illusion_is_mine

 This week was exhausting at work, and I'm glad I have a few days off to recuperate from it.  I don't have much to post about today, but I bought the new album by the band Citizen "As You Please" on vinyl recently and I figured I'd post one of the songs I'm enjoying.  They've sort of been compared to the Brand New a bit, but I think at this point they've started developing their own sound.  I'll be sure to take a picture of the record when I get it because it's colored vinyl.  I'm really enjoying this record so far.  Here's one of the songs I like off the album.  

Well I've been sick with a nasty stomach virus for the past few days.  Today is the first day that I don't feel completely awful so I think it's run it's course.  I basically slept most of the day yesterday, and last night.  I'm feeling a bit better today at least.  

As for other things I've started playing Half-Life 2 on steam, and I'm enjoying it so far.  I've been meaning to play this game for a while since I enjoy quite a few fps games, but I don't have an Xbox, or a PS3 so I figured I'd play it on PC.  It's probably one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had with an older fps game.  I played it for a few hours yesterday, and plan on playing it a bit today.

As for other things I bought a new set of drawing pencils so I plan on drawing more stuff again.  I go through long periods of artist block due to depression, but I finally feel like I want to start drawing again.  Art school actually sort of burned me out on doing my own work as well since I was working so hard to finish my portfolio.  I'm glad I got past that phase a bit, and I plan to start some new projects soon.

That's all for now.  I'm going to go browse youtube, and play a few games.  

 I don't have much to add this week, but I'll post this music video by Chelsea Wolfe since I've been listening to her new album.  She's a singer/songwriter from California, and I've been listening to her for a little while now.  Her music is insanely good, and her acoustic stuff is really beautiful.  I can't really describe it genre-wise, but if I had to it would be Doom metal/dark folk.  Her voice is really ethereal, and fits the music very well.  Also this video reminds me of that movie "Jacob's Ladder."

 My grandfather passed away a couple of days ago.  I'm actually doing okay right now.  I think the funeral will be the hardest thing for me to deal with.  The funeral is next friday so I plan on taking next week off.  Along with that my brother has been acting stupid.  He was acting like he was going to fight my dad over something really dumb.  Basically all my brother cares about is money, and he doesn't have a job despite the fact he has 2 kids.  My dad went over my grandpa's house to get the keys to his van because my aunt told him to.  Needless to say my brother flipped out, and claimed that no one cares about him, and that he didn't get anything when my grandmother passed.  Wtf?  I mean I'd rather have my grandparents here than have money, but maybe that's just me.  He's always been a selfish POS tbh.  You can't choose your family unfortunately. 

So this happened last week (tw: violence.) 

It's incredibly sad that things have come to this.  The fact that Neo Nazi groups can march in the streets, and harm people and our sorry excuse for a President won't call them what they are.  It's incredibly frustrating seeing this all unfold.  It also makes me afraid of the inevitable violence that might take place in the future after this. I do not understand people with this much hate in their hearts for whole groups of people.  It must be a miserable existence.  

In a way I saw it coming with the rise of MRA's/MGTOW/The Red Pill and similar groups that were literally being recruited on reddit before the election took place.  All these groups are connected make no mistake.  They share a similar hatred for women, minorities, LGBTQ, and others that are not like them.  Stormfront was literally going on these subs and recruiting members for their cause.  They've been planning this for a while.  It's still awful to see it take place in real time.  I feel like I'm stuck in a time warp back into the 1950's.  Also Texas has the highest concentration of hate groups out of any state in the US. That makes me very afraid.  I don't want to live in fear, but it seems we've reached that point in our country.  

 Here are some pictures from the vacation in Panama.  I won't post them all because it's too many, but I'll post the best ones with brief descriptions.  I'll post a text post of how my trip went following this post within a day or so.  I have to make sure I can remember everything XD!  
( Read more... )

 My plane flies out tomorrow, and as of Tuesday night I will officially be in Panama.  We have a hold over flight in El Salvador for about an hour, and I'm taking my Gameboy to pass the time.  I'm done packing, and today I'm just going to chill, and play a few video games.  I'm really excited guys!  This will officially be the first time I'm leaving the US.  I will definitely post lots of pics of pics on my journal when I get back.  I will see you all in a week.  :)

I will be updating on my twitter if anyone wants to follow me there.  I have it locked so as soon as you add me I'll add you back as long as I know who you are. :)

Well I'm still a bit sick from last week, but I'm recovering. I went to pick up some of my meds today at the store, and pick up a few things. My sister went to Vegas over the weekend, and her facebook posts imply that she had a blast. It makes me look forward to our upcoming trip to Panama even more. I believe I've gotten everything I'll need as far as luggage, clothes, and other things I'll be taking on the trip.

I called about my student loans which I've been having trouble paying, and they informed me that they wouldn't actually help me until my account was behind for 15 days which is ridiculous.  It's a shame they want you to get behind, and be in trouble before they will help you.  I guess I'll just have to do that.  I'll probably just pay what I can, and when they call hopefully they can lower my interest rates, and payments for those particular loans.  Sigh...

I've been trying to avoid going outside anymore today because my dad is mowing the lawn, and allergies are no joke. As far as other things go I've been playing a few games. Mainly Persona 5, Chrono Trigger, God of War, Batman: Arkham Knight, and Metro 2033 Redux. Apparently Metro is based on a book of the same name, and the story is a bit sad. It's a survival horror game so avoided playing it the few days I was really sick since my reflexes weren't too great. I also bought a digital copy of Resident Evil 5 for pretty cheap on PSN.

Well that's it for now. Here's a song of some music I've been digging lately. I've been on a huge Depeche Mode kick lately since I picked up their "Ultra" album. That bassline tho! <3

     Here's a post that isn't completely about E3.  This morning I got up, and called my doctor because I could have sworn I had an appointment this morning, and they hadn't called or notified me.  It turns out my doctor's appointment isn't until next Wednesday.  After that I went back to sleep for a little while, and got up to make me some coffee.  I did a few chores, and checked my emails an social media stuff.  
( Mario trailer under the cut )

     My mom decided to have my birthday dinner yesterday evening at Olive Garden after I'd gotten off work.  We got there around 6pm, and everybody was already there mostly.  It was super crowded which made a little anxious.  While we waited for a table I checked twitter for E3 updates since it already started.  We were seated soon after, and my niece Shelbi was unusually quiet for some reason.  My sister mentioned it was because she wasn't a fan of pasta, and she didn't know what to get.  We talked a bit about movies.  My mom, and I had just seen Wonder Woman, and recently Get Out so we talked about those movies.  

     The food finally came, and we ate.  My food was pretty good, but Shelbi wasn't too happy with hers because some of her food was cold.  She kept trying to get the waiter's attention, but he kept forgetting her salad dressing, and extra cheese.  To be fair it was really crowded so he probably had a bunch of tables to wait.  My sister mentioned an activity her, and her friends had recently done in which they went to a hotel played a game that was sort of like "Clue" in which you had to guess who the killer was.  It sounded super fun actually.  Apparently there were actors there, and they didn't know which people were actors so it played out like a live game of Clue.  We also talked about our upcoming trip to Panama that's coming up.  I'm really looking forward to that.  After that we paid for the dinner, and stood outside for a while and talked after my sister's boyfriend showed up to wish me a happy birthday.  Since I'd been to work that day I was really exhausted.  My sister gave me a $25 gift card to Target so mom, and I decided to make a trip to Target before we went home.  I picked up a shirt for my dad for father's day, a cute Mario/Yoshi shirt for myself, and PS4 dual controller charger.

    Now for E3 roundups.  The only panel I watched so far was Microsoft's panel talking about their new system coming out (XBox One X I believeit's called.)  They also talked about a bunch of exclusives for the system.  These are the games that I thought were interesting so far.  I think a lot of these are timed exclusives?  That's what I keep hearing anyway.    I'm mostly waiting for Sony's panel at 5pm today, and Nintendo's panel tomorrow.  I'm super hyped for any Nintendo Switch releases.  At first I wasn't too sure about all the Wii U ports being put on the Switch, but honestly more games is always a good thing.  I've never owned an Xbox system so I'm not sold on the Xbox One X tbh.  I've considered buying one of the older systems in the future though because of Half-Life 2, Halo, and a few other franchises that I've never played.  I'm really looking forward to seeing sony's exclusive announcements like maybe The Last of Us 2 since I really loved the first game.  We'll see what happens. :D