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Why I love The Legend of Zelda (even when I hate it)
Hello there little friend.
I got this beautiful golden thing for my birthday and it is as amazing as it is shiny. It's INFINITELY bigger than my DS lite (which of course quit working the second I tried to sell it...sigh) and they changed a lot of games so you actually use the buttons instead of repeatedly stabbing the bottom screen with a golf-pencil-sized stylus. And lastly but not leastly, it's the Legend of Zelda edition (that comes with A Link Between Worlds) and has a big ol' Triforce on the front. Yay!
Every Zelda game is essentially the same set up with some kind of twist. Somebody snatches the princess, you have to go to the temples to get the things, at some point you hang glide using a chicken, and there's always a treasure chest up on a ledge that you will never reach. Playing these games has been the most infuriating experience of my life so far. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks (both on my tiny tiny DS lite) were so aggravating I can't even speak about it.
I assume the game developers at Nintendo live in a Frankenstein-esque dark crumbling mansion on a cliff side and cackle loudly with lightning and thunder in the background while they put one less heart in the boss chamber than you need. That or they'll put some ridiculously impossible quest in the game and one tech looks at the other and says, "Aw man they'll never be able to do it" and then they laugh and high five each other. "You have to use a grappling hook to sling yourself around the boss but the boss is always standing in the way of the one place you can hang on to hahaha! Then we'll make this really sensitive Wii remote and make it impossible to hold it right for the one movement we named the game after! LAWL!!"
So why have I played eight of these things?! BECAUSE THEY'RE FANTASTIC.
You've got a horse/train/albatross/broomstick/boat, a sword, magic health snacks, and sometimes you can play a song and move a 1000 ton stone wall or raise an underwater palace. There are no rules.
An even though they can be so stressful you think you're going to come unglued, they wouldn't be fun if they weren't challenging! I do my best work when someone spits in my face and DARES me to do something. Tell me I can't do it and I'll hulk up and show you what's what.
So even though the puzzles can be a little unruly, and some of the weapons targeting is crazy, and everything is on a ledge you can't get to, Zelda games are my favorites (particularly Windwaker). You can fly, teleport, swordfight, blow things up, talk to animals, and time travel. I just wish you could spend more time with Zelda.
New Things I Love
Even if I weren't so absentminded about where I put things, I just love being organized. It's just a small, simple thing that makes me happy. I spend a lot of time lusting after weekender bags but they're usually just huge, gaping sacks that swallow up your lipsticks and car keys. That is unless you have--a bag organizer! *trumpets* *elephants* *trumpeters on elephants*
I have a tendency to leave really important things in other bags, behind my bed, under my computer table, etc. But no more! Ebay has a huge selection of organizers in every color for about $7 with shipping. I really love this thing. It's super soft so you can put cheap sunglasses in the side pockets, the snaps on the side let you expand or collapse it for different bags, and the zippered compartments are great for my rat nest of charger cables and my iPad mini. I can even get a book, my wallet, and my 3DS in the middle pocket. My cavernous Coach bag is no longer a black pit of despair!
I have a tendency to leave really important things in other bags, behind my bed, under my computer table, etc. But no more! Ebay has a huge selection of organizers in every color for about $7 with shipping. I really love this thing. It's super soft so you can put cheap sunglasses in the side pockets, the snaps on the side let you expand or collapse it for different bags, and the zippered compartments are great for my rat nest of charger cables and my iPad mini. I can even get a book, my wallet, and my 3DS in the middle pocket. My cavernous Coach bag is no longer a black pit of despair!
London Round Two: Carry-on Only on an International Flight
I. LOVE. Packing. I get more excited for packing than the actual trip (until I get there, of course). I have spent the past two weeks trawling for "what's in my bag?" posts because A) seeing things neatly organized and arranged makes me super happy, B) I always plan my bag-packing at least a month in advance out of both excitement and boredom, C) I am on a life-long quest for the PERFECT weekender/carry on bag. It's my White Whale. Right now I'm looking very hard at those Lo & Sons OMG bags I see everywhere, especially because their product page has not only a picture of all the things that fit inside one bag (clearly they saw me coming), but also a video of a lady putting everything inside. Visual people, rejoice! Now go forth and watch their bag-filling video and weep for joy.
I leave for my London housing-scouting trip in four days. Naturally, I started planning what to bring about a month ago (not to mention the hours spent staring at the Google map I made, trying to will the trip into the present). Hopefully this will be my most streamlined trip yet; I need to save room for all the birthday treats I plan to buy myself.
I've decided to try and fit everything into two carry on bags since the trip is only five days. Checking bags is a hassle and do I really need all that stuff? No. There's no way I can plan out my clothes bag so far in advance, but I did put together a list of what MUST go in my personal item and get gently shoved under the seat.
1) iPad (cleverly disguised as a Moleskine notebook): I loaded it with the HBO/BBC Parade's End and Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night because apparently I enjoy having my heart stomped on.
2) Planner: For jotting notes, looking up addresses when there's no (free) wi-fi, and using the appropriate bear sticker to describe your mood that day.
3) Passport: Otherwise I will be rudely surprised when I try to get through customs.
4) Kiehl's Facial Mist: There's nothing worse than feeling so dried out, you want to pour water in your nose. A few sprays of this makes you feel a lot less gross.
5) Nintendo 3DS: This one came loaded with The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and I am saving it for the inevitable few-hour wide-awake period between plane naps.
6) Fujifilm Instax Camera: It's a little bulky but so much fun to take little polaroid-looking pictures and put sticker-frames on them.
7) Sunglasses: Even though I'm going to England there's a chance for sunlight.
8) Sleep Mask: Someone always has their window open right when the pilot turns and the windows are facing directly into the sun.
9) Neon Sharpies: Sometimes you need to write something VERY IMPORTANT that you can see from space.
10) Lancôme Palette: This thing has mascara, powder, AND lip liner which is impossible to find in other palettes. I bought it on the flight from London to Atlanta before and I'm excited to use it to obsessively check my eyeliner.
11) Kiwi: Air travel can be stressful and you might need something cute to look to keep from hulking up on someone (seriously how do I always end up with eleven?)
There are a few other things I'm bringing that aren't in the picture like chargers, my wallet, snacks, and my makeup bag. But those are things I bring around with me every day. I almost never get to use my Instax camera or my facial mist (it's crazy humid here 100% of the time).
Hopefully I have a great experience going carry-on only, since I plan to only check one (maybe two) bags when I move to London later this year. I'll let you know how it goes!
I Love Notebooks
I have an undying love affair with paper notebooks. I even have Moleskine-looking covers for my iPad and iPhone. Don't get me wrong, tablets are AMAZING. I adore my iPad; I use it to read books, Pocket articles, recipes on Evernote, and anytime my computer is just too bulky to deal with. It's an unbelievable invention, really. And I love the idea of being paperless, sharing, and never being without important files. But notebooks are just begging you to scribble all over them and draw elephants on the page corners. You can tape ticket stubs inside, use all your neon highlighters to make rainbow notes, and you don't have to take them out of your bags at airport security checkpoints. I find it's good to have a balance of fancy screen technology and good old paper things that you can throw at a wall without worrying about. Not that you should make that a habit. But sometimes you want to watch Kitchen Nightmares in bed with your nose nearly against the screen, and sometimes you need to test out your new neon Sharpies.
I have lusted after journals and diaries my whole life but would only ever write in a few pages. If I made one false move and scribbled in the wrong place, they were no longer the perfect manuscript I had envisioned and the book was dead to me (not wasteful at all). But recently I finally filled up an entire journal because I quit worrying about it! I just wrote in my lazy cursive and told myself to calm down. I have always been obsessed with aesthetics and wanted the things I made to be p-e-r-f-e-c-t and if they weren't I would give up. But once I threw up my hands and quit being so ridiculous, I actually accomplished something! Perfectionism (and snobbishness) has always gotten in my way before, but now I feel grown up enough to just get things done. If you wait until all the conditions are perfect, you will wait forever.
Anyway, Friday at work I noticed there was a 50% off sale table full of Moleskine and Moleskine-looking notebooks that looked awfully lonely. My coworker that runs the museum store must have seen me coming. I kept putting off my inevitable purchase (or otherwise missed my chance by not getting to the store before it closed) but after I watched last week's episode of Parks and Recreation and saw Leslie' little red friend-ranker notebook I could no longer help myself. I figured at the very least, a new journal would help me on my journey to becoming more Knope-like (next I need to make some idea binders).
I think Leslie's notebook is actually a Moleskine, but there was a red Leuchtturm (a German notebook company) at the museum store that looked similar and I GREATLY DESIRED IT. Turns out that no one was buying them because 1) Leuchtturm isn't as familiar as Moleskine and 2) Europeans love square grid notepaper and Americans are confused by it outside of math class. Anyway, I got a blue Leuchtturm and a Moleskine sketchbook; as you can see they're still in shrink wrap but I checked out the display copies and I am in love. I even got a pen holder that sticks onto the back cover of the Leuchtturm (Germans think of everything). I have a paper day planner as well, but these will be for my exciting new sparkly life across the sea. I feel like running around a museum requires a neat little book (and a pencil so you don't mark up exhibits by mistake) and I can see myself writing in a notebook on trains and in front of the National Gallery. It's just such a nice feeling to bring home a nice clean notebook and fill it with all kinds of things. And it really comes in handy when you are renting a flat in London for a week and the wifi goes out and the landlord's number is in an email saved on your iPad. Paper saves the day!
So if you are in the market for some nice writing things, and you LOVE NEON like I totally do, get thee to Leuchtturm!
P.S. I just like to spread the word about products cause I love them, I'm certainly not getting any money for this. But if any companies wanted to make me their spokesperson I have a list of favorite things :)
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