Old Year's Night 2010 with The Cheat, Diderick, Gnomey-Gnome and The HOchieS

The festivities are only now beginning, so I will update as to the happenings some time soon.

Will there be potentially incriminating photos?

Yes, probably.

It's already 2011 somewhere in the world but here in our little corner, we're still waiting to usher in the new year with the rest of you.

The update will come soon!

Here's the Update! (01/01/2011):

There was much scandal this year.  Yes, much indeed.

The Cheat and Diderick dined on mince and slices of quince, or what we HOchieS like to call, all of this:

piggies in blankets

The End of Year Review I: Video Games 2010

What.  the.  hell.  happened to me.  I took a look at my video game list and was shocked at the length of the list of games I played this year.  Really, it's not that much, I suppose.

Many of those hours were spent on the train and why not? Two hours of commuting daily gives me plenty of time to play! It also, unfortunately, has started a disturbing trend.  My habits are changing - I'm starting to enjoy gaming on the go rather than on consoles.

There's just so much effort involved with a console!

Who am I? I'm scared!

Ridiculousness aside, there WAS a reason why I did not play as many console games this year other than the convenience of portable gaming.

That reason is number 15 on my list of the many games I played this year.  As per usual, there were games I played that I did not get to last year or whenever they were released.  Some of these will be counted and sorted anyway in my review list of favourite games I put my hands on this year.

Obsessions of the Week(s): 10/30/2010 - 11/23/2010

Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light (DS, 2010)

After the debacle that was FFXIII, and the long time since I played an FF installment, I forgot how to level up. Rather, I forgot that I MUST level up. It's annoying being killed by random imps and lamia. It sucks being weak. Other than that, this game's art style reminds me of Wind Waker. I like it, the music is a mix of old school midi, and the whole game right now feels like how old installments were. That's not a bad thing, but I'm wondering if the story will be anything fabulous or just your standard fare. I'm not far along, so I'll just have to see....

Update:

Since 11/23/2010 there has been one major obsession that I will write up here and it was the Uncharted series with special mention to Nathan Drake, of course.  I won't swoon over it here because I've already done so in the forthcoming End of Year Review: Video Games post.

Merry Christmas to All My Frenemies

Christmas morning is here! I am in my new reindeer very red Christmas Eve pajamas, gifted to me by my Boobey.

I hear he has been awake since before 6 a.m., and I will go over to see him soon.

The cats are sleeping, and Momma HOchie has gone off to work.  We will not be opening presents until she comes home but in the meanwhile, Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope your day is full of all the good stuff - food, family, friends and presents, Kyle.  Presents.

I will be sure to put up the Christmas Pyo List later complete with updates as to the festivities.

Oh yeah, and the Doctor Who Christmas Special is at 9 p.m. tonight.  As if today wasn't awesome already...

Update @ 7:40 p.m.:

The Present List! Thank you to everyone - for well wishes, for love, and for presents.

Happy Birthday, Pandy!

Oh Pandy, were your Christmases full of extra presents for your Birthday? I hope so and that no one jipped you.

Happy Birthday!!!!!

The Airing of Grievances 2010

I have been pondering this for quite the while now, and yesterday it dawned on me that while you peeps are jerks, you really haven't done anything to warrant a grievance against you this year.

TD5 does think we are mean to MC and he should mind his buisness! But...that doesn't really mean he gets on the list either for his defense of MC.

H1 did miss Muse with me this year at Wembley Stadium and I was cranky because Muse sent me my Christmas presents and I saw what fun we missed, but Matt went ahead and started dating ah duttyness, so if anyone's to be on the list, it's not H1 but Matt.

MC did come to my house and ate up my food, but he also gave me presents, so I can't hate on him for that.

Frass brought pastelles...

Beetchie...hm.  She could possibly make the top of this list.  She really hasn't been very nice to me lately! What with her besties! But that wouldn't be true, would it?

X... X moved away to Bim, had a Baby Moodou and I have not seen her in some time.  She does call me, and it is funny that Moodou is always fighting with the cow...  I guess there really is no real grievance against her.

Bughie J. sent all manners of music and brownies.  The brownies we suspected were 'sauced' but really it was almond extract, so that's okay.  Ah! And he sent music...

And this brings me to my true grievance this year.

1. Electronics. 

My PS3 kicked the bucket earlier this year.  I handled it well, until it was replaced by a newer model.  I'm still sore about it. 

And now this morning? My 2nd hard drive has kicked the bucket.  I'm not in panic mode yet even though that's all my damned music.  ALL OF IT.  But I'm trying to remain calm until I speak with Luuuuuuiiiiiissssss, to see if he can save my data.

I knew I should have bought that bloody back up.

Psh.

Merry Frickin' Festivus.

Almost Here

By this time next week, if all goes according to plan, we would be stuffed up on pastelles, ham and homemade bread.

It's been a really long friggin' month, what with my crazy cough, cold and stomach issues.  Yeesh.  I am really hoping I am 100% in time for Thursday evening.

There have been zero stories to write because well, I've been sick, damn it.  And who wants to come around to see another complaint about how I didn't sleep because the cough jolted me out of sleep and out of bed.

Who wants to read that now?

I am however, finally ready to decorate the blog a little for Christmas.

So here you go!

Say hi to Jack, as he stalks some unsuspecting fools riding a polar bear.

Now go forth everyone and stalk whatever's hiding under your tree while the family's out! But please, try to be discreet and no tearing open presents until the 25th!

Sissons in Every Room? UPDATED

Today, Boobey and I had secret plans and clever tricks.  We wrapped presents for some and had a good time!  Now I need to re-evaluate who on my list I am finished with and who needs presents still.  No peeking!!!!!

Update on 12/11/2010 - yep, last week was a success but there should still be no peeking!!!! X, stop it.

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. Hare, Hare, Hare.

We've already come to the last month of 2010.  How did this happen? I know, it's called "Time" but it sure seemed to have gone by really quickly this year.

Good luck to everyone this month.  I hope it's wonderful for all, as The HOchieS start getting really, really busy.

This month, I want to give a special bit of luck to our Clownie over there in Edinborough.

We're sending you some good luck, Japanese style!

(Happy?) Thanksgiving

This year The HOchieS spent Thanksgiving with 18 friends and family.  Two turkeys were made, along with all the regular favourites and a couple of newbies: pernil, ham, saffron rice, stuffing, sweet potato souffle, corn bread, spicy corn pudding, macaroni pie, collard greens, green bean casserole (with bacon!!!), sweet potato cheesecake, apple pie and key lime pie.

I'm certain there are more things I have forgotten but it was delicious as usual, and wonderful to have so many friends with us (MC and Kimpossible came! but no TD5 =( ).

What was and is not wonderful is that I have been holed up for two reasons.

The first is that I am sick.  Another wonderful cold that will not go away on its own and requires antibiotics.

The second is much more crazy a reason... Gobblor sent a Thanksgiving Warning to my house this year.  Bughie J. suspects he got some sort of electronic scrambling device at last year's Black Friday sales hence the lack of photos.  He's up to something huge, so huge that he did not make an appearance this year and has a plan two years in the making it seems!

Not wanting me to forget (as if I could), he did send me a little scare which was waiting for me on my doorstep on Thanksgiving morning.

Terrifying! Look at this thing...watching me with its beady eyes!

Happy Birthday, TD5 and Bughie J.!

TD5 - you were missed yesterday but here's hoping you fully sedated, so you would not have to miss us too much.  That way you can avoid any production for your birthday too.

Bughie J. - I would re-post the Futurama birthday song for you but just know it's the one I'm singing in my head for you right now (Fry part included)! Happy Birthday!

Ruining Christmas

How old was I when I ruined Christmas?

I must have been pretty young when I was gifted that doll.

I crept my way to the presents lying all pretty under the Christmas tree, and tried to unsuccessfully garner a peak inside at this rectangular box that captured my eye.

Back then my secret planning and clever trickery skills were not developed, and fumbled my chance at a clean escape.

I ripped the wrapping paper - a long strip of it actually, right on the front of the box.

"What is it? So what did you get?", a stern familiar voice called.

"I don't know...?" I replied.

"You don't know and the big dolly eye watching you?" was the retort from Momma HO.

I reminded her of this story this past week and she told me that she should have slapped me for opening the present.

"Wait," I said, "you would smack me for opening the present...."
"Yes! You ruined the surprise for Christmas morning!"
"...but you wouldn't smack me for lying?"
"Oh...uh, Yes! For lying!"
"Seriously, Lady! Where are your priorities?!"

Hilarious.

Also! Happy (Yesterday) Birtday, Momma Ho! I wonder if your sons remembered your birthday...hrrm? TD5, Frass, and MC?!?!?!

Worried

If I can no longer hit high notes, how am I supposed to carry the band?

The Oxtails may have a very rough road ahead of them - J.C. indeed!

Calling Shenanigans!

There's sad news to report - my PS3 80gb has been deemed unrepairable, and the peoples in charge of sorting out its issues have been authorized to send me a new 160gb.

Unrepairable, they say?

I call shenanigans!

Was it really D-E-D? Or just a sweet piece of manufactured brilliance that can no longer be bought but easily kept?!?! Hmmmmmmmm?

::sniff::

I hate you Square Enix!

Now how the hell am I supposed to play Persona 4 and finish 3?!

Happy Birthday, Anj!

Hi Anj,

Are you reading this today? Are you at work? Whatever it may be...Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Lots of love,

H1 and Or 2.

A Good Deal

On Sunday, I found Baby Jeebus hanging out in the Little Tikes section of our local wholesale club whilst we were out shopping.

No really, I did.

Look and be a believer in Jeebus Feever!

Upon further inspection, it appears that while prayer will net you a Baby Jeebus, $249.00 will guarantee His presence, if you wanted a more tangible form.

I was thinking about this at great length and have decided that for $249, that's a pretty solid deal for Baby Jeebus and Crew.

And it looks as though Baby Jeebus knows he's doing you a solid too.

Happy Birthday, Angelo!

Well if it isn't the birthday of Angelo today.  We hope you enjoyed your banana cream birthday pie.  We sure did.

Happy Birthday!

Not An Epic Fail....Or Was It?

If it may be considered an epic fail, it is only due to the fact that we prefer our kurma to have a hard, crunchy texture.

Aside from personal preference, our first attempt at Kurma making was a great success.  They were crispy, flaky, rich and extremely yummilicious when fresh.

The 1/4 Indian residing in these HOchieS thereby making us 1/2 Indian when we combine our forces, worked to our advantage.

It may not look like much now, but stay with me.

Stay...

Very  hot oil.  Dangerous!

It gets better, I assure you

KAPOW!

A Trini from work ate some.

She loved them.

Kurma of this kind can now be marked off the list.

Kurma
Kurma (we prefer)

Goolab Jamoon
Parasad

I may still need Sons to make things for us, though.

For now, MC, you may not have any so do not ask us to make for you.  We would faster make for Frass than we would for you.

Ooo, low blow.

What's in the Box?

I got a pleasant surprise on Saturday via the Post.

A familiar box! Full of coins? A 1 up mushroom, perhaps?

No! Better! It's almost the entire crew!

The best: Luigi

Mario oppressing Yoshi (as per usual), Toad and a cute Goomba to stomp on

Peach with some brain crushing power on the part of my new favourite -

Bowhahaha.  Bowser's truly bad-assed.

More awesome from behind!

And so, that was the my Elite Reward Status from Club Nintendo for the 2009 - 2010 Year.  Pretty cool, I must say and much more awesome than the Mario Hat of last year (although Mari Ho was fabulous).

I am uncertain if I will make the Elite status for the 2010 - 2011 year.  It's looking a little bleak right now, but with more than half the year to go, I am not too concerned.

In the meanwhile....

No, Thank YOU, Nintendo.

Halloween with The Cheat

Just in case anyone was wondering, The Cheat did dress up for Halloween this year.

He was a Fairy Prince, and was out scaring kids with his extreme cursing.

Epic Fail

It was an epic fail on my part for not being at Nintendo World today.  Shigeru was there to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros.  And there was cake too but mostly it was impressive that Shigeru Miyamoto was there...  =(

Ah well, I will be happy that I at least met The Man once, he shook my hand, signed my Link and laughed at me.

Good times.

Goooood times.

Actin' A Fool

Halloween may be over for 2010 here but some of us like to joke around.

Take for instance, the Empire State building:

It was a rainy day Wednesday last, and on our walk home, H1 and I turned the corner and saw a very impressive mist hovering around the Empire State.  I am not sure why the lights were green that night but we both though the same thing - that was some Incredible Hulk green.  It was most brilliant but unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me and had to use my phone's camera instead.

The blurry camera phone picture makes it seem decidedly less impressive.

This morning, I came in to work to find one of the work friends rolling around in some candy as if Halloween was today.

It was rather...shocking and quite the vulgar sight!

Avert your eyes!

Oh the humanity

Later that day, I myself partook in some Tom Foolery.  I had a moment of regret as I stared down at their little faces, while just moments before I dangled a similar starfish from the corner of my mouth.

They looked so happy...but for only so long.

 Now, looking back at this picture that I took, I feel really disgusted looking more closely at Patrick the Starfish's umm...pants. 

They're awfully tight.

Currently listening to: "Sick Muse" by Metric.

That Jerk-Face

That there is my new favourite video, provided to me thanks to Beetchie.

Here's the memorable conversation of the day that was spawned from it:

Bughie J.: Ha, I've done that.  Sorry Yoshi.  See, there's so many yoshis though, they overrun the mushroom kingdom.  You're doing them a favor

Or 2: I don't think H1 is laughing with you.

Bughie J.: I tell you what's not funny... a million yoshis starving to death because of overpopulation!

H1: there are MORE than enough mushrooms for Yoshi to eat

Bughie J.: but Yoshis don't eat mushrooms! they eat some kind of berry or fruit... and also koopas and goombas and little monkeys.  Now maybe the monkeys were spitting watermelon seeds at the Yoshis, and that might have factored into it a bit but still. Those Yoshis are of voracious appetite.  An ecological menace!

H1: that's what bughie had to say.  Yoshis eat mushrooms.  Out of an abundance of P.C., the Nintendo guys have not shown that since they are being sensitive to the popularity of Toads.  But really, Yoshis are like the Chinese.  They eat everything.

Bughie J.: hmm, all the more reason to thin the herd? before we know it America will belong to the Yoshis like it belongs to China now!

Shubh Divali!

I did not eat any kurma today.  H1, I wonder why that is?

Shubh Divali, everyone!

Present Left

Bunji found the present I left for him this morning on his new Ipod Touch 8gb.

It was a meggie set as his background wallpaper, for which he thanked me.

If everyone could be so accepting and kind to a meggie.

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit...Hare, Hare, Hare.

November 1st already?

I've got to start shopping for Christmas!

Other than that, good luck to everyone.  I hope the month is fine for all.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

One of our favourite nights has clawed its way up our foot path, slithered under our door mat and came to rest undetected upon our shoulders...

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Tonight we did our usual ratings of kids' costumes while giving out some treats to the little ones.

This year, the kids really did a good job with their costumes! It's hard to give kids F's when they've been so polite and well-dressed.  So, everyone gets an A to B.

Special mention to the Captain America, the Akatsuki member, and Zombie Cop reminiscent of Raccoon City's Resident Evil.

And dishonourable mention to the two kids that came in the second round of kids who were the only rude ones, or the one kid and parent combo, who emptied the pail of candy to make it seem as though they got nothing so that I would take pity on them and give them tons.  I'm wise to the tricks.

I dressed up as my hated Ramona Flowers (it's Halloween, after all.  I had to be scary!).  Unfortunately, H1 did fabulous makeup on me, so I was goo'-looking.

H1's house with the addition of the scary Halloween mat shrieking at the children, gives the house a B+.

Good year this, even with the scary ghost floating outside our window...

A Very Simple Entry: WINNERS

Beetchie's words: didepolo, inglysi, whograi, gandatiz, refane
TD5's words: unwoog, dentsp
Bughie J's words: gonic, magginse, teddu, anschaut
X's words: tallyt, pupgraba, knivery
Gen'Frien's words: chboyco
MC's words: ancelate, match, dishet
Anj's word: pandsm
H1's words: gunbrop, abooth

And the winning word is.... Knivery because the blog clearly knows that X is capable of doing that to her fellow contestants all in the name of winning a prize.

The other winners, in no particular order, are Inglysi because who does not like that Bloggie is racist and thinks that the Mal-asian should speak some English/Inglysi since she lives in America.  Pot calling Kettle black Bloggie?

The Blog has time and again proven that he is multilingual and this time chose to dispense some German wisdom to Bughie J.  But what does the Blog want you to look at Bughie J.?  Anschaut.

and finally, while MC might have thought that the Blog was heaping praise on him by calling him "De sheet", what the blog was really trying to say was that after MC was late as in "ancelate (and he's late!)" was that he, MC, was to be DISSED.  Dishet - diss-h-t. Because some of us have figured out that silent "h"s abound around here.

Consolation prize goes to Anj, picked at random because we did not know who else would win based on the words you, TD5 and Gen'Frien' got.  It was tough considering Bloggie Boo was not really working with anyone!

So there you have it!

X
Beetchie
Bughie J.
MC
Anj

You 5 are our winners of this competition celebrating the 5th Anniversary of the Blog's existence.

Due to the fact that boxes comprise both series 1 and 2 toys, we will put them in a hat and pull them in order listed above.

We will send the prizes to you guys and/or give it to you when we see you (some sooner than others).

The only request we have is that once you receive it, please open it and send us a picture of what you got.

Thanks for the fun times!

More J.C. Than J.T.

Rock Band 3 came in the mail yesterday.  If you may recall, the second worst Final Fantasy in the series broke my poor little boo boo PS3 back in April.

It was a terrible April.

Moving along...

I fiddled with RB3 today on Luuuuuiiiiiissssssss' PS3, and I did not re-create The Oxtails or my lovely Zarnyx and will not until my PS3 comes back from the Repair shop.

The Band Manager and I did crank out a few tunes so that I may start to warm up my vocals, however.

And welllllll....

Who knew "Bohemian Rhapsody" was going to be a Killer Queen? It was awful.

The Band Manager, being the B. that she is, is already quick to give up on my career.  She thinks I am going to have a very unsuccessful forthcoming Solo Tour - and likened me to an unsuccessful J.C. Chasez the Solo Artist as opposed to the successful Solo Artist like Justin.

I am still in rehearsals, damn it!

(Although truthfully, I am rather alarmed that I could not hit some of the high notes today...)

...

Rehearsals, damn it!

Obsession(s) for Weeks: 10/08/2010 - 10/29/2010

Damon Albarn

One half of the genius behind Gorillaz, Damon Albarn has quickly become one of my favourites. He is incredibly, musically diverse and accomplished. He is freaking brilliant.

Late Night Stroll

It's not often The HOchieS just get to walk around Manhattan at night.

These skyscrapers, the famous opal clock and the Secret Corridor at Grand Central, are all things that are so familiar to us that we are no longer fascinated by them as we were so many years ago.

Sometimes though, it's nice to just walk about, even if just to watch the streets glitter under the bright lights

It's especially nice when you make two new friends from another country and you get to show them just a tiny portion of NYC, its sights, good food and share personal stories related to the city.

Old friends and new make the time go by too quickly but all time spent together is very appreciated, just as there is always something fun in NYC to appreciate.

Like this for instance: Wet Floor? Try flooded street.

Happy Birthday, Frass!

The day is not going to be gloomy as mine was but at least it won't be as freakin' freakishly hot as we've seen these past few days.  Gross! What happened to our October?

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday!

It's not too late for Happy Birthday wishes to Char Kar and Bobolinkies! I hope the day was wonderful.

A Very Simple Entry to a Very Special Competition

In celebration of Bloggie Boo's 5 year Anniversary, The HOchieS are running a competition.

Unlike the last time when we taxed your very creative, witty brains for entries; this Blog-away/giveaway's rules are very simple.

To Enter, we need you frenemies to do the following:

1. Leave 5 comments per person on this post and be sure to include your Word Verification in the comments left.

We are going to trust you all to give us your first word verification received, whatever that may be, and not refresh the page for one you think is hilarious.

The whole point of this exercise is that the Blog is going to be "choosing" the winners.  We all know the Blog is not the most uhh...friendly of entities, but it often gives us real gems disguised as word verifications.

EDIT and UPDATE to the RULES (posted on 10/22/2010 at 10:30 p.m.):

At H1's suggestion, we will be running this competition for 5 days only (one day for each year the Blog has been alive).

Each person may leave one comment a day for each of those 5 days, OR 5 comments in total during the competition period (and don't forget you must include your word verification).  At the end of the 5 days, we may compile the word verifications during that period and see who fared best.

We're doing this because one word verification per person for the whole time may not decide clear winners.  Hey, leaving 5 each could mean they're all crappy (depends on what the Blog decides he wants to give you) but we think the chances at getting something good may be increased this way.

IMPORTANT: The Competition starts TODAY! and ends at 11 p.m. on October 27th, 2010 at 11 p.m.

The Prizes

Kid Robot's Mongers Toys

Series 1: Menthols (2 boxes bought)

Series 2: Filter Kings (3 boxes bought)

Series 1: The possibilities are endless.  I hope someone gets bacon.

Series 2: More possibilities.  I hope no repeat of the Drake incident.

As you all know, one of my favourite things to do with Beetchie is go to Toy Tokyo and we each buy a blind box of toys.  Capsule machines and blind box toys are an unhealthy obsession of mine (silence! I know I have many!), but this one... oh ho ho.  It's bad.  And it's bad for a couple of reasons (other than it being hilariously ridiculous and hilariously sad), such as the example here and here.

Fortunately for you guys, I did not pick these toys for myself so your chances may be pretty good at getting something you actually find amusing from this batch.  My luck is good for others, just not for myself.

I also feel I must apologize to Beetchie in advance - there just weren't any other good toys for me to run for this competition! They ran out of the Japanese Poop toys!

The HOchieS will pick 5 winning entries (or the 5 who fared best with their WVs), and these 5 will be the proud owners of 1 new Monger toy each.

And why wouldn't you want a Monger toy?

I mean...just look at them.

Good Luck!

Somehow

Halloween's almost here again.

It's one of my favourites and my best: there are costumes to think about "making", kids' costumes to grade harshly and just general excitement that comes with the sights and the decorating.

And then there's H1's house.

I do not know what's worse, the stringing of the cat last year or this year's exposing of the cat's one ball buisness.

This poor effin' cat.