azurite | What can you take to improve your memory?

I will not eat prunes. But I do happen to need a better memory. I got nuts over the smallest things-- I misplaced one of my Yu-Gi-Oh cards two nights ago, and I've been obsessing over what the card was and where I could have dropped it. Even though it's just a dumb card and, as it turned out, not a very good one, at that. The desk here in the rec room happens to be wood. And the back of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, in proper light and shadow, look like wood. So guess where the card was? *wry chuckle* Besides, it was just a Menae the Thorn, anyway. Nothing I can do with that...

I finished reading one of Baba's romance novels, "On A Summer's Night." I found no less than five errors this time, and it kind of scares me. I don't mean to be nitpicky when I'm reading casually, but I guess all these years in the fanfic world has hard-wired my brain. I caught two incidences of main character names being misspelled (accidentally, mind you. I'm not talking about the dialogue-misspells, when a character mispronounces another character's name), an instance of a period missing at the end of a sentence (and it WAS the end of the sentence; the next word's first letter was capitalized, and it wasn't a noun). And in general, the story was... well, you know how they describe romance novels as formulaic? Or "best-sellers" because the writers know what the readers will buy (read: what will make the writer rich)? Well, this story started out pretty original (fairies and magic) but got very bland and predictable. I hate that in movies, and I hate that in books. o_O Gah, should I be an editor? Or is that just for Super Nitpickers and writers who fail at their craft?

Anyway, speaking of movies... 13th!!! Yu-Gi-Oh! Aliens vs. Predator! My orientation is August 12th, the day before... I keep getting it mixed up. It was easier to remember that it was on the 15th, the day they originally assigned me... >_< Anyway, assuming all goes well at Orientation (and why wouldn't it?), then I can celebrate by staying at the movie theater all day on the 13th. I dogsit that weekend, plus there's a sale at Border's for students (bring your student schedule!). ^_^ Phwee!

Yesterday in summary:
* Played some more FFX-2. Got the girls up to their high 90s (Rikku and Paine are at 99, and cannot level up any further, which makes this game a bit weird. I've never heard of a "Level Up Limit" before), and now I'm basically wandering from the Farplane to the Calm Lands to ... random places. I had to catch a few more Chocobos in the Thunder Plains, run back to Clasko's Ranch (I still need to do that special dungeon to get Rikku's Limit Break), and level up Rikku's Gunner. I'm such a dork, I made up a list of priority Dresspheres to learn. -_- I tried to beat Shinra at Sphere Break, but failed miserably. I really need more Iron Giant coins...

* Went to Jill's B'day banquet-ma-bob at her in-laws' house. Frighteningly enough, most of them remembered me from the wedding, and were surprised at how much I've grown. Well, it has been at least 9 years... Hah, funny thing, at least two people (John and his mother) both thought I was Jill when they first saw me. Hehe. It was a good time-- good food, funny conversations, and interesting puzzles. Did you know that in Sicilian "Stop doing that" is "No faque!" (Pronounced, "No, Fuck You.") LOL. That was a running joke all evening long. That and the fact that John had an inch in his pocket. Literally-- one inch off a tape measure. His mom wanted some bread, but he cut this HUGE chunk, and everyone made him measure it. Except for one rip chunk, it WAS one inch! But the "inch in pocket" joke was SO wrong, and "innocent" me didn't want to corrupt the fresh minds I'd just met with my NorCal nastiness. :P Adults are so... NOSY! (They kept asking if I'd heard it all, what had I heard? *winkWINK*)

Delish salad, pizza, bread, and cake was had... I indulged in 7Up and chocolate cake when I really shouldn't have, especially with my teeth. -_- And stupid Mom went and told Jill, and Nikki overheard and... well, let's just say I don't exactly like my whole family and their in-laws knowing about my health problems. My diet has changed drastically enough since being down here, but I'm not complaining. I'm taking care of myself, and I don't need more nagging.

One of the uncles (John's brothers) had this interesting wood puzzle from the 70s-- I forgot what it was called, but all 7 pieces were different shapes (think Tetris pieces), and you had to assemble various 3D figures from the pieces. The faster you could do it, the better. I successfully made somewhat quick work of a 3x3x3 cube and a "castle," which is a 5x5x1 square with "turrets" on 3 of the corners, and one corner missing.

Later that night, I got a bit tired, and Joey and Kim, who had shown up a bit late, offered to give me a ride home. It's quite cool that I can chill with them, even though I get the distinct impression from all the friends (well, cousins and friends of the family) that I know that they're into a lifestyle that I... er, "less than appreciate," shall we say? I feel like such a priss around some of these people, but I don't want to say anything. It's not my life and not my problem, but I'm not complaining. I guess I believe in responsibility for your own actions.

Got plot bunnied last night. Speaking of which, I'm oddly tempted to draw Téa in a bunny suit and have her leaning over Kaiba (who I can't draw in the slightest, and will have to base off Kysra's t00 sekshii!! pics) saying "You've been plot bunnied!" *snicker* Anyway, the plot bunny is somewhat inspired by that not-so-great book I was reading... I plan on writing the WHOLE thing before posting it. When it comes to fics 5 parts and under, there will be NO MORE WIPs for Az! ^^; Of course, Prophecy Girl and What Doesn't Kill You don't fit in that category, so...

Now! Back to emails, people's LJs, and look! New fics! ^_^