Currents of Time

... Interesting. I've just discovered, entirely by accident, that my external hard drive and my oldest mp3 player can share a USB cord. Now I wonder which this one originally belonged to...

Guys, I am completely running out of entry titles. TONIGHT'S IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY WHAT MY ROOMMATE MADE FOR HER DINNER. (She let me try some. Surprisingly delicious!) Posting an entry every day when nothing of note happens is haaard.

30 Days of Video Games

( Day 18 - Favourite protagonist )

Got the writing bug / no short story ideas / still stuck on all the WIPs dilemma again. I hate my brain.

...AND THEN I DISCOVERED I HADN'T ACTUALLY UPLOADED ANY FFVII ICONS YET I will fix that later.

BUT GUYS, GUYS. My brother is the best person in the world.

And also he made this for me (the two may or may not be related AND NO ONE WILL UNDERSTAND THIS):

( Image! )

*___*

I must print it and put it over the real one.



... MAYBE THAT WILL BE MY ICON.



Also I registered for BotCon or something.


BUT MOSTLY I AM EXPLODING WITH AMUSEMENT AND GLEE.

If we do not have hot water by the time I get back from work tonight, I am going to pitch an epic temper tantrum. IT'S BEEN A WEEK. WHY IS THIS SO HARD. The guy's down in the basement hammering away at the thing. Supposedly we need a new valve this time.


It's not like I even have that much room to complain, since I spent the weekend out at my parents' place (it was pre-planned and not related to the ONLY COLD WATER FOR YOU, but was kind of a fortunate coincidence), but ugh. It's December, it's New England, it's cold, and I have things I need to be doing. Like... bathing. And washing my dishes (without having to boil the water in the microwave - it was closer and took less time than the stove).




Does anyone have any recommendations for the little speakers you can plug into an mp3 player (specific models or just companies that generally make good ones. The only thing is it can't be iPod-only, my mother doesn't have an iPod)? I've been reading up on them, but I don't have any experience with the things and there's not really a way to test them out beforehand, and I don't want to get her a pair that isn't going to work well. And I am running out of time.



...blah blah blah Final Fantasy blah. Crisis Core. (I am at least not replaying it! Though I am rewatching some of the highlights on youtube. (By which I mean, someone else's playthrough, which they so nicely uploaded in its entirely. Hee, the beginning confused me so much. OKAY ON A TRAIN WHEE FFVII flash--? It's a flashback from my standpoint, but not by the game's timeline. Wait, what? Now a behemoth?? AND NOW AUGH SEPHIROTH ATTACK. Wait, does anyone who hasn't played it - er, so, everyone? - plan on playing it? I can cut this stuff. Well, that's all from the very opening, but I was going to go on, and that's getting into SPOILERSSSS territory.) IT'S FUN, and not so bad when I'm not the one playing. Kinda like Silent Hill, in that regard.

Oh, heck, I'll probably just post an entry later that is me just rambling incoherently about it. If you want to follow along, well, hey, there's the link to the playthrough I've been watching. XD

I'm back with more of this! Yay!

( FFXIII Chapters 12 and 13 AKA THE END )

No spoilers for XIII here on out, even though I'm going to mention the game a few more times. A bit after my cat jumped on the remote and changed the channel, my brother turned up. He just went on break today, so. Long drive! I made him wait in the kitchen while I plugged in some headphones and watched the rest. We hung around a bit, then went out to find dinner, and mostly had a very long, hilarious discussion on how much of a wreck XIV is turning into (his prediction is that SE's going to have to give yet another free month, since the December overhaul/massive update isn’t until late in the month, and if they want people to stick around or come back, they're going to have to let people see what they've done), then moved on to the other games in the series. Lots of VII, I don't know why that was suddenly coming up.

( … this got a bit long, so have another cut )

AND TOMORROW STARTS HELLWEEK. Nooo, Thanksgiving, why do you exist…


Also, a year ago today (well, last night, since it's after midnight) was when I had my huge freakout at my father and told him to start treating me like an adult and with the respect due to a sentient being or to leave me the hell alone. (He opted for the latter, but then went back on it, and it's perhaps a bit wrong that I was more sad when he decided to start speaking to me again than I was when he was avoiding me.) Though at least the events leading up to that explosion put my mother and brother on my side, and they now don't let him get away with treating me like crap all the time. Small steps.

Dissidia came out Tuesday and I appear to have picked up a copy from somewhere, but I am not playing it yet because Crisis Core has eaten my soul i am not even joking.

This entry is a bit confusing because some of it was written as I went along and some of it was after I’d passed the part and was reflecting back and/or avoiding continuing in the game. So if I'm writing in present tense (and I definitely have a few places), that's why. It’s not entirely game rambling. It’s actually mostly me being distressed and using an unholy amount of italics.

Divided into sections for … my own entertainment, I guess, I don’t know.

BUT - I edit in several hours later - before I begin: I have no evidence to back this up (I can't even remember seeing anyone ever talk about this game), but considering the popularity of the other aspects of the FFVII compilation (I... just wrote "complication" there, which would also fit) stuff, I deeply suspect this is not a popular game. I don't care. I loved it. JUDGE ME AS YOU WILL. But this isn't going to be an entry complaining about it. So don't go in and then be surprised when I am saying good things about it.

( Spoilers only if you haven’t played FFVII yet )

The following are new to the game, but there are no real plot points, just things that amuse me. All of the following is from optional stuff. Still, if you don’t want to know anything, don’t keep reading…

( Crisis Core spoilers, but no plot points )

And now I go on to actual plot points. SPOILERS! LOOK AWAY.

( Crisis Core and FFVII spoilers )

So, anyway.

Final Fantasy VII was a game that had a huge impact on me. I don't know why, part of it was, I'm sure, because it was my introduction to the series, and this game... It's not like Advent Children, which was, you know, a movie. (A very pretty one, at that, and by the way, I liked it, so feel free to tell me you hate it but I won't agree with you. Though I'll freely acknowledge it had some problems.) It's not Dirge of Gerbils, which was, I don't know, something else entirely. I'm not sure I liked Dirge.

Crisis Core was an amazing nostalgia trip. This wasn't the world post-FFVII, this was the one we know and ran around in. The areas you visit are the same, recreated, and it is ... something else to be able to walk around these places you remember and find that you still know them, but they're more detailed, and in some ways you have more freedom and in others less, but... wow. It was really incredible to me.

And the story itself was, I felt, a very good, albeit heartbreaking, one.



And now I need to run because I have to go to work. Whoops.

Why: RHUBARB-CUSTARD PIE. Would you like some? It is quite tasty, and we have plenty of rhubarb growing out back. Also, tomorrow is Memorial Day (hilarity! ... and as much of an explanation as that can possibly have) and there is a parade and I can either go stomp around in it as a Girl Scout or I can sit and watch it, but either way parades are awesome. Finally sat and saw entirely of Fight Club in one sitting, despite mother's protesting (but then she ended up liking it). This article, from the local paper, is funny (especially the first one). I am on Church Street at least once a week during classes. I completely need to do that someday. And lots of other stuff that is making me happy but I am going to bed at a sane hour tonight if it kills me (and it might) so I am going to shut up about awesome things and will sum it up as such: there are many awesome things and they are all awesome.

+ Bonus: BROTHER HOME NOW YAAAAY

+ Added Bonus: He's letting me play his copy of Crisis Core. Zack! I am not far. BUT, YAY!


Negatives: Classes apparently start this week. Summer vacation was fun while it lasted. And it makes me sad when people I respect make derogatory blanket statements regarding people who are one way, or who like something. This is especially so when I fall into one of those categories, even though I know these people are only generalizing, and everyone knows we're all guilty of generalizing (and, heck, up until the generic insults, I usually agree, because the crazy people kind of drive me mad, too). (And I'm not saying I don't like them having a differing opinion. That's fine. You don't all have to like everything I do! It just makes me sad when everyone who is such-and-such-a-way is generalized as a moron. Even regardless of whether or not I am in that group. And I've been seeing a lot of this lately.)

- Also, I somehow pulled a muscle in my neck and/or shoulder at work. PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN

I've finally snapped. Stupid fanficrants. *blames* So, yes, this was brought on by a rant on FFR, but isn't actually directed at the author of said rant, who was both frustrated and exaggerating to make a point (and who's main point was a rather good one - familiarize yourself with the canon). Just so we got that cleared up.


I am sick to death of the hate Advent Children gets from the FFVII fandom. Okay, sure, sure, it had some problems. You can't retell VII in an hour and a half long movie. Was that what you were expecting?

( Grumping ensues. )

I guess I should just finish this before I get too worked up. In conclusion? Advent Children, despite how much you may or may not like it, is canon. If you don't like that, you don't need to work with it. People were writing in the fandom long before the movie and I'm sure most of them don't care that all of their work is now AU, since it doesn't make it any lower quality. (Though I do agree that authors should be familiar with the game canon before trying to write about these characters.)

But going around spouting how you don't like Advent Children because it was just a bunch of pretty fanservice that ruined all the characters is getting really old. Maybe it was, but it still happened, and you can either accept that and work in the "new" world of VII, or you can ignore it and stick to game canon. It doesn't make you any worse or better as a person. Really.

Just, please stop going on about how AC ruined the fandom and how anyone who likes it obviously didn't appreciate VII for what it was.


Primus, you're starting to make the Transformers fandom look sane. Do you have any idea how hard that is?



...And in closing, akuksfjknfks gah