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buddhasfanficdictatorship · 5 years

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Fanfic Progress Update: Light at the End of the Tunnel and Going Forward (Part 2 of 2)

Part 1: Here

Sorry this took awhile get out, my lying ass said “a few days” last time, but a month is about the same amount of time... right? I’ve been busy trying to finish up a fic I wrote for a very helpful friend as a Christmas gift, which obviously isn’t late as crap now. Besides that, some unavoidable stuff came up (including having my phone containing writing notes totally crap out on me, internet issues, oh and almost becoming homeless because my landlord jacked up rent a bunch without notice, forcing me to try to sell my plasma and to scramble for money. That was fun. But that’s a whole other story).

I hope you’ll understand that real life troubles have to take priority. I know, it’s always excuses with me, sorry. I wish I could control my life and not have all this shit constantly come up too.

Okay, now that my customary pathetic excuses are out of the way let’s get down to business! First up? Fic progress updates! But PREPARE FOR AN ONSLAUGHT OF WORDS! (as if that’s anything new).

The Bonds That Never Break: The last piece of the “Birthday” chapters (which were originally supposed to be one but got split because all these issues) has had some progress (maybe 1/4 of the way) and won’t be a difficult undertaking finishing it up since I know what I want to do, but... Honestly I've hit a major roadblock with the fic beyond this point. My ideas for original stuff are coming up empty and simply rewriting the entire plot isn’t my plan (even now I think the ratio is too far skewed for canon content without enough additions of my own).

The problem as I said in my Author’s Notes of the most recent chapter is the format keeps me tied to the canon, which limits my options. I love the idea, but I can’t deny doing a faithful canon rewrite is a pain sometimes. And in the coming chapters my new ideas are pretty much nil beyond a few scattered chunks from the Konoha Crush arc to about halfway through Shippuden.

Side Note: I planned on skipping canon rewriting most of Shippuden. The fights with Akatsuki and such don’t really play into Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship and I’m not interested in doing that much extra legwork beyond the main focus of this fic. I only care about the dorks and their story and elements of the anime that deal with it. So beyond that, we’ll jump a bunch of that and go directly to the end, a new ending where they get together eventually, where everything will be new.

So me being stuck being the case, I MAY skip forward a ways to something more solidly planned and thought out, and come back later to fill in the gap. Maybe to the point after the ending where everything is my own creation so we can see the dorks repairing their relationship and just making out like they SHOULD have done from the start. We’ll see what happens. I’d be very interested in hearing reader’s opinions, maybe I’ll set up a poll to see what you you think.

I REALLY think I need to put this on hold for a while and watch the anime start to finish, to help inspire me and bring back my passion. I love these guys but over the last year and a half my interest has faded. I need to get back into the ship and reignite those feelings I first had when I started the show so I can channel that into better chapters.

The Horny Canine Boys of the Hidden Leaf Village: Having trouble with this one too. To put it in semi-simple terms, I know what I want in chapter A and chapter C, but connecting them together with chapter B is causing me issues. Haven’t started the next chapter yet (technically the conclusion to the most recent one, since I broke that up because I wasn’t finished and had gone so long without updates) but I do know what it will involve and have plenty of notes so it shouldn’t take TOO long. That being said, from there I’m not sure what to do. I might skip forward and do chapters later on in the story first since I have a clearer idea of what I want them to be. This fic is mostly porn without plot so it’s not like skipping around would matter that much, but it’s still pretty frustrating. Probably going to make a poll for this one too, to get reader’s opinions regarding to skip or not.

Dogs Keep it in the Family: Some progress on finishing up the update I cut short, mainly need to assemble all the parts and ideas together into a cohesive whole. So not too much work. The problem with this one is mainly issues of quality I have with it, content not meeting my expectations. I have plenty of notes and a few more chapters plotted out, it’s mainly just finding the occasions where I can get some good writing done. That aside there’s also a lot of questions beyond the first couple chapters of what I want to include that I’m not sure about. I need to think more about this one.

The Unorthodox Journey of a Pokemon Breeder Boy: The next chapter of the Charizard segment is roughly half way done. But I pushed this out way too soon mainly because I was so sick of it being constantly on my “To-do list” in an in-progress state during months and months of interruptions. Going forward though I’m not really sure what I want to do with it; I simultaneously have this grand vision, but an abnormal lack of concrete ideas for new chapters. I’ve had some little sparks of inspiration and prompts, but beyond that I’m just not feeling it flow into a greater idea.

Here’s my planned schedule for this round of updates. Thing’s could change, but I’ll make a notice if they do.

1. Untitled Inuyasha fic; Koga/Ginta/Hakkaku threesome. This is a gift for a friend I’ve been trying to finish for weeks now

2. The Bonds that Never Break. Last segment of the Birthday chapter

3. The Horny Canine Boys of the Hidden Leaf Village. Next half of the Dogs Will Play chapter. This one has the least recent update (and is by far my most read fic) so I might push it ahead.

4. Dogs Keep it in the Family. Last chunk of the Mother’s Stern Hand chapter

5. The Unorthodox Journey of a Pokemon Breeder Boy. Second half of the Charizard segment

Next are details of my plans going forward. It’s lengthy (it’s ME after all) but important so I’d recommend checking it out. Long story short: After updating each of my current fics, I’m temporarily switching over from the large projects above to one-shots for a time.

But I’ll still be writing and I’m not dropping any of those big fics! I just need a break from the intensive work they require.

On to other matters. If you’ve read my other insanely long updates (if you have you’re a trooper) you’ll know I haven’t been having a great time for a long while. If not, check Part 1 or older Progress Updates for more info. Long story short, I’m completely worn out from endless months and months of bullshit. Even though its FINALLY quieted down now, I still need a break.

You might say, “But you’ve been on hiatus for months!” That was because I could never get a night without fist fights or drunk parties or literal death threats being screamed all hours. That hiatus was because I couldn’t focus, because I was in a stressful situation and had no real alternative.

Now I’m saying I need some mental health time, a break from scrambling between fics that went without updates or had half finished chapters as compensation for that utter nonsense, trying to catch up and failing to get back to normal because of it. I went straight from that atmosphere into rapidly trying to get everything back up to speed, never taking a breather and celebrating my freedom. I need to take a few steps back and gather myself, actually breathe easy without fears of drunk assholes trying to break in to people’s apartments, before I jump back into things.

Because of all that crap, I had to make do with putting out lazy and poorly constructed work. It made me feel like a shitty writer and that I was letting readers down. I can’t express how awesome people who stuck by patiently waiting for updates, understanding I wasn’t in a great place, really are. But not doing my best made me feel like I wasn’t meeting expectations of people who had been so nice. Yes it’s just fanfiction, maybe I’m getting dramatic, but still.

I’m so sick of putting out half-assed or incomplete chapters and fics. Rushing from one to another, scrambling to make updates that aren’t complete or as polished as I would like, leaving this trail of disappointment behind me. I look at what I’ve produced lately and I’m just so deeply unhappy with the quality. Most of that was the horrible situation I was in, but now it’s my haste, like I’m trying to do 5 things at once to catch up now that things are okay and none end up great. I appreciate dearly readers supporting me and being understanding all this time. But when you KNOW you can do better and aren’t meeting your own expectations it’s very frustrating. I take my writing, even if it IS only fanfiction, seriously. I feel a commitment to making the best chapters for people who enjoy what I do.

These big projects are so exhausting, so much work tweaking them just right. All the effort and time I spend has just worn me out. It’s gotten to the point that I’m starting to resent working on them, it feels like an obligation. I rush through stuff trying to make everyone happy and in the end my work suffers. It’s tough to make good stuff when it feels like a chore. And that’s never a good mentality to have when writing. I’m not doing my best work when it’s not fun.

Add to that the fact that my notes are an ABSOLUTE CLUSTER FUCKING MESS. Bits and pieces of stories saved in Google Docs, on my phone, and written in spirals, scattered everywhere. There are things for both Canine Boys and Bonds that I didn’t write down when I was breezing through work that I have now forgotten in my haste to churn out dwindling chapters and struggle with all the bullshit that had overwhelmed my life. That’s a big problem.

For example. In Canine Boys I know what I want to do with chapters 5 and 7, but my notes on 6 are paltry and I have since forgotten what I wanted to do. Problematic, even if it is just porn.

And there are pieces to the planned ending of Bonds that are hazy and difficult to remember because of the time that has passed, mental stress, and lack of organization. I need to get things in order first thing.

No joke, when I look at all my future plans and mess of notes, sometimes I get micro-panic attacks. Because there’s just SO MUCH to do, SO MUCH I need to plan and write, and oh god what did I forget this time, ugh I can’t figure out how to move on and do the next chapter, I can’t remember what good thing I planned for this and I’m disappointing my readers!!! ect. It’s truly overhauling sometimes. And it’s not pleasant or an effective way of writing. I need to get this mess sorted out, lay back and have some brainstorming to fix all those plot and continuity issues.

As if that wasn’t enough, my phone had loads of good things saved on it, ideas for both Bonds and Canine Boys that were GREAT and necessary to moving the stories forward. Well a few days ago it totally crapped out and I can’t access it. Losing the notes saved on my phone has left me pretty bummed. It’s like a knife in the heart. Because I had SO. MANY. GOOD. IDEAS. ON. THERE. And the thought of them just gone makes me just want to give up because I worry I won’t ever come up with something to match and replace all that was lost.

So yeah, I need to take a step away from these big works. All that being said, I’m not on hiatus anymore. More like semi-hiatus. I’m taking a break from “serious” writing, from these huge projects (all 4 current fics would count) and switching over to some smaller one shots in the meantime. I need time to recoup and rest and actually celebrate my newfound peace and quiet without deadlines. I want to work for a while with worrying about timely updates or letting readers down with quality issues. I’m going to take a breather, regain my confidence, organize my disaster notes, and come back strong, RATHER than keep limping along as I have been.

SO, once I make one more update to each of those 4 fics, I’ll be putting them off to the side for a while and focusing on simpler one shots. Hopefully people will check those out too, it’s still me and my style, just smaller (and a friend joked that I don’t do small projects. A one shot for me is like 10-20k words).

After these updates, which in all honesty won’t be my greatest work, not that I’ve been excelling for a while, I am DONE doing shoddy unfinished work. No more.

Once these chapters are out I’ll be shifting to one shots for a temporary cool down so I can gather my thoughts and organize my ideas. This should mean when I come back to these the quality is better, my inspiration is restarted, and I can get back on track writing fluidly instead of struggling.

I have no idea how long this period of smaller works could last. I would estimate anywhere between 3-9 months, since I want a more long term period of separation. Too much focus and worrying has made dealing with them tedious, I just don’t want to have to worry about them for a bit.

As you can see from teh Future Ideas section of my Masterlist I have LOOOTS of ideas. A good number of WIPs were recently inspired by my friend Ren and his beautiful, dirty mind. No I am not working on all those works in the Future Ideas at the same time, this is just a list of ideas that have popped into my head over time. Some may eventually be dropped if I can’t work them properly, but I do have a good chunk of progress already done on a number of those, while others have a few paragraphs written, and some are pretty much a premise and a few sentences.

Do not expect all those to be finished soon. This is a VERY VERY long term look at my plans. Like, over the few years or more probably, knowing how slow I write and how annoyingly perfectionist I am. I will likely shift priorities around between all these as new ideas inspire me or old fics require attention, but from now on I plan on trying to focus the bulk of my attention on 2 or 3 projects at once. Sort of like an assembly plant; one fic in pre-production, one in the process of being built, and one getting the final touches. That way I can churn things out more efficiently. I think that's a much better way to balance all my fics than rushing to and fro manically.

DO NOT WORRY! Just because I have all these future plans doesn’t mean I’m abandoning any of my current fics; Bonds that Never Break, Canine Boys, Dogs Keep it in the Family, and Journey of a Pokemon Breeder Boy will still get attention and I have plenty of thoughts, notes, and plans for those going forward. This list of fic ideas is just a glimpse into my thought process and future plans, in addition to somewhere I can keep readers updated with my priorities (I’ll make updates here as well).

I know what you’re probably thinking. “Oh great, more fics you won’t update on time.” Or “Perfect, the one I like is being pushed aside by this new stuff.” Remember this semi-hiatus is only temporary. Most of the ideas I have in mind are one shots. And they aren’t as intensive as my current works, they’re a much needed break so I can refocus and collect ideas for the major projects. I’m not abandoning ANYTHING, NONE of my fics are getting dropped. I’m just taking a more long term view of things so I can stay in shape.

I’m deeply sorry if some people don’t want to deal with that and jump ship, I completely understand your frustration. I fully expect to lose some readers, much as that pains me. But most importantly I need to do what’s right for me.

There’s a saying, “The candle that that burns twice as bright burns half as long.” I’m at that point. I don’t want to burn bright with a few good chapters and end up burning myself out before really finishing anything.

#progress update #progress #update #wip #fanfiction #fanfic #hiatus

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sol1056 · 6 years

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Might be a bit random, sorry, but I saw that you know the series so I was wondering: what's your opinion on Avatar: The Last Airbender? I think the show does characterization and storytelling very well, what do you say? And do you like the sequel? It does some things wrong that were great in the original, imo; I'd be curious to know what you think (since I like your thoughts on storytelling and writing in general).

Oh, heh. AtLA. That was a strange experience, since at the time I was buried neck-deep in watching all kinds of anime. (And when I mean all kinds way beyond my usual genres, since I was sort of assisting the professor in residence who was getting a master’s in Japanese Pop Culture. Between the two of us we watched several hundred anime in way too short a time.) It was a bit disorienting to go from conventions and pacing and whatnot to American storytelling. I think I struggled with the first few episodes, threw up my hands at what felt like overly-hammy voice acting, the tendency to puncture anything remotely resembling an emotional beat with abrupt and often childish humor, and a bad compression rate on broadcasts that made it all look like it was a fifth-generation recording off a VHS tape. Which is to say, I wasn’t that impressed.

And then various friends said, “You have to keep watching, just hang in there until you meet Toph. Stick with it, Toph will make it all worth it.”

They were right, Toph did make it all worth it.

Okay, so the broadcast quality never really improved, but the voice acting – actual kids, most on their first major casting – did improve. It felt like they basically matured into their parts, and as they did, the awkwardness around the humor settled down, and became more organic. It didn’t hurt that there were seasoned voice actors in adult/secondary roles, who helped round things out.

Also, Toph was awesome from her very first appearance, all the way through. Being steeped in a lot of anime at the time, there were also subtle details the animators added, cultural clues for Toph, that just tickled me. But I also loved that the show didn’t just let Toph have as many flaws as the rest (and then face those and wise up and try better). I also loved that she cracked jokes about being blind. “That’s what it’ll sound like when one you spot something.”

Story-wise? I thought it solid and thoughtful; characters do get emotional beats, and every single one has their own combination of flaws, which the other characters call them out on and help them (or in Toph’s case, force them) to deal with and address. Even the various antagonists get emotional beats, moments to process, make decisions, choose their path.

What’s fascinating, in the time since, is to find out how different it would’ve been, were it not for the writer’s room. Apparently the original had far flatter and more unrepentantly evil antagonists; Zuko was basically a one-note villain who cackled. Toph was quite different, too, iirc, and I’m not sure but I think Suki wasn’t even in the picture? The team in the writer’s room took the pitched story and shifted pieces, tightened things, and introduced motivations and story lines to deepen the story. Which I guess is proof that a good writer’s room can take the bones and make it better, just as much as they can make it worse.

What AtLA had in droves – independent of the story’s specific events – was a really thoughtful approach to the worldbuilding. It’s not perfect; I still have some uneasy issues with the question of appropriation, etc. But the creators did put major thought into creating a full world as the backdrop. It had to have been pretty cohesive. Little details and nuances are threaded through the story like bright pinpricks of light, and I’ve learned since that’s a sign of having nailed this shit down, yo.

Then there’s the different fighting styles for each element, that the consultant didn’t just pick four arts, but there was effort put into the animation to keep to maneuvers that were easily identifiable. Again with thinking this stuff through, so even an untrained eye could tell quickly the style of bending. To the point that when Iroh starts talking about having studied other styles, it’s not really a surprise. It’s more of a nod to those who’d caught the hints in his slightly-different-style of bending, in earlier episodes.

My niblings aren’t quite old enough yet for AtLA, but they will be in a few years. It’s on the list to get them the DVDs. It’s a solid story, with enough ups and downs to keep you turning the pages (episodes?).

The sequel, though. Hunh.

The promos looked good – and very obviously a much larger budget, too – but the first season also felt like it was missing something. Like, say, a purpose. I wanted to like Korra, but she was a protagonist in search of an antagonist. But when an antagonist finally showed up, the story couldn’t quite commit to the implications of the issues raised. It was clear they wanted to ask these interesting questions about benders vs non-benders, but at the same time they wanted to keep Korra as the ‘good guy’ in the picture – and they weren’t going to get both, not if they dug any deeper. So they took the easy way out, and just didn’t chase the issues they’d raised.

When the first season ended – after Korra repeatedly bemoaning being unable to talk to the previous Avatars – and she basically got handed that ability… I was done. I mean, I wanted her to earn her victories. Especially since being able to connect with previous generations seems to power the avatar up to insanely high levels.

It was pretty clear the story would have no choice: by making Korra so hard to beat on one level, they’d have to find a different weakness for enemies to exploit. Either the enemies would need to get smarter (doubtful, given the show’s treatment so far) or Korra would need to get stupid. Let’s just say I wasn’t surprised to hear it was more the latter than former.

A disappointment, but hey, we’ll still always have AtLA.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #legend of korra #review #vld #voltron #meta

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alexdgreen86 · 7 years

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House Flipping Scope of Work: The Cat Poop House

Welcome back everyone! Melissa here with another story from our real estate investing business. This one won’t focus so much on the before and after (even though we’ll still show those pictures). Instead, we’re going to look at the scope of work with this house, and the insane shape it was in when we first got it. So, without any hesitation, let’s take a look at this house flipping scope of work that I’ve dubbed “The Cat Poop House”!

What a Mess! House Flipping Scope of Work

This house looks so normal on the outside. It’s on a really nice corner lot and nice landscaping. There wasn’t much we had to do to renovate the outside of the house.

The second you step up to the front door, though, you get hit with the smell. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about where that smell is coming from further down. I mean, it’s probably obvious from the title of this blog post, but just wait until we get to it. It’s insane!

So Much Stuff Was Left Behind…

Seriously, when I first walked into this property it looked like people still lived here. I had to call my acquisitions guy to make sure the old owners had actually moved out. I’m not talking about one or two boxes left behind. This whole house was, more or less, completely furnished.

The master bedroom had the entire bed set, dresser, wardrobe, nightstands, mattress, and a full closet of clothes. Seriously, there was an insane amount of shoe boxes with mostly new tennis shoes. Like, boxes up to the ceiling.

One of the bedrooms was converted into a home office that was still filled to the brim with office supplies. Not home office supplies, full office supplies. There was bulk supplies of printer paper, folders, tape, staplers, computers from the 90’s, and a lot more. It was sort of intense.

While the rooms had a lot of stuff in them, nothing compared to the living room and the parlor. The previous owners had converted the living room into a full entertainment ice-house style bar complete with a full pool table and florescent decorative lights. There was a corner bar built in by the kitchen’s breakfast bar that was full of bartending equipment and custom shot glasses and beer mugs. These things looked nice, and kind of expensive. I was shocked to see that so much was left behind!

In fact, when my content producer and I went to this property, we spent almost an hour picking through all of the things that were left behind to salvage some great stuff before it got thrown into the dump. The first thing that comes with this type of house flipping scope of work is clearing everything out. Once all of the stuff that got left behind was removed from the house, we were able to start the rehab!

The Floors

This house originally had tile and carpet floors, but the old owners were sort of half way through a renovation. The entrance hall had tile with wood vinyl over it, the parlor room had a different type of tile, the living room had half pulled up tile, half concrete, and a different type of wood vinyl half way rolled out, the kitchen had a completely different type of white tile, and all of the bedrooms had ripped up carpet.

It was a nightmare. We always replace the floors in our rehabs, but since this one was such a hodgepodge already, replacing the floors was the first thing to do.

After cleaning the place up and removing the old floors, we put in that nice wood vinyl that we use in a lot of our houses. We made sure to give the entire house one cohesive feel instead of the floors looking like a mad house the way it had been. The carpet wasn’t just messy, it was filthy. Needless to say, we replaced that in the bed rooms.

The Walls

Just like the floors, the walls had a lot of weird things going on. There wasn’t a theme at all throughout the house, which added another thing to really fix when it came to this house flipping scope of work.

The kitchen was a super dark gray that didn’t work with the white tile countertops at all. The worst part about it was that the paint didn’t carry into the living room, so there was a hard cut off from the kitchen walls to the “bar” walls.

The entrance room and bedrooms were just as bad. There were paint marks on the entrance wall, as if the previous owners were half way through repainting. The bedrooms had crazy running wallpaper with mismatched accent wall colors. It was bizzar looking at this house flipping scope of work.

The Worst Smell of Any House Flipping Scope of Work

Ok, this is where the house gets its name. The Cat Poop House wreaked of ammonia 3 steps away from the front door. Right when you walk into the house – BAM – the horrible combination of mildew, uncleaned toilets, animal fur, and cat poop smacks you right in the face.

Like most of our houses, this smell isn’t something brand new. We’ve had smelly houses before. This one was just unreal. As I walked through the house looking for where the source of the smell came from (yes, I thought there was a dead animal, that’s how bad it was) I found it.

Right there, in the master bathroom, was the most cat poop I’ve ever seen in one place! These poor kitties must have been left completely alone while the previous owners were looking for another house. There was only one litter box (that was too small for these kitties) that was over flowing. Because the cats ran out of room there, they decided to…go potty…all over the vanity and in the master bath’s sinks. THEN, when they ran out of room on the sink, they started going potty all over the floor of the bathroom, the floor of the master bedroom, and all over the master bed. It was disgusting!

My poor contractor had the tenuous job of not only removing all of the left over stuff in the house, but of cleaning out all of the kitty mess AND getting rid of the smell. When we first posted the video of this house flipping scope of work on our YouTube channel, we got asked what we use to get the smell out. It happens in a few parts:

You need to make sure to tear up all of the old floor and padding. Really go all the way down to the concrete. That’s where the smell has seeped into.

Get a very strong cleaner – something that will get out all of the ammonia from the concrete. (You might have to do this step more than once).

Replace everything AFTER the concrete and walls have been thoroughly cleaned.

It took a while, but eventually this house made a complete turn around.

Liked this article? Check out the video we made of this house flipping scope of work on our YouTube channel!

If you want to keep up with us on a day-to-day basis, join the Flip Pilot group on FaceBook! We’re always active there, and would love to hear about your house flipping nightmares! Don’t know what a Flip Pilot is? It’s you! And me. And every active, serious, real estate investor. Come network with us so you can take your real estate investing business to new heights. Talk to you in the group!

-Melissa Johnson

The post House Flipping Scope of Work: The Cat Poop House appeared first on Flipping Junkie.

from http://flippingjunkie.com/house-flipping-scope-of-work-cat-poop-house/

from Flipping Junkie - Blog http://reiflippingjunkie.weebly.com/blog/house-flipping-scope-of-work-the-cat-poop-house

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juliasmathewus · 7 years

Text

House Flipping Scope of Work: The Cat Poop House

What a Mess! House Flipping Scope of Work

This house looks so normal on the outside. It’s on a really nice corner lot and nice landscaping. There wasn’t much we had to do to renovate the outside of the house.

So Much Stuff Was Left Behind…

The Floors

It was a nightmare. We always replace the floors in our rehabs, but since this one was such a hodgepodge already, replacing the floors was the first thing to do.

The Walls

The Worst Smell of Any House Flipping Scope of Work

You need to make sure to tear up all of the old floor and padding. Really go all the way down to the concrete. That’s where the smell has seeped into.

Get a very strong cleaner – something that will get out all of the ammonia from the concrete. (You might have to do this step more than once).

Replace everything AFTER the concrete and walls have been thoroughly cleaned.

It took a while, but eventually this house made a complete turn around.

Liked this article? Check out the video we made of this house flipping scope of work on our YouTube channel!

-Melissa Johnson

The post House Flipping Scope of Work: The Cat Poop House appeared first on Flipping Junkie.

from Flipping Junkie http://flippingjunkie.com/house-flipping-scope-of-work-cat-poop-house/ from Flipping Junkie https://reiflippingjunkie.tumblr.com/post/167097193694

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reiflippingjunkie · 7 years

Text

House Flipping Scope of Work: The Cat Poop House

What a Mess! House Flipping Scope of Work

This house looks so normal on the outside. It’s on a really nice corner lot and nice landscaping. There wasn’t much we had to do to renovate the outside of the house.

So Much Stuff Was Left Behind…

The Floors

It was a nightmare. We always replace the floors in our rehabs, but since this one was such a hodgepodge already, replacing the floors was the first thing to do.

The Walls

The Worst Smell of Any House Flipping Scope of Work

You need to make sure to tear up all of the old floor and padding. Really go all the way down to the concrete. That’s where the smell has seeped into.

Get a very strong cleaner – something that will get out all of the ammonia from the concrete. (You might have to do this step more than once).

Replace everything AFTER the concrete and walls have been thoroughly cleaned.

It took a while, but eventually this house made a complete turn around.

Liked this article? Check out the video we made of this house flipping scope of work on our YouTube channel!

-Melissa Johnson

The post House Flipping Scope of Work: The Cat Poop House appeared first on Flipping Junkie.

from Flipping Junkie http://flippingjunkie.com/house-flipping-scope-of-work-cat-poop-house/

0 notes

geekysweetie · 7 years

Text

Rhapsody a Musical Adventure Retro Videogame Review

Rhapsody a Musical Adventure is an anime musical strategy JRPG first appearing on PS1 and Later on the Nintendo DS. This review focuses on the PS1 version.

Preface: Okay, while researching some stuff (such as release date, etc) for this review, I discovered there was a sequel, and now I am sad AF because the sequel never left Japan….. Major Heartbreak!

WARNING THIS LINK ABOUT THE SEQUEL HAS HUGE SPOILERS ABOUT BOTH GAMES!!!! READ AT OWN RISK!!!

The original is one of my all time favorite games. I love all the songs, the heart warming, touching story, the cute characters, adorable graphics, simple grid based turn-based Strategy JRPG gameplay, and use of the puppets in battle.

I greatly prefer the version by Atlus on the PS1, much more than the version by NIS on the DS, because Atlus dubbed all of the songs in English, while NIS only left them in Japanese. If I remember correctly, the version by Atlus let you choose to play them in the original Japanese as well. If it’s a musical, it’s more fun in English, so we can sing along, am I right? 🙂 I still can remember the words/melody to a lot of the songs even though it has been years since my first or subsequent play throughs. NIS also changed the gameplay from a grid based system to a straight forward turn-based traditional JRPG style of combat.

For the purpose of this review, since I prefer the original, and the two games are significantly different in terms of gameplay, this review only covers the PS1 game by Atlus. Now onto the review…

Title: Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure

Alternate Titles (Also Known As): Marl Kingdom, Little Princess Marl, or Marl Okoku no Ningyo Hime in Japan. Also referred to as The Adventure of Puppet Princess.

Genre: Strategy RPG

Publisher: Atlus

Platform: PSOne

Release Date: 2000

Where to Buy: If you want new, factory sealed, you’re looking at $250. Luckily, many used copies exist for under $35. You can check the current price and purchase Rhapsody for the PS1 here.

You can also find the Nintendo version here. Though if at all possible, I’d really urge you to play the PS1 version, it’s just so much infinitely better.

Overall Score: 73/90 81% B- “Very Good Game For Girls”

Geeky: 3/5 – Dated as this game may be, its bright colorful graphics are still quite pretty. The combat is nothing spectacular and it is linear and simple. The big “geek” points go to the fact that the game is literally a musical. The characters break out into song and dance and the soundtrack very much tells us the story. There are well over a dozen or more vocal tracks and all of the characters are fully voiced. Interestingly enough, wikipedia tells me that it was almost entirely a one girl show, what a talented voice actress! She gave voice/song to all except for 3 or 4 of the characters.

Sweetie: 5/5 – the graphic style is so cute and colorful, the characters are very full of emotion and there is a ton of humor, as well as romance, and a message about the meaning of family, and morals, and just… everything. Also strong female leads, which was pretty rare “back in the day”. This game is a must play for all girls.

Overview: 10/10 – There is simply nothing else in the world like this game. It’s an anime musical JRPG. It has adorable graphics, touching, amusing, and likable characters, and is brimming with “feels and emotions”. From a technical standpoint, there’s really nothing ground breaking here. It is very typical of gameplay in most other Strategy JRPGs of its time. But the music and characters set this game apart and make it an extremely unique experience.

Gameplay: 5/10 – Gameplay isn’t bad, but it’s not the reason you play this game. This game is very easy and simple. The main character takes a back seat, supporting her army of puppets who move around a grid and use various items, attacks, and abilities to thwart their foes. It’s a linear game that takes you from point A to point B, pretty monotonously and mindlessly. This game is carried by the music, voice acting, memorable characters, and touching story. There are different costumes you can find and different puppets you can add to your team, but other than that, it’s a pretty straight forward experience if you’ve ever played any other Strategy JRPGs before.

Story: 10/10 – Cornet is a kindhearted girl who has a magical gift in that she is able to communicate with dolls and puppets. One such doll is Cornet’s faithful sidekick, Kururu. Kururu has guided the young Cornet all her life. Cornet is often lonely as her mother passed away at an early age. However, despite her loneliness, Cornet remains cheerful, kind, and helpful to all of the villagers in part thanks to her puppet friends. She is regarded as a simple and sweet girl, and many of the villagers take pity on her for not having a mother.

Although she is just a common girl, Cornet has fallen in love with the Prince. Unrealistic as her love may be, Cornet has always believed in “dreaming big” and her innocent outlook on life leads her to hope that anything is possible.

Cornet isn’t the only one with eyes for the prince however. A beautiful witch appears in the kingdom one day with her sights set on the prince. When the prince refuses her advances, the witch casts a spell on him turning him to stone.

Thus begins Cornet’s series of quests to reverse the witch’s curse. The witch has many henchmen and lackeys who try to interfere in Cornet’s plans.

As she travels, Cornet will make new friends and enemies, both human and puppet alike. Also she will learn more about herself, her mother, and her unique gifts and talents.

Characters: 10/10 Cornet is the star of our show, a simple, pure hearted girl who can talk to puppets. She lost her mother when she was very young and has mostly been raised by a strange talking puppet named Kururu.

Prince Ferdinand is the prince who early in our story is turned to stone. Cornet and Marjolly are both in love with the Prince.

Marjolly is a wicked but beautiful witch who vengefully curses the prince when he refuses her romantically. Marjolly is also not very skilled at magic, and somewhat of a “bumbling idiot”. Her spells often have very unintended consequences and/or back fire. She is often less “evil” feeling and more of a “comedic relief” despite being the main villain in the game.

Kururu is a “living doll” who has always watched out for and guided Cornet. The two are extremely close. And there is a secret that Cornet does not know about her puppet friend.

Etoile is a wealthy and beautiful, but ill tempered and spoiled girl who is close to Cornet’s age. Although she is “better than” Cornet in almost every way, she still feels jealous and inferior and threatened by Cornet. The two have an interesting love/hate relationship, frenemies if you will.

There are many other delightful and wonderful characters as well.

Graphics: 7/10 – Although dated severely, the graphics remain bright and colorful and still attractive, even 17 years after its initial US release. Also in a time when retro gaming is very popular, and pixel art is “in” – what was once old, is now hot again. An interesting thing to note, although there are many, many cutscenes, these are done with the same sprites and pixel graphics as the rest of the game, unlike other anime games of that time such as Persona and Lunar which use a more hand-drawn or anime style for their cutscenes. This in one way helps keep things cohesive and flowing well from one moment to the next, however, it does result in less detailed cutscenes. The sprites are still adorable and animated and capable of conveying a lot of emotion despite the simple sprites. I would love to see a new release with anime cutscenes (like Lunar and Persona) and/or celshading used throughout the game and cutscenes (such as with Catherine).

Music: 10/10 – Easily 10/10 – one of the most memorable soundtracks of all time because of the huge number of vocal tracks and how they tie in so closely to the story – in fact, they ARE the story. Many of them are insanely, like seriously insanely catchy!!! I love the songs in this game!!

Voice Acting – 10/10 – They sing and act, and as I mentioned, one girl gives voice to about 6 of the main characters – very talented! If you hate dubs (which trust me, I usually do too!) you can also play with the Japanese audio. 🙂 But then you can’t sing along, or as easily get the song stuck in your head the next day lol.

Replay Value: 3/10 – It’s linear, and simple, and the only reason you will want to replay is to re-read the heartwarming story, and hear that awesome soundtrack again. I’ve replayed this at least 3 or 4 times now and love it every single time – but objectively, yeah there’s really nothing here story or gameplay wise for increased replay value.

Overall Score: 73/90 81% B- “Very Good Game For Girls”

Rhapsody a Musical Adventure Retro Videogame Review was originally published on GeekySweetie.com - Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

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