So much to post about, so little time! Naruto, Dark Tower, FFXI

First, Naruto! Eee! I watched the raw for ep 126 and even before we got to the Zabuza/Haku part, I was impressed. Gaara rocks so much!

Not understanding more than a couple words of Japanese, I'm not exactly sure what happened in the scene where the bone guy met Zabuza and Haku, but it still looked interesting! I was so sure that he'd end up going off with Zabuza, which would confirm that Zabuza has a thing for pretty little boys who look like girls. (As if we weren't sure of that already!)

And man, did Haku's eyes actually get prettier? Ugh, I need to see so much more of this ever-so-canon pairing! Too bad about that whole "being dead" thing...

---

I had been reading the last Dark Tower book "at work" (at lunchtime, before work started, that sort of thing), but since it's been so hard (impossible) not to cry as we're getting closer to the ending, I decided to finish reading it at home last night. Good decision, even though nothing was so bad as what I had read at work during the day...

( Cut for massive spoilers through the end of the last Dark Tower book. )

King is an amazing, amazing writer. It boggles me how quickly he can make me care for a character (Stuttering Bill the robot -- a throw-away character, minor and unimportant, yet my heart went out to him when he talked about afterlives).

In the end, I was okay with King inserting himself into the book. It was understandable and (as he said) necessary. And the art in the book? Just amazing. When I saw that one picture of Patrick my very first thought was "Wow, he looks like Jesus" and only later did I wonder if that was intentional.

The book may have only (only, heh) weighed three pounds, but it feels like I'm walking around with a lot less weight than that. I've been following this series for fifteen years or so, and it's so odd to have it finally be over.

King had such a unique "voice" in this book. Usually I'd hate something like this, but I loved how he spoke as the storyteller now and then. I can't remember an exact quote as an example, but things like "And I'll leave this part up to you, for it's too big of an emotion for a humble storyteller like me to describe".

---

FFXI: Money, money, money, lately it's all about money. I'm trying not to let myself get stressed over it. I went to Jeuno to price things, and all the stuff I'll need in the 50s (most of it at 55, one piece earlier and one piece later) will come to a million gil. That's only three pieces of armor, two earrings, and one weapon.

I'm trying to decide if I should start buying stuff now or not. On the one hand, I don't want to have to store this stuff forever. On the other, prices rise daily, so it might be wise to snatch stuff up now... I'm kind of hoping that prices will have gone down by the time I need these items, but what are the chances of that? Maybe I should start buying tonight...

So in an effort to make more money, I tried mining. I disliked it a whole lot. Endless running back and forth, rude people mining with you (one who kept following me and taking points with me as I found them), and just being stuck inside a dark and ugly cave. However, the money was better than I'd make if I had just farmed so... ugh. I'm not going to do it all the time, but I suppose I should now and then. I made about 80K profit in three hours mining; if I had farmed for three hours, I would have been lucky to hit 40K.

Mining is much, much more "cruel" than digging for bones. I kept boggling at mining points only giving me one item before vanishing, and mining just totally burns through picks! One stack of picks lasts me many hours when digging for bones, but I used five stacks of picks in three hours of mining. (Yeah, wearing all the mining stuff.)

I had made a list of all the items I got and their prices in Bastok as of last night, but I forgot the darned thing at home. Good things gotten: 2 gold ores, 2 darksteel ores, colored rocks (2 black, 1 white, 1 red), and about a kazillion zincs (which were selling for only 500 in Bastok. Bah.).

So much to post about, so little time! Naruto, Dark Tower, FFXI

First, Naruto! Eee! I watched the raw for ep 126 and even before we got to the Zabuza/Haku part, I was impressed. Gaara rocks so much!

Not understanding more than a couple words of Japanese, I'm not exactly sure what happened in the scene where the bone guy met Zabuza and Haku, but it still looked interesting! I was so sure that he'd end up going off with Zabuza, which would confirm that Zabuza has a thing for pretty little boys who look like girls. (As if we weren't sure of that already!)

And man, did Haku's eyes actually get prettier? Ugh, I need to see so much more of this ever-so-canon pairing! Too bad about that whole "being dead" thing...

---

I had been reading the last Dark Tower book "at work" (at lunchtime, before work started, that sort of thing), but since it's been so hard (impossible) not to cry as we're getting closer to the ending, I decided to finish reading it at home last night. Good decision, even though nothing was so bad as what I had read at work during the day...

( Cut for massive spoilers through the end of the last Dark Tower book. )

King is an amazing, amazing writer. It boggles me how quickly he can make me care for a character (Stuttering Bill the robot -- a throw-away character, minor and unimportant, yet my heart went out to him when he talked about afterlives).

In the end, I was okay with King inserting himself into the book. It was understandable and (as he said) necessary. And the art in the book? Just amazing. When I saw that one picture of Patrick my very first thought was "Wow, he looks like Jesus" and only later did I wonder if that was intentional.

The book may have only (only, heh) weighed three pounds, but it feels like I'm walking around with a lot less weight than that. I've been following this series for fifteen years or so, and it's so odd to have it finally be over.

King had such a unique "voice" in this book. Usually I'd hate something like this, but I loved how he spoke as the storyteller now and then. I can't remember an exact quote as an example, but things like "And I'll leave this part up to you, for it's too big of an emotion for a humble storyteller like me to describe".

---

FFXI: Money, money, money, lately it's all about money. I'm trying not to let myself get stressed over it. I went to Jeuno to price things, and all the stuff I'll need in the 50s (most of it at 55, one piece earlier and one piece later) will come to a million gil. That's only three pieces of armor, two earrings, and one weapon.

I'm trying to decide if I should start buying stuff now or not. On the one hand, I don't want to have to store this stuff forever. On the other, prices rise daily, so it might be wise to snatch stuff up now... I'm kind of hoping that prices will have gone down by the time I need these items, but what are the chances of that? Maybe I should start buying tonight...

So in an effort to make more money, I tried mining. I disliked it a whole lot. Endless running back and forth, rude people mining with you (one who kept following me and taking points with me as I found them), and just being stuck inside a dark and ugly cave. However, the money was better than I'd make if I had just farmed so... ugh. I'm not going to do it all the time, but I suppose I should now and then. I made about 80K profit in three hours mining; if I had farmed for three hours, I would have been lucky to hit 40K.

Mining is much, much more "cruel" than digging for bones. I kept boggling at mining points only giving me one item before vanishing, and mining just totally burns through picks! One stack of picks lasts me many hours when digging for bones, but I used five stacks of picks in three hours of mining. (Yeah, wearing all the mining stuff.)

I had made a list of all the items I got and their prices in Bastok as of last night, but I forgot the darned thing at home. Good things gotten: 2 gold ores, 2 darksteel ores, colored rocks (2 black, 1 white, 1 red), and about a kazillion zincs (which were selling for only 500 in Bastok. Bah.).

New twists on song lyrics

Warning: If you're a religious person, you might want to skip this post. I'm not certain, but I think it might offend you. That's not the intent, but if you do read it and get offended, the fault is your own. :)

A few weeks back my car went into the shop, and as part of the repair they had to take the computer offline. This meant that when I got it back all my programmed radio stations were gone. While there's room for twenty or so of them, I only replaced the three I listen to on a regular basis. A couple days I was bored with those three, so started pressing buttons at random to see what stations the "default" button settings might be.

One of the stations was (what I had thought was) some sort of light rock station. I left it on and continued driving, not really listening too closely. Then the one line from the lyrics caught my attention, a man singing softly:

Take me into your hand and fill me with your love, touch my deepest places with your love. I need you inside of me...

Well now, my mind just totally jumped to all sorts of slashy situations which might bring that line about! The man's voice was just so warm and so passionate and so... needful. I listened closer and was very disappointed to find it was some sort of religious song.

Luckily for me, I was too lazy to reach over and change the station. When the next song came on, I listened to it with an ear that was alert for slashy lines and tones. Another man sang in a gentle voice:

All I need is your command to make my life complete, without you I am nothing. I kneel before you, shower your love onto me.

*snicker*

It's now days later, and this is my new most favorite station. As far as I can tell, only men sing these songs (though I only get to listen a half-hour or so a day, so I could just be missing the female singers). I wish I could write while driving, because every single song has multiple totally slashy gems in it. I giggle and wiggle the whole drive home.

Note: The wording of the lyrics are as close as I can remember them. While the wording might not be 100% perfect, it's as close as I can remember.

New twists on song lyrics

Warning: If you're a religious person, you might want to skip this post. I'm not certain, but I think it might offend you. That's not the intent, but if you do read it and get offended, the fault is your own. :)

A few weeks back my car went into the shop, and as part of the repair they had to take the computer offline. This meant that when I got it back all my programmed radio stations were gone. While there's room for twenty or so of them, I only replaced the three I listen to on a regular basis. A couple days I was bored with those three, so started pressing buttons at random to see what stations the "default" button settings might be.

One of the stations was (what I had thought was) some sort of light rock station. I left it on and continued driving, not really listening too closely. Then the one line from the lyrics caught my attention, a man singing softly:

Take me into your hand and fill me with your love, touch my deepest places with your love. I need you inside of me...

Well now, my mind just totally jumped to all sorts of slashy situations which might bring that line about! The man's voice was just so warm and so passionate and so... needful. I listened closer and was very disappointed to find it was some sort of religious song.

Luckily for me, I was too lazy to reach over and change the station. When the next song came on, I listened to it with an ear that was alert for slashy lines and tones. Another man sang in a gentle voice:

All I need is your command to make my life complete, without you I am nothing. I kneel before you, shower your love onto me.

*snicker*

It's now days later, and this is my new most favorite station. As far as I can tell, only men sing these songs (though I only get to listen a half-hour or so a day, so I could just be missing the female singers). I wish I could write while driving, because every single song has multiple totally slashy gems in it. I giggle and wiggle the whole drive home.

Note: The wording of the lyrics are as close as I can remember them. While the wording might not be 100% perfect, it's as close as I can remember.

*frantic*frantic* Following others' lead: My list for Saturday. (FFXI only)

The CoP 2-5 mission is on on Saturday! It's only Thursday and I can hardly breathe! This is going to be the hardest battle I've ever been in in all of the game. So nervous, so nervous. Harder still cause you can only do it as a single party...

I've purchased 8 hi-potions already, plus have 1 from some old mission. I'd like 30 total, but might not have room for that many. (I wonder if we need any free spaces at all? Will anything drop that we need? Well, I guess I can go in 60/60 since the potions will vanish as I use them...)

Still need to buy:

* Some sort of "head armor". Whatever I had used before upgrading to what I'm wearing now.
* Some sort of "waist armor". What the heck had I used before my Swordbelt +1?
* Icarus Wing (check Jeuno)
* Reraise scroll.
* Some sort of Au Lait (look into types and see which I need. Persikos is best?)
* Eye drops/antidote/ear drops. Ear drops? Whatever the silence-remover med is called. (Edit: Echo drops)
* Whatever the best juice there is is. Will hammer my Absorb spells, thus will burn MP. Maybe a non-juice med would be better... (Edit: Going to go with ethers or hi-ethers. Need to ask about time delays between them. Same problem as hi-potions/x-potions?)

Have:
* Powers/oil on mule. Must move to Thistle.
* Food. If Jacks, then I have them. If sushi, then jump up and down on Aurian till she makes some for me to buy. :)
* Wolf Mantle +1 for back slot. Find it and have it on hand.
* Haste Belt (haste enhancement). Will switch out with normal belt.

Things to look into: Blink band (level to use?), reraise neck armor thingie (gorget, whatever).

Need to find and reread that comment from the DRK who did this mission. I didn't agree with everything he did, but some of it looked handy.

Need to find and MEMORIZE the messages for when the mobs change type. Stop hitting it when it gets to that hitting=healing it form!

Gah. This is going to be so hard. I'm so nervous I'll mess something up! *prints out post so I don't forget anything*

Need to check macros, too. Maybe ... maybe remove most of them so I can macro in item-use instead...

*frantic*frantic* Following others' lead: My list for Saturday. (FFXI only)

The CoP 2-5 mission is on on Saturday! It's only Thursday and I can hardly breathe! This is going to be the hardest battle I've ever been in in all of the game. So nervous, so nervous. Harder still cause you can only do it as a single party...

I've purchased 8 hi-potions already, plus have 1 from some old mission. I'd like 30 total, but might not have room for that many. (I wonder if we need any free spaces at all? Will anything drop that we need? Well, I guess I can go in 60/60 since the potions will vanish as I use them...)

Still need to buy:

* Some sort of "head armor". Whatever I had used before upgrading to what I'm wearing now.
* Some sort of "waist armor". What the heck had I used before my Swordbelt +1?
* Icarus Wing (check Jeuno)
* Reraise scroll.
* Some sort of Au Lait (look into types and see which I need. Persikos is best?)
* Eye drops/antidote/ear drops. Ear drops? Whatever the silence-remover med is called. (Edit: Echo drops)
* Whatever the best juice there is is. Will hammer my Absorb spells, thus will burn MP. Maybe a non-juice med would be better... (Edit: Going to go with ethers or hi-ethers. Need to ask about time delays between them. Same problem as hi-potions/x-potions?)

Have:
* Powers/oil on mule. Must move to Thistle.
* Food. If Jacks, then I have them. If sushi, then jump up and down on Aurian till she makes some for me to buy. :)
* Wolf Mantle +1 for back slot. Find it and have it on hand.
* Haste Belt (haste enhancement). Will switch out with normal belt.

Things to look into: Blink band (level to use?), reraise neck armor thingie (gorget, whatever).

Need to find and reread that comment from the DRK who did this mission. I didn't agree with everything he did, but some of it looked handy.

Need to find and MEMORIZE the messages for when the mobs change type. Stop hitting it when it gets to that hitting=healing it form!

Gah. This is going to be so hard. I'm so nervous I'll mess something up! *prints out post so I don't forget anything*

Need to check macros, too. Maybe ... maybe remove most of them so I can macro in item-use instead...