blueZhift Blog

I still have trouble using the term “Black Friday” to describe the day after Thanksgiving shopping frenzy. Prepending “black” to a day of the week is generally an ominous sign. Black means death in that context. The Black Plague, aka the Black Death, is usually the first thing that comes to mind. And with people being trampled to death, or shooting each other, as with the most recent Black Friday, I think I’ve had enough of this nonsense.

Yesterday, my family and I went out to shop mostly because that’s what everyone else was doing and we had not visited the mall in a couple of years due to the high cost of gasoline. I love getting out and observing people, especially how the demographics have changed over time. Of course I didn’t like having to drive around for half an hour looking for a parking space. But after hearing about the deaths, I’m just disgusted for having been a part of the madness at all. Next year I think we’ll just go to a park or take in a movie rather than be part of any mindless mob.

When the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, came out, I received an email for a 10 day free trial of Burning Crusade, the previous expansion. Having just suspended my Final Fantasy Online account, mainly because I wasn’t playing it much, I was feeling adventurous and decided to give WoW another try.

Ten days later, I am sorely tempted but I think I’m going to pass. Why? Because with a monthly fee, World of Warcraft seems like too much of an obligation. If I skip out a few nights to do other things, as I had to during the trial, I feel like I’m wasting money. That’s why I quit Final Fantasy, I wasn’t playing enough, for lack of time, to justify the cost. If I could pay for only the time I actually play, that would be different.

I know that World of Warcraft is making buttloads of money with their current model and thus feel little need to change. But I don’t really see the monthly subscription model being the future, especially for games that hope to compete with WoW. I’m going to be looking into some of the free to play MMO’s now. I just can’t stand feeling obligated to play, especially since I actually have a life and responsibilities outside of gaming.

Just posting my Youmacon 2008 slideshow. I set it to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me now because of an awesome anime music video called Don’t Stop Mahoro Now, that used the song too. And of course, because I really like the song. Making the slideshow usually marks the end of the con for me. Enjoy!

Ever since Barack Obama began his run for the presidency, I’ve been able to feel some new pride walking down the street. Why? Because as a black man in America, regardless of all of my degrees and accomplishments, walking down the street, people were most likely to think me a criminal than a physicist, or a software engineer. But when Obama made his run and started winning, I feel a new, and at last, positive stereotype had been added to the mix. Maybe, just maybe, that black guy walking down the street with the quick, confident strides was like Barack Obama, smart, articulate, and strong. I hope that last night’s presidential victory has permanently added that new stereotype to the list of possibilities people see for all black people.

Never thought I’d see this, an African American president, but it has really happened!^_^ Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America! As I told a Nigerian news reporter earlier today, when the U.S. electoral system works, people can and will respond to a smart, tough campaign run on the issues. I am so proud that America appears to have turned a significant page in its history! I hope that the rest of world will see that we don’t just preach a lot of lofty ideas, we live by them.

Last year I had a great time at Youmacon and this year did not disappoint. First, moving to a much larger hotel, the Hyatt Dearborn, was definitely a winning move. Moving around was a lot easier as well as getting cosplay pics on the fly as I moved from one place to another. So I had a great time!

I’m not planning to go into great detail here, but I tried to get to things that I did not last year, like Live Action Mario Party and Live Action Mario Party After Dark. People sure do like screaming “hentai!!” And I went to a lot of panels, and watched a lot of AMVs, including a couple that I entered. I met some online friends and got to party with them at the rave. I went to the AMV dance too. I also participated in the Haruhi photoshoot, a first for me! ^___^ I love taking pictures, but tend to look horrible in pictures myself, so I only hope I didn’t wreck the shoot! In any case, what’s done is done and I feel pretty good about it.

I finished my Mikuru cosplay literally half an hour before I left for the con, but it all turned out well. I got a lot of compliments on it and picture requests. I also went ahead and entered the hall cosplay contest, mainly because I was happy with the costume and love talking a bit about it!:3 Usually I only wear a costume one day, but I was so happy with it that I washed it Saturday night, dried and pressed it to wear again on Sunday.

Needless to say, I hope I get to go again next year. And now for a lovely woman in a gorgeous chong sam who was kind enough to pose for me.