Seein' black
After a week and a half in an ancient, falling-apart summer house with minimal access to TV and Internets, I have returned from the twilight world of the New Jersey shore, bearing a painful strain of cold but nonetheless feeling accomplished.
My uncle's house had an unusual smell--not like cigarettes, and not overwhelmingly bad, but overpowering all the same. It seems he'd placed a good deal of his life into deteriorating liquor boxes. Sorting through those was easy, but getting by in the house itself was pretty crazy; the one bathroom had broken bath fixtures, rotten walls, a sink falling off of the wall, and a splintery toilet seat. Despite the conditions, my dad and I managed to clean up and make the house a bit more livable, though it's still a fixer-upper in need of a lot more emptying.
The coolest thing we found? A vintage Woodstock poster in perfect condition. :) I also found some mysterious old photos from the 1930's, apparently, one of which features a woman who looks just like my dad teasing a cat with...what looks like a piece of bacon. Nobody has any idea who she is, but if she is really and truly related to us, this could be evidence of kitty mania being hereditary.
Before going home, Dad and I stopped in Boston to see Lucinda Williams at the House of Blues, and she was amazing. I don't know what it was this time, but her songs made me start to cry. It was likely the unwinding of stress, stress from traveling and waiting an hour for a burger at HoB and coughing my lungs out the whole damn time.
Made it home Thursday night to complete the main storyline of Pokemon Black (at 47 hours, 47 minutes) while while my parents bickered like bratty little kids. Oh my god, N. Just...N.
It's true, I got way too involved in the storyline of this game. A few non-spoilery highlights of my experience so far:
- Oh, Snivy. Crossing and uncrossing its little arms like it's all pissed off. Then Servine does its little "look-at-me" dance, and Serperior just scowls as if you're never, ever good enough. This is a starter with attitude.
- Everything in this game knows Crunch. Everything. Even Bianca knows Crunch. My Woobat got KO'd so often, I'm amazed she even evolved, and still she kept fainting.
- Some of the gym leaders are total sadists. Sure, the first three present a delightful spread of pain in a cute restaurant, but once you enter Castelia Gym, things get sticky (lol) fast. We're talking getting covered in honey, being shot out of a cannon AND HITTING A WALL, slipping on ice ramps right over a deep abyss, running up and down the necks of mechanical dragons with no way of getting out until you reach the leader, and just wait until you challenge the Elite Four and meet Shauntal's friendly squad of will-o-the-wisps...
- Lest we forget also stomping through tall grass, trudging through a sandstorm, and sliding down sheer cliff walls in very short pants. Hilda's legs are either ironclad or a bloody mess in the end.
- The Route 10 theme makes me want to weep, in a good way.
- CherenxHilda, full stop. I cannot unship it.
- For crack purposes, CilanxBianca. Because they'd be adorably awkward, and his hair (sorta) matches her hat.
- I kind of want to write fanfic about N's past, but I don't know quite where to start, so...I probably won't.
- Seeing who shows up for the first time after beating the game, I just had to smile.
That should about cover it. *phew*
I have to get up early tomorrow morning. A couch is on the way. Yeah, a couch. Like one you can sit on. I've always wanted one of those.
If any of my bros out there still read what I type, what's going on in your life? What did I miss this past couple of weeks??
My uncle's house had an unusual smell--not like cigarettes, and not overwhelmingly bad, but overpowering all the same. It seems he'd placed a good deal of his life into deteriorating liquor boxes. Sorting through those was easy, but getting by in the house itself was pretty crazy; the one bathroom had broken bath fixtures, rotten walls, a sink falling off of the wall, and a splintery toilet seat. Despite the conditions, my dad and I managed to clean up and make the house a bit more livable, though it's still a fixer-upper in need of a lot more emptying.
The coolest thing we found? A vintage Woodstock poster in perfect condition. :) I also found some mysterious old photos from the 1930's, apparently, one of which features a woman who looks just like my dad teasing a cat with...what looks like a piece of bacon. Nobody has any idea who she is, but if she is really and truly related to us, this could be evidence of kitty mania being hereditary.
Before going home, Dad and I stopped in Boston to see Lucinda Williams at the House of Blues, and she was amazing. I don't know what it was this time, but her songs made me start to cry. It was likely the unwinding of stress, stress from traveling and waiting an hour for a burger at HoB and coughing my lungs out the whole damn time.
Made it home Thursday night to complete the main storyline of Pokemon Black (at 47 hours, 47 minutes) while while my parents bickered like bratty little kids. Oh my god, N. Just...N.
It's true, I got way too involved in the storyline of this game. A few non-spoilery highlights of my experience so far:
- Oh, Snivy. Crossing and uncrossing its little arms like it's all pissed off. Then Servine does its little "look-at-me" dance, and Serperior just scowls as if you're never, ever good enough. This is a starter with attitude.
- Everything in this game knows Crunch. Everything. Even Bianca knows Crunch. My Woobat got KO'd so often, I'm amazed she even evolved, and still she kept fainting.
- Some of the gym leaders are total sadists. Sure, the first three present a delightful spread of pain in a cute restaurant, but once you enter Castelia Gym, things get sticky (lol) fast. We're talking getting covered in honey, being shot out of a cannon AND HITTING A WALL, slipping on ice ramps right over a deep abyss, running up and down the necks of mechanical dragons with no way of getting out until you reach the leader, and just wait until you challenge the Elite Four and meet Shauntal's friendly squad of will-o-the-wisps...
- Lest we forget also stomping through tall grass, trudging through a sandstorm, and sliding down sheer cliff walls in very short pants. Hilda's legs are either ironclad or a bloody mess in the end.
- The Route 10 theme makes me want to weep, in a good way.
- CherenxHilda, full stop. I cannot unship it.
- For crack purposes, CilanxBianca. Because they'd be adorably awkward, and his hair (sorta) matches her hat.
- I kind of want to write fanfic about N's past, but I don't know quite where to start, so...I probably won't.
- Seeing who shows up for the first time after beating the game, I just had to smile.
That should about cover it. *phew*
I have to get up early tomorrow morning. A couch is on the way. Yeah, a couch. Like one you can sit on. I've always wanted one of those.
If any of my bros out there still read what I type, what's going on in your life? What did I miss this past couple of weeks??