This journal comes to you from school, because I think my phone was cut off! Not only can I not get online, but I can't even contact my mom or sister, so I'm more than a little distraught. *sigh* Maybe it was coming, since my internet's been acting wonky. If it's not some techninical problem that happens annually, it could be because a certain SOB that contaminates my mom's room threw away the phone bill or something.

This is really bad, since I was just getting into being online again. And my latest pic needs to be replaced.

...And I think I just found out that a former good friend is now hospitalized...

Just great.

Playing: Sonic Riders
Trying to find: a worthwhile Sonic fic
Listening to: Super Sonic Speed

>.< So much to do, so much to do... yet I'm getting nothing done.

I want to do a lot of Sonic stuff before I'm overtaken by KH2 at the end of the month, then soon after AC. I KNOW I can find out about them now, but I want to wait for the US releases. Besides, I'm supposed to be doing a lot.

Fanfiction wise, I really need to do a one-shot just to get my brain working, but I can't seem to settle on an interesting subject. Adding to my plethora of complicated fic plans, I decided on writing my own adaptation of ShtH to make up for the game's disappointment, though I only have it planned out to the Mystical Ruins stage. I plan on introducing Glow, Umber, and Nails, as they have a loose impact on the plot (namely Umber and Nails), as well as letting this adaptation be an introduction to another story which will star all of the characters, but will have the greatest impact on Knuckles and Shadow. I dunno how successful it will be, though, since I pretty much have no readers. *sigh* I guess I can sleep on that and just write when it comes to me.

Speaking of the trio, I'm working on all three, starting with Glow [link] Umber I don't think will be too bad, as I plan on keeping his design both simple and complex (simple being his shoes and gloves, complex being his quills and personality). Nails I'm having the most diffculty with since it's hard to make an original Sonic-style echidna that's not a "crap recolor". On an off comment from an unlikely source, I wanted to make each design unique enough so that the characters are discernible from their silhouettes. I have a sketch of Nails that's a start on this concept, but I haven't scanned it yet.

>.< I still need to do my half of the trade with Cleo...

I've been getting really stressed with graduation approaching, preparing for scholarships, still not being able to take the ACT, my mom returning for a day eariler this week, my niece being sick, and not being able to get completely over a stupid crush. Argh.

The good news is that the college I want to go to is really awesome.

Doesn't help that I need inspiration. Badly.

I seem to be only wasting hours away at the computer in this broken chair, hence my painful neck.

Man, I really need to try and join more clubs. May be a problem though if no one's willing to look past that crappy avatar to see what I've got... (Well duh, moron, replace it!)

Freakin' A, Cleo!!! >.<

...Hey, now my crappy new avatar shows up...

Hmm.... now who should I choose...?

1: What is the original name of the official character?
Link! Of course you can name him in some of teh older Zelda games, but Link is Link.

2: Where is is he/she from?
No one really knows, but Hyrule is the common birthplace (depends on which Link it is, though).

3: How did you get to know him/her?
After playing Ocarina of Time, since before then I didn't even know his name. I swear I thought the little pink-haired kid running around in a green skirt was Zelda. Now I know the kid or incredibly smexy swordsman in a green skirt () is Link.

4: Tell us something about him/her. Like his/her story and character.
Link's a sort of quiet guy with a knack for swordfighting and solving puzzles. He's unbelieveably kind and generous, but is chained to his fate which is linked with Zelda, Ganondorf, and the Triforce.

5: Just what exactly do you like about him/her in both appearance and character?
I've always liked that he's the sort of hero that does what he does because it's right, with no sappy speeches or vows to vanquish evil. He doesn't need to do the latter since I believe he's confident- though I believe he could rebel against his destiny, as he's had some violent moments (such as bitch-slapping Ganon multiple times at the end of OoT before stabbing him between the eyes, and a similar technique was sued in WindWaker. Yeowch.).

6: Are there things you DON’T like about him/her?
I would love to see him get angry! Snap! Preferably at Zelda or maybe even the goddesses themselves.

7: In what way(s) do you express your infatuation to the character?
By declaring myself his official whore, crediting the beginning of my "creative career" to when I first began to learn about him.

8: What’s the worst thing someone can say about this character, in your opinion?
Calling him a coward. Never. Never. NEVER. Call Link a coward.

9: Did you ever dream about the character?
A few times maybe...yeah. Although when I dream about Hyrule, it's even more surreal than how it's portrayed. It's really confusing, actually.

10: On to the customizing: did you alter the character’s appearance to your personal liking?
Yeah, I've drawn Link in modern fashions with a slight punk look. I'd also like to add little scars here and here, to enhance his smexiness

11: Did you alter the personality of the character to your personal liking?
A little, and I mean a little. I can't say it's altering since we don't see much of Link's personality. I sort of made him more rebellious and...well, selfish in a way.

12: Anything else you altered of the character?
Nothing I can recall.

13: Are there any interesting new features you added to the character’s abilities and such?
Yes...? Ah, yeah, I believe I gave Link a new specialty magic and a new sword or two.

14: Did you make your own characters to go along with the character?
Oooooooh yes indeedy I have. And they'll make him go crazy!

15: Are there stories you made where this character appears in?
MM-hmm, and it's more complicated than I can handle. *sigh* I always do this to myself

16: What’s the worst thing you made happen to this character?
...Ah, you mean what I'm GOING to make happen to him!

17: Did you pair him/her to someone, even if he/she was already officially paired to someone else?
Kindasortamaybe.

18: And finally, do you consider yourself to be a hardcore otaku (fan) of this character?
Oh yes. Multiple games, posters, drawings, stories, speeches of my dedication... Yeah, I'm dedicated.

~~~~

...Is it me, or have I just not been able to do anything entertaining? ._. It's just not a good time... and I'm not doing much good about it now that I know Cleo's gonna worry.

SONIC RIDERS!!

While there were a few things I liked about Shadow the Hedgehog, the gamne just was not presented well. Sonic Riders, however, is presented much, much better. That's not to say it's perfect!

The Bad: The voice-acting. While there was an uproar over recasting the 4Kids actors for ShtH, I didn't think it was so bad. After all, Charmy didn't annoy me no where near as much as he did in Sonic Heroes (though some of his comments to Shadow where kind of...odd ), but Vector was completely bastardized.

In Riders... everyone's off. The main thing is that the actors were too...loud at too many points, like there were exclamations when there was no need for them. Sadly, the worst of them is Jet (though waddya expect, 4Kids apparently doesn't have many actors, and in making Jet sound different that Sonic, he just sounds horrible).

Also, the stages get glitchy, though I think it's the kind of glitchy that can be used to your advantage if you can work it right. I did, only by accident . Sometimes it's easy to fall through the course, or get lost.

Aaaaand the game has a tendency to pwn you. >.< Sure I beat both sides of the Story Mode in about 12 hours (having started playing yesterday afternoon... I know, ), but only with a lot of blood, sweat, and explicit cursing. Sure it's the first racing game I've really placed in a long time, but even I was shocked at how much work needed to get done. No breezing through for me.

The Good: OMFG the speed!! I haven't seen such a great depiction of speed in a 3D Sonic game since SA2. I really don't like the character models in Heroes and ShtH, but all is forgiven in Riders. The cast's taller, leaner look goes perfectly with the animations on the Gears, and is...well, kinda sexy. 'Specially Knux in the anime opening. Rarr!

The Extreme Gear Air System is really cool and innovative, and I think it will be imitated in the future. The Gears themselves I think are the revival of the boards used in an old Sega game I played on the Dreamcast a long time ago that had a similar style.

The Babylon Rogues are a great addition to the SegaSonic universe, in my opinion. Neverminding the voices (though Wave turned out pretty good), Jet's little band are really quite cool, though Storm didn't make much of an impression on me. I'm not hating on him, I just think he could have been depicted better. i really love the Power characters; after playing the same track for a few hours because the freakin' AI is perfect, you really learn to enjoy knocking crap out of your way automatically.

There's also more lore and mysteries added to this world. I was first hinted at this in the guidebook when Knuckles' little bio included that he guards the Master Emerald "for reasons he himself doesn't understand". After learning about just who the Babylon Rogues are, it's clear that there's more to this that what's seen in this installment of Riders. Methinks there may even be something special in store for Knux in the future; if not, we can always hope!

While I like Crush40, the sort of techno vibe is awesome, especially the main theme of. Try to resist the sudden longing for strobe lights.

I really liked the elements of the levels in ShtH, from the first stage with its multiple laser attacks to racing on destroyed corriders in space. In Riders, the stages are even more detailed, really to the point of being distracting (like in SCIII for me... "Ooooh what a pretty sky-", insert bitch-slap courtesy of Siegfried's zweihander, RING OUT). Depending on the stage, they can be straight-forward or complex, forgiving and MERCILESS. You really have to have a sharp-eye and a good twitch-reflex to spot and use the certain shortcuts made for whichever type of character you're racing with (y'know, speed, power, or fly).

The Gear shop is run by a Chao in the Dark World. Tee hee!

The game itself is sold at the bargain price of $39.99, and ShtH really should have been, too.

Last, but not least, a certain beloved SEGA character is unlockable through a lot of hard work. I'll just say it's a character you'd dream about.

...Wow, since when has Trayne given out boring game reviews? O.o?? >.> It's kinda hard to come up with something quirkly to type when it's cumbersome to type with a bandaged finger anyway. Meh.

My final word? If you don't mind workin' it and you're an avid fan, play Sonic Riders. Really, you'll enjoy it. Right now I have several missions to beat, records to set, and a Tag mode to test. If you're having troubles with Story Mode, just ask me about it, as by now I know how best to win. Toodle-do!

(gee, I'm acting like I'm talking to a crowd when only Cleo's gonna read this... Hey, you donm't mind if I refer to you in the plural, do ya? ...yeah, I dunno either)

(Oh yeah! I kinda was able to beat Story by neglecting schoolwork.... Hey, my hand cramped, but I did get it done during classes today! Anyway, I have an important day Wednesday and need to get stuff done, but I'll still like to do Sonic stuff while I'm still on a high)

ohhhhhh snap the moogle gets no love! It all goes to the big rad red machine! ...Omega, you smexy beast, you!

Not really much to report here... Seems everyone's in a bad mood or state. ...Though I wonder who I mean by 'everybody'....

Argh.

So what's been up/on my mind? Well, surprisingly I updated NWAS last week. You know, that Digimon Frontier fic I hadn't touched in over two years. Oh, wait! Of course you didn't know; I lost my readers long ago.

(...who the heck am I talking to?!)

I managed to find out a LITTLE info on FFVII:AC and KH2 without spoiling myself on either. Namely the English voice actors for AC (Jason from General Hospital really is Cloud! w00t! But Steven Blum doing Vincent? And Crispin Freeman doing Rude?! WTF?!) and a favorite FF character appearing in KH2 (omg the kiddies will be shocked).

I'm delving outta YYH and back in StH with Riders just about to come out... but with the weather being so erratic, I may not be able to get it... ;_; I AM supposed to be doing possible scholarship-winning art and Cleo's art trade...

I hope Cleo's doing all right.

._. Maybe I need to talk to more people, but I can understand why no one would talk to me-

ARGH!!!

....

*ahem*

While thinking about Umber and Nails, I developed new ideas that sound pretty fun, but involve ironing out and combining Sonic Heroes/Battle/ShtH. And I never got to fight Metal Overlord in SH. *sigh* But I can make ideas all I want; it's obvious I don't follow through with them to the end if they're too much.

I may get a tiny comic put up over the weekend. I dunno.

what other club would accept me, I wonder?