Ramblings and Musings of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

So I finished the 1987 Turtles disc about a week ago and greatly enjoyed the rest of it, although I think I like the earlier episodes the best (1-4-ish). The season 7 episode on the disc, where they have to fight a whole rogues’ gallery of past villains, seemed really familiar to me, so I think that must have been one I watched when it first aired on TV. I liked it, but I prefer the utter nonsense of earlier seasons. I went and read through an episode guide and decided that I want the season 3 discs first. Season 4 sounded kind of “eh” except for a few episodes and season 2 is filled with tropes I detest (shrinking, humans mutating, etc.). Season 1 was just a five-part mini-series/pilot-type thing, which I want, but not ahead of some other stuff. Seasons 5 and 6 sounded fun and I might plan to get Wal-Mart’s combined set of those. Also, season 7 sounded like a blast, especially with the Europe vacation arc that took place around seasons 3-4. Seasons 8-10 don’t sound as fun; I don’t think I’d like all the changes to the show. I know I watched some of those episodes on TV, though, but the only one I remember involved a biker gang and Donatello nearly getting hurt by one of the members as he speeds past. I couldn’t find it in the episode guide, but I know I saw it mentioned before. It seemed like any time I was actually awake and able to watch the Turtles, I always caught that episode. Heh. I saw it at least three times.

This week has been the saga of the Donatello plushie. I find it very sad that I don't have a Donny plushie yet, considering he was my second-favorite all through childhood and on into the 2003 series, until I somehow became super-fond of Raph. Without rehashing all the details, I basically decided I wanted the Donatello plushie the most that’s from the same line as my Leo. Only problem is, there’s suddenly a run on that plushie. Amazon is sold out and keeps changing the price and the date it will be back in stock, the only decently-priced one there right now is from a seller with 90% positive feedback and I don’t like to dip lower than 97% positive, Wal-Mart sold out (probably because people were mad about Amazon selling out; they were charging the same price), and Target has only three left. WTH…. Then I got mad and started thinking maybe I wanted the one styled like the 1987 series again, just to be able to get Donatello without waiting for ages. I do like it, but it’s just not stuffed as full and it’s not as soft. The other one has pros all around except for having the same expression as Leo, and I think I’d prefer that over one with a different expression but so many cons.

This year, the Scottish Festival was actually a lot of fun. I enjoyed it much better than some recent years and I actually found something I liked enough to buy that was decently priced. It’s a beautiful turquoise necklace that I thought had Celtic designs on some of the beads, but now I’m not sure and think it’s Native American designs instead. But either way, I love it. We also got to see a favorite band, The Fire, finally return after a three-year absence, and we got one of their CDs. We stayed on Friday until they closed up shop around ten, which was so awesome. I wanted to go back on Saturday and look around some more, even though I’d probably seen everything. But we weren’t able to make it until the very end, when The Fire went on again. That was when we got the CD. It was sad seeing all the booths close up while the concert was going on. I thought they might stay open until after the concert for one last hurrah, but no. After we got home, I took pictures of Christopher Cary as a Scot from Batman.

After the festival on Friday, I bought the second Turtles movie, which I shouldn’t have done. But I’d wanted it for at least seven years and was exasperated at never being able to spare a few dollars to get it. I’d never seen it in full and it was a blast. I still like the first one best, but the second one has lots of cute and funny moments and the nightclub scene and the ending scene are still priceless.

Also, Build-a-Bear sent me an email about a Boba Fett-themed bear. That is … kind of awesome. I have to say that if the character hadn’t intrigued me as a six-year-old child, he probably wouldn’t interest me now. But that six-year-old child never stopped being fascinated by him and there's nothing I can do about it. Dad would probably go through the ceiling if I bought that plushie, and I can’t get any there anyway without some coupons (which they hardly send anymore, waaah), but I am definitely considering it. First priority is looking at their Turtles up close and personal, though, and deciding whether to get the Mikey from their line. But there’s still that problem of not liking their second run Mikey's expression. He looks so cheeky instead of just cute like the first one.

I did the first part of the Bonanza-related fic for theme #12, as planned. I am so proud of it! I rarely do such intense and deep character monologues anymore, as I usually rely more on character dialogue and action to tell the stories. I don't always like that, as I love monologuing, but it doesn't always seem to fit. For this story, however, it's perfect. The next scene is due for Tuesday, I think.

http://31-days.livejournal.com/2875469.html

I've been keeping a nice, relaxed pace this month, alternating between updating The Denying Detective and The Night of the Moving Wound. And I was just thinking I need to update my FF7 Western fic, too. Those in addition to blog posts and work-related writing. It's nice having a better balance.

It's confusing, rotating crushes on three wonderful men all at the same time. I can watch something with Richard in the morning, write something with a Wesley character later, and see William playing Hamilton at night. Alternately squeeing over each one. Very strange.

I finally saw some of The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man. I watched the Kill Oscar trilogy, where Richard's Oscar character is abducted by a madman. And he had previously issued orders to kill him if he were captured, because he's afraid of what he might divulge to the bad guys under their modern torture methods. I was hoping to be blown away. I almost was. The first two parts were really intense and good and I love them. But I think the third part kind of fell short. They were trying to pack too much in, and they didn't leave any room for a wonderful reunion scene in an epilogue. And after all the build-up, and Oscar's friends trying so hard to save him before the order to kill him was carried out, it just really felt like a let-down. I've located the fanbase now and am asking about episodes with squeeful interaction between Oscar and the other characters. I'm also hoping someone's written some fanfiction to fill in the gaps in Kill Oscar.

I was absolutely blown away by the episode of The Big Valley entitled Last Train to the Fair, however! Oh my goodness. It was one of the most heart-wrenching, heart-breaking, beautiful things I've seen in a long time. And it was incredible all the way through; there was definitely no let-down there. If you can see it (I think it's on Hulu), I thoroughly recommend it! It's just so amazingly moving even if you don't really watch The Big Valley. I don't, but I was just so entranced and impressed and touched. Everyone's acting was just wonderful. There's a lot of poignant sibling hurt/comfort, angst, and squee, as well as intensity and heartache going on with the doctor trying to treat the ill sibling on the train. People are out trying to kill him, and the reason why is so unexpected and gah. And the climax! Oh my goodness. I don't want to reveal any spoilers, so I'll leave it at that, but oh! It's so worth watching!

And I wonder why it is that it seems like at the Scottish Festival, I get terribly attracted to booths that aren't directly Scottish-related. Ha, the irony of it. I found a booth on Friday that carried those ornate masquerade eye masks, the kind they used in Victorian times. I was enthralled! It reminded me of The Wild Wild West, and I stayed and looked at almost every mask on display. I would have liked to have gotten one, but even the lowest-priced ones were too much for me right then. I've been doing a juggling act with my money all this week, trying to determine my buying priorities.

I had to wait until I saw some of those TV series to decide what to do. (Gah, I wish I had sent for that disc before the Get Smart disc instead of after.) I had been considering trying to get one of the Bionic Woman seasons. Now, unless I hear something wonderful from the fanbase (such as that I really must get hold of one particular, entire season), my plan is to get a T-Shirt I found with Richard, a Celtic Woman CD, and wait for the Trixie and Lyra My Little Pony figures to be released. It shouldn't be long now.

Things to have money for in the next few months (in order of priority):

1. Top secret project (may be revealed once it's finalized)
2. Scottish festival
3. Out Cold (I vowed to have a hard copy of this album---preferably new---before the next holiday season, and I shall! **wants the liner notes with all the squeeable pictures!**)
4. KH figures of Seph and Cloud
5. Lucky Seven (Japanese version)
6. Other Rockapella albums (Don't Tell Me You Do; Live in Japan)

The #1 item was an idea that just came to me a week ago today and I've been working out the details over the past week. Tuesday evening was spent making preparations for phase 1. I just need one more communication (I hope) before I can go ahead with said phase 1 of the plan. Phase 2 I hope to finish on Monday morning. (No, they don't have to be done in order, despite the 1 and 2 titles. The rest do have to be done in order.) Phases 1 and 2 can be completed at home; for phase 3 I must make a short visit to a business. Phase 4 requires another short trip, and phase 5 is the most difficult.

Items #1 and #2 on my list must be settled by July when the festival is. Well, Item #1 should be settled by the end of this month. (It has nothing to do with the festival.) After the festival, everything is ambiguous. In other words, I'm not sure when I'll be buying any of the other items. XD

The last few days, I've been doing an RP with Lizzie where Zack was revived right before the statue crisis. It's very intense and sad, as he is determined to believe Sephiroth is still alive even though he doesn't know it, and Cloud is determined to believe just the opposite, and is being bitter and hateful towards Sephiroth. Since I'm playing Zack in that version, I got the idea of wondering what it would be like to play off of Zack in that scenario.

So I presented the idea to Lisa and we started an RP with a similar premise. Zack, and Aerith, and now Tifa, are all trying to talk to Cloud, and of course, he doesn't want to listen right now. Eventually Zack's going to be pushed too far and snap at Cloud. That's going to be intense.

Both of them should probably be involved in finding the solution to the problem, though I'm not sure yet what it shall be. XD I was thinking today of the various ways the problem has been corrected.

- Healing water (in the actual fic)
- Yuffie melting down materia to turn it into a substance like the healing water (in the RP with Marta)
- Set, the Egyptian god, releases him (in the RP with Aubrie)
- A gem with healing properties that shatters the stone (in the RP with Lizzie, and also used to free the Alternate Sephiroth in the RP with Aubrie)

We went to the Scottish festival on Friday and Saturday. It was cool. X3 We went around to the various vendors on Friday. There were a couple with Celtic jewelry, and two or three with swords, and some clothing shops, including one with a gorgeous velvet purple scarf/shawl thing. Then there was a knick-knack shop, and there were some cute little bear plushies there with plaid pawpads.

They're maybe about six or seven inches, and there's a girl and a boy. The girl has a red velvet dress, and the boy has a white sweater with red white and blue trim and a plaid bowtie. They're kinda Christmasy, as well as reminding me of the festival. They were two dollars each, so I got to get them as souveniers on Saturday. I only saw the girl on Friday night, and Mom was hoping she and Dad could get it for me the next day, and when we went then, we found the boy bear too. I think of them as brother and sister bears, but I can't think of brother and sister names, because the first thing that popped into my head was Cloud and Aerith.

They were out of Scottish food on Friday night, so I got a hot dog with mustard and ketsup and relish, as well as a piece of Kraft cheese, a bag of Cheetos, some ice water, and an oatmeal creme sandwich cookie. X3 It's been so long since I had those.

On Saturday I got a Scotch egg (which was a hardboiled egg with sausage all around it) and a Trifle (which was a dessert with some kind of cake thing mixed with big raspberries and vanilla pudding, topped off with whipped cream). X3 I also got some Haggis, which was good.

The Kindred Voices group was performing again, but we only got to catch a little bit of their show this year. They have a new album out, which is a Christmas one that was released last holiday season. I decided to buy that, and then I talked to the two girls who sing the vocals and mentioned I was there and saw their show last year. They asked if I had their first album too, and I said I hadn't been able to get that one yet. And they just gave it to me free! ^^

(I ended up listening to both of them when I got home, even the Christmas one. XD I didn't want to wait four months just to be able to hear it! It was awesome, too. There's a real Celtic feel to the way they did the songs.)

It's always such a fun event. X3 I wish it would run longer on Saturday. They have the closing ceremonies around four. I was wondering to myself why they didn't let it run longer, and then it occurred to me that maybe it was because they wanted to be able to have everything cleaned up and such before midnight when it would be Sunday. (It's a fairly religious area down here.)

I've been working on fics more, as well. I got the follow-up to Deep Silence Complete done, and I love how it turned out, especially when Cloud confronts Sephiroth. X3

Writing for KH Sephiroth is a lot of fun. I love writing for them both, but I seem to write more for KH Seph, while FF7 Seph is the one I generally role-play. Kidswingshot mentioned that KH Sephiroth is portrayed as a dark or anti-hero in my fics, and I quite like that description. He's so prideful, even moreso I think than the way I write FF7 Seph. They're both that way, and yet it just seems like the KH Seph shows it more. He's very spiteful, too. And he's still capable of falling into hatred, though I think FF7 Seph would be too, if he was put through the same thing that happened to KH Seph in Bleed at My Feet.

On the other hand, KH Seph has a certain weariness after everything he's done in the past and what he suffered as the consequence for losing himself and blindly killing people in the opposing land, whether they had hurt his people or not. (But he still believes that the ones who hurt his people deserved death.) And he seems sometimes that he's more relaxed than his counterpart. Both of them have that weariness, and both have a very dark/morbid sense of humor. XD KH Seph's sarcasm is probably the only thing even vaguely amusing in Deep Silence Complete. And of course, there's the pessimism.

KH Seph still has some spark of duty left towards the people of Hollow Bastion, even though as he says, they've turned their back on him. And he wonders why he should do anything for them. They seem to have forgotten the Sephiroth who led their armies, and died trying to bring them victory. He doesn't like that at all, nor does he appreciate being thought of as a monster just because of his wings.

Of course both Sephs have soft spots for the respective Zacks, and the Zacks seem to be the only ones who really understand them. Sephiroth and Zack's banter is one of the most enjoyable things to write. X3 With Zack, Sephiroth seems to allow a different side of himself to show, a more contented side. And Zack seems to be able to get Sephiroth to talk about things at times, though he doesn't pry when he sees Sephiroth doesn't want to say anything.

I think I write FF7 Seph as more subdued at times, because he's still trying to get used to being alive again/being sane/coming to grips with everything he did. (Whereas KH Seph is used to being alive again and he never went insane, though I'm not sure if he has fully come to grips with what he did.) But then other times FF7 Seph's bitterness flares up, like when he fought Cloud on the roof. X3 And by the end of S&M, he seems to be settling better into his life and has bursts of arrogance and dark humor. I don't think I've written for him too much post-S&M, and it's hard to pinpoint exactly how I write him differently from his counterpart, yet I know I do. XD;

**ponders more.**