The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

Christmas was basically very nice. I did manage to capture the feel of a Christmas from my childhood, which I had so desperately longed to do. It made me very happy. I also discovered cutting many dolls and figures out of their packaging can really hurt the thumb. My skin is dry and it cracked a lot there.

One of my favorite gifts is the Encanto doll set I've been wanting for a year! I was so thrilled Azalea542 got it for me! I have them set up on a metal tray right near my bed. They can stand on their own, which is so cool. I also got the Bruno and Dolores dolls so I'd have all the released dolls. I hope they will make the other characters too.

Another lovely gift was a gift card from Ladyamberjo so I could get Sylveon. I was sick of missing out on the Eevee family plushies at Build-a-Bear and I wanted to grab her since she's a favorite. That outing was a time. Almost everything that could go wrong on that outing did. Thankfully, we managed to return with Sylveon or it would have all been pointless. It started precipitating. I objected. Dad insisted we keep going, for some reason. We had to stop and get something from my sister. We had to get gas and had a hard time getting the locked gas cap off. We got stuck in a ditch for which there was no warning sign posted. People were very kind and helped us get out, but it took an hour or more. When we finally got to the mall, some mysterious thing had gone wrong and the store was temporarily closed?! I waited a bit, left in discouragement, then tried calling before leaving the parking lot. They were open again, so I went back for Sylveon. There was already a line forming, so I had to wait a bit more. Driving home was a nightmare as the precipitation continued. But at last we made it!

I got some more Eevees and watched The Rings of Power. I loved it and named Eevees Merry and Pippin. ThickerThanLove sent me the Lord of the Rings bear from Build-a-Bear, squeee! He looks like Frodo, with brown curly fur and blue eyes. I need something to name Sam next.

I am still furious at Nintendo cutting off eShop access to 3DS and 2DS tomorrow. I spent most of this past week looking for things to snap up. There was a big sale on Capcom games, for some awesome reason. I got Mega Man Legacy Collection. Mega Man games are hard. I can't jump on the bad guys and they swarm me really fast. I can't blast them all. I'm really happy to have the games, though. I'll figure it out. I was disappointed I couldn't seem to find anything else. I already got most of the awesome stuff I could afford in the months prior. Then I finally thought to look up Phoenix Wright. Those games were also on sale, for an incredible $2.99 each! Even the trilogy set! After spending much more than I really intended or wanted to (especially on DLC), I have many Phoenix games. I wasn't going to get Apollo Justice, but NinetalesUK finally convinced me I should. If I happen to take to him and the other characters from his games, I probably would be upset to not have the first game with them. I am notorious for balking at things and then loving them when I finally try them. For $2.99, I figured I'd better get it.

I got Investigations for the iPhone, since that was the only way to get it. (Yes, I have an iPhone.) But apparently I will only get the first case and have to drop a lot more to get the rest. I don't know when that will be, since I've already spent a lot. I'm enjoying the first case. Miles is still my favorite; playing as him is wonderful.

I still wish someone could use Radley's sprites from Over the Nexus to make a video game with him. I wish I could do that. I have no skills and would have to learn.

I got my dad's HP laptop working again and downloaded Steam onto it. Then I got The Disney Afternoon Collection, which was on sale for $5. I have always wanted to play those games. Darkwing is hard like Mega Man. The Chip and Dale games are the easiest. I am enjoying them all, even though I'm having trouble getting very far in them. I'll figure it out.

I had plans to get the Leafeon plush at Build-a-Bear, even though I'd have to do the online bundle with unnecessary clothes. I still want to try to make it work even after needing to snap up all that Nintendo stuff before it's gone. I have tried for days to convince my brain it is foolish. My brain will not listen. It's the only way to get him. I'm hoping I can re-sell the clothes, at least the sleeper. I might like the cape enough to keep it, but the onesie seems very silly. I don't want to cover up all that beautiful fur. If he hasn't sold out yet, I plan to order him tonight. He will make a lovely Easter gift. I'm tired of missing out on the Build-a-Bears. I wish I'd got him and Glaceon when they were briefly in physical stores last year, and Umbreon when he was online again briefly.

Some family members wanted me and Dad to get on their Verizon phone plan with them and we'd get iPhones. Mine was free! It's 13. The camera is glorious and I've taken videos of the kitty. The space is also glorious. I have 128GB! And there's not a lot of bloatware. It looks like I can delete whatever I want to, too. I like using the iPhone as a gaming device, mostly. I see both pros and cons of it. It's much harder to type on; if I need to correct a mistake, I can't even go right to the mistake. I have to erase the whole word! There's no headphone jack. Clearing caches is much harder. Apparently I'm supposed to hit offload app, but the description sounded much more complicated than a simple clearing of the cache. It sounded like I would have to redownload the app any time I clicked offload! Some of those apps are big. I don't have time to keep redownloading them! I got my dad's Motorola Android phone since he didn't need it anymore. It has 64GB, which is also good. I like to use it for most other Internet activities since Google devices are easier to manage in a lot of ways. Two of my tablets have been dying a lot, leaving me with the Amazon Fire tablet and these phones. I am happy to have them all.

I found someone called ZakuraRain who will do beautiful pictures for only $3, $6 if it's colored! They call them doodles, but they're definitely higher quality than mere doodles. I've got four pictures from them so far.

Fanfiction writing is slow at times, but still going on. I'm writing some enjoyable Kalin and Radley stories. Sometimes inspiration flows.

I also finally put the collars and lapels on the Kalin and Radley plushies' coat and jacket. I need to take pictures. I was going to get silver snaps for Radley, but I couldn't find the right kind and then I wondered if even the lightweight duster kind would weigh the light material down a lot.

Haven't felt like writing for months. There's been a lot of upsetting things happening in real-life and online both, and I've preferred discussing both good and bad things in private with friends.

I had a lot of fun buying my own presents in October, at least, including elements of my Radley costume. I am very happy with it. I like to dress as him and record various songs trying to sing as him, which is interesting. It's hard to sing with anything resembling a male voice, but it helps that his dub voice isn't terribly low and my normal speaking voice isn't terribly high. I haven't done it for a while, but there are other songs I want to try.

Also bought most of my own Christmas presents aside from stuff friends sent. Dad wrapped some of them so I'd have more to unwrap. It was a very nice Christmas. I got Disney dolls of Raya, Sisu (I love the movie, mostly!), Ariel (also finally saw that and love it too), and Frozen 2 Elsa. I still don't like the ending of the movie, but I do love her final attire. I also got some fun plushies on QVC, and I used a birthday gift card to buy an adorable Christmas tree plush from Build-a-Bear. His name is Bob, because really, what else are you going to name a happy little tree?

I got a huge basket of yummy goodies from one sister and some nice things like a diffuser from another. I love the concept of it, although I don't much like the scent of lavender. It comes with lavender scent to put in it. I want to see if I can find other scents too.

Azalea542 sent a cool musical Frozen watch and a Boba Fett pin. Ladyamberjo and Lisa sent lovely gift cards and I had some fun Amazon spending sprees. I have most of the 5Ds manga now, except for #1, which has decided to be elusive new. Aurgh. Aside from preferring new in general, I especially want new here to be sure I get the card that comes with it. I also got some DVDs.

MoonlightTyger sent a wonderful cap and a Boba Fett plush (so soft!), and Tales of the Abyss! I'm very relieved it plays on my 2DS. I've played up to where Natalia joins the party so far. It is a very fun game aside from the boss battle against Arietta. Such a relief to finally conquer that! It's always interesting when a property has a sheltered character like Luke. While I can't fully relate to Luke's specific situation, I was quite sheltered most of my childhood. I was very sick for some years and there was also a lot of unfair prejudice going around about our family which caused a lot of backlash on me. Some of the neighborhood kids weren't allowed to associate much with me and the ones that were allowed didn't get to play as much as I wanted. So I mostly played with Mom through those years. It wasn't until I was becoming a teen that I started really having in-depth friendships with people where we'd talk a lot and have conflicts and the like. So I wasn't always good at associating with people, although I tried to learn quickly and even fake it sometimes. Of course, I still mess up and I'm also such a weird person that a lot of people get turned off by my different interests in characters and topics. Some things never do change. People can be very cruel and unkind when someone goes against the norm, whatever the norm happens to be. Anyway, point being, I like when there are sheltered characters in things.

The Book of Boba Fett makes me very happy. Disney is continuing to fulfill my 30 year old dream. I far prefer their Boba to the often cold and ruthless portrayals from some of the old 1990s books. I never wanted to see him that way. Since canon (and by canon I only mean the movies, as the books were never absolute canon to me) was so vague about him, I felt like people could see him as anything they wanted and it wouldn't go against canon. While I don't agree with Disney on a lot of their decisions, I am so thrilled with how they're handling Boba. I hope the TV series will end satisfyingly. I kind of suspect it will, though, and how it will end.

Just finished a fic today and am planning for the next one. I set up for it at the end of this one.

I'm still getting commissions. I'm waiting on one now. It's impossible for me to resist a good deal on beautiful art of characters I love, especially when it's being made especially for me!

I'm also finally advancing on my doll project. I can't remember if I discussed getting one for Radley's friend Scotch. I also just got one to be the one I call Biff. I'm looking into some more right now. I love the My Scene dolls. They're taller than the ones I have for Radley and Kalin, but the heads align, which is the main thing I'm concerned about. I'll probably end up having all of the boy My Scene dolls before the project is through, and multiples of characters with vastly different hair in releases, like River, who can hence play two or three Bunch members.

I have three Kalin and Radley doujinshis. I love them very much. There are others out there, but I haven't got my hands on physical copies yet.

I've been making a lot of home-cooked meals lately, as with my various problems with food this past year I've needed to do my own versions of them. I've made lots of waffles and enjoy it quite a bit. I also discovered I can make chili. Yum. And while most fake cheese just doesn't cut it, I do like the kinds that Morningstar and Daiya use in their meals. Daiya makes it with garbanzo beans! They've started selling it separately and I've been making pizzas with it.

I'm driving again, which is extremely momentous for me. Unlike before, I'm actually enjoying it and not crippled by fear. I honestly believe God has always used YGO to improve my life. YGO Classic caused me to learn how to write and draw far better and make many friends, some of whom are still friends. Because of my love of Radley in 5Ds, I started wanting to ride a motorcycle. But you have to have a regular driver's license first. So I finally felt ready to try again after the traumatizing experience I had years ago. I got my learner's permit and have been driving since October. I will be trying for the full license soon. I prayed and prayed for years on help conquering my fear of driving and nothing worked until Radley came along. Thank You, God.

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.)

A couple of weeks ago or so I found the Kingdom Hearts 3 cutscenes of Sora's adventures in the first Frozen film. I had wondered if revisiting the first film in any form would make me decide I liked the sequel better after all. Instead, it had just the opposite effect, lol. I reaffirmed that the first one was perfect as is and didn't need a sequel, and that I really don't like the path the creators chose for Elsa in the sequel. Most unnecessary. I think the shorts and books have much better follow-up stories. I ordered a set of some of the Anna & Elsa books for my birthday and got another Prime trial for the next four weeks. They also offered me a $5 credit just for downloading a book to read free on my Amazon tablet! I chose another Frozen book, one about a ghost supposedly haunting the castle. It's fun and cute so far.

Build-a-Bear sent me an email the other day with Disney products in it. They have some cute Mickey and Minnie plushies, but most were too expensive in general and all were too expensive to buy online and have to pay shipping to get. Looking at the email made me decide something, though. I've wanted a Mickey plushie for years. This is the year I'm going to actually get one! I have my brother's little Mickey, but he's not very furry anymore and the stuffing was coming out. I can't remember if I was able to patch him up. I always felt like I couldn't get another Mickey because it would be "betraying" that one, lol. But I really want one and am determined to get one. Disney isn't having any sales right now, so I considered Walmart's offering. Theirs is really nice, but doesn't have a tail. I see a lot online with tails. I am most tempted to buy a 25 inch one that's $20, and then I'd get $5 off with my credit. I have a weakness for supersize things!

I also have a $5 coupon from eBay that I can use for once. Usually they send things I can't use, like coupons only good for fashion categories or whatnot. I'm still debating what to buy with that too. Part of me thinks I should get the Yami Yugi pin I need to complete my set of them (the set with the Yami Bakura pin). Another part thinks I should buy the other uncut dub DVD. I have 1 and 3, but not 2. I hadn't been interested before because it's just the Weevil duel and Joey's first duel with Mai, and I imagined Weevil's duel wasn't that different from the dub version and I don't care for how skimpy the Harpies are in their uncut forms. But it would be more voice-acting from the actors I love playing those characters, which would make it a treasure. I think it and Bonds Beyond Time are the only DVDs I don't have with any of the original YGO characters. (And their guest spots on GX. I don't have those either. I did watch the Paradox Brothers' guest spot on Hulu and can't say I was that impressed. The duel certainly wasn't as epic and spectacular as Yugi and Joey's duel against them. But it was nice seeing Syrus find inner strength he didn't know he had.)

I've actually watched some 5Ds. I like the Dark Signer arc and watched Carly's and Kalin's episodes for that. Then I wanted to see Kalin's redemption arc too. I really like the Duel Links event that was done for the latter. Kalin is a character who develops so much through just the few episodes he's in. I found it very vindicating how sobered he behaves when he finally realizes how horrible he's been acting. His extreme behavior change is how I tend to write characters going through the same type of phase.

I still hate the setting of Domino City after an explosion tore the city apart. Why did the creators think the fans would want to see their beloved city a wreck? It's so depressing. I refuse to accept that 5Ds absolutely happens in the future, even though I like some of the characters and arcs. I can headcanon it happening in an alternate dimension, though. I may or may not write a fic exploring that premise.

(Also, motorcycle duels will always be ridiculous. The characters can't even look at each other! I have a hard time believing that Seto designed such a thing, as the Wiki says he did.)

Azure Week was interesting and fun and now I've been preparing for Whumptober and maybe Comfortember. Two months of hurt/comfort prompts! Squeeee! I'm doing a connected story for Whumptober with Yami Marik tormenting the Big Five and I've just finished the first draft of the tenth prompt. They're all fairly short scenes. I might expand some before posting next month. We'll see. I don't think every prompt will be part of this story, as a few seem like they need to be stand-alone, but again, we'll see. I also sketched a picture when I needed a drawing prompt and used one of the Comfortember prompts. I may or may not save the picture to actually post for the prompt. That's a long time to wait, and I planned to write a fic for that prompt too.

Crump is here, painted, and has canon-accurate pants. I also gave him socks! I was able to get what I needed for Gansley and he should be here later today, squeee. So excited to have them all together!

This past day I tried to make Johnson's shirt. I failed. The vest part fit okay, but once I put in the sleeves, it didn't fit right, aurgh. I could either take the sleeves out and put in new ones, or do the whole thing over. So far I'm having trouble removing the sleeves. I'm a little too good at sewing tight stitches! (Maybe I'd better get a stitch remover at the store....) In any case, I'd better study how the Joes' shirt sleeves are made and how wide they are at the holes. I am determined to get this right!

I ended up buying something from QVC's Christmas in July after all, but not what I'd seen and gotten interested in before. Those were mild interests that shortly faded. But on the last day, they brought out something that enchanted me so completely and continuously that I did something crazy and bought it. They showed a three-foot Elsa doll that talks and makes snowflakes. I've actually kind of wanted three-foot Frozen dolls and wondered why there weren't any when I saw the three-foot Rapunzel last Christmas. I know I shouldn't have bought the doll, and a couple of times I've thought of cancelling the order before the stock arrives. (It was kind of a pre-order and I should receive it by the end of the month. So hard to wait!) But the Easy Pay is very affordable for me, and after all the crazy spending I've been doing lately, I think I should be able to swing the payments easily while also saving some money for my birthday. I absolutely cannot seem to convince myself that I don't need or want a three-foot Elsa. Especially since I can't find anything of comparable value anywhere. This was pretty much a one-time deal too; the price went up to full after that night, so if I did end up cancelling, I couldn't get back the deal I locked in if I regretted it later.

I also for the first time am now interested in seeing Frozen 2. I may not accept it as canon because I'm still unhappy about the ending and some other things, but I want to see it. Hearing the host talk so enthusiastically about it while advertising the doll got me excited too. I think it deserves at least one watch.

I think that host, Jane, is probably my favorite QVC host. She was adorable in how she proclaimed her love of still playing with toys and she wanted my other favorite host, David, to buy her the Water Nokk horse she was also advertising for Christmas. LOL. I love it.

On the downside, the Internet has been repeatedly cutting out over the last month. After CenturyLink ran a bunch of tests virtually, it seems that the modem is dying, aurgh. We're going to need a new one soon, and apparently the CenturyLink stores are closed because of the virus, so we have to buy online. Seems to me that tech stores should be considered essential and stay open when so many people are working from home these days. It's much quicker to buy something in person or do curbside pick-up than wait for online delivery!

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.

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.

I have enough gift card money now to get one of those YGO figures, only I wisely decided to watch the YouTube reviews in more depth prior to deciding which to get. And the end result is ... I'm not sure I want either one of them. Most of the reviews seemed to be fairly glowing, but they also discovered that the figures can come apart. One person got Yugi's arm off completely by accident, and a Yami Yugi figure broke apart in half. .__. Part of me wants to say that the reviewers were just playing too rough in trying to see all the movement points, but I'm still disturbed that such things happened. They should be sturdier than that and not fall apart just because someone is trying to see how well they can move! Also, they're smaller than I thought they were, only around 6 inches, and for me that makes them too much for the price. I still don't have Sailor Pluto because her price doesn't drop (and I haven't been able to snag her on Clearance; ugh, I wish so much I'd gotten her along with Tuxedo Mask and Chibiusa, even though I didn't think I could afford three at once, even on Clearance).

Also, one thing I am highly amused by is that Mattel figured out how to make a Duel Disk that detaches from the arm without taking part of the arm with it and it folds up and snaps together just like the real thing, but these fancy Japanese figures don't have Duel Disks that can do that! I feel like making a video where I review all three Marik figures I have so that I can point that out about the six inch Mattel Marik. I doubt anyone would care, but it just seems like a fun thing to do.

Amazon is finally going to have a Nintendo 2DS for slightly cheaper than Walmart, but it's not in stock yet. I still want to play Nightmare Troubadour and the emulator versions just aren't working, so I've wanted to get the 2DS and find the game and play it that way. But Amazon is notorious for not getting things in stock when they say they will and GameStop is saying the local stores don't have the game. I wanted to buy from them since they make sure to test all the games first. But I don't want to buy on the website and have to pay for shipping, and I'm not even in a position to do that right now (although I might be by the time the thing's in stock). Still, I can't decide whether I really want to drop all my gift cards on the 2DS or have a shopping spree and get several fun things. The 2DS is the one that comes with a Mario game, so I'd have a lot of fun with that, and then I want that YGO game, but I'm already actively playing two mobile games and I don't know that I should add two more. (Plus, I kind of wonder if the screens would be too small for me and I'd get eyestrain. I can't do much on my Smartphone because it's often too small of text. I prefer tablets.)

I did finally get another My Little Pony. I badly wanted Bow Tie because she's such a gorgeous shade of blue, and I found her! Squeee. I really wanted to get at least two Ponies, but I couldn't spare more than the money for one. But that's alright. I can hopefully get another one or two soon. LOL, there are Ponies everywhere in the room. I love it.

I have the second New Orleans fic done in first draft form. I changed the location of the climax to the cemetery from the third floor of the house. I'm amused that most of the story takes place in one location. Sometimes I can't write fics very well that have one major locale, but this one has flowed, possibly because I've drawn heavily from my haunted house dreams to put the house together. I have certainly rebelled against that Nancy Drew parody book that promised "a ghost in the plantation" and then barely spent any time at the plantation.

Evangeline certainly became an important character in the fic, which I hadn't intended on but I suppose it's not a surprise since she's Lector's younger sister and they're staying at her house. She's going through quite an arc of her own, growing more and more embittered at most of the family while Lector just grows more and more sad and weary. I don't think Evangeline's bitterness will resolve for a while, and it may continue for many years, honestly. It's hard to blame her for her anger, considering the father deliberately set Lector up as a target to be potentially killed to turn Dr. Raven's attention away from the rest of the family, and the rest of the family doesn't treat Lector very nice either, despite not liking what the father did. Evangeline started as just a cute, perky character who still idolized their father, and has changed quite a bit.

The next fic I'm planning will probably have some of Gansley's family showing up wanting to reconcile. It may also include problems from Bandit Keith's Rare Hunters and Duel Monsters spilling into the real world again, because I got plunnied for some scenes with Kuriboh mad at Gansley and later feeling sad after Gansley is badly hurt trying to protect Atem. I don't really want to wait on either idea, so they may combine. Also, Lumis and Umbra will duel Lector and Nesbitt and think they have it made when Lector and Nesbitt start arguing about strategy, LOL. Of course, Lector and Nesbitt show that they can pull through and their friendship triumphs over their arguments.

I have Lumis and Umbra in Duel Links now. I'm happy for any new characters in the classic YGO world, but I can't help wondering ... why are we getting such minor characters when so many major ones still aren't here?! Although between Lumis and Umbra becoming unlockable and Rishid having an event right now too (training to get stronger to save Marik), I wonder if there's any chance we'll finally get to have Marik soon. I really hope the game won't pull some dumb thing and say we can't have Marik because then Yami Marik can't be around. Yami Yugi and Yugi are both there, in separate bodies! We can certainly have both Marik and Yami Marik!

Lumis and Umbra are unlockable as part of a new tag team event. I wasn't too impressed with the last tag team event, as it was basically the same as the first one, but this one is really fun again. I am so amused at some of the team-ups, especially Yami Bakura and Bonz! One thing that surprises me, though, is that the classic YGO tournament is the second one instead of the third one. I would think that they'd make players wait until the last tournament to get new characters unlocked. The GX tournament is the last one instead. Its prizes are some new GX cards or something. I haven't even played the GX cup. Since it comes after the classic YGO one, I saw no need to bother since I don't care about GX. Heh. Instead, I've played the classic YGO cup three times. And I read you're allowed to play the cups more than three times, so I might do it again before the events ends.

Oh, and it looks like I never got around to recording that I did get Darkwing unlocked in the Disney Heroes game. Squeee. After I leveled up high enough to unlock a place called the Coliseum, I was able to earn chips to make headway towards unlocking him, and when I got Guild Wars unlocked and won a Guild War, they offered me Darkwing chips as a reward and then I had enough to get him! So awesomely satisfying. I focus most of my attention on leveling him up and he's my strongest character now. Next most important are the Wreck-It Ralph characters. I finally unlocked Calhoun the other day and now I need to get Buzz from Toy Story. He's very hard to get; Darkwing was 30 chips and Buzz is 80, and I only have two. Or there's always the chance I may unlock him by opening a Diamond Crate with him in it. We'll see. I have Woody, who I was totally chuffed to get. I also have Rex. I need Buzz too! And Jessie.

So I just saw a Tweet KB Toys made several months ago saying "We were always better than Toys R Us anyway." Boo! Never! **hugs Toys R Us.**

I did get to see Geoffrey's Toy Box, and I'm over the moon to have seen any piece of Toys R Us existing! I took pictures of the logo. I did see some stuff I would like, and some other stuff that was sold-out that I'd like to see too, such as a telescope. Mine has always worked funny. Maybe one by a Toys R Us brand would work better. I'm hoping they'll restock, or that another branch will have the out-of-stock stuff.

I also bought a Wreck-It Ralph plushie at The Disney Store. I wanted him when I saw him on my prior shopping trip, but I thought I'd see if I could find a bigger plushie for the same price somewhere else. I couldn't, and when I returned to Disney, that one looked pretty big to me. And he even has real clothes, not just clothes-shaped fabric pieces sewn on! All the attention to detail made me feel the price was worth it (he was $20). So, I got him. It's been fun cuddling with him, although it's not so easy when laying down. My plushies made with the blank plushie bases seem to be ideal for cuddling while laying down, amusingly enough.

I'm having a lot of trouble with the DVD player on the desktop computer. Things pixelate, my Odd Couple discs will rarely play right, and I often have to restart to play more than one disc of anything. I either want to buy a DVD player for my TV or get an external CD drive for my laptop. I'd prefer the latter. Except now I'm wondering if buying one that's around $18 would give me the same trouble as if I tried buying a regular DVD player for that price. I'd be looking at horrible quality if I did that. But if I have to pay $40 for a decent external drive, I'd rather pay $35 for a regular DVD player like the one we have in the living room now.

Duel Links is finally giving us another unlockable DM character, Tristan! He's unlocked if you beat Zorc in this latest incarnation of the Monster World RPG. Manga Yami Bakura has trapped Tristan's soul in a game piece. Free him and you can play as him in the regular Duel Links game! I'm at Area 12 and he's unlockable after passing Area 20. And since I play as Yami Bakura, it makes for an odd situation and reminds me of the plunnie of Manga Yami Bakura getting loose in my anime verse and causing trouble. I consider that in Duel Links, I play my post-series anime verse Yami Bakura, so he's traveling with Tristan while the Manga Yami Bakura is presiding over their torment. I may have to write a blurb, although I think in it, Tristan's soul isn't trapped, but he and Yami Bakura are simply trapped in a life-size Monster World game.

Meanwhile, my current YGO fic has taken various odd twists and turns. The Big Four got back to their bodies thanks to Yami Marik, they've decided they don't want anything to happen to Lector, and Khu is free now as well and wants to kill Lector for possessing him to keep him from killing Mokuba. Of course, this will lead up to hurt/comfort and angsty situations in the climax, with the Big Four trying to protect Lector and all being caught in a blast from Khu's staff. This Khu is more of a loose cannon than the old timeline Khu, but he's still very cunning, cruel, and sadistic. Of course, now that we know P. Seto is a good guy, unlike years ago, Khu has taken on the desire for power while P. Seto is the rational brother. And since they're half-brothers in this verse, Khu's motivation is fury at Ahknadin for deserting his mother and for focusing on P. Seto when Khu wanted power and P. Seto didn't. Khu now wants to prove himself a worthy son to Ahknadin, which will creep the Big Five out when they realize. Deja vu much?

I've rewatched the Big Five episodes so much for fic research, by now I'm really figuring out the various intricacies of the characters. I also watched most of the Lector and Seto duel in Japanese and decided I prefer Lector in the dub. He's angry at Seto's apparent heartlessness in both versions, but he's more emotional in the dub and more devoted to justice. The Japanese version is rather coldly businesslike for the most part. I also had more of a sense that Lector might care about Mokuba in the dub. I also prefer the Seto duel over the Merger duel. If Lector was interested in justice to begin with, I think losing to Seto made him snap, as he seems much more concerned with just getting out of the VR world any way he can after he loses to Seto. He's much more interesting in the Seto duel.

I definitely like how they all seem to be trying to find ways to all get out, instead of being "every man for himself!" They did squabble over bodies in one episode, and yet they all figured they'd each have one. It's kind of refreshing to see antagonists who aren't trying to backstab each other any time they can. I've been noticing how well they work as a team and how they really only have little spats that aren't serious and are likely quickly forgotten. Of course, that makes me want to think they could really care about each other. I was already exploring that concept in the second fic of this trilogy, where they're all shaken by Khu trapping Lector in the darkness once it looks like Lector's been killed and assimilated into it. Them still being shaken over that is partly why they're so determined to protect Lector from Khu in this fic. They know that they do care about Lector, even though now Lector is tired of revenge schemes and wants to try doing something else. I'm planning that they will all decide to try to move on eventually, and they will stay together and embark on a new venture together (maybe making Crump's wildlife preserve/penguin theme park). After sharing so much together, they realize they all want to keep being together. Crump especially considers them his family, since he came from a very dysfunctional family and was introduced to very different interactions when he met the rest of the Big Five.

I also wanted to work with a random angsty blurb where Mokuba and Lector are caught in an explosion and Mokuba wakes up to find Lector seems to be dead. Mokuba is badly shaken, especially since Lector was trying to protect him. Mokuba tries to revive him but cannot. Seto finds Mokuba later and tries to comfort him. Then it decided it wanted to be a fic and not just a blurb and that I should show how the Big Four react to this. Nesbitt impulsively runs off seeking revenge on whoever set the explosion. Of course, Lector will be okay, but probably not before a lot of chaos happens. I won't be focusing a lot on writing this until my multi-chapter is done, and maybe I won't even have the courage to post it if or when it's done, like I'm still having trouble deciding to post that fic about Yami Bakura being swallowed up by the darkness.

I remember I used to occasionally encounter people (usually kids) who liked Lector. I think my reaction to any member of the Big Five being liked was approximately "..." But of course, it figures that eventually I would be sucked in too, since Lector is one intriguing antagonist during his duel with Seto. I am always fascinated by antagonists who seem to be seeking justice for some real or imagined wrongdoing.

I also decided to try making a Lector plush to see if I could do it. I had two plushie bases here, although they were earmarked for other characters. I can replace one easy enough, and considering I had fabric markers to color a plushie tan, plus I had left-over brown fake fur from my Baxter plush that looked like it would be just enough for the hair, I wanted to jump right in and see what would happen. Well, it's been interesting. Especially constructing the hair in the back, as I had to use many little scraps to fill in places. But I don't think it looks too bad, and tonight I got material for clothes. Instead of a business suit, I wanted to make that awesome trenchcoat he wears at the beginning of the Seto duel (or something approximating it, more likely), and I decided that under it he's wearing black pants and a black shirt. I plan to make the fedora too, but Walmart was out of purple felt tonight (and most other colors). WTH.

(I think I'd better always have at least one plushie base on hand from now on, and maybe certain supplies that could be used for multiple characters, like the brown fabric markers and certain hair materials, so I can start plushie projects any time I feel like it. I really want to make pretty much every YGO character eventually. I think right now, plushie-making is my second favorite creative expression, right behind writing.)

I want to draw a picture of Lector standing under a lamppost in the trenchcoat and fedora too. Haven't got to that yet. Maybe I'll try it after I post this.

Seriously, this is not something I planned on happening. I suppose that's the case for any sudden obsession, though. I wouldn't actually say I'm crushing on Lector, but he fascinates me enough to do all this, and from past experience I know it's very likely I could end up crushing on him.

Mama Mia....

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.