Holiday Cheer: Mobile App Cheer

I know that I've been away, but I'm actually back in Savannah for a bit, chilling out and enjoying my holidays. So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy-I-Hope-You're-Doing-Well-This-Season. I wanted to throw some apps at you that I've downloaded and enjoyed this entire year. If you've heard of them, great and pass them on! If not, I hope that you can benefit from the enjoyment they offer in their own ways.


‣ BLENDOKU.
This is like sudoku for colours. This game helps me see colours better; sometimes the changes are so minute that it might take a bit of time to figure it all out. You're compared against the world average speed and if you can solve a single puzzle perfectly without any mistakes. Available for Apple and Android devices.

Download from App Store. Download from Google Play.


‣ CRUEL JEWELS.
Has a similar set up to Bejeweled, but it comes in different modes and stages. There's a voice over that narrates your score type: Brilliant, Marvelous, Absurd, Preposterous, and Inconceivable. The music is very calming and catchy. If you're just in it to spend time, playing the Continuous mode is a good way to go. Available only on Apple devices.

Download from App Store.


‣ WORD STRIKE.
You're given four hints, and you have to spell the one word that's similar between all of them. Created by Ticbits who also made a Mahjong app, which I would highly recommend playing. Both available only for Apple devices.

Download from App Store. Download Mahjong from App Store.


‣ TETRIS BLITZ.
Just a rendition of a lifelong favourite. The concept is the same, but it comes with incredible power-ups as well. So if anything, this is probably one of the apps that I plays the most. Available for both Apple and Android devices.

Download from App Store. Download from Google Play.


And that's all from me, I think. I know this is a late post, but it would have been earlier if it wasn't for the fact that we made dinner for so long! I hope you guys are having a good week, and I'll try to have more posts of actual note this season. If not, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

JetPens Mini-Review

So I've been longing for something from JetPens for, well, I don't even know how long anymore. Since I'm always in the market for new notebooks, I really wanted to buy something from them since I had the funds. I've had these notebooks for about a week now, and I've only used the black leather one. It's hard for me to do a proper notebook review, since I've never done it before.

What I can say is that these goods are high quality. The binding on the Kokuyo Campus A5 notebook is spectacular. I love the outer look of it, and the pages feel... sleek. It's hard to explain; it doesn't exactly feel like regular paper. It feels a lot smoother than regular notebooks; the Maruman B6 Cover Note feels the same as well.

The Maruman Cover Note looks sleek, and even though I've ruined the pages with my quick scripted short hand, I enjoy opening and using it every time. There are two different ribbons (the red and the black one), and I suppose that'll be useful in the long run.

The Pilot Hi-Tec-C Maica gel pen, though. Wow, now that's a beautiful tool there. It's 0.4mm, which is the smallest I've ever used before. I'm fascinated by the control, especially since it doesn't leak unnecessarily or have a lot of ink drag. On regular paper, the gel pen dries in about a second. On more sleek paper like the Maruman Cover Note, it takes about, hm, twenty seconds or so for it to dry without smearing. I absolutely love it. It's probably my most favourite thing out of what I bought. I'll let you all know, in the long run, if anything changes amongst these items (something breaks, or runs out, etc). Until then, just know that I'm pretty impressed with these purchases and will more than likely go back to them.

If you're interested in the individual items, here's the Kokuyo Campus, the Maruman Cover Note, and the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Maiga gel pen. And of course, feel free to check out JetPens' amazing inventory, and remember: tell 'em GDR sent ya.

Swift☆Stitch It All Together.

Thank you, Yasu, for bringing this to my attention.

So I started playing this game called Swift☆Stitch, and it's quite a game. It's very uncomplicated in its design, and it's a colourful puzzle game with a new twist on solving each level. It tests your reflexes like never before, and if you're in need of some serious training, this game is good for that. One of the cool things is that Swift☆Stitch actually comes with achievements as well. But be careful, glancing up to read them might result in you bashing your cursor into a wall.

The controls are simple to use. You can choose to use your mouse (as I did) or your keyboard, and all the while, you're accompanied with pretty nice background music. You can change your control settings, if you like; it's colourblind friendly(!), and you can even select one of the three different game modes. Even though the idea is to go fast, you can turn down or speed up your cursor through each level.

It's a good game; it's a fun game, and it can be hard. Because I left the speed on the default level of four, it was a bit more challenging for me that it might have been if I toned it down. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed myself. If you want to try out Swift☆Stitch, you can go visit the official homepage and download it for your Windows, OSX, or Linux system. You can even take it mobile — I guarantee it'll really help you pass the time.

Hope you like it, and if you do, tell 'er GDR (and Yasu) sent ya!

"I DON'T LIKE ME", but I Love This Song.

It's been a long, long time since I've dabbed into Aldious' music, and I'm so glad that I was on Ameblo when I was. After jumping from AKIRA's blog, I found myself on Re:NO's blog, and on her sidebar was a video for "I Don't Like Me". Re:NO really delivered this song, and the other members, each and every one of them, produced such a beautiful melody.

I'm sad that it's just a video sample, because I could listen to this song over and over. I've already played this video an innumerable amount of times as it is. It's been a while since I've touched a KERA magazine, or since I've listened to Jrock-esque music, especially from all girl bands. I'm trying to fix that up by listening to more dansou bands, and that's helping me rediscover my musical likes and loves.

If there is one song you have to listen to by Aldious, this would definitely be the one. I'm going to look around to see how I can buy the CD+DVD of "Damnation/I DON'T LIKE ME", and if I come up with anything, I'll be sure to let you know.

Further Down the Rabbit Hole: Alice in Wonderland Planner

I've been something of an unorganized mess, and I've been eying this planner for a really long time now. I bought this November 21th, and it didn't get to me until December 5th. The wait wasn't really that bad, if I'm to be completely honest. I wouldn't expect it to get here super fast considering the shipping was free.

All in all, I'm completely happy with it right now. It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be! It's the size of my hand and almost as wide with both my hands size by side. Here's a quasi-decent photo of its size.

To talk in detail about it a bit, it comes with a lot inside.

In the first section after the year calendar, there's a place to take a monthly account of your budget, and within that monthly, there's a weekly breakdown. It helps if you're doing a lot of online or personal spending. You can divide it up by living, dining, home dec, communication & tax, traffic (bus travel, I assume), savings, and more. It's extremely handy, and something I need to utilize in the future for sure. After the monthly budget, there's a brief diary section. I supposed where you can put little notes. Opposite every note page, there's an illustration from the original Alice story. The daily record follows next, and towards the end, there's a place where you can make notes about where you visit, concerts you plan to visit, and so on.

For such a small book, it has a lot to it, and I'm really thankful for it. It comes with diary stickers and four pages of stamps. I'm going to keep the stamps as collector items, I'm sure, and I'll use the index stickers scarcely. I'll try, ahahaha.

This is one of a few planners, but right now, I ultimately think that this one will be my favourite.

If you're interested in buying this planner, you can buy it directly from this listing or from cupidgift, the seller on eBay.

The Daily Lives of High School Idiots.

I hardly know where to begin with this one. After a long time of listening to otto and Yasu talk a lot about it, I finally decided to watch 男子高校生の日常 aka Daily Lives of High School Boys. I have to say that this anime is a lot more than I ever thought it would be. There's... a lot to it, and there's a lot to take in, but we're going to try to break down first impressions, mid-season thoughts, common thoughts, and final decree.

Thanks to Solus Lupus.

I've been pretty active on The Blogger Programme, getting the chance to scope out new businesses and other bloggers. I admit, it's a little overwhelming with everything else I've been planning and doing. So I come to you with this rather impromptu review.

The owner, Paris, is a complete darling, and we exchanged mails back and forth. I'm glad that we had the chance to talk because I've been interested in Solus Lupus for, I want to say, a few months now. Their items are incredibly minimalistic and neat. I've been itching to try things out, and so I got a chance to buy my own product.

It came to me yesterday, after a few day's travel. As you can see in the picture, the pillow box is a bit beat up. Quelle dommage as I find pillow boxes to be incredibly cute. Huuu. The part that made me smile was the handwritten note at the end of my receipt. Very, very sweet.

They're supposed to be above the knuckle rings, but since I have delicate anime fingers, it's impossible for me to find anything that fits as it should, but thankfully, I can still wear them as regular rings. I spent a solid $10 on these rings, and I was thankful to receive these.

The year's almost over; the holidays are closing in fast; and I've a few things planned for the following year. It's been rough and ridiculous, but thanks for being here throughout the blog's growth. Hopefully, by the New Year, I'll be ready to lift the veil and start things anew.

Juuuuust The Last of Us♪

Things have been incredibly slow around here, haven't they? Through the back and forth nonsense, I've managed to collect myself to talk about a game I really enjoyed.

The Last of Us is, from start to finish, a beautiful game. From the atmosphere to the character development, I feel like Naughty Dog really spoiled us this time around. The undead characters are frighteningly fantastic. There aren't numerous special infected nor are there too many 'boring' creatures. They're all, very honestly, amazingly creepy. And games like this usually make me wary to play, but this was good.

Despite all of the undead shenanigans, the truth of the matter is that humans will still be our greatest enemy. We know what the undead will do — they have a one track "mind", but humans are wild and unpredictable, and the more cornered they are, the more of a wild card they become. But the relationship between Joel and Ellie is probably one of my favourite things. From what I remember in playing it, there's little to no romantic structure in this game outside of the almost familial love between these two. It's a really dark game, and it's wonderfully orchestrated in all of its madness. I've breathed my sighs of relief. I've screamed and yelled at it. I've jumped away and completely abandoned the game for a little while, but it drove me on. Because it's gritty and bloody and sad and amazing.

The Last of Us is available for the PS3, and honestly, I think that it's a game worth playing in all of its hype. It's truly fantastic.

We All Need a Little Will & Grace.

I know that I've been gone a little while. Inspiration hasn't hit me this hard this much. For the past two months (or so), I've been rewatching one of my favourite TV shows ever made: Will & Grace. I watched it so religiously growing up; it was one of the staples in my pop culture life, I think, but more than that, it helped me understand a life that I would soon be rather familiar with. Though a lot of the references and celebrity name drops flew over my head, I was well enough in the know to place the special guests, you know. I was still relevant, heh.

Will & Grace meant a lot to me as a kid, but now that I'm an eighth regenerated adult, it means so much more. A lot of the topics strike home with me. Not just because of the namesake characters, but also because of Jack and Karen. I see a lot of myself in their trials and tribulations, in their crazy shenanigans and exaggerated lives. And I know I won't ever go through some of their issues (namely anonymous sex and wildly recreational drug abuse), but I still got a lot of the pain: family issues, spouse dysfunction, wondering if I'll ever be good enough to love, bouncing from career to career, bickering with friends. Sadly, a number of my problems can't be solved over a span of two episodes, and frankly haven't, but this show has given me a lot of insight.

GDR Book Club. Equal Rites

As I continue to rifle through my personal library, I picked up another book that has become a personal favourite simply because of the topic as well as the execution of its contents. It's a very worn book, but it looks well loved. Equal Rites was written by Terry Pratchett, and it's about the eighth daughter of an eighth son who is visited by a dying wizard. And this is a problem as in his final moments, as there is a lore against women being wizards. Did you not know? Well, it's all very interesting how little that all means in the end.

Anime-zing Finds! Anime Haul Part 2! Time for Fall.

I've been away for a while trying to juggle a few external things. And now, I'm sick or at least am on the sick train towards Unwellville. It's not fun, not at all, but I'll survive. In a previous installment, I talked about the anime I was watching, but I didn't get to talk about the rest of them. This one is going to be pretty short, but still honest nonetheless. I'm trying not to make these too, too lengthy, you know. With this, I'll wrap up with the anime I've taken interest in and the one that I've actually dropped. Speaking of which, let's start with the one that I dropped... almost immediately.

Shutterfly Away Now.

How was your Halloween, you all? Was it absolutely spooky for you? Did you share some haunting tales? I told a couple, and I hung out with otto and Yasu and co. It was otto's birthday, so yeah, happy belated to her, right. I hope you had the spookiest of days, and if you didn't do anything, I hope you enjoyed your weekend, and it was rather relaxing for you all the same.

Before I was encumbered with [incredibly fun] social responsibilities, I received a package in the mail. Andy and I made prints and bought them through Shutterfly.com. The quick of it is, is that we were waiting for these prints for a while, and they ended up coming a day late. Not too bad of a wait, honestly, but I was incredibly anxious because I really needed to make sure they got here when I needed them.

And voilà.

Just a Few Droplets.

So last night, I was cleaning out my email when I came across an old message I had sent to myself. Attached were some bookmarks I had. And I found this old gem. Droplets is a pixelated flash puzzle game hosted on Nitrome. Since it's been a while, I had to remember how to play the game, and so I'll share my nuggets of wisdom with you.

Such Lovely {papire}. Goods

I've been craving new notebooks and new little paper goods haunts to purchase them from for a while now. I won't even say how long. I follow a couple of stationery tags on tumblr, and in one of the tags, I came across {papire}., a cute little online stationery shoppe based in Singapore. I've bought from several Singaporean shoppes in the past and have never had a problem with any of them, honestly. The catch is that I've never bought from blog shoppes before, so I decided to take my faith in Singaporean sellers (and my money) and give it a shot.

Don't be a Dick... Blick Art Supply Get!

DickBlick! Their name has never failed to crack me up. I first learned about Dick Blick when I was a sophomore in high school. otto was the the one who originally told me about the company. I was always interested in them, but I never really thought that I would buy anything from them. I always refer to them when certain supplies come to mind, like art pens and coloured pencils. But this time around, I was itching to get my hands on a new sketchbook, absolutely dying for it. And I was looking around for something that would fit my tastes. I ended up saving... a lot of sketchbooks on my Dick Blick account, but the one I ended up going with was the Canson 180HB 3.5 x 5.5 Sketchbook.

Anime-zing Finds! Anime Haul Summer & Early Fall

I'm slowly getting back into my old interests, which is great! Aside from video games, I found myself slipping right back into a familiar niche—this one belonging to anime. I've been all over the place these few months. My summer and beginning of fall have been filled with keeping current or catching up with series. And this is going to be a long, long talk about everything I've seen. Or rather, those I care to make notes of.

So sit tight and maybe grab a pen and pencil if you want to note down some favourites or things you want to watch.

GDR Book Club. Pretend You Don't See Her

Another library bought classic. I say "classic", but. This book is by another female author named Mary Higgins Clark. As you can see, I bought this book with no cover, so to understand it's plot, you'd have to read this. Or read my overview of what it was about.

There's a woman named Lacey Farrell who lives in the busy city of Manhattan, New York as a realtor. Things tumble out of control when she's showing off a co-op for a possible buyer. One thing leads to another, and she ends up being a witness to a murder. A very interesting pretense for a book. In the forward, Mrs. Clark expressed how much research she put into learning about the process of being put into witness protection as well as the legal jargon that goes along with it. Very good, very believable. You not only follow Lacey; you follow her mother, sister, and brother-in-law's family. You follow Jimmy Landi; Ed Salone and Nick Mars, two NYPDs on the case; and you follow the murderer who's hunting Ms. Lacey down.

I feel... rather empty about the book. The book is 65 chapters in total, a few are remarkably shorter than the others. I cruised through 40-something chapters all last night, and I just. I'm not sure how to feel. The book is a good read, definitely. I don't feel excited or moved; I hardly even find the conclusion satisfactory. I just... read it, you know. I felt driven enough to finish this, but in return, I was only given mixed feelings. I'm not sure how much I enjoyed the book. I feel mildly indifferent, in a confusing way. It wasn't bad by any means; I just feel at a loss.

Why don't you check it out and give me your feedback. I'd love to know if the same mixing feelings stir and swell in your cores as well.

Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

Today is the day of games, apparently. While waiting for someone at Wal-Mart, I was browsing over the games and demos they had on display. I first played Ni no Kuni in French, but then this rhythmic little ditty caught my eye. Ooh, I had to play this.

I've never heard of the Runner series, but it turns out there are superheroes going after a dastardly evil. They chase the villain into Hyperspace (ooh), but only one of them gets sucked into an alternative, musical dimension. Runner2 is a side-scrolling, platformer. There's a narrator when the game starts and for each world, whose voice is booming and comical.

This is a good way to spend time; it's mentally engaging without being entirely taxing. Every stage is vivid and brings its own charm. If I can get my hands on this game for longer than a speed run through one world, I would definitely spend some time on it.

I played Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien on the PS3. You can download it for PS3, Xbox360, and Wii U; you can also get it for Windows, Mac, and Linux. In the future, it's gonna be released for the PS Vita and for iOS. If you're interested in this title, look it up for download, and also give Gaijin Games your support.

Let's Play: Scarlet

I've been trying to get into games again. For those of you who don't know, I used to be an intense gamer—borderline addictive during the summertime. And I've also been looking for a way to incorporate my love of games into this here blog.

Well, thankfully I tripped over Scarlet. I was reading through some blogs I follow, when I came across this little gem. I just finished playing it, and I had to write about it. You play the first person of an adulterer, and your primary objective is to hide all of the evidence from your wife, who unexpectedly came home early. How scandalous.

I don't condone adultery or cheating in real life; nor do I find it charming or amusing. Morality aside, I laughed quite a bit at the end of this game. I beat it in two tries. It took me two times because the mouse control is incredibly sensitive, and I'm used to playing Mabinogi MMOs. It's a very, very quick game.

You have to download it onto your computer and click the HTML file to play it in your browser. You can beat it in under five minutes; this is what I used as my personal timer. If you want to play this.... incredibly scandalous, ridiculously charming game, feel free to head over to The Escapist, and download it for yourself.

GDR Book Club. The Potter's Field

I've had this book for close to... eight years or so? Probably a little less than that. I bought this at the local library for $1. This book is the 17th (wow) in its series, and prior to this title, I've never heard of Brother Cadfael nor have I heard of the author Ellis Peters.

That being said, this book is pretty great.

A RWBY in the Rough

I've talked a bit about this show at length when it was getting ready to be announced and then when it first debuted. Then I pointedly went silent. Well, there's a reason behind it all. RWBY, for those who don't know, is a project by Monty Oum in tandem with Rooster Teeth. It's a fully 3D animated show with four female leads at its helm.

I didn't want to give my episode-by-episode thoughts on the series when it first came out. Now it's currently eleven episodes strong with a twelfth coming out this week.

Well, what exactly do I think about this hardcore shoujo-style series? At first glance, I could say that it's very typical, but that is at first glance.

You Can Call Me "The Cat Lady"

Well, not me in specific. Susan Ashworth is the woman you can append the typically unsavoury title. What's strange is that I can't stop thinking about this game. I literally cannot stop thinking about this game. It has some strong characters and language in there with some overhanging dark themes throughout.

In the very beginning of the game, we hear Susan's soft, charming tone speaking to us, but she's not just speaking. She's reading out her suicide letter before the world twists and turns and leaves us (and Susan) in a field of wheat.

I won't go into too much detail about the game, but it spans across different topics of death and human immorality. This game isn't for the squeamish as by no means spares the gore when it does appear. The game isn't without a message or motive, which you learn as you come across characters such as Liz, Mitzi, and even Brian, a dreaded, despicable man in Susan's apartment. Do I recommend this game? Yes, of course. I recommend that you play this game after playing Downfall. It will give something of back story to the current setting and helps understand a scene towards the end of The Cat Lady.

The Cat Lady was made by Screen 7, and this game is worth checking out if you absolutely can. You can go to the official website and buy the game for $9.99. There are also several areas to buy the game, such as Steam and Desura, so you don't have to worry. If you like The Cat Lady, be sure to give them your support, and you can even buy the DLC for it as well.

The Cat Lady is available for Windows PC and Mac. For Mac, you'll have to use Crossover 12.0 with OS X 10.8.2, so please be aware of that. If you do play the game, remember: tell 'em GDR sent ya, and enjoy.

GDR.はカワイイ日本の居住者？！

Okay, so not quite. A little misleading information, but in a way, it's still true. I've become a resident for Fukuoka city's newest ward, Kawaii-ku (カワイイ区). The interesting thing about it is that this is a ward that exists purely and solely online. As of writing this, they have 41'712 members. With me being the newest one! I'm sorry; it's just very exciting.

Now why am I a Kawaii-ku resident? I learned about it because of Micaela, a Canadian vlogger who lives in Japan, specifically in Fukuoka. Recently, she was elected mayor of Kawaii-ku, and wants to spread the meaning of Kawaii throughout the world. Now, you can go to the official web site and learn more about it. Right now, there aren't many features to being an international resident, but I still think it's very cool. And so I decided to join the mission as it's something I believe in and is led by someone I enjoy and believe in as well.

Head on over to the Kawaii-ku official web site to learn more.

Learn more about Mayor Micaela Braithwaite on her official blog.

Gatsy Moving Rubber GET!

It's a beautiful Monday, and everything seems to be going pretty well. Aside from the fact that Google is having some issues with Gmail, I'm feeling pretty productive. And to make everything better, I got my free Gatsby Moving Rubber Hair Wax in the mail.

I was on YouTube when I saw an ad talking about a giveaway for the first 500 applicants. The giveaway is closed now though. Guess they got everyone rallied up. Not gonna lie, didn't think I was going to get anything, but hey! What d'ya know. I've wanted Gatsby since my Jrock glory years (bandwise and fanwise). I'm glad I finally got some; I just lack the longer tresses.

The one I got was the Gatsby Wild Shake, for achieving a wild and messy look with short & medium short hair. For the interested and the health conscious, here are the ingredients.

I'm not sure how often they do giveaways (or if they're done for now), but visit the Gatsby channel and keep a lookout for their next hooplah. They also look like they have some nice videos, so check those out too, I guess. And if you do, tell 'em GDR sent ya.

iPad App: App Icons

I like customizing my devices—my phone, my iPad, my computers. If it can be personalised, I'm usually down for trying something new. And I wanted to try something new for my iPad since I rarely ever do anything aside from play games on it. So I decided to by App Icons by Tap Nation from the iTunes App Store.

Let me quickly preface all of this by saying that I wish I could get my money back.

When I first saw the listing, it was $1.99, but when you click the actual link, it comes up as $3.99; I'm not sure why. ($1.99 Google vs $3.99 iTunes).

Below, I've decided to give my thoughts and a descriptive overview of the application, and why it would just be better off saving your money.

Let's Play With Our Doll $ BOXX.

Look at these darling ladies. They've been around since 2012, but steam just built on them this month (at least on tumblr). I saw their video "Ｔａｋｅ　Ｍｙ　Ｃｈａｎｃｅ" circulating on tumblr, and I just bypassed it. But one of my friends directly sent me the video, and I checked it out.

They start cute and sugary sweet at first, but then they kick down the walls almost instantly. I was extremely taken aback by the power of their voices. The singer, Fuki, has a very strong singing tone that carries. I know that it's been a while since my last music review, but I can get with these ladies.

They have a lot of potential, and their song is extremely catchy. Be sure to check out their video and show them some love. To them, I say

「Doll $ BOXXさん、そのビデオはスゲーだ！お疲れさまですとファイト！」

The GRAVITY of Our Situation

Let me apologize in advance because this is a long review/first impression post about the movie.

Yasu was given two free tickets to see the movie via Klout (,which until today I've never heard of so you get nothing about it from me). I first heard about the movie because it was talked about on the Rooster Teeth podcast, and I learned Sandra Bullock and George Clooney were in the movie together. Now, they are two completely different actors, and so that made me very interested in seeing this film. I never would have thought I was going to see this movie. Ever.

Despite having the opportunity, I'm sad to say that I wasn't really stoked on seeing it. I'm glad that, as the movie went on, my feelings did a complete, galactic 180°.

TheLEEs of Your Worries

This review has been a long time coming. Before it sort of slipped my mind because of the crazy amount of moving and driving I did, but I got this garment last year sometime. I can't exactly remember when; it was about December-ish. This was actually a gift, so I can't review too much about the shop itself as I didn't personally shop from there.

My man Andy, you may know him from this post, surprised me with this garment. I've always been a fan/long time admirer of TheleesShop. For those who aren't aware, TheleesShop is a men's fashion store spanning from casual to formal with extremely reasonable prices.

DRAMATical MUGS — An Inkgarden Review

This is actually a very special (and exciting!) review, because I've been aching to do something creative for the longest time. I'm happy to say that with my friend's help, we were able to create some amazing mugs and printed them using InkGarden. We looked around for a few hours (two or three) for a proper place to customize mugs. The unfortunate thing is that we were looking for two-tone mugs, but we couldn't find places that would print two tone mugs for a good price without being wholesale. We settled for plain white, and the result was absolutely spectacular.

One Free Persona-lity Test

I looked for the source for two hours and found nothing.

I know that it's been quite a while since I last talked about Persona 3 FES. Where I was interning last, I didn't play many video games, so I had to put it on paused. I moved to three different houses—and it's just been on pause and now that I finally started playing again, it's been too hot for me to want to change rooms to go enjoy it. I'm almost at the end of it all, and I finally get to put all of my thoughts to paper.

Or something like that. Let's get started.

GDR Book Club. A Trace of Smoke

I should call this, "The Incomplete Edition" because I couldn't bring myself to finish this book.

I know that makes it sound like as though this book is awful, but it's not. It takes place in circa 1931 Berlin. The world is ripe with Hitler's presence, and war is in the air. It's an interesting setting considering everything I've read from this time period (or within the Nazi Era) has been heartbreaking in one way or another. But this was a pleasant turn. We live life through Hannah Vogel's life. She's a reporter and the first thing we witness is the heartache of her losing her younger brother, Ernst.

Hannah's story so far is very simple. While she's trying to figure out what happened to her brother, she reports on a high-brow molestation (I believe it was) case, and deals with the sexual underside of Berlin chasing clues about Ernst's disappearance. She runs into a lovely man during the trial and some days later, she gets stuck with a some mysterious kid.

The story is very... simple as far as living someone's life. It's slow and takes a lot of effort to concentrate on. The story doesn't 100% grab me all the time, and when it does, it only lasts for a few scenes. This is a book that I have to read very slowly over time (purposefully, unlike The False Prince) to try to digest it all. It's not really my favourites, and hopefully, if/when I finally do get through it, I will have more to say.

Return From Savannah

Savannah was an amazing trip. I had a lot of fun, and I got to kick back for a while and try out new projects. In that time, I collected a lot of my thoughts and got a good, hard look at how things are going with my life right now.

That being said, I wanted to update on one of the posts that I made. The eyeliners I swatched for the makeup post I did last time lasted quite a while. The Wet and Wild liners lasted two or so days longer (after showers, numerous hand washings, rain, etc), and the Ulta lasted the same amount, plus a few hours. The Avon one, my Spectra Define, lasted three and a half days longer when it was all said and done.

I was trying to get a semi-decent look of everything. Not sure if you can quite see the Avon line there. Everything else (the three Wild and Crazy and the Ulta liners) are incredibly light/completely gone. This was an unintentional experiment. I just couldn't be bothered to remove them shortly after the review, but I am amazed at their staying power.

Anyway, I'll see you all next time.