Black Sunshine

Upcoming games

2011-08-06T22:34:00.002-03:00

Being strapped for cash as I am, it gave me minor palpitations when I thought about how many games are coming out between September and Christmas season that I really, really want. Hell, I've already missed out on games that I couldn't afford. I'm pretty dead-set on getting the Silent Hill HD collection. I still have my PS2 and both Silent Hill 2 and 3, but that series is very close to my heart, even more so than Final Fantasy, so it's a must buy, as is probably Silent Hill: Downpour. The last couple of installments in the series haven't thrilled me much, but I'm such a Silent Hill whore. As in Uncharted 3, as well as Arkham City and Bioshock Infinite. Probably also Final Fantasy XIII-2, the Resident Evil HD collection, Metal Gear HD collection, Tomb Raider and Skyrim. Sheesh. So, okay. My eyes are bigger than my gaming budget.

But, things may be looking up on the housing front. Found a potential roomie, and we're applying for a townhouse. Fingers crossed.

A Sticky End by James Lear

2011-08-06T22:33:00.002-03:00

A Sticky End by James Lear

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These books are pretty fun if you're just looking for some campy detective stories and a lot of all-male action. One thing that I liked about this one was Mitch's growing self-awareness of how much of a giant whore he is (but I like that he doesn't make excuses about it), and that he realizes he's got a pretty awesome thing going on with Vince, and it's just putting him in neutral that he's always chasing around Boy Morgan. I also want to know where this fantasy land is that all men are gay, because I'd really like to go there and videotape it all for prosperity.

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Deadline by Mira Grant

2011-08-06T22:33:00.001-03:00

Deadline by Mira Grant

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A very worth successor to Feed, and this book is cut from the same mold. I did prefer Feed to Deadline, but the first book in the Newsflesh trilogy was a very hard act to follow. It felt fresh (o-ho!) in a world of stale zombie books. It met with all the same sort of cultural beats you expect from the genre, but added our modern blogger culture to it, making for something unique. But what makes this series great are the characters. I personally prefer Georgia, which may be another reason why I liked Feed more than Deadline, but Shaun is a great POV character, and I found his inability to cope with Georgia's death one of the great things about the story. Someone who's so surrounded by death, and still aches from the loss. It made Shaun extremely human.

Can't wait for Blackout! The teaser in the back of the book was just mean.

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The Fire's Stone (spoilers)

2011-07-26T22:20:00.001-03:00

The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really liked the ideas in this book, but I the reason it's not getting a higher star is more because of execution. It's still a good read, but I found the quick changes in POV to be a bit jarring and it took my brain right out of the story. I'd then have to get right back into it, and it affected the natural flow.
The characters were very likable, especially Darvish. I felt a little cheated that there wasn't at least a kiss between him and Aaron, but it's pretty obvious that there would be off-camera, so I guess I can't complain too much. I found that the end came up quickly, and there wasn't as much time dealing with the Chancellor being the villain as there could have been. It was pretty obvious that he'd be culprit for stealing the stone, but I would have liked some more insight to his reasoning and how it came about.

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Hero

2011-07-19T21:14:00.001-03:00

Hero by Perry Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I ended up pounding through this book in a day, which isn't much because it's a pretty easy read. I found it quite enjoyable - having the mix of a coming-of-age gay teenage boy story mixed with the overarcing campiness of a Golden Age comic story. I loved it, but I do have a few quibbles, and that's why it's not getting five stars. First, there were things I wanted explained further or fleshed out more that weren't. Particularly the history between Thom's dad and Justice. I wanted to know more about why Justice finally snapped and wound up mind-controlling his entire team. Thom's mother and where she'd been for so many years also left me with questions.

I also wanted more interaction between Goran and Thom. That stuff was amazing and really very sweet, but there wasn't enough of it. I wanted to learn more about Goran, but what propelled me through the story was hoping to find more scenes with Thom and Dark Hero (I mean, it was very obvious right from the start that Goran was Dark Hero, but I don't fault the narrative for that, because it was meant for a younger audience. And also because it's got its foot in the Golden Age era, where that stuff was also really transparent). The two prior quibbles are understandable because the book's from Thom's perspective, so he's not privy to this kind of information, but with the Goran and Thom interactions - there could have been a lot more.

None of this really takes away from the story as a whole, though. It just probably would have been even better if it had a few more pages.

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The Marbury Lens

2011-07-17T11:09:00.001-03:00

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I debated between three and four stars for this one. I loved the idea, and I always do love the idea of hell-worlds. It had a very Silent Hill-esque feeling, where it was a punishment for something done in this world, or a punishment self-imposed on the main character because of the trauma he went through, and his ability to try and ignore that it happened. I liked that it was debatable whether or not Marbury was real, or if he'd invented the whole thing in a method of escapism. I didn't care for the ending that much, because I liked it when it was all in Jack's head much better. I still liked the open-endedness of it, about which of their worlds was real, though. The reason I'm giving this book lesser stars, when the premise alone and the quality of the writing should have made me give it five, was that it had a level of homophobia that, while I understood it because that's how teenage boys talk unfortunately, it also left me uncomfortable.

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Website

2011-07-16T00:28:00.002-03:00

I've gotten questions about my website. Yes it's down. I hit a really bad financial spell, and couldn't afford to keep it going. I've been posting chapters of Operation: Mariposa on fanfiction.net, though. I may try eventually to post some of my older fics (My Orphanage is also up there).

I honestly don't know if I'll put the website back up, or if it will go up under something different once I get back on my feet financially.

Game Of Thrones

2011-07-16T00:15:00.000-03:00

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I decided to read this after I'd finished the first season of Game of Thrones on HBO because I didn't want to cloud my judgment for either one by intermingling my first experience with the world. I was surprised at how close the adaptation was, give or take aging details. I liked how it split the narrative between some of the main characters, but that's also where I found my biggest gripe - spending time with characters I didn't care as much about. Each Sansa chapter made me want to rip my eyes out, and made her a more hated character to me than even Joffrey (though the chapter at the end where she wanted to kill him still gives me a big grin, especially when I was picturing the actress doing that evil "Stanley Kubrick" face as she tried to advance on Joff to push him to his death. Now I have the dilemma of wanting to find out what happens in Clash of Kings, or waiting until after the season of the show is aired, like I did this time around. Arya and Dany remain favourites, as does Varys. For some reason, I just love how slippery he is.

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Silk Sweater

2011-07-16T00:12:00.002-03:00

So I've been working on a silk sweater for nearly two years, and I'm finally nearing completion. I'm a pretty fast knitter, so this is extra, extra slow for a snail, and astronomical for me. But with school and work, I just haven't had the time or drive for knitting, or for any of my other many, many hobbies, either. They say hobbies can be helpful when trying to break drug and alcohol addictions, and even stave off the behavior because it distracts the mind and gives focus. So, what happens when you have too many hobbies? Knitting, reading, writing, doll collecting, sewing doll clothes, video games, jigsaw puzzles. Sheesh.

Also, last Harry Potter film tomorrow. End of an era.

2011-07-09T20:56:00.002-03:00

Why is it so hard for me to keep up a blog? Maybe I think that my life really doesn't have anything interesting enough in it to put in a blog. But then I look at some other blogs that are simply about people washing their dog *shrug* I don't have a dog, but I do have a cat who hates to be washed. I've probably read 60 books since I posted the review for Frostbite way back in November. I've graduated from school and now have a full-time job, and I'm working on a new project.

Frostbite

2010-11-16T00:34:00.001-04:00

Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2) by Richelle Mead

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is totally my guilty pleasure series. Vampires in a school? Good vampires who rarely drink blood and don't quite sparkle? Sounds really lame on the surface, but after reading the first Vampire Academy book, I actually got pretty hooked, and it's all thanks to Rose. She's a trash-talking, confident, sexy and fun heroine, very unlike the sullen, useless and perpetual victim that is Bella Swan (I mention her because this book series seems to be taking that mantle of Twilight's successor). Rose is totally the kind of story main character I'd want my daughter, if I had one, to strive to be like. She's not perfect, she curses, she lusts for boys. She's not perfect, and she kicks ass, and that's what makes her so awesome. She's not looking for that Prince Charming on a white horse. She'll save her own damn self, and that's what makes her romance with Dimitri so much more interesting. She may want him to screw her into next week, but she's not swooning before him. She won him by having that strong backbone of hers.

The secondary characters in this series are also pretty interesting. Lissa's pretty generic, but she plays well of Rose's recklessness. This second book also brought in some really interesting scenes with Rose and her mother, and we finally got to see some evil vampires, and Rose dispatched them with typical badassery, like decapitating them both with a rusty sword.

Honestly, I can't wait to read the third book.

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A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend

2010-11-05T00:46:00.001-03:00

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are moments where you're reading a book, and the narrative describes your thoughts about yourself so perfectly that the floor comes out from under you, and you say "Whoa." That happened twice while reading this book. A friend of mine recommended it on Facebook, so I thought I'd give it a whirl, and the book will stick with me forever because I was this girl. I still am this girl, in certain ways. Not quite as into anime/ninja stuff, not quite as awkward, but still. The line "There is a person somewhere in the world who actually considers me kissable!" is one that I still wonder about as far as myself, and I've often stood in front of the mirror having the exact same thoughts as Cassandra. "But, I kept staring, as if to answer the question: What had she seen in me that I hadn't seen?" I've lived that moment. I still live that moment.

The story also touched on the aching loss of a friend at such a young age, where everyone's supposed to be invincible, where you don't have to worry about moving past crippling loss. Where your own identity is a terrifying thing, and where a belief in God is reconciled with a belief in the self. Cassie learned that you have to move on from the past, whether it's good or bad. She had to leave behind the greatest friend in her life, and she had to leave behind the idea of her bully, or else she wouldn't have discovered herself, and what it is to love in the wake of death.

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Still Missing

2010-11-03T00:54:00.001-03:00

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I completely *devoured* this book. I'd been waiting a really long time to read it (the library's wait list was pretty insane), and I was spellbound. I've read several books about a woman being kidnapped, but this stood out because it was the aftermath, rather than the actual act, that the book followed. I'm sure there are other books out there in the vein of trying to put a life back together that has been utterly destroyed by an abduction, but this is the first one that I've read, and I found that aspect of the novel even more heartbreaking than the beatings and rapes that Annie had to suffer (not making light of those, either). I also found it really interesting that while 'The Freak' had done so much awful stuff to Annie, I found her mother to be the bigger villain, and reading her selfishness and oblivious cruelty masked as her own pain about being in the shadow of her sibling made me angry. The Freak's psychosis was definitely interesting, but Lorraine's was far more chilling in its self-centered superficiality.

I also found the parallels between The Freak and Annie in terms of being screwed over by their mothers rather interesting and haunting, as well as the beautiful and sad parallel of Annie's relationship with her mother compared to her relationship with her dead daughter. This book told the tale that most kidnapping stories don't - that you're never really found. That person who was kidnapped and brutalized vanishes forever, and leaves behind a new person in the husk of the old, and a wide gap will constantly exist between them.

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Dead Witch Walking

2010-11-02T15:05:00.000-03:00

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison:

3 out of 5 stars

I've read on this site that the later books in this series get better. That leaves me pretty stoked, because I enjoyed Dead Witch Walking. It wasn't a revolutionary book, but it felt very fleshed out in terms of its mythos. It left me wanting to know more about characters like Nick, and especially Trent. There's been a hole in my reading life for a series in this vein, since the Anita Blake books by Laurell K. Hamilton aren't doing it for me anymore. Rachel is plucky and stubborn in a way that skirts being annoying, but that's what makes her real. Am I wrong for wanting/hoping that Harrison explores the sexual tension between Rachel and Trent? I also find Ivy an interesting character because her motives are so veiled, and not in that stereotypical emovamp way, either. She seems far more human about those things, and that's what makes her so intriguing, because it goes hand in hand with her vampism.

Time Lapse

2010-10-19T15:16:00.002-03:00

Wow, no updates. No fanfic updates. Really, I barely have time to sleep right now, what with working 30+ hours a week, taking on even more responsibility at work, and now having school full time, where I also tutor a few first year students, so Operation: Mariposa is kinda being put on the back burner for a while. Even my original fiction is being put on the back burner for a while, which is something that I've been focusing on a lot more lately. I haven't abandoned Mariposa, but I'm not exactly sure when the next update will be. I have quite a bit of the next chapter written, actually.

As far as the sequel I planned for Mariposa, I don't know what will happen there. I don't think I'll abandon the idea, but rather make it an original fiction. I would have been doing a *lot* of original stuff anyway, and the characters just happened to be in the FFVIII world. With original characters, I could do even more things that I planned.

I also don't have nearly as much time for reading. During the summer, I was reading like crazy, and it felt really good since I hadn't done that in a long time. I definitely got use out of my library card. Hopefully I'll start posting book reviews on her with more frequency. But how many times have I said that in the past?

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

2010-08-15T14:44:00.000-03:00

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book started kind of slowly, but I appreciated it in hindsight. Once I got into the meat of the book, hundreds of pages flew by like nothing, and I realized that without the slower intro to Blomkvist, he would have gotten completely lost against the larger personality of Lisbeth. It made me appreciate Blomkvist as a protagonist more, as opposed to him just getting lost in Lisbeth's rather awesome shadow.

Once the book started dealing with the mystery, I couldn't believe how engrossed I got in the book. Initially, I wondered if I would, or if this would be a case of wondering why it was so popular, like a lot of literary trends. But I'll definitely be reading the other two books in the Millennium trilogy.

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Bad Blogger

2010-08-13T16:26:00.002-03:00

Why do I always say that I'm going to keep this thing updated, and then never do? Maybe because I really don't have a life that can keep this thing full. I barely even update my Facebook status. As usual, there's nothing in my life really exciting happening. Work and school coming in a few weeks, as long as nothing funky happens with my student loan.

Mariposa Chapter 17

2010-07-25T19:01:00.001-03:00

Operation: Mariposa - Chapter 17

I know it's been a really long time. Lately my writing time has been focused on original stuff. But, here's a new chapter. Better late than never.

New Chapter

2010-04-27T14:27:00.002-03:00

Operation: Mariposa - Chapter 16

Getting kinda near the end of the fic. Exciting~!

School's out until September for me. I know I haven't updated recently. I guess I got distracted by working on some original fiction stuff (I'm doing a rewrite of Natural Magic and The Wind Spires - Wind Spires should mostly stay the same except for a few changes in the history of Auriga and Piper, but Natural Magic is getting some big changes. There was just some things that I wasn't happy about)

Beat FFXIII. I know a lot of people loathe this installment in the series, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I really liked the cast, second only to VIII's cast. Lightning is amazing. It's actually the first game I've ever gotten a platinum trophy for on PSN. Right now I'm working on playing Heavy Rain, and I'm completely in love with that game so far. I also started playing Mega Man Anniversary collection. I used to be a lot better at Mega Man games when I was younger.

2010-03-13T17:46:00.001-04:00

Operation: Mariposa - Chapter 15

Finally got a new chapter up! The Olympics kinda halted this one, since I got really addicted to watching it. Figured since the chapter was almost done, I'd really push through it since FFXIII is out now, and that's probably what I'll be spending most of my time doing.

I Know, I Know!

2010-01-25T14:42:00.003-04:00

When I switched over to blogspot, I promised that I'd update more, and I guess that makes me a total liar.
It's slow-going on Mariposa, but I am ALMOST done this chapter. Maybe another scene. With Christmas, work and the winter semester starting up, I don't have much time for things. Right now free time is taken up by working on my Kai-Mei socks for the Bloody Valentine Gothsocks knitalong. I don't tend to do things quickly when there's a deadline attached to it. Knitting, renting movies or games, library books, etc.

Opera got a bladder infection after Christmas and now it looks like she might have another one. I really hope not because I just can't afford these vet bills. I actually really hate the vet. Everything's got some bullshit charge attached to it.

Anyway, hopefully Mariposa will have an update this week.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T11:21:00.001-04:00

Mock-Wave001
Originally uploaded by Xarastar

Here's the last of my Christmas socks. Just finished last night. I was cutting it pretty close since I go home tomorrow. I had wanted to finish more pairs, but started knitting too late. I should have started in August. Oh well.

Shoulder is still sore from the accident, but it's a tolerable discomfort (at least for me - I have a really high tolerance for pain). It gets pretty stiff sometimes in the morning, depending on if I slept on it or something. Now that my Christmas knitting is finished, maybe I can actually play some video games or work on Mariposa. I won't be able to for a few days because I won't be at home. I'm pretty excited for Christmas for the first time in quite a few years, since my sister is coming home. Normally I'm only excited for Christmas on Christmas morning, and the rest of the time, I'm a complete Grinch.

Me - 1, Car - 0

2009-12-15T21:44:00.002-04:00

I think one of the biggest moments of my life happened yesterday. And, no. It wasn't a good moment. Yesterday afternoon I got hit by a car while I was walking to the grocery store. Needless to say, I did not get my groceries.

Luckily, the car was turning into a parking lot and wasn't going very fast. Also lucky that I didn't even break any bones. Time sort of stopped, and was looking at the car right beside me, and it seemed like I had plenty of time to move out of the way, and then I was airborne, and then on the ground on my shoulder. I got up right away, though. The girl who hit me was more upset than I was. I was even going to keep going to the grocery store, but then I got dizzy and thought I should really go to the hospital because, while I was pretty sure I didn't hit my head, I wasn't a hundred percent sure since everything happened so quickly.

And, then I had to wait, and wait and wait at the hospital. There was also an old woman there who'd broken her ankle and was waiting for three hours for a cast. Really? A pedestrian hit by a car and an old lady with a broken ankle both had to wait forever. I wonder what the people had that got to go before us. They did x-rays on my shoulder to see if there was a hairline fracture or any ACL damage, but everything seemed fine. My shoulder is sore as fucking hell, but it's all just deep tissue brusing. And, my shins are pretty sore because that's where the bumper hit me. This morning I called into work and said I couldn't go in, because I really would have been useless even though I can still completely use my right arm, and my left is fine as long as I don't have to raise it or lift anything. But, the excuse "I can't come to work. I was hit by a car..." totally seems made up to me. It's in the same ballpark as "a dog ate my homework", because normally if you're hit by a car, you're in traction or dead, not up and standing thirty seconds after it happened.

But, at least I can still knit! Thank god, since I still have Christmas knitting to finish. I also haven't worked on Mariposa in the last few days. School's pretty much all done except for a few final tests and projects that I've had to study for, and then I've been spending the rest of the time knitting. Hopefully I can get some done on it after Christmas. I do still open it and peck away a few paragraphs. But, considering how long my chapters are, that isn't very much.

Socksmas

2009-12-10T23:04:00.003-04:00

Sariska001
Originally uploaded by Xarastar

Here's a pic of the most 'recent' pair of socks I just finished. I actually finished these socks a few weeks ago, but was just really lazy about posting that. They were made with Stroll Handpainted sock yarn from Knit Picks, in the colourway Tiger. They're pretty plain in terms of just being in stockingette stitch, but when you have handpainted or varigated sock yarn, I hate how cables and patterns look in them because all the work just gets lost. These are for my sister, and I'll find out in a couple weeks if she likes them.

School is wrapping up for the semester, except a few classes still have tons of work piled on us. Two accounting tests in two classes, and a big marketing project left. Plus, I had to start going to computer classes for the powerpoint sections of the lessons, which sucks.

Lucifer's Hammer

2009-12-08T18:37:00.001-04:00

Here's the review for the book Lucifer's Hammer that I posted on Goodreads:

*****

The best 'disaster' book I've ever read, and I'm only sorry that I didn't read it sooner. This is a book that I knew about my entire life. It's one of my Dad's favourites, and it was always sitting around our house when I was a child, and it took me 30 years to get around to reading it, too. Though it was written in the 70s, it still actually feels pretty contemporary. We've completely lost interest in space travel, and we're still completely unprepared for a space disaster. I also liked how, despite the time period of the story, the female characters were actually some of the more interesting, though they didn't get as much attention as the male counterparts. Leonilla was a personal favourite, as was the surprisingly brass-balled Marie Vance. The book takes a little while to get going, introducing all the characters before the Hammer actually hits, but it's worth it once all the action happens, because you find you're familiar with the characters and care about them once all the shit hits the fan.

One thing that's also eerily reminsicent even in our time is how quickly we as a race dissolve into anarchy and savagery after a disaster. The whole world, for all our techonolgical advances through the ages, are always only a few meals away from total chaos.

This book should have been made into a movie years ago. I particularly feel that now that 2012 has hit theatres, and was such a wretched piece of empty special-effects. Lucifer's Hammer not only brings intense visuals about the end of the world, but a rich cast of characters who you can actually believe would survive a post-comet apocalypse. Highly recommend!

Homework... blah!

2009-11-30T23:05:00.004-04:00

I told myself that I was going to update more often, and then of course I let it lapse. But, a few days is a big difference compared to my usual long stretches of updating.

Homework has really been mental. It's near the end of the semester, so of course we have all our huge projects due at the same time, plus all the tests added on top of that. But, things are going pretty well, and I still haven't gotten a test under 83%. I have a 5 minute presentation on Thursday for Business Communications. I decided to do mine on Water in Space. Let's hope it turns out okay.

Christmas socks are still going, but slowly. Finished another pair the other day, but I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it. Hopefully tomorrow since my economics class is cancelled.

The level of homework has also meant that I haven't had much time to work on Mariposa. I opened it the other day and wrote a few paragraphs. There's still a lot of good stuff coming up, though I guess it might be a little more emotional stuff from now on, and not so much action, though there will be a few big scenes. I guess some people may have noticed that it looks like I'm planning a sequel for Mariposa. That thought would probably, maybe, someday be correct. I could work on that next, but I do want to get back to Durai and work on Capella or The Black Chapel. Capella is the next story chronologically, so I may work on that next. Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, so maybe that will point to what the subject of the story may be. ;) I'm really looking forward to it, because the Heir Electra is pretty fun to write for. He was supposed to be just a very minor character that lasted a chapter or two, but I just couldn't let him go.

It's MADNESS

2009-11-25T11:18:00.004-04:00

Treasure Madness, that is. The other day, I saw a friend on my Facebook list playing Treasure Madness, so I decided to click on it to see what it was, and now I'm completely OBSESSED! You get to complete all kinds of treasure sets and get all the tiles on the islands. I find it way more addictive than games like Farmville (which I barely played before I deleted from my profile), and the other games I play now - Cafe World (which I'm getting kinda bored of), Fishville and Island Paradise. I even befriended someone I've never met before just so I could trade Treasure Madness items with them. But, she's cute and Turkish, so it's all good.

Had my first couple of shifts at McDonalds yesterday and Monday. So far it's going okay. I got a little nervous when my first time on cash happened to be when a bunch of people came in and all wanted huge orders and I didn't know where half the stuff was on the touch-screen. I also purposely don't bring my wallet to work because it's just too tempting to buy food. It's half price too, so it's just doubly evil. Especially when I was practicing making sundaes, McFlurries and cones. Employees aren't allowed to eat free food (considered stealing), so they just sat there, taunting me until they were written off and thrown out.

Almost done my second pair of Christmas socks. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish all the pairs that I inititally wanted to, but if I get one pair for each person done, then I should be happy. The second pair was just gravy, anyway.

Should Be Studying

2009-11-22T19:55:00.003-04:00

Yes, I should listen to the title of this blog post. Have a Marketing test tomorrow afternoon. I'm not terribly concerned about it, though. My lowest test mark so far was 83, and that was quite a bit lower than my average mark. And, I'll probably be finished in ten minutes. Which isn't actually an exagerration. I'm the first person to finish every test out of my class. The test is mostly just on market segmentation.

So, instead of studying, I'm posting here and watching CSI Miami in the background until The Amazing Race starts. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate CSI, but I actually kind of enjoy the Miami one because it's just so terrible that it's awesome. It's the same reason that I loved watching the soap opera Passions when it was still on. Whenever you turned it on, you felt like you were drunk or high on something. Miami has the same sort of feel. David Caruso's acting is so laughably awful, and you could make a drinking game with how many times he dramatically whips off his sunglasses in the course of one episode.

Tomorrow's also the day that I'm going to try and get a spot in this run of the Gothsocks sock club (they make self-striping sock yarn with black stripes paired with various other colours). Hopefully I can get a spot, but Gothsocks are really, really hard to buy since there's such low numbers and relatively high demand. I've only ever gotten one skein that wasn't a custom order. (oop, he just took off his sunglasses in slow motion!)

Grey Warden Lovin'

2009-11-21T21:31:00.004-04:00

This evening I'm just sipping some pomegranate white tea and watching hockey while I work on my Christmas knitting. Though, my market gets the Red Wings/Canadiens game, and I don't like either team all that much. Wish I was watching the Leafs/Caps game instead, even if it's just to watch the Leafs lose. Again. And, completely break my heart while doing it, since I'm a Leafs fan for life. <3. I don't know what a broken heart smilie would look like. <$...? My fingers are all taped up like I'm ready to go to a sports bar and get in a fistfight over it, but it's because when I use really small dpns (double-pointed needles for all you non-knitting charlatains!), my right index finger gets a big dent in it from where the needle is pressed to it, and the left index fingertip gets sliced up sometimes from the points. I pretty much only love metal or pony plastic dpns, so it's easier to jab myself. Most knitters love wood only, but I'm completely a Hulk Knit, Hulk Smash knitter, and have snapped every small size wooden dpn or circular that I've ever used, and usually only within an hour. It makes me feel like I'm some sort of giant or ogress.

But, this afternoon, I spent a bunch of time playing Dragon Age: Origins. The characters are kind of fugly, at least compared to the last game I played, which was Uncharted 2. To be fair to Dragon Age, ANY game compared to Uncharted 2 is oogly. Right now I'm rolling a Human Female Templar. I thought that I would wind up romancing only Leliana, but I've totally kind of fallen for Alistair, so I'm cozying up to both of them. I know it's only a video game, but I actually feel kind of bad about this. Even when it's pixellated, I'm totally monogamous. Alistair is just too cute and charming and innocently sweet to be ignored. And, he's got Steve Valentine's voice, which makes him extra adorable. Steve Valentine was also Flynn's voice in Uncharted 2, so I'm getting double his awesomeness. Though, Flynn is nowhere near as adorable as Alistair, and not even in the same galaxy as charming adorability as Nathan Drake. Drake/Elena is totally my other hetslash love pair besides Zack/Aerith right now.
The game itself is pretty fun so far. My Human Templar chica is the nice girl (and ironically her name is Rigel, who when I finally write that story, won't be a nice girl). I have a mage character on deck who's going to be my raging asshole character. I'll probably make him a blood mage. His name is Auriga, naturally. And, he's totally going to sleep with Zevran. I mean... how could I not strive for the hot gay elf sex?! I actually love that the homo aspect of the romances is taken as seriously as the hetero. It's not played as some horrid stereotype or some gross-out joke.

This Guy Are Sick

2009-11-20T15:51:00.003-04:00

After classes got out at lunchtime today, I wound up eating lunch with a friend and eating WAY too much food. A giant plate of nachos and Bailey's flavoured cheesecake (yes, it was as delicious as it sounds). Then, went to the yarn store and was totally good and didn't buy any sock yarn althought I felt up a couple of skeins for a while.

Lately I've been replaying FFVII on my PSP. I tend to play it when I'm on my stationary bike. Obviously VIII is my favourite, or else I wouldn't write so much fanfiction about it, and I wouldn't even put VII in my top three or even top five, but I must like it a little since I've replayed it so many times. Barret's horribly racist and stereotypical ebonics, and all the really bad grammar and translation errors have always irked me, but this time I find that it's the dialog itself that's pissing me off to no end. It's not just the bad punctuation or the spelling - it's the content of each sentence. It's like tangent city! Sentences often don't make sense compared to the one that came prior, even if it's being spoken by the same character. They didn't even take into account that when you translate between languages, you have to actually change sentence structure and context, because they aren't the same damn culture. This game needs a remake so bad. Not because it's the best in the series, which is so isn't, but because it's aged SO TERRIBLY. The graphics look like ass and the script is dated and horribly translated.
I've also noticed that as I get older, I like Tifa less and less. Of course I'll still choose her to be in my party over some of the other characters (if I could, I'd ditch Cloud, and have an all girl party), but when I played it the first couple of times, I thought Tifa was so fucking awesome, and I loathed Aerith. I've really softened on Aerith, but still think that she and Cloud shouldn't be together. Crisis Core made me fall in love with Aerith/Zack (enough that I actually would consider writing a het fic about them). Aerith already has a love, and it's not boring-ass Cloud. Crisis Core actually brought about a huge change in the way I saw a scene in Advent Children. The end where you finally see Aerith's face, and she walks away with Zack into the light of the Lifestream. It's like... they finally got to be together again, and it became my favourite scene in the whole movie, by a huge margin. Though, I don't know if I'd like her as much if she hadn't sacrificed her life. That's the crux of her character. In fact, I liked Tifa so much better that this is the first time that I actually got to see the Aerith date cutscene at the Gold Saucer. I know that's kind of impossible to believe since it's pretty much *supposed* to be Aerith there, but I never used her, and was purposely mean since I was pro-Tifa (I still am in regards to who should be with Cloud, though). I liked how she was so attracted to Cloud because she wanted to essentially be with Zack again. Swoon~! But, Yuffie is still a staple in my party. I told myself that I was going to use Red XIII and Cait Sith more this time, but I just can't bring myself to pull Yuffie out of my party. I'm at the Temple of the Ancients now, and am using Cloud/Aerith/Tifa, and it's actually kind of killing me to not see Yuffie there. Best party member, materia stealer or no!!

But, at least I've gotten closer in trying to finish all my Christmas sock knitting. I'm still not sure if I'll get it all done in time, but I'm trying. 1.5 socks down! (8.5 to go, but I'm not going to think about that or I'll go insane...)

New Blog

2009-11-19T16:13:00.000-04:00

First post in a new blog! There was nothing wrong with my LiveJournal account, per se, but I just felt like a change. I also prefer that Blogger has the Ravelry widget, as opposed to LJs 'work in progress' thing.

I hope that since I'm changing where I blog, that means I'll actually try to blog more. And, my first post won't be completely useless. I do have a
new chapter of Operation: Mariposa.

Got a new job, finally. I'll be working at McDonalds. It isn't exactly glamourous, but it's money. Money's always good.