Nut Case Corner Pocket

Mood music: "To Be Human" by Sia (ft. Labrinth)

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Let's see if I can't bring this dusty blog back up to speed.

I moved back to Georgia last week. Transferred to a new store in Atlanta while shacking up temporarily with my sister and her boyfriend. Brought a cat back with me, raising the personal deadline I have for myself with finding a living space of my own. Two cats of my own, along with the three dogs my sister has adds to a packed house, especially since they require smelly, messy litter-boxes.

Today was actually rather nice; only one grumpy customer who didn't like me asking for ID with an alcoholic purchase. Got at least five coworkers vying for my promotion to head cashier, which, aside from being a huge Yes Please moment money-wise is a nice ego-boost on its own. Got props for coming to work despite tropical storm weather. That's a sweet little nugget, too.

I feel pretty confident in my ability to move on to that position. I like my manager, but also feel like I'm about on par with her and so I should be closer to it. Another head-cashier told me I was reliable and I get along pretty well with everyone while also coming off as competent and flexible.

'Wow, Nova,' you might be thinking. 'Sounds great. How many arms do you need to keep patting your back for all these minimal human achievements?' Well hypothetical and tart-toned critic/reader of this desolate webspace, you have been duped. This is actually a clever ruse set up to cover an insidiously hacking brain-sphere, wheezing on the track of mental health and stability for this sad set of rails called life.

In lame-man's terms, I'm struggling to stay happy with these seemingly great developments. I'm excited for my future, I have hope, and I'm even daring to associate with dreaming big again. Yet, borderline personality, depression, anxiety, and my deadening need to be liked and at the very least admired by peers and superiors alike has me like: "Now what."

Put it on an endless loop, randomize the medication that helps me stay mindful and less susceptible to Bad Thoughts Central, and throw in some Mid-Mid Life Crisis over Wayward Life Plans for a fun adventure that's as temporal as it is mundane in subject.

But yeah. That's just it for a Tuesday.

Not bad, right?

Nickelodeon TMNT Game: Dark Horizons [thoughts]

our four terrapin heroes

This isn't really a professional review or super-descriptive breakdown of the game...just a fangirl expressing some excitement over Nick.com's current gameplay for TMNT.

I really loved these action stills

The overall style is very appealing. The intro is simple (pretty much this load screen, some still pictures that act like storyboard pieces [no text], and quick-paced transitions), but fun to watch.

load screen

For a show/game directed mostly towards the younger crowd, I think it plays decent homage to the comics! Of course, this is only a game...but I take it as a good prequel of things to come.

Anyway, moving on past the intro, the object of the game appears to be to beat monsters and (possibly?) find someone/something? That part wasn't very clear to me, but I'd guess others would actually know.

character selection

At any rate, we're given the option to start off with one of the four turtles, whose states on agility, defense, attack, and range differentiate very much from one to the other. Mikey is high on agility but low on defense, Don has the best range, Raph has the greatest attack, and Leo is the all-around stats character.

literally drop right into the action

 I chose Leo first, of course, because he's my favorite turtle...but they all are fun to play! (I personally think I handle Michelangelo the best)

After choosing your turtle (and going through another loading screen), you're immediately dropped into the sewers to go to work. No problem, it guides you through well enough without too much text or any annoying pauses - just quick notes that save you the trouble of randomly smacking your keyboard.

easy enough

 Using your four arrow keys, you can jump [↑], run [←] / [→], dodge/defend [↓], or a combination of things! Such as dashing (tapping left and/or right arrow key twice), wall-jump climbing (staying close against the wall and [↑]x2), and so on. Besides [↑], you can also use [x] to jump, and [z] allows you to toss shuriken, when you come across them.

My suggestions would be to take your time and just have fun exploring everything. Enemies come at completely random times, in completely random numbers. They're super easy to beat (about 3-4 hits), but watch out for your environment, as a careless move could have you stepping in painful ooze or falling into an abyss. Yikes.

switching is optional early on

Luckily, you can switch turtles upon coming across a small pad (hard to miss, it has a down pointing arrow with the words "Switch turtles" hovering over it) - and your bros can even join you in a particular section of the sewers. Sweet!

Raph joins Mikey, Don joins Leo (vice versa, both)

All in all, it's just a lot of fun, and a great preview of what's to come from Nickelodeon on our four shelled heroes. I'm even more excited than I originally was, for sure.

But as said, this is just an online game or two. Still. Franchise of any kind, especially with nearly three more months of waiting ahead of us, is worth some fanfare. I'm happy to say, this was a small but relatively significant ease of my wariness to the new turtles, overall.

Shelling Out Justice

I'm crazy excited for the new TMNT series that's supposed to air on Nickelodeon in the fall. I have my worries, of course, but for now I'm just going to be a good nerd and pretty much wet myself in excitement.

^from the official trailer, which you can see on the Nick.com site, I believe! (Check youtube, if it's gone)

I can't say much on it. The turtles look great, admittedly better than I expected when I found out it was going to be CGI-animated (a type of animation I respect, but can't help being wary of - probably because I'm one of THOSE people).

There's already a fun and wide range of expressions, the voices (from what little I've heard) seem to fit, the premiere is being built up early, and I've been spotting some pretty sweet merch across the web. Pretty sweet.

I'll be writing on this more and more, as we get other trailers, information, and so on...