PAX Prime Game Round-up!

So, I went to PAX, y'all.  I was feeling really anxious about it, because that's what you do if you're me and you're going into some new and scary experience, but it was actually really freaking awesome!  I played video games for four days solid, pretty much, and it was just as amazing as it sounds.  Some of my personal highlights:

• Competing in a Just Dance 4 tournament (although I was so, so ROBBED!  The guy next to me kept blocking my controller :( )
• Playing a ton of amazing indie games
• Playing a ton of non-indie games that I probably never would have played had I not gone to PAX
• Getting free Disney Fantasia stuff!
• Being around nerds and geeks for 4 days
• Seeing some amazing panels focused on diversity in games

I wanted to highlight some of my favorite games from the weekend.

My #1 favorite game I played was Monster Loves You.

This game is so freaking adorable, I can't even stand it!  I thought my heart would explode right in the middle of the convention, it was so cute!  You play a monster, starting from hatching out of your egg and joining the little protozoa monsters, all the way through monster adulthood.  I had to put the iPad down during adolescence because I couldn't take it another second.  My heart!  

As you go through your monster life, situations come up that require you to make a decision.  How you act forms your monster's personality through a handful of different metrics.  My monster was brave and kind and not very ferocious (except when he chose to fight off a snake to save his friends!)  

You can purchase this game on Steam at http://store.steampowered.com/app/226740/ for $9.99.  It's totally worth every penny!  

Neverending Nightmares had too long of a line for me to play the demo, but I downloaded it once I got home and it was just as amazing as I had hoped it would be!  

This is the complete opposite of Monster Loves You - it's an extremely creepy psychological horror game that is actually based off of the nightmares of the creator.  Although the demo is rough and not too long, it still had me jumping in my seat a couple of times, and I had trouble shaking the creepiness for quite awhile afterwards.  It's currently doing a Kickstarter to get the funds to finish creating it - please contribute!

One game that didn't even have a demo, but looks so zany it can't be anything but awesome is Hello Hero.  It's a Facebook and mobile game that's already quite popular in Korea, but is slated to be released soon in the US.  This caught my eye because they had a giant dancing cactus that you could get your picture taken with at their booth, as well as many other cute characters that you can play.  It's just a turn-based RPG, but it looks so adorable, that I honestly don't care that much that the gameplay might be boring.  Check out this trailer video:

Those are just a few of the amazing games that I played last weekend.  Be prepared for more game reviews to come!  Woot!

Alex Algebra is going to PAX Prime!

Hey Algebrites!

I'm pretty stoked because tomorrow, I am heading up to Seattle for PAX Prime!  I will be honest with you - I am feeling super intimidated because I'm really not as big of a nerd as most of the folks that will be there, at least in the same ways.  Obviously, y'all see my blog, I'm into cute things and free stuff, not hardcore, shoot-em-up, crazy video games.  I'm also into off-the-wall tabletop games, mostly indie stuff, like Monsterhearts and Jeepform games, not so much the dungeon-crawling typically associated with this sort of thing.

OH EM GEE!

However, there are several panels on different types of diversity in games (including several LGBTQ panels, yay!), and a giant indie games area, so I think that will all be pretty exciting.  Also, I have secret goals of seeking out all the kawaii sort of things that I can find, as well as dressing as cute as possible each day :D  I need to get my outfits together!!

Do any of you all have PAX survival tips for me?  This is my first PAX!

Hello Kitty Kawaii Town!

Long time, no talk, I know!  As you saw from one of my last posts, my organization successfully fundraised enough money to go on our tour, so I was gone for the majority of the summer.  Yay!

On the road, things get boring when you're driving from city to city, and one thing that helped me pass the time was this amazing Android game called Hello Kitty Kawaii Town.  Obviously, something with the word "kawaii" in the name is going to be right up my alley, right?  But this is, like, beyond your average kawaii.  All of the buildings look like what they sell inside (for example, the sweets shop looks like a piece of adorably kawaii cake), and all of the Sanrio characters wander around the town, talking to you.  There are also these ridiculously cute interactions between Hello Kitty and Charmy Kitty that drive the storyline piece of the game.

It is so cute, I literally want to throw up.  Literally.

Essentially, Hello Kitty and Charmy Kitty have these girl talks where they commiserate over what the town needs, and those items become the main quests of the game.  At any given time, however, there is a list of 10 or so quests to work on.  They all have to do with growing things in your garden, gaining coins from a certain activity (like gardens or shops), or building things in your town.  The rewards are generally either one kawaii ticket (kawaii tickets are premium currency in the game and can help you grow things faster or get special items), coins (the common currency for most items), or XP.  The more XP you get, the more you level up and can access better shops and plants that give more XP and coins.  The shops all regenerate coins after a certain amount of time, which varies depending on the shop.  The shops can also be leveled up, but it's generally not as good of a "deal" as just purchasing another shop of the same kind.

It's not the most exciting game I've ever played, but it's so cute that I can just sit and stare at it and happily revel in the kawaii for several minutes.  You can download the game for Android or iOS at their website, http://hellokitty-kawaiitown.com/en/.

P.S.  If you do get the game, my friend code is ekvkltfv - if you enter it in when you start, we both get ten kawaii tickets!  Woot!

FREE Month of Conscious Box and Equalize Prize Pack!!

 Hey all!

Radio silence, I know :(  BUT...the reason is...well, first of all, I've been working three jobs, but the good news is, one of them is running this amazing organization called Equalize!  We educate young music fans about issues that affect the sexual and gender minority communities and give them tools to create positive change.

The Equalizer Pledge

 I started the organization in 2009, after going to my favorite show of the year, Warped Tour (a summer-long traveling punk music festival that attracts 15-20k fans each day!) and finding that despite there being representation from about twenty different causes and organizations, none of them talked about LGBTQ folks like me!  It was obvious that I wasn't the only queer-identified person at the show; it seemed like everywhere I looked, there were same-sex couples holding hands and people wearing rainbow pyramid belts and bracelets.  After the show, I was complaining to my friend about this, and how ridiculous it was that nobody seemed to care about LGBTQ folks in my scene.  He said three words to me that changed my life: "How about you?"

I told him he was crazy, but he convinced me to start the organization anyway.  Five years later, here we are!  Equalize is not only the first organization to ever outreach specifically through the music scene about LGBTQ issues, but we are the only trans-run organization on Warped Tour!!

Get your heart on for equality!

Last summer, we went on our first major tour: one week on Warped!  It was everything we ever dreamed and more!  In the past, we had done just the Portland date of Warped, and we'd always made a small splash, but nothing like what we accomplished last year!

In just one week, we reached 1500 new Equalizers, gave hundreds of LGBTQ youth a way to connect with other people like them and to see that they are not alone, and even inspired one young person to start their own organization in their city!

A couple of our new friends!

This year, we are going on two weeks of tour!  Think about what all we will be able to accomplish with double the time on the road!  We will have the opportunity to reach literally over 100,000 fans with all of the dates we'll be going to!

However, we can't do this without strong community support and your help!  We have to raise $3500 before May 15 or we literally cannot go on tour!!  I am personally asking everyone I know to donate at least $35, if they are able, because then we only need 100 contributors and we will reach our goal in no time!

Everyone who contributes $35 gets one of our famous NO HOMO(PHOBIA) t-shirts!

Look at those shirts!  Who wouldn't want one?

For more information and to contribute, please go to http://igg.me/at/EqualizeWarped2013.

In other, related news.  We have a giveaway!!  Everyone who donates at least $10 to our campaign gets extra entries into the giveaway :)

We have been graciously donated one month of Conscious Box to give away to one lucky Equalizer!  That same lucky person will also get an Equalize Prize Pack!!

Conscious Box is an amazing service and I'm so glad they contacted me!  Equalize is an organization with high standards for whom we work with.  We believe not only in equality for people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, but people as a whole, non-human animals, and for the environment.  Conscious Box takes care of all of those worries by only sending out products that are good for you and good for the planet!

Look at all that goodness!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FREE Tea at Teavana!

If there's one thing I love, it's tea.  Specifically, I love tea from Teavana, but it's kind of expensive so I don't get to have it too often. So sad... :(

So...it's a darn good thing they have a free cup of tea special going through the end of the month, huh?!

I love pretty things and tea!

Head on over to the Teavana website to claim yours today!

Life is CRAZY!

Hello friends!

Life has been throwing me some lemons and some glitter this past month and I have been busy trying to juggle it all!  I have a ton of things planned for this blog, so don't worry y'all, I will be back ASAP!

Things to look forward to are:
* Disneyland!
* Kawaii LA
* A change in direction...more kawaii, less everything else

See you soon!

Alex

Natural Ingredient Products Skin Care Giveaway!

Oh my goodness, y'all!  It's my very first giveaway post!  I'm proud to present the Natural Ingredient Products Skin Care Giveaway!!  Please enter and show support to all the amazing bloggers taking part in this.  Thanks, friends! <3

Its an all natural Skin Care Giveaway Hosted by Oh! My Heartsie   Co-Host Brooke Blogs One Winner Will Win 1 Tube of Monkey Balm and 1 Bottle of Toe Juice Direct Shipped To Winner Event Dates: 2-6 to 2-13

Synopsis of Monkey Balm: I was asked to try Monkey Balm and so the first thing I used this product on were my heels, it is always a problem in the winter here is the desert being so dry. Monkey Balm comes in a stick like a roll up deodorant and makes it really easy to use. 

My son is using it on his hands after he laughed at the name, he does construction work and in the cold his hands and knuckles crack, so this has been a great testimonial of how well the product is working. It does work best at room temperature, because it is in a stick. Read Complete Review Here 

Three Generation Story of Eczema

Synopsis of Toe Juice: I contacted Toe Juice to try their product as my husband has diabetes and along with this disease comes bad circulation and problems with a diabetics feet. The issue we are experiencing is is fungus under toe nails. So we started using the Toe Juice and to my amazement we have seen some improvement in just a few short weeks, so we will be monitoring the product for further results.

On another note, I as a child I had eczema and we tired everything on the bottom of my feet to relieve the itching, soaks, ultra violet lights, ointments you name it. The eczema kept me awake at night and eventually I got an infection and was unable to get out of bed for 3 weeks. I wish there had been something like toe juice for me to use. 

Now, my granddaughter has eczema on her feet and I will be sending her a bottle for her to use on her to help alleviate the eczema itching on her feet. I am so glad that I found this product. Read Complete Review Here 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this giveaway post. All opinions are 100% my own. This blog complies with FTC advertising guidelines. The Secret World of Alex Algebra is not responsible for prize delivery. Delivery is made direct from the companies when confirmation of winner has been received.