Save the Wave!

One of my favorite video games series of all time is Karaoke Revolution. It’s great vocal training, a lot of fun with friends, and has a healthy amount of 80’s hits. However, I have been very disappointed in Konami’s recent decisions regarding the series. The first offense was Karaoke Revolution Country. I recognize that a lot of people love country, but living in the South for a number of years ingrained a Pavlovian aversion to twangy guitars and nasal vocals. I feel sick every time I hear country music, which is why you’ll never find me at the Wild Rose on karaoke night. (For you non-Seattlites, the Wild Rose is a popular lesbian bar in Capital Hill. Many of the bar’s regulars love to sing country.)

To add insult to injury, Konami announced last month that their next karaoke game would be Karaoke Revolution: American Idol. I dislike most so-called reality TV shows (the predominance of which is one of the reasons I stopped watching TV). However, American Idol is the worst of all bad reality shows. I haven’t seen a song list yet, but the premise of the game doesn’t seem promising. However, it looks like the American Idol portion is just one of the game modes, so I may still buy the game if the song list is sufficiently cool and doesn’t have too many diva-riffic tunes.

My heart’s true desire is that Konami will come out with a New Wave edition. I want synthpop and lots of it, dammit! A lot of people would love to sing Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Ultravox, Soft Cell, Bow Wow Wow, New Order, Eurhythmics, and The Human League. They can throw in some of the more gothic bands like Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, Bauhaus, and Joy Division. After all, if stretch leggings can come back in style (I was horrified to see the in this month's Vogue; thankfully they didn’t have stirrup pants), then Konami should recognize the current trend towards all things '80s and exploit it.

Parental Visit

My parents were here visiting my sister and I all last week, so I haven’t had any time to write my blog or play any games lately. I had a great time. My parents loved my friends, and my friends love them. They liked Mike a lot. They called him the anti-Billy because he is so friendly. I was with Billy for nearly 10 years and he still never loosened up around my parents. He would start acting weird and moody whenever they were around. It’s a mystery; my parents are a lot of fun. Mike enjoyed their company; he thought they acted “young.” My parents are about 10 years younger than his, but his assessment has more to do with their attitude. They don’t act very conservative. My dad even told a hilarious tale about giving his brother speed when he said he was tired while my dad was driving him to the SAT. How many fathers would share a story like that with their kids?

Although my parents left last Saturday, I’m still winding down from their visit. I need time to myself periodically to recharge, otherwise I start to feel drained. I’m not exactly an introvert, but I’m not an extrovert either. Tuesday evening was the first time I was alone for over a week, so I capitalized on the opportunity by doing the ultimate veg – watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs while painting my nails. I believe I’ll do the same this evening after my chiropractor appointment. I slept on my neck wrong about three weeks ago and haven’t been able to look fully to the right since. It makes checking my blind spot while driving very difficult. I finally realized the muscle spasm wasn’t going to go away on its own, so I started seeing a chiropractor. This will be my third visit this week. I think it’s starting to get better, so hopefully I won’t have to go every other day for too long. My chiropractor showed me my x-rays yesterday. I love looking at my x-rays. Seeing my skeleton is so cool. I don’t know why I like it so much – perhaps it’s the structural beauty of bones.

$35 Facial

I felt like pampering myself today, so I called the Gary Manuel Aveda Institute to see if I could get a facial. They were extremely busy today, but luckily for me someone cancelled an appointment. This place is huge, but really cheap as all the services are provided by students (with instructor supervision). TeLari gave me an excellent Elemental Nature facial. The Aveda product line uses aromatherapy, so it was very relaxing and smelled wonderful. She customized the facial with geranium and peppermint essential oils based on her analysis of my skin and the benefits I was looking for in my treatment, which was to reduce redness, tighten pores, and have a more glowing complexion. She also exfoliated my feet and massaged my face, shoulders, neck, arms, hands and feet using some oils that absorbed completely into my skin, leaving it super-soft. My face looks fabulous. I typically wear a tinted moisturizer to even out my color instead of foundation, but today I'm going to leave my face bare. I highly recommend her to anyone who may want to take advantage of the amazing deal you get at this school.

TeLari was very nice. She has a little cystic acne, which I know from experience is painful and embarrassing. I'm sure that as a facialist, she's even more self-conscious about it. During my assessment, she asked what products I used, and I told her that I used Paula's Choice. Unsurprisingly, she'd never heard of it, as it's only available online. When I told her that it had completely cleared up all the acne issues I'd struggled with for years, she got the website address from me and said she'd check it out tonight as she was really impressed that my skin had no congestion, blemishes, wrinkles or fine lines, and was just a little dehydrated (I had a few drinks last night). I hope it works for her, I know how frustrating it can be to spend a lot of time and money trying out different products that don't work.

HL 2: Episode One

Whose a good boy?

Half-Life 2: Episode One came out today and I've played through the first two chapters. So far it's been a lot of fun. Alyx and Dog are in it, but I haven't seen Dog since the beginning of the game. I miss that crazy robot already. I'm not going to get into any spoilers, but I will say that I've gotten to play with the singularity gun again. I love tossing Combine around like rag dolls. I also got HL2: Deathmatch with it, so I'm looking forward to chucking toilets at people's heads with the gravity gun. Playing Havok with physics is cool.