Oswin?

I FINALLY watched the new Doctor Who Christmas episode last night! The Snowmen. Sounds menacing doesn't it? ...No? Oh, well you should watch it then. 'Cause those snowmen are scary.

There were so many exciting things about the episode! Right here is your spoiler warning. Read no further or be spoiled. Once again... warning...

It was interesting to see this version of the Doctor go into his angry depressed companionless state. We haven't really seen the Doctor without a companion since the David Tennant days, but Matt Smith does the part well, even if it does seem totally strange to see him like that. But watching his progression back to happy Doctor was pretty cool.

Also, anyone else have a nerdgasm at the new TARDIS? I loved the old version, but it seems fitting that the TARDIS should go through a major change post-Ponds. (Also, I just have to say, I'm impressed that my phone autocorrects TARDIS to caps for me, my phone is as nerdy as I am apparently.) Also, I loved Clara's comments, "It's smaller on the outside!" and "Is there a kitchen?" and the Doctor's reaction.

And I REALLY can't wait to see what's going to happen next. Clara Oswin Oswald. Soufflé Girl. What the heck?? We've met her twice now. And she died both times. And then she shows up at her grave again at the end. I NEED to know what the heck is happening there. If she hadn't died BOTH times, there could be some way she's a time traveller, but that doesn't explain it this time. Huh.

So when is the next episode? Not soon enough, for sure. I can't wait to see where this is going.

Uuuuuh WTF?

So! Here we are back to our regular schedule. Except... I am getting sick. So I'm not really sure I'm up to this. Lets see if I can ramble coherently long enough to make this work. Also, let's see if I can go long enough without being interrupted to get anything done. Seems like everyone I know is coming in to Starbucks this morning. Anyway, enough commentary, time to get started.

I had this whole post half written on the new Marvel NOW! titles spinning out of AvX, but I got bored, so here's attempt number two. I'm thinking maybe Ke$ha isn't the best music to be listening to for creative inspiration. Oh well. So what do I feel like talking about then?

Avengers Arena! This week a brand new comic launched, and I've been a little bit wary of this one. The whole idea of it is basically the Hunger Games with 16 of the Marvel universe's teenage superheroes. Classic X-Men villain Arcade has kidnapped a whole bunch of Marvel kids and trapped them in Murder World, where he is basically a god, even against some extremely powerful super kids.

The characters are about half and half new and old. There's Nico and Chase from Runaways, Mettle, Hazmat, Reptil, and X-23 from the recently ended Avengers Academy, plus Darkhawk and maybe some others from random places, and then a bunch of new characters apparently from the Braddock Academy, the British version of Avengers Academy or the Jean Grey School. There are no young X-Men characters, which is mentioned in the story as Arcade says "Wolverine's school has better security" or something along those lines.

The first issue is mostly setup, Arcade explaining who he is, what's going to happen, letting them know only one will survive, and all the usual exposition to let the reader in on what's going on. And then the issue ends with a total WTF moment. Arcade tells the kids he'll start the killing, but they have to pick one of them to die. No one says anything, but Hazmat goes ballistic attacking him, so he picks her, but at the last minute Mettle says he's the weakest so it should be him so Arcade points at him... and he EXPLODES! Blood everywhere, all over his girlfriend, Hazmat. Dubya. Tee. Eff. Just messed up. I HATE when the kid characters die, 'cause they are my favourites, but I am entirely hooked on this book. Ugh!

Anyway, work time! Hopefully this was acceptable. If not... too bad. I'm sick.

Failed Blogger

Sorry guys. I'm a failed blogger. What's it been since my last post? Oh wow. Over a month! Worse than I thought! Oops.

I have excuses! My usual Saturday posts have begun to be harder to manage. USUALLY I catch the bus to work on Saturdays, which puts me there an hour early, so I blog in Starbucks before my shift. But my wonderful roomie/bff changed her schedule around so she works same time as me and gives me a ride.

The other excuse is that I've been out of town two of the last three weekends. A certain handsome man has kept me more than a little distracted, so once again, blogging has suffered. But really, I think y'all (yes, I just said y'all) want me to be happy so getting my romance on is probably an acceptable excuse.

So what have we missed out on? Probably plenty. Marvel NOW! is officially rolling out, and the changes are pretty exciting! I'm particularly enjoying All-New X-Men, and Uncanny Avengers is giving a lot of WTF moments and it's only two issues in. I'll try to do a post giving a rundown of the new state of Marvel comics soon.

I've also been obsessed with the new Nintendo 3DS game, Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Paper Mario is one of my all time favourite game series, and this new game does not disappoint. I was concerned at first, but like I said, I've been somewhat obsessed with it, so it's gotta be good. There's a collecting aspect to it, which automatically hooks me.

I've finally started reading again too! I finally finished The Serpent's Shadow, which I started forever ago, and I've read the three e-book companions to the I Am Number Four series, and FINALLY started Mark of Athena. Mmmm Greek/Roman mythology. My favourite!

So yeah! That's the basic rundown. I'll have to do a proper review of something soon. But for now, work time!

Wintery Optimism

It's November! And you know what that means! It's Christmas time again!

Even though it's a month and a half away, all the stores are getting their Christmas on in a big way. My favourite place to go over the Holiday season: Starbucks! They've changed all of the signage and displays to that wonderful red colour and start promoting my personal favourite drink, the peppermint mocha. And this year, they have a great little Advent Calendar that I've just been convinced to buy.

Winter can be such a depressing time with the cold weather and the departure of the sun for long periods of time, but there's always that shining light of hope to hold onto when you know Christmas is coming. Of course, after that you're screwed if you live here in the North, 'cause you've still got four more months of winter to make it through. But hey, there are worse things right? (...right?)

The other thing I'm looking forward to this winter is potentially learning to snowboard! I've never given it a shot, but I think this is the year to get it done. The last bunch of years involved a lot of waiting around for a certain jerk to actually want to do something with me. This year, I'm single, so if friends want to do something, I'm in!

See? I've managed to convince myself that winter is a great time! At least until the next big dump of snow...

Now onto a little bit of bad news: I failed. I set myself a goal to go to the gym, and I didn't go. I had every intention of going, but video games won out. So now I'll reset my goal and try again. This time next week: gym time will have happened. Or there will be some sort of consequence. I'm not sure what that will be yet. Maybe no Starbucks for a week? That would be pretty sad... Aaanyway, I'm gonna leave it here, with a picture of my morning coffee! That's fun right?

Athletic Update

I haven't posted anything lately on my athletic efforts! And there's pretty good reason for that. I am a giant failure in that department lately.

So, about a month or so ago... Maybe longer? Anyway, a while ago, I hurt my foot while running. I have no idea what I did, but it hurt pretty bad for a few days, then went away, so I tried running again. Came back worse. And didn't really go away. It started out just feeling like the heel of my foot was bruised. But then it became a tightness right across my foot. Not a happy feeling.

By now, I really should go see my doctor about it. I've had a couple people tell me what it probably is, and how rolling my foot on a soup can or similarly shaped object would probably help. A professional opinion is probably a good idea though.

Anyway, that's my excuse for not running. But I really need to start doing something again. I'm worried that all the work I put in before will fade away, and I don't want that. So it's time to kick myself in the ass. Screw the cold, that's what the nice heated gym is for! My awesome gym buddies are all busy when I'm free, so it's time to motivate myself and just go.

It's odd how difficult it seems to make myself go. I enjoy the gym, so why don't I like going TO the gym? Once I'm there, it's all good, but getting myself there is always a problem.

Well, I'm gonna set myself a goal. I'm going to the gym at least once, preferably twice, before next Saturday's blog post. I'll report how things went and set a new goal. And maybe throw in something nerdy as well. Wish me luck!

All Hallows' Eve

Halloween! It's a joyous day when kids dress up and collect candy from their neighbours! Or at least they used to when people still knew and trusted their neighbours. Huh. That's a happy thought. Aaaanyway...

Halloween has come once again, and for the first time in forever, I'm ACTUALLY prepared! I've got a costume ready and everything! It's not a scary costume. Just kinda fun. I'm dressing up as a nerd. Yeaaaah I know, that's not really a costume 'cause I AM such a big nerd. But just believe me, it's gonna be great!

I haven't really done the Halloween thing in so long! Last year for work I "dressed up" as Clark Kent. And by that I mean I wore my dressy work clothes with the shirt unbuttoned, a Superman t-shirt hiding underneath. Lame. I know. I'm hoping this year is a significant enough improvement to inspire me to continue doing better.

Wow, that sounds motivational. If only it was for a better cause than costume making. I'm pretty excited to see what all my friends are dressing up as tonight. Just as an added bonus, a reminder of my costume last year is below. Lemme know what you're doing for Halloween in the comments below!

A Brave New World?

So... This week was the finale of Avengers vs. X-Men. And what an end! If you are planning on reading it, spoiler warning! Read no further.

Picking up from the end of the last issue (where Cyclops took all the power of the Phoenix, killed Professor Xavier, and went all Dark Phoenix), Cyclops/Phoenix is laying waste to the entire planet, battling the Avengers and X-Men on a global scale. No one seems able to do anything to him as he causes cities to crumble, volcanoes to erupt, and even the ocean to burn.

The good guys have a secret weapon though. Hope, of the X-Men, and Scarlet Witch, of the Avengers. Their powers seem to be the key. Acting as yin and yang. The two of them are the only ones able to touch the Phoenix. As they duke it out, Cyclops has a vision of Jean Grey through the fire, telling him to let go.

Hope and Scarlet Witch finally manage to defeat Cyclops, and as the Phoenix leaves him, it moves to its intended host and possesses Hope. She zips around the globe putting out the fires and returns to the site of the battle to announce that she is the White Phoenix, but she is interrupted by the Scarlet Witch, who tells her she was never meant to possess this power, but to get rid of it.

The two join hands and together proclaim, "No more Phoenix." And with that, the power of the Phoenix is dissipated across the globe, undoing the spell the Scarlet Witch cast years ago, ending the "No more mutants" proclamation and causing new mutants to pop up around the globe.

The issue ends with Cyclops in custody, but not entirely ashamed of his actions because he believes bringing about the return of mutants is worth the price, sounding very much like Magneto.

So this event finally brought things full circle from the House of M event years ago. Mutants are back. But what does that mean for the Marvel Universe? Will the long depowered mutants get their powers back? (Will by beloved Sofia Mantega become Wind Dancer once again?!) Or is it just "new" mutants now? And how will the world respond to this upsurge in the mutant population after such a terrible global attack in the name of mutant kind? Only time will tell. I can't wait for Marvel NOW! to begin!

Comic Books Update

Avengers vs. X-Men. It's the big thing in Marvel comics right now. The cosmic Phoenix Force has made it's way to Earth, and the Avengers and X-Men are on opposite sides of the coin as to what this means. The X-Men believe the Phoenix has returned to bring about the rebirth of the mutant race. The Avengers believe that the Phoenix has come to burn away what doesn't work, possibly all life on the planet. And so the saga begins.

Both teams believe the Phoenix has come for Hope, the first new mutant birth since the decimation of mutant kind. Both teams try to protect her from each other, but in the end, the Phoenix ends up split between five of the most powerful X-Men: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik, and Namor.

At first, it seems like the X-Men were right. The Phoenix Five go about changing the world, ending war, famine, and general suffering on a global scale. But the Avengers are wary of them anyway, and are eventually proven right when the Phoenix begins to corrupt the Five. Namor is first to lose it, and is defeated by the combined effort of the Avengers. Upon his defeat, the Phoenix force leaves him and strengthens the other four. Next, Spider-Man manages to turn Colossus and Magik against each other and they defeat each other, leaving only Cyclops and Emma Frost in possession of the Phoenix Force.

Cyclops and Emma are both showing signs of corruption, Emma demanding to be treated like a god, and Cyclops unwilling to accept that the Avengers oppose him. A huge battle ensues where the Avengers and X-Men team up against Cyclops and Emma. Cyclops ends up killing his old teacher and mentor, Charles Xavier, and he attacks Emma Frost, taking her portion of the Phoenix by force, and the last page ends with Cyclops being completely corrupted by the Dark Phoenix.

The final issue is out next week, and it's sure to change the status quo of Marvel Comics. What will happen to Cyclops? How will the Avengers and X-Men move on from this? What will be the significance of Hope and the Scarlet Witch in this whole thing? I can't wait to find out!

Travel Bug

I love to travel. I always have. Well, I guess when I was a kid I didn't really like the actual "travel" part of traveling, but I've always enjoyed seeing new places.

The last year or so I've been finally acting on it. It's amazing how much more I can afford now that I'm single. The last two years I've gone to San Diego for Comic-Con, and I've made three trips to Vancouver this year as well. All very enjoyable.

But next year I'm expanding my travel plans to a couple new locations! I'm going back to San Diego in July, of course, and I think I'll be in Vancouver/Whistler in August for Tough Mudder. But I'm also planning an exciting new trip!

Next year, the plan is to visit my brother in Montreal in the spring! Not sure on an exact date yet, but I'm very excited. I'm really not sure what there is to do in Montreal, but its pretty much guaranteed to be a good time with my brother showing me around.

My travel buddy this trip will be my wonderful friend Adria, and we are both very excited. And even more exciting, we've decided to take a detour south of the border on the trip and visit New York City! Once again, I have no idea what to do I NYC, but luckily there is a while yet to plan.

The only unfortunate part is that it's so expensive to travel, so I really need to get my ass into saving mode. Sorry coffee addiction, but you're impeding my travel plans. You gots to go.

Thirst for Fame

So, I'm debating starting a vlog. I've been debating this forever though so don't think I've come anywhere near a decision yet.

My only reasoning for starting a vlog is that I think having a vlog might be fun. I don't have any idea what it would be about. I already have plenty of difficulty coming up with topics to talk about here, so I have serious doubts that I'd be able to maintain a YouTube channel or whatever. But the majority of YouTube channels I see are really all nonsense anyway. So subject matter, maybe not so important.

The other major problem: I hate the sound of my voice. It bugs me so much. So if I was trying to edit a video together, I'd probably end up having to reshoot the whole thing repeatedly until I finally just give up anyway. I had a random little video saved on my old laptop from the first time I though about vlogging, and I remember I was just so weirded out that I gave up the idea. I wonder if I still have that video... To be fair, that was a good 5 years ago, so maybe I could do a better job now. I'm a lot more confident in myself nowadays.

But being on camera has never been my favourite thing. And yet, I'm seriously considering doing an application to be on Big Brother Canada. And that would be a LOT of cameras. I guess the motivation behind both is a yearning to be famous. Even just to be a bit of an Internet celebrity would be fun. But alas, it's probably not meant to be.

What do you think? Have any favourite YouTube channels? Do you blog? Vlog? Have a thirst for fame? Have ideas that could help me out? Leave a comment below!

That Is The Question

Today I want to discuss one of the question I often ponder to myself... If I had super powers, would I be a hero? Or a villain? (Fun fact: That's how I came up with the title of this blog.)

It's easy to SAY I'd be all heroic if I got some sort of special abilities bestowed upon me. Use my ice powers to rescue someone from a fire. Use my invulnerability to stop a firefight. Use my influence over the weather to help people dying in a drought. There are so many ways I could help the world if I had some sort of super powers.

But more likely I'd use them for my own benefit. Use my super speed to get to work in a flash and get to sleep in an extra half hour. Use my telepathy to figure out what people really think of me. Use my ability to fly to get away from it all and enjoy unique views and locations. Not necessarily BAD things, just things that might seem a bit selfish.

But that could lead to all kinds of other things. Get annoyed at that car that doesn't stop at the crosswalk and use my telekinesis to make an invisible wall where they should have stopped. Oops. Car totaled. Use my precognition ability to predict the winning lotto numbers. Use my mind control abilities to make people I don't like do stupid things, or confess their misdeeds. Still, this would be bad, but more vigilante level than actual villain.

But it would be so easy to become a super villain with the right abilities and motivation. No one likes the way the government seems to hate to listen to the people. So if I had Magneto's powers over magnetism, or the near omnipotent powers of the Phoenix, I might just take it upon myself to be rid of the world's governments and take over myself. Bend the world to my will. But then I've become an evil overlord despite my best intentions. Maybe I just want to run around with my super strength beating up bad guys. But what if I don't agree on who the bad guys are, and I'm strong enough to take out a tank? Law enforcement decides I'm too big a threat to be allowed to continue, so then it's me against the world. There are so many ways things could go wrong even with the best intentions.

So the question is: How strong is my moral compass? Could I handle the responsibility of that much power? Like I said before, I'd like to think I could handle it and use my abilities for good, but maybe it's a good thing I don't live in a comic book... How would you handle YOUR superpowers?

Winter Is Coming

The last few days here in the north have been pretty depressing. The sun has left us, clouds have swooped in, and I have been forced to layer. LAYER. It's August, and I am wearing two shirts and a hoodie. To say the least, I am displeased.

I'm hoping we still have a bit of good weather on the way, but we have had a pretty good summer so I can't complain too much. I was just hoping I'd have a chance to try to even out my tan. I've definitely got three different skin tones going on.

The one benefit to the cooler weather is that I'm more inclined to enjoy my nerdy hobbies. When it's sunny and beautiful out, I just can't justify sitting inside watching TV or playing video games. But if it's colder out, it's like a free pass to get my nerd on.

I have so much geeky stuff to catch up on too. I have I don't know how many video games to get through, plus I recently added two new ones to the list, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance and New Super Mario Bros. 2, both for the Nintendo 3DS. I've got a nice big list of books to read, and I just ordered two more online. And I have so many shows on DVD and iTunes to catch up on.

I took the ugly-weather-opportunity over the last couple days to watch a few episodes of Eureka (I'm on the second of five seasons, I've got my work cut out for me), and my fantastic roomie and I started a marathon of Glee season 3 yesterday. I picked it up on bluray the other day, and we managed to get through the first 7 episodes last night.

I'm hoping that this fall/winter I can catch up on a few other shows I've been meaning to watch. Game of Thrones. Breaking Bad. Torchwood. The Walking Dead. Just to name a few. However, there are definitely a few non-nerdy things I want to do this winter as well. I need to pick up my training for Tough Mudder next year, so I need to get to the gym more ofte this fall/winter. And I want to learn to snowboard this winter! I've been wanting to for years, and never gotten around to it. This is my year!

So even if the sun is leaving, it isn't the end of the world! There's plenty to look forward to! ...Are you convinced? I don't think I've convinced myself either. But good effort? What are you looking forward to this fall/winter? Any benefits to summer coming to a close? Leave me a comment below!

Nike+ FuelBand Review

So, I've been using this handy little gadget for over a month now, and I think it's time to write my review.

When I was in San Diego last month, I was fortunate enough to pick up a Nike+ FuelBand at the Nike store near my hotel. I had done a little bit of research on it prior to that and thought it looked pretty cool. But of course it's only available in the States, so I had to jump on any opportunity to get one. And as luck would have it, I got my opportunity!

Anyway, what this handy little device does is it counts your steps and movement and calculates the calories burned while doing so, and then tells you how much "fuel" you've earned. Nike fuel is basically just a point system they've come up with to quantify the amount of activity you've done. There are several other ways to earn Nike fuel, like the Nike+ Running app, and... I'm actually not sure how else. I think there's something basketball related? And i think theres an Xbox 360 game coming soon... I'm off topic again.

The really fun thing about this is that it turns exercise into a game! It's a little extra motivation to go for that run you know you really SHOULD go for. You set yourself a daily fuel goal, and when you reach it, you get this awesome little animation on the FuelBand. Plus, when you sync it to your phone or computer you get to watch little animated videos each time you reach or beat your goals, or reach various little milestones. The app and website will also show all of your activity in little graphs giving you a visual representation of your activity levels throughout the day, week, month, and year. And it shows how long a streak you're on, how many daily goals you've achieved.

The other really fun thing is the competition! If you know other people with the Nike+ FuelBand, you can connect via either the Nike+ website or Facebook and compare scores. Sadly, no one I know has one of these awesome little things yet so I don't have any competition. So this is my call to arms! If you're anywhere near a Nike store in the States, go get one! It's only $150, and it's well worth the price! I need some competition!

I Have a Dilemma

So, as the title implies, I have a dilemma. It has to do with my summer vacation plans next year. There are several things I really want to do next summer, but as it turns out, three if those things are on the same weekend. So what's a nerd to do?

The first, and probably most important, would be San Diego Comic-Con. Next year it's being held July 18th to 21st. It's later in the month than it was this year, but lines up more with the previous year. Clearly I have to go to Comic-Con again. It's been the best part of my year two years running!

Second, although the one of least consequence, would be San Diego Pride, which happens to be that same weekend. Which is either really convenient or really inconvenient. I was hoping they'd be a week apart again so I could take an extra week in SD to take that in. If it's the same weekend, I don't need to use any extra time off, but it means I would have to skip out on part of Comic-Con to see the Pride stuff. Hrmmm...

Third, and of more consequence, is Tough Mudder. I've decided I'm doing it next year. But the one I wanted to do in Calgary is that same weekend! I was getting all excited for it, but looks like I can't do that one... But all is not lost! There is another one in Vancouver/Whistler in August. So I can still do it, I just figured Calgary might be more fun 'cause I haven't been there in something like 7 years.

So, by getting this all out, I've pretty much made my decision. Comic-Con wins out with slight Pride interruptions, and Tough Mudder a month later. Of course, that is all depending on whether or not I get my badge for Comic-Con next year. Gotta be on top of that ball for sure. Also, I've gotta amp up my training for Tough Mudder. Running partners anyone?

The Last Day

Soooo day 6 of the trip, and the fourth and final day of Comic-Con was quite the day indeed! For whatever dumb reason, I had been up until midnight the night before, and as it was the final day of SDCC, we were up at 4am. Yes, you read that right. FOUR. A. M.

We had a good excuse though. Doctor Who. Sunday is the day that always brings the Doctor Who panel to the fans, and being fans, we needed to be there. As we were walking up, the line didn't look so bad. Buuut it was just 'cause it was dark. The line was huge. At that hour of the morning, all I could think to say was "so much hate!"

It actually wasn't all that bad, there were so many people spread out with sleeping bags and stuff that they took up way more room than usual. So we found our way to the end of the line, and hung out for a little while.

At 6:30, Andrea and I decided we needed coffee, so we left our bags with Neil in the line, took an order from one of our line friends we'd just met, and headed to the closest Starbucks. Which had another gigantic line. This line was the slowest moving Starbucks line I have ever seen. At one point, I ducked out of that line to go use the nearby washroom, which prior to me getting there had had a line. So I left one line to get in another line after already having left another line. Weird.

Anyway, AN HOUR AND A HALF later we got our coffees, and while we'd been waiting the Hall H line had begun compressing, so we went and found Neil and our line friends, gave out coffees, and continued on through the line tent setup. Once compressed, the line was actually not bad at all, and we could tell that we'd have no problem getting into the hall.

We whiled away another hour and a half chatting with our new line friends about the convention, reading our various books, and Neil and I played with our Nintendo 3DSs. Seriously, street pass is a lot of fun at conventions like these. You pretty much take ten steps and you've found another 10 street pass tags.

At 9:30am, they finally started letting people into the hall. And by 10, we were walking in and getting our awesome Fringe hats (like the observers wear in the show). We found our seats, and the show began! The cast were awesome. There was crying and lots of laughing. And of course plenty of inadvertant innuendo. The show looks like it'll be going into a great final season.

Once that one came to an end, the Supernatural panel began. I don't watch Supernatural, but I think I might need to start. It looks like it would be right up my alley. The cast and writers were fantastic, and there was much girly screaming in the crowd. They tried to figure out what the plural of the word apocalypse would be. Apocali? I don't think so. And of course, plenty of dirty mindedness.

And then, the main event: DOCTOR WHO!! Such an amazing panel. Moderating was Chris Hardwick (who we were apparently stalking with the six times we saw him over five days) and on the panel were Stephen Moffatt, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill. The panel was so great. They showed two preview clips (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship? Oh hellz yeah), and did the whole Q&A thing with the crowd, plus watching Chris nerd out up there was great. I'm SO excited for the next season!

After that, we headed through the totally insane crowd back to the exhibit hall where we found some really cool prints. I ended up picking up a Jean Grey one, while Andrea got one with Beast. So great. We headed through the hall and we were getting really frustrated with the crowd, so we headed out.

We found a restaurant that we'd been to the first day (I still don't remember what it was called) and had a late lunch. I had a great big burger which was fantastic, along with a nice big fruity drink. I think the alcohol was much needed so I didn't totally lose my cool.

After lunch, we made one last pass through the exhibition hall, grabbed a protective sleeve for our new prints, and ducked back out and over to the Nintendo Gaming Lounge at the Marriott next door. We checked out a few demos, and then headed back to the shuttle back to our hotel, and that was the end of San Diego Comic-Con 2012.

I won't lie, I'm a little bit happy that it's over. It was so busy, and so hectic, and it'll be nice to not have to fight through the crowds anymore. I had such an amazing time though! I definitely would love to do it again next year, and I'd definitely like to visit San Diego again regardless.

King of the Nerds

Day 5 of the trip, day 3 of Comic Con. Saturday? What day is it today? Right, Sunday. So yeah, yesterday, Saturday. Can you tell I'm having trouble keeping up with my blogging?

Saturday had a pretty great start. We were able to sleep in a little bit, and made it to the convention centre about 9:30ish? I don't remember precisely. But we made it in time for what we were going for.

At 10am at the Legendary booth, the king of the nerds himself, Chris Hardwick, was signing autographs and meeting the fans. And we made it! He was dressed as the tenth Doctor, and he seemed pretty excited when I handed him my ticket from the previous night's podcast to get signed. I was pretty excited to get my picture taken with him.

Andrea of course was very happy to meet him, she's been a fan forever. And he was great! He even took a picture with Anne! I don't think I mentioned previously, but our friend Anne couldn't make it to Comic Con with us, so Andrea crocheted a doll of her to bring along so she was with us in spirit. So yeah, Chris Hardwick now thinks we are crazy.

After that, we went to the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton beside the convention centre to catch the Geek & Sundry panel. I had no idea what it was, but Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton? I'm there! So we listened to them talk about all the cool stuff happening with their Geek & Sundry YouTube channel. I think I'm going to have to subscribe to that! The cast of the Guild was also there, with a couple other special guests. It was pretty fun!

After that, it was the Nerdist panel! We were totally getting our Nerdist on. Chris Hardwick and a bunch of other people talked about all the exciting stuff coming up. Most exciting to me: Celebrity Bowling with... wait for it... the Doctor Who cast! So awesome. Looks like I'll be watching a lot more YouTube in the future!

Outside between the Hilton and the Convention Centre there was a thing selling burgers and hotdogs, and a cool Batman setup. Burgers and Batmobiles! We grabbed burgers and then went to look at the different ones. There were 5 of them. Two versions of the Bat-tank (or Tumbler as its ACTUALLY called) plus three older batmobiles. It was kinda cool.

Once we got back to the convention centre, we walked right past Felicia Day, just walking along in the front lobby area of the building. I was all, " Is that Felicia Day? Did we just walk RIGHT PAST Felicia Day?!" You probably don't realize this, but I love Felicia Day.

Anyway, next: coffee! And then the Avengers vs. X-Men panel! I love Marvel panels. Again, there wasn't all that much info that I hadn't already heard about, but it definitely got Andrea excited for comics again. Sadly, I was foiled in asking my question in the panel due to the question line being cut off directly in front of me. And the guy was an idiot. He asked a question that EVERYONE already knew the answer to. And I had a much more interesting question. But oh well.

After that, we decided to check out the line for Hall H. There was a panel for Iron Man 3 that looked interesting, and the line didn't seem so bad, so Andrea and Neil got into line, and I took off. We had 2 hours to wait, so I went to explore the floor again.

Went and said hi to Steve and Shane in the Artist Alley again, but they were both pretty busy so I took off to hunt down some elusive swag. No luck though. Sorry Paul. Everything is getting sold out so fast too! I guess it's not that surprising. I wasted a good half hour or longer playing Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance at the Square Enix booth. On my way back across the room I walked by a Doctor cosplayer that I thought was actually Matt Smith for a minute, and then I saw the guy that played Gunn on Angel at a booth. Someone told me to tweet it, but I had no wifi, so I couldn't do it. Oh darn.

After that, it was about 5:30, so I headed back to the Hall H line, and by a stroke of luck, Andrea and Neil spotted me and I jumped back into line with them. However, we didn't make it into Hall H, so about 6:15, we took off back to our hotel and had dinner.

At that point, it should have been the end of the night, but with so much sitting in panels, I didn't reach my fitness goal for the day, so I went and walked laps around the hotel grounds for half an hour. Thanks Nike+ FuelBand. Thanks a lot.

Separation Anxiety

Day 4 of the trip, Day 2 of Comic Con! The fun continues!

This day started way too early. I was out a little late the night before with my awesome San Diego friends Shawn and Scott, so I really didn't enjoy the fact that we had to get up early to make it into a panel. To be fair, it was supposed to be an awesome panel. A Firefly reunion? Who wouldn't love that??

So, we headed off for the day, grabbed some breakfast and waited for the bus. Aaaand just as it was coming, I remembered I hadn't taken my allergy medication. Way to go Craig. So I ran back to the room while Andrea and Neil got on the bus, and I caught the next one. Who knew this separation would be such foreshadowing...

There were actually three panels in a row that we wanted to get in on. Community was at 10, Legend of Korra was at 11:15, and the Firefly Reunion was at 12:30, so we figured getting there at 8 would be plenty of time. Turns out, not so much. Luckily, Andrea, Neil and I managed to reunite almost as soon as I got there, so it was just a matter of getting to the end of the line. That was a challenge in and of itself.

The longer we walked to find the end end of the line, the further and more hopeless things seemed to become! We walked pretty far before we found it. It wasn't nearly as bad as our walk last year to pick up our badges, but it was pretty bad. As the comic con workers came by and tried to make us lose hope and leave the line, we made friends with a few of the people in line with us, and we became a group. But I have no idea what their names are now. I'm terrible.

Anyway, this line was monstrous. And when we finally got moving, we made it all the way back up to the building! And Before Korra started even! But then it turned out to be an illusion, 'cause the line actually stretched way down the back of the building as well, something we hadn't seen before. But we still had hope. The line had to move somewhat, right?

Wrong. After four hours in line, I got fed up, lost hope that we'd ever make it in, and abandoned the line. Andrea, Neil and I made arrangements to meet up after our hopeful panels ended, and I took off for the other side of the convention centre to catch the Marvel: Ultimate Comics Universe panel. It was pretty fun, no new info really, but the Marvel panels are always pretty enjoyable.

At this point, I headed out to where we had arranged to meet, and waited for a while. Aaaand send several iMessages, tweets, and Facebook messages to find out where my companions might be. Nothing. Soooo I went and got coffee, came back, hung around for a bit longer, aaaand got into another one of the panel rooms to wait for the Marvel Cup o' Joe panel.

Finally, partway through the panel, I heard back from Andrea. It seems wifi was really not working well, so they had only gotten a couple of my attempts to communicate with them, very very late. And even then things weren't working well 'cause they didn't get my responses. So after the Cup o' Joe panel ended, I went off to search for them again, but about ten seconds out the door, Neil attacked me from behind, and we were finally reunited!

As it turned out, they didn't make it into the panel, but they did make it into the one after, Bones! Which was apparently pretty great. I wish I could have seen David Boreanes, but oh well. They had their own adventures though. Andrea lost her badge, and had to get a replacement. And they went all over the place looking for me, even tried asking my favourite artist in artist alley, Steve. It's funny 'cause I even thought about going down there too.

Anyway, after that, we decided to grab dinner at the Yard House restaurant. Andrea and I went there last year, and it was really good, so we had to take Neil. Plus we had plans right down the street. We ended up in the exact same table as we had had last year too, which was odd and kinda funny. We even had a show with dinner, the zombie walk went by the other side of the restaurant so we got to watch as they went by and traffic got completely stopped.

So after dinner, we headed down the street to the Balboa Theatre for the Nerdist podcast taping. I guess every year they do a special podcast with a crowd full of people. I dunno. I had no idea what to expect. We got in, but they didn't open the doors to the actual theatre, and the lobby was tiny, so it got all sardine can up in there for a bit. Dislike. But soon, we made it in, and waited for the show to begin.

And what a show it was! I seriously think you should go look it up right now. Nerdist Podcast from SDCC 2012. It was out of control. They had the extremely funny and very very sexy John Barrowman on the show, and he is just... I don't even know. He's just fantastic. There were discussions of pooping and thigh kisses. John grabbed several ladies' boobs. And made out with a straight guy. It was just nuts. I am going to have to go back and listen to that again. I laughed SO HARD.

And after that, there's really nothing else that could top that. We were tired from so much laughing, so we headed back to the hotel, relaxed for a bit, and headed to bed. The end.

Day 3? Day 1? Who Knows?

So! Trip day 3, but the official 1st day of Comic-Con International 2012! We really didn't have much exciting planned for Thursday, but it ended up being a pretty great day anyway.

We started out venturing into the fray to try to get a BBC lanyard and some toy for Andrea's friend. Both attempts ended in failure. We were really starting to feel like it was completely futile. But we don't give up.

We decided to go check out some of the stuff I wanted to do, so we headed down to Artist Alley to meet someone I'd been talking to. So I got to meet Stephen Sadowski! His artwork was really cool to look at, and it was cool to meet him, and his husband Shane Rooks. They are actually from Vancouver so close to home!

After that, we made one more run by the BBC booth, and we were thinking it looked futile, but then we spotted the exchange of lanyards, and zipped through the crowd and got to be the first people to grab them. Success!

Mattel was another bust. But we went by another booth where I picked up a copy of Amulet signed by one of the guys who works on it. That was pretty fun.

We then got in line for the Marvel House of Ideas panel. There was some author before that, and her panel wasn't all that interesting, so I didn't pay attention. Oops. The Marvel panel didn't have a lot of new information in it, but it was a lot of fun. After that we remembered again how hungry we were, so we too off and found food at some little Mexican restaurant. And then another Marvel panel! The Next Big Thing panel also didn't have a lot of new information, but again, it was pretty fun. I love the Marvel people.

At that point, we decided to enter the fray one last time, so we headed onto the show floor. And surprise! It wasn't anywhere near as busy! We made our way to the Mattel booth, and pretty much walked right up. It was great. Andrea was finally able to get the thing for her friend. Success! Again!

We also managed to get the pirate domo figure comic-con exclusive, but couldn't get the Maleficent figure Andrea wanted. I bought a really awesome Batman, Robin, and Catwoman print from Steve, which I am really excited about.

And at that, our comic-con adventure for the day was done, so we headed on back to the hotel, at which point I took off to hang out with a couple of San Diego friends, Shawn and Scott, a really great couple I met last year when I was here. They took me for dinner at Baja Betty's, a great Mexican restaurant in Hillcrest, part of the gayborhood of San Diego. Had a great time hanging out with them, and decided I never wanna leave SD, haha.

SDCC Preview Night

Day 2! Except, it's more like day -1. Or Day 0. I dunno. Anyway! Comic-Con continued! (this is now two days behind... oops. I wrote this yesterday, so keep that in mind reading this)

So yesterday was the Preview Night for SDCC, where a select few (or many as the case may be) are allowed inside early. But not until 6pm... So we had pretty much the entire day to waste!

We had a bit of a slow start, and as a consequence, we missed the free breakfast the hotel provides. Instead, we bought breakfast, and it was fantastic. I had this omelet, and I only mention it at all because it was an EPIC omelette. It was soooo full of stuff. Almost like an egg pocket.

Anyway, that's enough of that. We bused it downtown and explored a little bit. Saw a few restaurants and building we recognized from last year. Well, Andrea and I did, Neil was a little left out of the recognition.

Anyway! We decided to make our way to the convention centre early, just because. Turns out, rather than having to wait until noon, we were able to grab our badges 3 hours early! And there was no line! It was amazing! So we grabbed those, got our free CCI bags and schedule books and such, and ventured back out to the streets.

Most of the really cool stuff was still being set up outside, but as we were walking along, some guy gave us free tickets to the Course of the Force slash The Dan Band concert thing. That was pretty fun. Chris Hardwick was hosting, which was pretty awesome for Andrea. The Dan Band, if you don't know who they are, is so hilarious. I really enjoyed that. So random concert in the middle of the day? Heck yeah!

After that was over, we explored some more, mostly in search of food. We managed to find a pretty nice place to eat, but I have no idea what it was called. Oops. The bathroom had awesome stuff written on the walls. And I had an awesome pulled pork sandwich.

After THAT, we went back to the Con and got in line to be let in for Preview Night. It was a bit of a long wait, but it wasn't too bad! Finally made it in for 6pm and spent way too much time in lines waiting to get stuff. It's nuts how busy it gets here!

I got my Doctor Who lunchbox and water bottle, and then went and bought a whole bunch of Questionable Content stuff at the TopatoCo booth. I was really excited to meet Jeph Jacques again.

After that, and many attempts to get in lines for other things (resulting in failure) we finally escaped from the convention centre, and tried to get in line for the bus. But our bus was elsewhere, apparently, but without direction to go there, so we eventually made it back to our hotel, unloaded all of our stuff, had a quick bite to eat, aaand went to sleep.

It Begins...

So! The San Diego Comic-Con 2012 adventure has begun! And thus begins my attempt to blog the whole thing. Here goes!

I guess I will start with Monday. Monday wasn't actually all that exciting. It involved a short work day, a quick flight to Vancouver, a long wait for luggage, some Game of Thrones, "Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All," some very awesome hosts letting us stay the night, and of course, the long awaited reunion with the wonderful Andrea!

Tuesday was a very early start. 5am early. Yeah. Ridonk. We got up, got ready, and hit transit for 6am. I didn't realize how much is involved in international travel. Last year we took a shuttle over the border and it seemed a lot less complicated. This year we took a direct flight out of Vancouver, and we got to practice our queuing quite a bit. Baggage drop, security, customs, all in a row. But it was all pretty easy to go through. And one three-hour flight later, we were in beautiful San Diego!

So, we made it to our hotel really early. I guess check-in time is 4pm. We were here at noon. So we stored our luggage and took off on an adventure to find the mall nearby. And as luck would have it, the one and only Nike store in San Diego just happened to be in said mall. If you've been reading lately, you know I've been getting more and more into fitness. The other day I realized that I need new running shoes, and I found the ones I wanted, but they were only available in the States. Well, luck shone down on me haha. I found the shoes I want (Nike LunarGlide+), plus I got the Nike+ FuelBand I wanted (which is only available in Nike Stores in the States). So my first big purchase of the trip was something athletic and not geeky. I think I might be failing at this nerd trip thing.

Or not. After a little more shopping and some food, we stopped in at a Lego store! I've never been to one so it was pretty exciting stuff for me. I wanted to leave with the whole store, but I resisted buying anything. And then we went to see Amazing Spider-Man! It was such a good movie. Andrew Garfield makes a much better Peter Parker/Spider-Man than Tobey Maguire ever did. Admittedly, the movie seems a little slow getting into things 'cause it has to reestablish the whole origin story, but I still really enjoyed it.

After that it was a pretty uneventful evening. We got back to our hotel, checked into our room, and just relaxed for a while. Went for dinner at the little burger place attached to our hotel, and then went for a walk down the road a bit before heading back and crashing in our room again. So the boring part of the trip is over. We've got some time to waste this morning, but this afternoon we'll go pick up our badges for Comic Con and we get to do the Preview Night thing, so that should be fun. I'll continue my SDCC 2012 blogging experience tonight! Or maybe tomorrow morning...

Filler

So, I leave really soon. Like, 2 days soon. It's a little ridiculous. I can't wait for Comic Con! It's going to be fantastic! There are a few things happening before that though!

This weekend is gonna be pretty great I think. I work today, however, I have a bday party for a friend of mine to go to after work, soon followed by the PG Gay Pride dance. I haven't been to one of these in six years, so I'm kind of excited to go. Then! Hopefully I'll be functional tomorrow morning so I can go hang out with my mom and my niece and whatever other family I get to see. And then, packing!! So exciting. In a completely sarcastic kinda way.

I really can't think of anything else fun to say today. I haven't been to the gym in over a week, but I did run/walk 5km yesterday. Half uphill, half down. And I managed to run a pretty good chunk of the uphill, not just the down. The university hill here is kind of fun to run on.

Sorry this post hasn't been nerdier. Just wait, there will be plenty of nerdy on its way in the coming week!

The Countdown is On!

Once again, excitement is building as the most joyous event of the year approaches. No, not Christmas, silly! That's 6 months away! It could be considered Christmas in July though... Anyway, I'm straying from the point. San Diego Comic Con!

It fast approaches! It officially starts July 12th, however, my fellow convention goers and I have passes for the 4 days plus preview night, so our comicon adventures will begin on the 11th, and we actually arrive in San Diego on the 10th. Thus giving us time to hopefully get settled and enjoy some more of what SD has to offer.

This year I am going to make my best effort to actually keep up with my blogging while I'm gone. Trying to blog about the con afterwards last year just really didn't work out well. So we'll see how it goes. Regardless, I can't wait to get my butt outta PG for a week!

In other news, I'm finally moving into my new place this weekend after living in limbo for two months! I can't tell you how exciting this is! Finally to have my own room, my own bed, surrounded by my own stuff. It'll be pretty great!

July is my month! New place, awesome trip, and probably new job, now if only we'd get some sun it would be perfect!

Athletic Nerd - Oxymoron?

Today I'm gonna stray from the usual nerdy topics and talk about fitness. Who knew "nerdy" and "fitness" would ever come up in a sentence together, other than, "The nerdy guy looked like he'd never even heard of fitness."

I'm sure most of my readers (do I have any?) won't be surprised to learn that, as a child, I was not very athletic. I was the kid that hid in the basement playing video games when the sun came out. I was in sports as long as my parents could make me do them, but in highschool I wasn't on any teams. And I was happy. Chubby, but happy.

So now I'm 27 and I've finally realized that I CAN be both a nerd and into fitness. I've definitely taken my time easing into this. I started going for long walks/hikes around town over the last couple summers, always intending to turn it into running. It never really happened. Until now.

After so many years saying I needed to get back into the gym thing, I've finally joined up and started going. It's been difficult, I won't lie. The first few times, I'd wake up two days later and not be able to get out of bed. Just ridiculous. But it feels so good! I already see a lot of improvement in myself as well! And I've got a great little group of gym buddies helping me along. Friends are great motivators. Plus: I've started running. I'm nowhere near doing a marathon, but I've started, and I can only improve from here.

Now for the crazy. Three of my gym buddies are currently in Whistler awaiting their turn to compete in Tough Mudder with their team. When they first told me they were doing this, I thought they were nuts. It's this insane obstacle course thing designed by British armed forces or something. Look it up. Seriously. It's crazy.

Crazier? I wanna do it next year. I seriously want to do it. Anyone that knows me will think I've gone nuts saying that. I don't like to get dirty. I don't like to run and climb and get wet and all that. I'm a nerd. But I want to do it. I'm gonna have to start training hardcore, but I've got a year to get in shape for it. Seems like such a crazy idea, but I think it will be awesome.

So there you have it. Nerds can be athletes too. Who knew?

Generic Title

I have decided that I must post something today, but I really can't think of an interesting topic, so I'm just gonna wing it here.

Over the last couple of weeks there have been some pretty exciting things happening, what with E3 and WWDC going on down in California (all of the coolest things happen in California).

I'll start with E3. What is E3, you ask? Well, I'll tell you! It's the Electronics Entertainment Expo! Blank stare? Basically, it's a huge event where all of the electronics companies show off what they are doing. The key here being the big video game companies giving everyone a sneak peek at what coming down the line.

Honestly, this year was relatively boring. I didn't see a lot of stuff that I was particularly interested in. Not that there wasn't cool stuff, there was, but not really my style. It was mostly just Nintendo that did it for me.

There was finally more info about the Wii U this year, which looks fantastic. I can't really describe it here. It just looks pretty. Pikmin 3 is coming out on it, as well as a New Super Mario Bros. U game. Aaaand I can't remember any other games coming out for it yet. Oops. Oh! Nintendoland or something. That doesn't sound right... It's kind of a Mario Party-esque game but using various Nintendo properties for the minigames, like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Animal Crossing. It looks pretty fun, showing off all of the new capabilities of the Wii U.

Nintendo also finally revealed some more info about a few 3DS games I've been waiting for. Paper Mario: Sticker Star is one I've been waiting for forever. I love the other Paper Mario games in the series, and this one looks pretty awesome. It doesn't look as good as the first two, but we'll see if they prove me wrong. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon also got a little bit of new info out. I really just wanna play it now. It looks fun. Luigi's running around basically being a ghostbuster? Who wouldn't love that?! The also announced New Super Mario Bros. 2, which looks decent. I'll probably buy it and never play it, 'cause I do that.

Otherwise, there wasn't a lot at E3 that I really wanna play. I was a little disappointed. There were games that look really cool, like Beyond, which has Ellen Page starring as the main character. The new Tomb Raider game also looks cool, but I think I'd suck at it. I think there was a new Halo game mentioned, but I am probably the only gamer ever to hate Halo.

The one game I was really excited about that wasn't Nintendo was Assassin's Creed 3. It looks so fantastic. I can't wait for it to come out, even though I have 4 Assassin's Creed games to play before I can play that one. Bad gamer.

Aaanyway, I talked a lot more than I thought I was gonna about E3, so I'll cut out WWDC for now. I'll be an Apple nerd next week. Sorry if this was boring. I should start linking to game trailers or something to make this more exciting... If you have any comments, let me know below!

Excuses, Excuses

Well! It certainly has been a long time (...again)! I'm gonna blame my lack of updates on the constant state of upheaval my life has been in for the last few months, or really, the last year and a bit. It's funny how a failing relationship can totally destroy one's mind.

I didn't intend this blog to ever cross into this area of my life, but it's time to get a little bit personal.

I swear, being in love makes people (read: me) stupid. It's not a new theory, I know. I was with this guy for more than 5 and a half years. Would've been 6 in a little less than two weeks. Turns out, he was a lying cheating asshole (pardon my French). I discovered just how bad it was a little over a year ago. Should have left him right then, but being all stupid (in love) I took him back. It never got better. I could never trust him. Turned the relationship into an odd roommate situation where we both pretended to be happy in love. It was all pretty awful. He continued to sleep his way through the gay population of PG, and I chose to ignore the signs until one day a few months ago when I finally had enough and ended it. I'm sure he's telling people we just grew apart, or some variation where I'm the villain. I'm not perfect, I'll never claim to be. But when the guy you wanted to marry completely shatters the image of the future you imagined, i don't think anyone expects perfection. I sure hope not anyway.

So post break-up, we still lived with each other for a couple months. He was working out of town so it wasn't so bad, but when he was back in town, he'd still go whoring it up, but now didn't care to hide it from me. So once again, camel's back broke (poor camel) and I made a snap decision to move out. It was actually a lot of fun with some friends helping me out, cheering me on as we went. I seriously have some amazing friends.

So now I'm in this odd transitional period in my life, staying with an unspecified family member while all of my stuff is in storage. It will end soon, I have a new place to move into with a very very good friend of mine (and hopefully another very very good friend I just finally reconnected with). At that point, I'm hoping my life will finally be back to normal.

So those are my excuses for not blogging. I've very clearly had a lot going through my mind (leaving a trail of destruction that may or may not ever get cleaned up...). I know, I know. "Excuses, excuses Craig. Get your ass in gear." Don't worry. I don't plan on letting this keep me down any longer. There's so much to look forward to. And I've already got ideas of nerdy things to talk about! E3 just ended, so I can talk about all the fun stuff from that. PLUS: SAN DIEGO COMIC CON!!! I seriously can't wait for this again. San Diego is gonna be fantastic. Anyway. Time for work! I must bid you all adieu. Or something.

My Xbox is Going to Kill Me

So, back to what I was discussing last week before I got rudely interrupted by work (I kid, I kid, I love my job), Xbox!

The achievement system is a lot of fun. Playing games just for the sake of playing games is always fun, but I have an obsession with collecting things. There are quite a few games that I haven't finished simply because I couldn't continue until I did all of the side quests and found all of the collectibles. Xbox Achievements just add to that obsession 'cause now I have a bunch of extra things to do in each game I play. Plus, as I mentioned before, you can compare achievements with friends. Each achievement is worth so many points and those points all add together to make your gamer score.

So, up until recently I only had two friends on Xbox Live, so I really didn't have a lot of people to compete with and it just wasn't that big a deal. Plus I hardly played any games on the Xbox 360 so it just wasn't on my mind. But then I started playing Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and I got hooked. The Xbox became the main focus of my video game energies, and if you know me, I have a lot of video game energies. And I also started searching out which of my friends were on Xbox Live too. I've managed to increase my friend count to eleven. And while I've managed to beat several of their scores, I still haven't beaten (the amazing) Andrea's, and now I have a couple of my cousins who are at least five times my score. It's crazy!

So now not only am I spending far too much time on video games, I've got a clearer focus on getting all of the achievements in each game I play. Both Lego Harry Potter games have been beaten to completion, however games like Fable II and X-Men: Destiny still give me quite a challenge. The Assassin's Creed games have been added to my collection so I have another big challenge ahead of me, not to mention the fact that I haven't even started Fable III or Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. And I want to get my hands on Skyrim! Everyone seems to be playing that one and I'm beginning to feel like I'm being left out.

Anyway, basically what I am getting at is that I am very competitive, and a giant nerd, so Xbox Live is probably going to kill me. But at least it's fun!

If you're on Xbox Live, check me out: truenoblehero! (someone took thenoblehero... grrrr)

I am a terrible blogger...

Apparently I just lost interest in my blog for a good six months! That is awful. Luckily I really don't say anything important so I'm sure the world survived, but still... bad Craig.

So what's had me so busy that I couldn't unload my geekery unto the world? I wish I could say something exciting, like I won a trip around the world, or I was busy fighting crime with newfound superpowers, but unfortunately, it's nothing quite so exciting. Basically I've just been working a lot, playing a lot of video games, reading lots of comic books, and other boring stuff that I find really fun.

The biggest culprit would probably be my Xbox 360. I've somehow become completely enthralled by the thing. Mostly with the different Lego games (Lego Harry Potter, Lego Indiana Jones and the like) which are a lot of fun. It's also brought out my competitive side quite a bit. I have an obsession with getting Achievements and building up my gamer score. It's a little bit ridiculous.

And wow, speaking of work taking over my life, I just got a call to come in early. So I'll cut this short and make a (hopefully not empty) promise to come back soon and say what else I had planned on saying!