What was that sound? O_O

[leene_chan]

It's 12am and raining like mad. There's all sorts of crazy weather stuff going on in the Southeast but hopefully we'll stay out of it. If any of you out there live in the southeastern U.S, keep an eye on the weather and stay safe, okay? 6_6 I just heard some freakish whooshing sound outside, like a power surge. We still have power.

I'm still kind of burnt-out after Thanksgiving. Maybe it's because my brother stayed over for six days? I both hate and love having to clean up after him after he leaves. I know I'm just a territorial cat at heart, but I love being able to finally reclaim all those spaces that were littered with Orange Crush cans, dirty laundry, huge-ass boots and ash trays. My older brother is a smoker only when he comes over here, I swear. I hate it! In my entire living family, Kristen and I are the only ones who've never smoked before (besides Lucas). My mother smokes, my older brother smokes, my younger brother used to smoke, my cousin smokes, my father used to smoke a pipe but hasn't done so in at least 20 years (heh heh). I'm probably going to offend a few people out there by saying this, but I think that smoking is one of the few vices I absolutely can't forgive. Even my 86-year-old grandmother says I shouldn't look down on people for lighting up. Hell, she'd be still smoking if it weren't for her angina (and her double bypass, etc...) Then again, this is the grandmother who makes me reassure her every now and then that I DO in fact drink alcohol sometimes. These people need to find something better to do with their time...=_=

I actually broke down and finished reading Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale, all 800 pages of it. Something was compelling me to finish it after all. But yeah, my feelings about the author and most of the themes in the book haven't changed. Mark Helprin is a neo-con whack job. Some of Winter's Tale was beautifully written, but the overall vein of rottenness running through the core of the book left me sick to my stomach. I'm glad I never have to open it again. If I wanted to be creeped out this much by literature, I would've read something by Ayn Rand.

On the gaming front...I actually finished a game, yeah! Nowadays there are very few video games that can hold my attention long enough for me to finish them. This one was Atelier Lilie for the PS2. I was hopelessly addicted to it for days. My game ended abruptly when I paid off the old man and built the academy at the beginning of the fifth year. I was so pissed! That game is supposed to go on for at least seven years. I wasn't playing with a guide, so I didn't know that if you paid off your debt early the game would end early, without letting you do any of the fun things like beating up the boss in Airfolk Tower, saving Irma's grandmother, and trying to get it on with as many men as possible (there are some optional dating sim parts peppered throughout the game). I had so many loose ends to tie up...;_;...next time, I'm going to take my time and not give up my money so easily

So, of the Atelier games I've played, I'd rank them, from most favorite to least, like this: Lilie>Violet>Elie>Marie>>>>>inpenetrable wall>>>>Judie. All right, Judie sucked. I hated it. I sold it! I do have Rorona but I haven't played it yet. I heard it's riddled with bugs. ;_;

On the book front, I am totally 300 pages into Anna Karenina. You know, long books aren't so bad if they're well written. Yeah...Tolstoy gets a "well written" the Super Critical House of Lauren. O_o But hey, all those times I was whining about being dissatisfied by YA fantasy novels and Tales games, I should have been reading Tolstoy. I think that Kurt Vonnegut would approve.