Alone in the Jungle (Not really)

Well, I'm through with AT&T. None of the staff seem to know anything. I spent almost 2 months trying to prep my phone to work in Peru. After tons of calls and in-store visits, I only had staff telling me completely opposite info every time. And yet in they end, no one could make it work. Even though I know it can work in Peru. 

So I'm quitting them when I get home. 

I'll be without phone and probably internet for two weeks, so I'll have a lot of messages to get to when I'm back. Hopefully I won't need a phone to contact anyone, or fix plane flights or anything. 

But I'm here! I'm in Iquitos, in the Amazon! And tomorrow I meet up with the study group. 

Peru

 I'm leaving for Peru in just a couple hours. 

I've spent about three months getting everything prepared. Then at the beginning of this month, we all got sick. I was so tired that I couldn't do much for a while. And I couldn't run errands. So I lost about 2 weeks that I was planning to tie up loose ends. 

And stuff that I had prepared over a month ago is suddenly falling through. For example, I had my phone all set up to work in Peru. And now I'm realizing how utterly useless this phone company is. They've been screwing up parts of my phone plan ever since, and I'm probably going to quit it when I get home, because I have no idea if I'll have a phone when I get to Peru. And some of my flights keep getting cancelled. So how will I fix that if I don't have a phone? 

So yeah. I'm super excited, and extremely nervous.

Cross your fingers! 

 

 Wolverine

Respect the Endings

I usually find endings to be the most powerful part of the movie. Probably because that's what you walk away with. It's like the last bite of your dinner is the taste that lingers. 

So I get really... irritated when people ruin the ending of something. Especially if it's something I've never seen before. And if I watch something with a friend, I try to extend that courtesy to them. Nick and I just watched the season 2 finale of Sherlock. He'd never seen it before. And while I don't care about the show beyond this point, this season finale was so powerful. 

And of course my parents happened to be around. Just before we started the episode, my mom spoiled the ending. I told her to be quiet, but she continued talking, spoiling even more of it. 

That was bad enough. But when we finally got to the ending, Dad walked in and started talking loudly to Nick. I asked him three times to stop talking, but he ignored me and continued talking. Effectively ruining the entire part I'd been looking forward to.

As a writer, I take endings very seriously. And I get really pissed off when people are utter jerks about wrecking endings, especially if it's someone's first view. 

Don't do it.

Giraffe

Man, my blog posts have been pretty sparse these last couple months. 

Though I have a good excuse! I've been swamped prepping for my Peru trip @_@ That means when I get home, I won't have an excuse for not keeping up with my blog.

Mexican Gray Wolf

Unicorns in the Sea

Long ago, I had an idea for a writing exercise. I wanted to take some of my favorite movie finales, and try writing them out. I even made a list of the different movies I wanted to try. A while ago, I found that list and realized that I didn't care about writing out most of those scenes anymore. Though I still liked most of them. 

But there was one that still called to me. The Last Unicorn. 

 

So I finally tried to recreated the final battle in my own words. I figured I might as well post it on fanfiction. So here it is!

I'm not sure if it came out too flowery. I was trying to capture the scene and the feelings. I didn't spend any time trying to set up the characters and context. It would have taken away from the scene. So I just threw in some quick context at the beginning.

Howl's Moving Castle

Aaand, I've seen one more Ghibli movie on the big screen!

Howl's Moving Castle. This was actually the very first Ghibli I ever saw on the big screen. But that was many years ago. Howl is so detailed that I was eager to see it again. And I still feel there's a lot I missed. I went with my parents. We've seen it many times, and we all love it. But we were blown away all over again.  

The ending is rather odd, with the identity of a certain scare crow and an abrupt end to the war. And it's always kind of felt like Sophie is telling you to run away from your problems instead of standing to fight? And it used to rub me the wrong way that she started kissing everyone at the end of the movie. But I don't really care that much about these complaints. The rest of the movie is just so stunning and entertaining that it's always been one of my favorite films.

One thing that struck me anew was Howl. I always liked him. It's hilarious that he seems so cool and smooth at first. And then he pitches a fit like a little kid. But as Calcifer says later on, Howl still has the heart of a child. And his animation is so beautiful. The way his hair movies, his clothes, even the monster and bird forms. I've always known that. But seeing it in so much detail is a whole different story. 

The bacon and eggs scene always makes me hungry. And I almost never like bacon. Miyazaki's food animation is unbelievably mouth-watering. 

I tried reading the book, because I loved the movie so much. They were quite different. In the book. they kill the Witch of the Waste, and that breaks Sophie's curse. Miyazaki has them befriend the Witch of the Waste. Because human evil is never so simple. And Sophie breaks her own curse. It slowly weakens as she grows stronger. 

And I love the dog.

Jeez, I just love this movie all over again. I already want to re-watch it.

Secret Cosplay

Okay, in the Pokémon Sun and Moon games, there's a gangster named Guzma. 

 

I've just been watching a few replays of those games to get info for my Pokémon fanfic. Guzma kinda reforms at the end. (And if you're ever played Pokémon Masters, you can see him being almost sweet, which was unexpected and hilarious. That game is quite sappy at times, but that's kinda its charm).

 Anyway, why do I mention this? Well this month at work, I was doing a shift at the petting zoo and a group of teenagers came in. I'm always kinda excited when it's not just little kids and their parents that come in. Because I love the goats, and I want everyone to get a dose of goat love XD

Anyway, one of these guys caught my eye. He was wearing a black jacket with white zigzags down the sleeves. I wouldn't have recognized it if I hadn't just been gathering data for my fanfic. Even so, the jacket may have escaped my attention. But this guy had white fluffy hair with black roots. So as I started talking to them about the animals, I slyly asked, "is that a Guzma jacket?" At which the guy got very embarrassed and told me to keep it a secret. 

But I love it! Secret cosplay at the zoo. Another of the teenagers was in a Mewtwo shirt. So double bonus. 

I've occasionally worn a subtle character costume when I was out and about. Just a shirt or accessory or something. And no one really notices unless I'm actually at a convention, or it's Halloween or something. I love costumes. I love seeing them, and dressing up occasionally. Even though I'm not one of those people that looks awesome in costumes XD. But dressing up can make you feel a little like someone else. It's fun.