Meowzy
With more than one person in my life, I've shared a bond, a connection. But perhaps the most powerful of all the connections I share with friends is what exists between myself and Meowzy.
Ah, the (in)famous Meowzy. As long as I've known her, she's been nought but an inspiration to me. She's helped me with my writing, commenting on practically every chapter of the Poetic Saga and my spoofs. She's helped form my strongest running jokes, elaborated upon them by using them in unique ways. She's done 4 collabs with me at this point, and the remaining 4 OVA Episodes will trigger another set of spoofs. She's given me ideas, showed me exactly how fan-writing should be done. I've always admired Meowzy-my spoofs are usually written with her taste in humour in mind, because making her laugh seems the most essential element, and my ultimate objective. My aim is to write what Meowzy would find funny, because as one of my best friends, her opinion matters greatly. Any Tales Forum ToS fan will tell you what an authority she is.
But you see, a lot of people know Meowzy. They know her supported pairings, her favourite characters and so on. But the main reason I began talking to her was to get to know someone else. I wanted to know Corinne, the girl behind the username. And let me tell you, I've loved doing so.
I first became interested in her when she started writing spoofs for the ToS FanArt forum. I had done a fair few chapters of my Poetic Saga by then-this was back in the day when I wrote more regularly. Correct me if I'm wrong, Corinne, but I believe your first piece posted was Idiot Seraphim, which gained another 5 installments and a spin-off, Idiot Renegade. I was the first person to comment on her story, so for a bit of nostalgia, here's what I said.
"I thought that was good. Vey funny and original.
And welcome to the forums, by the way. I'm Solez, and you can PM me should you feel the need... Enjoy!"
I'm quite proud to have been the first person to comment on her story, way back in 2005. And while I quickly became a fan, we shared little more than a 'business' relationship until later on. I can't remember exactly how it happened, but I PMed her a few times, probably thanking her for her fidelity to my work. I came to consider her as my most loyal fan, and I hers, and I came to really respect her. She's one of the most dedicated and skilled writers the Tales Forum has, you know.
My friendship with Meowzy has been damn cool because, in retrospect, I can clearly see how it progressed, and developed. It began with us commenting on each others' writing, then we PMed each other a few times. Then I got MSN, and that was definitely a turning point-now I could really get to know who Meowzy was, which had become a goal of mine at that time. Had I done a bit of Google-ing at that time, I probably could have found out some extra details. But I figured the best way to get to know her was to talk to her. Isn't it always?
Time's moved on now, and I'm honoured to have her as such a close friend. As I spent more time with her, I got to realise that she was even more friendly than I had first predicted. The best thing about Corinne is that you can talk to her about anything serious or anything light-hearted, and she'll respond accordingly. If I wanted to talk to her about relationships, fears, school-I easily could, and if I want to discuss Yu-Gi-Oh: the Abridged Series, I can do that too.
She's got a lovely approach to advice. I feel she takes your feelings into account, but tells you what you need to hear, too. We've got very similar interests. Zelda, Ace Attorney, Tales, spoof-writing, Nintendo, anime/manga, etc. So we've nearly always got something to talk about. As you might have guessed, she's got a great sense of humour, and whether it's through her work or just by talking to her, she's one of the few people who can genuinely make me laugh. She's fun, but she's sweet too-I love how she's always good for a comment on LJ. At this point, I think you can gather what a friend she is, so now it's time to move on to my 5 favourite memories of Corinne.
Here's where my time trawling through MSN archives and Tales Forum pays off! Muahahahaha!
It was so hard to choose 5! It was fun doing so, though. There was one conversation ages ago when Meowzy mentioned a meme and I was like.."What's a meme?"
And now my LJ is full of them. XD How the times have changed!
1. Ok, now here's the first, ( teary ) memory of Meowzy I've got. There's no way I'd go into details as to why, without her permission, but a while back...perhaps the school year of 06/07, things weren't going so well for her. It wasn't exactly her greatest time, and at that point, I felt pretty sorry that it was the case. Looking back on it, she wasn't as happy as she is now. During that year a lot of 'things' built up and she didn't feel too good. This obviously isn't a happy memory, so let's cut straight to Christmas '07.
Last Christmas, I sent greeting e-mails to all my friends, and it was at that time, when her life had done an Ace Attorney style Turnabout, that I was able to say to Meowzy, 'Look at how much better things are nowadays,' and she could agree that they had improved significantly. I was really happy that Christmas, that she wasn't suffering anymore, and that thought put a smile on both of our faces. ^_^
2. 'Great minds think alike'. Or so the age-old adage goes. I'm struggling to find examples, but it's amazing some of the times when Meowzy and I have thought the exact same thought at the exact same time. It's as if a Big Switch flicks in one of our heads, and at the exact moment, it happens to the other. When speaking about Jessi a few weeks back, I mentioned that we were able to predict what the other would do, but that feeling is even stronger when it comes to my friendship with Corinne. For example, the other day I bought a microphone and started sending voice clips via MSN to test it out. Corinne then sent a voice clip which I couldn't hear at first. I told her there was nothing on the clip, whilst I recorded my own voice clip. Then after she heard my one ( stay with me ) she said "Are you SURE you couldn't hear that clip? XD" Turns out, anyway, we had both recorded practically the same lines. I could attribute this to the legacy that is the "No buts" joke, but I could as easily say that it's because of a 'connection' we have. And who better to be connected to?
3. After doing our own stuff ( with many cameos ) for a good two years, during the latter half of 2007, Meowzy and I suddenly thought of an idea. I mentioned the idea of an OVA Spoof, and she had been thinking so too. Then she said, "We could collab on this." I corrected her-"We SHOULD collab on this."
And spending time with her to complete those 4 long spoofs was ultimately one of the most fulfilling parts of my time online! We had a lot of fun doing those. There were jokes that never made it in, and we bounced ideas off each other until it was all done. I had always wanted to work with Meowzy ever since I discovered what a collab spoof was. And the perfect opportunity finally came! So here's some of my favourite jokes by her from the OVA Spoofs.
"Random Mercenary #1 : "Tell my random wife...I love her.."
"Genis: “Hey, Lloyd.. You mean my magic didn’t help you at all?”
*everyone has a hearty laugh*
Lloyd: “Of course not, Genis!”
"Prisoner #1: "At last, we're free. It is a perfect opportunity for tomorrow tonight."
Prisoner #2: "Why, prisoner #1? What are we going to do tomorrow night?"
Prisoner #1: "The same thing we do every night, prisoner #2... TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"
"Yuan: "... Your turn."
Lloyd: "Yuan...Ohh, you're the guy whose butt Kratos was talking about!"
Yuan: "What the-"
Lloyd: “Yeah! In Episode 2, the fountain scene!”
Yuan: "I'm... not sure what to think about this. Though it's not the first compliment I've gotten about my fine ass."
Good times! I'm really lucky to have been able to be a part of the creation of such jokes.
4. A while back, start of '07, I reckon-I did a special spoof called 'A Tribute to Meowzy'. The reasoning behind this was that I wanted everyone to be as grateful and as appreciative of her as I was, because, let's face it, she's a great person and one of the funniest writers on Tales Forums. It was presented by Yuan and Kratos, and as to be expected, there was undertones of homoerotic relations between the two, in true Meowzy fashion. I remember writing the YuanxKratos wedding spoof originally and maintaining a sort of unwillingness to support the pairing, but it's grown on me, thanks to Meowzy's brainwashing. Anyway, a Tribute to Meowzy was a chance to read her old spoofs again and educate some more novice readers in her work. Plus, I got the chance to have Dhaos ( chaos with a ‘D’! ) speaking Spanish, which is always a plus. If you haven't read it, you should.
5. And for my last memory, I'll choose my words carefully and show you how good a friend Meowzy is. A while back, I made one emo-filled entry about how baka online relationships are, and how the whole Michelle thing had gotten out of control. I said that if anyone wanted me, they could PM me, and that I didn’t want any MSN talks or LJ comments. And at that time, Meowzy really came through for me.
“Well, you said to PM, so you’re getting a PM.”
In that message, she really showed she cared, understood, and that things weren’t as bad as they seemed. She said that she didn’t know exactly what to say, but it calmed me down, and it’s memories like that which are the reason I’ll always help Meowzy with whatever she needs! Because I care about her, just as I do about all my friends.
And that pretty much wraps up my entry about Corinne. Damn, it was long, but worth it, I hope. It was her birthday two days ago, so wish her belated greetings. This is Solez, signing out!