(no subject)

Went with my whole family to New Jersey for Grandma's 75th birthday. (On that note, I should've mentioned before that this year was Mom's 50th birthday just the other day and Dad's 60th a year and a half ago.)

Brought volume 5 of Lucky Star and volume 76 of Nintendo Power with me to read. Marie, sitting in-between me and Brian in the backseat, noticed the former of those, and asked why Misao (on the front cover with Ayano and Kagami) has "only one tooth", just after we left the driveway. I told her that she actually has all her teeth, and the one in question is just a lone pointy one that stands out at all times. Brian and Mom overheard, and I showed them what we were talking about.

Stopped at Starbucks while we were still in Medford, so that Marie could use up some gift cards that she had on her. I went in with Brian and Marie to each get ourselves a drink, and we also got Dad something along with a bag of coffee beans. Brian told me that we're not getting a ton of stuff, and I told him that I didn't even say anything about something other than a frappucino. He then told me that I didn't even have to, because he just assumed due to my tendency to order sweets whenever the opportunity arises. I then compared it to Misao explaining the three-second rule to Kagami, knowing what she's thinking without her even saying anything.

(Speaking of which, that was actually one of a whole handful of comparisons to Lucky Star and other anime I made throughout yesterday. Mom and Dad suspect that I do that, as well as certain antics of mine with our cat, just to get on Dad's nerves, but in this case, Dad was still in the car while we were inside the building.)

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Talked about all kinds of things throughout the ride to Uncle Robby's. At some point, we were talking about Halloween costumes, and Mom suggested that Marie dress up as Louise from Bob's Burgers (since that bunny-ear hat of her's would make anyone dressing up as her stand out), but she said she was dressing up as someone else (can't remember who). She also mentioned that there were gonna be two Halloween parties, since that day falls on a Wednesday this year, and I suggested that she be her on the one she has at home.

During the same conversation, Mom also mentioned someone from the metal band System of a Down, which Brian used to listen to as a teenager, who wears a goatee. Brian then mentioned how he used to listen to heavy metal back in high school, since that's what the kids he could fit in with listened to. I then mentioned how I was able to enjoy rap at that time, since I wasn't really that social to begin with, and Brian said that he remembers how I used to enjoy certain artists such as DMX (hence my username here and almost anywhere else where I have an account that isn't "McKnight"). I then told them about this song by Juelz Santana, titled I Am Crack, that I would've sure as hell loved back then but only first heard in the cafeteria at Suffolk County Community College several years later. At first, Marie misheard me and thought I was talking about this Mexican rocker named Carlos Santana, but I cleared that up. (Promised to show it to Brian and Marie when we were at the house, but never actually got around to it.)

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Later still, Mom was playing Candy Crush on her iPad, and after some number of attempts, asked Brian or Marie to try to beat level 50 for her. Brian took the offer, but I asked why she bothers to even play it. For me, the challenge that a game provides is the whole point of it, and to do something like grind levels, use a cheating device, or buy something to make the levels easier or even impossible to lose, just kinda defeats the purpose. Brian told me that there are all kinds of ways to enjoy a game.

We also talked about what levels we're on. I've been on level 197 ever since I left the game alone, Marie was on level 67, Brian's on level 17 (aims for 3-star scores in each level), and when asked, I told them that there are currently 470 levels in all last time I checked.

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Shortly before we reached the house, Marie noticed the words "Jesus saves, Jesus conquers" graffiti'd on something. She and Brian talked about how Jesus was the exact opposite of a conqueror, and I also mentioned how anyone who conquers hoping to spread his faith is a Knight Templar. Brian told me that that's not what the Knights Templar is, but I explained to him that the trope was named after that despite it not being an example. (Ironically, that particular trope is one for which TV Tropes & Idioms doesn't allow real-life examples to be listed.)

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We got to the house, the first thing we kids did was look for this new cat that Adam has, a Siamese cat named Simon. Looked around for him for a bit, and then gave up. I lied down on Adam's bed, and then he hopped up right in front of my face. I then brought him down, and while he isn't as puffy as our own cat, he's also doesn't seem to mind being held or even pressed up against my cheek (unless he's just been stimulated with this feather-tipped rod that Adam and I have played with him with at different times).

Shortly before dinner, I went out with Brian and Marie to pick up wine. We dropped Marie off at a nearby liquor store, and then went into a nearby Dunkin' Donuts. Brian got a donut each for himself and Marie, and assuming dinner was gonna be much later, I got myself a sesame bagel for lunch.

Back at home, dinner was all ready to be served. The feast included miniature crab cakes, two different kinds of shrimp, a rock lobster, slices of steak, asparagus, and two different kinds of bread. For dessert, we had a key lime pie, a butternut cheesecake, and a chocolate mousse cheesecake. I had two slices of the last of those.

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Coming home, we had to drop Brian and Marie off at two different spots in New York City, the former for some kind of interview, and the latter at the airport. Neither of them left on a good note; Brian had some kind of dispute with Dad, which led to him just pulling over and letting him out; with Marie, Mom asked her something, and she asked if she think's she's stupid, and she rolled the window up before we moved on. Both of them did text Mom to apologize shortly afterwards, though, and both at the same time, quite by coincidence.

(Right now, Brian has already come back home, and is still asleep on the futon. Marie, though, is probably gonna be visiting us again next month.)

Starbound: Need to continue planning out chapter 3.5

(Reverted the names back, because while he did acknowledge the favor I was doing for Jake, Brian told me last night that the use of alternate names, even with a key, made it harder for him to keep track of who is who from canon. I do currently have a copy of the original saved onto my desktop, in case the Share feature on this site only allowed me to send Jake a link instead of an actual copy.)

Before I begin, here is a link to Starbound itself:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8895129/1/Starbound

(I have the first half of chapter 3 stored on my flash drive, for anyone who's read the current two chapters to understand what's going on. Or, for those of you without time to read the whole thing, I did also summarize everything for Jake to help him catch up with things.)

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( Warning: Spoilers for Starbound )

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To sum it up, I need help:

-fleshing out the roles and interactions with each of Rokuna's four friends that the party will meet.

-deciding on something that Kagami and Tsukasa's temporary departure from the group will affect.

-fleshing out what will happen regarding the pet shop situation and the party's interactions with those responsible. Or, if Brian or Chelle can think of anything different (if I like it better than what Jake came up with), I'll be interested in discussing that instead.

And, I'll let Chelle come up with some outfits for each of Rokuna's female friends.

Update 10/8/13: After having read this entry the first time, Brian did advise me to switch to someone's POV. Originally, I did start the third chapter off with everyone's thoughts about the whole thing, but given how normally insistent I am to stick with omniscient third-person POV, that confused Chelle as to why I'd dump them now. He did have other advice, but I don't remember it offhand right now; however, it was stuff that Chelle had already mentioned before anyway.

(Chelle, I know you would've most likely preferred that he'd left a comment, but I did want to keep the discussion going more fluidly. As it turns out, though, he actually did most of the talking, so I suppose myself that a comment would be more practical whenever he re-reads this after reading everything I have of the fic itself so far.)