all made up with nowhere to go

A handful of nice things:

1. I saw a whole bunch of snowdrops when I was in town the other day! I don't remember ever seeing any/many before, so this many was really nice (someone had a whole garden full; it was amazing).

2. Someone has installed a book box near what used to be the post office, which is a few minutes' walk from my house, and I am very happy about that. It's not massive, but I hope people will use it.

3. There are currently three crocuses in my garden. It feels too early for them to be growing (I associate them with spring/Easter, and neither of those things is happening yet), but the weather got warmer, so in some ways, I'm not surprised they're coming up.

~

In other news, I accidentally got to the end of Tactics Advance? I ended up at the final boss fights without realising yesterday afternoon. Which means I got waaaay further than I thought the first time I ever played (I got to Mateus, and got put off because I didn't know how the vampires worked).

I don't really have much to say, except that I understand WAY more German than I expected (I was using my dictionary mainly for the weapons stuff). I think it helped that I was reading it out loud to myself as well (although probably a good job no-one could hear me, because my pronunciation is likely awful).

I don't know what I will play after this. I did think about going through all my DS/3DS games and playing/finishing them (for those that have an end point, so not either of the Style Boutique ones, and not New Leaf, and probably not Mario Kart 7, either). Or I could just play TWEWY for the nine hundredth time,,,

~

Additionally, I just bought three art books from the Book Depository, none of which were the ones I went on there to get, lol. (I've got birthday money, and it wants me to spend it, even as I tie myself in knots doing so). I went to get watercolour painting books, and came away instead with two by MIND (the UK mental health charity) and one about creating every day. I don't know if they will be any use to me (I mean, I hope so, I spent money on them!) but I guess we will have to wait and see!

(They're all due to ship this week, what's the betting they come on the day I am out? At least redelivery is a thing, but knowing my luck, that's exactly what will happen).

I don't feel like I've been doing anything interesting, so I haven't said/written anything. I've spent a week mostly colouring in, and watching Critical Role (I'm about halfway through episode 31; I'm going to be forever behind). I've also done a bit of origami today. (I want ALL THE ORIGAMI PAPERS, even though I've got plenty of paper I can use anyway).

I am also slowly working my way through Tactics Advance in German. I don't understand the vast majority of the text, although sometimes I can work it out via context. And sometimes I actually understand it because I know it! Currently I keep mixing up Ritter (knight) and Richter (judge).

And that's pretty much it. So really, mostly, this is me just saying hi hello I am still here, and now I am going away to fold some more paper.

On Monday. I did some rearranging in the living room, so that now I have a table to work on. This is great in theory. In practice, however, it's not so great. The table is to the side of my chair, not in front of it (I get up quite a lot, so it would be inconvenient). There is not a lot of space for me to sit sideways on my chair, and it's badly upholstered, so the edge of the arms stick into my legs and back, and that is not fun.

I am going to have to rethink this.

I wouldn't have done it at all, I don't think, but that I was thinking about digital art, and how I don't use my tablet much any more (I've had it five years and barely touched it in the last four. In fact, the last time I really did any digital art was last summer!)

One solution is to get an exercise ball to sit on, so I can sit round the other side of the table. They are very cheap (there are ones available for under £10!), and apparently it's really good for you, because it helps stabilise your core muscles, among other things. This is good, because I have been wanting to work on my abdomnials, but I wasn't sure how to go about it (me and most types of exercise are unmixy things). So this could be a good thing! Also it will probably help the problems I have with my hips somewhat, which would be nice because, although they've not been so bad recently, it would be nice for them to not hurt much at all.

The other solution is rearranging the entire living room, and that's a no-no, even if I am feeling slightly more energetic right now.

I did a bit of digital art over the weekend and knackered my right wrist temporarily (I did three days' worth of sewing with no breaks a couple of months ago and made my wrist hurt A Lot. It's not been right since).

Anyway, so far I'm mad at myself because I can't figure out how to get the part where it doesn't look like trash. I'll get there, eventually. (I remember having this feeling with everything else, soooo, hopefully I will learn one day! *crosses fingers*)

~

Which. I'm actually going to go right ahead and say this, because it is somewhat related, but I thought it deserved its own section :)

I don't know how many of you know of Loish, who is an amazing artist (it doesn't matter if you don't). I was looking at her blog on Monday, and I read a post she'd written about when she injured her arm. A lot of artists (and crafters) get carpal tunnel because I don't know about you, but I'm really bad at taking breaks. So is Loish. Anyway, she didn't get carpal tunnel, she got tennis elbow, but the point is that she hurt her dominant arm so badly she couldn't use it.

She recommends using this program called Workrave, which forces you to take breaks from your computer. It makes you break every handful of minutes, and then every 45 minutes, you take a longer break. I've had it on since yesterday (because it works on Linux as well as Windows \o/ ), and it drives me mad but I appreciate it doing its thing.

For ages now I've needed something to make me take breaks on the computer, because I get too absorbed in what I'm doing, and end up feeling crappy because of it. I never thought about a program to nag me to GTFO the computer, but hey here we are.

~

Wordery has all three German versions of the Raven Cycle books (I assume The Raven King will be along eventually), and I think the German titles are much nicer (sorry, Maggie).

The Raven Boys is Wen der Rabe ruft, then we have Was die Spiegel wissen, and Wer der Lilie träumt.

One day I might have to spring for them all, but maybe not new copies. We'll see.

Things!

~ I posted a (very short) version of the Pied Piper the other day, that I wrote about a year ago.

~ I've had a weird pain in my right shoulder for two weeks that turned out to be a stress pain?? I don't even hold stress in my shoulders, so WTF, body? (For reference, I hold it in my lower back, which is why I have so many leg problems, apparently!)

~ I made biscuits, but I didn't put enough butter in and they came out like rusks. Am not amused.

~ Duolingo says I am 31% fluent in German, but I am side-eyeing this hardcore. I mean yeah, I do find it easier to read/write/understand now, but that's thanks to other things than using an app/website, you know? (I'm not denying Duolingo doesn't help, because it does, but it's only part of a whole).

~ I realised the other day that Event Horizon has four actors in it that I have crushes on, and this amuses the crap out of me. Also I think I need to watch it again because it's been two years since I last saw it, and where the one actor is concerned, I am severely lacking in things to watch with him in (and I REALLY want things with him in at the moment).

~ I finished reading The Islands of Chaldea (Diana Wynne Jones' last book). It was OK. I didn't enjoy it as much as some of her stuff, but I didn't hate it, either. I think it would've been better if she could've finished it herself, but obviously she couldn't (which is a shame, but there we are).

~ Now reading Some Kind of Fairy Tale. It's OK. It's readable. I'm not desperately turning the pages, wanting to know what happened, but on the other hand, I don't want to throw it across the room so yay?

~ found, by accident, this amazing photo of some mountains and a gorgeous sky. I'm going to take a proper look round the site at some point, but I felt I had to share that.

~ Mum's getting a rainbow sparkle horse on her birthday card (though it is lacking in sparkles, as I can't quite figure out where to put them). She's also going to get another horse picture (because she likes horses, and I am creative, with little money), if I can get it done in time (hopefully). Though I'm going to town tomorrow, so I think I might look for a backup present, just in case I don't manage to finish it.

Found a youtube of Die Lorelei with words! This version is from 1939 (!!) You can listen to it (and read the lyrics) here

(I got taught that it's "es dunkelt" in the first verse, and the lyrics written in the description do give that as an option.

Also: the reason I'm so obsessed with this song is because it's literally one of two songs that I know in German. My mum taught it me when I was first learning, and I've made myself a promise that I'm going to learn the other two verses because I'm sick of only knowing the first).

This is the version I usually listen to, and that I think I heard them play on Alpenmelodie one time.

Things in a post, use a new icon.

# apparently it is news to my mum that I'm bi. This came on the heels of me saying to her that if anyone had known me for a long time and hadn't figured that out, oh boy could they do with their eyes testing. And then she was like, "Well, uhhhh."

I think sometimes she can be selective about what she picks up on? Also I suppose I talk about having crushes on men more because that's just natural to me (and it's a cold day in hell if I don't have a crush on a man, let's be honest). I mean, not that I'm shy about talking about women I fancy, I just don't really do it? I'm really unsure how she missed my raging crush on Alyssa Milano, though. You could've seen that from space, I'm fairly certain.

# I wrote 700 words on my story after not touching it in almost a month, and being worried that I wouldn't be able to get into the flow. Apparently I was wrong about that.

I was thinking about posting another excerpt here, but when it came to it, one bit I was a bit unsure of, and the other bit felt too small. All the rest is spoilery (well, all the bits I want to post are. There are non-spoilery bits, but they're boring?)

# Raphael Sbarge posted the following on his twitter account the other day, and every time I read it, it makes me smile, but also I can't not hear it being read in Kaidan's voice:

Roses are red. Bacon is red.
Poems are hard.
Bacon.

# I'm trying to draw even when I don't feel like drawing because of a combination of two things:

1. Neil Gaiman said you should write even when you don't feel like writing, because in the end you won't be able to tell when you wrote what.

(he's right)

2. I saw a post on tumblr about being a better artist, and it said you don't get better at drawing by not drawing.

SO: I have a shitty drawing book (as well as my regular sketchbook), a crappy pose resource, and essentially I'm just making myself draw poses until I get fed up.

So far, I'm awful at hands (no-one is surprised), and the best drawing I did was a dude flicking his hair in a dismissive manner (even the hand looked somewhat OK).

# I got a book called Improve Your German from the library book sale (because language book!*) Every time I catch sight of the title, I laugh, because I'm so far from the point of needing this book right now.

*I have also recently picked up: Complete French (brand new, bargain price); a book of French idioms (booksale); and Teach Yourself Greek (same).

# OK done now.

I may as well be playing Lost Odyssey for the first time because I remember next to nothing about it (as it's four years since I looked at it last). Well. I remembered a thing I've now forgotten, and I remembered the boss fight in the ghost town, because I had to do it several times through the first time I played.

I had forgotten how much I love Seth. I had also forgotten what a pile of tropes that I hate about Japanese media that Jensen is*. I think he improves, but I really can't remember? Kaim is stoic and awesome and ♥

*That said: I still do love that your first acquired mage is male instead of automatically female because lol tropes, or whatever.

I had entirely forgotten that the game has other language dubs than the English and Japanese. I had it on Japanese originally, because nothing beats the entire cast saying GURANDO STAFFU! in as hammy tones as is possible. I now have it on the German dub because I need more practice listening. I understand more spoken words than I thought, so yay WINNING. And it must have been a thing across all the dubs because they're just as bad when saying Grand Staff, too (sorry, would write in German, but didn't catch what the second word was).

~

In other news, I've been extracting the sound from Awakening, because I wanted a certain thing Nate says for a message notification (hey, if I can have Cassandra sounding disgusted every time someone tweets me, I can sure as hell have someone else telling me a thing for something else - email, in this case).

Three things about it:

~ it's too much fun (and WAY easier than I thought it would be).

~ Oghren tells Velanna that baby dwarves are rocks that have to be placed in lava to hatch. And she believes him.
(I have never heard this before, because I don't let Velanna join, and I never take Oghren out).

~ I think Greg Ellis had trouble losing his actual (Lancs) accent when he did Anders' battle shouts, and that makes me giggle a lot.
(Also I did not realise that Anders yells "I'll show you why mages are feared!" in Awakening? I hear him say it A LOT in DAII because only healer, but never noticed it previously. Clearly, I fail at everything).
(I'm going to put a few together and upload it because. Well. Because I can).

I want a PC copy of DAII so I can extract the sound from that (and DAI, but used prices for that are still ridiculous, because it's only what? six months old?) Also I dunno, I just like listening to people? Voices, man, they are totally my poison.

Things make a post, right?

Right.

~ I got my first international order on Etsy the weekend before last. I forgot to post about it sooner because of all the horribleness that happened. But that's cool. So one of my amigurumi has gone to live a new life in la belle France!

~ I read Vento Aureo in Jojo, but I didn't really like it. I liked some of the characters, but thought the story was so-so. I've read a few chapters of Stone Ocean, but haven't read any in over a week because I keep thinking something bad will happen if I do (since I last read it the night before Charlie died. It's stupid and irrational, I know, but that's my brain for you).

~ I got a new phone yesterday, since I was due an upgrade - an HTC One Mini2. OMG NEVER LET ME HAVE A PHONE THAT DOESN'T USE ANDROID EVER AGAIN. (ugh, too many negatives). *clings*

Finally I can Duolingo/Memrise again and I don't need to switch the computer on to do it! (I did a bit of German revision on Duolingo earlier and it was good! I may not have touched it for several months, but I remembered more than I thought, so that's great. I was thinking maybe I should restart from the beginning, but we'll see).

( words for Lili Marlene in German )

~*~

halley made a friending meme! Go check it out!



(It's not fandom specific or anything, so yay!)

~*~

I finished ME3 again today, and Zoe is now Queen of the Reapers! (I know that's not the way it's supposed to be taken, but I saw a piece of fanart describing Control-choosing Shep as that, and I LIKE IT, OK). Man, I was a ball of tears pretty much from the run to the Beam to the end of the game.

(Though honestly I think that is down to playing the game while taking antidepressants, and then while not - flattening of feelings versus all the feels, pretty much).

( spoilers )

I don't really see how the Extended Cut was an improvement over the original ending, though? *shrugs* I mean yeah, it makes getting certain endings easier (although I STILL didn't accrue enough points for Synthesis, and that annoyed me, but it's my own fault because I am scared of Reapers), and there's some extra doohickeys and whatnot but really? Nah, bro. I don't see how that explained more, to be honest (I'm so buying the Leviathan DLC, though). That didn't explain SHIT.

I have come to a conclusion about Lucas' game (I genned him in ME2 without Genesis, and he is a Xmas tree of scars already :D ) - which is that he's going to fuck Cortez into the middle of next week (and it would be fucking, and he wouldn't see it as anything more than that). I sort of promised myself that none of the Renegades would romance anyone BUT. I also think that romancing Cortez isn't fair (see below, just past the caps lock), but that Lucas wouldn't give two hoots about that (and Kaidan's too goody goody for him and he isn't into ladies or aliens (especially not lady aliens!) SO. Logical conclusion, I think).

(Also I have THE biggest boner for Steve, and obviously he isn't going to be interested in any of my lady Sheps, ever. And yeah. I could look up the scenes on Youtube, but I don't want to. Also because no doubt they'll feature Sheploo who I do not find unattractive, let's be honest, but I get fed up of him being EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE).

(UGH NOW I KIND OF WANT TO WRITE SOME SORT OF FIX-IT FIC IN THE WORST WAY. IN THAT STEVE AND SHEP GET HAPPY ENDINGS AND...YEAH). (but I can't without it coming off as somewhat skeevy to me, because that's how that makes me feel, you know).

This reminded me that I have Merrick the Rogue to play in DAII and he's going to romance Anders, and I haven't done anything with him (and I want to complete a romance to the end, because I did Isabela's wrong, and I figure Bron's relationship with Fenris won't go well).

Because we all know these games are about the romances, right? ;)

(And I had a moment where I totally thought Zoe and Liara might have kissed, and it might have gone onto something a bit further down the line. I think I had this thought in the same place with Nev, but I'm not 100% sure. All I know is dang my feelings, boom all over the place).

Talking of feelings, have I ever mentioned how much I love the geth pulse rifle? Because it is the best. Better than the shotguns. I don't even like assault rifles. It almost never runs out of ammo. It is A-MA-ZING! ♥ *happy sigh*

OH YES AND I HAD A QUESTION! PAGING beccatoria!!!!

In Zoe's final dream, she heard Ashley's voice (don't recall that from Nev's but it is a year since I last played ME3, so....dodgy memory ahoy), but also Legion's, but he was saying "help us" instead of asking if this unit has a soul. So what I wondered was: does the dream change, depending on your actions?

Because Nev was 100% paragon (apart from ME2 where she drifted into Paragade because bleuch Cerberus ick ick etc), and Zoe is 75% paragon, 25% renegade.

Imma check the wiki, but I suspect it will be as helpful as a chocolate teapot, as it always seems to be when I want to know interesting and intricate stuff.

~*~

German phones say klingeling.

This is the best thing I have ever learnt.

~*~

I'm going to shut up now.