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Oh, why not.
ANON MEME
I got my Arceus. A... Hasty-natured Arceus that likes to scatter shit around. Lovely. So apparently it's crap, not that it matters since I don't plan on using it anyway and it only serves to be my bitch for whenever I get SoulSilver next year so I can raise a bitchin' level 1 DIALGA OF DEATH.
Funny thing is... when I got my event Deoxys back in the summer of '08, it also liked to scatter shit around.
My legendaries are fucking OCD.
I did troll around Toys R Us since I had about $60 on hand and thought maybe I could be totally childish and buy myself a toy for the first time in years. But the adult in me guilted me out of actually getting anything, though there were enticing things. Like a double-pack of action figures containing both Ted DiBiase, Sr. and Ted DiBiase, Jr. There was also cute Pokemon stuff, but nothing that screamed FAVORITE MUST HAVE!!11 Closest things were the DVDs, since apparently they are releasing the newer episodes out on DVD. I saw one that contained the episodes that introduce Reggie and Maylene, and THAT was highly tempting... but I backed down.
Is it me, or are toy prices like mad high? Am I nuts for thinking $13 for a DVD is too much?
... But watch me cave if they ever make DVDs of the Galactic Battles episodes, because you know I'm going to snatch the one that has A Pyramiding Rage! on it. I have an unhealthy obsession with DP128, wah.
I am rather weirded out that Saturday's Pokemon got moved back all the way to 7 AM and was reverted to 4:3 format when they've been doing it in 16:9 since the first Candice episode. Right when we're getting to some of the rather pivotal episodes of this series, too; I mean, this is sort of the point where Chimchar finally evolves and Paul is more fearsome than ever with his evil grins that kill puppies. I think this week it'll be 7 AM again, too... at least I hope they'll get their shit together and air it in 16:9 again.
Also, I saw the commercial for New Super Mario Bros. Wii and I fucking freaked. I have to have that game no matter what. I mean. I was stoked enough when I heard that Yoshi would be sounding like how he used to during the Super NES days and that the motherfuckin' KOOPALINGS would be returning, but actually seeing the gameplay? Holy, holy shit. It's like its predecessor on steroids.
And I loved the predecessor.
Why is everything with Mario so goddamn magical?
I've, uh, let myself be drowned in RP lately, but that's okay because I feel good about it! And that's like, all that matters!
And I think I helped get another doggy adopted; that makes the third I've had a hand in getting adopted since I started volunteering! Cute little Rigley got adopted today. I talked with the folks who definitely wanted to get him Friday, so now it's been made official, apparently!
So I saved Rigley, Moxie Girl, and Lance. Weirdly enough, all three of them are black puppies that are Lab mixes. Huh.
Today, I was mostly assigned to spend some quality time with Amber, who is apparently injured and needs some special care while on her road to recovery. She's a big sweetie otherwise, but I thought that they must trust me immensely to put me in charge of bonding with the less fortunate doggies at the place. We also had tons of fun letting Jojo, Wade, and Stella run marathons in the courtyard to chase and battle over a tennis ball. It was amazing, since all of the play-fighting was all in good fun and it never once got scary. All three are very well-tempered dogs, but we figured they were getting a lot more exercise this way beyond the traditional walk around the street and hill.
So that may be something to bring up next time. They've also been working to spruce up the signs for all of the dogs (y'know, the ones that tell you their name, their breed, age, and any other special traits) since most are very plain and ordinary. Making them full of color and illustrated makes them stand out more, therefore the dogs themselves stand out more!
So I told the front desk people before leaving that I used to be an art major in college and, if needed, I'd be more than happy to help spruce up some of the doggy signs. They looked delighted at the prospect, so I'll be asking about having a hand in that when I go in on Thursday.
Aaaaaand~! I was very pleased to hear this, but we volunteers are getting so loved that we're getting a breakfast dedicated to us on December 5th~! The closers especially (which includes me since I always work the 3:30 - 5:30 shift) are considered the dream team since we work so quickly and efficiently that I can't recall a time where we had a shift that even lasted until 5:30. Still, it's amazing to know how appreciated I am! ♥ It's the exact kind of thing I need after not being employed for over 2 years and being convinced that I was absolutely worthless.
So yeah, lots to look forward to! Things have definitely been looking up recently. I have been stricken with a cold/flu (more likely a cold since I'm feeling tons better today) since I spent the better part of last week and this weekend with a horribly stuffy nose and general congestive hell, plus no energy, blah blah blah. I'm feeling less stuffed but real sensitive/ticklish (like I could sneeze at any minute but can't), so I guess I'm recovering?
Stupid minor colds and crap... you know, I've never had flu shots or anything. For all my bitching and moaning, I am rarely severely sick, so my mom and I never really felt the need to get them. I can only pray that'll stay the same this winter, because last year I was stuck with a nasty stomach virus right around Thanksgiving, of all days. Really sucks when you see delicious food and are hungry and you want to eat it, but can't because you know your body's just gonna reject it. Blah.
Aaaand... that's it! Lost interest in writing about me now.I Feel:  relieved |
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Happy being 28, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) 47nite! (how do you even make that happy I mean)
Incidentally, Travels of the Trifecta! turns 1 today. I think. It was definitely the 2nd or 3rd when I posted the very first chapter on FFN, but since that site lives in the past (aka Pacific Standard Time), it's very possible I didn't actually upload it until after midnight on the 3rd and up until 3 AM it still would have registered as the previous day no I don't know why I'm even going over details like this. But yeah, that fanfic is now 1 year old! And in 1 year it already has... 10 chapters. It took poor By My Decision what, 5 years to get 10 chapters? It's a little sad thinking about it, but maybe it's some symbol as my growth as a writer!
And I've been with BMD so long that I don't intend on giving up on it even though it's been about 2 years since the last update. I've gone longer than that without updating before!!
But yesssss. Haven't made progress on chapter 11 since the first day. Once I figure out a reasonable diagnosis on Paul's rib condition (medfags are free to help me out here), I'll probably be good to go on. I've really just flied by the seat of my pants on Paul's ailments from the beginning to present. XD Pokemon fandom's nice where you can totally do that and no one thinks twice of it.
Also, tentative title for Chapter 12: Yipee Kiai-yay!
Gee, wonder who's gonna appear in that chapter.
Going over the most recent version of the timeline, I think that automatically means Chapter 13 will be Conway to the Danger Zone! based on what'll happen there.
I should probably revamp that timeline soon, actually. We've got dub titles for the entire full battle now, so I've got some name-updating to do and whatnot. I was geeky enough to tweak battlestandby's profile once A Pyramiding Rage! aired (even changed his bottom quote to the dub's equivalent). So I'm already compelled to tweak it again now that I know DP132's dub name. Why am I such a nerd whyyyyy.
ALSO.
YOU JERKS.
None of you ever told me about this!
FOOLS.
... th-that person made me soooooooo happy WHY DID I HAVE TO FIND THIS OUT ON MY OWN. SOME OF YOU GUYS EVEN KNOW THIS ONE AND NEVER TOLD ME GAH.
I-it's okay. It's okay. I just totally died of happy last night (then raged when my internet cut out for like 2-3 hours right after first discovering the first few pics). GOOD THING I DOWNLOADED THAT FANMIX FIRST ahahahaha.
But now it's all good because I feel my has been restored~!
LIKE FULLY AND TOTALLY.
And it looks like tonight is the set time for the beginning of the vacation crash for those of you who were interested in wrecking the peace!
I swear I actually sorta feel like drawing after all this. AFTER I COLOR IN SOME DOODLES because eventually I'll run out of ones to color from kitsune_prophet.
Except now I have to go to the dumb stupid grocery store and rage about how they don't have my Hamburger Helper and my certain kind of Starkist tuna and only crappy sugar-free pudding and ice cream that's supposed to taste like hot stuff even though that's a total oxymoron and
and
... Whatever candy remaining must be dirt cheap. Whoa.
WOO~!I Feel: good |
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My god, it was kinda easy. Maybe it was because I had savestates on my side, though. BUT YEAH. Nobody was even Level 50 when I went in, and by the time I got out, I think only Ampharos (and maybe Feraligatr) made it that high.
Also, Ursaring didn't do a goddamn thing. He was my filler and I like literally caught him at Champion Road. He was the only useless one on the team. Even Skarmory, who was Level 40, managed to contribute to a few kills. I only used Lugia for this battle and then stored it away in the PC, because honestly... I had no other reliable team members. So yeah. My core team for most of my Johto journey was Feraligatr, Ampharos, and Togetic. I didn't get Skarmory until I hit Blackthorn City, so yeah. I do have a Nidoran♀ that's been with me most of the time, but it's only been my HM Slave. I've been having a hard time deciding on a core team because so many of my main standbys were Generation III/IV Pokemon. And the ones from earlier generations that I want/like are ones that are impossible to get in the game (lack of presence or requiring a trade to evolve - latter isn't feasible since it's a rom) or aren't available until near the end of the game, like Sneasel. Whose cruel-ass idea was it to only make Sneasel available after you get 16 badges? ._.
Do you realize how much fucking time I wasted on the Ice Path before I found that out. DO YOU?!
But yeah, now I'm meandering about in Kanto. Not challenging Gym Leaders... trying to see how much I can explore before I have to challenge one. And also trying to get my team well-rounded. I especially didn't want to fight Lt. Surge right off the bat since my small team has a very glaring Electric weakness. I'm rather glad I did that, because it wasn't long before I came across a MAROWAK, which I love, and so I now have that on my team and I'm still leveling her up to match the others.
I had thought of making screenshots to chronicle my journey, but I figured that wouldn't be fun since it's all still Japanese.
Oh yeah, and didn't the HGSS OST come out in Japan on like, this Wednesday? Wh-why has no one ripped it yet goddammit. ♥;
Soooo.... yeah. Halloween.
I saw a dude dressed as a Rubick's Cube while I drove out to get a pizza today. I also came across ice cream that's allegedly flavored like hot cocoa.
Now think about that for one second.
Ice cream.
And it tastes like hot cocoa.
... What, is "Chocolate with marshmallows" too unappealing of a name? Since that's basically what it is?
Also, Jello. Jello is setting traps. I set my eyes on an interesting new pudding flavor by the name of CINNAMON ROLLS the other week ago. I love cinnamon-tasting stuff, I was naturally interested in how it would taste as pudding, so I bought it and took it home and...
It was sugar-free.
I thought I had accidentally gotten the wrong kind without paying attention, but now getting a closer look... there are other exotic pudding flavors out. Dark chocolate... banana fudge supreme... Boston creme pie...
... but they're all sugar-fee.
Apparently they do not make them with sugar. In fact, pretty much all of the non-sugar-free pudding is stuffed on the bottom rack where it's hard to see, as if it's getting phased out or something. THAT WOULD BE HORRIFYING IF IT HAPPENED.
Because, you know... the cinnamon pudding was actually pretty good. IT JUST NEEDED SOME SUGAR TO TASTE PERFECT. And I have a feeling that's how the other flavors are, too.
Now, isn't that just a kick in the nuts? "Oh, try our exotic new pudding flavors! OH WHOOPS. Do you like sugar in your pudding? WELL TOO BAD, WHORE. YOU'RE PROBABLY FAT IF YOU LIKE IT THAT WAY. EAT UP, FATTY."
...
Maybe it's just because I live in Kentucky. I don't know; the state of food where I live is rather catastrophic, because now even Wal-Mart's stopped selling the frozen Hamburger Helper I liked so much. I pray it'll be at the new store that's being constructed nearby, or else I'll have to say goodbye to that delicious, delicious entrée forever.
On the upside, I do quite like these Pop-Tarts that taste like Blueberry Muffins. Ohoho.
I expect my FList is gonna be NaNo this and NaNo that all month, now. I'm sorta used to it after so many years, anyway. Yeah, uh, Trifecta is 175k words right now, people. And it's not even a year old yet. I don't think I need to prove I can write less than that in a month.
Incidentally, I did start Trifecta 11 today. Not bad; 3k words in already! Spontaneously made an OC for this chapter, though it's really more for convenience (since Paul so needs a doctor and with Conway out of the picture, nobody's around to look out for his accident-prone ass!). There will probably be some amount of set-up due before I actually start adapting scenes from Pursuing a Lofty Goal!, but I'm excited for it. It'll be my first adaption of an anime episode, and it'll also be my very first shot at writing for Ash, Brock, and Dawn (and probably James/the rest of Team Rocket since they're fairly involved).
I think I've interacted with (via RP) enough of the first three now to get a good idea of how to write them, anyway! master_of_mon is always a surefire bet for inspiration, ha ha ha!
Speaking of, kyosukekusaragi, relares, and I did some via Skype and we did some ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) pokedressing threads again! Three of them!
Ash & Paul: Opposite Day!
Ash & Tiny!Paul: Pollution Solution!
Ash & Paul: Goodness Gracious, Great Pokeballs of Fire! I
Ash & Paul: Goodness Gracious, Great Pokeballs of Fire! II
And for quick reference, Kyo = Ash, Me = Paul, Silvie = Narrator... and Agatha
The funniest damn thing is, I think I hit the ridiculously low pitch much better as OOC!Paul.
ANYWAY FEEL FREE TO MOCK. We were considering perhaps doing requests, but we're still on the fence about it before announcing it publicly on the comm. WHAT DO YOU BITCHES THINK, HUH?!
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Indeed.I Feel:  sore |
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Oct. 24th, 2009 @ 11:33 am
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While waiting for my medications to be refilled yesterday, I breezed across a wrestling magazine (not WWE's official or PWI) that was quite loaded with information. I didn't pay much attention to one particular section, but it seemed that they would list four wrestlers on one page, give some general info as well as their strengths/weaknesses based on their past history in the ring (and mic). Didn't think I would find him, but there was a little section for Shelton Benjamin after flipping through so many pages! Booker T was on his page (he came out on top in the comparison), but I forget who else.
Still, it's a painful sort of truth reading Shelton's bit. Haven't heard a peep from him in ages (then again, I pretty much never watch ECW, but there I know he isn't even remotely close to the ECW title scene), but yeah. "On the cusp of greatness for 5 years but never making that final step", "a really humble guy who tries to come off as an arrogant heel, making it seem disingenuous"... of course, he's still regarded as the best wrestler in terms of athletic ability in ECW (and probably WWE as a whole) and they definitely brought up that wonderful match he had with HBK in 2005. But I agree when they said with Shelton it's terribly inconsistent with him - he can have some of the best matches you've ever seen with the top stars, and by next week he's inexplicably jobbing to the lower card. No rhyme or reason to it; the bookers just totally forget that he's quite the respectable wrestler when he's actually given a chance. Even I'll say Shelton is not a miracle worker on the mic, but I think he really has improved over the years. The magazine noted his improvement, which is something I liked seeing. A lot of people are still in the mindset of 2004-2005's Shelton on the mic.
I do think that Shelton's still a lot better as a face. Like it was said, Shelton's real personality very much reeks of a very humbled man. And any arrogance he might have is in areas where he totally has the right to be arrogant! Dude can hardly be matched in athletic skill in this company, he is an absolute ace in video games, and apparently he has great artistic skill on the level of professional comic books. I'd really like to see that someday. Still, all in all, Shelton really comes off as a relatively humble guy, because whenever he tries to be heelish on the show, it seems rather hollow. The rare times where he's pulling off the evil act very well is during points where it logically makes sense for him to be pulling that kind of shit. Sad kind of irony, it is.
Guy's 34 now, so with each passing year I worry he'll never get that chance to shine due to his age. Then again, Batista was quite freaking old for a break-out star earlier this decade and he's still kicking (sort of). Shelton isn't nearly as injury-prone as Batista or Rey Mysterio (I only remember one time he was out due to injury, and that was way back in 2005), so he just may have an extended shelf life if he decides he wants to keep doing this in his 40s (or the company doesn't dick him out and release the guy).
Speaking of wrestling, loved this week's South Park! It is pretty sad that I could recognize so many references (Token = R-Truth, Stan = Steve Austin, Kyle = Batista, Butters = The Miz, Kenny = Rey Mysterio) but I was pretty thrilled that this was an episode about something not related to steroids. I always loved the soap opera aspect of wrestling, which is weird. Real soap operas bore me to tears, but wrestling somehow makes it 1000% more entertaining with big guys with attitude problems and violent tendencies combined with some really corrupt higher-ups. And also the crowd, hurhur. Crowd mentality is what makes those live events so freaking awesome. Dueling chants are amazing.
And I must say, after watching some of UFC... "real" fighting/wrasslin' does have a tendency to remind me of gay porn with none of the bells and whistles. It's weird because Shelton is one of the few genuine "wrasslers" in the company (he did wrestling in high school and college with a very impressive win-loss record; 122-10 in high school, 36-6 in college), and unless he was wrestling Kurt Angle (who makes every match look like gay porn), Shelton's style was still widely entertaining and relatively not dodgy. Then again, Shelton's style incorporates a lot of high-flying and tricks otherwise not found in traditional wrasslin', so that might have something to do with it. He's also not been much of a submissive-hold guy (a little moreso lately, but not enough to be noticeable), which is the #1 aspect of wrestling that makes it look sorta gay. I remember his awesome match with The Undertaker earlier this year (it took everyone by surprise how good it really was) where he implemented quite a few rest holds, but I don't recall it being anything like Kurt's insane molestation maneuvers.
Speaking of Kurt, I've seen recent shots of him in the magazines that day, and I have to say it's rather jarring. Unnecessarily bulked up and meaty as Kurt was when he was with WWE, he still looked pretty healthy and rather normal. If you'd like to see for yourself, check this out: his look during his WWE tenure vs his current look (best I could find on short notice; it's actually creepier in color). I can understand the shrinking, but damn, Kurt really looks his age now. The fuzzy stubble on his head and face just really... doesn't sit well with me. XD
But back to South Park, yes. I loved how acting = wrestling (since that's pretty much the truth here), Vince McMahon and his voice that sounds nothing like him but works because it's insane, and holy shit I would not be surprised if somewhere down the road there was a heel diva who got a rush out of abortions. Or maybe I would since WWE's allegedly a PG show now. Sigh. I really wish that wasn't the case; 80% of the funny comes from the vulgarity, y'know? Though I am still amused with the DX antics since it really just cements the whole Triple H/Shawn Michaels ship being just about canon (the fact that they both have wives and children is irrelevant, dammit!!). Triple H going nuts and talking to an HBK standee in lieu of the real deal being absent the other week ago was just priceless. And I still remember the antics HHH went through to get his buddy back... hunting him down at a low-class restaurant, HBK being a failcook, and a bitchy little girl telling him the tater tots suck (before throwing said tots on him). That stuff is great.
They really should do more of that with other wrestlers. And back during the Attitude era, they totally did. I still have a video of where Steve Austin completely owned Booker T at a grocery store, dammit! Soap operas + ridiculous violent antics = FUN!
But yeah, that's my bit on that. I also realized there should be more candles that smell like marshmallows. I had one many many years ago that was a leftover from our first home in northern Kentucky and it was seriously like the best candle ever. But there was no label on it, so I never knew where to find others like that. Now at Walgreens, there's a triple-layered candle (I've never actually had one of those, but I bet they're fun) that actually has a marshmallow scent, except it's lodged at the very bottom layer and is therefore impossible to smell. Sigh.
Once I get some money rolling in, I'll definitely have to snag one. I really do wonder how it would be like working at a candle company. Like, experimenting with new scents and whatnot. Wonder what credentials you need for that job, because it honestly doesn't sound that complex. Then again, the most important matters is what would be local here, if anything.
Still, I have three potential IRS jobs lined up (two Miscellaneous Clerk jobs, one Data Transcriber), around 30-80 positions open for each, all located in Covington just a few minutes away, and a government job like that is the key to getting me out of my rut. I don't think they actually start till January (so I get to spend the rest of this year going to Cincinnati to get fingerprinted again), but I have gotten replies from all three positions stating that based on my history alone, I am among the well-qualified applicants.
So at the risk of getting in over my head, that means that they must see me as a very viable choice. I've never gotten that kind of remark before at any job I applied to before (and I've applied to the IRS before), and now that there's no full-time school holding me back, they can take as well as the freaking want to in getting back to me.
But yeah. ♥ I'm feeling hopeful once again, even if I have to wait~.
Pretty amusing TDA was this week. I was trying to do the math in my head figuring out if they can really afford to keep doing non-elimination reward challenges at this stage in the game (this week's episode was #20 of 26; there are five contestants left and there should be at least one more Aftermath episode in the 25th slot). So I'm figuring that the reward challenges may be coming to an end soon. The little teaser previews are showing that next week's mess will be of the rock band variety, which should be loads of fun.
I'm still wondering when the outer space challenge is. There's a very detailed background for it that was presented before TDA even started and was only shown briefly in the first episode (Harold really liked it, making me think he's definitely sticking around for that if it comes). Guess that's something along the lines of epic-late-challenge, though!
I, ah, made a lot of progress on the SoulSilver rom! Uh, oddly enough, I was lost for a while (bear in mind I never actually played the original GSC games) and ended up getting my fifth badge via Pryce. Then Chuck, then Jasmine. I had no idea you could go out of order like that (since I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Chuck > Jasmine > Pryce).
So yeah, I'm going to spend some time finding a goddamn Sneasel in the Ice Path, I'm going to keep trying to win the Bug-Catching Contest so I can get myself a Shiny Stone to evolve my Togetic (got a goddamn Sun Stone last time), aaaand... really, my last few slots are uncertain. Feraligatr, Ampharos, and Togetic are mainstays. I've got a Nidoran ♀ who's really only used as an HM slave, but outside of that I'm not sure.
Sneasel will take up slot #4 when I get one, of course. I also recently caught a bitchin' Skarmory which I think I may keep. I also caught a Teddiursa, but I'm not sure if I want that on my main team even when it becomes Ursaring. I played with the idea of getting a Bellossom, but I dunno if I have the patience to level it up to catch up with the others (who are in their low 40s).
Hmph. I'd like a Cubone/Marowak, but I think they're hard to get. We'll see.
I sort of feel like doodling. We'll see if anything comes of that. I have been coloring a lot, though. Now having seen Pillars of Friendship! (aka DP129), I also want to start Trifecta 11 soon. And I'm getting graphic resources for totaldrama_rp slowly but surely. I still hate that there's such a shortage of good-quality shots for TDI. If it's still up, I may try the Total Drama Interactive site since that's where I ripped the models for the characters for use in the Total Drama Wiki.
Of course, my mom's vacation starts after she gets home from work today, and since she's not going anywhere, that means it will be a full week of torture for me since her idea of fun is cleaning up the house.
She is so, so lame.
And yes, she's dragging me into it. Doooon't think I'm gonna be in the mood for that BS for sure. I just really hate cleaning. My cousins are like 20 times worse than I am (they're the type that leaves food sitting out in laundry baskets and throws wrappers and other forms of packaging on the floor rather than a trash can), so I'm rather content with my clutter even though my mom acts like it's the end of the world if it's not spotless.
Not to mention I'm the type who operates on an organized mess. So like, even though I have a mess, I know where everything is. So when my mom cleans my mess, I suddenly can't find a goddamn thing. This is my system, goddammit. Don't mess with my fucking system.
So yeah. Enjoy that, bitches! No lj-cut for you!I Feel:  creative Tunage: Chrono Cross - Death Volcano |
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Huh, so early next month Arceus will be given away and I can actually get it via Diamond. Only problem is that it's freakin' Toys R Us again, which is roughly half an hour from home, a miserable drive, and in the end I'll be too lazy to go get it anyway.
Except... now that I'm volunteering in Ft. Wright, I'm pretty much halfway to Florence already. So that might be something to think about, especially since this Arceus is the one that would unlock the Shinto Ruins event in HG/SS whenever I get it. I still wish they did more GameStop events, though. ._. I don't think they ever had one after the Deoxys event a few years ago, because apparently that's too convenient a drive for me. Bahhhhh.
Something sort of related to my volunteering at the animal shelter, actually... on Wednesday, when my mother opened up at the post office that morning, she discovered a kitten (around the range of 5 months old) inside the lobby. We're not sure how it actually got in or if some late-night worker took pity on it (since it was very rainy and in the low 40s temperature-wise the previous night... that's basically how this whole week has been), but one thing I'm certain about is that the kitten isn't feral. He's waaaaaaay too friendly. It was a good thing I had randomly decided to stay up throughout the morning and heard my mother's call about it before I considered going to bed. After calling animal control and learning that they weren't going to actually come over there and safely relocate the cat, I took it upon myself to pick up the cat and take it to the shelter myself. I first figured to call the Campbell County shelter (which is where I live and where the cat was found, even though I actually work at Kenton County's shelter), but couldn't reach them by the number that was listed. I inquired my mother about the address, but the road was one completely unfamiliar to her.
Since I have a terrible sense of direction, I decided not to try and find it myself and bring the kitten to the Kenton County shelter anyway. If they wouldn't take the cat due to where it was found, at least they'd be able to direct me to the right place.
But yeah, like I said, the kitten's a big sweetie. He's even better-tempered than my cat in that he's quite calm while riding in the car with me (Sneaky never stopped bawling in all his 15 years of existence) and for the 2-3 hours I ended up having the cat before giving him up, he never once went to the bathroom anywhere. For such a well-treated cat, I hope that guy just got himself lost somewhere, because it'd break my heart to think of someone actually willingly abandoning him.
One thing he did that kind of scared me, though, was his other tendencies in the car. Of course, he refused to stay inside the box we had for him, and I'm too busy driving to make sure he stays there. So once I headed on the highway en route to the Kenton County shelter, I was quite surprised when the cat climbed up my seat, lodged himself between the back of my seat and my neck, and rested on my neck while I drove. Mind you, he spent the first minute or so climbing over my head and other stuff (thankfully not really getting in my face or otherwise obscuring my vision), and I think some other drivers had a good laugh if they were able to closely look at me in the car. Of course, if I were them, I'd be laughing, too.
I think he just wanted to watch the traffic. Once he settled down and laid along my neck, he was very calm. I, of course, was scared to death that I would wreck and accidentally kill that cat or someone else (or get arrested for having an unrestrained cat in my car to begin with), but nothing happened. It was really sweet of him thinking back on it, however scared shitless I was at the time. I couldn't even see my own cat pulling that kind of thing. Whoever this cat was, he must have had some really sweet owners at one time.
Anyway, I took the cat to the shelter and mentioned where I found him, where they sadly admitted they couldn't in good conscience take him (for the reason I expected, more or less: people in Campbell County who lose their pets are naturally going to look at the Campbell County shelter first, which is why I knew to call there to begin with). However, apparently Campbell County's shelter is very remote, so they didn't exactly blame me for going to the place I actually volunteer at first. They had printed directions for the other shelter handy, and...
... Well, if you guys know me, you know written directions are no guarantee for my sucky sense of direction. Half the time I get lost, I actually have directions with me. So not only is my sense of direction terrible, but I can't coherently follow written directions or maps to save my life, either. I swear the main reason is because I never grew up in northern Kentucky and this area is a hell of a lot more complicated than where I actually grew up. Even if I didn't know where a place was in Monticello, it was so small that I would eventually find it anyway (even by blindly searching) and could likely do so in under an hour.
So how long did it take me to find the Campbell County shelter when I was no more than 10-20 minutes away from it from where I started, you might ask? Two hours.
Did I mention I never went to bed that previous night/morning? So I had been up for about 23 hours straight by the time all was said and done. I can't completely blame by shitty navigation skills this time, though, because when I did finally find the place, it truly was in bumfuck nowhere not even remotely near civilization. I still have no idea what town it's closest to, but that's maybe the one good thing about my navigation. It may take me forever and a day to make it there, but in the end, I do reach my destination. At least there was no real consequence (outside of how much gas I consumed by searching, which I still need to fill up before I leave today) for taking so long; the Kenton County shelter graciously lent me one of their cages so I wouldn't have to worry about the cat wandering about in my car, so he was secured and after maybe twenty minutes of crying, calmed down, curled up and took a nap.
But yeah... it had been a long-ass time since I ate by then, so that plus lack of sleep plus my shitty sense of direction made this pretty aggravating. If I didn't love cats so much, I would have been severely pissed off at the whole situation, but it felt very worth it knowing I was sending that cat to a relatively safer place. If he truly was abandoned, I have a feeling he'll be the kind of cat who gets adopted quickly. Extra points for him still being a kitten.
I was a little surprised, though. The Campbell County shelter is a hell of a lot smaller than Kenton's. Not only that, but apparently every single cat at the shelter gets to freely roam about in the main lobby. Never before had I seen so many cats on the loose at once in a public facility. That's not how it's run at Kenton County, so while the shelter itself is much smaller and harder to find, I figured it would be nice for the kitten to have the privilege of the closest thing he can have to freedom before he's adopted on a daily basis (probably only during business hours since there are tons of cages stacked up in the main lobby, but to my knowledge the cats aren't let out at all in Kenton County's).
Dare I say Campbell County's shelter is probably a longer drive for me than Kenton County's is, which is sad considering... well. You know. I don't even live in Kenton County. And with how small the former is, I can see why they wouldn't need help there. Kenton County's shelter is actually two buildings; one for visitors to look at what's available for adoption (and where I mainly stay, since I primarily take care of the dogs that are up for adoption) and the other is for both people who bring in/surrender new animals and where people formally go to adopt one out for themselves. In the back is the holding area for both cats and dogs who are not available for adoption; that is, it's mostly newcomers who haven't been fully tested out in terms of health/behavior and even more importantly haven't been determined whether they are missing pets or truly feral/abandoned. Apparently they scan all available databases in the area (presumably northern Kentucky in general rather than just their county) so a missing pet isn't accidentally put up for adoption. That same building also hosts all of the medical facilities (whereas the neighboring building is for adoption consultation and training prospective adoptees).
Kenton County's shelter is actually quite modern, which makes my job a lot easier. It's got quite an efficient sewer system where pretty much every floor of almost every room in the left building leads to a drain, specifically meant to be easy for cleaning up after the furry little poopers. There are hoses installed in every room that you can yank out; they spray out a concentrated mix of soap and water, so you can probably imagine how much time is saved by combining certain steps together. Squeegees are on hand to push any standing water towards the drain and they're very efficient. As someone who hates cleaning period, you can probably imagine how psyched I am that cleaning up isn't really that big of a job. There's no such perk in Campbell County's shelter, so I guess I could be considered lucky. I would bet that all of this convenience is what helps us close so early, because I've yet to actually work a shift that lasted until 5:30 (yesterday was closest since I signed out at 5:20, but I swear I spent ten minutes at least waiting for other people to sign out then).
I'm beginning to realize I think I generally just prefer big dogs. Not taking maintenance into account or anything; I just plain like them better. A Great Pyrenees came in recently and even though he's huge (like, tall-huge) and extremely fluffy, he's the gentlest sweetheart and hugging him is like hugging a giant teddybear. Gentle giants just really appeal to me. There's a Golden Retriever/Great Pyrenees mix that was also very well-tempered and beautiful despite being huge. She looks at me a lot like how Cocoa did; big, soul-staring eyes that make you instantly fall in love. I'm hoping those two get adopted soon.
Still, yeah, I can't get over how there was an abandoned/lost kitten at my mother's workplace (of all places) when I'm pretty sure that's never happened before. It's probably good timing that I sort of have an idea of how shelters operate and I knew where one was; otherwise I could've had that cat for up to five hours for all I know.
Uh, beyond all the fluffers, I can say I finally finished Trifecta 10. It's roughly as long as the last chapter, but overall I'm pretty happy with how I executed it. Chapter 10 is easily the most explosive chapter so far and I've planned it that way since the early summer, so finally getting it out of the way feels like a great accomplishment. The beginning of next month is the fic's 1-year anniversary, and it's weird to think how I've pumped out 10 whole chapters of a story in less than a year. Collectively, it's apparently 175k in length. That's just... well, ridiculous.
I was eager for reactions since no one beyond you guys who read this really knew what I had planned for this chapter, and for what I've gotten so far, I'm pretty impressed. :') My writing was so stealth that people actually forgot I forewarned in my author's note that a huge bomb was getting dropped in the chapter. So many positive and good things happened for most of the chapter and it all just goes to shit in the hugest way possible, and now things will never be the same. Now it really just comes down to the debate of which character in the fic has the shittiest life: Reggie or Conway.
I'm definitely looking forward to more reactions as the day goes by. It already makes me feel better from getting depressed about doing some stupid thing I never should've done earlier this week. I think that's why I like writing the story itself so much; it's the one place where pretty much everyone unanimously thinks I'm awesome. It was even a little hard for myself emotionally to write a lot of that chapter down (those in The Know probably realized most of Chapter 10 was just one huge-ass foreshadowing to the single final event at the end). I'm hoping it'll be easier to pull of Chapter 11. That's going to be my first shot at an adaption~!
So like, a huge chunk of that fic was actually written in roughly two days. Much as I hate doing so, I think I really do work best under pressure. Forcing myself to finish this chapter before A Pyramiding Rage! debuts tomorrow was a great way to get my butt in gear. Since that's just a very significant episode in so many ways. XD
Also, ah, wow, I'm pretty surprised that Justin was the one booted this week! I guess in a sense my first guess was right; I had a feeling Justin was due for a shitload of pain (just like Heather in I Triple Dog Dare You! last season) before he would be eliminated. I just thought he would actually last until the Final 3. His random demented scheme to woo Courtney was pretty LOL (since we all knew Justin was crazy anyway, and it's fun watching him lose it), and I was happy that he still established himself as a bad person by betraying Harold. It feels like ever since Courtney returned that Justin isn't quite the Heather 2.0 the show made him out to be, but he's still a bad apple. Courtney herself isn't exactly "Heather" per se, but she's been winning invincibility ever since she returned and she and Duncan have been pretty devious even if they're not officially a pair.
I'm really getting pretty sick of both Beth and Lindsay, so I really hope it's one of them who gets booted off next. I have a suspicion that one of those two will be in the Final 3 when I'd honestly just prefer it to be Duncan, Harold, and Courtney. Harold's sort of established himself as the new Gwen this season quite solidly (by that I mean he's pretty much the protagonist). So one of the girls is pretty nestled in the Owen role (and I think that's Lindsay). Still, Courtney's been shaking shit up since returning and is really the only girl I would want to see in the Final 3 and winning if it had to be a girl. Aside from random returning Izzy. I would still prefer Duncan or Harold to win. And I still totally associate Duncan and Harold's love-hate relationship with the relationship of the same nature in Paul and Conway. The two sets are very much alike, and that's been a great deal of my inspiration.
And okay, I really laughed when Harold read LeShawna's letter aloud in the confessional. There's something about a geek reciting street jive that makes the whole thing so ridiculously hilarious. Princess Courtney was... fucking awesome, too. I loved how she looked borderline evil in a dark purple dress.
Sooo... yup! That's about it now. Gonna try and find some way to waste time (probably meddle with my SoulSilver rom) before I start up Trifecta 11. I will almost certainly post sometime this weekend in regards to that certain episode, too.
OKAY YEAH. That's the plan. Woohoo.I Feel:  satisfied |
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I've now thought of a name for Chapter 11:
Flying Solo!
Variations could be Time to Fly Solo!/I'm Flying Solo!/something else. Mind you, this is the adaption chapter for DP118/Pursuing a Lofty Goal! (aka the PokeRinger episode) and happens right after a major duo breakup that will happen at the end of Chapter 10, so this seems to be another case of an incredibly obvious chapter name I should have thought of ages ago but it only just hit me today.
Chapter 10 will still be Mars Attacks! because that will never cease to be hilarious. That's approaching 10k words. Would have worked on it today if I hadn't been run around constantly. Hopefully Tuesday+Wednesday will be quite a bit calmer, because I am so ready to end this chapter before Saturday.
Chapter 10 will be a fun little number. Second half of a Contest Paul was forced to enter thanks to Conway, my first shot at really writing Saturn and Mars (and their interaction), and some major plot shake-ups. It's going to be a riot. :') So I have to finish it soon.
That's all I got for you now. I am so freaking tired, seriously.I Feel:  exhausted |
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Man. These Scooby-Doo movies from the early 80s are painful. They're agonizingly long and just... horrendously unfunny. Not to mention it kind of kills the charm when the monsters are actually real. And yeah, Scrappy's presence doesn't help.
It makes me wonder how the series survived this long, really. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo is easily the high point of the series (maybe it's what saved the show from going under in the 80s?) since it went back to its roots, had the original cast and no Scrappy, and they made Kid!Freddy awesomely fail.
Suddenly makes me want to imagine how it would be with grown-up Freddy and Red Herring. XD
But yeah, aside from that spinoff, the original series, and the original movies (where they had movie/TV stars from other shows as guests), the franchise is just really blah. The late 70s - early 80s is just an eternal pit of suck. There was that awful one, The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo that not only had Scrappy, but Flim-Flam, who was basically Scrappy if Scrappy were human.
I've never really taken the time to watch What's New Scooby-Doo?, but it's probably safe to say it's at least going in the right direction by having the original cast and having them solve mysteries again. I can't really say the same for most of the movies, though.
And, uh, this may sound nuts, but even though the concept itself remains to be absolutely bizarre, I'm finding Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's to be infinitely more tolerable than Yu-Gi-Oh! GX ever was. The way the show carries itself just seems to work out. Even if it will always be ridiculous to involve srs biz plots with card games, 5D's seems to make it a lot less obnoxious than GX's rendition. It also helps that the cast seems to be much more tolerable. Yusei Fudo > Jaden Yuuki forever. And the side characters actually feel relevant rather than wastes of existence like they were in GX. Hell, for a while, it seemed that everyone who wasn't Jaden was expendable in GX.
It's weird how they use the same formula in this series, but with 5D's, it still somehow feels different. Yusei still wins every duel, I bet, but in his position as a lowlife trying to break out into the world and free his friends, at least it would make someone want him to win because there's so much on the line.
With Jaden, he was in no such position (high school peer pressure isn't nearly comparable) and was just winning for the hell of it. Even in situations where other characters were due for character development by winning, Jaden still won. And whenever disaster actually did strike in GX, it always felt so out-of-place, out-of-nowhere, and what-the-hell-GTFO.
Either way, ridiculousness aside, I am enjoying 5D's. I'm not noticing any blatant 4Kids-isms for the most part, the voices are spectacular (even if it's starting to get weird hearing Johnny Yong Bosch's voice everywhere now), and the dub's theme song is actually pretty easy on the ears.
So yeah. Not sure if anyone else was paying attention to that, but card games on motorbikes be damned; 5D's isn't as bad as I figured it would be so far.
With sheer persistence, I'm still working with SoulSilver on the emulator. By saving a lot (both savestates and actually saving the manual way), I can work around the bugs/piracy checks and I've now defeated Whitney. As someone who never played the Gen II games, I have to say... wow, she is pretty tough. Even with the decrease of one level to her team (which people actually dared to bitch out), though interestingly, her Miltank never Rollout'ed me to death. She was just crushing my guys with Stomp and dared to utilize Milk Drink. Still, even though she knocked my main guys to like 3 HP, I still beat her. Hilarity all around!
I'm still sort of stumbling trying to get a solid team. Croconaw is putting Silver (who I named "Paul", lol) and his stupid Bayleef in their place with Ice Fang, so it's all good. When I first saw one, I decided immediately to snatch a Mareep and make it a major team player, so she's my second-strongest. I've kinda-sorta got Togetic and Slowpoke as my up-and-comers, and I'm still looking for solid guys in my last two slots. I figured this shit would be hard, but I'm determined to find a balance somewhere!
I got a very wonderful review on Trifecta last week, so I'm determined to get that done before a certain episode airs next Saturday! Man oh man, I am looking forward to that. Also looking forward to TDA (for some reason, this week's Aftermath didn't really entertain me that much)!
Also, I'm feeling pretty good about myself since I helped get a very well-tempered puppy adopted on Friday. ♥ I'm hoping to aid in getting another one saved this week; advertising these dogs to people is really the fun part of the job. Some of them are really overly excited, but it feels good to be around them and help them out, making them happy and whatnot.
I really, really love these guys more than people, I swear. ._. Nothing brightens a negative mood quite like having a puppy on your lap. Cats are more like a brief end-of-the-day enjoyment since they're much lower-maintenance than the dogs, but it's still nice to check them out. One kitten climbed up over six feet on the cage door Friday, which scared me and made me think it was going to fall, so of course I opened the cage to snag the kitten, and then one of the other kittens ran out while I was saving the other one. XD
But it was easy to catch and put it back into captivity. It's much, much harder with the dogs. Still, it's challenging in a fun sort of way. Playing mind games with the animals and whatnot~. The facilities are so nice and relatively advanced that it's quite painless to clean up after them. The people who work with me are also the nicest bunch of people. Fellow volunteers seem to be close to my age, mostly female, so they're easy to get along with. It's great learning from all of them, so I've got handy knowledge learned if I ever want to get a dog again.
It's been so long since I owned a dog... I've always been more of a cat person (as have my parents), but I love dogs, too. I've only ever owned Golden Retrievers; Cocoa was the biggest sweetie in the world. If I did get a dog again, I'd want a calm one like her. I don't think I'd want a big dog again, because bless Cocoa's heart... big dogs are always a big deal. All the same, I'm not really fond of the little rat dogs. You know, like the dogs you always see the rich bitches carry in their purses and shit these days. No, I don't want something like that either.
So medium or medium-small would be ideal. Only other quirk of mine is that I'm sort of... wary of the German Shepard breed. Small vendetta; that's the breed that practically killed my dog. In my old neighborhood, there was this really mean and nasty German Shepard who was never tied up. I distinctly recall one day where I was out getting the mail and the dog tried to go after me. I was what, 12 or 13 at the time? Luckily, there was a chunk of concrete that broke off from the road that I could pick up. So as the dog approached me, I screamed at it, threw the chunk of concrete at it (didn't hit the dog; it was too heavy to throw that far, anyway), and that was enough to make it stop. He didn't bother me since. I felt like a total badass that day, truth be told.
However, I couldn't take Cocoa with me after I had to move from southern Kentucky. The only trouble with my sweet dog is that you can't take her anywhere by car. She resists it with all her might (in fact, literally, the only time she's ever tried to bite anyone is when she was being forced into the back of a truck), and she was a huge dog, so it wasn't easy forcing her. Even if you could get her into a car or truck, she would throw up massively on the ride. There was no way you could win with her. I have a feeling my mom and I couldn't afford to take both Sneaky and Cocoa, and where we were going... Cocoa wouldn't have liked it anyway. Sneaky's still not really used to urban life and he's been up here for almost a decade now. Cocoa would have been miserable, so she was left under my father's care.
Had I been there, I probably would have been crushed beyond belief when she was lost. It's... sort of strange to explain it. I was already living in northern Kentucky for at least a year or two when I got the call from my father. The neighbor who had the German Shepard apparently had a friend over who had his own German Shepard, every bit as nasty as the one who lived in our neighborhood. My dad said that both were completely unrestrained and caused mayhem freely about the neighborhood, and Cocoa was caught in the crossfire. She had no means of defending herself against two German Shepards, so Cocoa was severely mauled. Apparently she was still alive when my father discovered her, but extremely torn up and bloody.
Even to this day, my dad swears Cocoa wandered off into the woods on her own and never came back before he could do anything to help her. I always thought (and still somewhat suspect it today) that my dad simply put her out of her misery and shot her, which is understandable. But my father vehemently denies this. This is the same guy who (along with my mom) convinced me for 8 years that my cat before Sneaky, Tom, simply ran away and never came back when in reality he was shot to death by one of our crazy redneck neighbors. Again, that's not something I blame my parents for. I was only 8 years old when I lost Tom, so it was much easier hearing the truth at 16 than it would have been hearing it at 8. Actually, I think I learned the truth of Tom's fate the same day my dad told me of Cocoa's apparent demise.
But there's no real reason for my dad to lie about what happened to Cocoa. Again, I wouldn't have blamed him for putting Cocoa out of her misery. I guess his story isn't that out-there, though. I always heard many animals prefer to be isolated while they're dying. I guess I'm just a little skeptical about Cocoa being able to get far away enough from my dad to die on her own if she was in a really bad condition. Maybe I'll ask him again someday... if I weren't three hours away from home at the time, I'm sure I would have been devastated. I still cried when I heard the news, but it would have been many times more traumatic if I had actually seen Cocoa all bloodied up.
Really, more than anything, I felt hatred for those dogs who did that to her. I already had personal issues with that German Shepard before he mauled my dog, so I was very happy to hear that dog was eventually put down. Now, having grown up, I understand not to judge a dog by its breed, but... you know, it's not easy to disregard bias of that magnitude. So I think dealing with a German Shepard of any kind will make me a little uncomfortable, at least. I don't think I've had to interact with one yet at the shelter, but... I'll be a big girl and do what I have to do. But if I ever get another dog again, it definitely won't be that breed.
I almost kinda wonder what it'd be like to have a Basset Hound. We got one in this week named Derby, and he's a huge sweetie who I could see being a great house dog.
Um... what else? Uh... I'm still not really feeling The Cleveland Show at all. I think I might have laughed a grand total of twice so far. Maybe I'm unreasonable for expecting something freaking fantastic if it's going to replace and cancel out King of the Hill, which has been running for 13 solid years? But really. Family Guy's novelty has been wearing off on me for a while now (the new season premiere was pretty fun, but still, the timing of their jokes has been pretty blah in several instances; like when they keep a gag running for like 45 seconds and only about 5-10 seconds of said gag is amusing/funny). American Dad hits or misses every now and then since it's actually fully plot-driven, and I always thought those two shows sort of cover each other. I don't mind Cleveland as a character, but I really don't think he works as a lead. And I struggle to figure out what exactly this show fulfills. It still has cut-off gags like Family Guy (not as frequent, but still)... I really don't want to call it "the black person's Family Guy", but... ... goddamn. And I really don't find the bear to be funny at all. Am I being judgmental too early on? Maybe. But that's how I roll.
Fun fact: for the longest time, I contemplated making fanart of Stan Smith as Mario and Francine as Princess Peach. Because the latter's hair reminds me of Princess Peach. Yes I have a problem.
I enjoyed South Park last week~! I totally saw the Michael Jackson thing coming, but it was funny nonetheless. I was especially happy when they mocked that Ghost Hunters show; for the longest time I thought shows like that were the lamest things in history. I really don't see the appeal of a show where people are talking to thin air and getting freaked to shit over the smallest, stupidest things. And when something weird does happen, it just feels so fake. I remember having to watch one episode where people freaked out when a glass suddenly appeared on a bed when it was previously sitting on the table. And people were like "HOLY SHIT A GHOST MOVED IT" when, you know, the camera was not focused on that particular area at the time so it's only like, painfully obvious someone just snatched the glass and tossed it on the bed before the camera went back to that area.
Call me skeptical, but I'm not much of a believer in that sort of thing and see no entertainment value in people who look for that shit and over-exaggerate everything. Also doesn't help that they say the same goddamn thing every time. "If you're here, show us a sign! omg we come in peace! omg we understand your angsty history plz speak to us!"
... Yeah, I find nothing convincing about that at all. It just reeks of total jackassery.
SO~! How's that for substance and variety? How many people have I pissed off this time?I Feel:  thoughtful |
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... I totally hate my icon set here. Once I get certain things done, I'm definitely overhauling some of this shit. Funny that I have 124 icon slots here and I have never once filled that up. It's also sad that I'm on battlestandby much more than this account these days, hence why I'm like never ever replying to anybody.
Also!
DP128 = A Pyramiding Rage!
I lol'd.
Well, Paul does throw a shitfit in that episode! WHY NOT!
DP129 = Pillars of Friendship!
Boring. Can't you guys be more eccentric than that? Much as I love the former, my adaption chapters will be named differently, just as will Chapter 11, aka Pursuing a Lofty Goal!'s redux. Thankfully, I've scheduled the DP128 and 129 chapters to be chapter 15 and 16 respectively, so I've got a good while to give those clever names. I'm still faced with what to name Chapter 11, though. I still have 10 to finish and then 11 to write, though. 10's name has been set since like, before I finished chapter 8, so!
DP131/132's titles will probably come in the next couple of weeks, but those two will be merged into one chapter for me, so that makes the job a little easier.
I believe Chapter 10 is roughly half a 8.5k words, and I've decided to do no intermission scene since I am totally unable to think of a suitable one that won't fudge up that pacing. That should make it much less brutally long, at least. I really want to finish this baby up; I just have the final contest battle to write, then the dramatic conclusion and epic split-up, and that'll be it.
Maybe I'm hesitant to split Paul and Conway up and have to face the depressing writing that comes after it? Hahahaha.
It'll be fine. They'll reunite 10 chapters from then anyway. XD
It's... been a while since I've been up this "late". Yeah, I haven't slept yet. Since we're up to a certain Gym Leader's introduction in the States now, I made myself get up to watch Pokeymans this past weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see it finally being aired in HD widescreen (not that my TV can handle that, but still!). Just in time for all those goooood episodes to be aired in the ratio Japan recently put them in. ♥ It's gonna be fun making myself wake up on Saturday mornings for this for the next month or so.
Since Cartoon Network is finally supporting HD widescreen, I wonder if this means the new Total Drama Action episodes will be aired in their proper ratio. I've already noticed the episodes they already aired have not done so as far as I've seen (it seems they literally started this on Saturday?). With Total Drama, surprisingly, the 4:3 ratio is troublesome. So I really do hope that TDA changes in tune with the other shows from now on. I can even tell without seeing it how cropped Stoked is. When Canada's got the edge on this shit over us, that is sad.
I loved TDA last week. The promos really made me think of Who Wants to be a Superhero?, one of the few reality TV shows I actually liked. Nice to see LeShawna didn't exactly go out as I figured she would, but is now gone nonetheless. They really do seem to be making Harold the new Gwen this season. He's been the underdog with surprisingly good skills who constantly faces adversity just like she did, though Duncan's nowhere near as evil as Heather was. Even Justin seems considerably less evil ever since Courtney came back, though his insistence on keeping a guy's alliance going shows he still has his cunning, even if he doesn't believe it's still there!
It's an Aftermath show this time around, and I'm quite interested in how things will develop this time around. I feel pretty smart sticking to what the original spoiler sheet said (this was found by people before Izzy, Owen, Heather, and LeShawna were eliminated); I know soon after that the sheet changed, having people like Duncan marked out and randomly marked DJ and Geoff as returning to the game, and I had a feeling that was only to throw people off. So from now on, it seems to be anyone's game. I think, anyway.
Personally, I'm getting a bit tired of Lindsay and Beth and would want them gone next. I want Justin to be in until the final three, then Harold, then Duncan or Courtney; doesn't matter there. If Izzy comes back, she's welcome to that as well. XD
However... I am getting a sinking feeling that Duncan is next. They're having an eerie trend of deliberately eliminating people who made it past the merge last season first (the ones who didn't make it to the merge then were Justin, Beth, Harold, and Courtney; they're all still alive and kicking as of now this season). Duncan made it to the final four last season, so there is a big red X on him in that respect, but it does seem a bit too soon. The only other post-merge one left is Lindsay, and like I said before, I wouldn't mind her going at this point. She and Beth both out-lasted Heather, so they got their revenge.
Main reason I think Duncan might be dead in the water post-Aftermath is mainly the title of the episode for next Thursday: Princess Pride, allegedly on fairy tale challenges. I can see... pretty much everybody except Duncan pulling that shit off. I guess we'll see!
Also of major importance that happened last week was...
( A Trailer! For Total Drama: The Musicaaaaaal~! )
Anyway, that was an exciting and unexpected treat, seeing as we're still quite a bit of ways from finishing TDA at the moment!
Okay mother call me already, sheesh. I'm supposed to drop my car off for her at some point this morning... that's why I stayed up in the first place. Now watch my sleep schedule get messed up when I went so long having it be semi-normal compared to how it was before that.
Geez. Wanna get to bed so I can wake up and DO DO DO stuff!I Feel:  excited |
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So after the week-long rainfest, it looks like the summery weather is gone for good. ... Blah, probably isn't a good sign when it's the high fifties and I need a blanket already.
Eeeyah, haven't posted much here since there isn't... really much to talk about. There will probably be more of that relatively soon, but until then, the mundaneness continues.
Uh, one thing is starting to piss me off... there's this one dude on ff.net who keeps Favoriting the same story of mine over and over again. Twice today, in fact. This has been going on for like, what? Over a month now? Who the hell does that?
The only explanation I can think of is maybe that's their subtle way of "reminding" me that my story exists and to update ASAP, but if that's the case, as much effort this person puts into favoriting my story over and over again, why the fuck did this person never review? Or like, ask me a question personally? What the hell is this passive bullshit? Don't get me wrong; I feel like a jerk hassling others for reviews since I'm every bit as lazy about it, but nobody else invests their time in favoriting my goddamn story over and over again. That doesn't flatter me, you know. It makes me feel awkward knowing a freak like that is a fan of my writing.
... Yeah, I do need to get back to writing on it. Still stuck in the same scene as before. I'm willing to half-ass it now just to get to the scenes that matter and finish this chapter already. But assholes like that almost makes me want to spite them. At least all of this slacking off gives me no chance of having to wait for the anime in any sense of the word. Just three more weeks until dubs of the good stuff comes. ♥ Shoot, even this weekend is the beginning of dubbed!Candice (meaning I'll have to force myself to be awake in the morning for the next several weekends to come).
Uh, outside of trying in vain to work SoulSilver via emulator, nothing much has been going on. Nintendo really went all-out with their anti-piracy checks this time around, I guess. The game likes to freeze during various points and now I'm pretty much stuck on the second Sage of Sprout Tower in Violet City. I'm pretty sure I'm stuck, anyway. I did think I was stuck during the segment where Gold/Hibiki "shows" me how to capture a stupid Ratatta until that finally unglitched itself somehow. Maybe I'll get lucky and that'll happen again? I swear the HS/SS music is entirely like a little slice of heaven.
I should go hunting for that music soon. Some crazed fan should be determined to record the tracks until the OST comes out. That's shit I wouldn't mind having on loop.
Guess that's it. Not in the mood to tl;dr you guys today. Not when I'm shivering.I Feel:  cold |
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By total surprise, last week featured two new episodes of Total Drama Action instead of one - first on the usual premiere day, Thursday, and the second was spontaneously announced for Sunday night after the new one aired. Of course, after having to wait over two months for new episodes due to Teletoon being a butt (have they even aired anything after Ocean's Eight - Or Nine yet?!), I am totally okay with this, because now it's confirmed who got canned after Owen. It was indeed one of my two primary suspects (and I assume the other one will be getting hers next go-around). Incidentally, two of the three titles that were posted on TV.com before they aired turned out to be correct. So since One Million Bucks, B.C. and now Million Dollar Babies are confirmed, I assume that leaves the final one listed, Dial M For Merger to almost definitely be what's coming to the table next Thursday (seems we're getting a repeat of our little "bonus" from the weekend). That one had some more specific information as opposed to the others, basically saying that the Screaming Gaffers and Killer Grips will merge in that episode. The episode name insinuates as much, so I guess that's what's going to happen.
Merging with seven remaining seems sort of weird. For TDI, the teams didn't merge until only ten of the original twenty-two were left, but then again, thinking it over... seven's probably logical enough since that's half of fourteen, which is how many contestants TDA started out with.
( Okay, now I'm gonna talk about the new stuff this week, but mainly what aired last night. And I'm also talking about RPing, hurhur. )
I never did talk about how my volunteering day went, did I? Well, they liked me enough to sign me up for two more days this month~! Tomorrow and then next Monday. Same schedule as before. We actually finished early on the first day, so everyone was in a good mood about that. I really enjoyed the experience. It was surprisingly a lot of hard work since my job was primarily with the dogs. I haven't owned a dog since I was 14 years old (almost 10 years ago). Even then, Cocoa was so sweet and mild that I hesitate counting her, because these dogs at the shelter are fucking wild. I don't like dogs nearly as much as cats, but I enjoy most dogs nonetheless. I sort of have a vendetta/reluctance towards German Shepards since that was the breed that brutally murderized my dog and terrorized me in my own neighborhood for my last couple of years in southern Kentucky. I guess if they're nice, I can deal. It's just sort of a traumatic thing for me. Thankfully, that's about the only dog-related grievance I can remember.
Walking Emma was both amusing and a pain in the ass, mainly because she was one of the "smart" dogs. Smart in the sense that she loved playing tug-of-war and knew how to win that game: by jumping up and trying to snag my end of the rope further and further up until she was pretty much biting my hand. Add that with constantly wrapping herself up in the leash and running way too fast for me to keep up... ahahaha. A lot of the dogs seem to be just as hyper. And there are sooooo many. It'll be fun trying to keep up with which ones to work with, memorizing names... so many names. At least it's just two hours at a time and other people are helping. Only thing that really grates me is how loud the dog kennel often is, and how it's practically impossible to relay messages in there. The numerous barks reverberate off the walls of the room, so that creates a powerful damn echo. With that, no other noise can really get through, and when I was being taught the ropes of the place, it was very often in that room. Things are awfully fast-paced in this area, and I felt bad asking those poor guys to repeat themselves after every other sentence.
At least the building is modern and very cleverly-designed. Cleaning up the nasty stuff is relatively painless. Mind you, I grew up in an area that smelled of cow manure so often that I got used to it, and that crap smells ten times worse than anything a dog or cat could make. So hosing stuff down the drain? Piece of cake.
Even though I hate cleaning on principle and I'm not good with fast-paced work, I think I did pretty well there. I must have if they wanted me to come back, anyway. Exhausted as I was, I came out of there feeling pretty damn awesome about myself. Even though I didn't get any money out of it, I was helping out some really cute animals. Cats and dogs melt my heart something fierce, so helping them in any way makes me feel better about them and myself. I'm not sure if this is a sign that this is my destined area of expertise or not. I don't know what the requirements would be to make a living in this profession, and I'm not sure if I have the emotional strength to carry on when something tragic happens. I've only had to really deal with the deaths of my fish. Every cat and dog I've ever owned have been dodged bullets. Sneaky will be the first major pet of mine who I'll have to deal with directly when he dies. He turned 15 this year and he's beginning to look his age now, so I feel it's going to come soon. He's been in my life since I was seven years old, so naturally I don't expect to handle his death well. If I can move on from it well enough, I'll know whether or not this area is right for me.
It it kind of sad when I saw the kittens while I was over there, and my first thought was "I'll have to pick out one of these sooner or later - I don't want another mackerel tabby cat since that'll just remind me of Sneaky, so what other kind of cat would I want?". I really do miss having a kitten around. Those things are just little balls of happiness.
If they weren't so damn rare and expensive, I would totally want a Savannah. I have an affinity for the wild kitties. One of my crazy, out-there, never-gonna-happen dreams is to one day own a pet tiger. One that loves only me, sleeps in bed with me, and protects me from everything that threatens me. ♥ Plz to be domesticating more wildcats and make them afforable.
... Ahaha, I had a massive food coma last night and passed out around 10:30. That was embarrassing, so sorry to everyone I didn't reply to then. Garlic bread is rather powerful in its ability to knock me out when I least expect it. I was a bit bummed since that meant I missed the last bit of Raw where Trish Stratus was the guest host. Only my favorite female wrestler ever. At least I got to see Jericho+Trish snarkage; that was beautiful. And uh... do I really need to comment on the Jeff Hardy arrest thing? Other than L O L...? Since I sort of figured the dude never had any intention of going clean and this makes his fans cry and it means CM Punk was right all along. I heard they wasted no time using that incident to CM Punk's advantage at this past Sunday's PPV. My god you just can't write that shit of the genius variety.
I actually downloaded SoulSilver and the bare-bones translation patch (only translates the battle script) a few days ago. Having emulation issues, though, so I didn't get very far at all. Game likes to lock up after my first battle with Silver when Gold/Hibiki wants to show me something, so he walks offscreen and... never comes back, hahaha. I think my iDeas emulator would run it better, but for some reason won't play the sound, so that sucks. Oh well. I spoiled myself silly with everyone else's findings, and that just makes me want the game even more and oh god why April. Maaaaan this so isn't far.
Huh... guess Whitney's mouth was just open after all in that one screencap I posted last time.
... Lordy this entry is long. I should end this nonsense.I Feel: peaceful Tunage: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - Romance |
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Even though I never actually played any games from Generation II, this is easily my favorite wild encounter music out of every generation and it sounds so fucking lovely remixed on a DS. I sort of agree with the comments that are like "holy shit I'm going to actually enjoy random encounters in this game" because... damn. ♥
An OST for HGSS needs to come out, like... yesterday. Yeah, I know it won't actually be released in Japan for another day or so, but they really should churn out full-fledged OSTs closer to the game releases. I can't imagine how long it took for Diamond & Pearl's OST to come out after the games were released. GOOD MUSIC IS ALWAYS HARD TO FIND. I'm still waiting for Italy to bring a clear version of Believix, goddammit. I... really like the music of D/P, come to think of it. I haven't listened to all of GSC's tracks, but I still believe Route 225's music is fucking beautiful. ._.
Now... if only I had someone else's DS handy, I would be pretty pumped about the fact that one can immediately trade old Pokemon from other games very very early on. Anyway... yes. I'm such a weakling for video game music it's almost not funny.
I expect tonight to be exciting! I'd... best go ahead and get my shower now. Volunteering starts in a little over a couple of hours.I Feel:  pleased Tunage: Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire - Fallarbor Town |
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So, just a heads-up for the sake of clarity: I hate, hate, HATE people who take the passive-aggressive backstabbing route when it comes to dealing with issues with their friends. So if you have issues with what I do? I'd appreciate being confronted with it rather than finding out on my own when you randomly bring it up out of nowhere in a situation that has nothing to do with me.
Normally when I have issues with fellow acquaintances, I have the decency to be up-front and honest about it. I don't like making a spectacle out of issues the entire world doesn't need to know about. But this time, it's simply not worth the extra effort to take the high road. So do me a favor and take a hike. You're out. You want to use me as an example in an attempt to make yourself out to be a misunderstood, victimized guy? Right, because you had such a hard time "tolerating" my material because someone totally held a gun to your head and made you read it. I never even interacted with you. So have the world's smallest violin; it's on the house.
I desire no BS excuses. No rebuttals. Stuff like this constitutes as three strikes in itself, because you're obviously untrustworthy. So yeah. tl;dr: GTFO.
As for the rest of the FList, I already defriended the dude so it isn't any of you I'm referring to. All the same, if you have a problem with me, I would appreciate being told about it. Trust me; keeping it from me pisses me off a lot more than outright confronting me. I'm not going to eat you alive, geez. Can we understand this? Comply with this? Is that not too difficult to do?
Life lessons to go by, people. They are quite valuable.I Feel:  frustrated |
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HEY MOTHERFUCKERS FROM SEREBII
WE JAPANESE ENJOY HGSS THREE MONTHS BEFORE YOU LOL
WE ARE SUPERIOR TO ALL THE POOR CAUCASOIDS!!!
Three months? Try eight.
I don't know why extremely rude and xenophobic Japanese 2channers amuse me, but in a morbid sense, they sure do. I guess it's the whole racial stereotyping thing in play, because you know, the Japanese are usually portrayed as a polite bunch. Then other things, depending on the situation. But this? Certainly not. XD
I like the general assumption that everyone from Serebii.net is from the same country, too. Because some of those poor souls are waiting even longer than "three" months for HG/SS! Well, as a general rule when it comes to video games, anyway. :') Barring certain exceptions, people from Europe seem to have to wait at least a month (usually longer) to get their PAL releases after the USA gets English releases.
I'm not one of those cases, at least. I'll have myself a copy of SoulSilver on what seems to be April 4th. Well, hopefully I should have my own money by then. This game sadly gets released about four months after my birthday, so bahhh. I honestly cannot think of one positive thing about having a January birthday except for maybe "Well at least it's not a December birthday!". Then again, April isn't exactly surprising since I believe this is routine. D/P was also released in September of '06 in Japan, opposed to April of '07 in the states.
While we of the non-Japanese variety don't get a game, at least we're getting some good information and screencaps to see just how things really look. I expected the games to be leaked at some point this week (still a couple of days left before it's actually released in stores in Japan), so today's a good day as any to start out. Especially since tomorrow morning's bringing about an actual evil Togepi on Japanese airwaves and after that wonderful nonsense, we'll have a preview containing SOUL KOTONE, who's our female trainer for HG/SS.
Someone whom, since the day she was revealed (when was that, May?), was debated in regards to identity. Basically, whether or not she's a new character or just Kris revamped to the point where if she didn't have pigtails, you'd never ever think it was Kris in the first place. I banked on the former and that turns out to be the deal. Thing is, I remember this being debated about a lot whereas I just shrugged and assumed she was new and moved on.
Anyway, since I'll be watching the anime on Keyhole TV about 15 1/2 hours from now, I may consider taking screencaps from the preview (maybe even the episode when it airs). Only thing is that Keyhole's quality is very blah, and people with access to a better quality set often don't take long to start throwing out pictures. Especially for something as big as this. Still, I was crazy enough to do this when DP128 first aired and somehow managed to be the first one to show off younger-but-still-looks-the-same Paul and younger-Reggie-who-doesn't-wear-an-apron in the forums.
Speaking of DP128, there may be a dub title available as soon as next week for that one. ♥ Dub titles are available all the way up to DP126, which introduces Candice. Since DP125 and 126 were revealed the same day (125's Cherubi filler), logically 127 and 128 would be unveiled together. I think they often come in twos.
That puts the dub of DP128's date at October 17th, a little more than a month from now. This'll be excellent since that starts of a huge glob of episodes which I'll need to adapt for the story that are all bunched together. The last part of the Ash/Paul full battle should then be coming and going on November 14th. That's the cutoff point, and, barring any future appearances slated down for the asshole (which I'm not expecting to be anytime soon since he just appeared in three episodes almost consecutively), the point of no imminent commitment. So that will be mighty liberating, even if I'm not progressing as fast as I would like.
Chapter 10 is over 8k and now I'm just stalling, trying to think on the details on the intermission scene before the last battle. Needs to be long enough to feel like it wasn't just blatantly thrown in there to keep up the pacing, but short enough to overtake the whole goddamn story. The first battle averaged around a little over 2k words, so provided I can control myself, this chapter's monstrous length should remain a non-issue.
So I snooped around on 2ch for screencaps. There's probably more, but this is the most interesting one so far. I know Morty got a very drastic redesign, but I haven't seen the full sprites for Falkner, Bugsy, and Whitney yet. Still, I remember that the Jasmine sprite was shown in commercial shots (though it was too hard to make out very much) and I could have sworn she was wearing green when she normally wears white. So taking that and Morty's new wardrobe into account, I wouldn't be surprised if all the Gym Leaders have gotten an overhaul in terms of design.
What's most jarring to me is that Whitney has HUGE-ASS LIPS now. Oh my god those are horrifying. I guess I only really care because I happen to share a name with her, but STILL.
(I lol'd when they said all of Bugsy's Pokemon are female despite being male in the original games. Considering Bugsy's gender ambiguity that haunted him since GSC, I find that incredibly hilarious)
Animal shelter volunteering is tomorrow! Also tomorrow is actual new TDA! My guess is that this'll just be a reward challenge episode, but should be entertaining nonetheless. Duncan and Courtney get into it and that's going to be fun to see.
This is a gloriously psychotic time. ♥I Feel:  jubilant |
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Well, Trifecta 10 has jumped up from less than 200 words to nearly 7k words just in the span of Friday itself. And I would have gladly written even more this weekend, but my digestive issues that popped up Thursday night still continue to torture me well into Sunday. Granted, I've been feeling a little better today since it finally dawned on me to take the Pepto-Bismol that's been sitting there and collecting dust. Eating garlic bread also helped immensely for the time being; I should have thought of that ages ago. Bread's eerily good for snuffing out the vicious stomach acids. ♥
Still, I'm pretty sure this kind of thing isn't supposed to last almost 4 consecutive days. If it doesn't clear up by Tuesday, I'll be seeing a doctor. Apparently I'm not running a fever, so my mother doesn't believe it's a virus. Could be a menstrual complication. It's not my week, but I had two periods last month, so I'm actually really confused as to when to expect my next one. Body could be going crazy because it doesn't know, either?
Since I'm feeling a bit better, I'm ready to resume writing Trifecta 10, and hopefully it shouldn't take too long to get done. Though it just seems so small at 7k words. Saturn and Mars have already had a lengthy conversation, there was a small Reggie+Maylene scene to start out the chapter, and then there's part 2 of the Contest. In addition to all that, I have to set up even more foreshadowing than I have already in this chapter. The foreshadowing I've cemented into the story has actually depressed me a little. Not like, BAAAAAWWW-depressed, but knowing what's going to happen by the end of the chapter almost makes me feel sorry for both Conway and Paul, the latter of which is going to be a huge fucking asshole by the end of the chapter.
And it's funny. It seems just as I make Paul experience significant character development and other characters are noticing him changing for the better, he suddenly turns around and does/says something absolutely horrible... putting him back at square one. :') That's certainly going to be the case for this chapter. But it's alright. Even though Paul will be a huge, nigh-unforgivable dick in this chapter, the one after that will begin the effects of all the bad karma Paul's racked up. Why yes, the LOSING STREAK. It's going to kick ass. Plus that'll be the chapter when I officially introduce Ash, Brock, and Dawn. And Team Rocket. Here's me praying that all of the RPing I've done at PD over the summer has me prepped for how to write most of them.
Even though I'm not even at the 7k mark as far as length goes for this chapter, though, I'm concerned about the length it'll end up upon completion. I'm also a little "ehhhhhh" about writing three Contest battles in a row. Paul vs Janelle is necessary, since Janelle's an extreme bitch who needs to be taken down. I've actually given her lackey, Mina, a little bit of development, which makes her turn out to be a bit more of a sympathetic character. Because of her position, it doesn't seem necessary to fully write out the Conway vs Mina battle. Conway will get his moment of stardom when he faces off against Paul in the finals, but I don't think it's necessary to write out Conway vs minion, especially since the Paul vs. Janelle battle is going first.
I'm not sure how to actually "skip over" the second semifinal match without it seeming awkward. Only thing that comes to mind is perhaps setting up the future mess that'll occur at the end of the chapter, but that's something I'm not sure about. Might be the only option. I'm not good enough to write out three straight Contest battles decently, and writing out all three will just rack up a lot of unnecessary length. I want Chapter 10's finale to be epic, so cutting out one Contest battle seems like the logical thing to do.
Still, I didn't expect to do so much foreshadowing and character development early on in the chapter. I'm bringing the pain, because now most of this chapter will be foreshadowing right up until everything goes to shit. Though only people who talk to me a lot/read this journal extensively would know where to spot all of the hints I'm dropping like a bomb. Hm... I could have another mental freakout moment with Paul while Conway vs Mina is going on. A few people indeed caught on to the weirdass "memory" he regained after falling off a cliff, so it wouldn't hurt to develop that. It's much easier to write out than Reggie's moments of insanity, that's for sure. I'll also need to remember to foreshadow good things, like Conway's next capture.
Need to totally take advantage of the downtime while I have it, so... god damn you, stomach, cooperate. I'm going to freaking do this!
... And before I know it, I'll be like, going crazy trying to find a suitable chapter name for 11, which'll be the adaption of DP118/Pursuing a Lofty Goal!. I have a feeling it's going to have to involve a pun involving rings, though. JUST A HUNCH.
( Okay I'm totally stealing a meme. )I Feel:  sick Tunage: Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out |
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THE POKEMON FRIENDING MEME ★
Because lord knows you all want to defriend me and then friend me again. ♥
So YAY for no wacky shit going on and TDA is continuing as normal as far as the US is concerned. Not sure if the title is official yet, but it seems the next episode is indeed the one that was listed as One Million Bucks, B.C. Just a hunch since all the characters were dressed as CAVE PEOPLE and beating each other silly. Oh lord, it's been like over two months since there was any new TDA. I wonder if Teletoon might actually play this on Sunday. Either they'll be four days behind or five days ahead. Surely there will be torrents available if the latter turns out to be true.
HELL YES to the anime version of Palmer in Pokemon D/P, too. He more-or-less played out the way I hoped he would: as the Homer Simpson to Barry's Bart. So now imagine Barry telling you to eat his shorts. Because he would. So it's a relief knowing I won't have to change anything major when the time comes to include Palmer in the story. Now it would be all but a certainty that if the three were childhood friends that Byron and Palmer would both drive Brandon fucking berserk if he didn't keep their asses in line. In relation to the story, Pokesho made me the happiest little girl in the world. ♥
Now all I need to do is get my butt in gear and actually write Chapter 10. It's still sitting at a pitiful 177 words, if I'm not mistaken. Hopefully I'll be over this sudden bout of major indigestion before the day's over. Right now it's currently killing me hard. It's a for-sure killer for the inspiration and I've hardly had to deal with it all summer. This is a fairly common thing to deal with in the colder seasons, though, so I imagine I'll have to gear up my body to endure another half-year's worth of misery and pain. When it doesn't happen for a while, incidents like these seem to hurt more than others, ow. Because it's pretty sad when it's 80 degrees outside and yet I'm wrapped in a blanket and getting goosebumps.
Okay writing about it isn't helping. Ow. Time to be distracted in some way.I Feel:  nauseated |
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And suddenly, like magic, things somehow got better! GEE I WONDER IF IT'S BECAUSE IT'S SEPTEMBER 1ST NOW.
Anyway yes. It's two weeks to the day (or was it three?) since I applied for volunteering at the animal shelter in Covington and finally today I got a call from the place to schedule me in for a day. I was beginning to lose hope and wonder what was so horrible about me that I couldn't even get hired for work that I won't even be paid for, but I guess there were a lot of applicants or something? Figured I would be a shoe-in since most of the volunteering kiddies would be back in school by now (we in Kentucky, both for grade school and college, generally start the school year around the third week of August).
Even though it won't net me any money, it'll look damn good on a resume (guess even with 2 letter of recommendation from former bosses, there's no such thing as too much outside aid! Unless you're ruled overqualified, of course). And if nothing else, it's a selfless act that'll help me get into something of a rhythm so if and when I do start working an actual job, I'll be well-adjusted to finally having a schedule back in my life again. It's funny, thinking about it now. Much as I hated school, it did at least give me a healthy routine to my life. I'd much rather be working, since that at least gave money and a real sense of accomplishment, but since I stopped attending college, I've spent the last two years completely and utterly clueless as to what to do with all of the free time. Left way too much time for me to think about the bad parts of my life, which sent me on a long downward spiral to depression.
But maybe this is a sign that better things will be coming my way after all. I won't start volunteering until the 10th, but it was a great relief to know they hadn't forgotten about me and they're actually willing to take me on. One day I hope a rewarding job will be thoughtful enough to give me a chance, since nobody (except probably the grocery store) who hired me before ever regretted it. My last job, even though I only worked there five months before domestic issues forced me to move, had the higher-ups bidding me farewell with regret, saying I was leaving in "big shoes to fill". Going by that and the fact that going by weekly percentages, I was the best-performing student worker, I'd say I really fit in at the IT Help Desk job.
Sad thing is, they'd probably be more than happy to take me back, but I'd have to be a college student again. I simply can't afford college anymore. Bad enough I have 22k of debt staring me down. I'd like to not add onto that since I have a feeling I'll spend the best years of my life paying that shit off. Unless I can get my dad to really aid me in appealing the disability case and get massive backpay if the appeal goes through. At least that doesn't seem like such a far-off dream as it did a month ago.
Job options should be more plentiful anyway this time of year since most are back in college now. So it at least seems things are finally turning out for the better. ESPECIALLY SINCE AUGUST IS OVER NOW. Though for an August, weather-wise, it didn't really feel like August. Just looked at the news today, and apparently it was a very cool and dry August as far as averages go. I recall July was one of the coolest ones on record this year as well. So for the most part, it's been a rather temperate spring and summer. I have a bad feeling that we'll be paying for it with a brutal winter this year. But if Sneaky's little problems can be rectified, it'll mean more time for the kitties to stay up here when it gets cold!
The stint earlier this year showed Sneaky enjoying every minute of it and not seeming to terribly miss the outdoors that much. Granted, he is turning 15 this year if he hasn't already. He's finally starting to show his age, but he's still eating perfectly fine, so there's nothing much to worry about other than the ear tumor, but since it hasn't bothered Sneaky to the point where he won't eat, my mother doesn't find it to be an issue to worry as much over as we did when it was first discovered this spring.
Yesterday, I did finally start Trifecta 10, though I haven't even gotten 200 words down. At least I have a good idea of what I want to happen before I settle myself down with the adaption chapter. Also helps that I have all of the dub equivalent names needed to make all the other episode references I want now (since I didn't watch the week before, I'm just now finding out that Tatsunami Town is now Sandalstaw Town). I'm pretty jazzed because the weeks fly by so fast these days. In six weeks (or five?), there will be a dub of DP128, aka the Paul-gets-his-ass-kicked-by-Brandon episode which had me going nuts for the entire later half of spring and I was still pretty nuts even after the episode came and went.
Weird to think I actually have plans out to Chapter 20 now. If I'm not mistaken, that will be the chapter Paul and Conway reunite after 10 chapters of separation (they will be going separate ways by the end of this upcoming chapter). I was right on the money to have Barry skeedaddle before that point, since I don't believe I knew he would be reappearing for the Twinleaf Town Festival arc that's going on in Japan right now. Even better, this week in Japan will be the episode in which PALMER debuts! Since Palmer will be pretty significant in my story, it's of course very important to see how the anime handles him as far as personality goes.
That's going to be a very eventful Thursday this week, come to think of it. Not only is there anime!Palmer, but as far as I've heard, it seems that there was no new episode of TDA this weekend in Canada. That means we're perfectly aligned, except from now on, the USA may be getting the new episodes before Canada does! Since Cartoon Network airs new TDA on Thursdays while Teletoon airs premieres on Sunday, that means we could theoretically get the next episode a whole four days before Canadians get it. Since no one really has a clue what's coming after Ocean's Eight - Or Nine and CN airs previews of next week's TDA after the present week's premiere airs, that means, provided there is no inexplicable way we'll be going into reruns after this week, that we'll have the first glimpse for what's to come next. After a long, long wait at that. Since the end of June, actually.
So it's livening to know there's some stuff to really look forward to this week. I've somehow gotten on a normal sleeping schedule (going to sleep around 2-4 AM, waking up around 11 AM - 1 PM), so I'm not sure if I can stay up all the way until 6 AM to see Japanese anime Palmer goodness. But in the event that such a thing befalls me, I've successfully managed to see it when I set my alarm for close to 6 AM and leave the computer on in past incidents. So it's a surefire way to see it without having to wait for people to upload it on Youtube.
... Though usually once that happens, I'm too excited to go back to sleep even though I might have only been able to sleep a couple of hours or so. Then the sleeping cycle starts getting a little weird.
My mother got me new indoor shoes today. ♥ Much bigger and fuzzier than my previous ones have been. A plus is they have durable soles, so I won't have to freak out about getting them wet when I go out to toss the garbage away or something. Granted, my mother isn't the one who usually gets me these shoes; my grandmother on my dad's side does about every year for Christmas. But I don't mind a new pair, especially since my current ones got severely splashed by garbage juice recently. At least it'll be nice to have my feet toasty and warm this winter~.
Gee, what a little optimism can do. It's a post with substance, huzzah! Lesse if I can achieve at least quad-digits in wordcount in this next chapter before tomorrow.I Feel: hopeful Tunage: Final Fantasy IV - Red Wings |
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To be up-front and honest, I've not been the happiest camper this month. Hence the lack of posting, because repeated instances of baaaawwww would probably irritate the shit out of all of you. Still, little seems to be going right in my life. Still no job, it's been over a week and the volunteering place hasn't gotten back to me, no money, my social life sucks both in real life and on the computer, and what few things that brought me great joy a few weeks ago now only make me depressed and I've become highly unmotivated as a result of it.
When all areas of life are crumbling down, it's probably a sign that I'll hit rock bottom soon. By that point I'll snap either in a good way or a bad way. Hopefully a good way. Didn't help that I had two periods this month, though.
I feel a little weighed-down with guilt for letting everyone else argue in my place in RPS. RPing in general has largely felt unsatisfying as of late. When it starts feeling like a chore or obligation, I should stop. My stopping will probably be for everyone else's benefit at PD, at least. I'm still all for completing the tournament, at least, but for everything else, I think it's time for me to go on leave.
It's been almost a month since I posted up Chapter 9 of Trifecta and I've still yet to even start Chapter 10, mainly because of the RPing. So if I cut down on that, I can at least be able to write again. That story is pretty much the only safe haven I have left since everyone has nothing but kind words for me in regards to it. So it's really not an area I should be neglecting.
Part of me is bitching the other half of me out for giving it up so easily, but I tend to be an an-and-off RPer, so should I feel the inspiration again, I'll return (well, if no one objects). But right now, I'm not only not feeling the love, but I'm not feeling my own self-driven inspiration. Maybe it's coincidental, I don't know. Sorry for inadvertently causing wank somehow, in any case. At least it should be more peaceful if I'm not active.
All in all, it's one of those times of the year where it feels like absolutely nothing is going right. Haven't even felt comfortable in my own skin for ages this month, and it's not in the least bit comforting having a giant army of gnats hanging over my head every single night. I don't know how the hell these fuckers got in my room, but I'm this close to exterminating them with aerosol scented spray.
At least it should be mildly interesting to see if there will be a new episode of TDA in Canada tomorrow. We're up to The Aftermath: II in the States, which is right before Ocean's Eight - Or Nine, the most recent episode aired in Canada, aka Courtney's return. If Teletoon's aim was to wait until the USA caught up with them, then we're pretty much at that point now. If there isn't a new one this Sunday, then by next week we will be perfectly matched with them. Apparently there are three new episode titles up on TV.com, though their legitimacy is still being questioned even right now. Even weirder, the airdates seem to be for the US, since the most recent one is slated for a September 17th airdate, which is a Thursday (when new TDA airs in the US). But it's fishy since that means we would be going through two weeks of repeats before getting this alleged episode after Ocean's Eight - Or Nine. So something does seem off about the information. But I guess we'll see how Teletoon plays the cards tomorrow. At least, some of you will watch it and tell me, is what I'm actually hoping. ♥
I'd still love a Total Drama-styled RP, but I dunno if I have it in me to go through the development phase at this point, since my RP mojo is effectively dead. Maybe eventually, though.
It feels like playing a video game would soothe my weary soul a bit, but I don't have the faintest clue of what to play that I actually feel like playing. It's complicated. And I think until Shelton actually comes back to Raw or Smackdown that I'll be forever "whatever" about wrestling for a while. Even though I think Jeff Hardy's due to leave very soon, which is great, there isn't much left to enjoy now that Edge is injured and on the shelf until springtime next year.
Oh well. Sorry for another droll and depressing post. Silver lining is taking longer than usual to show up, it seems.I Feel:  apathetic |
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Man. Can't catch a break anywhere, it feels like. Bad enough talesofdressing still gets undeserved flak for shit that happened over a year ago (that's still grossly exaggerated/misinterpreted). Then being specifically accused as the worst thing about pokedressing is a good way to kill the buzz I had going for me today.
Then again, it's an RP anon meme. Pretty much everything there holds no relevance since it's forgotten about after a few days. I guess wishing for blind praise from some anon for once is too much to ask for. Again, not that it amounts to anything, but it would be nice to be appreciated by people who lurk around places I frequent for once. My own writing has been bitched about on fanficrants at least three times (none for any good reason) and at least one person wants to strangle me for disliking a fictional character at hated_character.
Things real life-wise were actually getting better today, too. My mother directly called my father to explain specifically why I haven't been returning his calls/texts/emails and told me he was surprisingly very willing to apologize for the mental distress he put me through. I haven't received anything from him yet, but if I had to guess, he's probably rehearsing the planned apology like crazy because he's not one who really ever apologizes for anything. He's been made aware that I don't appreciate being called a hard-headed jerk while trying to beg for my attention, so maybe he's trying to make sure he doesn't DO IT WRONG this time around.
Either way, I'd be appreciative if he actually goes through with it. It's high time he manned up and admit he did me wrong. I'm not sure what brought about this drastic change in attitude... maybe it was the 8 months of no contact whatsoever, I dunno. But if it's genuine, I'll gladly take it. I can't say I'm enthusiastic about meeting a half-brother who's young enough to be my own kid or interact with the wife, but hopefully my dad's not going to shove all of that in my face if he's trying not to piss me off for once.
Earlier today, my mother freaked out after losing her only car key down the hole of the elevator shaft, certain it was gone forever and she'd have to fork over $280 to get a new one made. But while she was out, I had an idea to use the pole we recently bought to replace the dead lightbulb on our kitchen ceiling when I brought down my flashlight and found that, while it was deep down and well out of reach, it was still totally possible to retrieve it.
So I had to experiment quite a bit, came close to getting the key out early on by merely sticking some duct tape to the end of the pole, but it fell off at the last second and almost landed out of reach totally. I managed to nudge it back into place after taping a screwdriver to the pole and finally got it out after taping a hanger to the pole. And thus I saved my mother $280 and hence she was very happy and appreciative of what I did all on my own, and said that there was proof that I'm not totally useless. And I actually believed her. Usually I'm pretty braindead, but managed to solve a sudden problem relatively quickly.
I also applied to volunteer at an animal shelter earlier this week, and that should hopefully be the step to make my life suck a little less.
Normally I'd be bursting with excitement over something like this, but that stupid meme has me bummed for the time being. I should start Chapter 10 of the fic, since that seems to be about the only thing people like/appreciate me for unanimously. I'll probably start it in a few days since the iconing bug is finally out of my system. Tonight would be perfect to start, but right now my mojo just feels off. I guess that goes with all of the insults and false accusations that were indirectly and directly targeted at me.
Sure, it's just a few misinformed/passive-aggressive/narrow-minded anontards, but damn. I have not been in a state of mental stability for a while now. Internet and fandom were the only things holding me together for a long time, so that's really the last thing I need going to shit right now.
At least it's just retarded anons and not people I know (with any luck). It should fade off before the weekend's done. I just wish it would all die off already. People butthurt about incidents on the internet over a year old need serious help, and people really should stop reading what they don't like just to have an excuse to bitch about something/someone in order to feel better about themselves.
All of this just makes me want to make a controversial post that'll likely result in losing a huge chunk of my FList, but I have to save that for when I'm really sent over the edge. Like when I'm PMSing. Hell, it feels inevitable, just about.
Oh well. Make me feel better, Sealab.I Feel:  annoyed |
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Holy crap there was a huge-ass spider in the garage (like almost palm-of-my-hand-sized) when I went out to take the garbage. So immediately my decision was to squash it... after I went back up to get some shoes on.
It was on the floor, but right against the corner of where the wall started. Might've or might've not been in a web, but if it was, it was a pretty weak one because it seemed kind of like a mess of tiny cobweb threads.
I'm pretty sure it was black, but seemed dark-brownish when I looked at it more closely. What did stand out were the long, curved-inward hairy legs.
So in Kentucky, we've only got two poisonous spiders to worry about: black widow and brown recluse. I'm not sure if that was the species I just stepped on or if it was one that coincidentally looks like it, but either way, I didn't want to risk letting it live and coming up into my condo and biting me in my sleep. ._.
Yeah, that's one weakness about myself that I greatly dislike: spiders and bugs in general freak me the hell out. Which is weird considering I lived in southern Kentucky for the first 14 years of my life, and there was a hell of a lot more to be afraid of outside than there is up north (especially since I lived in the middle of the woods down south).
Buuuut, truth is, I was always a cautious kid. I've never broken a bone in my life (worst I've ever done is sprain my ankle) and I've never been stung by any bee or wasp as far as I can remember. Never been bitten by a snake (and in the south, we had Copperheads, Water Moccasins and Rattlesnakes to deal with), and if I've been bitten by a spider, it would always be in my sleep by a harmless one. So needless to say I don't like taking any chances when I see a huge-ass spider right inside the building.
In the south, we also had scorpions that would literally appear out of nowhere throughout my house. You could just be chilling, watching TV on your bed if you were in my house... and the next minute there's a little scorpion buddy chilling out right next to you. At least that's something I no longer have to worry about due to being further north, but I still retain that habit of checking my shoes before I slip my feet inside them, because hey, YOU NEVER KNOW, RIGHT?
Similar case seems to be evident with the brown recluse species, which my friend ha1cyon has already talked about at length and probably looks down on me now for squashing the damn thing. ._. But I've already been tormented by numerous bugs since the summer started (still have no idea how the hell they're getting inside the house in the first place). Just hearing them unsettles me. So seeing any flying around beyond my control sort of makes me panic inside, even if they're absolutely harmless.
So I've slaughtered sixty-something bugs since the summer started. One of which was actually a small bee, which had me terrified. But I was chased around by wasps just visiting grandma earlier this week, so it's like... ggggahahh.
I just. Really don't like bugs. At all. I wasn't sure how I was able to stand it when I lived in my hometown during the summer of '07, because every time I took a walk through my neighborhood, I would be accosted by god-knows how many bugs of various species, and the worst ones were the ones who kept circling back at me. The buzzing noise really gets on my nerves, too.
It's almost like how I react to static shocks. During the winter, they're quite prevalent, and even in grocery stores, shopping carts frequently shocked me. After about five times in a row, I'll probably burst into tears. It's similar with the bugs. After they fly around me so many times or if there's a bunch of them, I'll freak out and squirm and run off. It's just a very active fleeing mechanism I have with insects in general.
That said, it really does make me wonder how I survived in the south for as long as I did. Especially since I was never stung or bitten by anything significant (like, we'll not count mosquitoes because no one's lucky enough to dodge those fuckers with 100% accuracy). But if they make me instantly flip my shit, it's probably safe to say they're a phobia of mine. One of the many ridiculous ones I have.
Others include driving (I still hate it), big cities, being followed, and horror movies, because those will have a lasting effect on my overactive imagination. I'm pretty paranoid, so seeing anything horror/disaster-like will make me think it'll come my way in some form. That and when it comes to real-life gore, I'm squeamish. Animated gore has never, ever had an effect on me. But realistic, even quasi-realistic (because video games like the Silent Hill and Fatal Frame series also freak me the fuck out) horroristic stuff? Makes me cower. IN GREAT FEAR.
So that's all you get to know about what freaks me the hell out. Feel free to use said information for blackmail or bribery whenever you please.
My dad's made two additional forms of contact with me since the email, which I still never replied to and now I'm really not going to bother. The second attempt was through the mail, where of course is a gigantic birthday picture of the half-sibling I'm trying to assure myself was just a nightmare and doesn't really exist. That had me upset enough to throw it on the ground and run off. Yesterday was the third attempt, which was through a text message on my phone. Still assuring me he wants me to be happy and that he loves me (and apparently knows he can't force me to talk to him if I don't want to), even though I'm hard-headed.
So like, notice how my dad can't even try to make amends with me without insulting me at least once? Guy's going to have to learn that calling your estranged kid names in the middle of an appeal really sort of kills the purpose of said appeal. And really, like he's one to talk about me being hard-headed and a jerk? This is exactly why I don't bother with him now. If he's still insulting me unprovoked, there's no way in hell he really wants to apologize to me or do anything to make it up for the months of emotional trauma he put me through.
Guess it's just a little jarring that he's made multiple attempts to contact me after eight straight months of no contact at all. In a way, I'm a little worried because his birthday is later this month; the 27th. It'll be his 50th birthday, no less. Pretty significant. There's some part of my conscience that's begging me to at least call him on his birthday (since I didn't bother to do anything for him on Father's Day this year; dude's been busy being someone else's dad now), but I'm still on the fence. It just takes one try to fuck it all up, but the truth is, I really could use whatever help he could offer me.
Except he isn't offering to help me in any way. I've been trying to apply for disability twice now with two turn-downs. Usually at this point it'd be time for attorney recruitment if I were to push this, and lo and behold, my dad is a defense attorney. He'd be the perfect way to appeal my case, but that would mean having to make up with him, and consequently that means dealing with the woman and the baby whom I still have no interest in meeting. So weighing in the pros versus the cons, I don't know. We really can't afford another attorney, but my job hunt is still as abysmal and hopeless as ever despite my attempts. Though I've been told to try contacting the health department, because according to my therapist, our state's due to have a bit of a pandemic really soon and they'll need all the help they can get.
Except I don't know how to contact them, and if I have to do it by phone (which I probably will)... god. Yeah, that's another bonus irrational phobia of mine: the phone. I'm terrified of talking on the phone. All things considered, it doesn't really make sense since there's no eye contact to worry about and shit, but I still stumble over my words and talk like a retard half the time. Even getting a wrong number leaves me embarrassed for a good half-hour. Though when I'm on a job, even though I still don't like it, I'm not nearly as fearful of the phone as I am in my normal life. My guess is that with the incentive of money, I'm more inspired to tackle down my phobias.
But now I don't have a job, haven't had one in over two years, and even with my medication calming me down, talking to strangers on the phone scares the living daylights out of me. Technical support calls have always been the worst, and I've been on both ends there. At least when I had to be the one giving support, though, I was making money and I'm pretty damn sure that was how I ended up with a B in my Spanish class that semester. Because frankly, I recall myself being uninspired with Spanish class that semester and tended to be very lazy, but my Spanish teacher had called the IT Help Desk twice while I worked over there with email issues. He's the kind of teacher with bad English, too, so it took roughly an hour on both occasions to finally understand what his problem was and how to fix it. But for all my patience, I think my teacher appreciated that enough to raise my grade. I mean, shit, I was even several hours late for my Final in Spanish that semester due to oversleeping and he still let me take it; no problem.
Still, even though I hate the phone, I'd gladly take a phone job over something involving retail. Having to stand for hours on end is unbearable for my giant, tall legs, and I can't lie worth a crap, so I can't pitch a sale to save my life. I suspect I'm still shitty at interviewing. Either way, getting fired from a job isn't exactly something I've experienced yet (being criticized on the job's been enough to make me sob on a few occasions) and I don't want to start. I hate my life enough as it is; last thing I want is the plague that's attached to my mother on a daily basis where I hate my job and the money isn't enough to make the pain bearable, and then wind up getting fired due to my inadequacy. I'm already convinced that I'm a worthless person as it is; any sort of termination that isn't me voluntarily quitting is probably going to have an affect on me that'd be similar to a typical girl getting dumped by a boy. I can already see myself huddled up in my bed, watching TV while crying and eating a giant bucket of ice cream if that were to happen to me.
... Is it weird that I'm making analogies involving romantic relationships when it comes to an occupation?
Point is, based on past experiences, I know where I suck in the workforce. I'm a slow and steady worker rather than quickly-paced, and most jobs prefer the latter sort of worker even if they're more prone to making mistakes. I can't multi-task worth a shit and most jobs I see value people with that ability. Since I didn't get my ritalin until after my last college semester, I don't know how effective it'll be in getting me to multi-task on the job. But if it enables me to write while listening to music at the same time (something I'm usually never able to do), maybe it would help in that department.
Other thing is, outside of being a total pussy when it comes to confrontational customers... I also can't count worth a shit. At GameStop, I'd frequently get the cash registers off and I think the case was the same with my Kroger job. I'm just a crappy cashier, people. Numbers have never been my thing, and that + talking to people just wracks up my nerves like crazy. So I'd rather not get fired over something like that, because they'll easily mistake my inability to count for me being a thief, which is the last thing I want to be labeled as.
After closely inspecting how people work in fast-food restaurants, I can easily see that's not an area where I'd flourish, either. That's about the maximum of fast-paced, multi-tasking, counting, dealing with shitty customers and potentially shitty coworkers, a bad atmosphere to work in, standing, and an unfulfilling paycheck. Those are the places I really would rather avoid at all costs because there's no way I'd last a week there. And like I said... the whole concept of getting fired will not only emotionally murder me, but it'll be a weight I carry on for the rest of my life.
I wonder how many times I can bitch about the same old things plaguing my real life (father, money troubles, and lack of job) in different ways before it gets old. Outside of dealing with inexplicable depression even though I'm sure it's not PMS, which probably on average is an issue three weeks out of the month (when one factors in PMS), this is pretty much my life. That and the insane sleeping schedule. The 26-hour marathon didn't appear to rectify my sleeping habits at all, since I took a nap from 2 AM-ish until about 6 AM to catch Pokemon D/P, then fell back asleep at 10 AM and slept until 6:30 PM... which is what I've been doing for several days now. Sigh.
Not a very rewarding life, huh? It's no wonder I blanket myself with the internet so I can at least dull out my senses. And if that goes awry, I essentially go crazy. I made somewhere near 200 icons over the past couple of days, man. I guess I'm trying to get my fill before I decide to start writing Trifecta 10, because after that I'll feel guilty about doing anything other than writing. ♥;
Guess once I get it out of my system I'll be posting them, but good lord that'll take an abundance of patience.
Anyway, that was a boring-as-hell post. Hope the next one's more interesting.I Feel: annoyed |
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... Man. I just whanged myself in the head hard against a wall when I tripped over while holding three 12-pack cases of Coca-Cola.
I should probably make a mental note to never try carrying all three at once again. That one was hard enough to leave me dazed for a couple of minutes.
I forgot I put this flag counter thing on my LJ. Not nearly as fun as FFN's, but I'm sure it will over time.
I keep forgetting August 1st is when everyone freaks out about the Digimon anniversary, too. It always takes me a while to realize why there's so many Digimon posts until it hits me. Oh, if only I were feeling it these days...
Hohhhkay. Only got a few more scenes to complete and Chapter 9 is done. I have to shake off the headwound and concentrate while I'm not distracted!I Feel: ow my head |
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