all made up with nowhere to go

I'm ~halfway through Royal Assassin (2/16) and, although I'm enjoying the story as I read it (and I'm not finding it difficult to concentrate or whatnot), I feel like it's a grind to read? Which feels like an oxymoron, of sorts. I think it is, in part, because this book is that much longer than the first one (which was 460 pages, and that was long enough for me, imo). Also it would help if I a) stopped clock watching while I was reading and b) stopped feeling guilt for reading (it is easing, it's just taking its hecking time).

Also I did some maths last night, and by the time I finish Assassin's Quest, I will have read over 2000 pages already, and that's only one fifth of the way into the series! And it is over 700 pages more than the last set of three books I read (The Broken Earth trilogy). I can't even.

I know I can do this, it's just...whew that feels like a lot of pages already. I keep comparing it in my head to when I read Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (back in 2014!) which, admittedly I didn't finish - I got to the end of part six and stopped for various reasons, including, well, the ending of part six, and just never picked it back up again. I meant to. I really wanted to read part seven. OH WELL. Maybe later. So I know I can read long things, it's just getting back into the swing of it, I think.

~

In other news, for various reasons, I have been thinking about digging out my tarot deck, except I don't know where it is (I have an idea, but whether that's accurate is anybody's guess). However, a quick google leads me to discover I could get an entirely new one for £10-15! (or less if I go on ebay!) Bargain! Also I kind of like this idea, since the deck I have used to be my mum's, and I remember reading when I was younger that you shouldn't use someone else's deck. So the idea of having my own is appealing.

If I do buy another deck, I'm going to go with the Rider Waite designs since they're what I'm used to and I really like them. I know there are some awesome designs out there, but maybe when I have a bigger income, I'll buy some different decks.

Last night I watched a programme about the nation's favourite Queen songs. It'd been on a couple of days ago, but we recorded it. It was fairly predictable (you'll never guess what the number one song was /sarcasm). There were absolutely no surprises (it was pretty much pick n mix off the first two greatest hits), and I heard pretty much the same stories about the songs that I've heard before (which is not to say I didn't enjoy it because I DID. I just didn't hear a lot I didn't already know).

I did learn one thing though, which was that what most people (myself included) think is a guitar solo on I Want To Break Free is actually a synth/keyboard solo. To be honest, I always thought it was guitar with a modulation pedal because that's what it damn well sounds like. I listened to it again earlier and, even though I know it isn't a guitar solo any more, it still bloody well sounds like one.

~

I've also come to the conclusion that Araki gave Anime David Bowie (Kira in Jojo Part 4) Killer Queen as a stand on purpose (because Bowie + Queen = AWESOME). I'm also convinced that Killer Queen's a cat person because of Freddie Mercury's love of cats and Araki knew about that. I am probably 100% wrong, however, but I'm past caring.

(EDIT: and also Bowie did that song about cat people, sooooo...uh. yeah).

Because I am an adult, I spent today colouring in and watching A:tLA. I started a rewatch a bit since, but it petered out because of horrible stuff, etc. but I decided since there was bog all on TV, why not put it on? So I did. I watched from The Winter Solstice Part 2 (trust me to stop on a two parter, eh?) to The Fortuneteller (skipping Jet as per usual because nope). I could've watched more, but I was feeling super sleepy, so I went for a nap (and actually napped! It was amazing!)

I think I might have to skip Appa's Lost Days because I'm not in the right frame of mind for it at the best of times, never mind right now, and probably also The Day of the Black Sun (or whatever it's called) because it's boring (imho). (Also I have only watched the most part of S3 once, but you didn't hear me say that).

But yeah. Colouring in.

I've been looking up printable papers on the internet (and coming to the conclusion that I could just design my own, and I could. But it will take some learnings, but that's OK). So of course, because I'm not fussy about how I search for them, I've found several designs to print out and colour in. This reminded me that I have two books of patterns to colour, but I've never done it because - get this - I'm afraid of using the wrong colours. WHAT A CROCK OF BULLSHIT. There are times when I hate my brain, and this is one of them. I mean, what even ARE the wrong colours? Where does it tell me what are the right ones? I swear to god sometimes I don't know.

The upshot is, I got one of the books out, and I sat down with some pens, and I freaking coloured. And while I wish I'd chosen slightly different ones, or that some of the inks were a bit paler, I don't think I've done a bad job! I haven't gone outside the lines, so I consider it a success!

~*~

JJBA-wise you will probably be pleased to hear I haven't been reading much (I'm sure everyone is fed up of me talking about it by now, right?) Although it's kind of annoying because I REALLY wanted to read Stone Ocean, and now the universe keeps finding reasons for me not to. Also damnit, I stopped in the middle of an arc again so I will have no idea what's going on when I get back to it.

*sighs*

Cat update:

Jinny has started sitting outside the front door. She doesn't really roam about anyway (that I know of, but she's a neutered cat, and I'm led to believe they have small territories), but we never know where she hangs out during the day. So it's nice to see her in the garden, you know? A couple of times I've looked out to see her absolutely sprawled out on the paving stones, and I've barely ever seen her like that. It's good to see her relaxing :)

~*~

JJBA update:

I finished Diamond is Unbreakable, and am now reading Vento Aureo. I also told Jackie about the entire thing, didn't explain it very well, didn't tell her everything, and felt like I was making up total bollocks. (I told her about Gatto as an example of how weird it was, and it felt odd).

( here be spoilers )

~*~

Mum's been recording episodes of Bergerac to watch while the football/tennis is on (but mostly the football) and man, that show is the eighties condensed.

(That said, she's been watching old episodes of Casualty that are from 1997, and good grief nineties fashions were horrible. I said to her not long ago that I'm starting to view nineties fashions in the same way as eighties ones, and that's mainly to look at them and cry).

I finished Stardust Crusaders this afternoon and there were tears, in all the places I thought there wouldn't be. Goddamnit.

(I have since started Diamond is Unbreakable*. Not far enough into it to know what I make of it. I like Josuke, though, so that's OK).

*I honestly prefer the more Engrishy Diamond is not Crash, but that's not legit now *sigh*.

Stolen from feline_scribe:

"Hey if you’re new around here or even if you've been following [friends with] me for a long time:

This is a reminder that you’re 100% welcome to respond to anything and everything i say. Leave me comments about posts or telling me about your day, or random facts or questions or ANYTHING. I LOVE HUMAN CONTACT AND ANY ATTEMPT YOU MAKE TO CONNECT WITH ME IS A BEAUTIFUL THING"

SERIOUSLY. Although if you don't feel like commenting, that's cool, too :)

~*~

Meanwhile, over in JJBA FEELS R US:

Some tweets I made, which I may or may not expand on:

( Read more... )

So there's those, but there's also SPOILERS!

( beware spoilers )

UGH. *drags hands down face*

P.S. I STILL WANT TO PUNCH DIO

Video game outrage first, I think:

~ I was in CEX, because every time I go to Burnley, I go in there WITHOUT fail. I was actually looking for a copy of the third A:tLA game, as I was reminded the other day that I do not have it (I have the first two by some fluke of flukiness).

So I'm checking out the PS2 games. Most of them are a couple of quid a throw now. I spotted Project Zero (Fatal Frame in Japan/America) and it was £10, which is pretty expensive for a PS2 game these days. Then I spotted Suikoden IV, which I actually thought about buying (because it's the first time I've ever seen a Suikoden game and I wanted to play one). Then I saw the price. TWENTY FUCKING QUID WHAT. And also there was Silent Hill: 0rigins for £10, which is just taking the piss imho.

I tweeted about this. Then I checked prices on Amazon when I got home and wow. Apparently that is average price for a used copy of each of those games (the prices for Suikoden IV get ridiculous in the same way the Raidou games do *sighs*).

Mind you, then again, I paid £15 each for both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus used copies from CEX a few years ago so I can't comment, I guess. (Although I panic bought them because I thought I'd never see them again, and I was mostly correct. I've seen SoTC, but not ICO).

In non-video game rage:

~ Games I considered buying but didn't: Dragon's Dogma, Dark Souls (although that was WAY out of my price range), Lightning Returns (ditto), Ass Creed 1 and 2 (I could've had both for £6! BARGAIN), the Adventure Time game (I didn't even look at the price tag), and The Last Remnant. I think there were some others, probably, but I always feel bad about buying games when I have no money (and still have a mountain of games to play through).

~ I had sudden Harry and Cheryl feels and then I was sad. I also reblogged some Silent Hill stuff because of that and it did not help with the sad :( (if anything it made me feel worse because blargh FEELINGS).

~ I don't know if it's just me but: current story (Relatively Average Sized Mecha in Gratuitous German: The Story) - I keep thinking of all these AUs as I'm noodling stuff out. Stuff that would TOTALLY work but that is completely ridiculous (except the Wild West one; that's totally legit). I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, though???

In some ways, I think it's a good thing because YAY IDEAS but on the other hand, I can't help thinking that maybe I should just stick to the case in point (although what I WILL say, is that I'm not abandoning the actual story for any of the AUs. Which is good!)
(This sort of totally makes me wish it was a comic, because then I could put random bits of AUs at the end of chapters of the story or whatever because it was my comic and I could do as I liked with it. But me and comics production are unmixy things. I haven't tried making one for around eight years and I don't think I'm about to start again now).

(wow, I can't believe it's been that long, but yup. 2006 it was. wow).

~ I think I might spend tomorrow reading Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Because it's about time I did.