A to Z Challenge: Prof. Hojo from Final Fantasy VII

We are officially into the second week of the A to Z Challenge!

What all have you seen so far? I know I'm enjoying what I've read.

I am forcing some of you to listen to/read about characters from my favorite Final Fantasy games. We are at H today, and so that means it is time to look at the man behind all the crap that goes down in Final Fantasy VII:

Professor Hojo.

Hojo is a scientist brought in by Professor Gast Faremis to work on the Jenova Project, the goal of which was to create a new Ancient to lead Shinra Inc. to the Promised Land and gain more mako to manufacture for power. While researching the "Ancient," and interviewing the last living Ancient, Ifalna, he learns that Jenova is not really an Ancient, but an alien. Unfortunately, this was after Hojo had injected his unborn child with Jenova cells, and Sephiroth was created (more on him later, but if you've followed me so far, you've seen me mention him already). Hojo is also responsible for killing Professor Gast and taking Ifalna and their daughter Aeris to do more experiments.

This man has NO redeeming qualities. He only sees people as lab rats and cares about his research. He's the reason Sephiroth became the monster he was, and the reason Cloud was so screwed up. But all for science, right?

Monday, we will visit two of my favorite summons, Ifrit & Ixion!

A to Z Challenge: Writing Colors - Hollywood Cerise

Welcome back to the A to Z Challenge!

This year, I am providing different colors for descriptive purposes in writing using the website Color-ize to look at an alphabetical list of colors that we can use instead of using the same basic colors we know off the top of our heads. One color can come in so many shades, so why not take a look at them? :)

Today's color is: Hollywood Cerise

You mean hot pink? lol Hollywood Cerise is perfectly pretentious, isn't it? It also kind of looks like fuchsia, but it's a tad darker. I don't know who would say Hollywood Cerise anywhere unless in dialogue where the other person says, "Hollywood what?" And then a description follows, which is followed by mockery, etc., etc.

What do you think of the name?

H is for HAIR!

Welcome to the letter H!

I actually didn't know what I could write about until I read JuliPage Morgan's entry for the day. She had the same struggle I have had since I was a kid and that is unruly kinky hair. Thank goodness I have no pictures available! lol

For some reason, this is actually a big deal in the black community. Some people forgo BILLS to pay for a weave or a relaxer, and I say, "Really, though?" I'd rather go nappy. lol But anyway, I think my little avatar up there was a year before I did "the big chop," but let's start at the beginning.

My mom never learned how to do hair. The best she could do was braid it up and send us on our way. We were often the kids whose hair was a little too tight, so our eyes would be slightly more slanted than usual. Halfway through the day, my two parallel French braids often came undone. Also, growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, I often envied my friends, who had long hair they could put up in ponytails or have it fly around in the wind like in the Pert Plus commercials.

In the 3rd grade, my mom decided to give up her "struggle" and sent us somewhere (I can't remember) to get Wave Noveaus. Also known as jheri curls. Now, to be fair, in PA, it didn't look like a jheri curl. My sister and I just had nice, fluffy, curly afros. I have no idea what happened when we moved to Delaware, but if my hair didn't look like I stepped out of an Ashford and Simpson's video, it looked like I'd come through the desert with no activator! So through the 4th grade, I was teased for having an afro (which, ironically has been ALL the rage from the time I got to high school til now!) among other things.

Right at the end of the 4th grade, bless my mother, she sent us to a professional who relaxed our hair, so I was no longer teased for at least the afro.

But here's the problem with my hair. Like Juli's it's really curly and thick in its natural state, but the moment  a chemical touches it, it's like thread, and my head is big. So, I'd be walking around with easily breakable, limp hair that for the next 20 years I would wear in a bob. I did get a pixie cut my sophomore year, so everyone called me Halle Berry (why thank you), and I had braids a few times (I was popular in Mexico lol).

Today, though, after I got tired of the life of don't-scratch-or-you'll-burn-to-death and "We have to cut off all the damage," I decided to go completely natural, which means without a relaxer to kill the curls from my hair. At the moment, I have what black people call a TWA: teeny-weeny afro, but I hope to have a slightly big one in a few years. I've come to enjoy my curly hair, as I wanted curly curly hair probably since about 14. Some days I do throw on a wig for the pixie cut I miss, and some days I want to give up and get it relaxed again, but in the end, I know it will be worth it!