Hi! I wandered over here to visit for a bit! I'm not a collector of Strawberry Shortcake, but I do love to collect My Little Ponies. ^_^ I picked up a few dolls at the thrift store today and stopped over to see if anyone could me id them.

Today I found a spam email in my inbox, and it came from my father's address. The spam mail is also sent to his whole contacts in his address book. Does this mean his account has been compromised or something? What should be done to overcome this?

Meet the Little Miss [strike]Copycat[/strike] Muffin franchise!

Cinnamon Muffin, a Strawberry Shortcake Rip-Off (with apologies to Sandy's character of the same name)
Sugar Muffin, or Blueberry Muffin
Plum Muffin, or Plum Puddin'
Pumpkin Muffin, or Apple Dumplin'
Vanilla Muffin, or Lemon Meringue With '03 Orange Blossom's Personality
Coconut Muffin, or Whatever

Plum Muffin is the most blatant rip-off. Her personality is even the same as the real Plum's!

Quote:This Little Miss Plum Muffin Doll is very smart. She uses her math skills when she's cooking and is very good at measuring ingredients. If you measured Little Miss Plum Muffin she'd be 1 cup of cute and 5 tablespoons of smarts.

Quote:Chapter 11: Return to Greenhill


At the morning after the night when Almond had told me his true identity, I woke up like in any usual day. I then left my bedroom and found him still sitting on the same sofa.

"Morning, bro!" he greeted.

"Morning..." I said, still half asleep.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"Not really," I said. "I couldn't get you off my mind."

"Eh, why?" he asked.

"Unlike any other kids, you don't sleep," I said. "It must be boring, having to spend every night alone without sleep."

"Not at all!" he said with a giggle. "Do you know what I do every night?"

"You haven't told me anything about that. How should I know?" I said.

"Alright alright," he said. "I watch life."

"Watch life? What do you mean?" I asked.

"By telepathically connecting myself with this planet's soul, I can watch everything happening on the planet. It never gets boring because there are so many things to see and life always changes," he explained.

"I'm glad to hear that," I said. "By the way, is that how your scanner actually works? And also how you hear what I hear?"

"You nailed it!" he said with a grin. I smiled to him with a relieved sigh.


Later, I was working on my desk while Almond was reading my books. I made electricity noises and sparkles which drew his attention. He then approached me out of curiosity.

"Hey, what are you making?" he asked.

"Well, I just remembered another friend I haven't met for years," I replied.

"Then let's go! I'll take you there no problem!" he said.

"You can't," I said.

"Eh? Why?" he asked.

"He lives in a different world," I said. "That's why I'm making this."

"What is it actually?" he asked.

"I'm recreating Time Remote II. I still have no idea about how to make Time Remote III so this is what I'm making now," I replied.

"I see," he said. "Could you tell me about this friend?"

"Well..." I said. "His name is Randy, but he's usually called Buddy. He lives in a big city named Greenhill."

"And then?" he asked.

"Let's go and see for yourself," I said. "The remote is done."

"Right behind you!" he said in excitement.

"Greenhill!" I said, activating the remote. A dimension door appeared and both of us jumped into it. When we came out, we ended up just outside the edge of a big city which was very familiar to me.

"This sure brings back memories," I said.

"What a big city!" Almond said. "And very different than Strawberryland!"

"Let's go to his house," I said, starting to walk.

"Like I said, I'm right behind you," he said, following me. "By the way, this planet has no soul. My scanner won't work here."

"Alright," I said while still walking. "Oh, before I forget, in here we go by different name. My name here is David, though Buddy knows my real name already."

"Is that so? Then I'll be..." he said, thinking.

"Alby," I said.

"That name again? Fine, whatever," he said.

We walked through the city, looking around to find our way to Buddy's house. The city roads were still mostly the same as the last time, so it didn't take me long to find the way. Soon, we arrived at Buddy's house which haven't changed at all.

"Here we are," I said.

"So this is Buddy's house?" Almond said. "Pretty nice,"

"Let's go in," I said. I then went to the front door and pressed the doorbell button. Soon, someone opened the door, and it was Buddy's mom. She looked at me for a few seconds, then she looked surprised.

"David? What a surprise! It has been a long time!" she said, hugging me. "And who is this lovely boy?"

"Meet Alby. He's my brother," I said.

"Good afternoon," Almond said.

"Please come in!" Buddy's mom said. We then entered the house. "Make yourselves at home!"

Both of us then sat on a sofa while Buddy's mom went to the back of the house, probably to get a drink for us.

"Is she Buddy's mother?" Almond said, and I nodded. Soon, she came back bringing three glasses of red syrup. She then put all three glasses on the table in front of us and sat on a couch next to the table.

"I actually kinda forgot how long since the last time I was here," I said, taking one glass. "About five years I guess?"

"I remember Randy being three years old back then, and he will become eight in four months," she said. "Yes, almost five years."

"I see. How has the family been doing?" I asked, taking a sip.

"We're doing great!" she replied with a smile. "How about you?"

"We're all as fine as ever," I said. "Where's Buddy? Oh, I mean... Randy. He's no longer called Buddy, I suppose?"

"Indeed, he stopped being called with that name since he turned six," she said. "He's visiting Mary and Candy next door. He should be back soon."

"I see. I think I will wait here, then," I said.

"I'm home!" suddenly we heard a voice of a kid entering the front door. We still couldn't see the kid because our view to the front door was obstructed by a wall.

"Welcome home, Randy!" the mother said. "Your other friends are here."

"Who? Nick and Terry?" the voice asked.

"No, see for yourself!" the mother replied. Soon, the kid came to our view. He was as tall as Apple Dumplin' and he no longer wore his blue overall. Instead, he wore green short sleeve shirts which had a thick black stripe at the tip of each sleeve and also across the chest. He wore black pants like mine, and his shoes were white and blue. He saw me and became silent for a while.

"...Blackberry?" he asked.

"Long time no see," I said.

"Nice to meet you," Almond said, getting up to approach him. "I'm Alby, his brother."

Almond approached Randy to offer a handshake, but Randy bowed his head and kept silent.

"Something wrong?" Almond asked.

"... away," Randy said in low voice.

"Huh?" Almond asked.

"I said GO AWAY!" Randy yelled, surprising everyone else there.

"Randy, you're not supposed to yell at your friends!" the mother said, getting upset.

"If they don't go away, then I'll go away!" Randy said, and then he immediately ran outside the house. There was a silence for a brief moment.

"I'm sorry. He's usually not like that," the mother said.

"It's fine," I said. "Actually, that made me wonder if there's something wrong with him."

"I have no idea, unfortunately," the mother said. "Randy is always nice to any of his friends. That was the first time I saw him like that."

"I see..." I said. "We will go look for him."

"You don't have to. He will eventually come back," the mother said.

"We have to," I said. "There's definitely something wrong with him, and we want to help him."

"Thank you for your concern," the mother said, and we left the house. We then stopped at the roadside just in front of the house.

"Hey, I know that we want to help him, but do we know where he is now?" Almond asked.

"No, but I can think of some possible places. Though I don't know if he still visits those places. It has been years after all," I said.

"Hey, you two!" suddenly we heard a voice of a girl. We looked at the source and saw a girl about Almond's height looking at us. "I believe you don't know something!"

"Uhh, that's right," I said.

"You have to know that not knowing something is forbidden, because not knowing is a sin, and sin is forbidden!" she said.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Almond said. The girl then sighed.

"This doesn't work anymore," she said. "I used to do this to him all the time, and he would get confused. Now everyone's too smart for that."

"Him? You mean Randy?" I asked.

"And I used to make fun of his name, and then he always said that his name was Buddy," she said. "Not fun anymore. Growing up really sucks!"

"So it was him indeed," I said. "You see, he went off somewhere and we don't know where he went."

"I know some places," she said. "I'll take you there."

"You go with her, Alby." I said.

"Me? What about you?" Almond asked.

"Splitting up will be faster to look for him," I said. "I'll look for him in places I remember."

"If you say so," Almond said. "But how can we meet again?"

"I'll return right here by sunset," I said. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself. I'm David."

"So you're the guy he once told me about!" the girl said. "He said that your name was Blackberry something, but you don't really have such silly name, right?"

"This is my brother Alby," I said.

"Now that's a silly name! Who gave you that name?" she asked.

"This silly guy," Almond said, choking my neck with his left arm and grinning.

"Anyway, I'm Mary. I have a sister, but Candy is now taking a nap," she said. "Shall we get going?"

"Sure," Almond said.

"Good luck finding him," I said.

"You too," Almond said, and then we split up to begin our search.


--To be Continued--

I've been watching the 1980s specials, and I've just seen "Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name" (the 5th special) today. So far I have more or less succeeded in keeping track of the characters (which they didn't make easier by constantly changing their looks slightly, while their names are not always spoken out), but this one got me.



Who is it on the left? From this angle, she looks like a clone of Strawberry. (The real Strawberry is in the middle - I hope I don't mix them up. ) She also looks similar to Café Olé, but he or she has much lighter brown hair. (Actually, I'm still not sure about Café Olé's gender.)

The screenshot is linked from Bit The Dust Tape.

For some curious reason I'm seriously considering to order a Ginger Snap plush doll. It's really unusual from me, because I'm really not used to possess dolls and stuff like that. Only that I had plush cats when I was a child, but I got out of the habit since then. Regardless, Ginger Snap is cute enough to consider to have a doll of her.

Actually, RAMChYLD has found the one linked above for me. Either way, I have to wait with the purchase until I get my salary, that is going to happen next week. Until that I'm considering whether to buy the doll at all... Also I've never purchased anything on eBay, but I understand it's an international Vatera, so it's possible that someone else will take the item before me. (I was even afraid to post it here - maybe one of you would take it. ) Well I leave it to the fate.

What is your opinion on the plush doll anyway?

Would you be interested in a chat system set up for the forum? Would you join it frequently?
Particularly, I'm thinking of a dedicated IRC server. I don't know whether you're familiar with IRC clients.

I'm just wondering. Maybe it would be fun to meet on chat to talk to each other more directly and loosely.

Hehe, look what cute picture I have found:



I've just found it randomly as I was browsing. I suppose it's fan-made art. I don't know the author, but congratulations for her/him regardless! (Also I hope she/he won't mind that I post this picture here.)

Quote:Chapter 10.5: Truth


The country fair was over, and Carmel's farm had been saved. All of us were very happy that Strawberry's plan was a big success. After cleaning up with everyone, I and Almond decided to go home.

"Really? But it's getting dark. You should spend the night here," Carmel said when we told her.

"She's berry right, Blackberry," Strawberry said. "Why don't you spend the night here first?"

"Thanks for the offer," I said. "But I have something important to do with my brother here."

"Don't worry, we got good transport!" Almond said.

"Good transport?" Carmel asked.

"Oh yeah, Carmel has never met Albatross," Strawberry said. "He's Blackberry's spaceship, and he's alive!"

"Really? I'd like to see him!" Carmel said, seeming amazed.

"We're kinda in a hurry, but you can have a quick look, I think," I said. "Let's go outside."

All of us then went outside. Without anybody knowing, Almond sneaked to the back of the house and quickly transformed into Albatross. He then flew to the front of the house and picked me up into the cockpit. Carmel was very astonished on what she saw.

"So long, see you again soon," Albatross said with his original voice, then he quickly flew towards my home. However, he landed roughly near Blueberry's house and transformed back into Almond Cookie before I could get off. As the result, I fell to the ground pretty hard.

"Sorry, that was the very last second I could have for today," he said.

"I guess we have to walk the rest of the way, then," I said, getting up. We then walked home. When we arrived inside, I immediately sat on the sofa. Almond then sat next to me.

"Well," he said. "I told you that I would tell you what I am once we got home."

"Tell me, then," I said.

"But before that, any final guess?" he asked.

"Actually, I have one," I said.

"Really? What is it?" he asked.

"Are you... the regenerating stone from The Center of The Planet?" I said. There was a silence for a moment.

"You're amazing, brother," he said. "That is correct."

"But I still don't know many things about you," I said.

"Then listen up," he said.

"Okay, I'm listening," I said.

"I'm the soul of the planet," he said.

"Soul? But that means..." I said, realizing that I had taken the soul of Planet Oz.

"Don't worry! You only took a fragment!" he said. "The planet is still fine without this tiny fragment."

"That's a relief," I said. "Tell me more."

"I can telepathically communicate with all life forms on the planet," he said. "Though I had one problem."

"Is that how you could read my mind?" I asked and he nodded. "And one problem? What was it?"

"Language barrier," he said.

"Did you mean you couldn't understand our language?" I asked and he nodded. "But now you can. How?"

"It all started when we arrived on this planet," he said.

"This planet?" I asked.

"Yeah, apparently this planet has its own soul too," he said. "I tried communicating with it, and it replied."

"What did it say?" I asked.

"It was happy to have a visitor. I then learned that unlike me, the soul of this planet doesn't have any language barrier but it cannot communicate telepathically," he said. "It only can watch things happening on the planet."

"That's interesting," I said. "So he taught you our language?"

"He?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think it's better to mention the soul of this planet as 'him' just like I did to you back then," I replied.

"Alright if you say so," he said. "Yes, he taught me little by little about it."

"I see, but until now your biggest mystery for me is about what happened when you were wrecked at Porcupine Peak," I said.

"Oh... That..." he said. "Back then, I actually didn't care much about what happened. But thanks to you, I got the motivation to regenerate and go to help."

"Me?" I asked.

"He told me what happened to you after that," he said. "He said that you were crying..."

"Stop that!" I interrupted with blush sticker on my face. "It's embarrassing!"

"But you showed that you actually cared about me," he said. "There was still a problem though."

"What was it?" I asked.

"My regeneration was not enough to bring myself back to full function," he replied.

"But you could," I said.

"That was thanks to the Sun Stone," he said. "It gave me energy to push beyond my limit."

"I see. Oh, let me guess," I said. "You knew about Banana Candy before we met her because you learned about her from this planet in the future, right?"

"Bzzt! Incorrect," he said, grinning. "Not completely wrong, though. From future me."

"Alright, now I'm starting to get it," I said. "Then how did you transform into what you are now?"

"That morning after we talked about the festival, I talked a bit with him," he said. "He said he could change me to become human."

"Really? How?" I asked.

"He said about using his soul power for that," he said. "But he warned me that this transformation would be permanent and there was no promise about how I would look. I took some time to consider, and in the end I decided to take the chance."

"Where were you in the morning of the festival?" I asked.

"I went to where he resides," he said. "It was a very large and very deep crater located on an island in the middle of the ocean. Don't ask me about detail. It'll be too long to explain."

"Alright if you say so," I said.

"In the end I met him and he warned me once more. I was determined so I told him to do it. And here I am," he said. "After that he teleported me to Strawberryland, just in time for the festival."

"Wait a second. You were warned that the transformation is permanent? But you still can morph back to Albatross, though limited," I said, wondering.

"I can use my own soul power to force a reversion, but like I said it cannot last long. Can't expect much soul power from a fragment, I guess?" he said.

"Well, in any case, I'm happy to have you here with me," I said. "Oh, one more thing! I still wonder about what the future me has said about his Albatross being stonger than you."

"Ah yes, the future me didn't say anything about it, but I figured it out myself this morning," he said.

"Really? Tell me," I said.

"My powers grow as we speak," he said. "Not much, though. It will take months and years to see any difference."

"I see," I said. Then I yawned.

"You should go to sleep. It's getting late," he said.

"Yeah you're right..." I said, standing up. "Good night."

"Good night, bro," he said as I walked to my bedroom, leaving him sitting alone in the living room.


--End of Chapter 10.5--