schneefink

The last few episodes left me blinking at the screen and wondering what the heck just happened. Then I watched the movie and suddenly I was completely on board.
(This took me three days to write up because I kept thinking of new things to add.)

( episodes 43-51 )

( Conqueror of Shamballa )


I don't think I'm going to read the manga/watch FMA:B right now, I'm a bit worried I'd get the 'verses confused and for the moment I'm still not done thinking about this one. (Also I should finish canon review for Yuletide…)

I'll have two of my wisdom teeth removed later today. I'm not nervous about the surgery itself, but I'm a bit apprehensive about how I'll feel afterwards and for how long. I bet talking about FMA would be a good distraction :)

I finally watched another Pens game in real-time. At first accidentally, then I decided to take advantage of the fact that 7pm Eastern games now start at midnight here instead of 1am, at least for a short while. Every time after I skate/play hockey myself I get a new appreciation for what these guys are doing on the ice, it's a beautiful sport. Plus, the golden jerseys are pretty.

It was an entertaining game too :) Some nice goals – one even on the PP, good job. Zatkoff made 50 saves in his first NHL game since 2014. Many shots were not high quality, but it's still bad that the Pens gave up so many. Something definitely has to be done about the defense. Tanger is currently not playing that well, which is worrying. The whole team got sloppy when they had a 2 goal lead, that's why they nearly lost it twice.

Overall a big reason why the team is currently winning is the goaltending – Flower is, as always, the best. Hopefully they'll get the rest figured out eventually. In the meantime I want them to play entertaining games and to win enough so people don't start panicking. I like the way this article put it: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have spent the better part of a decade being the most prolific players in the league; few players have come close to the dominance exhibited by Crosby and Malkin in that timeframe. I’m not ready to suggest that their careers amounted to nothing if they don’t win another Stanley Cup together. Let's enjoy what we see now.

Pens' Halloween costumes: Kuni & Duper & their wives as Marty McFly and Doc Brown and minions, Tanger & his wive in Corpse Bride.

The Pens hired Gonch as part of their coaching staff, which made me happy, I hope he'll do well. I'm curious what they'll do with Sprong: he hasn't been that good the last few days and they don't have that many forward spots available. We'll find out soon.


I watched episode 8 of FMA:Brotherhood, the fight at the laboratory, to have a basis for comparison between FMA and FMA:B. The animation is pretty much identical, which is a relief. They cut out a lot: ( details )Efficient, but there's so much good stuff missing!
I then read the episode descriptions on Wikipedia of the FMA:B episodes covering what I already saw on FMA. It appears that there are several changes that are maybe not that important to the plot, but do change characters' histories with each other and relationships, which is kind of important to the story. FMA only has 50 episodes, so I think I might just finish watching that and then watch all of FMA:B later.

FMA episodes 25-34:( Notes with spoilers )


Pause for now, I have to get some work done, and maybe a nap first. At least I managed to cook today, points to me.

Tomorrow is Halloween, I'm curious how much of that I'll notice here. At my parents' place a handful of groups would come and ask for candy, between three and eight depending on the year I'd say, but that was a house. This is an apartment so someone would have to let the kids into the house in the first place. Someone might, I better stock up on candy just in case. (Mm, candy.)

I'm more excited about Halloween because the Trick or Treat exchange goes live – stories! I'm also impatiently waiting for my Yuletide assignment. Soon.
Edit: Got it! I like it! Now, canon review :)

I signed up for hockeyfestivus, because for some reason I'm still optimistic when it comes to signing up for things. (Yuletide matching soon!) Unlike Yuletide, where most women hockey players nominated where from national teams, the CWHL, or college hockey, here several NWHL players are nominated and I actually know several of them. "Know" is an exaggeration, but I know of them and I want to get to know them better. I've been doing some preliminary research, I really wish there were primers already. I didn't know that Kiira Dosdall used to play in Vienna, and hadn't seen the adorable video of when Ashley Johnston's wife proposed to her on the ice. I want a lot of Riveters fic.

(The NWHL players are right on the edge of where I feel comfortable writing RPF. Or maybe more accurately, I'm fine with writing/reading but I'm not comfortable doing "research", it feels uncomfortably close to stalking. Therefore my desire for other people to do that work for me.)

I also want the Riveters to finally win a game. The 1-7 loss against Boston was not fun, at least the last game was better. I watched some of it, but the announcer wasn't good and it took me long minutes to even figure out which team was which.


I accidentally started reading Fullmetal Alchemist fic a few days ago, and then I started watching the anime. I like it so far, especially Ed and Al. The beginning was a bit slow, but by now I enjoy it a lot. Fic spoiled me for some things, which is a shame, but otoh without fic I might have waited much longer to watch it.

( spoilers )

I watched up to episode 17. I'll watch a few more and then switch over to FMA:B, as was recommended to me.

The downside to that is that the reason why I started watching is because I'm procrastinating, isn't it always. I made a little bit of progress, at least, but now I'm in danger of stalling again. I'm thinking of switching to a more food and candy-based motivation system.
(For now. I recently learned all of my wisdom teeth will have to be removed, the first surgery is in two weeks. I'm telling myself it's not a big deal, but I'm not looking forward to it.)


Hockey practice starts again tomorrow! I intentionally signed up for the earlier course at 9am because the ice is better, I'll have to remind myself of that when I have to get up early tomorrow morning. Yes, some people have to get up earlier every day; some people should shut up and let me complain in peace. They know who they are.