I went to go for my daily perambulation, but what is this? Snow, snow, everywhere! The thermostat is merely hovering around zero, true, but the snow's coming down fast and hard, and it's awfully windy outside. Something tells me I'd best put it off. I feel like such a slug if I don't get some exercise, though! Maybe I'll load up Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and do a few rounds of the arm-numbing 400m Swimming relay. Woe betide the player who has Vector on their team, for nothing looks sillier than rapidly waggling back and forth like a crocodile tail (especially if unwitting family members happen to walk in the room).

Say, does anyone else have Phantasy Star 0 for the DS? We could team up and fight monsters sometime if I can force myself to be more sociable! At the moment, I've got a level 12 FOmar, Dr. Greene. My idea was to have a decent amount of melee ability, in order to placate my need to brutalize things in the face, alongside a sizeable chunk of PP and healing spells to bail me out should I get in over my head. So far, it's working quite nicely, though the six-button palette system limits what spells I can keep on hand. Burn things, heal, status-heal, PP recovery, roll, and hit-stuff-in-face; that's what I've got equipped right now.

I'm not sure what to think of the NPCs in story mode. I like them just fine in regards to the story itself, but on the field... All right, mostly I get mildly miffed if one of them lands the finishing blow on a monster and I lose out on some of the EXP. I do appreciate that they don't seem to have a limit to using techniques due to a lack of a visible PP bar, but I can't use items on them, and chasing after them in order to heal them up via magic during a boss fight is a bit more troublesome than they're worth.

Actually, during the first boss fight, I just focused on myself as opposed to the other character, and it was much more manageable. Yes, I did feel a little bad, seeing their unconscious form lying prone on the ground for 4/5ths of the battle, but it's not like they missed out on getting anything, and there's no one to dampen some of my EXP-gain by getting the killing strike, ha ha! ...That... That sounds needlessly cruel, doesn't it?

Hey, I'm not a total monster. I went back to fight the boss a few more times, and each time it took longer for my guilt to falter (and thus the NPCs stayed concious longer) in regards to keeping them healthy.

Outside of boss fights, though (and to be fair, I supposed I've only fought two separate bosses so far), they're not bad to have around. Except for their habit of... of standing there whenever a trap bursts forth from the ground. Yes, how surprising, what a marvel of engineering, now please follow my lead in the opposite direction instead of staring at it, oh look now you're on fire and I hate you.

Anyway. Yes. If you have the game, perhaps we can try a joint adventure sometime. Bonus points if you picked a loli-bot (a RAcaseal) as your class. What, what? Don't give me that look. Ridiculous, perhaps, but there's truly no better name for them. Their default look is bright pink, with long, pigtail-like headpieces and they are wearing what is, for all intents and purposes, a skirt, complete with a wide-eyed childish face. And you can't forget the oversized gun they carry!

Like I'm going to pass this one up! For the best: Ahh, but where to start? I've read so many books that have affected me in so many ways, I can't truly single out just three. This is assuredly not an end-all list, so there!

BEST(EST)
1. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. There is something both magical and calming (magically calming?) about this book. It reaffirms my way of thinking, is sweet and sombre, imaginative and otherworldly, and reminds me unshakably of Katamari Damacy (and vice versa). I believe I was originally given a copy by a teacher, for guidance, so give it a shot sometime and perhaps it can do the same for you.

2. Watership Down by Richard Adams. You know, that cute book with bunnies! I love bunnies! Now, I tend not to enjoy "talking animal" books. That is, animals behaving in ways and relating to one another as humans would. They are in the guises of animals, perhaps, but their characterization is utterly human. Make sense? However, Watership Down does not feel like this at all. Rather, it's as if the reader is simply observing the bunnies in their natural habitat and has the added bonus of being able to understand what they're saying. Not to say that it's boring, oh no, no, no. If you aren't in the mood to pick up the book to see what I mean, why not give the animated movie a try? One that likely traumatized my class in third and fourth grade when we watched it for Easter. The snare is never going to leave my mind...

3. ... ... ...No, no! I simply can't limit myself to three! So many great books, so little time! Aiiighhh!

Instead, some notable contenders would have been Good Omens, Ninteen Eighty-Four, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Ender's Game, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, Catch-22... Oh, heck. Next time, can we pick best literary characters? That would be easier! I'm neglecting some great series, too, like Sherlock Holmes, Horatio Lyle, Agent Pendergast...

Look, if it bothers you that much, just pretend I wrote something magical and adventurous and full of eccentric characters demonstrating questionable levels of sanity in the third spot, deal?

Now, the worst...!

Eh. I got nothing. I am absurdly picky when it comes to selecting something from a book store. A book has to 'call' to me before I'll snap it up. Some irresistible force draws me in. Perhaps this is limiting what I eventually read, yes, but it does act as a lovely fail-safe against acquiring a bookshelf full of clunkers.

If I had to pick, it'd probably be a selection of asinine titles I had to read during school. Ones about issues, and current events, and coming of age, and tragedy, and family drama, and hardships and turmoil and Look At This Shiny Newbery Medal, You Guys! Piling on the drama does not a good book make! The trick is to pile on the brevity, the humour, the absurdity, then pull the rug out from under our feet (like a few books I've read in recent memory, sob sob).

Or, barring that, I'll simply nominate that one chapter in Atlas Shrugged that should honestly be renamed "Shut up, John Galt." Come on, you thought it, too.

What about you guys? Have any "These are the greatest, read them now!" books to throw at me? Or how about "Avoid these at all costs, they're a waste of time and trees!"?

I simply knew November couldn't remain unseasonably warm for much longer. I was looking forward to my leisurely walk home from work, too, but conditions being somewhere just shy of a blizzard made me renege my plan. Plus, I didn't have my new, kicky winter boots with me! Where's the fun in that, huh? See, every year I keep telling myself "nah, I don't need boots, I'll be fine", which just goes to show what a hackjob of a Canadian I really am. The fact that I hate shoe shopping might factor in, too. But nevertheless, I finally caved and bought some a while ago - they have pom poms, how could I resist? It complements the pom poms on the ear flaps of my bunny hat (the moral of the story is, more pom poms).

One more shift in drive-thru and I'm going to be good on my promise to smash in cars with a tire iron, I mean it! What is with being chronically understaffed? It ain't a one-Morgan job, let me tell you. And of course, the tiniest fleck of snow coming from a sky that barely qualifies as periwinkle, let alone grey, means that nobody wants to leave their cars and come into the store. At least I got off the clock in the nick of time. As the next girl took my place, I kept my headset on long enough to hear the next order: hooooo boy, we got us a bottleneck. I think we had about four cars waiting for the one stopped at the speaker, as they changed their mind and phoned other people asking what they wanted who then changed their minds and... Well. I'm sure you can imagine. Or better yet, don't. Think of your blood pressure.

Oh, and to the one lady that insisted "a tall Americano should be $2.26, it's always been $2.26, I know you changed the price on me, I'm not paying the extra ten cents, I only brought $2.26 because that's what it's supposed to cost, you're going to give it to me for what I want to pay," slapped down her change and left: I hate you.

...No, no. No more work talk, no more work talk! Happy place, happy place!

My brother and I love New Super Mario Bros Wii, though it's understandably touchy playing it with two people. I can't even fathom attempting any sort of precision platforming with four, unless everyone has a lot of lives to burn. Though in actuality, either to skill or paranoia or dumb luck, most of our deaths have been our own fault as opposed to any sort of collective effort. I tip my hat to my bro, who managed to fall into the lava in Larry's castle numerous times all on his own, and again hilariously perished after we had already defeated the boss by jumping into the pit at the side of the arena. Eerily like watching him fight Reznors in Super Mario World, come to think of it. He'd knock out the last one before inevitably diving in magma. Classic.

What else has been good? I've made more progress in my replay of Phoenix Wright 3, read a delightfully charming short story that would assuredly have made me choke on my tea in laughter had I not set it aside before beginning, and watched Star Trek with my dad for, hm, the third or fourth time. Makes me want to want the original series so I can better appreciate the alternate timeline, and so I don't have to keep asking my dad what's different. Or at least, so I can extend my knowledge of said original series past merely watching parodies and homages (ahh, Futurama).

Not so good, though, is band class. Bronze band is indeed hogging all the first trumpet parts for Sleigh Ride, so I've been delegated to second, much to my chagrin. I-It is no longer the true melody I play, but a harmonization! What madness is this?! I've already learned the first part, too, so back to the drawing board. At least I get to keep first for the other pieces. Playing second or, my god, third trumpet for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer would be soul crushing. Only first plays the melody, and second and third are unrecognizable exercises in deadening musical torture when played on their own. What good is that song if you can't play the catchy chorus, huh? You can't get it stuck in people's heads that way, and that's the best part! Wahahahahahaha! (Hey, I'm extremely susceptible to the same thing. It's only fair I should want petty revenge on everyone who has ever started singing the Katamari Damacy theme within 500 yards of me)

I realize I have some comments to get back to (my gosh, why am I so bad for that?), but this is just a quick little update before I head off to bed assuming all the tea consumed on an empty stomach doesn't keep me awake all night with caffeine-related jitters.

H-Happy Birthday to me! I'd blow a noisemaker if I had one. Fwooo. Use your imagination, okay?

I got New Super Mario Bros for the Wii, woo hoo! My bro and I are gonna have a field day with that one, I bet. He has an iffy track record when it comes to platformers, so I suspect it'll be up to me to save the day. I'd better be careful I don't jinx myself with those words...

We actually haven't tried it yet, though, since I got my presents late into the evening, and also received The Beatles Rock Band double woo hoo! ...Which is odd, actually. Not that I don't think it's a riot, but I'm surprised my dad remembered me mentioning it in the first place.

I recall saying to him in the past about how I've always wanted to try Rock Band, but could never bring myself to justify the purchase because it would only ever be myself and possibly my brother playing. I mentioned the Beatles edition, however, would be fun as at least I could coerce him (my dad) into playing occasionally, seeing as how he loves their music and would know all the words in order to sing along. My mum, well... She loves them, too, but the less said about her singing, the better. I know, it sounds mean, but she readily admits it herself!

Anyway, I'm shocked, 'cause talking to my dad is like talking to a brick wall and it's a miracle if he hears more than every other word.

I love the shiny guitar! But the neck seems longer than that of my guitar hero axes, or maybe the different way the fret buttons are spaced is throwing my off. Whatever it is, it makes my fingers get sore incredibly fast. At least I can sing well! But I only know all the words to a handful of songs, so back to the guitar 'till I learn...

Oh, I tried the drum kit for a little bit before we stopped for the night. It seems like I'll have to develop more coordination between my hands and feet before I ace anything. I'm a spaz, so I'll hit drums when I'm not supposed to and ruin my combo. Or half the time the kick-drum comes up, it won't click that I'm supposed to hit anything until a beat after it has passed. Whoops.

Okay, bed. I don't feel too hot. Oh, but I still haven't pranced around to my now-unofficial-official-birthday song! Sekaaaai de ichiban o-hi-me-sa-ma♫

The optometrist wasn't very scary, all things considered. Thanks oodles, pyrasaur and inquisitory! Your words of encouragement helped me relax. Mostly, I didn't like the first part of the exam, what with the puffs of air and the blindingly bright camera flashes. I kept blinking, naturally, and in one take my hair even fell in the way, so my retinas were burning for a while afterwards, argh. No more spots!

( In regards to both the optometrist and, oddly, a wonky dream I had that was probably influenced by the visit. )

Unusually, I had a day off today (people still demand their lattes, even on Remembrance Day), so I've been both doing a lot of walking (terribly windy!) and watching cartoons. Samurai Pizza Cats, woohoo! I ask you, why on earth isn't that show on DVD? I'm rather surprised I could sing all the words to the theme song, since I hadn't seen it in years, but then I've always had a bizarre aptitude for remembering music.

Oh, and Re: The episode of Phineas and Ferb I just watched: am I imagining things, or was that a reference to...?

Guy: Aren't you a little young to know about all these old detective shows?
Phineas: Yes. Yes, we...
Phineas: :| *fwip* 8|
Phineas: ...are.
YEAAAAAHHHH

Please do pardon the colloquialism, dear friends, but brb loling forever, as they say. Why do I keep watching that stupid show? Cartoonish, over the top mystery solving!...Most of the time! I don't like anything too dark and gritty

I feel like a game of Mario Kart now, but alas, I have lost my brother to Modern Warfare 2. He did ask me to try out co-op with him, but I'm not sure if I'm up to it right now. Realistic FPS games just don't click with me (but if they're cartoony and I'm playing with friends, a la Unreal Tournament matches with my Multimedia class, I'm all for it!). Okay, and I'm not nearly as good at them as I am regarding other genres. I cut my teeth on platforming, so I need to see my feet, gosh darnit!

Hmm, my brother says, in regards to shooting games, that I'm nuts for playing with an inverted axis. You know - tilting up makes you aim down, and vice versa. Just like you're flying a plane! My brother insists that it's weird, but I simply can't play any other way. Every time I snag the controller from him ("You keep dying, let me try!"), I wind up aiming in the wrong direction. Even when it comes to merely adjusting the camera in 3rd person games, the axis simply must be inverted, or I go bonkers!

What about you guys? Do you prefer an inverted axis? Or when you tilt the control stick down, do you want to actually look down, by gum? I'm a little curious as to what the majority might be.

I think it was playing Starfox that hardwired the airplane-like controls into my noggin. Something's wrong with the G-diffuser!

A meme, before I go; why don't you try it out? I shamelessly stole this one from sexyblack, whoops.

Book meme:
[Take four books off your bookshelf!]
1. Write the first sentence
2. Write the last sentence on page fifty
3. Write the second sentence on page one hundred
4. Write the next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
5. Write the final sentence of the book
[Let your friends guess what book it is!]

Note: Some names have been truncated to make them slightly less glaringly obvious.

Book One:
1. Mr. S-------, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions where he stayed up all night, was seated at the breakfast table.
2. "When did he say this?"
3. A spectral hound which leaves material footmarks and fills the air with its howling is surely not to be thought of.
4. "If you will wait, one or other of us will go back with you to the Hall."
5. "Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at Marcini's for a little dinner on the way?"

Book Two:
1. A----- was the third son of a landowner from our district, F-----, well known in his own day (and still remembered among us) because of his dark and tragic death, which happened exactly thirteen years ago and which I shall speak of in its proper place.
2. He wrote twice from there, but it had already been a year now since he stopped writing.
3. L-------, who knew how to climb wattle fences in order to spend the night in people's kitchen gardens, somehow also climbed up onto F-----'s fence and from there jumped down into the garden, despite her condition, though not without harming herself.
4. "You will make him listen to reason, you will reveal to him that you love another man, that you have loved him a long time, that he is now offering you his hand..."
5. K---- cried once more ecstatically, and once more all the boys joined in his exclamation.

Book Three:
1. Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians.
2. "But perhaps you have friends in London who will perform the same services for you without troubling the editors of the newspapers?"
3. My dear Sir W-----! cried I, how can you say so?
4. He rose from his chair and tugged violently at the bell pull, but no servant appeared.
5. Then he turned upon his heel and disappeared into the Darkness.

Book Four:
1. It was love at first sight.
2. And S------ lay dying in back.
3. I've got some live Maine lobsters hidden away that I can serve you tonight with an excellent Roquefort salad and two frozen eclairs that were smuggled out of Paris only yesterday together with an important member of the French underground.
4. "Where's O--?" someone asked suddenly over his intercom.
5. The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off.

Hmm, perhaps my selections were too singular, too obvious. Well, if you've read the books in question, I mean. But then I suppose the text of most previously read books might have an air of familiarity to it.

Speaking of books, I still need to grab another novel to read. Oh, why oh why did my dad misplace my copy of Good Omens? I still want to read that again, blast it all!

Ohh, come on, self! Draw, draw! It is incredibly distressing when one cannot even draw their own original characters. The more time that passes, the more I find myself missing all of the files that were lost off of my laptop. So many concept sketches, gone! Perhaps they were not very good, yes, but they were something.

My mum's going to the optometrist tomorrow, and, er, she's bringing me, because I've never been before. Honestly and truly, they're only going to make me sit there and read things through funny lenses, right? No poking, prodding, saying I have some terrible disease that will require the immediate removal of my eyes with a sharp-edged spoon lest my -- A good train of thought for a hypochondriac, this is not.

I see out of one eye better than the other. Is that weird? Aiiiiiigh--

I need another novel to bring with me to work. I simply must have something to read on my breaks! However, since I have been waffling on what to bring, I've started replaying Phoenix Wright: Justice For All in lieu of an actual book. Close enough, isn't it? I can sip tea while I play it, which is what's truly important! Plus, in any case I haven't played it in a while, so I'm enjoying the refresher. On case 3, day 2, just finished cross examining the first witness. I like Franziska, don't get me wrong, but I find myself missing Mister Edgeworth.

My birthday's in a week, isn't it? Dear me. My dad keeps asking me what I want to do to celebrate, but I really can't think of anything. If I could, I'd invite all of you over for tea and cake, and we'd wear pointy party hats and there'd be streamers and games and Mario Party and...! But I'm terribly introverted and find I get exhausted and irritable after socializing, so that's out, even if I could teleport everyone over for a magical birthday tea party (really, is there any other kind?).

My brother keeps saying he wants to get me a birthday cake with Uboa on it. I am fairly certain he is merely joking. Fairly. I would be worried if he could up and drive to the bakery, but since coordinating anything with my dad is nigh impossible, I should be fine. Probably. Can you imagine? Dim the lights, have someone approach you with a candle-lit birthday cake, people begin to sing, everything seems normal, then the lights flash and someone hits the stereo and that horrible sound starts to play and aaaaaaah!

If I didn't have to work tomorrow, I could easily be up all night watching cartoons! Check it out - I'm sure you'll recognize something out of the shows available. If anything, there's always WELL EXCUUUUSE ME, PRINCESS to fall back on.

I'm not sure if I'm doing NaNo this year. That is, I'm writing, but I'm not signed up in any official sense. I took it instead as an opportunity to write out scripts for my original comic, Chef Pekoe. Now, instead of simply having various "hilarity ensues" situations floating around in my head, I'm actually committing them to paper, with dialogue and everything! Of course, posting about it here will likely jinx me, but let's keep our hopes up, shall we?

I'm actually waffling between that, and writing out a bizarre idea I came up with last year, but never got around to doing anything with. It uses proper prose, you see, so I can pretend I'm a real writer you guys! instead of solely writing out scripts.

I don't think it's actually going to go anywhere, mind. The idea's goofy, out there, isn't pure comedy and would require too much research. And even if I were to do research, the suspension of disbelief needed for certain things would likely be too great for some folk. Oh well. Writing prose is tiring, anyway. All the describing and implying and blah blah blah.

I've only started yesterday and have made next to no progress today, so 6000-ish words certainly isn't bad, even if much of the writing isn't in a 'proper' format. Think of what I could accomplish if I wasn't ludicrously lazy and had more acceptable levels of dedication!

I'm not sure where I was going with this entry. Old cartoons, writing, that's about it. I have to work early tomorrow morning, but I don't feel particularly sleepy, oh dear.

I wait too long between entries, and then I can no longer recall what I have and have not talked about!

-One of my bro's birthday presents was Metal Gear Solid 2. He played through it with me acting as tactical adviser ("Why don't you try punching the guy?" "Ohhh.")

-I thought the plot was rather interesting, nuts to the haters. Although those were some of the longest codec calls ever, good grief.

-I ruined an otherwise heartbreaking scene with an offhand observation; when Snake was talking about an escape vehicle, it looked like he was pointing at the parrot... We laughed uproariously through the whole thing 8|

-Got Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games last week. Stop looking at me like that.

-I joked that they should skate to Live and Learn in Figure Skating. Oh well.

-But Open Your Heart is pretty darn close! P.S. Dream Figure Skating is strangely hilarious.

-We cleared Team Festival Mode just last night. Bowser Jr., Waluigi, Shadow and Knuckles - together, we form Team Awesomesauce! It is the greatest team.

-Shadow's true calling is not, as you would believe, naval gazing and longing to find a meaning for his existence, but ice hockey. Yep. He actually smiles when he scores a goal, aww.

-Waluigi's true calling, however, is not hockey. Especially not being a goalie. Which is the player and which is the stick, I wonder? ("Waaaah, Waluigi is not amused.")

-Curling is surprisingly intense. I never actually understood how it was played before this.

-I'm the official strategist, because while my brother certainly has input on our shots, I also must remember that during our billiards matches in Super Monkey Ball, his idea of strategising was to simply hit the ball as hard as he could and would always win! >8|

-I forget what our exact point total was at the end of the festival, but it was over 150 and we blew the others out of the water.

-Switching games! I got around to beating Mario & Luigi 3 this afternoon, after being saved not far from the final boss fight for about a week. I have to stop putting it off, yeesh. I had to use recovery items in this one :( Perhaps level 31 isn't terribly advantageous for Bowser, but it still worked out.

-KILL IT WITH FIRE BROGGY. Oh, and falling stars!

-Re: The Ending: Awwwwww.

Must get ready for band class now. Have you all had a good week?

-I NEED SCISSORS. 61!

Arrrgh, my sound doesn't work, at all! Not in the least! I've been trying and trying to fix the problem, but I'm coming up empty handed. No, nothing is muted. The volume dial does nothing. It says there is nothing wrong with any drivers, nor are there any avaliable upgrades.

What did they do to my computer? Not only is 90% of my stuff gone (I asked, "Please save My Documents," not "Please save half of My Documents"), but ever since I got it back it has been unable to make a peep. I'm pulling my hair out, here! Why isn't it working? I just want to listen to music again.

I'm still a terrible artist who is grossly out of practice and will never amount to -- no, no! Stop talking like that! Ahem. But even though I am not as good as I could be, let's say, SAI Painter is pretty fun. I like the feel of the pen tool quite a bit.

I don't draw hands. I draw the suggestion of hands.

Sketch dump comes later, maybe. It's okay if they're all really bad, right?

If anyone knows how to fix up my sound, I'm all ears. I feel awful having to ask silly questions all the time, but so be it.

I suppose I could mention something about my computer here, but that might also trigger an unsightly screaming fit, so I won't.

Ahem!

Half read last night, the other half this evening - I thoroughly and immeasurably enjoyed Johannes Cabal the Necromancer and heartily recommend it. Go read it! It's by Jonathan L. Howard, if I'm reading the spine properly. Go go go! Not many books have the power to both make me laugh out loud on numerous occassions as well as shock me into stunned silence. I think Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was the last to achieve such a thing, come to think of it. It was even mentioned on this current book's flap; as both share "sophisticated charm", I believe it read.

I wish I could easily locate more books like those! Funny, magical, with something otherworldly about them, sharply written, great characters, witty and charming and just a little dark and sad and twisted but ultimately... Well, let's not spoil any endings, now. Use your imagination.

...Hey, if you do know of any books along those lines, feel free to throw some names at me, yeah? I would be immensely grateful. Even if I am the pickiest reader in the known universe.

Rrrgh, if I'm not too high-strung to sleep, then I have a wallopingly-good headache. If it's not one thing, it's another, you know how it goes. I hate feeling like an invalid so often, but my all-encompassing, paralyzing, absolutely positively intense fear of doctors is keeping me from recieving any help. There you are.

I suspect my parents might possibly be addicted to that confounded Starbucks Via Ready Brew not-instant instant coffee. My mother most certainly is. Uh ohhh.

Curse you, rice with steak sauce. So says my waistline. Delicious, delicious rice with steak sauce. Curse you.

We went to a teppan-style Japanese place last night, if you're wondering. I didn't quite drink an entire pot of green tea. My dad and bro each had a cup.

My brother adored the card I gave him, especially because I doodled all over it. They weren't very good doodles, I think, and I was largely coasting on my talent for comedy as opposed to any sort of artistry, but it's nice to know they were appreciated. How did he manage to beat my gift of Halo ODST already? Though he was up all night trying to finish it. After all, one evening I marathoned through the entirety of Rayman 3 in single sitting, for reasons unbeknownst to myself. By the by, the Desert of the K'narren level (how was that spelled?) at two in the morning: brr. It's the sudden and screen-filling "BY THE WAY, don't go near these guys!" warning that does it.

One more solitary day off before it's back to work tomorrow. Boo, I say. But at least I have some voice acting later in the week to look forward to. P.S. Watch episode 13 of Pretty Cure (dubbed!) sometime. It's like it's mocking my dream of playing the lead in a magical girl series. "Let's go, Cure Black! >:("

Book ramble time! A trip to the bookstore has netted me a copy of "Johannes Cabal the Necromancer", something of which I read a summary for a while ago and found the concept intruiging, but had not managed to procure 'till now. Blasted expensive hardcover books. But my stars, I love it! It's so... charming. Charmingly English, in fact. Magic, but not of the high-fantasy variety, a time period that is not Now, a dry sense of humour - sign me up! I'm only perhaps 100 pages in, but I am thoroughly amused thus far.

( Extended bookish talk behind here, with more novels slipped in and me making as much sense as you've come to expect, dear friends. )

While sitting in the tea shop earlier today (my dad and I always partake during Saturday mornings), I passed the time by doodling in my sketchbook. Then, I stopped, becoming ever so self concious, as I then remembered my habit of constantly mimicking the expression of whatever character I'm doodling. My sketchbook especially is filled with dopey, exagerrated doodles of no real artistic merit but lots of over-the-top faces. Does anyone else do this? The making faces bit, I mean. 8D, D8<, =w=, ' 3 ', it's all so infectious!

One more - Mario & Luigi, even closer to the end, maybe. The bros are at level 35, Bowser is at... I forget. 30<, but <35. I've hardly ever touched the special attacks, but now I feel like I'm abusing theme. I did the same thing in the original Mario & Luigi, if I recall. Barely used in the first play through, used and abused from then on (but not as much as those wonderful Mush Badges! Ho ho ho~).

Today is my brother's birthday, a'yup. Happy birthday to him! Maybe I'll ask when he gets home from school if he wants to play some celebratory Mario Party. Then again, he'll probably ask me to play Halo with him, which is okay, but it needs bots 'cause I don't like playing against strangers online. There's always co-op in single player, perhaps, but been there, done that.

My arms hurt! We've been playing lots of Mario & Sonic at the Olympics for the past few days. No, no, not the new Winter Olympic one, just the original. I'd like the Winter Olympic one, though. D-Don't judge me, okay? Besides, the game will break my heart just fine without the help of other people waggling their fingers at shiny minigame collections, because I'll inevitably discover that Cream the Rabbit is once again unplayable while she instead acts as a referee. Why can't they use Toadsworth, man? It's not like he's doing anything.

I hope the Wii version of the Winter Olympics has figure skating. I saw a screenshot of the DS version in Nintendo power a while back that had Waluigi showing his stuff on the ice rink, with Wario, Dr. Eggman and Knuckles waiting in the wings. How could I pass up on that hilarity? Sold!

There'd better not be anything as diabolical as the 4x100m swimming race. Aaaargh. I tried playing it against last night, because I couldn't clearly remember just how much pain it caused. Why did Vector have to wind up on my team? That crocodile swim is the most awkward, bar none! (and the most embarassing to watch, I bet)

There were meaningful things I wanted to put in this entry, but I've already forgotten. It seems like all my entries as-of-late are written as if I'm distracted by something, though I don't know why. Focus, Morgan! Focus, focus, focus!

I feel like the other two trumpet players in my band class don't like me very much. I say "hello", but they don't talk to me, and chat exclusively amongst themselves during class and during break. If you're not sure how to play part of the music, or what something is, you can ask me, too, okay? I wouldn't look down on you for it - learning is good!

It's difficult to convey this without sounding full of myself (tooting my own horn?), but part of me wonders if they aren't kind of resentful because I'm talented. Other band members tell me "Wow, you sound great!", but I'd say "The other trumpet players are good, too!" and they truly are, especially considering their experience level. "I've just been playing for a lot longer, that's all." Or does being modest make it sound worse? I don't know, I don't know! I'm no good with people, mmph.

Reading the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei manga has me jonesing to watch the anime again. I haven't even gotten to watch half of Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei! Not even far enough to hear the new ending theme... It was a new ending, wasn't it? I love Ringo Mogire Beam! too much to see it go so quickly. (but Kuusou Rumba still has the best animation, I think)

I feel terribly guilty. I called in sick to work today, even though everyone there seems to shake their heads in scorn at those who call in sick. But you know what? I've been working my tail off for who knows how long, so I've probably earned a sick day. Plus, why go in when you might be contagious?

I should probably go back to lying down, since my head hurts something awful, but sitting in bed while drifting in and out of conciousness was getting a little dull. My family went out shopping a short while ago, so I watched me some Code Geass R2 woo yeah! I bought part 1 yesterday, finally finally. Only saw the first two episodes, however. I suppose I shouldn't push my luck by staying out of bed for too long.

When I purchased Geass R2 yesterday, I also got my paws on volume 3 of the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei manga and, best of all, volume 6 of Yotsuba&! Yeaaaaaah! Good gravy, how long did that take? Thank you, Yen Press. Even if it took me a bit to adapt to the new nuances in this particular translation. There's honorifics, now, and Yotsuba tends to refer to herself in first person, both of which ADV's original translation did not have, I think. A little jarring at first, adjusting to the change.

How long until volume 7, I wonder? Best not to think about it...

I haven't written a single thing about playing Mario & Luigi these past couple of weeks, have I? Well, I have been, and I'm sure you probably know me well enough to assess that I most certainly adore it. Alphadream's sprite work is positively wonderful! And any game where you can play as Bowser is like A++, you know.

I need to go back to laying down now, so I'm not going to bore you with details. But since I've been working away at this game for so long I'm fairly certain I'm right near the end. The music here sounds like Ganon's Castle from Link to the Past, just a little bit. In that one part, I really did take a tea break...

(same issue with computer, blah blah blah)

I feel like I haven't slept in a week! What with the waking up all the time. I've taken to listening to music as I doze (thank you, iPod dock) but I'm unsure if it's assisted or made it worse. If anything, my dreams are more vivid! Possibly because the song sometimes worms its way into things, and it's easier to recall the dream once I associate it with a song. ...Ohh, this burns me up, though, since my dream log is on my laptop, and I can't update it! Everything's gonna get lost in the overcrowded filing cabinets of my brain.

Weird dream of the moment: having Ringo Mogire Beam! (the opening from Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, if you wanna look it up) play, while I am actually shooting beams in time with the music. I remember me and a couple other folks were busting out of somewhere, is why we were shooting lasers at doors. We weren't shooting at apple trees, though. Anyway. Weird, but entertaining. Moving on.

We had a store meeting on Saturday to talk about INSTANT COFFEE Starbucks Via Ready Brew. Don't call it instant coffee, okay? Because it's not! It is instantaneous, but it is not instant. Oh, I don't know - we're just not allowed to call it that because people have preconcieved notions. Dun dun dun.

( Work talk. Store meetings and surprise, allergies? )

It seems that my mum is having a friend visit from Edmonton today! Why did I not know about this sooner? Hm, well, I do have a very vague recollection of my mum mentioning our guest ages ago, but I wasn't informed of a date. I'll be at an appointment this afternoon, though, so I won't see her as she arrives.

Oh oh, horray! Today is Tuesday! Aside from it naturally being my off day from work, Good Eats and Iron Chef is on tonight, horray. And an episode of Phineas and Ferb that I have not yet seen is supposed to be on this afternoon, double horray! And... well, no, the new episode of CSI: Miami was on yesterday, but I watched it this morning, so it still counts. Oh, lawl, I like the fact that when Caine walked into a room to negotiate with a hostage taker, he was still holding his sunglasses in one hand. This was all completely indoors, mind, and he did not slip them on and say something pithy (drat) so they had no reason to be there. But they were, and it was funny.

Gotta go help clean more before our guest arrives, and then off to my appointment. My apologies for not being able to keep up with my flist at all. I still can't seem to manage getting on the desktop computer all that often, or for very long.

Still no dice. I just wind up getting mad at myself when I attempt any more troubleshooting.

My dad doesn't like me using the desktop computer, so it's difficult for me to sneak any online time. Either I'm at work, or he's using it, or I simply don't have a large enough window of opportunity to do any more than look at email before he walks by and chews me out for using it.

I got $200 from a Starbucks sales contest over the summer (our store was 3rd in the region for pastry sales), maybe I can put it towards a new computer. Except that's only a tiny chip off the price of a new computer, and my job pays peanuts. I feel both amused and saddened when I see applications people have turned in to work here, and for "expected starting wage" they write something like $10, $10.50, $11 an hour. I've been there for over a year and six months, with three raises under my belt, and I make just barely over $9.50.

Anyway. After working my little tail off all week (short staffed, y'see) I finally recieved a day off today! But it's so hot and I'm feeling awful again, so thus far I've spent nearly all day in bed, how wasteful. Well, no, I decided to read through xxxHOLiC again. Still need to get volume 14! It is out, isn't it? I've heard CLAMP can be kind of shaky with those things, so if it isn't even out in Japan yet, I would be disappointed but not particularly shocked. Yuuko is so cool! But I'm sure you were aware of that.

Oh oh, I caved and bought Scribblenauts a few days ago, since the opportunity to do so presented itself and I rarely get out of the house if not for work. I haven't played a whole lot, though, since I want to finish Professor Layton before getting carried away. I keep trying bizarre and convoluted solutions before settling on something more mundane-yet-effective.

Fiddling with my laptop is just depressing. What do I do with an infected explorer.exe file? For that matter, what do I say to my dad? He's gonna get mad at me, I'm sure.

Say, why don't y'all be a pal and fill out a meme in the comments, okay? I always feel bad because I'm so absent from Everything, so learning a bit more about my friends would be lovely! This was stolen from gravity_xx:

1. Name (and what should I call you?):
2. Birthday:
3. Where do you live:
4: What are you studying/What are you working as:
5. What makes you happy:
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last:
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ:
8. An interesting fact about you:
9. Are you in love/have a crush at the moment:
10. Favorite place to be:
11. Favorite lyric:
12. Best time of the year:
13. Weirdest food you like:

RECOMMEND
1. A film:
2. A book:
3. A song:
4: A band:

FANDOM
1. Favorite Fandom:
2. OTP/OT3:
3. Icon/Fic Journal:

PLUS
1. One thing you like about me:
2. Two things you like about yourself:
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you?

I'll screen comments unless you ask otherwise, so don't worry about attracting any unsavoury stalkers. Honestly, though, nobody unsavoury reads this thing in the first place, right? ...Well, the meme will answer that question, I suppose.

Actually, you know what? I'm having a lousy afternoon, let's do two! Same source as before. Second verse, same as first --

Ten random facts about me

❶ I enjoy listening to songs from Parappa the Rapper and singing both Parappa and the Master's parts in silly voices.
❷ My favourite tea is possibly either genmaicha (a green) or jade oolong (an oolong, shocker)
❸ A hobby of mine is getting my bro to play RPGs so I can read all the lines out loud. Paper Mario is easily the best for this.
❹ I nickname eeeeverything, including inanimate objects. Most nicknames I keep internalized, however, because good grief I am embarassing.
❺ In a contradictory fashion, I am somewhat of a hypochondriac who is terrified of doctors.
❻ STEALING THIS ANSWER AND NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT: I [also] want to be a nico singer someday.
❼ When no one else is home, I think it's fun to put on Space Channel 5 music and do the Ulala walk. Or strut? I guess it's more of a strut.
❽ My favourite apples are Macintosh apples except nobody seems to have them in stock right now RAAAGH
❾ I am ever-so-shy, especially around strangers, but I looove being on stage!
❿ I mentally assign OP and/or ED songs to the books I read, and then imagine what the elaborately animated OP and/or ED sequence would actually look like. I actually have a list of these written out. D-Don't look at me like that! It's very fun, okay? Try it sometime!

That's right, TWO memes (that you folks should do, too! learning, remember?). You know, because people don't have to listen to my asinine rambling enough. Anyway, I'm going to go back to reading. And band class tonight, oh dear. Let us pray I am not inexcusably rusty when it comes to playing the trumpet.

Laptop is still having problems. Hmm. Big big thanks to mewd and captainlina! My shy li'l self appreciates the input like you wouldn't believe. Gonna try out the stuff you guys mentioned.

I think the biggest problem, though, is that a scan run in safe mode seems to indicate that my computer's explorer.exe file is infected. Uh oh. I have a feeling this is bad. No, wait. I will assume a sagely look and/or don a fedora, and say "I have a bad feeling about this." That's better.

Maybe this is a sign it's time to buy a new computer. My laptop's been around for a few years, now, and a newer model couldn't hurt, especially since my laptop's been having various issues for some time. Expensive, but worth considering.

BOOKS. Been putting them off for so long. Lack of viable computer time has encouraged me to read more during my spare time instead of simply breaks at work, so there's a silver lining somewhere. What have I read recently?

Meg Rusoff's Just In Case, The Manual of Detection by Je... oh, blast, I've forgotten his name, reread Catherine Webb's Waywalkers/Timekeepers books (s'up protaganist whose name I ripped off for my Persona 3 character) and earlier today I started to reread Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Where is my copy of Good Omens? I've been wanting to rereread that for ages, now, but no dice. Never lending books to my dad again, this is certain.

The Manual of Detection is one I meant to ramble about sooner. Newer book, thus expensive hardcover, but there you go. It's got this stylish sort of film noir atmosphere to it, a 1920s/30s vibe, and reminded me somewhat of the film Dark City, if you've ever seen it, only with dreams as the focus instead of memories. It also has the bizarre distinction of getting a fictional song wedged in my head. There's a reoccuring piece of music sung throughout the book, which my imagination dutifully provided a tune for, and it quickly became earworm-tacular.

Anyway. The book's concept of oneiric detection was super cool, and I dug the old timey feel. I read through the whole book without noticing a character's name was a palindrome, haha. But I have a talent for that sort of thing. I mean, if you'll excuse me bringing it up again, I read through all of Good Omens before later making the distinction that Crawly = Crowley. Whoosh.

Re: Tales of Symphonia 2: About freaking time. Except locked EXP is about the most ridiculous thing since Kratos' alternate outfit from the first game. Active party time is garnered merely out of pity.

I don't talk about TV here much, since I don't watch a whole lot regularly aside from cartoons* and cooking shows I mentally apologize to Alton Brown for not using freshly grated nutmeg *SHAME*, but new season of CSI: Miami next week, awight! Sorry, mum, I know you initially got me watching NY with you, but I have been irresistably drawn by sunshine and bright colours and over-the-top scenarios and dopey one liners. It feels more cartoony, which is easier for me to digest. Plus, Zac Efron was totally in one episode, which only boosts the hilarity SPOILER: Only he wasn't Kira. He was almost Kira, but was beaten to the punch. What a waste of a perfectly good joke.

Time to cook dinner, I suppose, and then to ponder some more on what to do with my poor infected laptop. I wish the obligatory computer classes at school actually focused on the more technical side of things so I wouldn't have to ask silly questions, as opposed to the endless writing things in Microsoft Word.

* I will bake delicious cookies for whomever stops the collective musical numbers from Phineas and Ferb endlessly cycling through my head. Stupid ridiculously catchy insert songs. A s'winter s'wonderland, unusual and grand! You can freeze while you get tanned, because it's s'wiiinteeer~ AHHH MAKE IT STOP I BEG YOU.

That - that - is just too funny. How I was pondering to myself earlier today "Wouldn't it be hilarious if there was another Fandom Secrets friending meme, today, right now, when I do not have easy access to the computer?"

Just on the offchance, and then BAM. So much for participating. I'm too late to the party. Well, that, and I'm so shy I shouldn't bother, really.

My laptop seems to be infected with a very nasty virus, an incredibly nasty virus, which is very odd. I run virus scans every night, and last night it came up clean. I haven't even done anything on the internet between the scan last night and early in the morning, when my computer was infected. Granted, the network connection was enabled, but I did not actually engage in any web browsing or downloading or anything. Most curious.

The only thing I did was switch on my laptop so I could update the dream log I keep with a very peculiar dream I had this morning. It involved a special school trip into space, in which I used, among other things, my powers of spelling and my powers of making delicious lattes in order to thwart alien invaders who threatened the lives of myself and the other children on board because they assumed kids these days were all stupid and lazy. Well, I won't get into details right now, since I can't type on this blasted desktop keyboard, except for the fact that I did indeed save the day and the aliens looked like plush mushrooms wearing Enterprise uniforms that said "dude" a lot. Uh-huh.

Anyway, during my writings was when my laptop managed to get infected. Funny, my bro said he was hit by a trojan this morning, too, only he managed to shake his off.

I have no idea what to do. How do you run the computer in safe mode? I'm sorry, I have to ask silly questions, as no one has taught me these things. It's a terrible virus. Blocks all antivirus programs, messes with the desktop background, can't even ctrl+alt+del and force it to cease and desist. A heady reminder that I really should back up my junk, too. But the CD drive on my laptop has been broken for ages ever since my cat helped tipped it off my side table. I suppose I could use an external USB-connected drive, but I'd have to ask my dad to bring one from work and explain why I need it and he'd get mad at me.

In short, my laptop has failed me and I'm up chocolate river without a popsicle stick, if you know what I mean.

Hm, amusing, with the whole "wouldn't it be funny if there was a friending meme today?" thing. See, in that dream I mentioned, the space trip was to be done in two shifts, with one class going for the first three days, then they'd go home and a second class would arrive. I was in the first shift, and thought to myself "I should have gone in the second shift. That way, if something goes wrong onboard, the first shift gets to troubleshoot it. I mean, wouldn't it be funny if - oh hello message from aliens threatening our destruction." Only it wasn't really destruction, more like suddenly dropping dead, but semantics are not the issue here.

Wanted to do that ToS:DotNW ramble today, but since I am stuck on this desktop computer with a hilariously cumbersome keyboard until a solution presents itself, and my bedtime is soon, I shall abstain. I will say this in regards to the game: I'd like to say I am surprised, but I saw that coming a loooong time ago.

The moral of this entry is that Morgan needs to keep her mouth shut in both the dream and waking world, and that she is in desperate need of computer assistance but feels ridiculous asking for the umpteenth time. No, I guess that last bit isn't a moral, is it? But the rest still stands. Oh, I wonder if it still works? "Wouldn't it be funny if tomorrow at work I finally lose my marbles once and for all?" We shall see.

Hnngk I've been awfully under the weather the past few days, so do bear with me. Stop being so absent, me! Comment on entries and read things and pick up the computer more often!

Ah, and yet, despite feeling downtrodden, it is work, work, work... At least I have a day off tomorrow.

So, I, er, am apparently taking music lessons again. If you weren't around for this, the other year my dad coerced me into signing up for a music class with him. He took the trombone, I took the flute. Due to skill levels, we wound up in seperate classes: dad with the super-beginners, me with the more-experienced-beginners. Six+ years of musical experience allowed me to pick up the flute very quickly, see. But anyway.

I stopped because I don't do well in classroom environments, especially surrounded by strangers, especially especially if they are grown-ups! They always think I'm eccentric and fanciful and childish - which is what I am - but to them that is bad, I guess. But now, this year, my dad says he won't be in super-beginner band, and so I agreed to rejoin with him. Only instead of the flute --

-- I got my baby back! Which in this case means the trumpet! ♥ If you were not aware, dear friends, those aforementioned six+ years of musical experience was with the trumpet. Concert, jazz, a whole whack of extracurricular stuff, you know the deal. Flute was interesting, but my heart belongs to the brass section, haha. So even though I'll only be in the more-experienced-beginner class, at least my dad will be there, and this'll give me a chance to relearn all the stuff I've forgotten. I got a rental trumpet today, though, and I still remember scales and can play songs and stuff, so I should be fine.

Tales of Symphonia 2 rambling will come later, okay? Started chapter 7 a short while ago. Still love my powerful Treant monster - HP is now 9999, woo.

I am still in dire need of a good book ramble, too. I've read several since the last time I've prattled about them, and I'll soon forget my impressions if I don't do something!

I also wanted to vent about work, but my energy is still spent, so I'll keep it simple. Dear Customers: I hate you. Goodnight.

I am not an angry person! Why does this job make me so angry? I want to take a wrench and smash in the front of people's cars! GET OFF YOUR CELLPHONES OR I WILL KILL YOU I SWEAR TO GOD DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU TO DO MY JOB OH WHAT'S THIS YOU WANTED NON FAT YOU DIDN'T SAY NON FAT NO DON'T HOLD UP THE GIGANTIC LINE FOR THIRTY CALORIES OH THAT IS IT YOUR TIRES ARE GONNA GET SLASHED