Capitalist Slut

I don't know what got into me a few weeks ago. I've been throwing money around like it's cool. So here's a run down of what I've purchased in that period of time.

1. Guitar Hero. This is INSANELY fun. BUT I hit my plataeu. There's a technique in the game called "pull offs" and "hammer ons" where you press or release keys on the neck of the guitar in order without restrumming and it's still supposed to count on selected notes. Meh. It's complicated for me to pull off, I can't see which notes are compatible until I'm already prepared to strum for it, and my real-guitar-playing-brother can do it really well. I can't. The moment my right hand stops moving my internal timer craps out and I can't get any fingering down on my left hand. So I'm capped near the end of the game (on Expert, since I didn't bother with any of the lighter difficulties). And that's no fun. I'm trying to play it again from the start on the easy difficulties to see if I can get the "secret ninja technique" down. BORING. I think with enough practice I'll be able to do it without those advanced techniques. Yeah, like, DDR without crossovers. >>

$79 - $10 Circuit City Gift Card = $69

2. Neodymium Magnets. I saw a web site that sold magnets. It had some really cool pictures of cool ideas for these things. Like, an insanely strong magnet hold two anvils and someone's weight from a tree. Evidently these magnets are really really strong for their size, like holding things 300 times more than their weight. And it had a picture of a girl who used the magnets to do a small nosering on the inside portion of one nostril but without piercing. Gaussboys, if you must know. THEN I found triangles. GOLDEN triangles. Each one about the size of a penny. ><. Oh, just, find it yourself. It's MY idea first, ok? Well, I put my triforce (like you didn't see it coming) on my car. I love it. I took it through a car wash yesterday and it came out unscathed. And, yes, these fuckers are on there TIGHT. After driving around with it on for a week, it seems to have gathered a very thin film of black soot. I'm guessing ferrous metals in the air on the roads are mixed in the air on the highways and anything flowing around them gets caught. But, still, that's kinda cool.

$10 + $5 shipping = $15. (yeah, I got some other magnets, too. I'll say it again, STRONG fuckers.)

3. Universal iPod dock. Ok ok, I already have one for the nano. Little did I know that there was going to be a bigger and better one. Actually, I did know. The nano came with a while plastic thing that sort of looks like a toy part. You're supposed to insert that into the newer bigger badder dock and then insert the nano into it. BUT, I have a case for my nano. The case used to have a piece I can remove near the bottom so I can dock it, but a lot of times that was just a hassle and ultimately that little piece was lost. Somewhere in Gameworks. Yeah, I know. So I got a replacement case since I really liked it and instead of sending me the old one they sent me a redesigned one without the bottom piece. It's just two pieces and it fits much more snugly. It's going a much better job keeping dirt out of my iPod than the original, and it just feels more solid. This new case came with one of those plastic thingies, too. EXCEPT, it was form fitted precisely for the nano while wearing a case. SO, if I plug this into a big dock I can dock my nano without removing it from the case. HOORAY!

$40. Pricey for what is essentially a lazy man's cable.

4. PS2 for a "secret" project. I wanted to get one and mod it. It's a tradition. I'm thinking the more modded systems I have the better failsafe I have. I've got two modded PSXs and one "hard drived" PS2. Unfortunately both hard drives are in STORAGE, so right now I've got a standard PS2. I don't want to risk fucking up the one I know works 100% with the HD so... tadah. For the record, I've also got 2 SNES consoles, 5 Game Boy Advance SPs (two in box, both NES classic edition). And while not the same as having more than one of the same model, I also have classic Game Boy, silver Game Boy Pocket, and an aqua Game Boy Color. And, 4 working Super Game Boys, one of which is technically ok but just disassembled. Somewhere. In storage, I think. Havn't run into it in a while.

$100, used on ebay. Hey, it comes with Parasite Eve, original Tomb Raider, and some other throwaway games that maybe I can trade off.

5. Action Replay EVO for Gamecube. To further extend my influence over "stuff I can do" I decided to get this. I thought it'd be wicked cool to copy memory card saves from the Gamecube onto my computer for the ol' "somethin'-somethin'". Unfortunately, it doesn't work. It was detected once by my computer, and just stopped being detected in the GC. I totally got ripped off. I have to give them 3 refund/exchange requests while waiting 72 hours between requests before I can ask my credit card company to intervene. They didn't take American Express so I used Mastercard... which probably means I'm never gonna see my money back. In the meantime, I'm out of ideas for getting this thing working. I'm sure some kind of brilliance will pour out of me someday. In the meantime, I just have a very expensive USB to mini-USB cable.

$50. FUCK YOU DATEL! And your X-Port for the PS2 worked so well, too. YOU FAGS! NO WONDER WE HAD TO SAVE YOUR ASSES IN WWII!!!!

6. Noise-cancelling headphones. I've never had really good expensive headphones. But I hate headphones. I can stand earbuds and I like my original Game Boy ones and a Sony $10 earphones that have a cool case where I just snap them in and wind it up on a contraption that's sort of a cross between a yo-yo and a girlie powder compact. I wanted some in-canal earbuds because I hear that it blocks out a lot of the noise so you don't have to put the volume up hardly at all and that will save my hearing. There's nothing wrong with my hearing, mind you. BUT I've noticed I've got all this stuff with headphone ports and I never use them. So I went out and spent $85 on noise cancelling headphones. These to be specific. And, wow, they really are the best earbuds I've ever used. Then I turn on the noise cancelling. It adds a hiss I can hear and doesn't seem to cancel anything out at all. Turning the switch on and off just seems to toggle hiss on or off. Weak. Yes, I did remember the batteries. I think that my hair is just covering the miniature microphones on the earbuds. XD They really do sound great, though. I think it's because they are in-canal earbuds. But they're not SUPERB because SUPERB ones have to be custom made to fit your aural contours. I plugged it into my DS and I heard bass I don't remember hearing ever before. It was clean and crisp and very delicious. It's unfortunate they're noise cancelling because the NC circuitry is somewhat bulky (like half a deck of cards) and heavy (like a complete deck of cards) and, as I've discovered, doesn't really do anything for me. It might be my fault, but, who cares?! If the NC ones were $100 and I picked them up for $85, then if the non-NC ones that have the same ear-shape are $50 I could have gotten those for $40 since it's a nice round number and doesn't have the same cache as "Noise Cancelling"

$85 + 1 AAA battery.

Shit, I wrote a lot about... well... shit. >> I'm also wasting valuable Warning Forever time. Tsk tsk.