Behind the Mask :: Sub_Rosa’s Journal

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My “name” is Sub_Rosa, and I’m 24 years old. Or I will be at the end of this month. By all means, call me “Sub”. I don’t answer to “Rosa”... or “Mud” or “Late For Dinner” for that matter. XD

The inspiration for my username comes from two sources: a song, and a book. ‘Sub rosa’ is Latin for “beneath the rose”. From what I have learned about it, at one point ‘sub rosa’ was a phrase used to express that anything said “beneath the rose” would remain confidential... and there was generally a rose carved or painted upon either the archway of a door or in the ceiling of a given room. My inspirations for using this as my username comes from The Da Vinci Code as I greatly enjoyed reading Dan Brown’s work of fiction (sorry, had to emphasize, lol) as well as Within Temptation’s song The Truth Beneath The Rose. Seriously, if you’ve never read the book or heard the song, and like mysteries and a wide variety of music, I recommend them!

I live in New York State – not the City – and have a slight southern accent that comes from having lived in North Carolina for 6 years. I am also a firm believer in the possibility that my house may be “haunted”. I tend to keep an open mind as much as possible.


I’ve fairly-recently passed exams for Microsoft Office Specialist in both Word 2003 and Excel 2003...


And I’ve graduated from “High School”... long story.

I have intentions to go to college, but haven’t gotten there yet. I want to get into pharmaceuticals, and perhaps take up some sort of professional writing on the side. We’ll see how that all turns out...


If it isn’t already apparent, I am a fan of Alice Cooper. Been so for three years and have been to a grand total of 3 concerts, though with the help of DVDs I’ve seen nearly 10 altogether. Eagerly awaiting the next album set to come out sometime next year! Music is my life – I listen for enjoyment and self-expression, though lately it’s been almost solely songs by Alice Cooper that keep me going and summarize my day.

For anyone that’s curious, I’ve been role-playing for at least four years. At most I would say six. I forget precisely when I was introduced to forum role-plays, and how I had stumbled upon it. I can say that it was largely by accident, and have been hooked on it ever since. Genres I play or have played in the past include: Dragonball Z, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as a few “home brew” varieties set in medieval or feudal eras, as well as a superheroes-themed rpg (I role-play both sides of the moral fence).


Things You Will Be Most Likely To Find In My Journal
+ Writing blurbs in the way of the occasional random musing or some other odd little thing
+ Plots-in-the-making
+ Song Lyrics, both official and parodied by yours truly
+ Things I’ve written down to remember
+ Lists
+ Pictures
+ Links to Music (please lemme know if a link is broken!)
+ and anything else I’d like to share!


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Favorite Colors: Black, Hunter Green, Red, Navy Blue

Favorite Foods: Sushi, olives, eel, and anything incredibly spicy. I enjoy the experience of preparing and trying new foods or combination of foods.

Favorite Numbers: 1, 8, 18, 29

Favorite Song: it varies by the day... you’re better off keeping track of my Song of the Day instead of trying to keep track in here. xD By default, though, School’s Out and Vengeance is Mine are my favorites. Yes, both are by Alice Cooper.

Favorite Artists: Alice Cooper; Nickelback; Linkin Park; Within Temptation; Nightwish; Evanescence; We Are The Fallen; Dark Tranquility; Rammstein; Motorhead; Rob Zombie; Joan Jett; Pat Benatar; Amy Lee; Tarja Turunen; Avenged Sevenfold; Disturbed; Drowning Pool; Godsmack; and movie score composers: John Williams, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmerman.

Favorite Holidays: Halloween, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve

Favorite Games: Rock Band; The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind; Fallout 3; Silent Hill: Shattered Memories; Ravenhearst and Return to Ravenhearst (seek and find with brain-teasing puzzles)

Favorite Movies: Beetlejuice, Secret Window, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Mummy, The Rundown, Men In Black, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, The Medallion, Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton film), The Nightmare Before Christmas, Gremlins, Pirates of the Caribbean, Karate Kid (all in series), The Next Karate Kid, Home Alone, Brutally Live (Alice Cooper concert on DVD).

Favorite Actors: Michael Keaton, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Dwayne Johnson, Pat Morita, Jackie Chan, Alan Rickman, Viggo Mortensen, Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Keanu Reeves, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Graham Green, Sean Connery, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, Leonard Nimoy, Andy Serkis, Robin Williams, Brian Kraus, Billy Drago, Oded Fehr.

Favorite Actresses: Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci, Liv Tyler, Angelina Jolie, Helena Bonham Carter, Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan, Shannen Doherty, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weiss, Whoopi Goldberg... and I’m positive there’s more but I can’t remember their names. XD

Favorite Proverb: “Ask a question and you’re a fool for three minutes; don’t ask a question and you’re a fool for the rest of your life.”

Favorite Movie Quote: hmm... again too many to list. If I had to pick one, I’d go with...
“Why’s the rum gone?” Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Pirates of the Caribbean

Or...

“If I may lend a machete to your intellectual thicket...” again by Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp); Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End


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September 17, 2010

If there’s one thing I can say about playing games – and this can be applied to learning things or anything else that requires you to memorize a given process – is that if you don’t use it, you lose it. Seriously: one ends up being about as lost as a zombie in a convenience store on Valentine’s Day – all those hearts floating around and not one of them look very edible, and the place is completely devoid of your favorite brains from the Chop Shop or even those fascinating gelatin brain molds...

Forgive me – I’m in major Halloween mode come mid-September.

Anyway, about the loss of gaming ability, I found this out sometime last week. Two weeks into a rather uncertainly-certain breakup I decided to once again take up rocking out on a game we used to play as a team: Rock Band. I was once great going solo, shredding the game track mostly on Hard but with a few of the trickier songs on Medium. Not much of an accomplishment to those able to play on Expert, or able to play for real – kudos to you if you’re one of them, but I claim my current bragging rights on that wrung on the Awesomeness Ladder.

Upon missing at the very least two weeks of practice time (writing and online life/friends have a higher priority) I found that I completely sucked! The total wipe-out on one of my favorite songs utterly stunned me. I had been great at it! I can say the same thing about a lot of songs on the piano I had once learned, and still have yet to re-master. Good thing there isn’t a Piano Hero out yet.

Today, that has changed. After a steady stream of practicing and going so far as to take my top 5 favorite songs from a lumbering 50% slowly up to full speed (I refuse to be satisfied with a practice scoring of anything below 95, and 98s and 99s receive a free mulligan whether I’m sick of the song yet or not) I finally achieved a goal that has taken me nearly a year to complete.........




Vengeance, er, I mean Victory is mine... mine... mine!

Perhaps I’ve been listening to that song just a tad too much lately...

...

......Nah!

There’s no real purpose for this little anecdote, but if you all would like a conclusion to it... make sure you stock up on edible brains before winter gets here, or you’ll be out of luck when it comes time to make that little ‘gruesome twosome’* extra special with your undead sweetheart on Valentine’s Day...

I’ll likely be spending mine with my guitar controller and rocking out to Under My Wheels... which will hopefully be “under my belt” instead, as I don’t know how to drive yet.


Happy Very-Early Halloween, everybody!



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* [Gruesome Twosome: the name of the Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie tour in 2009.]


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And now, for your hopefully-furthered entertainment, some “Points To Ponder” ...

I didn’t come up with these on my own – just some funny stuff I had in an email I wanted to share.


1. One tequila, two tequila, three tequila... floor

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2. I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, “Where’s the self-help section?”

... She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

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3. Is there another word for synonym?

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4. What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?

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5. If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

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6. Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

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7. If a turtle doesn’t have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

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8. If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

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9. What was the best thing before sliced bread?

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10. Does the Little Mermaid wear an ‘algebra’?

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11. How is it possible to have a civil war?

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12. If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest drown, too?

(lol, morbid, I know. Sorry.)

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13. If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?

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14. If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

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15. Why are hemorrhoids called “hemorrhoids” instead of “@$$teroids”?

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16. Why is it called tourist season if we can’t shoot at them?

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17. Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?

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18. The reason why Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live...

(I know... that one was bad...)