whew. almost too much to keep up with...

so there was a lot i've been meaning to write about the last few days...let me see if i can remember it all!

first and foremost, i forgot to mention that last saturday night, mike and i watched kick-ass, which i thought was fantastic! i'd been meaning to see it for ages, and had the netflix disc for about a month and a half. i love mark millar - i haven't read kick-ass but i read wanted and i thought it was really over the top and terrific. that movie was awful, but i knew this movie was being directed by matthew vaughn (hell YES!), so i went into it with higher expectations, and i was NOT disappointed. i'm really looking forward to reading the comic as soon as i get my hands on a copy! and monday night, we ended up watching the mortal kombat movie, which i hadn't seen in years. it's such a fun movie! i love it. i wanted to watch the second one but it's not on netflix streaming, so we'll have to get the disc. how barbaric :P

also, i've been trying to get back into the daily debate, something i've been involved with for a long time on twitter. it was started by will powers, the winner of the sony playstation show the tester last year. he would just have hour-long debates about video game topics. it turned into kind of a big thing, with a lot of people getting involved. through it i started interacting with amanda brockman, who was also on the tester, and we became friends, and even got to hang out at this year's PAX prime, which was incredible!! will has gotten really busy, so a few of us took over - really mainly amanda, our friend alicia royer, and me. we try to divide the week up, but lately i'd been so busy that i wasn't even able to participate, let alone moderate. i've been getting back into it more lately. feel free to check us out at 7pm eastern standard time with the hashtag #dailydebate on twitter :).

what else? tuesday matthew quick was on campus, and i was also very impressed with him. our department has a writer come every year - well, they pick out a book, and the entire incoming freshman class reads it over the summer, and then the author comes in the fall term and gives a presentation and has a master class with a select group of students. i've never seen so many students so into a writer before him, though! the book was called the silver linings playbook. i didn't get a chance to read it beforehand - we've been doing this for seven years, and i've only had time to read the books of three of the authors beforehand - but i really wish i had. it's set in collingswood, and mentions the town i grew up in, westmont, more than a few times. i'm going to try to get a copy and read it when i have some free time. i got a chance to talk to matthew, who is a brilliant writer with tons of great advice and stories. he's very open and honest and caring. i'm very glad i got to meet him! that night i just crashed in and did homework - i was so tired and still feeling sick and worn out from the weekend. i also got some stuff done on my to-do list, but never enough :P. also matt, my editor at gaming target, was in town, so mike and chris met up with him and mike brought back god of war: ghost of sparta for me to review early. w00t!

wednesday i had work, and then after work, i rushed home to get some stuff done, then headed over to indyhall for a meeting. it was very productive! and a lot of fun. afterwards, mike and i finished up pixeljunk shooter (i beat it when it first came out, but we played it through together this time and it was even more fun!), and then we went to bed.

thursday after work we had some dinner and watched another episode of 30 rock, which we started watching recently. everyone has always told me how hysterical that show is, and i'm glad it's living up to the expectations!! it's hilarious. i did some more homework and then passed out really early. i was SO exhausted!

friday after work i picked up my copy of final fantasy: 4 heroes of light from the local fedex place, and squeeeeeed all the way home. mike and i had some dinner, then got changed into our costumes - we're pokemon trainers, ash and lyra. no one has recognized me, but EVERYONE recognizes him, which is cute for me, and kind of embarrassing for him, haha. we went to the geekadelphia/indyhall party at tattooed mom's and had an AMAZING time. i've only been writing for geekadelphia for a little while, so i hadn't met anyone in person yet, and it was really fun to meet people for the first time. also, jake from indyhall was there with his wife, and their costumes were so clever i didn't even recognize them until the swedish chef yelled "NICOLE!" across the room and i looked at him and said, "oh my god, jake???" hahaha. my friend olivia came as well, and my friend brett showed up, so we all ended up having a really amazing time!

today we woke up pretty early and had some breakfast. weekend breakfast is one of my favorite things in the entire universe. after that, we lollygagged around a bit and played some more of the killzone 3 beta, which i have to admit is pretty rad. then we headed to kmart to get a new litter box because our old one was beat. we ended up wandering around, looking at household appliances (i totally want an electric griddle) and ended up in the electronics section, where i somehow managed to escape without buying any games or systems or accessories or dvds or blu rays. go me! we came back home and i went through the fridge and gathered up all the stuff that had to be thrown away and we took out the trash and i put a big box of books outside with a sign that says "free books!" on it in the hopes that people would happily oblige. then we did our most traumatizing chore: giving the cats a bath. they've been stinky lately and i can't remember the last time i bathed them, so we dove in. they were NOT pleased, but at least now they smell and look much nicer! and hopefully it'll help with mike's allergies as well.

tonight we have another halloween party - we're going to the 6th annual vampires and vixens at tavern on broad. i've wanted to go but always dropped the ball. luckily, this year some of our friends are going and invited us. woo! we'll be wearing our pokemon trainer costumes again, so we can geek out, haha. we also have cute little "pop and play" pokeballs which actually pop open. they're pretty awesome! right now, i think i'm going to try to finish up this week's homework so there's less hanging over my head for tomorrow. tomorrow night we're going to a halloween party at yakitori boy, and depending on how fun it is, we may be leaving early to go back to mike's and watch the premiere of the walking dead on amc. i'm pretty excited about it - i've been waiting for this moment for about 3 years now! those comics are amazing, and i've heard nothing but good stuff about the show. i've been trying not to watch anything but i couldn't stop myself from watching the trailer, and now i'm excited for it. i know zombies are saturating the market right now, but i love that comic so much that i can't help but be excited to see it so accurately brought to life...err...undeath? right now i think i might play a few rounds of either call of duty 4 or killzone 3 or medal of honor...too many choices! i've really been feeling modern warfare, surprisingly...i even had a 10 kill streak last night. hot damn!

to anyone who made it through all those words: congratulations! you've earned a trophy: caught up with nik. :) happy halloween!