It's Dead, Jim...

     Well, I figure I'll finally call it. I simply don't have the time to do all the things I want to do and keep up with a blog. I may put together a "best of Goongala's Grumbles" post (completely my opinion, of course), but other than that I think this little experiment of mine deserves some closure. It's been a good run these past four years. Perhaps in the future when I have more time and motivation I can resurrect it, but for now I'm putting down the proverbial pen. Thank you, dear reader, for sticking with it.

     It was... fun...

Taking the Blog to the Cleaners...

     After looking back at some of my posts from the last few years, one word comes to mind: BLECH. Many of the posts were inarticulate blatherings that had no real point, re-posts of something I found on another blog, or poorly written video game reviews that may have been biased or unfair. Inarticulate blatherings and re-posts aside, I had envisioned Goongala's Grumbles as a video game review blog when it first began. However, I quickly realized that my reviews had no real structure, and many of the points were far too heavily opinionated. A good review should be objective, and that was something I didn't quite grasp at the time.

     Therefore, I've gone back through and "cleaned house". A few of the more recent video game reviews are still available to read, but most of the earlier ones are gone (either gone for good or at least until I can go back and re-evaluate them). What I want this blog to be is a place of educational topic discussion with a side of comedy. While I may not have certified credentials, I feel the need to try to help others understand my train of thought, a train fueled by logic and common sense, and to entertain them while doing so. I want the information written here to be "ammunition" for people to use in the battle on ignorance. But more than that, I want people to do something that not many people do these days: I want them to THINK.

2013: The Year In Review

     As a year comes to a close, I like to look back over the year and reflect on what happened. In years past, I would have struggled to remember what I was doing in February, but now I can simply bring up my blog archive and see what I was doing then. It makes reflecting easy... or at least easier.

Happy Single's Awareness Day!

     Seriously, keep the mushiness to a minimum or get a room; it's that simple. As for me, I'm gonna spend the rest of the day sleeping, playing video games, and watching anime. In other words, alone, because my roommates will probably be spending the evening with their "special someones". That's alright though... THESE GAMES AIN'T GONNA' PLAY THEMSELVES!

What is this... Violence and Video Games?

     Violence? Video games? Surely those two aren't connected... are they? Short answer: NO. Long answer: maybe. Allow me to explain...

     To start off, we're going to derail the train before it even gets out of the station. What a great way to start, right? Before we get to the problem everyone blames, we need to look at the problems everyone tends to forget...

What are these... Resolutions?

     So! It's the beginning of the year again, and you know what that means... "I will get in shape and go outside for long walks and-" WHOA THERE! I try to make reasonable resolutions. I'm in shape... round is a shape. And going outside? HA! Do you know how pasty white I am? The sun would roast me alive!

     Instead, my resolutions will be mostly simple. Hopefully I don't fail like last year...

Reflections of 2012... I AM DISAPPOINT.

     So, the year has past, and as I sit here behind my computer, I find myself depressed. To be honest, 2012 wasn't all that great a year for me. Sure, there were good things, but they were constantly overshadowed by the bad. Here's what I mean...

A Goon's Day at the Fair...

     Forgive me, blog, for I have neglected you for far too long. I have not been idle, however. These past few weeks have been wonderful and full of many great things. For one, I've been... sewing. Ugh, that sounds so... unmanly. How about, clothsmithing? Yeah, that's good. Why have I been clothsmithing? For the Renaissance Fair of course!

Yep, that's me. Not what you expected? Yeah, me neither...

     Several friends and I decided to make a day trip to the North Carolina Renaissance Fair this past weekend, and what a trip it was. "Show us the highlight reel!" Oh, okay... but you know there are good and bad highlights, right? (This is a "Life" post, and, while I'll try to make it as funny as possible, it may not happen.)

Sweet Cuppin' Cakes! An Award!

     I don't often get comments on my blog, so when I do I sort of flip out. "What!? Someone reads this stuff?!? Who are they and who do they work for? IS IT THE FEDS?" Paranoia sets in and I try to figure out who they are. Most of the time, it's someone I know personally. Sometimes though... it's someone I've never heard of before...

A giant award! Maybe it's friendly!

The Garden of Your Mind...

     Time for something a little bit different, something serious. E3 took up a lot of time and was back to back for several days straight, so it kind of burnt me out. I figured I'd take a break for a few days... then I found this. As weird as this sounds, it's been on my mind a lot lately (and not just because I've been listening to it on repeat, non-stop). I would hope that everyone seen this already, but if you haven't take a look:

     First off, on a less serious note, I would hope that this video will educate the younger masses as to what a cassette player is. I feel so old when people tell me stories of handing kids a VHS tape or a floppy disk and they say, "What's this?" Ah, those were much simpler times...
     Now for the serious. I will warn you that this is probably going to be boring ruminations, but I felt the need to write this out and I wanted to post something to the blog. So, without further ado...

Amnesia Custom Story: "Real Life"

     Over the past few Sundays I've been inviting friends over for a session of "Sunday Afternoon Amnesia". A few of them were interested in the game, but not brave crazy enough to actually play it themselves. That's where I come in. In a fit of bad judgment, I bought the game and decided I wanted to play it (should have probably been the other way around). My friends became engrossed with the story... so much so that they decided to play a little prank on me... (Unfortunately, they didn't take pictures, and to keep this blog post from being a wall of text, these standard issue Amnesia pictures will have to suffice.)

Oh boy, this just got real... Literally...

The Life of a Goongala...

   Goongala's? Grumbles? What is this that I have stumbled upon whilst surfing the web? This, my friend, is blog about nothing... and everything. Right now it is but a newborn, but great things are to become of it when it grows. But what of this title you ask? Goongala's Grumbles. Well, I am known as Goongala, and this blog shall be where I ramble off about various video games I've played, movies I've seen, crazy dreams I've had, stories I've written, and so on and so forth. Although the title says, "Grumbles", I will more than likely not be grumbling. I have a generally happy outlook on life, and more often than not I'm an optimist. I write for the fun of it, and for the joy it may bring any readers who stumble across this, my very own blog. My imagination is vast, and so there are many stories to tell, many things to write about. But the hour is late, and I must say farewell until tomorrow. I end with a question: will this blog be awesome? Well, I shall do my best, but after all is said and done that is an answer for you to decide.