Hi, I remove access permissions for accounts that seem to be inactive for over a year. This is more for my peace of mind in case inactive accounts get compromised for some reason or other.
If your access was removed, and you want access to protected entries, just DM me or leave a comment. Thanks for reading.
Hmm, I forgot to write here for a while. I got busy with my games, work, and RL stuff. My main focus in games are: FGO, Obey Me! (both the OG game and Nightbringer), HSR, and occasionally FFXIV and Arknights.
( Final Fantasy XIV )Arknights is a genuinely interesting game, but I don't really have the time to put more effort into it. I just login for some of the dailies, send clues to friends, and log out.
( Honkai Star Rail ) ( Obey Me! ) ( Fate/Grand Order )So yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say about the games I currently play. Maybe I'll write more about some small details in each game if I feel like it.
30 summon tickets on the Tam Lin Lancelot & Percival banner in NA FGO, and not even a SR Servant to show for it. ;_;
I think I'm going to have to find a new "go-to" ink. I've been using the Uni Jetstream for years now, but I'm finding out that some of the older Jetstream pens have their inks mysteriously drying out even though the refill has more than half ink left. The odd part is usually the new Jetstream pens are fine, but the older ones tend to be a hit or miss.
It's kinda frustrating since I was pretty happy with how fast the ink dried with no worries of accidental ink smears. I guess that's the trade off. They dry out over time, and no amount of soaking in hot water will fix it. Ugh.
The mainstream media has been pretty unhelpful about being upfront on why Trump got elected, and why the majority of Republicans continue to act like spoiled brats. So I found some articles that piece things together pretty well.
This is why Republicans are ok with their hypocrisy: The Message of the Republican Party: Don’t Tread on Me. I Tread on You.
Aka, only a certain group gets to exert control over others. If you're not part of the group, then you don't get the right to control others. Which leads to: White Supremacy is why Donald Trump was elected President
Of course, now it makes sense. I think a part of me hoped that this wouldn't be true, but this article (Want to understand American fascism? Read about lynching.) makes it very clear that the US has not fully gotten over white supremacy. It really hasn't been that long since lynching was commonplace.
“I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it,” he said. “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” -Lyndon Johnson
This is exactly what happened when Trump got elected after Obama finished his 2nd term. People who voted for Trump for other reasons got duped into thinking he wasn't going to do anything bad to the country. The full damage can't be quantified until years after. (Assuming the US still remains a democratic republic for the next century.) We're already seeing the damage happening.
It's important to realize that humans are flawed. No one is perfect. And while people make mistakes or have character flaws, it's important to see what actions they take to address them. Example: Lyndon Johnson was a civil rights hero. But also a racist.
So you can't expect a politician to have a squeaky clean record. That's just not going to happen. You have to look at their actions, and see if they're trying to do the hard work of fixing things consistently. Democracy is always hard work.
Anyway, I started reading this book, "American Fascism: How the GOP Is Subverting Democracy" by Brynn Tannehill. The immediate future looks pretty grim right now.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering how stacked the conservatives are in the Supreme Court right now. I'm still pretty pissed though. It's just a big fat, "we don't care about what you think, we're the ones who should tell you what you can/cannot do so live with it." I have no faith that there will be protections for people who need an abortion due to rape, incest, miscarriage, or health problems. Any abortion is "bad" by default regardless of the reason. UGH!
I'm sure there will be someone out there who thinks that a fetus with no brain and no heart is perfectly viable. Also remember that people are already being criminalized for simply having a miscarriage. This is just more of the same. It's not that I don't care about the fetus, but it's more, there's a living, breathing person that needs help, and this kind of medical decision should be made by the doctor and the patient. No one else should interfere! How hard is that to understand?! Even miscarriages are not exempt!
And this is just the first domino. They want to overturn these legal protections too (See Justice Thomas' opinion):
Whoops, been busy with work, so didn't have time to really write anything last week. I've started playing Genshin Impact again, though at a more relaxed pace since I have to catch up to the story and such. I'm at a point in Genshin where I'm pretty happy with the characters I've summoned, and all I really want to do is get them leveled to either 80 or 90. I'm currently working on Ayato's talents, but I want to start working on Thoma since he's only level 70 right now. It's those glowing mushrooms I have to gather that's currently holding me back. <_<;
For FGO, I really want to finish Olympus for my main account. I beat the 2nd boss in 5.2, but I had to stop because of RL/game events at the time. I'd like to finish the main story before the end of June, but I'll have to see if I can spare the time.
My main account is ready for Caster Artoria, but my alt account is still missing pages and Caster gems. Which is... Nothing new because my alt account has too many Casters to work on. (Waver, Merlin, Sanzang.) You'd think I spent a buttload of money on my alt account, except it is entirely F2P. It's my main account that I spend on, and it's... Well, it's box is OP now lol.
I also need to finish up MSQ for FFXIV, and unlock the new tribal quests. I also really need to do PVP so I can get the last 2 GARO mounts that I missed last time. It's a bit hard to find time to do that since Aslann doesn't like PVP in FFXIV, and frankly, I don't have that much free time myself. >_<
Maybe I'll finally share some game screenshots here once I set up some image hosting elsewhere.
Running 3 times a week is hard. I do it to keep myself in shape, but it's so very tiring. I can only assume I'm getting better at it (or at least being consistent), but I wonder if I ever had a chance of being good at running when just trying to run a mile in under 10 minutes seems impossible.
Sprinting is fine. Sprinting is easy. But long stretches of running? Painful and slow.
Anyway, I broke down and bought some pencils last week. I don't really need more pencils, but I really like stationery, and wooden pencils remind me of the joys of smelling the cedar wood, and the excitement of figuring out what to draw. I know it's just a pencil, but I just love pencils.
It also doesn't help that some of the old pencils I have can't be bought anymore simply because they're not made anymore. So I also buy them to collect them. At least they're (usually?) not too expensive.
Huh, I meant to try to write 1 post per week here, but I already missed the 'deadline' for last week. >_<
Anyway, I managed to write down the three dreams I had recently (that I remember anyway), and I got a little drawing done. I am so rusty but whatever, I already knew going in. Unless I'm using a reference, my ability to draw bodies is not great. I'm going to try to finish the current drawing I have before I move onto a new one. My main problem is starting a lot of drawings but not finishing them. It's probably because I like the idea of it, but I either can't execute it well, or it becomes obvious that my original idea doesn't take into account my actual limitations.
I'd really like to post images regularly on this blog, but the image hosting that comes with a paid Dreamwidth account isn't really big enough to regularly post images. It's only really good for permanent images I'd reuse often, I think.
Not much else to say other than I finally started running regularly three times a week to try to get some exercise in. It's about 1.8 miles per run so, it's actually exhausting but it's probably good for me. Until next time. o.o/
Ok, since xivdb is closed as a FFXIV info source, I'm starting to write notes for fishing since I refuse to use the ff14angler website. (Well, directly anyway since Garland Tools does pull data from it.) One reason why I don't use ff14angler is because they force you to turn off ad block for that website in order to get the info, and last I checked, their ads were pretty intrusive. Also, it wouldn't be the first time if one of the ads was malware, I mean... Remember how the FFXI community found out that ffxi.somepage.com was hacked and had a malicious tracking pixel on it? (Thankfully if you used Firefox and NoScript, you were safe.) Yeeeah, no thanks, not dealing with that again.
Anyway, I'm probably going to go back and make these notes look prettier and more organized later. For now, it will be an info dump. Some of the comments may seem incomplete because other people provided fishing info and I just supplemented it with my own comments. However, I only saved my own comments and didn't bother saving other people's comments.
Use Precision Hookset for light tugs on the line for small fish. Use Powerful Hookset for medium/heavy tugs on the line for the big fish.
Bait: Fruit Worm (buy from Fort Jobb merchant NPC)
Bait: Fruit Worm (buy from Fort Jobb merchant NPC)
Bait: Moyebi Shrimp (buy from Jasard in The Derelicts, closest to The Glory Gate aetheryte)
Bait: Fruit Worm
Bait: Marble Nymph
Was trying to get Bull's Bite at this location, but I found out later that it requires certain weather before it can be caught. Apparently the weather required is Clouds, Wind, Fog, or Dust Storms which were not happening while I was fishing. Recommended bait was Midge Larva or Suspending Minnow lure (bought with yellow scrips).
Bait: Midge Larva
Bait: Suspending Minnow (yellow scrip)
Bait: Silkworm (buy from Shichiho in Kugane with gil, or buy with yellow scrips)
Location: Weston Waters, Ohl Tahn, The Churning Mists
Bait: Purse Web Spider
Gives a light/medium tug. Used Patience II, Precision Hookset to catch.
Location: Weston Waters, Ohl Tahn, The Churning Mists
Bait: Purse Web Spider
Gives a medium tug, somewhat rare to catch. Used Patience II, Powerful Hookset to catch.
Was trying to catch Tao Bitterling for red scrip turn in, but ended up catching 4 HQ Bowfish in a row instead with little effort. Used a Suspending Minnow (red scrip bait) as bait and used Patience + Powerful Hookset on strong tugs. Location: x: 20, y: 7.
I have used Midge Larva with Patience II and Powerful Hookset before to catch Bowfish as culfin suggested, but the bite rate is very, very low, maybe 1-2 catches at best with each Patience II "period". It works, but it's incredibly frustrating.
Need 3 for GC turn in.
For Zhloe Aliapoh's custom deliveries, minimum collectability required is 15. Maximum collectability is 29.
Caught HQ version of this while trying to get Ala Mhigan Ribbon. Used Stonefly Larva (yellow scrip bait), Patience II, and Powerful Hookset on Medium Tug.
Since this fish isn't used in any recipes (only desynth) and Stonefly Larva uses yellow scrips, consider using Release to avoid getting more of this fish.
Caught an HQ version of this fish while trying to get Ala Mhigan Ribbon. Like the Gigant Bass, caught it with Stonefly Larva (yellow scrip bait), Patience II, and Powerful Hookset on Medium Tug. Mooching not needed if done this way.
At level 70, can catch this with Stonefly Nymph, Patience II, and Powerful Hookset on Medium tug.
Can be used for Zhloe Aliapoh's custom deliveries, minimum 175 collectability. For max scrip rewards, aim for 330 collectability.
Ok, I guess I should explain how I got into Fate/Grand Order, and why I am obsessed with such a silly mobile gacha game that has really, really punishing RNG for their pull system. (It's worse than Final Fantasy Record Keeper (FFRK), Puzzle & Dragons (PAD), and Fire Emblem Heroes (FEH) combined.)
I blame my husband, Aslann. He started playing it one day, and I got curious as a cat. I didn't even bother trying to reroll the account for better Servants (that's what the units are called by in this game, well, in the Fate series in general) because I didn't think I would take it seriously.
Boy, was I wrong. The very first sign of trouble was in the very first chapter, Singularity F (Fuyuki). I didn’t think much of it at the start, but at the end of the chapter, I found myself amazed by how well done the storyline was in comparison to other mobile games I’ve played (FFRK, PAD, FEH). Only FEH comes close, and FGO’s story in that chapter is still miles ahead.
The second sign was how fond I became of Cú Chulainn in his Lancer form for being the last Servant standing in a lot of fights. I wouldn’t have won them without him. (Him and Hans Christian Andersen.)
So I started reading his dialogue, and then reading up on his wiki entry, and then one of my co-workers sent me this Youtube link (Emiya san Chi no Kyou no Gohan Moments #2, aka Today's Menu for the Emiya Family). After seeing that short clip, I knew that Cú Chulainn was now one of my favorite characters in FGO, and his role in the FGO movie just cemented it. D:
And then I started watching Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works (the ufotable version), then Fate/Zero (also by ufotable), Today's Menu for the Emiya Family (also by ufotable), then Fate/Apocrypha (do not recommend, only watch if you're bored), and Fate/Extra Last Encore (eh... it's ok...).
ufotable, at least for the Fate series, totally rocks, BTW. Unlimited Blade Works is still my favorite. The FGO movie is great just because of Cú Chulainn.
So yeah, that's the hole I fell into for the first half of this year alone.
Also, yeah, I love Cú Chulainn.
(Cross-posted from Pillowfort.)
I like to get the 2.0 relic weapons (at least up to the zenith weapon) for every job that hits 50. My ninja hit 50 recently, so I start the relic quest and am at the point where I need to do Ifrit Hard Mode (HM), Garuda HM, and Titan HM.
I decide to do them unsync-ed with Aslann; he's white mage and I go as ninja.
( And this is where SE decided to troll me. )OK SE, I GET IT. YOU WANT ME TO LEVEL WARRIOR NOW.
I just found out that Dreamwidth allows image files to be uploaded. :D
( Test image using a screenshot from FFXIV ) I already have 2 gripes for Diablo 3:
The text was super-hard to read because it was blurred bad. Maybe it's the 800x600 resolution (which I'm not allowed to change) because my graphics card is too old?
I didn't have this issue w/ Starcraft 2.
The blurry-ness was fixed when I used full-screen windowed mode. Go figure. -_-;
Oh, FYI, my monitor resolution isn't 800x600. It's one of those that's slightly above 1024x768. /shrug
Talking with 3 people & having the game dialog going made me scroll the chat window manually every minute.
No, you cannot adjust the chat window size nor change the font size. Have fun managing your 1 chat window. -_-;
The game itself is ok so far. I almost killed myself when I went into those fire spots on the map that seemed to be filled with mobs much higher leveled than me. >_> Whoops...
I watched this movie last night. Graphically, it was very pretty. However, I felt its presentation was mediocre at best. I was annoyed with the narrator at the beginning and near the end of the movie. The narrator's voice was fine, but for some reason, the way the narrator was used to present the movie in the beginning really irritated me. I practically rolled my eyes when I heard the narrator again near the end of the movie because it didn't seem necessary. Surely the audience could figure out what was going to happen without the narrator telling them.
I understand that writing a movie version of a comic book is particularly difficult since a lot of information has to be compressed into a one to two-hour movie. Yet the whole point of a movie is to watch the story unfold, not to be told the story as if it was an audio book.
Maybe the movie could have started with a different scene to pull the audience in a bit better. The backstory could have been shown in flashbacks instead of having a narrator explain what was going on at the start and end of the movie. Some of the dialog could have been re-worked to make the movie less corny. There was only one scene I liked, and it had to do with the main character's secret identity and his love interest. That particular scene was not bad and was refreshingly original.
Overall, the movie seemed unpolished and rushed for some reason. It's kinda disappointing since it's the first Green Lantern movie produced. I feel sorry for all the Green Lantern fans that were really looking forward to this movie since it's clear they got shafted. :/
I recently tried out Netflix's streaming service by watching Fruits Basket via ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aslann's Xbox. I actually wanted to watch the Japanese audio with subtitles, but unfortunately, Netflix didn't really give me a choice with their streaming service. If Netflix really wants to target the anime crowd, they really need to not only expand their selection, but also let anime fans chose if they want to watch their shows in English or in Japanese with subtitles. It may not matter much for movies or shows that were originally produced in English, but for foreign media, this could be a real deal breaker.
Not all anime on Netflix's streaming service is in English. X/1999 the TV series (not to be confused with X/1999 the movie) is in Japanese with English subtitles. You can even see the opening for X/1999 while for Fruits Basket, the opening is totally cut out. -_- I love watching anime openings so I was quite peeved to see that it was not even shown. Both Fruits Basket and X/1999 the TV series were licensed under the same company, FUNimation, so there must be an official subtitled version of Fruits Basket.
As for the Fruits Basket anime itself, it was alright. I remember people raving about how good it was back in college but I must have matured too much because I found it too silly for my tastes at times. I have already read quite a bit of the manga before watching the anime, and most of the anime followed the manga until the last few episodes.
A bunch of events were changed in the end to make it less dark than the manga. I got the feeling that it was done because the target audience is really for younger kids or young adults. Maybe the director(s) for the anime didn't like the direction the manga was taking.
In any case, I thought the ending for the anime sucked. I have not read all of the manga yet, but the anime ending was pretty un-satisfying, so I want to read the rest of the manga to find out what really happens.
On the plus side, Fruits Basket was worth seeing once, and it was also useful in testing Netflix out.
I had so much fun making wisecracks in the previous movie, that I wanted to watch this one. Sadly, there weren't many wisecrack opportunities in this one, so it was mostly boring.
I don't like Bella. It helps her character that she's mostly reasonable and nice, but I don't really care for her. I like Jacob over Edward, but he does have anger management issues so he's not particularly daydream-worthy.
I didn't like how the movie ended by killing off a minor character. She was so minor of a character that she had no name. (If she did have a name, I don't remember it being mentioned in the movie.) For such an insignificant character, it was ridiculous how the movie dramatized her death. It was a pointless death, and while lots of movies have pointless deaths, the way this one was setup for the very end left me with a sour aftertaste.
I didn't know what to expect in this movie since I didn't remember much from the book. The background music wasn't as good as the music composed for Prince Caspian. The story felt like a bunch of small TV episodes strung together rather than a united whole.
I still enjoyed the movie even though it wasn't as great as Prince Caspian and some aspects of the story were changed to make it more interesting for the audience. I wished there were more Narnian creatures though. Most of the cast was human except for a minotaur sailor, Reepicheep (a mouse), and a few fauns. I guess it makes sense that there were a limited amount of Narnian creatures; most of the movie is located on a ship at sea. I still missed the griffins, though.
branchandroot![[sticky entry]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/sticky_entry.png){kind=small}