Support Autism - Communication Shutdown

When I was writing the previous post, there was a link in my Zemanta plugin leading to an article titled "Steven Seagal to Shutdown Facebook." I was intrigued, perhaps taking the title literally, and checked it out. It turns out that Steven Seagal is one of many celebrities participating in a charity event called Communication Shutdown, an event being held online on November 1st (tomorrow) to raise money to help those with autism around the world. Basically, you donate a minimum of $5 (I donated $20 because I thought this cause was worth donating that much) and get an app called "Chapp" (short for "charity app"). Then, through the use of this app, you go without Facebook or Twitter for one whole day (the app lets your friends know you are doing this through connection to your Facebook and Twitter accounts), the idea being that doing so helps you experience the communication difficulties those with autism experience every day.

Being autistic myself, I thought this was an awesome thing and, as I said, I decided to join it myself. So, if any of you friend/follow me on Facebook or Twitter, well you won't be seeing anything from me tomorrow there. I posted something about this on my other two Twitter accounts (I didn't want to have to donate more than once to link all my accounts) and on my LinkedIn account. I'm going to add something to my writing Facebook and my LiveJournal some time today, and maybe even a YouTube video to spread awareness (though I may not give up YouTube tomorrow).

So, anyway, just wanted to spread the word about that. Happy Halloween!

Hmm just thought that Halloween should be an autistic's favorite holiday - you'd have to go out in public (which autistics hate) but you'd be in costume so it would be ok.

Reminds me of when we were watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown the other night. The kids go out trick-or-treating (except Linus, who's waiting for the Great Pumpkin, and Sally, who out of her love for Linus, is waiting with him), and poor Charlie Brown gets nothing but rocks. Sad.

So, anyway, Happy Halloween! Oh and check out these articles on this event, including the original one I mentioned.

Related articles

• Steven Seagal to Shutdown Facebook (prweb.com)
• Communications Shutdown (osocio.org)
• One day without social networking - for a good cause (topinews.com)
• The autism challenge: Give up social networking for a day (theglobeandmail.com)

Thinking about autism

I watched the movie Temple Grandin with my parents tonight. As an autistic person, it is a very interesting movie to watch since Grandin is herself autistic. My mother and I saw a preview for it a while back - it was an HBO movie - but as we don't get HBO we weren't able to see it. But it's out on DVD now so my parents rented it. Anyway, my mother thought it would be worth checking out because she, like me, is very interested in finding out more about autism. In fact, it was she who first diagnosed me really; she learned about it when she was getting her degree in psychology and felt that the symptoms matched me. She had "studied" me before, doing a report on my exceptionally high grades in Reading on the Stanford Achievement Test (an annual test, kinda like the STAR); I was scoring Post-High School in reading in elementary school. I think there might've been some other subjects where I was PHS too, but that's the one I remember. I guess something about the doctors' diagnosis of me with "borderline cerebral palsy" didn't fit with her, and to be honest, it doesn't fit with me either.

It does seem odd. Obviously, they didn't know about Asperger's Syndrome (the autism spectrum disorder I specifically have) in 1984 when I was born - that didn't happen till the '90's - but they knew about autism. I mean, Grandin was diagnosed with it in NINETEEN-FIFTY for crying out loud. Granted, they had some wrong ideas about it back then, according to this movie, but they knew about it. (We started watching the movie with the audio commentary after watching it the first time, and we watched the scene where she was diagnosed, and Grandin herself - who is part of the group commenting on the film - makes a very big point of saying how wrong those theories are). Maybe it wasn't obvious? I mean, to diagnose me with borderline cerebral palsy means they must've thought something was wrong. But on the other hand, that "borderline" diagnosis seems like they didn't know what to make of me and just slapped on me whatever label made sense. If they'd known I had autism sooner, I wouldn't have had to go to physical therapy at a place where I was the only young person there. (I did physical therapy because of the wrong CP diagnosis).

I do wonder if they would've caught it sooner if I'd gone to a public school where they have school nurses who check your health every year - or is that just in movies? I forget. Adam, my coworker who also has Asperger's (I met him through the Asperger's activity group), wasn't diagnosed till high school. And autism's supposed to be more prevalent in boys, kinda like ADD is. In my Human Heredity class, when we did our presentations on genetic conditions at the end, one group did theirs on autism, and they said that it's harder to detect in girls because girls are better able to mask it by imitating the "normal" behavior of their peers, whereas boys are not. This makes a lot of sense to me (though, as my mom was saying just now when I told her this, it may just be an interpretation); I mean, it explains why they catch ADD in a young boy who can't sit still.

I could relate to some of the difficulties Grandin has in the film - the sensual hypersensitivity (to sounds, touch, etc), the social difficulties, the panic attacks in large groups or when overstimulated, associating words with things, taking phrases literally, etc. Also, Grandin tended to think in pictures -- in fact, the film is partially based on a book of hers called Thinking in Pictures (it's also based on her book Emergence: Labeled Autistic). I'm not sure that's how I think, but I do tend to think in terms of associations. Like when Grandin's science teacher shows her French teacher her pictures of eels - Grandin had burst out in class previously, saying "why are there so many fish in France?" - I got the idea of the "eels ate" as relating to "il ait" (as her teacher says, French is full of "ils"). I don't draw out concepts though. I don't know whether it would help or not. The only doodling I do is what I have labeled "typographic doodling" - basically writing titles of sections of my notes in big block letters or something. (There probably is a name for that, or maybe there isn't - I just made up the name so that I could better explain it to people). Occasionally, I doodle geometric shapes, and one time when working on my novel, I wrote about a carrot being the size of a daikon (a very large Asian radish) and then doodled a daikon on the margin. But that's about it.

I can't claim to be an expert on autism. I am just trying to learn what I can to understand myself and my condition. I do wonder why I am this way; as many Christians say, God must've had a reason. (Now that I think about it, that argument's in Pastor Larry's book 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe so maybe it's not so valid). Temple Grandin went on to design humane holding pens and such for animals - and still contributes a lot to our knowledge of animal behavior - but I don't know what career my skills would best be used in. I don't have a special affinity to something like Grandin does toward animals. Well, to trees I guess, but I'm no botanist.

I don't usually talk about my writing here, but a thought just came to me. With my extreme attention to detail - even Grandin agrees that autistic people are extremely attentive to detail - I should be able to be really good at showing. I should be able to describe things well. And yet I keep getting told I tell more than I show. Now why do I do that? I think it is because of being told to write more concisely when I do reports, particularly by Dr. Cucinella. I struggle between conciseness and showing. They tell you in writing books to show more than you tell, but they also tell you not to take ten pages to describe a room, like they used to do in novels. It seems stupid that something someone told me to do in reports would seep into my creative writing, but it did. The problem is, I don't know who to talk to about this. My parents, who I talk to about so many other things, don't know much about my writing, and there wouldn't be time in the CWCW meetings to ask for advice about it; we're always pressed for time as it is. I guess I could talk to the people at The Anomaly, but they might not be much help as they haven't seen a lot of my writing (I haven't posted much up there). I want to talk to SOMEBODY about it, but I don't know who and I don't know how to break out of such a habit. I imagine a number of editors or agents will tell me the same thing when I send this thing out.

But it's not right to blame someone else. Something must be wrong with me. My writing ability's not developed enough. It must be that. To blame this issue on Dr. Cucinella telling me to be concise is stupid. Reports are reports. Novels are novels. They're different. You write them differently.

I seem to write short stories and some poetry pretty well. Maybe I'm not cut out for novels? That's what I want to write though. Oi, as Hamlet said, "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable/Seem to me all the uses of this world!"

Amy-chan messaged me today saying "Lara we need your vocals for the songs we have to upload." This means I have to record my vocals for all the songs whose lyrics she's been sending me for ages. I'll probably do that tomorrow. I confess I'm not looking forward to it. I don't know any of the songs, and most of the time Amy-chan either gives herself most of the lyrics or her voice comes out the loudest, and let's just say she's not a very good singer. I kinda cringe when I hear her sing. In our first group song (our last so far), you could barely hear my voice because I didn't sing loud enough when I recorded myself, but you could definitely hear Amy-chan. She said once that she wanted me to be the leader of this band (LAR Productions) but when it comes down to it she created it and she picks all the songs and stuff. Heck, she maintains our Facebook page more than I do. I haven't updated our website since July, and I haven't done anything to our pages on iLike, Fanpop, and MySpace Music since I opened them, and very little with our Twitter. I just am not good with social networking marketing.

I'm going to stop now and take a shower, then decide if I'm going to continue reading along to the LibriVox recording of The Importance of Being Earnest, or save that for tomorrow. If I do, I may go make some toast to have. I concentrate better sometimes when I'm eating.

Anyway, good night!

"To Save a Life," priorities

My parents and I watched the movie To Save a Life tonight. It was produced by New Song Community Church, a church in our area, and was filmed in the area as well (in Oceanside - I recognized Oceanside High School particularly). Basically, it is about this guy named Jake who has everything going for him - a basketball scholarship, popularity, the best girl in school - until his world is rocked when his childhood friend, who'd he stopped hanging out with in freshman year, commits suicide. After a big basketball game, a youth pastor named Chris - who had taken Jake to his friend's funeral - comes up to him and gives him his card. Jake blows this off at first, but finds himself calling Chris for a ride when his friends ditch him at a party and his girlfriend steals his truck. They become friends, and Chris invites Jake to church. Jake starts checking it out, which gets him into conflict with his girlfriend. He befriends a loner named Johnny, an artist who is secretly a cutter. Things seem to be going well for Jake, despite his issues with his girlfriend, until his parents' marriage, which was always strained, starts really falling apart, and Jake's girlfriend Amy stops by his house to tell him she's pregnant, the baby's his, and she's not planning on keeping the baby. Jake then begins to wonder if this Jesus thing is worth it, then after praying in desperation, he decides to give up his dream to go to the University of Louisville to stay with Amy through her pregnancy. The kinda sneaky pastor's kid at Jake's church tries to stir up some trouble, telling Johnny Jake was just using him, spreading a smear campaign about Amy when he overhears Jake talking to Chris about Amy's pregnancy, and framing Johnny for a school bombing. When Jake figures out Johnny was framed, he chases down the police car Johnny was in and (similar to how his friend who killed himself did when they were kids) stops the car with his body. The pastor's kid gets in trouble, things get better at the church, Amy and Jake decide to give their baby up for adoption to a family Chris knows, and then Amy and Jake graduate and Amy has her baby. The film ends with Jake about to leave for school, with Amy telling him she's got to decide if going to school with him is really her dream. Jake's dad then shows up and offers to ride up to school with him. Right before Jake leaves, Johnny gives him a letter. Later, at a rest stop, Jake reads it and learns that Johnny was also thinking of killing himself, but thanks to Jake befriending him he decided not to do it.

The movie made me think. How many people have I ignored? Were there people out there who were hurting that even in my unpopular high school experience I ignored? What about at college?

It also made me think about suicide and how serious it is. Like Jake's friend Roger and like Johnny, I have thought sometimes that my life wasn't worth it, that no one was ever going to accept me no matter what I did, that I didn't belong. I never made any concrete plans to kill myself, though, and in fact I'm scared of dying. I worry often that I'll die without having accomplished anything in life. It's like that one ZOEgirl song ("Forever 17") that goes:

Can someone wake me up?
I haven't lived yet
I'm only seventeen
God, did you forget?
I'm just a baby
And I don't wanna be
Forever seventeen

I was also thinking today of the poems "When I Consider How My Light is Spent" (Milton) and "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be" (Keats - which considering he died at 25 and knew for a while that he was probably going to die young from tuberculosis, makes some sense).

Here is Milton's poem:

When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."

Now, Milton was writing about his blindness here (this is generally agreed), but I think it is a good poem overall for those feeling useless to God. Kinda like that song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day": "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep/God is not dead, nor doth he sleep/The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,/With peace on earth, good will to men."

Keats' poem:

WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And feel that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

Keats' poem sounds less hopeful than Milton's; Keats' constant sense of impending death may have something to do with that, I guess.

Anyway, as I was saying, I've never made actual plans to commit suicide. Why, I wonder? Is it because I've had God and church in my life since I was a kid and thus knew there was more to live for? Maybe. I used to have more faith in God when I was younger, now I don't know.

One of the new baggers we hired is this girl named Catie (short for Catherine). The other night I was doing carts and she was in the lobby/entrance area handing out our new monthly savings flyers. I brought in some carts and she saw the ring I wear on my left ring finger, my purity ring. She, like many people who have seen my ring, asked me how long I'd been married. I quickly said that I wasn't married and that it was a purity ring. It bothers me that I feel uncomfortable saying this often. She and I got to talking and she said she used to have faith in God but then things got tough and she turned away and partied and stuff. Then she got pregnant by some guy she thought was "the One." When her son was born, she said, it brought her back to faith. Now she realizes she hasn't found the "One" yet.

I didn't really say anything during this exchange, and when I went back out to the parking lot, I inwardly berated myself for not saying anything. I've heard people talk about the whole "secondary virginity" thing and how God can forgive you even if you've had premarital sex and stuff, and I probably could've said something about that, but I didn't. I hated myself for it, which is probably stupid now that I think about it. But Christian people - those people who see God in everything, something I haven't really got the sense for - always talk about "divine appointments," people God brings into your life so you can do something for his kingdom through doing something for them. Or something like that. What if that was a "divine appointment," and I brushed it off? How many such "appointments" have I not taken advantage of? How does one recognize one anyway?

There are so many things about the Christian life that don't make sense to me. Like what exactly are we supposed to do with the Old Testament, especially the laws in Leviticus and stuff? When I went with my parents to check out this other church last week, the pastor said that the Jewish law was put in the Bible to show us that we couldn't fulfill it all, that we couldn't get right with God through works. I guess that makes sense.

Another thing I struggle with is how much God is supposed to be part of our day-to-day life. I know people who insist on consulting God on every little thing. But, as I've said to people before, as a Christian do you like have to ask God what you should have for breakfast? I asked someone (one of my parents, I think) this once and they said they didn't know. I mean, obviously some stuff must be within our capability to reason or God wouldn't have given us the ability to reason. And God acknowledges our ability to reason too, like it says in Isaiah - “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool" (Isaiah 1:18 ESV). Plus he let Adam name all the animals, which suggests an ability to reason. We're not like robots or zombies (oh and, according to these Facebook quizzes I took last night, I'd last one day if there was a zombie infection going on and a week in an "undead world." Go figure). So how much should be left to our reason and how much to God? It's kind of like that old saying "Heaven helps those who help themselves." Some things we must be able to figure out on our own, right?

Another thing I think I must've been struggling with is discerning God's will, because according to the inventory of my bookcase that I decided to do, I have two books specifically on this subject (Thy Will Be Done: God's Will for You by Robert Lloyd Russell and Listening to God in Times of Choice: The Art of Discerning God's Will by Gordon T. Smith), four if The Purpose Driven Life and The Secret Things of God: Unlocking the Treasures Reserved for You (by Dr. Henry Cloud, in response to the bestseller The Secret I think) count. Like many Christians, I want to know God's will for me, and I'm having trouble figuring it out.

Then there are prayer and evangelism. I haven't prayed regularly in a while, mainly because I feel like my words aren't genuine or they just hit the ceiling - not unlike Claudius (I was just reading the Arden version of Hamlet for drama class) when he's trying to pray for repentance of his crime and ends with: "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below;/Words without thoughts never to heaven go" (3.3.97-98). I'm also confused about what to pray for; I can pray about myself but not well about other people. I never tell people I'll pray for them because I know I probably won't. And praying for my enemies? I don't even do that.

I once saw a comic in Brio magazine that illustrated the "five-finger" prayer method, where each finger represents someone to pray for. You start with your thumb. Since it's the finger closest to you when you pray, this reminds you to pray for those nearest to you. The second finger is your index/pointer finger and reminds you to pray for those who instruct you, like teachers and pastors. The third finger is your middle finger and the tallest. This finger is supposed to remind us to pray for our leaders, like the president. The fourth finger, our ring finger, reminds us to pray for those who are weak or in pain, since many - including many pianists - believe it is our weakest finger. The last finger, the pinky, is our smallest and is supposed to remind us where we ought to place ourselves, after God and others, and to pray for our own needs. (I suppose the ring finger could also work for praying for those close to you, since it was once believed a nerve led directly from our left ring finger to our heart, which is why wedding rings are worn on that finger).

As for evangelism, I don't even know where to start with that. I'm not very social anyway, and my Asperger's makes it worse. I suppose I'm trying to be evangelical with my current novel-in-progress (which is basically a conversion narrative, or a story about someone becoming a Christian). But that's not quite what I assume evangelism is supposed to be. I know from the spiritual gifts tests I've taken that evangelism is not high on my list of gifts (it was ranked #8 on the test I took for the Spiritual Gifts class I took at church), though the gift of "missionary" is (it's #2, after knowledge). In the course material we got, "Missionary" is defined as "to minister whatever other spiritual gifts they have in a second culture" while "evangelism" is defined as "to share the gospel with unbelievers in such a way that men and women become Jesus's disciples and responsible members of the Body of Christ." So I guess there is a difference.

In this class, they talked about a "gift mix," which the teacher interpreted as your top three gifts. My top three are knowledge/missionary/service. Knowledge was defined as "to discover, accumulate, and clarify information and ideas that are pertinent to the growth and well-being of the Body" and service as "to identify the unmet needs involved in a task related to God's work, and to make use of available resources to meet those needs and help accomplish the desired goals." I don't know how they all work together, our course material said usually there are at least two of them that compliment each other. Missionary and service maybe? Don't know.

I was also thinking today about priorities. I am thinking of maybe taking a break from some of the things that are giving me a lot of stress right now, like the Song of the Week thing at Myu Corner, translation for Miss Dream, and the interview for Family of Moonlight with Sailor Moon Abridged that still hasn't happened (and which I had qualms about in the first place, since that series is full of innuendo and stuff), so I can focus on the truly important things, like school, work, family, and God. But I know deep down that my need-to-be-accepted/routine-loving self would never let me do that. I make commitments and I keep them, even if it stresses me out. But I have a hard time saying "no" to things, even if I know I probably can't handle them. So I get overwhelmed and panic.

I am not even sure the SMA interview's going to happen; things have hit a communications snafu since the only way their leader's been communicating with me is over Family of Moonlight's YouTube account, which I rarely check. Maybe I should e-mail my editor and ask him what I should do? It's been nearly a month since we've heard from SMA's leader Megami anyway. At any rate, if this assignment fails, I can maybe make it up with a nice report on Animé Los Angeles. (That reminds me, I should contact Gina Biggs and see if I can get an interview with her there; she runs a major Sailor Moon fansite).

Translation for Miss Dream I can set aside for a bit now that I'm re-classified as a contributor. Even Song of the Week I can delay if I can convince myself not to freak out about it as I usually do when it's late (like it is this week). I mean, it's not like Myu Corner is super popular or anything.

The other stressful thing besides these things is my novel-in-progress, which I won't talk about too much here because I've committed to covering it on my writing journal. I would like to continue that since it will continue to be on my mind since I'm workshopping it in CWCW. I am worried about the reaction to the last bit I workshopped, since it was rather obviously Christian and got a somewhat negative response from the audience (which is secular because it's a secular school) for that. They asked me to make it less blatant. I mean, I guess this is good feedback because the last thing I want this novel to be is preachy. Once I finally get around to putting it up for the Anamalous Sandbox, a Yahoo group tied to the Christian speculative fiction forum The Anomaly (not to mention christ_writers on LJ), maybe I can get some help on that from people who know how to write these things better than I do.

Well, it's late, I better start getting ready for bed.

Some parting words from Gandhi that I saw on someone's sweatshirt today: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” So true.

Thoughts after sharing my collection

So for the last two posts, you've gotten to see all the anime stuff I have, which I'm realizing is actually not too bad of a size, considering that though I've been into anime for 12 years, I haven't been a gung-ho anime collector. For instance, I don't own a lot of anime on DVD because I watch a lot of it online or have watched it on TV, on Kids WB (Pokémon, back in the day), Cartoon Network (Pokémon more recently, including some of the movies; Tenchi Muyo back in the day; my first episode of Sailor Moon; The Prince of Tennis until it stopped airing), and the International Channel (the "Tenchi in Tokyo" season of Tenchi Muyo in uncut English, except for one episode I missed).

The rest of the stuff is pretty much just things I've picked up here and there, mostly at Comic-Con. I've never been one of those überfans who haunts eBay auctions (actually, I've never gotten something off eBay, unless getting textbooks off Half.com counts, since that site's run by eBay) and the like to find some rare item. I don't know why. I guess money was part of it; it wasn't until college that I got a steady job. I also lost some interest in it once my best friend Amy - who has gotten me into a number of series, though I still can't understand her interest in Serial Experiments Lain - moved away and we stopped seeing each other on a frequent basis. I know that I lost interest in Pokémon at some point because I never bought any of the games between Gold and Silver and Diamond and Pearl (except the first Pokémon Ranger game, which came out before Diamond and Pearl), and I didn't start collecting the TCG again until fairly recently. It was actually through listening to the podcast at The Pallet Tribune (a Pokémon news/fansite) and hearing the podcast's hosts Jowy and KC talk about Diamond and Pearl that I decided to give the games another chance. Now I'm into them again, though I'm by no means a hardcore Pokégamer (one clue: I don't EV train, and pretty much every hardcore Pokégamer does that).

To be honest, I've been collecting more manga than anime. I was into manga when I first got into anime, but I only really read the Pokémon manga, except for a copy of Smile (Tokyopop's old manga anthology mag before Shoujo Beat) I got for free from Comic-Con (with chapters of Sailor Moon Stars, Juline, Peach Girl, and Clover in it) and a single Sailor Moon comic book (#26) with Mugen 6 (chapter 6 of the "Infinity" or S arc) in it. That was all I had for manga for a while. Amy sold me her Pokémon manga too along with other anime stuff, so for a while I actually owned censored and uncensored versions of the first two Pokémon manga comics (the uncensored version mostly had some big bosom shots, since Toshihiro Ono, the author/artist of this particular Pokémon manga series, seems to like to draw his women well-endowed; I think those were an early print run though, because in later print runs of the same books - like the ones Amy sold me - these things were altered to tone them down).

I "rediscovered" manga (if that's the right word) when I was at the bookstore one day in 2003 and came across a series called CLAMP School Detectives. I looked at them and was interested. I can't remember if I bought those one-by-one or together. At any rate, they were some sort of limited-edition ones because they came with fold-out posters (as did my copies of Dukylon CLAMP School Defenders; I have one of those on my wall next to my door; on the opposite side of my door is a similar poster that came with my copy of the novel xxxHolic: AnotherHolic). After that, I started reading manga quite constantly, mostly CLAMP because it was one of their series that got me back into manga. I pretty much just got my manga from bookstores; I "haunted" the Barnes and Noble by my work for weeks trying to collect all the volumes of Chobits. Now I have almost all my CLAMP series completed; I have not been able to track down volumes 5 and 6 of the first Card Captor Sakura series (Card Captor Sakura: Master of the Clow being Tokyopop's name for what is volumes 7-12 in the original release) at any bookstore yet. As for Tsubasa and xxxHolic, since those series were still going in in Japan when Del Rey Manga got the US license for them, I've been having to wait on Del Rey to catch up with where the series are in Japan. (Tsubasa is completed now in Japan, and xxxHolic is  ahead of us but not completed yet as far as I know, though I think CLAMP will end it soon since xxxHolic is a sister series with Tsubasa and Tsubasa is ended now). I might go the omnibus route for Card Captor Sakura since Dark Horse Manga is going to release omnibus volumes of the series it has gotten the rights to, which I think is all the series that were/are released here except for Tsubasa and xxxHolic, the rights of which Del Rey owns as aforesaid. It would clear up storage space for sure. I wish they'd do that for Tsubasa since it's 28 volumes long. I only own up through volume 21, and even that takes up a whole dang box on my closet shelf. Plus xxxHolic is approaching 20 volumes (it's at 17 now) and may even get there as CLAMP has reported that finishing xxxHolic is taking longer than anticipated, delaying the silmultaneous release of their new series, Mangettes, in the US with Dark Horse and in Japan with Shueisha.

Ok my bad, I guess xxxHolic's at 18 volumes in Japan, as of two days ago. (Thanks to the LJ community Clamp-Now for this). The 19th volume is due out next year to coincide with the release of the new OAD (Original Animated DVD) for the xxxHolic anime. Dang! It could hit 20.

For my non-CLAMP mangas, those are mostly complete too because most of them are short series (the longest completed one being Tokyo Mew Mew, which is 7 volumes). For Pichi Pichi Pitch Mermaid Melody and Full Moon wo Sagashite (dubbed Full Moon in the US), I haven't been able to find the volumes I need to complete them at the bookstore; I need three volumes each to complete both those series (which are both 7 volumes long as well). The Pokémon manga is an issue since the older stuff's all probably out of print now. I did find a site the other day with a lot of the Pokémon manga on it as well as a lot of the old books like the "Let's Find Pokémon" books, but I haven't checked it out too much. I also used to have volumes for Angelic Layer (a CLAMP manga) and The Good Witch of the West (a non-CLAMP manga) but as I was having a lot of trouble finding volumes for those I gave them away. I've seen the anime versions of both so I'm not missing out on the story by giving them away.

I also have what I called "Western-produced manga," which means manga-style stories produced in the West rather than Japan or another Asian country. The W.I.T.C.H. graphic novels are my main collection here at the moment; unfortunately they've only released 8 graphic novels of it here in the U.S., which goes only to the beginning of the Nerissa Arc, which the original Italian version passed by long ago. Fortunately, the manga is still available in English since it was published either in the chapter books or in Disney Adventures magazine (I can't remember) and I found a couple sites where I can read it online, so I should be ok there. I'll probably keep the original volumes for scanning (I used a picture from one of them for my plexiglass etching for Printmaking class a couple years ago) and occasional re-reading.

I also own a couple Christian manga series. Christian publishing hasn't ventured too much into manga yet, but they're waking up. Serenity was promoted as "the first Christian manga" since it was the first Christian series specifically drawn in manga-format, though Christian comics certainly existed before then. Now there's The Manga Bible for goodness' sake. It's still not at the level of the secular market, but it could get there if sales are good. Anyway, the two series I own are PowerMark and Tomo. PowerMark is actually drawn in a slightly more traditional-comic format, but since they've released 2 graphic novels collecting the individual comic books into single volumes, and since the story is manga-esque, I guess it counts. I bought the first of these two volumes some time ago and then bought the remaining single comics when Loaves and Fishes - the only place I knew who sold them - was going out of business. It was when I did this that I realized they were releasing another graphic novel volume with those single comics in it. So I'll probably get that and give away the single ones. Tomo, on the other hand, is more specifically manga. They started selling it at Loaves and Fishes when I was there, and I bought the first two volumes before the place went out of business, but I haven't gotten the others yet. I also used to own comics of Archangels: The Saga (a spiritual warfare story where angels and demons were the main characters) but I didn't get into the series much. I also read Serenity at Loaves and Fishes (on my downtime) but never got around to buying it.

Other than this, I own two volumes of the Manga Shakespeare series - basically manga renditions of various Shakespeare plays; I own Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet - and two omnibuses (omnibi?) of a series called Amazing Agent Luna. Amazing Agent Luna is released by Seven Seas Entertainment, a fairly small publisher in the wide array of manga publishers out there. I discovered their booth at Comic-Con last year and at the same time came across a series they were selling that was on sale - Amazing Agent Luna, a story about a girl created in a lab and trained to be the world's ultimate secret agent. She's never seen the real world until she is assigned to keep tabs on developments at Nobel High, where she poses as the daughter of Control, the agent who trains her and keeps an eye on her (her "handler" I guess), and Dr. Andy, the psychologist tasked with maintaining Luna's emotional and mental well-being. According to what I heard from the actual authors this year at Comic-Con (since I got to meet them and have them sign both my volumes!!) is that they'll publish one more volume (volume 6) of the Luna series and then do a spin-off called Amazing Agent Jennifer that explores Control's past as an agent. I'm looking forward to that! (I guess they initially intended for volume 6 of Luna to be in the second omnibus, but it wasn't ready in time, so the second omnibus only has volumes 4 and 5).

****

Wantlist

Having cataloged my collection, I have been thinking about what else I would like to get, if anything.

First off, I want to complete the manga series I've started collecting that need completing. This will be hard for Pokémon and basically impossible for the W.I.T.C.H. series unless I can find English books published elsewhere, such as Canada or the UK, since the original comics are in Italian and I can't read Italian. I guess I should consider that one complete since it doesn't look like the graphic novels will be published in the U.S. anymore. (Ok, just changed my "manga I own" list to reflect this).

Full Moon, Card Captor Sakura, and Mermaid Melody I can probably find online somewhere, or wait till January when I go to Animé Los Angeles (I made my hotel reservation the other day, so that's set finally, and yesterday I put in for the days off because I had waited to do that till I had my hotel room reserved, so now all I have to worry about is getting there and my cosplay costume. Yay!). ZGraphicNovels.com has info on where to buy Tomo. With PowerMark I'm not sure; I'm having trouble finding the second graphic novel online. For Pokémon, I will check that site I mentioned earlier. Tsubasa and xxxHolic I will check the bookstore for.

Aside from that, I need to decide, as Mousie from Miss Dream said in her tips for collecting, what I want to collect. Based on what I already have, I'd say I like books and DVD's, though I'm open to little knickknacks and toys as well. I know there are a couple PGSM books I want that I read about on Sailor Dream. I'd like to complete the five-book set of the senshi guides (the series Meet Sailor Moon: Crystal is from). I want to buy the book Warriors of Legend that the people from Genvid did (I borrowed it from the library and read it and now I want it). I want to collect more of CLAMP no Kiseki as well as the actual CLAMP artbooks (North Side, South Side, and the series-specific ones that I saw mentioned on Wikipedia, unless the art from those are in North Side and South Side too). Other than all that, I want to say soundtracks, but I really don't have much storage space for more CD's (I own way too many CD's already). There is at least three Sailor Moon CD's I want to get - SuperS in Paris, Best Song Collection PrettyCast, and Uranus - Neptune - Chibimoon PLUS, since I like the songs on those CD's - but I don't have to get them as I can get all the tracks off those from Sailor-Music.

So, books and DVD's I guess, with the occasional doll or knickknack.

*sigh* I am both tired and bored; rainy weather makes me that way. I do need to do some school reading, so I should probably do that. I'm going to get some sort of snack and settle down to that. Bye!

Not Much of a Collection, continued

[edited some on 10/16/10]

I promised to share more of my collection, so here goes.

Besides the Sailor Moon things I shared in the previous post (and I even edited it to add in this pin I forgot to list before), I really don't have much in terms of anime stuff. I do have a large manga collection, which thankfully I have cataloged on my computer, so I don't have to get the boxes I have them in out of my closet (I don't have anywhere to really display them right now - my bookcase is already pretty full with non-manga books - so I have to store them in my closet unfortunately).

I'll use mostly internet pics for this as I think I can find most of these. Where I can't, I'll take a picture. To make it easier for you to read through, I'll lump things into categories also.

So, without further ado, here we go.

My Anime Collection (minus Sailor Moon)

DVD's

Pokémon Diamond & Pearl 2-DVD set #1



My best friend sent me this for Christmas. It's a 2-disc set containing the first 17 episodes of the English-dubbed Pokémon Diamond and Pearl anime. I confess I haven't watched this yet (*sweatdrop*), and granted, I did see a few of the early D & P anime episodes when Diamond and Pearl first started airing on Cartoon Network, but I haven't been keeping up with it. The box is nice, though.

Pokémon Wake Up Snorlax! DVD



This is the thirteenth video in the original video release of the first season of the Pokémon anime and contains the episodes "Showdown at Dark City," "The Battling Eevee Brothers," and "Wake Up Snorlax!". I got this DVD from my local Hollywood Video, along with several other DVD's, all of which were on major markdown because the place was going out of business. I bought this particular one because "The Battling Eevee Brothers" is one of my favorite episodes in the Pokémon anime. (I also used to own a couple VHS videos of the first season of Pokémon, but I got rid of both of them).

"CLAMP Double Feature" DVD: Tsubasa Chronicle The Movie: The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom and xxxHolic the Movie: A Midsummer Night's Dream



I bought this DVD at Comic-Con a couple years ago at the Funimation booth. It's a pretty good idea, to release a double-feature DVD with the movies for Tsubasa Chronicle (or Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, as the manga is called) and xxxHolic, since the series are so related. It was a good price too -- for about $20 I got this DVD with two movies on it, basically two for the price of one. That is the one thing I like about Funimation -- even at Comic-Con, they try to keep the DVD's they sell affordable to the average fan. The 2-DVD set contains Japanese and English voice tracks for both movies and good extras, including "visual commentaries" (meaning you can see the actors) from the original Japanese actors for both, which are pretty neat. For the Tsubasa movie, the commentary is with the actors for Syaoran, Sakura, and Mokona; for the xxxHolic movie, it's with the actors for Yuuko, Watanuki, and Domeki. Pretty cool.

Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Ohki: The Complete Series DVD boxset



Now let me clarify: this boxset is of the entire third OAV only, not a collection of the two series from the early '90's plus the new third one (though that would be awesome!). Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Ohki: The Complete Series just happens to be the title on the DVD set. I bought this from some store - Suncoast Motion Picture Company, I think, or maybe FYE - since it was a good price. I confess, I haven't watched this yet either, but I want to. I just need to set aside time for it.

Tsubasa Chronicle English dub anime, Volumes 1 ("Gathering of Fates") and 2 ("Seeds of Revolution")




[vol. 1 shown here]

These are the first 2 DVD's of the English dub of Tsubasa Chronicle, the anime version of the manga Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, which is being done by Funimation and technically called "Tsubasa" (at least that part of the title is emphasized). I actually bought them at my local Borders Express, where they were sitting with some other random DVD's over by the manga section. Haven't watched them yet though. These two DVD's each contain a handful of episodes: volume 1 has 1-5 and volume 2 has 6-10.

R.O.D.: Read or Die DVD set



This is a complete-series set of the Read or Die OVA, which is set before the more well-known Read or Die TV series, R.O.D.: The TV. I bought this because I'd heard of it when looking up the TV series and wanted to watch it. I don't remember where I got it though. And, yes, I haven't watched it yet.

Panda and the Magic Serpent slim-case DVD



I know, not anime as we think of it, but it's Japanese and animated, so it counts. In fact, this was the first Japanese animated film to be released in color! It re-tells an old Chinese tale about a young boy who falls in love with a girl who can turn into a white serpent and about the monk who follows them thinking the girl is evil and trying to kill her. I got this at Wal-Mart for $1. It's still pretty good though, even dubbed over into English and everything. The quality's good too.

The Wizard of Oz and Friends slim-case DVD



Technically, most of the cartoons on this DVD - all except the first - are ones made by Max Fleischer, a very early American animator and inventor of the Rotoscope, according to a comment I found on Amazon. Therefore, they're Western-made, but the art is kind of anime-style (similar in particular to very early anime, like Akage no An, a series from 1979 that I've been watching) so I'm counting it in this list. Haven't watched it yet. Also found at Wal-Mart for $1.

Thunder Prince slim-case DVD



Another $1 Wal-Mart find (I think). I haven't watched this yet either, and I think it's Western-made but it's certainly anime in art style and in its Asian-based story. Basically, it's an animated film from 1987 about a prince who seeks out training in the martial arts to avenge the death of his father. I haven't watched it yet (I got the plot info from the back of the DVD).

Tenchi Muyo! The Movie Collection DVD set



This was like a miracle in pricing -- a set of all three Tenchi Muyo movies for only about $24 at Suncoast Motion Picture Company, a video store they used to have in the local mall that stocked a lot of anime DVD's. Sadly that place went out of business. :( I bought it because I like the Tenchi movies so much and also because it was such a great price.

Tenchi Muyo! Mihoshi Special/Pretty Sammy OVA - Hybrid DVD



Rightstuf.com calls this a "hybrid DVD," so I'm calling it that too.

Basically, this is a one-disc DVD that contains the Mihoshi Special from the original OVA series and the three-episode Pretty Sammy OVA (which "inspired" a 26-episode TV series called Magical Project S). I can't remember where I bought it; I think it was at Suncoast again. Anyway, both specials are pretty funny and are available with Japanese and English tracks. The acting is excellent; Tenchi is one of the few good dubs from the early days of English anime dubs.

Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai DVD



This is the DVD of the 10th Pokémon movie, in English of course (I really wish, at least for the movies, that they would include the Japanese track with subtitles. I mean, seriously, is it really that hard?!). My best friend gave it to me, either for my birthday or Christmas, I can't remember. I haven't watched it on the DVD, though I did see The Rise of Darkrai when it debuted on Cartoon Network. It's a very good movie. I also watched the Japanese version of this movie via a torrent before I saw the English version on TV, making this the first time I'd seen both versions. They're pretty much the same though, except for dialogue obviously. Basically, the plot is about trouble happening in the town of Alamos (modeled on Barcelona) due to a fight between Dialga and Palkia in an unseen realm, how Darkrai gets blamed for it, and how Ash and friends try to stop the problem.

Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew 2-Disc Collector's Edition DVD



This is the DVD for the eighth Pokémon movie and the first to feature the Pokémon USA cast. I bought it at Target. The 2-Disc Collector's Edition includes an extra disc containing The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, an animated TV special meant more or less to introduce the PUSA cast. I later watched the Japanese version of this via a torrent; again, it's pretty much identical. One thing I do like about the Japanese version though is that the ending song ("Hajimari no Uta" or "Song of Origin") is sung by Puffy AmiYumi, one of my favorite j-pop bands!

Generator Gawl: Perfect Collection DVD boxset



This was the first anime boxset I ever bought, which I got (with my mom's help, as I didn't have a credit card then) from Amazon. An ADV release, this 4-disc set contains all 12 episodes of this very obscure anime, with both Japanese and English tracks, along with some decent extras like creditless opening and ending sequences. It's worth it if you've seen the 4 VHS releases of this anime and want to own the whole series. Also, the VHS releases only have the dub, whereas this has both. The dub is actually very well done though, and its cast includes Vic Mignogna, now known as the voice actor for Edward Elric in the Fullmetal Alchemist dub, and Monica Rial, who now does dubs for Funimation.

Magic Knight Rayearth Season One 15th Anniversary Remastered Boxset



I had read in Otaku USA that MKR was getting remastered, but to find this 4-disc boxset - and for only $40! - really tingled my CLAMP-fangirl senses. Not to mention that Magic Knight Rayearth is one of my favorite anime series. I bought this set for, as I said, $40 at the Media Blasters booth at Comic-Con this year. While I have seen all of season one of MKR already, I still wanted to buy this set and I've got it sitting on my desk ready to be watched, though the case is getting a bit smushed.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 2-disc DVD





I consider Miyazaki films to be anime, so I'm including this and the next two in this list. I bought this (I think) at Target. The 2-disc set contains both the Japanese and English audio tracks and lots of extras, including the usual Pixar-Miyazaki "Behind the Microphone" special with the English voice actors and the entire movie in storyboard format, which is basically what the second disc is for. It's one of Miyazaki's earliest movies, but it's still great.


Kiki's Delivery Service Special Edition 2-Disc DVD





I bought this at Target at the time the DVD for Ponyo came out. It's the first Miyazaki film I saw and it's still my favorite (I even have the official English artbook for it!). I haven't watched it on this DVD, only initially on VHS (dub only) and then in Japanese on a DVD I either rented or borrowed from the library. From its Amazon page, it seems to have good special features.


Ponyo 2-Disc DVD





Having seen the English version of Ponyo in theaters, I was determined to get it on DVD as soon as it came out, not only because I liked the movie itself but also so I could see the Japanese version. The English version is really good, featuring great voices from Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchett to Noah Cyrus (Miley's little sister) and Frankie Jonas (the Jonas Brothers' little brother). I haven't watched it yet on the DVD.

Books

CLAMP no Kiseki Volumes 2, 4, and 5



These are English versions of volumes from a special set of 12 magazines that were released in 2004 as part of CLAMP's 15th Anniversary celebration. Each contains lots of art, info, and special content. I bought these three volumes at Comic-Con this year at a booth that was selling them for $10 each or $8 each when you bought three or more. Considering these usually retail for $29.99 each, to get three for about $27 is pretty awesome. Each volume is devoted to one or more CLAMP series and also come with collectible chess pieces of different CLAMP characters (see mine below under "toys/plushies/items"). Volume 2 is devoted to Cardcaptor Sakura and Clover; Volume 4 is devoted to Magic Knight Rayearth and Angelic Layer, and Volume 5 is devoted to the "CLAMP School" trilogy (CLAMP School Detectives, Man of Many Faces, and Duklyon CLAMP School Defenders).

The Art of Kiki's Delivery Service



This is an English artbook for the film Kiki's Delivery Service. It is an awesome book, I love the pictures. It has the script for the movie in it also, with pictures scattered here and there. Awesome! I bought this at a booth at Comic-Con last year called The Comic Cellar that had this and a couple other Studio Ghibli artbooks (I also bought a Tales of Symphonia artbook there). I think it was about $30.

CLAMP Mokona's Okimono Kimono



This is sort of anime-related as it is by Mokona, the main artist of CLAMP. Basically, it's a nice little book about kimonos and the wearing of them, with designs from Mokona herself. It also includes a cool interview with Ami Onuki of Puffy AmiYumi! I got this book this year from the Dark Horse Manga booth at Comic-Con (Dark Horse has recently acquired rights to some of CLAMP's series which had previously belonged to Tokyopop and is going to publish omnibuses of them, like of Cardcaptor Sakura for instance).

xxxHOLiC ANOTHERHOLiC Landolt-Ring Aerosol



This is a novel based on CLAMP's series xxxHolic that was written by Nisio Isin, a fairly well-known Japanese novelist and manga writer who also wrote a Death Note novel (which was also, like this novel, released in English) as well as many original novels. Basically, it contains three stories set in the xxxHolic universe, the first of which was the basis for episode 17 of the xxxHolic anime. The second and third stories are pretty similar to the manga as well. Even better, I don't think any of the stories assume the reader is familiar with the xxxHolic storyline, so it works even for people who aren't fans of the series. I pre-ordered this from the internet.

Toys/Plushies/Items

[Note: most of these pictures are dim because I took them at night in my room with my cell phone, with a "Darkness" white balance setting to get the best amount of light possible]


Pokéball Keychain with Eevee





This is a little toy I got somewhere - Target maybe - that is a Pokéball on a keychain that comes with a little Eevee figurine that fits inside. Cool, huh?


Master Ball on a string with Squirtle





This is a toy I bought at Comic-Con last year, since I'd seen this sort of toy before but never bought one. Basically it consists of a toy Master Ball on a string with a little Pokémon figurine that goes inside, Squirtle in this case.


Plusle keychain





I bought this last year at Comic-Con at a booth for a place called GameRave, which sells tons of video games and action figures and stuff. They had tons of little Pokémon figures in a huge flat box that you could get as charms, or - for $3 more - a keychain. I opted for the keychain. I went for Plusle because that's my partner Pokémon in the first Pokémon Ranger game.


Inflatable Ultra Ball


[no picture, sorry]


I got this for free from the Pokémon booth at Comic-Con 2009 along with a free TCG promo card and a free poster for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (I still have the card, but I recently got rid of the poster because I didn't like it anymore). I have not been able to get this inflated; maybe when I get it inflated I'll add a picture of it.


Vaporeon Bouncy Ball





I'm not entirely sure where I bought this, I think at Comic-Con though. Basically, it's a clear bouncy ball with Vaporeon in it. I like bouncy balls and Pokémon, so I was into it.


Piplup Flat Vending Machine Toy





I forget exactly what kind of toy this is. It did have a cord attached to it, but I cut it off. I think it's a cell phone charm or something. I got it from one of those cheap vending machines, I think one of the $1 ones.


Totoro pin





I got this at the county fair at the same place I got the Sailor Moon pin and the 12" Sailor Moon doll (from the previous post). Basically, it consists of the big grey Totoro sitting with the little Totoros at its feet. Kawaii!


Grey Totoro plushie with suction cup





I got this at Comic-Con at a booth with a lot of Japanese things. It did originally have a suction cup attached to it so you could attach it to some surface, but I cut it off because it didn't stick well. I bought this because I like the movie My Neighbor Totoro (by Hayao Miyazaki) and also possibly, in retrospect, because of how Ken Jennings carried a small Totoro plushie for good luck when he was on Jeopardy!.


Piplup Plushie





This is a small plushie I got at Target of Piplup, one of my favorite Pokémon. Kawaii, ne? I took the picture above of it sticking out of one of the drawers of the bed I then had.


Eevee Plushie





This was my first Pokémon plushie; I think it was part of the anime stuff I bought off my best friend. It's a decent size.


Shaymin Land Forme Plushie





I bought this last year at Comic-Con for about $20. I love Shaymin and this plushie is really cute too. My main memory of buying this plushie is that the guy selling me it figured out what I owed using his iPhone since he apparently didn't have a register. Still, it turned out ok.


Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Deluxe Action Figure Trainer Set - Dawn and Buneary





The packaging on this set says "Only at Target," but that's a lie -- I've seen it elsewhere. Basically, there were at least five of these Diamond and Pearl trainer-and-Pokémon figure sets -- Ash and Starly, Ash and Aipom, Dawn and Buneary, Brock and Sudowoodo, and Brock and Croagunk (but strangely, no Ash and Pikachu). The figures in this set are good quality, but they tend to fall over easily.

Kagome Bookmark

This is a bookmark I bought at (I think) Borders which features Kagome from Inuyasha on it. I like Kagome for some reason even though I've only seen a few episodes of Inuyasha that I DVR'd off of Adult Swim, so that's why I bought this bookmark (plus I like bookmarks).


CLAMP no Kiseki Collectible Chess Pieces











Each volume of CLAMP no Kiseki comes with collectible chess pieces of various characters from various CLAMP series published through 2004. In Japan, they had a promotion that allowed you, once you'd bought all the volumes, to send away for the last two pieces (the Kings, Cerberus and Spinel Sun from Card Captor Sakura), a chess board, and boxes to keep the magazines in. Sadly, they didn't do that in the U.S. So far, I have: Bishop Watanuki Kimihiro (xxxHolic), Bishop Sakurazuka Seishirō (Tokyo Babylon), Knight Imonoyama Nokoru (CLAMP School Trilogy), and Rook Sū (Clover) on the black side, Queen Daidoji Tomoyo (Card Captor Sakura) and Rook Suzuhara Misaki (Angelic Layer) on the white side, and three pawns -- one black, two white -- that are of Mokona Modoki. The white pawns are of Mokona Modoki/Soel from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, while the black ones are of Mokona Modoki/Larg from xxxHolic.


Trading Cards





I own many trading cards - for both anime and non-anime series (the non-anime series including everything from Lord of the Rings to the Christian trading card game Redemption) - but aside from the Sailor Moon ones talked about in the first post, I also own a few cards for Tenchi Muyo and the lesser-known series Initial D (which I've never seen, I came across packs of the trading card game for it and bought one on a whim; the series is about drag-racing, btw).


My pièce de resistance with trading cards though is my huge collection of Pokémon Trading Card Game cards. I've been collecting cards for the Pokémon TCG since the TCG has existed in the U.S., so basically since Base Set 1 was released in 1998. I haven't played a serious game of it with anyone for a long time - the most recent time I played was last year at Comic-Con at the Pokémon booth, and that was a simplified 30-card game (but I won, and I'd never won a TCG game before then!). Aside from the normal TCG cards, I also own a large number of the Topps Pokémon trading cards, including almost all of the Pokémon: The First Movie set (which includes cards from both the main movie and the Pikachu's Vacation short).


I also own a few Japanese cards (from the two Japanese booster packs I bought - one for the original Gym Leaders expansion and the other for the original Team Rocket expansion - and also the Tropical Island Jungle 3-card set from the "Southern Islands" promos) and a few TCG cards in French, German, and Italian (they stick booster packs of those into the multi-booster pack sets sometimes). I don't have a lot of promos, just the aforesaid "Southern Islands" cards (which were promo cards given out in Japan at theaters showing Pikachu's Vacation), some holo cards with foil set titles on them that might be promos (I'm not sure though), and the Comic-Con promo cards from the last three years (Shellos West Sea [2008], Riolu [2009], and Aipom [2010]).




Music


Princess Mononoke Japanese soundtrack





I got this at Comic-Con last year at the Comics n' Stuff booth. Princess Mononoke isn't my favorite Miyazaki film, but it was one of the few soundtracks I recognized from what this booth was selling. The music is very good though, which with Joe Hisaishi as the composer (as usual) should be no surprise.


Tsubasa Chronicle Original Soundtrack Future Soundscape II CD





This is a soundtrack for the Tsubasa Chronicle anime. I bought it at a booth at Comic-Con last year called Kinokuniya Bookstore. They have a ton of great books, including many in Japanese, and usually a small selection of CD's. Their CD's are expensive, though - I paid like $30 for this one! If you ever buy from them at the San Diego Comic-Con, do it on the day they're not charging sales tax (a banner proclaiming this will be displayed on their booth when they are doing this), especially since sales tax is high in California.


Ishida Yoko Para Para Max US Mix CD





Ishida Yoko, a famous Japanese singer who has sung songs for animes like Sailor Moon and Prétear, among others, also released a number of CDs of songs redone in the "Para Para" style, which is basically a fast dance-remix style. This is one of three CDs in this series that were released specifically for the US. I bought this particular one because it had "Mezase Pokemon Master" (the Japanese Pokémon theme song) on it. I bought it from Suncoast Motion Picture Company when they were going out of business. I initially bought the wrong one and went back and exchanged it for this one. This CD includes a good mix of songs, including "Mezase Pokemon Master," "Zankoku na Tenshi no TE-ZE" (the Evangelion opening theme), "A Round Dance - Revolution" (the Utena opening theme), and the catchy opening themes to Akazukin Chacha and Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, two old mahou shoujo series.

Pokémon: 2.B.A. Master CD

I bought this CD off my best friend. This was the first Pokémon soundtrack to come out in the U.S. and it contains some cool songs, including "Misty's Song" and "Pokémon (Dance Mix)," which was considered at one point as the potenital theme song for the show. If you put the CD in your computer, you can watch a music video for the original Pokérap (the audio of which is also on the CD).

Totally Pokémon: Music from the Hit TV Series! CD

This is a Johto-era Pokémon soundtrack. I don't remember exactly where I got this from, Barnes and Noble maybe. It has some good songs like "Pokémon Johto," Brock's song "Two Perfect Girls," and the Johto version of the Pokérap. The CD also includes karaoke tracks for all the vocal tracks on the CD. The funniest track on this CD though is "Song of Jigglypuff," which is a song about how great Jigglypuff is. It's totally sappy but it's hilarious.

Pokémon X: Ten Years of Pokémon CD

First of all, I really like the cover of this CD. Anyway, I ordered this from Amazon once I became aware of its existence. It includes the opening themes from the Indigo League season to the most current season at that time, Battle Frontier (all of which are TV-size except for the first season one, which is the full version found on 2.B.A.Master), as well as "2 B a Master," "Together Forever," the original Pokérap, and "Double Trouble" from the 2.B.A.Master CD, the Hoenn Pokérap, and three songs from the Battle Frontier season ("Best Friends," "Stay Together," and "Go Pokémon Go").


***


Okay, so maybe I have a big anime collection after all. I'll try to be brief with my manga collection then, and exclude the pictures.


My Manga Collection


Series with asterisks (*) mean I own the entire series.


CLAMP Mangas


~ Chobits*
~ Magic Knight Rayearth*
~ Magic Knight Rayearth II*
~ CLAMP School Detectives*
~ CLAMP School Defenders Duklyon*
~ Man of Many Faces*
~ Card Captor Sakura: Master of the Clow*
~ Card Captor Sakura
~ Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE
~ xxxHolic


Non-CLAMP Mangas


~ Tokyo Mew Mew*
~ Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode*
~ Peach Girl: Sae's Story*
~ R.O.D.: Read or Die*
~ R.O.D.: Read or Dream*
~ Codename wa Sailor V (French version)*
~ Pichi Pichi Pitch Mermaid Melody
~ Pokémon (Toshihiro Ono)
~ Pokémon Adventures
~ Full Moon wo Sagashite


Western-produced manga


~PowerMark* (Christian series)
~"W.I.T.C.H." graphic novels
~Tomo (Christian series)
~Amazing Agent Luna
~Manga Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet
~Manga Shakespeare: Hamlet


Yeah, that's my manga collection. But then I've more or less been collecting manga since 2003.


I'm going to stop here because I agreed to come in earlier to work tomorrow so I need to go to bed. Good night!