KJ

Yes, it is happening! Yes, it's happening RIGHT NOW! :D


FINAL FANTASY KISS BATTLE 2016

It's time to sign up! Come join me on Team Tonberry!


TEAM TONBERRY

Or, I suppose, Team Cactuar. If you have to.

Today is my single day off in a marathon concert week (we even had an extra rehearsal on Sunday night). There's only one performance, on Friday night. I have mixed feelings about single shows -- it's nice that I don't lose my entire weekend, but there's way more pressure to be perfect because we don't have another shot at it. One of the pieces is fiendishly difficult, but I found in last night's dress rehearsal that I know it better than I thought I did. As is usually the case. I wish we had another week or so to work on it, but I think we'll do fine.

Meanwhile we are having a heat wave, and it is glorious. I know many of my fellow San Franciscans are melting, but I am so happy. You people who enjoy your cold and your fog get your preferred weather 80% of the year; let me have this moment of cozy warm glory. ;) It's supposed to break tomorrow or Friday, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

The Agents of SHIELD finale was last night, and overall I am pleased. The season had its bumps and its low points, but as a first crack at cross-platform storytelling, I don't think they did too badly. I think I have a larger post brewing on this. Watch this space.

Good progress on DOINK! today. I am inching toward an ending. Let's see if I can get it there.

DOINK! Time:



Come on over and sign up! DOINK (formerly FFEX) remains my favorite fandom exchange -- and I'm not just saying that because I'm a mod now. ;)

Happy DOINK! reveal, everyone! I totally scored this year, receiving not one, not two, but *three* awesome fics based on my prompts, one regular gift and two Moogle Fluff stories:

Compromise by lassarina - FFXII, Ashe/Balthier post-game.

There the Bones of Us May Lie by justira -- even more Ashe/Balthier, this one set during the game, right after Ridorana.

Warrior's Flame by Jessicamariek -- FFX, Rikku and a proper Al Bhed mourning ritual for Tidus and Auron.

I adore them all and highly recommend that you check them out.

As for me, I wrote two gifts this year:

On the Sidelines - FFX-2, Paine and Lulu. "On Yuna's first visit back to Besaid, Paine and Lulu have an opportunity to get to know each other a little better."

Dreams & Obligaions - FFXII, Ashe/Basch. "Ashe and Basch have been carrying on a secret relationship ever since the war ended. But changes will soon force their secrets to come to light, and Ashe and Basch must decide how to proceed."

Looking for more? The full collection is here. Enjoy!

My Doink! assignment has just arrived and I have no idea how I am going to chose among these awesome prompts. So much KJ bait in here, I can't even tell you.

The last time this happened, I wrote two stories (although one was pretty late). Maybe someone will get lucky again. ;)

So excited. :D

Time for Doink! (aka Final Fantasy Exchange)



Sign up, spread the word. :D

Hey, fandom folks! Check out all this STUFF going on!

1. DOINK! (aka ff_exchange) presents: Chocobo Races! A team-and-points based competition to see who can create the most Chocobo Down. I always write a CD story or two, and this sounds like a fun incentive. Come join me on Team Tonberry! (Or, you know, if you must choose Team Cactaur, I suppose that's okay, too.) Rules are here, sign-ups are here. You don't need to have participated in FFEX in the past.

2. Another round of newgameplus is open for sign-ups through Saturday, and they are looking for more players! I confess, I am waffling a little on this one: partly because I'm a little nervous about offering in Dragon Age when I haven't finished DA2 yet, partly because I'm worried about making a hard commitment that overlaps with the Mega Flare timeframe, partly because I'm having a hard time coming up with request prompts. But I really want to play -- I haven't done one of the regular exchanges in this community yet, and I'd like to. Fortunately I have a few days to decide yet.

3. Speaking of Mega Flare... don't forget that sign-ups for artists are still open! I kind of can't believe that the rough draft deadline is only a few weeks away. Where did August go? My story is progressing, though, and considering that I completely threw out my old idea and started with a new one just two weeks ago, I think I'm doing okay. At some point I may need to ask for some help; none of my usual brainstorming partners have played Dragon Age, and I miss having other minds to bounce ideas around with.

I am done with my ff_exchange story! And with time to spare.

Now I am being consumed by my first (and hopefully not last) story for the newgameplus reversathon. Seriously, seriously consumed. This prompt hit me like a ton of bricks: I wrote 2300 words in one day, and I already have more words of fic written this month than I wrote in the entire month of March or April and will probably crack February's total before I go to bed tonight. And almost all of them are on this one fic. I haven't been on fire like this in awhile; it's a nice feeling.

Not to mention, I got bunnied really hard the other day for a story that I think will make a Mega Flare project. Since I hadn't been sure what I was going to write this year, I am very pleased to have an idea present itself. (Well, really, to have it presented by someone. But more on this at another time.)

So I think the creative juices are back with a vengeance. Which just goes to show that, more often than not, making a public complaint about being in a creative lull will often act as a catalyst to end that lull. Here's hoping, anyway.

Because I worked the Saturday before last, and my school was closed for Good Friday, I was blessed with a four-day weekend, and it was glorious!

Thursday: I started the day with a writing morning, for the first time in ages, during which I nearly finished a draft of my ff_exchange story. Then I came home and worked on my Dragon Age replay all afternoon, followed by a lovely dinner with lovely friends and lovely wine in Alameda.

Oh, Dragon Age. I am so into this game, it's kind of ridiculous. To the point where, after a bit of agonizing, I broke down and bought the Ultimate Edition. To be fair, that cost about as much as buying Awakenings (the primary expansion pack) and one of the smaller downloads, so it'll probably be more cost effective in the end. Still, I have to face the fact that I have now purchased another copy of a game I already own. Does this make me a bigger geek than I already am?

Friday: Culinary adventures on the Peninsula with SE! We started with lunch and cupcakes at Vanilla Moon, then wandered down the street to an olive oil shop, where I was unable to resist walking out with a bottle of balsamic vinegar flavored with tangerine. It was really neat to taste dozens of oils and vinegars, play with blending the flavors, seeking out the perfect vinaigrette or dipping sauce combinations. The shopkeeper was really knowledgable and helpful, too.

Other stops included a taiyaki shop in San Mateo (little fish-shaped pastries filled with custard, bean paste, and other delectables including Nutella -- yum!); three attempts at finding a bakery in Redwood City that culminated in tea and pastries at Pamplemousse, which is our go-to place for such things; a spice store with a huge and fascinating stock; and a wander through Kepler's. Then we met up with T and SF for a tasty Japanese dinner of yakitori and other small plates, followed by a trip to Beard Papa for a cream puff dessert. Great food, great fun. I consider it rather a miracle that I didn't end up bringing home anything more than the vinegar, three jars of spices, one book, and half a dozen macarons from Pamplemousse.

Then we came home and played some Portal 2. This is a theme that will recur.

Saturday: The day of errands and lounging. Washed the car, got groceries, played Portal, made dinner, played more Portal, got some writing done, probably would have played more Portal but my wrists said "No." Fortunately, the writing went okay, on that front. I wrote the last little bit of my FFEX draft -- it needs a lot of work still, but at least that first runthrough is finished -- and then I started the Dragon Age fic that has been nagging at me ever since we finished the game. Well, one of them, anyway. Where all this will end up... we'll see.

Sunday: Easter Brunch! R and S hosted, we made hash browns, more yummy food was eaten, more good company was had, and then we dyed eggs. I don't think I've dyed eggs since the SKERG* Easter Brunch of 1997. There were some real beauties, too. Then we came home and played some Portal 2.

Oh, Portal. We started with multi-player cooperative, which is interesting and challenging. I would say, so far, that it's every bit as good as the first one. But I'll hold more complete thoughts for another day.

And so that was my four-day weekend. Which I really, really needed. And now, with luck, I'll be ready to go back and face the daily grind, rejuvenated and ready for more.

*SKERG, for the uninitiated, was the nickname for the apartment where I lived with four other people for a couple of years after college, so named because it was the most pronounceable combination of our first initials. I forget who coined it, but it stuck, to the point where we still refer to it by name, even though the household broke up almost 13 years ago.