Going the Distance.. for Cake - My First Competitive Race!

Monday, 8am. I rise to the sound of Sonic’s Green Hill Zone. Disabling my iPhone on the collapsible table beside me I throw on a tee shirt, tights, grab earbuds and I’m out the door. Just before exiting the apartment, I slip my bare feet into a tattered pair of pink Nike’s. This is the best I’ve felt in my life.

With Pandora enabled, wubwubs full speed ahead, I sprint down the staircase leading to the street as I select a new run using my Nike Plus app. Busting through the doors, I hit the start button; for the next 40 minutes, I am Player 1...   [Read the full blog with pics here!]

PAX East 2012 Recap

Penny Arcade Expo East was this past week; and, as a part for the Frag Doll Cadette Academy, I had the honor of making the attendance list. Home to the creative minds and development team of BioShock, Irrational Games, Boston is one of my favorite American cities, particularly at this time of year. Despite having attended last year as press in accordance of providing on-camera content for Major League Gaming, this year I actually worked on the show floor.

There are a lot of reasons as to why, ever since my first Penny Arcade Expo Prime in Seattle circa 2010, I've fallen in love with event. If you'd read my previous blog posts it's quite certain that you already know, but I'm going to reiterate it for those of you who have just recently stumbled upon my daily musings. PAX is a fantastic gathering; not just in terms of the celebration of the games that are revealed, but rather, the culture that seeps out of every hotel room inhabited by the masses of fans, hopefuls and industry moguls alike. People just 'get it'. There's really no other way to describe it. I cannot tell you the countless times I found myself balls deep into conversation outside the Assassin's Creed booth, talking about everything ranging from 'Step Brothers' to 'Rugrats', the secret joy of obtaining carrots and celery from a barrels in Skyrim, or perhaps just the ridiculousness of memes that engross the internet.

Atop of this feeling of wholeness and joy that radiates through every inch of my being - just from talking to complete and utter strangers no less - these events have become a blast, especially recently, due to the anticipation I feel the weeks before I know I will get to see my good friends. These events have shaped my perspective in terms of what 'true' friendship is. Up until just recently and for the majority of my life I've factored that around 90% of my closest friends were those whom I had only been in contact with over the glorious span of tubes known as the internet. These moments leading up to my first events and encounters with such people, social networking, especially in terms of Twitter and in game meetups, has only confirmed this as fact - you guys are awesome. I met a few of you during this particular PAX East: there were so many hugs. Thank you for being YOU, and saying hi!

Now, despite bidding the majority of my time in Boston working and spending time with the lovely sisters of the Frag Doll community as seen above, I did manage to get enough of a chance to preview and play a few games. I'd be lying if I said cutting the line to play Borderlands 2 co op wasn't the highlights of my trip. I also found myself very pleasantly surprised with Lollipop Chainsaw, which proved to be a learning experience in itself. In anticipation of these games, as well as select titles I am also looking forward to this year, I am planning on posting a follow up video in the somewhat near future reviewing my experience with both games as well as my pinnacle event experiences. That being said, please subscribe: here, and if you have tips or particular quarries regarding said video in advance, please do not hesitate to post them here and I will be sure to cover them!

Stay classy internet. XO

EPIC LOOT: Replica Gears Snub Pistol Obtained.

Within the span of the last few months I've been partaking in a series of what I like to call 'Photographic Adventures'. They're kinda like ghost adventures, but better. And despite being awfully tempted to describe such adventures in great detail, I dare not ruin the surprise of my senior thesis photography work (you'll have to wait a few weeks for that my pretties - yes I said that).

Two weeks ago as I arrived at my parents house in New Jersey for Spring Break I was greeted with a tangible object that brought me sheer joy. Might I remind you this 'thing' is not my boyfriend, nor, is it an item of monumental power, however such a trinket brought me endless happiness, because not only was this item a replica of one of my favorite weapons of Gears of War, but there were only 500 made. Hot damn. Headshots.

Yes, that's a Gears of War 3 replica COG Snub Pistol. And yes, that is me, doing what I do, in my mind, every night as a close my eyes and fall to rest. These images, though unrelated to my most recent photography, are both a sneak peek of what is coming up in my senior show April 28th, as well as a personal shrine to my newly adopted toy.. not mention a great excuse to run around in a field like a giddy schoolgirl.

So, I guess what I'm really saying here is that if my current state of financial distress ever comes into question, blame Project Triforce.. those bastards took all my money (my M-8 Assault Rifle hasn't arrived yet).

Oh and by the way, remember that 5k I ran on the 24th? Keep your eyes peeled on the Frag Dolls website this next week...

Shit Gamers Guys Say

I know what you're thinking, and yes, that's me, with the pink mustache.. Within the past few months, a meme known as Shit Girls Say has taken the web by storm. This has snowballed into a recent trend of Shit ___s Say videos.

This got many of us in the Frag Doll's Sisterhood thinking.. Why don't we make a video? Most of us are more than familiar with being smack talked over XBL by now - this typically by that of young pubescent boys - so we figured we'd have our fun in muse of this.

So without further adieu, Shit Gamer Guys Say:



I like to think of myself as the pink haired Doctor Zhivago. Check out the Frag Doll's Website for more videos and news regarding the sisterhood. Also, relevant to your interests if you enjoyed this video, is the website "Fat, Ugly, or Slutty", which was founded by several of the girls in my class, and plays off of the idea that according to 75% of the men encountered while gaming, if you're a gamer chick, chances are you're either fat, ugly or slutty. Some of the posts there are grade A hilarious. Definitely worth checking out for more laughs if you get a chance.

PAX Prime 2010

PAX is a convention, an experience that can only be described as indescribable. One word: amazeballs. It blows my mind to think that I worked it. It’s one thing to be surrounded by video game culture: demos of all your favorite games that haven’t even been released yet, people walking around in costumes, epic SWAG- but I think the most incredible thing about PAX has got to be the people. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was in my element: truly at home amongst other amazing women and men who all shared the same common interest and love for this industry.

As soon as I arrived in Seattle, I could feel the energy. While I was there, I had the pleasure of meeting of a few the amazing people who make up this business. Some of these people, I already had a fairly decent report with due to the marvelousness in social networking called Twitter, but meeting each one of you in person has been such a treat. If there’s anything in that I’ve learned, it is that each person, big or small, plays an important role in the community: everyone has something new, exciting, different to bring to the table, and it’s that general enthusiasm, spark, that truly brings everyone together at these events. When it all comes down to it, at the end of the day, business is business, but after attending my first PAX I can say that there is no other industry I’d rather work in.

Now, as an employee of GameStop, I consider myself fortunate enough to be able to work away while chatting about videogames for the majority of my shift: never gets old. My co-workers often catch my Star Wars references and Resident Evil 1 jokes, and like any other retail job, I don’t mind explaining how things work to a customer, recommending “a good third person shooter”, or entertaining them with my opinion as to why I think Fallout 3 was one of the best RPGs of all time. After attending PAX, it became clear to me that everywhere I turned, people ‘got me’. My nerdisms, love for internet memes, movie quotes- most of the things that people in the everyday world don’t even catch- all understood. There’s just so much awesomeness to go around, especially within the Frag Doll community. I remember a year ago when I met one of my best friends, Quinn, working at GameStop. I nearly had an aneurism- I was so excited that I had another girl to play games with! Now, here I am, part of an amazing sisterhood of women who are just like me. It really is incredible, and I feel lucky to know each and everyone of you!


As a Frag Doll Cadette, I got to demo Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Just Dance 2, and Kinect Motion Sports at the Ubisoft booth along with other PAX attendees. I also had some roam time as well, which included lots of running from booth to booth, collecting SWAG of course and playing games like Dead Space II, DUKE NUKEM FOREVER, Dragon Age II. It was a rush that I will never forget.

With my first PAX under my belt (+30 to stamina), I can promise you that this won’t be my last event. The future looks bright and I’m working hard at school this year towards some exciting internships this summer. I’m planning on attending NYCC in the upcoming few weeks as well so I’m certainly looking forward to that.

I must say though, that out of all of the things that I am particularly grateful for, I am most pleased with what this experience has done for my parent’s interest in my career. For the past 3 years, ever since I made a commitment to myself to work towards a profession that focuses primarily in entertainment and gaming, my parents have taken me everything but seriously. As a matter of fact, since my early high school years, my mother had a particular undying hatred for my love for PC games, seeing as she was so convinced that “playing video games won’t get you anywhere in life” (needless to say, I beg to differ). For the first time in my life, after years of trying to explain to my parents that this is a billion dollar industry and growing rapidly, seeing me put together my resume this summer, getting up and flying to Seattle for PAX on my own, working along the Frag Dolls -- This was the proof they needed to see to know that the conviction I have towards fulfilling my dream is real.

Though I haven’t had much time to update my blog this semester, there will be many more advances. I'm working on using my Flickr account to post all my event photos from PAX Prime and the NYCC Reach Event. So keep checking back I promise you will not be disappointed. It’s all happening right now.