March 22, 2004
Papillon is the latest craze, must get more.

Due to various reasons, most of my FFXI playing has been non-productive as of late. It's so unproductive that Tina and I spent time leveling our storage tarus in between Papillon camping. It was fun even though we died so much. My grandmother couldn't stop laughing at how we made squeaking noises. Tomorrow is her birthday and she's turning 89! Background music while taru leveling: Rock with You - Michael Jackson and other old MJ songs hurhur. In between mining at Ifrit, I had a Dynamis trip with Gackt, better than the first time but still... ow.

Argh, I am aware of the brightness on my screens, so no need to tell me it looks funky. It's been like that for years because I take screens using the internal screenshot function on the PS2. Most people set the Gamma in game much higher than default because the game is actually too dark on PS2, especially in dungeons. Hopefully once I get a new flatscreen that will be fixed along with my too-bright layouts.

Among the toys my older brother brought home: KOF96, KOF97, Art of Fighting 2 ("up down! up down!"), Fatal Fury Special Neo*Geo MVS carts. For some reason KOF96 and 97 won't load on the system, while the older games do. The fact that the system is about 20 years old doesn't help. Other games include Kunio Tachi no Banka for GB (played this religiously on superfamicom!)

He also bought various books such as SF Eternal Challenge and the KOF2003 or something mook. Since I haven't been into KOF since 98, I barely cared to look at it aside from noticing Goro's cute little kid, since I'm still a huge Daimon Goro fan.

The present he got me was a gray-green Mandragora shirt, while he has a Goblin one. I think he should have gotten a Galka one, since he is Galka. Speaking of galkas, fat Rob is now in FFXI. Soon the circle will be compreet.

March 19, 2004
Get out the bongo drums, the damsel in distress has the microphone again. I'm online for two minutes and already stupidity is thrown my way, it's more efficient than Viagra.

It's amazing my domain is still up, I don't update much and everything is either stagnant or shared responsibilities. Over the years many good domains have disappeared and I am sometimes tempted to follow suit. I loved the sites, making layouts, writing or translating, working together with friends and watching visitors enjoy. It's no coincidence that some of the now-gone domains had the same problems I do. Out of every 1000 visitors, one will find the domain to be a 7-11 for creativity, content or their self-described online 'personality' in search of praise, attention, whatever they lack in real life.

It hasn't helped that each and every single one turned out to be a superficial attention whore when caught. No matter how politely they have been contacted, they still end up lying and conniving. Somewhere along the line I stopped wasting my time with being nice and writing cautious emails in the hopes they'd *understand it was wrong*, because nowadays they (they being the ones with "Copyright to ME! Even though I don't actually know what Copyright means, I just love that smart looking C symbol ^_^" plastered everywhere) very much know it's wrong. They just dont care. As long as they're not caught and continue getting compliments, that is.

I understand that many of my friends and visitors "feel for me". They pity my situation, they raise hell for the people above. But what am I supposed to do to proactively stop this? Make it into a pay site? Litter my sites with "Don't lift, make your own shit, dumbass" messages? I can't think of removing or defacing the hard work just for a few, er, a few hundred bad eggs.

Someone whose art style is constantly traced and imitated said,
"People like those won't get very far in real life. Relax, everyone eventually knows where the original is from."

I try to keep that in mind and I suggest that to anyone else who has been plagiarised or lifted from. Anyone who, like me, still actually wants to provide free, entertaining, useable content to visitors consistently out of the good of their hearts and their own wallets.

Strangely enough, my need to create is never fueled by "I love you" mails or compliments. It's from the self and need for quality in what I put out. I am paradoxically disbelieving of compliments (unless from people I know), because so much of my time is spent among people who don't ever mean what they say. It's a reason why I don't have guestbooks, use messenger services or even reply to email. It's because I'm still under the belief that what I have up is not yet worthy of my own approval.

Still, it's really tempting to hit one button and delete it all, save myself a few bucks and time in the process. I have so many greater things, especially great people to worry about. This is hopefully the last time I need to waste bytes typing on the subject here.

Now for my news anchor style turnaround: my older brother is back safely from Japan with lots of goodies I may talk about on my next post, when I actually figure out what everything is. My grandmother also came back safely from two surgeries in a row and calls herself a pirate because of an eyepatch (kamon ma, ninjas are better). Tifa.nu has a delicate, lacey feeling layout: stickyfingered people, don't even dare. That includes her personal style. Speaking of personal style, Embla's NEW personal site shows she's changing her style. More soft, less grunge while talent is clearly pouring out of all her pores.

March 14, 2004
Wow, my prediction was right. Turns out the secret character in FF Trading Arts must be Zacks.

This morning we were downloading and listening to old spank clips since we needed a fix, and turns out he is still mixing funny stuff. Chex chex it out. I wonder what will happen to Pioneer, it was the best.

The night before, we did M11 for Tina and Diana which was good fun. Ooshy was nice enough to stay up and be a little Bard. Also got best time by having Anjira and Ceis do their monk 2hour, Haste, and attack song. It's like our LS has some sort of monopoly on best times.

Anyone who has read WoT and playing LineageII should also look at the world map. Look like Randland don't it? There's even a place called the Ivory Tower where people study magic, among other story and map similarities.

March 12, 2004
Hat mix coming through. Ayako ("we're not an HNM LS", MY ASS) kindly sent me a homotrance mainstream track last week (Voice of an Angel) which reminded me to go look around for something to listen to. Something that isn't hella cheesy.

This lead anjira (peaceful layout ar) and myself to this lital mix. As much as I am tired of Satellite mixes, this mix contains the best one by far. My favorite track, is I Feel You (Thomas Datt Remix). This track is old stuff so I love the remix.

I used to listen to I Feel You religiously when I first started FFXI back in the summer of 2002. Listening to a mix of it now reminds me of my first days in Ronfaure, fighting in Buburimu and Ceis taking us on missions. In other words, all the small images you see on my domain layout used as buttons = this song. It was nice to hear it again, since all of my FFXI playing memory seems to have trance music attached. I always listened to it while playing instead of the game's music.

March 09, 2004
Some of us played a little Lineage II today. It's rather bland, so I was content to walk around and see the sights for a few minutes. The armor and outfits are great when seen closeup, makes me wish FFXI had stuff like it. The problem is that from far away everything looks the same because of the animation. I'll be sticking L2 screens here. Most of the Dark Elf equipment turns into bondage gear, and their town is some hella Gawth nightclub.

No matter what angle I was playing in, something somewhere was one inch away from being indecent. I'm not going to seriously play this beta, the controls and gameplay are keeping me a safe distance away from ever treadmill levelling. The ambiance is great, but the rest just feels like a pain. It must be the crunky software and servers. But if you wanna say "hi", I'm Schala on Server 1 of Japanese open beta. Dark Elf Mage (level 3 or so) with bright white hair.

After messing with L2, Gackt joined Ceis and I in helping Tina get her final Genkai item. Gackt also let us try on the wedding clothing set: Lilac Corsage, Opaline Dress, Opal Pants and Opal boots, or something like that. I only like the flower, the rest is just weird. I think that made Tina's day, she loves that flower so much! Stepping off the clown dog mobile is the finale of our show: Ayako is dressed so that he maxed out attack and can make Clowndog+1.

Wow, yam is a doll. Yam translated those lengthy KH Ultimania interviews with Tetsuya Nomura. I find the comments about Rinoa and "what Cloud is searching for" interesting.

Nomura says he felt Rinoa's personality couldn't truly be captured in KH, and I kind of see why by looking at his older interviews. Rinoa shines when there's adversity surrounding her and by her interactions with others. Something that can't really happen to an extra character in KH without turning her into someone simpler to predict, or a main character. I think it actually has more to do with how Nomura was fairly undecided with what Rinoa should be like, her character was full of polar changes, inexplicable decisions and crazy lines (the kind of stuff I enjoy watching characters do).

As for Cloud, he clearly wants the players to choose between Aerith and Tifa for themselves. Though it seems he is once again sidestepping the remnants of "Let's kill Aerith and bring out Tifa" angered fans. It's great to know the truth from him, that "it is up to the players". Then again, it always has been.

March 08, 2004
Vintage FLAREgamer is up.

Gee thanks for the help guys, now I also have Lineage II JP Beta installed. IT IS Ragnarok Online BUT.. BUT... ELVES! *bites lip* Hat elves jor! I also went overboard on the profile page layout. I always dote on layout things visitors rarely ever notice. So go forth and check out the profile pages. This layout is pretty experimental with CSS and other strange things. All the layout/idea/whatever copiers in the world won't stop me from messing with new things and finding new ways to do code, geeky coding discoveries is what I find fun.

With that out of the way, I did play some FFXI lately. We joined a Dynamis linkshell and went to Dynamis San d'Oria. I personally don't find it very interesting or fun. Then again, I hate anything that has a huge amount of lag. After the Dynamis trip, I was so tired that I barely got a chance to see the Hana Matsuri decorations. They were really cute, too bad the event was short.

More Uggalepih hell ended with Ceis and I getting Tina the fastest, bluest, kewlest RaEx dagger in the game for her birthday (which is today, so happy bday Tina!). We also got one of her Genkai items.

Finally, last night was a short Hurrican Wyvern (deep in Ifrit Cauldron) hunt for Oosh. They're not strong, but their attacks are just annoying. Area Silence, Paralyse, Dispelga. Aside from Anjira's AF3 tour the day before, it was also the first time I played around with Blizzard4 (since I level on bones and usually use Fire) on a strong monster, I'm really pleased with how strong Black Mages are at the high end of the game. Our magic power is rarely ever resisted! On both trips (AF3 and Wyverns) we all agreed: Juibb is WEIRD.

March 01, 2004
Over 60 copies recorded.

Over SIXTY copies and that is not all. I can't wrap my brain around how messed up fag gatus is. Do you want to try? Some stupid people don't even believe that all sixty recorded copies are real. Try asking them to explain his self-contradicting messages where he admits to stalking and stealing. It feels good to have many friends online and off who would kill him for me in a heartbeat, but I feel a little better doing something about him on my own.

Back to my own life, my older brother is leaving for Japan yet again. He is so last minute about everything, it's insane. Last night while I was in a long leveling party (got nearly 30k exp) with Ceis and Gackt, he asked again what I want from Japan and I have no idea. Any suggestions, ar? He also used that time to tell his friends (through FFXI) he needs a ride to the airport. SO LAST MINUTE.

Since I usually don't want anything from Japan, he told me to choose clothes from Uniqlo which has hella cheap prices but decent quality. Maya calls it "a Japanese version of Old Navy". The clothes look nice for office working or casual auditioning, but since I'm not there in person they all kinda look the same. Take a look la.

Aside from that, Masa promised to get me Rinoa, Vivi and Lulu trading arts toys last year. I doubt they will be released before my brother comes back. What I love so much about these is that they're small, and have unique poses. Rinoa's is very uh, bouncy and Rinoa-ish, unlike other toys that pose her like a graceful woman. Vivi has that "hug me"/"I'm casting a deadly spell" thing going on, and Lulu has her belts unbuckled. I think that's cool enough.

The other present I'm getting when my brother comes back is the SOFTMAX art collection. I almost forgot about this. Masa says it's a HUGE thing with posters and is going to be hard to bring home. "Silver might get mad." (w)