So my plan for Eirtakon in October this year is to go as Sora from Kingdom Hearts 2. But not just in his plain self, I’m going to go as him in one of his “Drive Forms” – basically alternate coloured costumes. However, I can’t pick which one, so I’m asking for a little help with this

All five of his Drive Forms can be found here: http://www.finalfantasyworld.co.uk/khextreme/kh2/kh2_drivemode.php

There are the three more basic options in the Valor, Wisdom and Master forms.

However, there’s also the more complicated choices in his Final form, and finally the biggie – his Anti form.

Any ideas what you think would go well? I’m not going to say what one(s) I think would work best until a bit further down just in case it influences your decision

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Right, this should be far enough.

While I would love to try Anti form, it’d be too much work, especially with the all-black might mean the character is unrecognisable!

Personally, the two I’m thinking of doing one of are firstly Final form, and if that doesn’t work out Wisdom form.

Either way, I seriously hope I can get this sorted for October. It might seem like ages away but it’s closing in really fast

Usually I don’t mind being under the weather, but what with recently been trying to make more gaming videos, and this massive coughing fit rendering me completely incapable of doing so, lest my commentary be broken off every minute or so as I feel yet another tickle in my throat.

Another reason for groaning is after noticing how packed up my calendar is looking over the next few months, which is likely to get worse as more things are arranged over the next few weeks. Especially all the few weeks leading from mid-June through July…
If you really want to, the public view of my calendar (encompassing college, gaming, and selected public events – but only showing my free/busy status of personal events) is viewable on the contact page. And then you too can groan with me…

At least you don’t have to see my view of my calendar, which also shows public holidays, Facebook events, Facebook birthdays, sporting events…

Will probably write something soon, especially as I found a bunch of pictures on my old camera’s memory stick that I never took off of it and looked at.

Also really need to do that “A Bear Mind” I told myself I would.

Argh, I blame my shitty calendar (see the Contact page for my embedded shared Google Calendar…)

Tomorrow, yes?

Only real issue is that I have no idea what to talk about. So, I suppose maybe I could go on about some of the odd mugs that Crispy has dotted around his room somewhere, that he never uses.

So, this first one is his Sylvester shaped mug. Not sure when he got it, but I know it was from some store in Liffey Valley, and was definitely at least 6 or 7 years ago, because at this stage I was still Aoife’s bear.

Crispy's Sylvester Mug

Next up is this odd little mug that is apparently from Crispy’s christening. Thus making it at least 19 years old, almost twice my age! On the back it says: “Bunnykins celebrate your christening”. I have know idea who Bunnykins is, and I definitely don’t think it’s Baby Bunny.

Crispy's Christening Mug

And finally there’s his mug from Gaelcon 2008. Himself and Seán from college went and bought a pair of mugs, of which only 72 were made, and each one is numbered. Since they went so early they got some of the best choices of witty numbering systems. Crispy settled for number 3, while Seán got number 42 – and I think you can figure out what is written on the bottom!

Crispy's Gaelcon 08 Mug

Crispy's Gaelcon Mug Number

So, ummm, yea. We can haz Blacknight mug nao, kthxbai?

Just go there, and watch how everyone willingly shows how they are a fucking moron by making a mockery of our national holiday by thinking it’s all about drinking, and by spelling it wrong.

Eejits, the lot of them.

And while you’re at it, tag everything you write today with that hashtag. Hopefully then that’ll help to get the word across.

Don’t judge me, just… do whatever.

Alright, maybe it’s more about the one plan – meet up again with many people, reconnect and chat away. But after the bear’s "Wall of Fame" last year and his trip up to Rick’s host platform, I’m wondering about what sort of party pieces I’ll make him do this year

I want to get some feedback from everyone, mainly since you’ll all be involved in it with the bear. How about I make some sort of video where everyone comes up, holds the bear, and says something to the camera about him – maybe something along the lines of "Hi, I’m xxxxx, and I wuv Baby Bear!"

Or possibly send him all Mission Impossible style up to the mic or into the slideshow (if there is one this year) just so that he can be in plain view of everyone. And maybe plug his Twitter account as well!

One more thing – what’s the general plan for getting there? Is everyone driving themselves, or is there a mass exodus on the train? Or are you all getting the plane again?

So I’ve decided to run a little contest for people – or at least those who actually read this…

At with most people I tend to acquire a bunch load of small change from the shops, which gets gathered together at home and eventually – and I mean eventually – gets changed into proper, more usable forms of money. Right now I’m using a ziploc bag in my room to hold my change until the time comes.

So here’s the contest. See that bag? Guess how much is there. The bag is about two-thirds full, and filled only with coppers – 1c, 2c and 5c. At some point in the future I will either get it changed into proper cash, or I’ll set aside an hour or two and tediously go through it myself so that I have some highlight of my day to talk about.

I don’t know myself how much is there. Could be very little (although that’s not very likely given the sheer amount of coins in it), or it could be a lot. Since I’ve nothing better to offer, whoever guesses closest to the actual amount in there when I get it changed – and bear in mind, I could still add my day to day coppers to it between now and then – gets the total donated to a charity of their choice.
As long as I can do it online.

So ummm, go nuts!

EDIT 16th Feb @ 06:04 – Here’s an extra video to go with it

Unless you’ve been under a rock and haven’t been noticing the Fantasy Premier League this week, you’ll have noticed Rooney’s scoring in both the first match, and his quad in the second match. Those combined with all the bonuses, and most importantly captaincy, resulted in this:

Bloody brilliant. Except for the fact that just-about everyone in the game did the same…

Then came the finding out of the news that the HeartGold and SoulSilver arc for PokéSpecial has been announced as actually going to happen! Just as bloody brilliant as well – GSC is my second favourite arc of the series (after RS of course!) and Gold is one of my favourite characters of them all. It will be interesting to see what happens, especially if he and Silver are now both coming of age – seeing as they were thirteen in their last appearance in the Emerald arc, and now they’ve taken on the qualities and facial structure changes as what Red looked like in FRLG when he had turned sixteen.

Besides, the HGSS outfit is even more win now that I see how manga Gold looks in it. It was badass enough on the in-game Hibiki, but with the youth of the kid… Now though, with teenage Gold, with his same goggles and snooker cue as before…

Let’s just say I now have a fuck-ton more research before Nom-Con…

Also, three-page preview courtesy of Coronis is even more win, despite the fact that there’s not all that much in it, other than the blatantly obvious evolution of Ataro to an Ambipom.

Just. Win.

After last year’s epic fix whereas that "Aloha Arleen" or whatever-you-call-her won in personal over our good friend McAWilliams just because she had exponentially more followers, I say we try an easier category to fix this year.

While I’m aware that the gaming category isn’t an official category, it’s still a fairly significant community category.

So, what are you waiting for? Get stacking that vote for yours truly already!

It really doesn’t help when I have a pretty good Raptr rank achievement-wise either…

Seriously? It’s like why are Subway subs always nicer when you get them toasted, despite them charging an extra 20c for it (except in Westmoreland St. – epic win there). And why are chicken and turkey nicer when roasted?

I’ve had nothing else really to post lately… *sweatdrop*

There’s still stuff here?

Been way too busy recently to get the energy or the drive to write up anything. I blame Eirtakon, the LAN, crummy UNICEF Soc events that didn’t need us for two hours, pub nights, AMS, Games Soc in general, Left 4 Dead 2, and the like.

Remind me to post stuff again soon. Maybe after I finish updating the site with things and stuff. Needs more bear comics, game reviews, links and the like.

Ugh, effort…

Other than the con, there’s also a bit of work we on the Games Soc committee will be doing to get ready for the BYOPC LAN the weekend after. So the majority of Friday will be spent in the Helix checking out the space that we have (which, rather handily, is known as the space ) and just making sure that everything is running fine. Most important thing is to check the Internet connection and to make sure that all the ports are available for use, as we can’t have people arriving with their machines and then finding that half of the competitors haven’t got all their games and Steam up-to-date. And there may also be a general issue of overall room, but that really does depend all on numbers and whether we get them or not. Still it should be a good weekend, as this is the first LAN we’ll have had where I have an actual decent computer. <3 TheAlmightyBear!

If you’re looking for specs of the machine, apparently Xfire has them.

As for the con itself, I should be there for the whole weekend. I’m definitely going to be there Friday night for the quiz (since I’m around campus that day anyway!), although whether you will see me as Hibiki like you will both other days, I’m still not sure about. But yes, I’ll be there the whole entire weekend, from opening Saturday to closing Sunday. How long I spend in the middle is the real question, although I think one of my friends who lives nearby is loaning me his couch for the night so I don’t have far to go after whatever trip out Saturday night, and I can actually make it in on time Sunday morning

I still have a couple of things I need to do for my cosplay, but for the most part things are done. I say for the most part, because I’m not entirely too sure if I can be bothered to finish it off – and it’s not like I’m going for full-blown accuracy or anything. Then again rushed jobs never hurt people. No sneaky previews still (because I’m not arsed trying to photograph myself), but no recoiling in horror when you do see me. One problem with trying to do a circa ten-year-old kid is that your body’s physiology is much different.
Brrr, my legs are cold

One good thing that I did manage to come across yesterday, while in Penneys exchanging down a size for my costume (while the size I had was fine for me personally, it didn’t work too well for the actual costume itself) was in Smyths with a whole bunch of little plastic Pokémon figurine sets going on BOGOF. So, now my con bag is filled with them, just in case people still have no idea who I am. Also, I think Fiona is loaning me her Togepi plushie for the weekend (that she had when she went as Misty for Halloween), which will definitely help! Now, I just wonder whether or not I’m going to make the bear into a Teddiursa or something…

• 11.20: a third of a box of Almond Oats and More

We ran out of milk in the house, so I settled for the old-fashioned "eat straight out of the box without paying attention to how much is actually being eaten". Probably not the best of ideas.

• 14.10: a third of a bowl of chilli beans

Leftovers in the fridge. It was a case of eat them or throw them out. I chose the former

• 16.50: Slevin’s – Tiger prawns in a sweet chilli sauce with oriental veg and boiled rice

Yay for going out for lunch! Food was lovely except all the tails were left on the prawns, making for a very crunchy surprise at the beginning. Fucking expensive though, €17

• 23.05: 5 11 14 17 mini jaffa cakes

They were there. I was craving stuff. Poopy

• 10.05: 600ml bottle of Lucozade, packet of Wine Gums

Sugar rush to wake me up and keep me going for my morning lecture.

• 13.30: Two portions of €2 special offer chicken wings and potato slices

Lunch. I like value.

• 17.45: Two bottles of special-offer 99c bottles of Coke

Needed sugar and caffeine to stay awake…

• 21.35: Packet of Harvest Fare 33% extra free Chilli Nuts

Snack on the very late bus back home. I’m actually quite glad that the bus was very late, since the 11 from college was really slow getting into town. When I saw the masses of people at the bus stop on Dame St., I had some glimmer of hope, but after almost everyone piled onto the incoming 37, my heart sank again.

Thank fuck the 70 came around a few minutes later!

• 11.25: Half a raisin muffin

Mom got one to go with her coffee, since the coffee place in Eurospar were offering coffee and a muffin for €3.50 – which was only 70c more than the coffee itself!

• 12.30: Spicy chicken brown bread sandwich with lettuce, cheese and sweetcorn

On-campus Spar lunch. While expensive, t’was fucking yummy and came with a free bottle of water

• 15.00: Time Out finger, Twix finger, Rowntree’s Randoms; cups of Fanta, Coke, Sprite

Snacks from the refreshments pile at Consoles. It can’t be helped, especially as I’ve technically paid for it until I find Lotta!

• 18.20: Twelve Oreos, Hunky Dorys Cheese and Onion, Kinder Bueno

More STOCS snacks…

• 23.05: Burger King XL Bacon Double Cheeseburger, large fries, large Fanta, medium Onion Rings

I stayed late in STOCS – not by choice, the time completely flew and it was after 9 in a flash – and had to get food in town. Haven’t actually had BK in ages before this, so it was a nice, if very filling and fatty, treat!

• 9.25: Packet of Harvest Fare 33% extra free Chilli Nuts

I have a very weak spot for chilli nuts. I can just sit here all day munching through a bag or two of them and be satisfied. I like peanuts. I like chilli. Together is heaven. At least the Harvest Fare ones are, since it’s the peanut in a chilli shell. Those that are actually just peanuts with a chilli coating are quite a bit spicier and I can’t exactly eat a full bag of them in one shot without some assistance!

• 11.15: Another 1½ bowls of almond Oats and More

Whenever there is epic cereal available, I’ll gladly have breakast everyday – at whatever point in time it happens to be. When there isn’t though, I generally won’t eat.

• 16.40: Cadbury’s Fudge

Went to shop to buy several things that were apparently needed in the house, including more cigarettes for herself. I bought a Fudge while waiting in the checkout queue. Out of the entire €40+ shopping bill, I spent 45c on myself. I’d consider that good, but then again I did end up paying for everything anyway…

• 23.15: Half a bowl of chilli beans with sliced sausages mixed in

Before you ask, no it wasn’t one of those tins that come with the sausages already in it. No, these were actual sausages cooked under the grill mixed in with a normal in of Heinz beans flavoured with an array of spices from the spice cabinet.

Yes, we have an entire fucking cabinet just for spices…

• At some point: Two Three Four SIX packets of Snax

Bought a 6 pack of Snax earlier in Eurospar since they were half price, while I was down there for kitchen roll which had been needed since last night. She gets into a fit when there is anything less than two rolls of the stuff in the press

So, to try and put into perspective whether or not I do eat to much crap, I’ve decided to start a food diary for the next week. I’ll be updating this one throughout the day with what I eat and when.

Those of you with a weak stomach might not want to read on – even though I don’t have any food porn embedded.

• 8.35: 1½ Bowls of Almond Oats and More with low-fat Super milk

My sister bought a box of Honey Oats and More over the weekend at some point, of which I had a bowl. It was epic. I went down to the shop to see if they had any more and more importantly, to see if they had any of the other varieties, particularly the almond one. They did. It was absolutely fucking epic.

Also, I don’t think I can do justice by simply saying a single bowl of cereal, since the bowls I normally use are more related to soup bowls than "normal" bowls…

• 12.50: Footlong Chicken Tikka sub w/cheese, lettuce, onion, peppers and sweet chilli sauce

Sub of the Day. ‘Nuff said. It’s yummy.

• 14.10: 750ml bottle of Lucozade Sport, a packet of Bassett’s Softfruits

To keep me awake during the always fun part of Languages and Computability – the bit about languages itself, taught by the Chinese postgrad whom you can’t understand…

• 18.45: 750ml bottle of Pepsi, two Snickers, packet of Hunky Dorys Scorchers, packet of Hunky Dorys Sour Cream and Onion, packet of Spar mini Choc Chip cookies

STOCS snacks. Don’t judge me, I’m weak

• 22.35: A third of a wok of prawns with noodles and oriental veg in a hoisin and spring onion sauce

Leftovers from dinner the family had earlier which I ate when I arrived home.

I only have a week of freedom left, so I guess I better make the most of it. Kinda.

Obviously the most important part is figuring out what to do for the rest of this week. At the moment it’s been roughly pencilled in as:

• Tuesday: Go to GAME in Blanch (yes, all the way from Fermoy), get ODST.
• Wednesday: ODST
• Thursday: ODST
• Friday: ODST
• Saturday: ODST
• Sunday: Fucking panic because I’ve just realised the place is a tip, and I need to get all my crap back up to Dublin (hopefully Dunboyne – however temporary!) by tomorrow.

All the meanwhile recording, editing, uploading that Let’s Play Pokémon SoulSilver I’m doing. Also scribbled down in that imaginary calendar sort of thing I like to call… well, the Calendar part of Windows Live Mail – is the Dunboyne Motor Festival spirit thing the weekend after next (after being originally pencilled in for this weekend, but while I was up last week I found out that it was pushed back a week). Must go arrange to see if I can meet up with Niall at some point…

As well as that next week should see me properly taking up my tenure as Console Ents for Games Soc for the coming year. I can only hope I don’t screw up shit. I mean it’s not as if the task of getting the consoles and other equipment from the equipment room and bringing them down to whichever room we’ll be stationed in this year (fuck them and that idea to move the Xbox part of the Mezz into the Seminar Room ), as well as making sure rooms are booked, extra equipment is put aside, refreshments are provided, and any possible new games for the year are bought, and clearing away after we’re finished is that much of a taxing job. I mean, I’ve kinda been doing a good bit of it for the past two years despite not actually being on the committee…

Oh, and one more thing that I found as a bit of a shock last week – apparently I am registered to vote as my polling card arrived while I was there. I seriously never remember registering to vote at any point, so unless it was automatically done with all the dealings I’ve had with other governmental bits over the past couple of years, or I’m starting to get a very juvenile case of Alzheimer’s. Either way, I’m still none too pushed to actually go out and vote on this Lisbon referendum thing. Both sides seem to have been doing nothing but mudslinging for the entire campaign. Although when I brought up the subject of my polling card with my mom, she did inform me that I was the only member of the household who was actually going to be able to vote since she never registered. Also, over the summer there had been canvassers calling to the house specifically looking for me, obviously to try and convince me otherwise to vote in some way or another.

Hmmm, this gives me a thought…

Will? Can I come crash down here during all future voting seasons?