not my primary 'want' for Christmas.

So now for shopping! :D

And working more....

I spy with my little eye....

It's been a little while since I last posted anything on here... I guess I've just been busy. Most of that time has probably been sucked into these new projects I have for CS and practice time for my music jury (which is about 3 weeks away....) and some of it has obviously been eaten by all the new video games that I bought in Game Season 2011. They are FANTASTIC.

So the games came out in this order:
1. Sonic Generations (11/1)
2. Modern Warfare 3 (11/8)
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (11/11)
4. Assassin's Creed: Revelations (11/15)

And I must say, I'm really sad that Sonic didn't get the spotlight that he deserved. The re-imagining of older stages and music along side of glitch-less gameplay made for a very happy and nostalgic Quinn when playing that game. I thought it was a fantastic addition to the Sonic franchise, and it was a step in the right direction in terms of game design. Because let's face it, the last 5 years of Sonic games have been complete crap (other than Sonic Colors).

But all that nostalgia couldn't stand up to the overwhelming fanbase of the Modern Warfare series and Skyrim.... Which is sad.... Not to say that they aren't excellent series, but I do think that the little blue hedgehog should have had his time in the spotlight.

As for the college aspect of things, my jury absolutely frightens me. Those of you who saw me last year on the two days before juries know exactly how I feel about them.... I basically turn in to a huge stress ball and do nothing until they're over. My mock jury yesterday didn't go so hot either, which means MOAR STRESS for me. If my lips spontaneously explode at the end of the semester, that's why.

Pie Your RA is tonight too from 8 - 9:30 in the Hess! From what I can tell, I'll be pied quite a bit.... SO BRING IT ON FRESHMEN! Cheeto Face (during RA training) was only the beginning of my whipped cream shenanigans apparently, which I don't mind. This just means some unexpected dry bystander is going to be chased down like a fleeing gazelle for a sticky sugar hug.

This is what happened last time whipped cream and I had an epic battle.

 Life is good.

Layers of Separation

It seems like I've been socially stunted for the past little bit recently. Everyone just seems to be so eaten by their significant others. New relationships have been budding just about everywhere I look recently. Heck, I even tried to be in one (notice the word "tried" and then we'll have enough on that subject). But it starts to wear on me... Because in that whole "budding" phase of dating everyone changes who they are and what they do to suit their significant other. It almost seems like I never see them anymore. Think of them like tumors (in the nicest way possible): it requires skilled surgery to detach them from each other.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that my friends are finding the people for them. I really am! Having that special someone is truly a great feeling and I'm glad they get to experience it. In all honesty though, I may be a bit jealous. Not just for the having that someone, but for the time. People are slowly eaten by their relationships/infatuations. I know last year it even happened to me. But this year its different with the sheer VOLUME of relationships. Even by just looking at my dorm of 6 RAs, 4 of them are dating. That means that 2/3 of our staff is dating someone... That's a lot...

As for my friends over in Moore, it's the same situation but to an even worse degree. I don't see them on a day-to-day basis because they live across the way. I've even lost a "friend" from it (but in that situation, I'm pretty sure that the word "friend" was beaten in a back alley and left for dead in a ditch).

Remember, no Russian.

Anyways, back to what I was saying. I don't really get the opportunity to see them very often. I invite, and invite, and invite... But to no avail... And it really does get to me. It's like I'm missing out on my friends because they've been completely absorbed. It's even starting to spread to some of my friends who aren't in a relationship, but have that one close "significant other" but they aren't dating for a reason or two.

Truthfully, it makes me feel a little left out. But, I guess it will make me find a new active friend group. Or just become a video game hermit in my room... I really don't want to sink that low again. Or maybe I'll get lucky and find my own significant other. Everyone has a chance to, even if my success rate with asking girls out is 5% right now :P

I guess we'll see how it goes.

Like laps on a track

So my birthday was this past Monday. I'm now a legitimate 19 year old. What new comes with being 19? I could smoke! But I won't because that's gross. But, in reality, I circled the sun again, which in a cosmic sense is pretty cool. Haven't you wondered why we gauge our life length based on how many times we orbit a star? Its pretty fascinating.

And my birthday went alright. During holidays/birthdays I never feel all that materialistic, so I base it on how much fun I had with friends and all the good wishes from family and friends. I loved the fact that, even though it was freaking early (for me 8:00am is far too early), my Dad of all people was the first person to call and wish me a happy birthday. He hates talking on the phone, so the fact that he called me was pretty awesome. However, the first person to wish me a happy birthday was Valerie at something close to 12:01am. In terms of gifts I loved the cards I got! A card from my paternal grandmother, a hand made card and a written letter folded into a paper crane from Valerie, and then a loving card from the loving staff here in Skarland hall (plus Derick and Bucky). Denali even made me an origami elephant out of a dollar bill :D

But on the flip side some of my "friends" decided to completely ignore me when I tried to talk to them. That's classy. My maternal grandmother even thought I was turning 20. That's a fail. Things like those do tend to put a damper on my spirits...

However, I did end the day by watching Scott Pilgrim vs. the World with Valerie. That movie is my FAVORITE. EVER.

And then Freak Week started. I call it "Hell Week."

Tuesday I found out that I'll be working extra hours on Saturday night during the dance, which means I can't go to the dance anymore (SHOCKING! I was actually going to go to a dance!). So that ought to be interesting. Wednesday was nonstop craziness as I went from classes, to labs, to work (this went from 9:15am to 11:15pm with almost no break). Thursday I was on duty again but the day wasn't terribly stressful. Friday (today) had the class load and then Zombie Survival Training at night which went alright. Tomorrow I can hopefully rest during the day so I can effectively work until 4am Sunday... Woo.

Then I have Sunday and a new week starts all over again before I can get a legitimate break. I could really use one right now.

I'm also on a new soccer team and I'll be joining a recreational league broomball team too come this week. It's rather exciting! I love all the sports that I get to do here at UAF. Hopefully that can keep me exercising throughout the week now.

Socially things are going alright for me too. Sure I'm dropping some dead weight, but "c'est la vie." I've even made a bunch of new friends here, so I really enjoy the time I get with all my wonderful friends :)

That basically sums up the last week of my life... Hooray for recaps!

The Weirdest Things

I don't think its because I came to college, but I do some really weird things. Like yesterday for instance. Somebody threw out my toothbrush and toothpaste when I accidentally left it in the bathroom and I was really disappointed and I felt kinda gross because I wanted to brush my teeth, so I went to the Campus Cache (for those of you who don't know its like a super-overpriced convenience store located in the bottom of my building complex) to buy a toothbrush and some toothpaste. Only problem was that they didn't sell toothbrushes.... So in all my infinite wisdom, I chose to brush my teeth with a clean sock that happened to have toothpaste smeared on it.

Weird? Yes.

Effective? Also yes.

I bought a video game that has the selling point of "YOU WILL DIE AND YOU WILL DIE A LOT" too. Because a frustrating challenge is something that piqued my curiosity. That and I work a lot and the easiest thing to do while working is playing video games. Yes, my job allows me to hold a phone next to me and play video games so long as I can readily assist residents if I need to. I'm awesome.

Walking around in Yoshi slippers has also become a common occurrence for me because they are amazing! I have Yoshis on my feet! That and I'm just nerdy enough to be able to pull that off without people looking at me like I escaped from a mental institution.

Plus, as an added bonus to the random score, I'm going to be playing an important part in this year's Zombie Survival Training. Because that just sounds freaking awesome and last year it was a blast.

So I think that's it for the random escapades of Quinn at the moment... But do not fret! I can guarantee with 100% certainty that there will be more to come!

Face-checking

I get a lot of really funny looks whenever I use the term "face-checking" in the midst of the general population. Most of my gaming friends know what I'm talking about, but I'll leave a little definition here so anyone who wants to can see what I mean.

So the term "face-checking" comes from the game League of Legends. In this game there is a rather large map that has 3 "lanes" of fighting with area in between and most of the action takes place in these lanes.

Since this is a 5v5 game, the game etiquette says that two characters go in the bottom/top lanes and one person from each team goes into the middle lane. With that being said, there are no restrictions to where you can actually go.

Don't worry, this is leading up to the definition.

Now in the "jungle" (the trees section of the map between lanes) and in the "river" as well as in the bottom and top lanes there are bushes. The interesting function of these bushes is that you basically become invisible within the bush. Nothing in the bush can be seen unless there is Line of Sight (LoS) in the bush for your team. This can be done with sight/vision wards, or by having an allied champion in the bush as well. However, if your team doesn't have any LoS inside of the bush, its a dark abyss with unknown occupants.

This is where face-checking comes in. Face-checking is the verb that basically means "running headlong into the unknown and hoping for the best." Because you could run into the bush and have a  grand ol' time just sitting in there by yourself, waiting to gank (kill using the element of surprise) the next opponent that happens to walk by. Or if luck seems to escape you, the entire enemy team could be sitting in that bush waiting for a kill and you just so happen to run right into all of them... Bushes are a dangerous place.

Now in world of the living, the term face-checking still exists but in a slightly different context. Instead of blindly running into a bush and hoping the enemy isn't there to kick the piss out of you, it exists in a situational sense. For example: face-checking a test would be going into it with barely any knowledge, but giving it your all anyways because there's no reason not to. Sure all the knowledge may not be there and the thought could be "I'll probably fail" but instead its approached from the standpoint of "LET'S DO THIS!!!"

But as of late after listening to myself it seems to relate more and more to relationships and drama between people. Face-checking a relationship would be more akin to the thought process of:

1. See pretty girl
2. Wonder who she is
3. Ask her on a date
4. ?????
5. PROFIT $$$

Well... Maybe not quite to that extreme, but I think it proves the point I'm trying to make. Just going at something knowing failure is a great probability, but its that little glimmer of hope for success that forces the hand and you go at it with the idea of nothing but success in your mind as you make your move.

Sure its a little ridiculous, but maybe this will stop some of the funny looks I get... I doubt it will stop the ones I get for doing the dance for The Locomotion next to the drinks in the Tilly though... Oh well.