Write it Out

Sometimes when I'm very excited or upset about something, the same ideas run around in my head incessantly. It might be something I'd like to say, or do, fore example.
Whenever that happens, it helps me to write it out. I write out the conversation that I want to have. I've made many strange lists (especially when I was in middle school, I loved making strange lists, I guess to make connections? Or to burn off steam when I'm excited).
Or I use the blog to start recording everything I noticed in Coco, which kept getting longer and longer @_@

Why is it so hard to work on the finale of Evva's story? Usually climaxes are so exciting to write!
It was hard last time too, but I thought it was just because I was obsessing about Coco before I knew I was obsessing about Coco. @_@

I think the problem is that it's still missing a little something. Huh. If only I knew what.

Writing to Music

One question people often ask writers:
Do you listen to music while writing?

I've heard a few different answers. Some people can't focus on writing when there's music in the background.

Since I'm a musician (I say that phrase with such pride after watching Coco XD ), I often have music playing while I write.

Although it has to be instrumental music - soundtracks or classical or something. If it has lyrics, it's usually too distracting for me to be able to focus. Unless I manage to block the music out entirely. Which makes it meaningless to play the music in the first place.

However if I'm writing something tricky where I need to focus a lot, I need to turn the music off entirely. Which probably means that the music is distracting me more than I want to admit. O__O

Evva's pendant

Another one I finished
This is Evva's luck charm - the wooden bear carving

It's a sort of blend of Northwest coast art (for the paterns) and some of the Zuni carvings (for the shape).

Switch

After much waiting and many trials, I finally got my Nintendo Switch. As if I don't have five games sitting around that I need to finish (I don't spend enough time playing games anymore XD).
Game Stop messed up my order twice. They kept sending the wrong item (I'd ordered a limited edition version, and I was afraid they'd be out of them all by the time they finally got my freaking order).
But I finally got my Switch.

So, since I like picking stuff apart, here are my thoughts on a recreation of one of the very first games I ever played.
Pokémon Let's Go Eevee.

Complaints first, because it's fun to complain. If you don't want to listen to me complain, skip to the picture of Raticate.

These first few are very minor things about the animation, which don't detract from game play. They just irritate me since I'm nit-picky XD
I wish the human art was a bit better. The shadows on my character's face were a bad color. They made her look sunburned. And the human heads look too big to be aesthetically pleasing. Not that that's new.
Also, some of the animations of the Pokémon walking are funky - like Blastoise who always looks like he's about to fall over. And when long Pokémon like Ekans or Dragonair turn around, their body doesn't curve at all. They rotate stiff, like they're a stick. Then it's plain creepy to have some of those Pokemon chasing you they way they're animated, like Raticate, Venusaur, or Jynx.

And Pokémon butts. They're animated like one of those plastic toys with movable legs.

They're not shaped like animal ends. They don't need to have a hole or anything (like they do in Okami) but they could at least be the right shaped hind-ends.
Alsop my Eevee's voice when I go to play with her gets very repetitive and annoying @_@

Now that you can access your Pokémon box at any time, you no longer need to rely on one team to take on the elite four, or anything. You can swap out your team members whenever you want.

And it's nice in a way to go back to the original 150 (151) Pokemon. But it's a bit frustrating when you can't get Pokémon like this


But you can get things that look like this


One thing that annoys the heck out of me - wild Pokémon can run away. I thought we'd done away with that ages ago. Now if you encounter something like a shiny, it might flee at any time.
I always hated it when Pokémon ran away in Gold and Silver (and in some of the Safari Zones). I was relieved when they took that out. But now it's back.

Now my biggest complaint. The method of battling wild Pokémon.
You can no longer battle wild Pokémon. Not at all. If you ever want to train against wild Pokémon, you have to catch them. Which requires Pokéballs. Which requires money. You can't train for free. You have to pay to train.
On a more personal level (especially as someone who works at a zoo and learns about illegal animal trafficking, especially for the pet trade), it drives me crazy that this game encourages you to catch excessively enormous amounts of wild Pokémon if you want to train, or trigger rarer encounters. Think about the Black and White games, where we had N speaking out about Pokémon being caught against their will. This throws all of that in the trash.
But mostly it bugs me because humans think that they can keep taking and taking from the planet with no cost. That's exactly how we wiped out passenger pigeons and destroyed countless other animal populations. This game is encouraging that in its own way.

A couple things about the Switch itself.
Its battery life is dreadful.
And it's big and heavy enough that my hands cramp when I try to hold it. I know I can take off the side controllers, but then the buttons change function and it just feels wrong.



Okay, done complaining.
Finally we get to the stuff I like!

The nostalgia.

Back in elementary school, I always wanted the wild Pokémon to be walking around in their habitat-not just phantoms that popped out of the grass. They had a little of that in the Pokémon Ranger games, and in Alpha Sapphire. But now it really exists!

(The only image I have at the moment of wild Pokémon, so it sucks XD I'll try to get a better one)

And we have the return of Pokémon waking alongside you!
I put every single solitary Pokémon as my partner so I could see how all of them moved.
Some of the Pokemon are adorable when they're accompanying you. Like Mew cruising along in front of me because she's too excited to follow behind. Or Caterpie who's not fast enough to keep up. And Graveler rolls after you.

AND YOU CAN RIDE A BUNCH OF THEM.
When I put my Onix is my buddy I freaked out since that was the first time I saw it.

And of course Rapidash had to become one of my main team. I love galloping around on him (though that riding posture is horrendous, and horses don't stand with their heads raised that far XD)


This isn't all of them, but it's a lot.


One of the cutest is when you ride Kangaskhan, and your Eevee is sitting in Kangaskhan's pouch next to the baby XD
Plus you can freaking fly on a few of them.

The Betas

Well, this was sitting on my laptop forever and I finally finished it.
It's the logo the Betas wear on their jackets.

Okay, this is so bad that it made me laugh. I have to share it.
This is why we proof-read, people. So we don't get garbage like this phrase I found in my first draft.

"Something wrapped around her shoulders. Sol had come and wrapped an arm around her shoulders."

(I guess I paused between these two sentences? Come back after dinner or something? That would make more sense, at least XD)

Make Time

About a week ago I wrote a note and stuck it on my computer desk. It tells me to start writing at a certain time each night. That way I get at least a decent hunk of time to work on stories and get sucked into them. Even in the worst case, I'll get at least a little done.
So far it's working decently. XD

At work some of us watched a documentary about Koko the gorilla - the one who learned sign language.
One of the saddest things I've ever seen is when Koko found out that her kitten had died.

Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone!
How was your 2018?
Mine was pretty good! Definitely better than 2017.

This year I got an awesome new job. I get to watch animals every day and talk to people about them.
I restarted aikido and graduated to the next belt.
We got a new director in band.
I discovered a new favorite movie and character.


I wish you all the best in the upcoming fresh new year~