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11.01.03 :: 02:38
It's 2:30am and I'm awake. Why? Because starting at 12:45 this really loud high pitched squealing noise happened and woke me up. It lasted for 3 ~ 5 minutes and then stopped. Quite thoroughly freaked out I called my parents and asked them about it. They said that if it happened again let them know. 1:30am rolls around and I'm woken again by the same noise. I called my parents and they come out to the house to help investigate.
After poking around we discovered that the noise happened whenever the thermostat was about to cycle the heater on. (I had the thermostat turned as low as I could (55F) but when the temperature in the house dropped below that it turns on automatically). Yeah, so it making whining noises wasn't going to cut it. Dad unplugged it entirely and I'll have to think on what to do next. I half suspect that when the electrician went under the house to rewire he jarred the ducting or something (that's what it sounds like, the ducting whining).
11.02.03 :: 21:02
It's been a busy weekend ^^; Saturday I fixed a computer. They needed me to remove some files that Windows wouldn't let go of. A bit of DOS magic can fix a lot of things. After I had the errors ironed out I installed some anti-virus software on it (it's McAfee was 59 months behind on definitions ^^; ) and did various other things to make it run smoother :) I got paid nicely for the job as well :) I ran down to the game store and paid off my reserve on FFX-2 and bought FFXI ^^;
I also raked leaves before it got too dark to do so. I don't mind raking them up so much as the bagging process. I'd forgotten that I was allergic to the buggers and paid for it with an allergy attack after I had a couple bags done =/ I've only made a small dent in the overall leaf coverage of the yard. I'm oh so lucky to have a half-acre to rake, let me tell you --; To add insult to injury it's poured all day today, so there's no way I'm going to get the leaves picked up anytime soon =/
Anyhow, before the allergy attack set in, I took the bags of leaves to the neighbor's slash pile in the field behind my house. No problems except that their cows were also in the field. I don't mind cows, they're pretty docile creatures. I let myself in (and was careful to not run into the electric fence or leave the gate open :P ) and one of the cows spotted me and came over. Okay... I walked to the slash pile and the cow got closer and closer until it practically had its nose on me. It'd spotted the bag of leaves and was thinking snack. I dumped the leaves out and the cow pounced on it (as much as a cow can pounce, they're not very athletic y'know) and was disappointed that it was only leaves. When I came back with another load the cow followed me again thinking maybe I'd have something else to offer it ^^; Sorry cow, only leaves.
Getting FFXI going was an adventure, I get the feeling I was one of the luckier ones. First off, the game is 5 discs and takes up 6G on the hard drive. Okay, no problem. I got it installed and started to get it set up. In the midst of that I had to enter a bunch of codes and information and I hope to God I never need to do it again 'cause I've already forgotten half of what I've done. I hope cancelling the account isn't as lengthy as setting it up was :P Then we got to the patching process. That took about 1.5 hours to complete --; (And I'm on cable Internet here). Once that was done it took me about half an hour to figure out where I was going. I don't like the GUI of PlayOnline. It's cute on the surface but if you're looking for something specific you're SOL.
Once I got to the character creation I had to go fishing for servers. FFXI randomly assigns you to a server without any regard to where your friends might happen to be. You can work around this by creating a character then going to delete it and seeing what server they were put on. If it's not the one you want, go ahead and delete the character and try again. It took me about an hour to draw the server I wanted to be on (Midgardsormr). Most of the servers are named after FF summons and I think I hit just about every one of them at least twice and sometimes a half dozen times (in the case of Alexander, Sylph, and Carbunkle). I would have gone with Alexander or Carbunkle if I wasn't meeting up with other people ^^;
So... It was about 8:30pm or so before I was able to start playing the game. I made a Mithra Monk again, but her name is Beanie 'cause I was having trouble getting the names "Midori" and "Beans" when server fishing. Here's a picture of Beanie with her house-moogle. I mostly played with Nif from Random Insanity today. Here's a picture of the two of us at the Leviathan gate in Windurst. This evening I changed Beanie to another job (she's currently a level 7 Monk) and was stunned when I saw her without any armor on ^^; Here's a front view and a back view. Beanie is a level 2 Red Mage currently. I didn't take a screen cap of it because she pretty much looks the same only with a different shirt and a sword :) When I get some leggings or something I'll take a piccy ^^
Mom scared the daylights out of me this afternoon when she knocked on my bedroom door ^^; She'd let herself into the house and I didn't know it. She'd come by to give me a space heater. I already have one for my bedroom, but she got me one for my work room so that the two rooms I spend most of my time in will be comfortable :) This is a good thing since I doubt much will be done about the house's thermostat anytime soon. If I wait for dad to do it winter will probably be over first. I don't have the cash to put out to have it repair after paying for the electrical work and Christmas just around the corner =/ So yeah, space heaters and blankets are my best friends right now ^^;
11.03.03 :: 23:27
Phht would be upset if I didn't blog tonight, so here's the skinny... Work was okay until the last hour when I got stuck on a 75 minute call and had an allergy attack --; I had an attack when I woke up this morning too. Dunno what's triggering them, but it's kind of annoying. The rest of my work day was unremarkable except for the woman who got the support she wanted, then cheerily said she'd never have an account with us, she just wanted her computer fixed. Fucktard. I hope you get BSOD for the next month.
I skimmed around the net and collected files of useful information for FFXI since I was feeling completely lost. The file with the /command list was very useful. I also got a couple different guides that outlined the Quests in the area I'm in (Windurst). I then shoved them all into a PageMaker file, made them nicely formatted, and printed them out into a book. It's helped a ton ^^v I completed 5 Quests and 1 Mission with its help :D (Mostly, I couldn't remember what locations were in which area of town. It's so confusing, but the guides list stuff like that ^^ )
On the agenda for tomorrow; the company owners are going to be in our office for a visit. I'd say that I have to be on good behavior, but I'm usually ignored during these corporate visits so whatever. I'll just hang out in my corner and do what I usually do (fix stuff and bang my head against the wall).
11.04.03 :: 21:24
The owners' visit went well. I was expecting to hide while they were here, instead I got pulled into a "half hour" meeting that turning into a two hour one ^^; It was pretty productive. We talked a lot about tech support's concerns and suggestions we'd have for improving things. It'd be cool to see some of our ideas play out.
I also had a customer who insisted on calling every 15 - 20 minutes to ask what the status on his trouble ticket was. I'm sorry, but it takes *time* to do them, especially when 5 people are ahead of you in line. I finally told him to stop calling us or it'd never get done. We'd call him when it was finished. So he called his local office to ask them when it'd be done. The office called over to me and I talked with the CSR about it at length. She completely sympathized with us techs and said she'd try to get him off our backs for a couple hours so that we could work. Geez, just lay off guy!
Mom called me this afternoon to let me know that it was snowing in Medford (and to tell me to drive safely ^^; ) I made it home no problem, there was a dusting over everything. I slipped twice when I let Pepper outside. Stupid snow ^^; Needless to say, it was freaking cold in the house; only 49F =/ I'm trying to get Pickles to stay indoors tonight. It's too cold to be out there darn it =(
I did a couple more quests in FFXI tonight. I'm happy to report that fishing is as boring in FFXI as it is in real life. Square did a fantastic job of reproducing that :P Here's a snapshot of me sitting around with the people from RI I was playing with.
11.05.03 :: 23:30
It was a long hard day at work --; Started out with network issues, Mr call every 15 minutes, and more DSL issues than normal. We kept slugging away at it and managed to get bugs hammered down. I was given two projects to do this morning as well. One of them (the tech newsletter) I did as quickly as possible since the other project strikes me as being more important and time sensitve. I then went to lunch, ate, got an ice cream cone, brought it back with me to the office, tripped in the parking lot, and SPLAT went my ice cream cone. I was disappointed =/
In the afternoon I worked on the other project. While working on that I was told that I may need to rewrite part of the newsletter tomorrow. Oh well --; My heart wasn't in that project today anyways. I guess I'm just feeling drained right now. I'm glad to have some projects to work on 'cause they change the pace, but at the same time just as weary from them as I do excited. Does that make sense?
Anyhow, played more FFXI tonight. Nif saved up enough money to buy a Linkshell for RI. He called the clan FantasyInsanity :D I played with MonkeyHitman (my partner in the RT:L tourney) and Kellios this evening. I was Kell's tank in a dungeon she'd be having some problems with. It felt good to beat things up and help her get through the dungeon :) Here's a picture of the three of us regaining hit points. I also have a dark picture of MonkeyHitman. You can't tell very well from the picture, but I have a new shirt (with sleeves!), but to wear it I lost my loincloth. That's right, I'm currently pantsless. I'll take a picture of that tomorrow :P
11.07.03 :: 01:02
I had a blah day at work; just couldn't get myself feeling very motivated (especially after the newsletter) =/ I pretty much need to toss out what I've written and start over... I'm just glad it was my Friday. I very much needed a day off to just lay back and relax.
After some dying and countless rabbit, turnip, caterpillar, crow, and goblin death I earned enough gil to buy myself some pants. Here are the pictures: no pants (front), no pants (back) pants (front), and pants (back). Admittedly, the pants look dorky, but they're +5 to defense, so I'll take them ^^v I also gained a level while trying to gain enough money (level 9 now). And I'd just like to say that the S.O.B. quests are so cute! ^o^
11.08.03 :: 01:04
My day got off to a bad start ^^; A company with one of those damn auto dialing machines rang my house first thing in the morning. I got out of bed, picked up the phone, and silence. Annoyed, I hung up and went back to bed. A few minutes later another call. Picked it up and this time a guy is on the line blah, blah, blah'ing at me. I growl at him for waking me up, no my parents aren't here, plz die kthx [hang up]. A few minutes later another call. The same learning impaired guy. We go through the blah, blah, blah'ing again only I hang up on him sooner and unplug the phone. I wasn't able to go back to sleep after that =/
I watched Haibane Renmei DVD 2 while playing FFXI. I'm now a level 10 Monk, Rank 2, armed (it only took me all this time to get a weapon :P ), and with *gasp* left over gil o.O; That's unheard of yo! I'm pretty happy with my progress today. Having a day off to work on these things helps, though I didn't do much else besides play ^^; Um... I did run down to the print shop for a bit and then went to the mall to get the FFXI strategy guide. It's not complete, btw =/ It helps, but I've already done several quests that aren't in the book -.-; And it doesn't list the quests that I'm stuck on, so I'll have to keep relying on the net for help on those.
I have to work tomorrow.. er.. today. Yay, so much fun. I hope it isn't the hellhole I was told today was =/ I don't think I could handle hellhole right now. My back and shoulders have been so stiff lately 'cause I've been all stressed. Gotta relax. Gotta release pent up energy. Yeah, working on it... :)
11.09.03 :: 09:16
I slept nearly 12 hours last night o.O; I was very tired (falling asleep at the keyboard) so I went to bed at 9:30pm and when I woke up Pepper was nosing me because she wanted to go outside really bad ^^; I'm glad she woke me up rather than do her business on the carpet.
I had an interesting / detailed dream, but I'm not sure I can describe it well. I only remember fragments because it was a very fragmented dream. It followed, like, five different people. I would stick with one long enough to see an event and then it'd hop over to another person. Hmm... One of the people was trying to summon this power / demon / bad mojo to destroy the world. Another person was her retainer. Then half a world away another person was taking place in a fitness fair as a motivator. (Hosted by Oprah, btw o.O; ) And another person who was also at the fair had an allergic reaction to something and had gone to lay down for a while. Those are the characters I remember off the top of my head.
For the story, I was watching the fitness trainer. She was jogging along with a woman who was pushing a grocery cart that had some weights in it. It was one of the exercises the women on the diet had to do. They were rounding the corner to come across the finish line and the winds started picking up. The fitness trainer wondered if this would change Oprah's plans for the afternoon. There was a blimp up above providing aerial views and, like, 8 helicopters had come to fly in formation. The helicopters were in the air and their formations were weird. To fight off the winds they first put their blades 90 degrees towards the wind (like a shield). That, of course, didn't work so they flip over 180 degrees and were flying upside down. The fitness trainer didn't think helicopters could do that o.O; She got a very bad feeling and ran back towards the plaza and ducked into a shop while all hell broke loose outside.
The man who had the allergic reaction woke up and also thought that things weren't right. He went outside and it was very dark and gloomy. No one was around, no festive decorations, nothing. He went back inside and saw that the room was just as decrepit. (At this point of my dream the man who had the allergy and the man who was the retainer sort of mushed into the same person o.o; ) There was a demon there, watching him, ready to attack. The man bent down on one need and respectfully addressed the demonic force. The demon lashed out at him but the man easily blocked it.
I, as the narrator, knew that this was a ridiculous situation. The man was infinitely stronger than the weakling demon his master had summoned so many years ago. Somehow, those who were lost in time found their way back to the stream and were incredibly more powerful because of their journeys. The allergy/retainer man was back. And the fitness trainer would also show up again, but the story hadn't gotten to her yet. I don't know about Oprah ;) When I woke up I thought "Wow, that might make a cool story" ^^;
11.10.03 :: 22:05
Feeling very listless today. I guess that's okay considering what time of the month it is... --; Like the previous months I felt pretty nauseous for a day or two, but following the female Dr.'s advice from last month I got through it a lot better than before. I think she's onto something. I have an annual checkup with my regular Dr. that I scheduled today for next Monday. (I think that's the soonest I've ever gotten in with him for a non-emergancy checkup. In fact, they could have gotten me in this week if I didn't have to work ^^; )
I played more FFXI this evening (duh). Completed another quest and worked some on my Culinary skill. I managed to raise it one level (and don't laugh. I went through about 2,000g in ingredients and a lot of crystals to do that :P I'm hoping that levels come a bit easier as time progresses...)
My mom lent me the Bill O'Reilly "Who's looking out for you?" book. She thought I'd find it interesting. Flipping through it, the book is pretty big text and double spaced. I can probably blow through it in a couple days between FFXI binge sessions :P "Who's looking out for you?" Not a publisher that charges $20+ for a 200 page book with 1 inch margins all around and double spaced :P I'm half tempted to say that this wouldn't even qualify as novel length when you got down to word count. (And if it did it would barely do so.)
11.12.03 :: 20:05
Blah, I don't have much to say tonight (or yesterday). The FFXI service is down so no night spent gaming. I've wasted it away doing other things like catching up LT (I was behind a few chapters). I burned off a few CDs as well. I wish Nero and my burner got along. I'm not a big fan of Roxio's software =/ Oh, and I declared who I'm playing in Survivor XII even though it's a month away. I'll be sponsoring Katsumi Liqueur from Silent Mobius.
I've been rolling songs around in my head trying to get my writing groove going for the next SeeDfic. Here's the current mental playlist: I'm Still Here (Tsuyo theme), Thousand Miles (wandering theme), Read or Die Theme (being chased), Zodiacal Sign (Centra battle music), Gardenhead / Leave me alone (????), Summer Days (Squall theme), Together Again (????). There are a couple more, but I don't have them solidfied in my mind yet.
11.15.03 :: 23:09
I haven't blogged in a couple few days 'cause, well, I haven't had much to say. And besides that, I've been pretty irritated lately and that doesn't make for good reading. So, I've been sticking my head in the ground and trying not to spread my displeasure to those around me. I can't say that it's any one thing that's getting to me, just a lot of little ones that have added up.
I ordered a computer for Aunt Ginny's sister this morning. Once it arrives I'll get it configured for her. I also ordered some CDs off of Amazon. Most of them are going to be Christmas gifts, but a couple are for me <.< ... >.> I ordered a pair of Bond CDs. I've heard a bit of their music and it sounded good. We'll see how it turns out.
I finished writing the opening to SeeDfic2. I've got about 5 ~ 6 pages finished. Still working on a title. Luna suggested "Reap What You Sow". Still rolling it around in my head. It's the best I've heard so far, but I'm still not won on it 100%. I think it's the word "you" that isn't doing it for me. I like the idea behind the title, but not the phrasing.
11.17.03 :: 23:36
Blech. I went to the Dr. today for my check up. I think everything went okay (or will turn out okay when the tests are ran). He gave me a sedative because I tend to become unhelpfully tense during the exam. That knocked me through a loop. When I got home I slept for a 3 - 4 hours. Anyhow, after the exam I went to the post office and vet (wanted to make sure I had enough food to last Pepper through the holidays). I got home and was getting ready to crawl into bed when I noticed that my fly was unzipped already --; The only thing that spared me from embarrassing myself at the post office and the vet was that my winter coat goes down to my thighs and I had it closed the entire time, so I don't think anyone saw.
I bought enough postage for my seasonal greeting card mass mailing :P Now I just need to confirm addresses and get the cards (the latter being an easy thing to do). I'm not going to send them out before Thanksgiving, but I hope to have them done by then. (Haha, at least I have a goal).
FFX-2 comes out tomorrow, yay. I could use a break from FFXI. It really pissed me off this evening. I'd just gotten to level 15. I was going around kill some easy monsters so that if I happened to die I wouldn't backslide a level because of lost experience. I attacked an easy monster, it poisoned me then died. I had about 100hp when the battle ended. Three minutes after the monster died *I* died of poison and back slid to level 14. That infuriated me. It checked out as "easy prey" and took off 100hp AFTER IT WAS DEAD! That hardly seems fair to me --; So bring on Yuna, Rikku, and Paine!
11.18.03 :: 23:47
I just got my level back in FFXI. I also bought some a new gi for my monk. At least I have my level back -.-; Beanie is also almost to level 8 as a Warrior. I hope people start buying some of the food I've put in the auction house. I don't want it returned to my inventory at my Mog House (if it is I may just drop the items. I really don't have the space to store them...)
11.19.03 :: 23:07
Got Final Fantasy X-2 today. First impression: What the hell did they do to real Emotion?! Admittedly Koda Kumi's English sucks rocks, but the song still had more soul to it than this version. Maybe I'm just biased towards Kumi's 'cause I've been listening to it for a couple months... I'm enjoying the game itself so far, though the battles still feel too fast paced for me. I'm never quite sure when to change my jobs. I guess that'll become more clear when it gets harder and what job you are actually matters for winning the battle.
Work has been blah. There was some nipping going on this evening that was completely childish -.- I called them on it and I don't know if that'll come back and bite me at some point, but if it does, I really don't care. I also worked more in the DSL routers today. I'm kind of getting the hang of it, but my brain hasn't wrapped around how to know which customer group is in which router (there's, like, 5 of them for crying out loud o.O; ) I'm sure I'll get the hang of it with experience, I just hope Lincoln continues to be patient with me while I learn ^^;
11.21.03 :: 22:16
Yay, it's Friday, about damn time. All of the DSL-type people were gone this morning, so I had to make changes without anyone there to check and make sure it was right. I'm happy to report that I didn't break anything, yay ^^; I'm also in the process of creating mischief at work. You can check out my LJ for more details on that.
FFX-2 is going well. I'm still, like, no where plot-wise in the game. I've spent a lot of time putzing around building up abilities and whatnot ^^; Plus I'm tired tonight. That sucks. I don't think I'll be able to stay awake much longer ^^;
I have to work tomorrow, that's okay. My parents also want me to come down to the print shop and work on Sunday, that's not okay. I'm very prickly about reserving Sunday for resting. I don't like to kick off the week without recharging my batteries --;
Oh! I have yet to show off the Katsumi avy / banner Lincoln made for me for SXII. Here they are:
 
11.22.03 :: 23:07
I got no gaming done today =/ I took my TV and PS2 to work today so that I could play FFX-2 between calls (with my manager's blessing, btw :P ) Instead Lincoln played Ratchet & Clank all day and I putzed around on my computer. At least I wasn't bored, that's a good thing.
Spoke with tenk (one of the SXII hosts) a bit about Katsumi to make sure everything I wanted to do with her would be okay. AsylumXKP made an advertising banner for SXII to use on FFO since no non-RI people seem to be taking notice of the tourney coming their way next month. Here's the banner:
I got a couple Bond CDs from Amazon. I'm really digging Fuego - Caliente Mix, but how come they look like they're on the edge of being porn stars in the CD booklet? I'd rather have the music ^^; They've reminded me of how much I like Vanessa-Mae. I pulled out her CDs so I could get her back into my play rotation.
I have to work at the print shop tomorrow since I wasn't able to do it tonight -.-; This is going to bite.. =/
11.23.03 :: 09:32
I met a Japanese player on FFXI for the first time today. I'd see them before, but hadn't actually spoken / played with any. I was running around Giddeus just putzing around. (I'm on a quest there, but I have no idea where to go). I don't think the area is too tough for me, but I wasn't playing very smart. Didn't care whether I made it out alive or not. Anyhow, this Japanese player was deep in there playing. And as far as I can figure he was just in there to protect weaker players. He wasn't part of a party and he was way too leveled to gain anything from beating the monsters. He kept following me around some from area to area and finally I decided that I was tired and was going to log off. He came up to me and asked if I wanted him to guide me out of Giddeus. Sure, I won't have to fight my way back out alone. He was very kind and took me right to the entrance. I'd also like to say that the Japanese have the cutest emoticons ^^
Anyhow, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a runny nose. Not surprising considering that I think I've been forgetting to eat dinner lately (I'm pretty sure I didn't last night), it's freaking cold in here (even with a space heater), and I've been working a lot lately. I need to take better care of myself --; [Slinks off to make some tea.]
11.23.03 :: 17:57
Today has been a complete write-off. I hate that --; The only productive thing I've done is some laundry that I need for tomorrow. Otherwise I've been asleep or sitting here wishing my head didn't feel full. I didn't go to work at the print shop. Sorry to disappoint, but I wasn't feeling up to it --; Phht pointed out to me that Nintendo has this deal on their website where if you subscribe to Nintendo Power you get the Zelda disc. Okay, I'm a sucker (and I'm going to be getting NP for another year :P )
11.24.03 :: 22:23
I'm feeling a bit better today, but still pretty tired. The most ambitious things I've done today were to clean the carpet after Pepper went on it (again) and I fixed Lincoln's PS2. The carpet was a pain. Pepper's got it in her head that she can't do her business on the wet leaves outside as so she does it inside on the carpet --; For the PS2, he got a used one that was having Disc Read Errors. I took it apart, cleaned it, adjusted one of the gears, and slapped it back together. It's reading discs again, yay, go me.
The location for SXII is being changed. FFO kind of booted the tourney out before it got started. There were some raw feelings, but everything looks like it's being smoothed over. We'll see where it goes from here...
11.27.03 :: 17:36
Hrm, Thanksgiving, it kind of snuck up on me, even though I've looked forward to having a day off to sleep all month. I spent some time with my parents this morning / afternoon. We went to see Haunted House. It was an enjoyable movie, though I don't think I'd buy the DVD or pay to see it again. Dad was funny at the theatre. He didn't want any popcorn 'cause he said it'd ruin his dinner. I bought a small bag for myself and during the movie he kept poking me for it. I think he ate more popcorn than I did :P
I called my bro to see what he was up to. He's working today. That's gotta suck ^^; One of my aunt's that I haven't spoken with in a few years called. I can't believe how old my cousins are... or that they're married o.O; Ahaha ^^; And having children. Er... Gotta love the Mormon half of the family, eh? ^^; It's also my grandma's birthday today. I'd give her a ring if I had the number ^^;
I finally finished Chapter 1 of FFX-2 with 25% complete. Currently I'm stuck in Gunner's Gauntlet. Damn I hate that mini-game --; Not as much as Lightning Dodging in FFX, mind you, but it's earning my ire. I know I'll get it if I play enough times to learn all the monster patterns. I just don't want to spent the 2 hours it might take me to do that :P
11.30.03 :: 23:00
Whoa, I had quite a weekend ^^ I'll try to keep my report of Kumoricon brief, but it probably won't be. My adventure actually started on Thanksgiving night when Adam called and said he was coming over to my place to hang out. We were both going up to Eugene on Friday to hang out with Elf before the con started on Saturday. We gamed and talked and gamed some more. I played a lot of FFX-2 ^^ Adam and I are determined to convince Elf that Disgaea is a good enough reason to buy a PS2, but I don't think he was convinced =/
Moving along to the con itself. I wasn't expecting too much considering that it was a first year con. The schedule was pretty barren and I didn't think that many people would show up. (I was afraid that I'd stick out in my White Mage robe ^^; ) So, we were in no real hurry to arrive. I don't think we got there until a bit before opening ceremonies. It was Adam and Elf's first con, so I told them what to expect. Elf was dubious of the opening until Baka Zoku came on. They were like the MC's for main con events. They're pretty funny :)
After that we went to the dealer's room and Elf played some Go. I was glomped/hugged/photographed/tackled more times than I can count. Adam had downloaded the Xenosaga II trailer that morning and so we watched it on his TiBook in the lobby between panels. We also watched some Azumanga Daioh. When people spotted the Xenosaga II trailer they kept asking him to show it over and over again, it was funny ^o^ We also met a very nice woman dressed up as Garnet (from FFIX). We chatted for quite a while before we shuffled off for the evening. (It was only about 5pm at this point).
We did a lot of running around Eugene this weekend between con events. The panels were very spaced apart so we'd gone to the Gateway mall a couple times, and the River Valley mall, and back to Elf's place. I don't think we spent more than a couple few hours solid at the con itself. It was always in spurts ^^;
I'll skip ahead to Sunday. Adam had left Saturday night, so it was down to Elf and me. Elf wanted to go to the Go tourney that was scheduled at 10am, but we didn't manage to get up in time for that ^^; The next event we'd planned on going to was the fanfiction panel at noon. We made that one :) It was a pretty good panel. There was a lot of discussion of fanfiction in general without it focusing on any one genre, but more on the art of writing. And like most fanfic panels I've been to, it ran past its allotted time. On the plus side, nothing was scheduled in the room during the next hour so people just kept going. Elf and I left after an hour and 15 minutes ^^; So I don't know for how long it actually went.
On our way through the lobby I was approached by a man in a bathrobe who asked me to meet up with some other people at the info desk. Uh... I wandered over there and he'd collected a couple other Final Fantasy cosplayers. They wanted to do a skit and wanted to me participate. Well, I'd planned on leaving Eugene around 2pm so I could get home before it got dark. Cosplay didn't start until 4pm and the drive home would take around three hours. The earliest I could expect to be home if I stayed would be 8pm... So I agreed to participate :P
I did leave the con again for a couple hours to do some running around town with Elf. (I got a bunch of Christmas shopping done while I was up there. I'm proud of myself ^^ ) When we got back they explained the idea for the skit a bit more. Uh, it was mostly improv, though. My part of it was to beat the Black Mage with a mallet after he used a terrible pick up line. (Gotta love 8-bit theatre).
I've been roped into cosplay once before and so in my limited experience this was the most organized cosplay event I've been to. The people organizing it kept people in order (figuratively if not literally speaking), it was on time, and maintained a brisk pace that didn't lag. Our group was the last one to go.
The skit from start to finish was this. A Neko-trader and his assistant were in the middle of the woods and a party of four adventurers show up. While Fighter is asking the Neko-merchant if he has any sword-chucks the (I can't remember what they called it.. a kendall?) showed up and the Neko-merchant began calling for the warriors to kill it. Fighter and Ninja went after it while Black Mage saved his game with the Neko-merchant. Black Mage then turned around to White Mage and delivered a horrible pick up line. White Mage flattens him with the mallet. Neko-merchant tells Black Mage that he can get up, his game has been restored from his last save. He pops back up and delivers another bad line to White Mage. White Mage chases Black Mage off the stage with the mallet. Meanwhile Fighter and Ninja have successfully vanquished the kendall. The Neko-merchant begins to talk to his assistant when it pops up again and steals the Neko-merchant's ears. The Neko-merchant calls for his assistant to kill the kendall. The assistant lures the kendall back on the stage and stuns her by opening his bathrobe at her (the audience can't see what's under the robe, but he's doing it in a flasher's manner). The Neko-merchant thanks his assistant and asks what he did to defeat her and he flashes the Neko-merchant. That gets a bad reaction from the Neko-merchant, who tells him never to do that again. The assistant then turns to the audience and opens his robe. Under it he's got a sailor suit on with his tummy hanging out and a too short skirt and he wiggled his tummy around. The reaction from the audience was great :)
Okay, so after that we took some pictures while the judges did their thing. Baka Zoku entertained with a skit of their own. The best part was an Aerith that went up on stage and did a rap about how long and broad and firm Cloud's sword was. That was great. I wish I had the lyrics 'cause it was just "OMFG LOL" :P
The judges didn't take that long in deciding (which was also great, but there weren't that many entries. Only nine if you counted the costume walk-ons ^^; ) Our skit got best group performance. That's probably the only time in my life I'll win anything for cosplay :P The guy who arranged it (the Neko-merchant) was quite pleased. I think we all were considering the improv of it all ^^; It was worth returning home late for.
That was the con in a nutshell. I had a really good time at it and I think they did a great job for a first time effort. A couple of the scheduled events were cancelled or moved, but that's half-expected. I was grateful for all the things that went right. The organizers seemed to have it together. Panels started on time. The game room lacked Otaku funk. (This was the first con I've spent any amount of time in a game room and that's the main reason for it. They had a DDR 3rd Mix machine in there, Soul Calibur II, Smash Bros Melee, Drum Mania, and Kareoke Revolution. All good game picks IMO).
Some of dealers were selling Son May CDs though =/ That was kind of a bummer since Elf really wanted to pick up the Noir soundtrack, but couldn't find a legit copy of it. The dealers present were also holding a large percentage of the world's Final Fantasy 8+ wallscrolls (8, 9, 10, x-2, and 11 were all there in quantity). I've never seen that many of them in a single place before. I liberated two of them for my living room ^^v They had FFX-2 keychains in the little mystery boxes and the person next to me really wanted a Rikku. I opened mine and got a Rikku. I offered to trade her if she didn't get a Rikku in her box. She got a Yuna, so we traded and we were both happy ^^ I also picked up a couple more pencil boards to hang on my cubby walls at work :)
Actually, I really made out like a bandit this weekend ^^; Both Adam and Elf gave me Christmas presents (and I gave them theirs). Elf returned a game to me that I'd lent to a mutual friend of ours, like, two years ago and had figured was lost forever. One of the game stores in the mall gave me three FFX-2 posters because Elf told them I loved Final Fantasy so much ^^; Elf had bought a PC five-game pack where he really only wanted two of the games, so he gave the other three to me 'cause I've never played them (SimCity 3000, Red Alert 2, and Tiger Woods golf... that one probably won't get played ^^; ) Plus when I got home the Zelda collection disc I got from Nintendo Power magazine was waiting for me. It's, like, November 30th and I just celebrated Christmas ^^v
Oh yeah! One of the times when we were just killing time between panels at the mall I'd worn my robe instead of taking it off and the number of dirty looks and muttered cussing I received has changed my opinion of Eugeners. They give off the impression of being liberal folks who are pretty accepting of others, but I'm doubting that. They can handle people with metal shoved through their faces but they can't handle a White Mage? Elf suspects that they think I was a KKK member. Then I'd classify Eugeners as being ignorant along with intolerant ^^; Since a white robe covered in red triangles looks nothing like a solid white robe with a mask and eyeholes :P I could have been a choir for all they know since they wear robes too :P
Anyhow! I returned home safely and began the scramble to get ready for work tomorrow ^^; I needed to do laundry and pay bills. My parents were kind and took care of Pepper for me. She didn't eat while I was away, but still managed to crap all over the floor multiple times --; As soon as I got in the door I cuddled Pepper for several minutes and then coaxed her into eating. With me there she wolfed down all her food ^^; I don't think she'll happily let me out of her sight for a few days at least :P
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