Tag: cashmoney

Final Fantasy really is going downhill, fast

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Earlier in the week, I was reading this article about the supposed slow dying of the Final Fantasy franchise, and it made me think about my own fandom in the series as I was growing up.  For the most part, I agree that the franchise as a whole is a shell of its former self, and I’m not going to pretend like I was nearly a vested fan to care so much about the writers, producers, directors, or whatever positions people held that made the old games great that when they left or moved on, yeah I guess I should have been concerned about the direction of the future games, but I didn’t.

If I were asked to pinpoint the precise spot where the series began its gradual turn downhill, I would say it was from the moment that Final Fantasy X-2 was conceived.  It was at this point did the series break a two-decade old tradition of never making a direct sequel to any one particular game, despite the potential that any one of them may have had.  Not only did FFX2 break the tradition, it ended up being a pretty shitty game by all popularly reviewed standards.  This commenter seems to have nailed how I thought about it:

But FFX-2 was where it became clear to me that Final Fantasy was dead. It was an insipid, grindy package of fan-service that not only insulted fans of the classic Final Fantasy games, but also fans of the original FFX, completely undercutting the original story by bastardizing its own characters and ruining the (ostensibly) tragic sacrifice of Tidus at the end of FFX. That’s when I really woke up and realized that the series I had fallen in love with was gone, turned into a shambling, undead mockery of itself.

Continue reading “Final Fantasy really is going downhill, fast” →

At least say “please”

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the course of the last few days, I’ve had an inordinate number of deadbeats asking me for handouts.  Each of the last few times I’ve went to get gas, there has been someone who comes up to me, doesn’t say “excuse me” or “pardon me,” or any other polite greeting one might consider to a complete stranger, and just straight up asks me for money.

And it’s not like “hey man got any change” or asking for loose currency that could be considered negligible to me, but could turn into something substantial for them.  These guys have been straight up asking “got a few bucks I can have?”  A few bucks?  Why the fuck would I want to give a complete stranger a few bucks, when I could probably make better use of a few bucks?  A few bucks easily gets me Taco Bell because I fucking love Taco Bell, and I sure as shit ain’t going to forfeit Taco Bell for some beggar.  Or a few bucks goes into the collection of some other few bucks, and turns into many bucks that I could use on something for me, or my needs, because it’s money that I’ve earned.

Continue reading “At least say “please”” →

The perils of hesitation

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

In this photograph are 243 empty tall cups of Starbucks coffee.  This has accumulated in about roughly a year’s worth of weekdays in which I went to work and had a coffee in the morning.  This excludes any day in which I redeemed my frequent-buyer free drinks, in which I’d get the venti-sized of something way more expensive and potent than a single tall cup of drip coffee.

But the point is, 243 cups of coffee equates to roughly $432.54, and this is over the span of a year, give or take a month.

Recently, Starbucks released a limited edition steel Starbucks card, complete with laser etched artwork.  It cost $450 to get one, which sounds worse than it is, because it comes pre-loaded with $400, which means that you’re essentially paying $50 for a steel card.  I don’t often know what I ever want, but I felt a very strong compulsion to getting one of these steel cards.

Continue reading “The perils of hesitation” →

Okay, it wasn’t really ruined

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Despite my proclamation that Black Friday was ruined, in the end, it didn’t turn out so bad for me in spite of my judgmental claims. I started shopping on the afternoon of Thanksgiving, and while the food was cooking, I made a few purchases, and felt pleased with myself for tackling things that I wanted, at good prices, and eliminating the need to wake up at 3:30 in the morning the following day.

All in all, I have to boast the things I managed to procure without even having to leave my house:

  • 23″ monitor
  • Canon point-and-shoot camera
  • 32GB SD card
  • Three sweaters
  • One pair of jeans

I stayed up until almost 3 am, after all my company had left, and perused through the varying sales that were already in full swing or were just beginning since it had turned midnight on PST. I didn’t buy anything else for myself, but I was so drunk with online shopping, that I helped acquire other things that they were looking for.

Continue reading “Okay, it wasn’t really ruined” →

Black Friday has been ruined this year

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’m one of those weirdoes that in spite of whatever I may say, occasionally indulge in the insanity known as Black Friday.  Throughout the year, the closer it gets to November and Thanksgiving, I assess things that I either need, want, or both.  Over the last few years, in participating in Black Friday deal-seeking, I have come out with a variety of items, such as an Xbox, a Shop-Vac for my garage, and the stereo system in my bedroom, among various other things.

Whenever I succeed at getting the rare items and the things that I want, I am filled with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, victory and smugness.  In the instances that I have failed to get the things that I want, I am upset, disappointed, and swear to never participate in Black Fridays ever again.  But typically, I do.

This year is kind of different, though.  I don’t have a very extensive list of things that I think I want or need; sure there are a few things, but nothing extravagant really, and nothing that seems to be an insanity doorbuster by any means.  I have my televisions, I have an Xbox, I have my gadgets; among the things that usually cause people to trample each other or shoot each other in parking lots, I’ve already got.

Continue reading “Black Friday has been ruined this year” →

Admittedely puzzled

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

For the second time in my life, a credit card number of mine was stolen, and someone tried to make purchases with it.

The first time my credit card number was stolen, I could feasibly trace it back to a Vegas trip where the card machines “were down” at the car rental place, and someone took a carbon copy of my card number, and coincidentally, a spending spree occurred.  Although the fraud was discovered when the motherfucker tried to buy a Piss3 off of GameStop’s website, they still managed to get about $150 worth of hearing aid supplies.  Hearing aid supplies.  Of all the things someone would want with a stolen credit card number, they go and buy some hearing aid supplies.  Still can’t figure that one out.

But anyway, the number that was recently hijacked, I have no idea to how it happened.  I’m generally paranoid about my credit card activity, to the point where I won’t do any sort of shopping while connected to unfamiliar networks.  Off the top of my head, I suspect when I used my credit card in a Mexican ATM, because clearly everything international is shady as fuck, or back in September when my card was never returned to me at the Pub during Dragon*Con, and I was without my card for about four days.  Either way, an attempt was made to use my credit card number, and here’s where I’m quite befuddled.

Continue reading “Admittedely puzzled” →

Why do so many black people only pay in cash?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I know, it’s not February or Black History Month, but I still feel compelled to ask this question while it’s fresh in my mind. But honestly, genuinely, I really am curious to why so many black people are insistent on always paying for things in cash?

It doesn’t matter if I’m at Target, a clothing store, supermarket, or even at the Comcast service center I’ve been to more times than I should have, when it comes to most all of the black people I see paying for food, gas, clothing or bills, they’re doing so in cash. Especially the bills, but I may or may not get back to that, depending on my train of thought.

The first few times I saw the referenced YouTube clip, I couldn’t help but think that the commercial was presumptuous and pretty prejudice towards people who pay in cash, not to mention downright snobby. A deli-like food establishment isn’t exactly the best example to show the drawbacks of cash, and they certainly exaggerate the time it takes for a cash transaction to occur, not to mention not a single check card user seems to want a receipt for their transaction like people like me always want. But the message is fairly simple, which is that using a check/credit card is more expedient and/or convenient than paying in cash.

Continue reading “Why do so many black people only pay in cash?” →