all made up with nowhere to go

~ I finished the Eternal Punishment LP last night, and now I am super bummed out. There were legit tears (prob would've been more if I'd played it myself). I just. UGH. I kind of want to make a post about it, but it would probably be all handwaving and snotty crying, tbh.

~ I got an Iain M Banks book out of the library, as it was right next to my hand when I was standing at the SFF shelves, and I feel like the universe has been poking me to read his stuff lately. Anyway, I've had it a week and not touched it since I haven't felt like reading in the last however fucking long. It is one of the later Culture ones, so I'm probably making a horrible mistake by starting with that one.

~ it has been hotter than Satan's arsehole for the last week, and is set to continue, and no no no do not want. I dislike hot weather at the best of times, but I like it even less when it's so gross feeling, and the temperature is almost 30°C

[insert obligatory "i'm sure it never used to get this hot when i was a teenager!"]

~ Yet again regretting not continuing more regularly with pixel art way back in 2003/4, whenever it was I started doing it. I mean, I'm better at it than I used to be, but most of that betterness has come along in the last few years, where I've made more of a concerted effort (and even then I don't think I've done as much of that as I have trad art. But then again, I've been doing trad art all my life, so ???? *shrug emoji*).

Anyway, going to install an app on my tablet and have a noodle on there, and see what happens!

I'm also going to try out a thing I saw on pinterest a while back, which involves pixels to some degree, though it also involves painting. I want to paint so much! and I just feel like I haven't had the brain space to do it lately (lately being going on a year at this point). So. Going to make an effort to that, too.

In Nocturne: I am in the Mantra Headquarters. I am afraid to go into the Amala Labyrinth, but I remember feeling like this before. I don't even know if I'm going to look at it/do the True Demon Ending at this time.

In P2: In Carcarol, failing badly at the first boss fight in there. Also running out of healing items, but that is par for the course for me. Of course, there is no way out of this dungeon past a certain point, I don't think, so I may have to go back to a previous save so I can get items and return *sighs*

#

Also hey did you know: I learnt the other day that the reason the Persona games exist and are, to some degree, easier than main SMT games, is because they're aimed at younger players? Like I think SMT exists for everyone who grew up on Nintendo Hard stuff, and they certainly started as such (and continued, lol), and then Persona is for those who maybe started playing stuff later on. Maybe.

But I found that interesting (and I suppose it explains, maybe, why the Persona games are more popular? That's the feeling I get within what fandom stuff I see. I mean I like all the Megaten games I've experienced (though DDS is my favourite), but Persona seems to be the part that gets the most coverage fan-wise (also because, I guess, it's had more translations - all the games have been published in English, whereas SMT only recently had the first game translated for a port to the iPhone, and II hasn't been translated at all*. III/Nocturne/Lucifer's Call was the first to be translated into English, by which time we'd already had two Persona games. So, essentially, the SMT games are trying to catch up, and it's not quite happening. At least, that's my feeling on things).

*Apart from a fan translation.

#

There's a new show on TV called River, about a Swedish policeman living in London, and he can see dead people. This is totally not a spoiler, though I think from the way the show framed it that it was meant to be, but Trailers Always Spoil, so.

I think it's interesting but: it feels very Hellblazer-like in inspiration (esp if the way the dead people thing is going to work the way I think it is), and very like Felix Castor (because that's Felix's Thing - he is an exorcist - but also he is 100% John Constantine, just with the serial numbers filed off).

Also I was convinced the actor was doing a very good accent for whatever reason, only for me to see in the cast at the end that it was Stellan Skarsgård, so he wasn't "doing an accent" at all. That's just how he talks. Head, meet desk. In my defence, I didn't recognise him, because I've seen him in approximately two things, and the most recent was, like, three years ago.

I think I'm going to keep watching, because I want to see where it goes (hopefully it'll pan out better than the last thing I watched).

~ I made a soda bread earlier and it looks OK?

I can bake bread the usual way (i.e. with yeast), but sometimes I have a fail loaf (the last one was the densest loaf in Yorkshire, I swear). I don't mind making bread this way, but waiting on two hour-long rises is tedious (and stretches the time out). So I thought I'd learn to make soda bread in case (prep and cooking was half the time as, obviously, I didn't have to wait for it to rise). Kneading it hurt my wrists a bit, but I think that was because it needed a bit more liquid in it. But that's another thing I've learnt to make.

~ I had one commission, which I finished and got paid for, and now am working on another one for the same person. So that's cool!

(Also the yarn is really nice - I didn't think I'd like it, but I have to work with it whether I like it or not. It's a dusky pink and grey and brown, and it makes me think of colours a mori girl might wear (that link's to a google image search) ).

~ I have Neko Atsume (Cat Collection) on my phone. It's supposed to be all over the internet, yet I have literally only heard two people talk about it once per person??? Anyway, it's cats and you collect them and that's all you do and oh boy is that my jam.

~ I am reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I think it's going to be a Weird Story.

~ Still playing P2. Not enjoying it as much, but I think that's because less people around me are playing it this time/producing fanworks for it. I mean, I am enjoying it, but I'm not all !!!! like I was four years ago.

But I really want to play Eternal Punishment, so I must do this!

~ I started accidentally thinking about a story idea I've had for over a decade now (I sometimes think about it because, as story ideas go, it's my baby. Well, one of two babies). Mum mentioned True Grit, with which it shares a thing (specifically a teenage girl and cowboy, of sorts, but that's it), and that made me start thinking about it earlier. I sort of want to poke around with it now, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not because abominations story! I am supposed to be working on that!

(says the person who's spent random days in the last two weeks thinking about their magical girl story off and on)

*throws hands in air*

I might dig the notes out just to look at for nostalgia or something tomorrow...

I started replaying Persona 2: Innocent Sin because I'm mad at Lost Odyssey (not really), and because flarewerk is playing it for the first time, and it's giving me all the feels. Also I haven't yet played Eternal Punishment, despite it being a long four years since I first played Innocent Sin.

I love this game! I think it's actually my favourite of the Persona games (although I haven't played P1 yet, and P3 remains very close to my heart. And I don't dislike P4, really, but P2 gives me alllllll the feels. ALL OF THEM).

Going to go back and play some more now :)

Exciting news!

(Well, I guess that depends on your definition of the phrase, but even so...)

I FINISHED INNOCENT SIN THE OTHER NIGHT!!!! \o/ *whoops and dances*

Now I can play Eternal Punishment!

It took me seven goes or so to nail the final boss, and I did manage it on my sixth go, but then the game crashed, so I was all *sadface* for ten minutes, and then I started all over again. AND YAY THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING.

That's my third Megaten game beaten. I feel so proud!

~*~

In other news, I bought a cheap sewing machine, so now I can sew things, which makes my workflow faster. I realise that the sewing is something I haven't mentioned before, but that's because I haven't really been doing it (or I have, but it's been taking forever. Now I can sew something in a day that took me a couple before).

Also I discovered that Jackie's piano is in working order, and I've been down there tonight playing it. I started teaching myself to play Claire de Lune (Debussy | Obligatory Youtube link). I'm not very good, and I can only play one handed (story of my piano playing life, although to play it properly, I will have to learn both hands), but eh. I taught myself something new!

(I am still of the opinion that it is one of THE creepiest pieces of classical music ever, however. Even more so after that bit in Flower, Sun, and Rain. Which I would link to if my Youtube-fu were better. But it's not).

Now I will just have to practice on my keyboard instead of playing vidya games...

I have floor space! (Sadly the studio that is yet to be is now full of books that need taking to a charity shop).

It is nice to walk across my room without tripping over anything (cat excluded - I think she likes trying to trip people up). Also my yarn stash is all sorted out and neat. I feel kind of proud of myself, even though the thought of housework generally turns my stomach.

In other news, I learnt this morning that mohair yarn (or mohair in general) cannot be felted, whereas angora felts really easily (long fibres, I'm guessing; no wondered I thought I'd lucked out with that angora jumper). At the moment, I am making a butt-ton of squares, and started making a hat from some HUGE yarn that Jackie gave me a bit back (so big that I need to use my biggest hook to work with and that's...an education...)

Still freaking tired from not sleeping properly. Also being awake at stupid o' clock for several days running (only once was it not the actual fault of my brain). And I think I'm coming down with something - my nose has been running for days, and I keep sneezing (although I guess the sneezing is nothing new really).

And finally: Persona 2 Innocent Sin update! Eikichi makes me cry! I still have not finished the Masquerade dungeons yet! (I should've, as they're not difficult, but I've been cleaning like a maniac instead. I am nearly at the end of the Taurus Shrine, and that's my 3 of 4, so just Leo left! And then madness will ensue!)

Right right right. Time for a sketch dump soon! Been waiting for a few entries on my sketch blog for this - sadly it's taken longer than I anticipated (partly because I haven't been drawing; partly because some of the stuff I actually drawn and scanned is dross; partly 'cause I'm lazy).

I'd say a good 75% of it will be Persona 2 fanart. But that would be because I am sporadically playing the game and I can't stop drawing Tatsuya (see art icon for proof).

Worrying about my style again. I feel now that my art is more like "me" (whatever that means), and less like a (seriously) bad manga impression. Occasionally I do a drawing that is not like any I've done recently (*points at art icon again* - case in point, since I'd been kind of deliberately mimicking Kazuma Kaneko's style, and then I did this instead). I did one yesterday, while I was trying to figure out something for a mental image that won't leave me alone. To me, that speaks more of the stuff I grew up reading (i.e. British comics versus Japanese ones - I didn't encounter manga until I was 13 or so. It just wasn't around to be seen).

So, tl;dr version is, I think I am finally sorting myself out.

About bloody time. All these youngsters I see on the internets already have their style, and wield it well. I wish I'd known what they all appear to know when I was their age.

CHRIST ALMIGHTY I SOUND OLD.

(Also I have no idea if any of that makes any sense)

~*~

I feel like I should be recounting the adventures of me and Hmpf, but I'm too tired now (and also a complete dick).

On the other hand, before I forget, I managed to pick another two volumes of Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden on the cheap in Halifax. Still loving Takiko (and mentally squeeing because she gets to use a naginata, and I ♥ naginata).

I also have three vols of Maison Ikkoku now, so I just hope I like it (look, OK, Ranma put me off Rumiko Takahashi; I kind of want to read Inuyasha, and I've always wanted to read Maison Ikkoku. So. I will get back to you on this).

Firstly, a link for hmpf: http://lparchive.org/Knytt-and-Knytt-Stories/ :)

Secondly, a P4 LP: http://lparchive.org/Persona-4/ *has sparkly shojo eyes* (I just hope it's good; I haven't read it yet).

There's also an Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen LP, but I doubt any of you are interested in that? (*looks around* Just me then. Also dudes, if you know any other Matsuno fans, point me at 'em because...I needs them, precious).

~*~

Played some more Persona 2. Did not realise that you need to spread rumours specifically to progress in certain parts of the game. Head meets the desk, not for the first time.

Also went back and played a bit more LSD. It's as though, even though I find it irritatingly boring most of the time, it keeps drawing me back, like some kind of psychedelic black hole so that I can see what kind of vaguely weird thing might happen next. I'd find it better if there were more locations to explore, but I can understand that's a limitation of the original coding/hardware, and that they needed space for all those extra textures.

That said, I have some screencaps I might turn into fanart, just so I can add "What the hell happened to my apartment?!" (or I might just post the caps. I don't know. We'll see how it goes, I guess).

~*~

(How did it get to Shore Leave Friday again? WHERE HAS THIS WEEK GONE).

I just started playing Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and I am head over heels in love with Ulala already. I kind of knew I would be, anyway, always liked her character design when I've seen pics of her.

Reminds me, I should play Innocent Sin first, really (since it's the first of the two halves), because it has Lisa Silverman in it as a playable character, and I love Lisa for pretty much the same reasons, lol.

There are so many other things I should be doing but no, Megaten has me by the nuts again. Like I'm complaining, though