At the risk of boring you all to tears, I must yet again apologize for the ridiculously loooong interval between blogposts. Suffice it to say: MIDTERMS. I’ll leave it at that. But now they are over. 
Well, over except the unpleasant taste they have left in my mouth–namely the lowest grade I’ve ever gotten on an exam handed back to me today. 
Part of the reason why my day sucked! But today is just one day, and there have been at least 14 of those since my last post, so I’ll ignore today’s shittiness and tell you about what’s been going on…
Video games!
I finally decided to set up my game console, um, set-up in my room, including my N64, PS2, Xbox 360, and Wii. Mostly I’ve been playing Chrono Cross, which I left unfinished at the end of the summer. I’m close to the end of it now, and it’s really a fantastic game–pretty, WONDERFUL music, a fantastic battle system, and I actually ended up loving the number of playable characters (44 total) even though I thought I would feel overwhelmed by it.
Also it’s inspired me to pick up prequel Chrono Trigger (on DS) again, which I’ve never finished but have gotten about 2/3 of the way through twice. And obviously it’s a great game as well. (Lots of people like it better, but probably just for nostalgic reasons–the two games both have their ups and downs, but are both overall amazing in different ways. 
)
Oh, and I’m also playing Zenonia, a surprisingly awesome iPhone game on which I’ve somehow logged 12 hours so far… Damn! How I missed gaming!
Turkeyshoots!
No, you didn’t miss something–unless you’re one of my Spec friends/lovers (hi guys!), there’s no reason for you to know what turkeyshooting is. But because it will be consuming my life until the first couple weeks of December, I should probably let you all in on the secret. (Not actually a secret.)
Turkeyshooting is the process by which the next year’s Spectator positions are chosen. It’s pretty grueling, especially when you get up toward the top–people applying for top positions have to write a 20-page proposal, not to mention like a gazillion other things (timed “challenges,” an ethics test, etc. all totaling to closer to 40 or 50 pages in the end), complete a set of shadowing requirements, and sit for an hour-long interview. 
As it goes on down the bureaucratic line, candidates have fewer and less-taxing requirements.
For the past three years, I’ve been turkeyshot–this year, I get to be the turkeyshooter! I’m very excited. It’s still really time consuming: Along with my co-editors, I have to coordinate the schedules and interviews over 150 candidates for various positions. At the beginning of December, this will culminate in a two-weekend-long interview fest, at the end of which we’ll decide who the 134th board (this year is 133) of Spec will be, from the top down.
And that’s pretty much my final responsibility as Managing Editor, besides handing over some institutional memory and advice to the next one. 
Oh, and…
The Phillies lost the World Series ( 
) but I was at game five, which they won spectacularly!! Here’s my mom/stepdad and me on the way to the game:
I really want to play games now
But I can’t, I need to attempt to focus and get through this semester. But I’m past caring about school, so I’ll probably give into temptation within the next few hours, lol.
Although bad grades suck, it is kinda part of the experience. Everyone bombs a class and holds a grudge against one professor who’s an idiot, lol, so even though it ruins your day, it helps to know that you’re normal! It only makes you stronger
And I’m not really into sports that much, I had no idea the world series was even going on. I fail >.<
Yeah but I kinda like this professor!! He’s hilarious and sounds like Bill Murray for some reason. Sigh.
Ahaha I have happy memories of playing Chrono Trigger with friends – isn’t that the one on SNES where you can put stones together and turn into cool stuff?
Yeah, I want to do that for realsies.
BOO YANKEES
I love Chrono Trigger! I was so excited when it was ported to the DS.
I bought Chrono Cross a while ago but haven’t played it yet. I’ll have to crack it open and give it a shot soon.
Good luck with your turkeyshoots! That does sound like a daunting task, but from your descriptions I think I’d rather turkeyshoot than be turkeyshot! Hehe, I love saying — er, typing — that: turkeyshoot!
PLAY CHRONO CROSS!!! It’s different from Chrono Trigger, but just as good in its own way. Maybe better…
I’m glad your midterms are over
I still have to finish writing a paper for uni and I have no time to seriously indulge into gaming *le sigh*
It’s great when you’re inspired to pick up a game and enjoy finishing it. I had this with Assassin’s Creed as well. I bought it, played it .. but then left it alone. I later returned and started over and was totally sucked into it. But … there are still many games waiting for me to finish.
Ohh goodluck with the Turkey Shooting! Interviewing over 150 people and making a selection… *gulp*
I figured you weren’t that interested in the candy exchange since you didn’t get back to me about it. But I probably could have e-mailed you or something myself.
I’m still up for it but I won’t be able to buy you anything until the 19th when I get money since my trip to Stockholm left me extremely broke.
Being turkeyshot sounds extremely scary! Good thing you’re the one shooting this year!
Haha, yes midterms are a very good excuse for a long interval between blog posts. My reasoning is pretty much the same! Sorry to hear that you didn’t do very well on one of them, that’s always a downer.
Your life sounds so busy right now! Good luck with the turkeyshot. I have to admit, I thought you were like a judge of turkeyshooting or something. As in with real birds and guns and men shooting down birds. Thank goodness that’s not the case!!
Good luck with everything!!
-M.
Haha yeah people always look at us like we’re crazy if people from Spec bring up Turkeyshooting with people not from Spec…