The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

Last night I wanted to watch something new and ended up watching the live-action Dora movie. I thought it looked exciting and might give me plunnies. I didn't get any plunnies, and I have mixed feelings on the film. It was a basically great adventure, but I have to wonder who the target audience was. Was it kids who watched the cartoon and are adults now? There were jokes that were not appropriate for kids, like scorpions deciding to mate on a guy's head. And I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie so crude. (I know there's worse ones, but I haven't seen them.) There was a whole sequence about a girl needing to go to the bathroom in the jungle and Dora making up a song about it to try to comfort her. Okay, so that's a realistic problem that would definitely happen in such circumstances, but seriously?! Do we really need that kind of realism, especially in a kids' movie? Does any parent really want their kid walking around singing a song about digging a hole to go to the bathroom?

My other main problem is that it left things confusing as to what was real and what wasn't. It supposedly continues from the cartoon, but it acts like everything from it was in Dora's imagination. I hate that approach. It's like a slap in the face to all the kids who loved the cartoon, basically telling them that even within the verse of the show, it's not really real. It would be like Gabriella or some other human character on Sesame Street saying none of that's real and they were just daydreaming every episode. Okay, granted, if there were really talking maps and backpacks, the movie would have been extremely cheesy, but still. They also address Dora talking to the audience and have everyone confused about who she's talking to. That and some other things, like the bathroom song and Dora talking about a poisonous frog, make it seem like a parody of itself.

But then here's the confusing part: the fox character is suddenly revealed as real and is working for the villains. So if the fox is real, are the other things real or not? The movie acts like they're not, and yet the ambiguity is baffling. I know, it's not the kind of movie you can really take too seriously, and yet I can't not think about it.

And honestly, I've never even seen the cartoon, lol. But it sounds like from what I read about it that it doesn't take the approach that everything is only in Dora's imagination. I don't think I accept the movie as a continuation. They're separate verses to me.

Meanwhile, I cannot make myself start writing the scene I wanted to where Lector encounters Kalin Kessler having time and dimension traveled. I think it's because even though I've come to love the 5Ds characters, I just cannot reconcile what happened to their Domino City with the classic series. MoonlightTyger voiced one of my big problems: that there's no way many or any of the original cast are still around and alright. They wouldn't have just done nothing during the 5Ds era disasters. Seto must have lost his mind to create Turbo Duels and allow the totalitarian separation of New Domino City and Satellite. Seriously, you can't even face your opponents when Turbo Dueling. It just doesn't sound like something Seto would create at all. Why on Earth did they decide to set that series in Domino? If it was just somewhere else, there'd be no problem. I find myself repeatedly frustrated that I like the characters so much when there's this issue, because as a devoted classic YGO fan who doesn't want to see Domino City wasted, it is very difficult to deal with liking 5Ds!

It has been extremely stressful almost from the time I last wrote anything here. I discovered the worst pain I have ever had in my life, which seems to have been caused by rupturing ovarian cysts, and I'm still trying to get my body back to normal. There's other cysts that may or may not be cancerous, although the doctor doesn't really think they are. He didn't even see the ultrasound pictures, though! He just read the hospital's report! We're waiting to see if the blasted things shrink on their own while I try some natural remedies and foods that are supposed to help. The doctor doesn't think food has anything to do with it, but I've found that my problems and the pain seem to pivot around foods. I've mostly felt a lot better and I discovered standing and walking are very helpful. I racked up a horrific bill just from the tests they did and I'm trying to qualify for Medicaid. I just thought everything was okay and now they seem to be demanding I redo all the information again?! WTH?! Aurgh! I tried to call them on Friday but couldn't get anyone and I'll have to try again tomorrow.

My birthday was peaceful, at least, but low-key. I still haven't had my outing. We were hoping to try for this coming week, but now we have a new house problem to deal with, as our bathroom light fixture decided to bork and now we have to light it with nightlights. We've been having so many house problems the last few months, mostly plumbing but also some electric issues. Our water pressure is horrendous. It's been wrecked ever since the city forced new pipes on everyone last year, and it's gotten worse for us in the last several months.

To compensate for no outing, I bought a lot of things online to have for my birthday. It was fun, but it doesn't take the place of physically visiting a store. It's the whole experience that's so fun, not just buying things. Although the irony is that I likely wouldn't be able to find much of anything I want in a physical store. It seems like what I want is either cheaper online or only available online.

Some other, more minor stressful things happened the past week, but because of my emotional state dealing with my health problems they tipped me over the edge. It's ironic and frustrating that I really try so hard to control myself online, but the few times I just can't take it anymore I get branded as some kind of horrible thing. Also ironic is that while they're thinking how awful I am, I'm emotionally tearing myself to pieces for weeks afterward because I said or did something that hurt someone. I have a lot of problems with anxiety and have for years. I've never been officially diagnosed, but reading up on the symptoms certainly matches my states of mind when I go into those ways and I fully believe I have an anxiety disorder. I would love to talk to a therapist, but we can't afford that either. And I certainly can't think about that when we're not sure the Medicaid went through. If I can really qualify for ongoing Medicaid and not just temporary, maybe then I can consider a therapist. I only really realized how badly I needed one two and a half years ago when I sank into a really bad depression and self-loathing state. A friend who is a therapist in another state really helped me a lot to be able to pull out of it. If only she lived here. I had a small-scale setback into such a state this past week because of those stressful things and what happened because of them. That friend plus other friends have been helping me pull out of it again and helping me see that I'm not the scum of the earth, which is how I was feeling.

I also lapsed into another frantic "Buy, buy, buy!" mode this past week, like I did in April when the lockdown started. Apparently that's going to be a thing with me now and I've developed full-blown retail therapy problems when under extreme stress. Although at least I'm not buying up everything under the sun; I still study things out for days to get what I really want. This round I wanted YGO things and I bought an official YGO coloring book and one of the Scholastic character guides, this one focusing on the villains. I wish I'd known about all these wonderful YGO things Scholastic put out at the time. I was looking and looking for things like that and could never find them. Apparently they did a whole line of character guides in 2006. I wonder why they waited until then. That was when the show ended!

I wrote all of the Whumptober prompts into a connected storyline and am posting them. I was delayed for several days when the worst of my physical pains were happening, but I've got back on track and am posting on the correct days again. I'm trying to do the Comfortember ones too, but they aren't plunnying me as much, so I'm not sure I'll do all of them. But I don't have any other story ideas other than expanding one of Nesbitt's hallucinations into a full fic really happening and taking place in another verse, so I want to keep trying. I love to write and feel like to not be able to is to lock part of my soul away.

The hallucination I want to expand is for Dartz to trick Nesbitt into using the Orichalcos. For some reason I've been wanting to write a storyline similar to Mai's season 4 arc. I don't know why, really, because that was gut-wrenching. But I finally figured out how to work it in a way I like. Nesbitt is feeling horrible because of his weakness in almost abandoning the others in Noa's world, so Dartz preys on that and tells him the Orichalcos will make him strong. In Nesbitt's state of mind, he believes that and thinks it will help him be a better friend, so he accepts it and then it corrupts him. He has no idea about soul-stealing or swallowing the world with a giant sea snake until after it corrupts him, which seemed to be the same with Mai in canon. In the dub, at least, Dartz most certainly doesn't tell her any of those things until she agrees to accept it. You can see in her face that the corruption is instantaneous. Very chilling.

As much as I love and adore Lector and have given him some of my personality traits in how I write for him, I really went to town with Nesbitt and base him on me even more. His insecurities, his struggles with his weaknesses, blurting things out he shouldn't and beating himself up over it, his asexuality, is all based on me. In the Japanese he doesn't seem to have some of his issues, like wanting to pretend he's a machine, so I deliberately write him based on the dub version because I find his manias so interesting and a writing goldmine. I do, however, use his Japanese backstory in how Seto treats him, which was even more appalling than in the dub. He tells Nesbitt not to get underfoot when the new engineer arrives, aurgh. So cruel when Nesbitt was the top engineer! (And semi-related, I read a short fic on Crump based on the Japanese version where Seto said something horrible to him when he brought the idea of a penguin sanctuary and theme park, something about crushing Crump like a soda can if he didn't drop the idea?! If that was really what he said in the Japanese, horrible! And of course, Seto learned all that kind of behavior from Gozaburo. So sickening how Gozaburo poisoned that once-innocent mind.) Honestly, aside from them letting Pegasus take Mokuba, I'm more on the Big Five's side than Seto's, up to the point where they first start messing with virtual reality. As horrible as Seto treated them, that wasn't justified. I wish the dub hadn't inserted a murder plot in season 1 that didn't exist. I can't even watch that episode in the original dub anymore because that sickens me so. I always watch it in the uncut dub instead. I'm glad that was one of the few episodes that made it into the uncut dub.

I'm still getting pictures from ElfBean. Her latest is from my fic where Lector is a vigilante and I just adore it so much!

I feel like drawing a picture of Lector laying on his bed in his dress shirt and pants and tie, looking up at the ceiling. Usually it's Nesbitt I depict without his suitcoat, but after an RP scene I feel like I really want to show Lector like that too, squeee. He would look amazing! (Of course, he always looks amazing, heh.)

I had a really awesome and fun dream the other day about playing a video game where the player is interacting with the Big Five. Their memories have been mysteriously wiped and the goal is to help them find something they're looking for and restore their memories. It would work great as a visual novel type game, and apparently there are sites where people can make games like that without years of programming lessons! I definitely want to try it out! I have the sprites from the Nightmare Troubadour game that would be perfect to use in it! They looked so amazing in that game!

This is the checklist of everything I've bought for my birthday and a bit afterwards:

- Set of the first four Anna & Elsa chapter books set after the first Frozen
- The most recent Frozen 5 Minute Stories collection, the red cover one
- Frozen Blu-Ray and DVD combo (if we ever get a Blu-Ray, I can see all the cool bonus content!)
- Star Wars Qui-Gon Jinn 12 inch figure
- Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi from episode 1 12 inch figure
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Twisted Nightmares double deck set of Yami Bakura and Yami Marik (sooo awesome and perfect for my Yami Bakura memorabilia collection! There's a game mat with characters on it, and Skill cards with them on them, and cards at the beginning of the decks with them on them.)
- Halloween face mask that says Trick or Treat in an eerie font, perfect to use with my recycled Yami Bakura costume this year
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Chaos coloring book
- Yu-Gi-Oh! uncut dub volume 2, The Insector Combo (the only volume of uncut I don't have, and I finally decided I wanted it)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! character guide to villains
- Autumn socks

From now until the 22nd is Azure Week, a celebration of the Seto/Tea pairing from YGO organized by Azurite! I've already written a fic and plan to draw some too! If anyone wants to participate, it's going on on all platforms! FF.net, AO3, dA, Tumblr, Reddit, Dreamwidth, and more! Check out the Azureshipping community on Dreamwidth (http://azureshipping.dreamwidth.org) and Azure Week forum on FF.net (https://www.fanfiction.net/forum/Azure-Week/229387/) for more info!

I have Johnson, am waiting for Crump to ship, and chose a Gansley. Have to scrape together a little more money before I can get him, since I had to jump on an auction for the figure I chose as Crump. I'm waiting on a payout from one survey company and am close to getting one from another. I don't think I'll say which figures will be Crump and Gansley until I have them in hand. Definitely excited to get them all! Although I'll probably feel a little sad when this project is over. It's been a lot of fun. I of course was not able to get the figure I wanted so badly for Crump. Just too expensive! But using a little imagination I found one that will transform into an amazing Crump with a little paint.

I continue to document the figure project on my YouTube vlog under my LuckyLadybug66 account. I also finally finished the Lumis and Umbra plushies: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

I feel like buying the Barbie helicopter and seeing if Nesbitt can fly it, lol. It can be purchased for under $20 at some places! I'm surprised. It reminds me of when I was able to get the convertible car for $10, and it's a huge car, unlike the tiny one they're selling now!

I was able to get the Siegfried and Joey fic done. It ended up being short, but it's just the beginning of the new Viking arc. That will continue in stories as I see fit. Right now, I mainly want to write cute slice-of-life and maybe gratuitous hurt/comfort, like the Midnight Garden fic I finally sorted out and have almost done. I'm doing a fic now where each Big 5 member gets interviewed by Lana Allisen, my human version of the muppet merdog Lana Afghana from Benji at Marineland (lol). I was so obsessed with her that I made two plushies and some snow creations years ago. I created the human version when I was starting my second mainstream Rockford Files fic and needed a reporter. After getting reminded that Lana fell in love with Benji in the special, my human version develops a crush on Nesbitt and already has one on Lector as the story opens. Of course, Nesbitt is adorably oblivious to this. Lector is aware, and probably feels awkward that yet another person is crushing on him, hee.

I know my Viking Arc probably looks meager to anyone who read the original, unfinished version in Der Engel des Todes years ago. I was definitely setting up for something big there. But I hope this will be big in its own way, as it unfolds. Maybe I can do a version of the Der Engel thing with Siegfried's secretary being a Valkyrie in disguise, etc.

I know I'm probably unlikely to be able to have my usual birthday shopping spree this year, thanks to the #$&Y#*(&$( virus. I think I'll just plain plan on a virtual shopping spree instead, and then I can be pleasantly surprised if it turns out I'll be able to go out after all. I should start saving some money for my birthday, but I need to finish my project first! And then there are other things I want that are on eBay deadlines, so who knows when I'll be able to save much other than Amazon gift cards!

Nikki arrived and she's awesome. And I found a G. I. Joe to be Nesbitt! I knew it would be too strange if there weren't any that looked like him, because honestly, his character design looks like a G. I. Joe, lol. I found several possibilities and decided on Wheeler Field Pilot. I bought one on Amazon and I think he'll be here tomorrow! Meanwhile I was set to buy the Hawk River Lector G. I. Joe and then an auction popped up. I ended up going through with the Buy It Now listing anyway. I hope I won't regret not following the auction. I was concerned about someone else getting the Buy It Now and the auction suddenly spiking into a bid war and then I wouldn't get either one. That probably wouldn't have happened, but I didn't want to take the chance. Plus, I didn't want to wait 9 days for the auction to end.

A friend had some TaleSpin cereal box figures that she sent me. They're so cute! And it's almost the whole set of them; I just need Baloo, and I'm sure I can get him at the antique mall. And she also included a neat thing about Louisiana since I periodically write fics set there, and ohmygoshsqueee, a surprise item: an autographed picture of Boba Fett! She got it signed by Jeremy Bulloch in person years ago. I was over the moon and exclaimed aloud when I opened the package!

Monday we finally got to do an outing I've been hoping for for ages and it was one of those amazing days where things actually went right. Weirdly enough, both that Monday and one I still hold fondly from about three years ago or more involved getting paint at Hobby Lobby. LOL. I got a color that I hope will be good for painting Lector and also grabbed some black paint for Johnson's hair, since I don't know when I'll get back there and I thought I should just have it around even though I probably won't have Johnson for a while. It's always fun to explore there. Such a huge store! I wish they closed at 9 instead of 8. I was hoping to see some Halloween decor, but they had harvest coming in and that was a good compromise. Strangely, they still had some aisles of Easter stuff.

Then we went to Joann's and they finally had plushie bases back in stock. They also now have WiFi! And squeeee, they actually had the fake fur I needed for Umbra's hair! Since they don't have a whole rainbow of colors, I do wonder why they specifically had turquoise/teal/whatever it is. Is there a lot of demand for that color? Whatever the reason, it's awesome! It's super expensive by the yard ($29.99!), so I asked for the smallest piece and that was only $3 and change, and more than enough! I have a ton left over.

Then it was on to Kohl's to see if I'd have any better luck with my merchandising credit than before. The fitting rooms are closed and I didn't want to risk getting any more pants that didn't fit, so I focused on toys. I didn't really think they'd have Stacie, and I was right, but they did have a doll that I think and hope is Renee. Why don't they print character names on the boxes anymore? But I got her.

At Target I found Stacie! I also saw the new Yami Bakura and Yami Marik combo deck set they put out. I want it for Yami Bakura, but I couldn't afford it right then. If it was any other kind of Yami Bakura merchandise I wouldn't have been able to resist, but since I don't have anyone to play with I drag my feet on cards. I definitely plan to get that deck for my Yami Bakura collection, though!

At Walmart I got some muslin for the plushie ears. I still don't understand why they aren't made with ears on in the first place.

I waited several days for possible germs to die before starting the plushies. On Friday I made the ears and expressions. I copied Umbra's from a screenshot and I used Lumis's excited expression from Duel Links, even though I'm doing anime verse and not manga verse. The expression is just too cute! Saturday night into Sunday morning I worked on Umbra's hair. It's always hard dealing with fake fur hair and my finger is sore from pushing hard on the needle. But I love the results! Since they're not Rare Hunters anymore, I'll probably dress them similarly to how I depict them in my fics, in basic dark pants and purple tops. I have a progress picture up: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

I also figure I'll need to sew clothes for the Joes. I can't find anything that looks canon-accurate around, and a blog I found this morning warned that a lot of clothes don't fit Joes because some of them have big hands. I don't think mine do, but I can't be sure until they show up. I was going to use Luke to help me make clothing patterns today, assuming that the Joes and the Star Wars figures have the same bodies, but since Nesbitt is coming tomorrow, I think maybe I'll wait and have him help me instead. Nesbitt probably is a pilot, so it wouldn't look odd for him to sit around in the clothes he comes with for a while. I learned that some Joes and Star Wars figures have the same bodies, but I can't find out if the highly articulated ones do. I'm not sure Nesbitt has bendable knees, though, so his body might be more like the 1996 Star Wars ones that didn't bend the knees. But I'm not sure, because his hands are amazing and the FINGERS bend! I love it!

We've been watching some Star Wars movies and I had to write a bizarre blurb where Nesbitt is frozen in carbonite and Lector is able to release him (thankfully after a short period of time, unlike poor Han). I doubt I'll post it in any story, and maybe it won't even make it to 31 Days. But it was interesting to write. So far I gave no explanation for how it happened or why such a thing exists on Earth. I might if I flesh it out more. I'd certainly have to if I ever plan to really use it in something.

I also decided to look up Jason Wingreen, who voiced Boba Fett, and Jeremy Bulloch, who played him physically. I somehow stumbled on a hilarious interview where he said that in rehearsal he tripped on Darth Vader's cape and they both fell down and got tangled up, **snerk.** And then he flubbed a line and said "Put Captain Cargo in the Solo Hold." I've been giggling about that all day. I still wish I could get a 12 inch Boba Fett to match my Star Wars figures, but he still remains one of the hardest to get in the set. I should have tried to get one years ago, when they were first out. I remember watching my brother bring home his electronic Boba Fett with goggle-eyed interest. There's an electronic one on eBay for not too bad a price, but the Try Me button doesn't work. If I'm buying an electronic figure, I expect it to talk to me! I'd be fine with the Collector Series one too, even though I like the electronic one better, but it's also very elusive.

Since I've been having so much trouble finding out things about Barbies, like whether they're hollow or solid, or what characters they are, and this new problem about G. I. Joes and Star Wars figures, I'm slightly considering doing a blog on Blogger or somewhere talking about my collecting and things I've discovered on my own. Surely I can't be the only person who wonders things like this! It would be nice to be able to pass on my knowledge in case anyone else is having problems about such things.

I could talk about reality, but I'd rather not. Except to say, it was very disturbing when Dad said that 80 new cases of coronavirus in the county were traced to this town and a subdivision of it. **cries.** I was hopeful it was safe for things to start opening up in some places, but I wonder if it's safe to do so in this area yet.

I also find it very frustrating that at last there's a decent, wonderfully furry Scooby-Doo plush and I don't know whether it's safe to get it right now, since it's all open and exposed to whatever germs are floating around. I've been buying things that can be wiped off or washed before use. Can't really do that with a plushie. But I hate to pass it up. I've waited literally years for a good Scooby plushie. The last one before this had this horrible scratchiness that wasn't furry at all. If Amazon had it, I could buy it there and they'd ship it in a wonderful, sealed plastic bag (inside a box, of course). But I can't find it on Amazon.

Also, I think I'm going to buy that minky Sonic plush I've wanted. He's modern Sonic and my current Sonic is classic Sonic, and hey, in Sonic Generations they actually meet, so hopefully it won't feel like a betrayal of my old Sonic to get this one too. I just want to stroke the minky so much, lol. As always, the plushies in that set continue to sell out quickly and have to be restocked. People just love them!

I also hope to buy the Sonic movie when it comes out on DVD next week. I've definitely been waiting eagerly to finally see it! I wasn't about to pay $20 just to rent it on Amazon Prime Video. Or was it $20 to own it digitally? Eh, whichever. I want a physical copy.

Back in January I was still Christmassing, and for some reason I decided to watch a Barbie Christmas movie. It was adorable and filled with family squee! It was very weird seeing Skipper with brown hair streaked purple, though. LOL. I'm used to her having blonde hair. My paper doll has huge curly hair.

Recently I decided I needed some more wonderful escapist entertainment like that and I've been watching Dreamhouse Adventures on Netflix. It's just as adorable as the movie and has lots of family squee and friendship squee too. I like that the parents are there. I always wondered about them! Ken is kind of a drip, though. I remember he was also kind of that way in Toy Story 3. I wonder why Mattel wants to write him that way. Definitely not the personality I always pictured him having! He can be endearing too, though. EDIT: And of course, the day after I wrote this I found a ton of episodes where he isn't a drip at all, but just very sweet.

I miss Whitney. She was around in the 1980s and maybe the early 1990s and I have a paper doll of her. I'm happy Teresa is still around. I have a doll of her that my cousins gave me and I was thrilled. I like Nikki and Daisy, and Renee is cute and funny too. I saw a Daisy doll at Walmart on Monday. She has a kitty, which immediately drew my attention.

I decided I want to get Barbie's sisters to go with my Barbie doll. (Yes, I do have one; even though it wasn't a huge interest for me, I did love the characters I was familiar with.) I also want Daisy, and probably the other characters from the show as well. I would preferably like to buy them on Amazon with gift cards, but Amazon is sold out of ALL OF THEM. Seriously? I also saw that the Walmart two towns over completely sold out of the new Skipper and Stacie set. Wow. We still have it here. I might end up getting either them or Daisy at Walmart. We'll see.

Somewhere around here I have Barbie's car. It was $10 one year at Christmastime and I wanted it and got to have it. I was thinking it would be hilariously cracky to do a photoshoot with it and my Star Wars figures. I don't think Han or Lando would be caught dead in something pink, but I am just so amused picturing them cruising around in Barbie's car!

I also had a Barbie storybook with her and Skipper camping in the camper. This was before the camper was pink, heh. I found the book sans cover, and then found the cover too and taped it on. It's a cute little read involving them making friends with a local boy and then he disappears and they help look for him. The book was dated 1977. I wonder whose it was before me? I can't imagine it having been my brother's. LOL.

I also got into a Beauty and the Beast kick, watched the live-action movie again, and finally bought the animated one this week with an eBay coupon. Still waiting for it to come; it should be here by Saturday. And I realized the first verse of Something There sounds like Lector coming to realize Nesbitt isn't what he first thought.

There's something sweet, and almost kind
But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined
And now he's dear, and so unsure
I wonder why I didn't see it there before

And I got plunnied for a nice hurt/comforty squee fic where Yami Marik puts them in a Shadow Game and makes them forget each other. The others aren't allowed in because he knows they could break the spell, so they're forced to just watch. Lector and Nesbitt argue at first, but it doesn't continue long and they're seeing the good in each other again. Yami Marik then incites the small town they're in and tells them Nesbitt is a mad scientist, which they already thought anyway, and gets them to try to kill him. They want Lector dead too, and Nesbitt ends up getting killed trying to save him. Of course, the spell over them breaks and Nesbitt is healed. Just nice, satisfying (possibly gratuitous) hurt/comfort goodness. I have a version I got up for yesterday's 31 days prompt, and I plan to flesh it out at a later time. Right now I'm getting back to the Duke fic, which is the next ensemble fic as I'd planned.

Also, Tristan was awesome in season 1. I just really realized that yesterday morning as I studied some early YGO episodes for inspiration on how to work with him as a main character. I wish they hadn't ended up making him almost a joke character later. I always hated the robot monkey thing, but now I have even more reason to.

So. Coronavirus. Definitely not happy about it, and disturbed that it's become so difficult to find antibacterial hand wipes. But we have found some baby wipes, so have to be grateful for those.

Of course, the Rockapella concert has been cancelled again, and this time everyone's getting refunded because they don't know when they can reschedule. I wish they'd do it at the holidays so it could be the Christmas concert I wanted and paid for in the first place.

Sad about the "non-essential" stores closing, since I feel like people need to still have something fun around for cheering up, but I understand the reasoning behind it. I just hope they won't end up staying closed longer than estimated, but I'm afraid they will be. (Plus, some stores' ideas of "non-essential" are making me WTH. Seriously, JC Penney thinks it has to close? What is non-essential about clothes? What if someone needs clothes and can't find any that fit at Walmart? I've been needing pants desperately and couldn't find the right size at Walmart for weeks. I finally did this week, though. Whew.)

At least fun things are available in stores that are still open. I even found a Scooby-Doo shirt that has Scrappy on it! Who would have thought they'd ever make an official shirt with Scrappy that's a nice shirt and not bashing him? I just wish it wasn't almost as thin as mesh. Seriously, why do people think women want to wear things like that? I haven't bought it because of that, but unless they restock it, I suppose I won't have the chance to get it another time. I'm happy it's popular. Hopefully that will show Warner that Scrappy is not universally hated like Cartoon Network tries to make everyone think.

Of course, the isolation part of things isn't that hard for me to deal with aside from lack of stores to visit, since I'm an introvert and usually stay home anyway. I've been going about my business: writing, talking to people online, watching things....

I've watched almost all of season 1 of Yu Yu Hakusho. I love the characters, and indeed, I've developed an appreciation for Hiei at last. But the show is really too violent for me sometimes, and I really dislike that this Dark Tournament thing runs a season and a half. I don't particularly want to watch that many episodes of Yusuke, Kuwabara, and the others getting the stuffing beat out of them. And I definitely don't want to see some of the things that happen to other characters, like apparently there's a whole episode revolving around a creep who defeats his opponents via my most hated death trope. Seriously?! I would, however, like to see a few of the intense episodes, like where Genkai is killed and where they think Kuwabara is dead. But I can't see myself watching all episodes of the Dark Tournament. It is frustrating, though, because I love the characters and want to see their adventures.

I also, after 11 years, managed to feel ready to watch The Princess and the Frog. That's how long it can take me to be able to deal with something that revolves around a lesser-hated trope, even though I was excited about it when it was first coming out because I loved the New Orleans setting and music and enjoyed the return to traditional animation. Having watched it, I loved the characters more than the film itself, I think. Heh. Charlotte's obsession with marrying a prince was kind of annoying, but I forgave it all because she was such an adorable friend! She could have blown a fuse when she realized that the prince she'd hoped to have had fallen in love with her friend, but instead, she fully supported them and thought it was wonderful. I had to snort at Naveen changing within the two or three days the plot took place, but that's standard Hollywood fare. Suspending disbelief, it was very sweet and moving. I loved how Naveen and Tiana each helped the other grow and develop into better people. That was lovely. And the reason I finally watched the film in the first place, hoping for inspiration for my current New Orleans fic, well, I'm basing my current villain on Dr. Facilier (although of course he can't transform people into creatures).

Downside, I haven't ever seen an animated Disney film so crude. Usually I only see one or two backside jokes, but in this film, every few minutes they had to make another one! It was like they were obsessed and couldn't think of anything else to make jokes about. And of course, I didn't like seeing the trope I hate of people turned into animals. And I hated that they killed off Ray. It was sweet that he could be with Evangeline, and that it could give everyone comfort, but the film had been light-hearted all the way along in spite of the weird stuff happening. Suddenly killing a beloved character at the climax drastically changed the mood and left a bad taste in my mouth. Somehow that seems worse than killing a character in the middle of the film, where there's still a lot of time left to recapture a lighter mood later. (But on the other hand, I haven't seen The Lion King or Bambi in years and I don't know how I'd handle those deaths these days either. I didn't handle Mufasa's too well even in a YouTube clip.)

I've kind of wanted to see the film again because I loved Charlotte and Tiana's friendship so much, and I definitely want the dolls Disney has of them, but I don't know if I feel up to seeing the things I didn't like again. Heh. So we'll see which feeling wins out.

Meanwhile, my New Orleans fic decided it needed to get darker than I really intended on it getting. Lector's been wearing down emotionally because of a succession of terrible things happening over this one day (not to mention other things that have been wearing him down over the last year and a half!), and a cruel spirit made him think Nesbitt had been murdered in a gruesome way, pinned to the floor by a sword. It was just too much after everything else and he collapsed. Nesbitt, meanwhile, is lost because the ghosts trapped him in a changing floor plan. But he senses when Lector collapses and is able to find his way back out and get Lector to rally. I adore the squee, but I really think overall I've been way too mean to poor Lector in this fic. Plus, I'm worn-out now from how dark it got and now I'm not sure I want to do a scene in the Zorc fic where Lector is put under the control of the Neo-Orichalcos and Nesbitt has to save him. It would be so developing for Nesbitt, but I don't really feel like doing that dark a scene now and having Lector say so many cruel things to Nesbitt while under the control. That just seems too heartbreaking after how far they've come and what they've been through in this fic. Maybe I'll want to do it after I recover from the darkness of this fic, but we'll see.

I'm also actually playing a 5Ds related event in Duel Links. It's to unlock the Carly Carmine character. I like her from what I've seen in the game, and her story arc parallels Duke's from my old Life After the Tears fic: killed and then brought back working for the bad guys unwillingly while brainwashed. I'm toying with whether that arc could give me inspiration for the Zorc fic when the Neo-Orichalcos comes back. Maybe I should do that with a character. Not sure if I'd feel up to it, though. I don't normally care about 5Ds at all because of it taking place in a post-apocalyptic Domino City and not knowing if the original characters are okay, but I like Carly enough that I would probably occasionally play as her in 5Ds world if I unlock her, same as I occasionally play in GX world with Jesse or Tyranno.

I requested a picture from ElfBean that will be in the climax of the current fic, Nesbitt rescuing Johnson from an exploded ship and the others gathered around to help get him out of the water. It looks incredible! Squeee.

I've continued to draw some of my own, too. Still trying to improve my craft. http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com ElfBean's pictures can all be seen from my Favorites.

I always have a need and longing to RP, and Lisa was very sweet and did a specific storyline with me that I've longed to do. And now I think I've found a longtime RP partner in Kohakuhime. I was going to put out feelers to find a complete stranger to RP with, but then I thought of her and felt she would be a lot of fun to RP with, since I already know her and know she likes many of the same story elements that I do. We've been RPing on Skype and it's a blast. I'd forgotten how fun instant message RPing is. IM programs are so different than they used to be too; you can just leave the conversations up all the time and they can be added to whether someone's online at the time or not. I love it!

Just like with October, many things went wrong during the Christmas season. Seriously, WTH? Most of it I don't feel like talking about or it's too private to talk about, but one thing (more minor than other things) was the Rockapella concert being postponed at the last minute because they got snowed in. And even though they were supposed to reschedule the next week, nothing has been done yet. I don't blame the band, but I am angry at whoever is delaying this. We paid for a Christmas concert, and now we can't have it. I've never seen their full Christmas concert, but I've seen several of their regular concerts. I still want to go, but this is very disappointing. I thought I would finally get to see their full Christmas concert. Both I and others have wanted them to make it a Christmas concert no matter what month it gets rescheduled to, since that's what we paid for, but I know very well that won't happen. Probably the most we could hope for is that they'll sing one Christmas song to be good sports. And of course I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to miss their Christmas concerts, but I can't help feeling angry and bitter that our concert was the only one that got cancelled because of the snow-in, even though another state's concert was the very next day. I know it's one of those things, but I'm mad anyway. It feels like a personal slap in the face by whatever likes to mess things up.

I'd rather talk about more positive things. I finally got on the Frozen bandwagon, because of all things, Dad saw part of it while baby-sitting great-grandchildren and he liked it and wanted to see it all. LOL. I think he was mostly fascinated by the CGI, because advances in technology like that have always intrigued him. Me too. But so we all saw it and I think he liked it. Mom and I loved it. So lovely to see a movie that turns tropes like love at first sight on their heads and sibling squee saving the day! Walmart had a gigantic 2 foot Olaf plush for only $15, and later $10! I wanted it, and got that for Christmas, as well as dolls of Elsa and Anna from Disney. I like the faces Disney did better than Hasbro's, although I'm surprised by the rubbery legs. While at Disney, I saw they also had plushies that are about 18 or 20 inches for only $12 each, so I got those since I didn't feel like I could ask for them after asking for dolls. I love how soft they are!

I haven't seen the sequel yet, but ( Read more... )

I actually liked Once Upon a Time's explanation for Elsa's powers better, where her aunt had the powers too and she apparently inherited them. Yes, I finally watched Once's Frozen arc, as Netflix got Once and after seeing Frozen, I couldn't resist seeing the characters live-action. Olaf was a glaring omission, though. I don't remember what I read of why they didn't include him. And of course, some things in the Once version were horrifying and traumatizing material, both for the characters and the viewers! It's so understandable why Ingrid got so messed-up in the head, after accidentally killing one sister and then the other sister immediately turning against her instead of realizing no one would be hurting more than Ingrid herself. I was happy that the arc ended with Ingrid getting a happy ending too.

Of course, I did not like seeing Rumpel in that arc. The writers really messed him up after how far he'd come in the first half of season 3, and I will never not be upset at that. I had to watch his season 3 sacrifice after I finished the arc to get the bad taste out of my mouth. I still consider that all of the show I consider canon ends there, although I love Elsa and Emma's friendship and would like to picture that a different version of the Frozen arc happens after my headcanon for the show diverges after Rumpel's sacrifice.

Along those lines, I had my usual thing of being sad to think that the characters would be dead now and wanted to bring them into the present to live, lol. I thought of a storyline similar to Twilight and Dawn, where Hans decides to embrace magical things to help him get what he wants and finds a spell that takes all of Arendelle to the present-day, and then there are big companies instead of kingdoms. LOL. But unlike Twilight and Dawn (or Once, which came afterwards ... hmmm, I really wonder if the creators read my stories ...), the characters show up with their memories intact, because it would be amusing to see them suddenly faced with modern technology and try to figure out how to use it. LOL. I don't know that I would really write the story, but I like picturing it as my headcanon after the shorts, anyway. I doubt I'll want Frozen II to be canon to me. I had a funny idea of Anna learning to drive and freaking Elsa out. I might buy the Wreck-It Ralph II dolls of Elsa and Anna in modern pajamas, because I definitely get a kick out of the characters in modern clothes. I already wanted the Belle from that line. I don't know if Walmart will reduce the price of the Frozen dolls, though. Some of the other sets in that line have got lowered prices now, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Frozen ones stay full-price.

I also wonder when Frozen actually does take place. I had developed this whole headcanon that it's around 1910 or 1920, because the characters from other lands are dressed similarly to the clothes in The Student Prince, which takes place around 1915. But I was watching a video on YouTube where the person thinks it's 1840 and seemed to be claiming that it's officially shown to be that in Frozen Fever. That's depressing to me because I was pretty set on my headcanon where it's more recent than that, lol.

Also, since 2017 I've been amazed by this resurgence of interest in Bob Ross. I used to watch The Joy of Painting all the time as a kid, and I think I still have an episode or two recorded, but I'd forgotten all about it and Bob Ross and couldn't remember who he was when I saw the parent of one of my church activity girls happy that she had chosen to do a school report on Bob Ross. Then I saw the Art of Chill game at Target and started seeing Bob everywhere. I finally looked him up and then I remembered! Lately I've been watching some episodes on Netflix. It's very relaxing and calming, and the pictures are just gorgeous. As an artist myself, I'm thoroughly fascinated by his techniques and how he paints such beautiful things in thirty minutes! I just love how cute he is about animals and saying things like he wants to paint more than one tree so the tree will have a friend. I almost wonder if that's where I got my obsession about nothing being alone, at least to some extent. I still have that; if I take the second to last can from a case, I often move the one remaining can to another case so it won't be alone. **headdesk.** I know it's illogical behavior, but I feel better to engage in it and it's harmless. I also love Bob ending each episode saying "God bless."

I've been toying with getting a plush of him that Walmart has. I probably will. And I just learned that there's another plush, more expensive, that Funko made. I am not a Funko fan, honestly, but this plush actually looks cute to me. They have one of Mr. Rogers in the same line, too.

I'm also watching Mystery, Inc. on Netflix. I really feel like it's too dark for Scooby-Doo, and I can't stand Velma's behavior of trying to force a relationship with Shaggy and unfairly bossing him around. If she really loved him, she'd love him for who he is. I can't imagine any other Velma being interested in him that way, though. And I think any other Velma would denounce the illogical behavior the Mystery, Inc. Velma displays. She barely has the traits that make Velma awesome. I don't really like Daphne being so ga-ga over Fred, either, and Fred being such an idiot. Shaggy and Scooby are the only ones who act like they're supposed to. I think characterization gets better later, though, and that these romantic messes don't persist through the whole series, so I want to keep watching because I'm intrigued by the overarching mystery. I might get some nice YGO plunnies from it.

I'm still writing Big Five fics and enjoying it. I'm doing a hurt/comfort one right now of Lector missing in a snowstorm.

Sometimes I have characters I'm working with who fascinate me personality-wise but whom I'm not exactly swooning over. What usually tends to happen is that sooner or later, after writing for them and developing them for a long time, I end up crushing on them and then do the fangirl squee.

Like with Lector, I'll admit I didn't find him so physically attractive at first, although I was intrigued by his complex personality and found it fun to work with. Somewhere along the way, I ended up finding that he had my heart and then it was "Ohmygoshsqueeehe'scute!**glomp**" And (silent) fangirly squeals watching him in episodes. At the moment I'm in one of my states of wanting to leap over the moon because I'm so thrilled with him. LOL. (And maybe also because I was looking at somebody's YGO Tumblr who sounds like she's open for possible RPing and I'm excited at the thought of maybe asking her if she would RP with me. I only have one RP going in my life right now, but I used to have as many as half a dozen at once! I would love to get another one going.)

I have to admit, when I wrote the ficlet of Lector being bothered by Vivian, it opens with her just being fangirly and I was channeling my feelings for Lector into that scene. LOL. (I would love to stroke his hair and beard!) Of course later, when Vivian got gross and wanted Lector as a love slave and hurt Gansley to try to force Lector's hand, that was all her and not me.

I also scraped together some more money because I just had to get another picture from ElfBean right away. I am eagerly awaiting the results.

... And in one of my silly explorations of random stuff, I looked up an episode guide for OK K.O. (which I have never seen beyond a clip from the Sonic episode) and completely snarked at one called Let's Not Be Skeletons. The title is hilarious, and the plot is, some new device people are excited about starts turning them into skeletons and the main character has to let everyone know it's a dangerous device. Gee, you think?! **snarks.** ROTFLOL WTH.

So browsing through things on Netflix Streaming eventually led to me discovering that they have a little bit of Inuyasha. Almost all my anime-loving friends watched it, but I never did for various reasons (including no access, heh). So I decided to try a little and see what I thought. I remembered years ago occasionally seeing the dub at Media Play and not being too impressed with the voice work.

I have a lot of mixed feelings. I love the Feudal Japan setting and the emphasis on Japanese folklore and myths! I am fascinated by Japanese culture and that's just up my alley. I don't like most of Kagome's "Sit!" commands. (I'm told the anime really overused it instead of only doing it when it was deserved or needed, like the manga did.) I'd forgotten about that flea thing, which years ago was one of the reasons why I wasn't interested. (The "Sit" thing was another.) I found both the flea and Sesshoumaru's toad helper rather WTH, and I think I saw episode 6 with them at Media Play and they were a large part of why I went "WTH is this ... no thank you." I seem to distinctly remember seeing the scene of the flea biting Kagome to wake her up, and various scenes with the toad whining, and the whole fight about the sword and Kagome ending up being the one to pull it out. I do love how Inuyasha and Kagome both have a ton of character development throughout the series and come to genuinely love each other.

I also love the second ending song, and the (slightly altered) line which I realized fit Nesbitt beautifully and led to me making this icon.

I'll probably keep sampling it here and there, but I don't know that it will ever be a big favorite of mine.

On the other hand, I also finally tried We Bare Bears and it's just adorable! It's so nice to see such a cute, happy cartoon. It's filled with friendship and familial squee and amusing adventures. I always went WTH at the grammatically incorrect and slightly eyebrow-raising title and didn't expect much from it, but it's so sweet and pure. I adore it!

For months I've had a story partially written where Johnson is assaulted by his former secretary, but I've always waffled on finishing and posting it. I finally got the inspiration to do so when Crystal told me about an episode of Perfect Strangers that addressed the topic that men can be (and are) sexually assaulted too. I feel it's important for that to be brought out, and I got the fic up after writing all the rest of it out. I'm glad it's up, but super worn-out from writing such a heavy fic. I also just came from writing that one about Noa's death too. I want cute and fluffy stuff now. And maybe a nice, gently spooky Halloween fic.

Rockapella is finally going to be here again! And it's reserved seating, gah. Having a time of it figuring out how my friend and I are going to get tickets before all the best seats are taken.... I can't get them right now, and if anyone gets them online there's that annoying extra fee.

I had a $5 promo code from QVC I wanted to use, so I've been on the look-out for anything I might like to buy. A couple of weeks ago a purple penguin plush caught my eye and I got that. I also discovered I had another $5 credit in my account, so I got $10 off! I'm also doing Easy Pay. There are a lot of lovely things I wish I could get from QVC, but I have to restrain myself even though Easy Pay makes it so tempting. My penguin arrived Wednesday and I decided he's the brother of my blue penguin plush Richard, lol. I always liked penguins; two penguin plushies were among my favorite childhood plushies. Crump being so nuts about them makes me take a lot of stock in them again.

And I did that character quiz yet again, this time for Nesbitt: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com