Animal Crossing: New Leaf

At the end of August, my cousin gave me his old 3DS that he didn't use anymore. The first game I bought for it was Animal Crossing: New Leaf (after deciding that Pokemon XY was too expensive), and I'm really glad with my choice! AC:NL is my favorite Animal Crossing game ♥

I take a picture of my outfit and house when I start playing each day. It's really fun to see how everything progresses!

Basic town details:

Town name: Anderson

Mayor: Quinn

Other player characters: Nate, Fel, Sol

Native fruit: oranges

I decided to take a slightly different route than I usually did with my Animal Crossing games: my town and villagers are based off those of my NaNo, Aperture. For the past three games, the town name and players were just kind of random. I used my name in both Population Growing and Wild World, but used the name of an old OC for City Folk. It's really fun to see and work with my characters in a new universe!

I think New Leaf is the most fun of the Animal Crossing series! There's much more to do than in previous games, especially when you play as the mayor. I'm amazed with the possibilities for town customization! The island makes it really easy to earn money, especially if you play at night and get all the beetles, and the minigames are fun as well. (The island minigames are where I got most of my flowers, too, I'm not gonna lie.) I love the unlockable furniture customization and QR code reader. I've had a ton of fun looking up QR codes and fixing up furniture to give to the villagers. 

I earned a lot of money in the first three days I played...

There are a lot of cool little details, too. You can hang certain things on the wall of your house, like shelves or pictures or clocks, and the camera angle goes around 360 degrees. Fruit and non-fruit trees are slightly different colors, and there are, like, 20 different fruit types to get. The dirt patterns look slightly more realistic. The villagers themselves seem to be even more unique! I've received a couple letters from my villagers out of the blue, even when I hadn't written them anything first, which had never happened to me before. I wrote them back and got another response the next day! They wave when you leave their house and are always understanding if you have to turn down one of their requests or otherwise can't follow through. 

I went to Anime USA about a month after I got my 3DS, and I was able to streetpass at least 300 people. I also completely filled up my HHA showrooms! It's so much easier to order furniture through the model homes than have to wait for Nook / Timmy and Tommy to stock it, even though it can be a couple hundred bells more expensive. 

I just recently unlocked Dream Suite! I'm working on funding it. 

I know I'm definitely behind on the ACNL bandwagon since the game is over a year old, but I would definitely recommend it if you haven't played it yet! It's a very cute and lighthearted game with a lot of leeway in terms of game play. (◡‿◡✿)

Books I've Read -- October

I'm really debating doing individual reviews for some books. I feel like some books deserve more than a paragraph. I feel like I'm not finishing as many books as I used to, and I don't know if it's because of the books I'm reading or because of something else. It's a little worrisome.

While We Run by Karen Healey, finished 10/7. I definitely liked While We Run more than When We Wake. I don't know whether it's because of the different narrator, or because there was less exposition, or maybe a little bit of both. It's very dystopian-like, with the whole "our government sucks and we're going to do something about it". It's kind of an open end, though, and I'm not sure if there's a third book, so I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. I also have to include content warnings for blood / violence, emotional / psychological abuse, and mentions of sexual abuse. This book series is definitely pretty dark, so if you have any issues with any of those things, I would really suggest avoiding the series.

Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan, finished 10/8. Blood of Olympus was the only book in the PJO series that I had to wait for. And it killed me. But it was also the only book that I was able to speculate about with other people, without any of us knowing what was gonna happen, and the only book where I had to be careful what I mentioned after I finished it because not all of my friends were able to marathon it like I did. And I've gotta say, I think Blood of Olympus wrapped the entire series up really well. Kind of a fairy-tale, everybody-is-happy ending, but I appreciated it. I really appreciated being able to see how many people at school had copies of the book, and it's opened up conversation with a few people I wouldn't really have otherwise talked to. I really appreciate everything that I've experienced due to the Percy Jackson series, and I'm really glad I got into it before it ended.

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, finished 10/15. Sci-fi survival isn't really anything I've read before, so These Broken Stars was kind of new for me. The copy from the library was a pretty big book with a lot of words per page, so I thought it would take me longer to read than it actually did. It also seems to kind of fall into paranormal romance, slightly, which could be hit or miss. The romance was kind of ... obvious? There's obvious character development, but the character development leading up into the romance was kind of glaring to me. Everything regarding the world Lilac and Tarver are on is really interesting, and I wish there was more information on it, since it seems like the next book in the series focuses on a new couple.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare, finished 10/24. City of Ashes was a hot mess. I definitely wouldn't have finished it if my friend hadn't recommended it and lent me her personal copy. (So it was an obligation finish.) And I admit, I think part of my feelings about this book stem from reading negative reviews on goodreads for both it and City of Bones while I was reading. Not entirely the best idea in hindsight, and while I did enjoy reading the reviews, I admit that they probably influenced more of my opinion going into it than I usually want. I have to agree that the descriptions are too much purple prose-like and sometimes incredibly contradictory (including something like "shined blackly" -- how???), and there were at least a few different things where there were no explanations to how they managed to work completely around the established rules of the universe. Mainly, how vampires work. That's the biggest one I can think of. And runes. That too. And Clary and Jace are incredibly frustrating, both with their stupidity in general and their "oh we're apparently siblings but I still kind of like you" mentality. Like, ew. All of that said, though, I'm kind of curious to see if the next book manages to solve / answer anything, so I will be reading that. Hopefully it won't be as bad. (Even the friend that recommended City of Ashes said she threw it at the wall. So there's that.)

Towering by Alex Flinn, finished 10/29. Man, Towering was completely misleading. From the dust jacket synopsis, I assumed that Rachel would be the driving force of the book. She wasn't. Other than the opening chapter / prologue, she wasn't an apparent part of the book for a good portion of it. Even the Goodreads description is pretty misleading. The book seemed fairly normal for the first half, and then it took a really sudden (and unrealistic) turn in trying to explain what happened. Like, I know a Rapunzel retelling isn't going to be all that realistic, but whatever happened in Towering just didn't make sense, and almost kind of seemed like it was thrown into the plot. I mean, the explanations fit within the story, but they suddenly just appeared with really no warning. And then the insta-love was just ... it wasn't even insta-love. It was like they loved each other even before they met, and Rachel seemed awfully ok with kissing / physical contact with a boy she just met despite apparently not knowing any guy in real life ever. I really enjoyed A Kiss in Time, but I'm starting to wonder if it was actually a good book or if I just liked how fluffy it was.

Pre NaNoWriMo 2014

This year will be my fourth year participating in NaNoWriMo, and will hopefully be my second win. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

From their website: "National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30."

It sounds hard. And it is. But it's doable. I'm the biggest procrastinator in the world and hardly ever finish anything I start, and I managed to both write 70,000 words last November and finally finish the first draft of my novel about a week ago.

So it's definitely not impossible.

I really enjoy learning about other peoples' "weapons of mass creation", so to speak, so I figured I'd share mine as well.

I don't have a desk in my room, so I use my bed (or the floor) for just about everything. My laptop has been like a godsend. It was incredibly useful during the second half of November last year when I got it, and made it infinitely easier to write. I really should back up all of my documents from last year and clear them off the computer so I have more of a "fresh start" of sorts. 

I've been using the teal binder for the past two years, but it's definitely seen better days and I finally have binders I can replace it with. I just got a whole bunch of relatively unused office supplies from my grandparents and I'm really dying to start using them. 

I write on the blank backs of old school papers since I like to constantly re-organize and work better when I can see multiple things at once instead of having to flip back and forth. And it's eco-friendly. (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑ 

However, I do have an old composition notebook that I haul around at school and write in when I should be taking notes. (҂⌣̀_⌣́) It's really helpful to have since I come up with a bunch of "what ifs" and then forget them very quickly... And it's fun to color the cover in, too. 

I have a whole bunch of different writing utensils stashed about my room. I use the top pencil case the most since it's always with my sketchbook, but last year I relied heavily on the donut one on the bottom. (It smells like the chai tea chapstick I have in there. I opened it up a few minutes ago and the smell just reminds me of writing. So that's very good sense-association right there.) The Pentel pens in the middle are my go-to set when we peer edit in class, and are also what I've been using to color in the composition cover. They're awesome pens and have lasted for about four years at this point. 

However, I did cave a little and buy some brand-new supplies;; I've wanted a more varied set of pens recently, especially since I lost the purple Pentel pen shortly after I bought the set, so I bought an InkJoy set when I got a new sketchbook. I got the pencil case at Anime USA because it was cute and slightly ridiculous.

The pencil case reads: "Nothing happens until something 

moves actions produce genius magic and power."

The tag on it is in Korean. Despite the nonsense English, it still seems like a pretty inspirational message if you think about it. (Also, I have no idea if the InkJoy pens will all fit inside it. I really hope so.)

So those are my weapons of mass creation! I do all of the writing itself on the computer, but I brainstorm much better on paper. And stationery is a huge weakness of mine. If I were a dragon, I'd hoard stationery supplies. 

I'm hoping to do at least one other blog post regarding my NaNo attack methods, so please look forward to that! And prompt me if I forget to do it. Because I'll probably forget about it. 

Anime USA 2014

The con was three weeks ago, oops;;;

This year marked my third Anime USA! This was my first convention that I tackled completely on my own, without any adults, so AUSA is kind of like my "freedom con". It's easily accessible by metro, so I enjoy it for the fact that I didn't have to involve my parents (much) in going to the convention.

Pre-con was a little bit of a mess. There was a lack of planning on my part, and like last year, there was the threat that I wouldn't have anyone to go with. Thankfully everything worked out! I also finished my Hibiya vest in the week before the convention, which was really poor planning on my part. I'm very proud with how the vest turned out in the end, but two sewing machine needles died for the cause ;o;

The lack of planning kind of carried into the con itself. I ended up changing my Friday cosplay plans last minute after deciding I didn't like how it looked on me. There were a few issues regarding communication and synchronizing metro, also because there was track work on the Red line that weekend. (That always seems to happen.) I also didn't vlog as much as I wanted to :(

Other minor bad things that happened: I accidentally spilled my water bottle in my backpack on Sunday and soaked through my lunchbox and electronics bag. I was very fortunate that none of my electronics were ruined!! Seriously, it was a miracle. I did lose my short camera / phone charging cord, most likely in the "oh crap I got everything wet I have to assess the damage" panic, but I have a much longer cord as well. I'm hoping to re-buy the short cord since it's so portable, but since it came with my camera, I'm not entirely sure I can :|

Very good things: I got the Iwatobi Free! jacket I wanted, I got a lot of cool stuff (and still came home with money!), had lots of fun with my new 3DS and checking streetpasses, got to be part of the super cool impromptu Kagerou Project photoshoot and got a couple Hibiya hall photos taken, and I got to wear my Annabeth cosplay down to the Mall and the museums! (Even though my camera died right as we got there.)

I swear I'm going to get more Annabeth photos in the museums one day.

The only panel I really went to was the screening of the first few episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal. It was really fun to see my friend's reactions to such a girly anime (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑  I spent a good amount of time in Dealers / AA and got to play Portal with said friend (and played Streetpass while he played Diablo), and was lucky enough to play DDR twice.

I started calling AUSA "chillcon" last year, and it definitely was chillcon this year, too. I really just like the feeling of AUSA. It's much calmer than Otakon and was at a much nicer time of year than both Otakon and Katsucon. I think it's a wonderful way to break up the 6 months between Katsu and Otakon.

In reflection: I still haven't learned from bad planning and I didn't improve on my vlogging skills like I wanted to, but I still had a lot of fun. I probably don't have to make any new cosplays for Katsucon, so I'm expecting the next almost-year to be very chill. I'd love to start vlogging from home in that time; I just need to gather the nerve to.

Books I've Read -- September

I'm honestly really happy to get back into the habit of reading during school. It makes class a lot more interesting.

Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor, finished 9/5. At first, Searching for Sky reminded me of a book I read in elementary school. They both had to do with the narrator adjusting to living in society with other human beings. However, I don't think Searching for Sky was as great. My biggest problem was really just the kiss between Sky and River that seemed to come out nowhere and then a kind of romance, which I think really could've been done without. The ending didn't really seem to establish anything either -- it was a little too open-ended, I think.

Storm Thief by Chris Wooding, finished 9/13. I had checked this book out on my own and never got around to reading it, but then Gigi read it and passed it onto me as a recommendation. And it took me a while to get into. It was a really interesting concept, and I did kind of enjoy reading it, but the beginning was kind of hard to get past. I don't know if it was the amount of world-building needed, or the fact that the words were formatted onto the page so densely. I kind of wish there was an extension of the book, because I'm pretty curious about what happens to the characters after the end of Storm Thief, but it does a pretty good job with leaving an open-ended ending.

Hero by Alethea Kontis, finished 9/16. It took me at least 30 pages to realize Hero focused on a different sister than the first book did;; Which is entirely my fault, since there were definite differences between Saturday and Sunday. I think it's because the names are pretty similar (a difference of, like, four letters) and because it's been a little while since I read Enchanted. Still, I really liked it! I think my biggest issue would have to be with the "Does romance have to be part of the adventure?" on the cover,  since there is a romance by the end of the book, but it's mainly after the main problem has been solved.

The Falconer's Knot by Mary Hoffman, finished 9/24. I checked this out before because I really loved the Stravaganza series by the same author, but I didn't start it by the time I had to read it. So I gave it another chance. And honestly, I struggled with it a lot more than I did Storm Thief. I don't usually read historical fiction, especially not as far back as The Falconer's Knot was, so I didn't have too much interest in it. I really kept reading because I needed something to do in class. It did get more interesting as I got further into the book, but I'd say it was after the halfway mark that I stopped complaining about it;; It was a good book, just not something I usually read.

Earth Star by Janet Edwards, finished 9/27. I saved Earth Star for last out of my library books, and I figured I wouldn't finish it by the time they were due because the font size is tiny. But I was surprised! Despite the pages being so dense, I was able to read through it pretty quickly. I really love the world-building in the series. It was a lot easier for me to read Earth Star than Earth Girl, I guess because of the learning curve it took to get used to the world in the first book.