The New Banner

I would like to ask everyone if they like the new banner better or worse than the old one.

I think that this banner is more interesting to look at, but may be distracting from the blog, or perhaps too colorful or clashy.


But I didn't like how you could barely see the picture in the old banner, and the fonts were perhaps not the best choice.


Please everyone comment and let me know what you think.


Here is the old banner, if you are new and didn't see it (click to view full size):



Until next time,
Cap'n Kyrie

Random Topic - Cats vs. Dogs

Now, it should be clear from the title of this blog that I like cats. In fact, cats are my favorite creature on this planet! But I did not come to this conclusion without reasoning, which I will discuss with you now.

Cats are smarter than dogs. I am well aware of the fact that a dog's brain is larger than a cat's, but more of the dog's brain is dedicated to memory, and believe it or not, memory does not equal intelligence. I have a few examples of surprising intellegence shown by my cats, but I could ramble on and on about that and I don't want to bore anyone.

Dogs can be taught to protect you from intruding humans, but cats protect you from intruding spiders, bugs, mice, snakes, bats, and birds all on their own. Movies have a way of fooling the public. They make it look like a common dog will automatically know when a human isn't supposed to be there. Your dog may bark insanely when someone knocks on the door, but that usually is from excitement, not from territorial instincts. More often than not, a house dog will treat all humans as friends. Humans aside, how many house dogs go looking for things to hunt within the house? I'm sure if a large animal like a goose wandered into your house, the dog would notice, but rarely do they notice smaller creatures like mice or spiders unless they are in plain sight.

Cats are cleaner and have softer fur. I bathe my cats not even once a year, and they are usually perfectly clean and have soft fur despite that. A dog needs to be outside often where it gets all sorts of dirty and doesn't bother much to clean itself up, and unless it is bathed by a human frequently, not only will it be dirty, but its fur will be coarse and possibly greasy- much like human hair when the human doesn't shower regularly. And I don't care what science says, cats mouths are cleaner, too. I've never seen a cat eating another animal's feces. I can't honestly say the same for a dog.

Cats are lower maintenance than dogs, and can be just as loving and loyal. Dogs are needy little bitches. (Pun intended.) They need to be walked every day, they need to be outside more than once a day to do their business, they need regular bathing, and they need to be trained to do basic things, like not poop on the floor. Cats need food, their litter box cleaned once a week, and the occassional petting and lazerpointer session.

Cats CAN be trained! Do you train them the same as you would a dog? No, of course not! You don't train monkeys the same as you train a dog, either, but you see trained monkeys all the time. It all depends on how you do it. If you do it right, training a cat is just as easy as training a dog.

Now I want everyone to understand, this rant doesn't mean I don't like dogs. I like dogs just fine. I just like cats better. I'd like to own a dog someday, but I have no experience with owning dogs, and would need someone better qualified to help me out. That's why I want to raise a well-behaved dog with whoever I decide to end up with, before I ever have a kid. Because kids are scary, man. A higher maintenance pet than a cat would be good training and preparation.

Until next time,
Cap'n Kyrie

While We're Being Narcissistic, Let's Talk About My Hair

For those of you who don't know me, I've always had really thick, really healthy hair. After my shower yesterday I was looking at myself in the mirror and considering getting my hair cut really short, like the picture to the left. Pixie style. There are a lot of pros, but also a lot of cons.


Pro: It's a hair style I haven't tried for myself, yet, and I'd kind of like to try it.


Con: This hairstyle tends to look better on people who are very small, and I'm not small.


Pro: It's easier to brush my hair when it's short.


Con: When it grows out, it'll be right in my eyes.


Pro: It'll show off more of my pretty face. :-)


Con: I tend to get pimples around my hairline that are easier to cover up when my hair is longer.


Pro: I'm going to be balding and grey sometime in the future and I don't have long to experiment with different hairstyles.


Con: I looked in the mirror and I have two areas of my scalp right by my forehead that has significantly thinner hair than the rest of my head. I'm not entirely convinced that that's normal despite the fact that they're almost symmetrical, and I may even be starting to bald in those spots.


WTF I'm balding?!?!? I'm too young for this!


So I have two questions for my readers regarding my hair:

1.) Should I get my hair cut pixie style? Give reasons, please.

2.) What should I do about my crisis? I'm too young and pretty to go bald.


Until next time,
Cap'n Kyrie

What Have I Done?

So now that I've started my first blog, it seems that everyone I know is wanting to start a blog, as well. My friends, my mom, my dad... And I just know, just like every other fad I start, every single one of them will have more followers than mine. Cuz that's just how it is.

Everyone's had something like this happen to them: Wore a collar as jewelry to school one day. Put a pencil topper on a favorite pen. Cut the pinkies off of a pair of cheap gloves. Just some stupid thing that you wanted to do to, suddenly became popular and no one gave you credit.

Does that mean you stopped doing it? No! You did it cuz you liked it. Popularity didn't ruin it for you. Your favorite pen became more awesome with its pencil topper. That collar you wore had meaning behind it. Those gloves are convenient without pinkies for some reason.

And just like you kept doing those fads, long past the point of popularity, this blog will not die with its popularity! ... Or lack thereof, considering I can count the number of people who read this on one hand.

Until next time, and never fear, my finger fans, for there will be a next time,
Cap'n Kyrie

What? She's a Gamer, Too?

I know, I know. I'm just too perfect. (I'm joking, don't hate me, I'm joking.)

My friend and fellow MOB member, Domi, was ...discussing... games with me, and challenged me to write a blog post about a game I like. Okay, no problem. It would be much more of a challenge for me to write about a game we both like, since it seems we have opposing opinions on just about everything.

Do you still have your old consoles to play all of your old favorites? Good. Don't throw out your PS, because here's a worthwhile game, I'm betting you never played: Azure Dreams.

Azure Dreams is set in a hokey old desert town whose only real attraction is the giant tower it hosts. Why is this tower so popular? Because within its magical walls live thousands of monsters and treasures behold. And where thousands of monsters can be found, so can thousands of monster eggs. These eggs are valuable, because when a human raises a monster from an egg, it becomes the human's familiar and a potentially powerful ally.

You play as the son of a world famous monster trainer, Guy (I know, really creative name, right?), whose familiar, a Kraken, returned one stormy night from the tower without Guy leaving his wife to raise his two kids on her own. Since most of their income came from the tower, they've had to sell all of Guy's monsters and eggs to make ends meet. When you become of age (15- better than Pok'e'mon at age 11, but seriously, who lets their kids go off to do dangerous missions at age 15, either?) you set off into the tower to get treasures and monster eggs and live up to your father's name.

As you go along, not only do you get monsters and treasures, but everyone in the town who used to think you were a bratty little kid starts to respect you, girls who used to think you were icky start liking you, and the hokey little town you live in gets nicer and more attractive to outsiders.

I have only two complaints, but they're both kind of whiny, since both problems are completely intentional by the people who made the game.

First is, if you 'die' in the tower, you wake up in your bed as if you didn't go to the tower that day. You don't have anything in your inventory, including the things you went to the tower with. It's all gone. Yet, if you go to look at your monsters, whatever levels they gained while you were in the tower, they still have. And they've rigged it so that you can only load your save point once. If you load that save point a second time, they assume that you died and tried to restart, which is true most of the time, and it starts your game from the point that you would be if you had died in the tower. (I found a way around this, eventually, but you'll have to figure that out on your own. Bwa ha ha.)

Second is, you can only take 5 items into the tower with you. Usually, that's a monster, a weapon, a shield, a wind crystal (this allows you to come back from the tower with all of your stuff), and one other thing, which later on in the game is usually a second monster. Those red and blue sands you were saving for when you got a really nice weapon and shield, you have to take into the tower one at a time (without a second monster) to use on your stuff, because you can't use items outside of the tower.

Like I said, these are really picky things to complain about. In my opinion, with these being my only complaints, you gotta figure that the game overall is really good. Which it is. Seriously, it's a ton of fun!

Until next time,
Cap'n Kyrie

Levels of Con Savvy

or How a First Time Con-Goer Can Be More Respected Than You
Expert Level - Recognized and adored at every con he or she goes to. Either gets the reference or seems genuinely interested when he or she doesn't get it. Doesn't need to wear a costume, but has hand-made costumes in the past and understands the trials of doing so. Speaks like a normal person unless quoting something else.

Intermediate Level - Goes to one or more cons regularly and is recognized at those. Gets or pretends to get most references. Wears intricate costumes. Speaks normally most of the time.

Novice Level - Most con attendees. Loves the con community and goes to whatever they can. May not get most references, but is genuinely interested. Goal is to wear awesome costumes. Speaks normally most of the time.

Beginner Level - First time at a con and isn't quite sure where they fit in. Doesn't get most references. Little to no costume. Speaks like a normal person, because they haven't yet been tainted by Suckage Level.

Suckage Level - Has been to tons of cons 'because it's cool'. Is familiar with one or two anime that are more popular to normies than to most con-goers and refuses to be interested in anything else. Put no effort into their costumes whatsoever. Uses as many japanese words and phrases they can possibly incorporate into their conversation, most of the time incorrectly.

Am I forgetting anything? I can go back and edit.

Until next time,
Cap'n Kyrie

Stop Being So Negative!

So apparently I put myself down too much in my last post, and now I have to list my positives. Woohoo.

Uhmm. I'm honest, and pretty open. If you're my friend, I'll tell you just about anything. I am myself, always. The only time I'll act like something I'm not is on a stage or when roleplaying. Even then each character has an element of myself. You can tell me just about anything, and as long as the goal wasn't to insult me, I won't be offended... Actually, most of the time, even if you were trying to offend me, I'll laugh it off. If you can't laugh at yourself, after all, you have no right to laugh at others.

You have no idea how hard it is to talk about myself for so long without mentioning anything negative. I'm practically twitching, here. What do you mean, this isn't enough???

Grr... Okay... I'm a decent artist. I'm not half bad a writer. I can sing pretty well. I make an awesome spaghetti. I'm good at problem solving. I have really healthy hair.

Is this enough yet? What?!?! I can't think of any more! Augh, fine. Fine!

I shower regularly. I don't have any serious allergies. I have all of my fingers and toes. I don't have a deadly disease. I'm not horribly disfigured.

Hm? I can stop now? Finally.

Until next time,
Cap'n Kyrie

On Being a N00b

I am a n00b at this blog.

And at any blogging, really. I've never blogged before, though I've enjoyed the blogdome of other people's. Every time I thought, 'You know, I could do that,' but, of course, I never did. Until now. Right now, the blog design sucks, the blog content isn't all that great, and the blog in general just about blows... But that's expected of a first time blogger... It'll get better, I promise. I know basic HTML! Yay! ....It is yay, right?

I am a n00b at driving.

At age 18, two months away from being 19, I still cannot drive. I got my learner's permit at age 17.5 and after two lessons from my dad in our van am thoroughly terrified of being behind the wheel. I can admit that learning to drive is kind of vital to survive in the world. So I know I need to learn ASAP. After my second lesson during which I drove the van into a ditch however, I believe both my parents and myself are a bit reluctant to try again.

I am a n00b at anime... Sorta.
It's not like I've never watched anime, but after my first con (I've been to a total of three, so far.) I realized that I know next to nothing about anime, which is something I really didn't expect. There are thousands of references I didn't get. I really want to get them, too. They sound interesting. I can't speak Japanese. I know a small handful of words and how to count to six. I know how to spell even less, and none of it in characters. I like to wear costumes, but I can't stand making them. I have avoided Pok'e'mon since they started adding more than the first 151 like crazy, to the point that the original 150 are rarities. I mean, come on. The song went: 150, or more to see. Meaning that more than 150 are like brand new discoveries. Sorry, I'll stop ranting now... Anyway, I've gotten a little more tolerant, but only of the video games. I refuse to watch the series.

So maybe I'm not a n00b... more like a novice. I knew a lot of things before going to my first con that I was a bit more prepared than an actual n00b. I knew to avoid Narutards. I knew about the game. (Which you just lost, haha.) I knew that pirates are greater than ninjas. (leGasp!) I knew not to go wearing just cat ears. (Although I am a fan of cats in general, a plain catgirl I am not.) My opinion may not be shared by every con-goer, but at least it is my own. After I went to my first con, I also realized: These are my people. It was like I was an alien, and I had just found my planet.


I'm not a n00b about everything. I know who I am and what I want to be. That I think is the most important thing anyone can know.

Until next time,
Cap'n Kyrie