Fantasy Life and No Pink Dye

I would say that I've only been a proper 'gamer' since about the age of 15/16, when after so many years of being refused a Playstation 2 by my parents, I was lucky to be sold one by a friend for about a third of it's original price. Then things opened up.

For my following birthday I got Final Fantasy X, my favourite FF game to date (Only marginally more than FF9), and that summer, I bought both Final Fantasy 7 and 8. Those were good, good times.

Before all that polygonal bliss however, I had had to make do with Pokemon, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, and this weird Bugs Bunny game that required you collect carrots and run away from steam rollers.

As I get older though, I seem to be lagging behind on the gaming front, only knowing older games that have long passed their sell-by-date. Either nobody played them, or nobody plays them anymore. It's mainly because I'm not willing to spend hundreds on consoles anymore, because it would never end. As soon as I'd buy one thing, a newer version would come out and let's be honest, ain't nobody got time money fo' dat.

So I'm stuck in a never-ending rut of not being up-to-date.

But whatever.

Recently I found a game that combined my love of fantasy with the not-so-fantastical daily grind, i.e. completing chores and ticking off things on a looooong to-do list. I don't love that bit.

Fantasy Life was introduced to me indirectly when I was doing some research on Tomodachi Life, since stingy-me didn't think that I should spend as much on the game as it was asking for. Then on various forums I found people vouching for Fantasy Life as being a much more immersive game that actually involved the player.

They were right.

The End.

...

No not really.

It's apparently been out for a little while, in Japan at least. And it was one of those pleasant gems that didn't cost too much but still made me feel like I wasn't completely left in the gaming dust. There. I came full circle. Except I'm not done.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with them game, it's like an old Final Fantasy game, but with the chores of Animal Crossing - you get to choose a 'Life' (job) from a selecton of 12, which you can freely switch between at any point you like during the story intervals.

Then you get long lists of jobs to do, you do them, you get better at your Life, you do more jobs... etc. But most, if not all 'Lifes' (I know, it pains me too) depend at some point on the abilities of another Life. The point is, you're meant to play and master all of them. Then you won't get caught out.

But MY infallible logic went 'Oh hey! There are 3 save files! I can make 3 characters, each with different Lifes, so I won't get bored of redoing the same things over and over!"

How naive of me.

I actually managed this successfully on my main character. I assigned 4 Lifes to her, and she is now at maximum rank on all of them.

My second character however, is beginning to require the abilities that my first character has mastered. But this is what I wanted to avoid. YOU SEE MY PROBLEM??

The solution to this would have been to allow your characters to commission materials etc. that they were missing from the various NPCs that specialised in the skills you lacked. But noooooo. That would be too easy.

And now I've stopped playing. Because I know that if I go back, I'll have to go through hours of sewing and fishing again... And I just can't face that.

I know you can trade with other people online, but ehhhhh. I like to be self-sufficient?

These are my three characters. Aren't they cute?

The next main problem:

THERE'S NO PINK DYE.

...

Now it's The End.

It's a Beautiful Day!

So today was pretty exciting because my mom and I were heading out to a cute seaside tourist town to hang some of our paintings for a small exhibition. And it was such a gorgeous day that we took a walk along the beach.

Unfortunately, it also meant I had my metaphorical balls frozen off. It was bloody freezing.

At least our dog, Harriet, was chipper about it. She hadn't stopped whinging the whole car-ride, so if anything, it was a relief to listen to something else.

Look at that adorable little bottom.

What a cute butt.

Which poops sometimes and forces my mother to try and hide the evidence.

We're such good, honest dog owners.

This photo makes me feel arty. I got down on my hands and knees to take it because ART IS PAIN.

This is the town we were in. Ardmore, and when it's a nice day like it was today, it's super worth the visit. Anyone taking a trip to Ireland is well advised to check the town out, but only after triple checking the weather report.

Home again, home again jiggity jig.

It's a Miserable Day

Literally. It's raining cats and dogs outside, there are deep muddy pits in the garden, it's cold, there are chocolate rice-krispie treats tempting me, and I'm feeling completely lethargic.

No wait, I lied. I've actually already eaten the rice-krispie treats, but I wanted to seem like I had at least some willpower. I don't.

This post isn't going to be centered around anything in particular, which is okay. I've made a determined decision that this blog, while it will report on things I've got and my interests in general, everything about it will be relaxed and laid-back. I've been on Tumblr for a few years now, and let me tell you I've had enough of people and posts that do nothing but generate crappy feelings.

I was thinking about that the other night actually. How there seems to be a taboo on wanting to experience only positive things online, because the usual argument, which is correct, is that it's literally impossible. Life cannot be devoid of negativity, otherwise how could you enjoy what's good?

But on the internet, nobody's obliged to take part in or instigate bad things. People do so because it's their choice to record them, and that's fine for them. Maybe it's therapeutic. Okay. That's totally fine.

But for me it's not, because for once I'd just like to come onto a site I like and not have to worry about seeing something that might not be so nice. I want one little space to do that.

So that's the fate I want for this blog. Ideally. Realistically, it might not follow through, but I want to come here and post stupid, insignificant things because I like them.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Within reason.

Now I'm going to take a nap.

Getting Attached to Virtual Animals

It's a weird thing to do, but it happens.

Yesterday I was playing my Animal Crossing New Leaf file, when to my horror, I found that one of my original villagers was about to move away. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE PAIN unless you've experienced it too. And I mean, I loved this little guy.

Coach. That's his name. He's a yellow, stubbled bull with a passion for sport, y'know haha, just to make this all sound normal.

And now he's gone... Forever...

Look at that sad little gap where his house used to be. This is a cutesy video game! Why do I feel so sad? It's not meant to make me feel this way.

It's like when *spoiler alert, kind of* you find out in Final Fantasy X that Auron's actually already dead, and then he's gone. And it's too late to truly express your love to him.

Or...

Actually I can't think of any other examples right now. But believe me when I say that's it's all very sad.

Brownie Recipe

I cannot tell you how good the kitchen smells right now. Ahhh... cake.

I try not to bake too much nowadays since I'm trying to eat well, but brownies are my forte, even if I do say so myself. And I get requests from time to time to make them. So I thought I'd share the recipe.

I've been doing it like this for years, and they've always been delicious.

Ingredients:

220g plain flour
220g dark chocolate (prefereably around 70%)
220g butter
225g caster sugar
225g icing sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder

You can add in extra things like chocolate chips or nuts if you like, but I prefer them plain.

1) In a saucepan, put the chocolate and butter on a medium heat and make sure both melt together until they become a smooth mixture.

2) In a bowl, sieve your flour, icing sugar, caster sugar and baking powder. You don't have to sieve, but it obviously helps to keep the brownies lump-less.

3) Add the eggs.

4) If you have an electric whisk; great. If not, then you're in for a slightly sore arm. Mix the dry ingredients and eggs together, and then pour in the melted chocolate/butter, mixing everything until it's an even consistency. If you want, then this is the part to add in the extra ingredients you want, though maybe mix them in by hand.

I got to use my own new whisk for this. Yay!

The mixture should look like this, or as close as you can get to it.

5) In a baking tray, either line it with baking paper, or do what I do, which is throw in a knob of butter and wait for it to melt, then spreading it all along the inside of the tray.

6) Cook it! I know I should have temperatures and times for this part, but as it so happens we have an aga here in the kitchen, which is always hot. Basically, just use some common sense - turn up the temperature of your oven to a usual cake-baking heat, then just keep checking to make sure it doesn't burn. Stick a fork or something in the middle when you think it's done - if it comes out clean, then it's ready. If not, put it back in for another few minutes.

Then ta da!

They're so beautiful. And if you like to eat them hot, have them with ice-cream and hot chocolate sauce. It's like the dessert-version of a hot man covered in kittens. 

I mean, it's pretty damn good.

Here's a tip though: If you can, wait until they've completely cooled down. The flavours are much stronger.
Enjoy!

Eyeliner Mad

Being someone who's only just begun to develop her interest in make-up fairly recently, I have pretty much my whole teenage years to catch up on. So as you can probably imagine, while I have an idea of what's good and what's bad, I'm still fumbling around and experimenting with stuff.

Liquid eyeliner seems to be one thing I can't get just right. I've watched endless make-up gurus on Youtube, examined many of the products they use, and I'm still having trouble. 

Today, I bought myself two new ones. That it. I'm done for a long time. I've probably enough eyeliner for the next ten years.

(I'm no photographer, so I'll be only as arty as I can be.) This is the stuff I got. That nifty little tool of torture there is a comedone extractor. They're all from my local Boots. 
Now I'm hardly flush with money, so I like to find reasonably cheap products unless I'm particularly impressed with their presentation. The extractor came in one of those crappy plastic boxes that hurt to open, and it was €12.50, which is pretty ridiculous considering how basic it is.

Look at it! It's tiny! It's smaller than I imagined it was going to be anyway, and I only bought it because this was the first time I'd seen the damn thing. And I need it. I've been plagued with tiny blackheads ever since I can remember, all over my nose and chin. I hate it. 
To be fair, I used the extractor straight away and honestly... it's brilliant. I don't think my skin has looked so clear since I was a wee babby. So, it's redeemed itself.

Onto the eyeliners, I got a black Bourgois Liner Pinceau. Ooh fancy name. I like how thin the brush is, but then again, whenever I imagine a feature is going to be The Thing, it doesn't always work. And I'm still learning how to apply eyeliner nicely anyway, so... Yeah.

This one is Collection Fast Str-- Ahh you can probably read it. It's the brown one. I already have the black one, but I've been wondering recently if brown would look softer on me. 

If anyone has any advice on any particular thing, it'd be much appreciated!

Lidl Victories

Haha, I'm one of those.

I like terrible puns.

So yesterday, meine mutter and myself went down to the local Lidl (Every Lidl Helps! Oh no wait...) because they'd advertised some mad cool drawers and we thought we'd like a few.

I personally fell in love with the twee pink, flowery one, and mum got herself one of each of the first two.

Of course, it's not super high quality; the patterns are plastic stick-ons. Even the 'wooden' drawers aren't real, but then again, I don't suppose we should have expected them to be. It is Lidl after all.

I realise it's probably a bit looked down upon now for someone to enjoy vintage-inspired, patterned things, seeing as that was the rage for a little while and now it's... I dunno. Not cool anymore?
But I actually really like it. More than I used to, anyway.

So the moment we got home I decided to spruce up the table beside the sink in my bathroom. Because to be honest haha I'm really messy.

...

No really.

I'll show you.

...

Ready?

...

...

Are you sure?

...

If you don't like mess, I reeeeaaally don't recommend you look. Because it's bad.

...

...

...

Like, really bad.

...

...

...

Please don't judge me.

... Ta daaa... Doesn't it just make you cringe? Look how unceremoniously I've tossed my retainer. Look at all those unused toothbrushes, the used ear-buds (don't worry, they're just black with eyeliner hahaha what did you think it was?)... LOOK AT THE CHAOS.

If it weren't so disgusting then it would almost be an achievement to have managed to fit so much mess on such a small surface.

Almost.

BUT THEN.

*trumpet fanfare*

Lidl comes to the rescue.

*sparkling magic noises*

Ahhhh. It's like the before-and-after of a 10 Years Younger episode. After much, much plastic surgery. This was a full liposuction, rhinoplasty, boob-job and teeth-whitening in one go.

We'll see how long it lasts.