The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

I had unusual dreams worth writing down:

There was some kind of dark creepy RP or something I was looking at, where there was a cult sacrificing people. It said if someone was sacrificed and revived, they might find parts of themselves?! Apparently they would revive in a new body because the old one had been damaged. I refused to allow Radley to be a victim. He was around and terrified, though.

I had to get more mysterious stains off my white Radley shirt, which is something that happens in real-life and is aggravating.

I was looking at some old Great Illustrated Classics, which was a line of abridged classics for kids. I found one that to my utter shock was a crossover with Andy Griffith and YGO 5Ds. The storyline was something about Andy Taylor having a daughter or maybe a granddaughter and I guess he was dying and unable to care for her, and apparently he wanted Radley to be her guardian. So the main plot was whether Radley will do that or not. The Bunch was in it too, and Radley was stricter with them than he seems to be in canon (locking them out of I guess the diner because of their rowdy behavior getting out of hand?!), but I was just beyond ecstatic to find actual published merchandise with Radley and I was thrilled with the illustrations and such. I also turned up what seemed to be a movie version, called Blue Moon.

It was very hard waking up from that and realizing it was just a dream.

I don't know why I didn't discuss this in the entry from June 24th, but on June 15th I tried again for my driver's license and I finally got it! It was such an amazing, incredible relief and divine blessing, as I desperately needed the license in order to help the family. There was a much nicer guy who went with me that time, and apparently the guy I'd had back in March has a reputation for strictness, as this one said, "Don't worry, I'm not as strict as that guy." He was so nice and personable and helped me to relax better. He also said he lives here in town, and I kind of think I may have seen him at Walmart a time or two! I'm not positive, but he did look familiar.

Since more stress was building up on the drives in to get the license, we decided the best thing was for someone else to drive me in so I could focus all my energy on the test. My sister drove us in, and I am very grateful, as I'm sure that helped reduce the stress enough that I could pass the test. But it was disappointing that she had to get right back, so I couldn't do anything to celebrate. I still haven't really had the celebration I wanted, as I'd wanted to go out with both Mom and Dad to do it and that just hasn't happened.

I've driven alone three times, and while the first time was fun, the second time was more tense. The third was okay. I think I prefer having company.

The Scottish Festival was finally attendable again this year, but unfortunately, a lot of things went wrong that I do not care to discuss (in connection with the serious real-life problems going on that I also do not care to discuss here). It was extremely disappointing and a let-down that it couldn't be enjoyed as it always has been before. In addition to that, many of my favorite booths either did not come or brought very little stock that interested me. I barely found anything that appealed to me.

My best celebratory efforts were in the Easter Eevee I bought the night before the driver's test, as well as the two bought afterwards. I got the cute winking Eevee and then saw a wonderful deal on the 24 inch Eevee and tried to snag it. The seller refused to respond to either me or Mercari and wouldn't ship. I don't know what happened. The seller has a history of cancelling orders. I don't know why Mercari doesn't boot her. After scouring the Internet high and low for days, I caved and bought the big Eevee on Amazon with my gift cards and Zip. I am so happy to have him! Normally I do not buy something this expensive ($58.99 plus tax, with $16 covered by gift cards), but occasionally I have. I remember my Captain Tarpals and Kaadu Star Wars figures were $50. My Monkees Bears set was $40. My Yami Bakura figure was $64. My Marik was $80, but he was paid for entirely with gift cards, as was my Nintendo 2Ds. I also bought all of Cannon, with most covered by gift cards. None of those purchases have been regretted. This one hasn't either! I'm so happy to have him. I fell in love with him in February and thought I could never have him.

I'm taking a break from buying things for now to get everybody paid off. My Eevee sitting like a person will be paid off in full by tomorrow! The Easter Eevee has one more payment. Then it's just paying off the big one. I still want the other Easter Eevee, if I can get an official one. I found a lot of bootlegs popping up. I'm lucky the one I have is the official one. The bootlegs do not look right. There's also a precious Tomy Eevee standing and looking up adorably. Most of the ones turning up seem to have much-loved fur and I want a newer one. There's one on eBay a little more than I'd wanted to pay, but I might cave on that if it's still there once I have a free slot for merchandise again.

Great Eastern finally made Nack in their Sonic plushies line and he's sold out almost everywhere and more expensive than I'd wanted to pay for him too. I do want to get him, though, albeit I wish the company would actually use fur. I think they still don't.

Then I want the Encanto doll set Jakks Pacific did that includes Luisa and Antonio. I think that set is the only way to get them, and Luisa is my favorite character. Mirabel (my second favorite) and Isabel have other doll releases. The price has gone up $10 since Walmart had it in stock before! Aurgh!

On the 2nd we went to an open house. They've been building ten new houses near us and they allowed everyone to tour them before the families moved in. It's a company called Self-Help Homes; I think the deal is that whoever is moving in does a lot of the building themselves. It was mentioned that food would be provided, but not what. I looked up what's usually served at real estate open houses and turned up cake, so that's all I was expecting and wasn't surprised when we got there and found some. We didn't make it in time for the opening ceremonies, though, so it was probably announced there that they'd be serving an actual dinner after the house tours. While we were touring, I saw that getting set up and heard some of the other people talking about that. It was awesome to get dinner, especially after 90 minutes of walking! A hamburger with cheese, a hot dog, all kinds of toppings, Doritos, ice water, and giant chocolate chip cookies! Yuuuum!

The houses were all gorgeous. My favorite ones had huge bathrooms with the toilets off to themselves in nooks. One house even had a giant walk-in closet with a light off the bathroom! It was epic.

The weird thing is, while we were touring I kept having intense Sonic the Hedgehog nostalgia and thinking about getting that Amy Rose plush. Something about the touring or the houses or the time of day or the way the sun was coming in or all of the above was making me remember something Sonic-related, but I couldn't remember what and I still can't. It may have been a memory of around ten years ago when I was on a big Sonic kick in late summer. Or it could be a memory of when I got my first Sonic game set in July 2001, but that was a cloudy day, so I don't think so. In any case, it was very nice but also very strange. Maybe it was a memory of being into Sonic while taking those driving classes years ago, but I don't know what new houses would have to do with that. I don't know what new houses have to do with any of my Sonic memories, honestly. LOL. Maybe being on a Sonic kick and listening to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack on our way to my childhood friend's wedding reception in her big backyard? I don't know. Maybe it's even as simple as the new houses being for families, and that reminding me of when I was a kid and just newly getting enthused with Sonic. It wouldn't explain the specific Amy Rose association, though. Then there's the thought that maybe I was associating the houses with anime, like Sailor Moon, and thinking about those characters' families, and how I got into anime in summer, and thinking of Sonic since it's also a Japanese property and I have many summer memories of Sonic....

I did finally get my gift card and order the Amy plush, and I got the last one. I was worried wondering if there was really one left or if I'd get a message that she wasn't available after all, but she was there and shipped and I got her the day before I needed to cancel the Prime trial, the 11th. She's so cute, and gorgeous, and so soft! Her dress is soft too. It's so hilarious that I would actually end up wanting an Amy plush, but realizing she didn't act out nearly as much as I'd thought really helped, because she was so cute and sweet in the episodes I was watching, and tough when she needed to be (not when she didn't need to be). I also like that sometimes she's kind of a voice of reason; when Knuckles flips out she usually stays logical. (Of course, then sometimes she's illogical herself at other times, heh. But I guess she's a pretty well-rounded character.) I love characters who are voices of reason; that's one reason why I love Gansley so much. (And I love Marc Thompson's voice for him in season 3; I could listen to that for ages. Help, I have a crush on a 60-year-old man (who isn't someone I've watched in stuff at various ages)! How did that even happen? Lol. I keep remembering this Charlie's Angels episode where Sabrina has a crush on a 60-year-old man because she loves his intelligence, and Jill and Kelly keep giggling about it. Of course, I certainly don't like the way Gansley acts with Yugi and Atem in their duel, but what I don't think people tend to realize is that if I write for a character for a long time, sometimes I end up falling in love with the version of them that I'm writing. Gansley is repentant in my post-canon verse, and combining that with his voice and being one of the logical ones of the group, well ... squeee. (And I think his "happy" sprite in Nightmare Troubadour is adorable.) Same thing with Nesbitt, minus him being one of the logical ones, lol. But I really love the way I've developed him in my post-canon verse. It's really those versions I'm crushing on, not what we see in canon where they're displaying such repugnant behavior ... although I do feel sorry for Nesbitt, especially considering his backstory in the original Japanese, and of course I love Gansley's canonical logical behavior trying to look after the others. Team Dad Gansley is adorable both in canon and in my verse, I have to say. Johnson doesn't seem to have any good qualities in canon unless he cares about the others, and Crump is so repulsive with his dirty-minded behavior towards Tea and Serenity in the original Japanese. The dub thankfully removes that, but he's still repulsively sadistic and I really don't have a lot of sympathy for him in either version. I do like the versions of him and Johnson I write for, though. I didn't think anyone except Lector was even deserving of a second chance until I re-watched the episodes enough to pick up nuances and realized that they seemed to care about each other. Then I really wanted to save them all.)

I was worried wondering if they'd even get any more Amy plushies in, as then it was saying "Unavailable. We don't know if or when this item will be back in stock." But I checked again and it said she'd be back in stock this week, so that's good. I have never seen something like this. All of these Sonic plushies are so popular and in demand, and they keep flying off the shelves almost as fast as Amazon can put them back! That should tell Sega that people still want quality Sonic merchandise. It's so hard to find Sonic stuff in stores right now and it's so frustrating. I love that I was able to get a shirt at ShopKo before they closed. I still feel a little sad that I didn't get another one I saw, but I didn't have much money and it was white and long-sleeved. I don't really like white for shirts because it gets dirty so fast, and I only wear long sleeves in public and in cooler weather, so I figured that shirt might not even get much use for a while. It was definitely more practical not to get it, but I still feel a little sad, especially when it's so very hard to find Sonic stuff.

I have to admit, in spite of the silly rivalry with Mario, it seems to me like Mario is clearly the winner in merchandise and almost always has been. There was a time when Sonic figures were around and more interesting than Nintendo figures, though, but that's long past. And there's a book about Mario that's readily available, while The History of Sonic book was never easily obtainable and went out of print before I could save up enough to get it. Sigh. I miss the days when Sonic stuff was easier to get and so plentiful. Even though the non-Boom ban is over, it seems like companies aren't getting back on track very quickly. Boom really ruined the merchandise scene and it's never recovered.

Then I have the problem that I love these Sonic plushies so much that I ... really want the actual Sonic one. The thought of petting a Sonic with minky-like fur just sounds glorious. But I think I'd feel more guilty getting another Sonic plush than I would for almost any other character, because my classic Sonic plush was such a close companion of mine as a kid, probably my favorite Christmas gift ever, and I never really wanted another Sonic plush because I was so happy with him. I know the plush isn't really alive, but it's really hard to think in logical terms like that, especially for someone sentimental like me who kind of wonders if the inner life idea could be true. Plushies and figures and dolls are alive to me, because in Jessie from Toy Story's words, "that's how they [the kids] see you [the toys]." I try to rationalize it by saying I have classic Sonic and why not get modern Sonic; they're different so it's not a betrayal of the classic plush; it would be nice to have a Sonic without felt spikes, etc. We'll see which side of my mind wins out.

The 4th was ... probably about the worst holiday I've ever spent. As a normal day it was okay, but as a holiday it was really lame. Two wonderful things happened, though: I reached the Big Five arc in my game that day and I got to role-play with Crystal. After that, the day went downhill and didn't stop. We didn't do anything as a family to celebrate and I wasn't even able to get a pizza. (I did finally get one next week after the Scottish Festival, though.)

The Festival was fun and we got to see the band The Fire again, which was awesome. I was a little sad they didn't do a full hour concert like they usually do (it was 45 minutes instead), but I guess they were worn-out from the heat. It was so hot, ugh. Although I don't think it was as bad as last year, where it was so stuffy it was hard to even breathe.

I wanted to find a pendant with a purple gem or rock so I could think of the amethyst ring I gave Lector in my fics, but I couldn't find anything like that. The jewelry shop I like so much didn't come this year, for some reason. The new store I liked so much last year was back, though, and they had some raw amethyst samples that were really tempting. But I really wanted something to wear and I didn't have much money, so I ended up not getting one of those.

It has been a really busy month. Most of this past week has been taken up with preparations for my sister getting re-married, and then the wedding was on Friday. Outside. In 97 degree temperatures. GAH. But at least it was at a beautiful place and there was some shade. The reception was pretty awesome. Most receptions around here only do dessert, but they did a meal! Cheese sandwiches and crackers and cheese squares and potato rolls and punch and nuts and M&M's and vegetable trays and gigantic pieces of cake ... ! Paradise! And on the way home I found the My Little Pony Bubbles at Target! This is G1 Bubbles, not G4 Bubbles. This Bubbles is yellow with blue hair, one of the two sitting down Ponies. I've wanted her for a long time. I hope I can find her friend Seashell too, because it would be too sad not to have her BFF. Plus, she's also really pretty, lavender with turquoise hair.

This week may be busy too; I'm desperately hoping we can have fun on our local holiday, especially since the 4th was such a bust as far as doing fun family things to celebrate.

And I finally beat the Nightmare Troubadour game, after many struggles against Yami Marik! I have to admit I oddly enough didn't have too much trouble with the other odd or difficult duels in the game. No one else really seemed to be on Yami Marik's level. I kept getting trounced to the point of utter frustration and aggravation, especially since I thought he was the final barrier keeping me from getting back to the Big Five. Finally some Internet searches brought up some advice and a gameplay video with good strategies I was able to use and I beat him. It was especially hard because I had to defeat him with Obelisk, and he kept destroying my monsters before I could get him on the field, and occasionally when I did get him on the field, Yami Marik did something else to make me lose, like play Ring of Destruction after already whittling down my lifepoints with Lava Golem.

Then when I finally beat Yami Marik, I found I wasn't at level 20 and I had to be at level 20 to see the Big Five again. I was just barely at 19. So there was some frantic dueling to level up, and occasionally a Rare Hunter or Yami Bakura showed up and screwed up my EXP. I love Yami Bakura and any other time I would have been happy to see him, but not when he ruined the EXP I'd got from Seto by causing me to lose before I'd saved again. He showed up a couple of other times and I beat him those times, so then he helped me get EXP. (I don't get any when I lose.)

It's been a delight to play against the Big Five again! I don't like that apparently I can only duel them in a row and have to start over if I lose to any of them, but at least I get to see them again in some way. I don't like that the game made it sound like they're possibly holographic projections, but I'll just insist they're real and this is their new job, lol.

I'm finally wrapping up my multi-chapter fic. I ended up feeling really badly for Pegasus, as through this fic and other ones of mine, he's seen or heard about characters getting second chances and yet he can't have Cecelia back. I don't even like Pegasus that much (mainly because of how flippant he acted about all the horrible things he did, even after he supposedly repented), but I felt like I was slapping him in the face and it just didn't seem fair, like that everyone is allowed back except Cecelia. (Of course, there are other characters who stay dead, but I don't think any case other than Cecelia's involves a loved one so unable to deal with the death as Pegasus is.) So I've set up a situation where Shadi's taking him on a quest that may bring Cecelia back. I was going to end the epilogue with them reuniting, but now I wonder if I should leave things with him on the quest and possibly have the next fic with more of the cast ending up on the quest too and having that be an adventure fic. Maybe it should be the one I've wanted to do for so long with the Big Five having to take Capsule Monsters trials. I'll think about it. That could take focus away from Pegasus, but I'm really not sure I could write a fic with him as a central character. It took me years to finish Until You Find Answers, mainly because I couldn't get into Pegasus's mind and was dreading his chapter so much.

So I have abhorred Photobucket for years. It hogs memory and the amount of ads are outrageous. For once, I'm not the only one having a problem with a site. Lots of others dislike it for the same reason, especially of late.

A couple of weeks ago, Photobucket pulled a really crummy move on the free users. I only learned of it tonight. I barely use the thing, but I know lots of others use it a lot, and I felt I owed it to them to let them know of Photobucket's idiocy if they don't already. I don't feel like trying to type it all up myself, but this blog post sums it up very nicely: http://www.laurenwayne.com/2017/06/photobucket-phail-how-to-ruin-host-site.html

In other news, when the area hits a record high of 103, the Scottish Festival automatically becomes a lot less fun, even after the sun goes down. Uggggh. I hate summer heat. It was so stifling. And Mom got lost for a while. And I fell in love with a couple of beautiful handmade jewelry pieces, but of course, they were more than I felt like I could afford right then. I love how much fun it was last year at the Festival. It was so much fun that year, it reminded me of some of the earlier trips. This year was ... pretty mediocre. And yet I would have been sad if we hadn't gone. Part of me is still contemplating going back later today for the necklace that was the cheaper of the two, but I know I really don't want to spend even that much for it when money is so extremely tight. So beautiful, though.... A big deep blue flower in the sapphire shade, what we call "wing-color blue" referring to Kingdom Hearts Sephiroth's wings.