November 02, 2003 - 1:56 p.m.
Man. Oh man. That last level is impossible! Seriously! You die once and lose all your powerups, and that's it. You can start over as many times as you want, but without the Poton Missles, Spread Gun, Options and Bubble, there's no way you're getting through that hail of penguin bullets alive. How could such a cute game be so very evil? It took me all morning just to get there, only to give up. Oh well.
Sorry, Parodius took over my morning. And my brain. It's one of the greatest games ever made, but I shouldn't have to play the dumbed-down Super Nintendo version to win! I should be able to get to the end of the arcade version! I have more than ten years' experience with games where you fly around and dodge things and blow up a million other things! I have an infinite supply of virtual quarters and I still can't do it. Konami, you're so mean.
And then there's the matter of me being a moron and forgetting to pay my rent. See, this is the first time since I moved in that the first of the month was on a weekend, and it totally slipped my mind yesterday. I went over to my landlady's house earlier, but she wasn't home. See, since I lost my checkbook in the move, I've been paying my rent in big wads of cash each month. That's not a problem for me, because in general I try to do everything with cash. But it does mean that my landlady has to physically be at her house for me to pay my rent. I suppose it's time I got her phone number so I could call and make sure she's there before I actually drive over. Anyway, I'm dumb, and I can't believe I forgot. I even had my big wad of cash out on Friday and everything. I'm sure it won't be a problem, but yeah... not smart, me.
In other news, I officially have a crush on a girl. Her name is Laurie. You may remember her from recent entries. We've been having a lot of fun together, eating multiple meals at one particular restaurant, watching movies and playing Soul Calibur. She's also been helping me through some confusing times and giving me advice and just generally being awesome. One thing that strikes me is just how happy she seems. She doesn't do a lot of complaining and she's very easy to be around. She shares my anti-drama philosophy of living, and I always seem to have a great time when I'm with her.
I discovered that she hadn't seen the Back to the Future movies, and of course I had to fix that immediately. I decided that before we watched the first one, I would tell her how I felt about her. But I couldn't seem to find the right words or moment, and she went home after the movie none the wiser. Okay, I thought, surely you can get the words out before Part II.
The day after we watched Part II and I still hadn't said anything, I realized that it was foolish to wait around for a magical moment and expect to draw courage from a very limited pool (read: I'm a wuss)... I have basically zero experience telling girls I like them. The sort of girls I've been with have tended to be the sort of girls who speak up first, and I've never really needed to Ask Somebody Out. My promise to myself wasn't just being bent, it was actually being broken, as we had only one movie left in the trilogy.
So I did the only thing I could... I snuck it into a late-night instant message conversation. I know, I'm a dork, but it really wasn't going to happen with her sitting right next to me. And I really didn't want a repeat of what happened in high school... I believe I told that story once before, about how I couldn't seem to say anything to her and eventually Ely asked her out and my little high school emo heart was broken. So even if it had to be online, it had to be said. So I said it.
And wouldn't you know it, she likes me too!
Now there's the matter of gossip... somehow, over the next few days, we heard from a number of people that she was My Girlfriend now. Well, it hadn't (and still hasn't) really been defined yet... there are still a few things standing in the way of a full commitment. But I don't really mind it. Everyone thought it had already happened anyway, since we were spending so much time together.
And yesterday I found out that she has actually played The Neverhood. THAT IS CRAZY. I wanted to hug her right there, except 1) her ex and my friend Ely was in the car at the time which might have been awkward and 2) I was driving the car at the time.
So yeah. Laurie, yay. Oh, and my experiment with being single was not as fruitful as I expected. I didn't gain any great insight into my soul. It turns out that I was not in fact defining my personality by the people I was dating; I've got a good handle on who I am. Really the only difference is that when I'm single I buy a heck of a lot more video games.
Anyway, I have to go track down my landlady and give Laurie a call. Since she managed to make the House of the Dead movie fun, we're going to watch Resident Evil to prepare for the sequel. Laurie, yay!
