Life is good. I got a PS2 for Christmas, hurrah. The only thing that's been bugging me lately is that Hermione and Sakura and I haven't been able to finish the kidnapping RP on MahouMUCK, and I can't really blame them for not being around during Christmas week, now can I? ;p But until we finish that I can't have regular RP with other players, so I've been doing 'time warp' RP all week--stuff that takes place before or after the kidnapping. Rya-chan and I did a scene with young Severus and her character Jeremy... n.n We haven't gotten to finish it though. And Sirius and I did a scene that takes place after his name's been cleared. Sirius and I have some PLANS. XD

Well, I mostly just wanted to babble about my cool present, so I'm off. I'll try to write in this thing more often, though.. O.o;;

Edit: Hey, waitasecond! Forgot to mention that I went to see Lord of the Rings last night! My friend P.T. took me and my sister to see it 'cos we took him to see Harry Potter... and WHAT A GREAT MOVIE!!! XD XD XD It was much more entertaining than trying to slog through the books' dry writing style, and I now find myself with a new appreciation for the story--it's a psychological tale as much as it is high fantasy. I love all the characters, but my favorites would have to be Aragorn, Frodo, and Legolas, in that order. Boromir was also very interesting. But I found Gandalf oddly disappointing... not having read much of the books, I went in with certain expectations about his character and found myself to be wrong... and what happened to him halfway through the movie was highly shocking. I figured he'd last much, much longer than he did.

But a LotR personality test made me out to be like Merry. That's not fair. -.-;;

~loren leah glomped severus @ 12:29 p.m., Friday, December 28, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

w00t, Nickelback is about to perform on TRL... ^_^ Y'know, oddly enough, I just realized that three of my very favorite bands are Canadian. Our Lady Peace, Nickelback, and Barenaked Ladies... Canadians rock. n.n

In MUCKly news, Snape actually up and told Hermione that he's going to have to kidnap her. (He didn't mention that he's kidnapping Sakura too, though. o.o;) I've been agonizing ever since over whether I should've let him do it... but oh well, it's done now. ^^;

~loren leah glomped severus @ 03:44 p.m., Monday, December 3, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

Anyway, as I was saying... I've been writing pretty sporadically lately, so this entry's mostly your fault, Rachel. (And partially Rya-chan's for telling me I need to write more.) Glad you like the site and all, and, uh, my style. n.n I love cliques too; that's why I join way too many of 'em... XD ...Dang, my hands are too cold to type. x_X It's only 30-something outside, and I've been freezing all day. I wish it wasn't December. x.x

Look at all my aniMU smilies. You can tell I've started MUCKing frequently again... I'm pretty much mired up to my knees in Severus Snape by now. It's almost scary; I've actually got good enough at the part that I find myself thinking like the guy IRL occasionally. But that's good, because quick thinking is what enables me to keep one step ahead of Sirius and Voldemort back at the MUCK... I love Sirius's player. She's a raging yaoifreak (which would be a good thing, except she doesn't seem to like shounen ai) but she plays her character like a master. Right now, you see, "Kane S. Major" has come to teach at Hogwarts... Snape's just at the edge of figuring out that it's actually Sirius. Well, really, he probably could've figured it out already, but I'm not sure if I want him to yet, because there's so much else going on in Sev's life right now that he can't afford any more distractions. He's not speaking to his godson, there's scandalous stuff being published about him in the Daily Prophet, and he just got an assignment from Voldemort to kidnap Hermione... Oh, and did I mention he has a godson? ;D Rya-chan plays Lee on the MUCK, and she and I cooked up the godfather connection... but that's a long story. Why don't you just read the logs?

Wow, I typed a ton. I better quit, or I won't have anything to say tomorrow. ^_^;

~loren leah glomped severus @ 06:30 p.m., Friday, November 30, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

Loren's Tips for a More Enjoyable RPG Experience

1.) Take other people's opinions with a grain of salt. If a game looks interesting to you, try it--no matter what anybody else says. A lot of people hate Legend of Dragoon, and almost everybody hates SaGa Frontier; but if I'd listened to the general consensus about those two games, I'd never have found out that they're actually pretty enjoyable.
2.) NEVER READ THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL. Or if you do, wait until after you've finished the game. The people who write English instruction manuals have nothing to do with the people who designed the game scenario, and thus manuals will very often reveal info that you're not supposed to know at the beginning of the game. (Major offenders: Legend of Dragoon and Xenogears. I would rather have found out about Bart's identity for myself... o_o;) So if you don't want to be spoiled, don't read manuals. You probably shouldn't read the "character bio" sections of strategy guides, either--they're more of the same.
3.) Don't run away from battle unless it's really necessary. If you're anything like me, you wish you could just get the battles over and get on to the next plot point; but running from lots of fights accomplishes nothing except making sure you're too weak to beat the next boss, and thus can't get to the next plot point. It's an especially bad habit to perpetuate in dungeons--failed escapes mean the enemies get in potshots, which means you have to use up healing items, which means you have less to use in the boss fight.
4.) Talk to everybody. Make sure you've conversed with as many people as you can find before you leave any given town. For all you know, it might be destroyed by the big bad guy right after you leave, and then any treasure or opportunities for subquests you might have garnered by speaking to the right people will be lost forever.
5.) Remember that it's just a game. If you make a mistake, don't get frustrated; just be patient and try again. Perserverance in video games is always rewarded. Eventually you'll accomplish your objective.

~loren leah glomped severus @ 1:01 p.m., Sunday, October 21, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

The game feels like a cross between Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Cross, and Wild ARMs. A bizarre combination, but it works. Rose is really cool... and I'm actually finding myself becoming fond of Dart, despite his stupid name...he's like a less mellow Cless Alvein. But I hate Shana. Arrrrrgh. Die Shana die. -.-;; And... the game has voice acting! Over the CG! O.O And if the opening and the in-battle voices are any indication, it's halfway decent (my scale goes like this: if it sounds better than Lunar 2, it's decent). It's a very pretty game, too. Almost worth playing for eye candy alone... when I saw that river whats-its-name for the first time, that was definitely a jaw-drop moment. Not even Final Fantasy IX looked that pretty.

Anyway, I can't think of anything else to blab about, so I'll sign off for now. There'll probably be more Legend of Dragoon babble here shortly. ;p

~loren leah glomped severus @ 10:05 p.m., Saturday, October 20, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

A wonderful thing happened to me tonight, though, which is the real reason I bothered to log in to write-- namely, an old Internet friend got in touch again. Katie Rhiscarlan, a.k.a. Penumbri... she who invented the term Egoshipping, which probably tells you how I first met her. ^^ I wonder if it's all right for me to keep calling her Bri-chan (well, I used to call her Katie-chan but she's changed her name since)... it's been so long since I've heard from her last, I wonder if it'd be rude? Ah well, I don't know that she's going to keep in permanent contact, anyway... but it was sure great to hear from her. It reminds me of that time way back when I got that silly email from Raven, after I thought he hated me. (Don't get me wrong, Katie and I never had a fight or anything--we just drifted apart. It happens, especially on the 'net, ne?)

And then there's one thing that happened yesterday which left me with no time to come write in about it... Dad brought home a kitten. He's a little tabby cat (well, we think it's a he), and we've named him Skittles... He's cute, but, well... Our dog doesn't care, but our other cat has been in a huff since yesterday evening. She keeps hissing at mom. ^^; It makes me feel bad, because we don't really pay enough attention to our other pets as it is, and now there's this little kitten stealing the show. (He is adorable, though... if you sit down he'll literally crawl all over you. He climbed up my shirt and sat on my shoulder earlier today. ^^;)

--I'm adding this in an edit... can't believe I forgot to note that I had to get an allergy shot today. My butt still hurts -.-; But maybe it'll help somewhat. I've been using Nasonex and, sparingly, Zyrtec for a couple weeks now since we gave up on the Allegra, but I was still pretty miserable with allergies... finally, I had that nice nasty green snot, plus a horrible headache, and mom decided I had a sinus infection and carted me off to the doctor. So I got a shot of something something cortisol, which mom (who's a nurse) claims is pretty potent, and I'm on Ceclor for the infection, plus an expectorant to help with some of the mucus build-up. Nothing like a boatload of prescriptions to make a person feel sickly. -_-;

~loren leah glomped severus @ 9:21 p.m., Friday, September 21, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

Well, I'm off to slog through the Tonoe caves. My only consolation is that Rune's in the party at the moment. RUNE~~ *_*

~loren leah glomped severus @ 4:29 p.m., Thursday, September 20, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

Though it wouldn't do to forget all the people that've died, I must say, this occasion has reaffirmed my faith in the human race and the American people. When life's great, we all act like a bunch of jerks, but when the chips are down, we band together and support each other. Some of the nastiest, most sarcastic people I know at school have been dead serious about these events... and look at all the people rushing to donate blood, money, food, and their time as volunteers... No matter what some may say, I still think people are good at heart, and though America has its faults, lack of human kindness and empathy are not among them.

~loren leah glomped severus @ 7:40 p.m., Thursday, September 13, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

I'm reading all my friends' blogs right now, even the many that aren't linked (gomen nasai); and just about everybody has had something to say about yesterday, even the ones who hadn't blogged in months. The reactions differ from person to person, but there's an almost universal sense of highly justified horror and outrage.

It's times like this that I wonder if there isn't something wrong with me, like physically, chemically, in my brain. I watched live footage of the second tower falling yesterday with a very detached feeling of... well, nothing, really. I have felt a very mild sense of sadness at all the untold thousands of lives lost. I've contacted all my online friends to make sure of their safety and combed the message boards I frequent, stating the horror and terror and outrage that I wish I could feel as though it were fact. I've made myself ponder over the event, the lives lost, and its implications in order to squeeze some kind of feeling out of myself.

It's not that I don't agree with everyone. This tragedy is a nightmare come true that should never have happened, and I say those words not because it's the socially proper thing to do, but because I mean them. However, other than that, I feel nothing. The only real feeling I've had over the last two days is frustration at my inability to feel properly scared, sad, or horrified. And it's not just that I'm numb from shock--I have been quite truthfully calm through the whole thing, as I am through most tragedies. I didn't cry for the students at Columbine.

I want to cry and grieve for those people who died yesterday. I want to feel empathy or at least sympathy for those who lost loved ones. But for some reason I find myself physically unable to.

~loren leah glomped severus @ 4:15 p.m., Wednesday, September 12, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

People keep saying that this will go down in infamy as our generation's Pearl Harbor, our JFK. "I remember exactly where I was when the World Trade Center fell." And believe me, I've fixed that point in my mind: I won't do it injustice by forgetting.

When we find out who's responsible, though, I hope we don't retaliate with overwhelming force. Enough innocent lives have been lost and ruined today.

~loren leah glomped severus @ 4:40 p.m., Tuesday, September 11, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

I've been pretty active in Harry Potter fandom lately--I've started frequenting the FictionAlley BBS, have offered out my services as a beta-reader, signed up for an account at ArtisticAlley, and am even working on a page called Morsmorde. (It goes without saying that the prior link is under construction. Not much there yet.) And after rereading Prisoner of Azkaban, I have a newfound love for Sirius... not that I didn't like him before, but I think he's becoming a favorite. :)

IRL, I just found out that students taking dual-enrollment classes are supposed to pay the college tuition fees. I'm sure my parents will go ahead and pay, but it would've been nice to know that beforehand... o_o;;

~loren leah glomped severus @ 3:45 p.m., Monday, September 10, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?

Anyway, you'll notice I've finally gotten around to archiving the index... it was getting kind of long @_@; Something great happened to me today--I found a good Mobile Suit Gundam fic, and not only that, it's a fic about Kai!!!! XD XD XD It's set quite a bit in the future (after Z and ZZ Gundam), but there aren't really any spoilers besides the fact that Kai actually lives that long...which, if you're a Gundam fan, you know is unusual. ;p

~loren leah glomped severus @ 6:05 p.m., Tuesday, September 4, 2001
~~~yak at her about it?