Don't like Rinoa.
02.08.04
E12:09
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Music o' the Entry: "Gustaberg", Final Fantasy XI
So I've tried to write a new entry like four or five times since the last one, but something never fails to pop up and capture my attention, the way things tend to be. That and for some reason my drive to sit and write lots and lots of drivel has recently dampened. Don't know why, but I'm writing now so I'll be happy with that. First off, as usual, about the song; downloaded off of Gaming Force, which I'm not entirely sure if I like or not. I mean, the selection's great, but encoding entire OST's? I suppose it's good in one manner, listening to import albums before you actually purchase them is a very good idea, but the possibilities...yeah, I'm not a big fan of burning entire albums, as you may have picked up. Which my father seems utterly incredulous to, he's of the mind if you can, do it. But oh well. Anyway, a word on this song: it's right tasty. Thanks to certain instrumentation it has a bit of a ChronoTrigger-esque feel at times (the composer is Kumi Tanioka, not Uematsu), which I dig mightily and is in general a decent song. Unlike the disappointing new Love Psychedelico single, "A Naked King" (which is actually a translation of the title because I'm lazy). Which isn't actually bad, it's just kind of generic and not my style. Oh well, at least I have a while until their next album comes out so I'm not required to blow $35 on an import CD.
So what's been going on since I last wrote? Let's see...first off, playing Final Fantasy VIII. Which I had mentioned in passing before, but have begun playing a lot, with the assistance of Junction-Master Matt, because junctioning makes him happy, and as a result have characters that have been ridiculously overpowered thanks to said junctioning and stocking magic like a fiend. As for the game, I'm not going to alter the text because this is Final Fantasy VIII. VIII. Meaning I'm probably the only RPG fan in existence who hasn't ever finished it. So yeah, I'm on Disc Three, wherein Squall and Rinoa just returned to Earth via the Ragnarok, after killing reasonably creepy things and I've got to say...FFVIII kinda irks me. First of all, I keep on getting the feeling that the plot feels disconnected; Matt says to wait until I finish it, so hopefully that'll do something for the cohesiveness of it. Secondly, the whole supposed theme of the game, love, avowedly between Squall and Rinoa. Kids, I'm just not seeing it. In Final Fantasy X, it felt like Tidus and Yuna should be together, there was a connection the game could perceive. In this case, it's more of a random "What the hell?"-type thing, because it doesn't feel right. It doesn't help that Rinoa's rather annoying for the most part and that I like Squall. I've heard many a person describe him as a jerk, but I don't see it. If you want jerk, go see Seifer; he's malicious and self-serving. As for Squall...he appears to think more than speaks (except recently on the lunar base) and he's just unsocial, which, contrare to popular belief, is NOT the same thing as antisocial-that's more of Seifer. As for characters, I like Edea. I really do. She had quite the build-up in the first half of the game, particular during the parade in which she proceeded to jam a large chunk of ice into Squall, and her appearance is nice, particularly the skirt of her dress. Then there's her as Matron, in which I can fully endorse her fashion sense (simple long black dress, because I'd wear something like that-perfectly subdued and deflects attention). But I suppose I'm enjoying it, it's just...different. Oh well, I suppose after Final Fantasy X everything game-wise looks a little different and then you have to factor in that some of these opinions are probably the result of looking at it at my present age than how I would've had I played it when it came out. Right now I'm more confused than anything and am playing for plot. However, soon I shall have Ragnarok and shall go about mini-questing like a freak and play more and more Triple Triad, because I like it, though I am developing a most hearty dislike of the Random rule.
Second thing that I've been digging recently: The Vision of Escaflowne, which is Matt's fault. Last time I went to his house we watched the first tape (which is the only one he owns) and I promptly demanded to see more. Which couldn't be done, for obvious reasons, and the local video stores are crap when it comes to anime. They have it, certainly, but they have tapes 2, 7, and 16 of any given series. Which meant we had to trek to what is known as the Comic Book Shop in my city, which has pretty much every domestic anime release available for rental, though only available for one-day rental. Which isn't good, because the store is about 15 minutes over the freeway from my home. However, the store is closed on Sunday, and I was there on a Saturday, so I proceeded to rent the entire series (minus the first tape) for $14 (a mite cheaper than purchasing it) and for two days. The only problem with watching it was that we'd have to do it exclusively at night after all had gone to bed, because my brother, who is frankly an otaku to the truest definition of the word and is so in that annoying American way too, who will like anime solely on the basis of the fact that it's anime, would beg and squeal to watch with us, all the while making inane idiotic comments and laughing. Because my brother seems to have recently morphed his laugh (that or I just haven't been paying attention, which is entirely likely) into some sort of kilo-decibel horror that's vaguely shriekish that causes loathing in all beings within earshot. Basically, watching something with my brother makes you want to not watch it at all. However, said brother also decided these two nights would be great ones to stay up on, so we ended up only getting to do a one-night five-hour marathon which got us to the end of tape five, although on average both of us caught about two-thirds of any given part in fleeting chunks. So I was a bit annoyed, because I wasted about $6 or so on rentals that I couldn't watch because it would render them joyless to do so and Matt and I have agreed to watch them all in rapid succession at his home, which is annoyance free, save for the fearful toxicity of his kitchen, which really has to be seen to be believed (though I wouldn't endorse it). As for Escaflowne, I really really like it. I've always had a mild interest in it, but I never really counted on watching on it because I'm cheap and wouldn't buy it, have no friends that own it, and general quasi-apathy. But it's quite tasty, even if the character design by Nobuteru Yuuki (who also did the designs for Chrono Cross) are a bit...pointy. I like Hitomi's voice (I'm watching it subbed) for the sake that she's actually a Japanese schoolgirl who doesn't sound like she's been sucking helium, although I'm quite curious as to what dialect the Fanelians speak. Matt and I've been noticing a few patterns (such as Van using certain unusual suffixes when referring to family members) and we're pretty sure it's meant to exemplify the fact that they're hicks, but we still don't know. Let's see, things I like...ah yes, Dilandau: the kid is batshit insane, plus his voice fits him ridiculously well. Van...Van's been a bit nutty or just dying for good chunks of the show, Merle seems incapable of saying much besides "VAN-SAMAAAAAAAA!" and I like Allen's crew captain, always referring to his men as "dirtbags" or "scum". Yes it's good, please watch, wait until I finish it and then I'll sit around and squeal some more.
But anyway, in more important news, there's a possible foreboding specter looming my family's midst...my father's company was relatively recently purchased and now there's some...reorganization...occurring. My father's supervisor informed him that this new company was interested in his file and has been dropping numerous not-so-subtle hints that transfer is potentially imminent. Which, while it affects me, affects my family much more. Because I'm not moving, thanks to being enrolled in a cheap school, thanks to being a Washington resident, and that I was planning to strike out on my own this year anyway. However, it's all so bad because right now it's in the stage where you don't know what's going to happen, the worst one. My family would prefer not to, mostly because of the prospect of ripping my brother out of a school system that they've worked with and I can't say I'd be too excited of that prospect myself. Plus some of the places they could be moving are distasteful...but so there's a bit of a strange atmosphere over the house right now, the other day my mother was downstairs cleaning up the basement, putting things into boxes, saying she needed to do it anyway, but that she better start working to get packed if we move. If so, this'll be the third time in my father's career, and he's not even connected to the military, and it might be one of those super-fun cross-continental US ones, like the last from Alabama to Washington. So if my family does move, I could be moving out into my own apaato rather soon, since I had planned on delaying it thanks to insufficient funds. Well I suppose not insufficient, but my present hourage at work is quite far from 40 hours a week (more about 12 or so) and I just don't have the money for it. So we'll see, there may be major changes around these parts afoot...
In other news, I believe my metabolism-fixing program is working. It gets a bit frustrating at times, particularly the accompanying gaining of weight, more because of that I worked quite hard to get rid of it and it feels like all my efforts are coming unravelled, which saddens me. Then you add in that when I'm sad or depressed, one of my reactions is not eat or to eat ridiculously little, which further sabotages it...but I am noticing though I'm gaining weight, I'm also gaining muscle again from exercising, which if I'm able to do, is a good sign. So we'll see how things turn out, they're promising right now, just two more months and I'll have access to my gym at school again.
Speaking of school, I think I finally may have hammered out a decent program for me. My plan thus far is to acquire a BA in geography, I've finished my Japanese minor, and I'm also going to get a minor in ESL, which can apply to both teaching overseas and here. I'm not getting a teaching degree, but I figure if I plan on waltzing over to Nishinomiya and teaching English, I best have some sort of credentials to back it. The other classes are miscellaneous foul foul general requirements classes and as much math as I can fit in. And how does this launch me on the path to becoming an atmospheric scientist, to following my idols down at the Weather Channel? No idea, but I think it works. Just gotta go take my list o' classes down to the advising office tomorrow and see what they say...
But I become hungry, so I have a couple of closing statements. First off, I believe that the combination of cheese, spiced tomato sauce and a bread product are a more divine combination than cinnamon, sugar, and butter, and I also really really like Fig Newtons. The real ones, none of that Strawberry or Papaya Newton madness. So, until next time.
chronos
Ekairos
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