I Am Really...Bored

Well, hasn't this been an interesting month-so-far?

I've just finished Gakuen Alice, which was fun to watch, if a little strange. I'm not re-watching Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu anymore, though I am finally getting around to reading the translations of the novels. The differences between the show's version of events and the descriptions in the original material tend to be minor and nothing seems to really be the kind of thing that can drastically alter the plot. I'm looking forward to the next season, which is rumored to be based on book 4: The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi. I think it'd be interesting, seeing a show about Haruhi Suzumiya not actually having Haruhi around for most of the season. That is, if the show mimics the book as closely as the first season did for the first book.

I'm re-playing Final Fantasy Tactics, out of sheer boredom at home. I find there's very little (so far) that can stand in the way of a high-level Monk/Geomancer that's mastered every skill for both sides. Of course, she has back-up in the form of Ramza (Wizard/Oracle), an Archer/Thief hybrid, a master Priest, and a Lancer-in-training/Time Mage. I'm thinking of adding a Knight/Chemist to that very soon. Though my usual combat team will likely end up having Agrias and Mustadio along once I get them as permanent members. I suppose now would be a good time to reveal that I've never been very good with turn-based strategy games, though I usually don't have that much trouble understanding and playing real-time strategy games. I'm particularly good at Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (Soviets, because there's nothing like a sever lag-inducing conscript rush to really piss off the people you play against) and Battle Realms (Lotus or Serpent). I'm not fond of the hero-focus on Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, however. Oh, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal is now gone from my PC.

With Valentine's Day gone, I can breathe easy again. I've already mentioned that I dislike that particular day, though I haven't figured out why I feel so terrified whenever the 14th of February comes around. The sensation is completely different from my feelings during Christmas, which is more akin to a sense of disgust and barf-coming-up-from-the-back-of-my-throatishness. No, Valentine's inspires a completely different (but no less unwelcome) sensation from my body, spirit, and mind. To my recollection, there aren't any holidays/events that I should be worrying about now, up until...the Chinese Moon Festival, methinks. Or Tanabata, depending on certain aspects of my (terminal) social life.

I'm still not sure what to write about outside of work and this utterly-devoid-of-readers blog. I'm sure I'll come up with something that I can work with but, for now, I'll let the various character's voices and faces argue until they can't argue anymore in the back of my head. Let the characters kill each other and sort themselves out until one of them is left and I work with whatever idea is attached to that character. The Battle Royale approach worked before, creating Yuki's Diary and Shinjo No Aijo, so I don't see any reason for such a tactic to now work this time around. Akatsuki, for the curious, didn't follow this method of story selection. I might have them dance Hare Hare Yukai for no good reason before this whole process is done. Mmm...dancing Haruhi. Tasty. Might be about time I wrote the sequel (in concept) to Shinjo No Aijo.

Also, I may go mad listening to them over and over again but...well, the only songs I have on my MP3 player at the moment are: Bouken Desho Desho, Hare Hare Yukai, Parallel Days, Koi No Mikuru Densetsu, Lost My Music, God Knows..., and SOS Nara Daijobu. Yes, they're all songs from Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu.

Back to work now.

I'll come up with the 10 Principles of Haruhiism soon. On a side note, I view Haruhiism not as a pseudo-religion, as other fans do, but as a philosophy, a way of looking at life, the universe, and everything.

Yes, I think Haruhiism, not 42, is the Ultimate Answer.

Moving Along

Let me see...

I've finally managed to buy an external HD for myself. Currently, h4ruh115m (the HD's name) stores my entire 10GB picture collection, my MP3 collection, my video collection, several webcomics and translated manga, a clean install (with patch) of Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, back-ups of my important files and installers, and my ePSXe folder.

Speaking of ePSXe, I've actually started her up again. I'm currently playing through Legend of Dragoon, with Persona 2: Eternal Punishment waiting in the wings. Too lazy to play fair through the whole game, though, so I thought I'd just implement a couple of hacks here and there.

In other news, I've got a cold. Again. I hate it when I get sick. I hate it even more when I get a Haruhi-damned cold.

I better get back to work. Takes my mind off my cold.

All heil Haruhiism!

The Month Of Love

I know I'm ahead of things but let me begin my February entries with this statement: I loathe Valentine's Day.

With that out of the way, what am I doing now? Well, I'm still the same old delusional fool I've always been. Only the things that occupy my time have had any significant changes made to them.


On The Gaming Front:

Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal is still installed. I've done away with most mods, however. I've opted to make the game seem entirely new, with a fresh installation of the Classic Adventures mod. Although I'm surprised that I can actually export a character from SoA to Classic Adventures with no trouble. In other words, Haruhi, my level 12 Chaotic Good Monk (yes, I used ShadowKeeper to change the alignment before installing CA) is running around the CA world and killing goblins, kobolds, and whatnot.

I've put in an Azumanga Daioh-based snowball fight game that reminds me of Bomberman. I've also re-installed Melty Blood and Melty Blood ReAct after a long absense from my HD. I'm thinking of putting in some time in Unreal Tournament again, too. Also, I've managed to finally get Valkyrie Fight Tag running, though I've yet to actually finish the damn game.


On The Fiction Front:

I'm drawing a blank for this one. I know I want to make a story (or a set of stories) with the main character as a fantasy-style monk. In other words, a master/mistress of unarmed combat. I know that the character has to be female, though I'm not sure what the story should be about, or what the setting should be. I don't want to make a fantasy setting and a martial artist would be somewhat out of place in a sci-fi setting. I could make her fit in better in a modern world setting with some fantasy or horror elements, but I'm not quite sure which method to choose. If things come to a head, I might draw on vampires or demons again. I also have a couple of ideas in mind that don't seem so usual or typical, but I'll have to tinker them a little.

Also, I'm having an internal debate on whether or not I should make the setting have an Eastern flavor or a Western one. Maybe a combination of both, on some level? I'll work something out at some point, I keep telling myself, though I'm not sure I believe myself anymore.

On The Modding Front:

Well, I'm still tring to figure things out with the modding tools. I haven't gotten much further than that. Let me get back to you on that in the future.

On The Anime Front:


Not much. I'm watching Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu for the fifth time. I seriously find this the most entertaining show I've ever watched. I'm convinced that if more people followed Haruhi's philosophy, we'd have a more exciting, more peaceful (relatively) world. I can only wish that Haruhi was real and that she really did have God-like abilities.

I've also started to ponder the possibilities of what Haruhi would be like if she was born on a different world. I'm vaguely positive she'd be a Monk in the Forgotten Realms, though she's certianly someone of Chaotic rather than Lawful alignment. She's probably Good but with quite a few Evil tendencies. She's definitely an Ofanite of Wind if she were an In Nomine Angel. She'd probably be working for Infernal Fire if she was a Demon, though I doubt she'd be a Calabite, possibly a Habbalite. I can't quite tell what Clan she'd be in Legend of the Five Rings, though I have no doubt that she cannot possibly be one of the Scorpion Clan. She sometimes gives off a bit of a Matsu or Hida vibe, though. Hmm...Matsu Haruhi...Hida Haruhi...I like those images. Itsuki's definitely a Scorpion. Mikuru's a Crane, by virtue of her last name, Asahina. Yuki...I'm guessing either Scorpion or Phoenix. Kyon is...unaligned?

On The Job Front:

No news here. Still with the same company. Still on the same project. I doubt I'll be leaving anytime soon, seeing as how I enjoy the work. Besides, I get free Internet access while at work, so I can download more stuff than I normally could. No, HSBC never called. Besides, I can't afford to switch jobs now that I'm going to end up paying for my mother's laptop, not to mention the 40GB USB hard disk I'm planning on buying to hold all the datajunk I've accumulated over the years.


On The Personal Front:

Even less movement than on the job front. Nothing ever changes the status quo of my personal life. I don't think anything can change my lack of a social life. Like most otaku, I must be content with pictures of girls as my only semblance of female companionship.

*sigh*

At least I have the smiling face of Suzumiya Haruhi to look forward to whenever I turn on my computers, whether the machine is at work or at home.

Come Valentine's, I'll be repeating my yearly tradition of sitting in front of my computer, slaughtering AI bots in some random FPS, and feeling warm, fuzzy feelings when I look at a cute girl's face on my desktop.

Currently Listening To:
God Knows... by Aya Hirano (left ear)
Rock You Like A Hurricane by The Scorpions (right ear)