Lately I've been wondering whether I should start watching one of those really long shonen animes. I always passed on them before because I don't have the patience to watch hundreds of episodes, and also because the animes had already started, so I would have a hard time trying to catch up. But I guess I might try one out because I crossed most of the animes I was going to watch off my list. And next anime season doesn't seem to have too much for me to watch. It'll be mostly sequels/prequels/etc. that I'll be watching, like the Working'!!, Shakugan no Shana 3, and Fate/Zero. I'll try watching Persona 4 and Guilty Crown (just because Guilty Crown has pretty art, and Supercell will be doing the music!), and maybe Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai as long as it doesn't have lots of fanservice...Other than that it seems like most of the animes are the anime adaptions of eroges. :\ Well, after I tackle the handful of anime remaining on my to-watch list, I'll be out of anime to watch.

So without further ado, please tell me if you've seen any of the following anime and what you thought of them. I'll start out with the shonen animes, and then a few that are not classified as shonen.


Naruto That has to be one of the all-time most well known animes. It seriously has a ton of episodes, and I've heard that a lot of the characters die (though I suppose the main ones like Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are still alive) so I've never really wanted to watch it. But it is the only anime that one of my friends watches, and it is really popular after all, so maybe there's some good reason for it?


Bleach I actually am quite interested in this one, partially because I think Rukia is cool and partially because I want to laugh at Ichigo's name. (I mean, really? Who names their son "strawberry"?)


Katekyo Hitman Reborn Another one that I'm tempted to watch. Dunno if I should watch the anime or read the manga, since either way it will be really long.


Gintama I noticed that it was very highly rated on MyAnimeList, which probably means it's good, seeing as it was the ratings on MAL that made me watch Fullmetal Alchemist.


Fairy Tail I really don't know much about this anime, so I'd appreciate it if you could tell me about it.


D Grayman Ditto on not knowing much about it. I just know that there's a guy, Kanda Yu, who looks like sorta like Gakupo, and there's some girl called Lenalee Lee.


Soul Eater Something to do with reapers/shinigami? At least it's only 51 episodes.


Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann This one is actually pretty short, about 27 episodes or so? I think I'd have enough patience to watch it. XD It does have two films, though.


Tiger & Bunny It's apparently a show about superheroes, which does not particularly interest me, but I do like the cute boy in it, Ivan Karelin. :p If there's any shonen-ai in T&B, I'm much more likely to watch it. (Though I don't watch yaoi animes like Junjou Romantica and Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi, I did watch No. 6 just to see if the characters would get together XD)



And here's some non-shonen anime that I'd like to know about.


Steins;Gate Since it's loosely related to Chaos;Head, I thought it'd only be mediocre, but I've heard that it's quite good. Maybe I'll give it a try.


Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai/The World God Only Knows I'm not sure yet whether I'll watch this. There's so many girls in it that it looks like a harem. o_o;; But it does seem quite popular, and after all, the main character is a video gamer, so it'll probably be funny. Probably. If you've watched it, tell me what you think.


Uta no Prince-sama Yes, the bishie-loving part of me took interest after seeing the characters (and there's even a trap in it! Her - I mean, his - name is Ringo Tsukimiya). I'm not sure if I'll watch it, though, considering that the main character seems kind of annoying, and Starry Sky was a big disappointment. My friend bashiri called UtaPri the worst anime ever, but she seems to like it. So maybe it's one of those things that is "so bad, it's good".

Of course, feel free to recommend me any anime that you've liked. I tend to like anime with comedy and action. I'll watch slice-of-life, fantasy, sci-fi, or historical, as long as it's good. Romance is okay but I generally don't like animes where the entire plot revolves around romance. I'll watch shonen-ai/yaoi or shoujo-ai/yuri so as long as the characters don't...er...go too far (as in, um, sleeping together, for example). I tend not to watch mystery, mecha, magical girl, or harem animes (but if you find one that is really, really good, I might check it out). I will not watch horror, though.



Anyways, about the second part of this post: Saimoe. When I was looking at Moetron, I saw something called Saimoe that kept being mentioned. I looked into it and apparently it's like a competition to see who the most popular female anime characters are, so people vote for their favorite within each of the groups (ex. A1, A2, B1, B2, C1...etc.). Below is the standings at the time that I am writing this.



Right now I'm cheering for:
- Tenshi (Kanade Tachibana from Angel Beats!)
- Menma (Meiko Honma from Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai...Whew, what a mouthful). ...But actually, I've always liked Anaru (Naruko Anjou), who is also from Ano-hana, better than Menma. Unfortunately, she just barely lost to some girl from Jewelpet. -_-;;
- Ohana Matsumae (from Hanasaku Iroha)
- Mami Tomoe (from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica) Kyouko Sakura, Miki Sayaka, and Madoka Kaname are also still in the running for the time being, so I guess I'm rooting for all of them. It's too bad Akemi Homura went up against Misaka Mikoto...Otherwise she would've had a better chance.
- Kuroneko (Ruri Gokou from Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai) I always liked her better than Kirino.
- Stocking (from Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt) I was going to watch that anime, but I heard it had some inappropriate things in it. XD I do think Panty and Brief make a cute couple, though.

There's actually a girl called Salsa Tortilla... o_o;; And I've heard there's a series called "Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai"...which in English means "listen to me girls, I am your father"?! It sounds so funny. I might actually check it out once they make that into an anime. (But it's probably not about a father and his daughters. More likely that it's a harem... -_-;; )

It's a pretty weird coincidence that Victorique de Blois and Mikoto Misaka are about to face off, because Gosick (the anime Victorique is from) and To Aru Majutsu no Index (the anime Mikoto is from) are two of the animes on my current to-watch list. :p And it's pretty funny how Sui Shijima, the awesome old lady in Hanasaku Iroha, won her first round. I'm kind of sad that she lost in the second round. And I'm really sad that Hanasaku Iroha has ended. But I guess I feel like moving on, just like the characters are moving on. I won't spoil anything for you, don't worry. :p

Labels: anime, anohana, bleach, hanasaku iroha, harem, mahou shoujo madoka magica, manga, naruto, reborn, saimoe, shonen, starry sky, uta no prince-sama, yaoi

I should've posted this a lot earlier, but I had a few things to add to it :p It's gotten really long, so you can read one per day or something.

Microwaves Can Be Used for Anything
I've heard some rather strange things about microwaves lately. I remember hearing once that an old lady tried to dry off her wet cat by putting it in the microwave, so apparently now there are warnings telling people not to put animals in their microwaves (I have no idea if it's true, though). My mother seems to think it's okay to do that, though, at least with stuffed animals. I wanted to move my stuffed animals to my bed again, but they tend to collect dust and make me sneeze. So, of course, my mom had to say, "Well, we can microwave them. I heard that'll get rid of the dust." NO THANK YOU!

People Who Attend Barbecues Make Offensive Comments
For some weird reason, I've attend 4 barbecues in the last two weeks - one of them was hosted by a club at my school, since they were trying to attract members; another one was my mom's company's "family day"; and the other two were parties hosted by my family's friends.

It was at these BBQ's of friends of my parents that I was insulted. At one of these parties, when the host saw my dad and me, she immediately told me, "You look so much like your dad!" And when I laughed, she said that I even laughed like him. Word to the wise: Do not compare me to my dad. I have heard it so many times that if I hear it again, I will smile politely at whoever says it, and when he/she turns around I will stuff his/her head into the barbecue grill.

Yesterday, at another BBQ, my mother told one of the other guests that I was in 10th grade. The lady looked at me and smiled, saying in Chinese, "You're rather small, aren't you?" Well, excuse me. I never asked to be short, so people, please stop pointing it out. There is nothing I can do about it at this point besides, oh, I don't know, wearing 12-inch-tall high heels?!

The Sims is Annoying Yet Fascinating
Well, at least the Sims Wiki is. Sometimes when I'm bored I just go and browse its pages, and I come across some rather entertaining and interesting things. What intrigued me in particular was the page about Mrs. Crumplebottom. She's one of the NPCs (non-player characters) in the Sims 2. I remember seeing her on the community lots in the game, and whenever one of my Sims wanted to go swimming, she'd come over and lecture them for wearing swimsuits, which she considered to be indecent clothing (gosh, what else do you swim in besides a swimsuit?). I learned plenty more interesting things about the wicked old lady in the Wiki article:

- If two Sims have a public display of affection, she will scold them or beat them with her purse.
- There are two whole sections in the Wiki article dedicated to avoiding the wrath of Mrs. Crumplebottom. Apparently, if your Sims go to a bowling alley, a place with a poker table, or a bar, then she won't bother you because she'll be busy bowling, playing poker, or drinking.
- If you have the Bon Voyage expansion pack, then if the Unsavory Charlatan (another NPC; he is a scam artist who has a top hat and a monocle) is on the same lot as Mrs. Crumplebottom, he will try to serenade her. But supposedly she beats him up when he does that. (Now I want to play the Sims 2 again just to see that happen.)
- If you try to add her to a family or turn her into a vampire, werewolf, or witch, your game will be corrupted.
- Even when she is bitten by a vampire, unlike normal Sims, she won't turn into a vampire herself.

And speaking of the Unsavory Charlatan I mentioned above, his Wiki page says that if he steals your Sim's money, then you can attack him to try and get it back. For some reason the Unsavory Charlatan likes to attack the Tourist Guide...? He's a master poker player (always wins because he always gets a Royal Flush, I wish I had that ind of luck), and he also knows how to play mahjong. o_o;;

Besides the NPCs, there are plenty of rather interesting stories for playable Sims; the Sims 2, for example, includes two families, the Caps and Monties, which are kind of like modern versions of the Capulets and the Montagues from Romeo&Juliet. There are also Sims who have been abducted by aliens and who have died in all sorts of ways (electrocution, starvation, drowning in a swimming pool, etc.) I think I read on several Sims' Wiki pages that if Story Progression was left on (meaning that other Sims' lives continue - they get married, have children, get promotions, make friends, die, and so on), some Sims will cheat on their spouses...I actually saw this happen one time. One of my Sims went to another Sims' house, and while she was there, the husband of that household was flirting with some other woman. The wife came and slapped the husband and everyone seemed upset. Sometimes the game actually does reflect what would happen in real life. o_o;;

Constant Reminders of Fullmetal Alchemist
I just watched this recently and it is now pretty much my all-time favorite series. Imagine my surprise when, just a day after I watched last episode, I saw that one of the recent popular deviations on DeviantArt was a fanart of FMA! And when I went over to one of my friends' houses just the other day, I noticed that she had pictures of FMA on her wall. Now I feel like decorating my room too (I just swapped bedrooms with my parents and I want to add a personal touch - in other words, posters of anime, video games, and Vocaloids all over the place. But I have to either buy some posters or try to make my own...)

In fact, even the SAT seems to know that I am obsessed with FMA. I was doing some reading comprehension practice problems, and the passage I was supposed to read was about alchemy! It even mentioned transmutation and the Philosopher's Stone, both of which are commonly heard in the anime.

Japanese Will Take Over the World
I'm not sure about the country, but its language, at least in a lot of anime, seems to be predicting that Japanese will become the universal language. I've recently been watching Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, and although in the beginning of the episode there is a narrator speaking French (I always find it funny, but actually, French people would find me funnier because of my horrible accent when I speak French), during the anime itself, the French people speak Japanese. What's even funnier is that Claude, a french guy who is supposedly speaking French, is talking about Yune, a girl who came from Japan who is standing next to him, and Claude says - in JAPANESE - "She won't understand what I'm saying anyways." And I was just thinking, "DUH, she understands, because you're SPEAKING JAPANESE." Oh well. I guess they just can't find good French voice actors in Japan or something, and that's why they speak Japanese when they're supposed to be speaking French.

And I remember when I was watching Kuroshitsuji, where all the people were supposedly in England but spoke Japanese. Even the characters from China and India spoke Japanese. I still think it's hilarious.

Science Teachers are Insane
Mine certainly seems to be.
- She's a psychic; one night my mom was talking about how my dad had eaten a huge amount of pistachios. The next day, on my chemistry quiz, there was a question asking how many pistachios someone could eat at one time. (If I calculated it correctly, it was more than 4000 pistachios... o_o;; )
- She cares about us, particularly our eyes, though in a bit of an odd way. She makes students sing some song that goes along the tune of I'm A Little Teapot (except it's "I'm A Little Chemist" or something like that) when they don't wear their goggles, as a sort of warning to them. That in itself is not strange, but she has a really freaky poster on her wall. It has a picture of a blind woman who has a cane and a guide dog. The caption says:
"Carol never wore her goggles.
Now she doesn't need them."
- She has a family of pyromaniacs. For one thing, the first day of class, she set a gummy bear on fire. The next day she showed us another demonstration with fire. One of our first labs in the class involved a lot of matches being lighted. And she said that her son really likes fire too...

Vocaran Knows What I'm Doing
There's something called the Weekly Vocaloid Ranking, or Vocaran for short, which basically uses logarithms and other thing-a-ma-bobs (I'm not too clear how it works) to come up with the 30 most popular Vocaloid songs that week. The Vocaran also briefly shows the 5 most popular Vocaloid songs from approximately the same time of year last year. I was listening to a song called "The Madness of Duke Venomania" and then I decided to check out the Vocaran. It was pretty weird for me to see that the #1 from the year before was that song.

And what's weirder is that around this time, I noticed that one of the Nico Nico singers, Panyo, had just sung a cover of "The Madness of Duke Venomania". o_o;;

Apparently even a Vocaloid producer knows me. Watch the first 20 seconds of this video. The video starts about with water, and then later on you see the song's name is "Kai Sou". Water is "mizu" in Japanese. Mizu...kaisou...Whose blog does this remind you of? :p

Labels: animals, anime, barbecue, family, fullmetal alchemist, height, japanese, microwave, mrs. crumplebottom, teacher, the madness of duke venomania, the sims, vocaloid, vocaran

image by LeChat

Before I begin, I want to give a big shout-out to Shiroihime and MoonRadience for the birthday gifts. Shiroihime drew me a lovely picture of Miku, which I would post except for that I'd have to cover up our real names on it first. :p MoonRadience also made me a drawing and sent me a Durarara happy birthday song. Thanks so much to both you, I really do appreciate it. :)

This is going to be a pretty short post (compared to usual, and compared to the one I'm currently writing :p), and maybe you noticed that I've stopped putting the diamond symbol before the post and NOT capitalizing what should be capitalized. XD From now on I will be properly capitalizing my post titles and not putting the diamond anymore...not that either of those changes is particularly notable.

What I mean by Black Rock Shooter being back is that an anime is going to be made for it! (I heard about it here) Sure, there was already the OVA, but honestly I didn't like that very much. I hope that the anime's going to be like what I expected, with lots of blue flames and gunshots and whatnot. Well, if the world does end in 2012, I can die happy as long as the BRS anime doesn't disappoint.

I am a pretty big fan of the Black Rock Shooter song, which I found out about due to my Vocaloid music obsession. I did attempt to sing the song once as an audition for a chorus on Youtube, but I'm afraid I couldn't sing it well (can't really sing most songs that have high notes..and my idea of high is lower than most females, too, which is even more pitiful) so I had to give up on that.

Anyways, I'm also fond of the character herself; I'd say I like her more than the design of the Hatsune Miku. That's probably because of the weapons, and of course the blue flames (which remind me of Ao no Exorcist, one of my other major shippings!).





By the way, going off tangent a little bit here...Has anyone read the Ao no Exorcist manga? If so, what do you think of it? I've recently been hearing folks say that (such as the manga is better than the anime), and that the anime isn't following the manga's storyline anymore...? Is that true?

Labels: anime, ao no exorcist, black rock shooter, Black★Rock Shooter, brs, character, crossover, design, miku, news, ova, song, vocaloid

I finished this anime pretty much as fast as I could, and not because I hated it, but because I loved it.

Well, I don't know, maybe just liked, because it isn't my top favorite anime (actually, I don't even know what my favorite is anymore). Still, I really did enjoy it; it has action, comedy, and romance, as well as characters that I like (except for two of the villains, but it's unusual for the antagonists to be more charming than the protagonists anyways). Not to mention that I do have a bit of a penchant for tsunderes, and at certain points, the main character, Zakuro, displays some very tsundere-like behavior.

The anime starts out with Zakuro and her fellow half-spirit girls finding out that they are going to have to work together with soldiers to take care of the trouble that spirits have been causing. I won't reveal anything else, so if you want to find out, give it the 3 episode test - basically, watch 3 episodes of the anime, and decide where you want to finish it. Actually, for me, sometimes I only watch the 1st episode. That was enough to make me decide I didn't want to watch Akikan or Omamori Himari (urgh, too much ecchi, no thank you). So, whatever # of episodes floats your boat.

Anyways, Otome Youkai Zakuro seriously has a lot of characters that look like characters from other series.

Takatoshi "Omodaka" Hanadate (Otome Youkai Zakuro)


Matsuyuki "Yukiatsu" Atsumu (Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai)


Both of them pretend to be something that they're not. Hanadate poses as a lieutenant but turns out to be after Zakuro for his own sinister reasons. As for Yukiatsu, he can't get over Meiko Honma (or Menma, as she is called in Anohana) and dresses up as her. Also note that both Hanadate and Yukiatsu are interested in the main female character of their respective animes, but in both cases the girls like someone else. And at one point Hanadate says he's stuck in the past because of his mother's death and her supposed rejection of him. That reminded me a lot of Yukiatsu, who was unable to move on after Menma's death.

Aya Orikata (Otome Youkai Zakuro)


Yuuko Ichihara (xxxHolic)


Both of them are the owners of unusual shops, have mythical beings as their assistants (Mugi is Aya's helper, and Maru and Moro help out Yuuko), and of course, the signature pipes they're smoking.

Tsukuhane (Otome Youkai Zakuro)


Kohane Tsuyuri (xxxHolic)


Besides the similarities in their names and appearances, I can't think of much, except...Both of them lived lonely and secluded lives. Tsukuhane's husband had her live in the mountains, alone except for the fox spirit Kushimatsu, and later on, when her daughter Zakuro was born, Tsukuhane fled with Zakuro to keep her safe. As for Kohane, her mother becomes distant from her.

Actually, now that I think of it, xxxHolic and Otome Youkai Zakuro do have some profound similarities. Spirits are a big part of both animes, both of the main characters' parents are dead, and both are sometimes funny, sometimes slightly disturbing. It does make me wonder if the author of the Otome Youkai Zakuro manga ever read or watched xxxHolic.

Labels: 3 episode test, anime, ano hi mita hana no namae wo bokutachi wa mada shiranai, anohana, characters, comparison, manga, otome youkai zakuro, similar, similarities, xxxholic

Well, of course, it should really be spelled "craze", but I felt like using alliteration. :p

Korean pop, or k-pop as it is often called, seems to have become quite popular in the last few years. It also seems to be a trend (even if it is unintentional) for people who were once obsessed with anime to turn their interests to Korean dramas and bands. It's not a bad thing necessarily, though I must say it made me feel both sad and proud. Sad because I felt like the race of otakus was dying out (though actually that's not really true at all, from what I've seen on the Internet lately), and proud that I wasn't following a trend. The second part's funny, considering that I'm probably missing out on a lot of good things because I try not to do what everyone else is doing. (I guess that was part of the reason I picked Weight Training instead of Dance. I didn't want to add to the stereotype that girls take Dance and boys take Weight Training. But then again, I actually do want to try Weight Training.) After getting disappointed by the Twilight series, I lost faith in what's popular with the general public. Though I'm starting to jump back on the bandwagon again, particularly since I've watched a couple of popular anime (Durarara, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica) and found that they were actually quite good.

Back to k-pop. I haven't really listened to too much of it. I've tried, but I'm not usually all that fond of hip hop and dance music (I have the feeling I've misidentified the genres, but whatever). There are a few groups that I do like, such as DBSK (which has, unfortunately, split up, though a few of the members made a new group called JYJ, I think). Maybe I should listen to more of it. The other day, Shiroi showed me a few songs, such as a DBSK acapella, and also, to my surprise, some Japanese songs sang by K-pop groups. It's pretty cool that they can sing in too languages. But then again...have you heard any of those Vocaloid songs which are supposed to be in English, but the lyrics don't make any sense? I heard this Luka song the other day that was saying something about German alcohol, I think. I guess the composer's knowledge of English was a bit...lacking. Maybe it's just because Asian countries seem to enjoy putting English words in their songs and on their products, even if they aren't exactly sure what it means?

As for actual Korean songs by K-pop groups, thefalse-tto introduced me to Pinocchio Danger and Nu Abo by the group F(x). In particular she pointed out the girl Amber, who has now been added to my growing list of women/girls that I admire. For some reason I really like tomboyish girls and girly-looking guys. But besides that, it turns out Amber is actually Taiwanese-American and from California (I assume from around Los Angeles, since that is apparently where she got picked up by SM Entertainment).

Speaking of Los Angeles, I'd sure like to go there - not because I'm planning to audition to become a k-pop singer (though I actually would like to try if I had a larger vocal range), but because of Miku Hatsune's live concert at Anime Expo... Right now all the tickets are sold out, but I really hope there will be more. I'm thinking about going there if more tickets become available. (True, since Miku is a Vocaloid, she's just going to be a hologram and I could probably watch the concert on Youtube later, but I've started to think that a concert is a totally different experience from listening to music by myself. After all, you're surrounded by tons of people who love the same thing that you do.) This is one of the times that I feel frustrated about living in the suburbs. It's rather far from the action sometimes. (But there was a convention a lot closer to where I live, I guess I couldn't gone to that one...The price and the fact that finals were coming up threw me off, though...Still, would've been nice to look at the merchandise and see people perform at the convention.) Oh well. When there's a will, there's a way. I'll have to see about getting to LA.

Labels: amber, anime, anime expo, california, concert, convention, english, f(x), japan, k-pop, korea, languages, los angeles, miku hatsune, music, otaku, trend, vocaloid, weight training

That's the name of the anime that I just finished not too long ago. I found out about Macross Frontier in a different way than I usually do. The typical ways for me to find animes are:

1. A friend recommends them to me
2. Wikipedia browsing (I visit the Wikipedia page of a studio or a voice actor that I liked, and look at what other animes it/he/she produced or acted in.)
3. I see some nice fanart of the anime on the Internet and eventually become curious about it

That 3rd method is how I found out about Vocaloid, by the way. And one of my friends told me she thought it was an anime, so I went looking for the episodes on the Internet. Read more »

Labels: alto saotome, anime, characters, fanart, gumi, macross frontier, may'n, megumi nakajima, music, ranka lee, sheryl nome, songs, vocaloid, vocaloids, wikipedia, youtube

These past few days I've been watching the anime Angel Beats. It's already been a while since the anime came out - that was back around April to June 2010 - which is typical for me. I tend to watch older anime first and then gradually work my way up to more recent animes, so I guess I've been making pretty good progress if I'm able to watch some 2010 animes from time to time. (I think there still might be a couple of 2007 animes that I haven't watched yet, like Shattered Angels. Funny that its name is also about angels. :p)

Well, as is the case with me and most animes I've watched, I wasn't particularly intrigued by the beginning, but it got better as it went on (I felt that way about Durarara!! too). I'll try not to spoil it for those of you who have not seen it and might want to see it in the future.

I've heard it mentioned before that Yuri Nakamura, one of the protagonists of Angel Beats!, resembles Haruhi Suzumiya from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (otherwise called Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu).
Read more »

Labels: angel beats, anime, art, characters, chronological order, comparison, existence, haruhi suzumiya, life, meaning, my soul your beats, nico nico douga, pattern, proof, similar, song, time, yuri nakamura

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

All goods things must come to an end. I just finished the Durarara anime yesterday, and was briefly at a loss for what to watch next, before remembering that I'd meant to watch Spice and Wolf, so I'm watching that now. I really hope it gets more exciting; I've only seen two episodes, but right now I don't feel that interested in it.

I always get a little disheartened after finishing a good series. I was really excited while I was watching Eureka Seven, Code Geass, and Boys Over Flowers in the first semester, but once I got close to the end of those shows, I always seemed to enter a gloomy period (might just be coincidental, but I like to think that there's cause and effect going on here). Well, I guess I could easily remedy that by watching and reading nothing but "good" anime and manga. But if I were to always spend my time dabbling in the best of the best, wouldn't I become unable to appreciate how good it was? After all, I just read somewhere earlier today that there has to be dark to see the light.

But anyways, I thought Durarara really came into its own in the second half of the anime (I can only speak in these terms because I haven't read the manga...I would like to read more manga in the future, but it's sometimes hard to find a good one that's already finished and doesn't have a ridiculous amount of chapters.) I liked a lot of the characters, and at first I wasn't sure what I thought of Shizuo because he smoked and seemed to become violent for no reason, though I have as of late become quite fond of him. I'm a big fan of Celty ♥

Though I wouldn't really say that Kida is one of my favorite characters in Durarara, I feel like I have the most connection to him. There were, in the past things he did - or didn't do, and he tries and tries and tries to move on, and yet he's still his own prisoner. It's one thing to forgive someone else, but it's another to forgive yourself...For failing to act at an important moment. What would you rather do? Regret what you've done, or regret what you didn't do?

When I get depressed, which is unfortunately pretty often, all the things I messed up in the past come back to me. It's like I keep opening my wounds all over again even after they healed, just like what I always did with the part on the other side of my knee - you know, on the back of your leg, the place where your leg bends? It often got itchy and I couldn't help but scratch it, and sometimes it turned red and pretty nasty. At least the pain kept me from scratching it, but while it was healing it would be itchy again, and so the wounds never really closed (well, until the weather changed, that usually made it less itchy so I'd finally stop scratching it). The body does have important messages to tell the mind, and I'm not just referring to problems dealing with your past, but also to health problems not having to do with the brain... These days I've seen many people coming down with illnesses and having to be hospitalized...I'm not able to discuss anything more than that, but it has been a very misfortunate time indeed.

Labels: anime, appreciation, celty, characters, depression, durarara, fear, good, health, itchy, kida, past, problem, questions, regret, shizuo

I've recently been learning about logarithms in my math class, and it has not been going well. So far this semester, math had not been as challenging as I'd expected, up until I got to logs. They seemed simple enough, and I thought that I understood them...But I found out during the most recent math quiz that I really don't understand them at all. I couldn't even finish the quiz in time. It was really a slap in the face. I knew I'd been getting overconfident about tests; I studied less and less as the year went on.

It's tempting for me to just blame it on the fact that there weren't the kind of problems on the test in the textbook - nothing to study with. But if I'd actually been trying hard enough to study, maybe I would've realized that. Maybe I would've gone looking for problems, made up my own, just done something. Anything.

I started to write this post before, but I completely forgot about it; my memory hasn't been good for quite a long time, and I haven't been sleeping too well lately. I wake up in the middle of the night, and then I can't get back to sleep again for a long time, if at all. I've been pretty tired during the day, and one of my friends even asked me if I was okay, saying that I seemed out of it. But I guess being sleep-deprived hasn't been as bad I as I expected. I thought I would pass out in the middle of class or something.

People do pass out, though. The reasons are unclear; could be dehydration. A couple of weeks ago, I was minding my own business in science class when I heard a loud thump. One of my classmates had just fallen out of her stool. The teacher called the office, and a woman came into the classroom with a wheelchair to take away my classmate. Thankfully she wasn't badly injured after all and was back to class the next day. Crazy enough for one person to faint, but the teacher said she'd seen it happen before. There was even a student who practically did a backflip when she fell out of the stool.

But even such things are a part of normal life, are they not? I don't know anymore if there is a such thing as normal anymore. You'll see that idea in Durarara!! and in Inception, both of which were (perhaps still are) quite popular, and not without reason. Inception is one of those movies where you have to pay attention - if you're multitasking the way I tend to, then you might look back at the screen and realize you don't know what the people are doing or where they are. Still, it was a riveting movie, and one of the few movies with lots of explosions and guns that I actually liked, seeing as am I'm generally more of a fan of comedies. If you haven't watched it, I definitely recommend Inception.

Labels: algebra, anime, durarara, faint, health, inception, life, logarithm, logs, math, movie, normal, quiz, sleep

Not men, sorry, and I haven't watched that show, but that's nothing new. I hear about many things, wonder if I ought to find out what they're about, and promptly forget about them. I've recently tried to get back into watching anime (which was a lot easier once I finished the second season of Kuroshitsuji...It was disappointed, I recommend you only watch the first season) and have been adding to my list of animes to watch. Hope I can actually get around to all of them. Considering that more animes keep coming out, though, that's hard to say. (By the way, is the plural of anime "animes" or just "anime"?)

Well, anyways, it's been an easy week back at school, even though I expected it would be difficult - particularly because my real language teacher has arrived. She was gone for the whole first semester taking care of her twin babies, and I had no idea what to expect. But she seems nice enough, so I think it'll be a good semester, as long as I pay attention in class and participate more. XD And in order to facilitate the adjustment back to school, there's been some little destress activities going on during lunchtime - which includes free food, much to my delight - and one of the things to do was paint your nails.

This is an activity I have not done since I was in elementary school, probably around third grade or so. I do like the sensation of painting, and how shiny nail polish is, but I always seemed to get bored of painting them. (Not to mention we only had one or two colors of nail polish, and I don't know if we even have those bottles anymore.) But I didn't really feel like working on homework, so I thought, "Why not?" Two friends of mine painting a nail each, and I started painting a third one after trying to fix the other two, but ran out of time. So I ended up with a reddish-pink thumb, a dark blue index finger, and a half-painted aqua middle finger (which I have scraped the nail polish off of, because it was gathering in a strange blob). It looks rather lumpy now that it's dried. Still, painting it was fun. And I don't mind the smell of it, even if it's rather artificial.

I've been thinking that I should use the New Year as an opportunity for change. It always seems like people make New Year's resolutions, try to follow them for about a week or two, and give up (kind of like what often happens if a child gets the dog she was begging for). But I have been wishing that I could change certain things about myself - how I treat other people, how I manage my time, perhaps also how I look - and I want to make 2011 a great year (and after that, 2012, 2013, 2014...the rest of my life). Easier said than done, and maybe I will be like most people, giving up after only a week or two. But it shall not be from never trying.

Labels: 2011, anime, attempt, behavior, change, colors, forget, forgetful, incomplete, kuroshitsuji, nail polish, nails, new year, resolution, school, teacher

I've heard the saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." I'm not sure if the man here refers to humans in general or just men, but I have certainly been quite fond of food lately.

Ever since we got home from the cruise ship, I seem to be hungry at the oddest times of day. I would wake up, at, say, 1 or 2 in the morning, and would feel the urge to eat something. Last night it took me a while to get to sleep (in fact, I'm not quite certain that I slept), and woke up at around 5 in the morning. I was rather drowsy at first, but I actually don't feel that tired from waking up early. Perhaps I should make this a habit. (It's funny how after taking a nap you often feel more tired than you did before napping, for instance.)

Once it was around 11, I paid a visit to the library I usually visit before going to another town to visit the San Jose Library, West Valley branch. I've only been here once before (at least in my memory) but I liked it a lot, although I have trouble navigating it. It seems to be quite the bustling place. There were a bunch of kids, and I noticed that they had Nintendo DS. (What's the plural form for DS? Is it just DS or is it DSes, or is it DSs?) I discovered that there's this room called the Teen Space, and on the wall there's a poster of Haruhi Suzumiya, as well as some drawings from people who are apparently part of a manga and anime club. I thought to myself, "Hey, it might be interesting to join, and I can get my drawings put up on the wall..."

But anyways, since there were apparently ramen shops nearby, we went searching for one which an acquaintance of my dad had mentioned. We found that it was inside a Japanese supermarket. That ramen shop is part of a chain of stores, so we've actually eaten there before (in Japan). But instead of being a restaurant, here you place your order and wait for your number to be called so you can pick up trays with your food on them and find a seat amongst the various tables.

It was the supermarket which interested me in particular. There was an Andersen Bakery inside the supermarket. My mom used to buy me this bread that has custard on it. It's quite delicious. When I was looking around, I saw that there was melon-pan (melon bread) being sold! (It's a bit different from usual, it doesn't look like the usual melon bread. Instead it apparently has cookie dough on the top. But it's quite delicious nevertheless.

I was very excited getting to hear people speaking Japanese. (I should get used to it already, but I can't seem to help it.) I could hear people saying "Irrashaimase!", which means "Welcome", and "Okage desu ka?" (I think that's what I heard, but I don't remember clearly. I forget what it means.) And there was a girl sitting at a table eating her lunch, and she kept saying, "Okashi daiyo" which I believe means something like, "It's strange." But I have no idea what exactly was strange.

I sampled some dango and looked at the sushi and rice balls. It's really quite thrilling to see the foods that you've seen in anime or manga in real life. It's like confirmation that fiction really is based off actual things and happenings. I was on the cruise ship watching a comedy juggler perform and he pulled the tablecloth off a table in one swift motion. The plates and utensils on the table didn't fall off of it. I saw this same thing executed in the anime Kuroshitsuji. I'd like to try it too (although I don't want to risk breaking my plates).

Labels: andersen bakery, anime, bread, cruise ship, food, japanese, kuroshitsuji, library, manga, melon, pan, ramen, show, sleep, supermarket, trick

As of late, I have been hearing much of the oil spill that has occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. British Petroleum has been trying to stop the oil from spreading, but to no avail. Animals there are dying as the water becomes polluted.

All this death and destruction evoked my memories of learning about how the Earth was formed and came to be the way it is now. I recall having watched a film about the Earth since its formation after the Big Bang, scribbling madly to take notes on the various periods (Precambrian, Cambrian, and Jurassic are the only names I remember now, though). It was a giant meteorite striking the Earth that created the Gulf of Mexico - that area used to be land, but it became sea.

The dust that rose up into the air from the collision blocked out the sunlight, and the dinosaurs, who were cold-blooded, died out, unable to deal with the frigid temperatures. It was the mammals, with their warm blood and coats of fur and hair, who were best able to survive through this time.

I wonder if perhaps the gulf is a place that has a curse upon it. That perhaps it is doomed to always be a site of death and of sorrow.

I've been watching an anime called Kuroshitsuji lately. (In English, the name would be "Black Butler".) I was surprised to see that the Hope Diamond was mentioned in the anime. Click for a picture of the diamond. I saw the diamond when I visited Washington D.C. and went to the National Museum of Natural History. I don't remember that much of it anymore, but I do recall that many people were crowded around the glass case, trying to take photos of the diamond. It is still very much a desired jewel, although it has been called "cursed" and "unlucky" (it is said to have been connected to Marie Antoinette's death, for instance). It always makes me happy when there is something I can relate to in anime or books. It's like a personal connection. Like the author of the book has the same brain as me.

Labels: anime, books, connection, curse, diamond, dinosaur, earth, gulf of mexico, history, hope, kuroshitsuji, mammal, national museum of natural history, nature, oil, smithsonian, spill, washington D.C.

Not that long ago, in language arts, we were doing a group project that involved a skit. We had to meet up outside of school to film it because there was no time in class given for doing so. We met up at the school and went to one of the girls' houses. We knew one of the members of the group would be showing up late, so we tried to call her to let her know that we were meeting at the house instead, but we weren't able to get into contact with her. We ended up going to the school again to try and find her. But we didn't see her anywhere.

We decided to go onto the school campus to look for her. It would've been okay, but there was something we didn't expect going on at the time: Japanese school.

We went onto the campus and walked around looking for our fellow group member, but we were stopped by a guy. He said, "What are you doing here?" We told him that we were from this school. He seemed confused. I don't think he understood that we were talking about the actual school that's in session during the weekdays...I think he thought we meant the Japanese school. He seemed very suspicious of us and kept staring at us and following us as we walked around.

It made me feel really unsettled. I didn't really have a reason to be uncomfortable since I didn't commit any crimes and I AM a student of the school, but still, I felt like I was being considered an outsider, a stranger, perhaps even dangerous. It was as if I didn't exist during the weekdays when I came to school as a student.

But I am a student there, and it is a familiar place to me, so it bothers me that I would feel this way when Japanese school is going on. Even more unsettling is the fact that Japanese school has been here for quite a while and I've never seen it going on until now. And it makes me realize how many things about this world I still don't know.

But I guess that's to be expected. It's like Mandarin - Even if you study all your life, you will never be able to learn every character in the language. And even if you lived your whole life trying to discover everything in the world, you wouldn't be able to. But you can always try. The quest for knowledge is neverending.

I kind of wish I had chosen to take Japanese in high school. I like French, and since I have already started it, it is best to continue with it, but at the same time I also wish to know Japanese. I think both of them are very beautiful languages. For now I can only learn Japanese through watching anime, but someday maybe I'll be able to focus on it. One time I thought that I would like to learn all the languages in the world and learn how to play all the instruments. Both are quite ambitious goals and I don't know if I can accomplish them. But I'd rather regret trying than regret not trying...

Labels: alien, anime, crime, danger, french, group, guard, japanese, knowledge, language, language arts, learning, outsider, project, quest, school, student, suspicious, weekdays, weekend

It's a book by Katherine Paterson, which I read a long time ago, sometime back in elementary school. I don't think I fully understood what I was reading. But I doubt I'll be rereading the book to get another look at it (there are so many good books in the world out there that I haven't read, and I'd like to get to those first).

Well, I am not a fan of Jacob Black from Twilight (or, more specifically, the actor for him in the movies, Taylor Lautner) but I ended up with him on April Fool's Day. On DeviantArt, every user's avatar was replaced with a joke avatar. The possibilities were Edward Cullen, Jacob Black, Team Seeker, or Lady Gaga...It was so hard to tell who was who. It goes to show how I rely on pictures to recognize things. It's hard for me to remember so many names.

This week is my spring break. I'll be staying home for the break. Seeing as I had a trip to the Grand Canyon/Las Vegas in February, and a Yosemite trip in March, I think I've had enough of the excitement of traveling. (And it is costly, so I was hoping to save up more money for my retirement by not spending it on travel costs now.) Also, I do have some homework which I need to work on. I'm rather reluctant to do research for an upcoming project because this is supposed to be my time off, but I guess it can't be helped. Work must be done, and someone's gotta do it.

Unfortunately, I had the misfortune of catching a cold, presumably from a student at my school (due to frequent changes in weather, some students have fallen ill). I really hate having to spend my time off sick. Still, it's better than being sick during the school days, since then you either have to miss school and make it up, or you have to go to school and be miserable all day long. Indeed, my history teacher has gotten sick several times this school year and he was always having to spit in the trash can. (Not pleasant to watch. But he said it was either that or he "literally stopped breathing". Actually, I think a few students didn't think it was such a bad idea.)

I was meaning to write more, but it seems like all of a sudden my ideas have dried up, like an old well. I only hope that if I keep typing, my ideas will return to me, and this will not be a waste of your time. (Time is money, and time is what we want most but use worst. So of course you must understand its value.)

Recently, I finished watching an anime called R.O.D. the TV. The ROD part stands for Read or Die (sounds rather disturbing at first, and it is related to the storyline, but it's not horror). I had been reluctant to watch it at first, it being a fairly old anime from 2003-2004. However, I started watching it one time when my mom's friends were over (they had two children) and found it to be more enjoyable than I expected. Sometimes I don't think an anime will be good, but I decide to give it a chance and watch it, and then it turns out to be better than I expected. So you should always try something out before you dismiss it completely since you could later regret not doing it.

Just to give you a bit of an idea, R.O.D. the TV is about three sisters who are paper masters that can control paper. The sisters are supposed to be "bodyguards" for an author, and end up involved in the plans of Mr. Joker and many others, who are trying to revive a great man named Mr. Gentlemen. When I was younger (and I still do this sometimes) I'd often imagine myself with some kind of special power. It's too bad that it never does happen in real life that way. What we think of as magical is often Mother Nature at work. But at the same time we can never let go of any fanciful dreams. (Just look at all the science fiction and fantasy books that are published to this day. In fact, fantasy is a pretty popular genre of books.)

Labels: anime, april fool's day, book, break, deviantart, expectations, fantasy, homework, jacob black, read or die, rod the tv, sick, spit, surprise, teacher, time, travel, trip, twilight, value

This is a phrase that I learned from orchestra, which I used to take back in 6th grade. I think it was on a wall hanging that my teacher had.

Music didn't used to be a big part of my life. Sure, I'd always heard classical music and the sort of music my dad listened to (John Denver, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, and so on). And I started taking piano around the age 5 or 6. But at first it wasn't a big deal for me. It grew in importance only after time passed.

We would take music just maybe once or twice a week in elementary school. Mostly we sang, but occasionally we got to play the drums or xylophones, and I always loved that. I thought it was fun - it was something I didn't get to do often, unlike piano, which I had to practice everyday, and I was frustrated by playing piano. I had already accomplished my original reason for starting, which was playing the song Fur Elise (it's really not that hard a song, but it's pretty famous). I was not too good at controlling my temper (and I'm still having trouble in that regard...) so sometimes I would get violent and try to punch the piano or scratch it. Usually resulted in me getting hurt. One time I got mad at Bach (sorry, Bach, but I can't say I'm the biggest fan of your music) and tore part of my book. Not a good idea. Now I can't really put it back together.

I wasn't really a prominent singer either. I suppose I wasn't the worst (no matter what you think, there are always people better than you and always people worse than you, simply because we're all different, and anyways, how good your life is also depends on how you perceive it) but I wasn't the best, either. I mean, I couldn't hit certain pitches and I just really hate it when I'm trying to sing something and it sounds off tune and messed up. I suppose maybe if I practiced very seriously I could improve it, but I'm a lazy person, and anyways I wasn't really considering a career as a singer.

But in seventh grade, I started to listen to music. If you've watched anime, you've probably noticed that there are opening and ending songs, and there's also insert music you might hear during episodes. After a while I started a playlist, and that's when my exploration of music really accelerated. I didn't even listen to English songs much before, but then I started listening to music in Japanese, and even a little in English and Korean. (No French yet, I'm afraid, but maybe someday I'll try it out)

I didn't used to enjoy playing the piano so much, but now I do. I feel like it's a way to unwind at the end of the day by hearing something nice that you yourself worked hard to create (by practicing all these years). And it's a good way to relieve stress, at least for me. I think music is how people who can't necessarily put their thoughts into words express themselves.

I feel guilty because I used to be so mean to my piano. I was often frustrated by not being able to get a certain part right or not being able to play loudly enough (my hands were small - and they still are - and I didn't have much muscle strength). It seems funny now, because I hear the younger students of my piano teacher have trouble making a loud sound on one of her pianos, but I thought it was fairly easy. I suppose they'll be able to handle it when they're older.

My piano has always been there for me, ever since I first obtained it so many years ago. It's always been sitting in the same spot, patiently waiting for me to play it. If I were to tell my problems to it, there is no risk of the piano telling anyone else or being repulsed by what I say. (Though it might look a bit funny, if I were talking to an inanimate object. There are psychologists near my house, after all.) That does make me concerned, though; if I go to college and I can't live at home since it's far away, what can I do about the piano? Should I have it moved? (But if I lived in an apartment or dorm, it'd probably take up too much space.) Or do I have to give up playing the piano? The latter choice seems painful. (I don't want to have to buy a stand-up piano just for when I'm away from home, however, so I don't see what I can do about it.)

Not long ago, I read a bout called A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. It's not a difficult book to understand, but I thought it was pretty nice. What piqued my interest was that the main character plays the organ. I've never played the organ and have always thought of it as an antiquated instrument seeing as I've only really seen it in old churches and other historical, touristy buildings. Apparently, the organ needs to be turned on and various rhythm styles (this leads me to think it is actually kind of like a keyboard...). I've never met anyone who has played the organ, so I'm really curious about it.

Labels: a crooked kind of perfect, anger management, anime, bach, best friend, book, challenge, college, expression, fur elise, instrument, moving, music, organ, piano, school, self, singing, strength, stress

My mother has it. It's because she dyes her hair. She is not pleased with the grey hairs that keep showing up, so she dyes them once in a while. I have told her not to dye it anymore. I think it would be beautiful if her hair became completely silver and if she grew it out long, like my science teacher (well, not that my science teacher is beautiful, no offense intended to her...But who knows how she looked in her youth?).

Hair dye reminds me of the Studio Ghibli movie, Howl's Moving Castle, one of my all-time favorite movies of time. You know, I'd like to say that even if a movie is animated, it doesn't mean it's not worth watching. (I liked the movie Up, too, and Finding Nemo as well. All those movies have some hidden messages in them, be sure to pay attention to that too)

There's a scene where Howl, a magician who lives in a big, mechanical, moving structure powered a by a demon (the demon's name is Calcifer, and he appears to be a fire), was taking a bath when his hair changed colors. It was because Sophie, a main character of the movie (she was a girl, but a witch cast a spell on her that made her become an old lady) was cleaning the bathroom and probably mixed up the chemicals. Howl's hair turned red, which devastated him, as he had previously had a nice blond shade of hair. He started to moan about how life wasn't worth living if he wasn't beautiful. Then Sophie got upset and said, "I've never been beautiful!" and stormed out. Later on, Howl's hair darkened to black.

I often wonder during the film if Sophie has low self esteem or something. She always seems to think she is ugly even though she isn't. SPOILER! Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want it to be spoiled for those of you who haven't watched the movie. But there is one scene where Howl tells Sophie her hair looks like starlight, which I think is a very nice simile. Sophie seemed to appreciate the compliment, unlike a different time. There was one scene where Howl gave Sophie a gift, beautiful meadows and water. It was a place where he had spent his childhood. Sophie was pleased at first, but soon became saddened, saying she thought this meant Howl was going to leave. She said she wanted to help him, even though she was only good at cleaning. Howl tried to tell her that she was beautiful, but she didn't accept it. She just said, "The good thing about being old is that you don't have anything to lose." But I wonder if that is really true.

Well, anyhow, though many of the Studio Ghibli films are quite nice, I still like Howl's Moving Castle the best. It was based off a book, but I haven't read the book. I actually checked out the book from the library once. However, since I always read books (and eat food, too) in the order of least favorite to most favorite, I didn't get around to it, and unfortunately had to return it. Perhaps I should request it from the library. (But I would like to get one of the newer copies that has the Howl's Moving Castle movie picture on it...)

So I've been wondering, has anyone read the Howl's Moving Castle book? If so, is it similar to the movie? Or is it a lot different? If the book is really good, I would like to read it. (Usually I either read the book/manga for something or watch the movie/anime for it, and occasionally both. But I'd rather spend my time reading books/manga that don't have movies, and watch movies that don't have books or anime)

It amazes me that I haven't really talked much about Howl's Moving Castle before in my blog. Perhaps it was because I watched it in the theaters, back in fourth grade or so, and it became far from my memory because I was distracted by other things. I'm glad I found it again, though. I never get tired of watching good movies and anime. Do you have a movie or show that you love so much you don't get bored of it?

Labels: animated film, anime, beauty, books, boredom, calcifer, cleaning, colors, grey, hair dye, hayao miyazaki, howl, howl's moving castle, movie, old, sophie, studio ghibli, teacher

I was trying to think of a title for today's blog post, and it just wasn't coming to mind. Sometimes I have multiple titles I think of to suit the subject matter I'm starting the post off with, and other times I can't think of anything worthwhile. This is one of those times. (It's ironic, because I already have the title thought out for my very last blog post. I hope I never have to use it, because I don't want this to come to end. It feels like my happiness would come to an end too)

What I mean about the title is related to anime. I was watching an anime called Someday's Dreamers. It's not that recent (I think it was a 2003 anime or something) and it's not really that exciting. But it is nice that there is a dolphin in it. After all, despite the scary dream about dolphins I had once, they are still my favorite animal.

Well, because Someday's Dreamers isn't that recent, probably no one is going to find the Japanese version and make English subtitles for it. I have only been able to find the English dubbed version so far. It's really annoying having to hear it in English because if the voice actors/actresses don't pronounce it well, you can't tell what they're saying. At least with the subtitles you could just read it straight off. But it was funny because one of the characters has a voice actress who speaks with a sort of British accent.

I was also watching an anime called Emma, not that long ago. It was more unique since it's about a time in England, more than a hundred years ago. The main character is a maid. Her name is, rather predictably, Emma. And then she meets a guy called William. Personally I don't like him all that much, but oh well. William is the son of a wealthy businessman, so he's part of the gentry. I don't want to spoil the main theme of the story, so that's as much as I'll say about that.

I found it amusing that one of the characters in Emma was a guy called Hakim from India. It's so weird to see an Indian prince in England speaking Japanese. And all the British people speak Japanese too. Well, the manga must be from Japan, and the anime too, so I suppose that's just the way it is.

On to other news, because I am not planning to squander my whole post talking about this. Recently, I had gone to the mall with my parents to a buffet for dinner on my mom's birthday. We spent a short amount of time browsing Macy's, since my mom was looking to buy a coat, preferably a waterproof one. I noticed a desk and some Christmassy themed things around it. There was also a mailbox of sorts (not one of those with flags that people have for their houses, I mean the sort of mailbox that is usually blue that you just dump your letters into if you don't want to go all the way to the post office), and paper and pencils to write a "letter to Santa". I was greatly offended because I AM Santa, and I have never received any of those letters, so Macy's was pretending to be me. So I wrote a letter that said so and put it in the mailbox. Hehehehe.

Sometimes I get the old nostalgia for Applied Arts again. Two of my friends are taking Advanced Applied Arts. They have been making some pretty nice stuff in cooking, like ice cream (though it melted over the course of the day, unfortunately). I miss Woodshop too. I was always allergic to the dust and kept sneezing during clean-up time, but still. After a while even the smell of glue and wood can grow on you. It's not like I don't like French...In fact, I guess I'm glad that my mom suggested I take it. (Sometimes it's okay to let other people decide things for you. Arranged marriages sometimes work out better than "love marriages", because they're more practical, rather than being based on a whim) But that doesn't mean I don't miss things sometimes.

Labels: anime, applied arts, arranged marriage, blog, christmas, dolphin, dubbed, emma, english, ice cream, india, japanese, letter, macy's, santa, someday's dreamers, subtitles, title, woodshop

I saw something pretty interesting on television recently. The TV show (probably BBC world news or something, I dunno) was talking about a lady whose medium of art is sand. She actually uses sand to make her art. I thought it was really amazing, and I figured I'd share it here too. The name of the lady is Kseniya Simonova. Click here for a video

I was actually going to name this post "footprints in the sand", but then again, that wouldn't make sense. But that does remind me, I watched a good anime at least a year ago, and its name is H2O: Footprints in the Sand. It's about a boy who was blind. And then that reminded me of something else, a webcomic called Ne Sori. I heard that it means My Sound in Korean but I have no idea if that's true, what with my very minimal knowledge of Korean. Click here for Ne Sori. It's the first page. To go to the next page, click Next. Ne Sori is about a boy who can't speak, I think...

My house has been acting up again lately. Suspicious things have been happening a lot. The ceiling fan seems to be alive. Sometimes it turns on by itself. It already happened several times, so I'm sure it's not my imagination. (If I were more superstitious, I would assume a ghost had inhabited my ceiling fan) The garage, too, has been behaving strangely. I closed the garage door and was going into my house when the garage door opened up again! (Probably because of the wind blowing so hard against it. It was a really windy day.) I know the house is old, though it has been remodeled once, but it's kind of freaky.

Oh yes, and I recently signed up for what day to present my Outside Reading Project. That's basically a book report from language arts class where you get to pick three books, but one has to be an autobiography, biography, or a memoir. There's two parts to it. 1) Make a venn diagram showing the similarities and differences between the autobiography/biography/memoir you read and something else that had the same theme (a song, movie, etc.). 2) Give a speech on one of the books you read "for fun". I chose October 12 to present since 12 and 18 were my lucky numbers. I wonder if they still are, because I'm counting on 12 to give me success!

I really haven't said much in this post. I guess it's the morning blues. Or maybe it's because I can't sleep enough, so I end up still being sick. (Unless...I got a second cold in a row! Like what happened once! That would be dreadful. I was sick for a long time because I got two colds, one after another) And this is bad seeing as I have to run a mile today...Oh well. If I faint, it's alright, I suppose.

Labels: anime, art, blind, ceiling fan, deaf, garage door, h2o footprints in the sand, house, kseniya simonova, lucky numbers, ne sori, outside reading project, sand painting, speech, ukraine, webcomic

Yup, a backscratcher. Very useful things, they are. You could use them as pointers (like during a presentation; I would've liked to do that, but I don't know if I can bring a backscratcher to school since it might look like a weapon, we aren't even allowed to bring scissors according to the planner, so I'm already breaking rules) or you can use them as canes (if you have a very long one?) or you can use them to save someone's life. Like if someone is hanging onto a cliff and you can't reach them with just your hand, you could use your backscratcher as an extension to your arm. ...Or, of course, you could simply scratch your back with it.

I do realize that starting off a post with backscratchers is really something kind of weird. But I had trouble getting my creative juices flowing. Now it's coming easier to write since I'm managed to start off.

I have not talked about what anime I was watching for a pretty long time, so I will now. I have been watching Aria the Natural. It is the second season of the Aria anime series (the first season is Aria the Animation and the third season is Aria the Origination). What interested me about this anime is that it's set in a world called Aqua. People had actually filled the world with water. And a famous city in Aqua is Neo-Venezia, a city that was made to be like Venice, Italy. I have wanted to go to Venice someday and I find the idea of navigating a city by water charming. Maybe I'll even try to dress up as a gondolier for Halloween. (Ha! For me, that would just be wearing a red and white shirt, and black pants, and a hat, like the "gondoliers" in the Venetian Las Vegas hotel)

Recently my history teacher was talking about Push and Pull factors. These are reasons that make someone want to leave their country. Push factors are things that the person doesn't like about the place they live. (It could be the government, or having religious persecution, or maybe not enough food like the potato famines in Ireland) Pull factors are things that draw a person to a country. (It could be job opportunities, or family already living there...Or something else. Take for example a family living in Iran. They aren't being persecuted for their religion but they didn't really have a choice what religion to have either. So they moved to the USA so their children could make the decision for themselves)

That makes me want to ask you (just as I was asked to do for homework, to talk about this with my parents), why did you, or your family, or even ancestors a long time ago, move to where you live? Was it because of push factors? Or pull factors? Or both?

Labels: anime, aria, backscratcher, choice, costume, halloween, immigration, italy, pointer, pull factors, push factors, savior, useful, venice, weapons

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