Sorry if I haven't been on much in the past few days. The teacher's gotten me hard with all this homework and I'm having a tough time contending with it all.
I'll try to be more active in the coming days, but in the meantime, please excuse my absence... :cry:

*Grumbles about French work and heads off to do her studies*

I'm a gigantic fangirl right now, giggling and squealing, the whole kit-an-caboodle! Before you ask any questions, let me explain why.

It all started a few weeks back when I finally obtained the entirety of Full Metal Alchemist through a friend of mine. Thinking it would take me a while to get through all the episodes, I started to watch them as soon as I could.
And then I was lost to the world for two glorious days.

That series had me reeling, laughing, crying and drooling over a certain character in a military uniform... *continues to drool* ...but that's not the point! The point is that that series is my baby ! :lol:
 I love it with my heart and soul; the storyline was great and the characters are just so dynamic! FMA has had a firm hold on my mind for the past few weeks, but now I've been introduced to something almost as good, if not on the same level:
Bleach. :)

I've watched about five episodes now and I think it's safe to
say "holy cow, I love Ichigo!" The whole concept of that show is brilliant and the art is well done... I have to see more, but from what my friend Emma said (she's the one who introduced me to FMA as well), the series is fantastic! I can't wait to watch more! :P
In other news, school's going okay. I don't have much homework yet... but it's going to get bad really, REALLY soon... :cry:

Alright, I was wrong.

My previous post was rather shallow and negative, a bland interpretation of what I saw in the game at the time I had played it. Though, I didn't say how far I had gotten with it.

I had only played Utsuki's quest when I wrote up that entry and I had thought it all dismal up until that point. After I wrote that, I went back to playing and started Sakuya's side story. All I have to say is WOW... The story just took off from there, filling in discrepancies and introducing new characters to the smallish cast. Sakuya showed a lot more backbone than Utsuki and that made me happy. Her attacks (cards and a fan) were awesome to say the least (I adore the Ruby Fan... so... fiery...). More bosses, more story and a heck of a lot more emotion! I was surprised and content with what I saw! And the extra enemies? (OMG, scary Kureha...) Priceless...

After her phase was finished, I went on to the Kuon Phase and played as the oh so cool Abe no Seimei! She totally pwns all... I swear. Though her phase was the shortest of them all, I loved it to pieces! Her glaive and spell cards? Superior! Her response time in battle? Fantastic! Her outfit? Functional! :P

Overall, after actually giving this game the run through, I found it wasn't so bad after all! I'm changing my opinion (and my rating) as of now! Kuon is definitely a good game, not in terms of actual horror, but in adventure and fun! :lol: So, no, I'm not going to trade it in... I'm too hooked on Sugoroku! :lol:

Kuon, despite the random freaky parts, isn't what I thought it would be...
The story isn't very strong, the action is limited, the variety of enemies are few... It's pretty sad actually. From what I read in the manual, I honestly thought this game had potential as a really interesting survival horror game. I was mistaken; Kuon suceeds in repetitious enemy encounters in which you use the same techniques over and over again to dispatch your foes. Despite the fact that you can play as two characters, both these characters' stories are very vague, not really indepth enough for the average gamer. The voice-acting was lacklustre at best (the characters didn't even mouth the words, looking as though their lips had been glued shut) and the puzzles were not challenging enough in the least. Another thing that really got me was the camera; the awful camera angles provided a very limited view of the smallish world around you, inhibiting movement and fights when they occur.

Now, I'm not usually a negative person when it comes to games, but Kuon was quite possibly one of the worst games I've ever played.. and I know a lot of people don't feel this way, but I can't seem to come to any other conclusion but to dislike it. The only thing it had going for it was the saving system (a small cleansing ritual by the water) and the nicely rendered backgrounds... other than that, it was all rather substandard for a survival horror game... *laments not picking up SH2 when she had the chance* :cry:

Where do I begin...? The party was fantastic! It wasn't a big fancy-do, but it was with family and friends which makes it even better! We all had 'Happy Hour' together (which consists of sitting around talking, eating peanuts and playing cards) then, at 6, we all piled into two vans and drove out to the clubhouse restuarant for dinner. Oh my, I've gotta say, the portions they give you there, the quality of the food as well as the quality of service... spectacular! No one left without being totally full and we even got to take what we couldn't finish back with us! At the end of the night, we walked away with one and a half chickens, three sets of ribs and a small box of french fries! Later on, we had a really nice cake for the happy couple as we sat around the campfire and chatted some more.

Today, before we left Massena, I went to the local EB Games and found three games I really wanted: Devil May Cry, Silent Hill 2 and Kuon. As much as I wanted to play SH2 and DMC, I could only really afford Kuon (plus I hadn't ever seen it anywhere before, so I though that it might be a good buy). I've played it for almost 3 hours now and it's a really odd game; zombies, ghosts, goki and some freaky little kids and this girl who looks like she popped right out of Ju-On... There are some pretty jumpy moments, but as of yet, nothing totally petrifying (the blood on the floor in that game makes squishy sounds when you walk on it... ewww...). Despite the mild freaky factor, I really don't want to get to the part where you fight those kids... they MAKE the game, I'm telling you! :?

Hey guys! I'm just writing this short blog to inform you all that I will be absent from GS for a couple of days. I'm going the the States within the hour and I will be coming home sunday night.

I'll be sure to come back and type up what happened at my grandparent's 50th Anniversary party... and also what games I saw over there! :P

Take care you guys! *hugs and runs off*

First off I'd like to say I had my first 'Humanities Knowledge' class today... and, secondly, I apologize for the painfully awful pun. :lol:
Thanks to morning traffic moving slower than a business firm without morning coffee, I barely arrived to the class on time. I managed to practically scoot inside the room before the teacher shut the door and the introduction to the course began.
The course name is "Inner Knowledge" and it is focusing on the inner workings of a person's mind; we will be exploring a side of pseudo psychology, reading the works of Freud and numberous other 20th century psychologists in order to better understand the thought patterns of the average person. We'll be learning about what situations derive what mental responses, the reactions of individuals to past personal events, first starting with ourselves. As a class, we are required to evaulate our pasts and see what events have had positive and negative effects on our personalities, getting to know our inner selves in a personal journey of self discovery... WE EVEN GET TO LEARN MEDITATION!!!
This promises to be a very interesting learning experience and I'm looking forward to actually getting to work.
In other news, I have decided to get my copy of Red Ninja back from my friend Steph... I want to finally get gaming! :P

Well, what can I say? The hallways look the same, the studio's walls are still covered in paint, the teachers are still eccentric... it's as though I never even left for summer! :lol:
The first two days seemed to go by so quickly, I never got a chance to see anything new and exciting. One thing's for sure, I'm definitely in second year Fine Arts now; my schedule had doubled and now all my classes run from 8:30 in the morning to about 5:30 in the evening. The lack of breaks for lunch and the amount of work required now is beginning to scare me, but I'll get over it in a week or so.
A good thing is I've got a lot of classes with my friends so we've had a lot more time to hang out and chat it up (while still taking notes, of course). Things are looking good for this trimester, albeit a bit more challenging.
Oh, about those paintings I was slaving over for the past while... it turns out that the teacher forgot to inform us that it was NOT a mandatory assignment rather an OPTIONAL one!!! No extra marks for completion... but we get a nice sturdy thumbs up for our troubles... :lol:
In short, things seem to be going well and I'm going to devise a plan to get on honour roll! :twisted:

I know I said that I was going to be dedicated to completing my paintings... and I was. I finished one and still have to fix the other but I'm well on my way as far as completion goes.
Yesterday I nearly accomplished all that I set out to do; the cleaning job I did on this house was PROFOUND, even for me... and the paintings look fabulous (if I do say so myself). I worked a solid several hours to get everything in order and by 4 o'clock that evening, I was totally spent.

That's when Peanut called me up and asked me if I wanted to head to the movies with Tristan and her. A break was just the thing I needed so I told her I would love to.
Oh my goodness... we went to see 'Bon Cop, Bad Cop' and, I've got to say, there is no better Canadian comedy out there (not withstanding the Canadian part in 'Canadian Bacon' starring John Candy)! It was HILARIOUS! As an anglophone Québecer, I got to enjoy each side of the story, from the reckless Montréal cop to the calm calculated Torontonian police officer. Lines like "You speak French?" "Yes and I have a little microchip planted into my head, I can even see subtitles when you speak." and "You can reset those things?!" "I like to think of it as recycling." were nothing compared with the actual film itself.
 By far the best movie I've seen this summer, I recommend it to anyone with a sense of humour when it comes to language laws, bad driving, hockey, faulty mascots and law enforcement... I'm SO getting the DVD! :lol:

I've had a strong cup of tea and a meager breakfest, but I'm ready for anything now. :P

I've decided today is a working day; I'm ready to totally devote myself to painting... mind, body and soul! At this point I can't let myself get distracted from the creative process otherwise I'll slip back into my procrastinating ways. I need to stick with it, palette in hand and imagination in gear if I'm going to finish this by the chosen time (which is, coincidently, Monday morning...).

So first thing's first as I see it: the painting's completion, cleaning my room (which is in a clear state of neglect), sweeping and washing the floors and then vacuuming the carpets upstairs. If I get all this done today, I'll be on cloud 9 and able to reward myself with an evening of well-deserved gaming without feeling guilty... if not, well... I'll just be working at it until the ungodly hours of the morning getting it done. Either way though, it's getting done!!! :wink: