DUDE?

STOP with the depression rut. It's.... getting a little old now. You've been in this "hole" for months now and the only way anything is going to get better is when you stop feeling sorry about yourself and actually DO something to make things better.

You can't expect things to get better on their own... it needs HELP. And usually you're the one that has to take charge and help it along.

....yes I understand your situation. YES you're my friend... but COME. On!

If you want out of your emo rut so badly then DO something about it. You can't get anywhere unless you put some effort into things!

So for a few months I've recently gotten heavily back into the Pokemon TCG. And it's all thanks to Ryan getting all super excited about Pokemon Diamond and Pearl for Nintendo DS. When he and I have been together we're basically watching every pokemon episode that comes on television, every movie, and we're increasing our battling skills against one another-- and here I thought I dropped the hobby 8 years ago!

Boy.. was I wrong.

A few weeks ago Ryan and I attended a Pre-Release for Diamond and Pearl and had a blast. (May 20th) Besides getting a batch full of Diamond and Pearl Cards, an exclusive pre-release Luxio card, a set of awesome Lucario PoP sleeve covers, and a poster I managed to trade a kid for a Metagross Ex card for a Mr. Mime (Yay! My ultimate favorite Pokemon. Hee!!) Ex card. Great trade if I do say so myself...

Not to mention the tournament in itself was a lot of fun... :)

Both Ryan and I even came up with the idea to dress as Musashi and Kojiro (Jesse and James of Team Rocket) for the San Diego ComiCon. I'm pretty much finished with the costume at this point. Just need to re-make the skirt and find a pair of black silk gloves and I'm set. The gloves that I had bought previously just won't work. They fall too short of the elbow....

Amongst all of the back and forth card playing between Ryan and I over the past few weeks we somehow motivated Ben to get in on the act. He built a deck and the three of us started playing a series of three way battles.

At one point Ben called his attack to Ryan's Piplup. "I'm going to smack your pecker--"

[Peck is an attack that Piplup has. He was making reference to that.]

But the three of us fell into explosive laughter.  Ahhhhh that was too great.. xD

Pokemon TCG for the win.

I just realized that there's a guy in my Economics class who sits on the other side of the room that looks like Batista.

Funny.. after about 9 weeks of the same class I've never noticed it until now.

I also found out the name of the guy that wonders around school who've I've dubbed as "The Triple H guy..." His name is Billy. And he likes Triple H.. and Edge.

EDGE!!!! YES! He's offically cool.

But yeeah.. I started talking to him just simply because I was watching The Best of Sean Michaels stuff in the lounge. Managed to get a small crowd around me watching my screen as well.

Ha! Go figure.

Now living in New York, a small group of friends and myself somehow managed to acquire the rights to an entire building. Thinking it of an event that held too much luck to it all we decided to turn the 15 story building into our own personal playground.

Leaving the top-most floor for everyone's living quarters, the 14th floor for gaming, floors 13 through 2 were left as a giant training and live gaming platform (laser tag, among other things) which left so much to our imaginations. It were almost as if these floors were like a sub-group of holodecks all linked together. [Star Trek reference] And of course, the first floor served as the kitchen/dining area/bar.

The tenants of the building included myself, Ryan, Ben, Brandon, Jon, Bernard, Chris, Stacey, Richard, Ken, Brian and perhaps a few others. But those were the faces that I remembered seeing as I passed through the cooridoors, laser gun in hand.

As the high afternoon sun set, I made my way down the elevator to greet Matt who dropped by to spend an evening in our 15 story building of fun.

The moment he caught sight of me he wrapped his arms around me and greeted with me with a warm hug. "There's my favorite O!" Pulling me away he looked around to our lobby set up and nodded. "So this is where you've been hiding?? I think I'm going to need to drop by your place a bit more often!"

Voices in the background suddenly became louder and a rush of footsteps headed out way. Sliding down the banister of the stairway railing ran Brandon completely decked out in a black mercenary outfit. He wore a sensor on his chest and held a gun that almost resembled a sniper's rifle.

Sliding in between Matt and I, he skidded on the floor and picked himself back up and made a break for the kitchen. "Hey O! Hi O's friend!!" he shrieked as he disappeared behind a wall.

Moments later Chris followed the same path that Brandon took, but didn't slide on the marble tile as he tried to get around one of the sharp corner's. He aimed and fired his weapon and grumbled. "Damnit, I missed!!"

"Damn straight you missed!" Brandon called from in the kitchen.

Chris furrowed his brown a moment before turning to both me and Matt. he gave a sheepish smile and waved slightly. "Hi."

Matt and I waved meekly and watched Chris disappear behind the same wall that Brandon had disappeared behind.

Matt slowly turned to me with a cocked eyebrow. "Lively bunch you got here."

I chuckled hazily, rubbing at at my forearm. The circuit pattern that I had laced onto my skin from a previous encounter with Brainiac had been burning like crazy. "Just wait a few more hours.. it'll get better, I promise." I motioned for him to follow me as we both headed to the elevator.

"So i will be getting one of those cool guns while I'm staying here, right?"

"Of course!" I smirked. "Actually.. that's what we're going to get you right now. That and a tag sensor. Most of the time we keep them on our persons all the time. Each step we take within here is like an adventure in it's own right. It's a lot of fun..."

"I bet." he grinned. Snapping his fingers he held up a bag. "I forgot to tell you. I brought party liquid." [Alcohol!]

As the doors opened to the 13th floor, everyone else was somewhere within the giant room playing some kind of game. Halo 2 was being played on the back big screen. Ken and Richard were screaming at each other as they duked it out, trying to find the other player in their virtual environment. Then to top it all off, wrestling was being shown on another tv, and the DDR machine was getting it's fair use by Ryan and Ben.

Matt's jaw nearly hit the floor when the sounds and overall sights of the floor came into view. "And you freakin' LIVE here?"

I simply nodded.

"Can I move in?"

I smirked. "Sure. We have room. You can even bring Steve if you'd like. He's more than welcome here too, ya know."

Hopping off of the DDR machine Ryan walked over and wrapped his arms around me, kissing me on the cheek. "You should plaaaay." he urged, poking me in the arm. He blinked a moment when he took notice to Matt standing there. "Spidey--?"

Matt just grinned and gave a small wave. "Yo, amigo!"

"Ahh!! How cool!" He shook me excitedly. "You didn't tell me he was stopping by tonight? How come you didn't tell me?"

I giggled, listening to Ryan's enthusiastic voice. "I thought it would be cooler as a surprise."

"Well good job! I'm surprised!" Still hopped up on a DDR high he turned back to Matt. "I'm heading down to the kitchen. Can I get you something to drink?"

Matt shook his head and patted the bag of alcohol he was holding. "Naw man, I think I'll be set for a while. I appreciate it though."

"No problem." Kidding me lightly on the lips, Ryan made his way toward the door. "I'm going to go find something for myself in that case. I'll be back."

It didn't take too long after that point before we got Matt all hooked up with a laser sensor and gun of his own.

Somehow all of the tenants of the building somehow managed to organize a two team laser tag match up. The game went on for a few hours and it seemed like Matt was dominating the other team in most cases.

As I wrapped around one of the cooridoors I noticed him just sticking upside-down from the ceiling..... playing sniper.

I could only give a small laugh. "Using powers to an advantage... naughty." I whispered, trying to ignore the twinge of pain in my arm. Looking down to my arm, the faint glow of green rapidly changed blood red and then back again.

'Strange...' I thought to myself.

He only winked to me. "Aw.. you'd do it too if you had them."

I nodded faintly. "Agreed--"

We were cut short suddenly by a large sudden and quick movement. Spidey fell from his perched position on the wall and I gripped the side of the building. We both looked at one another caught in a daze.

"What the hell was that?" he muttered to me questionably.

"Felt like an earthquake."

The tone in his voice fell to a more serious node. "New York does NOT have earthquakes... unless something causes them."

My communicator bleed through with the voices of everyone in the building asking each other if they had just felt what happened.

"This is why I left California in the first place!" grumbled Jon over the comm.

A second earthquake hit with an equal magnitude.

Matt stood straighter and walked over to one of the windows and looked around. "Something's not right."

"What is it...? Your senses triggering?"

He stood silent for a moment, almost as if he were in a bit of momentary shock. "You better 'round everyone up."

I wasn't going to doubt Matt's Spidey-sense. It never seemed to have worked against him in the past. "Right..."

I jogged off in the opposite direction and put out a notice to everyone that our little game had to be postponed. I heard a few mumbles and grumbles through the comm, but no major objects seemed to come through. As I made my way down to ground level I noted that the front lobby door was opened a crack. Curious, I walked over and noticed Brian and Brandon standing, almost in a trance-like state starring down the street. Pushing open the door I walked out and looked back to what they were looking at.

"Didn't you guys hear me--"

That was when we saw the sidewalk and street from way in the other direction come up and down-- almost as if the ground were a body of water and it were trying to rise up like an ocean wave.

"ORACLE!!" Matt's voice broke the grounding of the concrete wave and gained my attention. When I turned around, Matt was fully decked out in hi Spidey suit. "GET inside NOW!!!" He leapt from the doorway and grabbed ahold of my wrist and pulled me quickly inside. Swinging back out he grabbed hold of Brandon and Brian and threw them inside of the building as well, shutting and clicking the doors shut. "MOVE!!" he pointed to the stairwell.

"What is it?"

"You might wanna call your buddies on the League." he advised as he continued to push us all in the stairwell. "When I saw the concrete coming up and smashing into a building a few blocks away I realized what it was exactly we were dealing with. It's a phenomenon that I've been hearing about running through the grape-vine about a class of aliens. They shoot some kind of weapon onto the surfaces of worlds and the disruption causes the ground to rise up like a tsunami. Solid ground is torn apart and then eventually washed away into the sea of the world. Usually.... the target world ends up getting destroyed."

Brian turned turned to Spidey with a look of disbelief on his face. "You've GOT to be shittin' me??"

Spidey only looked back to him and shook his head. "I wish I were. you guys need to get to the top floor and STAY up there. Everyone else is up there. it'll be safe... for a little bit." He gently placed his hand on my shoulder. "You need to get in touch with the Boyscout and Tall-Dark-And-Spooky and see if their satellite systems have a trace on these aliens. You'll have to let them know what's up-"

Another Earthquake and too many screams from the outside were heard.

Spidey and I peered over the side out one of the windows and took notice to the concrete and gravel that was slowly rising up, like sea water.

"I.. don't like the looks of that...." I muttered.

"Neither do I."

Another earthquake and the concrete continued to rise, swallowing some buildings whole by this point.

Allowing my communicator to switch to a certain frequency I made contact with the Watchtower and alerted them of the situation, explaining everything that Spidey had just told me to J'onn.

"It's not looking good from up here." J'onn muttered through a static filled connection. "Causalities are being broadcasted from all over. Certain countries have been swallowed up completely.... there's nothing we can do--"

"Don't tell me that!" I shouted. "There has to be--"

Another earthquake. The magnitude just seemed to get stronger and stronger with each round. And our building seemed to tilt just slightly from the last shake-up. Loosing my footing I slipped and started sliding in the other direction.

"MATT!"

Spidey turned and jumped out scooping me into his arms. "Hang on. We're taking the express elevator."

Thwipping one of his lines out the the window we were stationed near he pulled us out and started climbing on the side of the building, quickly making his way to the top floor of our building. He poked his head in through the window and shot a line of webbing into the room and swung over to where everyone was.

Getting my own footing, Ryan came over and smothered me with hugs and kisses. Poor thing seemed really worried. "You okay?" he asked.

I nodded. "Had some trouble a few floors below, but I'm fine."

Ryan turned back to Spidey. "Is there anyway that any of this can be stopped?"

Pulling off his mask, Matt's face gave him a look of utter defeat. "I... wish there were a way that I could tell you yes."

As time past the earthquake's got stronger and more buildings were swallowed whole. Anyone on a tall enough building were all now waiting out their fate on the rooftops, looking as the ground got closer and as the skies above blackened.

At one point I had to watch helplessly as the concrete overtook one of the floors and my black cat Berg getting caught in between it. I screamed, running after my beloved Berg but was held back by Ryan and Matt who were only trying to make sure that I wasn't swallowed up by the mass and killed by the force.

Our group seemed calm, despite everything that was going on. I was a wreck internally.... realizing that my cat and everyone I pretty much knew were dead, that the end of all mankind was indefinable upon us, and there was nothing that the world's heroes could do to stop the inevitable from happening.

4 floors away from being swallowed up, I walked over to where Bernard and Ken were lighting a series of candles. I guess it was their way of cooping with everything that was going on around them. They were lighting candles for their families and their friends that they knew were lost. Picking up a lighter, I lit one of the candles that didn't have a flame on it.

Bernard turned to me and spoke softly, curiously. "Who are you lighting you candle for?"

"My mother and Berg..." I muttered, lighting another.

".....and this one?"

".....myself."

Bernard watched me a bit confused and just silently nodded as I wondered off. Making my way back over to Ryan I hugged him tightly, kissing him and told him that I loved him and thanked him for the good few years we had together. And went on to this speech that really seemed to make him emotional. (Awww.. *hugs teh Ryan*) "I have to say goodbye." I told him somberly. At the time I told him everything, I really don't think he knew what I had going on in my mind at the time. "I have to say goodbye to Matt. Don't be mad, okay?"

He nodded, wearily letting me go.

I made my way over to where Matt was sitting on the ledge of the building and I hugged him from behind, kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you for everything. For being... probably my best friend and.... everything else."

Caught a little off guard from that his hand gently patted my own that were still wrapped around him. "I should be the one thanking you, O. Really..."

"Whatever happens, know that you'll always be considered as one of my best and close friends."

He gave a small hint of a smile. "That goes double for me too, ya know."

For some reason, the circuit pattern on my arm burned severely and the green slowly turned to black. I seethed in pain and closed my eyes, feeling my heart-rate quickening. Somehow I knew what was to come next... "Please.... take care of Ryan if you get out of this--"

I saw myself draw super silent and fall limp onto his shoulder.

Even though I was dead, i still saw the continuing events of what happened.

Matt turned feeling the added weight of my body on his shoulder and panicked. "Babs--?? Babsie-- ORACLE??" He nudged me gently before taking my pulse. His face seemed to go pale, trying to figure out what happened exactly.

Ryan, hearing Spidey call my name, ran over to see what happened.

At that instant, the concrete from below came up and swallowed everything that was left of New York City.

From above Earth's atmosphere a series of two ships orbited Earth. One ship, with a familiar symbol based on the front lay floating as if it were a piece of space garbage as the second ship pulled on their thrusters and disappeared into the nearest star system.

The ship that lay floating in orbit held the mark of Brainiac.

Seemed like whatever came to Earth, had a run in with Brainaic himself and even he was too weak to stop it.

At least... that's what it seemed like.

Everything ended with a closeup of a hand buried underneath scraps of metal moving just slightly.

....Midnight showing was..... freakin' great. No screaming kids, no kids running up and down the isle.... and the nice thing was? The theater wasn't even totally packed. More than half of the seats were left open.

As the previews rolled for a upcoming moving called "Across the Universe"-- I take it's some sort of Beatles inspired movie... (never even heard about it until the previews flash for it) but as the music for "Hey Jude" came on some guy in the theater toward the front flicked on their lighter and held it up letting it sway back and forth.

HAH! Oh man. That.... was awesome.

I was pleasently surprised with the whole movie, honestly. They, of course, messed with Eddie Brock, and the symbiote.... but the guy they got to play Sandman? Looks like he jumped right out of the Marvel pages. That was perfect casting. Whoever made that decision to keep that guy? They deserve some sort of trophy.

SO MANY VILLAINS! I didn't know what to do with myself. :]

Mmmm.... evil.

Good movie. Had a few very grippingly emotional parts.... They've done well. <3

...and now I have to flood Spidey's voice mail and mail box and and other means of recieveing messages with raves and loves.

Hee!!

So... i've been without a watch for a few weeks now and it's starting to bug me on the extreme note that I don't have a means of looking at the time when I'm.... not near a wall clock. So I ended up getting a Tamagotchi just for the fact that they had a clock and date option on it. YAY! At first I wasn't going to care if it lived or died... but then all of a sudden-- just like back in elementry school I'm playing mommy to a virtual pet that I have conviently clipped to my belt loop... or shoved in my purse.

Taking the Tamagotchi to class that afternoon prooved to be interesting. I sat there in the lounge feeding it and Riley and Ryan both noticed what I was tinkering with.

Riley didn't seem impressed over the matter. I tried to explain to him that these new Tamagotchi's were cooler because they had infered technology and you could link up with your buddies and play games and stuff.

It wasn't until a day later that while sitting with Ryan and him playing the games on the Tamaogotchi that he declaired that he was going to get one too. And... sure enough, later on he did!

To say the least I was pretty shocked....

A day or two later Ben showed up, as he always does on Tuesday nights (Math day) and he took notice to the both of us messing with them. And i really don't know HOW it happened, but Ben then declaired that  "Maybe I should get one too...."

Since we all decided to skip Trig class today we all just sat around and made a trip to Toys R Us... and now.... Ben has a Tamagotchi too.

Bwuahahaha!!!

I didn't even have to convince them and they got one too!

I'm all excited internally now.

Heheh.. Ben and Ryan got Tamagotchis.........
 

Rick-- uh Richard (really cool guy from my microeconomics class that sits next to me) and I were talking over AiM earlier and we got into the discussion of how the way people write annoys us.

Especially when going up against the articles of there, they're, their..... or to, too, two, 2.... or we're were....

[You get the picture...]

Anyway, he responded to a message with:

And while we're at it, another pack of jackoffs that ought to be locked into portable toilets and set on fire. THE PEOPLE WHO TYPE IN ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME. HI MAN HOW ARE YOU IM DOING GREAT

Heheh.... Pack of jackoffs locked into portable toilets and set on fire.....

For the love of Oa--

*snerks*

Rick's line of thinking is hecka awesome.

5am, Monday morning... I should have been asleep more than seven hours ago and yet... I'm not. Lovely.

/sarcasm

I find I can't fully smile anymore. It's... really rather depressing. Pains my heart that my smile can't match up to the way it used to without making me feel so down.

A shadow of my former self from the smile that I once had.

A chipped tooth that will most likely give if I eat the wrong thing and another with a forming cavity. Screw the broken one in the back. It's not as much as a worry as the other two.

.....need crowns.

....badly.

Why does money have to be the factor in everything?

Why couldn't we just strive to better ourselves and not base ourselves on material possessions?

I'm still musing for the fact that Ryan gave me an entire package of Sour Patch sour candies just for Flash plushie.

Ahhh.. that's so cute.

After spending a day in Ryan's care, Flash Plushie found himself "with the guys." Ben and Ryan were to have some study session later on in the evening (Tuesday evening) and was to return back to me the next evening when I saw Ryan and Ben for Trig class. When he handed me Flash plushie back he handed me the bag of candies too.

"Ooo.. Candy....? heh.. you know I can't eat those."

"I know. They're for him." he thumbed to Flash Plushie.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.......

I'm still reeling over how cute that was. <3

Ryan doesn't think that me talking to my plushies is crazy... or me telling him stories of what they've done... or whatever. He ENCOURAGES it!

So. Effing. COOL.

Less than three, m' dear. Less than three.