Last week I was really feeling like I wanted to do something with Steve on Saturday morning. I initially thought Minneapolis Farmer’s market, but we weren’t sure if there’d be time after he got back from garage sale-ing. Then on Thursday or Friday I got the notification that Saturday was the beginning of the East Side PEEP Shawl. PEEP is a thing where 6 of the east side (of the twin cities) shops hold 1 of 6 pieces of a shawl pattern and yarn, and you travel to each shop picking up the pieces. You even get 1/6 of a digital code if you don’t want 6 pieces of paper. Each shop also makes a sample of the shawl, and you can buy that particular color base if that’s the shawl you want to make. I’ve never actually participated, mostly because I’d miss it or wasn’t sure about the final shawl. I thought it was perfect timing for this year though. So instead of farmers market, shawl!

I started in the nearest town, and made a loop. The trip for me is 66 miles, and some people BIKE their route. Crazy!!



I’m so glad I went to my closest shop first, because they cheated and made TWO of the shawls, and their second version didn’t make it onto the picture of samples, and that one was my favorite, so I bought the base color from there. Then I went to Stillwater, which wasn’t that far but took a really long time due to construction, a wedding, and general idiocy of the people in town. Parking was a nightmare but I parallel’d my way in. I did get a great view of the St. Croix river and the weather was gorgeous.


This was cute.

One of the women said she thought my shawl “looks like a StevenBe original.” I told her the pattern was the local yarn shawl but that the yarn did in fact come from StevenBe!



After Stillwater was White Bear Lake. This shop turned out to be near Andy’s old tattoo studio, so parking was easy, though it was Dog Days so still busy, with the added bonus of puppies everywhere. The shop was not a shop I’d ever go to again, with grouchy signs about cell phones (Steve called me while I was in there and I started sweating) and a grouchy old lady running the place.

I talked to Steve while I headed to the next place, an area of Mahtomedi (mah-toe-meed-eye) I’d never been to before and super close to my house. Beautiful backwoods drive. Got lucky with parking. Enjoyed the shop, will go there again. Lots of compliments on the shawl, friendly people, good snack and drink selection (though I didn’t take any, I made a note for the future).

Ben and Sean had been in contact with us about possible hangouts, and after I stopped at home they confirmed they wanted to hang because they were in town for the weekend. I mentioned dragging them to two yarn shops and they were in favor of the detours.

After they picked us up, to Grand ave in St Paul we went! Got my yarn, bantered about the best color on the wall (Steve and I chose the same color - a teal - though I didn’t know his choice prior), and Sean argued the case of a burnt sienna and Ben voted for a navy blue. We determined there was hunger and walked over to Brasa. I’d only been there once before for my grandma’s birthday several years ago but it left a bad taste in my mouth because there are no vegan options and my mom complained about the lack of even vegetarian options (the logo IS a rooster, to be fair). Knowing that I could probably find something to eat as a vegetarian vs vegan, I wasn’t concerned. I chose the one vegetarian sandwich and the group got a bunch of sides in addition. I got the seasonal mango lemonade to drink, and I don’t even like lemonade but this was delicious. I was only able to consume half my sandwich, some plantains and chips, and I was bursting full.

Last yarn stop, 3 Kittens in Mendota. Another cute shop, signed up as interested in a shawl class by an intense old lady who was incredibly interested in a lot about me. She wrote down the name of my shawl and talked to me about the shop expanding. It was another good shop I’d like to take more time in. Sean and I walked around commenting on the yarn before the group headed to our actual destination: Mall of America of course.

For some reason, 5 star raids on the weekends always start later in the afternoon, but during the week they’re ready to go promptly at 8am. So weird. We got to the mall around 3pm, and after everyone went to the bathroom there was a raid ready to go right by us! We were all able to catch crappy Registeel, and then we sat at a table chatting and Pokémon Go-ing for like an hour. I was talking to Bethany and Haley about wedding stuff and to my cousin Morrigan about food stuff (he wants to lose weight but doesn’t want to try hard at all, mostly it was me confirming that NO KETO and giving suggestions). Eventually we got coffee (and Ben went and got Sean some Very Bad Tea because they screwed up her order) and wandered around the mall. We did stop into Air Traffic for awhile and Ben tried some of the juggling bags and we looked at the various silly puzzles. Soon after, I was feeling soooo tired and suggested we get moseying. I wasn’t trying to end hangouts by any means, but I wasn’t wearing the best walking shoes (converse) and my pinky toes were hurting. Steve reminded me that I needed to pick up my bridesmaid dress, and the lady made me try it on. It fits so much better with the strap shortened by like 2 inches and the hem brought up like 6 inches. The Asian lady said she loved the lace on my waist and said it made my curves look good, Steve and Sean approved, and Ben said it “is a very purple dress”. Hahaha.

When we got to the van, Sean mentioned something about wanting shelving from Ikea, and I was like, “well IKEA just so happens to be RIGHT THERE, wanna go??” And after some discussion about whether Ben’s friend/coworker Dustin was still playing in a magic: the gathering tournament, Ikea it was.

We wandered slowly around the living room and bed section, trying like every single couch and bed and chatting. Steve and Ben apparently talked about ITG and friend stuff (like that Ben wants to stream to ONLY US and why he doesn’t like other people, even other friends, to view the stream), and Sean and I talked a lot about housing desires, locations for living, future plans, and of course, The Compound*.

We cut the IKEA trip short when Dustin announced he was ready for dinner, and Ben drove us to Minneapolis to a place called WSK (World Street Kitchen), another place with basically one thing on the menu I could eat and yet sounded amazing (a crispy tofu dish). I was still somehow incredibly full from earlier even though it was like 9pm, but I suspected it was in part due to the fact that Steve ordered me a large coffee and I drank all of it. We met Dustin and Stacy, who were kind of geeky and maybe not the kind of couple Steve and I generally hang out with, but they grew on me over time for the most part. Mostly it was that Stacy made a few lame comments indicating her disdain and boredom while Dustin played in his tournament, and Steve and I are not the kind of people who participate in disparaging each other’s hobbies and interests and don’t like when people in couples do that. Be with someone you can support!!!! Otherwise, though, the conversation was good.

After we ate, it was noted that we were DEFINITELY getting ice cream, and the place to get ice cream was attached to WSK. It’s called MilkJam. And it is top tier ice cream. They have rotating flavors of amazingness, and the line was out the door. Ben said that the line was pretty short, less than 50 people, probably because it had just finished raining. Because we couldn’t each just try one flavor, Steve and I opted for the “flight of 4” which were smaller scoops to sample. You COULD order a scoop of all the flavors (like 12) for $58. We agreed on all the flavors to try, and in order of favorites: Cereal Killer, Mango Sticky Rice, Thai Tea and Uma Thurman. The cereal one surprised me at how good it was. It was a lightly orangey/milk flavored ice cream with crunchy (NOT stale or soggy) fruity pebbles in it, and I was brought back to my childhood so hard. The mango sticky rice was exactly like it sounded but the rice was firm and delicious. The Uma Thurman was a tart passionfruit something, and it was good, but it wasn’t my favorite. Now. The ice cream was suuuper creamy and yet not so rich it would give you a belly ache, and I definitely wanted SO much more immediately. Sean got the “dark” which was a decadent dark chocolate that tasted like the most perfect brownies you’ve ever eaten (again, smooth and creamy and yet not bellyache creating). I can’t believe I’d never been there or heard of it!!

Finally it was time to go, and Ben and Sean dropped us off. We weren’t ready to give up on the day though, so I worked on my current sock (using the Mei/Satsuki from Totoro colorway by Canon Hand Dyes) and he played some more Yakuza Kiwami. He’s made a lot of progress and is definitely getting close to the end. We finally called it around 12:30 and hit the hay.

*The Compound is a gigantic homestead that the four of us invented for our Ideal Housing Needs. It’s small enough that we live in the same area and can hang out all we want, but big enough where we can have our individual privacy and aren’t expected to spend all our time together. The idea is that with four of us, we can afford exactly what we want without breaking the budget, and because we’ve already tested (several times) smaller living together scenarios and they’ve been successes, we think we could actually be viable housemates.

Today is such a busy day! Steve and I managed to sleep in until almost 11, the comfy bed, snuggles, and thunderstorms all night soothing us into comfort that we were both incredibly reluctant to leave. But leave we must, because as I said, so many things.

First on the agenda was food, coffee, and writing up the entry for yesterday. I confirmed the time of Pokémon Go for Larvitar as well. Shower was had and clothes were donned, entries were posted and off to Mall of America - which is really the only way to do it, what with the MANY pokestops, lures, people and Pokémon. Why waste your time anywhere else??

Holy crap it was INSANE there today! The parking ramps was already crazy full with a huge line, but I beelined for the roof, because I didn’t ant to waste any more time than we had already, and there was like basically no one there. It is really muggy out today, very VERY humid. Once inside, it was quickly discovered today was the regional yo-yo competition, which is always entertaining but SO. NERVEWRACKING. Steve says I make the best audience because I am so animated while watching - I gasp and cheer and hide my face and have running commentary. Yo-yo is actually a really impressive hobby. We spent a good deal of time on the 4th floor catching so many Larvitar and other Pokémon before heading to the 3rd floor, where we spent most of our time. The mall was filthy with Larvitar. I got a really good shiny as my second catch of the day, and I never did find one better. I found a better regular Larvitar as well, though I didn’t have as many terrible ones as Steve did. In the end I evolved three and buffed up 2. Then we walked around doing a couple raids, which didn’t show up until after the event was over. As usual, when the first Kyogre raid started, my phone borked out and we had to move everywhere. Steve didn’t catch his first one. Once I got into a raid, I did, and it was pretty good. Then we went to another one, and I got another good one, and Steve got a SHINY Kyogre. So jealous!!! They’re purple! I love purple! AND it had good stats. So lucky. On our way out I spotted Pa and Carrie, Parkway coworkers of mine, who were also playing Pokémon Go. We stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes before heading out.

Next up was my brother Jack’s graduation party at my dad’s house. We made the 40-minute drive out there, feeling kind of bad that we wouldn’t be able to stay long because I had to be home before 8 to tutor. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Jack had several friends over and there were people there for Dad and Tammy to hang out with too. They made sure to have rice for my tacos and Jack’s cake was pretty good too. Jack’s friends were decently funny, and apparently the running joke of his childhood was that he always talked about having so many siblings, and his friends were over often enough, and yet they NEVER saw any of them. So Jack was excited to show me off as one of the “fabled mysterious siblings”. To be fair, Jack is much younger than the rest of us. Bethany, at 26, is his closest sibling and still almost 9 years his senior.

After hanging out eating, and watching his slideshow that Dad made, we had to head out all too soon. The children were loudly playing Smash bros downstairs, and Jack seemed a little bummed we had to go so soon but took it in stride. I told him that since he’s going to a college nearby y house that he HAS to come by and hang out. I’m so easy to hang out with; we barely even have to talk lol. Just play games quietly and have fun.

I took a daiquiri to go (it was delicious) and Steve and I listen to Name of the Wind on the way back (we also listened to it on the way to dad’s, and I may or may not have gotten tearful right before we got there. It’s a POWERFUL book). I was in the best mood. My lesson with Shinpei was pretty good, he was distracted at first but eventually got into it, and we had fun. After that I went downstairs and we chilled until it was time to go to Minneapolis.

Oh yeah, we had also bought tickets to the midnight showing of Howl’s Moving Castle. I think the Uptown theatre might do this every year or every few years, but they show Ghibli movies as midnight showings, subtitled, one weekend a month. Howl’s is my favorite, along with Spirited Away and Nausicaa (Only Yesterday is a strong contender too). Steve couldn’t even remember the last time he saw it, and I’m a HUGE sap for this movie. It is so romantic and tender in my heart. Like, the themes really get to me, and I wondered if the type of person I am makes me view the movie a certain way. Ugh, just so good. After the movie I talked at length about the various depths and details I feel, and he said I have a “really strong headcanon.” Lol.

Before the movie, we were both so tired, and the Uptown is on Hennepin ave, one of the most happening streets in Minneapolis. Loud people everywhere. Huge crowds everywhere. We were both super tired but happy during the movie, and were (stupidly) surprised to see that the activity had not died down, or even so much as slowed down one bit when we left the movie. It was 2:30am! How are you people still active??? It was like I knew the dichotomy of being an old tired person placed against my own alcohol-fueled energy going out to party... but still!

You think we went home and went to sleep, but you’d be wrong. Father’s Day is tomorrow and I promised a dessert. The dessert I decided to make is no-bake, but it requires 8 hours of refrigeration. So to Cub we went for a couple of ingredients I needed. I made a simple but amazing-looking chocolate pie thing. Vegan, of course. That meant us finally flopping into bed at 4am. Oh my god.

I wish I could say my last classroom days at Parkway have been bittersweet... but they really haven’t. Partly probably because I’m leaving for good, but also partly because I’m just so tired and overworked right now. But there have been a few sweet moments - me teasing down Malik’s hackles when I had to interview him for his 3-year re-Eval (which was simply done by talking to him and asking him questions about his life, which I do often, and embedding the questions I needed to ask within that conversation). Much like when I wrote Harmony’s eval for high school, his is rife with information where I’m lowkey imploring whoever works with him in the future to take heed of his intense needs if they want him to be successful and if they want to have an easy time. He’s a gentle souls who needs so much TLC. He barks loud and can have a good bite, but he’s had so much trauma, so many letdowns by adults, and he’s so damn sensitive. He’s also deep, and funny. I just want people to know that he comes off as so intimidating but he’s a big softy on the inside.

Anyway. My first block was spent getting info out of Malik and eventually helping other kids on their work, and then we went outside. Second block we continued watching Spider-Man: Homecoming while I worked really hard on eval stuff for Idrew and answering emails.

Nokomis was pretty good, just incredibly busy and stressful, more Idrew stuff, consulting with the psychologist and speech therapist, etc. I left at 1:30 to go home, eat lunch and nap (because naturally I couldn’t sleep last night). I went back to the meeting for Idrew at 4, and the meeting got a little intense at times, with Mom getting emotional about different “maybe” diagnoses her son has from Gillette but that we didn’t see in our EXTENSIVE evaluation of him (depression, ADHD). He does qualify for special ed under the Traumatic Brain Injury label after a car accident fucked him up a couple years ago. Which REALLY sucks because the poor kid loves football and is really smart, and not being able to perform in school or sports like he used to just sucks!

I was able to get home around 5:30, and Tyler had bailed on game shopping. Steve suggested that we maybe go to this other game store a bit away, and I was totally down for that! I love little trips to cool places! It ended up being a bust, but Steve *almost* found a couple things he was looking for. In particular he was interested in a game for the Sega CD called Time Gal, and it was definitely one of those games where if he had shown me all the games for sale for the system that day, I would totally have known it was one that he wanted the most. Unfortunately, it was supposedly still sealed and he’s 100% not interested in paying “unopened” prices. What’s the deal with sealed games anyway? Like, anyone can seal games these days, it’d be really hard to prove a game's seal is original, and WHY do people want to own things you’ll never open?? I feel the same about figures. I much prefer to enjoy them as they were meant to be enjoyed.

I really wanted to buy Jocelyn and Elba flowers to say goodbye, especially after I found out that Jocelyn believes that most staff at Parkway don’t like her. It might be true, but I don’t feel that way. She has a hard job, and she has changed a lot of positive things about Parkway’s climate. I appreciate what she has done for the school. So I asked Steve if we could pick up some flowers for the two of them, and while we were on our way to the flower shop I found, I realized we were in the same area we visited before Cayden and Clyde’s birthday party! I suggested we stop at Half Price books after flowers. I bought Jocelyn pink and cream carnations, and Elba lime and orange carnations. I also put them in matching vases with ribbons and bought them cards.

Half price books was also a bust, and Steve was heartbroken that there were 3DO games but no 3DO. Sad face. But still a fun time! Right about then we realized we were quite hungry and we wouldn’t make it back in time for Catrinas, and anything we made at home wouldn’t be consumed for at least another hour. We were right by a Chipotle, and that’s the Catrina’s equivalent. So Chipotle it was! We ate outside and it was sooo nice. <3 I love cute days with Steve, they’re so relaxing and fun.

(side note: I started this entry over the weekend of the 16th and got half of a sentence in... lol)
On Thursday I ditched school, picked up Steve and we went to see Patrick Rothfuss at this tiny little "bar and hall" in downtown Saint Paul. I mean, I wouldn't say "ditched" per se because I told the professor about it ahead of time and everything but I didn't tell Blake I had a different engagement other than school. We were the first ones waiting in this atrium area in front of the "red doors" that were specified. I was very territorial about the doors but I was trying to act nonchalant, knitting my scarf and talking to Steve (he played a lot of the "facebook status bot" game and it was pretty funny). But on the inside I was so very "Line starts behind ME!!!" to anyone new who came in. Eventually I just actually stood in front of the door instead of near it. I wanted to get the best seats and I didn't care who was annoyed at me about it! I was the first one in and I got seats literally front and center. I didn't know who Paul and Storm were but I figured I would be getting acquainted with them in the near future due to my seating position. There was this very nice middle-aged woman who was the MOST Minnesota, and she offered to get Steve and myself drinks for watching her seats (we declined the drinks, and I followed her up to the bar). I didn't know what to get other than a red bull for Steve, so I was looking around at the other people. A man walked up to another person kitty-corner to me and introduced himself very gentlemanly-like to PATRICK ROTHFUSS!!! I didn't even notice he was standing basically RIGHT NEXT TO ME. I took a secret picture and sent the lady to get Steve. Pretty soon other people started coming, and I knew he would be staying after to sign books (I mean, he stayed NINE hours in Madrid signing books and this was not only a ticketed event, but many people didn't even hear about it) so I made sure we got pictures with him and told him how awesome he was, but we quickly left him alone because he was getting bombarded with people and we felt bad. Then when Paul and Storm were about to come on, he peeked out and we made eye contact so I waved to him AND HE WAVED BACKKKK. I felt a huge wave of starstruckness and also some embarrassment at being a tool.

Paul and Storm were pretty funny, they kept the crowd giggling, and then on one of the last songs ("Frogger") Paul grabbed me from the audience and sang to me/with me or whatever. I almost died. I was still knitting at that point and he actually said, in front of everyone, "You can bring your knitting if you want"!! omgggg. He spit on me in singing enthusiasm and Steve got a few pics. It was awesome but also kind of the worst because everyone was staring at me.

Patrick Rothfuss came out and read his first "Children's" book and talked a lot about it as well as the origins, and pointed out that while he is not allowed to sell copies of the second book online, that he could sell them at the merchandise booth. I was sooo excited!!! After he was finished, he opened up for some question time, and while most of the questions were boring, someone DID start to say something about the Adem being modeled after people on the Autism spectrum, and Patrick seemed to get a almost offended and said that the Adem are nothing like people on the spectrum and his tone implied that the guy asking the question was pretty dumb to think so (while I wouldn't have gotten as huffy about it, I obviously agree - the Adem may SEEM autistic until you realize how they communicate and that their whole world is BUILT around understanding body language and expression... duh) . Someone asked if he'd been to therapy. It sounded as if it was supposed to be a joke, but Patrick took the opportunity to disclose that he's actually been in therapy for a year, and he started therapy because his marriage was falling apart and he has been a really angry person for a long time, and that he and Sarah were about to get a divorce. He said that therapy helped him work through a lot of his anger, fix his relationship, and be a better father. It was an intense and touching confession, and I'm so glad he told us about it and that his life has improved!

After that, he told us about how he was an "advice columnist" for his school newspaper in college and he read some of his columns. They were so funny and great. One of them entailed a story about how he convinced his RA and floor supervisor to let him keep his guinea pigs by saying they were fish (The punchline was where he stuck one of his guinea pigs in a tank and when the RA freaked out and asked what the hell he was doing he said, "I'm. showing you. my fish."), and one where he debated slow zombies vs. fast zombies using sex as an analogy (both have their merits and downfalls but it's really personal preference).

After he was done, he set up at a table for book signing and chatting. He said that he hates that he has to stop chatting with people at long signings (like in Madrid) because it's like his favorite part - talking to the fans and really connecting. Steve and I had to run around the building to take out cash and I was worried about not getting a copy of the second Princess and Mr. Whiffle but it was okay :) Then we waited in line for a long while even though there were only like 20-30 people in front of us, which was awesome because it showed that we'd get to talk with him for a few minutes. With the people in front of us they discussed the comparative value of the money in the books (one talent can be VERY ROUGHLY compared to $1000, at the basic level). When we got up there we gushed a bit, talked about how it's impossible to remember people's names, and the fact that Patrick is considering releasing a book inbetween Wise Man's Fear and The Doors of Stone that takes place in the same world. When Steve and I told him that we would love ANY books in that universe and would happily read every single book he puts out, AND not to listen to the idiots whining about wanting the third book because they are just being selfish jerks, he thanked us and said that he will now really consider doing it, and he said it would be very easy to finish and publish. So that's exciting!

It was a great night.

Last night/early this morning I beat Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica, after about 57 hours of gaming (and I could have done more, I'm quite certain). The first half of the game is pretty tedious and confusing in terms of story, and the characters were very type-cast. But the second half of the game improved greatly as you got to know the characters better and the political aspects of the story fell apart. As the story progressed, whoever did the translation for North America CLEARLY got tired of it, as grammatical errors and misspellings increase A LOT. There's even a part where they mixed up choices and whichever you pick, the opposite happens! There is also a major boss at the very end that freezes the game if she casts a certain move, so you have to defeat her quickly - this isn't an issue if you're a thorough gamer, but the first time I played her I forgot about the freezing glitch and had been taking my time. The second time I played her I got unlucky and she used the move too soon. But the third time I beat her easily.

I would DEFINITELY recommend playing Melody of Elemia first, because the last quarter of the game is fraught with nostalgia, previous characters, and references to the first game that you simply cannot appreciate without it. The things I learned that related back to the first pretty much made the entire experience for me.

If you have not played the Ar Tonelico series, you have to be prepared for a lot of innuendo and cheesecake (hell, the third game's battle system as the strongest attacks with the Reyvateils losing their clothes!). It's just part of the package and while *I* enjoy it, I know it annoys a lot of other people or is not amusing.

I'll do a proper review when I have the time!

Up next on my play list: Tales of Graces F! :DDD

(Disclaimer: Images taken from Google. They are not mine and I don't claim any ownership of them)



Professor Layton and the Last Specter is the fourth game in the puzzle adventure series of Professor Layton, released in 2011. The previous three are The Curious Village, The Diabolical Box, and The Unwound Future. The four games have been released for the DS, and a 5th (and later 6th and final) game will be released for the 3DS (The 5th game, "Mask of Miracle," was released in 2011 in Japan. I wouldn't be surprised if the title was changed/spiced up for America as some of the others were by the time it releases this year).

The story is set in the past, following the fateful meeting and first pairing up of Professor Layton with his protegė, Luke. He has an assistant in this game, Emmy, a character who is tolerable but definitely annoying and I wanted to punch her several times in the face by the end. Prof Layton maintains his adorable demeanor and Luke isn't nearly as whiny as I remember. Most characters were entertaining and pleasant.


Exploring the market.

I don't want to spoil any of the story, so I'll just say that like the previous 3 games, it begins with a mystery that is supposedly supernatural but where Professor Layton is certain there is something fishy going on and there must be a logical explanation. The ending, like most of the other games, is half-predictable, with a pleasant and enjoyable surprise twist that I SWEAR you could never guess. Unlike the other games, I totally cried at the end as it was much sadder than I anticipated. 

There are 170 puzzles in this game. They are found by talking to various people and tapping everywhere on the screen with the stylus. Hint coins are also found through tapping. It has gotten more lenient by sending puzzles you miss to a Puzzle Hut more frequently (in previous games you'd have to seriously go look for the hidden ones). Either that or I was so used to scouring each screen that I missed very little by this point. The puzzles themselves were vastly improved from the past two games and reminded me of the rush I felt in beating the first game of the series. It felt as if there was a much more even variety of puzzle types (sliding puzzles, math, riddles, etc.), whereas I felt that the prior two were quite math-heavy. Most of the puzzles weren't hair-pulling difficult and instead felt very good to beat... until the bonus puzzles. The last two were absolute KILLERS and I admit I used a guide for one of them (-_- ' ). Hint counts abound, you will never run out of them. They give you a bit of help MOST of the time when you need it. Need a hint? Spend some coin.


Many puzzles were relevant to the situation as well, making it feel more connected.

The mini games presented in this game were quite challenging and fun, even if I DID rage at some of the train puzzles. In one of the mini games you get a certain number of tracks to lay (based on the amount of fuel you had) in which to guide a train through various stations to an end point. Seems easy, until you have to manage two trains at once, or have to maneuver around a set train or car, or have 6 train cars. They can't collide! It was very tricky at some points, for sure. As in the previous games, you unlock them through conversations with people and advancing the story.


Oh, they get much harder.

The next mini game was gathering coins before time ran out by strategically placing bubbles around an aquarium to guide your fishy. If it hit gold bubbles it would be out of control for a few seconds and take out any bubbles in its path, so you had to be careful!


This one was much more lighthearted and fun.

Just as all Professor Layton games have albums of some sort, this one has a puppet theater. It wasn't very interesting.

There was one major addition to the game called "London Life," which is kind of like a mini-Sims. It is unrelated to your gameplay and is just for fun! You can use Wi-Fi to connect with friends and such. You create an avatar and get jobs to earn money to buy clothing and accessories in order to develop certain aspects of your character. I spent nearly the entirety of my time in Little London learning to juggle and earning a crapton of cash.


One of the main squares.


You can work on a variety of aspects of your style. Or just earn money. Or decorate your room. It has no real purpose!

Overall, I felt that Professor Layton and the Last Specter followed the formula of the previous games, a formula which I enjoy. Critics of the game complain that the difficulty of the puzzles is inconsistent and that the puzzles were often either too vague or too familiar. Personally, I think that it's impossible to find a medium, and that a range of difficulty is a good thing so you don't get burnt out. There are also only a certain number of puzzles these geniuses can find, and it was quite well-balanced! I don't know what else they want. I would enjoy it if they revisited such themes as the matchstick puzzles from the first game, but all in all I was just happy that not everything had to be sussed out with math on the shitty notepad (can you tell I have no patience with lame-o math?!). I very much enjoyed the story, and the graphics were charming as always.

I've been working hard this week to renew my dedication to my job. I've been putting notes in on time (it's annoying because my computer only works when plugged in and most of my clients don't have the patience for all that technology boo-hocky so I can't do concurrent documentation most of the time) and reminding myself that my clients call me because they trust me (well, most of them) and that they think I can actually help them. So I'm trying to help them.

I transferred two more clients off my caseload (that's three total), but I'm getting a new intake that is apparently an assertive outreach at this point. The two I transferred off are not all that difficult, but one of them has been very time-consuming and the person she's going to doesn't yet have a full caseload, and the other I just never really established any rapport with so I know he won't be upset about being switched.

I have already picked out the next person I'm moving, though. I can never do anything right for her. Part of it is me, and part of it is her. She has exceptional borderline traits, and I feel like I've self-fulfilled her prophecy. It's for real like a conspiracy - I will swear I scheduled an appointment but it won't be in my calendar. When I call her she is angry and "waited and waited and waited" for me to come when I didn't. I know she was not waiting for me. She just doesn't have anywhere to go. And she REFUSES to pick up a phone and call. She doesn't want confirmation beforehand, and has NO responsibility in reminding me if something appears amiss. That would be beneath her. I never call her back fast enough. I never find her the things she needs. And she hates me. We have never had ANY semblance of a rapport, and she has never trusted me even a little bit. So she's getting the hell off my caseload ASAP.

Cassie says that if no one else quits, I should be able to have 30-32 people on my caseload. I have 33 right now. It would be freakin' amazing if I had 30. I could be so much better a worker!

I finished FFX - not sure if I mentioned that. I became very, very frustrated with the second form of Jecht. I get even more escalated in big fights if I have to do crap over and over again before getting back to the boss. So, to have to do 2 cut scenes and the gem-collecting 50 times did not improve my mood. I ended up letting Steve beat him and I finished the rest. I liked the ending, but I was not as attached to the game as I was FFIX. Overall I really enjoyed it, but that last set-up really left a sour taste in my mouth.

I also completed 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors. It's SO good. It's like a gentler version of Saw. It's a mystery with puzzles and death and OMGYESCHARACTERDEVELOPMENTTTT. It was funny because there are 6 endings. After I got the true ending (you need to get two other specific endings to unlock the true ending), Steve helped me get the last ones by looking up which doors I could go through to get each ending (there are several ways to get the same ending). Steve's first ending was my last ending, and I would have been so heartbroken had I gotten that ending first! It's the worst ending!! XD Anyway, the game is amazing and not long, so I suggest you buy and play it right now.

As a result, I have started two new games. Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, and Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica. So far I can barely stand myself, Ar Tonelico is so good. I loved the first one, and this one is already overshadowing it. SO FREAKIN GOOD. I haven't gotten very far in Minish Cap, but... it's a LoZ game. I'm sure I'll love it.   

Quite possibly the best movie of all time.

No no, seriously.

It was made SO. WELL. I was completely dead after watching it. My heart was its punching bag, its love slave, its biggest fan. I didn't even like the series that  much, and 1.11 was pretty good, but OMG 2.22 was nearly perfect. SO CLOSE TO PERFECT. My brain is so full and overflowing and I just wanted to cry and cry and cry.

I honestly think it goes in my top 5 movies, maybe even top 3. It's THAT good.

Holy crap.

( This is for Athena, hoping she didn't see it somehow )

Second, ZOMG f(x)'s ACTUAL ALBUM JUST CAME OUT GUHHHHHH I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOREVER AND EVER FOR IT. Omg. Girl crush asplode. Korean lust out of control.

Work today was... hard. Lots of paperwork and dealing with the one specific client. So many things to remember and document and keep track of!! And I missed an appointment D: It worked out, but I felt like an ass. On the bright side, I got to talk to my old program manager, Jeremiah, because I want to refer a client to him. It was cute.

I got my tires replaced and now my car moves like a dream in comparison. Fleet Farm gives amazing lifetime service - 30-day free tire replacement and 50% cost after that, free rotation and alignment for the life of the tire, plus free flat repair for the life of the tire! My biggest fears squashed! They also want me to go back after 100 miles to double-check that the... lug nuts or... whatever... are still on there nice and tight. I replaced a blinker bulb yesterday and today I noticed one of my rear brake lights is out too D: HAAAAAATE cars.

( Grimmy is cute sometimes... )


You can see a teaser of some of the wall color. As of now I still want to post a separate entry on the whole painting thing, because I want it to be image-heavy. Maybe this weekend! I plan on visiting my sister and nephew on Saturday, and on Sunday going to my dad's house to spend time with their family, because Pam likes getting together on Easter.

Steve got Portal 2 yesterday and it looks sooo great. Of course I'm a storyline junkie, and this has an amazing, silly, and comedic storyline! But it looks far too difficult for me. I am spatially challenged and would probably kill myself.

I'm rather sad that it looks like I simply won't have the time to respond as much as I like, ever. But I promise I read every entry you guys post! I loooove your entries and it makes me sad that I can't keep up with them all the time. But I'll try my best. Just be okay with some comments that are maybe more concise and less involved, but know that the thought is there and it's not done as an afterthought <3

ALSO PEE ESS It has SNOWED HERE twice this week. Fuck you 30-degree weather. Fuck you week. I hate you. You snowed on me all morning and got my glasses wet. And I was cold. Oh yeah, and fuck you. D: