thewizardofoz

"I wanna shell out $50 for the next part of the FFVII remake" I said, fully believing the lie was telling myself.

Anyway.

I picked up FFVII Rebirth on Sunday and I basically haven't put it down since XD It's so much better than Remake it's honestly incredible; they very clearly took feedback into consideration with this one. The gameplay is tightened up and modified just enough that it's fun instead of clunky, and while I still prefer the traditional turn-based experience, this is massive improvement over the last one. I still think Crisis Core feels a bit smoother because it leans more into the hack and slash nature of it, but I'm not dying in every fucking fight like I did in Remake.

ALSO THE FEW SECONDS OF ZACK IN THE OPENING IN AN ALTERNATE(??????) TIMELINE GOT ME RIGHT IN THE FEELS. I think because I just finished playing Crisis Core it hit particularly hard, but holy shitttttt, I was about ready to cry ;w;

Cloud looks so good too, like...they really have nailed "anime spiky hair bullshit" mixed with realism...it looks so soft and fluffy and also well spiked. It's just. idk. It manages to nail a lot of the stylistic things that fell short in Kingdom Hearts 3, and while I'm delighted it did...it also makes me sad for what could have been in KH3. It was ALSO an amazing game, but I'm still fussy about the style changes between KH3 and literally every other KH game ever :T

MOVING ON!!!

For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm playing a game that was made for the PS5. Besides Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, everything else I own for the PS5 is on at least one other system (usually a fair amount), because everything is made for every damn system now!!!! It makes it feel like.....why do I have this system if it's just like everything else on the market?

BUT NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FFVII REBIRTH FEELS LIKE IT'S USING THE FULL CAPABILITIES OF THE SYSTEM!!!!!!! And not just like, oh the graphics are fancy, isn't that enough? No!!! There are so many little details that pull it all together and make it a richer experience *w*

I have a lot of other thoughts about it, but tbh I just wanna go back to playing....

so here's a majestic picture of Cloud with a dolphin XD

( few more screencaps under here! )
OH ALSO!!!! We had to go out to get more food for Lumos, because she's currently on "only the fanciest food money can buy" for her sensitive tummy...which is definitely hitting us where it hurts (the wallet). But we also picked up some groceries, including this absolutely necessary ceramic figure of a balloon animal. What animal? I have no idea, but I love him ♥

I put him on top of the TV with my son who has every disease (the green pumpkin)
BACK TO MORE FFVII I have a mini game I actually like (rhythm game)~

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: Garwyn Oaks, MD
Current Music: ルーファウス歓迎式典 -ジュノンのテーマ- ♪ 植松伸夫
Crossposts: https://kirrianu.insanejournal.com/40215.html

greghousesgf

I have to go to PT today. I should be resting because of this damn cold.

Current Music: Bloc Party

greghousesgf

I have a really bad cold, I must have caught it at the con, there were about a zillion people there. I don't think it's covid. I had to drag myself out of the house to get groceries including cold pills, the only kind they had at the store was some kind I never heard of. They were also out of some things I wanted, including dental floss but I'm too tired to go to other stores. I hope they work. I have to do laundry too, I am currently taking a breather and cooking lunch. Apart from this cold I'm in a good mood.

Current Music: the Beatles

harlow_turner_chaotic_ace

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

greghousesgf

I had so much fun at the My Little Pony convention! Lots of laughs, lots of partying, lots of food, looked at interesting swag. it was a great opportunity to get to know the two friends who invited me better and they are both super super nice and generous. Saw some amazing costumes. my friends gave me a couple of plushies. I swam 16 laps in the pool (first time I had my leg scar exposed in public which I was nervous about but nobody seemed to care or notice). First time I ever played Rock Band and I sang Freebird. I know that has fuck all to do with ponies but it was cool and I went over well. I'm super tired right now, did not sleep well over the weekend but it was worth it

Current Music: Mozart

temris

I knew the day where Thomas will say goodbye to football was approaching, but the more closer we get to that point, it gets harder to accept the truth.

I've never been good at parting ways, this is something I repeat a lot. Thomas has been a player who ever since I watched football, has just always been there. It was even saddening to see his appearances become mere minutes the last few seasons at Bayern. I also talked about my thoughts on his contract renewals at that club.

I've also never called myself a Bayern fan, I usually do not like teams that "dominate" their leagues. I know it's kind of a deadbeat saying now, "Serie A is the best because the championship is actually a race", but it's true. Last year, with Tuchel it seemed like a new domination of Leverkusen was coming; however, with nearly 10 points of difference with the occupiers of the 1st spot in the standings (as of 20 April), I think that wind has passed away some time ago.

For that reason, Thomas has not been shown the same amount of respect a player has for "his" club, they give to other players like Reus for Dortmund -- who stayed even if they passed their rather successful era with Klopp. But I think, it's why Thomas has been ever more special, because no matter how much the whole squad changed from the time he started, Thomas has been integral.

People often undermine Thomas because he’s always been surrounded by a “good” squad of available top players in the world, so his importance is always undermined. But he always shows his difference when he’s subbed in, and you always realize his vacancy when they don’t start him.

There’s a reason he’s always been around for 15~ years for Bayern, when many players came and left.

This is what I said in my Tumblr blog last year, and I still stand by it.

There is no competing with how fiery his passion is for the game, for the club that even with that side of his, Thomas shows us that he's from the by-gone era of football. I'm mostly romanticizing it, but it's been said many times that at the peak of his career, Premiere Leauge clubs sought for him and he stayed at Bayern.

That also warrants another topic to talk about that is his private life.

( Rambling )

It's not all sadness though. Even with his final appearance with Bayern in the CL, he's now sharing the record of most appearances in CL with Messi out of all people, in 3rd spot.

The legend you are, Thomas Müller. I will remember you well.

Current Mood: sad

toothpastepancake

So, I LOVE experimentally written fic. Poetry, messing with formatting, nonsensical shit, stream of consciousness, so on. Here is a rec list. I will update it later!

Note: a good amount of these are explicit or potentially triggering. Please read the tags

( Read more... )

setsuntamew

First thing: Lumos is doing better!!! She's been eating more regularly today and we got her some new antibiotics...which she does not like, but she didn't throw them up. So I'm counting that as a win ♥

Now, let's catch up on the rest of my life, since the last few days with Lumos kinda drove everything else out of mind. I finished playing Crisis Core a couple nights ago and basically cried like a baby. Every fucking time I'm like "maybe this time it'll be different" even though I know it won't be. The nature of a prologue like this is to let the tragedy loom in the distance while every bit of the game fills you with such hope that you can't help but get swept up in it. But that's just it- Zack has to die so Cloud can become the protagonist, and it's so damn good ;w;

Seriously...I have only hazy memories of playing the original on the PSP back in high school. I mostly remember ~~GACKT~~ Genesis pulling a whole bunch of anime bullshit at the end, so I somehow forgot the incredible bit of plot integrating into the UI in the final fight. Holy shit it was good. That's the sort of thing that I love about video games; when the menus suddenly become key plot elements I lose it!!!! :D

Anyway, I now desperately wanna pick up the next part of the FFVII remake (despite not really liking the first one), but I don't wanna shell out $50 for it ~~especially with how much everything with Lumos just cost sobs~~ so...I'm replaying the original XD tbh I wanted the next part so I could finally get out of fucking Midgar and I didn't wanna replay the original because, well, Midgar. But I had a save file on the PS3 that's right before the final couple boss fights in Midgar, so I called that close enough and started playing it this evening.

AND I DISCOVERED SOMETHING:

YOU CAN CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE MENUS??????????????????
Literally I first played FFVII in 2004 and I somehow never realized this until today. Okay. I'm stupid XD This picture doesn't quite capture how pretty my color gradient is, but the PS3 doesn't natively take screencaps and I didn't feel running it through the capture card. Maybe another day~

In enstars news: I got both 5* cards from the jp tour last night!!!! I actually have enough whistles and event bonus that I can probably nab a second copy of each pretty easily, because apparently that's just what I do with year end tours in jp?? XD Whatever, I'm not complaining...I'm delighted to have more Rei and Tori cards.

Aaaaand a couple doujins + a small piece of merch came in the mail! Probably the next package from our jp shopping service will be the exciting one - new outfits for the nuis!! - but this one was still good :D

( more pics + enstars screencaps )
Anyway, I started a new community this week as well, because what good is stress if you don't turn it into making sparkle graphics? XD I'd been hoping for a freebie community to pop up on a DW because I didn't feel like I should be the one running it...for some deranged reason???? I ran a bunch of freebie communities on GJ back in the day, idk why I thought I wasn't qualified??? But talking with

thewizardofoz about it the other day pushed me to ignore my nerves and just go for it!

SO!!! Now

vogliaa exists, which is the name of one I ran on GJ. I held onto a bunch of old icons I used to use to post there + I managed to lift the profile from the wayback machine, so I had something to start with. The banners and layout coding are all brand new, tho the layout coding comes from someone who was very big during 00s-era of freebies/requestables. I think it looks very nostalgic and colorful and nice ♥

Everyone has been so nice about it so far btw ;w; I've gotten some really kind comments and it just reminds me of how much I love making icons, honestly. I know that it's a bit rose-tinted, but making requestables on GJ was such a formative part of my life...I know I wouldn't be who I am today if not for the community and friends I made there.

ALSO THE TEMPERATURE JUMPED TODAY FOR NO FUCKING REASON BLUH

Current Mood: hot
Current Location: Garwyn Oaks, MD
Current Music: Church ♪ Fall Out Boy
Crossposts: https://kirrianu.insanejournal.com/40059.html

southernmedicine

• Duke is in his new home. It was very hard.

My cousin's sister followed me outside and, with her very limited English, expressed to me that she does not know why her sister is sending Duke away to someone we don't know. She kept saying "I am sad. I am very sad. My heart hurts. I will miss him." This sweet seventy-something woman, on the other side of a language barrier, was expressing her grief to me as I took this family pet away. I tried to communicate that I was also very sad, and that I would miss him, too, and that I made sure that Duke would be going to a very good home where he would be safe and happy.

To those who missed it: I moved in here a little over a month ago. My cousins had inherited this dog from their deceased mother, and did not wish to keep him for very much longer. Cousin #2 told me that she was going to call the local animal shelter and "give him back" (this is the shelter he was initially adopted from eight years ago) and I said no, please don't do that, let me find a good home for him. Cousin #2 is the Filipino wife of Cousin #1, my blood relative. Cousin #2's sister and brother-in-law also live with us; these two do not have much English, and while they are very kind, they are difficult for me to communicate with.

I don't know how much she understood, but I hope she doesn't blame me, and that she understands that I also regretted the necessity of rehoming him.

It is the best possible home, I am certain of it. When I went to take him today, I learned that his new mom had already invested in new bowls, a chest full of a variety of brand new toys, new bedding, handsome new leash and collar, and more. She is patient and soft and kind. She re-arranged her entire schedule to be home with Duke for a solid week, because as she says, "I don't want him to be lonely or scared in a new house." When I left, she handed me an envelope containing a card she had prepared for me. Inside was a lovely message thanking me for letting her be Duke's new mom, and promising me that she would take good care of him and make sure he never wants for love and attention. She also included a $50 gift card to Olive Garden. What? She is a wonderful woman and I am very happy with my choice. I do miss him already, though. She said I can visit periodically, at least until I move to Wisconsin.

• Blair will be here in four days! I am SO excited to see her, and to get up to some fun things around SoCal. It's a relatively short trip; she arrives Wednesday and goes home Sunday, but that's enough time to have a nice experience. We're going to Star Wars Nite on Thursday night, Disneyland on Friday, and then on Saturday I'm taking her to La Brea Tar Pits, they Greystone Mansion, and Santa Monica Pier, then the beach. Hell, maybe we'll go on a nice date to the Olive Garden at some point, courtesy of Duke's new mom.

I have a lot to do. I have to do laundry, pack my bags, bring down all our cosplay stuff so I can make repairs on a few items and wash others. Clean out my car. Take a trip to my storage unit to store some things I've lazily just kept in the trunk.Gas up the car. Re-do the pins in my Ita bag for SW Nite. Back up and delete a bunch of photos and videos from my phone to make as much space as possible; my poor phone is consistently at like 97% capacity. T.T

We've got DnD tomorrow and I work Monday, so it'll all pretty much need to get done Tuesday.

• I've gotten back into this cute, silly little browser game called Furry Paws, where you raise, train, breed, and compete your dogs. Goals are to level up, gain fame, breed the most genetically sound pups possible, and help improve the gene pools of the game world at large through selective breeding and caring for your litters. I used to play it years and years ago. The game is over 20 years old now. Back in the day I was a top player, not to brag, so starting over completely has been really hard. Still, it's just as fun as I remember. Anyone know what this game is? Anyone play? Anyone want to? If so, let me know: I've got referral codes.

Current Mood: tired

casey28

1-5
( Read more... )

setsuntamew

tl;dr: she was doing a lot better when we left the vet and now is doing less so D:

Her x-rays came back fairly clear, other than the fact that she's been swallowing air- probably because of how congested she's been ;w; She's been gulping air while trying to breathe and now she's full of air + gas. They gave her an injection to take down inflammation and get rid of nausea. And holy shit did that work wonders! Within half an hour, she was breathing much more quietly, was more relaxed, and just in general seemed to be doing better. Yay!

They sent us home with the pill form of the injection they gave her + an antibiotic, with instructions to call next week to see how things are doing. Pat and I got Wawa and then I fed Lumos treats in the parking lot, and she finally ate something!!!!! So we were feeling a lot better. She even ate most of a package of her wet food when we got home :D

Pat had a queer speed dating thing tonight, so it was set to be a nice, chill evening in for me and Liz...which it was! At first!!! Until we realized that Lumos was getting louder again D: But also it was late enough to try to get her to eat another meal.....which she was not interested in at all.

Okay. Well, she has to take her antibiotics without food, so let's do those?

NOPE! It was a liquid antibiotic and she threw it up almost immediately ;w; She's continued to breathe very loudly ever since, though thankfully in the last 15-ish minutes her breathing has started to calm down again. She still has no interest in food or drink, though.

Please everyone keep her in your thoughts ;w; I'm still not over Ethyl passing in 2023- I cannot handle anything going wrong with Lumos right now. I'll just die ;w;

Current Mood: distressed
Current Location: Garwyn Oaks, MD
Crossposts: https://kirrianu.insanejournal.com/39933.html

setsuntamew

Soooo Pat and I are currently at the vet with Lumos, and she did NOT like the trip here. Usually she's more chill on car rides, but today she was stressed out the whole time. She kept opening her mouth and panting, which I think was from stress, but it's making me stressed ;w;

Her chipped tooth just barely exposed some of the nerve inside, but since her breathing is so bad they're gonna focus on that, since they'd have to put her under for dental work and they don't wanna do that while she's wheezing so much. ESPECIALLY since she decided she didn't want to eat today, which is worrying. Usually she'll eat her fancy slop wet food if nothing else. NOT TODAY THOUGH D:

Anyway. She's off getting xrays, so hopefully I'll have more answers soon ;w; They're real worried about her chest with how wheezy she is.

edit: back from xrays, looking cute! now we're just waiting for results.

PXL_20250418_183303336.RAW-01.COVER.jpg

Current Mood: stressed
Current Location: Abingdon, MD
Crossposts: https://kirrianu.insanejournal.com/39441.html

reeby10

Slightly belated...

Reading

I finished A Poetry Handbook. It was pretty disappointing. Don't know if that's because I had too high of expectations for it, but I just didn't find that it had anything particularly interesting or useful.
I read Go Luck Yourself by Sarah Raasch (Royals and Romance #2). So so good!! The romance was great, as was the actual plot, but I really just love so much how she writes sibling relationships. Fingers crossed she does a third book.
I started reading Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare (Clown in a Cornfield #1). I bought it last year, but there's a movie adaptation coming out next month, so I figured I should get to it soon. Good so far.
Ficwise, I'm still on Sterek fic. I'm on the second fic from the series last week, under the pale moon by lscar123 , and enjoying it a lot.

Watching

So much youtube. Someday the roommate and I will watch other things again...
AEW as usual. Things with Moxley's group seem to finally be starting to fall apart, so I'm happy about that!

Listening

Nothing.

Writing

Finished my smut4smut assignment! I somehow wrote over 3k in one day right before the deadline, which was wild. I think it came out good though :D

greghousesgf

Yayyyyyyyy! I got invited to the last Bay area brony convention for the weekend! I'm leaving tomorrow night!

Current Music: Beethoven

setsuntamew

Lumos chipped one of her teeth D: She'd already been feeling under the weather - we think she's developed seasonal allergies in her old age - but tonight I managed to catch a glimpse of her yawning and noticed something looked off. Thankfully she's a calm and trusting cat, so I was able to hold her head and gently pull her lips back to get a better look...and yep! One of her front fangies is chipped ;w;

So, uh, we're getting her to the vet ASAP. Liz is gonna call first thing tomorrow morning and see if we can get in same day (or maybe the next day), because tooth stuff is no joke. I'm really hoping it's nothing major...everyone please keep Lumos in your thoughts ;w; She's 12 now, so she isn't young, but she's still so vibrant and energetic usually.

Right now she's sleeping very peacefully, because she got her fancy wet food all day. She's been refusing to eat kibbles and now we know why D: So! Since she's allergic to one of the additives in most wet foods, we can only get her the ~grain free, filler free, all pure ingredients~ foods. We'd been getting her a salmon & pumpkin mousse that's specifically formulated for older cats, but they came out with new flavors recently! And I figured she could use some variety, and I was right, because she loved the tuna, mackerel, and pumpkin one we got this time.

She's so spoiled I love her so much ♥

Current Mood: worried
Current Location: Garwyn Oaks, MD
Crossposts: https://kirrianu.insanejournal.com/39207.html

greghousesgf

Cranking up the Beatles because one of my neighbors put Whitney Houston on.

Current Music: the Beatles

setsuntamew

uhhhhhhhhhhhh my brain is mush because I've been in the enstars mines all day (playing the jp tour) but I have many thoughts about the whole two (2) chapters of story I read XD I usually read the whole thing at once, but I couldn't help but jump ahead to the bit that's Crazy:B + Madara because...okay, because I'm a simple man, I'm always hoping for kohamada crumbs.

the boys were also here for Kohaku + Madara interactions, clearly
AND IT FUCKING DELIVERED!!!!!!! Yeah, it was only two chapters, but they had a ton of back and forth, cute snarky bits, etc etc etc ;w; Rinne now has a nickname for Madara - Mikeneko-chan - and it's so fucking cute!!! I'm so glad someone finally called him a calico cat in text, it's important to me *w* And then Niki said that Kohaku and Madara looked like cats together, which was so fucking precious. Like. Yes, please compare my faves to kitty cats, my day is made.

ALSO!!!!!!! Rinne told Madara that he has to prove his worth before he can have Kohaku back - which for the record isn't even why Madara was there, he just showed up and that was the first thing Rinne said to him XD - and it very much had the vibe of "you broke my friend's heart and I'm not gonna let you do it again" so like. VERY GOOD SHIP CRUMBS FOR MEEEEEEEE. This was followed by Kohaku being like "I can do whatever I want" which, again, gay????? SO GOOD.

HiMERU very clearly did not like that Madara was there and wanted him to leave. Which make sense with how dismissive he was of Double Face during Ephemeral Festival, but I like that Rinne was not and instead acknowledged that Madara is an important part of Kohaku's life...he's just a shit who needs to make up for wronging Kohaku.

gaaaaaaaaaaaaay ♥

And another thing!!!!! It opened with Madara pondering on Nice Arneb Thunder and thinking that him + everything regarding 4piece and his quick acceptance into ES is really sketchy. Which is 1) accurate and 2) hahahaaa I fucking called it, I just knew Madara wouldn't trust this dude!!!!!!!! I said this during the first 4piece tour last year and tbh Madara is one of (the only????) character who hasn't been immediately taken in by Nice's ~~cult of personality~~ charisma. Kohaku also seemed concerned about him after Madara showed up to question Rinne about his past, so like......there's still time for my crack theory to win!!!!! Double Face could still take Nice Arneb Thunder out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry not sorry I'm just having a nice time uwu

I ground through the tour quite quickly so I could get Madara's 4* ♥
Honestly, the tour setlist has been really solid so far!!! I just finished up stop 10 and it's been less than 24 hours, which is a lot faster than I've played any recent tours tbh. idk I'm just having a nice time? It's nice to enjoy things ;w;

I mean also Madara is in the event so there's a lot of MaM and Double Face songs, so I am delighted by that ;D

( more enstars-related screencaps in here )
Oh, right. I do have one complaint about the event. Two complaints, I guess? But they're related, so I'll complain about them together. There's no event song and no MV outfits ;w; I know that tours don't usually have either of those, but the year end tours usually do. I guess because it's the prologue to the next chunk of main story it doesn't? BUT I'M STILL FUSSY.

Just another reason to be mad at Nice Arneb Thunder XD

Liz thinks that the outfits are gonna be the 10th anniversary MV outfits that everyone gets, which, like...okay. That's nice and all, but I wanted year end tour outfits ;w;

AT LEAST I HAVE ALTERED AND MY FOUR COPIES OF TSUMUGI

and here's a Lumos for sticking around for this whole longass post!

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: Garwyn Oaks, MD
Current Music: Stippling ♪ Double Face
Crossposts: https://kirrianu.insanejournal.com/39004.html

southernmedicine

Some friends and I were casually chatting, and one asked if any of us had ever read a series of books from ye olde times as kids; Goosebumps-adjacent horror for kids. Nope. Other friend asks if we've ever read a book called Wait Till Helen Comes. Also no, but I am intrigued by the premise. Turns out there's also a movie. Found said movie on Amazon and decided to give it a watch.

The credits roll, and Callum Keith Rennie's name pops up, grasps me by the shoulders, and Sparta-kicks me all the way back to the early 2000's when I first discovered Due South.

We are all connected, in the great circle of life.

Current Mood: cheerful

greghousesgf

I had a fairly nice day yesterday except for a couple of fuckups with the buses. That was the second day in a row a bus refused to pick me up. Also the bus that wouldn't pick me up took a VERY long time to show up and one of the buses coming back from the library was extremely crowded.
I had tea and carrot cake at my favorite cafe and then hung out at the library for most of the afternoon and then got some groceries at Trader Joe. I have birria and tortillas and rice and tomatoes and I'm going to cook a burrito for lunch before I go to physical therapy this afternoon.

Current Music: the Rolling Stones

smilebackwards

Upcoming things I'm excited for and their sometimes weird schedules that I want to keep track of.

~ Leverage Redemption season 3: April 17th (3 episode drop, then weekly on Thursdays - 10 episodes total)
~ Andor season 2: April 22nd (3 episode drop, then 3 episode drops on April 29th, May 6th, and May 13th - 12 episodes total)
~ The Accountant 2: April 25th
~ Murderbot season 1: May 16th (2 episode drop, then weekly on Fridays - 10 episodes total)
~ VidUKon: May 30th - June 1st
~ The Old Guard 2: July 2nd

Already have my Murderbot icon cued up courtesy of

lylith_st icon post :)

Profile

thewizardofoz

February 2025

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Reading

FFVII got me BAD

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New place to post my buffyverse fanfic

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Enclosure

Experimental Style Fic Recs

Good Things All Around

bullet points that are too lengthy to be actual bullet points

35 Still and Animated Icons

Lumos Update

Cat Stress: Continued

Wednesday What I'm...

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MY SWEET BABY D:

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time to ramble about the current enstars event~~~~~

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upcoming stuff i'm excited for

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February 2025

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