I think Hiead needs a kick in the ass, preferably from his partner (he drove her to evil! EVIL! Just slap him, woman!).

Hmm.. in BoFIV's clear game save, if you go back to Sonne (I don't know if it was intentional or not, but Sonne is the french word for sound... I think it was probably just a coincidence), some of the villagers (namely Mami's evil landlord, whom I believe Fou-lu should have smacked around some: I'm fairly sure it was his fault that the soldiers found out Fou-lu was staying there..) think you're Fou-lu (before realizing that you are obviously not)...the only other thing I've noticed in the Clear Game save so far is Rei & Teepo (Rei's sprite in IV is much more faithful to his character art), that, and of course the new chapter title... Wonder what else there is. n_n

Yee! I'm glad you like it! And once you get deep into it (about 11 hours for me), it gets really cool. :D

Speaking of yearbooks, I also broke out the yearbook from '98 today. '98 was the year I graduated from middle school, so it is naturally my eighth grade yearbook. Good lord, we were dorks. All of us, every last one, even the people who are so shiny and pretty now. They were dorks. I think maybe I should bring this to school, embarrass some people, especially Justin. Although his photo from the yearbook was reprinted in -this- year's book by his parents, so I guess he's already pretty embarrassed. He wrote a very mean thing in the '98 book ('02 wasn't much better, but it wasn't an insult, just a bit lame), making me remember why I put him in Claris as a red shirt (that is one of the parts being removed and replaced with something better, by the way. It was dumb and self-indulgent, even if I remember why I did it =p).

So we got yearbooks the other day. My brother was meant to purchase one of his own and I was meant to purchase one of my own, and I did, but he did not, so we only have one that we are sharing, though it has my name on it. And, for the most part, signatures from people I know, because Bryan keeps refusing to take it. I'll make him take it on Monday (I'll have the AP test then anyway...). I kind of wish we'd gotten two, so that I could deface the photos of people I dislike in mine, but I realize that would be bitter and petty (yet fun!).

Anyway, our yearbooks are basically worthless if you're not a senior, which is why this is the first year we've bought one. It's still not worth its cost, but at least now I have something to remind me that, no matter how horrible things become, there was always a time in my life that was so much worse. People keep telling me how nice and pretty I look in my senior picture. You'd think this was a compliment, right? Maybe so, if they didn't say it with such jaw-dropped shock. Now I'm no oil painting, people, but it's not like I'm sort of hideous freakmonster with boils all over my body (nor am I missing half my face, nor am I covered with scars...).

Additionally, apparently people are appalled by my senior quote, which was 'Life is pain. Fortunately I am a masochist.' My mother was certainly unhappy. But I figure appalling my peers is a good thing... after all, the best way to leave a group of people you hate with all of your soul is appalled, no?

But I sound more bitter than I am. Truthfully there were people at high school who made the trip a bit more bearable than, say, a lifetime locked in a dark room with no food or water. If there weren't, then I wouldn't have already filled up the first two pages with signatures, I guess.

Y'know, I'm sure I have some people in college reading this. So tell me, in college people. Does your last semester of senior year really matter? Would colleges revoke scholarships for poor grades (and not fails, I mean C's..)?

I think my Dad is the only person who understands the fun of loud music. I'm listening to the Breath of Fire IV soundtrack (given to me by Laris, whom I love!), and it's already turned up rather loud on the CD player, and Dad comes in and says something to the effect of it actually sounding decent.. and then he turns on the subwoofer (which of course increases the music strength a lot) and says 'That's better' and then leaves.. XD

But, man, is he going to kill me when he sees my math grade... :3;;

Meeep, Vera, sorry I didn't respond to you.. (want see Donovan picture! XD Vera-art can make a person's day) I was on the other computer being enthralled by this (the most massive fanart archive for BoFIV--and predominantly Fou-lu--I've ever seen...I bet it would take half the night to go through -everything-...). n_n Sorry, I really need to learn to put up away messages.. -_-
(as to why I was on the other computer, well, Malfactor is too f33ble to handle such a massive amount of pictures, even as a directory listing..)

Nothing sends me into seizures like this old computer. Come on baby, you just have to hang on a little while longer...

I finished Breath of Fire IV. I think that game holds the title of Most Depressingly Anti-climactic Ending Ever. I still love Fou-lu, even if he was clearly in denial at the end. He is going to get himself a page. But anyway..

Well, there's good news, and then there's bad news. The good news is that the bridge got done, and we actually got a perfect score on it. So I'm actually not doing too badly in Physics right now, which is good. The bad news is that I am literally failing math right now. I mean, literally. On the test we received back today, the highest score was an 80, and the majority failed (including me). Add that to my already many failing quiz grades (one of which would have been a 100 if she weren't SO EVIL) and, well, the result isn't good. So yeah. I'm going to die when interims come out, which is next week. It was nice knowing you guys. At least if they ground me from everything, it won't be so bad since I just finished BoFIV so the desire to play it won't be so strong... I know there's no way I can bring it up to a B, but I can get it to a C, and I heard that the final exam for seniors is laughably easy, so if I can do well on that I may be able to get a B for the semester, which would be good.

There's a lot I want to do, so I'm hoping maybe reports of my death will be exaggerated, or that Mom will target solely the PS2 (as she did when I first brought up that my grade wasn't so hot, though didn't mention any numbers), so I'll still be able to use the computer...but the fact is...

I just don't care about school anymore. I just don't. I can blame it on the fact that she's a bad teacher (she is). I can blame it on the fact that she expects us to remember way too much and grasp concepts way too quickly (she does: I mean, we wouldn't be in her class if we were good at math, we'd be taking pre-cal). I can blame it on how horrible it is for me to even think about going to school these days (it is). But it all boils to the fact that I just don't care. I'm tired of fighting. I want it to be over. I hate everything about school, I just hate it so much. You have no idea. There aren't words in the English language that suffice to describe this hatred. But I will try my best to drop-kick that grade up to at least a C, because there's no way on God's green earth I'm getting an F on my report card.

"Good things come to those who wait... well, unless you're on Death Row..."

Fuck! I know that this will probably be defeated by a higher court, and that if it does get to the Supreme Court it will likely be struck down with extreme prejudice, but that pisses me off. To say that the stories told by video games--stories that make me cry, stories with characters I love and that inspire me--to say that those stories are inconsquential and not forms of artistic expression is just infuriating. Not an hour ago I was crying over Breath of Fire IV. The story I cried over is not an irrelevant piece of drivel, it is heartwrenching, and emotional, and its characters--like many game (or RPG at least) characters--fascinating and full of depth.

I mean, think about this. People who play games, especially RPGs, invest huge amounts of their lives into them. Like is said at the end of that piece, why would people invest so much time if the story meant nothing to them? The story is the whole reason I invest time. A perfect example of this would be, of course, Okage--its gameplay is subpar, but its story is so good that I deal with it. Not that I don't love fun gameplay, but the story is the center of why I love most video games so much. Stories told by games can be so much more meaningful than stories told by movies, and sometimes even by books, because of the level of time and interactivity. You spend hours and hours and HOURS of your life with these characters and their problems. If you don't love them--if you don't feel a connection--then you wouldn't do that. To say such things about these stories is insulting both to the games and to the players. It is a despicable insult, and I for one am not only angry but deeply offended.

Many of the characters I've met in video games are complex, layered characters, who are dynamic and round (to use the literary terms). They are intricately designed, interesting in both their appearance and personality, and they capture the imagination with much more ease than a great deal of characters I've encountered in other forms of free speech, like movies and books. These stories not only reach me on an emotional and intellectual level, they're INTERESTING. They leave me wanting more, and they encourage me to play until the end to find out what happens next. That a story can be entertaining as well as emotionally and intellectually stimulating is, to me, the mark of a TRUE masterpiece. It is what I seek to do as a writer, in fact, and what many video games achieve.

As for the other issue here. When are people going to stop blaming the media for the actions of lazy fucking parents? I get some dirty, appalled looks whenever I reveal that I never want kids. People, I know that I'd never be able to make the kind of sacrifices needed to raise a decent human being. I believe that to be a parent you must give up yourself. You must live for your child, and you must ENSURE that he or she does not become a crazy motherfucker hellbent on killing people! So many parents today are so fucking selfish. I don't understand why they procreated when they clearly don't care enough to recognize that something is wrong with their damn children. If anything, violent games help PREVENT this kind of thing. I like violent games (OK, so my games aren't that violent, but RPGs today are still pretty bloody) and loud music, but I'd never kill anyone. I could never do that to anyone. But playing those games, involving myself in those good stories and listening to that angry music, relieves tension. It gets out those emotions and channels them safely. I don't see how this is so difficult to grasp. Ugh.

Hell yes, you know you want Okage. XD Even though I'm deeply entrenched in BoFIV I still love Okage so very much. I hope that it will help relieve the stress I'm sure you're feeling (it helped me anyway...), if the battle system doesn't put you off too much...

Why I Hate Group Projects, Reason #1886:
Okay, so we have to make a toothpick bridge for Physics, like I believe I've said. My group is composed of three people. One person has the bridge at her house, and she was supposed to call me and the other person today so that we could finish it, as it is due tomorrow. She was supposed to call at 1, it is now four thirty. Both myself and the other person have called her several times and she seems to be not there. This is Not Good, especially since the other person has to go to work at five and so cannot work on the bridge at all today, which, IF the girl with the bridge ever gets home, means her and I will have to do the remaining work.

If that weren't annoying enough, on Wednesday previous we were going to work on these bridges in class, but the girl with the bridge forgot to bring it. So not only did she do that, but now she's god knows where and the bridge is clearly not getting done. I don't know what to do: it's not like I can go over there and steal it from her house or something. If she's not home by six or seven or something then, man.. she had better just not show up to school tomorrow. -_- (because if she does then we'll all be in trouble, I mean.. if she's absent then that could buy us time to complete it...)

Welll, I went to prom. It was actually... fun. But now there's a ton of people at my house watching Me Myself & Irene, which affords me the perfect opportunity to be extremely annoying and play video games very loudly in the corner until Bryan yells at me to turn it down (which has actually already happened). I expect I shall change into something less formal and then play video games again, but I'll not be so distracting this time.

Anyway, I actually had a pretty good time. I'm amazed I'm still awake... I expect I'll just play games until I pass out or something. Tomorrow is going to be painful. :3;; (have to make a damn toothpick bridge, as well as Not Do all my other homework...) But, uh, it's tomorrow....