'Sexy' Plus Size Costumes

First off, sorry this one is so late guys... moved out of my apt., kitty ran away from home, test in school... life happened.

Next, anyone who knows me knows I am not... hear me before you read this and start hating me, NOT a small girl.  Never have been, too hard to be small when you're 6' tall. So, when it comes to a Halloween costume I am not new to shopping in the large or plus sized costume category, usually it's a slightly smaller  selection with slightly longer hemlines and seams that don't over accentuate the curves us bigger gals wanna keep covered.  Now I don't know if it's something I am noticing JUST this year, but there are some of these so called 'sexy' plus sized costumes that shouldn't... be... so... sexy?

Here we have just one item that I would like to use as my prime example.  Now I'm not sure if you skinny attractive folk know this but often when a female reaches a particular size, her midsection gets larger, not just the chest and hips.  If ones midsection is not flat, does one really need to wear a top that intentionally shows said area?  I know that most larger sizes try to draw attention to be breast area, that's fine as it's usually ample and easy to do; but there are limits to what the eye should take in if you are in a bar or at a party.  Also, I'm not sure if this logic has hit anyone designing these so called 'plus size costumes' but when your backside is larger... YOU NEED MORE FABRIC TO COVER IT!!! My legs are long people!  I can't be given a 10 inch long skirt and be expected to walk out of my bathroom.  Hell, my boyfriend doesn't see me like that on our anniversary! I always thought that extra fabric was a gift! It covered all the areas I was insecure about and made the areas of me that I liked seem all the more alluring. So is this all my own insecurity screaming at me to take my frustration out on people who are large and proud and wanna get out there and shake it? I think it comes down to a sense of propriety.  I have no problems with some high heels, fishnets and a shorter skirt. I have an aversion to seeing a girls panties if I'm not trying to.  So sweetheart, I get that you are big and beautiful but cover some of that up!
Am I saying curvy ladies shouldn't have fabulous costumes? That a big gal can't have something short and extra sexy to dazzle her special guy with? No.  I AM saying that there are body types out there that -I- personally would prefer if I didn't have to see your ass or tits as I take children house to house. And that doesn't apply JUST to the bigger girls...

Effen game maps...

PREEMPTIVE DISCLAIMER: I know nothing about programming   What I'm about to talk about may be difficult if not impossible to make available in the games I'm speaking about.  I will discuss out of date games and systems.  I may or may not know what I am talking about.  You may or may not agree with me, I don't care. 

OK, I spent the last few days playing a few different titles on the PS 3 and um... it needs to be said; YOU PEOPLE DOING GAME MAPS SHOULD BE SHOT!  I don't need an infrared, night visioned, topographical map of my factious area!  I need straight lines and a big frigging arrow.
It doesn't make me simple it makes me right.

Look, there are good examples and bad but lets look at some tried and true things that have seen us though many a game. We in the beginning had 2 D linear format. Straight line! Easy... we can do that. Then this format exhausted itself... all things do! We were presented with open world maps and random encounters. We were greedy.  Champions of Norrath had a relativity clear mapping for thier open world. (Yes I know it is a linear game I know it's not a truly 'open' world.) There was a mini map that was overlaid atop the players screen in a corner or a full size map over the whole screen.  Nice to just pop-up and close when needed or leave small in the corner.  Did it get in the way? SOMETIMES.  So does hitting a button to bring up a map screen.  Do I hate all maps? Most annoy the heck out of me; shining examples being FALLOUT: New Vegas.  Not only is this map HUGE with other DLC maps that make other areas available; these are gigantic as well.  Let me tell you things like levels the rooms are on are pretty darned unclear in most of the areas especially the vaults.

Is there nothing in the map world that pleases me?  Sure!  I loved the glowing trail toward quests in Fable (all of them were good for this) and there was also a spell in Skyrim that gave another glowing trail to follow for a time.  This is a GREAT way to clear up the confusion when it came to the floor a chest/person of interest or quest item is on.  Yea, it sort of made things too easy sometimes but it also saved me looking around an area for 2 hours to miss the door in front of my face.  Dragon Age, did a fine job to start but tried to open up maps in the expansion; leaving me wandering around in circles looking for landmarks to point me in the right direction.  Dragon Age: II was so nice in it's format for mapping, I know the gameplay was chapter based and the same map had small variations depending on chapters but regardless I was in looooooooooove!  Let me see, what other examples are there of games that let me get from point a to point b, oh yes!  Kingdoms of Amular : Reckoning; another good job.  It had a wide open map, simplified world map, fast travel and a local map that didn't make me want to stab myself in the eye getting from place to place.  I could see areas that were nearby without being confused by icons on my mini map.  Quests didn't have to be active to be marked on the map, it was on the whole a very user friendly map.

So a glowing cheater trail, or a spell you pay for to give you a hint as to where to go.  This seems like a feasible option that could easily be added to games.  I know the argument of the overlaid map being distracting is a valid one but it seems less so than stopping and pulling up the full map.  That may just be me being lazy or even wishing the game worlds weren't so big.   

Like I said, I don't need to have everything spelled out for me, but it is nice to not curse being lost for an hour in game despite pulling up a map screen every 2 minutes and 15 steps.  I'm not willing to check out other games either and see if I don't come around to the way things are mapped out.  Drop me a reply, tell me my gameplay is simple, tell me I'm right. (I mean I know but tell me.) give me good examples or even bad ones!  Lets make maps better damnit there are enough gamers to do it!

So a little something new...

To those that have ever read any of my social media, I am spotty at best and that is a generous statement. I  hereby take on something new; me versus the damned world... that's right kids; I'm at large with a weekly vendetta.  You all asked for this, you left stupid comments on yahoo; idiotic wiki articles; had stupid forum threads and far more sins I shall verbally spank you all for.  So flame me, follow me, or sod off. 

Ok. I ate a few games... some movies and here I um... well I am gonna address things here. One at a time. Whatever I want. Guess that sums this up. So... first on the list...
Life without... (Drumroll please?) ...the interweb. (the interweb: n. low tech slang; Internet.) Ok it's damned hard let me tell you; but past the initial inconvenience there is always a way. Smart phones, internet hot spots, school.... MC Donald's. Are you ever really without it? Probably not. I got as cut off as I could be and when I have access anywhere I all but itch when I get home for lack of it.  So therein lies a question; what do we do to cope?

You start to find other outlets... the time you spent in games you (and by you I mean me) solo in rpg's or fighting games; sadly I can't rock a fps or driving game to save my life. I stumbled back into Soul Calibur IV again last night. It's funny you forget about something you enjoyed for so many hours. It is a connection and it has its own energy.  You find yourself working toward 100% for  no reason other than personal satisfaction. (Especially since my Sony and XBox accounts aren't being updated with my epic sweetness.)

So what... we can live without MMO's? Without constantly sizing up with opponents worldwide? NO. Are you stupid?  Ok. you missed the point here kids, I said I learned to cope.  Come on... if you're gonna play here you gotta keep up.  We don't learn to live without, we find our fix where we can... Tell me... are you so different?