Fall television returns!

The return of fall television...

To get through the day by day & breaking the habit of being on the computer, I do submit myself to some television. Usually something to watch & follow when the internet gets too boring or its just simply a series I like to follow. About 2 weeks ago...September 20 (ironically my birthday haha what a birthday gift!) was the start of the fall line up once again, which means...new seasons...new shows...new possibilities. It is a shame that one of my shows did end up getting canceled...which? Heroes, granted there will be no season 7 I figured this was a decent way to end the series. The show must go on & well...my thoughts on them!

Chuck - NBC / Monday: Chuck returns & we pick up where we left off. For those who have been following the series, this ends up being a promising season. I won't reveal too much if you're not one to have followed the series quite yet or have been meaning to get around to it. Two shows in & it shows a lot of potential character growth, especially for Chuck & Sarah.

Big Bang Theory - CBS / Thursday: Penny & the gang return but this time to Thursday night. I admit, its a little weird to be tuning into a different shift change but it works, it spreads out watching fall television. First show was quite amusing & believe it or not, the character developments are there, just very subtle if you can catch them. I look forward to seeing tonight's episode though I will be honest, I'm not sure if there's any direction but either way, the characters are quite lovable.

How I Met Your Mother - CBS / Monday: They are back & it looks like this is their final season? I'm not quite sure...but it seems like it. The very first episode of the new season went back to maybe a key moment where he was dating the roommate (if you recall, the mom was the roommate) but it was some jumping back & forth where Ted does mention briefly the time & place of where he meets the love of his life. In short, if this is the final season, I'm looking forward to seeing what else will be told.

Outsourced - NBC / Thursday: *New show* A bit skeptical at first but I was willing to give this show a shot. I'm not quite sure if this relates to the movie that was done a few years ago but I was willing to give it a shot. The story is set for the character & I think it was a good set up to see where the main character will go. I look forward to the second show tonight & see if this will be something that I will continue to watch for this season.

$#*! my dad says - CBS / Thursday: *New show* I admit, I haven't quite watched one full show. I was able to get about 5mins in to see what the show is about. The initial 5min. impression was overall a bit quirky & funny, one of my friends who had caught some of it says that it reminds'em of the show Titus. I'll hopefully catch one full episode tonight to see if this is something worth while to watch.

A new fascination ~

The fascination has been growing day by day with interesting pictures, whether they're photoshop manipulated or not. Its always been for an easy laugh & lets face it, when your day goes bad, you just gotta remember, there's someone or something else out there....failing....

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As for other ongoings...

I've been working on my art, slowly but surely. Finishing art requests, starting on new ones on the side. Working with different programs. My new mindset has been working on AI CS3 (Adobe Illustrator) why? I figured it was the only program I really haven't put to the test & tried out yet. I'm currently working on a piece in attempt to vector the whole piece but due to frustrations, I'm thinking I need to search through my old work & find something a little less elaborate (and maybe a little less curvy). Either way, hopefully I can make good use of AI CS3 as well. The program looks solid & steady, there's additional hope that I can apply this to the other programs I have too.

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That pretty much covers it, with the end of the year slowly but surely coming, I have plenty of things to worry about & do until the next summer. I bid summer adieu~

Starting a new ...

Having my cake & eating it too ...

What constitutes for a birthday? Well technically it goes as follows : [original link]

Birthday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Birthday (disambiguation).

A birthday, as the term implies, is the day or anniversary of the particular day on which a person was born.

Though by no means universal, birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a party or, in some

instances, a rite of passage. Though major religious traditions such as the Buddhist or the Christian celebrate

the birth of their founders, the most prominent example of which isChristmas, principled opposition to the very

idea of celebrating birthdays is to be found among certain religious groups.

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So where do I go from here? After much contemplation over this past year, I had come to a conclusion: attempting

to make amends. I figured since it is a new year for me, its a new start. Apologies were made, mis-communications

were clarified & just to keep an open mind (& heart) as this is a new year.

Was I successful?

I would like to think I was but I know I'm not. Hopefully, where strained relationships & friendships went awry isn't

an indication of where they will lead in the future. After-all I have this weird superstition of mine - any indication of

where things ended in terms of friendships, relationships & even laundry, will dictate how things will be within this

following year...I could be wrong, I may be thinking about the actual New Year (Jan. 1st)...

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I have learned something though, those who have wished me a happy birthday, I am thankful that people remember

& I'll thank them once again (and the little facebook reminder that came with it. HAH xD!)

Questioning infomercials

Blame utter insanity ~ watching infomercials from time to time -- you can't help ... 'are they serious'? I guess this applies to the idea of being mindful of how to advertise. Quite possibly good products with good intentions, but its questionable on how they are being advertised. Bringing up two infomercials that comes to mind with being mindful of how to advertise is as follows:

The Tiddy Bear

Thoughts: Seriously? I mean, I can understand it being fun & entertaining for children, but is me? Or is there one too many chest shots? (Not to mention majority of them are conveniently wearing tank tops of some shape or form?)

The Shake Weight

For men:

Now don't worry, the shake weight provides equal opportunity for both sexes...

For women:

Thoughts: At first I thought 'hey! what a neat invention! but...does it really work?' Until watching this with one of my friends, he starts to laugh for no reason ... why? He decides to point out what is wrong ... and I'm just speechless from this point on ...

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Now! Don't get me wrong ... like I said before, I imagine these are good little inventions will good intentions ... but with the rules of properly advertising / creating logos etc. I guess it goes beyond creating logos for companies when wanting to push a reasonably probably good product.

The Muse : Music soothes the restless dreamer ...

It has been several days & I have managed to get back into some form of drawing once again. Finishing a couple of digital artwork pieces but nothing in my sketchbook quite yet. The reasons behind all of this has oddly been through a few of reasons.

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1st reason: I've been getting back into watching anime & for some odd reason, it has compelled to draw. Which anime have I watched? Well I was able to finish the anime Genshiken, both seasons 1 and 2 (including the OVA). The anime overall is pretty good in my opinion. In a way it feels like its a slice of life but through the eyes of college people. This covers all aspects of 'otakus', from the types that there out there to the interests they take in.

2nd reason: Collaboration - I have been able to play on ArtStudio with my cousin's iPad, everytime I manage to draw something, my cousin ends up inking, coloring & shading. In my opinion, I think its kinda good for both of us. He gets to get back into his artistic side & I get to work with a different medium.

3rd reason: Music - recently have gotten back to listening to Linkin Park. I dunno, been enjoying listening to them. From their stuff from the beginning to their new music that's coming out soon. I haven't been disappointed with any of their music so far, its nice to see a band trying new things & looking forward to their new album coming out.

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I have learned my lesson ~ I will try not to burn myself out by putting as much artwork as I did...or well try not to lose that artistic drive ... here's hoping!

Gotta Catch'em All - Re-visited

Pokemon revisited --

Sometime around August 8th, 2010 ~ I was in the midsts restarting to play Pokemon HeartGold.

Backtracking...

I had played Pokemon before, Gen. 1 consisted of Red & Blue, with trading & by other means...I was able to get all 151. That was years ago! Whatever happened to that game? I'm pretty sure Blue version had all 151 I had bother to catch & trade but as years passed by, I lost not only both Red & Blue, but the brick heavy looking things that was once known as a Gameboy.

Next...

I had forgot to mention this prior, I had Pokemon Gold. Yet, here's the catch to this...it was in Japanese so I had to navigate through with a translation guide. Did I catch all of them then? No...and obviously you can imagine why.

Just to try...

I never got around to playing FireRed or LeafGreen, but when my younger cousins got the game, I managed to borrow that...yet I didn't play it. Perhaps, the reason my interests got started was when I played Pokemon Ruby. Yes, this was also borrowed from my cousin too.

Coming back to the present...

I bought & started playing Pokemon Diamond, seeing all the pokemon in the Sinnoh region is neat, didn't realize that once you open the National Pokedex, it gets a little harder. Did I ever finish the game? For the most part, yes, I did. Did I catch all 493 by the time that came out? No. I really didn't have a keen interest in completing a large list. I did however transfered all the pokemon I had caught in Ruby which gave me an interesting fair start.

As Pokemon Platinum came out, the initial reason of wanting to play was there but that quickly died down since all my pokemon were in Diamond anyways...eventually I may want to backtrack only to see the minor differences in the game, maybe not, we'll see.

When Pokemon HeartGold came out, I admit, I was a sucker to get the game strictly for the pokewalker. I played on & off only because when parts got difficult I lost interest rather quickly. Yet somewhere within the on again off again playing, some trading with another friend, I thought back to the Gen. 1 game I once had where I did catch all 151. I figured "Hey I might as well try & see how it goes..." There's no rhyme or reason, no charity behind it, no glory...well basically nothing behind this drive. (A little back history, at times, being a girl gamer, I tend to be one of those gamers that are uh completionists? Y'know...wanting every spell...every little moment unlocked...collect every little thing possible etc. etc.) I just wanted to see if I really could achieve something similar when I had caught 151...except this time its now 493. A daunting task considering this is Gen. 4 & many pokemon are either obtainable through trade or if a person is willing to wait, the Nintendo Wifi events Pokemon events that are held every now & then.

The process...

Now it did help a lot that my friend from the Bay Area had come down to visit, we had traded & it was a good start. All the trading initially happened in my Pokemon Diamond game (ie. Arceus, Darkrai etc.). Some trading happened on my HeartGold too (ie. Deoxys). Eventually I had moved all the pokemon I caught in Diamond (and some I previous did through Pal Park do to Pokemon Ruby) to HeartGold but it wasn't enough. Apparently there were exclusives, like every game prior so this was no surprise to me. With only access to FireRed, Ruby, Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum, there were only so many ways for me catch certain pokemon. I admit, I can be a teeny bit lazy but thankfully I redirected my focus to asking friends online who may or may not have been playing Pokemon. I basically told them my little goal of catching 493, especially wanting to catch all 493 before Pokemon Black & White comes out in America. I'm am so very grateful that they were more than willing to help!

What does this mean?

More trading, giving out friend codes & due to my horrendous internet, going out to find reliable internet so I can trade! The process was tedious, evolving via leveling, evolving via happiness (yuck I want my pokemon happy? Blasphemy! JK!) & evolving via trading. I slowly did get further along, not too long ago in previous journal entries, I stated I was somewhere around the 300s? Maybe 400s!

Now...

After some trading the last 27 some odd pokemon I need, I was basically nearing my goal. With the exception of 1 that I couldn't get from my friend. I had to go about the tedious way of actually obtaining the pokemon I last needed, Spiritomb.

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So yes, since August 8th & my statement of chasing after 493, my goal was reached September 9th early this morning. All pokemon were accounted for on my National Pokedex on HeartGold. A tedious journey with a simple inquiry of, 'can I do it'? The answer is an obvious yes.

.....

I really didn't & couldn't do all of this alone, this really did require patience, leveling & trading (perhaps also, a little bit of luck with all things considered) w/ friends.

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How many were involved? - There were well wishers & those who wanted or tried to help but couldn't due to various reasons (the thought is really appreciated & I am glad to know that there are friends who were willing to try & help meet this odd goal). The people who I actually did manage to trade with & those who have helped, there were a total of 3, (4 if I guess you count my earlier efforts?) and those 3 I would like to thank so much for making it happen...

My friend Milotic who is also my Audition couple - You do deserve the most thanks, you really did want to see me to the end of this goal. Filling in the gaps & helping me get a lot of the pokemon, which were rather in my opinion hard to get considering what games were available to me. I hope to help you finish as well since you're so close as well (so close! D:). Thank you so much~

My friend from the Bay Area - You pretty much started it all with helping me get some past event Pokemon I never got. Do I blame you? No, I thank you for helping with getting some pokemon I know would be rather hard to get to begin with. You have my gratitude! =D

My friend PapaBear who is also my Audition online FAM dad =x! - I haven't forgotten you! You did want to help & hence you did! You along with Milotic wanted to help me to the end. Really your efforts are recognized too & I appreciate it.

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Has my pokemon journey come to an end? - In a way...yes & no, I'm not obsessively playing to catch 493 anymore. I'm also moving pokemon into a pokewalker while I'm not playing pokemon (and I haven't opened up all the pokewalker paths yet). Its a little weird but I do also want to fully finish Pokemon Ruby & Pokemon FireRed..also maybe Pokemon Platinum. Last but not least, waiting for Pokemon Black & White to come out in America. Will it be a new journey to catch all those as well? We'll see...for now goodbye ~

Adventures in Las Vegas

Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas .... or seen the next day on Facebook ....

Now perhaps, the weirdest tendency I tend to do is leave without notice. So low & behold, this little bear went of adventuring to Las Vegas once again...yes once again...because I do have friends there!

Now where did I go?

Well sharing such an escapade, its nothing wild & crazy, cheesy or tacky...hell...it was just simply 3 days of utter indulgence with a pleasant surprise near the end of my little trip...I may go as far as saying this was my way to go find my muse...and no, not those kind of muses that are 5'8"...perky & bouncy that subtly provoke you to give them more money...now my stay was away from the strip because it was a lot closer to familiar people that I can easily go visit...yet oddly, I didn't end up at my hotel room first...

The M - Studio B - I ended up here considering I left rather late during Monday. Meeting up with friends over at a buffet! What a way to start out. Making my way to the M, I made my way to this dining location. Apparently it has been voted the best buffet in Las Vegas 2010 & after eating there, I can completely understand why. Well with the typical sight of food being prepared in front of you, the variety was ranged rather well. Not to mention...yes access to a wine bar that was there, granted the wine varied on what was available, the access & the refill isn't bad! If you can manage to go back & forth from your table to the wine bar & not get a lil buzzed in the process, there has to be pluses there...somewhere.

Okay...I knew & had planned this trip for a while...so...for me to be getting sick was not planned on my end...

Bachi Burger - This was a place I had went to during my last trip to Vegas, so luckily for me, I was able to come back here. The burgers here are done well & granted it is a little pricey, this place gives you an understanding why the price matches the burger. The portions here are enough to leave you full & satisfied, not fulled & waddling out afterwards.

Island Flavor - Now if you have never been to Hawaii or never had Hawaiian food & would like to try this place, I would suggest this place. After eating local places that sell Hawaiian food in San Diego, coming to a place that is here in Las Vegas pretty much can't compare in both taste & price. The food portions are more than generous, the price is very reasonable & the taste is quite delicious. One of my friends who are originally from Hawaii loves coming here & has stated that this place out of all the places he has eaten since coming to the mainland would be here as well.

Rest time! Believe me, somewhere in the heat & the walking, all the food was burned off somewhere...

The Egg Works - I will try to stay away from the egg-citing puns behind all of this but this place is indeed egg-quisite for breakfast. They ranged from your typical breakfast & also appealed to the islanders with some island flavor styled breakfast. Now this place doesn't also serve breakfast, it does serve some lunch plates as well, sandwiches & burgers but c'mon, a place called egg works, how can you not order breakfast here?

Del Mar Deli - A place owned by a sweet couple, we pretty much ate some snack foods that were yummy. Just enough to tide us over 'til we went to watch a Las Vegas show later that night (if anyone is really curious, went to see Cirque Du Soleil - Ka, very good show).

Dae Jang Keum Korean BBQ & Tofu Restaurant - (edit) This place is 24hrs which is good for late night eats. The food is plentiful, the place is yummy, everything is cooked right in front of you, the service is pleasant & overall a wonderful experience.

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Now this concludes my indulgence adventure over in Las Vegas, if you wish to know about more delicious places to try while in Vegas, I have plenty more to list, just not listing them all now. Now I'm home, full & hopefully I believe I have found my muse. We'll see how that goes in the next few days.