The World Ends With You is the best game I've played in ages, I swear. The urban theme of the whole thing, to be honest, probably would have turned me off if someone would have told me about it without me seeing it, because that's generally not my favorite setting, but my god it is so beautifully and artfully done. The art style, the soundtrack, even the gameplay elements like trends, all intermingle with eachother seamlessly. The whole thing is a work of art.

Not to mention the gameplay itself is terribly fun, the battle system is addicting and very easy to adjust so it's never too difficult or too easy, and you actually get benefits for the time you don't play (more games need to do that XD). It's immersive... I've only just made it through the first "game" and I love the characters to death.. really looking forward to where the storyline goes (though... I am a bit scared too, Paul has warned me that I'll probably end up bawling on several occasions).

Okay... enough gushing. I should get back to packing. My sleep cycle is so warped right now-- I woke up at 4:30pm... so I still have a ways to go before I fall asleep. I should make sure I get some rest though, I am driving back to school tomorrow. I'm terrified as is to be expected.... but hopefully it will break my driving-phobia once and for all.

Money is tighter than ever this semester... if I wasn't taking my senior seminar along with 4 other classes I would look into getting a weekend job or something. But things are going to be crazy from the start...they really are. But I'll find a way to make things work. I got some bouillon paste for Christmas so I'm guessing that I'll be making a lot of soups.

Oh, one more thing to gush about, in case you haven't seen it for some reason.. it certainly got passed around the internet quickly (or at least within gaming communities), The Craft of War: BLIND is a must-see.
Having worked with video-music projects before... I adore the effort put into crafting this... you can tell that the song was not just something randomly chosen to fit a fight scene-- it had to have been what the entire scene was built around. It is just amazing. And the quality... argh, I did not know machinima was capable of this amount of quality.  I can't explain it... you have to see it yourself.

Okay okay. I'm going to pack for real now.

And as a Christmas gift, I get to go to the dentist to get some fillings that I've needed quite badly, but couldn't afford since insurance ran out. Now that my mom's insurance from her teaching job has finally kicked in, it's time to abuse it.

This dentist is a stranger to me, but so nice, and so fast-- I've never had a filling done in less than two hours but I was in and out in less than 45 minutes. I very much approve.

Hmmm... now that I have a break, what to write about...

Christmas itself was quite an ordeal. We had family over, which is always fun, but it ended up being a lot more fun than usual. I was really able to connect with my cousin, who is 11 now. We ran amok through Barnes&Noble and she helped me pick out pretty journals to spend my gift card on. She's pretty mature for her age, I must say... She's also past the point where she asks me to buy her everything she sees, thank goodness. I rewarded that when we went to World Market, bought a lot of weird but yummy foreign candies, and snuck into my bedroom to eat them (so we wouldn't have to share with her little brother).

As far as gifts go, the most outstanding was my DS flash card thing, which I promptly loaded RO DS on and have since been stumbling through mountains of moonspeak trying to figure out what the heck to do (and not that it matters, because I am perfectly content to just be able to kill porings whenever I please.) I also got a bunch of books, and my grandma, who makes it her goal to find the weirdest and most unique gifts, gave me a journal with pages that are apparently made from processed elephant poo. I think she wins Christmas, yes?


Friday was a really big night for me-- I found the courage to do something I've been needing to do for a while... and it went pretty well... and now... it's a definite life-phase shift... but I'm not sure if I feel more like an adult, or more like a reckless freedom-starved teenager... but it feels scary, risky, overemotional and genuine... I've having a ton of mood swings in a shock reaction but I'm starting to stabilize myself... starting to feel better...stronger...

And I don't usually shoutout to people because I like to pretend that no one is reading this crap, but THANK YOU PAUL for putting up with my random up-down emoness and making me feel better about all this and not hating me for grring at everything ;_; You are so wonderful..  /gush


Saturday was the Christmas party with Laia and company... that was ridiculously awesome... it was so much fun and so.... comfortable .. I can't remember the last time I felt so genuinely comfortable/safe with a group of people...

They broke out Rock Band and that was certainly the highlight of the night; I didn't participate personally (though they probably could have talked me into trying vocals if there was a single song I knew well enough to sing on there), but it was hysterically fun just to watch them... they were so into it.

...Also, the food was really, really good. We had cheesecake and fishcakes and sammiches and a green bean casserole that was to die for. And I got an adorable cookie jar from my secret santa that has a kitty on it and "meow" written all over it. That will see a lot of use!

Now things are starting to settle down a bit and I have more free time on my paws. I plan on cleaning my room up (it's a horrible mess) and start reading from the huge stacks of books I got for Christmas. If I can find the inspiration, I'd like to write up an article for the Creatures Community Spirit Festival that's going on right now too. But then, I would write articles just for fun anyways.

I suddenly have an overwhelming urge to paint. I think I'll go indulge in that~