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Eyru

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Blog Entries posted by Eyru

  1. Eyru

    ... We Did It!

    By Eyru,

    Xenoblade Chronicles is slated for an April 2012 release in North America.
     
    For those of you who are confused, Xenoblade Chronicles is a Japanese RPG that was released in Japan in 2010, and in Europe and Australia mid-2011. Despite receiving critical acclaim and being hailed as an amazing breath of fresh air into the JRPG genre, and despite already having an English translation of the game for Europe and Australia, Nintendo of America refused, for unknown reasons, to release the game in North America.
     
    In response, Operation Rainfall was created, a movement to bring Xenoblade Chronicles (among other titles) to North America. With petitions, letters and emails, this dedicated group implored Nintendo to release the game in North America, and they have finally succeeded.
     
    I know what I'm doing after Skyward Sword.
     
    Questions, comments, or snide remarks? Leave them in a comment, and I'll get to them after I beat the next dungeon.
     

  2. Eyru
    So, I've been thinking about going vegetarian for a while now. Not for any particular reason; it's just supposedly healthier, better for the environment, and more responsible as a whole in terms of leaving a footprint. I've been doing some reading on the subject for a while now, and I decided that today would be my day.
     
    Again, no particular reason. I've just been putting it off due to life being super busy, and not having the energy to attempt a major change in my diet, but I'll always find excuses if I let myself (even if I don't mean to), and there's no time like the present, right?
     
    I'll be chronicling my adventures in my blog, both as a way of keeping a record of my progress, and also as a way of staying accountable. The more people who know of my decision, the less likely I'll be to give up.
     
    Day One began with me rolling out of bed and popping upstairs to see bacon in the skillet. Without a second thought, I ate a couple pieces, before remembering my resolution.
     
    The days ahead suddenly looked a whole lot darker.
     
    Nonplussed, I declared that those two pieces were my last pieces of bacon for the foreseeable future and immediately began making breakfast. Today's my first day off in months (I usually work Monday through Saturday, and do volunteer work at my church on Sundays), so I had time to construct a cheese omelette with sautéd peppers and spinach (sautéd in coconut oil, by the way; I absolutely recommend it), and a dash of hot sauce.
     
    But Eyru, you cry. Eggs and cheese? That's not vegetarian!
     
    Au contraire, my darlings. It's not vegan. To keep things relatively simple, I'll be starting off as a lacto-ovo vegetarian, which means I'll allow myself to eat eggs and dairy products. As time passes, I may up the ante and begin eliminating those form my diet as well. I also will still consume fish, for various reasons, but I may eventually work my way up to eliminating that as well.
     
    So, for now, I'm basically cutting out red meat. My family used to be very much meat-and-potatoes, but thankfully we've gradually shifted over the past few years to a much more multicultural style of dining, so several of our meals are usually vegetarian anyway. I'm hoping this relatively gentle learning curve will help me stick with it.
     
    I'll update you tomorrow on my progress (hopefully with pictures!). In the meantime, any good recipes would be appreciated.
  3. Eyru

    [/christmas]

    By Eyru,

    How was everyone's Christmas?
     
    Mine was pretty fun. I got to spend the day with my family, eating turkey, playing some Rock Band. Good times.
     
    I tried to go shopping yesterday, but the stores were all crazy. So I chilled with the guys and watched some hockey. Best sport on earth, by the way.
     
    Feels weird how Christmas has already come and gone though. 2010 went by like a rocket.
     
    -JB
  4. Eyru
    If you want to discuss The Force Awakens, please be mindful of others. Put WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD at the top of your post and wrap your spoilers in seventeen sets of spoiler tags. This is one of the most anticipated films of all time (quite possibly the most anticipated), and not everyone will have the chance to see it this weekend. Please don't ruin this once-in-a-lifetime experience for other people.
     
    Even quasi-ambiguous statements like "Wow, plot twist!" or "Hmm, the acting was sub-par," are spoilers after a fashion. Just wrap your sentiments in spoiler tags to be safe, even if you think they're harmless.
     
    It sounds like common sense, but some people will get excited and forget; others might just think it's funny to trick people into reading spoilers. It's really not. Some of us have work/exams/etc. and won't get to see it for a couple days at least. Please be respectful and help us avoid spoilers! We can all discuss it together in a couple weeks, but until then let's help each other out.
     
    Thanks fam.
  5. Eyru
    Kyara has returned.
     
    For those of you who did not participate in the BZPRPG last year, Kyara is perhaps the most fantastically cunning and swift Toa in the BZPRPG.
     
    Or not. But she's still pretty cool.
     
    Post here for interactions with Ketan or Kyara (wow two names that start with a K I just noticed that holy hau), or to participate in any BZPRPG discussion.
     

  6. Eyru
    Day four! Over halfway through a week of eating no meat!
     
    Breakfast was cereal, which I usually don't care for, but I was in a hurry and anyway I'll probably be eating more of it because it's quick and also vegetarian. Lunch was a salad () and a scone.
     
    Supper was an interesting affair. I attended a young adult potluck at my church, and brought chick pea curry and rice as my dish (it's vegetarian, so it was my failsafe in case nobody else brought something I could eat). Fortunately, there was plenty I could eat. I had sushi, pasta, curry, fruit and vegetables, and a made-from-scratch cupcake (even the icing was homemade!).
     
    I'm finding that this is definitely not as difficult as I was expecting, partly because I've realized that I didn't eat a whole lot of meat before I went vegetarian. However, I'm sort of anxiously awaiting summer, because as soon as it gets warm enough for the propane not to freeze, we Canadians whip out the barbecue, and it stays out until the snow's too high to use it. I'm hoping that, by the time the thaw rolls around, I'll have gotten into the habit of not eating meat, and it will be easier.
     
    Funny side note: nobody believes that I'm vegetarian. They all think I'm joking, or say I can't really call myself a vegetarian if I've only been at it four days. That makes no sense: if I'm choosing not to eat meat, I'm pretty sure that makes me a vegetarian, regardless of how long I've been at it. Anyway, I plan to keep this up for a while, so eventually everyone will see that I'm actually serious, and not just playing a prank.
     
    So far, so good! (the bacon-wrapped sushi was hardly even a temptation ^^)
  7. Eyru

    A Monster Calls

    By Eyru,

    It's a book by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd.
     
    I picked up this book because many Ambagers were raving about it. I'll be succinct: it's a beautiful book. The characters are immediately engrossing, and the atmosphere of the book immediately sucks you in, aided in no small part by Jim Kay's illustrations, which are nothing short of hauntingly brilliant.
     
    It's about a boy named Conor, who is visited shortly after midnight by a monster. Not the monster from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. This monster is different; it's something ancient and wild, and it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor: it wants the truth.
     
    The book is haunting, lonely, sad, painful, and hopeful. I was immediately drawn into its world, and the ending came far too soon, but it felt right. It's very unique -I've never read another book like it- and it's undoubtedly a masterpiece.
     
    This short review is also short on details, but that's partly because my emotions took too much of a beating for me to able to type anything particularly profound. I would encourage anyone and everyone to read this book.
     
     
  8. Eyru

    A Rather Blustery Day

    By Eyru,

    A rather ferocious storm came up last night: rain, snow, 100km/h winds, the works.
     
    Half of town lost power, so school was cancelled. I was fortunate enough to have power all day, because I live close enough to the hospital to share its grid.
     
    Needless to say, it was a nice day.
     
    To be perfectly honest, I like storms, regardless of whether or not I lose power. At least, I like them when I'm inside and not out in them. That's one thing I miss about living on the prairies: the powerful storms, with hail, lashing rain, and lightning.
     
    Ah, yes. I miss lightning very much. For those of you who have never personally beheld a lightning storm, it is an amazing sight. My old house had a large bay window, perfect for breathlessly scanning the dark skies for that flash of electricity.
     
    STATUS UPDATE: Eyru is waxing nostalgic. Everybody stay calm.
  10. Eyru
    Recently in the BZPRPG, we discovered that Makuta has had two unknown articles stolen from him. The following paragraphs are a collection of my thoughts and deductions on the identity of the artifacts and also the identity of Makuta. This may be vaguely interesting to any BZPRPG player, and may also come in handy when trying to solve the staff plot.
     
    ***
     
    What is it that Makuta wants back? We have a two clues:
     
    One: there are six that were stolen, but Makuta possesses more than six. Two: these six are more valuable than the others of their kind; they are, as Makuta says, special.
     
    We can also inference a few things: judging from Makuta's anger, these unknown artifacts are extremely precious to him. Why? From what we know of Makuta (which is, admittedly, very little), he is a being of shadow and malice. What qualities give something value in his eyes? If we take what we know of Makuta, it's likely that power is an attractive quality to him. He likes having power over Mata Nui and watching its inhabitants scurry around in vain quests to defeat him.
     
    I hypothesize that these artifacts are either a) a source of his power, or 2) a source of power than can be used against him. Nothing else is likely to incur such anger on his part.
     
    Now, let's backtrack briefly. We can all agree that Makuta likes power, yes? We can draw this conclusion from this fact: Makuta wants to have dominion over Mata Nui. He threatens the villages with Rahi, and he took the island's most powerful heroes so they would no pose a threat to his dominion. If Makuta didn't care about ruling Mata Nui, he wouldn't infect Rahi and he wouldn't have done anything to the Toa Mata when they confronted him. In addition to this, Makuta's treatment of Heuani suggests that he enjoys oppressing others from his position of power.
     
    So if Makuta likes feeling powerful, then why would he lock something in a vault? If you are invincible and all-powerful, you don't have vaults. Vaults are for people not powerful or intimidating enough to protect what is valuable to them. But Makuta, the most powerful, intimidating villain of them all, locks these unknown artifacts in a vault because, despite his power, he cannot risk them being stolen.
     
    Think about it: the Makuta, the lord of darkness, shadow, and fear, is afraid.
     
    So what does Makuta have to be afraid of? From what we know of him, he wants to rule Mata Nui. Therefore, his fear most likely has something to do with losing his dominion.
     
    But wait! How could this happen? The Toa Mata, explicitly named as the six most powerful Toa the island has ever seen, were unable to conquer Makuta. So Makuta has no reason to be afraid, right? If those six legendary heroes couldn't take him down, then why would he possibly be concerned about our chances?
     
    Because these artifacts, as I hypothesized earlier, are either a) a source of his power, or 2) a source of power than can be used against him.
     
    If Makuta loses these artifacts, either he will lose enough of his power to be defeated, or those who find the artifacts will gain enough power to overthrow him.
     
    What could grant this type of power? Golden Kanohi and Toa Stones have already been mentioned, so I'll take a look at them. First: golden Kanohi. The Toa Mata, more powerful than any PC Toa, had golden Kanohi, and Makuta defeated them with ease. So there's no reason for him to be worried us getting the Kanohi, because if the Toa Mata didn't stand a chance with them, then how would we?
     
    Second: Toa Stones. Makuta has nothing to fear from regular Toa Stones, but, as he stated, these unknown artifacts are special. If Makuta has lost six abnormally powerful Toa Stones, then that might be something that would cause him some concern. If we assume that these artifacts are Toa Stones, then Makuta's first concern will be to recover the Stones, and if that fails, his second strategy will most likely be to eliminate any Matoran that could use a Stone to become a super-Toa.
     
    What has Makuta's only measurable action been prior to the release of the Rahkshi? He's ordered the elimination of the Chroniclers Company, the bravest, most likely candidates for Toa. This means that, should we gain possession of a Stone, we'll need to find a PC Matoran eligible to become a Toa.
     
    There are two things that Friar Tuck has said in the past that are extremely relevant now: only Matoran that are roleplayed exceptionally well will be allowed to turn into Toa, and the Staff quest will put your characters in mortal danger. If player A is roleplaying a Matoran well enough to become a Toa, and he's involved in the Staff quest, then Makuta's first action is going to be to try and eliminate that Matoran.
     
    These last two paragraphs are only applicable if the unknown artifacts are, in fact, Toa Stones, but the rest of my post should be taken into consideration when guessing at the identity of the artifacts stolen from Makuta. What else do we know of that can grant enough power to put fear in the heart of the Master of fear?
     

  17. Eyru
    Because I posted two identical entries yesterday.
     
    I am sorry. These... com-pyoo-turrs... are difficult to use. I am not used to managing this... in-turr-net. You are all so tech-savvy, and I'm stuck in the 90's.
     
    In other news woohoo going to the mainland tomorrow.
     
    (the mainland is exciting because there's civilization there)
     
    (it's also exciting because Vancouver is there, and it's my favouritest city in the world)
     
    (although if I go elsewhere and find a city I like better I will let you know)
     
    (what is your favourite city by the way and is it better than Vancouver in your opinion)
     
    #parentheses
     
    #thisisnottwitter
     
    I just realized that my disjointed thoughts may be due to the numberless cups of espresso I've consumed in the past two hours. I was training with Tim, this barista who really knows his stuff, and we made/drank a lot of coffee.
     
    So yeah I guess that's why I feel weird and it's difficult to keep a steady train of thou- oh look a squirrel!
     
    Nah I'm just kidding no squirrels here. At least, not inside, where I can see them. They could be outside in the darkness
     
    ...I'll just end this entry now. Bai.
  22. Eyru

    At Last

    By Eyru,

    And at last I see the light
    And it's like the fog has lifted
    And at last I see the light
    And it's like the sky is new
    And it's warm and real and bright
    And the world has somehow shifted
    All at once everything looks different
    Now that I see you
  24. Eyru

    At Last, Here It Is!

    By Eyru,

    My SSC9 entry is up!
     
    Redemption
     
    It would really mean a lot to me if it got some views, and reviews would make me weep joyful tears.
     
    I'll also give you cookies.
     

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