Yeah, I'm Still Alive

I didn't die... yet. But I did not post for seventh months. Or is it eight? Ehh, whatever. I did a lot of cool stuff this year:

- Went to Hawaii, went scuba-diving and didn't see a 12-foot-long tiger shark (I really wanted to see him, but we couldn't find him), went scuba-diving at night, went scuba-diving with manta rays... lots of scuba-diving!!

- Got thrown from my horse (stupid me for not wearing a helmet) and ended up with a concussion

- Got a sexy car (it's a manual red A4 Audi Quattro...yum)

- Was accepted to Rice (YAY!!!!)

- Played Assassin's Creed (amazing!)

- Begun watching Psych (Lassie's my favorite), White Collar (Neal is YUMMY), and Burn Notice (in which a lot of stuff blows up :D)

... And I think that's all the coolest stuff.

Speaking of cool stuff, I've been on a Star Wars kick recently. Specifically, I've been obsessing over the Commandos in the GAR. (That's the Grand Army of the Republic for all you non-Star Wars fans. You know, the clone army?) I went back and re-read Hard Contact and Triple Zero twice...each, and Fi is still my favorite commando!! I really want to play the game (w00t, Scorch and Sev!!), but I don't have an X-Box or a gaming PC (the one PC in my house is slower than that pet snail I had back in second grade), so...*sigh*...

I'll play it someday. Or I'll get an emulator for my Mac, lol. I have been watching the gameplay on YouTube, though, so I'm entirely familiar with the storyline. BEST LINE EVER: "No terminal can match my l33t hax0r skillz!" - Scorch

And for all of you wondering, yes, he actually says that, and, yes, the subtitles actually spell his line "l33t hax0r skillz". It was wonderful.

Going back to the whole "I love the GAR" thing, the Republic Commandos series has gotten me quite interested in the Mando'a language. I've actually started swearing in Mando'a instead of English. It's quite entertaining to see the various looks you get when yelling, "Get your shabla head out of your shebs and stop being such a di'kut!" (Those of you who have read the series are cracking up right about now.)

So I've begun to learn Mando'a. It's actually a fairly simple language, much easier to speak and write than French or Spanish or German. The only real issue is learning the vocab (of course) and the fact that you can combine words and drop letters to make your sentences flow better. That's a challenge. But it's not going too horribly. I can understand the song/war chant Vode An ("Brothers All") sung in the Republic Commandos video game.

And it's late and I'm tired, so I'm done for tonight. Two last things: in case anyone is wondering, Ordo is my favorite character in Republic Commandos. He is AWESOME. (How can "instant death on legs" coupled with Ordo's straightforward nature and fierce loyalty NOT be awesome? Plus, he has a kama. And it's hand-washable, lol.)

And so I'll leave you (especially those of you currently struggling with school or work or life with this: K'oyacyi! -- "Hang in there!"

~~Kami Strife