Late Night x Boredness = Time to Blog

So, it's ... 11:35 at the time of starting of this post.  I don't really know exactly what to talk about, but I'll just wing it, kay? Gwah

Tonight....was......bwah.  So, it's like...day three or four of the "Gogue Thanksgiving" and, of course, beer beer wine beer.  There was....anohter 3-4 30 packs bought, I believe. All...gone in one night.  More games of beer pong was played plus newer games were played as well.  Gwah.

THat's ... basically it..I played more of the puzzling vikings game, and we got as far as level...like...23 or 24.And it's getting difficult now.  My cousin leaves on Monday, so I don't know when I'll play that game again, hehh.

And...that's basically it.. again, so...Short blog - meh, I hate 'em, but it's what I got.

Turkey x Guams = Wildest Thanksgiving Ever. Period.

So, although I missed blogging for yesterday, I'll just do a two day blog in one CB.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and this year, My fam combined with my uncle's fam, because his son's came to visit, and so, it would be a little "reunion" amongst just a fraction of the Gogue Family.  So, we had dinner a bit "early" yesterday, it started at 3, which actually oculd be when you guys have started CB Anyways, we had all the family in the same room eating together, even though the parents were at the separate table (like always).  After that, I went down with one of my cousins to the basement to play some good old fashioned SNES - Old Vikings 2 - THe best [puzzle] game I've ever played - it's like...so addicting (for me anyways, some of you *cough* may get annoyed at simple controls) ANyways, we played that for a bit, then my cousin was called up to play beer pong.  So, it was four vs. four, and whilst I didn't play, it was sitll enjoyable - yes, the alcohol was funny - I mean, I'm against it for realz, but..I dunno - something about seeing people miss the cups is just...funny - because it gets all serious, thinking the ball will go into a cup, but no - it bounces off the rim and just ends in sorrow. Hah - so they played that for ... I don't know how long - I just know that shortly after (~15 minutes), my parents left because my dad wasn't feeling good (o'course). They left at 7:30~~, so I assumed the game was between 1 and 2 hours long.  After that, my sis, cuz, and I played a bit of the Cup Beat game, some Boom SNap Clap, and some Riki Tiki Bear.  We cleaned up the kitchen afterwards (I'm still at my uncle's house, since I decided to sleepover). We played a few hours of card games, yes, they were dirnking games, but since my sis and I were the only ones that refused alchol, we just drank some diet Coke (after while, I stop getting the hiccups from it) - The games were intense, even if they were intended for actual alcohol consumption, but I had fun anyways.  Then, the boy's went downstairs, the girls go upstairs, and I played a bit more of the Puzzling game (omg so addicting) until my cousin fell asleep, then I sorta...just tried to goto sleep. I dunno what time that was, I'd asume 11 p.m. But I do know I kept waking up because my cousins and their friend kept getting up to go pee, and I was in the direct walking path to the bathroom.  So, after a couple of wake up sessions - I heard voices upstairs, and it being a really dark basement, with no windows, I assumed it was like 8 a.m....no, it was 4:37 a.m. and two of my cousins and brother were talking.  I stayed up there with them until my brother went down, then I went down after setting up the movie for Ratatoullie.  I tried to goto sleep downstairs, btu after 2 minutes, I got tiredof laying down, so I went back upstairs and just watched the rest of the movie. And that last til ~ 7 a.m Then, my cousin said she still was awake, so I picked another movie, A Knight's Tale, and it played for about 30 minutes - then my cousin went upstairs, and my sis came down (So my sis and I are in midfloor, whilst cousin is on top floor) - I stopped the movie after 45 minutes into it and went to the channel about to play Happy Feet.  I lasted til openning creits, then I got bored, and my uncles and aunts came down to goto Krispie Kreme to get donuts. This was about..8:30/8:45.  They cmae back ,I ate then I went downstairs to alert the rest of the boys there's donuts. So, they all came up to eat, and then we went back down (9 am) to play more of the puzzle game, which lasted til 11, when we left to come back home to have our own Personal Thanksgiving for our own fam (so, I had two thanksgivings really). Now, I'm about to shower to go back and play some of the zombie game. 

ZOMBIES FTW ! 

(p.s. There's a GO in GOGUE, so .. yeah, it's basically our family motto now)

Zombies x Shotgun = Fun Fun Fun

So, my brother picked up this game, Left 4 Dead. It's your typical zombie apocalypse type game. It's actually...pretty fun, or at least I think so, despite the limited number of weapons and maps.

Basically, there are four characters, a.k.a. Survivors:

1. Zoey, a college stundet+horror movie enthusiast
2. Francis, the big, tattoeed biker
3. Bill, the old war veteran
4. Louis, the [only] black Systems Analyst

There are zombies, a.k.a. The Infected, and then six types of "special infected":

1. The Horde, which is a massive group of regular infected coming at you; 
2. Boomers, which are big fat dudes that vomit on you (the vomit attracts all the zombies to you)
3. Smokers, which use their long tongues to snatch onto you and drag you towards them, or just constrict you if there's an obstacle in the way
4. Hunters, which are the hooded, jumping folk, that leap towards you, and just beat you senseless 
5. Tanks, which are basically the juggernauts of the game (they have the most HP, are very powerful, but also, very fast)  - and finally, 
6. The Witch, which is the woman in fetal position scattered across the maps - she's harmless if you don't bother her...but when you do (ex fflashing a light to her, shooting at her, staring at her) she goes on a rampage, and chases you until you die (only the person who startled her).
   

Finally, there are.....let's see.....2....3...2..1. = 8 total weapons, 2 of which are just "grenades", divided into two tiers - First and Second (second being the better)

1. Pistol - 15 bullets/clip. You automatically start out with this and you never lose it.  This is the only one with unlimted ammo and you can find a second pistol later on for duel wield, also the only duel wield weapon.  One more thing - when you're "decapitated", which I'll talk about later, this is the only weapon you can use to defend yourself.
2. Pump-action shotgun (First) - 8 bullets/clip|128 max ammo.  This is the favourite - it blows the zombie's brains out - basically a one shot kill to anything but Tank, if you shoot it right. Great Short range damage/Bad for long range
3. Uzi/Submachine Gun (First) - 50 bullets/clip|480 max ammo.  This is the autogun of the game - great medium range weapon. Due to the high rate of fire, ammo depletes fast. (I use these, hah)
4. Hunting Rifle (Second) - 15 bullets/clip|180 max ammo.  This is the long range gun - it's the only one with a scope. Apparantly, it can shoot through several enemies at once - I don't use this much, only while I'm in the safe room and I need to clear the area outside it.
5. Auto-Shotgun (Second) - 10 bullets/clip|128 max ammo.  Basically, like the First tier shotgun - but faster.
6. Assault Rifle (Second) - 50 bullets/clip|360 max ammo. Basically, an upgraded submachine gun with lower max ammo.
7. Molotov Cocktail (grenade) - 1 use only. This is..just a bottle of [very] flammable liquid, with a lit up "wick" - when thown, it instantly makes an area of fire when it lands that burns the zombies. (Very effective against Tank and Witch + fun to see them on fire)
8. Pipebomb (grenade) - 1 use only. This bomb takes longer to detonate - but, it's LED lights, for some odd reason, attract the normal infected - and so when there's a horde of zombies coming after you, you can use this to both lure them away + kill them too.

*note: You can only have 1 grenade at a time - so you can't carry both.

So, I realized I've basically just been summarizing the game and some features, so I'll stop that now. But, since I told you earlier I'd talk about being "decaptiated" - I'll briefly go into it, then go on about my love for the game.

So, everyone starts out at 100 hp.  Once this reaches zero, you are considered "decapitated" - not dead, but not exactly...alive.  You basically fall to the ground, and you can only use your pistols - you're still alive in the sense that you can still kill with your pistol(s), but you're dead because you can't move or use any other weapon, even melee attacks.  This state also has it's own HP bar, in which I forgot what it starts at - but I know it's at least 300 hp. But, your defense is lower - so you get hit from more damage.  In this state, your hp drops at a fixed, medium slow rate - so, it's kinda like bleeding to death sort of.  While you're down, your teammates can come by to "revive" you, and then you start back up with 30hp.  If no one saves you by the time your hp hits zero, you finally become dead. Also, after so many revives, you only have "1 life left" (The characters actually tell you "One more fall, and you're done") and your screen turns greyscale. This is only until you find a medkit to heal yourself back up to normal hp.  But, once you become decapitated again, without having healed yourself, you become dead.  Once you're dead, if you aren't in the last stage, people can "find you" in closets scattered throughout the maps, and when you are found, your second tier weapons drop to first tier, you lose your second pistol, if you had it, and you start out with 50 hp.  And that's it for the conditions you can be in.

Moving on to my likeness for the games, I'll just list them:

• Scaring the Witch - even though you can easily just pass right past her, I find it fun to startle her and try to run away, because she is like....five times faster than you - so, it's just fun to try and run away and kill her at the same time.  On normal and advanced, once she hits you, you're decapitated, then she just claws at you til you die.  In expert, she one hit kills you. So, yeah...stil fun as heck though.  Also, since it's on XBox 360, you can get achievements.  Three I know of are "Witch Hunter" (no one gets hit by Witch), "Burn the Witch" (when you...burn.the.witch) and "Cr0wnd" (You kill the witch with a single headshot (which is hard as brick, but with a shotgun, it makes it "easier")
• Luring the Tank to the Saferoom - So, there are "checkpoints" in the game called Saferooms, which are...just safe rooms - it just transitions from map to map and kind like...rest stops on your ventures - you can restock on medkits (btw, you can only have 1 medkit at a time, which heals for 80% of lost health...so, you can't reach 100hp again), ammo, change weapon, and sometimes, get grenades.  Anyways - it's supposed to be the only room that infected can't break the wall down to. Every other room with a door, the infected can tear through.  But, if you're able to "outrun" the Tank - and lure it to the saferoom, especially on this one stage where the saferoom is like a train car, I run all the way to the other end of the car, and wait for the Tank to come, and I see it just break open the door, and I scream and I keep shooting it hoping it'd die before it reaches me. Which reminds me...I was playing Bill, and the Tank killed all the other Survivors, and the Tank just broke down the Saferoom door, so I just started shooting it with my shotgun, and right when it came within punching distance to me, it died, and fell right in front of me - and I ... just laughed hysterically out of joy - I thought we'd have to start the map over, since once both people (since I play co-op) are either dead or decaptitated, and no one can revive us, you restart from the last checkpoint.  SO, yeah, I just love luring the Tank to the saferoom.
• Running through stages on expert - I just love to run the whole stage, without actually planning and stalking and trying to kill al lthe zombies before they attack me.  It just fun to try and run past all the zombies, and out of nowhere, be snagged by the Hunter, or getting caught in the Smoker's tongue, and being dragged and constricted-  because you're so far ahead of everyone else, no one can save you, and so .. you just die.  ANd while that eems...like something a little kid would do to seem "cool" - I just love to do it anyways. Gwah!

So..Yeah, I guess it's just a "guy thing" or a "Guam thing" to enjoy this, and while some of you may not understand my joy in the game, I love it to bits.  I'm getting bored though - which I anticipated.  OOH one more thing!  - I also love how the spawn of the weapons and monsters are randomly generated. So, sometimes you get only 1 Tank in the map, but if you have to restart the map again, you may find yourself fighting 3 or 6! I've never encoutered more than 3 in an entire map, but who knows - mabye I'll get to fight 7 - Gwah! But yeah, that's about..it for my rant on Left 4 Dead.  I hope to record some of my gameplay videos and upload - let you guys see my reactions and twitches, hah. 

Peece - Owt, -ahem- Yoh

-Pineapple

5 x 5 = 25

So, today is November 25th...

Yeah, it's just an ordinary Tuesday. Nothing extravagent occuring.

It's just a normal day.

Today marks half a year since my life has changed "fuheva" (forever to non...Guams)

Exactly six months ago, on May 25th,2008, I decided to goto a fun little picnic with my friend Dillon.  And at this time, I had very poor intentions of going, which was to chat with Dillon about how many "nice girls" there were there.  And so, Dillon and I spotted a bunch, and I was pleasantly surprised.  Then, the adults called Dillon and I over to help with the scavenger hunt set up for the little kids.  While I was conversing with Dillon, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned around to this attractive girl.  She was all giddy and peppy and asked me "You can do the Rubik's Cube?!".  I was shocked she was talking to me, because I've...always distanced myself from pretty girls.  Anyways, I tried to be cool about it, and just smiled and nodded, trying to contain my need to burst out in an immature fashion.  SHe screamed for joy saying "OMG, I'VE NEVER SEEN SOMEONE ACTUALLY DO IT!" and so I promised her I'd show her that I can do it, even though I didn't really rely on actually meeting her again.  So, we broke off into our scavenger hunt groups and meandered about.  I saw her group a few times, but she didn't talk to me again, so I figured "Oh, blah, she just wanted to talk to me because of my Rubik's skillz".   After the hunt, I went with Dillon to the swings, because I figured she may come over since I've seen her at the swings oftenly during the picnic.  So, I swung for a bit, and saw her and her friend, Becca, walking towards us, and in my mind, I was like "Score!".   So, started walking towards us, while talking amongst each other, and I decided to not be my usual shy self, so I yelled "HEY!".  She said "Hey" back and I felt accomplished (hah).  They swung on the set of swings adjacent to Dillon and I, and I decided to be the cool guy and show off some of my money origami.  So, as they conversed, I folded an elephant out of a spare dollar, and it very well impressed both of them; I felt really accomplished now.  So, I started to converse with her (not Becca) and basically only found out she likes Asians, which also boosted my self confidence since I looked asian.

Her dad came by to say they were leaving, and so I felt sad because I thought that was the only time I'd ever get to see her.  And so, I ended the conversation telling her my name, even though I didn't catch hers.   But, on the car ride back home, I found out her name from Dillon's siblings, which I found out to be "aweshum" because its not at all common - I wasn't weirded out by it one bit.  Her name was Saxony.  Later that evening, I tried finding her on MySpace that night, but I failed.  I then asked DIllon for her last name, and I instantly found her on Facebook.  Shortly after, I found her on MySpace as well and friended her.  I engaged some conversation with her and soon we advanced from MySpace Mail to MSN messenger.  I got really excited, because I actually found a way to keep in touch with this girl Saxony, whom I've sorta....focused on all that week.   As we continued to talk, she invited me to an event at her church the Saturday my summer break started and so I set myself to goto that event.

And so, because of this picnic, I focused myself on this one girl long enough to make a change in my life.  

After the event, I started going to youth groups at Heritage Commnity Church and severn Christian Church, just to keep visiting Sax and her friends.  After a [short] while, I got really interested in Sax, and told her straightforwardly that I started to like her.  She said she felt somewhat the same way as well, and so I got really excited but nervous at the same time, because for the first time in my life, a girl I liked also started to like me back.  So, throughout June, we gradually hung out more and more. We never actually got in a relationship, but we were a bit higher than "jsut friends".  Then, her Puerto Rico trip came mid-July.  We both saw it as hard to not contact each other for a week, but we kept up.  And so, as she was in PR, I had to find thigns to do, so I did a few things with another guy, Nick.  And so, that week passed by fairly quickly.  She came back the following Monday - and I received a call from her.  She called to tell me that she does not want to pursue anything higher than clsoe friends with me, which...was very sudden, and I fooled myself into thinking I was okay with it, and so I just kept a smile on and not really dwelled over it.  Then, a few weeks passed and she was in Pittsburgh visitng her cousin and grandparents.  I then realized I wasn't as okay with what happend as I thought, and then all the sadness that I tried to hide just exploded in me and I just melted. But, I tried not to show it whenever I went to youth group.  She came back the last week of August and for the next two weeks - it was .. a sort of transitioning time.  While she was gone, I started to get interested in another girl at youth, and when Sax came back, I feared she would be monitoring my every move, and so I just moped the entire night the wednesday she came back.  And so, after that - I started to accept her decision to give up on becoming close with me, and I started to act normal again.

This was such a hard time for me, and although I fell, I got picked up again and just moved on.  But some things still stuck that I still have to work on, so bwah dB

The next event that occured was Fall Retreat '08.  We spent three days up in Summit Lake., and it was a very beautiful place.  We all had lots of fun worhsipping together, sleeping together, eating together, playing together.  We had gone a a hike, which was extended 45 minutes, but I found it to be a great thing, rather than exhausting, because I talked with some close friends longer, and I just enjoyed the whole hike very well.  We also did a rope's course, in which near the end, we sorta...gave up on things - but it was still fun.  I was being such a Guam in some of the challenges, and got a few laughs out of them, even though I got quite a few injuries like a snake-shaped bruise and falling on my head (hah, it felt...good after the pain? I dunno, I must be a masochist)   Anyways, the most...wonderous thing I got out of this retreat, was Sunday morning, we had to burn our blocks of wood that we had been given the first day to write whatever keeps us from connecting with God.  And, in that instance, I gave my life to Christ.  It was ..... the most...incredible experience I've come across yet, and I just...can't describe my life now.  It's like I was reborn, in a way. I couldn't have gotten this far without ever going to that picnic in May.  And now, I'm just living my life every day trying to connect with God closer and closer and I just can't wait until the day I meet Him, to be engulfed by his power and holiness forever.

Gwah, and so, a bunch has happened within the past 6 months, so.....yeah - this was more or less just a .. "checkpoint" if you will in my life..a...reminiscing blog if you will.. Because there's only a "Snowball's chance in a cat scanner" of me experiencing anything like this again. CBB 

Fwah, I love you guys <33