1. one creative thing I did today

I saw a movie!

No, wait, hear me out: you may be thinking that this isn't an action of personal creativity, and you're not wrong, but creativity needs to be nurtured and fed. A lot of the reasons I write fluffy fanfic is that I just don't have the necessary experiences to write anything else. I need more experiences! And that could be through living live myself, or it could mean by consuming media.

It is rare I watch movies these days. I don't particularly like movie theaters, for one, and for two, movies tend to be long enough that my mind wanders. But today's movie was good, and I mostly stay focused the whole time! It was also a more comfy setting for me, being at my local library rather than a theater.

I went on mom's behest, but once she told me what the movie was about I went "OOOH!" because I knew I'd like it. We say Rental Family with Brendan Fraiser, and it takes place in Japan (<3!) which is relevant to my interests. I enjoyed it! Not as much as seeing Barbie or Wicked, both of which we also saw at the library, but it was a good movie and I was glad I went.

2. one thing I'm proud of today

I listened to my body and fed it when it was hungry, and napped when I was tired. Otherwise... well, the day was rather lost with going out to breakfast this morning with mom, then movie, then home, then a late lunch, then FLOP on bed, then dinner, then streaming.

I also did not overly freak when something anxiety-provoking happened. This is good progress!

3. video game progress

The latest FFXIV raid has made me want to replay the Bastok Rank 6-10 missions, so before dinner I logged into my Amalberga, my documentation alt who happens to be from Bastok and has completed up to rank 5. I did read the wiki for the 6-1 mission, and I probably could have done it at her level, but it would have been dicey, as she was only level 82 (cap is 99). So I took her Trusts out to Mount Zaylom to fight crabs and level up. She's now level 85, and I am barred from leveling up again with a genkai (limit breaker) quest. I need to farm 10 Kindred Crest's (easy, I probably have them already!) and 5 merit points. I have no merit points currently, so that will mean more EXPing against crabs.

After dinner, I streamed on Siofra. We're in the midst of the Wings of the Goddess expansion, and just finished the 5th set of the Windurst path questline. There was a battle that gave me some trouble. It's meant to be done with real players, and you can bring a whole 18-person alliance if you wish. I was doing it with Trusts (computer controlled NPCs) and they are pretty dumb, in that they won't attack until I swing my staff at an enemy. I'm a MAGE, folks. I get aggro usually by spellcasting. But nope the Trusts just stand there going "durr..." unless I do a physical attack. It's one of the few things that annoy me about the game.

Anyway. First attempt, I tried picking off the enemies one by one. Not good, the wards were defeated and I lost. Second attempt, I tried doing Diaga to grab all enemies at once, which allows for better fighting by the blasted Trusts, but the wards still fell.

The wards have an HP pool. I am a White Mage. The obvious thing is to cast Cure on them, but that doesn't work--they are immune to Cure spells. However, Dancer's Curing Waltz will heal them! So I changed my subjob from /SCH to /DNC, did a few macro changes, and tried again. This time I won!

Unfortunately, I only had oomph for a 2 hour stream. Because FFXI is unvoiced, I do a LOT of "voice acting" by reading lines. I am not an actor, but I try my best. It's exhausting though, trying to perform. So I opted to quit for the night when jillwise who was watching had to leave.

My FFXI anniversary was on April 25th: I first stepped into Vana'diel on that day in 2009. SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO. Where has the time gone? And how cool that the game is STILL up and running so I can enjoy it. But when I realized just how long it's been, I nearly crumbled into dust.

And now, BEDTIME! (Prompto: "Soft sheets, baby!")

Whoops I forgot to do this yesterday, so here's my answers now:

1. one creative thing I did today on Thursday

I worked on a Divine Hat, hoping to finish it for a Nerdopolis challenge. I could have finished it in time had I stuck with it, but I changed projects because I really wanted to fill the Love What You Do challenge, where teams pick their own themes.

I started a knitting pattern for the challenge, but this was pretty late in the afternoon, and it soon became apparent I wouldn't finish in time. So back to crochet I went, where I freehanded a pocket tissue cozy. It's not great, but it's recognizable for what it is, so hey! And I got to fulfill the challenge, which made me happy!

Here's my write-up for my submission:

Co-op’s theme this month is Favorite Streamer. Mine is Colin Ryan, who along with being a Final Fantasy XIV streamer, also happens to be the English voice of Alphinaud in the game! Colin’s streams are fun, wholesome, and chill, and I just adore watching his reactions as he experiences the full breadth of the game’s story for the first time.

Players in FFXIV are referred to in the game as the Warrior of Light. The WoL has a special ability called the Echo, which allows them to glimpse scenes from people’s pasts. When the Echo kicks in, the Warrior holds their hand up to their face, as if experiencing a sudden headache, and squints in pain. Well, when Colin first saw the Echo, he thought his character was sneezing! Henceforth, the Echo is called The Sneeze on his streams. In honor of this, I made a Pocket Tissue Cozy so I’d never be without my tissues should The Sneeze strike!

Team shout out for Nerd Cred: Colin is not only a streamer of FFXIV but an actual voice artist from it as well, and thus fits into my team’s scope! I can’t resist sharing this clip from his stream - here is Colin hearing himself in game for the first time. IT’S ADORABLE!

Watch on YouTube

2. one thing I'm proud

I spent a large part of my afternoon listening to and supporting a friend. I'm not always the best at being a friend, so I definitely want to give myself a pat on the back for this one.

3. video game progress

I logged into Windy and did an alliance roulette on her. I got first Dawntrail raid AGAIN, for the second day in a row. I didn't mind all that much though, because it gave me a coin.

Windy's gear was at ilevel 745. She needs to be at least i755 to do the new patch content. I had previously ran the 7.4 dungeon with Duty Support, which dropped casting body for her. SCORE! I also spent some of her meager stash of gil on the crafted SMN book - and since there was a pentamelded one up for just a bit more than the regular HQ ones, I opted for that one. Her wallet hurts, but that was a big help in her ilevel.

After running the raid, I looked at getting more tomestone gear for her. She already had Historia hands; I picked up a Historia necklace and ring, too, because I had enough Mathematics for them.

I had an inkling that augmenting some of the Historia would be enough--did I have enough coins? I DID! So I augmented the hands and choker, and that put me at exactly 755. So she's good for content!

If I have time, I might do some hunt trains or something on her to see if I can't get the newer tomestone gear (Historia is kinda outdated at this point), but I'm not going to worry too much if I can't.