Alexandra Nofi

I made a list of stuff I listened to when I was really, really young. It's kind of interesting when you compare it to what I listen to now:

1. TLC

2. En Vogue

3. Salt 'n Pepa

4. The Temptations

5. Backstreet Boys

6. Ace of Base

7. Aaron Neville (we even saw them live and got to meet them)

8. Alanis Morisette

9. Bare Naked Ladies

10. Elton John

11. Random 90's hits on the radio

12. Beastie Boys

13. Will Smith

14. Cher

(I loved rap even back then, but was not allowed to buy it...)

What I listen to NOW:

1. Linkin Park

2. Evanescence

3. Maroon 5

4. Super Junior (Korean boyband, but not what you'd expect)

5. Gackt (Japanese solo artist)

6. Carole King

7. Any tasteful and creative rap or R&B that still exists.

8. What I used to listen to as a kid, just not as often.

And, finally, what I used to watch as a kid:

1. All That

2. All Nickelodeon game shows

3. Kenan and Kel

4. Rugrats

5. Doug

6. Angry Beavers

7. AHHHHHHHH!!! Real Monsters

8. Clarissa Explains it All

9. 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd

10. That show about the girl, Alex Mack, who could melt... I forget the show's name.

11. X-Men

12. Spiderman

13. Pokemon

14. Batman Beyond

15. Transformers

16. Beast Wars

17. Power Rangers

18. Roseanne

19. The Cosby Show

19. Tailspin

20. Duck Tails

21. Darkwing Duck

These shows shaped my childhood XD

What I watch NOW:

1. Yu Yu Hakusho

2. Top Chef

3. Project Runway

4. Big Cat Diary

5. Iron Chef

6. King of the Hill

7. Family Guy

8. Roseanne

9. Aqua Teen Hunger Force

TV will never be the same...

People can say to me a million times that there will always been mean people in the world. People can always say that these people pick on others because they are insecure and hate change. But I still don't understand it. Why do people need to be this way? What pushed them to hate change in the first place? What makes them so angry and disrespectful to others?

A woman I work with, treats me this way. She is very condescending. She watches my every move, never tells me what I am doing right, and only points out the negative. She gives me this attitude that I've had to deal with since the moment I met her. One minute, she'll say I'm good with answering phones, then five minutes later she'll ask me if I know how to use the phones. Basically, she has no clue what she is talking about.

She hates it when I ask her questions. She'll dodge the answers, accuse me of not wanting to do my job, and I will keep pushing her to answer me because that is what she is there for. She's the one who trained me for softlines, so, she has a job to do. I'm going to keep pumping her for help every time I see her. She bitched and moaned like crazy when she found out she had to train me. Oh well, you're the specialist, and this is your job. You don't like it, leave, because there are tons of people around us that want to take your place.

So tonight, after I've been running back and forth, literally running, between the fitting room and men's wear, she has the nerve to tell me that men's wear look the same as it did when I started.

I have never felt so uncomfortable at a job before. I am not there to be spoken down to. I am not there to be disrespected. I don't give a fuck if she is a bully, bullies do not impress me. I am not her whipping girl, I am a human being with feelings. She doesn't have to treat me this way.

You may have seen this story on CNN.

A visually impaired man went into a McDonalds with his service dog. He was asked to leave, because of their no animals allowed rule. This goes against the ADA.

He wrote a letter of complaint to the McDonalds corporation. They at first offered him some coupons, which he refused. According to him, instead of getting coupons, he wanted to be treated like a human being. So, they then offered to place a sticker on the windows of that McDonalds and others stating that service dogs and other animals were okay.

Not too long after, he goes into the same McDonalds. He sits down, starts to eat, and a manager comes up to him and asks him to leave because of the dog. The man explains that the dog is a service animal, and that the sign out front says he is allowed to have his dog there. The manager keeps debating with him, so the man tells him to go outside, read the sign, come back and tell him what it says. The manager never returned to speak with him.

This person tried contacting the corporation again. While he was taking pictures of the sign, some people came out, started shouting at him about what he was doing, then tried to beat him with a bunch of trash can lids. That's right, they went after a man who barely see them. How sick can you possibly be?

Now this man is suing McDonalds for what they have done.

Personally, this is the last straw for me, and I am not eating there anymore.

I eliminated a lot of pages that really were not needed.

In addition to eliminating pages, I also got rid of many out dated and unnecessary blog entries.

As far as books are concerned, I am planning to self publish one written work next year (2010), hopefully on my birthday, which is October 3rd. I will first bind ten manuscript copies, which will be hand signed. Once those are sold out, they will never be available again. I plan to have copies made by a distributor for self publishers, and the first 20 of those copies will be hand signed.

I will also be working on some side projects, which may or may not be available within the next year.

I cannot share specific details about this book, to avoid stealing. In any case, this is a combination of romance, some horror, and fantasy. One of the main characters is a demon sent by his father to annihilate the human race. The other main character is a human, who falls in love with this demon. This upsets the demon's family, and causes a huge uproar in the demon world.

I was looking at the Top 200 Games in a game informer magazine I found. I was actually appalled at how crappy a list it was. Yes, some of the classics were there, but not all of them. Duck Hunt, Marvel vs. Capcom 1 & 2, Katamari Damacy, Asteroids, and Mortal Kombat (the original), and others were missing, every single Zelda game was on that list (so Zelda biased), and too many new and modern games were in the top ten. The number one game was Legend of Zelda, and number two was Super Mario Bros. Something about that bothers me. Maybe it's because Mario and Luigi aren't just well known by gamers, but even by my 54 year old mother. Mario is the only gaming character she knows. I've met people thirty years older than her, who have heard of Mario Bros. Mario Bros. is the epic mascot of the entire video game franchise. Thanks for that, Nintendo-sama.

So, I didn't make a new list of 200, but I sat here and picked out in my brain the best games I and my closest gaming friends have seen throughout our lives. I think all hardcore gamers would agree that these games which we as gamers united have picked out, are the best of the best.

I tried to incorporate plot, character development, graphics, and user friendliness, when making the decisions. It was a pretty easy thing to do.

1. Super Mario Bros.- We've all heard of it, played it, owned it and probably still have our NES to go with it (I certainly do). The story-line is a rescue Princess kind of deal, but finding the Princess while traveling through a world full of bad guys and lava pits and a turtle who throws hammers at you is never easy. And don't forget that classic phrase, "Thank you for rescuing me, but our Princess is in another classic!" I also love the 2 player option. I would actually kill myself as Mario, so I could play as Luigi for a change. Finding all the secret second chance mushrooms was a great goal for me, too. You never have to read game guides for Mario Bros., it is THAT user friendly.

2. The Pac-Man Series- All Pac-Man games, from the very first arcade game to the newest 3D adventures. Pac-Man is a simple game in plot, playable by everyone, but not easy. Regardless, no one ever "sucks" at Pac-Man. The complexity of the 3D games has left some players a little rattled, but also in awe of how neat and interesting the plots and strategies and puzzles are.

3. Duck Hunt- Some of us (Like me), have the Duck Hunt and Mario Bros. games on the same cartridge. Duck Hunt is phenomenal in it's simplicity, but equally exciting and full of fond memories. Like how we all wanted to shoot the dog for laughing at us, marveled at how we could murder 10 ducks in a row, and felt like we had fantastic aim for a bunch of sugar pumped kids. No one has reportedly ever "beaten" Duck Hunt, and some believe the game simply goes on forever.

4. Asteroids- The classic of the classic arcade games. The only game more classic than Asteroids and Marvel vs. Capcom is the original Pac-Man. This game is sweet and adorable and able to be played by someone as young as their preschool years. I never thought anyone could make an rock floating in outerspace "evil", but they managed to do it. It's better than shooting aliens or warships. Rocks don't feel shit, and we don't feel anything wrong with blowing them to smitherines.

5. Tetris- I love Tetris with a passion. My high-score for my old cell phone version was 49,964. That's about half of some of the best players in the world. I have a friend who has scored well over the point where it stopped counting your score. Tetris is mainly for those with good reflexes, good eyes, and a knack for making it all fit together. This is probably the most addictive game in the world.

6. Marvel vs. Capcom (arcade version)- This was the first arcade fighting game I ever played. I don't know why I love it, I just do. No one ever says anything bad about MVC for the arcade machine because there is nothing bad to say. It sucks ass on an in-home console, but we play it that way anyways. Regardless, as the arcade version, this is the top fighting game above all the others. Who doesn't want to see Spiderman and Megaman duke it out, or Rouge against Ryu? And Wolverine against, well, anybody?

7. Soul Calibur 2- I have not played the very first game, so, out of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th that I have played, I had to select this one, to be fair. The first Soul Calibur gave a wonderful story to a typical fighting game, and SC2 furthered that concept. The weapon master is both challenging and highly interesting. The unlockables give you a great goal to keep in mind. My favorite is the featured characters, such as Link and Spawn. I haven't played the version with Link, but I have seen what people do with Spawn, and they make his move-set very wicked. I also love the introduction of Talim, who has the most exciting move-set, and is the most difficult to play as. I have noticed over time that Talim is made to dance while fighting, and while she can be used for insane combos, her concept is to use rhythmic fake-outs, an air-like appearance, and extreme power to go along with it. But, don't forget Ivy, who also has the best range ever. She can be long range, short range, mid range, or basically hit you from any angle she damn well pleases. For defense Taki is the best, and for sheer power, Nightmare takes the prize. Maxi is the only crap character in the game, mainly because his combos go on forever, and if they miss, a new player has extreme difficulty stopping them. This game has managed to adopt certain phrases among my friends like "Maxi, the never-ending combo!", "Kilik the king of cheese!", "Come here so I can kill you!", "Ring-outs are cheap-shots!", and my personal favorite: "I wanna use Ivy's George Washington outfit!"

8. Mortal Kombat- The theme song along got this into my top ten. This is a fighting game that I have played minimally, but have heard great things about, such as user friendliness, interesting move-sets, and badass characters. Even people who have not played the game, know the theme song and are happy to shout "MORTAL KOMBAT!", "FINISH HER/HIM!", and "FIGHT!". I liked the brutality of the game, no pun intended. It made aware that fighting is fighting made it slightly more serious, and not humorous like Soul Calibur and Marvel vs. Capcom. For people who really like a game with edge, this is highly recommended.

9. Katamari Damacy- I didn't think a modern game could be simple like a classic. Whoops, your father fucked up the galaxy and needs you to rebuild it, by rolling over objects to make your ball (I seriously do forget what it's called. I only pay attention to the sheer fun of rolling this thing around) bigger and bigger to turn it into a planet. The best is when you can roll over and pick up anything the higher the level, like cows, buildings, and people.

10. Sonic the Hedgehog Series- Nintendo may have created Mario, an Italian plumber in a world full of mushrooms, but from Sega came a heroic Hedgehog out to save his friends. When you say it like, it becomes oddly poignant. Maybe there was a hidden message in there about treating animals with respect. Of course, as games have gotten for graphically advanced, things like Shadow the Hedgehog game have happened (too fall-offy), as well as the ridiculous werewolf version of Sonic, but this series has maintained one hell of a devoted fanbase and like Mario, is the mascot for Sega. There have been story-lines with aliens, racing games, new characters added from time to time, and a lot of imagination. I also have to speak nicely of this series because my boyfriend reads this blog, and if he sees anything negative, he will never let me live it down.

11. Zoo Tycoon- Yep, that's right. Zoo Tycoon is on this list. I am a devoted ZT fan, but that has nothing to do with why it is here. As far as Computer games go, this is wonderfully creative and has a lot of freedom in what you can and cannot do. Once you download the developer packs, custom objects/animals/buildings from friends, and get the expansion packs, you are in for one hell of a great and entertaining game. I've always loved trapping guests in the T-Rex pen and watching them get eaten. By the way, if you hold the SHIFT key, then hold the dollar sign/#4 key along with it, you can give yourself 10,000 dollars. If you hold it down and don't let up, you basically can give yourself as much money as you want. Do this before you add in fences and tanks, because this option will rot fences and murk up tanks if you don't.

12. Sim City- Tornadoes, earthquakes, alien invasions, and going broke are some of the biggest challenges you face as mayor of your very own city. I suck at this, but I love it anyways. There is a text box you can pull, and by typing in a certain phrase or code, you can give yourself free money.

13. Spore- Why this wasn't on Game Informer's list I will never know. But regardless, what a fantastic game. You get to manage evolution, and evolve your very own species to survive. If you don't feel like running away from super huge creatures and scrounging around for food, you can go in the creature creator and make animals from scratch. The only flaw to this game is the loading speed is very slow, and it tends to crash laptops.

14. Super Smash Bros. Brawl- You doesn't like to get together with a group of friends and play Brawl? I am horrible at this game, but I enjoy it, especially for the stage creation option. I like creating some really fucked up stages that give my boyfriend a lot of hell.

15. Mario Kart- This is the one and only time in my life that I am a good driver.

16. Pokemon Series- Aside from the fact that these games made the gameboy popular, who doesn't love kidnapping animals from the wild and teaching them to beat the shit out of each other? Granted, that's not what this game is about, and obviously no one has ever been offended by it. Nothing is more exciting than thinking up your own fan-species.

17. Halo Series- Because I can put it here. I didn't like the first Halo game as a whole, but the story alone was what got me hooked on the trilogy. After I finished Halo, I ran out two days later and bought Halo 2. I HAD to know what would happen next in the story. I hate the flood, I find them a horrifically annoying and unnecessary villain, so when that energy was made available in Halo 2, all of the sudden I didn't hate the flood so much. They have really thought about working out the kinks and issues of gameplay in regards to the Halo series.

18. Dig Dug- Crystal Caves, and pretty much any game featuring mazes underground, has been modeled off of this game. I started playing this when I was very little, and it's a game for any age group. There is something oddly intriguing for a kid when they realize they get to go underground.

19. Crystal Caves- Some of you may not know or remember this classic computer game. I loved this as child. It was a great puzzle, amazingly entertaining, and so much more interesting with each passing level. Shoot the monsters, collect the crystals, and be filthy, stinking rich.

20. 1943: Battle of the Midway- An old spin on World War 2, you travel in your plane and blow the shit out of every other plane who dares to fuck with you. You get the coolest bullet spray options, and have some badass plane and boat bosses to fight.

21. Kung Fu- Nothing like a 2D side scroller with an Asian guy shouting "Whoo! Whoo-wuh-wuh-whoo!" every time he hits something.

22. Golgo 13- What a wonderful side scrolling spy game. This makes Goldeneye 007 look like child's play.