insaneladybug | Entries tagged with shopping

Things are still crazy at home. I have to find what happiness I can in spite of that, and I have been greatly enjoying the MTG/FF crossover. (What FF fan isn't?) It is an exciting time to be an FF fan and I fully want in on this. I have of course been buying too much, but it's something that likely won't come again, so I have no regrets. I'm astounded by how fast things are selling out. I was wise enough to pre-order the starter decks. They sold out long before the actual release date. I also wisely bought the Bundle from Target that had Sephiroth and Lightning front-running. Within a week of buying it, they sold out and prices for it skyrocketed at any place that did still have it. It never has been properly in stock at a normal price since.

I think my favorite thing I bought is the Cloud commander deck. Expensive, but since it's all about FF7, totally worth it. I also love the starter decks, though. There was a code to put them into the online MTG game Arena, so I have them there and have merged my favorite cards into a new deck. I know that would probably give some players horrors, as that means I run a four-color deck when you're really not supposed to run more than three colors, I think. (Or maybe that's only for commander decks.) But I'm figuring out what works for it and what doesn't and I do win with it. I wanted to merge the decks so I'd have both Cloud and Seph in the same deck. (Of course.)

(Also, I really enjoy MTG in general. It's pretty much like YGO, so very easy to learn. I'm sure Kazuki Takahashi was inspired by MTG when he made YGO. The original name for the game in the manga is even Magic and Wizards, which could have been from Magic The Gathering and the company Wizards of the Coast.)

I keep being tempted to buy the FF6 commander deck too. The artwork for Terra is so gorgeous. I'm playing FF6 now and enjoying it. That deck is cheaper than the Cloud one by far and seems to stick around more, but if I want it I should really hurry up and get it before it does sell out (if it hasn't already).

This weekend was the Scottish Festival too. I am no longer able to attend it with family, but I went on my own both days and it was wonderful to just be there and enjoy it. It's deeply meaningful to me because I have Scottish heritage (and British and Welsh too), and it always feels like going home and embracing an important part of who I am and where I come from. For the first time, I was also really able to indulge and get things a bit more expensive that I've wanted. For pretty much the entire time we've gone to the festival, I've wanted large-size bears in Scottish clothes. Finally I was able to afford them. I got one on Friday and then realized at home that the clothes were handmade by someone local. Which is very cool and I love that and now I'm inspired to make Scottish clothes for one of my Eevees, lol. But I also really wanted something official and authentic, an actual import from a company in the U.K. I went back yesterday and realized my second-choice bear actually was exactly that and bought him too. Bizarrely, I feel like I remember seeing him multiple years and can't fathom why no one would have bought him before. Really, he wasn't that expensive for a normal budget. $45 for a beautiful 20-inch bear fully dressed in Scottish garb and an import at that! A bargain!

I also found this hilarious shirt that says "Great Scot" in the Back to the Future font/logo. It was a size I thought would fit and it was the only one there, so I snapped it up. Thankfully, it looks like it will fit. I also bought a tiny Loch Ness Monster plush wearing a tam o'shanter and a scarf. LOL.

I was given a free CD of a local pipe band, which is epic, although sad that CDs are so obsolete that apparently they felt they had to give them away to unload them. I've already listened to it and enjoy it very much. I love bagpipes.

I realized that for some reason, I really like to always get a necklace at the festival. This part didn't happen, but that's okay, as my dream necklace is coming. I bought Sephiroth and Cloud keychains on Etsy and I plan to put them on a chain and wear them as a necklace. Once they get here, I can see what kind of chain I'll need, since I'll be hooking them right into the links. I wanted Zack too, but the seller didn't have any smiling Zacks. Maybe I'll get one anyway so I can have all three favorites.

Current Mood: happy

Some things the same, some better.

I'm getting paid now by a veteran's organization to take care of Dad. The money helps a lot, both for things needed in the household and fun things. I've had the freedom to buy things I couldn't before, which makes me very happy. One of my most treasured things is the Play Arts Kai Advent Children Sephiroth with wing. He arrived on my birthday last October and I adore him so much.

I finally got a Switch Lite and have plenty of games for it. Best discovery was realizing I could actually play Final Fantasy VII after loving it for so many years. I spent hours reading the game script, I watched countless cutscenes, watched Advent Children over and over, but I never had access to the games to be able to actually play them. Playing it at last and getting to actually experience those beloved characters' story opened story floodgates for me and I've had lots of ideas for both FF and KH stories. I'm also finally able to play Crisis Core, which I also love.

Twilight and Dawn timeline has definitely taken off and I've been writing many stories with Cloud and Sephiroth after they've grown even closer. I feel I should probably insert a few stories to bridge the gap between where the timeline left off and the first recent fic taking place after the other fics that showed them much closer than before, but I don't know. Maybe it looks okay as it is, especially since that recent fic has a crisis in it and said crisis furthered their closeness in it. I love those guys so much.

I overhauled my KH fic timeline after finally looking into Birth By Sleep and deciding it was time to accept it and work with it and that it mostly helped the main things I wanted to have in my timeline, mainly Sephiroth being his own person and actually trying to help Cloud instead of hurt him. My new KH timeline is way better than the old one and also accepts the magical nature of the source material much more. Seph has a much better and happier backstory, especially regarding his wings, and he no longer is bound to Cloud like in the old timeline. He's trying to help completely of his own free will. So much better.

Bought a gaming laptop and am able to run Dissidia NT on it. I play that most every day, always as either FF or KH Seph. It's funny that a fighting game is actually calming and comforting to me, but I think it's mostly because of being able to play as Seph. Smash Ultimate is another comfort game for the same reason, as is my ROM of Dissidia 012. I also have Rebirth and the mod that lets me play as Seph in at least some of it other than just chapter 1. That is delightful. The graphics in that game are so beautiful and I'm always swooning over Seph's gorgeousness in it.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is such a wholesome and adorable game, and useful to try to learn timing in music better. I like getting that out a lot too. My main team of Seph, Cloud, Zack, and Aerith reached Level 99 within a week or two, lol. Of course, it's fast leveling up in that game, but still.

The Eevee colony has expanded exponentially. And Pokemon Center is doing a Year of Eevee event, which of course has contributed to the expansion.

Very upset about Joann closing. I wish someone would step in and save them like someone did for Big Lots. Big Lots isn't even the same unique store it used to be, but there's really nothing that can replace Joann. I'm stocking up for future crafting projects and need to get back there again for more. It still doesn't feel real to lose it.

Party City is gone now too, save for the franchise locations that weren't affected by the bankruptcy (and the Canadian stores owned by other people). I'm glad I did end up getting the Eevee cardboard cutout when they got it back in stock last autumn.

Current Mood: cheerful

I have always had great anticipation for my birthday. The last couple of years have been strange, with having to get my gifts myself, but in another way it's been nice since most of what I want is online-only, Dad has never been good with shopping for others online, and this way I ensure I get lots of what I really want. I've stocked up some fun things for my birthday, mainly Eevee and Star Wars and Encanto merch. And at least there will be a couple of surprises from friends.

On one such trip, I was absolutely overjoyed and elated to see the free-standing GameStop closest to us came back! It was such a shock. Last year they definitely seemed to be closed and I'm sure they were no longer listed on the website. But a couple of weeks ago they were open, fully functional, and on the website again! I doubt anything else could have excited me as much, except a new free-standing Toys R Us in the States. I might actually cry for joy if such a thing were to ever happen again (which I doubt it will). I wish I could go to Canada and visit it there.

The GameStop had many Eevee things. A lot of them I already have, lol. But there were a handful of things I didn't have, and I got a cute Eevee figure to put away for my birthday. She looks like she'll be better in scale with my Radley doll than my talking Eevee (who will of course stay Radley's as well).

I also finally saw the sleeping plush. She is very cute! But more expensive than Amazon was last charging. I'm hoping Amazon will restock. I never thought I'd want a sleeping plush, but the Eevees are so darling. They're even more appealing since I'm playing Pokemon Sleep. I imagine that game is responsible for sales of the sleeping plush going through the ceiling lately. Although they've always seemed popular.

Even knowing what most things are, the anticipation of opening them is just as exciting as if I didn't know. Perhaps a little moreso, since I know I won't get disappointed (unless I was sent the wrong merch, which I certainly hope won't have happened). The crowning piece is the adorable Halloween Eevee statue. I have no idea where I'll put her, but I had to get her. It hurt so much not getting her last year. She's so precious. Even Pikachu in that line is trying to be scary, but Eevee is just too innocent and sweet and genuine for that and is just going "Yay! :D"

Stores always like to send me things for my birthday month too. Disney has sent their annual 20% discount, which I plan to save for combining with their free ship day this month. I haven't decided what I'll use it on yet. Possibilities are Kristoff doll (if he's still in stock), Isabela or Dolores plush (Mirabel is cheaper on Amazon and Luisa is here waiting for Tuesday), or maybe Eeyore. I always wanted an Eeyore. Or a really furry Tigger. I have my brother's, but he is not very furry so many years later.

I was so frustrated that I got distracted with the possibility of a Disney order right when I was trying to place my Pokemon Center order a couple of weeks ago. I was distracted so long that I missed out on the Flareon and Jolteon Sitting Cuties, and those are the only two Eevee family members I have no plushies of. I had no idea they'd sell out over the weekend. I was worried the Afternoon with Eevee figures would sell out that fast, but they stayed and the plushies vamoosed. Go figure. I should have really known all along the Pokemon Center order was what I wanted the most, considering I've had other chances to get those Disney items on other sales and have always decided I couldn't justify the cost, even with discounts.

Target will send me something on Tuesday. Last year it was 10% off something, which is barely anything at all. But I still put it to good use getting the 24 inch sitting Eevee. This year, I have my eye on the Eevee costume accessory set. We're finally getting a Target closer to us and it's supposed to open this month, but I don't have an exact day yet. It would be awesome if they have the set. Not all Targets carry it. It would be so fun to buy it in-store. There's something especially satisfying about getting a wanted item in-store and bringing it home right then. Although mail is certainly fun too.

I'm also heavily contemplating a three-foot cardboard Eevee stand-up from Party City. Of course, this is utterly ridiculous since I am not at all sure where I'd put it. But it's oh so tempting anyway.

The one other order I'm debating right now is at Macy's. Last year I saw a beautiful blue reindeer and was crushed I couldn't get it. I don't know why I forgot about it entirely until I saw it on Macy's site the other day. A special sale on her ends tomorrow and I've been debating getting her. I really want her, but I also really want the Eevee things and I can't have it all. I'm honestly leaning more towards the cardboard cut-out, but it seems so foolish to get that. I must decide quickly, as my discount on that also ends tomorrow.

Current Mood: hopeful

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.

Current Mood: okay

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!

Current Mood: okay

I made good on my decision to collect Eevees. I now have seven, with another on the way. Of course, I'm only sticking with specific ones that really strike me and are in my price range, rather than being all "GIVE ME ALL THE EEVEE!!!!!111" But since I've been doing most of my shopping on Mercari now, I discovered their partnership with pay in 4 partner Zip, and that has really quite changed my life. I still have to be careful not to go overboard, and I'm sticking with only buying when I'm sure I can make the payments, but it is just so amazing and so liberating to be able to get a little more than I could before. I never could have got all of these darlings without Zip. I've bought four that way and am eyeing a couple more for later consideration.

The first thing that excited me was, I believe, an Eevee sitting like a person. Precious! Then I discovered that the Eevee from Alola arc, Sandy, got a plush! I was over the moon. Before I'd sorted out which one to get first, my heart was stolen by a precious angel laying down and looking up with the sweetest "Take me home" expression. And then my heart was broken and crushed when she was bought before I could get her. (It was Sunday and I didn't want to make a frivolous purchase on a Sunday. Had I known then she's fairly rare, I think I might have made an exception.)

Honestly, usually I can just shrug it off if I don't get a particular item, even if I don't get another chance. But for some reason, I could not shake this one off. I was devastated. I refused to give up and kept scouring the Internet for another one. I found one on eBay, but she was more than I felt I could pay. I was just about to give in anyway when I tried one more thing, searching using Google Shopping. Wonderful Google actually came through and I found one on Mercari that had not come up on my searches of Mercari, WTH. She was still a little more than the one I'd lost, but I wasn't going to lose her again. The seller sent me an offer, bringing the price down a little more, and she came home to me!

I'd already bought Sandy the day before I found her, and they both showed up on the same day. LOL. It was awesome.

After that I had some debating over getting a Halloween Barbie and Ken doll set I've wanted since last year, but I decided I wanted the sitting up Eevee first. Much rarer than the dolls. He feels like he's minky! So incredibly soft!

Pokemon Center made two Easter Eevees. They're very rare and very sought-after. I especially love the lop-eared one, but both are adorable. An incredible deal appeared on the other one and I snapped her up.

Lastly, I've also been following a winking Eevee. An amazing deal for one happened on eBay and I got her.

Other ones I'm eyeing for the future: the other Easter one, a 2 foot one I fell in love with at GameStop and thought I'd never be able to have but could with Zip, Chloe's Eevee, and one raising a paw like a wave. (Not the one imitating Wobbuffet, but a much more squeeable one.) Oh, and Gigantimax Eevee. Maybe also the Christmas Eevee at Pokemon Center.

I'm planning to make a video of Radley showing all the Eevees and discussing them after I get the winking one.

I started writing another version of my Night After storyline for 5Ds because I wanted to write a fic inspired by a heartbreaking scene of Radley being attacked and beaten unfairly that we did in a Western AU RP. I couldn't think of any way to work the scene into a fic until I thought of some of his former Duelists attacking him in the mine. So, yes, another Night After. This one has become a three-part behemoth instead of my usual oneshot treatments of the storyline. I keep adding more and more, thinking of new angles to explore with the characters. I'm voicetesting Crow a lot in part 2. I love him, but I don't use him much, and it's enjoyable writing him trying to comfort and counsel Yusei in this one. This fic gets more into Yusei's thoughts than any other version I've done. I've also noticed that with each version, as I test Kalin caring more and more in each succeeding one, he falls apart more and more. But this seems to fit with canon and how he cannot deal with losing those he loves. The original scene that inspired all of this, the beating, was in itself inspired by the movie Rigoletto. I don't know why I wanted to do it, because that scene leaves an extremely bitter taste in my mouth in the movie. It horrified me. I also hate that the people never find out the guy was miraculously/magically restored to life, so they'll go all through their lives knowing they hatefully beat a man to death when he didn't deserve it and never knowing that he did get a happy ending. I fix that in my version.

I mostly stay logged in to my RP account constantly these days. I hardly ever post here, so it seems logical to stay logged in with the other account the most. I wish there was a YGO-based group RP on Dreamwidth. There's hardly any on Dreamwidth for kids' franchises at all. I think the one I'm in is the only one around that's really active. I love it and it's adorable, but I would like to play in more RPs too. I can never get enough.

I really want to RP tonight. But Discord and Dreamwidth are both so quiet. Sigh. I'm eager to continue one adorable Kalin and Radley-centric one on Discord especially.

Current Mood: okay

Got into

victory_road as Radley. It's a very cute game set in the Pokemon verse! That caused a plunnie explosion and I decided to further explore my past concept of both shows in the same verse. I just put up chapter 1 of a fic.

Very annoyed at Nintendo taking away eShop access for portable devices next year. I bought a couple of games, including Pokemon Crystal. It's very nice, very liberating, even, to finally play a Pokemon game! I'm breeding Eevees. They're so cute! I have three so far, all male. (I have to use a Ditto mommy.) I'm hoping I can get a female eventually too. I've always loved them, but I got obsessed with them after having Radley get one as a starter. I chose Eevee because the Espeon evolution looks like Ruby Carbuncle, one of Radley's cards.

I'm watching some of Pokemon Master Journeys to see Chloe's Eevee. There have been others on the show, of course, but I'm not sure any others have gotten an actual arc about them! I hope she will end up deciding not to evolve. I love the evolved forms, but I also love the original form. The way the story arc is set up, I kind of suspect that she will not ever evolve even if eventually she gains the ability to do so. I would like to see another Pokemon like Pikachu who doesn't even really want to evolve because she's happy with herself.

I decided that when Team Rocket only appears to do villainous things and we don't see character development for them, I prefer them not being there. I enjoyed a couple of Master Journeys episodes without them just fine. Although that could be because I'm so intently involved in the Chloe arc. I still love the episodes where we see better sides of them, although I am pretty confused by their twisted morals. So they get upset at the thought of taking away people's special memories in that amnesia scheme from Alola, but they think it's okay to steal people's Pokemon so all they're left with all their memories?! I kind of think and hope that if they actually did succeed in taking someone's special Pokemon for a while and then saw them all sad and heartbroken, they would feel so guilty they'd bring the Pokemon back. When we see their good sides, it kind of seems like that's something that could be the case. Maybe I'll write such a fic sometime.

Still driving, and have actually been on the freeway repeatedly! That is really huge for me. I bought a Glaceon plush at GameStop yesterday. I also got an Espeon from Mercari. It's an interesting online shopping place. I think the sellers there seem more often like fans able to identify official plushies from bootlegs. There are lots of bootlegs that have crept onto Amazon, and maybe eBay too.

Current Mood: excited

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.

Current Mood: okay

For the last several weeks, I've known that MoonlightTyger would be coming out here for a day trip to a favorite theme park. I was invited to come with her and her sister and her friend, but wasn't sure until a few days ago that it would work out. And me being me, I stayed skeptical still worrying it wouldn't work out right up to the end and finally allowed myself to get excited the night before.

The rides to and from were very fun. We all have a lot of common interests, so it was neat talking about them and listening to the music they had brought. It took less time driving than I thought it would too, only about an hour instead of closer to ninety minutes! That was great for arrival times, but I was sad when it was time to say Goodbye so soon!

I've honestly never been to a theme park. The closest I've ever come is the state fair a couple of times and some carnivals for various holidays. It was a pretty amazing experience! It was all decked out for Halloween with hanging pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns and pretty lights and silly fake gravestones everywhere. I get motion-sick on almost any rides and sometimes still in the car, so I knew coasters were not a good idea. But my main deal was wanting to go in haunted houses, since due to Dad being a chronic Halloween Grinch, that's also something I've never done. And I kind of hoped I might find something awesome on the midway, since I know licensed character plushies turn up at the games on those.

I saw the licensed character booth on our way in, with Pokemon and Mario characters. I immediately wanted a big Daisy I saw hanging there. Ironically, I don't think I've ever played a game with her, except maybe Mario Party. But I love her personality, and of course I'm tickled her name is Daisy. We decided to do the attractions first.

There were several haunted attractions and I chose a couple that sounded creepy but not uncomfortable. Like one I rejected said it featured the devil. No. So MoonlightTyger and I tried a nice mansion. There was a hallway with those silly, creepy pictures that look normal and change to skeletons or zombies, lol. Then there were various freaky rooms. My favorite was a library with a fireplace and a kitty. At first it looked like a dead end, but MoonlightTyger finally saw the dark hallway to go down. There was eventually a mad scientist and a weird elevator operator. There was some disgusting imagery along the way, but I'd figured long ago there likely would be since a lot of people seem to like making Halloween gory. So I had managed to brace myself for that. It was fun and over all too soon, lol. (Of course, I'm sure MoonlightTyger was relieved it was over!)

I had also wanted to try a haunted ghost town. The website made it sound like it was outside and walking around to different buildings that were haunted, but it was all indoors. It was longer, being a whole town set-up, and to my surprise it was gorier than the regular haunted house. The outlaw ghosts were fun and very plunnying. There were freaky animatronics, like one floating over a cemetery, and something that looked like a scarecrow wielding a scythe. The church had ghosts rocking in the pews. So creepy! I got some nice imagery from both houses to use in fics, and I hope to get on that right away.

We walked around the regular town set-up, which had restored buildings from pioneer days. So cool! I love things like that. There was a church, a house, some cabins, and a main street of businesses. One had a miniature circus and lots of dolls on display. Some super old plushies too. It looked like the images were painted onto a cloth body shaped like the animal. Fascinating!

On the midway, MoonlightTyger and I played Whac-a-Mole. She was amazing at it! I don't know whether I was doing something wrong or if the machines just weren't registering me so well. I was hitting every thing, but it consistently gave me low scores. But since MoonlightTyger was getting a perfect score, we won and she won the Daisy for me! Squeee. Daisy is so soft. I should have brought my Disney tote bag along from my backpack just in case of winning something as I had hoped, but I hadn't been sure it would fit in the smaller red bag I had decided to carry through the park and left it in the backpack instead. So I just carried Daisy in my arms for the rest of the trip.

Throughout all of this, MoonlightTyger's sister and friend wanted to ride a particularly scary coaster twice and go on a water ride. Then we all regrouped and all three were able to go on MoonlightTyger's favorite ride when the lines were short! I knew I didn't dare try a coaster, so I watched their stuff and texted with Crystal for a bit.

To finish, we went in the gift shop and I found a hilariously adorable bookmark and pen set of a gray kitty holding a sword. LOL. I almost freaked when I saw the manufacturer name looked like Kalin, but then I saw it was Kalan. Oh well, still close!

All in all, such a lovely experience! I love meeting dear friends in person and it was so neat to get to do something like this at long last and for it to be so close to my birthday. I'm so happy it all worked out!

With things still upsidedown here, I haven't been sure Dad would even be able to go out and select anything for my birthday, and I certainly didn't want to impose and ask, so I decided the best idea would be for me to get a few things for myself when I was getting groceries and such. I still wanted a nice birthday, and knowing everything I'm getting (aside from friends' gifts) is better than getting nothing. I bought a couple of things a few weeks ago and put them away for that, and I got a bit more this past week. I'm also, of course, hoping to be Radley for Halloween. I've had the most horrible time finding any fake leather jackets in American sizes that I can afford. There were only two real options: one in the right size that said it would ship in 1-2 months and might not even come in time, or one a size smaller than my usual. Of course, I took a gamble on the latter. It came yesterday! It is very soft and I hugged it. It fits if I don't close it, and Radley always wears his open anyway, so that works.

I also learned almost too late that most Disney Stores are closing. My main one was already gone by the time I was told. My uncle managed to take me to the other one last week on the very last day. There was barely anything left, and even less that was of interest to me. I finally got The Rise of Skywalker on Blu-Ray and Digital. I can use the digital code, and this will be more incentive to get a Blu-Ray player. I saw Target's mini Disney Store and was underwhelmed (but at least I heard a beautiful song, You Carried Me With You, on their screen). JCPenney has a better selection of stuff, though, honestly. And they're closer. I came home and signed up for the Disney Store website, but the prices are abominable! $20 for one doll when it used to be $12! They sent me a free shipping coupon and I was having trouble finding anything to use it on. Finally they randomly reduced the price of a Cinderella plushie and I got her. She came yesterday too! So far she's still in the mailer, as I was hoping to save her for my birthday. I might have tried to do that with the jacket too, but I felt I needed to test that immediately since the size was not my usual. (And since I was so excited by that I didn't think I could wait, lol.)

I also ordered some of the YGO 5Ds manga and it came this week too. I'm also trying to save it for my birthday. Volume 4, which is one of the ones I want most, has become mysteriously hard to get. Aurgh! So I thought I should hurry and grab the others I most wanted. 4 may come back in stock for Books a Million on the 4th, so I'll be watching that closely. I may get all nine volumes eventually.

I had a strange but nice dream of shopping in a store and finding Radley-related merchandise. Weirdly, in the dream he was a Frozen character, lol. I woke up before I fully checked out, but at least I was checking out. Many shopping dreams have me unable to complete purchases because of the stuff mysteriously disappearing. The dream felt rather true to life, as with my Halloween shopping, I do rather consider I'm buying Radley merchandise, lol. I got the wig last night with an eBay gift card and I associate the jacket with him so strongly, it felt like he was real and the jacket was an actual connection with him. Yes, I know that's nonsense. No, I don't know why this particular comfort character makes me feel that way, as I haven't for any of the others, even Marik. But there you go.

I saw a lovely top someone was wearing at the park that said "Only God can judge me." I immediately knew I had to draw Radley wearing a jacket that says that. I hope to do that today.

Current Mood: cheerful

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.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: My Gift---Carrie Underwood

Five-year-old me looking through the 3.75" Star Wars figures my brother let me have: ... Who's this?

Mom: Let's look at the back of the card that shows all the figures.... It looks like his name is Boba Fett.

Me: Who's that?

Mom: I think he's a bounty hunter. Let's watch Star Wars and see.

And history is made. I came, I saw, I got permanently obsessed and nothing could deter me from it.

Eeeee, I finally got the 12 inch electronic Boba Fett! A new listing popped up, I Watched it, the seller sent me an offer for $5 off, and I accepted and got him! He came in time for Christmas and it's been torture waiting to open the box, heh. Mom wanted to use some of her money to help get me something, and I chose that, so since it was partially a Christmas present I wanted to wait to open it until now. It's amazing to finally have him! I hope my 18 inch one won't get jealous, heh. They didn't make many figures in the 18 inch line and I wanted one to align with my other 12 inch figures. The clothes are all cloth and the armor is sewn onto them. There are real pockets! So amazing! Toys used to be so much higher quality than they often are now.

I got other awesome things for Christmas too. Friends sent a Build-a-Bear gift card (which, after some debating, I used to buy the Rey bear on a special sale price), the School of Rock DVD, an Irish ornament and Boba Fett socks (eee!), and a Loud House graphic novel. Mom and Dad had three suspense novels, a snowflake throw, What's New, Scooby-Doo? DVD set, the Rise of Skywalker soundtrack, Carrie Underwood's Christmas CD (I've never really been into her music, but Mom read an interview with her in Guideposts and thought she sounded very nice, so I took note of the CD and thought it looked great), and the Child plush! I have binged all the Mandalorian episodes and love the show and the Child like almost everyone else, heh. My sister sent a soup-making kit with four recipe mugs and my brother sent money! I will probably save it to buy a figure of The Mandalorian. A friend sent us cookies and our neighbors sent a Christmas throw and raspberry sticks! Yum!

I also won a $50 gift card in one of my discussion groups! I could use it for any of several places and I chose Target, as they had Cara Dune and the Child figures to buy. (The Mandalorian himself seems to be the hardest one to find.) I got them plus A Christmas Story, so I can finally see Darren in one of his most famous roles. LOL, I have a figure of him from that film and I've never seen the film (except for the mall scene, which always seemed to be playing when we caught the film on TV). Target delivered fast before, but this time they figure it will take a while.

I was having some problems writing my 5Ds cross, as Kalin's mental health was affecting my mental health (i.e., his self-hatred was triggering mine). I had to put him in the background and focus on the mystery to finish the fic. Now I had a nice, creepy dream about ghosts and am starting a new haunted house fic. I'm using Miho, but I'm calling her Melody as in the game she was in and I will make it clear that the Toei anime is not canon to the main anime verse.

I saw Soul tonight on Disney+ and aside from some unnecessary crude comments, I loved it! ( Very vague, mild spoilers? )

Current Mood: tired

On Saturday I was over the moon!

( Cut for Mandalorian spoilers )

I had to watch that episode as soon as I learned about it, of course. I've been waiting to see if anything would be worth starting up the Disney+ subscription again, at least for a month or so, and this most certainly qualified. I pounced on it, then starting watching The Clone Wars. I missed out on that when Netflix had it, so I'd better get my fill this month. I can probably only keep Disney+ for this month. I should also try to see some DuckTales episodes. I don't have the elusive volume 4 DVD set, and it went out of print shortly after it was released, aurgh. Disney probably won't release it again because they'll figure people should just stream it on Disney+. Some people prefer physical discs!

I was not in a good mood when I started this entry, but I hoped writing about the squee would make me happy again. So far it's worked. It's hard to stay upset when writing about something that kept me on cloud 9 all that day. I was squeeing so much, I couldn't settle down to work on my fic for hours.

It's so disappointing this year that Dollar Tree doesn't have much in the way of decent DVDs. Usually they have great stuff at Christmastime, if only then. I've found anime, Scooby-Doo, and neat DC movies and TV episodes in the past. Almost everything they've had this year is lame. There was one nice Christmas movie, just a couple of DC things that didn't interest me, maybe a couple of interesting nature documentaries, and maybe a few nice things for the little kiddies, and otherwise it's second-rate trash that nobody much wants to buy. (Seriously, there are DVDs that kick around for years at Dollar Tree.)

I saw a Looney Tunes Christmas shirt last week that was kind of cute and appealed to me, with Bugs, Daffy, Wile E., and Taz in Christmas clothes. I considered getting it, but didn't, and I've had one or two dreams with the characters since then. I don't really want it that much, though, even though I like Wile E. Give me Disney any day over Looney Tunes (although some of the old Disney shorts are rather mean-spirited too).

I really kind of want those re-issues of The Real Ghostbusters figures for Christmas, but they're almost $15 for one, so I know Dad wouldn't want to get them. Plus, figures from the movie are out right now too, and ten to one he'd get confused and might get the wrong thing. The cartoon figures were almost all gone again tonight too. I considered getting one with some cash of Mom's and then having her keep it until Christmas, but I don't really want to do that. It seems ridiculous to have to buy my own presents, even if I'd be using her money instead of mine. The only Egon left had a grease mark too. Looking on eBay, he seems to be the hardest to get too. That figures.

At least someone was finally at the fabric counter while there was black cotton to be cut. I'll make Kalin's clothes this week, probably.

Current Mood: okay

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.)

Current Mood: tired

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Current Mood: okay

So thankfully, we didn't really need a new modem. Something was wrong outside. A technician came out and fixed it! Things have been fine since then.

I rented Frozen 2 on Amazon, as per Crystal's suggestion, and watched it three times during the rental period. My feelings are ... mixed. I still don't like the ending. I don't think it had to be that way. But ... aside from the ending, I found it a beautiful film and I loved the songs. It was a much higher quality film than the Wreck-It Ralph sequel, as I expected and hoped.

The reasons why I have problems with the ending are as follows.

1, Elsa's powers separated her and Anna for most of their lives. They had only had three years together finally bonding again before the Frozen 2 ending separated them again. At least they're going to visit, but it's not the same.

2, It's Anna's mother and culture too, and she should also get to explore and learn about the past. Of course, somebody has to watch Arendelle, but I think it would have been much more satisfying if Elsa and Anna stayed a bit to learn about their mother and mother's family and Elsa learned more about her powers and then they both went back to Arendelle. Maybe Anna could still be queen so Elsa could be "free," but Elsa would mostly live in Arendelle and travel to the forest when she felt like it or if there was trouble. The four spirits are the guardians of the forest, so it doesn't seem like Elsa has to be there. Elsa does seem to have an adventurous side, understandable when she was cooped up so long, afraid of her powers. But that shouldn't have to equate living apart from Anna.

3, One reviewer on YouTube commented that she thought Elsa had to live in the forest so she could unleash her full powers without hurting anyone. That would just be sad if that's the reason. And it goes back to what I said about her learning to control them even better while there, but not having to stay there. Elsa does love the forest and seems more at home there than in the city, but then that's because the writers wanted it that way. Maybe some of the fans would have different images of Elsa or feel like she would be happy in the city getting to be with Anna and not be afraid of harming her. Or maybe everyone decides to move Arendelle closer to the forest so everyone can be more connected to each other. That would have been satisfying too. But basically, Elsa learning the full scope of her powers should really make her feel free, and how would it make her feel free if she has to live apart from the city for fear of harming them with said powers? That is not a happy ending. Of course, it's just that reviewer's opinion that that's why Elsa decides to live in the forest. I don't think that was what Disney intended.

Really, though, the original Frozen had the perfect ending already: Elsa learning how to start controlling her powers and the kingdom realizing she isn't a monster and them all being accepting and happy together.

All that said, the Show Yourself sequence is just incredible and my favorite part of the sequel. And I thought Olaf's sequel song was better and funnier than In Summer. I liked that they toned down Olaf falling apart. Waaay too overdone in the first film. I think I loved all the songs in Frozen 2, whereas in the original I was enthusiastic about maybe three or four. Frozen 2 was also less crude. So ... a mixed bag. But definitely worth seeing. I'll probably want to own it someday. I definitely want the soundtrack.

I've thought a lot lately about how much I can relate to Elsa on some things. I love both girls, but I definitely find Elsa the most relatable, struggling with herself and what she is and worrying about concealing her true self. (And also relating to having a bit of an adventurous side, although at the same time I wouldn't be comfortable doing anything risky, heh.) I know a lot of lesbians gravitate to her and wish that Disney would make her a lesbian, but I wish Disney would make her asexual. :) Oh, one of my favorite lines in Frozen 2 is in the childhood flashback. Anna is obsessed with romance and Elsa's reaction is, "Anna, kissing won't save the forest!" ROTFLOL. I love it. I would love to have a Show Yourself moment and finally feel free to reveal my complete self to everyone.

Gansley did indeed come on the day I was thinking he would! It's pretty awesome to have all five members of the Big 5 in G. I. Joe form now. I wish I could think of stories to act out with them, heh. Mostly I play with them by picking them up and moving them around. There are lots of cute hugs with Lector and Nesbitt.

(Also on that day, which was Dad's birthday, my brother wanted to get him a birthday dinner. He ordered KFC. Yuuum! I'm having a lot of trouble with tomato intolerance, which is really frustrating me lately. Of course, the most upsetting thing is when it affects my pizza intake. I'm considering having fried chicken for my birthday this year.)

The price of the Wreck-It Ralph Elsa and Anna dolls finally came down on Amazon, so I bought them with a gift card. They came on Monday. They're slightly disproportionate, sadly, and hollow plastic instead of solid, but they're very cute and I'm happy to get them at last. It's fun seeing them in modern clothes. LOL, Anna's shirt has a sandwich.

And my three-foot Elsa arrived on Friday! It was an amazing day and really felt like Christmas, heee. I woke up just before the delivery and was able to immediately get her inside. I needed more sleep, so I got her out of the mailing box and brought her into my room. I thought I'd be too excited to sleep, but I finally dozed off, and I had an amazing dream, one of the haunted house dreams I have such fun with. And it plunnied me for a fic at last! I hope I'll be able to develop a whole plot from it. I'm thinking that Noa buys a house because he wants a big one for him and his mother to live in. But weird things start happening and they end up calling the Big Five and Yugi and company for help. Then they have to try to solve the mystery of what happened in the house and why the ghosts are angry. I suppose that unlike Evangeline's house, which will always have some mysteries, I'll need to try to solve this one. My house dreams never do solve the mysteries, though. Lol. There's lots of wandering through all the rooms, and there's bedrooms with all of the past tenants' stuff and the feeling of ghosts lingering and being angry. In the dreams I always want to take some of the neat stuff and use it myself, but I never feel free to because of the eerie feeling. This dream had a huge bathroom with spa and a room with a stage, and rooms filled with stored furniture that felt haunted. And all of this stuff was on the basement level. Usually it's higher levels.

I probably won't try buying much of anything for a while, except a picture here and there by ElfBean. I'm pretty happy right now and want to play with all the lovely things, hee. I feel like I've been having my birthday shopping spree since April.

I finally finished my interview fic and got it all posted. I hope it looks alright. Johnson's was the hardest for me. He's my least favorite member and it's the most difficult to get into his mind.

I also kept being pestered by my original Purple Avenger plunnie, where Lector becomes a vigilante because he feels betrayed and abandoned by his friends. I finally had to pen it, and I wrote it as taking place in another verse. But it's a misunderstanding created by Dartz, who was hoping someone would give into their inner darkness. Everything gets resolved and there is squee.

Frozen 2 also provided plunnies. I love the line in Kristoff's song "You're my True North, because without you I am lost in the woods." I had to adapt the line for a squee scene with Lector and Nesbitt. It may or may not be part of my next mystery fic. It looks fine as a stand-alone, but I know I get a bigger audience for the ensemble fics. I'm not sure it fits the tone of this upcoming house fic, though. So I'm still thinking about placement for that.

Then Anna's heartbreaking song The Next Right Thing, where she thinks Elsa is dead, provided inspiration and I had to draw a heartbreaking picture: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com I'm planning to color it, but haven't yet.

I also want to draw Lector swinging on his grappling hook as the Purple Avenger. I love that concept of Lector as a vigilante way too much.

Current Mood: tired

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!

Current Mood: satisfied

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

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

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

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

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

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

I decided that instead of a blog, I would do a vlog. http://www.youtube.com/user/luckyladybug66/videos I've thought for a long time that I would love talking to a camera, and I do.

I've documented all of my adventures with my Big Five G. I. Joes there and don't feel like recounting it all here, but if anyone just wants to see the current progress, I put up a picture on dA: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

A few things I discovered:

- I got the right paint. Moccasin Brown by Anita's creates a beautiful, very Lector skin color, just as I'd hoped.
- It is possible to paint an entire figure tan without making a huge mess.
- I can sew for 12 inch scale.
- Socks are hard.
- I hate sewing tops with sleeves in any scale.
- I think my purple piece of cotton is cursed, at least when it comes to making tops for Lector. Both for the plushie and the figure, the tops fought me at every turn and all manner of things went wrong, moreso than for any other top I've made for anyone. The pants, on the other hand, went swimmingly. (But maybe that was just to lure me into a false sense of security!)

I've been so occupied with crafting projects that I haven't felt too inspired for the current fic, one involving Siegfried. That, and I wasn't in a hurt/comfort mood due to exhaustion from the Zorc fic. But the other day I had a hurt/comfort dream where Mom and I did a role-play that included Crump being thought dead and Lector trying to be strong and then breaking down in front of Nesbitt and Johnson, who were so worried. (I don't know where Gansley was.) I woke up in a hurt/comfort mood again at last, although that may or may not help this particular fic. I'm still having a hard time fully remembering why I liked Siegfried so much, although I think part of it was that I got such a kick out of him deliberately being obnoxious and loving it. I'm planning to develop him with this fic, which should be fun, and it may or may not have some Christmas in July elements.

I always love Christmas in July on QVC, but I've been even more excited for it this year. They had an event last weekend to kick things off even though it wasn't July yet and I ate it up. I also got excited, as I always do, and wanted to buy something. Every year they have these cute walking animals. Last year they had penguins, but they sold out before I even got to see them. I thought sure they'd be back this year. They weren't, but there are some cute parrots. I've been tempted to buy them, but since I really wanted the penguins the most, I tried to find them and found one on eBay. I may get him, since I can't find any anywhere else. Wow, they really did sell out. There's no trace of them on any website that sells this line of plushies.

I'm also continuing figure hunting. Still looking for the perfect Gansley and Johnson. I found a perfect Crump, an apparently rare variant of a figure, but he's so expensive I can never have him. **cries.** I know I'll never find a better Crump. For Johnson, I'll probably have to go with the head sculpt I originally intended, as nothing else is even halfway like him. The face just doesn't quite sell me, but the hair style is right, and maybe with glasses he'll look better.

There are other Barbie and Star Wars characters I want too. I was following a Qui-Gon auction, but thanks to loud neighbors and horrific insomnia before sleep returned at last, I missed it by minutes. (Aurgh!) Thankfully, she relisted. And a new Mace Windu popped up, a little cheaper than the one I'd been looking at. The seller immediately sent me a private offer to get him for $10 and shipping. I wasn't passing that up! I felt really bad I couldn't accept a private offer I was sent for a two-figure lot of episode 1 Obi-Wan and Dengar, but I couldn't drop that much money in one place right now. But I didn't officially accept or deny the offer because I kept waffling and wishing I could get it right up to when it expired.

The holiday was pretty blah, but I expected that, and I have to say, it was way better than last year's 4th, when I didn't even get to have a pizza. I had one now. I've been getting Walmart's Rising Crust pizzas and they're a good substitute for Little Caesar's until I feel comfortable buying from them or any restaurant again. We also watched some inspiring One Step Beyond episodes, including a nice one about George Washington, so that felt good and patriotic. I also recorded Yankee Doodle Dandy, since our copy had thirty minutes edited out for commercial room (!!!). Hopefully we can watch that soon. We also saw lots of fireworks from the house. I still don't like letting everybody set off professional grade fireworks, but they are fun to watch ... when they don't get too close to the house. Every year, there's always some that do. That is a terrifying experience.

31 Days released their new prompts, but I didn't see them until now because I was too busy to drop in. The past day's prompt, the book and movie title Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, intrigued me the most on the list. I have been fascinated by that title like you wouldn't believe ever since I first learned of its existence years ago. I don't know that the book and movie would be my thing, but taking the title as a prompt and creating a story based around what it says to me sounds like a blast. A title like that could mean so many things. I tend to think of it in a religious light. And of course, I'd like it to involve Lector and Nesbitt. Maybe by Amnesty Day at the end of the month I'll have figured out what I can do with it.

Current Mood: contemplative

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Current Mood: amused

I've spent most of the last weeks on my quest to get the Barbie characters I want. I discovered that the doll set I was looking at featured dolls with no elbow articulation and their arms permanently bent, WTH. So I wasn't interested in that anymore and I set out to find better dolls of them. I discovered there are surfing and basketball dolls of Skipper and Stacie with full articulation, so I set my sights on those. I got Skipper thanks to Amazon finally stocking her and having some gift cards and a week trial of Prime handy. I don't understand at all why Mattel felt they had to make hollow plastic to have full articulation. Hasbro, Disney, and many others proved that isn't necessary. Hollow plastic is so cheap. But the doll is lovely! I'm still trying to get Stacie, aurgh. Target has her, but getting to Target is another matter entirely.

Chelsea, meanwhile, often comes with molded tops. (Again, WTH? Part of the fun of these dolls is dressing them!) I wanted full cloth. I finally got a cute one on eBay cosplaying Cupid for Valentine's Day.

It's been very stressful the last weeks having trouble receiving some gift card money I earned in a discussion group and then worrying about a friend soon after that. And then a whole lot of little things added on to that, and of course, little things can become hugely stressful and upsetting when other things are going wrong too. But I finally did get my gift card by contacting the parent company for help and they were able to resend it and I received it this time. And today I was able to find out how my friend is doing. So things are hopefully looking up.

I decided to split the gift card order in two, since things keep selling out so quickly. I bought Nikki and Daisy, and they were shipped separately, for some reason. Daisy arrived with a smashed box. She and her accessories are miraculously just fine! Amazon gave me a partial refund for the damage. I am thrilled with all the detail put into the set! Daisy's trunk really opens and it can store everything she comes with except her guitar, and of course I wasn't going to put the kitty in there. She also has an open bag, into which I stored the toothbrush and toothpaste. So cute! I've been wanting Barbie's cat Blissa, and I think that since the kitty is obviously a recolored Blissa figure, I'm just going to say the kitty is Blissa since Daisy doesn't seem to have a cat on the series. There is a separate Blissa figure, but she's asleep. Adorable, but I'd rather have an awake figure. However, if I can get a regular white Blissa, then I'll probably give the recolor back to Daisy. Or maybe the kitty will float around between them.

I'm still waiting on Nikki. She should be here Thursday.

Meanwhile, I watched The Great Puppy Adventure movie on Hulu and became obsessed with getting a Christie doll. She's out of print and very popular. I decided to get a beach doll and then dress her in doll clothes, since beach dolls are generally the cheapest. I was able to snag a beach doll with a painted on bikini. The painted on aspect seemed cheap, but all the other dolls were getting into bid wars, so I didn't think I should pass her up. And I haven't regretted it at all, even though I really couldn't afford her right now. She's gorgeous! Common canon is that she and Nikki are sisters, although I don't think that's current canon. But I will insist on keeping that part of old canon alive. I'm still looking for doll clothes I think are good enough for her. Meanwhile, she's wearing Barbie's tutu and it's being held on with the sarong Christie came with because the elastic wore out. I just keep loving how amazing she looks in it. It's all sparkly and billowing out around her like a big skirt. I love old Barbie clothes. The current ones just aren't doing a lot for me.

I also decided I want to make Big 5 figures, and I suddenly wondered if there were any 12 inch G. I. Joes that looked like them. A search immediately produced the Hawk head mold figures and I fell in love. Lector looks so much like that character! The cheapest set featuring him seems to be Challenge at Hawk River, which is an amazing set and I feel like getting two of them and keeping one as is while customizing the other into Lector. I want the light brown hair variant (there are five variants!), and I'll paint him tan. I should think it wouldn't be hard to find a figure that looks like Nesbitt, but so far I haven't. I found a firefighter that could probably pass for Johnson. Just need to find some glasses for him. Gansley and Crump will probably be my biggest challenges. I actually stumbled on an overweight doll body base by accident, but ... it's just the body. Apparently they expect people will bring custom heads. No thank you, I want a head base attached like other companies do!

The plot finally fell into place for my endgame fic where Yami Bakura has to fight Zorc. It's based on the 5Ds Dark Signer arc, and I took some elements from a couple of the Dark Signers' stories to fit my fic. For my verse, the Dark Signers are instead Negative Ring Holders and are evil counterparts of the elemental rings. And I did decide to use Carly's chilling backstory for a character in the fic. I have Lumis killed by a corrupted Bandit Keith and revived as a Negative Ring Holder. Of course, his spirit is still there and Umbra and Seto will be able to save him. Vivian, meanwhile, also gets corrupted and becomes bent on Lector joining her. But she ends up finally starting to understand real love when she sees Lector and Nesbitt interacting (although their love is friendship and familial and not romantic), and she ends up sacrificing herself to save Lector. I just posted that chapter and I love it. The whole first draft of the story is done and I'm just tweaking each chapter before it goes up. Chapter 13 was mostly already written, as I had scenes written before that I wanted to use for this fic and I just felt like I had to still use them. It took me a little over two weeks to write the first draft. I have rarely ever had stories flow that much! It was pretty awesome and epic, and emotionally draining. I must have squee now.

There won't be a Scottish Festival this year thanks to the #*$%T#& coronavirus, so I decided that this year I will finally write my Scottish Festival fic, so I can still "attend" one. I wrote the first scene of it today. It felt good to write something light and cute. The Big Five and the bikers will be the main players in it, but I'm sure everyone will get into the action. I haven't fully decided if it's a long oneshot or a short multi-chapter with a mild mystery, but I lean towards the latter. I realized last year that Nesbitt would be of Scottish ancestry, and then of course my Alister always has been too.

Current Mood: thrilled

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The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

We were so carefree then, our hearts were on a cloud ...

Entries tagged with shopping

MTG and the Scottish Festival

We'll Carry On

Birthday Preparations

Mandatory Check-In

Life Updates, to some extent

Eevees!

Pokemon and YGO

Update

Finally, a happy post!

The figure search goes on....

And the legacy goes on....

EEEEEEEEEE!

Yay

Ugh.

Frozen 2 and fics

I still hate making tops.

The saga continues.

Interesting crafting projects.

Yesss!

Yay for the squee!