MILES to GO || before I sleep

So I had a really weird dream that I just woke up from. While with some dreams, you can tell that things you've seen or done play a role in how the dream ends up, I can honestly say I have no idea where this dream came from.

( Well first there was a vacuum... )

I have a very strange brain.

Someone here on LJ posted a link to xoa's edits of Final Fantasy X: International, which, as some of you know, includes the English voices but with Japanese subs... er, normally (I'm assuming there's a way to turn the subs off). What xoa did was take the Japanese audio from the original FFX released in Japan and time it to the Japanese-only (afaik) release of FFX: International's cutscenes and FMVs.

Basically, it's dubtitling. He calls it "undub," which I don't find a common OR accurate term, but whatever. We get the English script set to the Japanese voices. It's cool to hear the differences, at least, and there are times when I can tell there's been a discrepancy between the edited FFX in English that got turned into FFX: International and the actual, original game's audio. Sometimes it's a bit telling about the character; there was one scene where someone says "Thank you, Yuna," but the English script changed it to "I have to, Yuna." Completely different things there, folks!

Anyway, after watching the latest episode (29, which is right before the gang enters Djose Temple), I happened upon a subtitled version of FFX International's bonus scene, "Another Story,"-- a.k.a. "Eternal Calm," the prologue for FFX-2. This was never part of FFX in the States, because, again, it was ONLY part of FFX International, which is the English version of the game, edited and with extra goodies added (like Dark Aeons). The only way English speakers could see this scene was if they got a magazine that came out with it on a disc prior to the release of FFX-2. That scene version was edited and dubbed (and subtitled) in English. To see the unedited/original Japanese scene with Japanese audio, you had to hunt around. Well, someone subtitled it....

FFX: Intl. "Another Story" (a.k.a. "Eternal Calm"), subbed in English and Japanese, Japanese audio. Part 1/2



( Commentary + Part 2 )

I'm looking for girls/women who have played FFX-2. As you may know, I'm doing a paper for my JOUR 371 class, "Women, Men and Media," titled Gendered Language and the Double Standard in the Final Fantasy X and X-2 Games.

I've got a lot of research so far, but I'd like the voices of some female gamers out there to help liven my presentation up a bit (and I don't mean literal voices, though if you want to submit a *.wav or *.mp3 of you SPEAKING, that's fantastic). I'd like any or all of these questions answered, if you have the time...

(1) Did you play FFX? Why or why not? If you did play it, did you finish it? Why or why not?
(2) Why did you play FFX-2?
(3) Did you enjoy it? Why or why not?

Thank you....

So with a lot of tinkering I've found a way of extracting HQ FMVs from Playstation 2 discs. Alas, I've had to go into Windows on Parallels to convert the disc's *.pss files into an *.m2v video file and a *.wav audio file. From there, I went back into OSX and used Switch to convert the *.wav into MP3, and MPEG Streamclip into an *.avi. However, to get the sound back into the movie, I had to use iMovie, adding the *.avi to the Clips pane and the sound to the Editing area. Then I saved it-- initially as an *.avi again, but for some reason the quality was totally degraded, so I changed it to a *.mov instead. *.movs are great for streaming media, but that's not the purpose of my project-- I didn't want to keep downloading FMVs for my Journalism 371 (Women, Men and Media) media deconstruction project, which is titled "Gendered Language and the Double Standard in Final Fantasy X and X-2."

Since I'll be presenting on a projection screen, I need the quality to be big enough so that people sitting 10+ feet away from the screen can see it clearly. So I want everything to be as HQ as possible-- but it's got to compress down on a DVD, because the computer set-up in the room doesn't have an audio output, and while MacBook Pros have good speakers, they're not THAT good.

Long story short, the process of cutting and editing takes a while, so I don't have as much time to focus on other aspects of the project at the same time, since I can't have two instances of iMovie doing two huge things at once. I know I have 2 GB of memory, but even I'm not that masochistic.

Therefore, I need some help. My copy of FFX was a used copy, and I'm not sure if it came with the manual or not, and I need to know what the "Story" section of the book says. Would anyone who owns the game be so kind as to transcribe that portion for me? Mind you, there's a reason why I'm specifically asking for the manual/official version, rather than what's printed in reviews at online stores, in game FAQs, and so on: I want the OFFICIAL version that was marketed toward the public. Please help!

While I'm on the subject, if you've played either FFX AND/OR FFX-2, would you mind answering a short and easy survey about the game and your impressions of it? THANK YOU!
[Poll #1077157]

If you have any commentary on any of the questions OR on some of the following thoughts, please be sure to comment!
ETA:* If you played both games, but liked one more than the other, why did you like the one that you preferred more? If there were particular elements added or removed to the other game that made you like it less, would having them added or removed to the other game improve it, or no? Why?
* Do you think either of the games are sexist in any way?
* Do you think either one of the games are more targeted toward male gamers, or female gamers?
* Why do you like one game more than the other? (Please indicate if you've played one or both of the games if you answer this question)
* When did you get one/either of the games? Right when it was released, or some time after? How long? Why?
* What did you think of the marketing (commercials, print advertising, reviews) for one/both of the games? What did they emphasize, and what did they neglect to mention (if anything)?
* Do you think the main characters (Yuna, Tidus) of each game fit into any particular stereotypes? Which ones? Why do you think that?
* What makes a video game (in general) appealing to you? Has playing (or not playing) either (or both) FFX and FFX-2 changed your opinion at all?
* Have you played any Final Fantasy games prior to FFX or FFX-2? Do you still play them?

Next week, my proposal for my JOUR 371 (Women, Men, and Media) class's "Media Deconstruction Project" is due. Originally, I wanted to do something with Internet/Technology, but at the last moment on the sign-up day, I changed my mind and went for video games. Two things in particular stuck in my head:

* Remember the GameGirl? That hideous pink-and-purple version of the GameBoy way back when? Obviously trying to pull that kind of thing now would cause a huge backlash... right? Would it cause the same issue if a "targeted toward girls" game came out? I doubt it.

* Final Fantasy X vs. Final Fantasy X-2. I remember asking a lot of my fellow gamer friends (guys and girls alike) which one they liked better; a lot of guys preferred X, while many girls I asked preferred X-2. Of course, there were always exceptions, or "well, I liked THIS game for THIS, but THAT game for THAT...."

It's ironic, too, because I remember when the game was about to debut, people assumed X-2 would be a big hit with the guys because... well, basically for all the fanservice. But instead, a lot of the guys I remember speaking to disliked the whole "dress-up" concept and the LACK of a linear gameplay.

Speaking for myself personally, I like X-2 a lot more because it's got Yuna breaking out of stereotypes. At the same time though, she's just conforming to gender stereotypes: she's got the need to be sexy, loved, and so on. She wants to prove she's more than just a summoner, more than the namesake of Yunalesca, etc. But she proves she's pretty weak emotionally: unprepared for living a real teenage life, essentially. But is it teenage, or teenage GIRL? The whole story revolves around her chasing after the possibility of Tidus being alive again, somehow, somewhere. There's certainly a point to be made in the fact that she KEEPS GOING even when she finds out Shuyin =/= Tidus, though.

Anyway, to the point:
(1) If you played either FFX or FFX-2 (or both), what did you think of the games? Why?

(2) Who were your favorite characters from either game? Why? If your character reappeared in FFX-2 and you played it, did you still like that character in FFX-2? Why or why not?

(3) Do you think FFX and FFX-2 are examples of how gender plays a role in the video game industry-- in terms of stereotypes, whether in-game (Yuna's personality, the dressphere system, etc.) or out-game (who the game is targeted toward).

(4) Can you think of any other examples of "gender stereotyping" in the video game industry, specifically relating to language (whether verbal or non-verbal)? For example, does the back of a game you own describe the female character as a "heroine"? Do you find that most female characters in games you own/play/have seen are healer/mage-types, rather than fighters?

(5) Any other comments?

More notes: I thought about comparing the intros to both FFX and FFX-2. In FFX, you've got Tidus raring up for the Blitzball game, cheered on by thousands of fans, adored... and in FFX-2, you've got Yuna dressed all sexy, dancing provocatively... it's only a few minutes into the game (and not technically part of the intro) that you realize that dancing!Yuna is not Yuna at all, and the real, ass-kicking Yuna shows up. In FFX, you've got this hero who is, from the start, an ass-kicker. But in FFX-2, the first image you have of "Yuna" is of a "hero" gone "pop star." She's not out there saving the world anymore, she's out there gaining fans. But even in FFX, Yuna was this pretty demure character-- unlike the real star/lead of the game, Tidus, who is boisterous, loud, etc. It's almost a double-standard. I say "almost," because it's revealed that Yuna really IS off doing her own thing (the whole sphere journey started out for herself, not as a desire to save the world again), and she IS pretty uppity in many ways. But two years and everything she went through doesn't change her COMPLETELY. She's still an emotional, very feminine representation throughout the games, compared to Rikku, who's the more tomboyish, bubbly girl, and Paine, who is pretty much the Auron + Lulu hybrid of FFX-2.

Are those good scenes to compare and examine? Or can you think of any others, even if they're from other games? (obviously, FMVs are best to work with, here).

Hmm, some quick updates:

-Working steadfastly on WikiFic. Thanks to Platonides over at the wikimedia-l, I got the Infoboxes working, but I still need to grab a BOATLOAD of templates from Wikipedia to get everything looking nice-- for example, a lot of flag-related graphics and templates. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated-- it's really just a lot of C&Ping. You do need to have a WikiFic account though, but it takes all of 5 minutes to sign up and get started.

-Working on creating "Ultimate Armor" for my party in FFX, and I'm discovering few people think Break HP or MP limits are useful at all-- which means the armor I already created for Auron and I think Rikku is fairly useless. I've never gotten to the point where I actually fight SIN (I keep dying whenever I fight those Behemoth-type monsters inside Sin, as I recall from the last time I got this far, on my old memory card which is now lost to the ages), so I hope that by capturing more monsters and leveling up (to get the items I need for the Ultimate Armor), I'll be able to survive Sin.

-iWork and iLife have both been updated to '08! That better mean when I get my new laptop, those are installed... since I don't know what I'm going to do with my old laptop (this one), I'm not sure if I should get the family pack ($20 more) of either version yet. I know 5 Macs, but the question is, should I really give "free" iLife and iWorks '08 if I do spend the extra $40 on the two Family versions of the pack?
Here are the nominees:
(1) Mine
(2) Mine 2, possibly to be given to Grandpa, sold to Mom, or sold for parts
(3) Erin's
(4) the iMac at work in the Walk-In Center (which is a bit old)
(5) Shawn's

Speaking of the boyfriend, he's fabulous- complimentary, has a wonderful sense of humor, doesn't mind games (I got him to play both Bubble Bobble and Scrabble tonight-- hah!), and we both vented about work to each other without any awkwardness or hard feelings. He's also super-thoughtful, though I can't really say how. ^_~

I really ought to be getting to sleep now though... for one, my tooth has been hurting pretty bad since this morning or so (I somehow doubt it's mental, no matter how much I wish it were), and the Orajel I got at Rite Aid earlier is totally numbing the right side of my face. I also have to walk to school tomorrow since Baba & Grandpa have a doctor's appointment (I hope it's not too hot or too gloomy tomorrow morning). Two more weeks and three days till my first surgery... school starting, and who knows what other mayhem!

( Segments from a weird dream... or dreams )

That said...
(1) I finally got Auron's Mars Sigil in FFX! :D :D I still want to get the rest of the monsters from throughout Spira, just to see what that gets me... and it might be nice to SOMEDAY be able to beat one of the original creations that the crazy Monster Arena guy puts together. Plus when you do get a complete set, you get some awesome prizes, so I'd do it for that.

So far, the only two Sigils left to get are the Saturn (Kimahri, which means beating two of those horrid butterfly games) and Jupiter (Wakka, which means playing more blitzball). Should I bother...?

(2) This week I finished reading both Sophie Kinsella's "Shopaholic and Baby" and Diana Peterfreund's "Under the Rose," both sequels. The former is what I assume to be the last (fifth) book in the Shopaholic series, and the latter is the second of four books in the "Rose and Grave" or "Secret Society Girl/Ivy League" series. Both books kicked butt, especially near the end, but if I had to pick one to recommend with glowing reviews, it would definitely be the two "Secret Society Girl" books. The second one had a review on it from Publisher's Weekly that said "impossible to put down" and it was SO true! I really couldn't put it down, it was SUCH a damn good read! (I can give a more detailed review later)

To make things even better, I wrote to the author (I found her website and blog) and surprisingly got a reply WITHIN A FEW HOURS! SQUEE! I have yet to write BACK to her reply (she wants to know how the writing program is at CSUN), but the fact that I got a reply from an author I admire and aspire to write like one day just makes me SO happy!

And now I'm wondering if maybe I can review books or something for the Sundial this semester, assuming the editors don't send me off doing the lousy beats, like the police beat...

(3) Did I mention I may have found my dream internship? I really want to get it, and I'm thinking to myself I need to be more flexible with my wants if it means a better career after college (whether that includes grad school, I'm not sure yet). Basically, I should look into accepting internships in New York or wherever even if they're not in the summer or winter breaks... I can always take classes online, and maybe even through local universities! For an internship that actually APPLIES to my major, is PAID, and will really help me get the experience I need, I shouldn't be stingy about the when and where.

Anyway, I need to hear a bit more about what said dream internship entails, who the representative is (so I know who to address with my cover letter), and then put together a shining, perfect cover letter... which I have never done before, but I hope I can do with this new book I picked up at Borders, "Winning Cover Letters," by Robin Ryan. So far I like it, and it's got a lot of good advice and techniques-- I just need the knowledge to apply it all!

(4) Lastly, I finally have my booklist for Fall '07, and it looks like this semester's required Journalism book isn't QUITE as boring as last year... but who knows? In any case, Half.com has got all my textbooks for MUCH cheaper than the bookstore (take that, eFollett!), so I'll probably take that route once I get my paycheck and/or fin aid checks, which should come around the 13th. Hip hip hurrah! And then... my new laptop! SQUEEBALLS x2!

Speaking of balls (fuzzballs, in this case), Mokie got another haircut...! She looks so poodlesque, it's hilarious. I should take a picture of her with her bow and bandana before she manages to get it off.

Aaand... that's it. For now. Shawn is supposed to pick me up so we can see the Bourne Supremacy from Blockbuster, and then later tonight we're going to one of his friend's houses for some drinks and a movie. Sounds like a good weekend to me already!

Okay, so when I left home this morning at 9:30 or so, my MBP was still backing up to my external HD. Everyone I know is saying it shouldn't take that long, but no one can seem to agree on how long it's SUPPOSED to take. For the record, my HD supposedly has 74.21 GB on it, and the external, a 250 GB Western Pacific MyBook, is attached via USB 2.0, which is SUPPOSED to transfer at a rate of 480 Mbps (Mb, as I learn =/= MB... it's about 8 times SLOWER). All the calculators I found online said it should take anywhere from 1-2.5 days, which it's been by now, I think, but azhp was saying it should only take a HALF hour, and my bosses at work are all saying it should have been done "by now," but that doesn't tell me much. I hope it IS done when I get home, though.

Anyway, the important things are music, pictures, my website stuff (including fanfics), and my programs. I think I've gotten the majority of those by now... and like I mentioned in my last post, it's not as if the computer is dead or really dying-- I just want to be sure/safe. (Funny how I can have that attitude about a computer, but not about certain other things...) Basically I'll end up a) giving the computer to Grandpa or b) selling it for parts, but where, I don't know. Apparently Apple doesn't do laptop trade-ins or recycling.

As for the new stuff, I can get the new MBP + $200 off a new iPod video, and it's cheaper to use my college discount as opposed to taking advantage of Sean's discount (though the temptation is strong, it's just not enough). I wish there was a way to ditch my old iPod Mini while I was at it, but I doubt that I can stack discounts (10% off a new iPod purchase with the trade-in of an old one) like that. Besides, I might as well keep the mini until it dies, right?

All of that good stuff won't be until mid-August at the earliest, since I turned down Baba giving me an "early" graduation present. I know that might sound stupid, but I'd rather get this with my own money so I have my own personal reasons for taking better care of it IMMEDIATELY. It's supposed to be an investment, not a present and not a toy.

Speaking of money and investments, I'm looking to get back on PayPerPost, but not here on LJ, since it's not allowed. Facebook now has a PPP referral app. which I've added, and since MySpace has blogs already, I might as well make use of that there. So check out both my profiles and I'll let you know once I get things running so we can ALL rake in the dough!

Other than that... only two hours and a half to go (huzzah), and I might be meeting up with Shawn again-- he got himself a car, which means we can probably meet up a lot more often. He finally came over for dinner last night (though he wasn't in the mood for anything hot, so he had CHEERIOS, of all things... actually, I made him a blitz-- he didn't mind it being charred-- and in making said blintzes, I got hot olive oil on my arm and chest, and now I have a nice blister on my left wrist. :P) and we hung out for a bit, played Katamari and FFX and he got me the Sun Sigil for Tidus' Caladbolg! All that's left now is the Saturn Sigil for Kimahri (damn butterfly game!), the World Champion for Wakka (more blitzball...?), and the Mars Sigil for Auron (more monster catching). SQUEE!

Speaking of the butterfly game, does anyone know:
a) if you can beat the Spherimorph again within a certain amount of time? I'm already near the end of the game when I can go to Sin/Omega Ruins, etc.
b) Where the butterflies ARE? I know there are north and south versions of the game... do you have to play them both to get the Saturn Sigil? Are there any maps of the butterfly locations? I can find about five or six in the loop area, near the bird man, but not the seventh one. HELP!? I've read there's a suggested route in the Ultimania Guide (one of the three, anyway), but I only have the Ultimania guides for FFX-2. Even if the FFX ones weren't out of print, I'm pretty sure there are scans of it SOMEWHERE on the 'Net, or someone who DOES have one, but the only place that was supposed to have them is gone. :( BOOYAH! MAPZ!

Fixing my tags right now. I think I should have some sort of tag master list somewhere (I mean besides the front page of my LJ) so I don't keep mangling my system.

Like when I was in Japan, now that the semester and a full workload has started, I'm back to cherishing my weekends the way a man parched of thirst cherishes the single droplet of water he can get on his tongue. Nonetheless, I get to the weekends hoping to relax, and I only find myself bombarded with more things to do. I keep telling myself "I need to help out" (in the case of Baba and Grandpa) or "I can't quit" (in the case of school), but sometimes I just feel like staying in bed ALL DAY LONG. (And then of course, I feel miserable after the fact, for all the things I missed).

Anyway, starting yesterday my computer started acting strangely because of my "overload" of fonts. Well, I only had something like 700 fonts on the system (when the OSX documentation says it can handle up to 7000!), but Photoshop just wasn't reading them. So I decided to go through Font Book and weed out the invalid fonts (those missing Font Name Tables), of which I found 67. The important ones (esp. the ones I've hunted for or paid for) were intact though, but then Firefox (which was already acting weird, smashing words together and causing them to overlap sometimes) and Firefox (which had previously been acting weird but apparently stopped when I switched the default fonts) suddenly had NO text anywhere.

So I had to take all the fonts I'd put in the trash can and go through them one by one, to make sure none of them were fonts used by the system or the applications. Then I weeded out the duplicate installations, disabled and removed them, closed font book, emptied the trash, and was able to reopen both Thunderbird and Firefox without any problems.

But encoding is still apparently an issue with Firefox; in Safari, Japanese characters show up just fine in the default Western (ISO-Latin-1) encoding, but with that same/equivalent encoding in Firefox (ISO-8859-1), I get random characters. I'm worried that it's because I deleted some Japanese font on my computer, but I doubt it-- I doubly made sure that all the fonts that I deleted were trouble fonts, not system fonts. What's even more irritating is the lack of a singular encoding for Japanese/other Asian languages and accented characters, like é and ó and such. So I could see José Cuarón, but not ラブとエロス. And I know I didn't (and COULDN'T) have deleted those fonts, I just 'accidentally' disabled them. A Spotlight search revealed their location and I re-added them to Font Book, but before I would drag them over or double-click on the files and nothing would happen or change. Now that I have installed them again (and can see them in Font Book and noticed the change in Cocoa applications like this one), I hope my font woes will be over with.

There's nothing worse than stressing about the things you normally love. I love fonts. I love video games. But my computer was driving me batty, and I still haven't found my PS2 Memory Card! I've almost completely cleaned my room, too. It wasn't just hidden amongst the piles of things I had unpacked from Japan or from my mom's boxes; unless it somehow got mixed up in things that I put away, or is still lost under something in the rec room, I don't know what to do.

Sure, it might be fun to just buy a new memory card and start everything fresh again... but honestly, I had made SO much progress with the games I had on there. To name a few that I can remember:

Final Fantasy X - I finally was inside Sin! But I hadn't beaten the game yet, because I wanted to try getting the Ultimate Weapons. I remember getting past Seymour Flux and finding out Auron's secret, but that was as far as I remember getting.

Final Fantasy X-2 - I'd already beaten this game once with a 98% completion (I didn't beat the Den of Woe or the Via Infinitio on my first run-through), and I wanted my second game to either be the 100% completion or the "get tons of accessories" game, with a possible third play-through being the 100% Perfect Game. This is the one I'm most sore about possibly losing, because I had John (back in Japan) help me shove Tobli into the elevator during that one Chapter where you can get the Enterprise accessory... and that's SO damn hard! Yes, I know the greatest feeling of accomplishment is for something you've done yourself, but I tried SO HARD to do that, and I couldn't. John said he could, so I let him-- and he did! I treated him to dinner for that, and to throw all that all away would make me so sad.

I was also playing this game on International + Last Mission, because I'd never want to get to the final dungeon in LM without having accessories like the Iron Duke.

Katamari Damacy - In the original, I think I'd gotten up to Make A Star 7 or something, but I had something like 68 total constellations. Then I moved on to Katamari Damacy 2 (aka We ♥ Katamari) and managed to find a lot of "lost cousins" and reveal much of the King's sordid history, but there were various levels I hadn't beaten completely (like the Origami one).

Yu-Gi-Oh Duelists of the Roses - I'm actually not too bummed about this one. Over a year ago I'd accidentally overwritten my winning game file when trying to play "the next side" so I could eventually unlock the special Duel Masters and Deck Creation modes. Whenever I tried to play again, I always lost miserably to someone in the beginning. So I wouldn't mind a fresh start with this game.

Overall, I'd say I wouldn't be horribly upset if it were gone-- I mean, I could have a lot of fun replaying some the games over again. It's great when a game has "replay value," but I don't think my situation is what game designers and publishers have in mind when they say a game has "great replay value." So if it really did get down to it, I might buy a USB adapter for my memory card so I could just download some saves for FFX and FFX-2 (maybe not ILM, even though I think that was the one I got Enterprise in), and hopefully backup my saves, too. I don't know, does anyone know of a place where I can get:
* a new memory card (preferably a larger one, like a multi-card-in-one, or a pair of Memory Cards at once)
* a USB-to-Memory Card adapter
* free savefiles for FFX and FFX-2?

Last night Elliott came over and we ended up spending most of the night watching Food Network or the Tyra Banks show (it was the episode I'd wanted to watch, even though I stumbled on it totally by accident-- the episode about her supposed horrendous weight-gain. For the record, I thought that particular picture was just a bad angle, the same way plenty of people get their pictures taken where their face looks bleached out, their hair looks mussed up, their teeth have something in it, red eye, etc).

And hey, here's something you may not have known about me! My BMI is 19.5, which is just one point above the bottom line for the healthy weight for adults of my height. If I were 18.4 or under, I would be considered underweight, but I don't know how many pounds would calculate my BMI that far down. And frankly, I don't care. I happen to like my figure very much, even though occasionally I think my butt's just a bit TOO curvy or my thighs look a bit like bowling pins.

( On weight, body image, and stupid models )

zOMG I got Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission today... and given that you shouldn't start Last Mission without a completed FFX-2 save (and it can't be US, it has to be either Japanese or Japanese INT.), I started a new Japanese FFX-2 International file. Dialogue and such is in English, but MAN is it hard trying to do anything else! So far, I can read "potion", "dressphere", and "result plate", and that's about it. I don't even know what Ether is called! I did manage to get the Festival-goer (Omatsuri-something-or-other) dressphere though, which makes battles loads easier; Yuna just blows everything up with fireworks.

In order to get the Psychiccer dressphere, I have to battle in Shinra's new Battle Cup system, using fiends captured or sampled by the Creature Create system... all new to I+LM. I know you can "capture" really amazing character (Tidus, Auron, etc.) and from screenshots I've seen, you can swap them INTO your party, and their stats can be amazing! >_> I still don't understand how you can Break HP limit and Break Damage Limit outside of battle though... I mean, don't you need some special grid for that? (The End?)

I'm definitely going to be consulting a lot of guides for this. I still want to get 100% complete on the US game though, so I'm still playing that.

I also got Persona 2: Eternal Punishment today... whee, and it's everything I remembered and more! I actually opened my old save and I had NO frackin' clue what I was doing or where I was. Something about a Secret Casino. Methinks I'll probably start a new file for that one too, just to refresh my memory. I do remember this, though: Katsuya x Maya forever! :P

More good news: I am not going to spend all my days parked in front of this computer or the PS2. Matter of fact, I plan on taking a quick nap and then cleaning my room. After anime club, more sleep, then lather, rinse, repeat-- clean again! I have tons to do and a deadline to get it all done by.

Speaking of deadlines and other journalism-y stuff, I was on my way up to the 4th floor of the library to go to my locker, and these two guys were talking behind me on the escalator. One said "I bet she's a journalism major," but I didn't know who they were talking about. Then they actually said "Hey" to me, and asked if I was a journalism major. So I said yes, and asked them how the guy who asked knew, and he just smiled this weird way and said he guessed.

*blink* I didn't recognize either guy, but maybe one of them was in my class? I dunno. The two of them were laughing about it after I got off the escalator. o_O

Oooh, and more on the FFX-2 note... so we finally got our assignment in Visual Communications the other day, to design this magazine cover, right? We'll have to explain why we chose the things/style we did... and I got SO inspired just as Prof. Blumenkrantz was talking about it! *grin grin* I don't want to spoil my idea lest someone somehow steal it, but it IS related to FFX-2, and it WILL be good! Bwahaha!

My hand has actually been kind of hurting lately... not really serious ow! pain, but kind of that numb, hard feeling (if that makes any sense). I'm getting my stitches out on the 18th, thankfully, and Grandpa assures me that a) it won't hurt and b) my hand functions WILL return to normal.

I also went back to Red Robin and talked to Francis, the GM. He said that they have to train people to become trainers to train NEW people (like me), so I should come back in 2-3 weeks after they've likely sent people to the trainer's conference and tested them and all. I guess that's good... I can wait. Besides, Francis told me that I'm a very energetic, memorable person and that I'd be a great addition to the team. I'm hoping he remembers that and feels the same way in 2-3 weeks.

Also, I think I've made up my mind as to what I want to be for Halloween. More of a cosplay than a Halloween costume, actually... how about Téa, ala atlantian_magic's "Once Upon A Halloween" fic. All I need is a handsome prince, a cute puppy, and Tinkerbell along for the ride. Hey, -cutieme4u, what's up for Halloween, anyhow?

Whoo! Only three more days till Friday! Of course, that's both a good, AND a bad thing. I mean, on Friday, I have an exam, and a project due in Japanese that is worth a lot. I'm having a hard time researching it, being unable to print anything color from school, and since my home computer is fried (nooooo) I can't check my mail, let alone print pictures.

Thus screwing me over. HOWEVER, if I play my cards right, I might be able to do the project as a Powerpoint that I can email to my teacher. The hard part is programming all the wording into Japanese using an IME editor. >_<

I already paid for a $6 scrapbook, but at this rate, it's not looking too much in my favor to do the scrapbook project, especially when I can't find any pictures that are color (and big enough).

However, I'm trying to get myself in that "rut" where I'm motivated and happy about something, and if it can't be Spring break, than what better than my 17th bday, and even better, FANIME! Woohoo!

Yeah, so I'm sticking to my creed: Life sucks now, but it has to get better eventually. Hehe...

Strangely enough, I'm starting to get back into the gaming world-- and not just DOOM, but FFX and several other engaging games. Mensa! Whoo!

^-^ Yeah, if you didn't notice, I took a test that says what FFX character I am. I'm proud to be Lulu! She's gorgeous! ^-^ My friends have gotten both Wakka and Tidus... even though the Tidus one is a girl! O.o;;
FFX is actually the inspiration for a new SM fanfiction I have, Final Gate, but it's waaay hard to do any typing not school-related (that is, not at school) anywhere else...

I also noticed that all my songs and stories are really long (I once had a two-page spread in the paper about a fashion show) and since I have to make a short story for this literary contest, I have to limit my expression! Gaaah! >_<

Cinnamon raisins are the greatest thing this world has ever seen in terms of real "fast food." McDonalds either salts their fries too much or not enough. A cheeseburger isn't a cheeseburger unless it his ketchup and onions. Whenever you have successfully accomplished something and sit down to watch TV, repeats will be on. 99% of the time, you won't need to know Calculus or Geometry in a realistic job. Practically everyone ends up majoring in Business somehow. The meek WILL rule the world. Murphy's first law of computing: whatever happens, pretend like you meant for it to happen.