Being candid is not something I quite do on this blog, mostly because it has gotten me in trouble in the past. How? People I knew read it, told other people to read it, who told others, and then realized who I was writing about, but as I see it, this is my personal space to let go, and let out my feelings.
I rent a room with a family currently, for about a year now. What really crawls under my skin is that I have severe back issues in the form of five disc herniations. I began writing this after the internet had been down for about 14-15 hours, and the mother told me to wait for the father to come home... Why? Because I will hurt my back... Yet they gladly want me to ignore doctor's orders about lifting over 5 lbs to take like kitchen trash out. So when I don't take that out, they get upset at me. I would gladly remove it, if I could. Their five year old can literally lift more weight than I can, which makes me feel like an idiot.
So just to be clear, and because I actually have had physical therapy exercises where I kneel down, I asked my therapist about kneeling down to reset the damn router for the internet. She told me that it was not harmful what so ever. She pretty much told me, if it doesn't hurt, go for it.
The mother is just a huge %*#& for no good reason a lot of the time, and I am left completely clueless. She reminds me of my step-mother. Her youngest daughter tries to show me affection, it pisses her off. I go to cook food and eat it in the kitchen, it pisses her off. So next time I eat my food in my room, that pisses her off. I bathe, that pisses her off. My back hurts, that pisses her off.
So the middle daughter, like mother like daughter, she has moods where she has hated my guts and then tolerated me. I am unsure how much this is being monitored. For a while I knew that the severely creepy brother of the father, who was old enough to be my dad, was cyber-stalking me... He was also peeking in my window, too. But the middle daughter, she got into some trouble and had her door removed.
My father threatened me many times about removing my door when I live with him, but he never actually did it... so I was offended when, let's say, on Dannie's behalf, her step-dad actually went thru with it! But as her boyfriend would wait for her to and would or would not be in the house, he began to become a friend of sorts, which lead to some disclosure. Many of her friends have lightly befriended me, and I have heard wild stories spun by Dannie about me, supposedly from my mouth. It really digs at me, especially because it is public and online, that there are outlandish stories being told by Dannie about me lying and faking things.
While doing poorly in high school, and goofing around since then, apparently Dannie got a degree in neurology, psychiatry, and psychology, at least, to be able to make the claims that she says about me.
"Mandi fakes seizures, real seizures people foam at the mouth. I know cause I've seen it in movies and stuff." So Dannie has said. Well my main neurologist, and a second one I saw while hospitalized disagree. When I first described my seizures Dr. Abbi finished what I was describing, for me... I was stunned, she got me! She understood!! Apparently mine are uncommon, but still common enough. I have epileptic and non-epileptic seizures. They are super painful to go through so they are no fun at all... I also feel super embarrassed afterwards....... so I don't like having them. With my current medicine regimen I think I have solved it!
"Mandi tries to steal my boyfriends." Well... I have heard this one before. Dannie makes her men and friends wait up to 3 or more hours to finish getting ready to leave to where they are going... meanwhile as a member of the household, I feel obligated to politely speak to them until Dannie takes them, cause I usually have answered the door, and she doesn't say a word to them....... So because I am kind, friendly, and don't make people wait for hours to pick me up, I am more of a people person.
"Mandi tries to seduce my male friends." Um... all of directly above, and apparently when I first moved in there was an incident that I got out of the shower and didn't know there were people over and I was in a towel and opened the bathroom door to a buncha people.... which I was so humiliated from. I have large breasts, shirts often look sexy on me without me trying... I don't need to seduce.
But there is more... I'd heard this in the past and was hearing it again, but a lot more. Making me out as a villain makes her look like a victim which makes her more attractive because a guy would want to protect her. If it comes up, I don't really deny being survivor of sexual abuse and rape. I don't see myself as a victim, it happened, I have gotten past that, but my willingness in dating and life started rather late because I was victimized and abused... for real, unlike some people. But because Dannie says such wild things about me, when people meet me they are like surprised I am not a crazy person.
Then one day Dannie's boyfriend talked to me because he was upset, so I humored him. We talked and I offered him resources I had received from a social worker, cause we are both kinda poor, lol. But later I found out, when he said, that he had to lie about talking to me and I immediately was like, "Yeah if you have to lie to Dannie about talking to me about getting resource help, I shouldn't be here, and you both need to work on your trust issues." Because he had said things to me that granted reasons for him to be untrustworthy. To be honest, he is a kind guy, but she is nice, too, and pretty, and sweet... And the way he treats her sometimes, I think she could do better. I get annoyed with Dannie, but it is almost like we're fighting siblings at this point in time.... except she is way kinder than my real sister.
So after I told off her bf that I wouldn't talk to him again, even about additional resources again, unless he got an OK from Dannie, he backed off. Ugh, she asked him why he'd been texting me as a set-up for him to fall into, and he did... she caught him. The idea that I would like him makes me cringe. He pretends to be nerdier than he is. Dannie and I know WAY more about comics than he does. He thought Rocket Raccoon was created JUST for Guardians of the Galaxy!! Seriously !!!! Also he is not intelligent enough... I made that mistake once before, and I realize I need a more intelligent guy. But to top it off, when I was offering resources he was totally not that interested in a roof over his head... he wanted me to do ALL the work, which pissed me the #*%& off.
So yesterday I had a rescheduled appointment with my back surgeon's office. It was supposed to be last week, but... ah well. Turns out... turns out... my blood pressure is very low, and a surprising amount of adults steal their crayons.
They used to have a body chart where you would draw a pattern to match how you felt where, now they use crayons, which people now break or steal, which I find highly amusing, but I have to admit, it is much easier than the old method because the pains overlap. By the time we finally got to the damned office... (we were parked across the street and I was pushed in my wheelchair over... I was in SO much pain omfg!!!!)
Without realizing it, I've been overdosing, ever-so-slightly, on my blood pressure medication... meaning that when I was not in pain, or in mild pain, I've been weak and light headed and I didn't know the reason... but now I do. Another thing that people think I fake. My weakness and diziness... but sometimes it is so bad I've fallen over, but I don't have a way to check my blood pressure at home, so I don't realize right away if it's been lower than normal, like it has been lately.
Sometimes in waiting rooms, especially at the E.R. my best friend has told me to, "tone it down" oh and in public... like cry not to loud, stop rubbing my leg so much, stop pulling my hair so hard, stop clawing my arms or face so hard........ but the pain is so bad tone is something I really don't give a shit about. I don't care if a nurse thinks I am faking if pulling my hair distracts me from thinking my leg could just necrotize and fall off any moment. ((Become dead tissue like what frostbite does, from the inside out and fall off.))
Why do I have to change MY behavior because there are bad fakers out there?! When it feels like there is a vice on your leg or spine and every moment it is getting a little tighter, and any second now, it is going to break bone, split tissue, everything will spill out open to the air.... I cry.... It is @*%&ing hard to make me cry from pain anymore.
When they gave me a caudal epidural, up through the tail bone, I felt like I was dying for days. But now it has gotten so bad I feel that pain from other things now. I have fell off a swing as a kid, flown twenty feet and landed on my neck and head, I broke my collarbone, completely like -_ break yeah ouch, that was nothing, but my pain that is constant is like that collarbone pain... I can't believe I thought that was bad, lol.
So because of how I look, my medical history, and how I behave, it determines how I am treated. I look too put together, I am too young to have such back injuries, and I know too much about pharmacology and medicine. Basically my brains, looks, and injury #*$% me over. I also handle my pain well, and because my dose of blood pressure medication is high, is disguises my pain, too. Then, because so many kids, and adults, abuse pain meds today, I look suspicious just begging for a way to be able to go home and hobble from my bed to kitchen and back. Often a Toradol shot makes me happy! (it is an NSAID, so it is super similar to Advil/ibuprofen, naproxen, etc.)
Someone will come in and see my list of medication and say, "Wow, you're on some powerful medications..." or they will ask what I am taking and once I tell them, and also I explain I haven't taken anything yet today, or like I took a single one in the last 24 hours, they say, "Well that is some strong stuff, and you're still in pain?" Despite if I claim I took one like 2 hours ago, or if I said I didn't take one, they will assume I took like 5. Even if I tell them I took a pill 3 days ago and ran out due to being unable to see my doctor....
"That stuff if usually given to people with cancer," The doctor stares at me, trying to intimidate me. Every time.....
"I am aware... I have a nast allergy to morphine, should be in my chart, which is why I am on the lowest dose of hydromorphone. Oxycodone doesn't help me much, it just makes me high, which I don't like," I explain, EVERY TIME... And the doctor always looks at skeptically. One of these days I should just let them inject morphine into me and swell up and scream in agony till my throat swells and be like, 'See? Morphine SULFATE allergy... lol."
"How much do you take in a day?" the doctor or nurse will ask me.
"I can take like up to 2 at the most, maybe 2 and 1/2, but usually I take none. I go days without it." I explain. I know what the doctor is going to hear. They have selective hearing.
"Okay, so 2.5 a day." The doctor replies and I wanna punch them in their balls.
"That's not what I said," I hiss annoyed, but I have been labeled a junkie now, nothing I say matters.
The last time that I was hospitalized I kept crying because I was in so much pain... According to the staff they were "Giving the medicine you take at home" which meant they were offering oral norco, and no hydromorphone/Dilaudid... A lot of norco leads to getting high and no real pain relief if I'm hurting super bad. So they just kept overdosing past what I was supposed to take in a day. I would even not ask for it, and it would be in with other pills, and I wouldn't spot it and realize after the fact I had taken it.
Finally they shoved it in my face and kept telling me to take it, and so to prevent myself being strapped down, I just took the damned pills... So I learned I had to cry quietly or else. When I was discharged I was treated like a major junkie though. Yeah, the staff forced me to take way more narcotics than I wanted, and then calls me a junkie. I was content to just cry in pain and try a heat pack, but the nurses weren't. Dr. Herman, my back surgeon, had said something about fixing my pain the night before I left, so I wanted to ask into it before I left and one of the nurses was super pissed that I was staying behind. Finally she said to me, "Do you not have all you pills at home?" no... I have pills...
"Do you need pain pills then?!" NO, I don't need pain meds I----
"Okay what pain pills do you want?" O : I was speechless at this point. "No I just wanted to know if Dr. Herman had scheduled an appointment or left a note, that's all!!!" She was offering essentially a blank rx..... which is highly illegal.
When I was brought into the hospital it was because I couldn't care for myself. I was struggling to walk with a walker, let alone prepare food, incontinence, severe pain, and weakness and so much more. Much of that is degrading and humiliating, who would fake that for something so low as a norco high, when you can score that on the street easily? Mostly the incontinence... Depends are expensive, same with protective bedding pads and rash creams. I also have issues with public restrooms when it come to urinating ugh....
As for the seizures, it isn't just my roommate Dannie who thinks I fake, ignorant medical personnel sometimes don't know better. I legally am not supposed to be driving until I can prove I have them controlled. They are super painful and embarrassing as hell. Who would want to fake that, for those costs?!
But I haven't even had an aura (the sensation you have before a seizure, for some people) for a while, but the pain is wearing me down. I went to that appointment yesterday and it got me a recommendation, but pain management doctors were the ones who have made me feel worse in the past. The irony of their name is not lost on me.
So because I am stuck at home so much, doing exercises that leave me in pain, hurt, and hopefully stronger, I blog. I had to block this guy Carlos from my blog because he's become so obsessive over me, and he's intruded upon my life so much, I've tried to avoid blogging about him at all, for fear of him finding out and freaking out and stalking me/obsessing over me more.
I blocked Carlos's Google+ from my blogger, so that means that he must have gone and either signed out to view my profile, made a new account, or done something. He is extremely un-savvy with computers (he doesn't even have one). A few weeks back I went to EQLA which was a convention for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and it was supposed to be awesome, instead it was terrible, and I have had to keep it to myself until now.
Carlos.
Apparently Allen my bestie warned him about me and hotels and how it could be a huge PTSD trigger, and I didn't know that Carlos was warned. If anything it seemed like maybe someone gave him a pep-talk of yes, bother and ignore the girl's pleas to stop until the girl screams. It's like guys who think it's not rape unless the girl puts up a super feverish fight with like a lot of violence, but if you know you are going to lose, it's less painful to just submit and get it over with.
So after he kept wanting hugs, touching my shoulders and arms and hands constantly in an intimate way, like a lover would do, I began freaking out, before we even left for the Con we were going to. I don't mind a guy touching me in a flirty way, but touching me in a way that is perverted and lusty bothers me severely, because it implies sex super heavily. Carlos is an extremely sexually minded person, too, to the point I asked him not to follow me on Twitter because I don't want people to see someone like him following me on Twitter... he follows too much adult entertainment. That is alright and his life, but when he lustily stares at me, and touches me, it is super inappropriate, especially in public and in places where I cannot get away because I am restrained, like a car with a seat belt. It makes me feel dirty and causes a lot of bad PTSD memories to surface.
I will admit I offered to go on a couple dates with him, but that was a very long time ago. I tried to politely explain to him why I didn't want him as my boyfriend, but ever since then, it is as if he has tried to win, purchase, forced, and seduce my affection. A friend of mine cleverly said "girls don't like it when you try really hard," which I object to. A guy trying hard is not an issue, but someone who is not sincere in feelings and remains so, they've lost. I've already dated too many selfish guys who don't have respect for me, my body, my space, and my feelings.
If Carlos reads this I know it will probably crush him, but the messed up thing is, I blocked him from reading this blog, so he had to gone out of his way to read it... At the hotel at the convention he constantly followed me. Every time I leave my house, he actually seems to find out, and it is bordering on stalking behavior, especially because he wants to come along! I was hoping I could remain friends with him, but a disturbing text he sent me a couple days ago shows me that he has grandiose feeling and memories that at one point we were in love, when I've never been in love with him... I've only felt bad for him, as a human.
Allen and I have tried to explain what respect means to Carlos many times, but he never understood... so he cannot understand why I will sever our friendship because he is borderline stalking me. He has become less respectful. He always blames other people or things instead of taking responsibility.
I really wanted to remain friends, so as I write this I am crying, cause I feel like a terrible person... but I've already had two boyfriends who had to know where I was every minute of the day... we're just friends and he is doing that- so... I can't keep talking to him it seems.
Then I hear a knock on my door and I am given notice to vacate. Going to be homeless again. Of course Carlos and my father will want to "help" in their severely messed up way that offers no aid, and is a huge joke and makes me just angry. Why do people offer "help" that is of no actual help?
So I took a little vacation...
Literally. I went to something that I thought was awesome, and I was going to rave and blog about as being super awesome! Twin Galaxies Live! I went to play Street Fighter IV despite having not played it in a loooong time... at least a year and a half, maybe... 2 years? When did Japan Arcade close down?
Well I am glad I waited to post, because the people behind the scenes don't have their heads on very well... I don't know if it is discrimination because I am poor, or disabled, but there was very quick judgmental because as I write this I just got a very shocking call. [Added later: Actually... in the following I do wind up raving about the fun time I had... people who run it don't matter compared to people who're there!]
A friend of mine I hadn't seen for a while was kind enough to introduce me to the place. I was excited because aside from Street Fighter, there was also Hearth Stone that was played on Saturday!! And I like my TCGs. Hearth Stone is all online though, which is the one thing I dislike, so the chance to play it in real life with people, I was very excited at the chance!
Then my friend called me... I am heretofore banned from Twin Galaxies Live... Oh, and he wouldn't give me any sort of contact details for anyone who worked at the building. All that was said was that James had made some comments about me, and it had been decided that I would not be allowed to go back there.... Because of his claims?
Well I used to go to an Arcade back in the day, FFA, Family Fun Arcade. Now that was the happening place. I honestly was thinking, being on the north west end of NoHo, TGL was almost like the new FFA if you wanted to play Street Fighter late on a Sunday night!! But I just had to befriend James...
As a gamer girl, I always have to be careful about making friends. It is tricky and sticky business.
Back at FFA if there was ever an issue they had a 3 strike policy. If someone caused an issue 3 times, they were banned for 6 months or maybe a year if it was something very bad... unless what occurred was like a crime or something serious and there were actual witnesses by employees and such, not just a random person coming up and claiming some silly statement. (I STILL have NO IDEA what James is claiming or saying about me. I am assuming that it is bad. He went from sort of like friendly texts in the afternoon to ignoring by 5 to saying we shouldn't speak by 11...)
So what happened?
Well f*** him... Lemme tell you about TGL - even if the people who run it are messed up with policies- the players are nice for the most part. And I DID have fun! I was one of the first to show up, so I got to play constantly at first. My friend wasn't too interested in playing, and I was very into rewetting my feet.
The set up was pretty cool. I wheeled in (in my wheelchair) and got to see the setup. XBOX 360 (ugh not PS3?) set up in a faux arcade cab with a pull out desk so you could set sticks of your own on it, rather than use the built in cabinent sticks, and stools to sit on so you could easily be seen on camera. I got mic-ed up, and excited began to play, the player who I first faced kindly let me use the better stick, and he used an Injustice stick, which they are horrible... despite having sanwa buttons he said.
I was getting my ass handed to me for the most part, but as the night began to wear on, I slowly began to recall how to play SSFIV and also specific moves of characters that I knew. I was happy that I was able to hold my own against the players, actually winning matches here and there. Until there was a match that the Africa stage took place, then I couldn't do anything but stare at the giraffes and coo at them, but much to the amusement of the guys around me. I still manage to win a round and barely lose, and then demand that there can be no more random selects when I play because the giraffes..... distract me.... My friend backs me up, as we had stopped along the way and there had been a giraffe in a store and I flipped out over it.... lol.
That said friend who had brought me in was eager to brag to me about the set up of the arcade cabinet. Apparently you can play any game in it... and it took years to set up the stream... and he kept explaining and explaining, and he expected me to be impressed... but I'd already seen it, years before, different ways. Better streams even, set up within hours, I wondered why did it take so long? I mean... I have some of this stuff at home, I was thinking to myself. (Literally. West Toast, we recorded and streamed BlazBlue and MeltyBlood, and some of it was recorded on my crappy laptop, over 4 years ago... by me and my best friend Allen.)
I would occasionally get back in for a few matches, with aid of a steady arm to move from the cushy plush couches they had behind the HD cab screen to step to the stool, and then step back. It really was pretty cool, even though we didn't have that many people show up.
I was taking a break from playing when James came inside. TOTALLY my friend type... Into fighting games, into TCGs, and later he was running late for a tabletop game! (Even if it wasn't D&D 3.5). I collect friends like these... We began talking, and I found out that he was into writing, like I am (if you couldn't guess), and we had a lot in common aside from our gaming interests. At the time he seemed very mature... A lot like the last James I quickly befriended in a gaming event ironically.
James wasn't playing many matches, and I asked why. He said he was too newbish to play much yet, but I pointed out how rusty I was, and how I was still playing, yet he still insisted on mostly watching. So before he left for his tabletop game I exchanged info with him and then began loudly complaining that I had asked for a turn about ten minutes earlier, lol.
So eventually I get back in and I choose, ONI AKUMA! I hear someone cry out, "No you can't choose my character!" And I laugh because I know the plight of someone choosing your character when no one has played them yet for the evening, lol. I wind up beating the guy that I am playing, it seems much to the astonishment of all the guys around me. We play again and I barely manage a win, but I have to go and sit back down in the comfy lounge sofas that they have because my back is crying out in pain.
By this time I've taken a few pain killers, but to no avail... It's like I might as well have taken just, tylenol, god that dark joke will last forever for me. So while I am chilling on the sofa as a bystander, enjoying the match, watching and remembering oh you should block that, that is a high move, that is a low, and learning about new moves and characters, people eventually begin to comment on the stream and get onto to Skype and talk to us!
My friend had told me that we were going to go to a cosplay event where I was going to see a friend of mine Jarrod!! So with my Twilight Hair still... I put on my ears and horn, and twa-la, I am Twilight Sparkle! I even had the cutie mark... on my boob...
-twi pic need to load-
So several lovely commentators are talking about "the unicorn"... Cute, creepy, and then come the two young gentlemen on Skype who are obviously quite high... "Wow, who's that chick with the big boobs?"
O_O
"Excuse me?" I ask, clarifying that yes, indeed I am a person here. I am here to play, I am not some background eye candy.
"Does that bitch actually play?" the other guy asks, oh man not the thing to ask.
I realize that my mic didn't work so this time I make sure it is working properly and I reply to them.
"Yes I play, if you had tuned in earlier you would have seen me playing a lot, but I needed to take a rest, because I have a back injury. I'll see if I can play a round in a little while here, but uh, what did you say about me?"
"Sorry about that..." I get a sheepish apology and then giggles. Of course I was not offended at all and from the first comment the entire room is laughing and by this time I begin to lose it and even the players are having trouble keeping it together because everyone is laughing so much. The next poor Skype user to tune in is completely confused as to why everyone is laughing, poor thing.
The second Skyper was a hunting aficionado who showed off some deer heads and was very happy to talk to us. And the high guys cut in and out due to poor internet connection.
"Ugh these pain meds are messing with my playing," I complain, despite winning a round with Juri. The high guys ask what I am on, assuming, oh it is Cali, probably good weed. "Dilaudid, Norco..."
"Holy shit!" one of them exclaims, "how did you get that?!"
"I have 5 herniated discs," I reply, winning the round while talking about all this. I am very good at talking and playing. Males don't tend to be good at this. I don't know why. God I remember this one BlazBlue win streak I had going while I was talking to a girlfriend about boy troubles and it was just annoying all the male players all the more that they were losing.
"You can't see it, but I'm in a wheelchair. I go from the stool to the couch, I can't really walk." I explain cutting into my opponent in round 2. I can tell they are slightly concerned but more annoyed that I am not seeming to take the match seriously, and still winning.... I mean I am paying attention to the match, it is just I know how to speak, derp.
The guys around me all kind of made sounds of pain at the sound of the herniated discs and when I said I had a 1cm herniation it got reaction irl around me and from the guys online, too... Unfortunately it got reaction in my back, too. Playing the new character I don't know with Juri, holding my fire ball kicks, and not timing them right, I finally lose a match and I cry out in pain and collapse on the cab table. With help I get back to the couch and I kept apologizing for some reason. Then I curled up and cried for a little while, and no one noticed thankfully...
Towards the end of the night randomly one of them said, "My friend is bleeding out, I have to go to the ER. It was nice talking to you, we might be on later, bye." Leaving most of us speechless and confused as to what could have happened in the short span of offline time...
But as the night wound down, and sadly my skills wound up!!! people left and soon we had to close up for the night. I felt that I had made friends, and perhaps found a new place to go, now that I had lost FFA forever...
So later in the week I had a doctor's appointment that brought me out to Simi Valley. I invited James out to play with me and my bestie for some fun. First game up, the new Guilty Gear... which is missing my favorite character, Baiken...
But it was fun getting to see the game some and try it out... but I had evil intentions, I will admit. My best friend also was more devious than I was as I insisted that we play the game he interrupted me giving instructions on HOW to play!
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The results were hilarious... at least to me and my best friend... James was laughing too, although he was frustrated. He had seen the previously linked Angry Video Game Nerd video review, so he knew what he was getting into...
If you are not familliar, it is an old NES, original Nintendo system, game that is renown to be one of the worst games ever... while still being playable. Dr. Jerkyll is apparently trying to get to his wedding and in the game every townsperson seems to attack him... there are ladies who run into you, men who calmly walk up to you drop a bomb and run away, and boys who shoot rocks at you! Later there are men who shoot ducks out of the sky that hit you, grave diggers who chuck rocks at you, and singers who cascades a bunch of notes that hurt you....
Oh and a bunch of crazy rabid animals attack you along with the bombs and projectiles and crazy townsfolk... so once your meter goes down too zero, you become Hyde... Then you can actually attack. Did I mention while you are Dr. Jekyll you can't attack ANYTHING at all? Except little bees that show up later on in the game of course... but you have this cane that pops out and kind of makes it look like you could attack.
So as Hyde you can actually shoot projectiles... Actual monsters, albeit brain-foots, zombie babies, and giant mouths come and attack you, but you can attack back, refill your meter, but you have to do it before the game scrolls you to the point that you reached as Dr. Jekyll! If you reach that point without the meter, lightning strikes you dead, game over.
So James didn't remember the episode very well, so as he tried to use his cane and his health got low, and so did his meter, his cane passing through the apparently angry people, as he turned into Hyde he decided, "Okay I better not attack anything."
I was going to say something, but Allen seemed too amused for me to ruin his fun, so I held my tongue. Soon lightning struck our poor fighting game newbie and we both laughed while he was very confused. "What the hell happened?!"
"Just try again," my bestie tells him, stifling his laughs. I am beginning to think that he's more cruel than me... By the third time he dies, I finally decide he's suffered enough and explain that as Hyde you are supposed to kill the monsters, as Jekyll try to avoid everything... Just try to make it to the end. Press up and B to shoot projectiles, yes up and B of all things as Hyde! WTF!
So he manages to get like halfway through the stage and I offer to take the burden up. I nearly make it to the end. James tries again and gets about halfway again. Then he manages to beat the first level! We clap for him all happy he sort of finally got the gist of this horrible piece of crap. We're all laughing.
"I know it's horrible, but it's part of what makes it so much fun," I comment as he tries level 2. In this level birds begin to drop giant coils of dog poo... I kid you not. And like they drop them like scatter bombs. "Oh my good look at the birds dropping the dog doo!!"
James is trying to dodge dog doo, but gets hit and then knocked into a bomb that he tried to walk away from... poor thing. Lightning kills him and I take up the control again. I get further into level 2 and nearly to the end before I am struck down, "Nooooo!!!" I yell as monsters kill me.
All three of us are laughing, and I could never guess as to the storm to come. Then we decide to actually play a real game. Since he wanted to learn street fighter, we go ahead and put our copy in and fire up the PS3 and I finally get to see how well he played... And he was not as much as a newbie as he let on.
Allen, my bestie, and myself quickly began to advise him on what he could do better, and such, while I played Ken, somewhat casually. Eventually I actually went to play Juri and Oni who I will play if I feel a need to challenge an opponent more or actually play more seriously. Soon I was actually playing, not just casually letting him learn off of me.
There was a match when James and I both chose random and I had Zangief and he got Hugo, both grappler characters. The humor being that I know how to play Zangief, thanks to Mike Z- long story there-, and he sort of knew grapplers. So I was like, I am not going to seriously play, I was like, "Grab me! Grab me!!"
He kept only managing normal throws, but I encouraged him, "Well I wasn't able to get out of them, at least that is good."
But I was being a bit of a dick and if you've ever played Zangief I kept doing, heavy kick... It has a far reach and to players who are unawares it can be very trollish to keep doing it low, normal, or high! XD
After a while, he was able to finally break through and actually punish me to essentially mashing, which was great! "Great job, you broke thru James! You got me!"
"It's a normal grab..." he replied, throwing me.
"Well you got through the trolling!" I replied laughing as I died and he won the match. So we play again and I actually begin to play for reals and then he has to switch characters but his Dudley was about an even match for my Zangief, but he was still struggling against the grabs.
"It just does so much damage," Allen commented, he's my bestie, but as he took the fightstick James had horror struck me...
"Noooo," I whimpered fakely in fear, although I felt an asskicking coming.
I switched back to Ken and of course Allen chooses his main, Dhalsim... His stretchy limbs and fiery breath had made him a past favorite of mine back in Alpha, but I never got into him in SF4...
I manage to not embarrass myself taking a round off of him with Ken, but as we go a second match he whoops my butt 2 v 0 with his health high and proud and me grumbling. I switch to Juri, whom I prefer, and I again win the first round, but then another 2 close wins are his. Finally my back is hurting, I've been playing too seriously and I feel a stab of pain and I yelp.
"Are you okay?" Allen asked, concerned, James looks worried, too.
"Yeah, yeah, just need a break. James, why don't you try?" I offer weakly, giving up my stick. And yes, it is my stick... Allen, my best friend, just kind of borrows it.... I am nice like that.
James fairs little better than I did. "I feel better," I chuckle about his loss. Not meaning any harm, more meaning to compliment that Allen is a superior player and me and James are better matched.
Then... we found out that James had never seen Airplane! Which was something I decided that we had to fix- immediately! As it is on Netflix... Or was on the 20th. So we began watching Airplane! and of course the following duration of the film is the three of us laughing our asses off, and eating pizza that James very, very, generously supplied.
I was kind of feeling a bit off that he showed up with a fightstick, bought us pizza... I offered to pay for the pizza, or even in part, but he declined my several offers. This I now see was a warning for the storm that was to come... partially cause I am a gamer girl... and hugely because of who and what I am.
It's cause I made him play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
No seriously... I honestly don't know what I did, but I scored an awesome friend 8 days ago, and now James is a huge hater. I am sad that I lost such a cool friend... Well haters are gonna hate, and I will blog to let off my feelings, try to leave details to points that identities will remain safe unless people identify them---which has happened in the past--- please don't go and identify anyone. Allen has more tact, but I can think of perhaps two other people who could point out the exact identity... just don't.
This has happened in the past, where someone that no one would have known who it was that I was talking about, but the single other person who had been present went on Facebook and linked my blog identifying the person and calling me out. This is personal, but also open. Any strangers won't know who the hells I am talking about, and that is totally fine. I hold no animosity.
more to come.
