She saw the world through her word eyes. She discovered this in senior year high school while sitting on a rug at a classmate’s house, reading some borrowed book about people and things and places that were never there but at the same time were. Meanwhiles and neverweres.

What she saw were squiggly letters telling her to get off the rug it was late and it was time to leave.

She sees people as words. Words in the shape of a person. (Like some designer’s typography dream.) She sees beauty when she hears what people have to say. (Her senses are dependent on each other. She is an auditory lunatic who goes by what she hears. What she hears shapes the world that she sees, you see.)

She found that the emptier the person’s words, the uglier the person-word-shape appears to be. (But words were her world, so even the “ugly” person-word-shapes have their place in it. She’s like that.)

If you were her friend she’ll probably let a mispunctuation slide.. If you were her friend and on the very rare occasion she makes mistakes (less rare these days) and you catch it? You can tease her about it and never let her live it down. If it was you, on the other hand, it was expected and she’ll correct you in her thoughts. Because you are her friend.

If you were her friend her word eyes become a problem. She is great with words but she is rubbish with numbers. And dates. And time.

She lives life unblinking, which is why the big things blind her sometimes.

After almost two months of side questing, collecting Daedric artifacts and all-around lollygagging, I finally sat down last week and completed Skyrim‘s main quest.

To note, I have the PS3 version — yes, the problematic one. I completed the game in spite of various bugged quests, lag and load times. I think I have 80 hours in? (I don’t play every day.) All of this before the “end-of-month-fix-everything” patch arrived.

Above: I took a picture of my quest statistics. Main quests: 18? The main story of the game feels short if you’ve been doing all the fun side quests. To note: roleplay-wise, my character, Kador, isn’t probably the “realest” RPG character. He’s the Dean at the college of magic, Harbinger for the warriors’ guild, master-thief of the thieves guild and head of the assassin’s guild. A big burly viking who can sneak like a ninja in front of most enemies but can’t hurt flying dragons for shit.

The game doesn’t “end.” The main quest is simply resolved. That story is finished now. I can still continue my journey on Skyrim, maybe collect the other 7 Daedric artifacts I’m missing, join the rebellion/empire or collect stupid crimson nirnroot. Or maybe start over with a new character and do it all over again.

Thank you, Bethesda.

Disclaimer: THIS POST IS GOING TO BE GRAPHIC/DISGUSTING — recovery is disgusting/beautiful

This post is going to be about my belly button — the loss, redemption and eventual prodigal return. I was never truly sure we’d meet again.

An update to my “belihole” situation: it has been more than two weeks since the cutting of my belly. Acroxia had long since left. Walking around doesn’t feel like my insides are jiggling anymore. They are acclimating to the new situation, trying to move on at the loss of a former neighbor. They know now that none of them are safe now.

In addition to that, the last two weeks have been about becoming an unintentional early riser. The belihole has a sensation of a cutter running up against it constantly. There’s also the itch, which keeps me up. I stay awake for fear of scratching my belihole during sleep and finding intestine under my fingernails upon waking up. The itching is less now, or I might have trained my brain to ignore the sensation.

There’s also fear of sneezing. I never realized how much of an involvement the abdomen truly has when it comes to this involuntary action. Trying to stop it only makes it more painful. My fears are founded: I sneezed so hard, I sneezed my guts out. (sort of) I have been back to the hospital and it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Now: there’s a patch of unskinned belihole, which I hope will dry up soon.

There has also been a lot more walking. Apparently, if I don’t walk around, my insides will stick to each other.

***

Enough of that: here is the miracle of miracles:

The first image was taken on 01/08/2012:

The next one was taken on 01/12/2012:

Which sorta means nothing is swollen anymore, and I’m losing the IV weight. Which is awesome.

Belly button, how I’ve missed you.

Like some of you, my phone has become my daily camera. It goes with me everywhere, and sometimes I even remember to take pictures.

However, the spontaneity is lost when, upon further viewing of stuff I took I sometimes feel like it’s not worth creating an album for. Other times I just plain forget to transfer anything.

Solution: here’s a phonedump of the last three weeks. They actually piece together some stories of what I’ve been up to (mostly the ever-burgeoning alcoholism/gluttony) and they create proof that I do, in fact, leave the house some days.

Most of the stories for the pictures are in the description on their flickr page. Arranged as chronologically as possible.

Apps used: stock camera app + Camera360

2011 was our PS3 year. We have two at home now (one’s busted) when, in the previous years, we had none. There was a lot of catching up to do. Also: I am awake this early because my belly is itchy and I can’t risk scratching it while I sleep lest I wake up with intestines and whatnot under my fingernails. Exciting times.

Just last month, the PS3 (FAT), after less than a month of having its lens replaced, broke down for good. It currently sits as a paperweight somewhere around the house. We bought a PS3 (SLIM) a few days before Christmas, and the changes we’ve noticed are: less heat, zippier(?) load times, less noise and the machine’s greater insistence on pushing things to 1080p, where the PS3 (FAT) did not.

Games played:

• (PS3) God of War 1 (not finished)
• (PC) System Shock 2 (finished, after getting it to work finally)
• (PC) Portal 2 
• (PS3) Assassin’s Creed (not finished, too repetitive)
• (PS3) Enslaved (not finished, borrowed)
• (PS3) Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (borrowed)
• (PS3) Tekken 6 (Gets some play every now and then when we feel like beating each other up in the house. I am not good but I can spam you with Alisa or Asuka or Lars.)
• (PS3) GTA IV (Like my first play around, started but not finished.)
• (PS3) Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition 
• (PS3) Uncharted 2 GOTY Edition 
• (PS3) Red Dead Redemption (not finished)
• (PS3) inFamous (not finished, part of the “Welcome Back” package)
• (PS3) Little Big Planet (not finished, part of the “Welcome Back” package)
• (PS3) WipeOut HD Fury (part of the “Welcome Back” package)
• (PS3) Transformers: War for Cybertron (not finished)
• (PC) Team Fortress 2 (when it went free)
• (PS3) Bomberman ULTRA (during the PS+ trial, now expired)
• (PS3) Golden Axe (during the PS+ trial, now expired)
• (PS3) Burnout Crash demo (on repeat for a few hours)
• (PS3) Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (the PS3 FAT stopped reading the disc while on the last level — the lens broke after that)
• (Android) Muffin Knight (pony rainbow poops!)
• (PS3) Arkham City 
• (PS3) Uncharted 3 (I will always remember this as the time when I stop believing online reviews.)
• (PS3) Saint’s Row The Third (I’ll write about this game maybe later. It was so much fun, I completed the game AGAIN on the SLIM when my saved data wouldn’t copy from the FAT.)
• (PS3) Skyrim (I think I’m at least 60 hours in … and counting. The game occasionally freezes during fast travel or on the loading screens. As a friend always says, “PC SKYRIM = MASTER RACE.” The jerk.)
• (PS3) Mortal Kombat (YES. Also, Shao Kahn is a jerk.)
• (PS3) Bayonetta (Not finished. Bought it on the premise that it was sort-of like DMC. Then I remembered I have never completed a DMC game and that I got bored with Chaos Legion when I played that years ago.)

This year’s question: will the Vita be worth it? (Or will I get an Xbox360 for Kinect?)

Above: my stomache held together by staples. Also, my belly button, where is it.

While everyone was getting rid of bad habits (or at least promising to), I was getting rid of my appendix. Didn’t have a say in the matter, really, it had ruptured a few days prior to me being taken to the hospital (I refused the hospital visit … I thought it was just stomache pains from eating too much ham).

At around 9:30 in the evening, my friend Kash tried calling me. 9:30 was the exact time for my operation. There might be something cosmic about that. Or maybe not.

I’d like to tell you about the experience, really, but I couldn’t remember anything past the anesthesiologist placing the cannula for oxygen on my nose. There was a spinal anesthesia involved, but a small dot on my back is all I can show you.

I woke up hours later, groggy, sore, sleepy. Also, a catheter. A catheter!

For the next two days, I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything. Which sucks when your family visits with food for New Year. My food came in IV form.

My first meal for New Year’s eve: the hospital liquid diet special. Jellyace tasted particularly sweeter that first day, and water seemed exciting.

At the same time, my IV is infused with antibiotics every four hours. Dextrose will make you fat. My days of the IV have left me heavier and rounder (or maybe my stomache parts are still swelling?). As of this moment, my belly button is yet to be seen.

Went home on New Year’s Day afternoon, and lived with staples until just this Thursday. (I can now tell you what that feels like.)

I guess that’s my week. What did you do with yours? Happy New Year!

Flying bat-vehicle! Also, the kid singing: is that the actor who played 8-year old Bruce Wayne in Begins?