Final Fantasy IX: Chocobo Hot and Cold (Disc 1)

Chocobo Hot and Cold is, perhaps, the single largest subquest in Final Fantasy IX. It's first accessible on the way to Bermecia, on Disc 1.

Chocobo Forest is located to the north-east of Lindblum's Dragon Gate. You'll need to cross the bridge.

Once you enter, Mene will introduce himself and Choco, and hand you some Ghysal Greens. Head outside to the Chocobo tracks on the ground nearby, and use them from the menu. Ride Choco back into the forest, and talk to Mene to enable Chocob Hot and Cold.

The game itself is amply explained within the game. You run around on Choco and press square to dig. If you see Kweh? it means there is an item nearby. Kweeeeh?! means you're even closer. KWEEEEE-EH! means you've found it. Keep hitting x until the number that appears is reduced to zero. Choco can dig at a rate equal to his beak level + 4, iirc.

What you're searching for here are Chocographs. These are pictures of locations outside where Treasure can be found. There are 23 Chocographs in total, spread over two locations - Chocobo Forest and Chocobo Lagoon. Initially, there are nine available in Chocobo Forest, along with one Chocograph Piece, and you'll want to get these before going any further.

No, really, you will.

I find that, when searching, you'll average one Chocograph for every fifty points you earn. This is good to know, especially when the game is being a pain. After you've dug up the first nine Chocographs, Mene will tell you that Choco can't find any more here for now. You won't be able to find any more in Chocobo Forest until Choco learns how to climb mountains.

Now, the first nine Chocographs are as follows;

Streamside
Uncultivated Land
Healing Shore
Cold Field
Between Mountains
Small Beach
Birds-Eye Lagoon
Abandoned Beach
Faraway Lagoon

The first one you'll be able to get is Streamside. It's right outside the forest, to the west of the bridge. Between Mountains is near Lindblum.

After heading through Gizamaluke's Grotto, you'll be able to reach the Healing Shore, to the south-west of Cleyra. This will give you the ability to wade in shallow water - allowing you to come back to the Lindblum side of the mountains and get Birds-Eye Lagoon and Small Beach.

You can find a map here, to help you locate individual Chocographs.

Will Young

Random facts.

"Will Young X-Factor Audition" is quite a common search on youtube. Which is very odd, since Will Young was the winner of Pop Idol.

The video for Light My Fire was extremely unfair and not amazingly well thought-out. He's gay - is it really that girl's fault that she can't light his fire?

Hey Ya makes a very moving ballad.

I Want to be Reincarnated as a Guitar

Today, it seems pretty normal for a guitar to be the main instrument in most bands. That wasn't always the case. It was actually Chuck Berry's song Johnny B. Goode which cemented its popularity - up until then it was a toss-up between guitar, keyboard and drums (if I recall correctly). I'm quite proud of the band Scouting for Girls, for thinking outside the box and being piano lead.

Anyway, guitars. Guitars just do something to me. They're the only instrument that can express pure anguish (listen to the end songs of Final Fantasy IX and Shadow Hearts II). They're just electrifying.

Examples;

Jesse's Girl
Johnny B. Goode
Anything, Anything
Kayleigh

Nudity

It's very clear, out of the boy and I, which of us wears the cufflinks in our relationship. And very nice cufflinks they are too - I inherited them from my grandfather.

However, even I was a little surprised by something that happened on our last shopping trip. After getting extremely lost in Merry Hill (seriously, that place is like three miles long), we found ourselves in a shop which was having a closing down sale. On the back wall, they had a lot of framed pictures.

We both pointed and said "look!" to each other at the same time.

He was pointing at a picture containing several mostly-naked, oiled, muscular men (wrestlers). I was pointing at a semi-naked woman with a very nice arse.

What is wrong with our relationship?

Star Ocean III: Till the End of Time

First glitch: During the early 'escape from Hyda' scenes, I managed to have Fayt run right outside of the spaceship, and run around on space. And no, his head didn't explode.

Basically, I kept the camera pointing north, and ran towards the exit. This was when it was blocked by the huge crowd of people - you would need to exit and re-enter the screen before you could enter the escape pods, iirc. I got back in by running through the other side of one of the other doors.

Glitch 2: In the Maze of Tribulations, on Level 4, I used a Jewel of Refuge just before facing the floor's boss. The scene happened, but the enemy didn't walk towards my characters - the sound of his footsteps kept repeating, but he didn't move. I don't have it set to skip scenes, so I couldn't try that. Opening the disc-tray didn't work either. I turned the damn thing off, in the end.

Had been ages since I saved, too.

My So3 fanfic can be read here. It's a paired ending that was never included in the game - Maria x Luther.

Not Always Right

Not Always Right is a site which contains anecdotes about strange customers. I just read this one this morning;

Customer: “Excuse me…where is your dog cookbook section?”

Me: “Um…dog cookbooks?”

Customer: “Yes. Where are they located?”

Me: “We don’t have a dog cookbook section in the store. I don’t think we have any dog cookbooks at all.”

Customer: *stares blankly* “You can’t be serious.”

Me: “I’m sorry, miss. I might be able to order-”

Customer: *interrupting* “YOU DON’T HAVE ANY DOG COOKBOOKS? THIS IS RIDICULOUS! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO GET MY DOG FOR CHRISTMAS?”

Me: “Have you considered a nice set of dog cookware?”

Customer: *storms out*

Although it is a little weird to buy it for your dog, dog cookbooks do exist.