Christmas scraps

When I write my fiction, I have a really speciall way of doing so, as to which Onee-chan can attest. I write a number of lines/a page on one story, then I switch. I write the same number of lines on the next story, then I switch again. Sometimes when starting a new writing pad, I decide a theme or a number of stories to write in it. 22 is the highest number of stories i had going in the same pad. Yes, I'm spacy that way. Christmas Eve, I took five new pads, three small, thin things, and two thick, with 12 tabs in each. One of the 12-tab pads will be dedicated to Onee-chans Final Fantasy love couples, the other to my very own creations, if I have 12 of those, if not, I'll throw in some fanfiction, we'll see.

Ok, so without further ado, the scraps of stories I wrote over Christmas:

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Takashi sat by one of the windows in the little cottage he shared with his husbands. He was caring for his bow and arrows, feeling the knot in his stomach grow larger. Tomorrow was the last hunt before the Burrowing, and this year's last hunt was crucial. All autumn the 15 hunters hadn't felled anything other than small game, not even enough to feed a single household, and far from satisfying the Lots. Unless they felled 5 elks tomorrow, their village would go all winter without meat. Even if they felled 5 elks, the meat would never be enough for them all after they had paid the Lots. A mammoth, Takashi though dreammily. That's what we need. Just a small one, just enough to pay the lots and feed us through the winter.
                 The door opened. Kei and Jun came in. Jun was holding his hands up to his mouth, he was cold. Sweet, gentle Jun, he had all the characteristics of a child bearer. Kei led Jun over to their fireplace.
"Now you stand still here until I've warmed the bed", said Kei sternly.
                 Jun nodded. Kei busied himself with the bed, making room for the heating stones.
"What happened" asked Takashi.
"Your husband got the clever idea to rescue rodents out of ice cold streams", answered Kei, sounding cross.
                  Takashi put away the bow and walked over to Jun, embraced him and took his icy hands.
"Is that true?"
                   Jun shook his head. Kei glared at him as he took the heating stones from the fire.
"It wasn't a rodent", Jun said innocently. "It was a squirrel."
"How silly of me to mistake a squirrel for a rodent."
                  Kei sounded really annoyed. Takashi knew why. Kei was annoyed for the same reason Takashi worried so much for the hunt. Still holding on to Jun's hands with one hand, Takashi let his other hand come to rest on Jun's belly.
"I know you are the kindest, gentlest, most loving being on this earth", he said."But you have to be careful. I don't want you to jeopardize yourself or our litter."
                  Jun sighed and freed himself from his husband. He loved and hated being pregnant. He loved the thought of being a child bearer, that he were to give Kei and Takashi, and their village, pups, but he hated the Lots. Now more than ever.
"We're not going to keep them, are we", he said quietly.
                 Neither Kei nor Takashi answered. They knew that the likelihood of getting to keep a pup was slim to none. A child bearer had, in his or her lifetime, an average of 3 litters of 1-6 pups, although most litters were 2-3 pups. And before they could keep a pup, they had to pay the Lots. 1 to the State, 1 to the Nobility, 1 to the Magistry, 1 to the Clergy and 1 to the grave. Their custom and their curse. Jun walked over to the bed and started to try to undress but his hands were so cold they hurt and he couldn't hold anything. He sobbed. Cautiously, Kei put his arms around Jun.
"Probably not", he said. "I don't know how many pups you're carrying. But next summer, after your body has recovered, we'll hurry and make more pups."

***********************************

"Michael!"

          The four-year-old boy spun around. He waved at his father. 

"Don't disappear on me", the father said.
"Dad", said the child, stomping his little foot. "I want to go on the tour!"
          Michael's father waved his son over, crouched down and hugged him.
"I know", he said. "And I let you. Just be careful so you don't get away from the group, ok?"
          Michael nodded.
"I love you", Michael's father said and kissed him on the cheek. "Have fun."
          Michael ran off towards the kids tour group  One of the guides tool his hand and they followed the other kids and guides through the doors to the vista level.
"He can't be yours, you're way to young."
          The young man who had a son named Michael straightened. A man his own age wearing clothes identifying him as an off-duty marine serving on this new Luna base, stood leaning on the rail by the panorama window.
"He is", came the answer.
            The marine smiled.
"Michael's father is a handsome guy", he said. "Does he have a name?"
"James", Michael's father said hesitantly. "James Shepard. Are you flirting with me?"
"Well", the marine laughed. "If you need to ask I'm obviously not good at it. And, yes."
"You'd flirt with a guy you know have a son? Wouldn't that be a tell-tale sign that guy has a woman in his life?"
            The marine smiled widely.
"I take my chances."
            James Shepard smiled and put on an air of appreciation.
"It's been a while since any guy flirted with me", he said. "Most guys back away quickly when they realize i have a kid."
          The marine shook his head.
"As handsome as you are, I wouldn't care. In fact, I don't."
          James found he enjoyed this. As he had said, he didn't often meet guys who didn't care if he had a son. Even if this was just light flirting, he enjoyed the attention.
"So, marine", he said. "You know my name..."
"Emilio Cortez", the marine said willingly. "I'm stationed here, but I'm off duty. How did you identify me as a marine?"

********************

"Vrook, can I sleep in your tent tonight?"

          Vrook looked up. The question had come from nowhere, even though they were in love with each other, the had not yet taken that step. Issä hadn't shown any such tendencies before. Vrook welcomed it. 

"Of course", he said. "If you wish."

          Issä nodded. He couldn't really explain to himself why he had this rather sudden desire. True, he was in love with this Grey Warden. This tall, handsome, rugged, dark-haired, grey-eyed, rough-mannered yet incredibly kind and noble man. Still... Confused even by his own request, Issä walked into the tent. He sank down and hid his face in his hand . Was he casting Faye's memory and love aside for another man? It had been a year since Faye was killed by those foul creatures, months since since Issä stopped crying, yet now, the grief welled up inside him again. He could not stop the tears.

          Vrook came into the tent only minutes later. Issä was ashamed and he felt a stab of guilt. He tried to hide his tears. 

"It's all right", said Vrook, sitting down beside Issä. "You cry as much as you need." 

"But it's not fair", sobbed Issä. "It's not fair, I'm supposed to be your lover now. Faye is..."

          Issä broke down into sobs, feeling more confused than ever. Vrook stroke his back. 

"I can never take Faye away from you", he said. "He's part of you, and I can never take his place, nor do I want to. You will always love him."

"But I want to love you."

"You do. I can feel it. Keep him in your heart. Remember him. But love me here and now."

          Issä nodded. It felt a little clearer now. 

"I want to sleep close to you tonight", he muttered.

"You will", Vrook promised. "I'll keep you close."

          Issä got himself ready for bed. 

"The others we're meeting", he asked. "Who are they?" 

          Vrook tilted his head thoughtfully. 

"Cri'il and Sylon. They are wardens. Ella is... I'm not sure what Ella is, but she is handy with a blade and she never needed keys to open locks. Col and Anders are mages, and Megan is an archer and historian." 

          Issä crawled down among the blankets and fur.

"I know all that", he said. "I meant what kind of people are they?"

          Vrook thoughtfully folded up his shirt.

"I'm not sure", he said. "Ella is a great, albeit fickle, woman. But she is a friend, a loyal friend. I've known her for 20 years. Col is also a good friend. Likes to hear himself talk. But he has some great stories to tell, so that's ok. Sylon I've only met on a couple of gatherings in Weisshaupt. He has authority enough, seems like an efficient bastard. Megan and Cri'il I've only met the one time, when planning this little excursion. Anders... well, there are rumors about Anders. He won't talk about them. He won't talk at all, as a matter of fact, so I know nothing about him. But he is a good listener and he can show some great bit of magic when necessary."

           Vrook came down among the blankets, found Issä and pulled him close. 

"So", said Issä quietly. "Good men and women, all handy in a tight spot. Where do I fit in?"

          Vrook smiled wryly. 

"You fit in my bed", he said. "But I also hope Col or Anders might be able to help you."

********************

"Tadaima"!

"Okaerinasai, Aito."

          Sora grabbed Aito and kissed him,

"I thought you'd be in bed", said Aito puzzled.

          Sora walked back into the apartment, grabbed his tea cup.

"I was lonely, so I couldn't sleep. Besides, the kiddies are loud." He scowled at the four 8-year-old boys by the media station. They were playing video games. Apparently, Takashiro had been allowed to bring friends over.

"Where is Kana", asked Aito. "And Yuu?

          Sora shrugged.

"Yuu is in the kitchen", he said. "And Kana's not home yet. You don't bother asking for Hanako?"

"Saw her in the park. Talked to Ima's mom."

          Sora sighed deeply and made a sweeping gesture.

"Well, what do I know", he said, quite dramatically. "I'm just a lowly interior designer with a headache."

          He stalked into the bedroom and closed the door. Deflated, Aito sat down in one of the armchairs in the living room.

********************

Mako was walking up the road into town with xie's basket full of early spring herbs. Four months ago, in the dead of winter, xie had come here with xie's husband. This town was where Jaq Salim had grown up and learned his trade, and as Mako had grown up in a school on the countryside, with no parents and no last name,  it was natural that they moved close to Jaq's parents when Mako became Mako dal Salim. During those four months, Mako had learned to be the keeper of xie's home and family, gotten to know the in-lawed family, Jaq had both brothers and sisters, as well as parents, gotten to know the town and its surroundings. The town was very small, it had only one market square and only one market street. but it had 8  inns, one on each road out of town, and all 36 gods and goddesses had places where you could worship them. This was, after all, a market town, a lot of trade came through here. No wonder Jaq and his family were doing good business.

********************

Snow Villiers stood gazing out through the living room window. Caius Ballad was pacing, slowly, between same window and the window in the kitchen, Hope Estheim sat by the living room table, trying to study. Oerba Yun Fang sat in the couch, trying to stay awake. Beside her sat Lightning Ferron, staring at the clock. It was almost four in the morning and they were all waiting. The only ones who were asleep, and thankfully had slept all night, were the girls, 9-year-old Vanille, 7-year-old Serah and 4-year-old Yuel. 

"Shouldn't everyone who actually have a job to go to in the morning get to bed", asked Snow. "You don't have to wait up, you know."

           Fang stretched and yawned.

"You're not the only one who worries, you know", she said. "The way he took of last night..."

          Snow shuddered. Last night, his lover, Caius' brother, Noel had stormed off in a fit of panic-fueled anger. 

*********************

The Shinra Company Headquarters lay like a glittering jewel in an oasis of fountains and greenery in the otherwise drought-stricken Midgaar. This was just about the only part of the city that had water right now, but then, this place was for the elite, and their serfs. 

          One such serf stood watching the lines of people from sector 7 who had come in hopes of being lucky enough to get some of the 74000 liters of water that Shinra Company so graciously bestowed upon the needy. Cloud Strife was not pleased. As a member of Shinras elite force SOLDIER he ached for some real work. It was his fourth day on water watch, and that, to him, was a waste of his talents. He knew he was being punished, but he didn't know what for.

          He felt a sharp tap on his shoulder. 

"What did you do to get pushed down to line guard?"

*********************

Love it, hate it, share it, comment it, whatever...... =)

Hobbits and elves and dwarves.... oh, my!

Yeah, I saw it. I did. Not in 3D, though, my eyes can't handle 3D. And no, I didn't discover that two weeks ago.... I've known it for years. I avoid 3D movies as much as I can.

Anywho, here it is. The Hobbit: There and back again.... no, wait, that's the book. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. That's the first movie of two.... or three... nah, two.... NO! THREE! NO MORE ARGUING! Have to make three movies, because it makes more money..... wait, scratch that, that doesn't sound good in a press release.... Because the fans what it! No, that's not true, the fans were already cautious when we said two movies.... Hmm.... because we want to get a bit of the Silmarillion and Book of lost tales and the others into the movie! That's it, the fans wants Silmarillion to be adapted to the big screen! And it will look good with three big boxes next to the three big boxes of  The Lord of the Rings. Yup, that sounds good....

Ok, ok, I'm just poking fun. I don't know how they were thinking, all I do know is that the fans have been waiting for 10 years. And here it is. And I saw it. And here's what I though about it:

Music; enthralling. Visuals (without 3D): stunning. Actors: great, mostly. Pacing: on point... mostly.

The first thing I though about the hobbit was negative. The prologue about the dwarves were..... not bad, but felt really misplaced and why is Bilbo narrating it? Should have been Balin or someone. It is hard here not to draw the parallel to the Fellowship. Some people hate the prologue, some love it, I... like it, that prologue didn't feel out of place and Galadriel narrating feels appropriate. Bilbo narrating the rise and fall of the Dwarves just feels... irksome  Adding to it that it feels badly paced in a way I cant really describe makes it feel....I don't know. Crammed into a corner and forgotten until 2 days before release when someone found it and threw it in where it didn't belong. I wish one of the dwarves had told it at the gathering in Bag End.

Moving on to the prologue with Bilbo and Frodo. This is where the movie should have started. In a hole on the ground, just like the book. Elijah Wood seems to have outgrown Frodo, but only just. It bothered me a few minutes, but was then forgotten. This part was just what this movie needed as a starting point, with great nods to the Fellowship. Let's jump down into the rabbit hole.

So then we meet a 60 years younger Bilbo  sitting in front of his house smoking his pipe when Gandalf shows up and recruits him to an adventure. The part when the dwarves show up is a little too fast-paced, as if they are afraid to linger on any of them, or Bilbo for that matter. But both songs are there, and that I love. Unfortunately, the best line in the song when the dwarves clear out the dishes disappeared in production or something. They get to "that's what Bilbo Baggins hates", but the last line; "so carefully, carefully with the plates" IS the line where you kind of draw breath, sigh of relief and is sure they were teasing the poor hobbit all along. That line should have been there....

Off to the Adventure! Let's go get that treasure. In the book, it is the treasure they seem to be interested in, at least that is my impression. The Arkenstone more than anything  In the movie, it seems to be more about reclaiming the homeland. Between Hobbiton and Rivendell Bilbo and the 13 dwarves and 1 wizard meet 3 mountain trolls, 1 dotty wizard and a pack of orcs. The trolls are great, right out of the book, but the gag of how Bilbo is discovered is NOT funny. Jokes with bodily fluids is, in my humble opinion, for kids under the age of 5.... They should have kept the books solution. Next on the scene is Radagast the brown. Just like Gandalf the grey, he is a wizard. What is it with wizards and colors? I must say, this was never my vision of Radagast. My own personal vision of Radagast has always been more like Aragorn, only a wizard and surrounded by animals. Maybe that's the romantic in me. This Radagast is.... kinda cute. It's your dotty old grandfather that you love and want to take care of now, when he's old and has a foggy grasp on the world. The encounter with Radagast doesn't feel like it's been crow-bared in there, unlike the orcs. THEY feel like they've been thrown in to get a chase scene and to force the dwarves where they don't wan't to go. The enmity between dwarves and elves are played up a lot from the beginning  Why Thorin is so pissed with the Quenian elves of Rivendell, I don't really get. It's the Sindari and their king Thraduil (father of one Greenleaf Greenleaf.... ehm, I mean.... Legolas Greenleaf....) who stood them up. But, I guess dwarves are like everyone else. Elves are elves to them, just like dwarves are dwarves to the Elves.... Anywho, the dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf end up in the valley of waters and the Last Homely House, where Lindir, of all Elves (who actually appeared in the book The Fellowship of the Ring for like 2 pages, never to be heard of again until I started writing yaoi fanfiction about him) greet them and says Elrond isn't home. Buuuut..... it takes only about 50 seconds for Elrond to come home, riding a horse, sporting shining, sexy armor. *Fangirl death.* And then they do what hobbits like to do. Eat, drink and talk. A LOT! Gandalf has a little meeting with Elrond, Saruman and Galadriel, the latter whom seems to be there as astral projection or something. This scene feels a bit forced, I can't really say why. Maybe it has more to do with my wanting the story to be about Bilbo, so, let's jump-start that part again. After some arguing about an old map, Elrond sends the dwarves and Bilbo on their merry way again, or, actually, the dwarves sneak off and leaves Bilbo behind, but the hobbit catches up with them and they're off. Off into mountains with stone giants and thunder storms and an underground kingdom with goblins. The goblin king is big and ugly and makes me think about how Shrek would be if he was evil. The goblin king, again, not what I expected. I pictured him like a small, conniving little.... yeah, a little like Gollum, actually, like they were cousins or something.

Speaking about Gollum..... There are some discrepancies between this scene and the one in the prologue of the Fellowship, but who cares? It's the Riddle Scene, the one everyone wanted to see. Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be little to no suspense in this scene. They could have played this up a bit, I think  Taken it slower, made it seem harder, both for Bilbo and Gollum. Especially the 5th riddle which Bilbo in the book answers more or less accidentally.  Anywho....

A bit later, the movie fans who doesn't read books get the explanation as to why the people in Lord of the ring is going on about eagles all the time. And then.... the movie ends. It is a good place to end the movie. Bilbo and the dwarves are over the Misty Mountains, now they can actually see the Lonely Mountain in the distance. The end.... for now.....

Seeing as they are already halfway through the book,  I do feel a bit skeptical as to how they're gong to manage 2 more movies. Brilliant or catastrophe, we'll see. One year from now...  I dread the encounter with Beorn, as I have a hard time imagining that actor as Beorn. I want to see Mirkwood, hopefully it's not confusingly like the forest in Harry Potter. Dark forest + giant spiders could get harmfully close to one another. (Besides, who is it crying plagiarism every time someone says "wizard"?) The glimpse we got of King Thranduil had me thinking he seemed well-cast, looks-wise. How he will look next to his son, we'll see.

Until next move's out, I'll say no more...

Assassin's Creed III is aws.... ehum.... well....

Ok, first of all: I haven't played it all, yet. I've only played about 15 hours. So I'm not 1000% sure, but here are my first impressions:

So, starting out, I was exited, but only kinda. Revolutionary war, not really my thing. I have a hard time caring about it, maybe because I'm not american. I do care about the people that it affected, be they English  French or native american, but the war as such wasn't all that interesting, at least not when I read about it in school. That being said, I can confirm that my expectations for this game were.... not low, per se, but not high either.

Ok, so enter Desmond Miles, the descendant of the Assassins who apparently is the only one who can do this. Exactly what "this" is, I don't really know. Wield the piece of Eden? Go into the Animus to "visit" with the ancestors? Why can't his father William Miles do that? Give Desmond a break? I don't know. Maybe it's Desmond's mothers line. So why can't she do it? Can you only visit someone of your own gender? That has to be it....

Desmond and his little crew of helpers..... and his father.... set up shop in a temple of some sort when Desmond..... yeah.... collapses again.... (sung that song last time around). Their solution to his collapse? Plug him into the Animus! Brilliant, then he can be collapsed and save the world at the same time. This time around he wakes up again, though, and is able to communicate with Rebecca, Shaun and Bill. Even gets out of the animus some times.

The temple seems to be harboring old roman gods. Juno to be exact. She starts sending Desmond, and Shaun, e-mails. Creepy. Desmond & Co also go out for a little adventure during the hours I've played, up until and halfway through sequence 6. Climbing skyscrapers in NYC on the outside? Much scarier than climbing the towers in Florence.....

Well, that's Desmond. What about Connor, the real assassin of the game? Let's head back to the Animus and and the 18th century! And there he is, Connor! I mean... Haytham.... Haytam Kenway! Who the HELL is Haytam Kenway???? What did I miss? Ok, I guess I'll just... listen to..... *voice actor-fangirl mode activated!* That guy that Haytham is talking to... or rather the other way around ... sounds so familiar ..... OMG! It's Gideon Emery! *squeals like a 12-year-old girl.* Moving on.... *deep breath*. So, on to a ship we go and leave tho old world behind for a New World! And I still don't know who this guy I'm playing with is. After some thinking I decide that it must be Connors father of mentor or something, taking the Creed to the new world.

After having spent about 3 hours with Haytham and his mates in Boston, trying out the new controls and menus and stuff (this is basically a tutorial), the games biggest WTF-moment happens. I don't expect them to top that. It's so wierd, even Desmond comments it with a WTF? And when the game itself does that, it's something done right.

Next push. Boston have been left behind for the great frontier and the home of the woman Haytham met and helped. And got help from. And.... laid......  Kaniethí:io (the woman) now have a boy! The boy Ratonhnhaké:ton runs around the forest and plays with his friends and.... wait..... I'm STILL waiting to meet Connor..... I don't care about this boy....... well, I do care a little, because I'm 90% sure this IS Connor. What I don't care about is his frolicking in the woods with his friends playing hide-and-seek. It's not fun, it's not cute, it's tedious and boring. Fast-forwarding a few years and we get a lesson in hunting. Ok, nice, probably something we could do on the frontier. Still... no assassins.....But here we get an up in pacing. It doesn't take all that long until Ratonhnhaké:ton gets whisked away from the frontier and to Davenport and Achilles Davenport, who is house-sitting for the Assassins. Ratonhnhaké:ton actually gets in the door more by his own stubbornness than anything else. It is now, almost 6 hours into the game, that he adopts the name Connor.

After this, not much happens. I do some exploring, repeat a couple of missions to try and figure out what the heck i'm doing. .. Spend a few minutes on a ship, which at first is nice, but swiftly gets confusing and repetitive  I send out a convoy for trading (this games equivalent to the last few games opening shops, I guess), but that is a bust, the convoy is attacked and i don't get what i should do about it. Should I do anything? Is the convoy lost forever? I don't get it, it's still there, in the trading menu, but all it says is "attacked", and nothing more. If it is lost, shouldn't it disappear after a while? Like when the next sequence starts? It doesn't, and I sit there staring at it in the interface, getting more and more frustrated. Oh, well.... lets go and.... and..... That's another thing about this game. i'm not sure what to do sometimes  And that's a problem. Should I move on in the story? Should I do some exploring? Where do I buy new shots for my pistol, arrows for my bow, snares, poison darts, can i buy medicine to help me survive encounters with Templars?  Are the Redcoats templars? Or are they just.... Redcoats? Where am I supposed to be going? Why am I supposed to go there? And why can I climb and travel the canopy? Ok, sure I get that, but why can I only do so for a few meters? then I'm forced back to the ground and to find another tree where I can start on the next leg through the frontier to my goal.

After about 15 hours of gameplay, I have come to a handful of conclusions. 1: I love Gideon Emery's voice. (Please, please, please, never stop with the voice acting, Gideon.) 2: The main game is unintuitive and tedious. 3: The parts where you are Desmond, out of the animus and in the present, feels more urgent and things seems to be moving, unlike the very slow pace of what I've played of the main game. In the other games it felt like the other way around, or, at it's best, both parts felt just as important and urgent as the other. 4: Connor. He seems... boring... and, what is almost worse: bored. Maybe this is a design flaw, maybe it's the voice acting, but this guy doesn't seem to care. The kid and teenage Connor was a little more engaging, but.....

Connor did not inspire this Yaoi fan girl to any fan fiction, which is BAD. So far, Assassin's Creed has inspired fan fiction about Altair + 1(own invention), Ezio + 1(own invention), Desmond + Shaun (actually not until Revelations, for some reason), I'm wondering who Bills secret male lover is, Haytham Kenway inspired me, but Connor..... Hell, Achilles Davenport is more interesting, as a man and as a yaoi ispiration. Hah, even the crazy butcher is more interesting.

I will not give up on this game, but for now, that's only because I want to know what's going on with Desmond and the secret temple and all that. Hopefully Connor and his story will pick up, and get more interesting  We'll see, maybe I can revise this once I've finished the game. Until then.....

Countdown to Christmas: 13 days left

Today, the FF7 girls dropped by....

Countdown to Christmas: 14 days left

I wish I could draw. I can't. So I mess around with pictures in Photoshop, instead. While I was playing around, the FF Crews decided to say Merry Christmas!

Snow, more snow, Snow and Gravitation.....

It's snowing in Stockholm. It's been snowing in Stockholm for a week. During this week, SL, the local public transportation, has been having trouble with trains not running, buses having no streets to travel on because they have disappeared in snow, and all their 700000 travelers have been angry and late and cold and..... Every year, people complain that SL can't learn that winter comes, every year. Well, apparently, neither can anyone else.

Personally, I love snow and winter. Stockholm has barely 7 hours of daylight in winter, and if there is no snow, it's very dark and dull. I'm not afraid of going out at night, especially not since I have a black, scraggly dog at my side, but still the thoughts creep up on me when it's winter and no snow. Snow = light = nothing will happen. And yes, it's cold. -9C. That is.... about 16F. Don't forget to dress the kids properly. I was walking the dog today, and saw a girl, maybe 8-9, she was wearing NOTHING! Or, well, she was wearing a skirt and sneakers and a denim jacket. Hope she wasn't going far.....


Talking about snow, this is my favorite kind:

He's so going into a yaoi. I'm working on 32 yaoi stories for my Onee-chan featuring all the Final Fantasy boys. Just for fun once, we sat talking about it (I was more or less introducing her to Final Fantasy) and she took to pairing them all up, mostly after looks. Snow is paired up with:

I think they can have fun together. And besides, Onee-chan is right: Serah? Next to Snow SHE LOOKS LIKE A TWELVE YEAR-OLD! I know, I know, Japanese aesthetics  but still.... Final Fantasy also gave me my first ever Yuri couple:


















I know, officially, Fang is with Vanille, but fan fiction has no limitations.


I have had some fun with what i call "out of context yaoi". You know, those sometimes great, sometimes awkward moments that COULD be yaoi, but isn't. Moments like this:

Gravitation. Most of my friends' first Yaoi encounter. And the source of my first yaoi recipe. I will publish the recipe once i'm happy with it.

Next week, I will be watching a lot of Christmas movies. I need to get in the Christmas spirit.

Aishiteru

Ok, so, i'm not much of a poet. But i was thinking a lot about this today, even dreamed about it. 

Red blood on red lips

White skin against white skin

Aishiteru, a whisper and a moan

Red lips on red lips

Dark eyes drowning in the blue of the sky

Blue eyes drowning in the dragon’s void

White moon drowning out the colors of the ragged world

All is monochrome like sea and sky

Hot skin, burning from the blood

Cold dragon hungers

For red blood on red lips

For lust and for blood

Sky and dragon meet in violent embrace

Cannot breath, who cares, don’t need to anyway

Is three a crowd? If so, who said a crowd is bad?

But gently, so the only living thing don’t die in your embrace

Aishiteru, in monochrome and crimson red

Aishiteru, in moonlit day and sunlit night

Aishiteru, in pleasure and in pain

Aishiteru, aishiteru, aishiteru beating in a head

In dead hearts, be still, don’t beat, it hurts

But beat some more, the pain is only love

Love hurts and love heals, even if you’re dead

Be still now, eternity is waiting

A moment short

Dead hearts beating

Aishiteru, each moment waiting

Food Project: Monday, week 1....

Late.... I know.... but that's just me never learning how to manage my time. I promise I'll work on that.

Ok, let's get this show on the road.... see how long it lasts. I did good today, ate all my meals.... which, for me... well, yay! But this is about food costs, so... Here's today's rundown:

Breakfast: Oatmeal mash, served with milk and jam, ray bread with meat spread, juice to drink. Price per person: 8,04 SEK (1,21 USD).

Ugh, i never liked oatmeal. But, i baked the bread myself! Yay! One thing i was thinking about. How much juice did they count on? How big is a glass anyway? i have glasses that are 1,5 dl and I have glasses that are 4 dl. I opted for 2 dl, that felt ok.


Morning Snack: Coffee with milk, 1 crispbread with butter, 1 orange. That's the original version. I don't drink coffee, so I sub it out with 1 dl of hot cocoa. I also subbed out the orange for 100 g of blackberries. I want to eat fruits and veggies that are in season, so to speak. Well, oranges are in season now, but when I started planning for this project it was still September and as i shopped this first Monday in advance, I bought frozen blackberries. Anywho, with my tweaking, this snack cost me 13,35 SEK (2,02 USD).


Lunch: Fish stew, served with potatoes, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, 2 pieces of baguette with butter. This stew apparently calls for saffron, as it says so in the menu. But 1: Saffron is expensive. REALLY expensive, and 2: I couldn't find any good recipe. But i found a recipe using creme fraiche saffron&tomato. I also subbed out the lettuce for baby spinach. As this is is a stew, there is no reason to make less than 4 portions. This means 3 portions in the freezer. Making the stew cost 109,27 SEK (16,56 USD). 1 portion, including veggies and bread; 38,94 SEK (5,90 USD).


Afternoon snack: 1 piece of ray bread, with butter and cucumber. I HATE eating butter like that. At least the bread was warm, so the butter melted. Cost: 2,55 SEK (0,38 USD)


Dinner: Pea soup with pork and mustard, 1 ray bread with butter, 1 carrot (I think), 2 pancakes with jam. Ok, so, a couple of changes here. I skipped the pea soup, as I cannot even look at it without feeling nauseous. I subbed it out for spinach soup with a hard boiled egg. Carrots I'm allergic to, so I just skipped out on veggies. But who doesn't love pancakes? Strawberry jam I love, but take care with, as I'm also allergic to strawberries. Making spinach soup for one is a piece of cake, but i made pancakes batter on 3's (3 eggs, 3 dl of flour, 3 dl of milk), making 15 pancakes at a cost of 15,91 SEK (2,40 USD). 1 portion of Spinach soup and pancakes landed on 19,75 SEK (2,98 USD).

Evening snack: Tea, 1 bread with butter and cheese. Again, subbing things out. I don't drink tea. Never did. I should probably start. I had my mini cup of chocolate instead. And instead of normal yellowish cheese, i had some brown cheese, mesost, that I have never seen anywhere other than Sweden and Norway. Don't ask me to describe it because I can't. I want to say it's a bit vanilla-y... Never mind.. can't do it... anywho, this snack of mine landed on 4,47 SEK (0,67 USD).


So today's shopping list looked like this:

If i had had empty cupboards:                      Actually needed to shop:
Jam                                                             Jam
Sugar                                                          Sugar
Eggs                                                            Eggs
Nutmeg                                                       Nutmeg
Heavy cream                                               Heavy cream
Chicken stock                                             Chicken stock
Yellow Onions                                            Yellow Onions
Frozen Spinach                                           Frozen Spinach
Baguette                                                     Baguette
Baby spinach                                              baby spinach
Tomato                                                       Tomato
Creme fraiche                                             Creme Fraiche
Leeks                                                          Leeks
Black pepper                                               Black pepper
Codfish                                                       Codfish
Blackberries                                                Blackberries
Butter (for bread)                                        Butter (for bread)
Crispbread                                                  Crispbread
Instant chocolate                                          Instant chocolate
Meat spread                                                Meat spread
Wheat flour                                                  Wheat flour
Ray flour                                                       Ray flour
Butter (for cooking)                                      Butter (for cooking)
Yeast                                                           Yeast
Orange juice                                                Orange juice
Milk                                                            Milk
Salt                                                             Salt
Oatmeal                                                      Oatmeal
Cheese                                                        Cheese

Total cost:871,90 SEK (131,61 USD)          Total cost: 483,21 SEK (72,94 USD)


Ok, that was the first and last time I calculated the cost of having absolutely nothing. It would have taken almost one third of my increased budget and about half of the calculated budget for one person. Of course some of the things will keep over a longer period, maybe even past this projects time. I mean, who uses a pound of salt in 2 months? If you do, you shouldn't.... Anywho, first day of project done, and here's how we stand, money-wise:

Purchasing budget                          Cooking budget                             Budget per portion
  3000,00 SEK(452,84 USD)        3000,00 SEK (452,84 USD)       1720,00 SEK (259,63 USD)
-   483,21 SEK(72,94 USD)       -   197,12 SEK (-29,75 USD)       -  87,10 SEK  (13,14 USD)
  2516,79 SEK (379,90 USD)        2802,88 SEK (423,09 USD)       1632,90 SEK (246,49 USD)

Suffice it to say, if my purchasing cost is going to keep being this high, I'll run out of money before the week is out. Which would mean it is impossible to follow this menu, at least the first time around. Portion budget, however, seems like it can make it.

Food project preamble

Yeah.... Food... We all eat it. Even Yaoi Anime Characters. Buuut.... this project isn't about that. I have another food project waiting that is ALL about Yaoi. No, this is my own little curiosity crusade. See, this is a glorious country I live in. The government even tell you what to eat. And how much it should cost. Ok, tell you is a little... strong... but both Konsumentverket and SLV actually have a 4 week menu on their websites. It's essentially the same menu, all I really found differing was that SLVs version was more detailed, and some days were switched. Now, granted, I only checked the first week.

So, what am I after? Well, my Hypothesis goes: There is NO WAY you can eat everything on that menu for the allotted coin. According to those two government agencies, you are supposed to be able to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2-3 small meals or snacks every day. And a couple of handfuls of candy, crisps and some dessert spread out over the week. Like, dessert one day, chocolate one day and so on. And... hold on to your seats.... 1 glass of wine and 2 light beers a week. Ok, small disclaimer; I'm not sure the sweets and the alcohol is actually in the calculated budget, but I will include the sweets. Not the alcohol, as I don't drink alcohol. Yes, I'm a bore with issues. But as long as you don't try to shove alcohol down my throat, I wont stop you from shoving alcohol down yours. Anywho, the budget for one female in her 20's (that would be me) is 1720 kr (that would be 260 dollars and 73 cent in the US) per month. This include homemade lunch. In Sweden, it's fairly common to bring homemade lunch to work, either specially made lunch boxes or the leftovers from yesterdays dinner. School lunches are free for the little kiddies up to at least 9th grade. Often also our (age-wise) in Swedish equivalent to High School.

I have 3 issues with these menus and their budget. 1: There are no recipes  This creates a problem, as you could go how cheap or expensive as you like. I'm aiming for the cheap-moderate end of the scale. Even with recipes this is a problem, of course, but if you had recipes you'd at least get a hint. 2: Sometimes you HAVE to make food for 4-10 even if you are alone. I intend to solve this by relying on my freezer and let this project run for 8 weeks rather than 4. That should get me some days when food costs cut to 0 week 5-8. 3: There are some things on the menu i CAN NOT EAT. Allergies and some absolutely vile menu items answer for that. But that's easily solved. Subbing out some things might be possible. But I promise to at least present the original menu for each day, and tell what I sub out.

So, here's my thought, or, my plan rather: I will be counting 3 ways: What it costs to purchase the ingredients, what it costs to cook the food, (that is, you don't pour the whole salt package in the food, and you can't really purchase only one teaspoon of salt, can you?) and how much each portion cost. The two first  will have a budget of 3000 kr (454,77 USD) just because I KNOW it's impossible to purchase all the food for the budget for 1. 3000 kr is the budget for 2 adults who eat lunch at work, so 5 lunches are not in that budget, but that is a side note  as I knew I needed a bigger budget. See... already I've busted this hypothesis  Also, I will for the first few days have two "purchase costs". I wanted to go into this with entirely empty cupboards, but 1: that would mean throwing out a lot of stuff, and 2: I think they have not counted on the "staples". Salt, pepper, flour, cooking oil and some other things i cant really think of right now is probably not in the budget. It is in my budget though, as they are actual costs.

Side note, and side effect, on this project is, as with most food projects, health effects. Including weight. I will NOT treat this as some kind of dietary weight loss project, but as my weight is a concern (to my doctor, i don't really care), and my eating habits (eating habits, people, NOT food habits) are kind of dismal, it will be interesting to see where this leads me. I will only note, each Monday,  if I have lost or gained weight, and if so, how much.

So. Let's get on it. With no further ado. BTW, are you sure it's preamble? Not pre-ramble?

Yay! New Books!

I know it's not Wednesday, but what the heck, let's talk books. I got a package in the mail the other day, containing books. I always get happy when that happens. I finally get to read a book I've been longing for. This is what the package contained:

Secretary's Job? *Yaoi Fan Girl Mode Activated!* I read it right away, and I liked it. Takase was a little creepy for being so upbeat, and that time when he panicked because..... nah, not gonna spoil it....









Ouran High School Host Club vol.1. This is one of those I've been thinking to read since FOREVER! I've seen the anime, but I love books so... I will read it as soon as I've read....>>>>>









Asunder! Yay! Finally! I read The Stolen Throne and The Calling long ago, but for some reason I never really got around to Asunder. But now, I'm going to get my head down and read. Already read 100 pages. So far, I like it.









Watership Down. I remember seeing both the 1978 movie and the 1999 animated series, but I haven't read the book (yet). But I look forward to it.









Unfortunately, the book I looked most forward to reading didn't make it to my book package. Stone Spring ran out while they were packing orders that day, or something. Hate it when that happens. Oh, well, it'll probably show up later. In fact, I'm waiting for three books from my bookstore, and it has been some time now. Hope, hope, hope they show up, sooner rather than later, as one of them is Tyrant falls in love vol. 4, and I already have vol. 1-3 and 5. (Have to buy 6 and 7, soon.)


  Well, anywho, I'm gonna be bussy reading this week.




(Pictures belong to their respective creators, I take no credit for them.)

Another day....

I put in a list of my favorite male Final Fantasy characters a while back, and now, it's time for the females. But before I do, let me just comment on something I read the other day. It concerns Death Note.

Concerning Death Note: Both L and Light have ANOREXIA! I'm not kidding, here. According to the OFFICIAL How-to-read guide, Light is 179 cm tall and weigh in at 54 kg (that's 5'8" and 119 lb) and L is 179 cm tall and weigh in at 50 kg. That gives Light a Body Mass Index of 16.9 and L 15.6. Now BMI is a blunt instrument on an individual level, generally it says very little about a persons health. But for a realistic assessment of Light's health at that weight would be that he should probably be in a wheel chair. And L.... well... he should probably not get out of bed... there's a risk even that he wont be able to lift his head, as it would be to heavy...



Well, that aside, let's have a look on them girls, shall we? Again, just as with the guys, I only cover 7 to 13-2, skipping out on 1-6, Dirge of Cerberus and the MMO's. Actually, I'll skip out on Crisis Core, too, because that would be cheating....

Final Fantasy 7: Tifa. What a kick-ass girl. Pretty, doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, can handle herself in a fight, can handle Cloud and his emo outbreaks. I know, I know, most people would probably pick Aerith, but something about her just.... rubs me the wrong way, I guess...








Final Fantasy 7 AC: Marlene! I know, she's a kid. But she is such a kick-ass kid. When she threw that Materia at Loz.... I laughed and I groaned at the same time, because my first thought was; Marlene, now you're in trouble. And girl, was I right.... and when she tries to hide under Vincent's torn cape... so sweet, so innocent, so trusting and so strong.

Final Fantasy 8: Selphie. A spunky young woman who balances out the Emo Boy (a.k.a Squall) quite well. Carefree without being careless. Gives for a few fun moments, and man, she can wield nunchaku. Which is hard. I've tried. Although, I must admit... Her hair looks a bit weird.









Final Fantasy 9: Eiko. Another of the spunky Final Fantasy girls. And she tries sooo haaaard. To be happy, to be independent. Sweet, kinda innocent, a nice change of pace.






Final Fantasy 10: How can one NOT say Rikku? This list seems full with spunk at this rate. But maybe that's the point. Side-kick girls needs to be spunky to level out all the emo boys.... Rikku talks crazy in the beginning, but that's because she's Al Bhed.

Paine

Final Fantasy X-2: Paine! Paine is basically a female version of Squall and Vincent combined, with the emo and the clothing... she's less emo, though. She is another kick-ass lady, and all the outfits they made for her, the dress spheres, look great. Paine is one of those Final Fantasy characters I wouldn't mind taking out on a date.








Final Fantasy 12: Penelo. More spunk. But I like her, she can get angry and sad and she always tries to keep Vaan  in check, though she never really succeeds.










Final Fantasy 13: FANG! I mean, HELL, what a woman. Enough said!

Well, there you are. My Favourite Female Final Fantasy Characters.

(The pictures belong to their respective creators, I take no credit for them)

Small reminder....

Just a small reminder: Today, Saturday September 8, is the International Day for Literacy. Have you been reading anything? I've been reading. I've been reading En ö i havet, slow progress but still progress. I think I'm too restless at the moment to really hunker down and read.

I have been writing a little, too. As usual, yaoi FanFiction. So, I give you the first page (or is it maybe somewhere in the middle of some book) of my Star Wars meets Mass Effect yaoi, with my Revan (with a new name) and Carth Onasi as the love couple.

The Ebon Hawk shot out of the worm hole and straight into a planet atmosphere. For a moment, it was out of control and it got extremely hot in the freighters interior, but its expert pilot was swift to put the heat sink in overdrive. He could not gain control over their decent, however.

“We’re totally going to crash”, said one of the kids behind the pilot.

“That would be bad”, said another, with a knack for stating the obvious.

         The fear for this destiny was palpable; no one on this ship wanted such an end. The only one who seemed calm was the man standing between the pilot seats.

“Buckle in, kids”, he said. “This is going to hurt.”

         The seven people behind him hurried to do so. Unfortunately, this left no seat for himself. Their pilot had managed to slow down a little, but this was going to be a quite graceless landing. They were rapidly meeting a sand sea, at least there were no mountains to strike. The standing man braced himself for impact.

         The Ebon Hawk came to a skidding halt on the dune sea. All was still. No one moved.

“Uron. Uron!”

         He among them that had been standing when they crash landed groaned and sat up. The pilot sat back with a sigh of relief.

“Don’t do that to me”, he said.

“Sorry”, he muttered. “I’m ok.”

“You’re bleeding”, said a female voice, which was neither of the two women in their company.

         Uron put a hand to the back of his head and felt the sticky warm blood. He nodded slowly. His head was feeling really funny. He looked up at the woman who had spoken. She was not alone. She was accompanied by three men and two women, of different species.

“Asari”, he said quietly, getting to his feet. He swayed a little. “If you will excuse me, I think I will go and vomit.”

         The crowd parted for him, they would have, sick or not. Uron’s friends looked after him.

“Will he be ok”, one of them asked.

“Yeah, well…”, said the pilot softly. “Maybe I’d better go and check. Let’s go to the assembly room and figure this out. I’ll get Uron.”

         The 8 of the 9 people of the Ebon Hawk and their 6 “visitors” filed out to the assembly room, and the pilot walked outside.

“Uron”, he said quietly. “You ok?”

         Uron stood with his back against the side of his star ship, eyes closed. He seemed to be listening.

“My head hurts”, he said.

“Of course it hurts. What did you think? What were you thinking, standing there? Why didn’t you at least get down?”

         Uron smiled a little.

“Carth Onasi”, he said softly. “Are you worried about me?”

         The Ebon Hawks pilot and long-term friend of Uron, Carth Onasi, gently put a hand on Urons temple. Uron could feel the healing power of Carths hand.

“Always”, Carth said.

“I feel cold”, whispered Uron, allowing himself a rare moment of vulnerability. “Embrace me.”

         Carth pulled gently at Uron, who leaned forward. They stood for a moment, close together.

“A thousand times you’ve promised me to be careful with your life, and a thousand times have you broken that promise”, said Carth quietly. “How can I trust you when you do that to me?”

“You trust me for the millions of times I do keep my promise.”

Romantic dinner for two...

Tsukumo and his snacks...

Junjou Romatica. One of my favourite yaoi's. And the first thing you see in it? A bag with a pot of stew. It only confirmed my theory that food is for everyone, even anime characters. Everyone eats, lots of people cooks. Food MATTERS. TO EVERYONE. And poor Tooma in UraBoku, always trying so hard to make the Zweilt, Yuki and Luka good, nutritious food, but while Yuki gladly eats, Tsukumo prefers his snacks and Toko.... well, she's a teenage girl...

Talking about snacks.... OH MY GOD! Yagami Light, you little devil! No one eats potato crisps so devilishly. And L? I think he and Tsukumo should have a sweet eating contest. Honestly. They are always eating sweets, those two...




Me, I'm a sucker for good food and good desserts and GOOD CHOCOLATE. What can I say, I'm a woman. One of my favorite chocolates is Marabou Non Stop. The chocolate bar version. Well, the original chocolate buttons, too, but the guy (or girl) who decided to put caramel covered dark chocolate buttons in a milk chocolate bar really is a genius. When I was a kid, there were small milk chocolate bars featuring Disney characters in white chocolate. I LOVED those. They don't seem to exist anymore in Sweden. Pity. And, of course, something i think every Swedish kid has had at least once after the age of 9: Chocolate Christmas Calendar. Those I love and hate. I love them mainly for nostalgic reasons, and I hate them because the chocolate..... well..... no. Not really, no.... Nooo, thank you... I have been thinking about making my own with quality chocolate, didn't get around to it last year, but maybe this year.... we'll see.

I was thinking, if I was to invite an anime character for a romantic dinner, I think I would invite L. That would be really interesting. Or maybe Giou Takashiro. Although, I don't think that would be all that romantic, L would be more "intellectually challenging goof-ball" and Takashiro.... well, him I just want to smack over the head and tell him to make out with his butler already. If they are NOT in love with each other, I'm a hobbit. Now I just have to figure out what to serve... I suppose I would have to cover L's dinner in chocolate, or he wouldn't eat it. I actually have a spice mix in my cupboard that is chili, cinnamon and cacao. And it WORKS. I have had it in sauces and stews, as well as on ice cream and in chocolate cakes. Takashiro... I think he would want some grilled fish and vegetables, and maccha ice cream for dessert. (Or maybe Fuyutoki for dessert.)

If anyone would take me out for dinner (or, rather, cook dinner for me at home, as I find that much more romantic), I would request a duck appetizer, fish main course and chocolate dessert. I love duck, I don't eat it often enough. It's not readily available where I live and it's expensive at that. fish I eat, of course, but I love fish, so... and what girl doesn't like chocolate?

Tomorrow, Onee-chan is coming here, so I'm cooking a little extra. Chicken lasange and for desert, Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae!


(Pictures belong to their respective creators, I take not credit for them.)

PAX update.... kinda late... very small...

Looking back at PAX Prime, I know one thing for sure.... I should have been there. Looking at PAX from a distance, it's not all that fun. Must be a blast to be there, though. Lots of cos-play, lots of events and tournaments and stuff... but not all that much news. I will keep an eye at some games that showed up, even if it wasn't their first appearance. Games I will (keep) looking forward to, that showed up at PAX Prime: Pikmin 3 (I looooved Pikmin), Okami HD, Ni no Kuni; Wrath of the White Witch, (looks really fun), New Super Mario Bros. U (who doesn't like Mario?), Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (Final Fantasy meets LoZ: Majoras Mask, what can go wrong?), Guardians of Middle Earth (this is that kind of games that both entices me and scares me at the same time, we'll see what happens with it), Epic Mickey: Power of Two (Still haven't played Epic Mickey, I have to buy it when I can afford it), DMC: Devil May Cry (I love Dante.....), and Assassin's Creed 3 (this I've saved money for).

All in all, PAX is not E3, and you should probably be there to fully enjoy it. Next up: Tokyo Game Show on September 20th. Hopefully, we get some FFvXIII news, as they promised. I think the big news is that it's been pushed to the next-gen consoles. If we get no news on it I'm giving up, and keep writing yaoi fanfic on it... News on Lightning Returns is a given, or I will wonder what the hell they are doing at the Square Enix HQ...

Looking at my movie lists

Thursday again, and I'm looking at my movie lists. They're just as out of wack as before. I have to really crack down and look at some movies. I have been busy looking at old seasons of Hell's kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares lately. And playing Xbox360. I still haven't gotten around to my Let's Play Dragon Age project.... I have to get cracking.

My Sci-Fi TV series list only has 4 entries, and only one rating. The rating is for Once Upon a Time, which I have given a 9/10. This is TOTALLY UNFAIR! I rated on the first 4 episodes, mainly to remember it existed. I have since seen about.... 10 episodes.... I have to see the rest, I have to see the rest.... *muttering*. It's on my to-do list. I did like the episodes I saw, and I am a sucker for the concept. I wouldn't be surprised if I found an old note book somewhere here with the same idea. The other series on the list, by the way, were Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Angel.

Drama TV-Series! I have to confess, I'm not a fan of the genre. If there is nothing more to it than the drama, it doesn't interest me. which is probably why I haven't gotten around to watching Mad Men yet, one of the 3 titles on the list. the other two are House MD and Game of Thrones. Don't ask me how that is, I have no idea how I've been thinking in putting things in these lists. House at least had a rating. 9/10. Now, I haven't seen the last season, but I think it's deserving. Sherlock Holmes meets Chicago Hope. Chicago Hope was my mothers favorite hospital series. I have often thought to see it but.... have to check if I can even find it. I doubt it. My mother would have loved House. Right up her alley. Unfortunately, she died a few months before it started airing in the US and in Sweden... we're slow...

I like crime TV-series. Who doesn't? The problem with them is that they often drag on beyond their life span. CSI has seemed very tired last couple of seasons, for example. In my list all I found was Criminal Minds at 10/10, which to me is totally deserving, because I like psychology, Bones at 9/10, I like anthropology, and NCIS at 8/10, because I like... well.... Crime Series, I guess. And Abby.... goodness what a woman... I'd love to have her as a sister.

My Yaoi list is miserably short. I just couldn't find anything. Well, I found 13 of the titles, but some are only bordering yaoi. again i think it was a matter of "japanglish"... or is it "englinese".... you know, what I complained about a while ago, a Japanese movie or series with an English title, spelling it like the Japanese pronounce it, instead of what it really is called. Ok... ranting again.... *deep breath*. Anywho, 13 titles, but in the shelves.... *counting*.... 30. And not a single rating. Giving a rating right now, on what's on top of the list, Gravitation deserves and 8. Again, a yaoi title on the verge of not being yaoi, at least according to some. I don't remember any full-blown sex, anyway, but some kissing.

Now I've actually gone through all my TV-Series lists, in this post and one previous. I have realized that I have a lot of things to watch. Autumn is a perfect time to get some watching in. No I shall have chicken for dinner, for once I'm not writing blog posts at 2 in the morning.


(The pictures belong to their respective creators, I take no credit for them.)

This week, we educate ourselves....

It's Wednesday again, and I'm thinking about books, as usual. I put in an order from a bookstore this Monday, but they have yet to pack it for me... slow progress there. But they did send my book subscription, being the fourth volume of Uraboku. Yay! Only problem is I have to fetch it at a store that is in the complete wrong direction from me.... damnation.

On Saturday, 8th September, it's the international day of literacy. So go to the library and pick up a book, I urge you. I'm reading En ö i havet at the moment, but if I finish before Saturday, I might go and borrow something new, that i have never read before. The time for books is right, autumn coming on, it gets dark earlier in the evening, all I miss is a fireplace. I'll settle for scented candles for now, until I get rich and can buy a house with a fireplace.

It is important to know how to read. Reading opens up a whole world. This world, and all the other worlds people have written about. If you can read for yourself, you can take your own stand on things. I believed in God. Until I read the Bible. A friend of mine didn't believe in God. Until she read the bible. To each their own.

I have been thinking about putting a widget on this blog to let others know what I'm reading, but I don't get how to do it. I'm often quite tech-savvy, but i think I've lost the piece of brain that knows how to do that. Programming game addons, no problem, managing the blog, not so much... Well.... anywho.

I have challenged myself to read 52 books this year. That's one a week. That should be no problem at all, but so far i have only read 14. To be fair, not everything ends up counting down that challenge. When I get new books i usually read them right away, but I don't write them down on my online bookshelves. Which means I probably read about 50 books already.

Anywho, don't forget to read a book on Saturday, even if you're not a reader. Go to your library, ask the librarian if they can recommend a book that's not to hard to read. That's what they're there for. I promise, they don't bite. And remember: Audio books COUNT!

Counting Down to PAX Prime....

Nerdy Yaoi Game Girl peeked out earlier this week, when she realised it's time for PAX prime...

Not that I expect any yaoi games (this year either) but rather more source material for my very own fan fiction. I hope for more gameplay footage of Assassin's Creed 3, Lost Planet 3, DmC: Devil May Cry, Okami (which I have and love, but cant play as my PS2 is shot and my Wii has 1st gen controller.... besides, want to see it in HD), Fable the Journey, and that game that blew me away at this years E3, but I can't, for the love of a God I don't even belive in, remember its title. Yes, Im quirky like that.

Also at PAX Prime, BioWare will show up, but if there will be any game news from them, I don't know. But my biggest frustration in not living in Seattle is that Square Enix will put on a big show over their 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy. Just think about this for a moment.... 25 years that game series has existed... that's almost as long as me. That's just as long as my ototo. And yeah.... I confess..... FF nerd....

I've always wanted to go to a gaming convention, but they're kinda scarce here. There is one on November, I think, maybe I'll go. This year's Science Fiction convention, though, is booked and payed for (or at least, marked in my calendar and saved for) as I've missed it so many times, and the last 3 times, I was supposed to go with Onee-chan, but..... didn't happen.....

Why is it one lives somewhere where nothing happens?


I was thinking about doing a collage of all the emo boys in Final Fantasy, but... there's just so may of them, I got a short-out in my brain. My own avatar, Vincent Valentine, is such an emo. And my first Final Fantasy crush! YAY me.... Cloud is really emo, but I have dubbed Squall from Final Fantasy 8 THE emo of Final Fantasy. I ran around that game for like 50 hours when I was  kid with that fricking emo. (and yes, I spelled that word wrong on purpose.) When it comes to Final Fantasy characters, I tend to "fall in love" with side characters, or even sidekick villains. Jut because, here's a list, Final Fantasy 1-6 not covered, just because I'm lazy.... and 11 and 14 because they are MMO's and.. i don't really do that. And Final Fantasy 7 Dirge of Cerberus, because that would be cheating....

Final Fantasy 7: Vincent. Any day. Probably the coolest guy EVER to sleep in a coffin.... I can't dub him the most emo guy to ever sleep in a coffin, because i think Louis already nicked that prize.









Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core: Ok, I have a huuuuge soft spot for Zack, and Genesis.... But a kind-of kind Sephiroth, just touches my heart. It's basically the Sephiroth out of my Fanfiction, which totally messes with both timeline and character relations, ad sometimes aren't even set in the Final Fantasy universe.









Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children: Yazoo. He's just so deliciously crazy. He almost seems happy to be crazy, like Alex in A Clockwork Orange.





Final Fantasy 8: Irvine. Upbeat like Yazoo, but not as crazy. I almost went with Laguna, but I have a soft spot for the sharp-shooter in the cowboy hat.

Final Fantasy 9: I can't go off main characters here: Kuja. My god, he's villain-y. And vain. And he probably has an eating disorder.... I mean, just look at those hips....











Final Fantasy X: Auron. I know, he's old. Maybe I have issues. But I cant help to love that guy, all cool and suave... and just look at that stare... he totally doesn't like anyone....





Final Fantasy X-2: Nooj. Maaaybe because he's a little mini Auron.... Otherwise, I'm partial to Paine, but, let's take the girls some other day.











Final Fantasy 12: Balthier. The leading man.... He's so goddamn arrogant and suave and that VOICE! I have a thing for voices. Please, Gideon, never stop with the voice acting...






Final Fantasy 13: Cid Raines. Oh, the drama, oh, the tragedy, oh the yaoi fanfiction..... probably the hottest Cid in any Final Fantasy game. Was there a Cid in Final Fantasy 13-2? I don't remember....







Final fantasy 13-2: Hope! OMFG, Hope you grew to be a fine young man. Once, you were a little kid with trouble up over your ears and a very embarrassing speech in the Pulse Arch, but now.... you sure you're the same Hope I once knew?










Anyway, there they are. My favorite Final Fantasy guys. I should do a list of girls and actually rank my favorite villains, but not today.....

So, PAX Prime this weekend, and next after that Tokyo Game Show on September 20th. Ok, so, time to win that jackpot that's been staring me in the face for 5 years, so i can afford to go to Japan...

(Pictures belong to the respective artists, i take no credit for them)