Updartes are in Draft, I Promise

Hi all! I have pretty much everything written for the last two weeks but I haven't been on to parse the notepads into posts. That will change soon, and then you can read all about our exciting trip to Tampa :3

Shopping

(I always did like the Pet Shop Boys)

As I said earlier, we went shopping today. Ape had a Lane Bryant coupon and planned to use it. I like most of LB's styles but their prices are nuts. Anyhoo, we spent quite a lot of time and as her selections became more numerous, she said something interesting: Whatever she spent (after the coupon of course) she would match towards my cosplay gear.

The final total? $170. So now, my official warchest stands at $420. And that does *not* count the money I earned last year working part-time. We haven't totally settled it but my plan is to split those earnings down the middle. That would boost my Kitty kitty significantly.

So, why have I not yet started with the commission? Two reasons. I still can't find my stupid PC discs and I really don't want to buy the game a third time... Second, I'm really fearful of the reactions I'm going to get.

Comments Younger's been making lead me to think he'd not support such an endeavor. Also, I've been trying to explain other modes of expression, specifically the furry life to Ape. Not because I intend to go that route, but to frame my discussions regarding LK's recent trip.

Ape just can't seem to comprehend or accept it. /sigh I knew she was closed-minded but not *that* closed minded.

What to do, what to do...

(Face)Palm Sunday

Today, the plan was to do some shopping, eat with the combined families and friends, and then go to Palm Sunday Mass. Well, the shopping worked out really well, as did a late lunch at Mellow Mushroom pizza. But clock-watching wasn't on the menu. Nor was knowing which church had what mass when.

Because when we left, we were going to be late, and when we actually arrived, it didn't matter. No mass. Ape and her sis rang up a number of area churches and the only thing left was a Spanish mass. I felt bad for the girls because they really felt like they were disappointing God. I am of the opinion that, while church is good and a positive thing, worship /can/ be done elsewhere.

Notes of my own, I'm not usually a glutton. I've actually been working hard the last several years to mind my diet - and it's paying off. Besides the significant weight loss, I've been trying lots of new things (see earlier posts). But today, I had a CamiCake. Oh. My. God. I chose lemon-flavored, and it was positively *divine*. The shop alone smelled heavenly! I really need to avoid that place!

After that we stopped by Best Buy. They already had the 3-D TVs set up and I tried it out. I'd say it works as well as the theatrical system. But the lone demo movie, Monsters vs Aliens, was underwhelming for its 3-D originally. There must have been a better choice. Heck, I'd have ponied up for Avatar. *That* would have been a proper demo!

Back home, I duelled both Clones in Yu-Gi-Oh. My ancient, dusty deck, with none of the new card systems in play, beat both of them, Elder x2 and Younger x1. Then it was time for Ape and Bran to make cake. I ate too much raw batter. Yum~! I'm really hoping Ape sets us up soon for a family cooking class. We've done some dancing, and now I want to try being a culinarian!

Currently, we're watching AR, and as the ABC shows are repeats, we're going to go straight into Undercover Boss, from Silver Dollar City.

>< The cowboys blundered TWICE and are ripe for elimination. AAAARGH!

-=-=-=-

Earlier today, I watched the Australian Grand Prix, and played XI some. XI was almost nothing but soloing. I finished off THF (to 20) and switched to COR after a Jeuno detour for an appropriate sword. I didn't get any invites after over an hour flagged, and so I soloed a bit.

Some randoms I can't believe I didn't mention earlier!

* Somer Thompson's killer has confessed. That creepy monster caught in Mississippi on child porn charges copped to killing Somer. I only hope there's an airtight case on him because he's almost certainly going to lawyer up and recant his confession.

* Speaking of confessions, I was genuinely surprised when Pope Benedict (Sixteenth of the line) basically acknowledged the offenses, but denied direct knowledge of what had happened. It's not perfect but it's a darn good start. He's apparently been sending official apology letters to different countries' Catholic communities.

* I can't believe Mattel couldn't do a better job with the face molds on the new Twilight dolls...

Dragon Training

Today, the big plan was to see "How to Train Your Dragon", something I've been waiting for since the original cuts came out. After breakfast and some cleaning, Ape took the boys to a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt thing, where she ran into several people we know.

I on the other hand, spent my time first fixing my image links (as you can see), and then messing about in XI. I actually got my second claim on LL (seems much easier than VE) but alas, no drop. From there, I spent close to an hour organizing all my junk (yet again) so that I could resume Dunes leveling. Dark was on (among others) and expressed an interest, so...

Once I'd dumped a lot of junk, sorted my gear, had animas made, and so on, I teleported to Holla for the run to the sands of Valkurm. I eventually made it to Selbina, and while futzing about with the Nomad Moogle, I was checked by Immadancerlol. Someone whose name has always made me giggle. She asked if I was bored, and, thus began a 90-minute duoing excursion.

We had the worst time getting to the Konschaht-side lizard camp. Near the crab ledge she pulled aggro just as she went out to let her dog in. I tried my best, two-houring and summoning Sufhi. I was trying to hold the fort when she returned and joined in. We wiped, and the gob was moments from death himself. She was kind enough to do the HP > job change > raise dance. We returned to Selbina, and this time we stopped off at the OP to grab a page, as it was close to midnight and this way we could do two in rapid succession, especially with me being close to out of time.

In the tunnel, we got more aggro but I survived. She HPed again and took a tele to Dem and ran to meet me at the zone. We gathered at the book, grabbed full buffs (lol), and finally got started. We actually did pretty well, duoing at sync 16. We plonked away and as we were finishing up our second page and looking for a bunny, I was jumped by a Butcher. There was no way I was going to make it unless he offed himself. Imma ran up and I suggested a retreat instead, but she stuck it out and we both died again ^^

We both had reraise up, popped it once the gob despawned and I said my goodbyes. Troubles aside, we actually did pretty well XP-wise, and party chatter was friendly and fun. She asked when I'd be on next but I knew it'd have to be late... We shall see :3

So, movie time! I'll skip some of the logistics, but we made it there (with Younger's best friend along for the night), got good seats and met up with Sis and her boys. And I'll say this: Dark, it was fantastic! It was quite charming actually. They even somehow managed to make a dragon adorable without being all childish-style.

From there, it was Chik-Fil-A, then home for Zombieland. I honestly thought this was more of a zombie-slaughter themepark. That is to say, I thought the gist of the movie was going to be in sweet zombie sport. Nah, there was a story, eerily similar to Carriers. Unlike Carriers, this *still* didn't suck. It had some great moments and was definitely worth a rental.

Now we're watching MTV's 16 and Pregnant. Ape is nuts for this show, and I like it too. But as someone who was actually looking to make permanent, family-oriented relationships at 16, my perspective is a /little/ different. Also, I do so hate all the drama.

My plans for the evening are to finish watching TV with Ape, and then spend more time in Vana'diel whilst watching the Aussie GP.

Random:
I still love the Old Navy Super-modelquins, and the new "reality competition" series of ads.

Trying New Noms

Tonight, Ape planned on Japanese with us and her best friend + hubby. I normally don't do so well with Japanese since so much of the bounty is in the form of rice, veggies, soup and salad. But I voted Japanese as well and resolved to try /something/ new.

So, after getting stuck at work 'til after 6 on an urgent support call, I rushed home as fast as the Beast could take me. Which isn't very fast. I just know as soon as I get Shiroma back I'm going to get popped for speeding! o.o

After only a brief refresh/get changed time, we were off. We dropped the boys off, had a nice chat with my parents, then headed across town to the restaurant. We arrived just minutes before our friends and were then seated immediately. While I have historically avoided 90% of the food offerings, I have *always* enjoyed the show. Tonight was to be another fine performance.

Along the way to what would ultimately be an amazing meal, I tried the soup (much better than its Thai counterpart), the ginger salad dressing (Sorry Epcot, Mikada > Mitsukoshi), and I was able to get our chef to make my rice with just the rice, egg and soy. It would normally have had scallions in it...

In an attempt to 日本 (にほん) it up, I ate with 箸 (はし) for the entire meal, even going so far as to make a rest for them using the wrapper (ありがとう Wikipedia!). Well, not the soup, of course! ^^

Eating rice with chopsticks wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be, especially hot 'n fresh off the grill-table thingy. I'm definitely gonna try egg in my ramen next time!

Then my chicken and steak were ready. And Mikado has excellent ginger steak sauce! Yes! It was awesome-sauce! lol, see what I did there? Anyway, I ate about half of the plate and planned to have the rest later.

After dinner we went to Wal-Mart and grabbed a few things. Including the original Twilight's soundtrack. I like most of the bands on it, I really wanted Bella's Lullaby, and I need some new tunes. Ape's threatening to leave me if I don't change out the Evanescence...

We also rented Zombieland, but because we got home close to midnight we opted to wait until Saturday for it. We hung out for awhile though and then I left to camp LL some more and chat. Kush was on XI for once, hunting O. Kotes (or something) in Castle O. Deej was logged into POL, which was interesting. Is he coming back? LK's in Atlanta for a con and I was hoping he had news of interesting times, but not quite yet...

Never Could Get The Hang of Thursdays

Not much to report today. With March Madness taking up TV time, we chilled for a bit then I took a little time for XI. I got claim on Leaping Lizzy just after zoning into South Gusta! But no drop. That's about it, other than brief chattery with LK, Keps and Kush, who was actually on XI. Long time no see, ne?

Sticking Around

Wednesday was a so-so dinner at TGI Fridays after dropping the kids at CCD. Then Survivor! Rob versus Russell. Guess whose plan came to pass? Russell. He's a meanie, but he is /so/ good at manipulating the others! I haven't had this much fun since the end of Exile Islands. Rob is fit to be tied and will be gunning for the leprechaun next time!

-=-=-=-

Tuesday, I had the fun of trying to get Shiroma to a shop because of a balky clutch pedal. The bracket cracked last night. Basically, I had to disable the clutch pedal/starter interlock, and drive most of the 10 miles not using first gear, and I had to cut the motor more than once to unstick the trans. But I made it to the shop!

-=-=-=-

Monday was update-only. Then I got on here and found out Google finally migrated my GooglePages site, breaking all my image links ><

At home, I didn't do much besides camp Leaping Lizzy. Well there was a brief Skype chat with most of the gang. Popeye is funny!

Back In The Game

Friday

After my week in exile. I'm back. Late Friday I didn't do much besides PL Sortir's Dunes party. I needn't have bothered - their WHM was a consummate pro, leaving me little to do except aid with links. And he never seemed to run out of MP either - fantastic work! I wound up logging out there.

-=-=-=-

Saturday

No XI time, but instead, Ape and I spent a full day together with the boys and then later at the movies with my parents for their 42nd anniversary.

Thai for lunch, a little shopping, resting at home, met at the theater (originally to see She's Out of My League but switched to Bounty Hunter because the former's theater was tiny), saw an OK movie, then went with my 'ents to Steak & Shake for a late snack.

-=-=-=-

Sunday

While Ape was off seeing Diary of a Wimpy Kid with her sis and all the boys, I got to get some work done in Vana'diel. I got DRG from 17 to 20 and was able to skill up Polearm nicely. I started soloing, then got an invite, than kind of wished I hadn't. The party was a little sloppy. But things settled down and I hit 19 with them.

When the group started to disintegrate, three of us (Azairen, Akzae and me) trioed one more level.

To Bugbear, nobody likes losing tab-funded buffs with needless re-syncing...

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Randoms:

I really need to avoid getting Style Savvy (DS game). I tried the demo at Target today. I played for less than 5 minutes and all I did was the opening walkthrough. After less than 300 seconds, it was clear to me I'd spend more time with a game like this than perhaps any other, save XI. I have *always* spent inordinate amounts of time with equipment menus in any game that provided them. I took far longer to beat the original Untold Legends on PSP because I kept stooping to evaluate every single gear drop for appearance and stats. Almost the ENTIRE GAME of Style Savvy is this action.

At Taco Bell, I waited until we reached the counter. I checked the cashier's name then asked Ape such that the cashier heard too, if it'd be worth asking for Denise. It's Taco Bell's marketroids' fault really.

I filled out my Census form earlier this week. Not only did I get a note from them that I was going to be getting another note from them, I actually saw a "Dora the Explorer" ad pushing census compliance. So, on my form I wrote I was only sending it in because Dora told me to.

Actually dreamed /twice/ in Vana'diel. The first was apparently me leading a field trip of youngsters to some kind of farmer's market, likely somewhere in Jeuno. I was showing the kids (Hume, Galka and Mithra - I don't recall Elvaan or Taru) a cook sauteeing crab meat. The kids and I were wearing what appeared to be basic white robes. The other dream was much more ephemeral, and very short. I think Soho was there.

Went to a real art market her in town. It's apparently a weekly thing but this was our first trip. Saw belly dancing, a lame street magician, and lots of neat stuff. If I weren't saving my pennies for my costume, I could have blown my entire fund here, in just three booths. One had exquisite leather-worked journals and wands in wood with wood, metal or leather accents. Another had a fascinating necklace featuring lovely artwork on the pendant. The last was a more conventional painting collection. The "It's Complicated" line was neat: A heart, some complex compound and one other.

Personal Problems

Hi All!

Some of you (any of you?) may have noticed I've been offline for a week.

Not long after Thursday's success with my dress, I got involved in another Holla run. Fail #10. That was the last time I was in Vana'diel until late Friday (the following Friday) night.

Because Ape and I had a very important and for me, terrifying, conversation. I had to explain what my time on IM means to me. She's been getting very concerned that there may be some electronical shenanigans going on (there aren't). In doing so, I had to explain things from my ancient past that I haven't spent much time thinking on, for obvious reasons...

Yay for unearthing skeletons in closets...

Anyhoo, I think we're in sync again. For now, because I hope this lasts! :3 I'm going to get set times for XI and she's going to be understanding of my online friends.

-=-=-=-

Movie roundup:

Planet 51: Average, predictable family fare. Some interesting art direction and a few good quips can't save this "adventure".

The Bounty Hunter: Funny, cute, and a little sweet, but with one fatal flaw. It's just under 2 hours but it feels like 3. It has some of the worst pacing I've ever experienced! Rent it please!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (I didn't go): Ape, her sis and the boys all enjoyed it. The adults all said it was better than Bounty Hunter. Ouch!

Wedding Bells!

Today I finally achieved one of my greatest dreams in Vana'diel! I now have my Wedding Dress set!

To be honest, it's a partial victory. I had to farm up 200% more gil than I should have needed, I wasn't able to actually get a ceremony out of the deal, and I don't yet have the ring. Need about 60k more for that.

But nevermind all that. I look very fetching in the dress, especially in the sunlight!

Little Notes

Tuesday and Wednesday I did very little besides farm and meet up with a new Rogue, Ogopogo, to help him with the Three-Mage Door. While there, I farmed up a set of tests and a scroll of Gravity. This, plus the now-full stack of Radiant Memories puts me over the 400k mark for the Wedding Dress.

So, before heading to bed Wednesday, I put up the last of my goods (not counting a ton of recollects).

Chat-wise, things were quiet. Mostly because FFXIII came out Tuesday and Kush, Dark, and others were elbow-deep in the new adventure. I had a nice talk with Momma, wherein she shared one of her creative fiction papers. Then we had a really deep talk about relationships. Which made sense given the topic of the paper and its effect on me.

--------------

Some randoms:

Tori Amos needs to redo her hair... That paint-can orange stinks. But I need to catch up on her discography.

Last Thursday, there was an interesting Law & Order SVU. A killer was targeting prostitutes and leaving religiously-themed pamphlets on the bodies, suggesting he was doing them and the world a divine favor. The very next day I saw this: "Blame the victim: Religious leaflet claims ‘ungodly’ dressed women provoke rape" from the Bristol Herald Courier.

Just heard yet another prom committee's travesty because of a gay student wanting to be themselves: "Miss. prom canceled after lesbian's date request", courtesy of USA Today.

Coming up this Sunday: The Robot Returns to Racing! Yes! Schumacher and the Mercedes "German national team" square off against three other top teams.

Week Out...

Mon

Josh's games were supposed to be today, and we thought they were at Disney's ballpark. Nope. His team was in Winter Haven, a further hour from home. Because of the boys' FCAT testing, we opted to skip the game ><

Went to Perkins, LEGO store (no Medieval Village), then Mall at Millennia. Then Sanford for Best Buy and Red Brick.

Then home, where I checked auctions and started farming for what I hope is the final run to the Wedding Dress gil.

Found out both LK and Keps play chess. Hmmm!

-=-=-=-

Sun

Today, we got up, finished packing, and headed to Disney World! We left a little after 12, and after threading the Bike Week traffic, checked in to our rooms. Using our reward card points, Ape got two rooms. So the boys could have their own place. Adjoining next door of course!

Then it was time for the park. We changed our VoluntEAR (groan) vouchers for real tickets and met up with the crew. I dashed ahead with tickets in hand to grab our Test Track fast passes, then we worked our way around to use up the 3-odd hours we had before we could go.

Mission:Space nearly proved to be our undoing. Not because of the turbulence. Everybody but me went for the "easy" line anyway. No, because they got on almsot immediately, and I would have too had our line not experienced a "brief delay".

* Living Seas
* Segway x2
* Japan shopping
* Imaginarium
* Test Track
* Norway
* Japan dinner teriyaki chicken/sukiyaki beef/rice
* Fireworks
* ticket extension

-=-=-=-

Sat

Up at about 10:30, went and got breakfast. Loitered around the house some before vampiric kisses and leaving for my birthday activities.

Went to the Avenues. Got to see Tim Tebow, and grabbed a cell-phone piccy before being thrown out of the sports memorabilia store he was in. Thankfully I gave up wrath for Lent, as the woman who got onto me also got onto Younger. This Mithra doesn't take kindly to people messing with the little ones...

Checked out the usual stores, when we were able to get past the throng of fans waiting to get signatures or pics.

Left on time for our dinner reservations and checked in about 15 minutes ahead of time. Even though not all of us were present (from a total of 18!) we were seated. Oh, forgot to say, we ate at J. Alexanders, one of my fave restaurants period. About half the party had never been here and nearly everyone raved!

During the wait for our meals, most everyone took a turn holding the baby. I had fun showing him the chicken rotisserie, and some chess playing outside on the oversized board.

Later, at home, I logged in to check my auctions and got roped into a Holla run led by Agles. The plan was SMN x2 Astral Flowing the beast to death. The reality was as bad as the previous 8 visits. In this case, the two summoners didn't fire at the same time...

After hanging out with Ape some more, it was chat-time for mah birthday! Then I opened my card. Someone's trying to make me feel a little guilty, I think...

-=-=-=-

Fri

After work, dinner at the seafood restaurant. I don't know about you, but in my experience, non-seafood food at a seafood joint is often...underwhelming. I had a chicken sandwich. Meh. Next was game night. Denny stayed, so he, Meme and Cathy & Mike joined Cari, Kevin, my parents and us for Imaginiff. Great time!

Took a trip to Ape's school to get some report card files for her to work on during our trip. Took Mike, Dad and Bran. The trip there was uneventful but on the way home, had a little fun with a girl in a diesel pick-em-up-truck (we lost) and did a little heel-and-toe cornering.

Went home and crashed not long after...

-=-=-=-

Thurs

Up late late late because of delayed code checkout. Some good chats though.

Week In...

Thurs

Birthday lunch at Zaxby's - quite nice and I loved my card. One of my geekier co-workers actually signed it with a complete Java app.

Home early with Elder, then to TKD with Younger. I got 100-odd pages into Sentinel Wars #2, and I'm liking it more, earlier than the first. Perhaps because I already know the setting.

Next was dinner with MIL and our Tennessee uncle while watching Survivor. A so-so episode but Cirie got blindsided quite nicely.

I'll be up late on an important code checkout - see you maybe?

-=-=-=-

Wed

Not much besides some farming and an assist to MsPeek and Trob (who had been in a lousy Dunes party with Bigz) for her BLM AF. This was basic "run through Orcs while running through Davoi" adventuring. I didn't have a lot of time, 'cos Ape was feeling really bad and wanted to shut down early. I committed to help until 10:30 but managed to exit myself early (more in a jif).

We got into Davoi, and then the Monastic Caverns easily enough. And we got a key for Peek in like 4 orcs, who were no trouble for our motley band. NIN/DNC, WHM/BLM x2. We found the coffer minutes later - yay! But something went wrong with the quest because when Peek opened it, we got money.

So~o, we kept on, and 20+ more orcs, nothing. We got quad-teamed at one point but between Trob's excellent tanking and a pair of Repose-equipped WHMs, we held our own easily. Then, on another group beatdown, I disappeared. I thought I heard someone call for an escape, so I assumed Peek warped us out. Nope, just me. Somehow I hit Warp instead of Blind, and Blind is two away... Oh well. It was about 10 minutes 'til my scheduled departure, so I said my goodnights.

-=-=-=-

Tues

Farming in Horutoto. Let Faro in. Chatted with LK in-game some. That's about it. Realized in the car while listening to Fergie's Glamorous that she's really singing about something funny from Princess Bride:

G-L-A-M... O-R(odents)-O(f)-U(nusual-S(ize). Heehee!

-=-=-=-

Mon

Watched the entire Bachelor finale while futzing about and chatting a little. I'm generally happy Jake went for Vienna, but I liked Tenley too. But I think Vienna "completed" Jake's personality moreso than Tenley.

Aerin's Musical Memories Project

Given that:

* I have formed some deep and important friendships, and
* I may not stay in XI for much longer, and
* My schedule is getting more chaotic

I decided to start a project. I've asked each of my close friends to supply me with the title and artist of 2 or 3 songs that are personal touchstones for them.

So far, 4 of 5 have contributed and I'm going to extend this to my wider readership (ha!). Please send me a /tell or post a comment here.

The point of all this is that I'm acquiring these songs and putting them in my playlist. So that when they come on, I am reminded of that friend. I have many great memories with all of you and I don't want to lose that.

I don't want to leave. I don't want you all out of my life. But I'm getting tired of the nonsense that is XI and I'm getting tired of being walked away from. Just because I'm the White Mage doesn't mean I don't feel pain.

Incidentally, the "walking away from" isn't limited to my Friends List. My linkshell has disappointed me time and time again and I don't know if I have the energy to start over with a new group. Especially if I plan to leave by April, assuming I get the dress this month.