The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I 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.

Ugggh. This has been a day when so many things go wrong and very few things go right. About the only thing going right was getting to spend some time with my local friend. That was fun. The horrible insomnia beforehand wasn't fun. Neither was fighting with the computer for hours because apparently Flash and all its other Adobe products were so out of date they were messing things up and they hadn't bothered to tell me they needed updating long ago. When they get like that, it takes an hour or more to update when it should only take 10 minutes.

And I believe I mentioned everyone getting interested in Scarecrow and Mrs. King. I was the only one in the household who wasn't thrilled by the prospect of the characters getting romantically involved. I know how that sort of thing usually changes the whole show, ruins characters and relationships, and can totally fall short of people's expectations.

Season 4 started strong and was just a mess by the end. Of course, the female lead's near-absence from most of the final episodes was most likely because the actress was fighting breast cancer at the time, so a lot of that can be forgiven ... although I think they should have just gone on hiatus until she was well enough to be in the episodes as a main character again and not just as a walk-on role in her own show. Of course, maybe that wasn't an option. They were probably being pressured to get the season finished. Ratings had already dropped and they gambled with the marriage thing to try to pick them up. But the episodes with very little of Amanda right after the wedding probably went the rest of the way in killing the show. There's only one episode after the wedding where she even has much of a part. And the very last aired episode had them having marriage problems and Lee really being kind of a jerk to her (6 pages of quirks he didn't like about her?!) until the end of the episode.

I'm used to keynote episodes being lame, and the marriage episode was really lame. I expected them to be on a case for most of it, as they were, but I'd expected a better case. It was so pathetic. And then the honeymoon had Amanda critically shot and that was the first of the episodes that didn't have her much. I hate having someone badly hurt on a special occasion to begin with, and then not having them in the show much because of it, or even afterwards, makes it so much worse.

One thing we loved about the show was that it was pretty clean. Season 4 had many innuendos with unmarried characters, both the leads and other characters. That was another thing I was afraid would happen once romance was brought into it.

I also think Francine was usually shafted by the writers in all seasons. There was the issue of how sad she felt that Lee wasn't as interested in spending time with her anymore, even as a friend, which made me really feel for her and relate to her. In some ways, I think Francine was the real underdog of the series, and I tend to root for underdogs. (Of course, I rooted for Amanda too, but I really feel sad for how the writers treated Francine. Amanda, on the other hand, usually got a good break.) Then Francine was the trained agent, but it seemed like she was always getting in trouble and unable to get herself out of it, whereas Amanda was able to figure out how to get out of it despite having no training. That would be okay a time or two, but the way it was set up, Francine just came off looking incompetent a lot. I was glad that at least one of the last episodes showed her being a resourceful agent and pulling some Jim West level tricks to get out of a locked crate. The episode also revealed some of her backstory, how her dad pushed her to compete in a man's world and she felt she had no choice, which was both interesting and sad. She also seemed to have some longing for romance. Early episodes seemed to show she liked being an agent, though, without much interest in settling down and with an apparent dislike of kids. I rather prefer that version of the character (even though I don't dislike kids).

It was also frustrating how Francine seemed to go back and forth on characterization. Season 1 had her being rather passive-aggressive to Amanda, season 2 had her being nicer, than seasons 3 and 4 had her being nastier again, especially in 3. In 4 she was nice again sometimes.

It was neat seeing Amanda progress from being a civilian worker to actually having a job as a trained agent. But I have to admit, I think a lot of the charm in the show came from her housewife skills coming in handy on cases, rather than her just being another agent with a gun. One of the most priceless exchanges was in an early episode, when Francine complimented her on some wild driving and she said it came from taking her kids to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. ROTFLOL.

Ultimately, I miss the show when things were at a friendship level. I think season 2 was when it was at its best. I didn't like the cheeky, cute approach of the show four years ago, but I warmed up to it and now I miss the classic episodes when there was friendship stuff going on and there were plots like Amanda being given a weird, mind-altering drug or a hitwoman having plastic surgery to look just like Amanda. I had all seasons on my Amazon list, but I think I'll remove season 3 since that's when things started getting mushy. We watched it all from Netflix and there are very few episodes there that I'd like to rewatch. On the other hand, I want season 2 more now than ever, not just for the Luke episode but because that was the show's high point. I might also like season 1. Lee was kind of standoffish in season 1, though. Season 2 was just perfection.

I'm worried Mom won't even want to watch the episodes we haven't seen of 1 and 2, though, or rewatch the classics from 2, because she's so frustrated by how 4 spiraled downhill. I don't think that should make us hate the part of the show that was good, but she tends to feel that if a show ends bad, what's the point of seeing any of it. I can feel that way too, depending on the show. In this case, I see no reason why I have to accept all the seasons into my headcanon. I'd rather just think of the first two seasons as canon and then it splits into two different paths and the path in my mind probably stays closer to season 2. And if they ever do get romantically involved, the show wouldn't lose the charm that made it so special in the first place.

I feel sad for Mom getting so disappointed, especially since she was so excited when Dad presented season 4 as an anniversary present. But honestly, if she wants a good show with a married team of crime-solvers, Hart to Hart is way better at handling that angle (most of the time). She loves that show too. I wish I could have found out things about season 4 of Scarecrow beforehand, like Amanda not being in her own show much after the wedding. There weren't user reviews of those episodes on IMDB, I don't think. Maybe I should have read the reviews on season 4 on Amazon, if there were any. Maybe they wouldn't have helped, but maybe they would have. Mom might have still wanted to see 4 anyway, but at least if we could have been prepared for those lame twists, it wouldn't have been such a let-down for her.

In lighter viewing news, I finally got hold of a copy of the third Pokemon movie from the library, as well as the later Lucario film. I loved them both and want to own them. I especially loved that Team Rocket really didn't do anything villainous in either film, they helped save Ash in the third film (and obviously just didn't want him dead, in spite of Jessie's excuse about why they saved him), and that Meowth saved Pikachu and didn't think once about stealing Mew in the Lucario film. He just seemed sad most of the time and like he wanted to go back to Jessie and James. And it was heartbreaking when he thought they were dead.

I never watch episodes in order if I can help it, and on the last time I was able to catch a couple of episodes, for some reason I decided I wanted to see the last Orange Islands episode and see how Johto was set up. I ended up supremely sad to think of that arc coming to an end. For some reason, the Orange Islands seems to be my favorite Pokemon season. Part of it is probably my love of the second movie. And Team Rocket (especially James) getting some chances to shine in episodes. But that's not all it is. For some reason, the whole area and the way the arc is set up fascinates me. I can't explain why, especially since I don't even like tropical locations that much. But it's my favorite, even above season 1 in some ways. (Although I still have those special season 1 episodes I love as major favorites too.) I'm glad I don't watch episodes in order so there's still a few Orange Islands episodes I haven't seen yet. I think, though, that for my next viewing session, I may want to settle in with Pokemon and Turtles episodes I already know I love, especially when it's been such a bummer day for the most part.

Yesterday I struggled with a scene in my multi-chapter fic for a long time and finally accepted that I needed to write my oneshot fic about the starfish Pokemon before posting any of the bigger fic. Some references just wouldn't make sense otherwise. I knew it wouldn't take long to write, and indeed, it was done in less than 90 minutes. I had a horrible time actually posting it, which was another frustration, but I finally got it up. Maybe later today I'll start posting the bigger fic.

I also worked some on the Turtles fic. I can write about the Pokemon characters, but I don't really click with them as I do the 87 Turtles crew, writing-wise, and it felt so good to get back to Baxter and Barney.

It's interesting how the two shows have some similar humor, though. Both are fond of breaking the fourth wall. Both are light and silly and usually have fairly happy endings.

YGO is really the deeper show between it and Pokemon, and it's certainly better on characterization, but it's interesting how Pokemon has the depth of real animals while YGO is just cards (except in certain circumstances, of course). I will always love YGO better, but I think Pokemon's lighter nature is more in line with how tired I am of dark things right now.

Thanks to circumstances out of my control, I was, as I feared, not able to do my shopping thing on my birthday. And I wasn't able to celebrate at all until late in the day. But I got some awesome things, including the Orange Islands set and The Loner, which actually isn't as much of a downer show as I was led to believe. It's great so far! I'm so glad I decided to ask for it. I only did because Dad initially couldn't find the Pokemon set, as the clerk and the computer system were both inefficient.

I finally got to do the shopping thing this past night, whereupon I got the bat and also the second Sailor V manga. I also discovered that Barnes and Noble is clearancing most of the first line of Sailor Moon Figuarts figures for 50%! They didn't have the ones I wanted most, unfortunately, and none of them seem to have Mercury, alas. But Chibi Moon seems to be around at some stores up North, and I just so happen to have another chance to go up that way this weekend! So I may get her, and if I do, I may pick up another character while I'm at it because these prices are incredible. There won't be another chance to get them this low, I imagine. Once they disappear from physical stores, the prices will probably only go up.

My Venus is gorgeous, by the way. I changed her expression to the perky one and she's so cute! I have her holding Artemis. I could get Super Sailor Moon among these clearance ones, but I'd rather have the original Sailor Moon who comes with Luna. I don't think Super Sailor Moon does. I couldn't seem to see a Luna in the package. I will probably keep a look-out for the original Sailor Moon on Saturday. I also may try to find Jupiter, as she seems to be hard to get. I'm sure I saw one at this Barnes and Noble before, so she was apparently already bought when they went on clearance. Neptune and Saturn I don't think I've ever seen in the wild.

I've had some oddball things happen, like not being able to get the birthday coupon from Build-a-Bear yet. At first the lady on the phone didn't know what I was talking about. Then I got sent an expired coupon. When I asked, the lady on the email was chagrined that she'd sent an expired one and said they didn't have any for the current month yet. WTH. She'd send one when they come in. But I decided I should get the bat tonight, in case she'd sell out or the coupon would only come when I wouldn't have a chance to go or something. I think I made the right choice. I had a little more remaining on the gift card than I thought, so that was awesome. And there were only four of her in the bin! Yikes! I was told they would restock, though. But I'm glad I got her. She's even more incredible in person! I'm going to put her next to Milly and they can be best buds.

Another oddball thing is that the seller I messaged asking about the unsealed box doesn't seem to have answered. That's the third seller in a row who hasn't answered an eBay message from me. That seems too weird, so I wonder if the problem is on my end. But there is a place at eBay for messages from members, so even if the email copy didn't come through, it seems like I'd find the messages there if they replied. So bizarre. Why are sellers suddenly not responding to me?!

While at Barnes and Noble, I slightly debated returning the manga to get a figure instead, but I really want a figure in addition to the manga. I've been wanting the other Sailor V volume for years and this was a great time to buy. For some reason, Barnes and Noble is doing 10% off all book buys until the 23rd! Very unusual! That said, if I'd found the figures on clearance before I bought the manga, I might not have bought it. But once I did, I didn't want to return it. The figures on clearance, ironically, were over where Dad was waiting, the one place I hadn't thought to check for clearance stuff. So after I bought the manga and Mom and I were going to get him, suddenly I saw them and we were there a while longer.

I really wanted to buy something at Toys R Us and give them business, but I just couldn't find anything I wanted that much. The one thing I might have bought, a Miraculous Ladybug doll, was part of a BOGO 50% off sale, only there weren't any other characters left that I could include, save for the expensive two-doll pack that I can't get right now. So maybe I'll check another Toys R Us on Saturday. I could have just bought the one doll by herself, but I felt I'd rather see if I could find two at another store and then decide whether to buy. I might not because of the Sailor Moon figure sale.

It was really sad being there. Their plushie section has seriously dwindled. Unless it's moving elsewhere in the store, there weren't any FAO Schwartz plushies anymore. No Maine Coon cat. There isn't even a Sonic section! I found one lonely Knuckles plushie and nothing else. And they've reduced their Turtles section. And of what's still there, no new 87 keychains beyond what was there before. And all Mega Construx Turtles stuff is being clearanced out. So sad. Of course, the latter isn't a Toys R Us problem but something Mega Construx is doing all over. I think the Mutagen Canisters are not clearancing out, but regardless, Toys R Us didn't have any. Sad. I still need to pick up another Baxter to make into Barney for my dA friend, and I wonder if I should get a second one to have on hand here in case someone else wants one and they do clearance out and disappear. I don't know, though; all Wal-Marts other than mine seem to be stocked pretty good on the Canisters right now. Seriously, though, Toys R Us getting rid of stuff like the FAO Schwartz plushies and reducing what's available to buy doesn't seem like a good move when they're already in financial trouble. They should hang onto their merchandise unless they find they have to get rid of it. And I always wanted that Maine Coon, but there was rarely ever a sale. If I see it at another Toys R Us, maybe I should get it.

Before I went out, I debated things to get at Barnes and Noble and another thing I considered was that Leonardo and Mousers set. That was the only place I've ever seen it, but now it wasn't there anymore. But eh, it's a little cheaper on Amazon anyway. Also, the Technodrome set is down to $104 on Amazon! Still more than I want to spend on one toy, but that is awesome! I wish the Splinter would be available some other way, though, because I'm afraid I'll never get to have him.

I've been enjoying the Pokemon episodes, watching old favorites and seeing others I don't remember or never actually saw. I think Pikachu Re-Volts is my new favorite episode, heh. I try to avoid rewatches until I've gone through everything, but I might have to watch that one again soon anyway. I still like Holy Matrimony!, except for cringing at how Jessie and Meowth kept trying to force James to go home and marry against his will. I loved when he finally had enough and yelled at them! But it's not the episode with James talking about the marble house. I wonder what episode that was.

Misty hasn't frightened me with her temper yet, but I'm sure she will soon. In the episodes I've seen so far, though, she was in the right to be frustrated or angry. I love when she exclaims, "James is right here!" when everybody starts bawling at the Little Match Girl story James starts telling with himself in the role. LOL. And Ash was being a jerk in The Ghost of Maiden's Peak and insulting her, and he and Brock were both being a little annoying in The Purr-fect Hero. That said, a paper fan shouldn't hurt and it looked like it hurt, so I don't like them making it look like Misty hurt them when there's no logical reason why that would have hurt.

I'm still considering updating my old fic, but I'm thinking I would probably leave the original up. Someone was actually reading it yesterday. And liking it, incredibly. I think I might call the new version Dead and Alive: Director's Cut or some such, because if I leave the old one up, I need some way of identifying the new one as being connected with it.

I also got an intense Turtles plunnie after reading a series of blurbs a friend has been showing me. I immediately wrote a blurb, love it, and want to write a full-length fic. But the bat one is supposed to be next and I've already made a dent in it. It doesn't absolutely have to be next, though, so I wonder if I may write back and forth on the two fics at once and whichever one is done first will go up next. My attention is wavering again. As much as I like to write slice-of-life or humorous fics as breaks, it doesn't take long and I'm anxious to do more character-developing intense stuff and squee again.

... Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy. At least it's Chapter 11 and not 7, so the stores are staying put for now, but maybe they'll start closing some eventually. And in any case, it seems like Chapter 11 is how it always starts. Borders filed for Chapter 11 and then folded within a couple of years. K-Mart filed for Chapter 11 and even though they're still hanging on, I don't have much hope for their continued survival. And now Sears is going down with them since they're one company following the Chapter 11.

Seriously, though, please no. It was horrible enough to lose Borders and to have the K-Marts leave the state. Toys R Us cannot fold!

So I did search for stuff about The Loner last night and I found a very nice and informative article on a Rod Serling website. It's pretty much what I thought it would be once I learned he was involved, mostly downer or bittersweet endings. But it does sound like a powerful series. I probably would want to see it for Lloyd Bridges, if nothing else, since Mike Hammer is honestly a pretty downer series but is worth watching for Darren McGavin. However, I don't think I would make buying The Loner a priority ahead of other things. I may ask for it, though.

And with my preoccupation over the Pokemon DVD set shipping and trying to decide what to do about the other DVD sets, naturally it was expected that I would have a Pokemon dream sooner or later. Naturally it also heavily involved Team Rocket, especially James and Meowth, but while awake, I can't seem to recall many of the details.

It did cause me to go on another nostalgia trip and try to figure out why I got interested in those characters. I was obsessed with them to the point of trying to get merchandise involving them, including some stickers, a magazine with a Men In Black parody poster, and videos with my favorite episodes. (I only managed to get one of my most favorites to own, although I have four tapes.) I also tried to get a cute gift bag Toys R Us had, but I missed that one. And I wanted a huge Meowth plush that was only $20 at Toys R Us. I remember holding it longingly on my 16th birthday. I was absolutely ecstatic when one of my aunts brought him later that night as a present! And let's not forget the time I tried to dress up as Jessie for Halloween. I still wish I'd played James instead, because my costume was really more his in every way except for the wig. (No way would I wear a midriff shirt or a short skirt!) Then more recently, my failure at getting the shirt F.Y.E. carried. And I never have managed to get any of the figure releases, although I've wanted to.

Then there were the few times I did get plunnied for Pokemon fics. I think the only ones I actually finished were the one deconstructing Ash always electrocuting them and blasting them off and one where James is thought dead and turns up running around with amnesia. Oh, and one where Team Rocket helps the kids when they get in life-threatening trouble. Then I had one where the trio tries to leave the Team Rocket organization after James witnesses a near-murder (which was a tie-in with a YGO fic I did, actually) and a random hurt/comfort one where he and Jessie got into an argument and he later ended up hurt. I haven't looked at them for many years. They're probably terrible now, LOL. I think they may have been written before I was told my stories looked script-like and needed more details.

Anyway, I honestly can't remember why I initially found them so compelling. I don't recall at all what the first Pokemon episode is that I watched. But perhaps whatever it was, Team Rocket did something interesting that made me want to know more about them. So I may have looked them up, decided they were intriguing, and promptly wanted to get episodes focusing on them. I do remember going after all the videos in the library that I could with interesting Team Rocket episodes.

I think why I find them interesting now is that they seem to be good deep down, no matter how they try to be bad, and I like their close friendship with each other. I did play on the shipping bandwagon for a time, but then I got turned off because of one fan's obsessiveness over insisting on the pairing. The more she insisted it should be, the more I balked with why it shouldn't be. Now I like it better as kept in a platonic light. Boy and girl friendships are too few and far in-between in media.

I am very eager for the DVD set to arrive. I do wonder if I'll be able to stick to my goal of saving it to get into until my birthday. I am so anxious to see some of my most favorites again.

It's been my week for oddball dreams, too. I also had a strange one involving Vincent getting into a fight with an evil Iron Man rip-off, which is just all kinds of WTH. I haven't even seen any of the films with that character, so the only inspiration could have been talking to someone who was mentioning the Marvel attractions at Walt Disney World and such. Anyway, Vincent came out on the losing end of the fight and was thought dead. Baxter and Barney later confronted Shredder about it, and I don't know what he had to do with it. Maybe he hired the weirdo. And then a technician from their father's company was examining Vincent and it looked like he was mostly okay; the technician said the damage had been 92% fixed.

So then I got in the mood for some more Vincent hurt/comfort and started finally writing the Electric Soul fic, which has been on the docket for months and kept getting pushed back. That idea was in place shortly after Barney's redemption, so way back in winter. And at last I was ready for it! It feels good to write it. I was able to use most of my original blurb in it, although some things had to be tweaked or changed to fit things as they are now. Probably now is the best time to write it, too, since there are supernatural themes and it's kind of Halloweeny.

Finally got the Z icon I've been using on Dreamwidth over to LJ too. But that only worked because I removed the Mannix icon, thinking it would still be represented on my LJ header. And the header is gone. Why is it gone? I thought it was Photobucket's fault, but when I went to try to fix it under Customize Journal Style, I couldn't even see any place to input a header URL, just a background image URL. **repeated headdesk.** What's going on.... Did LJ remove my layout's ability to have a header overnight? I've looked everywhere and I don't find anything helpful or any place to input the URL.

... Oh. Nevermind, I finally fixed it. Forgot I had to use Custom CSS to have a header. It was Photobucket's fault. Once I replaced the URL in that section, it worked. Yay!

So I'm working on the current story and it's come out well, except that I think it moved faster than I intended and it has even less details than usual. The ones meant to be lighter seem to be especially lax on details. I figure I'll try sleeping on it and then see how I feel when I wake up.

It puzzles me because originally I had intended for it to be lighter/funnier and instead it ended up taking another path that made it darker/more intense, yet the mostly-dialogue way it went is more like the way it would have been as a lighter story. I feel like I need to slow it down/lengthen it somehow. If it's going to be more intense, I think it needs either more details or more meatier conversations in places. I don't know; the story decided to come out a certain way and I'm not certain I can change it, yet it's way shorter than I'd wanted and so dialogue-heavy. It's driving me nuts! And yet I like what I have. I just want more of it. I am so conflicted.

Good thing I already planned my Indigo Pokemon set would be my birthday Amazon order. That makes me a little less impatient about the fact that they still haven't shipped it. Looks like it's going to be one of those times where it takes five days or more to ship. At least when that happens, they usually rush the shipping so it comes in around three days instead of a week.

One thing I didn't mention was that at Wal-Mart this past Monday, I saw they had the Orange Islands and Johto Journeys sets. I strongly considered getting the Orange Islands one, as it was listed as only $9.97! Then I decided maybe I should come home and check Amazon's price and see an episode guide first or something, as I didn't think I'd seen many of the Orange Island episodes. When I came home and looked, I found the Indigo set and decided I wanted to use my gift card on that. With the gift card, the price I'd have to pay out of pocket would be around the same price I would have paid for Orange Islands at Wal-Mart. I also saw that Amazon is charging $19.99 for the Orange Island set. I wonder a bit if Wal-Mart's price is a typo!

I'm trying to remember when Pokemon went downhill for me. I know Advanced or thereabouts was when I called it quits because I just couldn't take the extreme dumbing down of Team Rocket, but it seems like the pattern started in Master Quest. So I believe I really only fully liked the first four seasons. Not quite sure about Master Quest, though. It was so long ago. But it does seem like that's when it started, and when Advanced started I wasn't sure whether to even try it, and then I did and soon got bent out of shape. I liked May because Misty's temper always scared me, and I did like at least one Team Rocket episode, I think, the one where they had to let their long-standing Pokemon go in order to save them (if I'm remembering right?), but aside from that, I just couldn't take their characterization that season. I have heard they get better in other seasons. I probably would have kept trying it now and then if not for the voice actor changes and the show leaving Kids WB (and my easy access).

Since I'm still unsure what to ask for for my birthday, I'm considering asking for the Orange Island set. And I'm considering buying the Johto Journeys set, probably on the birthday shopping spree, but maybe the day before, when we get groceries. I've had a long-standing debate over whether to get this set Wal-Mart has of the first four Mary Tyler Moore seasons for $19.99. Epic price for sure! I haven't seen much of the show, but I like it, and I thought it might give me some plunnies for stories about the Channel 6 crew. But if it's a debate between that or a show I already like to the point of being a fan, the show I'm a fan of will probably win.

Of course, who knows. I might get both or neither. I've also considered The Munsters set. I used to watch it when it aired on Channel 14 many years ago. I thought it was adorable and I liked it way better than The Addams Family. The Addams Family was always more popular, maybe because it originated in comic strips years before, but probably because it was much more macabre, creepy-weird, and filled with black humor. The Munsters was more like a cute domestic comedy where the family just so happened to be Halloween monsters, which suits my tastes much better.

I did ponder some time back on how it seems like the Channel 6 crew have approximate character parallels with Mary Tyler Moore characters, LOL.

April and Mary
Burne and Lou
Vernon and Ted
Irma and Rhoda

Of course, the guys' parallels seem closest. But I think all those characters would probably get along very well with each other, for the most part. (Either that or some might repel each other; I could see Vernon and Ted either being friends or repelling each other because they're too much alike, LOL. Although I think Vernon doesn't seem as clueless as Ted. And Ted seems like a nicer guy.) Mary and Rhoda are more mature than April and Irma, I think, but they could potentially still get along. If I do get the set and see a lot of the show, a crossover probably isn't out of the question. Or at least some extended cameos.