Blather, rinse, repeat

Today is historic. My white ginger bloomed for the first time since I got it, which was about three years ago. I started it as a bulb and now it's huge. Of course, now I have to cut it down and bring it inside! BLAST. Anyway, it smells lovely. Kind of like honeysuckle (which I have in abundance,) but just more gingery. ( Pretty, isn't it? )

Also, I unchecked all the codec compatability things in MovieMaker and it started working a little better. It's still sporadic and it still randomly shuts down, but I was finally able to finish my Dirge of Cerberus video. What a pain it was to make, because sometimes the music would shut down, and most of the time the program would shut down when I moved the cursor over the clips. No warning, no locking or freezing, just totally shutting down.

Download it off Yousendit.

Or, hey, ( watch it here: )

Either way, it was SUCH a pain in the butt to make. Please watch it!

And in the spirit of the upcoming holiday, I give you Le Jared ...

and the things that attractive people can afford to do. :D

I don't know what's up today, but I'm getting a bad vibe. Can't figure. It's a beautiful day, Mom, Gran and I went to the store and I got my autumn candle that I wanted, everything seems pretty mellow (aside from my cousin's husband--read: my brother in law in a way--getting sick again,) but something is amiss.

It's probably my imagination. Anyway, so this is a plea for help, to anyone who might have the Dirge of Cerberus cut scenes. As some of you know (anyone who reads this, I guess,) I lost my entire hard drive a few days ago. Among other (much more valuable) things, I lost all the DoC scenes I'd downloaded previously. Today I downloaded BitTorrent and went to the page I recced to someone else about downloading those scenes again. The first time I did it, it took about fifteen minutes. Today, the wait time is THREE DAYS.

Does anyone out there have them that they could yousendit or maybe mega-upload to me? This is driving me bonkers.

When I sat down earlier and fired up PS2, I had no idea I'd be writing this tonight. After interruption upon interruption, I realized that I was actually down to the last few battles of the game. What does it say about the game when the final boss battles are the easiest things in the entire game? I struggled more with mini-bosses. I wiped these guys out--especially the very last--without breaking a sweat and took very little damage.

And then watched the ending, and the SUPER SECRET MEGA ULTRA ENDING or whatever it was. On my computer. Because the game ate TWO of my G reports, wtf.

Thoughts:

Voice acting: Not the best. Aside from the fact that Steve Burton was still Cloud, and I think that he was a very fine Cloud, and with the other exception of Rosso, who at least was interesting, I mostly hated the voice acting. Vincent sounded like your generic tough guy, only much more retarded. He actually sounded unintelligent. Lucrecia sounded like a ditzy drama queen, but maybe that was the most fitting voice. Lucrecia pretty much was a ditzy drama queen. The worst by far were Hojo and Nero. Hojo was your basic cliche mad scientist, except that he sounded like he was going through puberty. Nero just sounded like a whiney, emo psycho wannabe. It's funny how a voice can really ruin a character for you. I could not take any of his screen time seriously.

Graphics: Yup, they were good. Cut scenes, in-game cut scenes, and gameplay graphics were alld ecent. But by this point, they had better be.

Saving: Sucked big time.

The plot: I don't know, dude. It didn't seem to fit the overall feeling of Final Fantasy VII. I did love the parts with ShinRa mansion, I did love the stuff that involved Reeve, but they never really expanded on that. They could have; it was a short game. It almost seemed like two games, in fact, the first half was so different from the second. ( The massive spoiler major plot twist... ) I pretty much liked that twist, as cliche as it was. ( The ending before the credits... ) I'm sorry, I know she's supposed to be nineteen, but physiologically she's ten, and that's just badong. ( The SUPER MEGA ULTRA SECRED ENDING! ) So, even though it was an interesting thing to see, I mean visually really so neat, it didn't have to be done. I assume it means that there will be another game, but for one thing, ( spoiler, ) and for another, how far into the ground are they going to run the FFVII machine? Don't get me wrong, I will look forward to, squeal over, and buy another FFVII game, just because I have to. But Squeenix should really take a page out of Nintendo's book and do like they do with Legend of Zelda: build on the myth, make better, forward-thinking games, instead of gaidens and spinoffs. What's next? A game with Yuffie Kisaragi? A game where Cait Sith sneaks around, god prevent it?

None of which is to day that I though it was a bad game. I spent some fun hours playing it and I gloried in reliving some of the old FFVII world. Seeing the ShinRa mansion rendered so beautifully was completely awesome. Vincent being Pretty Angst Machine was gratifying on some levels. Shooting stuff was fun, blowing stuff up was even more fun, and I got perverse joy out of critical hits to the head through the sniper scope. (I don't know exactly what that says about me, but I doubt it's anything healthy.)

I missed a hell of a lot of the memory capsules. I doubt if you can go back and shoot them to get the scenes they save for you. I think you have to finish the game with them, and there's no way I'm doing the whole damned thing over again. Not for a few years, at least. ;)

I heard the extra missions were loads of fun, but I just tried the first one twice and died within two minutes. WTF with not having potions and stuff?!

Last night I found out from a Hula sister out west that my favorite Hawaiian band--Makaha Sons--is finally coming out to do a show in NY. I know those gentlemen very well, and I shot off an email to Uncle Moon in hopes that he will be home in time to get it, to let them know that we'll be there. I've got to grab some tickets today if I can. The only downside to this is that it's the same date as the Wong Fei Hung tourney, and I really, really wanted to go to that. Sifu wanted me to compete in it. I told him I didn't think I was ready. But I still really wanted to go. I haven't been to a tournament since last December, and I had a total blast that time.

Today is a fine and lovely thing. Went to Hula early this morning, roads wet and skies grey, listening to songs on my iPod connected to my tapedeck. Hula was a little slow today. After warmups we talked, well, about Hula and the halau, and eventually we did strength excersizes and ran the Wedding Song again. Why, I don't know, since the wedding was two weeks ago.

Then it was off to Kung Fu even though the school is closed. Lee was already there and we had decided the night before to run our sword form, just the two of us, and then go to lunch. It started to rain really hard, so I unlocked and we went inside on the mats and did broadsword for over an hour. I was sweating by the time we were done, and it was pretty chilly, actually. Afterwards, we went to the Chinese place that Sifu and the students always go to when we want to get something to eat after class. There we talked to the manager about hiring the place for a night this month to hold a benefit for our good friend who is in the hospital. The manager was SUPER sweet and helpful (he always appreciates that we're proponents of Kung Fu, which he knows because we usually come in wearing our shirts with the school's kanji on them,) and we got the date, price, and even our menu all figured out. The food there is the absolute BOMB and they gave us free ice cream afterwards, which was seriously some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

Came home and took the boydogs out for a romp in this crazy weather. Trisky took one look at the sogginess and went right back to bed, like, "Screw that."

Then I took a shower, and now I am happily and shamelessly already in my pajamas, getting ready to feed the dogs and then fire up PS2 and see if I can't retrace my steps in Dirge of Cerberus and find what I lost. I must have saved wrong at some point, because first I had all 3 G reports, and then one got stolen by the stupid, hateful gargoyles. Then I had two. Then I tried to play again, and they stole the G report again. I figured I'd be down to 2 again, but guess what? Now I am down to ONE. In order to get all three, I would have to go all the way back to the last section. And even though it's the only way to watch the OMG SUPER ULTRA MEGA SECRET EXTRA ENDING!! I might have to forego that. It's too much work. Maybe I'll just download said SUMSE ending. Video games are supposed to be fun, damnit.

Someday, someone has to figure out why people are so hungry an hour after stuffing themselves with Chinese food.

Dudes, Rose called me a FemiNazi because I said that women do not = "fragile." I'm actually quite proud to be called that, especially by someone like her. For a second I thought about heading over to feminist_rage, but then, in the end, I just thought it was funny. I take it as a compliment. If her definition of "FemiNazi" is someone who thinks that begging, whining, crying and being manipulative are beneath her, and that Victorian views on women are outdated and barbaric, then I'm happy to be one.

And her sillyass husband: OMGs you're WRONG! HAHA LAST WORD UR BANNED!!!111" What an overgrown infant.

Wow, that stuff really escalated. I guess it got both Rose and Tristan angry that I turned their shameless begging for money into something positive.

Speaking of positive things, only two more days till that concert. A bunch of fans and myself are putting together a nice donation to the AIDS charity, that we are going to put in a card and present to the band, so that they can make a further donation in their name. I think that's such an awesome idea. And of course, I am completely stoked to be going to see this show. I know it's going to be a good one. I've mad emy own T shirt. It's hilarious; no one will get it but me. It's a picture of CATS from Zero Wing, and underneath that it says, "HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN!!! ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO" and then the glyphics for 30 Seconds to Mars in red sequins, because I am crafty like that. :D My own little inside joke.

We're finally getting all of the rain that we've been missing for the rest of August and half of July, and it's all coming down at once. Everything's so green and wet. Barbeque this coming weekend, and I think that it will be a nice send-off for summer. By then, I might be ready to let summer go and start enjoying autumn. They are both my favorite seasons. I love all the seasons, but there are some months that I just can't stand. January and March are always so boring for me.

Oh, I know what I wanted to ask! Okay, anyone who has played through Dirge of Cerberus, maybe you can help me. (And so far, the only person on my f-list that I know has played is skitty_kitty. But maybe a few more of you have?) This isn't a spoiler, so I'm not going to cut it. Okay, so I'm nearing the end of ShinRa's Dark Secret. I've just gotten the 3rd G report, which gets you the secret ending. Then I go and battle the stupid dragonfly with the Red Disk and all the gargoyles. Problem: the gargoyles keep stealing my G report! And then, after I kill them all and win the battle, I still do not get that G report back. WTF, people! It's happened three times and I'm so frustrated.

So anyway, it's Kung Fu tonight, and then I won't be back there until next week I think, because I won't be there Wednesday, and then we're closed for labor day. WTF is that about? You know, I might see if a few students want to come down for open mat on Saturday morning. I can only go for so long without broadsword. ^_^

You know, I haven't seen Tristan in forever. I think the last time I saw him was on Duck Pond day, in fact. A lot has happened since then. I wonder if he'll come back to teaching? He's the bomb at the sword form; I've seen him do it on video and it's an awesome thing to behold.

Blah-de-blah. I should finish up my laundry and then get ready to head out. It's just me at the desk today. Fun fun fun!

A friend's wife--and very dear aquaintance of mine--is in the hospital tonight after a car accident. (FTR, I hate getting an email that just says "car accident" and I have no idea who it is about, and an frantically scrambling to open it so I can read the text.) She is expected to be all right, but the severity was initially shocking. All good vibes, please!

Okay, okay, I have to admit it: it's cold tonight. I'm wearing my long pajama bottoms. It was dark at 7:45 when I took the dogs out.

How did this happen? How did summer get away from me? Well in retrospect, it's kind of easy to see how it got away. I was so sad for much of it, and the rest of the time, trying to squeeze so much in that I guess the times I wasn't being sad just flew by. I did so much this summer, yet I still feel like I should have done more, gone swimming more, gone to the ocean at least once, gone surfing, had more parties or something. I mean, there's always the concert next week, but it's not going to feel like a summer thing, though.

Last year on the 25th I posted a little "Kingdom Of Summer" pic spam. I might do that again, but maybe I'll wait until after next weekend--after the concert (if I can manage to sneak my camera in; god help me, I'm thinking about stuffing it into the front of my pants...) and after what I hope will be the last big get-together of the season. Yesterday I saw some yellow leaves fall, and in the afternoon, I felt that first cool breeze beneath the blaze of the sun. Today it rained a bitch, which it hasn't done in about a month. I love autumn. But it's always so hard for me to let go of summer.

Okay, so gameplay in Dirge of Cerberus is getting juuuust a little repetitive. I'm starting to get frustrated with the endless, similarly styled hallways and random DG guys jumping out so that I can pop a cap in them. I start to look forward to the boss battles, because at least it'll be something different, even if it's frustrating. I just finished "Empire in Ruins" which I played on and off all night since around 8. At first it was neat seeing all the same places from FFVII, and then it all just started to look alike and I started to lose concentration. The boss battle frustrated me a little because of the camera angles, but yet it actually wasn't too difficult. And the FMV that came after it was fully hot. Chaos is fully hot, okay; I totally admit that. I even like the random headgear.

I'm not in love with the voice acting for the most part. I might have mentioned already that I'm not wild about Vincent's voice, but I absolutely crack up whenever Hojo speaks. He sounds like he's going through puberty, and that mad cackle is like something out of MST3K, except here the humor is unintentional. And Lucrecia is just a whiney beeotch.

Okay, hey, guess what? I'm bored; time for one of my favorite memes; the In My Pants meme! Open iTunes or WMP or jukebox or whatever your favorite player is. Select "shuffle" or "random" and pick the first twenty song titles. Add the phrase "in my pants" to them.

I'll be skipping the ones in mine that aren't in English.

1 - (Nothing But) Flowers in my pants (I guess that's not as bad as it could be...)
2 - Fresh Tendrils in my pants (Oh god help me.)
3 - Stir It Up in my pants (I think I got this one last time, too!)
4 - Clint Eastwood in my pants (He felt lucky.)
5 - A Beautiful Lie in my pants (But I'm a girl! Honestly!)
6 - A Modern Myth in my pants (Isn't FFVII kind of a modern myth?)
7 - Amazing Grace in my pants (True; it's not clumsy at all.)
8 - Battle of One in my pants (Tch!)
9 - Native Mambo in my pants (Hey, where's that music coming from?)
10 - Capricorn in my pants ( ^_^;; )
11 - Shock Of The Mighty in my pants (That's right, GOD is in there!)
12 - Get Busy in my pants (Well... get going!)
13 - I Feel Love in my pants (Is that what that is?)
14 - Bittersweet Symphony in my pants (Feel the rhythm!)
15 - Praying For A Riot in my pants (Ready the pepper spray!)
16 - The Captain in my pants (Oh, hi Jack!)
17 - The Kill in my pants (Be careful there...)
18 - Where the WIld Roses Grow in my pants (Right. Because there's nothing but flowers.)
19 - Ask DNA in my pants (Go on, just ask.)
20 - Revolution in my pants (It's time.)

Huh, should I continue on with Dirge of Cerberus tonight, or should I go the hell to bed? I don't have to get up until 9:30 tomorrow, for Kung Fu. But honestly, bed sounds pretty decent.

I'm really bummed out about Pluto losing its planetary status. I mean, I'm almost taking it personally. I'm all for science making changes and moving forward and all, it's just that, you know, Pluto was my planet. Not only my ruling planet, but it has always been a favorite of mine. Deep, mysterious, powerful Pluto, planetary ruler of the 8th house and the underworld.

I'm dejected.

In other news, hey, check it out, Taking Back Sunday is headlining over 30 Seconds to Mars in that concert I'm going to. My friend I'm going with is really into TBS. I wonder if she would mind if I bounced for the TBS show, or at least some of it, to see if I can't go and catch 30STM at a little post-concert thingie. She really wants me to see them, though. But really, how often do I get to go to concerts and maybe say hello to my favorite band? Try never. I'll have to see how it all works out. The good news is that it means we can probably leave right after the show and maybe get back to LI at a time that's not completely ungodly. I guess we will just have to see where this adventure takes us.

In other fangirling news, I've just finished the part in Dirge of Cerberus where Rosso the Crimson is the boss battle. I don't know how this story ends, obviously, but ... how weird is it of me to be sort of into Vincent / Rosso? I swear she's got a thing for him. I'll bet it's out there.

In yet other news--I've said this before and I hope not to say it again--if anyone out there on my f-list has any racist tendencies, or culturist tendencies, or simply thinks it's all right to lump an entire nation or culture into one little paradigm, please just de-friend me and save me the trouble? I really do not want to read that crap. Like, ever.

ETA: Here's something weird, I think. Is it a bad thing that, when going through my "manage friends" list, I don't know who many of the people on there are, or where I met them? O_o It doesn't sound too nice, when I put it that way.

After much toil and a few sphincter-clenching moments, I got those tickets to see 30 Seconds to Mars in NYC next week. So Brittany and I are going to hop the LIRR next Wednesday and make our way. A band that Brittany dotes on will be opening for the band that I dote on, so a good time should, if all goes well, be had by all. Fun times ahead.



Oh, sigh. Le Jared. ^_^

In Dirge of Cerberus, I just got into the Shera. I'm loving the cut-scenes and actually, the FPS is sort of growing on me. I totally love sneaking around the corner with my gun drawn and shooting bad guys. I love sniping from a hill. I guess I just love fictionally shooting people. Make of that what you will.

I died laughing when the beastly form of Azul came charging out and Vincent totally said, "WHAT THE HELL?" before shooting it once and then running away. That full-on tickled me. Vincent, by the way, is a complete drama queen in this and totally an emo-boy. Because he's fake, I love him for it. Reeve was emo for a few seconds there, too, but with Vincent's bracing words, he got over it ... or as the book put it, Vincent was able to "massage Reeve's self confidence." You know, I think I missed that cut-scene.

I also loved Turk!Vincent sleeping in the grass and waking up all "WHA HAPPUH!"

And I'm pretty sure that Cloud is about to make an appearance, during which time I will pee my pants continuously the entire time he is on screen because I am fanpoodlish like that.

Can't get enough of this game.



Vincent is chaotic.

Item one: Trying to get tix for 30STM in NYC on the 30th. So badly want to go, so out of the concert loop. Tickets go on sale tomorrow and they are supposedly going to sell out real quickly. ALl of my fingers are crossed, even my fingers of my other selves in other dimensions. And I'm weirdly nervous about it, being in a crowd, the whole thing. But I don't want to miss a single bit of it. To quote d_r_o_n_e: MY PANCE, I SHEET ZEM.

Item two: OMG, Dirge of Cerberus, how I love thee. I am so into this game it's ridiculous. So much Reeve screen-time! So much Vincent angst; Traumawhore has finally, after all of these years, fallen in fangirl love with Vincent Valentine; it's nigh on stupid. Took me long enough. Lucrecia was such a big, stupid beeotch. Also, the pauses in the dialogue make it really easy to make tons of well-timed comments.

I pretty much suck at the FPS, but I'm slowly getting better. My grade went up to an A. I'm learning to take corners slowly with the gun drawn and conserve bullets. Yesterday Jeremy was making fun of me because I would just run around blindly and shoot at everything, and get right up close to the bad guy and shoot him a bunch of times. But I'm learning to stand around the corner and snipe. And you know what, that's pretty hot when Vincent does that.

It's a pretty violent game, actually. There's no blood, but it's clear that you're shooting people in the head. Then when the DG soldiers start picking off the WRO kids, it looks pretty brutal. When Rosso the Crimson ( does a violent, spoilery thing to Vincent, ) it's pretty effing gruesome even though you don't actually see it. And VIncent's reactions to all of these things are just all so pretty. (Even though I totally dislike his dubbed voice in this. It makes him sound sort of retarded, actually.) I kind of like Rosso, or at least I like the acent they gave her in the dub, which is more than I can say for Cait Sith. (And I hated the part where I had to control him and so very much hope I don't have to do that again.)

Reeve is just awesome in this game. I can't say it enough. I wonder if I've got another FFVII . DoC fanfic somewhere in me. I wonder.

Anyway, so wish me luck with getting to that concert!

Just sat down and fired up Dirge of Cerberus. ^_^ Opening scenes are beautiful. This is my first FPS and I have yet to get used to the controls. So far all I've done is run around on some rooftops. FUN!