I always seem to be addicted to one thing or another...Such has been the pattern since I was a young girl. Most of the addictions I had were having to do with video games and other electronics.

Anime (which led to japanese pop and rock)
If you count Pokemon and/or Sailor Moon, then I first watched it before I was in kindergarten (I remember watching Pokemon with a preschool friend of mine). I think I was the most aggressive about watching anime during 6th and 7th grade; I kept watching in 8th grade, though not nearly as much. And after going into high school I haven't had as much time for it. But I still managed to get some in here and there.

Pokemon games (which led to other video games)
Started when a friend introduced me to them around 2nd grade or so. I was obsessed up until about 8th grade, where I lost interest for a while, but had a few phases of readdiction to an older Pokemon game, LeafGreen. (Unfortunately, I have since fallen off the bandwagon and I am no longer actively keeping up with Pokemon. All I know is that Black and White are supposed to come out soon, and that there's some dude called N with green hair who seems to be popular.)

Neopets
First played it in 1st grade, made account but never got rich and kept forgetting the password. Finally stuck to one account and worked very hard on it. I did accomplish a lot, but now I don't think it was worth the time because I no longer do much on Neopets (got too busy in high school and didn't finish the most recent plot). Probably not going to pick it up seriously again, but who knows?

Nutrinopets (which led to role-playing and graphics)
Actually was bored by the site at first, but returned some months later and decided to become more active. I was invited to a club, and that's how I discovered the forums of the site. It used to be quite active, but I saw people leave and move on with their lives as time went on. The site went down when I was in 8th grade and it's not here anymore. It's through Nutrinopets that I discovered role-playing, graphics, and my obsession with big numbers, particularly when it comes to forum posts (I had well over 20,000 forum posts, though sadly it's all gone to waste, but I'm glad that I no longer have the obligation to visit the site).

Gaia Online
Another forum; I think I was addicted to this before I got into Nutrinopets, actually, but I didn't stay on Gaia nearly as long. I think that's how my childhood innocence got spoiled. Got my first taste of seeing lots of swearing and more inappropriate stuff. -_-;; Mostly I just liked to make money and get items for my avatar. My account got deactivated because I was too young, and I had trouble getting it back once I did turn 13. I still go to Gaia sometimes, but it's really not that interesting to me. :\

The Sims 2 and 3
I really enjoy things that I can customize and control at my will, so making virtual people achieve things was pleasing to me... (If only it were that easy in real life to become a master chef, buy a huge house, or be friends with with 30 people... Though the third one's already too much work in video games XD)

Crunchyroll
Originally joined the site because they had an anime episode that I was having trouble finding elsewhere on the Internet. Abandoned my account for a long time before a friend of mine encouraged me to become active on the site. I don't have a very positive view of the site anymore (though I haven't completely quit because I'm too attached to it D: ). There's really a lot of people there, though, as well as many talented graphics-makers.

DeviantArt (which led to PHOTOGRAPHY!)
Another site that I was inactive on at first, but later became a frequent visitor. I started out only posting graphics, but then I decided to put up a few of my old vacation photos, and eventually photography became the main focus of my gallery. I'm grateful to DeviantArt because I probably wouldn't have been inspired to get into photography without it.

Youtube/Vocaloids/Nico Nico singers
A friend of mine suggested some Vocaloid songs to listen to (I believe Magnet was one of them; I forget the rest. But Magnet was the one that stood out to me; although it's not my favorite song, I know more of its lyrics than any other Vocaloid song). I knew about Vocaloids from seeing the artwork (particularly on Zerochan.net) and I'd listened to one or two songs of the Vocaloids before, but I guess those songs weren't very good since I hadn't liked Vocaloids back then. I'd thought they were too robotic-sounding and that I preferred "real" Japanese singers. Then I was made aware that there are actually members of the site Nico Nico Douga who make covers of the Vocaloid songs: basically, they sing the Vocaloid songs themselves and put it up on the Internet. They're quite talented and some have actually become professional singers. (Just see Pico, he's even got his own Vocaloid based off of himself now!) Well, you already saw my Valshe spam. I'll probably post more videos of the Nico Nico singers' music in the future.

I've had a bunch of other mini-addictions as well, to series such as Angelic Layer, Sola, Ouran High School Host Club, Pretear, Skip Beat, Durarara!!...and to video game franchises like Harvest Moon, Super Smash Bros...I wonder, will I ever break free from this cycle?

I can already feel myself being sucked into it again. I've seen two websites for the Dollars. It's a fictional group from the series Durarara!! but people have taken it upon themselves to make an actual site. There's a Dollars forum and a Dollars BBS. (If you don't know the password to get in, just ask me or whoever else you know that's a Durarara!! fan) You may realize that many of the sites I frequented in the past were sites with active forums. I've always preferred forums to chatting (chatting is too fast-paced, a bit harder to multitask), and I can't help but be attracted when I see a forum that might suit an otaku like myself.

I probably won't join the Dollars, at least not yet, because of the amount of users (not quite enough...it seems like the size is like Nutrinopets was when it was waning in activity, and I don't really want a repeat of the past). There is another prospective that looks very good to me, Vocaloid Otaku. It's a forum focused on Vocaloids and it's more active than the Dollars forum...If I join, though, I'm bound to get addicted and waste even more time on the Internet, which really is not in my best interests. It's so tempting, though! It would give me an excuse to make graphics (I could make myself an avatar with a matching signature banner). And making new accounts is always interesting for me. I'll hold back for now.

Labels: addiction, anime, crunchyroll, deviantart, dollars, durarara, forum, gaia online, internet, music, neopets, nutrinopets, otaku, pokemon, the sims, video games, vocaloid, vocaloids

The most recent edition of Reader's Digest, February 2011's issue, has made me depressed about what I eat. People who eat 5 or more cups of white rice per week are 17% more likely to develop diabetes, compared to those who eat less than 1 serving per month. Also, most people have to stay under 20 grams of net carbs per day (meaning the grams of carbs minus the grams of fiber in a food). Two slices of bread contain about 24 grams of net carbs, and pasta has 40 grams per cup. I eat bread, rice, and/or pasta pretty much all week. So I can either choose to pursue my goal of weight loss and suffer, or I can become a glutton and enjoy myself but have pangs of guilt all the time...

...And stomachaches, too. These days I tend to eat when I see something tasty, instead of because I'm hungry, so I have to stay away from the kitchen, bakeries, grocery stores, even my own school during lunchtime. I guess it's like this quote I saw on the Internet; it said that you never really stop being addicted to things, you just get addicted to something else. If only I could stay addicted to something that wouldn't sap my energy and time, the way various websites and video games have done to me. I figure I ought to do something more useful at least, since those things that I think I'm doing for fun don't really make me happy anymore. What I'd really like to do is just live a slacker lifestyle - get up late, eat when I feel like it, work on my character designs, read a lot of books, go on walks to take photographs, practice drawing, go to bed when I'm tired. But considering how many years of school and a career that I have ahead of me, I wonder when, if ever, it'll become a reality.

Oh, but today, January 23 (the publishing time shown for this post is actually the time I first saved this post, not always the real time that I posted it!), I did get to eat some delicious food, so I am pleased. I had spaghetti with beef as dinner (my dad makes some nice spaghetti, I haven't tasted one like it in restaurants, though I like almost all pasta in general), and then I had a little taste of chocolate crumble. It's a cakish, soft brownie kind of thing. One of my classmates from French class and I made it for our cooking project. Too bad I have to bring it to school and give away the pieces. I'd rather just eat the whole thing myself, it's so sweet and chocolatey. (It was kind of a hassle to make, though, I suppose it'll be a long time before I eat it again.) Ahh, it makes me miss being on a cruise ship. I love how there's a buffet and you've already paid for it so you can eat what you like, when you like. It was so nice getting to eat cheesecake and chocolate cake. But gosh, I should stop talking about it, it's just going to make me hungry again.

I really haven't had much to write about lately, so I guess I'll just end with saying that I am currently watching Durarara! and I'm reading Kaichou wa Maid-Sama. Both were fairly popular series, so I thought I ought to check them out. At first I was dubious, since sometimes popular things turn out pretty disappointing (like the Twilight series, Edward bores me) but so far both Durarara! and Kaichou wa Maid-Sama are fair enough. I watched Toradora! not long ago and I suggest that you watch it if you haven't. I don't know if I had abnormal levels of hormones or something, but I actually cried a little when I watched it. I figure if something can actually make me show some emotion, it must be pretty good.

Labels: addiction, buffet, carbohydrates, carbs, chocolate, control, cruise ship, crumble, desire, durarara, eating, food, gluttony, health, magazine, maid sama, readers digest, spaghetti, toradora

My beautiful orchids are reaching their demise. I used to have three of them. One was purple, one was a lighter purple, and this one is white. The plants are still alive but the flowers have fallen off. They've kept their petals for at least a couple of months, but now they're shriveling up! Maybe I should try to get the seeds if possible, and fertilize them, and then plant them in a new pot. The problem is, orchids take a lot of time and patience to raise. After all, I heard it takes 5 years for them to reach their mature, beautiful look that people prize. It's hard to believe they are so cheap at the farmers market and flea market.

I need to put a stop to my dad's evil schemes. My mom went grocery shopping and she came back with a pack of Bud Light beer. I got really mad at my mom since I disapprove of my dad drinking alcohol (yeah, I know, beer doesn't have that much compared to whiskey, brandy, and stuff like that, but still). Then my mom said if she didn't buy it for him he'd buy it himself for a bad price. No wonder my dad has a Computer Science major instead of Economics, he isn't exactly a bargain shopper.

One time I managed to foil his plotting. I saw that he'd bought some cigarettes, he said it was because a colleague wanted them, but I was feeling doubtful, so I secretly snuck off with them and hid them. My dad and mom are displeased with me but I don't even remember where I put it so if they torture me (like they did in the Spanish inquisition if they thought people were hiding something) I won't be able to reveal anything.

I'd like some suggestions for my next blog theme. I was thinking something seasonal or anime-related, but who knows. (I already have some blogskin users bookmarked so that I can easily access some spiffy layouts) Seeing as I am too lazy to make an image and code a blog layout I figure I will have to use a pre-made. So if you have an idea of what to look for, please let me know in the Cbox. ;)

My mom thinks that bikers are weird. Whenever we drive to piano class on Sunday, we always see a bunch of bikers. The male ones usually wear this odd biking outfit which flaps a little when they go fast. They all look like they have sharks or pieces of rock on their heads because of the helmets. Because they keep biking even in the blazing hot sun, my mom thinks they're really addicted and perhaps have no life. I was kind of jealous of them, actually, since they seem happy and they make friends because they have a "common hobby".

Here's today's lesson. Last time the whole post was basically me lecturing about Apocalypse type happenings. This time I want to point out the difference between principal and principle. I have noticed some people write principle when they are talking about the school headmaster. It seems like no one paid attention in Mrs. Weber's third grade class. :( Anyhow, here's the difference between them.
PRINCIPLE - This is basically a guideline or idea which people generally accept. For instance, a person could have good moral principles.
PRINCIPAL - Someone who is the head, for instance, a school. Don't forget, he is your pal! (That's a cheesy phrase I heard somewhere. XD)

Labels: addiction, alcohol, beer, bike, cigarette, flowers, hide, language, lesson, orchid, principal, principle, purchase

The woodshop room often does have such scents. When I first came into the classroom on the first day of the third trimester, I had been slightly repelled. I was not used to such smells because before then I had been in art and cooking. The art room doesn't have much smell (or maybe it's too neutral to identify) but the cooking room smells like spices and warmth, which is quite pleasant. So it was a big difference. But nowadays I have become accustomed to the woodshop room and it is okay now. I actually like the scent of a piece of wood after it has been oiled. The smell is strange but not bad. (I don't blame you if you think I have a problem from all the smelling. XD I assure you, this is nothing compared to the next paragraph).

For some reason my history class is fascinated by...HAND SANITIZER. (Yes, I realize I do mention my history class a lot but that is usually where the odd happenings occur.) Mr. Blair brought in a bottle of bluish green hand sanitizer and left it on the back counter. When STAR testing was over with on Monday the kids started crowded around to get some of it on their hands. A lot of them started sniffing it. Seeing this I became curious and put some on myself but I thought the smell was not nice. It smelled like alcohol or medicine or something mixed with something else. In my days I have come across better hand sanitizer than that. Anyhow, soon afterward Mr. Blair brought in more bottles since the kids were so happy when they had it. He thought it was like drugs to them but at least it pleased them and it wasn't bad for your health (supposedly hand sanitizer kills germs?).

Which reminds me, I have managed to finish my pen in woodshop. I had to ask the teacher how to drill a hole in the pen since I am never able to see when he is doing demonstrations of projects (because I am short and so many kids are blocking the way) and I tend to forget quickly in the first place. Well, I drilled a hole, but there isn't a way to drill all the way through, so when I take apart real pens to get the ink thing and try to put it in my wooden pen, it never fits. I got really annoyed and worried since I was planning to give my mom a real, functional pen for her "special day". Unfortunately it's not working so my dad says I should give up and just give her the pen. It's not like she would use it.

Some time ago it was my grandma and grandpa's anniversary (their 50th, in fact, so I guess it's the Golden Anniversary, and I mean the grandparents on my mom's side). We couldn't decide what to get them as a gift. If we bought them something expensive they wouldn't know what to do with it and they'd think that we wasted our money and shouldn't have bought it. So eventually my mom just paid a company to deliver a basket full of food and stuff to my grandparents' apartment (I mean the newer one they live in, they have two of them because one of them is their old one, which my grandpa rides the bus to so he can take a nap XD). My grandparents took pictures and sent it to us. I think we should've got my grandparents a bowl made of glass but I know it's unlikely they would accept or use such a thing. And it's too weird to get them a laptop (my grandma wants another computer, but it's not a suitable gift for an anniversary, is it?) or rings (neither my parents nor my grandparents have wedding rings).

Which reminds me...Today we saw Jerry the Sock on the announcements. It was time for Dialing for Dollars (note: If you don't know what this is, just ask in the Cbox or refer to previous posts...Good luck finding it XD). Usually the vice principal and one of the counselors runs it but this time the vice principal wasn't there so instead "Jerry" was the stand-in. But it's pretty clear that Jerry is attached to someone's arm or leg or something like that. And I saw the head of the person owning Jerry by accident. It's actually the other counselor, Ms. Williams (I don't know if she's married. By the way, Ms. Crowe is now married, but I don't know if she's planning to change her last name. I saw Mr. Brown with a new ring on his hand). I wonder if Ms. Williams was from Kentucky, then, since they always say that Jerry the Sock came from there or something.

Labels: addiction, anniversary, announcements, basket, classroom, dialing for dollars, drugs, gift, hand sanitizer, hole, jerry, pen, smells, socks, woodshop

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