Been A While, No?

I haven't been here in a while, have I?

Not that there's a lot to talk about. No, not really.

I've stopped playing games for a while now. I don't feel the need fo them anymore. The hunger, the blood-thirst is gone. I think I'll start playing again in the future, though I'm not sure what game is going to spark that need again. The last game I played was Legend of Legaia, which was very entertaining, even if I lost interest in spending hours on end becoming more and more powerful in that game.

I recently watched the film 300. I liked the action and the human element of the film was okay. However, the historical and tactical inaccuracies gnaw on me and annoy me. Spartans wore armor and didn't fight barely clothed. The portrayal of how Leonidas ended up at Thermopylae in the first place is inaccurate. The Oracle was at Delphi, not Sparta, for one thing. The prophecy also involved the death of a Spartan king in exchange for saving Sparta. In the film, no mention of this required sacrifice was made. History makes no mention of the Ephors (who are misrepresented to be inbred priests at the Oracle) being bribed by Persian gold, either. Leonidas did send home the other Greek troops, but there were 1000 Thespians who chose to remain. No Spartan was sent back, either, as that would have been interpreted as a retreat. The phalanx tactics of the film also lacked historical truth, though nowhere near as impossible as the Persian horde's creatures and pitiful "charge like mad" strategy. Even an amateur armchair general can figure out that the terrain was disadvantageous to the invasion force, particularly against better armed and better trained defenders.

"It is easier to defend a fortification that to take a fortification," and all that.

My personal life? Damnable, truly. No progress made on all fronts, save for the possibility of finding someone special all over again. My social life has been in the pits for a long time now, so I doubt that situation will improve soon. Oh well, at least I still have my online friends and those very few, very dear women in my life.

On the creative front, I think I have The Spark going once again. While what I'm working on has no title as yet, I should be able to come up with one eventually. This one is..."closer to home" than anything else I've written before and I doubt that I'll ever write anything of this sort once this is done. I'm drawing on my own memories, perceptions, notes, and thoughts for this one more than any other piece I've worked on. The first chapter, completed in (I think) one and a half week's time, is up on Tuxedo Jack's boards, in case you're interested. I'm thinking of making some minor alterations and adding a dedication and foreword to the text once I'm done.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Nothing To Report, Sir

Seriously. Nothing new. I'm watching xxxHOLiC now, though nothing else has changed. Am I stagnating? I can't tell, though I haven't really had to go through a personal overhaul in a while. I...sort of enjoy the status quo professionally, emotionally, mentally, and socially. Okay, I'm surprising myself by playing Final Fantasy Tactics and I plan on playing Final Fantasy Origins after that, but what else? I honestly don't see. And, for the purposes of this entry, I can't think of anything to write down. Am I losing my touch? I'll have to think on that.

More to come at a later date, I guess...

For now, bunnygirl!

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!