Exclusive Insanity

So. Um. We got back from Europe last week. Heh. I'm lazy?

( London )

In other news, apparently Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is ending soon. I am kind of relieved about this. I don't think they can gracefully wrap the darn thing up in two chapters, but I will be glad when I'm no longer wasting time reading new chapters and wondering what the hell is going on. I did find it entertaining, but it sure was convoluted and confusing.

I think I might like to read through xxxHolic, though. That looks to be a stronger series. It's supposed to end in December. I may wait until then to pick it up. We'll see.

I've been focussing a bit more on my wedding now that the Europe trip is over and we're more or less settled in the new house. This weekend I'm heading down to New Westminster with my mother and sister for some dress shopping, which I'm kind of nervous about. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to order my dress a size smaller to stiffen my determination to lose weight or if I'll play it safe. We'll see how I feel when I'm there.

I have been talking with a minister who said that it's likely he'll be able to perform our ceremony, and I've got a photographer, florist, and caterer lined up. I think I'm ahead of the game for now, and I'd like to stay that way, so I'm keeping an eye on my wedding checklists.

A small lesson in Karma:

The Bad: When Cody and I moved into our new house a little over a week ago, we were a little disappointed by how the old owners had left it for us. The walls hadn't been painted, which we'd been promised, and they were dirty. There were dents and scratches on them which hadn't been there before - signs of carelessness while moving, probably. There was a dirty ashtray on the porch and cigarette butts all up the driveway. The garbage bin was full, and the recylcing bin was wide open and overflowing (it would not even have been picked up in that state - we had to empty half of what they'd crammed into it out to wait for the next week). The compost bin was full, but the grass clearly hadn't been watered or mowed for some time. We were left only a single garage door opener and no keys for the front and side doors (apparently they lost them because they always used the digital locks - it ended up taking a while for the realtor to find them, and we still don't have a key for the door from the garage into the house). The floors hadn't even been swept, and there was leftover food in the deep freeze and freezer.

The Backlash: The realtor later informed us that the old owners of our house had moved into a "fixer-upper" (less money than we'd paid for their place). They had received a $27K discount because there was a bowed wall in the basement. The previous owner of the place accidentally sprayed some water down onto the wall before moving out. Shortly after the move-in, the wall collapsed, and mud and water from the backyard poured into the house. The amount of cleanup was ghastly, and I don't even know the cost of fixing the wall (plus the fact that half the furniture in the rec room down there probably had to be replaced). Because the bowed wall was part of the contract, they won't get a cent from the previous owner to help.

The Lesson Learned: Don't screw people over, unless you like being screwed over yourself.

In other news, I found a dead mouse on our driveway this morning. I suspect the neighbor's cat, but don't really mind. A dead mouse on the driveway is better than a live one in the house. Cody also discovered that Quiz will kill and eat spiders (even big ones). I am very, very happy with my kitty.

Also, birthday yesterday. I'm 27 years old now. Woo.

So, since Geocities is closing in October, I took the time to move Kensuke Central (even though I haven't updated it since 2002 and probably never will again) over to my current webspace. I also changed the old website so the pages on it are all mostly warnings to change your bookmarks (for anyone who might still visit the place).

Anyway, the new address is http://kendailove.hiddenlegacy.net. It's got the exact same content as before, just in a new location. I'm too lazy and don't care enough to redo the site, even though I think it probably needs it.

I basically only spent time working on this project at times when I didn't feel like packing. Strange how I'm only productive on something if I'm procrastinating on something else...

I can't believe there's no Jenrya x Takato community on LiveJournal. There's Ruki x Juri and Kazu x Kenta... but no Jenrya x Takato.

Goddamnit.

If I weren't really, really lazy, I'd make one. But I am. So I'll just complain about it.

By the way, for those who haven't guessed or who have no idea who I'm even talking about... I'm kinda watching Digimon Tamers again. Yay?

Snagged from pichi

Name your 10 absolutely favorite couples (het/slash/canon/fanon) and ask people to see what trends they notice about your couples. Try to pick different fandoms.

Guh. I dunno if these are the actual FAVORITES. These happen to be the ones I'm particularly fond of at the moment. This could potentially change tomorrow. Oh well... here, in no particular order:

1. Ken x Daisuke - Digimon (okay, this one really is probably always going to be on the list)
2. Syaoran x Sakura - Card Captor Sakura
3. Yamato x Taichi - Digimon
4. Koushiro x Mimi - Digimon
5. Akira x Hikaru - Hikaru no Go
6. Simon x Nia - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
7. Takeru x Hikari - Digimon
8. Sinbad x Jeanne - Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne
9. Kaoru x Luna - Mujin Wakusei Survive
10. Durnik x Polgara - Belgariad series by David Eddings

Guess which anime I've been into lately. Go on - guess.

Y'know, there are seven het pairings on there, but only three yaoi. Blasphemy or some such. I guess my tastes have changed a little. Not completely, but yeah, a little.

... I know I say this every time, but why, why, WHY do I keep seeking out the latest chapters of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle? I want to know what happens, yes. But until it's finished (and maybe even after it is), every new chapter I read just gives me a bigger headache trying to figure out what the HELL is going on! I'm so confused! There's like three or four versions of Syaoran and Sakura and they all wear the same clothing so I keep mixing them up! CLAMP, you suck! Just tell us what the hell is going on and end the stupid manga already! I really just want to know what happens to everyone.

Meh. Anyway...

I need to get working on my sewing, but I'm being lazy today and haven't even done my morning workout yet. I'm on the first of two days off (it's been a couple of weeks since I've had two in a row) and I just want to lounge around and do nothing all day. Which is totally just going to make me more stressed in the future because I've barely started on our costumes and really need to get them done. Darn my procrastination!

Also, Geocities is closing soon. I was going to let that silly Ken/Daisuke site die, but I just can't do it, because I hate it when a site closes on me. If there's a possibility that even one person still looks at the darn thing, I have to preserve it. So... it's going up on my paid webspace. Eventually. Gotta fix a couple of things. And then I'll put up an 'address change' thing on the geocities page (for however long it'll still be around). Hopefully soon.

In much better news, I start my new job in exactly two weeks. So excited!

I wasn't going to comment on this Amazon thing that's going on, because I don't order much from Amazon.com (I order from Amazon.ca, which seems to not be suffering the same symptoms as its US counterpart), but then tsaiko posted a link to what seems to be a really good theory on why this whole mess took place, and I wanted to post it myself to give people on my friends list a chance to take a gander at it (if they haven't already).

So, here.

WHAT THE HELL????????

Who on earth would think that series was worth over $100????????

I've been watching Digimon season one again... (surprise, surprise) I have most of the series in Japanese with subtitles on my computer, and I ordered box sets of the first and second seasons in English from Amazon. Yay! More money spent! (it's so worth it, though, and Cody paid for half because he likes that series too - have I mentioned that I love him?)

Yeah... anyway...

... I really, really want to read Yamato x Taichi fanfic. Despite, y'know, never having really been into them that much as anything but a side pairing.

WTF, brain? You confuse me!

So, since playing Chrono Trigger, I've been really into turn-based games and I picked up FF III and FF IV for the DS as well. Console games have so enthralled me that I'm not doing the MMORPG thing as much, but that will probably change in the future.

Anyway, when we were at the store and buying the games, Cody was trying to figure out which of them had this song that he'd liked from one of the Final Fantasy games he'd played before. Ty even tried to help us figure it out, but we never could get it straight. I think, however, that I have figured it out.

Based on this ordering which I found online (the left is the Japan title, the right is the North American release):

Final Fantasy I - Final Fantasy I
Final Fantasy II - N/A
Final Fantasy III - N/A
Final Fantasy IV - Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy V - N/A
Final Fantasy VI - Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy VII and up were released with the correct number in North America.

Now, we're getting a re-release (sometimes a first release) of all of these games in North America, mostly on the DS or the PSP, and they are using the correct Japanese order for numbering. This means a lot of confusion for those used to the original releases.

Based on this and the fact that Ty thought the song came from Final Fantasy III, it seems likely that the song was from Final Fantasy VI.

Yay for confusion being (hopefully) resolved!