Just when you thought it couldn't be any worse

Its going to be Christmas. Yes, that time of the year again when you receive all your Aunt's old clothes for her poor son who ballooned to three times his original size.

Christmas for me never was special in any way...I guess it gives me some alone time to think about loved ones and the mistakes I did in the year. I don't expect gifts I'd like two days from now, since I already have my beloved FFXII collector's edition. Foo.

Speaking of FFXII, its bites now being stuck at a point when your level is too low to advance but at the same time too high to go grind some mandragoras in Phon Coast. It sucks knowing you're having major problems even fighting a wimpy esper like Adrammelech. He's such a pussy, can't even fight alone like how Belias did. Then again, every other esper has minions except for Belias. I wanted to try out Chuculain and Zalera, but I guess I would seriously get pwned, knowing there would be a 5-minute timer and a constant HP sap conditions for the two.

I plan to write an answer-fic for Till the Day we Embrace again, now from Basch's point of view...but I gotta finish the freaking game to know what happens after the game! Meanwhile, I continue to fight Mirror Knights.

For those who still have money problems, I am pleased to say fighting Mirror Knights in Feywood really give you good money. A single Windslicer Pinion sells for 1k worth of gil, not to mention the amount of Diamond Armor you'd be looting from them. Pity they aren't as Chain-efficient as the Alraunes in the Yensa-Sandsea. Once you max your 99-chain, you gotta take the long route back to civilisation, which I can say is the hard work of this money farming process. The two teleport crystals are in Eruyt Village and in Giruvegan, but are probably 5-10 screens away. Do this or do the Yensa-Sandsea.

That aside, I just finished the Otori Trilogy. It was bittersweet, some parts I found I had to critisize and some parts I just fell in love with. Now I'm starting Harsh Cry of the Heron, which would probably be another favorite of mine considering the content I've already read.

Today was the annual year-end cosplay convention, where cosplayers around the island gather for a get-together of pictures, booths and competitions. I went as a White Mage from FFXI, but considering the popularity of the game only to stay-at-home guys, only a handful of people asked me to pose for the camera. Well that was the least of my problems. The biggest problem was my lack of friends, or rather my lack of networking. I was left alone by my friend who was cosplaying as a more famous Roy Mustang.

There were some good ones, though all my pictures were screwed, either having a bad composition or a weak lighting.

Notable mentions:

Kula Diamond Alternate Costume H. She was a bit on the meaty side, but I like the novelty of recognizing something other people dont usually recognize.

Erstin and Nina. They were really friendly. I hope to see them in the next cosplay event.

Azul. Ok I admit. I'm temporarily infatuated with the Azul cosplayer. You can shoot me if you want, but he really chose the correct cosplay for his size, even his face structure fit Azul to a capital "T". I might take me a week or so to get over how good he is.

I will be cosplaying Larsa in June, so we'll see how popular I am till then. XD

I have taken a short break from writing and playing FFXII for a moment. I feel like my writing has somewhat become less fluid, less interesting than what it has become. Now I tend to write in short sentences which sometimes I feel gets a bit repetitive. My grammar has dipped to an all time low...I seriously need a beta reader.

CALLING ALL BUDDING BETA READERS XD. I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE.

My friend and I recently went to Kinokuniya [A bookstore, overpriced but oh so resourceful] and she bought her dearest Eragon. Good for her, she's totally immersed in it. I was bored and decided to buy a book called Tales of the Otori. It had some feudal japanese themes in it, which I'm particularly interested in. I haven't been a seasoned reader, so I don't know if the content is fresh or not. But it was good, the writing was really my style due to the constant descriptions of the surroundings which sometimes can be redundant. I like the characters a whole lot and I recently found out the main male character is going to have a sexual relationship with one of his best male friends. Who in the heavens expected I actually picked up a book which had boy's love? This is awesome and I'm loving this series more and more.

Visit the author's website if you have the time =)

Lian Hearn

Hey you guys again! Its my second entry and I'm constantly raving again! Apparently Fanfiction.net doesn't want me to upload my new chapter of my Richard fanfiction, so well I guess I have to wait till they fix the problem. Till then I'm off to play FFXII.

Speaking of FFXII, I just defeated the Mandragoras!!! They were sososo adorable. I'm so going to do a fanart on them and maybe a fanfiction! The cutest thing was when I defeated them, their spirits flew up into heaven. I was like "aww...poor thing. All they wanted to do was have fun >W<" I knew I would love them the moment I saw them, 'cept for the onion queen, she looks weird with her head detached and all.

I had a sudden urge to search up the web for some quality FFXII fanart. I very fond of the following couplings:

Basch X Vossler
Gabranth X Basch [TWINCEST]
Gabranth X Larsa
Basch X Rasler [The first ever favorite, even before the game was released]

Note there's no normal couplings there. Its not that I detest the female characters, I just don't feel any of them suit any of the males there. I am going to write a oneshot fanfiction about Basch and Vossler, but I won't give spoilers out to those who haven't played much through the game. Someday I will find the time to rant about the game, but now I'll just introduce some wonderful fanart I found.

Click HERE
This website has a wonderful gallery of Basch X Vossler, which urges me to start writing more! I love this pairing even more and more! >W<

Click HERE too
The pictures may not be much, but the quality is there. This website made me love the Gabranth X Larsa pairing even more. The best thing, I just realised they actually could be a pairing just TODAY. lol

I seriously have no idea what to do with this LJ account, so Im just testing the waters around here. I'll probably put some reviews, pictures and nice websites I can find about Suikoden, Final Fantasy and the like [possibly any current fav that I have now]

Since I'm playing Okami and Final Fantasy XII now, I guess it wouldn't hurt to put in some tips for you guys out there.

FFXII TIP

Having money problems? Me too =(
I checked out several webbys and most of them recommend fighting the skeletons in the Lhusu Mines with a heap amount of Bones that can be sold for about 100gil each. Sounds good right? Well, I happened to chance upon another forum where one poster posted this entry.

Good Farming

As you have read (or not read), there's actually a place in the sandsea where you have a no interruption chain of Alraunes which drop succulent fruits, one selling about 320gil!!! It takes quite a while to rack up the chain, but trust me, its worth it. I reached my maximum chain of 320 where I could get 60 succulent fruits each round trip, which is about a full two maps. The bonus fruits don't actually come up till you get a 150-chain, but there was once I got a chain of 4succulent fruits as early as a 50-chain. Its incredible but this is all you have till you get to better game later. The best part is you can sell your fruits without even breaking the chain, just make sure you won't be tempted to heal your party with the save crystal.

The big problem with this method of farming is that you need someone with thieves cuffs and loads of patience for it to pull off. FFXII is the first Final Fantasy I actually had to farm loot to be rich, most of the time I just rich by myself. Its a definite challenge.

Fanfiction

Note I'm not always a hardcore fan of FFXII. I do write fanfiction so I hope you'll be able to check them out too. Note this too...currently I only write Shounen-Ai/Yaoi fanfiction, so don't come here or there to bitch about how you hate this type of fiction-writing.

My Literary Sanctuary

Well so much for my first post...=)