A few days ago, I bought a Game

It was called CHALLENGE THE ZODIAC, and it was only 1.29 at the "Generally a Dollar" store. Well, I felt that it HAD to be challenged, so I purchased it.

I will have a more complete review (with pictures!) at a later date, but I just had to share the fact that I had purchased it now.

But I will answer the burning question now:

Was the Zodiac worth being challenged?

The answer is a resounding no.

Almost a half an hour before work so...

...I figured I'd write a little bit.

Fire Emblem: Awakening has been taking up my non-working, non-eating time because I am enjoying it that much.

Mostly for the relationship system.

Seriously, I am planning my second playthrough's relationships more than stats and classes. I only have two more of the child characters to get, and I'm still figuring out their perfect matches. I have Cherche and Maribelle left, and I'm thinking of Cherche with Gregor and Maribelle with Henry. Mostly for the koot. And I'm planning Sully and Kellam for the next play as well. Gonna delete my bro's old file (he didn't like the game) for it so I can keep my current team.

OFFICIAL FIRE EMBLEM GOAL: FILL SUPPORT LOG!

I picked the right shirt

I am wearing my "I spell F-U-N   D-&-D" shirt at the football game.

Very fitting.

After about an hour or so of traffic followed by a bunch of time looking for our seats, we find ourselves sitting in the stadium. Stuff is happening, and I have absolutely no clue what. I have had it explained to me at least twice and it is all gobbledygook. I just see people running and stopping and everyone is cheering and I am blinking.

So I occupy myself by mobile blogging and eating horrendously expensive and spicy crab fries as everyone starts yelling again. Even the beau understands this stuff more than me. I came for the free for me food. Thank god this is a pre season game. I am having a hard time with a supposedly small crowd.I have been just told that this is actually a mid sized crowd.

I will sit with this mantra:

It was free.
It was free.
It was free.

How to write an adventure?

I am very good with world settings. I love creating long dynasties of rulers, religious systems, contintental layouts... all the background stuff. I adore building a diverse and interesting world for players to explore and discover all the little nooks and crannies of.

But when it comes to filling that world with actual adventure... I'm stumped. And that's bad, because I would love to write large, multi-session adventures in the world I craft, and then sell them to gamers on little flash drives. But that's much further down the road. First I have to write the adventure. I guess I will try at it the way that one goes at writing- a chapter at a time. And by reading other pre-written adventures.

I will let you know how it works out, if it does.

Character Creation Part II, the Final Fantasy X Version

Well, my roommate is going to be running his Final Fantasy campaign when our current one is over, and now that I am going through the game with the beau, I think I have a good idea as to what I am going to do with the character for that one.

She's going to be Guado. I kinda knew I wanted a Guado character from the moment I saw the race and went "TREE ELF PEOPLE? YES." I even have a name for her- Quersa, after the scientific name of the Oak Tree. Her class: beastmaster/tamer. If she can summon fiends like other members of her race, she'll have a specialization over plants and insects to start (maybe large reptile types later on because yay large reptile types). If she can only choose one, though, it'll be either a bird or a hornet of some form. Because that sounds badass. Along with an instant poison touch if she decides to attack on her own.

Well, I am going to wait until I get through the rest of the game before deciding on a backstory, so that is all I have for now.

Character Creation!

I have two tabletop campaigns to start crafting characters for, now that Shadowrun has reached what seems like a slightly-past-mid-point. One for a Final Fantasy X campaign (which the beau is playing through so I understand the world and general plot), and one for a high-fantasy epic level campaign.

The FFX one... is daunting. My original character concept was one I crafted because I knew absolutely nothing about the universe and I could get away with asking dumb questions about obvious subjects. Now I do know things, so crafting a character should be simpler. But what direction do I want to go with her? And what race? I will wait until the game is over to figure out that.

My Epic Level character is the exact opposite. I know her extremely well. She is a much older version of my very first D&D character, a flighty bard who collected stories with the dreams of running her own library one day. Well, this character is about forty years after that first trip out and taking one last adventure before she becomes unable to perform such a feat. I will actually be writing her backstory here most likely over the next few days so the DM can have it all in one place.

I ended early...

...due to heat exhaustion. I was so tired on Saturday I only saw a tiny sliver of the evening concert. Then again, that was because I was a big dumb and forgot sunscreen on Friday. I thought "Oh, yeah, I usually don't need sunscreen. Why would I need it today?" And then I got horribly burnt and had a hard time enjoying myself the next day.

Friday, on the other hand, was EXCELLENT. Amazing bands with awesome party energy, clearance t-shirts that allowed me to re-stock on my festwear for less than twenty dollars, and an all-around fun time. It was nice hearing Shimeka Copeland again, and she wailed just as well as I remember. The Old Crow set BLEW ME AWAY, and everyone else was just as excellent.

The afternoon show was amazing too. Spuyten Duyvel, A Fistful of Sugar, and The Wallace Brothers were really amazing local groups, and we bought A Fistful of Sugar's album the next day. I looked for The Wallace Brothers online but they had no music available. I still need to check for the third group.

All in all, I had an amazing time and it was great to be back. I walk through the entrance, and it felt as if I had never taken that eight year break. Everything was as I remembered it, from the grounds themselves to the people that occupied them. A place where I could leave my stuff without having to worry about it getting stolen and have those non-worries actually founded in truth. A place where I felt like I was part of one huge family. And I can't wait to do it next year, as the beau has agreed to go again.

Hopefully with friends this time.

Give this a watch if you have the time.

One day I will write about how much I DESPISE the Tim Burton adaptation of Sweeney Todd, but before I do that, I have to show everyone the way Sweeney is supposed to sound. Patti is totally my favorite Lovett. Lansbury was too squawky and Carter is too breathy. But Patti... she has it down. The only tolerable Lovett.

Plus, NPH is in it and he is fantastic. 

An Early Weekend

This week, Thursday is Friday.

I am taking a three-day weekend in order to attend the Philadelphia Folk Festival on Friday and Saturday. An old family tradition revived.

I used to go to Fest every year, and it was the most fun I could have all summer. More fun than the beach or any amusement park out there, the young me looked forward to Folk Fest, near summer's end. For me, it was the last big party before school started.

I went for sixteen years straight to fest. According to my father, I was even there before I was born. I was pretty much destined to be a folkie. And then I went every year. Attended all the workshops and side concerts I could, ate so many caramel apples from the fire company stand that I could no longer look at them for a few years, and begged my parents to buy me as many expensive handmades as they could, only getting maybe two of them.

Then mom got sick and dad lost his job, and we didn't have the money to go. I was super upset the first year I was told we wouldn't be attending, and then worked to try and find a way to go on my own. My paycheck was never large enough to take care of fest costs unless I saved like a madwoman (which I still have a hard time doing), so it became a distant dream for me.

And then I got a job that allowed me to go WITHOUT saving much money. So I will be attending fest once again, after an eight year break. I am extremely excited and will hopefully come back with tons of pictures and fun stuff to show to everyone!

At-Work Creative Writing Part II

Utilizing WriteWorld is a great thing that I should really do more often. They usually have some interesting prompts and all kinds of things like that. This one actually reminded me of a dream I had a few nights ago that I had.

That morning, Catherine woke up in the woods.Wearing an outfit she didn't go to sleep in. After picking the leaves and twigs out of her long blonde hair, she sat up. "Not again..." she groaned.

Mind you, this had only happened two times before. At least this time she didn't wake up near something dead and weird-smelling. She was almost late for school last month because she spent so long in the shower getting rid of the stench.

There was no way she was going to tell anyone about her blackouts. She had a social status to maintain, and this kind of news would ruin everything. Like Rome, a close circle of friends and andmirers was not built in a day. Fortunately, she had her bag on her this time, along with her phone, compact, and a small piece of paper. "I don't remember any pieces of paper in here..." Catherine muttered as she pulled it out and unfolded it.

All that was on it was one word, scrawled in a thick black marker.

"SORRY"

Catherine frowned and folded up the paper. "Who's sorry? And for what?" She shrugged and looked at the forest around her. Fortunately, it was a familiar part of the forest in her backyard, so she knew how to get back home this time. And if she made it home in fifteen minutes, nobody would know that she had even been gone.

Just the way she preferred it.

Decided to experiment with mobile blogging

Well, I find myself sitting at the train station waiting for my ride and I figure what better way to test out the mobile post writing?

I just wanted to write about how I used to think I was really adaptable and more than able to react easily to change. As i got older, I realized that was not the case.

I had to resist the urge to glare at someone for an entire bus ride because he sat in the seat I usually occupy. It was such an odd experience that I realize other people also go through, but I still feel bad. This guy had no clue that he was wronging anyone by sitting down, but he was. I spent the entire ride hoping he would not become a regular that I would have to fight for my seat.

Because that is silly.

Creative Writing During Work

It's a slow work day today, so I think I may pass the time with a little bit of writing. Utilizing WriteWorld once again for inspiration, I start again with snippets to try and get my creative juices flowing once again. Last time I used WriteWorld, I used a picture. This time, I take one of their first lines to develop a fantasy world I return to every once and a while. This one's a little long compared to other snippets, so you can read after the break.

I have decided to bring this back up again, because I have nowhere better to record random musings and writings. Tumblr is not the place for that kind of thing, and there is no WAY I'd do it on Facebook, once again, not the right place. So time to bring back an already existing blog.

If anyone ever reads it, good. It's just a place for my not-so-private, sometimes deep, sometimes amusing, but always rambling thoughts. If nobody reads it, whatever. This is writing for me, not really anyone else.

So I'd like to give a hello and a welcome back to whoever wants to take this rambling journey with me.