As long as there is Sin, Yuna will keep on dancing...

Thinking back to FFX... It's a wonder no one cleared their throat and ventured, "Uh, Honey? While we appreciate it and all.... um, you can stop dancing now. Really. Please stop dancing." It was bad enough that all their relatives had died without then having to endure the earnest flippity flipping of Yuna. Why can't they all be like Lulu? Actually the design wasn't bad. It was just those voices. Brrrr! I know it would have been different if it had been subtitled.

Currently I'm playing FFVI with an emulator on the Mac. It hails from 1994, when people had LOTS more patience for tromping around, leveling up, fighting unexpected beasties and earning cold hard imaginary cash. I partake only through the merciful lens of the Game Genie. I never go whole hog on the cheats, but I find that being able to level up more quickly, and thus not need lots of random encounters makes the game a whole lot more palatable. (Since I mainly play for the story. Silly me.) It's different if it's a pretty, pretty game like Dark Cloud 2. Mmmm. Give me eye candy, and I will waste a shameful, shameful number of hours doing whatever.

STARTLING NEWS FLASH: I may not actually HATE people after all. After some trial and error, I have discovered that if I have the proper amount of sleep and health, people---as a broad whole--- are sometimes merely slightly depressing. Taken individually, they can be interesting, and even enjoyable, unless they are the lady who called me a bitch the other day.

I have come to some conclusions, (while I'm in the habit of concluding things): As backward as it may seem, I like some dry red wines chilled. Because dry red wines make my face warm.

Also, I have concluded that if I never again get my hopes up about having a wonderful birthday, I will not be disappointed. It seems so selfish and childish to hope that one's birthday is nice. This year's was okay. Amid all the hubbub though, it just didn't feel like a birthday. I try to avoid saying anything about my it beforehand, because I'm paranoid people might think I'm not-so-subtly reminding them to go get me something. I have had some really wonderful birthdays-- ones where the gifts I got were not fancy or expensive, but instead showed that the people giving them really knew me and anticipated me. There's something that warms my heart about being anticipated. I also really like when people make things for gifts. I really like it, but I still am terrified to give homemade gifts because, my god, how vain do I have to be to think someone might want something I MADE? "Here. I MADE this. You'll love it."

People are right-- it IS the thought that counts. But probably not in the way they mean. Giving the perfect gift is one of the ways I express love. The thought that counts is the thought about the person I'm giving to-- who they are and what interests them. How I know them and what they mean in the context of my life. "The thought" is not giving a generic gift totally uninteresting to the person who receives it.

People remembered my birthday this year though. I didn't have an eighteenth birthday. Everyone forgot it. Even me. This year I forgot how old I was. People had asked, and I replied, (with a sigh that meant, "Only one year from 30...*sigh*" ) "I'm twenty-nine." Later someone, after some thought, pointed out that there was no way I could be 29. I had to be 28. After the initial pause and second guessing, I realized they were probably right. This very moment, I just used the calculator on my computer, and I believe they were right. Ahem. Slightly embarassing. Ok....Really embarassing.