I made soup today! (It never fails to amaze me how little resemblance the food I cook has to any named dish any other person in the world has ever put together. I based this soup off of Chinese hot and sour soup, but the ingredient list took a left turn at Albuquerque and didn't look back.)

I also returned to Crisis Core. I have an HP Up+ (HP +70%) materia and a level 1 Curaga. I still haven't figured out how to get Hell Thundaga (which I really want because not only does it cause status ailments, if I equip a Status Ward materia, it'll protect me from the same ailments it inflicts), but given the rate at which regular Thundaga burns through my MP supply, this is probably a good thing for now. Basically, I win tough fights by flanking until I have enough space to get away with unleashing a couple of Thundagas. Zack routinely inflicts 4000 points of damage per Thundaga, while his stupid little sword only tops 1000 if he's doing a critical hit (a hit from behind, which I'm usually not dextrous enough to pull off). Plus, using said sword means he has to be closer to the enemy, which in turn means that they're close enough to hit him - and he doesn't have that many hit points, even with the fancy HP Up+ materia. I am possibly attempting missions that are too hard for me at the current stage of the game.