Day Eighty-four: On Yesterday

Wow. Yesterday seemed so endlessly long. But that was all right. I was booted out of bed at eight in the morning by mom so that I could go into town and get me one of them flu shots. Yay. I must say, though, that my major colds seem to hold themselves off during fall and winter semesters and pop up at the last minute for the end of spring semester. Someone up there is laughing at me. For once it's not Schu. I actually think it's Brad. Yes. Brad knows how to laugh. But after we got home from the evil nurse with the needle (who doesn't have to practice on oranges first) I got some house chores done and went to visit Aunt Marge. I call her Aunt Marge because she's got too much vitality and energy to be called Grandma Marge (although she is old enough) and she taught me how to make those really awesome wafer anise seed cookies that she gives out every year. I didn't do much when it came to mixing the ingredients - although she did do all her mixing down in the sink so she didn't strain her arm as much - but I made the cookies on the little cookie iron thing. It was pretty simple once I got the hang of it (but all my cookies are slightly undersized) and Aunt Marge and I talked. She's a really great woman, and she had loads of stories to tell. I'm sort of beginning to understand what some of those girls say when they say that relief society is fun with the older women in their home wards (not that Aunt Marge will ever show up for RS - I think she's Catholic). I really enjoyed talking with her - it was a great experience.

And then I ran around town with mom and dad to do some chores. Stopped by Doc's used book store where I put in an attempt of an order for some WoD books - demon and wraith and vampire and stuff, because I'm having fun with this whole system. I took a long nap, and somewhere in that time Shaz and Nicole (who is back on leave from where she's stationed with the marines in Florida) came by so Audi ended up crawling under the blanket next to me to take a nap. I woke up before dinner and attempted to write some more, and in that time Jason came by. Sorry, dude. Night of the Solstice is for girls only.

After dinner I went to pick up Gamila (after some seriously bizarre stuff with the phone) and the party started. Wish Kawaranai had been there. We lit up the candles and set to writing. Earned a few jokes about pyromania and paying the electric bill from my parents, but Gamila and I got a load of writing done. It's been so long since I've written by candlelight. I worked on my poems for the Christmas present, and then updated my poor neglected journals. Didn't get much fiction writing done, but that's okay. Gamila got some good work done on her nanowrimo novel. And then we turned on the Fruits Basket. We had ice cream and brownies and chocolate and soda and just sat around and giggled like girls. I think this is the one Shoujo anime I like. Momiji sorta freaks me out, and for all that Prince Yuki is cool I'm gunning for Kyo and Toru or Kyo and the Yankee. I think Hana needs someone too, but oh well. Hatsuharu's entrance was fantastic - reminiscent of Jack Sparrow's entrance in Pirates. All cool until the last moment when you see the whole scene. But the names of the characters confuse me. Yuki is a girl's name. Usually. I've seen it as a guy's name once before. Shigure and Kyo and Hatsuhara and Hattori are all guys' names. Megumi was a girl's name last I checked. And so was Ayami. I didn't like his English voice, either. I didn't like Shigure's at first, but considering his personality and his antics it works. I like Kyo's voice. Yuki's voice is still up in the air.

But Gamila and I had loads of fun. I managed to get her home on time. I would have given her breakfast but she was going to see the dentist...I cleaned up and then went back to bed. Rolled out of bed at around noon. Checked my grades. I'm not losing my scholarship, so say the least.

Hope everyone else had a good solstice!

Nagi Naoe, going nuts.

Day Eighty-four: Nagi Naoe's advice column...

1. No matter what the gift wrapper says, he does not enjoy wrapping awkwardly-shaped packages. No one likes that. Not even a gift wrapper who can fold giant paper pyramids. "Wrap it pretty," when repeated enough times, can earn even the nicest guy a black eye.

2. Never consider yourself in good luck when Lisann the one-handed guy says, "I have a plan!"

3. Always make sure your DM knows the names of all his monsters.
For example:

DM: "There's a leak in the fountain...Um. None of you are worried?"
Player 1: "Okay. I poke my sorcerer's staff into the leak. Does that stop it?"
DM: "It casts [spell of doom] and you take [X] damage and lose [X] levels."
Player 2: "What?"
...much chaos later...
Player 1: "Wait, how do you spell that?"
DM: "Leak. L-I-C-H. Leak."
Playerb 2: "Lich! There's a lich!"

4. Always make sure your players know what does and does not constitute a monster.
For example:

Player 1: "I run a spot check. [rolls] 27. What do I see?"
DM: "There's a gazebo."
Player 1: "Does it see me?"
DM: "What? It's a gazebo."
Player 1: "Can I run a sense motive on it?"
Player 2: "It's a friggin GAZEBO!"
Player 1: "Okay. I'm going to draw my bow and shoot. I have quick shot - I can shoot four arrows. [rolls] I hit. 34 damage. Does that hurt it?"
DM: "...No."
...much chaos later...
DM: "I guess it's a good thing I didn't tell him it was on a grassy knoll."

5. Always know your blood type. It comes in handy for fan-girl moments.
For example:

"Prince Yuki! My name is Suzume Harada and I'm in the third year! My blood type is B-negative and - [ends with a violent tackle and thump, courtesy of the Prince Yuki fan-club.]"

6. Like the t-shirts say, when the guy labeled 'bomb technician' comes running by, it really is best to try and keep up with him.

7. When your mage storyteller says, "You know what? That paradox comes back to get you. RIGHT NOW!" you'd better hope he knows what mercy is.

8. The word "botch" after a long series of rolls means BAD THINGS will happen. To you. And depending on how badly you dropped your weapon, the people around you, too.

9. The world has way too many Sailor Moon Christmas carols. MAKE IT STOP!

10. When Nagi is this bored, something in the world is very, very wrong.