Mini-Ramble: The Return of the Business Chronicles

     Hello, all, G-star here, back with in-school reports.  Against my will, I am now taking the second half of the business lessons, Sports Financing.  I have no idea what it's about or what we're going to do, but T-Dog and Ginger aren't here and that's what matters.  I was originally in Digital Media Design, but Strength and Conditioning and Basketball switched periods and I had to screw around with my schedule to stay in Basketball.  *sigh*  Digital Media Design would have been so useful, learning how to use computer drawing programs more efficiently to get my drawings to you faster than I do ...which, at this point, is never.  Gonen'nasai.
     I have reencountered some people from the first Business Class, but no one I'm actually friends with is in this class.  In first-period Basketball, however, I have the minimally mentioned Perk (remember her?  Probably not) and another friend from youth group, Kay (that is a boy, despite appearances).  We are team Norkenzie, for the win!
     In second-period Physics (which would be a nap class for anyone other than me, including Stulte, who fell asleep several times during the syllabus lecture X] ) I have Yeoung, Onigiri, Stulte (but you already knew that), and....a nameless boy who seems to follow me throughout my classes but evidently has the brain of a Stegosaurus.  He's in IHS as well, although I can't imagine how.  (MC, you should be able to guess who this is.)
     Other than that, though, nothing special has happened on the first day of the term.  Just thought it'd be fun to do one of these now that I can again.  At least this class will be good for something other than teaching me how to run a bookstore.
     Until next time, this is G-star, signing off.

All I Can Do is Whine On My Blog About Bad Sequels (Finally, a Decent Hobby).

     Hello, all.  G-star here.  I'm sorry this post is so late, but the parents have complete control over my computer access and so I just had to wait.... *sigh*
     I don't exactly have anything to talk about, but I figured I'd stick with what seems to work:

     (This gif, by the way, is courtesy of MC.  She suggested this anime to me, and from the picture she sent me I thought "aw, it looks cute, maybe I'll give it a shot"....before she told me that the main character can make swords with her blood.  Oh, fun. -_-)
     Yesterday my family went to see that new Muppet movie, Muppets: Most Wanted.  You can tell just from the title that they're getting desperate.  And they really are.  The line from the first song in the movie, "and everybody knows that the sequel's never quite as good" pretty much sums up the whole movie.  This is only amplified by the fact that Dr. Honeydew mentions in the same song, that, technically, this is the seventh sequel since the first Muppet feature.  The lyrics are kinda stupid, especially when the humans dramatically pose while singing.  I can't really explain why the movie sucked, it just did.  Maybe because I'm used to much better quality (I've seen all the other Muppet movies, along with a lot of the Muppet Show episodes).  The only things I looked forward to were the periodic interruptions by Sam Eagle and that Interpol guy.  And even then, I couldn't help but wonder, if Sam was taken from his newscaster job during the montage last movie and was with the Muppets the whole time, how does he suddenly have a job at the CIA?  It defies all logic.
     Of course, my opinion of this movie is a bit biased by the fact that, for some reason, plotlines involving people trying to pretend to be other people stress me out.  Don't ask why; I've been like this since elementary school, when I tried to read the Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo series.
     Well, that's it for my useless movie review.  Now for something I'm a bit more enthusiastic about.  I think I've finally found my calling; paper action figures.  You all know I enjoy drawing, but it's stressful as I can't really draw backgrounds or even situations for characters.  All I can draw is people, and occasionally, a cat.  So now, after many failures at comics and drawings, I tried these.  Here's an example:

The only difference is I color mine.  I'll post a couple pictures when I get a chance; I'm pretty proud of them.  ^_^  Out of boredom and with access to cardstock I made a bookend Ciel.  It was really cute, so MC asked me to make a Yuno Gasai figure (from Future Diary), which ended up with a bloody axe and standing on a severed head.  I'm proud of that too.
     Patveli requested that I make cutouts of all the dynasty members, and I'll post pictures of those as soon as I finish them.  They take about an hour each and I almost never screw them up, unlike when I'm drawing a comic or full-on picture.  These will be fun.
    Next year we plan to make copies of the dynasty figures and hide them all around school for a scavenger hunt.  If you find all five, you get a candy bar!  Patveli refuses to do it until next year, though, because "we'll be looked down on if we pull something like this while at the bottom of the totem pole".  This is true; it could end badly if we try this while still freshmen.  So I'm going to be copying and stocking up on candy until next fall.  I'll tell you how it turns out then.
     Well, that was all the interesting anything that's happened recently, so this is the end.  Until next time, this is G-star, signing off!

I Can't Help But Hate Change (The Cleaning Theory).

      Hello, all.  G-star here.  Sorry I haven't posted; honestly, part of it is I was just stalling for lack of subject, but also I've had an absolutely packed weekend.  Thursday Patveli, Stulte, MC and I had intended to have a Super Metroid Anniversary Party (honestly, it was all Patveli's idea), but Patveli had a band contest so we put it off 'til Friday.  Instead, MC put together a....tea party.  Mhm.  Now, I can't say it wasn't fun...we did a sort of American Idol thing, did each others' makeup (I found out I'm pretty good with eye shadow), and watched Safe Haven...which, I admit, was a good movie.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

      Alright, I originally had this whole spiel about the other stuff we did this weekend, but after I went over it I realized it was boring as heck, so I won't put you through that kind of torture.  Instead, I'll....just say whatever comes to to mind.  It's worked out before, right?

      Well, it's Spring Break and my pre-planned weekend is over.  For the rest of the week I had intended on working on all sorts of drawings, including my comic, art for MC's and my telovelic, and a picture I'm working on specifically for G+.  Unfortunately, I also have to clean my room, horror of horrors.  The problem with this is that I have far lower standards than my mom; where she sees a pile of stuff next to my bed, I see a bunch of things that I use regularly and are conveniently accessible from my bed.  So why would I move them?  Besides, even if I do put them on one of my many overfilled shelves, I'll just pull them back down to use within a week.  There's nothing you can do about that, so why not just keep them where I use them?  I don't see the point.

      Usually, I put away a few things that I see need putting away (like clothes, papers, school supplies, etc.,) and then read manga until the preset "cleaning time" is up.  It works for me, and it works for my parents because there's a visible difference.  

      Surprisingly often, though, as I'm 'organizing', I end up finding a pile of old drawings and spend an hour flipping through them.  I have all sorts scattered around my room; only about half are finished, though.  Often I get jealous of myself when I see that my drawing style two years ago was better than it is now.  >x<  Doesn't that defy the principle of "practice makes perfect"?!  I've tried all sorts of different styles, but at the beginning it was mostly based off of Konami Soda's ChocoMimi (I read this in middle school; gimme a break) as I couldn't really draw hands or feet, but then later when I read Otomen I used Aya Kanno's approach to feet: either don't draw from the shin down or make the feet pointy little triangles.  *shrug*  Works for me.  Recently I've finally succeeded in drawing vaguely realistic feet, but now I can't draw legs right.... *sigh*  Every time I gain a skill I lose one.  I really need to find the perfect drawing style or I have no hope of finishing a comic.

      Of course, I've seen a couple of artists whose styles change halfway through the series.  Noizi Ito, artist for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, changed styles sometime in volume 8.  It threw me off a little, but I must say it was improvement on the slightly off-kilter lines and odd proportions of the earlier volumes.  That being said, it can also ruin a good series.  The main reason I stopped reading Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya was the sudden and dramatic change of art.  (Of course, another reason was I couldn't find the next volume, but that was fairly minor).  Suddenly the eyes were rounder, the faces sharper, and the legs three feet longer.  Also, the plot altered from humorous and mysterious to confusing and intensely dramatic.  When I read the first volume of the new drawing style, it took me a few minutes to figure out which two characters were talking in the first scene.  By the time I figured out it was Tohru and Shigure, I didn't understand the plot.  Takaya-san also has another (unfinished?  Not sure, they only ever had the first omnibus at the library) series called Tsubasa: Those With Wings.  It was great to begin with, then at the end of the omnibus it had a sort of sneak peek with an obvious (and annoying) time skip, plus the new drawing style she began using in the later volumes of Fruits Basket.  Things like that are disappointing and confusing; I get used to seeing the characters one way and then suddenly they look entirely different.  It's frustrating.

     Haha, I had intended on summarizing my weekend but ended up ranting about manga drawing styles.  I love it.  I'll try to post some of my older (finished) drawings to show you what my style used to be!  Until then, this is G-star, signing off.

All You Never Wanted to Know About Me (My Profile Obsession).

     Hello, all.  G-star here.  I'm sorry I spent the entirety of the last post talking about Pokemon, but....it was worth it.  SO worth it.  I got a whole seventeen views from posting it on the Pokemon community page.  I know.  Amazing, right?
     It's the end of the second trimester, and I've been getting a crudload of assignments from all my teachers.  Of course, spring break is the light at the end of the tunnel, along with the fact that, third term, I won't have to take geometry or French.  *celebration*  I'm looking forward to that, but until then, nothing interesting is likely to happen.  So....I've been wanting to do this: profile time!
     For some reason, I really enjoy writing up profiles for people I know.  I also do this for characters I'm working on; I was starting a script for my comic, but after five minutes I got bored and began character profiles.  They help me understand the characters a little more, maybe....  More likely it's a side effect of roleplaying.  Eh.
      I've noticed that, throughout the course of the blog, I actually haven't said much about myself personally.  Just my daily life.  So now you get to get to know me.
      Anyhoo, enjoy!  MC, you have no reason to read the rest of this.  We see each other every day; I think you know me well enough already.  Next week's post might be a tad late; Patveli is having a Super Metroid anniversary party.  But at least that means I'll have a lot to talk about....until next time, then, this is G-star, signing off.

Name- Sara G.
Age- 14
Gender- Female
Personality- See, this is the hard bit.  In reality, I'm a little hyper/violent, yet at the same time perpetually dazed and a bookworm.  On the internet, however, I'm way calmer, and I like to think that I'm even "cool".  (collected cool, not awesome. ^-^')  I try to take on a sort of princely persona.  In both reality and fiction, though, I love making people laugh...it's almost what I live for.  Unfortunately, in real life my jokes aren't often gotten.  Too bad.
Likes- Manga, music, Scottish/British accents, tall guys, Pokemon (cards/game), comedy, shojo, cats, trees, white flowers, heights, science, snow, creepy stuff, movies, logical theories, being called older-looking.
Dislikes- Arguments, scary stuff, 'popular' girls, swearing, geography, depressing things, large dogs, being misunderstood (verbally), Minecraft parody videos (my brother has shown me too many to tolerate).
Pet Peeves- Condescension, people who are so bossy they think they're entitled to treat everyone however they want (this is why I absolutely DESPISE Akito Sohma and Dolores Umbridge), people walking REALLY slowly right in front of me, students copying work, people saying 'like' several times in one sentence.
Worst Fear(s)- Zombies, realistic mannequins. 0-0
Favorite Color- The blue in my avatar.
Least Favorite Color- Green (I have only one green shirt that I wear on St. Patty's Day).
Zodiac Animal- Cat
Symbol Stone- Ruby
Hobbies- Reading, drawing (comics/anime), singing, piano, blogging, +Google, roleplaying, Minecraft, Pokemon, looking up avatar pics.
Favorite Bands- Relient K, Owl City, Simple Plan, Cartel, All Time Low, Fall Out Boy, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Jubyphonic, The Jellyrox/Eleventyseven, Yellowcard, Britney Spears, Boys Like Girls, Cute is What We Aim For, The Afters, New Found Glory, Audio Audrenaline, Switchfoot, Jars of Clay, Skillet, Lifehouse, We The Kings, Secondhand Serenade.  (Wow....that's a TON.)
Theme Song(s)- Dead Man (Carry Me) by Jars of Clay, Green Eyes by Joe Brooks, Imperfection by Skillet, Feel the Melody by S3RL, Hero/Heroine by Boys Like Girls, Juukyuusai by Suga Shikao, Paper Heart by All American Rejects, Clean Freak by Jubyphonic.
Favorite Song(s)- Too many to count; I'll do this another time in a separate list.

DEFEATED WITH THE POWER OF LOVE!

     Hello, all.  G-star here.  I'm sure you missed me.
     Pathetically enough, the most exciting thing that happened to me this past week was beating the Pokemon X game.  Technically, it's my brother's, as he received it for Christmas (well, that's technical too; it didn't have his name on it, it was simply a given as he was the only one with a DS of any sort), but he has been 'generously' <_< allowing me to play it when he's not home...sometimes.  So it was difficult to get to this point in the game, but I finally did it, and boy was it worth it.
     (Yes, I'm going to continue ranting about this.)  My thing about training a Pokemon team is that I level them up with a goal: to get them to evolve.  Therefore, I don't often put fully evolved or non-evolving Pokemon in my party.  Pokemon that evolve by trading usually don't find their way into my party or even PC either, since I really don't like trading.  This is partially because I don't have anyone I trust to trade back when it evolves, but mostly because I'm ridiculously frugal; I keep stocked up on Potions (or at least, until they got really expensive and I realized Soda Pops cost the same amount and were more effective), Pokeballs, Great Balls, and Revives, but I never buy things that temporarily up any stats; what's the point?  Besides, all my Pokemon already have maxed stats (that's MY style of training, but I'll go more in-depth with that soon).  Anyway, I never catch a Pokemon I don't intend to either train or trade immediately to an NPC, because catching not only uses up Pokeballs but is a real bother.  My Pokemon faint just trying to keep the other Pokemon from fainting.  This is why Quick Balls are my favorite thing EVER.
     Unfortunately, I quickly found that switching teams every time they had all evolved...didn't work. At ALL.  Every time I would realize the new party was too low level, and then I'd spend an extra week in the surrounding routes before moving on to the next town, have all my Pokemon evolve right before leaving, and start the cycle again.  At some point I just gave up and reverted to my thus far highest level team: an Azumarill named Lapis that I'd been training since the very beginning, an Absol named Omen that had helped me out of many a pinch, an Umbreon named Eon (the one that I had accidentally evolved into Sylveon -_-"), A Staravia/Staraptor named Stella that I at first only had with me to use Fly, a Reuniclus named Meto that, actually, was probably my strongest Pokemon, and a Golurk named Mottel that I just had a fondness for.  Soon, though, I switched Mottel for a Gengar named Spook my brother traded me.  Gengar's probably my overall favorite, but every time I found a Haunter I would accidentally knock it out.  Ridiculously annoying....  Every time I start a new team, I end up with one Pokemon that's very powerful, and has high Defense and everything, but takes a real battering.  At first, this Pokemon was my Pangoro, Bambi.  She would take all sorts of status conditions, be knocked out several times, in one battle, etc...I'm pretty sure if I had taught her Frustration, it would have done 500 damage.  After that it was my Granbull, Mottel, and then finally Spook.  Poor guys.
     Despite my inefficient leveling up method, however, I have some pretty strong Pokemon.  Why?  Well, in the X and Y versions, a thing called Super Training was added.  (Or maybe it was in Black/White too....I dunno, this is the only one I've ever played fully.)  I would spend hours of my free time working up my team's stats; I'd focus on the lowest one (as long as it was useful or important) and increase it until it was a little more than the others.  Then I'd take the next lowest and do the same thing, and so on, and so forth.  Eventually, I'd focus on just one stat that I thought needed improving or would make the Pokemon unbeatable.  I increased Eon's Attack stat a crudload because all his attacks are physical.  This was annoyingly difficult, because it was originally his lowest stat....  After a while, though, my whole team was maxed out, and I was pretty happy with it. ^_^  And then I would continue leveling them up on my journey...until I reached the end.
     The Elite Four were pretty easy to beat because of my type advantages; they were fire, dragon, water, and steel.  I had water/fairy, dark, psychic, ghost, and flying.
     Admittedly, Lapis did most of the work, and the steel guy was pretty difficult as none of my attacks were very effective, but I think I did a pretty good job overall.  Oddly, the champion was the easiest of all -- none of my Pokemon fainted -- and I finished her off pretty quickly.  Completely out of nostalgia, I brought out Lapis, my earliest Pokemon, out to fight her last remaining defense, and had him defeat her with Return.  As the opponent's HP bar fell to zero, I pumped my fist and shouted "I HAVE DEFEATED YOU WITH THE POWER OF LOVE!"
     ...................
     I'm sorry, that was REALLY long.  But I suppose it's for the best, since I don't really have any other ideas about what to talk about....well, until next time, I suppose.  G-star out.