Previous stop: Warsaw!
Highway forests between Poland and Lithuania. Continue reading
Europe Trip 2019: Vilnius
Leave a Reply
Europe Trip 2019: Warsaw
Previous stop: Krakow!
Fyi, Warsaw got a bit heavy, though I’m not going into detail about it.
The Polish countryside: farms. Continue reading
Europe Trip 2019: Krakow
Previous stop: Leipzig!
After Leipzig, we drove east into Poland. I still had only my cellphone to take pictures with.
Near the border, we saw all these military vehicles; there were Dutch flags on them! Continue reading
Europe Trip 2019: Leipzig
Previous stop: Berlin!
We left Berlin early in the morning to travel next to Leipzig, where our first performance would be. That’s right, we’d rehearsed three times and we were going to sing in public. Our big set-piece was the Bach motet Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren, but we also had the (slightly more difficult, particularly in the orchestral reduction) Mendelssohn cantata Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten. These two selections in particular were significant for this performance. Continue reading
Europe Trip 2019: Berlin
So earlier this year, I was notified that a choir was looking for an accompanist for a tour of North-Eastern Europe. I love traveling, and Europe, and music, so I was like “heck yiss let’s go” except more formal because they were paying my airfare/hotels/transportation because I poor and can’t afford to go otherwise.
Here’s the photo evidence of what I saw! Click for larger on pretty much all pictures. Continue reading
FFXIV: The Parting Glass
And BOOM goes the dramatic tension! Thanks for reading everyone! I’m going to take a break from writing for a bit to play Legend of Dragoon, but I’m sure I’ll be back with HW sooner or later!
Regarding the song Thancred and R’nyath sing at the beginning of the chapter: I was subbing for a choir earlier this year, and one of the pieces they were singing was ‘Quick, we have but a second‘ by Stanford, and I realized immediately that it fit this chapter perfectly. And I’ve been waiting for this one… Vivienne’s fight song is RichaadEB’s cover of Bad Apple!
R’inwa is actually a lot taller than R’nyath, I learned when making him into a retainer; his height is at max, and I think R’nyath’s in the bottom third of the scale.
EDIT: Vivienne’s soul crystal has broken for story purposes.
Chapter 18: Blushes and Blood Pearls
Chapter 19: The Parting Glass
The air in the Rising Stones was merry, despite everything that had happened in the last little while, despite the tension that Rinala felt in her chest like a distant thundercloud. But if the others were worried, though she suspected they were, she couldn’t tell from their demeanour. Perhaps they were pretending and putting on a good face, as the other folk at the banquet would neither know nor care about the horrible murder that had just happened, or the sinister plot behind it that no one would tell her about. She didn’t begrudge them maintaining her ignorance; she was terrible with secrets, only… she wanted to know what to be worried about, and also she was just curious! Continue reading
FFXIV: Blushes and Blood Pearls
I’m weak. I started playing R’nyath Tia lol.
At the beach, Rinala’s wearing the 2017 summer top with the 2018 summer bottom, both dyed Dalamud red; R’nyath is wearing the 2018 top in Meadow green and bottom in Nophica green.
Chapter 18: Blushes and Blood Pearls
At first it was just one out-of-place woman in town, a blonde Miqo’te dressed in a beautiful white dress and looking about in wonderment. And then it was another, a brunette Hyur from Ul’dah, and another, a long-legged Elezen, and another, and another, and one by one they were all directed to the Rising Stones. Continue reading
FFXIV: Faith in Her Fury
This chapter is obviously named for an OST track; one of my favourite tracks (a shame it’s only used for this one trial!) and one I absolutely needed for writing inspiration. Other OST used in this chapter would be Battle Theme 1.x, which is Chuchupa’s theme!
Only two more chapters left in ARR!
Chapter 16: The Tightening Noose
Chapter 17: Faith in Her Fury
As promised, Aymeric rode in haste to Camp Dragonhead with Estinien to meet with Haurchefant and the Warriors of Light. Lucia was already with them. Iceheart had shattered Ishgard’s outermost defensive wards, the Temple Knights had had terrible losses in the northwest, and he knew Commander Leveilleur was going to try and be clever rather than helpful. But his beautiful city was more direly threatened than any other time in their nation’s history, and he needed reinforcements. Any reinforcements. If but a single Warrior of Light were to come to their aid, well, it would be a start. But somehow he did not think they would turn a cold shoulder to his impassioned plea. And not simply because it was impassioned. Continue reading
FFXIV: The Tightening Noose
Whew! Didn’t expect to end this chapter on a downer note but it seems like this one 5-page scene I wrote last month doesn’t happen yet and I’m now very confused about when it does happen. I’m feeling a bit down about the game itself in general, and I’m not sure how to fix it other than get Achiyo into HW so I can replay one of my favourite parts of the story.
Chapter 16: The Tightening Noose
Rinala was away attending to a private matter, but Achiyo and two of her close companions had been sent to reinforce Captain Ilberd in interrupting a black market weapons deal at the Burning Wall… ‘Overkill’, Ilberd’s lieutenant had muttered with a grin, and they’d all chuckled a little, but the more allies present, the easier it would be to end without bloodshed, wouldn’t it? Continue reading
FFXIV: The Elder Primal
So life has been busy since I last wrote: between work, a dire cold, a (working) trip to Europe (trip pics coming out… between XIV stuff), and Shadowbringers, I haven’t had much time to write. However I’m determined to put a dent in the story now, as a lot of the writing I did do is recording thoughts on 5.0 happenings, so I do want to catch up to it sooner rather than later lol! Still going to take me years…
My spoiler-free thoughts on Shadowbringers now that I’m done: it’s SO GOOD! I love how the focus closes in from Stormblood’s sprawling war epic to a highly character-driven conflict, getting closer to people we already care about, the lore bombs (oh the lore bombs), the tension and drama (cried multiple times, screamed of excitement multiple times, will upload video evidence). That ENDING. My heart. Respect. I am not sure how I’m going to write it with 8 people. Also Soken is a GOD. Still. I’ve tried the new raid and I think it’s going to be the best raid yet; I don’t even remember much of FFVIII but the XIV plot is really intriguing. Still haven’t downed any of the EX primals, though I’ve actually made a go of it with friends and without, but I do want a weapon. Also, to fit the story, I fantasia’d to Vivienne! And also one thing that made me way too excited was a part where Alphinaud said words that inadvertently title-dropped this fic! I started writing this almost two years ago! I can’t believe it, it’s too perfect lol Continue reading
