Tag: memories

I went to a friend’s birthday party yesterday. He lives in the Russian district of the city, close to where I used to live in high school, so it was kinda nostalgic to walk around there.

He has a small, super friendly dog. The dog was really interested in my beer and constantly tried to sniff it and lick it. Later, someone actually gave the dog a drop of beer and after that it lost its interest in mine. I guess he didn’t like the taste, just the smell.

We played board games and video games, hours passed. I got way too drunk and lost control over what I was saying, telling some pretty cringe stories. At some point, me and another dude at the party left for another event – a night time gaming convention nearby.

The gaming convention was fun as hell. There was so much stuff to do and see there. I was really drawn to the stand that sold anime merchandise – a highlight for me that they had was a hand painted picture of Marin Kitagawa.

People always tell me when they visit my place that my walls are so empty – that I should put some pictures up. I thought about buying the waifu picture at the stand for decorating my home, but ended up not getting it.

They also had a bunch of figurines for sale – the most interesting ones being those of Rem, who is particularly relevant at the moment since the show she is from is currently airing another season. And she’s also a character in the mobile game I play daily.

The only souvenir I got in the end from that stand was a Bocchi keychain.

The event had many arcade machines, pc-s and consoles around for playing. Me and a friend played a few games of Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, which has been my favorite game ever since I played it for the first time in 2004, on my Nokia N-Gage with an emulator.

While playing that game there, I started at difficulty 5 and my friend at difficulty 1. I was too drunk for the speed and concentration it required and lost. So I kept reducing the difficulty each game, and finally won when we were playing on the same level. Later we came back to that machine, I was more sober, kept increasing the difficulty and managed to win up to difficulty 4. It was quite an experience, playing my favorite game for the first time on an arcade-like machine.

The event also had a cosplay competition. There were various cosplays from Genshin Impact and some other IP-s I don’t care about. And the highlight for me – a cosplay of OMGkawaiiAngel from Needy Streamer Overload. I loved that game – its protag is a girl with severe mental illness and personality disorders and drug addiction and you gotta manage her mental state to get through the game. All of which is relatable to me.

That cosplay was well executed. When the cosplayer stumbled on stage, it actually seemed in character, which was cute. I voted for her in the competition. But I wasn’t there when the competition results were announced so I still don’t know who won it.

Around the time I was in university I used to hang around with people every single day. I had energy to go to multiple social events in one night. Nowadays I meet people like once a month at best. But the amount of stuff experienced yesterday almost made me feel young again.

So. Have any suggestions what picture I should put up on my living room wall instead? Leave a comment if you do.

The Tale of the Bulky Buckets

I was out shopping for a bucket of cream, because winter makes my skin dry.

So, at the pharmacy, I found a bucket similar to the one I had emptied just before, but the new one felt way smaller. I asked one of the employees if they had any buckets of more significant size for my significant moisturizing needs, but got told that the bucket in my hands was the biggest ol’ bucket of cream that they had. So I bought it.

After I got back home and looked at both of the buckets next to each other, I realized they had exactly the same volume and weight. It was just the shape of the bucket that had changed. Geometry sure is weird sometimes.

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The Tale of Sweltering Heat

A friend of mine was having a birthday party. I was there too. He ordered some food. The food arrived. The first hungry guy ate some, and instantly ran to the kitchen to try and douse the fire in his mouth. It turned out, the food had been seasoned with Carolina Reaper, which was until recently the hottest pepper in the world. I decided to skip that food and watched the others eat it.

A few days later, I asked my friend how his anus had been doing the day after the remarkable meal. He only replied with this image:

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The Tale of Bygone Passages

Facebook discontinued the Lite Messenger app that I had been using, so I was forced to download the full version. It has been advertising me people who I haven’t talked to for 10-20 years. So, since it was already showing me these weird people from the past, I messaged many of them.

It turns out some people are happy talking to you after 20 years. Like one of them that I last spoke to when we were in middle school together. But some others have moved on with their lives so much, that they just aren’t interested in chatting anymore.

When I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to appreciate people and events from the past more and more. The older the thing, the more I’m lovin it. So – chatting with these people feels really nostalgic, interesting and enjoyable, even with the ones who themselves are not that interested in the conversation. But I seriously am grateful for those who – after all these years – are writing to me in a way that makes me feel like no time has passed at all and we’re still the friends we used to be.

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Haven’t talked to me for a decade or two? Comment below how you have been doing.

I have been studying Japanese for a few years now. Haven’t had too much progress. The rate of acquiring new kanji 漢字 and vocabulary is low, but the progress is steady and I’m slowly learning more. Meanwhile, I have a friend who got really good at Chinese, even got his master’s degree at it. I’m impressed he got so well into this totally different culture and language. So last week, to renew our bonds, we had a Chinese night out with him and another friend.

We had some food and beer at a Chinese restaurant that he is working for. Surprisingly, another of my old acquaintances was working there as a waitress. It kinda made me feel sad and nostalgic, that I’ve hung around with like a 1000 different people in the past, and now I don’t even remember their names anymore.

My half Chinese friend told us some stuff about Chinese culture – explained that the way you know someone is a real Chinese person is that they are spitting, farting and burping loudly in public. He added jokingly that this was exactly why he got into Chinese culture – because he felt that you should be able to do these things freely.

To finish off the meal, we had some shots of Chinese rice vodka. The guys warned me it would be horrible but I thought it was nothing too bad, so we continued the evening by going to a bar in town that actually specialized in that Chinese rice liquor and got some more shots of it there. I initially thought it was weird we have enough money in our small town that a bar as specific as that can function, but the place was actually extremely nice so I ended up getting why it can stay in business.

Finally we went to my place, it was sort of my house warming event for them since I moved a few months back. On the way, the half Chinese guy farted loudly, which confirmed that he is a real half Chinese person.

My whole life revolves around video games, so of course when we arrived here I instantly whipped out some controllers and put on Puyo Puyo Tetris. That game is a sort of a tradition for me, every time someone comes over I gotta play it with them. I win every time and feel ashamed that I put them through that, but traditions must be continued.

I felt like the half Chinese guy was not all that impressed with my videogameyness, but the other guy kinda saw the appeal in it. Overall it made me rethink my life for a moment – should my whole identity consist only of games or should I rather do something else with my time? But that thought faded soon.

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I think that the best format to write blog posts is to end it with a surprise, a punch line. Otherwise it ends up feeling like the ending is abrupt, the post unfinished. But I didn’t manage it this time. So therefore, to make this more of an educational article than an entertaining one, I’ll give you, the reader, some more insight into Chinese culture – here is an illustrative picture of the booze mentioned before:

Years fly by so fast. The past gets forgotten. But the thoughts and actions of those times – which might be gone from your memories – will keep holding an effect on you, on all around you, regardless if you are aware of it or not. So, in order to widen my awareness of reality and reconnect with my past self, I am once again reviewing an old blog post from my old blog, from almost the same date as today, but from 17 years ago.

In the following, bold text will be kept as it was in the original post, but items that have changed since then will be in italic.

1. Copy and Paste into your blog
2. BOLD anything true
3. Leave plain anything untrue

75 Questions

001. I miss somebody right now.
002. I watch more tv than I used to.
003. I love olives.
004. I love sleeping.
005. I own lots of books.
006. I wear glasses or contact lenses.
007. I like to play video games.
008. I’ve tried marijuana.
009. I’ve watched a porn movie
010. I have been in a threesome.
011. I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.
012. I believe honesty is the best policy.
013. I have acne free skin.
014. I like and respect Michael Jackson.
015. I curse frequently.
016. I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.
017. I have a hobby.
018. I’ve been told I have a nice butt.
019. I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me.
020. I’ve never broken anyone else’s bones.
022. I have a secret that I am ashamed to reveal.
023. I love rain.
024. I’m paranoid at times.
025. I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free.
026. I need money right now.
027. I love sushi.
028. I talk really, really fast sometimes.
029. I have fresh breath when i wake up.
030. I have semi-long hair.
031. I have lost money at a casino.
032. I have at least one brother and/or sister.
033. I was born in a country outside Australia.
034. I shave my legs.
035. I have a twin.
037. I couldn’t survive without Caller I.D.
038. I like the way I look.
039. I have lied to a good friend in the past 6 months.
040. I know how to do cornrows.
041. I am usually pessimistic.
042. I have mood swings.
043. I think prostitution should be legalized.
044. I think Britney Spears is pretty/hot.
045. I have cheated on a significant other.
046. I have a hidden talent.
047. I’m always hyper no matter how much sugar I have. (Almost anyway)
048. I think that I’m popular.
049. I am currently single.
050. I have kissed someone of the same sex.
052. I practically live in sweatpants or PJ pants.
053. I love to shop.
054. I would rather shop than eat.
055. I would classify myself as ghetto.
056. I’m bourgie and have worn a sweater tied around my shoulders.
057. I’m obsessed with my blog!
058. I don’t hate anyone.
059. I’m a pretty good dancer.
060. I don’t think Mike Tyson raped Desiree Washington
061. I’m completely embarrassed to be seen with my mother.
062. I have a mobile phone.
063. I watch MTV on a daily basis.
065. I have passed out drunk in the past 6 months.
067. I have never been in a real relationship before.
068. I’ve rejected someone before.
069. I currently have a crush on someone.
070. I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.
071. I want to have children in the future.
072. I have changed a diaper before.
073. I’ve had the cops called on me before.
074. I bite my nails.
075. I’m not allergic to anything deadly.

The age of the Internet is weird. So much stuff that you do leaves a permanent mark on some server somewhere. And then someone will make a Youtube video about it. Which will make it even more permanent. At least that’s what happened to me.

The video was about my video game character. I am a star now. He tried to copy my build and kinda failed at it.

My previous bit of permanent Internet fame was when I got a high result in a Magic the Gathering tournament. It will forever show up when you google for me.

I hope I will live long enough to find more weird bits of success like that.