Excessive

Today was a day filled with preperation, and not much more. Preparing for visitors, preparing for dinner, preparing for dessert, preparing for some assholes to come into my home. I was having my Mom and Sister over to celebrate my Mom's birthday, even though it was a week late or whatever, it was the best time for all of us to get together, so it worked out. She wanted to try my home made pizza dough, so I took orders from them and made sure I had the ingredients, and made them the dough, let it proof over the course of the day, and had it ready to be made when they got here. I let them top their own pizzas, and then we threw them in the oven and about ten minutes later they were ready!

For dessert, I decided to make a dessert that my grandpa always made and was a favorite of my Mom's but I was always too nervous to attempt it, as it seemed farily complicated. It's a strawberry pavlova, and it's basically a pile of chocolate meringue, with whipped cream and strawberries on top, with melted chocolate on top to garnish it. Creating this dessert was not fun, for the most part it was pretty frustrating, and I even made one, and threw the whole thing out and started again. It turned out to be a very expensive project, considering the expense of the ingredients, but, while the second one didn't turn out perfectly, it turned out good enough to use, and I ended up making it look pretty good, so I was happy with the results. I'm not sure if I want to make it again, or if I'll try a new dessert next time, but I did enjoy it, so we'll see.

The day was pretty much spent getting those two things ready, while tidying up, doing endless dishes, dish after dish, when you are baking the same thing twice, and it involes so many parts... I think I did every dish in my house like three times, over and over.

After my Mom and Sister left, a home inspecter came to check out the house... now, when I say home inspector, which I was told, I pictured a dude, who would come and check to see if there was holes in the walls or whatever, but... about an hour after they had said they would come, a group of like four or five people show up and stand around my apartment. I pretty much just played Final Fantasy 13 while they were here, but it still felt like an invasion of my privacy, as they tried to make small talk and... I don't like small talk, I don't like talk. I don't like strangers in my home. I want this entire process to be over, so that I don't have to take calls from a realtor, so I don't have to have my dinner interupted, and so I don't have to make small talk with some douche new owner who is probably going to raise my rent.

Right now I'm watching How To Train Your Dragon, as I generally feel movies are a much better way to calm my mind before going to sleep than say... playing games, or programming, as both of those activities usually wind me up and make me feel more energetic. It's a good movie so far, and it's been holding my attention away from writing this for sure, as I've been working on this entry for what seems like upwards of forty minutes.

Yesterday I beat Plants vs. Zombies for the PC and I was quite pleased with the experience. It's been a really fun game to go and play, there is just something so addicting about the gameplay, the satisfaction that comes from creating an unstoppable plant army is unmatched by any other game. Now that I've completed the game, I've actually found myself going back and playing the other modes, not for completion sake (for excessive gaming) but just for fun, just because I find the game so fun. I highly recommend the game to anyone that likes games at all, and it's pretty cheap, and it almost always goes on sale on Steam, so pick it up the next time you see it available for a good price.

I've also been playing Final Fantasy 4 for DS and GBA off and on over the last few days, the GBA one more, as I keep playing the DS one and actually dying. I even levelled my team by ten levels and there are still enemies that are destroying my entire party in one or two turns, and it's very frustrating making progress and then losing it with ten seconds of a fight.

I've been playing a lot more Final Fantasy 13, trying to play it as my main game, and it's very enjoyable. The story is so involving, I get sucked right into the world, feel like I'm there, forget that I'm even playing a game. The battle mechanics are interesting and strategic, it's leveling system is involving and satisfying, and the more I play, the more I want to keep playing even longer, it's kind of addicting in that way. I want to see where the story goes, see how characters develop, see if characters get really strong, and all the fun things that come along with playing through a great RPG.

I've also been continuing to play Phantom Brave, although it's difficulty seems higher then I remember, or maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I feel like I really need to spend some time replaying older levels to get money and level more phantoms, because there are certain levels where my phantoms aren't dealing enough damage or lasting long enough to finish the map and then I run out of phantoms to confine. It is fun though, and I do want to finish it, so I will stick with it, I just need to wait until I'm in the mood to sit down and grind out some money and levels, and maybe bring a couple more phantoms up to the same level as everyone.

Kyle had minor surgery on his feets this week, so he has all week off work, and he's playing through Final Fantasy 7 as he's semi-bed ridden, and it's fun to hear him talk about the game since I'm playing through three Final Fantasies at the same time right now. There is a down side however, and that's the fact that I have to work for the rest of the week and Kyle won't be coming in, so I won't have anyone to throw inside jokes at, and I'm sure Jeff didn't schedule anyone in to make up for the work that Kyle usually does. Either way, Kyle said he's going to be taking pictures of his healing feet and may be posting them in the future, so I'll be sure to direct everyone to any of those that may surface!

I have work tomorrow at 7am, so I have to wake up at 5:30am or so, and yes, I realize it's almost midnight and I'm still awake, but I'm going to bed as soon as this movie is over, which should be in the next fifteen minutes. I'm not sure what I'm going in to tomorrow - as far as events go - but I'm sure it won't be the most fun thing in the world. I'll just try my best to be organized, keep positive and get through the day as quick as I can. I plan on walking to the grocery store after work to get a few things, specifically some tomatos to make another batch of tomatoes for spaghetti to freeze, and maybe a couple other things to eat for dinner, as I work the rest of the week (and I'm sure Sunday too) so may as well stock up when I'm in good spirits.

That's it for now, I'm gonna finish my movie, and then go to sleep!

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