Answering Questions

I've commented in other blog posts that I would take the time to explain why I love Zelda, and what makes it important.

The short answer is that the game is well balanced, a grand clean adventure and has extremely strong ties to my family and childhood.

I grew up with 1 sibling, my brother Alex. We did not always get along as children, if ever. It was common for us to be at each others throats, yelling and screaming, picking on each other etc... But when we played Zelda together, everything was calm, we worked together, we solved the puzzles together and Alex did all of the button pushing. I loved watching him man the controls while we talked and worked together.

It was an adventure I could go on with my brother where we were happy together and learned to work as a team. (By the way, this was before the internet was popular and before you could just look up a walk through).  My favorite Zelda game has been and will probably always be The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, because it was my brother and mines' bonding time.

Hehehehe our adventures felt like this sometimes. :D

As I look back I realize our best times together were when we had an adventure to go on, weather it be 2ft of snow in the back yard, an old refrigerator box turned into a fort, climbing a tree, or exploring the desert like Indiana Jones with our parents. Alex and I didn't get along for a long time but when we found common ground it got a lot easier. Now we goof around, we joke, I can get a hug at anytime, we can talk, geek out together and just be happy. I love my brother so very much and would not trade him for anything or anyone else in the whole world. 

Now here is the update on my plant!

I'm thinking of giving it a name... Anna? Winchester? oh! Castiel? He WAS an angel after all. :)

I am up for suggestions!!

Now, for the Kumoricon speal:

Paul and I went up to Vancouver WA with my brother Alex for labor day weekend and spend 3 days geeking out! We spent the first 2 days in costumes, I was Princess Zelda, Paul was Link (on the 2nd day Paul was Spider-Link which is a cross between Black Spider Man and Link), and Alex was Alucard from the anime Helsing. We went to a lot of different panels, our favorites being Random Panel of Doom, Who's Line is it anyway and Anime Improv. This year we introduced Alex to the Anime Murder game and I'm so glad he had so much fun there. The Anime Murder game is where a number of people sit in a large circle, everyone closes their eyes and when they open them a bunch of people are lying in the middle dead. Then a microphone is passed around the circle as everyone tries to figure out who killed them, why and with what. (Everyone is in costume and so people become very creative with how people are killed).

 Here we all are posing, (I don't think I look that great, I was trying to act royal and important. I think I over shot that and went right into tired and constipated... :S )

It was overall a very fun weekend, I can't call it relaxing but I can call it rejuvenating! People don't sleep much at conventions, and if they do sleep, ...oh boy... do they sleep!

Coming up next, adventures in Mental Health and my 100th Etsy customer!!


 

From Pessimism to Optimism

I started my first office job in April of this year and it has been such a blessing, I love working in an office.  This office is really special because everyone cares so much about each other. I have never been in a work environment that was this supportive. This new job has been going so well in fact that I was promoted from the front desk to a spot on the accounting team! I have more responsibilities, more things to keep track of but looking back a year ago at how pessimistic I was... I could of never imagined a job like this.

The saddest thing about my college graduating class was the speech that was given on graduation day and how true it actually was. It was entitled "You might be screwed" by Jefferson Smith.

The majority of young new college grads know this reality, and have worried about this day from the beginning. We go to college with the intent to learn more to be able to score the big jobs. But the truth of the matter is, there just aren't that many big jobs. Because of this most college grads are going to go through really hard financial struggles, depressions, and even doubts about our so called "Brighter Futures".

I recently watched the movie The Internship with my husband that really encompassed these feelings of despair and inadequacy. This is a quote from an article in New Republic magazine about the film.

"But not everything's rosy for the bright young things running around underfoot, either: The idea of full-time employment seems like an unattainable dream. Billy suggests their pessimism might just be a matter of perception. "It's not how we see it," says the perky intern Neha. "It's just the way things are now." 

This quote talks of the pessimistic views young people have on the world and the job market, before we ever enter college. As optimistically as we try to see it the truth still stands, it is just the way things are now. BUT our futures are dependent upon our actions now. If you never give up and keep looking for a way to achieve your goals you will succeed. I believe there are two major stumbling blocks in play here:

1. Struggling economy
2. An instant gratification generation

Most young people, (myself included) were raised in a world where you didn't have to wait for information, or an opportunity to come to you. The internet is both a blessing and a curse for this generation and it is just going to get worse. We don't have to search through the library, ask our elders, or even read the news paper anymore; everything is online.


In this struggling job market I count myself among the lucky ones, who pushed through the hard times, battled depression, and fought with feelings of worthlessness. I had to submit hundreds of applications, drive to dozens of interviews and be rejected by all of them. The job I have now came from a friend who asked me to babysit for a little while while she finished her notice with her job. Long story short she helped me to get where I am today.

In the new work environment I started a little garden at my window and to prove to my husband that I don't kill all plants I've started taking pictures every Friday of my plant's progress.

This is my plant at week one.

This is my plant at week two.

 

Coming next post... Zelda update, and prep for Kumoricon 2013!

Updates ... Shmupdates

I have decided to give purpose to my blog; it shall be the story about my life and the things I have learned. HA it already is! I still love Zelda, I still research for fun, I’m proud of my Bachelor History Thesis and I love my husband, friends and family. I don’t really care if my blog is popular or not, it is a way for me to write and share my thoughts and experiences with those who are willing to read them.

I recently started a new job as an Administrative and Accounting Assistant at Monarch Management. It is the corporate office for over 50 deli’s/restaurants in Oregon and West Virginia. My first month here I couldn’t stop thinking about ‘The Office’ :D I feel like Pam, I AM reception, I have the curved desk with a raised platform desk around the edge. I’m considering a candy dish, but for now I’ll keep the broken UPS bobble head (he’s a conversation starter) People really DO like to hang out at reception, I even have people leaving documents behind, empty envelopes, and paper clips but somehow all my pens are walking away… *sigh*

I am not just a paper pusher, by night I am a crafter and Etsy shop owner!!  Hehe I even have knitting needles that light up so one can knit in the dark. (I have done this, when the room is dark it looks like aliens are coming to abduct Paul and me from our living room). On my Etsy site I have become very popular and know for my ‘Cunning Hat’, it is called this while I am waiting for my contract and tags from Ripple Junction. Upon which time it shall be the ONLY hat on Etsy that is allowed to be called “Jayne Cobb’s Hat inspired by Firefly”.  Right now I’m trying to make extra hats so that I have an inventory, I plan on selling them at Kumoricon this fall.

SPEAKING of which, Paul and I are planning our costumes already, I’m excited to add to my Princess Zelda costume. The biggest addition is the elf ears for both of us. I have had them for a long while now but never had anyway to attach them… Plus I have a lot of new Zelda Props, most of which I made such as the Silver Gauntlets and other a fellow Etsian made CrimsonYura's Little Shop of Awesome.

As you have probably guessed by now I am a workaholic, I gave myself multiple jobs to do and started my own business while also working full time at an office. My life is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. I am so tired all of the time! BUT I could not be happier, helping support my family (Paul, Billy, Cheswick), achieving my dreams and experiencing this adventure called life with my best friend and eternal companion Paul.

Life is a journey, I may have 23 years under my belt but I know it is far from over.

25 Years of Zelda official play through: day 2

My adventure though the first installment of the Legend of Zelda series continues, the first few dungeons were rather easy just kill the enemies, swing at the boss done in a few minutes. With levels 5 and 6 that is not the case, I have died a number of times now and have decided to take the dungeon one room at a time, hiding in door ways at first and carrying red potions with me (red potions are two doses, and restore you to full health).  I have found a number of new gadgets and upgrades, such as the ladder with spans gaps, the magic wand, the recorder, the raft and the power bracelet.

One huge difference between the NES Zelda and more recent Zelda games is that enemies are a lot harder, and you can't avoid as many. Controls such as using your shield are left to not pushing buttons and facing the right direction rather than using multiple buttons to block and swing ones sword.

Most important thing I've learned from playing Zelda so far, is patience and perseverance. It is best to wait patiently at the door rather than go 'guns a blazing' bashing though enemies. Being an older game you seem to be more vulnerable to attacks from multiple enemies.

Isn't that just like life though? It is better to stand back and look at the whole picture and gauge what would be best rather than acting first and letting the consequences follow. In Zelda the consequences mean death and having to re-do whatever you had just finished (aside from unlocking doors and collecting goodies). People could learn a lot from Zelda, if you just stopped and looked at all of the lessons it teaches you.

- patience
- perseverance
- memory skills

So far I've noticed that the monsters and enemies have been in each and everyone of the Zelda games. Some of the familiar creatures I've encountered are like-likes, wiz-robes,  knights, and even Gohma the dungeon boss. (I've included a picture of a like like in both the original Zelda adventure and the Ocarina of Time).

Next on the list, I'm going to answer the very important question of Why Zelda? What does Zelda mean to me and why is it so important?

25 years of Zelda official play through day 1

I've had a goal ever since I played the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time for the N64 back in the 90's, to play and beat every Zelda game ever made on their original consoles. Today I have started 'The Legend of Zelda' for the NES.

First thing's first, you gotta have a sword if you're going to save the Princess. In the first cave you see there is an old man with a wise warning, "It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take This" as he just up and hands you your first sword (well that was easy). There are a lot of neat little side secrets in the over  world before starting on the true quest too. I found 3 heart containers (no pieces of heart in the original) and the blue ring which upgrades my tunic and enables me to only take half damage. I also found the white sword, which is the first sword upgrade making ones sword more powerful (naturally).

As I stumbled into the first dungeon I discovered a strange little glitch, Easter egg, or whatever you want to call it, I call it the first of many Zelda Secrets.

1. Zelda secret number one!! - - - The rumor is that in many of the original Zelda games you can walk into a dungeon and see a locked door, if you leave the dungeon and then reenter, the door is unlocked!
1. I did actually try this to see if it would work and I can confirm that it does. :)

As I was going through the dungeon the old man appeared again in a black room with strange thing to say. "Eastmost Penninsula is the Secret" (yes peninsula is spelled incorrectly in the game) The reason I bring this up is that it is extremely vague and many have come to believe it to be a loss of translation. I took the liberty of looking it up and according to  the folks at Zelda Pedia http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Eastmost_Penninsula it is referring to the location of the first piece of triforce which is in the dungeon. On one of the video walk through I found the man said he thought it refereed to a secret in the over world containing 100 rupees.

So at this point I've played for about 45 minutes but most of that time was exploring the over world. The dungeon itself was very easy and the boss battle was against the dragon-unicorn hybrid Aquamentus. Basically just swing your sword at him, and if you're at full health you can do a ranged attack with your sword. In the dungeon I found the boomerang, and the bow, however I can't use the bow because it doesn't come with arrows (Lame!!) I will have to buy them from a cave outside. 

Biggest problem with this game is that I can't save!! The only way to save is to die and have the option of Save, Quit Retry. I tried a lot of the little 'outsmart the machine' maneuvers such as unplugging the control to get the machine to say 'hey! why did you do that?' but no instead I froze the console and had to re due the first dungeon as well as collect my super awesome extras from before. ugh... New goal! Die on Purpose.

Waiting for Godot, Looking back at the Sun

The past few months have been very hard for Paul and I, as steady work as not come so easily, luxuries such as paper towels are now obsolete, yet I'm not upset by this. I'm going to take a moment to list what I'm grateful for because it has been so depressing to be me lately I need to see the brighter side.

First I am grateful that Paul and I have been able to be so frugal, when we first got married our monthly expenses were $3,000 or more a month, mostly eating out, going to movies and buying video games, but now we have learned to cut out all UN-neccessary things and are able to keep our expenses to under $1,000 a month. I was really embarrassed when we couldn't take care of ourselves and provide for our less fortunate friends. Paul and I love being the people that others turn to in times of need, despite the face we have no money we are still that way. In the past month we have helped 6 people move, clean, and rearrange their lives not asking for anything in return. Being busy is better than being depressed and a hermit in your own apartment. Although the stress of helping everyone but myself in the past few weeks wore down on me so much that I couldn't function, I was so overwhelmed and so sad I didn't know what to do. THANK GOODNESS FOR GUINEA PIGS!
(This is my favorite guinea pig photo this week)

Second, I could not of asked for better friends, Heather and Josh Groves have become like family to me, sweet and very reliable, whenever I needed to talk or help with computers there were there at all hours. Kirk is a second father to me (not because he's old!!), because he is so wise I can think of him as a comfort and someone who will always be there. {Thank You for listening and coming to my graduation and for celebrating accomplishments with me Kirk. :) }. Kim, has been wonderful, I am glad she moved in with us because I need girl companionship, I admire how strong she is and am so grateful she turns to me when times are hard. The world needs more people like Kim, she makes me feel strong. Jenna, James and Amelia Dilts are the sweetest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, I never thought that visiting teaching would be a gateway to making a wonderful friend who has looked after me in our time of need. I love how positive James and Jenna are they are wonderful examples of perseverance, spirituality and compassion. I'm excited to be apart of their lives and to see Amelia grow and develop, since I'm not ready for babies of my own I'm glad to play with Amelia whenever we see them. :) Thank You!  Matt and Shanna Rose, have been so generous and look after Paul and I in more ways than I could of ever imagined, I'm sorry for being stand offish at times, depression comes in waves and wears down on a person over time. Matt and Shanna have been our friends for years now and Matt especially has been by Paul's side  for a long time. Longevity maters! Thank You. Finally Michael Thompson, was the first person to catch on that Paul and I were doing so poorly financially, that we are in a stage of waiting, each little thing he brought with him was a blessing, giving me the opportunity to work and spend time with him has been wonderful. We finally found the perfect addition to our D & D campaign. Thank you for watching over us your generosity has saved us. Each of our friends as given one major gift to us, that is a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, opportunities to work, and food in our stomachs. Thank You

Third is my family, without which I would of lost hope after the first stumbling block, whenever I go to visit my parents I am able to recharge my batteries, it is like a day spa for the spirit there. I am grateful for the support, and recognition my family gives us. I have grown up to be like my mother and I am so glad that I have my mom and not someone else. We are more alike then I would of ever imagined and she understands all these hard times, I know I can always turn to her for advice in my marriage, advice in finances, advice in cooking and advice in everything, I'm glad I can also be there to give he a hug and talk about her problems too. I would not trade the relationship I have with my mother for anything. My Dad is such a positive person and helps me to think logically and make plans, back up plans and when all else fails plans. He gives the best advice I've ever heard for the job market. He is honest and critical about my work, which I appreciate because that has taught me to be honest to myself. He also is wonderful at calming me down when things go wrong, I'm grateful for spiritually minded and supportive parents. I am also grateful that Alex and I have stepped out of the phase of brother-sisterdom that involved fighting and bickering, he is my friend and I love him more than I can express. Some of my favorite memories are with Alex, I love the Legend of Zelda games because we played together, and I love anime conventions because he came with us for my first one. I remember a time when we were young and I woke up from a nightmare where he had died or was in trouble, I would be crying and I remember racing into his room to give him a hug, he told me it's okay and would pat my back. Alex, I will always be worried about you and I want you to live for a long time. Please take care of yourself so we can share each others lives for a long long time, I love you!

Now I've saved the best for last, my husband and eternal companion, Paul. Paul may not always have the right thing to say, but he always knows how to show he cares. Paul loves so much and so deeply I could not of asked for a better companion. He is a bit 'quirky', 'strange', 'easily excitable' and 'fun', I know he listens, and always cares, because when I'm sad or upset with him or something else, out comes the guinea pigs! I can't be upset when two loving creatures snuggle up to me and a loving husband looks with such deep and caring eyes. I love you Paul, thank you for listening and for making life both fun and bearable, I am so happy with you in my life.

I had a lot to say but it's all true I hope to continue to have these people in my life and I pray for all of you to have success in your lives.

Cassie