I got a rather unfortunate start to the day when I slipped down my front stairs and spilled my remaing two-thirds of a cup of tea all over myself. As as result, I'm slightly sore, have sticky spots on my coat, and didn't get to have my cup of tea. Argh.

Anyway, before I forget, playing as Vergil is fucking sweet. I think some of it is the combination of DT and Beowulf (my favorite acquired weapon, pretty much) from the start - I'm up to mission 11. Playing Dante on Easy is also kind of fun, if only because it really is ridiculously easy. I've been refering to it as 'Super n00b mode' And Blood Palace is actually a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. Mmm, melee. Also, I thought of the most beautifully wrong crossever the other night - DMC/Buffy. And it's sad, because it would actually work.

Also, with SE out, here's a repost of one of the tracks from my personal DMC3 playlist (because I can't stand the actual background music). Noise rock, with the most awesome bass line ever.

Lightning Bolt - Dracula Mountain

You know you're probably really out of a fandom when reading fic for it feels both totally nostalgic and rather surreal - I think part of me is convinced that I dreamed Nukume Dori 10 or something. And AB 06 may end up being the first con in three years I'm not doing a Seishirou costume for, I think (in favor of RE4!Ada, who is utter sex).

Anyway, on the video-game front, I've finished both Leon scenarios in RE2, and Claire A (will probably do B when I finish RE3 - was gonna kill something if I did the RPD section for a fourth time in a row, though). I totally <3 RE2!Leon, with his burning idealism and occasional idiocy, and the world utterly fucking him over. I want to take him home and give him a hug or something. Although, uh, I kinda want to know what happened to his jeep. He just sorta...leaves it there. Someone is going to be pissed about that later. Claire is pretty awesome too, particularly when she kicks the heads off of zombies. Wonder what happens to Sherry at the end of the game - you don't really find out. Birkin wins the 'Craziest Mad Scientist Ever' award, though. He even beats out Hojo, because Hojo has many moments of snarky sanity in the game before he finally snaps, while Birkin is all 'My precious G-Virus! *pets*' and I go '...Dude, you're weird.'

As for RE3, I'm nearing the end - I think I can probably finish it tomorrow afternoon. Jill totally wins, particularly as she can dodge and doesn't need X to climb stairs (I think someone listening in to me playing RE2 would think I was really strange: "Climb the stairs, Leon! Climb them! ...Good Leon."). And Carlos amuses the hell out of me, particularly with the kind of fake sounding accent, although Mikhail's is worse - he kind of wanders between Russian and Irish. And Nemesis is really fucking annoying. Particularly because he shows up every ten minutes argh. I will sing and dance for joy when I finally kill him for good. Much like I did with Seymour Flux (actually, that was more jumping up and down screaming 'Yes! Yes!', but you get the idea).

I haven't had a chance to play much SE yet, as I keep fucking up the controls and when I went to see what I had them set to the first time through, I found Ben had taken my memory card, but I can tell I'm really going to love the style move. That teleport trick drove me crazy playing as Dante, and now it is mine, ahaha. Although Vergil doesn't do the pole trick that Dante does, which makes me sad. Because that was really amusing.

...Yeah, I have kinda become Capcom's cheap whore, haven't I.

So, I was going to get all sorts of stuff accomplished today. Which I kind of did, although mostly just phone calls rather than getting homework done. What I did do, though, is go shopping. So - between me and Ben, we now have a new GC memory card (finally!), a copy of RE3 that doesn't crash, Silent Hill 3, and DMC3: Special Edition. Which means I now have lots of games to play and not so much time to play them in. I shall have to make time, I guess. I don't need to sleep/eat/work on my senior project! I have games!

I hate Mondays - last week it was that utterly stupid bike ride in the snow, today we had seven inches of snow out when I got up, and it was still coming down. So I ended up leaving early, even though I felt sort of guilty about skipping my last couple of classes.

Other than that, things have been moving along. I got a perfect score on the Calc 2 retest, and my History and Genetics class are shaping up to be pretty interesting. I've been playing more Resident Evil, although I think that probably deserves a whole entry to itself later when I'm not dead-tired, as do a bunch of other things.

I also finally realized the other day what it is about Braska that always throws me off when I try to write him - he has, in a word, religion. Post-game, when I play him, he's been disillusioned by Yunalesca as to the true nature of Yevon himself (Itself? I'm not sure), but he still believes in ideals, in the precepts of the church. And none of my other characters, or myself, have that degree of faith. Hopefully that revelation will make it easier to write him.

I'm always a little irritated to discover that I've been mishearing a song for a while, mostly because I feel like an idiot, but even more so after I've just made icons with one of the lines I think I've been mishearing, although I have no official source for the words.

Oh well. I like the line anyway even if it's wrong, and I will chalk it up to my occasional inability to understand Southern drawl. You think I would, with the number of Southern relatives I have, but no. I think accents in general kind of scew me over - I have trouble understanding people who don't enunciate well.

So, I think today really proves the theory that New England is in fact actually Cocytus, the ninth level of hell. I got up earlier than usual, and decided I was going to leave early so I could stop and get gas before going to class, which I've been meaning to do for a few days now. So I go out, notice 'Hmm, it's really cold out today', but think nothing of it because hey, New England in January. Of course it's going to be cold. I get to my car, put the key in the lock, find that it won't turn. Go '...Okay', and go and try the other lock. It won't turn either. I realize at this point that both the doors and the locks have frozen. In a moment of desperation, I tried the hatchback, reasoning that I could crawl over three rows of seats. The lock would turn, but trying to open it largely resulted in trying to pick the whole rear end off the ground, because it was frozen solid too.

I go back inside, wail briefly at Jo, check the thermometer (It was 8F in the sun), and finally grab a hairdryer and an extension cord. Ten minutes at the front lock accomplishes nothing, so I move to the hatchback as it seems to have the best chance. Twenty minutes later, I give up. The car is frozen shut. So I call the school to tell them I'll be late, and look at the bus schedule to find that the buses are running every two hours because it's a holiday, and the next one is in an hour. I have no money for a taxi, and out of the two people I'd feel comfortable asking for a ride from, one is in Florida and the other didn't answer their door.

So what do I do? I ride my bike there. It's a forty-five minute ride, in aforementioned 8F weather, with ground coated with ice and snow. The fastest way to my school is along one of the more dangerous roads in the city - it is curvy, hilly, narrow for a road as main as it is, people drive too fast along it, and most of it doesn't have sidewalks. Yes, I have no self-preservation instincts sometimes. No, I don't want to ever do it again.

Finished RE4 last night, with lots of jokes about Krauser/Leon, and the agreement with my brother that while the ending was cool, it would have been better if it were the Merchant instead of Ada saying 'This one's on the house, stranger.' But seriously, the game is awesome. All it needed was an easy way to cycle weapons, which isn't really a big deal. Even Ashley grew on me by the end - yeah, she's a little irritating, but she's a hell of a lot less irritating than she could have been. And then, because I needed my Leon-fix, I actually managed to figure out the controls in RE2 (although admitably I'm playing on Easy, because I fail) and played that for a while. Which means I slept badly last night, because I think some part of my brain was trying to play RE2 in my sleep, which doesn't work well - kept waking up, so I feel like death warmed over.

Anyway, today was the first day of classes. So far I've just had Calc 3 which looks like it's going to be hideously boring, although that's to be expected. Unfortunately I can't skip the conferences this term because we have quizes in them, ugh. Right now I'm on a bit of a break until my next class at two - tried to find Michelle, in part because I have no money for food and am hungry, but she's in a classroom somewhere, because that's the only place I didn't check, and it's kind of hard to miss her - she's one of maybe ten goth-kids in an otherwise nerd and prep (yeah, I don't get it either) campus. Argh. I know she's got a noon class, so I'll wander over to the campus center at one and see if she's showed up....

EDIT: So, my final grade in Calc 2 was listed as 'I', and there was a lot of me going 'I? What the hell?' because nobody bothered to tell me what that meant, until five minutes ago when I got an e-mail from my Calc 2 prof. Apparently I failed the basic skills portion of the Calc 2 final, which is required to pass, so I have to retake it on Tuesday. Argh.

Anyway, as I am bored, a meme!

Read More?

I really should put this game down, it's addicting and it means I get nothing else done. But...watching Leon's l33t gymnastic skillz is so much fun! Seriously, I kinda want to know where the hell he learned to do back handsprings like that. Mostly because those things aren't easy, and somehow I doubt he learned it in the police academy. Also, the Krauser knife fight? So fucking awesome. And Ben and I have the best conversations sometimes. As I was pulling out the magnum to pwn J.J.:

Ben: Won't somebody think of the children?!
Me: What children?
Ben: The- Oh, right, Leon's gay. But he could adopt!
Me: Or he and Dante could ask Ada to be the surrogate mother.
Ben: Yeah.
Me: She'd probably kick them in the face. And then possibly agree, but only after she kicked them in the face. Just, you know, on principle.

We also got off on a bit of a tangent about who Wesker is sleeping with (answer: We're not sure, but probably not Krauser). Ben is such a Wesker fanboy XD Not that I should be talking because mmmm, Leon. Especially mafia!Leon, because suits are sex.

Poor Leon, he got his jacket stolen by possessed Spanish villagers. Rather nice jacket, too - looked like it was sheepskin, even. Hell, I'd wear it (shut up, I like brown). Also, Ashley is apparently 20. The hell? She looks, sounds, and acts like she's fifteen or sixteen. She also has no taste in clothing at all, but I don't know who exactly to blame that on. And dear brain, Leon cosplay = bad idea. If nothing else, I don't need to reinforce the idea that I perpetually cosplay the characters that Jo does (Well, okay, I do...but not on purpose! We just have the same taste in characters >.>). I'll just try to force myself to remember he's wearing jeans, and I have this thing where I mostly can't stand denim. That, and Ben would never let me live it down. Not that, you know, I really care what my little brother thinks, but I do have to live with him, and the mocking gets a little irritating after a while.

On a mostly non-RE note, Jon's 18th birthday was yesterday, and his party was today. It was fun - nice and low-key. Me, him, Winter, and some of his friends from school, with video games, hot tub, and really, really good BBQ. I stayed for a bit after everyone else left, and we talked about video games and caught up some. I've known him for probably near ten years now, and we used to hang out all the time, but over the last four years or so, we haven't been as close. So it was nice.

I am in a ridiculously good mood today, and I have no idea why. Ally-good, even, which is a bit scary as Ally's near-perpetual state is Happy To See You. Did some more pattern drafting, made the Best Mushroom Recipe Ever, and then played RE4 for a couple of hours. Salazar will never, ever cease to amuse me, nor will watching Leon die.

Speaking of, I tried to play RE2 last night. 'Tried' really being the operative word there, as apparently everybody who told me that the control scheme was awful weren't exagerating at all. I died like six times in the first two minutes, because Leon doesn't actually move the direction you push the control stick, and there doesn't seem to be any reasoning to the direction he does move. Also, his hair is disturbingly orange...looks almost the same shade as Rufus', at least on my tv. I'm still undecided on the white jeep.

Also, is it just me, or do the zombies look suspiciously like they're molesting him or something? The fact that he makes an 'Uwaaaah!' sort of noise as he dies only makes things worse.

I can't remember if I shared the Funniest FF7 Summary Ever, but here's an Advent Children one to go along with it!

And this is why I totally <3 Samira's Fuujin-mun. She shares these things with me, and then we talk about how Leon Kennedy is a gigantic loser, but we love him anyway, and probably has amusing high school reunions. To quote her:

Bob: I sell houses. So what do you do?
Leon: Fight zombies.
Bob: . . .

And with that, I'm going to wander downstairs and play either RE4 or 2 to get my Leon fix, and possibly make myself ramen or something. While humming Franz Ferdinand's 'Do You Want To', because that song is really catchy, if not terribly great ('The Fallen' = so much better)

First and foremost, why the hell do I have 'I Just Can't Wait To Be King' on my computer? Not that I mind, as it amuses me, I just don't know why it's on my computer. Anyway, because I'm a huge slacker, I didn't actually work on Sephiroth at all today, and instead went out shopping and prostrated myself before the twin gods of Squeenix and Capcom. Actually, mostly Capcom, but I found a used copy of Final Fantasy Anthology for $10 at the video store when we went to rent The Producers (Everybody, go! Watch it! I love that movie), and I couldn't resist. And then Ben and I talked about how Wesker could kick anyone's ass on the way home.

Another rec - everybody reading this should go read William Gibson's Burning Chrome, because it is fucking awesome. Particularly anyone who writes Midgar stuff because 1) if you love Midgar you'll love Gibson and 2) the Sprawl is really good inspiration for Midgar. As is the stuff in Isaac Asimov's Caves of Steel which I still maintain is a sort of proto-cyberpunk. The atmosphere is so there.

Also, anybody want icons? I've been making tons of icons for Jo, and I figured I might as well offer everybody else icons XD

Meant to post yesterday, but I kind of lazed all day. Actually, I kind of did that today, too, but eh, I'm on vacation. Rufus is still being overly insistant, although playing RE4 shuts him up for a while. Mostly because mmmmm, Leon. (Also, half my flist keeps saying 'Leon' and meaning Squall in KH, and it confuses the hell out of me)

Also, number three on the list of 'Crack Reasons Why Rufus Shinra Isn't Dead' (1. Parachute 2. He Ducked) is T-Virus. Yeah, it makes no sense. I blame Mara. We were making bad jokes about Spawn!Rufus and zombie!Rufus and my brain is on Capcom lately.

And I apparently am SBP!Remus incarnate. Which may make me feel warm and fuzzy enough inside about my cosplay (although I totally threw that thing together in five minutes, so it doesn't quite count) to get some work done on Sephiroth tomorrow. Ugh don't wanna. Actually, I mostly want to start on Rufus, but that's my one-track mind kicking in. I need to work on Seph. And Jon's Yuna costume, because he asked me about it. And I need a Tseng, damnit.

...Why do I do these things to myself? I'm going to bed.

One more check-in from south of the border - we fly to Florida tomorrow, and then back to Massachusetts Wednesday morning. We've had a lazy couple of days - drove around the island yesterday and had dinner on the beach with an adorable cat named Tequila (Yes, I have photos), and then came back to the hotel and watched Resident Evil on tv. My god, is that a bad movie. Not as bad as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which I think is one of the worst movies I've seen in years, but it was up there. We also watched the Hollow Man right after that, which is also awful, but has flamethrowers and naked women, which puts it a step or two above RE. We also watched Digimon in Spanish the other day, which has rekindled some of my love of it - anyone got any good fic recs, or shall I hunt on my own XD;?

Anyway, will post more from home - this keyboard is starting to drive me crazy, and being in a room full of other people is making me paranoid. Keep thinking someone is looking over my shoulder or something >.>