The Thing That Goes Doink

Today's BPAL scent is Against Idleness & Mischief from the Mad Tea Party collection. Based on the poem by the same name, the scent smells like pollen-dusted honey, tonka, chamomile, and hyssop. It's a bit sweet for me, and a bit too floral for my likes. Not bad, but just not me.

Anyway, it's been raining like crazy where I live. Yesterday my parking lot was almost completely flooded, and the street right in front of my complex was probably under a foot of water. Apparently the drainage system here can't keep up with the kind of rain we've been getting. Even as I write this, there's a downpour outside. I was wondering if I would need to water the plants today, as it turns out, nature is taking care of that for me. I just hope they don't drown because they're getting TOO much water. :/

I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend, though we'll see if that actually happens. In the mean time, I have some time to kill and the Wii is calling my name.

Today's BPAL scent is Sacred Whore of Babylon, touted as, "And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch." It smells musky, with incense and oils, probably what ancient brothels smelled like (I'm guessing, I can't honestly say that I know for sure). Honestly, closing my eyes and taking a whiff reminds me of sex. Go figure.

Yesterday I started my New Game Plus in DotNW, and I opted to keep all of my monsters. That has turned into something as a Game Breaker, as Titan, the wolf I caught in the beginning of my first play through, is almost level 90 and basically can one hit kill any opponent. This includes bosses. So while I'll probably make sure that Titan is in my ranks when I face off against Alice and Decus the first couple of times (and probably Richter, by default), the rest of the time he'll be hanging out with the Katz Guild while I level up my other monsters. Like Zanatu, who I used until I got better monsters. Poor widdle imp. X3

Anyway, I really should do my cleaning...I just haven't felt like it. ;_;

Today's BPAL scent is The Light of Men's Lives, inspired the Grimm's Fairytale "Godfather Death." I don't really know how to describe the scent - bittersweet, I suppose, with a hint of wax and musk. And the vague scent of something burning, as well. I think it's supposed to be reminiscent of a burning candle. It's okay, but it's not a favorite.

Anyway, I'm gearing up to face the final bosses in DotNW - so I'm currently revisiting past temples and dungeons to pick some fights and gain some experience points to boost Emil and Marta's stats. I want to try and get through the final bosses without using a bazillion items. And see if I can't get at least two of Marta's speed cast abilities. Unlike the original, side quests are a long running affair and about the only way you're going to get them is if you instigate them in previous chapters. Well, I suppose it's something to keep in mind for later play throughs.

I thought I would have most of this weekend to sit around and play, get my bearings, see if I could totally beat all dungeons, etc., because my husband was supposed to be going out of town this weekend with his dad. They were supposed to do some pest control in back woods Idaho, but the weather is teh suck there, so now they're not going. >_< There goes my nice, relaxing, weekend.

Bleugh....I have to clean out the fridge now. The left-overs are starting to reach critical mass.

When my sister was in college, one of the dorms she lived in was called Orton. They actually put on their dorm shirts, "It's all about the O. How loud is yours?" (Compared to the ones that my husband's dorm wanted to put on theirs ("Engineers do their best work on their backs"), this was relatively tame.)

Today's BPAL scent is simply "O," from their Ars Amatoria collection. They describe it as, "The scent of sexual obsession, slavery to sensual pleasure, and the undercurrent of innocence defiled utterly." The scent itself is of amber and honey with a touch of vanilla. As a general rule, I can't stand vanilla as a scent. It's often too heavy for me and gives me a headache. However, blended in with the amber and honey, and being as light as it is, means that I smell sweet - and debauched. ^^ I like it, but I don't know if I actually want to buy it. More thought is required...

In other news, in DotNW I'm up to the Temple of Darkness, retrieving Tenebrae's core after he went from Deadpan Snarker to core state due to cute-but-evil-sadist-bitch Alice being, well, sociopathic. I actually tried to beat the damn thing last night but died. Part of it is that even though you're revisiting a lot of locations from the first game, they've changed things up, drawing you in DEEPER. It's not necessarily a The Developers Though of Everything sort of moment, it's more, "Let's put a lot of ambiguous doors that you can go through into the temples." And the enemies. And the frakking battle system. And oh yeah, the enemies certainly don't believe in the trope of If You Want To Fight Me, Get In Line. They will all gang up on you and PWN your ass and you have to do everything in your frakking power to get away long enough to have Marta heal you, or use a recovery item.

Oh, have I mentioned how annoying it is when you use too many "artes" or items? The characters actually yell at each other. "You're using too many items!" or "Don't just use artes!" Of course, then there's a snarky reply to each statement ("It's to win!" for the former, "But it's more fun this way!" for the latter), but you still get the feeling that you should 1) be better so you don't have to use a bazillion items just to stay alive, or B) learn how to properly combo attacks. As it stands, half the time I forget to use Emil's artes so the latter statements are almost never directed at me. I am guilty of using too many items. I kind of like being alive, you know. Makes it easier to win battles that way.

I suppose this afternoon I'll try to beat the Temple of Darkness. I have to remember that I can't just rely on what I already know about the temple (even if I found that "hidden" treasure chest because of it).