This weekend flew by!!!! Maybe because I was out of the house so much? idk. The unicorn kigus for my nuis finally arrived, so I just had to get them new accessories ;D


including a second miniature shopping cart to go with the one I already own, so they can each have one ;D
Seriously, it was a weekend of going places so I could get them things XD We went to Towson Towne Centre on Friday- partially to drop off my ps2 at the retro game store for repairs and partially to look at Claire's for accessories. The unicorn kigus are a different aesthetic than their other ones, so of course they need new stuff. I'm trying to go for more of a cutesy deco look to match the brighter colors, which is a little harder to make with just stuff I have sitting around the house.

We also swung by Ebisu (again) to look for cute stuff + get more snacks and then got bubble tea, because what is my life if not a quest for more excuses to get bubble tea? Gong Cha is doing a collab with Line right now and I got a free keychain with purchase, which goes really well with my ita bag imho.

On Saturday, Liz wasn't feeling well, so Pat and I went questing for nui accessories!!!! I had seen something cute in Claire's the night before but couldn't make up my mind before closing time, so we tried going to the Claire's in Security Square Mall by our house. Key word: tried. Apparently, that location has been closed for over a year but no one updated Google or Yelp :T

So!!!! Onwards, to perhaps the most overstimulating place in the world: Arundel Mills Mall. It's sooooooooooooo stressful and way too huge and I fucking love it XD I gotta remember to take my Bakura and Marikku nuis with me someday so I can take pictures of them at the Ancient Egyptian-themed movie theater...I just keep forgetting until I'm at the mall itself.

BUT FUTURE NUI ADVENTURES ASIDE. Liz wasn't there to watch us, so Pat and I were drawn in by the siren call of the Books-A-Million...the manga section called to us!!! I grabbed the newest volume of the P5 manga + Fangs volume 3 - someday I'll get a hold of volume 2, but Tokyopop fucking hates me I guess!!! - and Pat got the first volume of The Summer Hikaru Died (which I think I'm gonna steal and read too).

And then the fucking Lindt store got me!!!!!!!! They were handing out free samples and I can never resist a good piece of chocolate...plus I'd been meaning to check them out for awhile. I used to love picking up a few truffles + a decadent drink from the Godiva store, and I've missed it ever since they closed all their stores ;w; The Lindt store does have fancy drinks, but I hadn't eaten proper food before heading out so I didn't try them- this time. I did get a small bag of truffles, though ;D

I also managed to get all the way to the food court and feed myself without throwing a tantrum, despite being wildly overstimulated and achy...since of course I forgot to take my meds, too. Pat and I were both like "shit we should celebrate, this won't happen again" XD

OH WAIT I SKIPPED OVER THE MOST IMPORTANT STORE!!!! Rumi Life, aka the adorable stationary/accessories/home goods/etc store!!!!!!!! I got a miniature shopping cart there a year or so ago because I couldn't resist it, and I figured they might have some stuff for my nuis. And they did; I got a clip on bow for Madara and another shopping cart. This one is also a scooter! tbh the nuis are great because now I have an excuse for all the cute shit I always wanna buy ♥ I use it for them~~~~


you just know I had to take the boys with me, into the desolate wasteland of a dying store~
Today we all went out to Joanns....our location isn't quite closed yet but it's definitely winding down ;w; Since it's one of the last ones, they keep getting shipments from the warehouse/stores that closed already, which is how we managed to score a great deal on a Cricut EasyPress in its largest size :D Pat's wanted one for awhile and tbh I'm excited for it, since I'm still having nightmares from carefully ironing on all that gold heat transfer vinyl to Double Face's Last Mission coats. This thing has precise temperature control, so it'll make things much easier in the future :D

We grabbed dinner at Red Robin + more cat food for Lumos, since we now have to keep her stocked on expensive wet food. I love her dearly, but girl. She's killing my wallet XD

Oh and then we got ice cream!!! Liz had wanted a milkshake at Red Robin but they were kinda overpriced + we had many more errands at the time, so we ended up swinging by one of our favorite places on the drive home. I'm always ready to fuckin CRUSH one of those soft serve + butterfingers blended things, and they're the best place to get them (especially since Sonic stopped carrying butterfingers for some reason).


( come see more nui pictures from the weekend~~~~~ )

I'm also not feeling great today :T Liz has been feeling sick all weekend (and also the end of the work week, honestly) and I'm worried that I caught it. I know I'm a house spouse at this point, but ever since I had covid a second time I've had so much trouble with being sick. If I get sick, I stay sick for longer than anyone else in the household. I used to shake things within a couple days, and now it takes weeks- sometimes months ;w;

So basically I'm just nervous that I'm gonna be sick for the next month, since that's what keeps happening to me. I'm really not looking forward to it...FINGERS CROSSED I'm not actually sick, or I can at least get over it quickly.

I did some grinding in the JP event but tbh I don't think I have it in me to get Hokuto....I'm supposed to be playing for fun and I don't wanna burn myself out on a game I really like D: Which is kinda disappointing but also like, it is what it is you know?

SUCK IT, PAST KILLIAN!!!! ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE WHEN YOU STAY UP PAST 5 IN THE GOD DAMN MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!


I don't even have the pieces to unlock him but whatever, Hokuto is mine :D
I just didn't wanna miss out on the first event of the "new year" (since enstars rolls over when the anniversary is, aka the end of April) and I'm stupid. This is why my sleep schedule is shot XD I'll say I'm not as impressed as last year's, but last year's was Ringing evil phone so that's a tough act to follow. In general I tend to enjoy enstars events, though I'm still withholding judgment on this next round of main story events...I guess I'll see what the next part of that holds in a couple weeks.

Also it's this asshole's birthday next week, so I switched up my engstars profile some for him~ I'm also delighted that we finally have the unit banners for "I have too damn many fans of all the characters in this unit" so I can flex my love of Double Face ;D


I guess I could change my featured cards to match the color story better, but I like them too much so they're staying ♥
I've had the Crisis Core soundtrack on repeat still, because it's just really good okay ;w; I was gonna work on grinding out more trophies in Rebirth or running around in the OG FFVII, but I'm torn...what if I just replayed the Crisis Core remake instead?????? IT'S REALLY GOOD AND I LOVE ZACK A LOT. LOVE ME A TRAGIC HIMBO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or I could finally beat FFVII: Remake but I got stuck at the final fucking motorcycle fight and even Liz hasn't been able to beat it so like. FUCK ME I GUESS!!!! I'm just mad at anything involving vehicles in games...

Also also I need more icons of Zack...I have a decent amount of FFVII ones backed up from what I had on GJ, but that was slightly before Crisis Core came out originally...so I only have a few of him. I'm gonna have to go through the depths of LJ in hopes of finding not dead links and/or make my own, I guess!

look idc if I just updated like an hour ago: I DID IT!!! I got Kohaku to rank A and finally got to take him on the biggest uppy in LIMIT BREAK DREAMERS!!! ♥

Watch on YouTube

So uhhhhh that's it, that's all I've got, I'm just pleased as punch *w*

Today was....better than yesterday in some ways, because I actually managed to get out of bed before noon. Yaaaaaay! My whole body has been complaining about everything I fucking do these days, and it's really been knocking me out ;w; But I'm trying to get up and moving more in hopes that it'll help.

I did some grinding in the JP event but tbh I don't think I have it in me to get Hokuto....I'm supposed to be playing for fun and I don't wanna burn myself out on a game I really like D: Which is kinda disappointing but also like, it is what it is you know?

Highlight of the day: taking the boys to Pizza Hut (to make up for the slight of taking them to Little Caesars, aka not the pizza chain that Double Face had a collab with)


yes, the sign stuck out from the wall just enough to prop some nuis in~


they had a "ranch tasting flight" and I couldn't resist!!! tbh it was pretty good, even if the pepperoni "ranch" barely qualifies as a ranch; it tastes like straight up liquid pepperoni somehow?????
Other than that, I think I'm gonna be able to get Kohaku to 75k fans today in CN, which means I'll be able to take him on the BIGGEST UPPY in LIMIT BREAK DREAMERS!!!!!!! I've wanted to be able to do this since it hit JP last year, but grinding for fans is haaaaard. Or, no, it's not hard, it's just very time consuming. There's no real way to rush it. But I'm almost there!!!!! Madara isn't very far behind, so I'm just very excited *w* I thought I'd have to wait the many years it would take for it to hit ENG.....

Oh! The shopping center with the Pizza Hut is one of those ones where Everything Must Be The Same Color, and that color is dark green. Okay, whatever, I don't design shopping centers, but I do find it neat when I see one where even big chains have to fit the mold. And this one had a Wendy's- key word, had. When we went to leave, I noticed that it had been painted gray and all the windows were covered/painted over?????? Which is just a shame; I love seeing uniquely colored fast food chains. Even if it was just the outside, it made it ~different~ and now I'm sad it's gone D:

Also it was one of the closest Wendy's, so fuck me I guess XD I hope they put something fun where it was, or at least another fast food chain I like!!!

and I made myself sad all day listening to the Crisis Core soundtrack sobs it's just so good ;w;

I FINISHED FINAL FANTASY VII: REBIRTH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I say "finished" because I had to get my big strong gamer wife to finish off the final fight for me; Sephiroth was kicking my ass ;w; I'M A REAL GAMER, I SWEAR, I'VE BEATEN THE PS1 VERSION A BUNCH I JUST SUCK AT DODGING.

Also we stayed up until nearly 2 am last night finishing it, followed by me, Liz, and Pat going on a celebratory Taco Bell run at ass o'clock in the morning XD Someone shot the menu screen since we'd last been there??? Which is really only shocking because it's a slightly more suburb-ish part of Baltimore, not the city. idk. I'm unfazed because that's just living in the city, babeeeey. I grew up like this~

Anyway I have a lot of feelings about it, just, in general and also as a remake of the original. I don't have all the brain power to put them down and if I wait until I do, I'm never gonna write another entry XD LIFE IS HARD. I just. It's such a good game and the original was formative to me as a teenager, so I had VERY HIGH STANDARDS for a remake that's made as many changes at it has. I was also incredibly disappointed with the first remake, so I went into this expecting nothing and was completely blown away.

tl;dr final fantasy good, ff7 is overhyped for a REASON, I'm about to go play through the ps1 version again while I wait years for the next part of the remake (which is perhaps the worst part of the remake, ngl)

And then my ps2 was having issues - probs because it's over 20 years old, was used as the family DVD player for years, and is modded - and didn't wanna read ps1 games D: Thankfully we also have Liz's ps2, so that's good!!! But I'll be taking my ps2 to the local retro game store this week for a tuneup and/or laser replacement.


anyway the first thing I did to my save file from 2004 was make it gay pride XD
Besides FFVII basically consuming my life for the past few days weeks, I've been on a bit of TOO MUCH IS HAPPENING in enstars because all three servers have anniversary stuff going on (because that's how anniversaries work) and it's kinda overwhelming. I'm enjoying the 3k fans for every character thing in JP, but I kinda don't like that you can't play the songs with stamina/towards the event. So I'm basically playing 9 songs a day that don't count towards event grinding...which is to say I'm super behind on the event. I wanted to get the 5* from it because 1) I like Hokuto and 2) first event of the year, but idk if I have it in me.

bluhhhhhh

BUT!!! It was Leo's birthday this week, and that was exciting!!! I bought a couple of his old event cards in eng and unlocked some of his cards in jp, and all around was very excited for my big dumb orange cat of a man XD

( some Leo-related screenshots~ )

a final parting gift: the ps2-specific HDMI cord we use has to be configured when you first use it on a ps2, and we hadn't used it on Liz's ps2 yet, sooooooo..........ff7 be lookin' a little more green than usual XD

I changed my laptop wallpaper today, because I got lost on pixiv + I wanted something summery~


art by 芦 ♥
Love how the only major change since the last time I posted my laptop bg is that I've added more versions of enstars to it XD I have good taste, I swear! Also finally remembered to include a shortcut to the control panel for mewdragon's online reader...since it's a weird url that I can never remember :T

Other than that, I've been fussy about the new enstars UI but not for major reasons, just more that I have muscle memory and only one of the versions I play has changed. I still play in ENG + CN and they won't be getting the UI change for yearssssss so I'm just struggling. And it's partially glitchy from being a massive change, so I have to be patient...something I'm bad at XD

I usually try to make the maximum amount of icons for challenges/contests I enter, but I'm still feeling burnt out ;w; I managed to pull together the minimum 5 for monthlyinspo, but most of them I'd made earlier in the month...bluh. I'm not happy with most of what I made, either.

BAD CREATIVITY BRAIN SUUUUUUUUUUUCKS!!!!!

I did get the 5* from Sena's event today, at least!!! I don't even like him that much, but 1) the song slaps, 2) the aesthetic slaps, and 3) I'm trying to get as many copies of Leo's 4* from it as possible, which means I'm potentially getting two copies of the 5* XD


Senaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~~~~~~ real talk tho I've been looking forward to this event for over a year; Or the Beautiful Golden Drop is hands down my favorite Knights song *w*
okay back to the jp event~ I'm not gonna get Hokuto from sitting on my ass ;D

THE NEW UI IS HERE AND I HAVE....MIXED FEELINGS!!!!!! But mostly positive!!!!!!!!! Overall, I like a lot of the new aspects...which unfortunately means most of my gripes are about the function, not the form.


WELCOME TO THE NEW HOME SCREEN!!!!!! I honestly love how colorful and fun it is- it reminds me a lot of original Love Live, in a good way! I love that it's not afraid to be bright and almost tacky, especially when so many games lean towards minimalism :D
HOWEVER................I hate that a lot of the important features are now hidden behind buttons, including things I'd like to be able to see at a glance. BP (stamina), work tickets, and diamonds are now accessed by clicking the big star in the upper left that displays your rank, which looks cool but they don't belong within a menu. They're the sort of things that should be right there when you login. I also don't like that Story and Cards are no longer on the home screen- they're within the big star in the bottom right that says Produce, which is where most of the important shit is.

okay okay okay I'm not trying to write a tutorial here XD I've had a lot of reactions since it came back online approx ~24 hours ago...and now it's down for pre-event maintenance, hence why I'm rambling here.

There's also just a lot of hiding important things that shouldn't be hidden, imho. In the office item purchasing screen, it no longer tells you how many of each item you already have, unless you click on yet another button. The theme here is "plz put that back where you found it so help me" I guess :T

Seriously, the new UI is already bright and full of a bunch of fun shapes, I promise that keeping a few numbers/small images on there won't hurt. It'll just add to the organized chaos that I'm pretty sure they're going for! IT'S OKAY TO SHOW US INFO I PROMISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't wanna just be negative above the cut, so lemme say some more things I like~


the MEGA PHONE screen is honestly delightful- I think it's so fun!!!! I just wish that MV fitting room didn't take quite so many menus to get to :T

( many more images + new UI discussion under the cut, because I have a lot of feels )

OKAY. Okay. This was a lot of post, mostly about the JP enstars app, so lemme finish it off with proof that I actually left my house today: the boys at Costco~

THE ENSTARS MAINTENANCE WAS EXTENDED MY LIFE IS OVERRRRRRRRRRR

okay now that that's out of my system...I'm not gonna lie, I'm very sad to have to wait an additional 24 hours to play around the with the new UI...at least there's a lot of good stuff going on in the ENG and CN servers - particularly my favorite anniversary event!!!! - so I can play with that, but still ;w;

Anyway, all I did today was play FFVII and get lost in enstars on my phone. Uh. I live a productive life, I swear XD


Cloud went on a chocobo date with Aerith (and kept fucking it up in very autistic ways, not helped by all their friends tagging along)

( more ff7 screenshots in here! )

tbh I feel like I accidentally burnt myself out on icon making for the next week or so. I entered a bunch of challenges for like...a month straight? Which was a ton of fun!! But now I'm kinda overdone on it I guess? Or more like my creativity is fried, probably because I made so many in such a short period- for me at least. idk I know some people make a lot more faster, but not me! The fact that I've made around 200 icons this year is a lot for me, and it's something I'm quite proud of! I guess I just need to chill out for a bit.

BLUH.

ANYWAY. Ending this on a more positive note: I managed to get Kohaku's newest 4* in CN!!!!


I love that he looks so fucking cute and it's all because it's Mayoi vision XD thx Mayoi, for making Kohaku seem so precious ♥


also, the newest worldwide mission outfit dropped in CN today, and it is delightfully fruity- it looks like a mix of "gay sailor" and "little Victorian boy", and I'm here for it ;D

I FINISHED KOHAKU'S BIG BOW TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So clearly it was time to take the nuis on an ~adventure~
Also, Pat and I had avoided going to the new Ebisu yesterday and could not pull that off again XD We wanted to see the (relatively) new Japanese store!!!

....but first we went to Chili's for dinner. It had a wait and I was really hungry and I had to work very hard not to throw a tantrum in the Chili's entryway, because I'm the strongest. It ended up being fine and the food was good and I survived waiting XD I was feeling particularly whiny and difficult earlier, which suuuuucked.

BUT EBISU WAS REALLY GOOD!!!! It has its own parking lot in Towson, which is a big plus! Also if this place had been there when I was in college, I would have been even more broke than I already was XD Pat I both kept marveling at how much it would have destroyed our finances back then, lmao.

Honestly, I was having a bad pain day so didn't stay as long as I would have liked...which was maybe a good thing? XD They had a lot of tasty looking snacks that I don't usually see at H Mart or Lotte Market, so I will definitely be going back to peruse more of those.

And then we came home and farted around for awhile, but tbh we had originally gone out for bubble tea - cuz a lot of bubble tea places are super cute for optimal nui photoshoot options - and then we didn't end up going. And I started working on this entry at like 9:45 pm, at which point I got disappointed that we never got bubble tea...

NEVER FEAR, GONG CHA IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of their locations is open until 11 pm on the weekends, so we went back out~ However, they were out of boba...and a lot of other things.....but whatever, we had a nice time AND I got cute pictures ♥


they look so cute in the ita bag now!!!!!!!

( even more pics from the nui adventure! )

Anyway! I'm now very satisfied and exhausted. The JP enstars server is down for 24 hours of maintenance to roll out the new UI, so I'm sad it's and nervous about what it'll be like ;w; But the merge game has hit the ENG server + my favorite Knights event is happening, so it's not all bad.

ALSO I MAXED MY FIRST EVER GACHA CARD IN ENSTARS BY HAVING TWO COPIES OF REI'S FIRST FEATURE SCOUT COME HOME WITHIN 3 SCOUTS OF EACH OTHER??????


I was expecting it to be one of the multiple cards I have 4 copies of but nope!!!! Rei pulled ahead XD

( just more enstars squeeing and shit in here )

aaaaand I think I'm gonna play for FFVII~ baibai!

After buying all the ribbon and shit a few weeks ago, I finally finished one of the projects I bought it for!!!!!! I made a big cute bow for my Madara nui!!!!!!!!!!!!!


lookit him and his big dumb bow he's so cuuuuuuuuuute
It was very frustrating at times, because I'm actually terrible at making bows- this has been a problem since I was trying to make lolita outfits in my late teens and apparently I still struggle with them ;w; BUT I DID IT!!!! I conquered my fears and pushed through to make something adorable ♥

ALSO LIZ GOT ME A GIFT!!!!!!!!!


adorable kohamada pins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They're so sweet *w* They're also playing the horrendous card game mini game that's part of FFVII Rebirth, because we needed more mini games????(We didn't) But it hits in the right part of their autism brain, so they've been having fun.