Wow, I’m very disappointed with myself. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write another blog post. I apologize. So many things have been going on with my life and I just haven’t felt like blogging like I should have. Well, don’t worry! I’m glad to say that over the past few weeks, I’ve been slowly getting established with a new lifestyle. My activities, interests, and habits have been changing all for the better.

I need to get back into blogging my thoughts more. So with that said, you’ll see me posting a lot more entries along with more photos. The weather hasn’t been kind to me these days. Unkind weather = less photos. But It will all change soon, the weather will start to get warm again next month which will call for more opportunities to take pictures.

So, a quick run-through of things that have been going on with me:

• I’m dating again. Yeah, I know right? It’s been over 20 months since I’ve last dated. I always knew that it was always best to wait and I’m glad I did. It hasn’t been that long, but I feel that we’re growing closer to each other very rapidly. Because she resides in San Marcos, we don’t get to see each other as often as we desire. But whenever we do get to see each other, everything just falls into place… perfectly.
• Trying to fill out college applications like crazy. Sigh, I hate all of this last-minute crap. I don’t want to go anywhere that is too far from home. I feel that it would be an inconvenience. Current universities I’m looking into at the moment: Texas A&M University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas San Antonio, Texas State University.
• I suck at Street Fighter. *gasp* No way!! Way. I’ve been practicing a lot for the upcoming tournament at Arcade UFO on the 20th which is only four days away. It seems that the closer I am to the deadline, the more worse I  become. I’ve been practicing a quite an amount but I just don’t feel that I’m up to par with the fierce competition that undeniably will be there. It may just be fear or pressure, but I’ll definitely try my hardest. I can’t let my partner Anthony down. He needs a good partner that he can depend on.

That’s it. I’ll conclude with a panoramic photo that I took a few weeks back with my friend Melly. It could have looked much better, but a cop stopped us and made us get off the highway. Major cool points to anybody who can figure out which intersection in Killeen this is. :)

Hello! This past week has been quite a long one. Christmas hasn’t been the greatest thing in the world, but it has nonetheless been good to me. I didn’t receive too much, but then again, I didn’t give much either. I bought Christmas cards for about fifteen people and spent about 3-4 hours delivering them all. There’s still a few people that I haven’t been able to give their cards to and they know who they are. Hit me up! So remember how I spent over $1000 in gifts last year? Well this year, I decided to simply save. I spent less than $70, which I actually feel good about. There’s no reason to be wasteful again. So what did I get for Christmas? Well I got…

• A tie clip and cuff links. (Thanks Mom!)
• $370 over time. (Thanks again Mom!)
• Popcorn, candy, and a $25 gift card. (Thanks Melyssa!)
• This…

This is a framed illustration of Crimson Viper, also known as “my obsession on Street Fighter IV.” It was drawn, colored, and remastered by Eunice. I can tell that a lot of effort was put into this project. Though there may be some flaws with the drawing itself (disproportions) the message is clearly there. For the past year, Eunice has clearly paid attention to my interests and took full advantage of it. Hands down, this has to be one of the best presents I have ever received. My main problem is wondering where I’m going to hang it. My wall is already filled with cards. I might just have to move some of them. Thank you Eunice!

I’m sorry that I haven’t been pumping out posts like I usually should be, but I promise you that my blogging finger has been itching for a while. I’ll be sure to dish out posts well into the new year. I really hope that everybody had a good, if not decent Christmas. Looking at the astonishing number of negative Facebook status updates on Christmas Day really has made me worried. If your Christmas hasn’t been too bright then I hope that the new year will at least bring you a better memory. :)

60’s 70’s 80’s 90’s 2000 AND NOW?

So first off, what is Street Fighter IV? Here’s the factual lowdown. SFIV is a 2D fighting game produced by Capcom. It was released to Japanese arcades in July 2008 and to home consoles in February 2009. The basic point of the game is to have two characters beat each other into a blinding pulp until one emerges victorious. Whether you care much about fighting games or not, you should already know this. Fighting games have been around for decades and they’re really nothing new. So what makes SFIV so special if it’s just the same thing that’s been around for years? More importantly, why do I even play it? Well, I’ll tell you…

Hands down, SFIV has to be the most competitive and rewarding games I have ever played. When you win, you feel like you really deserve it. When you lose, you may become frustrated, but deep down you’re encouraged to try harder. Sure, I’ve played plenty of competitive games before: Starcraft, Halo, Gears of War, etc., but none of them really give you the same feeling of satisfaction that SFIV does. When you land that match-ending Ultra, you feel good about it. When you nail that finishing combo, you can’t help but smile a bit cause you deserved it. When someone does the exact same thing to you, all you can do is look at the screen and go “awwwww” cause they kicked your ass and you know it. It’s not a game like Halo or Call of Duty where if you lose, you end up making a bunch of excuses. “That’s bullsh-” “I shot him first!” “There’s no way he could’ve shot me!” “That’s impossible” “It was lagging!” “This game is garbage!” Seriously? Games like those are filled with the biggest bunch of crybabies and after hearing them whine so many times, I stopped playing multi player shooters.

Believe it or not, but SFIV has been responsible for some pretty awesome get-togethers too. You just can’t beat having your friends come together to eat food and fight each other till the wee hours of the morning. It’s awesome. You can’t forget the arcade scene either. After the interest in arcades began to decline over the past decade, some will argue that SFIV singlehandedly revived the arcade scene a bit. My friends and I are lucky enough to live close to Arcade UFO in Austin, an abandoned laundromat that was transformed into a Japanese head-to-head style arcade. Players from all over Texas come just to compete in tournaments or to just play for fun. Simply put, it’s an awesome place to meet people and kick their asses while doing it. So what if you don’t have an arcade or even friends to play with? Take it online. No matter what online game you play, there’s always trash-talkers and SFIV is no exception. But overall, people who play SFIV online are generally nicer and chances are, you’ll more than likely get a “Good game!” rather than a “You suck!” Don’t believe me? Here’s just a few of the messages I’ve received from playing others online:

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Christ, it’s taken forever, but goodbye finals and hello Christmas break!! I finished all of my finals with no problems or difficulties at all. All of my classes are finished with A’s and B’s, bringing me closer to the 3.5 GPA mark. HECK YEAH!! Hopefully everybody is just as relieved as I am. All those late nights of staying up and slaving away on a diet of coffee and energy drinks paid off, didn’t it? ;)

The end of the year is always the best time of the year. I can now finally focus on Christmas shopping and leisurely activities such as STREET FIGHTER IV MOTHA TRUCKA! I’m just kidding. I received my arcade stick back quite a while back so I’ve been playing a bit here and there, a lot less than I did before of course. I opened my Facebook back up late last week. It feels good to be back. Twitter is pretty convenient and it did hold me over while I was away, but it just isn’t as powerful because not too many personal friends are on it. It feels good to waste time on Facebook. and not suffer any punishment from it. :]

For the rest of the year, I want to spend as much time with as many friends as possible. I look forward to the endless hangouts and great times. Good things are only going to continue happening and I can’t wait for it!! I hope that everybody feels the same and continues to stay warm. Seriously, it was pretty warm for a bit, but the freezing cold came back from out of nowhere! O.o