Due to a sudden explosion of wonderful mp3s, I am a very happy Lisette-chan. For example, a very rare remix of Heart of Sword is currently available in Sabina’s blog, which is (as always) linked to your left. I also found a site that’s ripped two whole CDs of Gravitation music, which made me rather happy. But since that kind of all-out ripping is frowned upon, I won’t link them. Cuz the government is watching me, yanno.

Eech. Getting groceries out of the car when in bare feet in the winter-cold rain is kinda… bad. My feet are cold and grimy now. Darn puddles on the old, rickety stairs. But see, the problem is that if I take long enough to put on shoes, it’s too late for me to help bring in groceries. So I just go out in bare feet, and the parental units have given up on scolding me for doing so. Or so it seems…

One week later…
Dad: Lisette! Come over here!
Lisette: Yeah? *confused* What did I do?
Dad: A week ago you went outside in bare feet! You’re grounded!
Lisette: WHAT?! Because I went outside without shoes?!
Dad: No, because you won’t clean your room.
Lisette: Oh. Okay, then.

(This make-believe script has been brought to you by Spam. Buy Spam. You love Spam. Spam loves your mom.)

My blister is getting better, which is a good thing. And on a totally unrelated subject, did you know that subliminal messages as the public knows them don’t work? One-word messages carry tone for a fraction of a second (like the work “poison” has a negative tone) but that’s all. No more influential than glimpsing a billboard out of the corner of your eye. Which is why your brain cannot be controlled by the TV or radio. Breathe easy, my friends.

Also, the American belief in subliminal messages comes entirely from two people: the man who supposedly conducted a test in a movie theatre (an example which is cited in many psychology books without mention of its falsification) who came out six years later and called the whole thing a gimmick; and Mr. Key, who writes books with lots of scientifical jargon but a complete abscence of scientific fact, such as the “Clam Plate Orgy” which was later renamed to something I don’t quite recall. One of his unfounded claims is that the brain processes information at the speed of light when it actually zooms along at 40mph. Ooh. So speedy-lighty.

…So anyway, I’d better get going. Enough FF8 fics for me! XD Even though fic!Laguna is adorable.

Ninety-nine comments on my blog, folks. Thanks for all the fish. XD No, really, I am very happy that I have so many comments. I feel loved.

Last night I slept over at Steph’s house. We played a helluva lot of Dynasty Warriors 3, and I got an interesting blister on my thumb. It has spread to about half the area of the pad of my thumb. Very interesting, it is. I had lots of fun. ^.^ The blister looked like Pac Man for a little while…

So, I have discovered what my bad karma was leading up to. One of my mice, Dark, who likes to hide and who I hardly ever see because of that, has a rather advanced tumor. On her left side, right behind her front leg. Because of the placement and her lethargy (she actually let me hold her), I suspect she’ll die within the next week. It hasn’t been there that long, so it’s growing very fast. *sigh* I have seen far too much death in my life, methinks. At least it’s all been natural. I would really rather avoid seeing violent death.

And I am now the happiest little creature in the world, because I have found two entire soundtracks of Gravitation mp3s. And manga scans/translations. And even though Geo remembers far more about FF7 than I ever will, Sephy is wonderful. Not that that had anything to do with anything, but I like Spam.

My karma appears to be better today (ack! I jinxed myself!), but I am running later than I would like to. After I finish my cleaning duties of the day, I’ll call Steph and ask if we can have that sleepover we’ve been wanting to have. I really wanna play DW3 until my fingers blister. I should make a little makeshift pad for my thumb so it doesn’t hurt too much… Hello, old electrical tape that is no longer sticky. XD

The cats dragged in a bird last night. As with the last one, it ended up in the basement. As with the last one, I cleaned it up. Unlike the last one, there was more mess and they coughed up a big wad of feathers. It was nasty. I used a rubber glove. I would go into more detail, but I think that’s quite enough.

So yesterday I got back in touch with an old friend (whose name I had forgotten, but she forgave me) who then made my day absolutely delightful by talking with me about fanfic authors who are really good and then sending me to the author of a PSoH fic which disappeared from FF.net a long while back and which I’ve lusted after ever since. That made me incredibly happy, particularly since the author thought it was bad. If that fic was bad, I expect to go into a coma of happiness after reading some of her (his?) other stuff. Ooh, good authors make me so happy…

I want Gravitation mp3s. This means I must download Audiogalaxy, since that is the current best way to get mp3s. I will try this once more, and if it confuses or scares me this time around, I shall never try again. It just has too many programs that can go with it, and the terms of service for something were terrifying. They could install anything they wanted on your computer, without telling you, and record your activities… It was really creepy. My worst conspiracy theories come to life, I tell you.

Padfoot, did I say I was a lazy bum? …Don’t answer that. And I’ll have you know that I’ve done almost nothing productive this week. And I hardly ever check my email, so don’t count on an answer. Xd *slurp!*

Geo: I know you’re supposed to, but I’m god! I’m never wrong! Well, okay, sometimes. But don’t tell anyone. XD

Due to an unforseen twist of fate, the entire large big whopping mother of an entry I just wrote was killed by a single wrong keystroke. Somehow, I am not surprised. I seem to have gathered quite a bit of bad karma, and it is all whacking me this week. Which happens to be my vacation week.

I think I’ll just lock myself in my room now.
(more…)

Clothes I want:
Black Mage
Better Black Mage
Peeved Black Mage
Sorceress Rufus
Hsu and Chan: Parking violators
Mac Hall’s Ian
Silvertales Moonrise
NERV
Slytherin scarf
Technomancy
I am a dork
Mancerspotting

Now that is a great way to start your morning. I love Black Mage. And Sorceress Rufus is now serving as my laptop background because he’s so very pretty. Hee hee! XD

Shan-san: For saying you’re an idiot. I could care less about confusing Tidus and Rikku, since both are moderately annoying in a similar fashion. I discovered, however, that I like Rikku’s English voice much better than her Japanese. More peppy, but not overly so. Yuna’s Japanese was better though, and Tidus’ were tied. Neither of Auron’s voices fit what I thought his voice should be, and Lulus were okay. Wakka’s Japanese did not have the funny island accent and thus was not as cool, but still fit well.

See, Steph? I can appreciate English voice acting.

FFVII so did not have bathrooms. That is something I would distinctly remember. Now, I admit that I have not yet seen Cloud’s “experience” in the hot tubs at the Honey Bee Inn, and rumors of making him the prettiest he can be with an extra hour of gameplay remain rumors, but that’s as close to a bathroom as I remember. …Nevermind. I remember the one in Wutai that you could never get in. But see, there wasn’t one in Tifa’s bar! And I don’t remember any in the Shinra building, just an infinite amount of stairs and elevator passes. So it was too few bathrooms.

Can you tell I took a drafting course? I made a nice house with lots of bathrooms. Very pretty. Badly laid out, but very pretty. ^^;; But there were plenty of bathrooms, and they were very nice.

As far as my luck with grades went, I’m on restrictions (one hour of anything resembling fun a day) until progress reports come out and grounded until my room is fairly clean. But all that starts Monday, since it’s vacation and I’m the only one who stuck by the previous restrictions we had. XD It’s good to be good. So this vacation shall be spent at Steph’s house mostly, with some room-cleaning and fic writing tossed in there somewhere. And Thrusday shall be spent at Dad’s work, since it will be Take Your Daughter To Work Day. And I’ll be able to pretend I can understand all that software engineer lingo. I’ll actually sit in on meetings this time. ^^;; Wish me luck.

Extensive social blogging in response to the wonderful number of comments I got.

Steph: Darn it, I thought I was spelling his name wrong. I just didn’t stop and use my brain. >.< Ah well, close enough. Cain, Kain, I’m sure he won’t mind. *dies as her blood gets sucked out* Maybe not… (Raziel is too stupid. Just in a people-skills way.) And I’m very, very sorry about the comment thing. Very sorry.

Chibi: It happens not to be, actually. But “damn redneck” is. XD

Elise: I like FF8 fanfics. The game itself turned me off, but I’ve found a lot of really good fics for it. It seems that fic!Squall is the kind of leader the game tried to make him but desperately failed at, fic!Zell is bouncy, adorable, but has fists of steel, fic!Selphie is just as annoying as the original, fic!Rinoa is pathetic and occasionally evil, and fic!Seifer is abusive and yet so very lovable. In other words, the fanfics are so much better than the game. In my opinion. I can send ya to some, if you want. ^.^ And I will happily settle for Dir en Grey, because I have no idea how you got to my blog but I am so very, very happy that you’re commenting. I love you. Can I shower you with gifts?

Shan-san: Yes, I want the freaking bathroom! There were ones in Silent Hill 2, but I have never seen a bathroom in a role-playing game. Bedrooms, yes. Kitchens, yes. Bathrooms? No. And they’d have seperate faculty bathrooms, silly. XD What I daren’t ask for is a shower room by the training facility. I mean, every gym has a shower room. Why should students have to trudge back all sweaty and dirty and covered in monster goo all the way back to their rooms? (No, I’m not being a crazed yaoi fangirl again. I’d just like some basis in reality, please.) I did find this one really awesome fanfic which detailed the Balamb bathrooms and how the rising sun hits them just right at five am, and how the steam gets all golden… So pretty… *sigh* Alright, enough of my obsession with pretty bathrooms. ^^;; And you are not an idiot. Say it again and multiple people will lay the smackdown on you.

As proof of my own stupidity, however, (and I risk getting the smackdown myself for saying this) I have been commenting on Steph’s blog for MONTHS without it showing up. We finally figured this out when Steph said she was feeling cheated because I no longer leave comments. I, of course, insisted that I do and pointed out that I had commented this very morning. There was no comment, of course. After a brief period of insanity, we figured out that I haven’t been logged in. I feel so very pathetic. So now I must remember to log in every time I want to comment on Steph-san’s blog… Le sigh.

I’ve had music quietly running through my head in a non-distracting way for days now. Among the songs is the OP to Gravitation, which is very upbeat and which I desire very much. If I could remember Nittle Grasper’s song, I’d be humming that constantly, but it has to be that darn OP. Ack, now it’s the ending song! Next thing you know, my brain will be creating music vids. *curses as the Chop Suey music vid starts playing in her head* OUT!! OUT, DEMON!!

I just realized that my response to Shan-san’s comment was the longest of ‘em all. Hey, maybe I’m getting over that hero-worship thing.

And now I shall clean my room so I can spend time with Steph-san. Of course, since Dad got my report card that might not be possible anyway… *ahem* And yes, before you ask, it was that bad. My English teacher gave me the biggest gift of my life by raising my final grade 6 points or so to give me a D. My Geometry teacher was not so kind.

True, Xenogears and Soul Reaver are in such different areas that they simply can’t be compared. But we can still argue. Who is cooler: Citan, or Cain? Public opinion here, people.

And Raziel is stupid. But stupid like a puppy is stupid. Stupid like I think most human beings are stupid. Yanno, I have a remarkable amount of scorn for the human race. It’s all because of public school, though. Being ridiculed, tortured, and shunned for most of your life does create a certain amount of animosity. Stupid brainless lemming-children….

I took the Technomancy test for what bizzare pairing you are. I was Mamoru/Omi, a pairing which came about because someone over there was talking about Mamoru/Nagi and typed Omi instead of Nagi. I found this very bizzare, as I was expecting something a little more… Well, strange. And for those of you who have watched enough Weiss Kreuz to know who Mamoru is, shoot me now.

I will update after cleaning my room and visiting Steph this week. I’m starting to feel inadequate because of Chibi-kun’s frequent updates, so prepare yourself for a barrage of drawings. I even have an illustration or two for All Through the Night, when I thought I was actually going to finish it. I have some random sketches from when I was trying to draw full-body or upper-body pictures, and I might have that sketch with religious connotations that I drew on the back of a science paper. What else… Well, I could work on a fic, but then I’d never finish my room. Grgh. So many indecisions, so little time…

Steph, you should go read the Technomancy blog. They were talking about Metal Gear and doing bad impressions of Hideo. “I HIDEO! I MAKE METAL GEAR! WHAT YOU DO? YOU DO NOTHING!”

…And why I am amused by that, I do not know. I don’t even know who Hideo is. I care nothing for Metal Gear. But it is Whit and W2, so it is funny. I love Technomancy. I want to buy clothes from them. And I want the Sorceress Rufus shirt found at Black Rose’s site (linked on the left, dummy) which isn’t as hilarious as it sounds. Really. It has to do with combining FFs 7 and 8, and seeing Squall with the Masamune was pure sacrilege. Hey! I finally learned how to spell sacrelige! …Nevermind. But anyway, it was bad. I can’t find the fic those shirts correspond to, either. Durn it. I think I’ll go look some more, since FF8 fics are addictive. Infinitely more so than the game itself, which I still insist sucks ass. Squall was a dork, Rinoa was a twit, Selphie made me cringe, Seifer was pathetic, and… well, the Balamb had a nice layout. And the very fact that you can’t explore the dorms adds so many fanfic possibilities. And Zell was adorable like a little puppy, and Irvine had a certain appeal, and… Do they have showers there, or do they just jump into the water in the main room? Video game designers always leave out the bathrooms. At least they had a proper cafeteria.

…Right. Enough of my ranting about facilities; it’s a curse brought on by fanficcing. I need details. Background. Characterization, which is why I shall never consider writing Chrono Cross fics. Even though Harlequin is a sexy bitch. …Did I just write that? Shoot me now. Please.

And I notice no one clapped their hands yesterday. Well, today you gotta stomp your feet, bubba.

I didn’t insult Tactics, I just said that I’m not that enthusiastic about it. And that the lack of noses is funny. But since I can actually enjoy FFX’s religious bull (which happens to have heavy implications of Christian vs. Judaism type stuff which apparently occurs whenever a religion with a messiah figure meets one without), I figure the politics of Tactics won’t kill me. And since SR2 fried my brain with all those paradoxes and Raziel’s puppy-like stupidity, I’ll be happy no matter what. And I refuse to believe that Tactics is better that Xenogears until after I play them both.

And Rusty? Serge isn’t cute. Nikki is. I adore hair. Hair good.

I just realized something. Getting to the end of FFX has given me a huge ego boost. I’ve never beaten a game, yanno? But now that I’ve proven that I can actually stick with a game and get to the very end, I’m lining up all these games I wanna play. I’m so weird.

This paragraph will be a bitchfest about today and yesterday. Skip if you don’t feel like listening to me bitch. Okay, last night was spent at Kate’s house with Neechan and Steph. We were watching my nephew, but Kate took a few hours to get primped up enough to actually get out the door and go clubbing, and the kid was actually asleep the whole time, so… Yeah. It was okay. Much better having Steph there, since Steph kicks ass. Don’t question it, dear. XD I got in a weird mood and did my nails and tried to look like a Jrocker. So then we went to sleep around midnight, after Kate came back moderately drunk. This morning, Mum picks us up and somehow I agreed to come with her to bring my nephew to the stable. Have I mentioned that I hate kids? I will never have any. Mum brought Grandma with her when picking us up, so I just focused on taking care of Caleb. He was being fine, actually. Give the kid a little positive attention and he’s a sweety. We went to the stable, Caleb has a short pony ride after deciding to be a brat, he and I rolled down a hill about 50 times, he played in a sandpile, and then Mum got very sick. She had a surgery a while ago on her stomach, and now she can’t throw up, but she was desperately trying to. So somehow she got us home, and then Dad brought her to the hospital. She’s fine now, but she’s going back in for some follow-ups. While they were out, I was put in charge of the household despite being the youngest person present. Heh heh. Feel the power… So I was taking care of Grandma and trying to figure out what to make for dinner, and now I really should go start cooking. Even though parents are home. Hey, give me the chance to poison the family and I will. XD Just kidding.

Lisette’s idea of cooking: Frying slices of Spam, making scrambled eggs, and having someone else make toast. I was gonna make chicken ala king, but only Dad and Mum like that, and they were gonna be gone, so the plans changed. But I’m cooking cuz I’m sweet and wonderful and I’ve been doing so much for everybody already this weekend (I refuse to ever haul a screaming, kicking, super-strong 3-year-old into a car again) that I might as well get it all out of my system.

If this sleep-deprived entry made any sense, clap your hands. And consider yourself legally insane.

Drinking decaffinated coffee-in-a-baggie loaded with brown sugar. About five tablespoonfuls. And some milk. Writing in my blog. Talking to Steph about how I want to move to Montreal.

Lisette: I want to move to Montreal.
Steph: Why?
Lisette: It’s got atmosphere.
Steph: ^^;; Sou ka.
Lisette: Atmosphere, lower drinking age, French, and… funny old men who wear hats with that Disney Goofy guy on ‘em and play the accordian while yelling “Who let the dogs out!” with a heavy French accent.

Social Blog!
Shan-san: That’s a girl. Rikku, to be exact. The one on my blog is Tidus. (I will not laugh, I will not laugh…) And I didn’t mean ‘incident’, exactly, just that it happened and I didn’t know how else to refer to it. I find the whole thing rather humorous, really, since I think you do deserve the honorific, which is why I gave it to you in the first place. And I’ll have Steph-san talk to you about the blog, since social blogging is much different from email, which triggers my worship syndrome. ^^;; I’m not good at fanmail, either, so that’s no good.
Steph: I’m not complaining, just wondering what I can do to help it along. ^^;; Unfortunately, I am chronically unable to think up any kind of plot, so… Yeah. I’ll steal Xenogears from you once I finish Chrono Cross, I suppose.
Chibi: …Like you, for example. Because it’s not my fault you decided to draw the poor dear like that. -_-;; Although it is very cute. Very.

Time to talk about Chrono Cross. I’m three hours in. It’s pathetic. Although I’m not complaining about the FMVs, mind you, since I’m such a graphics whore. And Nikki is so… gah. I love his hair. I was staring at his posters and wondering why he looked so familiar, and then I realized I’d seen his picture at Kuwabara no Miko’s site when I was reading her Chrono Cross fics. ^^;; Yes, I read fics for the game long before I even considered playing it. And now that I’m playing it, I desire fics again. When was the last time I read a CC fic? A year or two ago, methinks. Long time.

So, once I’m done Chrono Cross I’ll play Xenogears (or maybe before then, since CC is so tediously boring) and then Blood Omen, then maybe Soul Reaver 2, then… I’ll consider FF Tactics. Don’t even say anything, Steph. I’m doing this for you. I hope you’re happy. -_-;; Damn noseless people…

I know exactly what kind of music I would like to make in a band. The problem is writing the music, learning to play the guitar, and those little things. I can hear it in Chop Suey. I can see it in Malice Mizer. I make funny gestures with it in Oha Rock.

Yes, those are strange combinations. I never said it made sense.

For those who are Harry Potter-literate, I was voted most like James Potter. My friends Renee, Jess, and Nikki are Peter, Remus, and Sirius respectively. And the scary thing is how well those characters fit us. And then I realized that Hermione is Steph without the computer. Absolutely. Perfectly. You really should read those books, Steph-san.

…Niisan said something funny that I was gonna quote. I forget what it was. It was good, though. Maybe something about Gackt wanting to be Michael Jackson. That was disturbing.

Social blog: I wish I could get Xenogears for less than $36, cuz that’s the cheap used copy price over here. The expensive used copy was +$10. *sigh* I’m reading an inordinate amount of Xenogears fics, though. There’s this particular one I re-read before bed and read when I wake up. Id kicks ass. XD
I want the T-shirt too.
Shan-san, I would absolutely love to steal your counter from you. It looks wonderful. I prolly mentioned that before, but I forget. ^^;;
Chibi, Rusty, and Jep all scare me in different ways. Note that each gets varying levels of hostility in response. The sundae really scares me, though. But in a good way.
Technomancy is wonderful. Click on the link to your left to visit them. While you’re at it, visit Sabina. She likes hits. I like referring people. Enjoy.
Steph: What’s happening with the group blog? Is it just a lack of progress because the forum is dead in the water? Did we have crappy ideas? What do you need from us, oh Master of the Blogging? (Sorry Shan-san, but I figured that after the -sama incident you wouldn’t mind if I didn’t call you Master of the Internet.)

Off I go to my therapy appointment. I bring the Tale of Genji with me. I’m finally at page 450 (I know, Steph. I got bored, okay?) and I’m finally getting used to the language they use! It’s so inter-related with everything else and all that… And I came across this one poem and I could actually see the poetic allusions! I’m so proud of me. ^.^

I love me. And for those who think I’m full of myself because of that, heck with you. I love me because I’m cool, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. Positive thinking is a wonderful thing. XD