I'm tired.

I'm tired and sad and worn-down. But I have to keep dealing with the problems that are plaguing us and I have to be stretched thin trying to take care of everything and not having help with some of the problems.

My dad is practically blind. He needs help with all sorts of things. My mom has Alzheimer's and is very needy. She gets distressed if I'm not around, even just if I need to go into the basement for a bit to help Dad with something down there. It makes it very hard to get things done. There are a couple of others who are able to help Dad from time to time, but I'm about the only one who can help Mom. I have to dread each day wondering if I'm going to be mistaken for my aunt, my grandmother, or another version of myself. Any day when there isn't a distressing flip-out that takes ages to repair is something to celebrate. I've had to say goodbye to so many things we loved to do together that she doesn't like anymore. And the more I think about it, the more I think that the symptoms were starting to show years ago. I thought some of the things she said for years were extra strange, but it was only last year that it really became apparent what was happening.

I just wish we could all be happy again like we used to be, but I know that is highly unlikely to happen. Things have just been getting worse and worse in so many ways ever since 2019, at least. I can't stop longing for healing miracles, especially when we watch true stories like on It's a Miracle, but it doesn't seem like anything like that is in store. I just wonder why we can't have amazing healing miracles like those people have. Why aren't we good enough or deserving enough? Of course, there are no answers. I don't need to be preached at that life is full of trials, or that we're supposed to go through trials, yadda yadda. Why this trial in particular? What are we supposed to get out of it? What I get out of it is that Alzheimer's is Hell and I despise it with all of my heart and soul. And it kind of runs in the family. I'm terrified it may be my fate in the future. I don't want it! It is tragic to see an intelligent woman crumble like this. She used to spend hours writing letters and poems to cheer people up. Now most of her writing is devoted to letters to nonexistent people she's determined to deliver to real houses, or letters to real people about things that never happened. Why did God let this happen so she can't really serve Him anymore as she so loved to do? She touched so many lives for good. She could have done more.

I try to find escapes in online things, but I often find drama, unfriendliness, and story reviews dwindling close to nothing. I don't feel like I belong or am wanted most places, and the places where I do feel welcome enough aren't as active as I would like. I do have happiness talking and RPing with certain people, but those numbers have dwindled a bit too. What I do have means everything to me. I cling to the fictional characters' realities where things are happier than reality.

Retail therapy is still a thing for me. I have some more adorable Eevees now. I got the cute Tomy one, and the seller included two more plushies as extras! Popplio, whom I intended to get since she's Sandy's friend, and a tiny Eevee I have as the child of the Tomy one. I also bought Gigantimax Eevee.

I got the Pokemon Center's Christmas Eevee shortly before he sold out. I also found the autumn Eevee with pumpkin on my birthday. That was a special treat! Then Target finally got the sitting down 24 inch Eevee in stock again and I bought him. Those and finally getting to play Pokemon Go were the highlights of October. Most of the month was terrible.

I have three Eevee ornaments, the two Hallmark ones and one from the Pokemon Center. The latter is so heavy I was afraid it would fall off the tree, so I have her standing up on my filing cabinet. She and my other Eevees all brighten my days immensely. Their innocent faces are just precious.

I've needed to buy my own Christmas presents again this year. I've found a lot of lovely things for myself as well as my parents, and friends are starting to send awesome things too. It's hard to wait to open everything! Only two weeks to go. I pray desperately that Christmas can be nice and magical, like when I was a child, but I know the reality is that something will very likely go wrong, as it has on all holidays and my birthday lately, or the day right after.

Please, God, let us have a happy Christmas....

I've seen almost all of The Clone Wars, a good portion of Rebels, and am obsessed with Ahsoka like almost everyone else. The way she developed so naturally all along is just incredible writing and acting. I desperately want a Black Series figure of her, and the Forces of Destiny doll, and so does everyone else! The online sellers are capitalizing on that and overcharging like whoa. I'm still waiting for Walmart to get her and The Mandalorian in; I don't want to pay those overblown prices online. But it's so utterly maddening. A friend did find the Mission Fleet Ahsoka for me, and I just love her. I want to get other characters in that line, as they have The Clone Wars-styled Anakin and Obi-Wan and clone troopers. I think The Clone Wars is the only time aside from episode 1 that I've actually liked Anakin. But I still got mad at him last night and didn't end up buying the Mission Fleet figure of him yet.

I also want all the DVDs of The Clone Wars, which is proving almost as impossible as acquiring the Ahsoka and Mandalorian figures. The auctions always go too high. There's a seller with some Buy It Now sets of everything, but charging more than I hoped to pay. Still, it's a good price for that much content and I'm tempted to get one, if he still has any left. If I did, though, I probably wouldn't have any money to spare for figures.

I also love all the Rebels characters and want Hera, Kanan, and Ezra figures especially. Sabine too, but I like her season 2 hair the best and the figure has her season 1 hair, so I might just get the Forces of Destiny doll of her for now. I love that she changes her hair color every season. LOL. I'm just blown away by how wonderful all the Star Wars OCs in these TV series are. I watch them for one episode and immediately want to know more about them. I consider all of them as meaningful and special of characters as Luke, Leia, and Han by now.

Amazon offered another Prime trial already, to my surprise. I took it and bought the Ahsoka book, which was just re-released as a paperback. I also bought a bunch of Clone Wars-era Star Wars books a couple of weeks ago, and I finally finished a Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan book I'd started a while back. I haven't been so excited about Star Wars in a while and it feels great. And it finally rekindled my love of reading enough that I actively try to find time for it more often now.

I think if I still don't see the figures at Walmart tomorrow, I'll either buy a Rebels figure online, a book about Kanan and Hera, or make an offer to that seller for the Mission Fleet Anakin figure. Or pick more than one of those options. Amazon is offering a $5 credit for the next video I watch from them, so I'll want to secure that before making another Amazon purchase, probably.

I finally saw some of the next season of 5Ds. As I had thought, most of it is fillery. I'm not sure I'll watch much of it, nor am I sure I want the DVDs that much now. I do want the first set, though, because of the amazing Dark Signer arc, and I still want to own Kalin's redemption arc, which is on the second set. I don't feel like buying the whole set mainly for seven episodes, though, at least not until I can find some more of these Star Wars things I want. But season 4 doesn't wow me either, as it's apparently entirely a tournament in an arena. I don't know if there are any Shadow Game type duels, although there is a dangerous villain.

I just finished my fic using Miho/Melody. I still haven't been able to give Christmas up and the fic was set at Christmastime. It ended up getting very dark with an old enemy of Duke's trying to possess Tristan to kill Duke with another Eon Item. Tristan resists, but the spirit manages to harm Duke without using Tristan's body. Tristan has to finally open his heart to forgiving Duke about the Serenity situation in order to reverse the damage and save Duke's life. I struggled for a long time about letting the fic get that dark, but finally accepted that was what the story needed.

I'm not sure what I'm going to write next. I finally figured out what that first Duke and Snakes oneshot needed to be finished at long last (I must have written that eight years ago or so!) and I posted that to AO3. I might post the others in that series there too, but I'm not sure, as someone there thinks Snakes is an artificial being, which he isn't, and I address the subject in the second oneshot and I'm not sure how well that would go over if they read that. I have a fic idea involving Kalin and Crash Town, so I might try starting that, but I'd like to have something for classic YGO too. I got out a strange thing I started where Ahsoka ends up on Earth after Order 66 and meets the Big Five. Lol. It gets stranger, as they're all Star Wars fans and know who she is, and she's pretty weirded out that her life is considered part of a fictional franchise on this new planet. I don't know that I'll really post it anywhere, as some Star Wars fans can get pretty intense about details and canons, I think, and I might get a bunch of people bent out of shape for having a Star Wars character visiting Earth. But I actually really like the piece; it's not treated as a comedy, and the Big Five are trying to help her as she struggles to be strong and deal with the horror she just came from. If I finish it and like it enough, I'll probably try posting it.

I'm also watching WandaVision. As long as I still have Disney+ for the moment, I figured, Eh, why not, especially since I love classic TV. The trailer broke my brain when they made that, but after understanding better about the series and the characters in it, I've been watching the series without batting much of an eye at the weirdness. I really worry that it won't end happily, though, especially given Vision's fate in the movies and Wanda's reality-altering powers in the comics to deal with traumatic things. I may keep Disney+ until the price hike in March, which would give me just enough time to see all the episodes.

I finally got to do my birthday outing, but as I'd figured, I didn't find anything I wanted other than a plushie base, and a nice patriotic shirt when I exchanged a pair of pants. Target was sold out of everything I like to buy there! Aurgh! But I did decide, while looking at a small Disney Store Mickey Mouse that cost $23, that I was going to buy the 25 inch one on Amazon. I got him that night and he arrived two days later thanks to my Prime trial, which they offered to extend for another month. He is sooo soft, both the fur and the huggability. I love him! I keep him on the bed.

I also finally got Build-a-Bear's tuxedo cat to be Oreo. They understuffed her, as usual, and I don't know when I'll be able to fix it since I'm not comfortable going into the store with her right now and I don't trust myself to do it. But she's adorable! Definitely the most Oreo-looking plushie I've ever found.

For Halloween, I put down paper towel on our wall and then put spaced-out candy. We got more kids this year than we have in a while. Go figure. I guess with no trunk or treats, they go back to traditional methods.

I immediately felt like getting Christmassy the day after Halloween and I turned on the small trees. On Monday we got lights for the big tree, since some were about to burn out on it (and immediately did when I turned it on, oy). The new lights are gorgeous. Instead of the cheap brands we usually buy, these are GE. Love it!

I wrote the YGO fic with Nesbitt being tricked into accepting the Orichalcos. I'm just finishing it now. It didn't work to extend it very long due to his unique circumstances and also the fact that I rarely like writing duels, but I like how it came out. Very heartbreaking and very squeeful and I use a lot of my personal feelings and struggles with self-hatred in how I write for Nesbitt. At the end, the problem isn't gone, but he's starting to heal thanks to his friends.

I'm kind of obsessed with the 5Ds character Kalin Kessler. He is a pretty horrible person even before the dark force gets him, and then he completely turns his life around after he's freed. It feels very vindicating. People would tell me I was writing characters wrong if their personalities became different when they wanted to repent. Kalin is a canon example showing it happening. I think his redemption arc was very well-done. I play him a lot in Duel Links. I want to make a plushie of him, and I might use my current plushie base for that. I even sought out some nice, soft material I could use for his hair. I found the right color and everything. Problem is, I could only buy it in a set of a yard and a half for over $8. Oy! The things I do for my crafting projects....

(I also bought a talking Charmander. I wanted him for my birthday, but they sold out, and they just finally got a couple this past week. One disappeared right away and I decided I'd better buy the other instead of waiting to try asking for him for Christmas.)

I also actually want to buy 5Ds. I've seen enough of it to know that I want to see more, and I would prefer to just get the DVDs and watch it that way instead of streaming the episodes on my tablets. I still hate the setting of Domino in the future, but I just love the characters and that's what sells it for me.

Duel Links added Zexal. A lot of fans of it have wanted it, apparently. I honestly think it looks very childish compared to the first three YGO series (yes, even GX). The characters seem to be younger and their cards are out of this world ridiculous. Zubababancho Gagagacoat?! How can anyone take a name like that seriously?! **headdesk.** Maybe someday Duel Links will introduce a character or event that will interest me, like they finally did for both GX and 5Ds, but somehow I doubt I will ever be that intrigued overall. With GX, I love Jesse Anderson and will play as him sometimes, and I'll play as Tyranno only because David Wills voices him, but GX just doesn't enchant me overall. The setting of a duel school is still preposterous and I just can't seem to get invested in the adventures. They're either too slice-of-life, which I can't get behind when I'm not invested in the characters, or too dark. 5Ds, on the other hand, grabbed me with the Dark Signer arc and Carly Carmine, and then I got invested in all the characters and their adventures. Somehow, in spite of the setting of a ruined Domino City and the nonsense of Turbo Duels, it feels like a better follow-up to classic YGO, storyline-wise. (On the other hand, GX still uses familiar cards, which felt so good to see after watching 5Ds. But I was seriously underwhelmed by the GX Paradox Brothers episodes. Not epic like the classic series at all.)

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.

So I finally got Kris, along with the G1 Pony playset, thanks to a second Target gift card. They did immediate shipping! I wish Amazon was that fast. They never are, unless you have Prime.

Kris looks more accurate than Kelly, just as I thought to begin with. I definitely want all the girls, though, even Julie. I honestly don't like her as much, especially compared to the classy Tiffany that she replaced, but maybe I'll like her more over time. I flip back and forth on her, really; I really liked her in Island Angels, but tonight we watched Stuntwomen Angels and I didn't like her slightly crude comments or her cowardly behavior. Although at the same time, I can't blame her for being afraid! I would be terrified to do frightening stunts! But I didn't like her cheating when they drew straws and causing Kelly to have to do the dangerous stunt first.

I could be wrong, but I think Julie is better-liked in the fandom than Tiffany. Maybe because Julie is different from the norm and they like that. But Tiffany is different too, in other ways. Like, she has an interest in the occult and believes in ghosts. I really like that and it would have been fun to have explored that more. I love the Halloween-ish episode with her! It doesn't hurt that she was in the first episode I saw, too, the one with Simon Oakland: Angel's Child, so in some ways I was used to her right off the bat. Some people have said that Tiffany is useless, but she doesn't seem so to me. Of course, I always love things everyone else hates, and in some ways, I think my ideal line-up would have been the season 4 line-up but with Sabrina staying on too, or at least making guest appearances like Jill. I love Tiffany!

The down-side of season 4 is that it's book-ended by two two-part episodes, neither of which particularly appeal to me. It opens with a crossover with The Love Boat, and while I like the main characters of that series, I don't care for the series since it seems like there's often insinuations of the guests getting it on with each other. (But I could be wrong on that happening a lot, since I haven't watched many Love Boats. A mushy series about guests often falling in love, or in infatuation, doesn't appeal much to me. I'd rather see more about the main cast.) Then season 4 ends with an irritating plotline of Kelly and Kris both falling for the same guy and that causing a rift between them. I hate that type of storyline. Although I am morbidly curious to see how bad the rift gets, as I always hope some friends won't let it ruin things completely. Naturally, we'll see all episodes eventually.

Halloween went well, costume-wise, although I didn't get to cosplay in local stores like I like to do. I still wanted to do it badly enough that I did it the following Monday. No one batted an eye. I love how chill this area is. I also love the dinner at the neighborhood Trunk or Treat: chilis and soups. They had a chicken chowder thing and even better, a potato soup! And tons of shredded cheese. So much love. A guy also gave us giant Snickers bars, which was epic. I adore Snickers!

Best Buy sent me a mystery certificate that I had to go in to find out the amount of. It could be anywhere from $5 to $5,000, with several other levels in between. Of course, I knew it was likely it was $5, but I wanted to try anyway, and even $5 would make me happy. Dad was very iffy about going, but finally agreed we could. We also needed to run a couple of errands, so it wasn't just a shopping trip for me to do frivolous, fun things. (And anyway, if it had been a big amount, I probably would have tried to find something to share with the family instead of just something for me. Although I badly want an Apple tablet, especially since I don't think they keep mysteriously gobbling space like Androids seem to....)

It was indeed the $5, and though my original plan was to get screen protectors for the big tablets if that happened, I was unable to do that. Oh dear. I know Best Buy had them back in April. But they have other neat stuff, even toys these days. I've been wanting a Wobbuffet plush that's bigger than the one Walmart has, and Best Buy had one. It's normally $20, but was on sale for $15, and then my certificate meant I only paid $10! I saw other things that looked good too, but my heart was set on Wobbuffet as soon as I saw him and the price. So soft....

I also had another coupon for Build-a-Bear and wanted to see if I could still get Peanut. She's no longer on the website and they're clearancing her out in stores, so I was worried they might not still have her. They actually had just one left! She was also part of a deal on clearance plushies for 2 for $25. Since she's $25 by herself, and would be such if I didn't do the sale, I thought it would be ridiculous not to do it. Why get one plushie for $25 when I could get two for the same price? They had one Halloween cat in the Clearance bin too, and since I'd wanted their pretty, glisteny cat, that was perfect. I also added a sound to one of these plushies for the first time, both to get the purchase up to what I needed to apply the coupon and because it was kitty sounds and it was too adorable to pass up.

I peeked in The Disney Store and they were still running plushie sales, as usual. I think I may ask for Lady for Christmas, to have something to ask for since I'm always puzzling over it. They also had a lot of Wreck-It Ralph figures and plushies because of the sequel coming out next week. I would enjoy having some of those too, but I don't know if I'd ask for any of those because Dad would probably make fun of the movie title and the character designs. I saw the trailer for the sequel as part of my work, of all things, and it looked so fun that I decided I should really see the first one. I'd always thought it looked like something I'd love. I was right, surprisingly, even though there was some bathroom humor I hated. Normally that will turn me off of something then and there. But I was so enchanted by the characters and the friendship and the "bad guy" thinking he was bad even as he was doing good things that I just fell in love with it when I bought it last week. I watched it three times, twice in a 12-hour period. LOL. I think the last time I did that with a film was the third Equestria Girls film. I also feel like it's time for another watch.

I also dropped in at Target with a third Target gift card (I've really been getting some amazing work lately) and remembered this time to get The Monkees' Christmas album. I'm going to listen to that today. I'm thrilled they finally made one, and that they got Davy on there in the form of archive recordings! It wouldn't be right without him. I also got another Pony. They still don't have the third wave yet, but now I have all but one of the second wave and three of the first wave. I hope I'll still be able to get the rest of the first wave, but I suppose I'll be able to; they keep selling out and restocking. People love having G1 Ponies back!

Then it was to Joann's to find material for David's hair. I really haven't wanted to use the same material as Duke's, since David's hair is lighter and that material is such a pain. I couldn't find anything in the exact shade, only lighter or darker. I chose lighter, because the material was amazingly soft. I also got a plushie base for Serenity and discovered that there is no tan or auburn fleece at Joann's. Walmart didn't have any either. I had to settle for something more orangey than planned on, as it was the closest to the right color. I also talked to an employee briefly about My Little Pony (G4), because of my Pony hat. We both have Twilight and Fluttershy as favorite Ponies, and she likes Applejack a lot too. I also like her, although I usually like Rarity as third favorite main Pony. (Overall, my most favorites are Twilight and Sunset, but Sunset I think of more as a human than a Pony, since she chooses to live as a human.)

I've mostly finished the Yami Bakura in Thief King form plush, by the way. I've detailed some of the process at dA, so I don't think I'll do it here too. http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

During the trip, we heard a radio ad about Papa Murphy's Pizza having XL pizza for $6 on Fridays, so I badly wanted to check it out. Dad agreed and we brought one home. It's more seasoned than a Little Caesar's, but the crust is very thin and I prefer thick crust. Seems like the other Papa Murphy's I had featured thicker crusts. Ah well, I love the pizza regardless, though! Yuum.

I've been in a lingering Halloween mood since the beginning of the month, but Christmas music is finally go on the radio and I'm getting into the Christmas spirit from that and from seeing the lovely Christmas decorations in stores today. There's also a beautiful new store in the mall that has mostly religious paintings! I can hardly wait to take Mom there; she'll be in love with it.

I finished my WWW fic and started on the next YGO one. I needed to further my Big Five storyline, so this one features Lector back in his body and Dr. Portman trying to manipulate him into helping her torment Seto for her latest experiment. But Lector, torn after getting fed-up with revenge plots and having tried to help Mokuba, isn't sure what he wants to do. He's the only one of the Big Five that I felt could be redeemed, so I wanted to try it. I definitely find it intriguing how upset he is about thinking Seto used Mokuba and betrayed Gozaburo. Portman points out that he's hypocritical, since he also betrayed Gozaburo. This is juxtaposed with Yami Bakura wanting to celebrate Halloween and turn the front lawn into a scare fest. LOL. It's my attempt to write something similar to the old mysteries, as I mused about wanting to try doing. The mysteries were quite a mix of humor and dark situations, which this definitely is. I didn't stop to realize, though, that maybe newer readers wouldn't appreciate the humorous tones.... I'm also not sure Dr. Portman is appreciated, since YGO leans more towards fantasy than sci-fi. There are sci-fi elements too, though, especially in the virtual reality arc, so it doesn't seem so out of place to me to have a villain who's more about sci-fi than fantasy.

So, no comments for the mask fic on FF.net yet, although people are Favoriting and Following. And giving Kudos on AO3. And someone actually did comment there! Interesting. Not sure how long I'll wait before putting up the other half.

Then I've been playing some computer games to unwind again. My favorite is Capture the Flag. Just one of the Shareware versions, but I love that one map that comes with it so much that it's provided hours of entertainment for years. Someday I'd still like to get the full version, if I can, but I've wondered if it has so many features I won't know what to do with them all. LOL. I think it has 100 different playing field maps! Woooow.

Then I got the urge to once again try to find Last Knight at Camelot. I haven't seen my Shareware disc of that since before we moved, and I've searched and searched. I haven't had any luck finding it online, either. Or at least, I hadn't ... until this morning. And the copy I downloaded is the full version, not the Shareware one! Squeeee. (Long out of print, so it should be okay.) I played for a long time in the morning and I still haven't got through all the levels yet. They're short, of course, since it's a game for young kids, but some of them are pretty challenging anyway. One of the recent ones had an obstacle course with snowballs rolling up and down steps and I haven't been able to figure out how to get all the treasures out of that room yet. I moved on because I wanted to see other levels, but I know I'll be replaying the game. I played the heck out of my Shareware copy with 12 levels, and it's just as fun now years later, or moreso, with all levels intact.

All a Dollar (which Dollar Tree bought out some years ago, and hasn't always improved on it) used to sell Shareware computer games, as I've mentioned before. I bought several of them over that time period. Last Knight at Camelot was the last one I got. I can't remember precisely when I got it, but I definitely remember playing it on Christmas Eve 1998, when I was 12. There was the magical anticipation of Christmas, the fun of a game I loved, and my brother playing Aqua's first album down the hall. (Darn thing had such catchy songs, although I think he stopped playing it when he really thought about what some of the songs were saying....)

Christmas that year was really awesome; it was one of my favorites. Coming down sick over New Year's, on the other hand, was one of my least favorite experiences ever. Ugh. That was a really bad flu that left me nauseous for hours. But, not thinking on that, Christmas was great and I remember that was when I got my Golden Retriever plush, among other awesome things. I think that was also the year I got a Salem the Cat plush, unless that was next year.... And that was when G2 My Little Ponies were out and I got several of those for Christmas and one for New Year's. (We occasionally got New Year's presents back then.) I was so happy!

Playing the game brings back a lot of those happy memories and feelings. I'm so glad I finally found it again!

And speaking of Ponies ... ohmygosh, a company called The Bridge Direct has released, under license from Hasbro, the first six My Little Ponies from the 1980s for the 35th anniversary! Squeeee. Some people are disappointed since they were re-released ten years ago by Hasbro itself, but the prior re-releases weren't very well-made. These are excellently done, according to those lucky enough to get them so far, and I want at least one really badly. I don't have any of those characters, so it's perfect for me! I wanted them years ago and didn't get to have them. I'm guessing if I can only get one, I'd pick Bluebelle, if she really looks blue as some pictures depict. (Sometimes she looks lavender, which is also gorgeous, of course, but with a name like Bluebelle, I want a blue Pony!) But I was also quite taken with Blossom and Butterscotch, and Minty. Snuzzle and Cotton Candy are cute too, but if I get to pick, I'd choose one of the others first. (Of course, if the latter two are the only ones available when I get to go, I wouldn't pass one of them up! I'd probably choose Snuzzle, since she's such a unique color for a My Little Pony.) Unfortunately, they only seem to be at Target and we rarely get to go there. Hopefully soon....

So, yesterday morning I did something I wanted to do 15 years ago and didn't do for some reason (probably money-related). I bought the Tomy Jessie and James figures, the ones that came together in the Japanese release. That means I'll have to buy Meowth separately, but I have my eye on a listing for him too. Heh, I was worrying about doing a whole Amazon order right now and then I go and do that. Typical. Although they cost less than an Amazon order, even with shipping. And I will be getting another cash-out soon....

I wish there were movable figures that were affordable. The only movable Team Rocket figures are the Figuarts ones, and those are out of the question. So expensive.... Anyway, I don't like that the Meowth in that set looks so grouchy. And I wasn't wowed by James' expression either, to be honest. I think the cutest figures, expression-wise, are the G.E.M. ones. They are very dynamic! But I prefer figures standing up straight if they don't move, so I decided the old Tomy ones were just fine. I might get the G.E.M. ones too at some point, though.

One nice thing about preferring Classic Era is that just about all the characters I'd want to have in a figure release exist. I wish they'd made Delia too, though, and Giovanni would have been cool. I also discovered that Brock is hard to find. Great. **sarcasm.** I'm somehow not surprised that the set with Nurse Joy is rare, but even by himself, Brock is not easy to get hold of and more expensive than the others, even loose. At least Ash and Misty will be easy to obtain....

I wish I could find another set of stickers like the ones I got at Toys R Us years ago. I used one sheet and they're mostly faded from water on the binder. The other sheet is unused. I love stickers, but I don't have many logical places to stick them. Part of me wants to use that sheet, but when it's the only other one I have, I don't dare.

And I'm feeling sad again that I didn't get to get that gift bag all those years ago. Silly, so many years later and for something like that, but it was so cute.

I do wonder why a lot of the official merchandise back then, like the bag and the stickers, and even the wig for Pokemon Live, depicted James' hair as lavender. It always looked blue to me, and at last the merchandise reflects that too. At least the old Tomy figures are one thing that showed it as blue even back in the day.

We had to get groceries this past day instead of on Monday because of Dad having a dentist appointment on Monday. At Wal-Mart, I found a lovely material to use for James' hair if I make a plush! It's the perfect shade of blue, and it's so soft.... Expensive too, at $5.97 a yard. Eeek. But luckily, I don't need near that much. If I could find the same material in the right color, I'd like it for Jessie's hair too. If not, at least I found some fleece in the right color....

The church Christmas party was also this past evening. This was perhaps my most favorite menu ever. Ham and rolls, ice water, and SEVEN KINDS OF CHEESY POTATOES! Heaven! Also, many, many desserts. I brought back two kinds of brownies and a giant chocolate cookie. Yuuum. Few things make me think Christmas as much as the smell of many varied desserts.

So years ago I wanted the Pokemon Christmas album, but wasn't able to get hold of it. Then I was frustrated because I heard that Team Rocket only had a part in one song.

I finally heard the album in full. That was hilarious and cracky and adorable. Team Rocket participated in many songs. My favorite was probably The Night Before Christmas. Priceless crack! The Christmas medley was hysterical too. The only thing I didn't like was parodying Joy To The World, but at least they just did one line of that. They also parodied Good King Wenceslas, but I'm always on the fence whether I consider that one of the sacred carols or not. I've parodied it myself at times. I did get the giggles at their parody of it. And then Ash did this parody of Here We Come A-Caroling that really made me snark even though I love Team Rocket.

I also loved that everyone was at a Christmas party and they had a truce with Team Rocket throughout the album. The characters talked at points throughout the album and it was such fun. And I am highly impressed with Maddie Blaustein's talent at singing in Meowth's voice. And on-key, unlike in the Jigglypuff episode, LOL.

I think I want the album for sure now. I can listen to it online, but that's not the same as owning the physical disc. It's such fun crack and so much better than I was led to believe.