Well this has been a long time coming. Back when I was in middle school, around age 12 I got braces. A story that most kids go through. However nothings ever simple for me. As such why would this be any different? As time went on it was apparent my bottom jaw was going to grow past the normal point.
So I needed jaw surgery. But I needed to wait for my jaw to finish growing. I had a year or two of reprieve with out them on during this growing phase. I liked not having them on for a while. However I got them back on right around when I went back to college. Not so fun.
I got my surgery earlier this year, I was 21 then. I am 22 now. 6 months ago I had that surgery. Along with 30 some odd hooks of metal in my mouth for 4 weeks prior to it and a while after it. (Man, those hooks were not fun at all.)
Hooks: Post-Surgery Face:
The bloated face has gone down completely now. I can eat now. Previously I had to food process everything. Even noodles. It was pretty sad for me. Even afterwards I had to use bands and elastics which made eating a pain even after the swelling went down. Any ways I just got back from the orthodontist. I am ready to loose these braces. (About time!) Age 22, braces coming off finally. 10 years later. Appointment made for October 6th, 2011.
Often I'm faced with a challenge for lunch. Its one of the hardest meals to come up with for me. Often times I just skip it all together. Sometimes I just want a sandwhich. But I get sick of just cold cuts and lettuce with cheese sometimes. But I always have a fix for that boring sandwhich.
Most times I call on the aid of an awesome condiment: Salsa. Its simple but effective. I dice up or break up whatever meat I'm working with. I stick it in a pan with a little bit of butter and cheese. Then I add salsa. I keep it on a low heat. The meats already cooked. No need to do that again. Enough to warm it up and loose some of the liquid from the salsa. Also melting the cheese. That is important too.
Usually I just let it go for a while and pop in some bread into the toaster oven. Let that toast for a bit. Add butter to it too. Can't forget the butter. Realistically I mean you could skip the butter but why?
Salsa and cheese and lunch meats go well together. It may not look the best but it sure tastes good. Also feel free to season as you see fit. Black pepper is usually a good and safe choice. Think of it like an easy Sloppy Joe. With some spice if you got a hot salsa.
I am a fan of a lot of music. I enjoy most types of music. However I have a big soft spot for bagpipes and a lot of that folky sounding stuff. I love variety when done right. I've been looking into the folk metal / Celtic metal area for some time. A few bands really piqued my interest.
I'll start with a Finnish folk metal band called Korpiklaani. I've been listening to their stuff for a while now. Its always enjoyable. Great guitars and lots of variety. They feature instruments that I never knew existed. They also have a really energetic fiddle player. Aka violin :p Definitely look into them if you like that folk Irish feel with the bad ass kick of metal mixed in.
Now I found another band recently. They hit that bagpipe sweet spot really well. They go by the name of skiltron. Its a really odd name. To make things odder I read they are from Argentina. They can play a mean bagpipes with some great guitar rifts. I love their songs. If you look into them I would recommend listening to the song: Fast and Wild. I love their sounds.
A video of the actual game with me talking about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKQ9QiSImyI
Nexon came out with another game. Free to play, go figure. Nexon's cash shop is always there. Personally I hate their cash shops. But still I am curious on this game. I gave it a whirl.
The download was surprisingly small. A little under 2 gigs. Apparently this is a game that needs A LOT of content. Its needing major updates. But the NA version is the one thats behind the ball by a lot as always. The Chinese servers are way ahead. But I don't speak Chinese and I rather be with people who speak what I do. So North American servers it is.
4 classes. Seems basic. Warrior, Archer, Sorceress, and Cleric. I started off as a Warrior. Figured might as well. Also to take note: Warrior and Archer are for beginners. Sorceress is for intermediate players. Cleric is for expert players. Atleast that's what they say on the character screen. The 4 classes are gender locked. Male: Warrior, Cleric. Female: Archer, Sorceress. Not too much customization there. To make matters worse theres about 4 hair styles, 4 hair colors, 4 skin tones that don't vary much. Basically tan or no tan? Then 4 eye colors. The colors for the eyes are very odd. I don't like them. You can also mix or match one of three styles for the equipement looks. Chest, pants, gloves and boots. One of my major irks is the color schemes. Looks like the pants and chest can match up real well. As well as the boots and gloves. However the two have very different schemes. I can have light colored pants and vest. But my gloves and boots? Dark red or brown or black only. Yeah, not doing it for me. So I get through the "customization" screen. Then im launched into a cut scene of some girls getting chased down by a band of orcs. They steal the older sister, knock some apples on the ground and kick the little sister into the mud. Then I just casually stroll out of the forest and find the little girl surrounded by goblins. "Help me... please..." and then face down in the mud. Passed out. Apparently this is the tutorial. WASD move, mouse aim, click to attack, its all said. Kill the 4 goblins in like 2 swings, then talk to the girl. Cutscene again and boom town.
I am talking to an old man. The little girl is awake and standing by his side. Apparently its up to me to save Rose, The older girl. The old man then also asks me if I want to take the tutorial. I thought I just finished it. Apparently this game has 2 tutorials that are separate from each other. Odd but okay. I do it, its real easy. Blew right through it. Then it gave me a free potion and a pat on the back with some NPC dialogue. Apparently I'm not helpless. Yay?
The next 4 levels play out exactly the same. Main quest recieved, go into a dungeon. Hop out and back to town, hand in. Side quests for that same dungeon or next part of main quest in the next dungeon. So usually you'll be doing the same dungeon a few times. Thankfully theyre so easy its not a problem at all. I haven't gotten less than S rank yet. I was lv 2 doing the hard mode dungeon. It requested 2 people, I did it alone. S rank, no problem.
So dungeons... Seems to be the only way to kill stuff and level up. All my quests involve dungeon diving. Not really big on that. Vindictus also did the same thing. Apparently going to a dungeon will drain your power. You only get so much per day. I can't seem to find out if it recharges in other ways. But it refills daily. It grants you bonus exp but you can still do dungeons even if you hit zero. They are also really easy to blow through. Also upon clearing a dungeon you get to choose a random piece of loot. All they tell you is 1, 2, 3, or 4. Feels like a game show. Whats behind chest number 3? Oh its a piece of gear for a different class. Try again next time! I always guess wrong. Oh well. Luck and I just don't mesh well. At least I can sell my reward for a little extra pocket change.
At level 4 you can learn new skills and upgrade current ones. You get only so much SP per level. Each skill has different costs. Use your SP wisely. Also you can buy a respec from the cash shop. But they're pretty pricey. Go figure. Also there are class progressions. You can pick different paths for that class and specialize in certain areas. Pretty standard. But still works well enough.
I have a problem with this cash shop. Same gripe with all nexon cash shops. I can buy power. Simply but I can buy gear that gives bonus stats that stack with my normal armors. Also they change my looks too. My problem with this? Seems like this game's pretty focused on PVP. Buying power seems under handed for a PVP focused game. Skill or cash? I prefer skill.
Moving on from my gripes about the cash shop. I do have to say the movement in this game feels really well. Its fluid and tight. It does what I say when I say. Little delays, no problems there. Actually I love that. Also it seems like all the NPCs are done pretty well. They have their little quirks and arguments, personality and emotions do shine through. But you will only see it if you read quest text. (Seriously, read some quest text.) The graphics are pretty dated but they're very functional. Lots of machines can handle this one. No real complaints except for customization.
The combats really smooth too. I can link normal hits with skills into a special attack kick to the face. Or skill chain up some moves and then roll to the side. It feels right. It feels nice. I like the combat. It is an action mmorpg and the the action is fluid. Good stuff there. You can also break a TON of stuff. World things like barrels and tables to stuff on enemies like shields. No shield = no block. No block = soon to be dead. I like it a lot actually. Its a bit repetitive between levels 1 and 4. After 4 and you get more skills you can then mix it up a lot more.
To be fair this game is pretty good. Its free and has some problems. Cash shop is the biggest one here. But you know the game plays well. They put some thought into the world you play in. I like it. I would recommend it to others who want a casually fun game. Depending on what Nexon does this game could go far. See what happens. But really give it a try. Its free and is only like 2 gigs to download. There is nothing to loose by trying it. Give it a shot.
The other week my grandmother was in the hospital. Knee replacement and rehab. She was out of the house for a while, about a week and a half. My grandfather was all alone. My mother came up to me and gave me a real nice suggestion. Why don't I whip him up a dinner and bring it over and spend some time? I agreed with it and thought about it. What do I make? That was the biggest problem. My mom is no chef. But she knows his tastes. She told me he likes pasta and sausage. "Cool. I can work with that.", I thought. I love those foods too.
I went to work on an idea. I've been inspired recently by Spanish food and Mexican food. I love Mexican and Spanish food a ton. Salsa is just so versatile. I was planning on carrying on that spanish flair into this meal. But how? Then it hit me, fire roasted tomatoes.
I keep my cooking real simple. Sure I could of actually roasted my own tomatoes but theres also a stop and shop right around the corner. I went there and I got some cans of "Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes, diced." 3 of the 14 ounce cans. I figured this was enough and they were on sale. 4.50 for all 3 cans, not bad. I also picked up a can of fire roasted green chilies. A small one. About 6 ounces. I figure tomatoes and chilies go well together. Lets go with that. I then picked up a container of linguini. I got a package of spicy Italian sausage. I buy it ground up. No sense in paying extra for the links, you get less realistically and you spend more. I'm all about the bargains. I have herbs and what not at home. Didn't need to worry about that. I then thumbed through the produce area and picked up a nice orange pepper. I also found a nice sized sweet onion. I figured I was set on ingredients. Cashed out and went home.
I got a game plan. I was going to use 2 cans of tomatoes after I drained the liquid. Then I used the 3rd can and dumped it into a small blender. I blended it up real good, came out to be like a smokey tomato paste. Perfect. Took that paste and dumped it into a big ol' sauce pot. With the other tomatoes. I put that on a low heat. Added some garlic. Maybe a teaspoon or two, garlic can go with nearly anything in the right doses. I figured it won't hurt. I also added some oregano and basil to the mix. Can't tell exactly how much but proximately a tea spoon or so of each. Enough to taste it. I go by taste mostly. I'm really guilty of that. I then opened the chilies and poured them in. I then took the pepper and cut it up. Diced it really. Little pepper cubes went right into the pot as well. Same with the onion. Used about half an onion.
While that was going on. I also had my sausage cooking next to it. I used a dash of smoked peprika with black pepper on it as well as some butter. Butter makes everything better. Also that smoked paprika helps promote a nice smokey flavor. Use a little and the smoked flavor will shine through rather than the paprika flavor. Also was cooking a pot of linguini.
After the sausage was cooked I then lifted it out of its fatty oils with a spatula and dabbed it down a bit with some paper towels. Then into the pot it goes. Like everything else. After the pasta was done i then mixed everything together. A big pot is a good pot. I really love big pots. I wish I had more of them. Then it was serving time. I put it in some contained it brought it over.
So it went amazing. Far better than I actually imagined. The chilies and tomatoes made a nice smokey sauce, not too acidic. Full of flavor. Unfortunately the pepper didn't bring much to the table. The onions did however. I could skip the pepper, they're pretty pricey around here. Wouldn't harm anything if it was skipped. The sausage kept the heat going with the spice. Basically it got a lot of praise from my family and grand father. Good stuff. Took about 45min to 60min to make. All the prep. work and cook time included.
Recap of recipe:
3 cans of 14 ounce Fire Roasted Tomatoes (drain 2, blend 1) 1 can of 6 ounces Fire Roasted Green Chilies Teaspoon of diced garlic clove Teaspoon or less of oregano and basil (taste and see) Black pepper Dash of smoked peprika Half of a Sweet Vidalia Onion Enough sausage for how ever many people your serving. A box of pasta and the optional pepper of choice (i used orange, didn't help much)
Went great, super easy to make. I would highly recommend it.
Well its been a pretty quick 2 years. I realize I disappeared off this site for some time. But I haven't forgotten.
So I went to school, did all that jazz. Held a variety of different jobs from retail to insurance to IT to training. Ya, all over the place.
So basically I've been doing some stuff over on youtube ( http://www.youtube.com/user/Rafoie ) and I figured: "well hey, if I am going to do the whole video thing, I can do the whole writing thing too." I recently been releasing clips of game play or my own personal reviews on certain games. Like Dragon's Nest.
I figure I can write about those too. Why not do a more indepth review in text. Keep the videos to the core of whats important. So be on the look out for that. Also I will be posting recipes and stuff too. I've really gotten into cooking.
Posts
