Random Thoughts

So, yes, I got my hands on a copy of Medarot 1. It's in japanese, but with the help of the windows character map and a good japanese-english dictionary, I am attempting to play anyway.

You start off by picking your name. The default is "Hikaru" which makes my little fangirl heart go all aflutter. I keep it and continue on.

The game starts with a voice wishing Hikaru good morning. He wakes up at his desk, mentioning something I can't quite understand about a strange dream, his computer, and today. He turns to his dog, waiting in the lower right corner of the room.


"Come on, Bonaparte."

Heading downstairs, his parents are in the main room. His mom sends him out to walk the dog and make friends, a suggestion that Bonaparte is very enthusiastic about. Bonaparte runs to the park, with Hikaru chasing after. He finally catches up just inside the gate.

He throws a stick for Bonaparte to fetch.

On the other side of the park, a Rubberobo gang member is happy. He's got himself a Kabuto medal! Finally, the robo leaders will notice him! In his reverie, he doesn't notice the stick headed straight for his head. Bonaparte runs up to fetch the stick, barking. The robo is frightened, and runs farther up into the park.

Meanwhile, Hikaru is complaining.
"Bonaparte, you jerk, how far did you go?" It's no use. He'll have to go find the dog.

Hikaru finds Bonaparte on the other side of the park, sitting beside something. Hikaru picks it up and looks at it. Someone dropped a medal! What a stroke of good luck! Hikaru remembers that Kirara has a medabot, and decides to go talk to her for advice.

Kirara's house is right beside Hikaru's. (Fun fact: Hikaru's parents' names are listed on the sign on his door as "Beisuke" and "Maiko".)

Anywhoo, Kirara's not home, but her mom says that Kirara will be thrilled that you want to start robattling. There's nothing to do but wander around town looking for her.

Farther north, there are a number of houses with doors and nameplates.
The name plates read:
Iseki's house
Kubota's house
Yanma's house

Keep an eye out for those names later on. I'm sure they'll be important.

Today's videogame is Tales of the Abyss. I'll list the spoiler alert based on the title in the synopsis I've played up to. Once I figure out what it is. This is my second playthrough, and I kept the synopsis for this round, but it's been a while since I played, so I've forgotten what I'm supposed to be doing. I have three clues:

- I'm in baticul,
- Luke has short hair
- a skit was just played about Ion making sure Luke and Natalia get to see King Ingobert.

Ah, right.

Spoiler Alert: Father and Daughter

Anywhoo, I head to King Ingobert's room to watch a cutscene. I've seen it already so I spend the time wondering why his room is on the floor above the dungeons. Does the sound of screaming prisoners soothe him to sleep or something? Blah blah blah. Speeching from Luke on family. I start wondering why everyone's still in their default costumes and wonder which I should switch them to.
Finally, the good part, wherein Jade threatens and bluffs the king into paying attention.

The scene ends and I'm outside the throne room, with another skit queued up. Boring conjecture on whether Ingobert will listen to them. By the time the skit's done, a soldier is trying to walk directly into Luke. Lulz.

I head to the inn for another boring cutscene. And another. Happy reunion, blah blah. Another boring skit. And, on the way to the coliseum, another cutscene.

Next, off to Grand Chokhmah for more cutscenes. An annoying process as my ship can't fly just yet. A few funny skits about Dist and Natalia's gullibility and Jade's scrawniness and it's bedtime for me.

Damn, that was boring.

Video Game Report:

Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages.

Yes, I know. Old game is old. And no, I haven't finished it once, yet. But I recently started playing it again.

I bought this game waaaay back when I was a young'un, to give me something to entertain myself with during a long plane ride to the Netherlands to visit the grandparents.

I enjoyed it muchly. I breezed my way through four dungeons. I solved all the puzzles sans guide. I had fun getting stuck, then thinking "Well, what happens if I switch time periods" and then feeling the lightbulb go off.

And then, it happened. The mini-game that almost made me abandon the game forever. I had to knock four baddies down holes, armed with only the basic wooden sword. It was beyond irritating. Taking on all four at once, you have to knock them into holes to their deaths, while pausing to hit a switch at certain time intervals. If it takes you long enough that you need to hit the switch, you're lost. They'll gang up on you. I can't remember if I had spin attack at the time, but if I did, I had no time to use it. My only hope was to herd thm into one spot, then knock them in the hole before you have to step on the switch. After many utterly frustrating tries, I succeeded.

"At least I won't have to do that again", I thought, and went to complete the trade sequence to get my Master sword.

It was broken. In order to fix it, I had to go play the Mini Game of Hell once more. Only this time, there are 8 baddies. Four at a time. When one gets knocked down, another takes its place. It's impossible to do before you need to hit the switch. Try as I might, I could only manage to knock down five of the little bastards. Frutrated, and cursing the very names Nintendo, and Capcom, I shut the game off and left it in a drawer to collect dust.

Many years passed. I went away to university. There, a few friends of mine got together to play videogames. While I waited for my turn in our "winner keeps playing" round-robin, I blew the dust off Oracle of Ages and decided to see if my older, wiser self would be able to beat the Mini-Game of Hell. It couldn't. However, it attracted the attention of one of my friends. Who asked if he could try. I very gladly handed it over. A few hours later, my friend proudly handed the game over, full of nerdly stubbornness and glory. I had my master's sword.

The game went back into the shelf as I moved back home.

Another year went by.

Then, on Canada Day, my parents took me to some nowhere town an hour from civilization, whence there is a ginormous farmer's market and outlet mall. At the farmer's market, I spotted it. Legend of Zelda, Oracle of Seasons. The other half to Oracle of Ages which I couldn't afford to buy way back when.

"You know, I never did finish that," I thought to myself, and bought it. I also bought a spiffy pair of sandals and ate until I was stuffed at an all-you-can-eat restaurant.

When I got home, I dusted off Oracle of Ages. I have to finish the half I started on before I can continue on with a linked game in Seasons. So, after a brief period of confusion where I had to find out where I was supposed to be going, I was off. That was two days ago. Since then, I've beaten two dungeons.

Spoiler warning: 6th Dungeon (the mermaid's cave)

Getting the keys to even get INTO the dungeon takes almost as long as the dungeon itself. You've got to play three mini-games, involving a batting cage, a roller-coaster shooting gallery, and a pattern matching dance-off. AND you have to complete a trading sequence before you finally get the two keys you need. (One for the past, one for the present)

Finally, the dungeon. I start in the past. This dungeon is odd in that the boss is in the past, but the boss key, the mini-boss, and the next item are in the present. I start in the past and collect the map and compass, lower one wall, and blow a hole in another. Then I swap to the present, grab the map and compass, and start exploring. I manage to find the boss key first, and the mini-boss second. All it takes is a few pot-shots at him while he's flying around and I've got myself a mermaid's tail. My next task is to go grab the last few unclaimed chests, but this is the point where I turned off the game and went to sleep.

For a change of pace, I'm going to play an old game I still haven't finished. Final Fantasy Anthology. This was a PS1 re-release of Final Fantasies 5 and 6 (original japanese numbering) that I bought about a year ago. I've finished neither 5 nor 6

Note: Considering how old this game is, I'm considering the spoiler-statue-of-limitations to have expired.

Hokay, we start as Sabin, on the world map next to some castle. I go into the castle to remind myself where I am and what I'm supposed to be doing. Ah, it's Doma castle. So I need to head for a waterfall. Wherever that is.

Ah, a creepy forest to the east. That looks promising. I make my way through, following the ominous signs-with-arrows-on-them. I come to a creepy-looking train. So of course, on I go. And get stuck on board when it leaves. Some ghost asks to join at the end of the first car. Sure, why not? Next battle, I get him to possess something and he/it leaves. Neat!

Three cars later, I'm being surrounded by little ghosties out to kill me. I climb to the roof of the car and jump over to the next one. Apparently ghosties don't watch movies. They follow me... via rooftop hopping. Even though nobody's blocking the GHOSTIES from taking the usual path between cars. I disconnect their car and keep going.

The next car is a dining car. So I sit down at a table and a ghost waiter brings me food. It heals my HP/MP, yay! I keep going. I find a room with chests of phoenix down, always helpful. The next car is short and contains only a save point. Which means, obviously, a boss fight is ahead. Eventually I get to the engine where the boss fight happens.

Against the locomotive. Itself.

After a short scene I'm out on the other side of the creepy forest. I make it to the falls whereupon Shadow leaves and I do the only sensible thing: jump off the waterfall. I'm attacked by group after group of Pirahnas on the way down. Apparently this waterfall is on Olympus Mons or something. At the bottom I'm saved by somebody and taken to the world map. Where I save. That's enough for today.

Spoiler Alert: The Pharos Lighthouse

That's right. I'm posting about Final Fantasy even though I'm almost finished the game. Why? Cuz I feel like it.

Anywhoo, I begin this session at the save crystal in the Second Ascent-Reach of the Damned area with Ashe and Penelo as the active party. Why those two? Cuz they were the only ones left alive after I fleed from an ambush during my last session. But since save crystals revive and heal you, the first thing I do is to switch back to Vaan, Balthier and Basch, with Balthier as the party leader. I like to set him as the leader because he has the Theif's Cuffs as his accessory which allow him to steal rare items and a gambit set to "Foe:HP=100%; Steal" which means I hardly have to do anything besides tell him not to steal when we run into more than one enemy at a time.

Hey, what you call laziness, I call efficiency.

So anyway, my immediate goal is to get to the top of the lighthouse so Ashe can decide whether she wants to go revenge-crazy or not. It's a pretty straight path to the next set of stairs from here, around the short side of a circular path but I go the long way cuz I want the extra experience.

My strategy guide tells me a boss fight lies at the top of the stairs, so I stop halfway there to read up on their reccomended strategy. The boss is called "Fenrir" which makes me think of the werewolf from Harry Potter. Damn, this is gonna be a satisfying boss fight.

... strategy guide, you're useless. 'Dispel, keep healed, and beat it up' is all you can tell me? I start the battle with Ashe, Balthier and Basch. After a dispel from Ashe and a chain of 7 quickening attacks, I manage to eke it's HP down to about a third. At which point I swap Vaan for Ashe and the rest goes by pretty quickly.

After the boss fight I have to run around in another circle to find the right altar I need to touch to get my mini-map back from and to cue the lift. It takes me up to the next floor where I find nothing but a save crystal and a Way Stone. I save and head up to the next area, Third Ascent.

---

The next bit of path is colour coded. Night/black comes first so I touch the black way stone. This area is full of nasty bomb type things that explode on you, so I turn of Balthier's "steal" gambit and give him a stronger weapon so as to take them down faster. I also swap Basch for Penelo so she can cast 'slow' on them to counteract their 'haste'. So, following the path on to the hidden green way stone and then to red to an area that's supposed to have some treasure. At the end of this area is an Esper fight. With no save crystal. None. The thing's also four levels higher than most of my party, so I'm not able to defeat it. And there's no way in heck I want to go through the whole floor all over again, so this is where I stop for today.

That's right, I'm not doing a stream-of-conciousness about Enchanted Arms today.

Why? Cuz I found a used copy of Crossfire for twenty bucks. Wewt! I started yesterday.
It's pretty neat. It takes place during the One-Year-War of the original Gundam series, and you can pick whether or not you want to be Earth or Zeon. I picked Earth.

Your first few missions are easy enough. Kill everything that isn't you. Make sure small object X isn't destroyed. You start off with one GM suit and can order in more suits/pilots as you get points from your missions. You start off on October 1st and have until December 31 to finish the game.

I'm on October 22, and today's mission is to (a) kill everything that's not me (b)destroy a few bridges. I'm trying it in a GM, with a GM type D and a GM Cannon as NPC allies. After four unsuccessful tries I switch to a GM cannon with two Type Ds. I manage to get to the home stretch of the mission before being killed another four times. I switched back to the GM and tried another four times. This is when I decided to skip over the mission and go on to the next one.


Next Mission: destroy all enemies, protect your two supply bases. This mission went much more quickly than the last one. I got an A rank on it the first time I tried, and got two level ups for my troubles. It's now October 24 and my next mission's end date is October 30th. I spend a few days in intermission upgrading and buying a GM(G) and pilot. This takes me to the 27th. I decide to do a few training missions in the meantime to earn a few points, and to try out my new GM(G). What, no vulcan cannons? Only 100 bullets for my machine gun? After this mission, I'll give this suit back to one of my NPC pilots. The battle goes easily enough, but damned does this thing ever run out of ammo quickly. Two days left. I switch back to my GM and customize a few more times.

Next mission: destroy everything that moves in less than seven minutes. I'm back in my GM, with an upgraded weapon and manage to finish in half the time. S rank, yay! Level up, yay! I should probably save now before I forget and lose my progress. It's now October 30, and I have until November 2nd to do the next mission. I order me a new MS and a new pilot and do more customizations.

The next mission is a tricky one and will take me a while but I'm bored so I'm going to do something else.

And now, a break from your regularly scheduled videogame walkthough/peanut gallery comments for a blog post of a more personal nature.

I've got a new contract job. Unfortunately, It's not possible for me to get here by public transit, and so on Saturday, Dad and I went out to the Auto Mall and bought a car. I ended up with a Nissan Versa hatchback in red. Today I'm supposed to be picking it up after work, but it's snowed a buttload over the past few days (I'm talking like 15 centimetres last friday, then 30 centimeters yesterday) and my car's not scheduled to have it's winter tires put on until Saturday. Which means I might not get to take it out on a maiden voyage to rehearsal tonight.

Talk about a killjoy.

I' ve got nothing to do today so time for another stream-of-conciousness videogame post.

Spoiler Warning: Enchanted Arms, 45% completion

Okay, heading up to the castle, Atsuma's surprised to find out the rich district of town got just as trashed as the poor district in the King Kong vs Godzilla fight. More brooding over Toya. He wonders what'll happen if he tries to hoover up the Queen of Ice with his arm. He asks "Mystery Man" (Hiding behind a conveniently located piece of debris) for his advice. I'm tempted to restart to switch to english to hear what this sounds like..

I prefer Atsuma in english as he seems kind of emotionally uninvolved in english but Makoto/Mystery Man sounds like Dist from ToA in english (I haven't actually looked it up to confirm if it actually is or not) and that gives me enough lulz that I prefer english for him. So I'm constantly flipping the audio track back and forth. XD.

Anyway Atsuma angsts to Mystery Man that his arm might go berzerk if he tries to use it to save Toya. Mystery Man is impressed at how complex the thought is. Atsuma says he'd never be able to tell this to Toya or Makot - AGGGH! English Atsuma! For the last time, the name is "Makoto!" NOT "Makaddo" Mystery Man says that Makoto wouldn't get mad at Atsuma for such worries, but Atsuma misse the hint. Mystery Man leaves, saying he probably won't meet Atsuma again. Just say hi and join the party, already!

So, switching back to the japanese audio track, I head back to the castle. When we arrive Raigar is talking to an NPC wearing a suit of armour. He's trying to convince Raigar to take up his old job as Knight Captain, but he refuses. The way the armour the sprites are using kinda makes it look like it's made of plastic wrap. We find Raigar again in a room on the second floor. He says the reason why he won't rejoin the Knights is cuz since he can't do everything, he wants to focus on protecting Karin. This little chat reinforces Atsuma's resolve to save Toya. Raigar thinks that Atsuma will learn how to control his arm if he goes to Kyoto (Far to the west of London, apparently.)

The next morning, Atsuma is off by hismelf, headed for Kyoto. Except everybody pops up has he's facing the gates, saying his goodbyes. Raigar blabbed. After all, nobody asked him to keep it secret. They all give excuses as to why they're going. Karin owes Atsuma a punch still. Raigar goes whereever Karin goes. And Yuki just wants to be with Atsuma. This lack-of-an-excuse annoys Karin and after a little catfight, we're off. The immediate destination is Junk City, which is on the way. Yuki seems to have some history there.

Just before we hit Junk City we pass a field of white flowers. We're told this is where locals wish farewell to the dead. The flowers represent souls. Yuki also claims a legendary Golem appears there. I assume this has to do with the four-gods themed stray golems I've found in a few places. Karin takes a few flowers and off we go.

Approaching the gates to Junk City, we hit desert. The party immediately complains about how hot it is. Yuki tells us to suck it up and cross the desert. We accuse her of being from the area, and she admits it. Once inside, we learn someone else has got their hands on something Yuki wants and she leaves. The rest of the party splits up and I'm given control again.

I spot Raigar standing on the outskirts of the bazaar. Karin refused to take him shopping, so he's watching her from there. All stalker-y.

I spot Yuki standing beside a grave. Her brother's. Who must bear some resemblance to Atsuma since every NPC in town has mistaken me for him. Yuki tells me to go on without her; she'll be along soon.

So, meeting up with Raigar and Karin again, Yuki shows up late. Karin starts bitching at her about it. We're just about to head out again when we hear a scream and I get control back.

But I'm bored so I'm gonna stop here for today.

I've got a few hours to kill before rehearsal, so onto the playstation I go.

Also, how is it this didn't post yesterday?

Spoiler Warning: Enchanted Arms, 44% completion
So, I find myself in the not-quite-completely-destroyed London City, and am told that I have to complete 3 fetch quests for the poor locals before the story will progress.

1) An old man is cold. He wants to start a fire but can't, cuz his firewood is wet. He wants us to find him something else to use as fuel. Simple enough: Head back to the square to con some whiskey off the local bartender, pour it onto the firewood and toss in a match. Done.

2) The well in the square is blocked by debris. The townsfolk there want water, but are too weak to clear out the debris. They want us to get them some sort of tool they can use for this purpose. Yuki thinks this job can be done by hand, but Atsuma says you'd need to be as strong as a powerful golem. Which gives them an idea. We track down Raigar and tell him we need his rediculously powerful muscles help with something. Fanfare, we've aquired "inhuman strength". We bring Raigar to the square and he clears out the well. Fanfare, we've used "inhuman strength". Problem solved.

3) A local tradesman wants to repair a street light, but can't cuz he doesn't have a welder. Some kid in the square does. Problem solved.

So with the fetch quests done and Atsuma feeling pretty cheerful we run into a cutscene of a few NPCs talking about how Toya is controlling the Queen of Ice (as opposed to being controlled by her) and trash talking Atsuma's hometown, Yokohama, and about whichever idiot broke the seal on the Queen of Ice. Atsuma's content to brood silently but Yuki jumps in, guns a'blazin and chases them off but it's too late. Atsuma's gone emo again. Much brooding about whether Toya is evil, whether Atsuma's a harbinger of destruction, the usual.

Yuki challenges Atsuma to a fight to try and cheer him up and after she insults Toya, he accepts. (HMmmm, I wonder why . . . ) She goes down in two hits. My reward is a big long boring speech on optimism and looking forward to a happier tomorrow. BLECH. She leaves and Karin shows up. To erect a statue of her dad in the square, apparently. More talking. Shut up already! I want to save so I can go eat supper! . . . Karin asks Atsuma to stay in London long-term and offers to use her Queenly connections to score him a house, a teacher, etc. He turns it down. He has a boyfriend classmate to save still. She thanks Atsuma for defeating Entei. She leaves and I'm finally free to save and fill mah belleh before rehearsal.

I've decided to start using my LJ to record my thoughts on the videogames I'm playing.

Why? Cuz it gives me something to post, it keeps me from annoying my friends with this, and lastly, I felt like it. Three birds with one stone!

Anywhoo, today's videogame is "Enchanted Arms"
I'm about 25% through it right now so consider everything from here down a spoiler warning.




Anywayz I found out a lot of stuff I already new this session.
Karin is a royal. Giggling Man and Fearless Leader are the traitors.
I still need to find out if blonde guy with the shades and the scar across his chest is really Makoto. I'm still peeved at Atsuma that he didn't go looking for Atsuma while we were in Yokohama looking for Toya. But nothing I can do about that.

I'm busy racing through the mines trying to Save the Princess when we run into Giggling Man and his boss monster. Much lulz as he gets peeved at us calling him "Giggling Man" and us not even allowing to tell us his real name. He even giggles when he's pissed. He even giggled when he was KOed in the boss fight! He giggles when Raigar threatens him for information! So of course Atsuma and Yuki "Kuhiihii" at him after we've beaten him just to rub it in.

So we eventually make it to where Raigar's brother is keeping the princess, where he challenges us to a boss fight cuz he's pissed at Raigar (cuz he cut his beautiful face oh noes) and based on how often he bitches at us for letting him live, he's apprently suicidal or something. Dude, there are better ways to die than to get your brother to slice you to ribbons.

So he runs off, Karin is saved and we get the Fire magicore. And then things go freaky when Atsuma has visions that tell him his arm is the Emperor of Fire's master. Also, his grasping at his arm and screaming in pain at hearing mysterious disembodied voices reminds me of Luke from TotA

Then the Queen of Ice shows up with Toya (Who's now sporting a sickly pale skin tone and red eyes that scream 'goth chic') He pretty much stands there and agrees with her all the time now. They hint that Karin also has blood of the ancients.

So now we're racing into London City trying to catch up to the Queen of Ice when Raigar's brother decides now would be a GREAT time to settle things. Moar pointless angst and another fight. He goes down in three turns. That was kind of anticlimactic. Raigar refuses to kill him yet again, and so Ooka, the brother, attacks Karin, forcing Raigar to do it.

So we finally make it to the audience hall but the Queen of Ice already has him. He's wearing the dorkiest crown ever. It's got these freaky wings-and-bird's-beak things going on. UUUUGLY. So moar angst as the king dies and we're told to go to Entei's temple for a pokemon battle our revenge. So that's two entities who want us to revive Entei now.

We're ambushed by Ice golems on the way and are rescued by the blond guy with the scar on his chest who doesn't admit to being Makoto but instead asks Atsuma to save Toya. He is, of course, the only one who can. We open the way to Entei's temple and there's more hinting that Karin will end up as Entei's trainer magicore.

So we finally make it through one pain-in-the-ass dungeon and Karin ends up sacrificing herself willingly to revive Entei and there's an epic Godzilla-vs-King Kong type battle, with Tokyo London getting trashed in the meantime. The queen takes off, and we have to battle Entei. Afterwards it turns out that in order to rescue Karin, Atsuma has to absorb Entei wiht his freaky arm, which he does so. So now he's Miroku, great. Another cutscene in which Atsuma argues with his arm.

Okay, since it's been ages since I've updated this (anyone who's seen my blog would expect it) I figure I should let anybody who cares know how my christmas went.

After christmas eve mass, we went to my uncle's place across town for a potluck dinner as per usual. Much less of a turnout than in past years, but it was nice.

Christmas morning went as per usual. Breakfast first that consisted of buns with your choice of eggs, cold cuts, cheese and jam on them and croissants.

After that, we opened up our presents. It goes like this: Someone at random picks a gift. Any gift, as long as it's not for them. The recipient opens the gift, and oohs and awws over it for a bit. Then they get up and pick another gift. Any gift, as long as it's not for them. We continue this way, until all the gifts are unwrapped. Stockings may be unwrapped at one's leisure.

I got:

• GetBackers Manga, vol 4 and 5
  
• A nice toiletry set.
  
• A sketchpad with pencils and sharpener in a leather travel-case.
  
• A copy of my Opa's memoirs.
  
• Pink PJs and Slippers with matching cartoon reindeer design (and they're 'teh pink', too.)
  
• A large pencilcase
  
• Three chocolate Cs.. one that has Zwarte Piet on it.
  
• A chocolate orange.
  
• 512 MB RAM
  
• 160 GB Hard Drive
  
• 17" LCD Monitor
  

I've already replaced the giant CRT monitor that I've had up to this point that's served me for the past 3 and a half years. I love it. I've got the new hard drive screwed into place inside my CPU, but I lack the cords to connect it to the motherboard or to the power source. It also turns out that the RAM stick doesn't fit into my motherboard. Wrong type. So, tomorrow, when I have a car, I'll take it down to the little privately-owned computer store and get the guy who built my machine to install all the stuff. And then my lack-of-speed and storage issues will be abated. I can't wait.

My sister got an iPod. One of those 30GB video ones. It took us up until yesterday evening at 9:30 to figure out how the video worked on it, but now that we do, it's pretty nifty. I may save up and get one later and put AMVs on one. MUCH later. I still have too much stuff I wanna get for myself.

Like a sketchbook. A full-sized one. My current one is full. I also have my eyes on the How To Draw Ninja: Ninja and Samurai .. and on the translation to Journey to the West.. and on the medabots DVDs. And a few videogames. And to continue my Fake, GetBackers, Saiyuki and Slayers Novels collections. I've decided to limit my personal spending to $40 per month on stuff like that.

I also still need to get things for a few friends, so all that stuff will have to wait.

My parents got cross-county skis for themselves this year, so we're going skiing for new years. Luckily, my sister and I will be allowed to go snowboarding while they go cross-country skiing. It's all at the same place, so it's no biggie.

Oh, and speaking of AMVs, I wish I could work on them right now. But I can't. I don't have all the video files I need. >.<

I also haven't played as much playstation as I thought I would. I've been playing gameboy instead.

I also went and dug up my copies of the Chronicles of Narnia and managed to find all of them except for A Horse And His Boy, but that's not really important to the overall storyline anyway, so that's okay. I'm just starting The Voyage of the Dawn Treader now.

I also went and downloaded a couple of silly christmas songs at my parents' request. "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" by Shirley Temple and "Blue Christmas" by Porky Pig. -_-; Thank you, mom and dad.

Oh, and Emishi, if you're reading this, I WILL get to the RP journals this week. I promise. Feel free to kill me if I don't.

You can also find this post at my blog

The first page of my part of the big Doujinshi is due on friday, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna make it. I re-read bits of Saiyuki vol. 5 yesterday, and I think I may be able to work in Sanzo's introspective bit about the other monks. And I won't even have to mess up my layout! I have half a page to ink, then text to add, and then shading and then I'll be done. I should be able to get at LEAST the text done by tonight.

Also, I've started to bring my fanfic with me between classes. I worked on it for a half-hour today during lunch. I don't want to spoil much, but at the moment Sanzo has announced that he's gonna leave everyone behind if they don't get going. Which means I've been able to turn one paragraph of my outline for the chapter into two pages of writing. And I mean physical writing. I like to write stuff out by hand for my fanfics before typing it. That way, the typing is sort of like a first edit. It helps me notice my spelling/grammar errors.

I'll cross-post this to my blog later. Right now, I have to go to class!

I'm tottally psyched.

I caught Mako online yesterday, and we chatted. As we did so, she asked me to send her the sheet music for the Sunlit Garden that I found a while ago. But the site I found it from is gone. So, I went to trusty ol' google to search for a new copy. I found it - on a site that also had a seletion of sheet music from Gensoumaden Saiyuki!

I'm gonna go home and print it all off once I get home. Between Saiyuki and Mario, I have a lot of music to learn.... but I wanna start off with Hakkai's theme

Anywhoo, off to class!

Taken from guardian_yugi

1)Fujimiya "Aya" Ran
2)Genjo Sanzo
3)Kudou Yohji
4)Sha Gojyo
5)Tsukiyono Omi
6)Cho Hakkai
7)Hidaka Ken
8)Son Goku
9)Brad Crawford
10)Chin Yisou
11)Schuldig
12)Nii Jenyi

Question 1: Have you read a 6/11 fic? Do you want to?

Hakkai / Schuldig.

Considering they're not from the same show, it'd be pretty damned rare if this pairing DOES exist. That'd be one f***ed up pairing. The only way it'd happen is if it was a rape, and Schu would have a FEILD day with the stuff that goes on inside Hakkai's head.

Question 2: Do you think 4 is hot? How hot?

Gojyo. Hottest. Bishounen. Ever.... one of them, at least. There are a lot of hottest bishounen ever. Gojyo = teh s3xx0rz

Question 3: What would happen if 12 got 8 pregnant?

Nii fathering Goku's baby? Well he IS a scientist, so I suppose he'd probably find some genetic-manipuative way to do it, but the kid'd HAVE to be a test-tube baby, since they're both men, after all. WHY he'd want Goku's baby is beyond me.

Question 4: Can you recall any fic(s) about 9?

Crawford? Many. He's one of the main baddies in Weiß, after all. He's fun to poke fun at in fanfics and RPs. And it's easy, too. He's such a tightass.

Question 5: Would 2 and 6 make a good couple?

Sanzo/Hakkai? Nah. Too much collective angst. They'd both be too busy concentrating on their own angst to pay any attention to each other. So, little-to-no long-term potential here.

Question 6: 5/9 or 5/10? Why?

Omi/Crawford or Omi/Chin Yisou?

Well, since Chin Yisou is an animated corpse, I'd have to go with Brad on this one. Wow, never thought I'd be supporting THAT pairing.

Question 7: What would happen if 7 walked in on 2 and 12 having sex?

What would happen if Ken walked in on Sanzo and Nii Jenyi having sex?

Ken knows not who these guys are, but if Nii and Sanzo ever did the nasty, I doubt that Sanzo would be consenting. In which case, he'd probably bust out the bugnuks and go Weiß on Nii's arse.

Question 8: Make up a summary for a 3/10 fic.

Yohji / Chin Yisou.

This would probably have to deal with the angst-taunting. Somehow, Yohji would have to meet up with an animated corpse. Maybe he's found himself a job with Esset and is taunting him about the whole Asuka thing. Both Asukas. ^_~

Question 9: Is there any such thing as 1/8 fluff?

Ran/Goku

Ran is basically the Sanzo of Weiß, so if he ever met Goku, he'd probably like him. Probably in a sibling sorta way. He'd remind Ran of his sister. So no fluff, but still cute scenes.

Question 10: Suggest a title for a 7/12 hurt/comfort fic.

Ken/Nii Jenyi?

"Assassin for Hire." (My titles hardly ever have much to do with the plot.

Question 11: What kind of plot device would you use if you wanted 4 to deflower 1?

Gojyo 'deflowering' Ran? Gojyo'd head to the flower shop and buy up the entire stock, using Sanzo's credit card. Sanzo would be less than impressed. (Sorry, I couldn't resist. Ran IS a florist, after all.)

Question 12: Does anyone on your friends list read 7 slash?

Well, I haven't added myself to my friends list, so the odds are slim-to-none. I made guardian_yugi read a Ken fluff sillyfic once. Does that count?

Question 13: Does anyone on your friends list read 3 het?

Yohji het? The only pairing would be with Neu/Asuka or Nurse Asuka. Unless someone's paired him up with Manx, Birman or with Tsuji Mayumi, or 'Chelle, or Maki somewhere. ^^; I haven't read any such fics and I doubt if any of my friends has, either.

Question 14: Does anyone on your friends list write or draw 11?

I'm working on bugging guardian_yugi to draw me one. I write/draw it myself, of course.

Question 15: Would anyone on your friends list write 2/4/5?

Sanzo/Gojyo/Omi? That is another f***ed up pairing, but guardian_yugi tells me she'd do it if asked.

Question 16: What might 10 scream out at a moment of great passion?

10 is Chin Yisou, so it'd probably be "THAT'S THE FACE, CHO GONOU!!" or just "GONOU!" Of course, Hakkai would NOT be happy.

Question 17: If you write a songfic about 8, which song would you choose?

Songfic about Goku? I don't do songfics. Maybe some random song about food. Or shiny sun. "I'm Walking on Sunshine" maybe?

Question 18: If you wrote a 1/6/12 fic, what would the warnings be?

Ran/Hakkai/Nii Jenyi? Yaoi, Rape, lemon, threesome.

Question 19: What might a good pick-up line be for 2 to use on 10?

Sanzo, making pick-up lines on Chin Yisou? "Dammit, you're heavy." Maybe? (Baaaaaaad pun)

Question 20: When was the last time you read a fic about 5?

A fic about Omi? Probably "Cut Off".. which was a fic I wrote. I don't read others' fics very often anymore.

Question 21: What is 6's super-secret kink?

Hakkai's super-secret kink? Incest.

Question 22: Would 11 shag 9? Drunk or sober?

Schu/Crawford? That's my fave pairing for Schwarz. Schu would do Crawford repeatedly, drunk OR sober

Crawford, on the other hand, would insist that Schu be sober.

Question 23: If 3 and 7 get together, who tops?

Yohji and Ken? Another real pairing. Yohji would top. Ken's too naive about these things.

Question 24: "1 and 9 are in a happy relationship until 9 suddenly runs off with 4. 1, broken-hearted, has a hot one-night stand with 11 and a brief, unhappy affair with 12, then follows the wise advice of 5 and finds true love with 3." What title would you give this fic? Name three people on your friends list who might read it. Name one person who should write it.

Ran and Crawford are in a happy relationship until Crawford suddenly runs off with Gojyo. Ran, broken hearted, has a hot one-night stand with Schuldig and a brief, unhappy affair with Nii Jenyi, then follows the wise advice of Omi and finds true love with Yohji.

I'd call it "Conflict Resolution". I'd wanna write it, dammit. Guardian_Yugi and Kaiba_Katt would read it. I hope.

Question 25: How would you feel if 7/8 was canon?

Ken/Goku? They're WAAAAAY tooo similar to be a pairing. They'd have more of the 'best buds' vibe for that.

At guardian_yugi's suggestion, I've taken a series of screencaps from an ep of Gensoumaden Saiyuki, removed Sanzo's pants, and animated it. Consider this an adult content warning.
Enjoy!

I may do more in the future if I can find good screencaps.

I've been pretty busy lately, what with work ending, the new school year starting up and the doujinshi and all.

Quick update on my life: Went to wonderland with Mae on Saturday. Harassed my sister at work. Spent $5 at the arcade and found out I'm better at ParaPara Dancing than at DDR. Got a Stewie plushie with a grease stain on its head. Keep forgetting to take the pics to my friend's place so they can see.

I hit my head on the bottom of a cupboard door two days ago (thanks a LOT, dude-who-left-it-open).. and now I feel lightheaded. I dunno if that's related to the head injury, or just to the cold I seem to be coming down with.

I was supposed to draw a pic for Caroro of Ran Fujimiya with wings, but I really dislike the lineart I've got now. It sucks that I've put so much effort into it, but I give up trying to make the wings look like they're in use. I'm gonna scrap it and come up with a new pose. I'll probably ending up using some Escaflowne pics as references.

I'm having fun drawing the Doujinshi. I've never drawn Sanzo and Goku so much in my life, and it's just a sketch so far! I didn't get anything done for it yesterday, which I feel bad for, but I had fun RPing, so I suppose it was worth it.

I'm told that the dude who was in my room is out again, so I'll probably be moving in sometime in the next few days. I'm glad, because my usual room is much bigger than my 'summer home' on 3rd blue.

I wish the Tim Hortons' on campus would open, already!

Three Days.

That's how long this problem's been going on for. Since Saturday morning.

The internet connection in rez has been fighting back on me. All day saturday, it refuses to work. On Sunday, it worked for five minutes at around noon and then shut down for the day. Yesterday, it was working fine at work and I thought all my troubles were over. But no. Half an hour before work ended it quit again, and fought me nail and tooth the rest of the night.

So if anyone hears of any computer-tecnician deaths in my area, now you know that I was justified.

Random quiz-ness.

You Are 25 Years Old

25 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

Your IQ Is 100

Your Logical Intelligence is Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Below Average

You Are 26% American

America: You don't love it or want to leave it. But you wouldn't mind giving it an extreme make over. On the 4th of July, you'll fly a freak flag instead... And give Uncle Sam a sucker punch!

Your Inner European is Dutch!

Open minded and tolerant. You're up for just about anything.

First and foremost, Happy 138th, Canada

I just returned from my parents' trailer in Parry Sound where I spent the long weekend. It is also where I finally got my birthday presents. They consisted of:

- A memory card for my digicam
- Final Fantasy VIII (Thanks, sis)
- Xenosaga: Episode 2
- Final Fantasy X-2

.. I have never gotten so many videogames from my parents in my life. And I am grateful.

So, yeah. The trailer was peaceful. My sister had to work, and so she couldn't be there. I managed to get The Vampire Lestat read so I can (finally) return it to my classmate. I didn't get Life of Pi started, and I probably won't, ever, so I'm going to give it back. I didn't get much drawing done - I started character designs for a story I've started to plan in my head. I didn't get ANY writing done. I putzed around Parry Sound with mom for a while.

There was this lady with a keyboard and a few amps outside the Sobey's on Friday. Singing. Badly. Trying to sell some CDs of hers, and not doing very well. On Saturday she was outside the Wal-Mart (yes, Parry Sound has a Wal-Mart. *Gasp!*) singing the same things and still not selling CDs. I wonder if she was still there this morning.

So, I'm back in rez, and I'm going to turn on the ol' (not really) PS2. I need to finish FFX and Xenosaga 1 before I can start on the new games!

Crossposted to: my blog

Yeah, that's really the whole point of this entry. I'm 22 today. Happy Birthday to Me!