Gaming, Virtual Reality & Hacking in Warcross

[Image is a book cover. The font is rainbow in color. Marie Lu is at the top in blocky font. The book's title War Cross is towards the middle in this rainbow rubic's cube. At the bottom it says "Player, Hunter, Hacker, Pawn"]

I discover new books mostly from other book bloggers. They give me first-hand knowledge about new books to read that peak my interest. I have been reading Super Space Chick’s blog ever since Kristin appeared on Syfy’s Fangasm TV series. Her blog gives me book inspiration and whenever she posts a review, I always read it. This book sounded good and even though I never read a book by Marie Lu, I knew she had written other successful series. Warcross was everything I wanted it to be and more. It featured a fantastic female heroine, diversity among the characters, and a shocking twist I hadn’t seen coming. I will keep this review spoiler-free because I want everyone to know this book exists.

Warcross is a successful virtual reality game almost every gamer plays around the world. Emika Chen is one female gamer who plays Warcross in between her work as a bounty hunter in NYC. During the Warcross Championships, Emika accidentally hacks into the gameplay. Instead of being arrested, she’s flown to Tokyo to meet Hideo Tanaka, the designer, and creator of Warcross. He offers Emika a job for a bounty on a mysterious hacker named “Zero” who is interfering with the championships. Emika must use her skills as a hacker and as a gamer to identify Zero and prevent major consequences for the Warcross empire.

Emika Chen is probably one of my favorite female characters in a book. Without giving spoilers, she’s someone who won’t sacrifice her values for the sake of someone else.  A lot of female characters will abandon a part of themselves for someone they care about, and Emika doesn’t do that. She has rainbow-colored hair and a sleeve of tattoos which makes her appearance unique.

The ending though, holy shit. I read the last 20 pages and I thought I knew how this book would end, but I was wrong. I like not being able to predict how a book will end.

One criticism I have been seeing with this book is that it’s too similar to Ready Player One. My counter-argument is Ready Player One takes place in a dystopian society? I don’t know for sure, I haven’t read the book. Warcross takes place in a future society still in the U.S. and I wouldn’t put it in the category of being a “dystopian novel”.

I wanted to end my review with a quote from Marie Lu which can be found in the acknowledgments section of Warcross: To all the Gamer Girls out there, you inspired this.

Juggling Gaming & Adulting

I discovered a new gaming blog I’m reading titled The Dragon’s Tea Party which combines gaming and drinking tea. There was one post I read titled Adulting and Gaming My Struggle to Do Both. This post just stuck with me because this describes my life at this exact moment. This post details their struggle with getting in the time to game when their time is taken up by exercise, cooking dinner, driving home from work, and fitting in eight hours of sleep. In the back of my mind, I thought about how rewarding it would be to finally get past this part in the Last of Us I’m stuck on. I look at my PS4 on the shelf and feel so guilty for not playing it more often.

Another part about playing video games is I feel guilty for spending the time to play video games. I could have been doing laundry or meal prepping for the week instead I chose to play a virtual game. However, every time I sit down and play a level in Lego Marvel Superheroes, I feel less anxious overall. Nothing is better than beating up supervillains with a Lego Hulk am I right?

Luckily, I have been able to play more video games recently. I just carve out the time to do so. During the week, I often limit my time to play video games to an hour. If I have too much screen time before going to bed, I won’t be able to sleep. One hour is the perfect amount of time to get past a level or at least earn an achievement or two. On the weekends I’m less strict because I have more time, still I will set a timer that goes off every two hours.

I need to stop feeling guilty about not being able to game one day. I also don’t want to be hard on myself by saying “Why am I gaming when I could be doing other things”. Gaming is like any other hobby and I don’t get why there’s this stigma about gaming and being lazy. The Last of Us will be completed eventually along with the Uncharted trilogy. Since I just got a PS4, let me know of other video game recommendations in the comments. Also, check out The Dragon’s Tea Party, it’s my new favorite gaming blog.

Gaming Walkthroughs: Yay or Nay

This idea popped into my head after I realized I had been using a walk-through while playing Sexy Brutale on my PS4. I had been trying really hard not to use a walk-through because this is a puzzle game it’s meant to challenge me. I eventually couldn’t figure out where I was stuck which lead me to pull up a video on Youtube to get me through this part of the game. It got me thinking, is this considered cheating? Can I actually take credit for finishing the game myself? I did use the controller to play through the part myself, but I didn’t actually figure everything out on my own. I’m curious to know what people think about this topic.

Usually, I will use a walk-through video or article for multiple reasons:

#1. I hate the game, the walk-through gets me through it.

If I genuinely dislike a game, I can’t leave it unfinished. It bothers me to such an extreme that I can’t play any other game unless I finish the game. I use a walk-through because I don’t want to get stuck, I just want to play through it and finish the game as quickly as possible.

#2 Collectibles

I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to look for every single collectible in a game. I use a walk-through to find all the collectibles and unlock the trophy or achievement I have been looking for.

#3 I’m stuck.

The third and final reason I use game walk-throughs is if I’m stuck. Sexy Brutale is a game I’m enjoying, but on one level I was walking around aimlessly trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing. After watching a video of where to go, I was able to move on to the next level.

Anyway, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on whether a walk-through is considered cheating, or if you use walk-throughs all the time and it’s no big deal.

Calamity Book Review

[Image is a book cover. The book cover is purple and red. Through the tear of the cover it says "Calamity". Brandon Sanderson's name is at the top and at the bottom it says "The Reckoners Book Three"]

Finishing a trilogy is always bittersweet. You get sucked into this world while getting to know every character. The Steelheart trilogy is still one of my all-time favorite book series I have read to date. I was super excited to read this book because I wanted to know how this series would end. Would David and Megan end up together? Would David be able to save Prof while unlocking the answers to Epics? Unfortunately, I felt I was left with more questions than answers and I expected the book to conclude everything with a neat bow, but I was wrong. I will try and keep my review spoiler free, but there will be spoilers for the other books in the series. It’s best to avoid this review if you plan on reading this trilogy, which you should.

Briefly recapping the Steelheart trilogy; this version of the United States is home to beings titled Epics. Epics have superpowers that they received when a red star in the sky arose called Calamity. These Epics are almost always evil and David Charleston has made it his mission to end them and restore humanity to what it was before Calamity rose into the sky. David teams up with the old team (Abraham, Cody, Megan, and Mizzy) to invade Knighthawk, an intelligent inventor who once knew Prof before he turned into his evil epic form. This plan goes to shit when David and his team are caught by Knighthawk. Ultimately, he invites them into his bunker and tells stories of his time knowing Prof.

Based on intel provided by Knighthawk, David & the Reckoner’s head to Idithia otherwise known as Atlanta. I will say out of all the places the team could end up, this was my least favorite world. It was a world made of salt which is bland considering the other places Brandon Sanderson envisioned in the previous novels.

David and Prof do go into a big fight at the end of the book which is a little too long. The plot twist behind “Calamity” surprised me, but still left me confused. I’m left with many more questions about why Calamity exists and where this “star” came from. I wish I would have more answers instead of coming up with my own theory.

There is a touching scene with David on the very last page of the book that was rather heartwarming. I am not going into detail on what happened because I do want to keep this mostly spoiler free. I did write a very detailed review on my Goodreads page, so check that out if you want more spoilers.


Overall, I liked the book, but I felt let down. I think this book had a slower pace than the other books in the series. I’m not going to let my opinion of this book ruin how I feel about the series as a whole. As much as I’m going to miss the world in Steelheart, I’m looking forward to decreasing my book pile in my bedroom. There’s so much to read and so little time to do so.

Become an Octopus in Octodad

[Image is a promotional poster for the video game Octodad. In it, it shows a yellow Octopus holding his daughter. His wife is leaning into his side and the son is on his other side. At the bottom it says "OctoDad Deadliest Catch"]

I’m devoting much of my gaming to my PS4 at the moment, but every once in a while, the boyfriend recommends a coop game he thinks we should play. I wish there were more split-screen coop games for me and the boyfriend to enjoy, but they are rather limited. He suggested playing Octodad, a game all about being an octopus and managing typical father duties like grocery shopping and taking the kids to the aquarium. Overall, I found this game enjoyable, but I did have a couple issues with the game itself.

When mentioning Octodad, I find it’s important to bring up the origin story behind creating a game with an Octopus as a dad. Young Horses Inc was a company founded by university students attending college in Chicago. They created their original game in 2011 and it was a huge success. Young Horses Inc. launched a Kickstarter to create a new Octodad game that was much more polished which is the game I officially played on my Xbox.

Moving around is actually more of a challenge with the game because his limbs are so floppy. Me and the boyfriend took turns being the arms and the legs so now you’re coordinating with someone else on how to move Octodad. Don’t even ask me how we got Octodad up the escalator, it took some time.

The game is pretty short with only a couple levels. You could definitely beat this in one day if you took a couple hours to play through it. One part of the game I actually disliked was the view. While on the aquarium level, I had my limb wrapped around a ladder and I was physically stuck. I couldn’t get Octodad untangled. I wish I could have rotated the view so I could see how his limb was stuck so I could have gotten untangled quicker.

Ultimately, this game is a fun, laid-back game about an Octopus doing dad stuff. The game is out on Steam for PC & Mac, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, iOS, Google Play, and NVIDIA Shield.

Athena, my beautiful kitty

Ever since moving into my own apartment in August of 2017, I had bugged my boyfriend about adopting a kitty. I missed having an animal around since both of my kitties I had growing up passed away a year and a half ago. The boyfriend assured me would start “shopping” for a kitty after Christmas since he had to travel to Milwaukee for the holiday. Compatibility was important for us, we wouldn’t adopt a kitty we didn’t believe would be a good fit for us. On December 27th we visited Feline Rescue Inc. which is a volunteer-run no-kill shelter specifically for cats. There were multiple rooms with kitties wandering around freely while other kitties were sitting in their assigned cages. Athena was in a cage and actually wasn’t able to be adopted right when we fell in love with her. She needed a vet check-up first and if all went well, we could adopt her. Athena was loving right away because we would hold our fingers to her cage and she would purr as she rubbed her head against them. We stopped back into the shelter again on Sunday, December 31st to see if she was available and she was! We filled out her adoption paperwork then and picked her up on Wednesday, January 3rd! I’m going to share all the cute pictures I took of her.

[Image is a brown, gray, and black tabby cat sitting in a cat bed. She's clearly in a gated carrier. She's looking up at the camera.]
Athena our new kitty!

The above picture is the first picture I took of her. She was still at Feline Rescue Inc at this point in time. She’s a gorgeous tabby kitty. This is my first time owning a grey tabby; my two other kitties were a calico and an orange kitty.

[Image shows Athena, the tabby kitty. She's sitting under an end table and both her paws are extended forward. She looks mischieveous]

Her favorite hiding spots so far are underneath the end table, laying on the floor of my closet onto my suitcase, and in the closet with all of our bath towels.

[Image is of Athena sleeping in between the couch and several blankets]

Athena is a pretty needy kitty. She usually greets me when I’m home from work looking for pets. She woke me and the boyfriend up at 4 AM with meows for her breakfast and wet cat food. She is currently sitting next to me as I type this sentence. She’s a lap kitty for sure.

[Image is of me and my boyfriend. Athena is sitting between us. She's half-asleep as her eyes are barely open]

I am so happy to have a kitty around. She is comforting when I come home from a long day at work, she brings some energy to the apartment and she’s a stress release for me. If you’re thinking about adopting an animal, try to adopt and not shop. I feel this is easier to do with cats than dogs, but so many animals are looking for a good home. I am so glad I opened our door to Athena.

Firefight Book Review

[Image is a book cover. It's bright orange and yellow. It looks like there's a tear in the cover. In the tear, it shows "Firefight" with Brandon Sanderson's name towards the top of the book. At the bottom it says "The Reckoners Book Two"]

Firefight is a rarity in trilogies in the sense that it was better than the first novel Steelheart. The best way I can describe the Steelheart series is if the X-Men existed, but everyone with mutant powers is evil. Steelheart tells the story of David’s revenge on Steelheart while Firefight reveals more about where Epics came from and why they exist.

Firefight takes place immediately after the events of the first book. David Charleston is lost, he spent his entire life preparing for Steelheart’s demise, but when it actually occurs, he doesn’t know what to do now. In the meantime, the Reckoners have been hunting Epics coming to Newcago. Prof has his suspicions that these epics are being sent to kill the team since all of the epics originated from Babylon Restored (formerly known as Manhatten). Prof, David, and Tia go to Babylon to team up with another Reckoner’s cell to fight a common enemy, Regalia who has ultimate power over the seas. Will David be able to stop her from destroying the city?

New characters are introduced to help David battle Regalia. There’s Excel, a former mortician. Val who’s edgy and mysterious and Missouri who’s fun and upbeat. Missouri is my favorite character introduced because she reminds me of me. I’m usually a pretty positive person no matter what the circumstance is and so is she. 

Babylon Restored is such an intricate and beautiful city compared to Newcago. Most of the former NYC is underwater with the buildings being spray painted in luminous colors. The citizen’s party into the hours of the night because they don’t know if Regalia will kill them now or later. The atmosphere is very different from Newcago, but I like it way more.


I like Megan and David’s relationship and how it evolved from the first book. Their relationship is much more complicated in this book and I don’t want to say why because that would be a huge spoiler. 

Regalia’s final plan was not what I was expecting. I don’t want to detail the plan, but I promise all readers will be surprised. Also, there’s a secret about Regalia and who she actually is. 

This book gave me the feels and I can’t wait to read Calamity.

Life is Strange Before the Storm Epi. #3 Review

If you have been following my gaming section on my blog, I have been writing reviews for Life is Strange: Before the Storm episode #1 and episode #2. This three-part prequel made the third episode available for download in December. Once I finished downloading it, I played the entire episode. Episodes #1 & #2 are rather slow-moving, but Episode #3 is easily the best episode of the series. The final decision you have to make at the end of the game is one of those “Oh no what do I choose” type of choices. This gaming review like all the others is going to be filled with spoilers.

[Image is of two women. The first is Chloe. She's wearing a black graphic t-shirt. The woman on the right is Rachel. She's wearing a plaid shirt with a red tank top underneath. In one ear, she has a blue feather earring]

Final Warning *Spoilers Down Below*

Episode #3 begins in Rachel’s house after James Amber (Rachel’s Father) tells her the woman he was kissing is her actual birth mother, Sera. Sera has been battling addiction for many years often putting Rachel in danger. Rachel’s father took Rachel away from Sera and is sending money to Sera every month to keep her away from Arcadia Bay. Rachel is beyond devastated having retreated to her room to be alone.

Chloe after cheering up Rachel devises a plan to use Frank to figure out where Sera is because ultimately, Rachel wants to meet Sera. This meeting goes downhill quickly as Rachel is stabbed in the arm by Damon Merrick a known associate of Frank. Chloe visits Rachel in the hospital and requests she goes into her father’s study and searches for any leads to her mother.

This is where things get interesting. As Chloe is searching for James’s study, she finds a secret phone. This secret phone belongs to Damon Merrick, the guy who stabbed Rachel. Damon has been hired by James Amber to locate Sera and kill her so she won’t interfere with Rachel’s life anymore. What the fuck!? I understand wanting to keep Rachel safe, but James is the district attorney for Arcadia Bay. He can’t just hire people to do his dirty work and not expect to get caught.

Chloe drives to where Damon is holding Sera. A struggle ensues and Chloe wakes up with Sera being freed and smoking a cigarette. Sera attempts to convince Chloe to never tell Rachel about all of this. Sera recognizing James’s threat to stay away, wants Rachel to have a normal life with plenty of opportunities she could never provide for her.

This is the “what do I do” moment. Chloe goes to visit Rachel in the hospital again where Rachel asks if Chloe found anything from her father’s study. You have two options: You can either tell Rachel about how cruel her father is or you can lie and say you found nothing about Sera. I chose the latter option. Obviously James Amber is shady and probably has done other illegal things, but I know that he wanted to protect Rachel. It didn’t make his actions right, but I also wanted to make sure to respect Sera. The other scene that hit me hard was when it shows Rachel’s phone on a table with Chloe calling her and the camera flashes in the background. If you played Life is Strange, you would understand how chilling this scene is.

To wrap up, Episode #3 is my favorite episode. This episode featured decisions that I had to contemplate whereas Episodes #1 & #2 had more fluffy choices which didn’t make all that much difference in the story. Please go play Life is Strange if you haven’t already, it’s my favorite game I played in 2017.

New Kitty, Trips + more! Welcome 2018

Happy New Year! I decided this year I wasn’t going to make a resolutions post like I have written in the past. I feel 2018 will be a great year because of how happy I am with my life right now. I’m lucky to have a job in the field I went to college for, I live in an area I enjoy and I’m grateful for the healthy relationships I have with my family, my boyfriend, and my friends. I have a couple exciting trips/news for this year already and I’m just giddy about what the future holds for me. I wanted to jump in and talk about what I’m excited for:

New Cat

[Image is a brown. black, and gray tabby cat. The cat is looking at the camera. Her paw is outstretched and she's sitting in a bed. It's clear the kitty is in a cage of sorts]
Athena our new kitty!

This isn’t “official” yet. We have filled out the paperwork and now we are waiting for the adoption center to call our apartment building. Ever since moving out, I have been bothering my boyfriend about a cat for our place. Cats are low-maintenance and are loving creatures. Our kitty is named Athena and she’s a 5-year-old female tabby. She needs to be the only kitty in the household, unfortunately, so we probably will only have her for quite some time. I’m thrilled to be a cat mom and to have a cat welcome me as I come home from work.

Planet Comic Con

I already wrote a blog post about this, but I feel like this will be a fun trip. I haven’t done a convention out of state before, so this is all going to be new for me. Plus the months of January – March are boring for me it will be nice to have something fun planned in that time frame.

Trips?

My friend proposed a trip to NYC sometime in March and my family hasn’t stopped talking about going to Seattle. Hopefully this year I can explore new places and take loads of pictures. I’m a typical tourist whenever I see something new.

Playing my PS4

Normally, I don’t go Black Friday shopping, but I was scrolling through Facebook and saw Gamestop’s sale of a PS4 for $250. I couldn’t pass it up, so after work I went to the store and purchased it. I’m currently playing Sexy Brutale which is a murder/puzzle mystery, but I also have Last of Us, Uncharted, and more PS4 games to play. I was hoping after the holiday season I would be less busy so I could play more video games during the harsh winter.

I could go on and on about how happy I am right now. Here’s to a Happy Healthy 2018.

2017 Pop Culture Year in Review

At the start of 2017,  I started typing a post summing up all the movies I saw in theaters, TV shows I watched and video games I played. I plan to do this again in 2018 to help keep track of my entire year. This post will be a little bit longer, but I think it perfectly sums up my geeky year. Here is my recap of the wonderful 2017:

Movies I saw in Theaters this Year:

  • Lego Batman
  • Logan
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (twice)
  • Wonder Woman (twice)
  • Spiderman Homecoming (twice)
  • IT
  • Thor Ragnorok (twice)
  • Justice League
  • Star Wars The Last Jedi

TV I watched:

  • The Tick
  • The Following
  • Iron Fist
  • The Flash Season #3
  • Arrow Season #5
  • Scorpion
  • Riverdale
  • Punisher

Video Games I played:

  • Gears of War 4
  • Overcooked
  • Life is Strange
  • Life is Strange Before the Storm Episodes #1 & #2

Most Thrilling New TV Show of 2017:

Riverdale is easily the best show I watched in 2017. It reminds me of a teenage version of Twin Peaks. The Archie comics are known for being light and the show takes the characters into a darker tone. I watched the first season over the summer and was waiting impatiently for the second season on the CW. It’s the one show I will watch the next episode the day after it airs.

Most Boring TV Show of 2017:

Iron Fist was easily the worst Marvel Netflix show for me. I find Iron Fist closely resembles Green Arrow, but he comes across as naive and annoying. I was even more disappointed Iron Fist was the lead in The Defenders especially when his show wasn’t great. If there is season #2 of Iron Fist, the writers/producers/directors need to step up their game.

Most Bad Ass Superhero Movie of 2017:

Wonder Woman will always be such a bright spot in 2017. I will never forget the moment I watched Wonder Woman turn to Steve during the No Man’s Land scene and say:

Steve: No — we are doing something. We are! We just … can’t save everyone in this war. This is not what we came here to do.

Diana: No. But it is what I am going to do.

Then Wonder Woman rushes onto No Man’s Land and kicks some serious ass. Wonder Woman is the movie all female geeks deserved. It also provides us DC Comics fans with the hope that DC movies can be as great as Marvel movies.

Least Favorite Superhero Movie of 2017:

The only reason I’m going to put Logan for this award is that I’m also not the biggest X-Men fan in the world, so unfortunately, it was my least favorite movie.

The Last Jedi Thoughts:

I added this question because of everyone’s different opinions over The Last Jedi. I personally overall liked the movie, but I didn’t love it. I also didn’t hate the movie either and I disagree with fans who consider this as bad as the prequels. The Star Wars fans seemed to have mostly hated it considering there is a petition to remove Star Wars The Last Jedi as official canon. Personally, I think this is a bit ridiculous just because you don’t like the way the movie told a story doesn’t mean you have any right to remove it from being canon.

Podcast I Couldn’t Stop Listening to:

Adult Sh1T is the podcast by Kelsey Darragh & Kate Peterman from Buzzfeed. These two tackle a variety of topics in a fun way such as chronic pain, sex, and mental illness. Every time I see their new episode appear on my podcast app, I make sure to put this at the top of my podcast feed.

Catchiest Song in 2017:

[Image is a photo of me and a friend in front of a balcony at a concert]

Lady Gaga’s The Cure is my favorite song of 2017. I saw Lady Gaga live in August and it was one of my favorite concerts I attended. She’s so full of energy and made her concert personal. She told us the story of Joanne which she named her album. Lady Gaga is one of my favorite pop artists.

Favorite Vlogger from Youtube:

Magic the Amateuring is my favorite vlogger of 2017! They also have their own podcast as well which is usually how I prefer to listen to their episode. This podcast is for anyone wanting to get into Magic: the Gathering but feels intimidated by the atmosphere. Bonus points because it’s two women co-hosting this podcast. I have considered for a while to donate to their Patreon page because that’s how much I love their podcast/youtube channel.

A close second would be Ash Hardell & Riley Dennis for all of their political / LGBTQIA+ videos. I feel I have learned a lot from both of these vloggers.

Top Video Game I played in 2017:

Life is Strange was my favorite game of 2017 and even probably one of my favorite games of all time. I have linked my Life is Strange review on other articles so I won’t link it here, but you can find it in the gaming section of my blog. My friend recommended this game to me and I was addicted after the first episode. Max Caulfield was me when I was attending college; scared and insecure. This game is amazing please play it if you haven’t already.

Weirdest Video Game I played in 2017:

[Image is a video game cover of "Octo Dad Dadliest Catch" It shows an Octopus with his human family]

Octodad is probably the weirdest yet most challenging game I played this year. You play as an octopus being a dad and doing “dad” things like taking your kids to the aquarium. Me and the boyfriend play this together as an added bonus.

Favorite Comic Book Convention I attended this year:

[Image is a photo of 3 people. The person on the left is doing bunny ears to the person in the middle. The person on the right is smiling]

CONvergence will always be my favorite convention because this was the first convention I went to. I have gone for 4 years now and it’s always been a highlight of my summer. In the above picture are my aunt and uncle who both have attended CONvergence longer than I have. We were in a Star Trek party room standing under the beaming portals *sorry I’m not a Trekkie* I’m counting down the days until CONvergence 2018.

Personal Moments:

Top Three Memories of 2017:

[Image features three people. The person in the middle is holding a graduation diploma]

Graduating from College: I almost cried happy tears while I sat down at my school’s gym listening to everyone getting their degrees. Even though this was almost six months ago, I don’t miss college… yet. A year from now, I’m sure I will have a random memory from college pop into my head and remind me how much my college years mean to me.

[Image is a picture of 3 people sitting on a bench. It's a really sunny day]

Road Trip in June 2017: Me and my family had such a great time driving around the US. This has prompted us to plan more trips together in the future. Hopefully, they can be road trips because my car is great to drive around in.

[Image is a picture of a Christmas tree]

Moving Out: I love my new apartment. Me and the boyfriend have done some decorating and now our apartment feels like home. All we need is a kitty walking around the room.

The Worst Memory of 2017 / One Moment in Time I Wouldn’t Want to Re-Live:

All the moving! First, we moved all of my stuff from Winona, MN to the cities. Then we moved everything to our permanent apartment. I hate moving with a passion, thankfully I’m all done. That’s not something I want to do again.

My Resolution for 2018:

I don’t like setting specific resolutions so instead, I will say a couple things. I want to read more books & comics, play my PS4 more and travel! I want to go to Universal Studios, travel to the Carolinas, see Seattle, and more.