Sometimes Research is Gyaaaaaah

I put off this week's page of Strawberry Syrup as long as possible. It's one I've been dreading ever since it was conceived. Why, you ask? What could be so bad about this particular page?

I'm arachnophobic, and this page has a close up of a spider.

Just drawing a spider wouldn't be bad. I know from years of them dropping on me, crawling on me, and generally doing their best to freak me out what spiders look like from a distance. However, this was a close up, and like any responsible artist, rather than just wing it, I grit my teeth, braced myself, and headed over to deviantArt to check out spiders in the photography section.

Now, I'm not as bad as I used to be. A few years back, I went on an ill-thought-out canoe trip with two other people. I'd never been canoeing before... and it turned out that neither of the other people had any idea what they were doing. Fortunately, it was a calm river, but I had to learn fairly quick how to steer a canoe from the middle when the person in front kept strong-arming us into the shore with epically bad paddling skills.

During one of those collisions with driftwood and whatnot, a branch fell into the canoe. Turned out there must have been a spider convention on that branch, because five minutes later, once we're into the middle of the river and I've finally commandeered the other paddle from Captain Disaster and Person #3 has been worked up into a thorough panic, there were at least twenty small to medium size spiders crawling all over the boat.

Running away screaming was not exactly an option, and we already had one person near-hysterical, so I managed to keep my cool, ditch the branch, ignore or slay most of the spiders, and calm #3 down enough to follow directions. Since that day, I haven't felt that utter terror that used to accompany the mere thought of spiders.

That doesn't mean I like them or love looking at them.

Gyah. GYAAAAAH. I am so gonna have nightmares tonight! ><;;

Back from Vacation!

Yep, just got back from a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We hit Mackinaw (City, not the island this time around), St. Ignace, Bay Mills, and Tahquamenon Falls (yeah, I'll give you a few minutes to figure out how to pronounce that one). Weather wasn't spectacular - I think the highest we hit was 65F, and at one point ended up buying a new hoodie just to ward off the cold while shopping.

Some trips are just destined to have problems. We figured that was the way this trip was heading when my mother dumped a hummingbird feeder full of sugar water all over herself before we even left the house. The trip went on to include: more roadkill deer than I've ever seen in my life, salmonella-licious chicken and a saladless salad bar at the casino restaurant, a screw-up at the hotel regarding the reservations, and everybody's favorite combination of a dead car battery and no cell reception.

But there was a lot of great things about the trip. For one thing, I made enough off the complementary tokens at the casino to cover my shopping spree at Mackinaw Crossings and my favorite store ever. For another, the falls were beautiful and I got a ton of great photos, which will be appearing in future posts once I downsize them from GIGANTIC. I'll probably adapt a few of them for my Zazzle shop and maybe in an "Other Things to See" segment on my Mackinac Island lens.

I'll talk more about the trip and what absolutely made my day next time. :D

'90s Nostalgia

Lately, my family has been spending Saturday nights reliving the joys of one of our favorite series from the nineties: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, courtesy of Netflix. Sure, it's corny, and silly, and the costumes make no sense (the hats... what were they thinking with the hats?), but it's fun, and that's what we've always loved about it.

Of course, back in '94, the special effects didn't look QUITE as ridiculous, but hey, you can still get that same stunning quality in certain SyFy movies.

In any case, it's got me all nostalgic for the great series of my tween-to-teen years. I mean, there were some fantastic shows then. A few of my other favorites, in no particular order, were:

• Quantum Leap


• The X-Files


• Highlander


• SeaQuest DSV


• Are You Afraid of the Dark?


• Buffy: The Vampire Slayer


• Farscape


• Pretender


• Sliders


• Forever Knight


• Mystery Science Theater 3000

Yeah, you can tell where my interests lie. XD Those are the ones I'm pretty sure I'd still enjoy now (and thanks to SyFy, I do still get to enjoy Highlander and X-Files on a near nightly basis) and not counting the slew of kids shows on Nick that I used to watch on a regular basis. I just don't know if I'd enjoy Clarissa Explains It All, Hey Dude, and Welcome Freshman now as much as I did as a kid. Are You Afraid of the Dark, on the other hand, I'm fairly confidant I'd still enjoy at least a few episodes of.

Hm... I should look into hunting a few of these down... Anyone out there have any favorite shows from the '90s?

Soul Caliber IV

A little over a month ago, I finally got a PS3 as part of a deal with a new TV. It also came with a free movie and game, but alas, the game choice was not something that really got my attention.

Then yesterday, my brother brought over a few of his games. He seems to have an intense interest in getting me to use my PS3 for more than a glorified Blu-Ray player. In any case, he brought over Soul Caliber IV.

Now, I've been a Soul Caliber fan since the days of Soul Caliber II, when the AI in our insanely evil little Dreamcast learned to beat the hell out of just about anyone who showed up. I swear, the thing was conscious. My brother left it on one night, playing itself in an endless battle between the two characters who could be any character, and the next day, there was no beating it until John brought out Siegfried and put its butt back in it's place.

Scariest part was that it actually gave up halfway through that team battle. Went from striking and countering and guard impacting to just... standing there. It recovered a day or two later, once it finished sulking.

Then, it started on the corpse mutilation. You see, once the computer KO's you, it's supposed to just stand there and wait for the next round. Not ours. It started with Cervantes. See, Cervantes has a move where he leaps up into the air, disappears, and comes slamming his swords down on the opponent halfway across the stage. So it started where the KO would sound, and the computer's Cervantes would take one step after. The next time, it managed the leap. The time after that, it teleported, but without delivering the blow. And finally, it came crashing down on my prone character with all the force Cervantes could muster.

After that, it was as if the dam broke. Any Dreamcast-controlled character could just walk right up to you after you'd been KO'd and start beating the heck out of your poor prone body. According to our stunned friends who had their own Dreamcasts and their own versions of SCII, this was not typical behavior.

Of course, those friends also came in, confident that they'd have no problem going through our arcade on Medium when they could beat theirs on Expert with ease. Yeah, they didn't make it too far...

So yes, when John brought over Soul Caliber IV, I could hardly wait to give it a try. Annnnd then proceeded to play it until 6am. -_-;; Story mode's a little... lacking, but it's got the same familiar play style that I love and there's still the arcade mode. I still have another mode to try, which will probably keep me busy tonight. Also: loving the character creation. It's one of those fluffy little extras that reeeeeally aren't necessary, but it is fun. Looks like I can make up to 50 characters, so I've got 48 more to go once I feel like I understand the game better. The over-complication, I'm not too fond of, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon.

Now, let's see if I can keep it to just a few hours tonight. ^_^;;