I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it here but... 358/2 put me on a real KH kick so I've been replaying KH1. It's veeery slow because not only is the battle system so clunky (camera I hate you so hard) but I'm playing on Proud Mode. Oh, and playing the FM version so enemies have more HP and abilities arrive at weird levels. It's been very trying.

But! I am finally up to the part I wanted to get to. The @#$*ing second Riku fight! Let me tell you, being able to skip that freaking cutscene was practically orgasmic because oh my god I can fail epically in this fight and not have to watch the 3 minute cutscene each time I retry. *_* This is the main reason I bought FM! (No, seriously. I knew if I ever played through KH1 again, I wanted the ability to skip cutscenes just for this one fight.)

I still suck at the fight though. My current strategy is to Strike Raid my way through the whole thing, bringing in several ethers and a few elixers. Then I just dodge roll when he spazzes at me and repeat the cycle. I haven't gotten used to dodge rolling in such close quarters but... I will! I just need more practise but not right now because it's 3:30AM.

I must admit, though, it's a lot of fun playing through this game and going, "Haha, the Organization is totally watching his every move." And then imagining how often they'd be facepalming at my constant failures. ("Did he just... just jump off the edge back to the basement? Really? fml i hate my job.") I think my friend and I have decided that every time I revive, it's them going "Oh shit, our Keyblade Master" and curing me, replenishing my items, and dragging me out to safer ground. XD; IT MAKES MY CONSTANT DEATH EASIER TO DEAL WITH, OKAY?

			Currently: I beat Maleficent yaaay! Current Tags: gaming:kingdom hearts

Um, haven't made an entry in a while. Again. Oops.

Point form!

→ Thanksgiving was good. Mom was in Vegas (one of my cousins was getting married there) so I just chilled with my dad and my brother. Had massive cramps on Saturday and part of Sunday which sucked since I didn't get to see triforce89 but I got lots of sleep over the weekend, ate LOTS OF GOOD FOOD and it was basically just super awesome.

→ Brain!surgery cousin is okay!! ♥ Doctors were amazed but he's doing really well. He's home already because instead of taking weeks/months to relearn how to walk and whatnot, it took him a few days. He's retained all his memories and speech and everything and... he's actually planning to go back to school soon. O_O; Lmao I feel like such an underachiever now, haha. I'm just glad he's okay.

→ Mom came up last weekend. She brought me food, my boots, and some other stuff. We went out for lunch. Went to the mall and they added an entirely new section. I knew they were reno'ing but wow. EB Games moved to a bigger storefront and are now a Gamestop. I picked up Dead Space. Mom also bought me a pair of $50 slippers because they were so comfy and I needed a new one. ;~; omgg I love them so much. Also she bought my groceries. I love herrr. So glad I got to see her since I didn't at Thanksgiving. :'D Wish we'd had more time to talk with just the two of us though. I need to go home again sometime.

→ Started playing Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix last week. It's SO HARD omg. D: I'm playing on Proud Mode and I'm not used to the shitty camera, nor am I used to the controls. (Though thank god it's got the Japanese controls or I'd be dying even more than I am now!) It took me like 3 or 4 hours today just to beat the Cave of Wonders. x_x I'm at level 22 and I don't get guard until 33 because for some reason I decided to choose magic at the beginning of the game. Boo.

→ So close to complete in KH 358/2 Days. :'D I need about 10 more challenge sigils and I'll mark it completed on Backloggery. (I waited until level 100 with the Japanese version but I'm not going to let myself do that again.)

→ HAVE I MENTIONED I LIKE KINGDOM HEARTS? eeeeeee the trailer for BBS that came out this week. sdklfsd want so much!! I'm glad it has a release date (January 9 fuck yeah!) but it's gonna be a lot. x_x; $60ish in Japan and by the time I import, it'll probably be close to $100, ugh. I'll probably try to swing it as my Christmas present and then I can get the one-day shipping and not be paying as much as I would. Otherwise I'm gonna be spoiler-avoiding for half a month again and that sucked. DD: (Yeah, I'm importing. I'm impatient with KH games!)

→ Got accepted into the social networking preview on XBL. :D Yay twitter! I doubt I'll use it much on there though, since I don't have a keypad and I usually play with a computer near me anyway. (That and it's a standalone app on the dashboard?) Haven't had a chance to try out Facebook yet though I probably will over the weekend. I wish Last.fm was available in Canada. ;__;

→ Ordered Microsoft Windows 7 today! :DD I added the CD to my cart so it'll be shipped home sometime but I'll be downloading it and reformatting my netbook to install it this weekend, likely tomorrow. Just have to back everything up and make sure I have my wifi driver downloaded first.

→ Not going into much detail but it involves my FAVOURITE TMI HEALTH ISSUE that you can probably read back on if you're curious. But anyway, my doctor is a little worried, apparently, and is suggesting I get "complete bloodwork" done. But since I don't have an official requisition form, I have to go to a doctor here to get one so I have an appointment on Nov 2nd at the campus clinic. I have a midterm that day so while I can go in and update them on my health status and get the papers, I'll have to wait on the bloodwork. I'm not so good with it and I don't wanna do anything to compromise the test even if it'd be hours before. v_v

→ Final exam schedule is out! The first one I saw on it was my CS exam which is December 22nd. ffffffffff. That's the last day of the exam period. XD; Luckily, I checked the others and I'm pretty sure they go Dec 19 (Saturday), December 21 (Monday) and then the Tuesday one. Thank god! I emailed my family about it and mom said she'll drive me home after classes end around Dec 6th and then she'll drive me back out for my exams and then home again. D'aww. :')

Why do my point form entries always end up so long omg.

			Situated: All my location ever is is "on my bed" lmfao :( Currently: Excited Listening to: Tarantula, Yuri Kasahara - ''Libera me'' from hell | Powered by Last.fm Current Tags: family, gaming:360, gaming:kingdom hearts, health:endo, tech, university, university:exams

So uhh... yeah, wow, weekend is over. :( That went way too fast. I blame triumphantchaos.

Let's see... I finished 358/2 Days in English on Friday. My thoughts on it have not changed since I beat the game in Japanese so go to that entry if you want to know post-game thoughts and the like.

I have that midterm tomorrow. To study for it, I basically just did the assignment due this week since all they've told us about the exam content is that it'll be up to assignment 3. Had no trouble with that. Tomorrow I'll just go over some basic stuff and that's probably it. There's really not much else to study.

In other news, cramps are bugging me but I am honestly quite sick of talking about it on LJ and am kind of hoping if I ignore the issue and pretend it's not there, it'll go away. Health issues, YAY.

Can't wait for my long weekend next week omg. v_v; I need to figure out how/when I'm gonna get home though. *sigh*

			Situated: Getting ready for bed Currently: Tired Current Tags: gaming:kingdom hearts, university:cs, university:exams, whining

HI GUYS KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 DAYS HAS STOLEN MY SOUL.

...AGAIN.

:| You'd think I'd be absolutely sick of this game by now but I'm not. It's actually really awesome to play through this and go "holy crap I translated all of it right!!" since I played the Japanese version. I actually completed it (100% EVERYTHING) last week just in time to do it all over again for the NA release. Yay! I'm currently on day... 174? I want to hit 179 before I go to bed tonight just for the dork factor. (358/2=179... get it? Get it?)

It's... really nice to play through it while a bunch of others are. triumphantchaos and I have basically been neck and neck the whole time, usually only a few missions ahead and behind each other so I actually have someone to fangirl each day with omfg. ;o; Playing through the Japanese was fun but it's sooo awesome being able to actually talk to people about it. We just come up with stupid scenarios for everything and it's so much fun omg.

Oh, and I was actually really happy! I preordered the game a few weeks ago, soon after I moved back to Waterloo, and I wasn't sure if we'd get the same preorder bonuses here in Canada as they did in the US. But when I went to pick up my game on Tuesday, I walked away with the postcards and the poster. (The poster is huuuge!) I also bought the guide book because it's a good size. :> Not quiiite as detailed as the Ultimania, obviously, but it's far more impressive than I'd expected. Still want the Ultimania though. And will buy it once I have more to combine it with so that shipping isn't pricier than the books themselves fffffff.

Uhh aside from KH I haven't been doing anything. I have my first midterm on Monday though! It's ridiculous... classes started on the 14th and then first midterm on October 5th? Laaaaame. It'll be pretty easy though, I guess. It's not like we've covered much at all. I just know I'm either going to juuuust finish KH in time to get a bit of studying in on Sunday/Monday or else I'm going to have to put down the game just when I'm at the climax and be antsy to finish it when I start studying. Baaaw. :( At least I know what happens though so I won't be too tempted to ditch studying for gaming, haha.

That's... about it. I watched Year One with my roommate today. It was okay. I'm not a huuuge fan of Jack Black but the movie was better than I expected. XD; And now... I'm gonna go back

Oh btw, not overly happy with the translation of Marluxia's default weapon. ("Fickle Erica"). I'm happy they kept my name in it, obviously, but I wanted something cooler sounding to match the Japanese. Traitorous Erica or Treacherous would've been pretty awesome. But MAJOR POINTS for having a "Fearsome Anise" LOL. Oh Marluxia, ilu. ;~;

			Situated: Bed lol Currently: Good :3 Current Tags: gaming:kingdom hearts, university:exams

HI GUYS I need to get back into the groove of posting. I'm so lazy this year. :( My first page of posts goes back to July omg. Erica stop being so lame.

Then again, it's not like I've done anything worthwhile. XD; I did my assignments early last week and then on Tuesday, Matt asked if I wanted to go down to Blockbuster with him to check out the game selections and rent one (since he gets free rentals). So we did and I picked up, in a very stupid move, Lost Odyssey. :| First of all I thought it was two discs, not FOUR. XD; I basically got like 6 hours in and I have to give it back by Monday night but loool I've barely done anything. v_v; I played it the first day, and haven't really touched it since.

Instead I've been slaving away on 358/2 Days trying to get the Japanese version complete before the English release on Tuesday. I finally managed to get all the trial symbols (I was translating one wrong and it became SO easy once I started doing it right XD), I got all the gold crowns I need to unlock stuff, and I maxed out my level at 100. SO FABULOUS. \o/ But I've been neglecting schoolwork so I'm planning to do that today and then hopefully play Lost Odyssey as much as possible on Sunday and possibly Monday. I'm planning on buying it eventually anyway so at least I won't feel too bad leaving it unfinished. XD;

But yeah, I'm super proud of completing 358/2. Even if I'm just gonna be doing it all again in under a week anyway.

jesus erica get off your bed and go shower you have groceries to go buy.

			Situated: On my bed :| Currently: Bored Current Tags: gaming:360, gaming:kingdom hearts

*yaaaawn*

Man, I'm so tired today and I have no idea why. :(

I'd completely forgotten we had tickets but on Saturday night, we went downtown to Massey Hall for the British comedy Just for Laughs show. Honestly, I don't remember any names of the acts we saw aside from Jimmy Carr (though the first guy and the last guy were kinda cute :D). But they were all really good and... and... JOHN CLEESE HOSTED IT OMG. *_* He's... so very tall. We had horrible seats (though we moved over to some better empty ones ♥) but we could still tell he was towering over most everyone else. He was wearing a suit jacket and this hideous tie and no shirt. XD; Mom and Bryan don't believe my dad and I when we say he was shirtless though. Uhh... so that was fun. We came home and ordered a pizza and then we all crashed around 1 AM.

Did nothing on Sunday but relax. We did a few chores and my brother and I got through a few worlds of 358/2's mission mode. It was lots of fun and I kick ass because he's 45 levels higher than me and I still won almost every mission. xD; I've still got a ways to go but I'm inching closer! *_*; I'm starting to realize that I'll probably finish all the missions before I max out my level though. That's going to take forever.

Um. Not much else to say. Work still sucks. Getting up early still sucks. Having to go to bed around 10 PM still sucks. Playing through Prince of Persia with the Prince dressed as Altair and just pretending it's Altair delivering some of the more ridiculous lines is absolutely hilarious. I suck at the game and that's the only thing that's gonna keep me playing.[/prediction]

Oh, also. I'm getting kinda sick of Endless Eight. :(

			Situated: On my bed. As... usual. Currently: Tired Current Tags: family, gaming:360, gaming:kingdom hearts

I beat Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days last night a week ago! (Most of this entry was written the day after I beat this... it's been about a week now. XD I totally forgot I had this entry sitting here waiting to be posted.)

( Spoiler-free parts )
( Story spoilers )

( Other stuff (spoilers for secret characters/weapons, but no plot spoilers) )

long post was long.

I'm home sick today. :( Ugggh there's going to be such a backlog at work but considering I could barely even make it from my bed to the washroom to, well, be sick, I don't think I could've gone to work. v_v I feel horrible about it but... guess I'll just rest up and take it from there. I guess it's better this didn't happen while we were in the US but couldn't I have gotten sick Sunday night so yesterday I would've recovered? DD: *sigh* Oh well.

/goes to catch up on Higurashi Rei and Hetalia

			Situated: Bed, whoo. Currently: Accomplished. And sick. :| Current Tags: gaming:kingdom hearts

I've been alternating daily between feeling good and feeling horrible, it seems. Today's been one of those horrible days and I hope I'm feeling better in the morning. I really need to get up and take a shower since I put it off all day and now it's bedtime but... augh. So listless today. :'( So here I am typing an LJ entry instead.

Today was father's day. I cleaned up the kitchen and tidied other areas of the house. I wasn't well enough to go out to get his gift so mom picked that up for me. @_@ My brother and I got him the new Tiger Woods golf game for Wii... the one with Wii Motion Plus. He mentioned the other month that he really wanted another golf game and was thinking of getting it for a console so this seemed like a good gift. :] He said he liked it so I hope he enjoys it. He didn't give us any gift ideas this year and I was a little worried he'd think we were just getting a video game so we'd play it ourselves or something but I have little interest in golf games and only slightly more in Motion Plus anyway so... yeah.

Not much else to report. Saw Angels & Demons on... Friday, I think. Then finally saw Star Trek yesterday. I have never seen an episode of TOS (or any movies) before and the movie made dad want to see them all again so I think we're going to start either buying them or renting them. XD; I'm looking forward to that since it seemed really interesting. (b'-')b

We're heading to NJ again this year like we do almost every year. We'll be down there for the weekend of the 11th. Mom and dad said they're thinking of spending a day or two in NYC again and I got a positive on going back to Nintendo World. Watch them clear out all the decent Pokedolls again this time. (Last time I went, the only ones they had were like... Grimer, Igglybuff, Bonsly, etc. Then like two weeks later someone went and posted pictures from the store on pkmncollectors showing Pichu, legendaries, etc. FFFFFFFFFFFF) I want to get another Shaymin (because I totally molest mine when I'm high and it's not looking like a collector's item as I originally intended XD) and maybe some others... and some Tomy figs. :DD Eee I hope we do end up there again.

LASTLY I'm finally getting into the interesting stuff in 358/2 which means I actually have to stop and translate stuff in cutscenes now, haha. I'm on day like... 270 or something. I just hit the MOST CONFUSING CUTSCENE EVER OMG. It was a voiced one so I couldn't even pause to translate and even if I had I think I'd be confused as fuck anyway and just aaaaah. Aaaaah. What did I see omg I don't even know. 8| Assuming I've been translating stuff right though, it IS super interesting right now. And yay the inside of Castle Oblivion got a cameo and it made me way happier than it should have ahahaha. *dork* I can't wait for this to come out in English so I have more people to fangirl it with. ;~; And so I understand it completely, haha. So many gameplay mechanics are going right over my head, I think. (Also did I mention on here that Marluxia's default weapon has my name in it? I'm not even kidding! It translates to "Traitor's Erica". :DD All of his weapons have names of flowers in them and aaah omg his super ugly default weapon is my name. I had a total dorkgasm when I realized!)

...I need to go take that shower and get to bed. :(

			Situated: My bedroom Currently: Sick ;_; Current Tags: family, gaming:kingdom hearts, gaming:nintendo, health, media:movies, social:trips

I don't update this enough and I really should. I guess I'm just not doing anything interesting and anything notable enough to get a mention is stuff I don't really feel like talking about or else I've said enough on twitter.

( I'm nervous though, so I'm venting. TMI and tl;dr below the cut. )

Uhhhm what else of interest has happened in the last while...? screw it. Point form here we go!

→ Mom got her new car the other week. It's nice. I got to drive it (most of the way) home from the car dealership. I wasn't a fan of the colour but it's growing on me. My dad and I have named it BFTZ (pronounced Biftiz, sorta) because those are the first four letters on the license plate and we love pronouncing license plates and that is an awesome one. We took the BFTZ to work today 'cause mom was home recovering from having a tooth extracted yesterday.

→ I've been waiting every so impatiently since May 30th for my copy of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days to arrive. Some bitch nearly spoilt it for me on deviantART. It was very hard to not download a ROM to my R4 but I prevailed and it finally arrived last night. I LOVE IT AAAAAAH. Gameplay is fun and Marluxia is in it omggg. He teaches you how to fight (or rather, stands there looking *fabulous* with his hand on his hip as you get swarmed by heartless and are nearly dead). And has gotten like 50x gayer. He runs funny. But when he's actually helping you he's probably the most useful partner I've had so far. XD; We had a wonderful time trying to beat this one stupid boss. I bet he hated me for that because my strategy was just horrible. But enough fangirling (for now).

→ They want me to work five days a week at work. BAAAW. I worked 5 days this week and I'm ready to collapse. But... money is money so I'll probably take the offer. I hope this doesn't burn me out. (It probably will.)

→ I need to sell some stuff to make money. :( I really want a new computer since my HP is a piece of shit. I got internet working on it the other day by reconfiguring my linksys router with custom firmware to turn it into a wireless switch but it worked for a day and then stopped and I'm not reconfiguring every time I turn that thing on so it's basically acting as a paperweight right now.

→ Snagged the username "lightningism" on facebook. I'll probably regret that one day since I changed right at midnight and could've picked a plethora of names but oh well. It's only FB. Not like I ever use it anyway lolol.

→ goddamn I'm tired. And it's only 1 AM. Hahaha. Gotta get up earlyish to pick up my prescription for Sunday and then clean up a bit before Dean gets here. He's coming over around 1 to pick up his copy of 358/2 and then sticking around to play. omggg I can't wait to try out multiplayer.

→ I need a new LJ layout. :|

			Situated: Bedroom, falling asleep as I type ack Currently: Nervous ._. Current Tags: gaming:kingdom hearts, gaming:nintendo, health:endo, internet, job, tech:laptop, whining

guyyys they pushed back the release date of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. ;_;' It'll give me time to really play through Re:COM in English but now I worry about it getting in the way of my schoolwork. XD;

Oh well. I'm... actually excited about the 360's new dashboard AND the avatars. <_< They look a hell of a lot better than Miis. And that update comes out before the new year so I'll actually get to download it! ♥

			Currently: baaaw want it now Listening to: 桜庭統 - United Oath | Scrobbled by Last.fm Current Tags: gaming:360, gaming:kingdom hearts