MILES to GO || before I sleep

So I never actually said what swag I got at Anime Expo! For me, at least, swag a big part of the con-going experience. Panels can be fun (or totally lousy, depending on scheduling, "technical difficulties" and other stupid things), and screenings can be a blast (or put you to sleep because there's no variety and the lines stink), but I mainly go to cons these days for the following things:
* Friends
* AMVs
* Swag
* Cosplay
in that order. All told, I "got" all of those things at Anime Expo, so you could say I had a good time.

( Swagalicious! )

So I'm overall satisfied with what I got, even though the Expo itself wasn't as good this year as last year. That's really a much longer story, but suffice it to say, they were just very disorganized. That makes people irritable and rude, and that makes other people miserable.

( To get...eventually )

So if you happen to be selling any of these or know where I can get them cheap, drop me a line!

So lately I've been playing Star Ocean: Second Evolution, the remake of Star Ocean: The Second Story, only my favorite RPG of all time (originally for the PS1), and I plan on finishing up Star Ocean: First Departure, a remake of the first Star Ocean ("Fantastic Space Odyssey") for the Super Famicom, which was licensed in the U.S. before now.

There's no such thing as a perfect game that has no significant plot points or plot holes that DON'T get explained away. Every game has them, and I think that's part of the replay value. Plus, it's always fun to have a good discourse on game meta, right?

( Spoilers follow, obviously )

The end. :)

So I went shopping yesterday and today-- yesterday to pre-sale some lipstick and lipgloss before the big Clinique event TODAY, during which I got a new silver makeup bag, a cute green-srippy wristlet, some new lipstick, a compact with bronzer, eye shadow, and blush; a full-size High Impact mascara (though High Definition is my favorite, I will state here and now for the record: Clinique's mascara tops Chanel's ANY DAY OF THE WEEK), a clarifying "lotion" (aka toner), and a moisturizer lotion (that I gave to mom 'cause it's not for my skin type).

( Girly stuff )

I also pre-ordered (FINALLY!) Star Ocean: First Departure, aka the first ever Star Ocean game FINALLY translated and brought to Western shores-- huzzah! But I'll need to buy a PSP. Here's where you come in:
1. Are PSPs region-free?
2. Where's the best place to buy a PSP? (A new edition is coming out later this month, so I'd prefer a new one with the better screen than just a shiny, cool-color one from some random online store)
No commentary on why the PSP resembles a Beyblade shooter or something, okay? The re-released SO games aren't going to BE on any other system, and I'm an RPG/specific title fan anyway-- so it's for those dedicated titles that I will shell out my hard-earned cash. It's been my long-awaited present to myself, so no trying to convince me not to get it!

And more:
* Saw "Body of Lies" the other night with Steph and her friends, Katherine and... er, I forgot Katherine's sister's name (sorry!). The movie was okay, but I got awful heartburn maybe 3/4 of the way through. It's not the kind of movie where you can really walk out and expect to understand anything when you come back.

* Ran into Jimbo and Christal on the 38 last night on the way back from my spree; we went out for Japanese (THANKS, CHRISTAL!) and crepes (mmmm!) and I might have a winter job as a result-- hush-hush!

* Apparently the "complete" iTunes library I thought I've been using for months is not so complete. When I went to look for my holiday music, I was coming up blank. A search of music with Christmas as my keyword (for title, album, or genre, as those are usually the top ones to return results) came up with nothing-- until I located it oddly in my Laptop iTunes Music folder, but NOT on my external hard drive's folder. I was under the impression that while my external drive was connected, iTunes defaulted to the library whose files it contained. Now, the library itself is still located on the laptop (I think because that's a requirement of iTunes), but the music folders are what are on the external drive.

The way I wanted it to be was:
-external HD: contains ALLLLL music, all playlists, everything. The one in use whenever I'm at a desk and plugged in, and the one that new songs are added to. Also the one that my iPod is synched to.

-laptop: contains a select few playlists, none of the "biggies" like my OCRemix collection, holiday albums, etc. Just some of the good, addictive stuff. Used for when I'm on the go and don't have my iPod.

So now I'm all confused and trying to import everything in the hopes I'm somehow doing it right and not super-duper duplicating my whole library. I might need to go to the Apple Store again (I went yesterday and nearly went broke buying a new battery, a new case --which is SO stuck on the laptop it's amazing I popped it off this morning without breaking a nail-- and getting my ProCare account fixed) and have them help me with this mess. Of course, I'd have to bring my external HD to get it done... -_-; *sigh*

Then, the question is, does the iTunes library EVER open to a certain one by default? Or would I consistently have to hold down Option when clicking on the icon in order to choose the "right" library depending on my circumstances? Should I put the library file for the external ON the external? And is there a program that either automatically chooses the right library file, or one that pops up whenever I open iTunes, negating the need for me to remember to do a keystroke?

Also, since there's been absolute mayhem where connectivity at Mom's house is concerned, it's been very touch-and-go with all things Internet; first my Mac would connect to the 'Net sometimes, and then sometimes not. Today it's been pretty good so far, through a few restarts and shut-downs. But with one good thing come a few bad things: the iTunes mess mentioned above, along with a sudden lack of printing capability. I used to be able to print wirelessly to Gary's printer all the way in the sunroom (in fact, it worked just fine yesterday before we changed all the damn wireless settings), but now I can't.

Before I deleted the malfunctioning printer from my Printer & Fax pane, I noted the address started with mds:// NOT with lpd:// (Line Printer Daemon), ipp:// (Internet Printing Protocol), or anything else. I tried adding the printer manually by entering in the IP address using the HP AiO Fax and HP IP Printing, but nothing works. The printer also no longer shows up in the Defaults pane as "Bonjour" kind (I think that's where the mds:// address comes from), though it did before, however long ago that was. I don't think it's a matter of DISTANCE, since, like I said, I was able to print from here in the living room to there in the sunroom just fine yesterday. The printer's been updated with the new wireless settings too, so...

Well, it's not THAT important. It's just annoying, above all else, and I don't have much patience. That's something I need to work on-- finding patience without procrastinating.

I know that I want to be an editor at a place that publishes game strategy guides. It bugs me how I have so many, and EVERY SINGLE ONE is chock full of mistakes, bad layout, poor font choice, etc. that could be SO MUCH BETTER! Plus, if game companies recruit testers to test a game before it hits the market, then strategy guide publishers could recruit a small team of gamers to beta-read and try and use the guide to see if it's well-organized and helps.

Case in point: the SO3 strategy guide from Brady Games. IT SUCKS. Almost as badly as the Prima guide for SO2! What the heck, yo!? I may have missed my chance to recruit Nel as my 8th party member (which was my plan), and I already said no to Peppita and Roger! I know there's no way to try and recruit Peppita again, and probably not Roger, either. But the way to recruit Nel was so easy to mess up on and not at all mentioned in detail or highlighted/put in a sidebar! So I might end up with 7 party members AND NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT! ;_; FYI, I only have the one save file, so it's not like if it turns out I DID do the action wrong that I can just reload the save. It's probably been re-written over ages ago. :(

Now THERE would be a cool invention-- a program and/or special memory card for the PS2 (or any other console, feasibly) that could let you "go back" and restore accidentally-overwritten or possibly deleted saves. I mean, what makes game saves so different from files saved to another sort of portable disk? You can do restorations and repairs to real computer disks, so why not memory cards? I would pay good money right now for the ability to go back to a save at a certain point in my game... like the situation above, if it turns out I missed my chance to recruit Nel just by saying the wrong thing... :P UGH!

I wanted my Albel x Nel ending... :( (Of course, if I DO bother to start another game, I'd probably have Nel as my default 7th and then just get Albel as my 8th; that way I can get more Battle Trophies, too)

Le sigh...

Okay, so I just had an insane idea. It might be a BAD insane idea, so please feel free to correct me if I'm bordering on certifiable insanity, here.

GameSpot announced that Star Ocean and Star Ocean 2 (The Second Story) will be re-released as "First Departure" and "Second Evolution" for the PSP. So far it's just a Japanese release, but still, remakes, additional characters, and a boatload of new scenarios has got me itching for the "disc-shooter" Playstation Portable. I really, really hope they do a version for the U.S.! (And for the record, I *LIKED* the voice actors in the NA release!)

So my crazy idea is... maybe Star Ocean (as a fandom) needs a Wiki. Sure, it's not as big as Sailor Moon (WikiMoon) or Yu-Gi-Oh (WikiFic... which is a bad name, I know, but I couldn't come up with anything else at the time, I felt the word "wiki" had to be in there, and it was primarily geared toward fanfiction writers lacking info about the series), but still! There's so much to talk about with 4 games (the original, SO2, Blue Sphere, and Till The End of Time), new re-releases, and both an anime and a manga series, the former of which including drama CDs!

I could so do it... :D :D But is it crazy? And what might I call it?

For the first time in probably two or three weeks, I can honestly say I feel relaxed. Not "pressure-free" (I still have papers for 3 classes to write; two are due next week, one is due Feb. 1... I also have my scholarship paper to work on and my Japanese test to prepare for), but I'm doing okay. I finished my Mass Media paper after some more edits (including a font size/face change to make it look shorter!), and with the help of Yuta, I actually got down to Level 11 in the Cave of Trials in Star Ocean and beat the boss Dragon! Every time we've tried to make that trek again, we always die somewhere in level 10 or 11, but I'm sure if I keep a good watch on Rena (you have to battle in a party of two for Level 12, so getting there is a pain in the ass), I can make it.

It's funny how a game can give me this great sense of accomplishment, even if I have yet to beat it... even if I was playing it in the cold... even if we died no less than 7 times... even if I should have been working on my Japanese homework while I was playing. I had fun. Yuta and I spoke in Japanese, and we talked about the differences between the game he remembers playing back when he was in high school, and this game (my favorite, even above FFX-2).

I also went out to Coco's with some of the gang-- even though I've been trying to save my money, I had a very delicious and filling dinner for only ¥700 or so, so it's okay. I've also got enough food and laundry money to last me until next Thursday when we get paid, so I should be okay. Next up on the list (besides all the studying, I mean) is packing.

I even finished the SDSU application today... I'm thrilled that I got that done, even if I a) don't get accepted or b) do get accepted and don't end up going. We'll see how that turns out. It was actually easier to fill out than I expected, but calculating my GPA was a bitch: the classes I'm taking here in Japan (5) are supposed to count for at least 16 units back home, 13 of which will be equivalent classes (that is a Japanese class counts for a class I could have taken at CSUN, had I not done the study abroad). Assuming all the paperwork goes through without a hitch (my only concern is the one I left with the G.E. department), all should be well-- I'm hoping I get 4 As and maybe 1 B, which would translate to 61-62 total grade points (apparently you get 4 points for each A IN ONE UNIT... So a 3-unit class where you earn an A is worth 12 grade points). Divide that by the total units I took this semester, and I've still got my 3.0+ GPA, so I'm glad. My cumulative GPA including all my CSUN semesters and such would be around 3.27, which is acceptable. There are some classes for G.E. and my Journalism major that I have yet to take, so I hope SDSU doesn't auto-reject me based o n the fact that I haven't taken those 3-4 classes (a science, a matching lab, a history course, and economics).

The past few days have been really hellish on my body-- many times I feel like I'm having a constant asthma attack with "an elephant sitting on my chest," while other times it feels like the elephant's marching on my back. Sleeping's been difficult, too, but I think if I can relax and genuinely "let go" of these pressures and really start taking the good along with the bad, and seeing all of this as an experience, then I can survive these last 12 days. That's not to say I plan on slacking off, but... well, I better get to bed soon anyway, since I have Japanese homework to do in about 6 and a half hours.

Tonight, I pray for no nightmares, creative stimulation that will not leave me in the morning, and a Muse who can hold her thoughts until I have time to type them, rather than waking me up by doomsaying that I'll forget The Next Great Idea if I don't type them out NOW.