Shadee’s Blog

Bullshit.

I played violent video games when I was little, hell, Tom and Jerry and things like that were violent too when you look back at them. By that time, the fact that it was entertainment and that it wasn’t right to do those things in real life was already common sense to me thanks to my parents.

Any adult wanting to ban any form of violent entertainment out of fear that it might turn their kids violent should have a massive mandatory “LAZY PARENT” tattoo put on their foreheads.

-Dee.

I’m starting to get tired of the media shifting all the focus to ME3′s ending and debating the “art” of a game and “entitlement” to change art.

The anger about Mass Effect 3 wasn’t just about the ending.
The trilogy’s major selling point from the start (and they hyped the hell out of it) was that player choices would have a massive impact on the story progression and the ending. More so than ever done before in a game.

The way I see it, that didn’t even ring as true as they advertized it would in Mass Effect 2. So I waited for the reviews of 3 and didn’t end up buying it. Not just because of the ending (I still wouldn’t buy it if they added another) but because they promised an interactive experience where the player’s choices would shape the story in a major way and they didn’t deliver on it.

I’m not angry because they didn’t make the story to my liking, I’m angry because they advertized that “I” would be choosing and shaping the story with my choices, I got excited about that idea, invested money and time into it and then didn’t get that product but instead a generic on rails linear RPG with a few minor side choices, which while cute, don’t really affect the story that much, just like KOTOR. The thing is, I liked KOTOR for what it was, I probably would’ve been fine with ME too if that’s what it had been advertized as.

So yes, I do feel a sense of entitlement. I feel I’m entitled to get the product I paid for and actually have it be what was advertized to me. And if I find out ahead of time that it’s not then it’s perfectly normal to voice my anger by not buying. If you buy a box which says “LEGO” on it and once you open it you just find paper clips in there then it doesn’t matter whether or not you like the paper clips and would still enjoy using them, you should get angry and speak up anyway because the seller is a dishonest asshole.

-Dee.

Several people posting on Facebook today inspired me to write this. They were appalled by all the people going nuts about Whitney Houston’s death when so many children around the world had probably died around the same time due to starvation and disease yet no one seems to care about them.

I’ve thought like that in the past when I’d see people go on about celebrity deaths but then I thought, you know, they’re really not doing anything worse than I am.

It’s human nature, especially in this society, to pick and choose what we care about. Most of us don’t make a donation to humanitarian aid instead of buying that new video game we want, a cool new sweater when we have plenty at home, trinkets, gadgets or even a bunch of junk food to stuff ourselves with while other people are starving.

It’s much easier to point fingers over superficial things than it is to properly look at ourselves in the mirror isn’t it.

-Dee.

We got our hermit crab Stumpy (and Ren but he has sadly passed on) during our honeymoon in a little beach town over 7 years ago. Stumpy’s always been a healthy crab and he’s grown a lot since we first got him.

In all of those years I’d never encountered any other creatures living in his tank though. So when one day, not too long ago, I went over to change his food I was horrified when I saw it crawling with what seemed like tiny dark brown bugs.

The first thing I did was check the net on how to get rid of pests like that. I came across mentions of crab mites, which can cause crabs to lose limbs and eventually die. So I checked Stumpy but luckily the creatures weren’t actually on him and seemed much more interested in his food than him so that was somewhat of a relief at least.

It was really hard to tell what they were because they were so tiny so I just assumed the worst and scrubbed out his tank, cleaned the substrate and hoped for the best.

It didn’t take long for the creatures to return however (if they were even really gone in the first place) so I decided I wanted a definite answer. There were a bunch of possible culprits so I needed to find out what they looked like. That’s where my new macro tube came in handy. I managed to take a shot with that and see a better close up.

This is what they look like. After getting a better look it was much easier to identify them. Turns out they’re Springtails. They’re also considered to be what people call “Tank Custodians”. They’re not harmful at all. In fact, a lot of people encourage these creatures to live with their hermit crabs. They eat hermit crab poo, rotten matter, prevent the growth of mold and even help prevent harmful bacteria and actual pests like mites by out-competing them.

So they’re basically little cleaners, actually helping keep my crab’s environment safe and healthy. And I’ve been catapulting several batches of then out into the cold outdoors.

So I’m sorry little guys. I guess you’re ok and welcome to stay. Sorry for throwing out your family members. I promise leave you alone from now on. :>

-Dee.

I’ve never liked that word (unless it’s meant to describe a device pushing blissfully cool air at my face), I just… I don’t know, whenever I hear the word “fan” I picture some rabid crazy person hanging over a fence, crying and screaming while trying to grab a hold of the shirt of some poor celebrity walking by with the clear intent of ripping it off their bodies and then sleeping with it clenched firmly against their chest (or God knows where else) every night for the rest of their lives.

So yeah, while I know that that’s a horrible generalization and that there are plenty of “normal” people who just have an appreciation for an actor or musician or someone along those lines who also call themselves fans, I’m just too appalled by the extreme end of the spectrum that I refuse to ever use that word to describe myself when it comes to another actual human being. I can be (and am) a fan of chocolate for example, sure!

Having said that though, I certainly do have an appreciation for work done by famous people. But I’d like to think that I wouldn’t treat a person like that any differently than anyone else if I ended up coming face to face with them or interacting with them. I would hate to have someone not see me as another person, like them but as some kind of screaming hatchling monstrosity trying to get an autograph pushed into it’s beak to pacify it for a few seconds.

Doesn’t mean that I would completely ignore the work of theirs I loved either, of course I’d mention it and let them know I appreciated it and that I thought they’re great at what they do.

Similar thing with Fan Art. When it comes to drawing celebrities I just can’t do it. Skills aside that is, I know I literally can’t do it because I suck at drawing human faces and they’d probably just end up looking like a deformed marmoset but I mean even if I could, it would just feel creepy to me. “Hi, I’m some stranger who doesn’t know you at all but I’d like to pretend I do and that it’s completely normal for me to adore you so much that I’m going to draw your face in extreme detail now.”
< "It took me like three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip.")

But I can do video game fan art. If I loved the story and characters I'll draw a tribute to the fun times I had while playing it and thank the people who were behind creating it for making it so much fun. Like my recent little Mass Effect fan art doodle:

Just to show my appreciation for the writers and voice actors of my favorite characters, because they simply made the game for me.

If one of them were to see it and respond to it though, I so wouldn’t go all weird… or…

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FGHGSAW:LKA:KDLKL!!!!!1

So we adopted this cute little tortoise shell kitty a few months ago. Everything went great. Didn’t take her very long to get used to the dog and vice versa, she took to her new litter box right away. She’s smart enough to understand rules about things she’s not supposed to get onto / into or scratch with a few firm NO!’s. I even managed to teach her how to use the scratching post! Our previous cat never touched the thing but with some clever thinking on my part (tie a catnip pillow to the top of the scratching post and watch the lulz commence [link] ) she loves it to pieces now (literally) and uses it several times a day.

She eats, she drinks, she’s playful… and she poos. OMFG DOES SHE POO! D:

About 5 seconds after she cranks out her little kitty logs the ENTIRE FUCKING HOUSE starts to smell like shit. It’s fucking disgusting. What’s worse is, it seems like she actually tries to time it so that it happens right as I’m preparing either lunch or dinner for myself.

We took her to the vet, got her all her necessary shots, had the vet give her a complete check up, gave a stool sample (warned the vet to wear a gas mask when opening) and had a full battery of blood work done to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong with her.

But when the vet called with the results it turned out she’s healthy as a horse… so she’s just a stank machine. I guess next up is gradually switching food types and hope we’ll come across one which will make things a bit more bearable. In the mean time I guess we’ll just continue to scoop multiple times a day and use the Febreze bottle as if it were a six shooter and the litter box an angry John Wayne.

Nasty cat.
Good thing she’s got the cute thing going for her.

-Dee.

So I had a messed up dream the other night.

I was at Disney world and apparently I’d randomly won something which allowed me to see some premier of a new Tom Cruise movie and actually watch it there with Tom Cruise. He was a complete nutcase, made me feel very uncomfortable and after the movie he told me he needed to show me something. Against my better judgment I went along with it.

He took me out onto to the ocean in which there was some massive hollow upside down black pyramid structure and contained inside it was Cthulhu. Apparently they thought it was Xenu or something and they needed 4 people, 1 on top of each corner of the massive structure to release him. There were already 3 there and they were trying to convince me to stand in the 4th spot. Just looking at it’s eyes over the side of the structure instantly made me feel like I was starting to lose my mind so I jumped onto the nearest jet-ski and tried to get the fuck away without looking back.

That’s when I woke up and decided that I need to start eating more spicy foods in the evenings because that dream was more entertaining than anything that’s on TV these days.

I don’t like the new Moon/Sun bar for druids.
I’m all for making Cata dungeons and combat in general more like it was back in Vanilla where you actually have to pay attention, strategize and where specific class skills matter again in encounters but this bar isn’t doing it. It’s taking away the player’s own choices and if you actually want to take advantage of the procs and bonuses it forces you to stare at your spell bar to follow the blinking buttons and spam the same spell class until the see-saw goes down on the other side instead of paying attention to the fight. Also, if I’m fighting a nature immune mob I don’t want to be stuck in the arcane corner of the bar (and vice versa) and not get any bonuses at all during the fight because of it. It’s just silly.

-Dee (who will probably be getting her Mage the rest of the way to 80 now instead).

Just sayin…

A thought came to mind when I was watching a show about a huge new species of bear they found and shot in Canada. It turned out to be a Grizzly/Polar Bear hybrid. Which they found very unusual since it wasn’t normal Polar Bear behavior to travel that far south.

So the thought I had:
Are we going to be the end of everything because we keep stopping animal evolution by shooting new hybrid species of animals like polar/grizzlies? With the polar caps melting maybe instead of trying to save a species and keeping it “pure” we should just let nature take care of it like it has for billions of years with a new and tougher species which can survive and thrive in the new conditions instead of killing them all off. It’s certainly been a trend. Every time we see something new show up it’s rare, which makes it expensive by default and we shoot it, sell it and/or study it’s corpse.

On the other hand, dinosaurs have been known to dominate the planet by not giving a lot of other species a chance too. So maybe what we’re doing is natural and all part of the cycle too.

Eh who knows.
Too much thinkz, Xbox tiem now.

-Dee.