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!

Not Much of a Collection

When I did a search to see if I could find a certain shitajiki (pencil board) from SeraMyu that I liked, I came across this LiveJournal post where the writer of the post shows off her Sailor Moon collection. It's massive. I wish I had even half of the stuff she has. I wonder if my friend and fellow Miss Dream staffer Ruth knows this girl has all three of the videos that came with the SeraMyu wig toys (I know she's said she only has one).

In light of this post, I thought I'd post about my Sailor Moon collection, or rather my entire anime collection, since that is pretty small in itself. I'm a bit too tired to take pictures of them all right now (I got very little sleep last night) so I'll just add pictures I have taken before along with some internet pics for now.

My Sailor Moon Collection

Sailor Moon Moon Cycle Toy



[picture from internet]

This is a toy made of the flying moon-shaped vehicles seen in the infamous "Saban Moon" trailer (which is misnamed; it was actually made by Toon Masters, not Saban Entertainment as previously thought), created by a competitor of DiC Entertainment for the rights to dub the Sailor Moon anime into English. While Toon Masters did not get the rights, toys were still made of these cycles. It's a pretty rare toy now (I was surprised to even find it on Amazon, and I don't think they had that many of them). I got this by trading this poster to my friend Elly Winters (of Miss Dream) for it. Though I'm way too old for toys, I liked the Moon Cycles so much in the trailer that I wanted to get this anyway. It's made for the 6" dolls, so I'm planning to get such a doll to display in it.

Codename wa Sailor V Manga - French version - All 3 Volumes



[picture is of volume 1, picture from internet]

I found these via a link from Crystal Tokyo, a Sailor Moon fan group that was among the first groups I joined on Facebook. (I got made an officer there even, since they let pretty much anyone who asks to be an officer be one; my character name is Furuhata Unazuki, for the sister of Motoki, the Game Center guy...she's not my favorite character but most of the characters in the series were taken already). I bought them for $13 a volume from Amazon Canada and had to actually go get them from the post office since no one was home to sign for them. They are very good quality paperbacks (with those cool jacket flaps they put on paperback books sometimes to make it look like they have a dust jacket like hardcover books do) and, as I can read French, I understand them just fine -- which is good, since French is the only non-Asian language in which this manga is officially available.

Sailor Mercury keychain

I put my one key on this, since the previous keychain I was using (one of the 1-Up mushroom from Mario) was getting pretty beat up. I bought this keychain at a booth at Comic-Con this year. It reminds me of a similar keychain I had a long time ago of Ayeka from Tenchi Muyo.

Sailor Moon S bag/pencil holder?

Even the vendor was not entirely sure what this is. If anyone can tell me, let me know! At any rate, I thought it was pretty cool; I like the S season a lot, maybe cause it's the only one I've seen in full. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet; it's just sitting on my desk at the moment.

Sailor Moon trading cards

I used to collect these a lot more than I do now, as well as the Collectible Card Game cards, which I've ended up with a few of from the packs of trading cards I've bought recently. I first bought some more - after having not had them for a while - at Comic-Con this year; then when I was at the mall not too long ago, I bought a couple more packs from a store called Comics n' Stuff.

Sailor Moon 12" Plush Doll

I bought this from a booth at the county fair this year for a wopping $18. It's a cute doll. I kept the tag as well, which has a cool picture on it.


Sailor Mercury Banpresto 10th Anniversary UFO Catcher Plush Doll



[picture from internet]

I'm not sure of the actual height of this one, but it's smaller than the doll above. I got this for $10 at my very first Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2001. Thus, it is one of my first Sailor Moon finds. According to this site, this doll is very rare and was never sold in stores, which seems odd to me considering I bought it from a Comic-Con vendor.

Meet Sailor Moon: Crystal book



[picture from the internet since there's no point in taking a picture of a book]

This is the English version of one of the five senshi guides released in Japan for each Inner Senshi. This one is devoted to Sailor Moon. I got this from my best friend when I bought a bunch of her anime stuff off her. I also used to own the Mercury book from this five-book set (Meet Sailor Mercury: Ice) but I lost it.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Photo Album



I'm not sure how official this is, as it was made in Korea. Still, it's a pretty nice photo album, which I got from my best friend for my birthday. It features pockets inside both covers for loose things, and many photo pages, decorated with pictures of the senshi next to each pocket - Sailors Moon and Chibimoon on one side and Mercury and Venus on the facing page (or next page, as it may be).

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Inner Senshi 6" Ruler



This is a ruler I got somewhere; I forget where now. It's a cute ruler that I admit I don't use that often (I like rulers, but I don't really use them) but like to look at. I know it's from Sailor Stars because Moon (third from left) is in her Eternal form.

Edit: Forgot this pin!

Sailor Moon Pin



I got this cute pin at the county fair, at the same booth where I bought the 12" doll.

(Sorry about the glare on the left; the ambient light wasn't great)
(And yes, I have a Let it Be poster)

****

So that's my Sailor Moon collection; it's not much of a collection compared to that other girl's.

I'll continue with a list of my other anime stuff - as well as my manga collection - later; right now, I need to go to bed so I'm rested for work tomorrow.

iPod woes, playing Platinum, wardrobe changes, etc

So for some time I've been having issues with my iPod, primarily an issue where the sound only plays out of one side when I listen to music on it through headphones. I kept buying new headphones and the same thing kept happening. Finally, after searching for help online, I took it into the Genius Bar at the Apple Store and they couldn't do anything because I was 130 days out of warranty. I am a little annoyed, first of all at myself for not realizing earlier this year that I was still under warranty, since this has been happening for a while, and secondly at Apple, since according to my Google searching for answers on this, I'm not the only one having headphone problems with my iPod touch. So I sent a message via a contact form to a 3rd-party place semi-nearby that does iPod repairs to see if they can do anything. I haven't heard back yet.

I was trying to upgrade iTunes yet again today by downloading it and Quicktime separately (as a friend of mine on a forum suggested). That didn't work, btw. But anyway, when I went to try to get the old version back that I'd had, I went initially to iTunes's Wikipedia article, and from there made my way to an article on iTunes version history and an article on the iPod touch. Turns out they released a new iPod touch later last year than when I bought mine, and it appears that that model as well as the new one (the one they just released) are the ones for which iTunes 9 and up are the "minimum" device-compatible software. The "minimum" device-compatible software for my iPod, a 2nd generation iPod touch, is iTunes 8. This might explain why I have had problems upgrading iTunes ever since version 9 came out. It did seem odd that it would seem to install fine on my computer but then not open. Yet, it wouldn't open even if my iPod wasn't plugged into my computer, so then again maybe the iPod's not the issue. Hard to say. I'd have the Apple people at the store look at it, but as I have a PC I don't know what exactly they could do about it.

Lately, I have been playing Pokémon Platinum so I can have options for the Pokémon tournament at Animé Los Angeles, the convention I'm going to next January, if all goes well. (I still have to make the hotel reservation, among other things -- things have been going slowly due to being busy with school and also due to money being tight with my TuitionPay payments). I got past the part with Giratina and the Distortion World finally. I got totally stuck in the Distortion World puzzle and had to watch Marriland's walkthrough video to figure out what to do. The first time I fought Giratina, I almost could've caught it, but since I had poisoned it with Toxic, it fainted from the poison when it was at super low HP and I wasn't able to catch it. I reset the game from my save point (before the fight), and not really wanting to fight Giratina again (or maybe because I was a scaredy-cat), I just used my Master Ball on it.

Oh and if you are stuck getting to Spear Pillar (the place you get to the Distortion World from), check out this walkthrough on GameFAQs. It not only got me where I needed to go, but even helped me find a bunch of hidden items using the Dowsing Machine app on the Pokétch!

After this, you go talk to Rowan and he tells you that the three lake Pokémon have returned and also encourages you to get the eighth badge in Sunyshore City. I decided to go after the lake Pokémon first, and since I was in Sandgem Town, I decided to go for Mesprit first since it was closest. It, of course, flies away when you first encounter it (though a picture of it is shown, which I guess makes it be "seen" in your Pokédex). Then Rowan shows up and talks to you about Mesprit and about how dang good of a trainer you are and all this stuff and then leaves. Then I flew to Veilstone and made my way to Lake Valor and Azelf. Azelf was quite fast and kept taking down my Pokémon with Uproar. I managed to somehow stay in the battle and eventually I got lucky with a Dusk Ball and caught it, after I'd used up all my Timer Balls and I think most of my Ultra Balls. Then I flew to Snowpoint and made my way to Lake Acuity and Uxie. I lost on the first try because, once again, Uxie got poisoned (either from me using Toxic or my Roserade's Poison Point ability, I can't remember) and fainted before I could catch it. I reset, went back to Snowpoint to buy more Pokéballs (since I'd used several against Uxie) and tried again, eventually getting lucky again with a Dusk Ball.

Then I started doing a ton of backtracking on foot to try to chase around Mesprit. The tough thing is that they made it so you can't just fly to its location, and it changes routes whenever you change routes, which makes it tough to track even with the Marking Map app on the Pokétch. I did actually encounter it twice so far, and the first time I stupidly tried using a Quick Ball, which didn't work. Then the second time I actually did a tiny bit of damage to it before it fled.

Finally I gave up tracking Mesprit for the time being and headed to Sunyshore City. I'm there now. I haven't fought the gym yet. My team is:

Pen-Pen (Empoleon) level 52
Sleipnir (Rapidash) level 51
Fleur (Roserade) level 50
Alisa (Staraptor) level 51
Ampere (Luxray) level 51
Rocky (Geodude) level 7

I have a level 7 Geodude with me, btw, as a sort of "HM slave" (a Pokémon you only use to learn HMs).

My main concern is that I have nothing that is going to be super-effective against Volkner as I did not raise a Ground-type this time like I did in Pearl. Plus two of my Pokémon, Ampere and Alisa, won't work against him all too well, as Ampere is itself electric-type and Alisa, as a part flying-type, is extremely weak to electric. Actually Pen-Pen is weak to electric too, as it is part water-type. Oh dear what to do?

Last week when I was waiting to get picked up from work and was still stuck trying to get to Spear Pillar, I actually lucked out and encountered an Absol on the summit of Mt. Coronet. I tried to catch it but I think it fainted before I could catch it. I was pretty bummed about that.

I have decided to make some changes in my wardrobe. I need to buy new jeans anyway, as one pair I have is too big and the other (the pair I prefer to wear) is getting major holes in it, so I decided tonight to go through my dresser and closet to see what I have and determine what I don't have. Meanwhile, I am doing the huge amount of laundry I had to do. Once the laundry's done and put away, I'll have a better idea of what I have and what I need. So far, I've determined that I need new bras, new jeans, and maybe a new dress or two (since I only own two dresses, and I'm not sure they both fit me...I know one of them doesn't). I also need white socks since I don't have a lot of those -- though I have several pairs of black socks, which is probably because I need them for work. I have several good pairs of underwear, so that's good. They mostly just need to be laundered. I do need a slip though (the one I had didn't fit), maybe some pantyhose too. I need shorts because I only have one pair that fits, and some skirts for sure (you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find good skirts in my size...I found a great one a while back, only to be informed by my mother that it was not a skirt but a dress, like a strapless one, you see. Awkward!).

I'm thinking right now how in her diary, Anne Frank writes this one entry listing all the clothes and such that she'd buy if she and her family escaped to Switzerland. Most of it's things like stockings and stuff, but also separate pairs of shoes for summer and for winter (odd).

I do like the clothes Emily Henderson, the winner of HGTV Design Star this season, wore on the show, like this housedress she wore for the finale and this outfit. I'm following her blog now, and I believe she says on there that she wears those things because that's her style. I don't know what my style is exactly, though I know it's not modern and definitely not couture; I usually just throw on jeans and a T-shirt if I'm not at work or going to and from work. Stacy and Clinton (from TLC's What Not to Wear) would not approve. (Gah, I hope I never get nominated for that show. Stacy and Clinton would chew me out, I'd hate the shopping because I don't like shopping for clothes -- just persuading myself to go through my dresser and try things on took some time -- and I'd be really awkward with Nick Arrojo and Carmindy, because Nick would want to bob my hair -- he ALWAYS cuts people's hair short -- and I'd have to embarrassingly explain to Carmindy that I haven't worn makeup consistently since I was like 14). I guess I'm kinda bohemian, whatever that means. I'm certainly traditional, and if I could I would wear skirts and dresses more often -- it's just that I don't own any skirts or any casual dresses. Plus having to wear pantyhose whenever I wear a skirt or a dress (so that my legs don't rub together) is really aggravating.

Emily's proposed design show idea was to take what people wear and transport that into the design of their space. It would be cool if she could do that for me. I watched her do her "Style Diagnostic" on the special post-Design Star special featuring her (called Secrets from a Stylist and meant to be a taste of her show; the show of that name has now been picked up for 26 episodes -- congrats Emily!) with her friend the co-creator of Glee and it looked pretty cool.

I think my living space would be some mix of traditional, bohemian, and eco-friendly. I would probably have wood furniture, maybe some vintage or international pieces, and soft, green fabrics. I'd have energy-efficient appliances (including maybe one of those cool loft-style refrigerators they have on Income Property all the time) and maybe some poufs someplace because poufs are bohemian and they are also just plain awesome. That and/or those Moroccan drum tables I keep seeing in HGTV spaces or in catalogs (like Pottery Barn) that look so cool. I would paint with low or no-VOC paint mainly because of my allergy/asthma issues (aside from the fact it's eco-friendly also); I have noticed in the past that I am somewhat bothered by paint fumes. I would like a cool bed, maybe even an Asian-style platform bed, low to the ground. And storage would be a must.

I've decided that I would want either Emily or maybe Candice Olsen (of HGTV's Divine Design and also the one judge I like on Design Star) to design my space if I could, and if I was doing an income property, I would want Scott McGillvray (of HGTV's Income Property) to help me.

Well it's late so I'm going to sign off as I have to be at work early tomorrow/today. Bye!

 

A bit overwhelmed

Ok, so good news -- I was able to go in and change the amount I owe on my tutition payment plan to what I currently owe. I made the first payment on Friday (it's not due till Sept. 1st, but Friday was my last payday before then so I wanted to get it dealt with early); it just hasn't been posted to my bank account yet (it might not till tomorrow, since it's the weekend right now). It will be $180 a month in payments, which is doable but still tough. But it sure beats $630 a month. It's a little less stress.

School starts tomorrow officially, for me on Tuesday. It's going to be tough semester, I can feel it. But somehow, by the grace of God, I'll get through.

I got an e-mail today giving the meeting times for the CWCW (creative writing club); I don't know if I'll be able to make them this semester though with my night classes and all. That stinks.

Lately, I feel like I just haven't been at my best. I think I've been overwhelmed in the last month with this financial stress, as well as not getting much sleep with all these early working shifts. On top of this, I'm thinking of going to that anime con and the idea of cosplay scares me. I got some suggestions from the forums at Cosplay.com (which I was finally able to join):

~Fuu from Magic Knight Rayearth



~Sheena from Tales of Symphonia



~and these three other characters I've never heard of:

Jihl Sabaat from Final Fantasy XIII




Marianne from Code Geass



and Cornelia, also from Code Geass



I'm leaning towards Fuu, especially since there's going to be a CLAMP cosplay gathering at Animé Los Angeles so I would be able to meet some people with similar interests. But I am afraid I would have to make the blazer and skirt, and I have no faith whatsoever in my sewing abilities. Plus, how the heck would I make the sword? I found a tutorial where someone made Fuu's sword, but it involved a lot of woodcutting I don't know how to do.

I also considered, if I did do Fuu, going as Fuu from the Rayearth OVA, where she wears a different outfit and headband and is distinguished as a Knight only by an Exsphere-like orb on the back of her hand. Here is a picture to give you an idea (you can't see the orbs here though).



So, in short, I am totally lost and overwhelmed on this. I'm not even familiar with three of those suggestions, as I said. I've never seen Code Geass and I haven't played Final Fantasy XIII, or most of the FF games for that matter, though I confess I like the look of Jihl. She kind of reminds me of Relena Peacecraft from Gundam Wing (another person I could potentially cosplay, though I never was too much into that show). I looked her up; she's the antagonist of that game apparently.

Just looked up Cornelia and Marianne; they're the Second Princess and Empress of the Holy Britannia Empire respectively. Funny, I pictured Cornelia as more of just a general. The royal (or at least noble) thing for Marianne I deduced from the picture.

Speaking of Relena, another character that looks like her is Mitsuki Sanada from Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure, a series by the director of Tenchi Muyo:



GAHHHHH! I need to stop this. Idea overload. This is what makes me overwhelmed; I get overstimulated sensually (via the senses, not in a sexual sense) and then my brain starts going at like lightning speed, and then the anxiety and worry kick in.

Maybe I just shouldn't cosplay. Save myself the misery of worrying about who to cosplay as and how I'm going to get the outfit together if I can't sew and don't have a lot of money and only about 4 1/2 months.

But if I go to an anime con sans cosplay I will look like not only a total newbie but also like an idiot. Even if I just go for a schoolgirl cosplay or a kimono (like this nice one in peppermint green that I saw in the CLAMP Mokona's Okimono Kimono book that I got at Comic-Con) I'm going to look weird. I won't fit in.

There are characters from the lesser-known series I know that I might be able to do, but no one would recognize me, and that's just as bad.

I wish I had the money to just commission a costume, but I don't, and plus I couldn't enter the masquerade at ALA with it I don't think. Not that I have to do the masquerade of course; that might be part of my stress too. They're having a non-competitive fashion show where you can show off your costume too.

*Sigh* I just don't know what to do, and I can't stop thinking about it. Hopefully, school will distract me, but probably not. As Scott McGillvray (of HGTV's Income Property) would say, I need help.

I suppose I could pray, but does God care about this sort of thing? With floods in Pakistan and poverty in Haiti (the Carlsbad campus of my church, which I go to, is supporting a missionary effort in Haiti right now), would he really care about my cosplay worries? It seems petty.

I suppose he does. I was just reading the passage in Luke where Jesus tells about a persistent widow who kept bothering a judge till he agreed to help, and he said our prayer should be persistent like that. And mine hasn't. But I suppose it's worth trying, though I feel like an idiot for doing it.

Dear Jesus, please help me right now. I would like to go to this convention in L.A., as you know, where it is typical for people to dress up in costume. But I don't know anything about dressing up in costumes - except for Halloween - or how to make them. It's got me really stressed out. Please, help me calm my worries so that I can approach this with a clear mind and have faith that I can make some reasonable decisions regarding this. My worries are clouding my ability to make decisions about this and also overwhelming my mind. Peter said to cast our cares on you, so in this case I'm going to do that. It might seem like a weird thing to pray for, but I'm totally lost. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Ok that was a very awkward prayer (I'm out of practice, I'm afraid) but I'm glad I did it.

I'm going to go eat lunch now. An empty stomach doesn't help one's judgment either.

Financial aid development, work, The Sky Crawlers, cosplay

Well I have had a development regarding my financial aid. I've been packaged, but only for a Pell Grant, meaning I still have to pay $722 out-of-pocket this semester. But I don't have $722 right this moment; it would take me quite some time to earn that. Don't know how it's going to work out. Best option right now appears to be keeping the Sallie Mae plan but changing the amount I owe (since according to their records, which date to before I was packaged, I owe the whole tuition/fee amount of $2,522), which would bring my monthly payments down to maybe $200 a month or something over 4 months. I'm going to call Financial Aid (or maybe go there tomorrow after work, since I need to buy a couple books anyway) and see what my options are and how soon I have to pay this amount. (Technically, I should've paid it already, but I got a fee deferment). So the stress isn't over yet.

Dang nabbit I just want to be solvent. It's like I finally got paid after being in the red, then I came near the red again because due to overdraft fees I had less money in my account than I thought I did. Then I got paid again but had to buy my books (the ones that were less online; there are a couple that aren't much different in price at the bookstore as they are online, and the third one I didn't order as it is optional so I'm going to wait and see if I really need it). Then this week I got paid, but I had to pay rent. Soon, I'm going to have to buy my bus pass again and pay rent again and have my automatic-withdrawal church tithe taken out again. I just need to get to a place where I can afford to transfer money to savings, which I can't really do right now. Not a lot anyway.

There. I just transferred $50 into my savings account. It's not a lot, but it gives me a cushion. If I transfer a little bit into there out of every check, I can maybe build up my savings again. That's what I did when I was saving up for a new laptop. Of course in that case I had $300 to start with thanks to the budget surplus checks. I'm going to try to bring my own lunch to school and work more often as well. That will cut down some on expenses, since I know from doing a chart of my expenses via Quicken Online that a majority of my money goes to food. I'll have to buy food to put in the lunches, but if I plan right hopefully that won't cost much. Don't know what I'll do for dinner on school nights (since I have night classes). Maybe I'll get popcorn or something that is filling, doesn't need refrigeration, and is easy to carry around. I'll try to limit the snacks I buy. It'll be hard, but it has to be done.

I was supposed to be off work today, but at 6:30 this morning one of the Key Carriers called my cell asking me to come in. So I went in for a few hours, actually staying a bit late to try to help bag for Petar, one of the checkers, who had a long line. Most of the time though was spent on the primary reason they called me in, to deal with the 25+ carts of cardboard in the back room that needed to be baled. This guy named Robert from produce helped me for a while, but eventually he got called off to work frozen so I was left on my own. I also got behind because at one point the receiver had to make a bale so I had to get out of the way. I pushed the empty shopping carts up front, took my break, and then had to help bag for the ridiculous rush we had. (The lines were so bad customers came up to me complaining. When customers start complaining, you know it's bad). It reminded me somewhat of this game I have on my iPod called Supermarket Mania. Basically it's like Cake Mania or Diner Dash in that it's a simulation of a typical supermarket and you basically have to keep everything stocked so that the customers stay happy. The less customers who get mad and leave, the more money the supermarket makes and the closer you come to progressing in the game. Oh and you also have to stop thieves from time to time and clean up after either angry customers who leave their groceries or rowdy teenagers who mess up stuff. You're probably wondering Why does she have a game about working in a supermarket on her iPod when she already works at one? Isn't that boring? Not really. The game is a lot easier to figure out than my work is. At some point though, I did get back there and managed to finish just in time. Then, as I said, I stayed a little late; I left after about a half hour over though because the lines had died down and I was afraid the manager would be starting to wonder why I was still there. He didn't seem too concerned though.

Gah it's so hot in my room! It's like summer finally caught up with us over here in SoCal.

I just watched an anime movie I got from the library. It's called The Sky Crawlers and it's directed by Mamoru Oshii, the director of Ghost in the Shell, a series I know very little about, other than that it involves robots. Basically, the film is about the Kildren, eternally young fighter pilots who are continuously going out into the sky to fight very realistic but seemingly pointless dogfights with planes from a rival arms company. There is no war going on; it's just that, as one character explains, mankind is so used to war that they can't live without it, hence the dogfights with the Kildren. The catch with the Kildren is that they cannot die unless they are killed in battle. People seem creeped out by their eternal youthfulness too. The main character is a Kildren named Yuichi who becomes curious about the previous owner of his plane but can't get sufficient answers from the people at his new base. He also ends up falling in love with his childlike commander Suito Kusanagi. It was overall a little hard to follow. Not exactly my kind of thing. The film was also odd in that during normal scenes, the characters spoke Japanese, but in battle they spoke English, with a few German words (like "zwei" for 2 and also "doppel") thrown in for good measure.

With things more or less set for me to go to Animé Los Angeles in January - it looks very likely I will get the days off, but I still have to register and get a hotel room - I am trying to decide whether or not I am going to cosplay, and if so, as what character. At most anime cons these days, it seems like cosplay is almost expected. I already am bandying about cosplaying as Princess Pluto (the Princess version of Sailor Pluto from Sailor Moon), Pokémon Ranger Solana, and Maya or Mia Fey (from the Phoenix Wright game series). Today as I was baling cardboard I considered cosplaying as a Code Lyoko character, probably Aelita since I like her the best and also because it would be pretty easy (I think) to find a short pink wig around Halloween. I would probably cosplay as her in her casual clothes from seasons 2-most of 4, which consist of a purplish jumper, a pink long-sleeved shirt with a hoodie-esque collar, dark pink knee-high boots with white tops. She also has pink eyebrows and little pom pom things that hang down from her collar. Though I guess her Lyoko outfit is also doable and probably more recognizable. Just now I Googled "Aelita cosplay" and all the pics were of her Lyoko outfit. The pic on CosplayLab claimed the outfit was made in 5 hours. But it looked like it was a kid who was wearing it. But somebody on Cosplay.com did it who looked more like my age. Basically I'm considering doing something simple and then pairing the wig with a simple kimono or yukata (a lighter sort of kimono made of cotton) for Sunday, since that day's theme is "New Year's Festival" and I want to look the part. Plus I have a few different fans I could use with that sort of thing, including a real Japanese fan my uncle bought me (well, it's from a shop in Narita Airport, but that counts, right?). I also have an Asian-looking sunshade/parasol I bought at a booth at the beach last year. I found a yukata set just now for $79.99. That sounds like a lot, but it comes with a yukata, an obi (ribbon belt), and geta (traditional sandals worn with a kimono or yukata). Still I imagine I can do that for cheaper. I saw geta on sale at Comic-Con for like $10 a pair. I almost bought them too.

Hmm this site has plus-size yukatas. Promising. They give you a fan for free if you order both a yukata and a geta/obi set (which comes with a pair of geta, an obi, and a waist belt called a koshihimo that holds the yukata in place under the obi). Nice. They have some nice tabi socks (socks you usually wear with geta) too.

Hmm there are several sites selling yukatas, but they're all super expensive. Why is cosplay so expensive dangit? I suppose I could get something similar around Halloween if I buy a mass-produced geisha costume, but it might not be as nice. And they might not have my size.

I tried to join the forums at Cosplay.com in hopes of getting some suggestions (everyone's favoring the Princess Pluto one over at Miss Dream, and I'm still unsure whether I'll do that one) but for some reason didn't get the activation e-mail. Grr.

I think I'm going to take a walk. I need fresh air. Bye for now.

Cosplay, cons, websites, school

I'm trying to determine whether I can get time off for a con I got a flyer for at Comic-Con. It's called Animé Los Angeles, and it happens from January 7-9 of next year. The timing is good because I won't be in school then, so I won't have to waste my allotted vacation time for the year by taking a whole week off. It's close enough for me to not have to fly. Plus for $40 registration (for the whole weekend!) plus a special deal of $109/night for the con hotel (the LAX Marriott), it's a steal. But my fear is that this weekend falls within the blacked-out holiday week for New Year's. If it does, I can't request the time off.

Anyway, according to the flyer, there are several cosplay-related things going on (including the usual masquerade). So this has gotten me thinking about cosplay. I have never cosplayed before. I don't think I have the time (or money, for that matter) to commission a costume from one of the many online cosplay costume makers. I wish there was still that costume shop in Vista that I rented costumes from a few times; it closed down though. I might be able to get some pieces cheap when Halloween comes along, I guess. Like a wig. I was reading this "Beginner's Guide to Cosplay" by the girl who runs the Team Rocket fansite Trsrockin.com and she gets pieces from thrift stores and stuff. I think they warned against this in the discussion of cosplay on the Miss Dream podcast (#9 I think). But I would rather not spend a ton of money, especially because of my recent money scare.

I have long considered cosplaying as Sailor Jupiter, since I somewhat physically resemble her. But she's not my favorite Sailor Senshi or anything. Other possibilities I've thought of are Angel Lily (my favorite character from Wedding Peach) and a Pokémon Ranger. The last of these appeals to me most, though I'm not quite sure how to pull it off. I could carry my plush Piplup with me (since Piplup is a possible Partner Pokémon as of Shadows of Almia) and I wouldn't need Pokéballs since Rangers don't carry them. The hair would be problematic; both female player characters in the first two Ranger games (I don't know about the current one) have those spiky ponytails on top of their heads, kinda like Misty does (except Misty only has one, and these girls have two). I guess it could be done with ponytail holders (of which I have plenty, since I have to put my hair up for work) along with LOTS of pomade or some bobby pins to keep them up. Probably pomade (or spiking gel in this case). They have a "cosplay emergency station" at this con, so in the event my hair gets messed up, I can go there to get someone much more skilled in hairdressing than I to fix it. I might need to carry around whatever reference picture I use for my costume (if, hypothetically, I were to wear this costume) just in case so I can show whoever's fixing my hair/wig what I need to be looking like.

I am very glad they will have free snacks and drinks at this con. It will save me money at least. I wonder what the dealers' room will be like.

Gah I shouldn't be thinking this right now! I don't even know if for sure I am going yet!

Money is another issue. I will probably be able to afford to go provided I don't have a money crisis between now and then and I don't have to pay payments on this stupid tuition plan I signed up for to buy me time till I get packaged for my financial aid. (I'm still waiting for confirmation that said packaging has occurred). But I will definitely have to watch my spending and make sure I have money in savings just in case since my bank charges high overdraft fees. (To anyone just starting to have your own bank account: if your bank offers overdraft protection and you even think for a minute that you might need it, TAKE IT. It comes in handy).

On the website front, things are going slow. I was late on both Song of the Week and the site updates roundup this week for Myu Corner, for example. I did work on my clip list for Liquid Mercury, my old Sailor Mercury fansite I'm going to revive. I also transferred some old Mercury pictures (including a ton of scans) from a CD I had with a copy of an old folder on it to my laptop. Other than this, nothing. I think my fervor is not what it once was. Then again, I've been working really early shifts for the last month. So I'm probably really tired.

I hope my hours change soon because school starts on the 30th, and I have to take night classes this semester to get the classes I need. Plus Mum has made it clear that she doesn't want to have to take me to work early after having to pick me up from school the night before. So I'll have to work on that.

That's all I can think of to write about. Goodbye for now!

-- Posted from BlogPress

Financial aid, web stuff, Comic-Con freebies, etc

I am fed up right now with my school's Financial Aid department. I filled out my FAFSA by the priority filing date and turned in all the required paperwork before the first fees due date. Yet I already got dropped from my classes once and had to re-enroll (because my financial aid paperwork, which I turned in a couple days before the fees due date, hadn't finished processing yet) and when I called them today to find out what was going on, since I'd been receiving incessant e-mail reminders of the upcoming second fees due date (on the 5th), they said I didn't have a fee deferment on record and they couldn't tell me whether my stuff had processed. Darn FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) I guess. (Not that the guy I talked to gave that as the reason, but it makes sense). Worst case scenario is that I will have to get a loan, which even if it's only for one year of college will probably still take me years to pay off. The Financial Aid guy recommended Sallie Mae, but I already know from my mother's bad experience with Sallie Mae over her student loans that I don't want to get a loan through them. My mother says there are other options for loans though. But as I said, that's the worst case scenario -- hopefully, I'll get the same grants as before and be covered for the school year. Plus if I get grants until I (hopefully) graduate next spring, I'll graduate college without owing a dime for my schooling (since you don't have to pay back grants). Granted (ha ha no pun intended), I won't be done with my web design certificate (since I just started that last spring and can only really take 2 classes at a time on top of my CSUSM workload). But I suppose I can work at Stater Bros. for a little longer till I finish that. If I'm still working there by the time I graduate college, I'll have worked there almost 4 1/2 years. (Wow).

I've been working a lot on websites this summer, mostly on Myu Corner since I post updates for it weekly -- a Song of the Week update on Thursdays (which apparently some people doubt will work in the long-term, according to some comments that never saw the light of day because Akismet marked them as spam; to be honest I have no idea how many myu songs there are and I would very much not like to try counting them all, so I don't know how long that feature will be able to go for) and a Moonkitty.net-inspired site updates roundup on Sundays. I also made a personal site/domain hub that I liked when I made it but then disliked soon after. I like the idea of a personal site but I also recall the thing I read about the personal site being dead. Most people's personal sites now are their blogs (and in fact, I listed this blog as my personal site for a long time). I just can't figure out how to make one work. I want to use my personal domain as a hub for more minor sites that don't need their own domain though, like the LAR Productions website (though if LAR ever goes pro or at least gets big, I'm going to get the site its own domain). I am starting to think something along the lines of Frozen Wings or the "Tour Guide's Sites" page on Bunny's Tour Through the Silver Millennium would be better.

As for other sites, I have been ignoring my writing site improvement (which isn't officially live yet), though I am collecting feedback from some people on it which I intend to try implementing ASAP. I closed Pctroupe.net, my PotterCast Acting Troupe fansite, because I was grasping at straws trying to get news to post there (even after the live show with the Acting Troupe). I haven't started working on my planned sites, like Sparkle Moon, yet. I hoped to get that done in the summer, but work has interfered a lot, I think.

I went to Comic-Con a couple weeks ago. It was pretty fun, though I admit going even three of the four days was somewhat exhausting, even though due to my reliance on public transit, I was only able to stay for like five hours each day. Plus I spent WAY too much money, resulting in me being nearly broke last week and this week, since I didn't get paid last Friday because I took Comic-Con week as vacation. I did like going more than one day though; it feels like you get more out of it in a way. I have already begun planning for next year, since I was vastly underprepared this year. I'm going to try to get a four-day pass again, get a hotel (probably in North County near a train station since the convention hotels are super expensive) so I can stay later than the bus schedule for the bus by my house allows, and budget my time and money more wisely. One way I know I can budget my time is to explore beyond the exhibit hall. Let me tell you: one day in the exhibit hall is really enough, unless you know someone you want to see is not going to be there all four days. Not much changes from day to day, other than that you might see booths you didn't see the day before (this happened to me on the second day because I'd been in such huge crowds the first day I didn't see much). I am going to try to hit the panels, the film festival, and the anime showings more next year -- since, aside from being a nice escape from the crowd (unless you're in a really crowded panel) are all free to go to as long as you have a convention badge.

While I did spend a ton of money at the con (and frankly didn't buy that much), I did end up with 149 freebies (I counted), most of which I picked up on Saturday, my last day and the day I was trying desperately not to spend more money. I swear, there are people just dying to push a freebie in your hand at this con. I got things like temp tattoos (and a rather icky but semi-intriguing comic called Penny for Your Soul about a Las Vegas casino hotel run by demons) that I didn't even want. One of my freebies is even worth something now: my free sampler of Eragon, obtained from the Random House booth, which now bears the illustrious autograph of Eragon's author, Christopher Paolini (if I'd known beforehand he was going to be doing a signing, I would've brought my real Eragon books, but I didn't know, so I had him sign the sampler instead). I went through my freebies today to decide which ones I wanted to save and which ones I didn't -- and there were a lot of ones I didn't, probably ones I grabbed on a whim but didn't really look at. I didn't even keep any of the magazines I got for free, including the collector's cover edition of TV Guide with the Big Bang Theory cover. I did read through them before tossing them. I didn't get much from the special TV Guide (not like TV Guide is deeply intellectual reading anyway), though from it I was able to get an idea for the extremely complex plots of The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural, shows I do not watch and don't have much interest in watching. I did tear a few pages out of the others that I found interesting.

The one freebie that did pique my interest perhaps more than the others was a flyer for Animé Los Angeles, a con happening next January. (Their use of the accent above the "e" in "anime" reminds me of the early days of anime fandom in the US, when everyone was doing that). I was not aware this con existed; I figured there were no anime cons in LA other than Anime Expo. From the FAQ-style info on the back, I was rather intrigued. It actually sounds like a con I would want to go to. It's only for a weekend, and it's right after New Year's, so I wouldn't have to work around school (because I'd be on semester break) and thus wouldn't have to waste my available vacation time. It's at the LAX Marriott, which is convenient should I decide to fly to LA rather than take the train (my other option). You can get a deal on the hotel and the price for the actual con is really reasonable ($40 for the weekend, or $35 for students or military until September 30; they also provide a limited-time code to use to get 10% off). I'll have to think about it.

Oh and among the interesting things Animé Los Angeles has to offer is something really out there: Cosplay Chess. Basically real cosplayers are the pieces in this chess game and they actually put on an act when they are "captured." Even if I didn't participate, I'd want to watch.

Oh and Gina Biggs is the Artist Guest of Honor because of her webcomic "Red String." But guess what else she's known for? The long-lived Sailor Moon fansite Bunny's Tour Through the Silver Millennium! It would be cool to meet her.

I am considering starting a blog about my experiences as a female gamer. I was thinking also of maybe having a similar one about reading, but then decided there are blogs enough about that. Someone on the writers' forum I'm a part of mentioned how the gaming community is mostly unreached for Jesus (as part of a post regarding Westboro Baptist Church people picketing outside of Comic-Con with signs that say "God Hates Nerds"...gah, when will these people stop?), and that gave me a different spin on it. I don't know if I could make it work as a ministry though. That's one of those things I'd have to seek God about.

Speaking of blogs, I got an e-mail today granting me full writer privileges over at Family of Moonlight, a Sailor Moon fan blog that I sent Comic-Con pictures to and wrote a Comic-Con 2010 overview for. Sweet! This just goes to prove what I read a while back in an article about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) where they mentioned that one way to get yourself out there is to do things for people. That's what got me my staff position at Miss Dream; I offered on their forum (where I am an active member) to scan and translate the French Sailor V manga, since I own it. I also offered to translate their lyrics translations into French. The manga thing was originally just going to be a joint Myu Corner-Miss Dream project, and the lyrics thing a sort of freelance affair, so I was quite surprised when the head of Miss Dream deemed me worthy to join their staff. I am happy that both of these sites have given me these honors. (Gah, there's no way to say that without it sounding arrogant. Oh well).

I have been thinking about cosplay too, mainly because of Comic-Con and also because I just added a cosplay-item-selling site to my links at Myu Corner. I don't know who I'd cosplay as if I went to an anime convention. I suppose you don't have to cosplay (I've never cosplayed even at Comic-Con), not to mention that the amount of characters I could pull off is limited, but it's fun to do. If I did Sailor Moon, I'm thinking maybe Sailor Pluto, one of my favorite senshi, or Sailor Jupiter, who I somewhat physically resemble. Technically, Mercury is my favorite senshi overall (Pluto being #2) but I've never really considered cosplaying as her. I guess it could work. Pluto and Jupiter work because I am tall and have long hair like them. Plus they are selling a really nice Garnet Rod at the aforesaid cosplay site, a lot nicer than my idea for a homemade one (making the key sides and the top with the orb in it and sticking them on a long broom handle). Other than that, I'm a little stuck for ideas; most of the female characters I can think of with my figure (5'8", 200+ lbs, with a chest) dress rather scantily, and I'm very uncomfortable about showing more skin than is necessary. The only option I can think of is Chun-Li from Street Fighter (I certainly have the thighs for it). Any suggestions are welcome.

Other than web stuff, I've been playing some video games. It's taking me forever to beat the second battle on Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love. I finally figured out how to beat the main battle, but I keep losing to the extremely powerful boss Kokuryu, who pilots the dragon-like robot Kusakage. I've played the battle 6 times. Maybe I'll get lucky sometime.

Okay I can't think of anything else to write. My parents will probably leave soon for their home Bible study, and when they do, I'm going to try to watch Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief downstairs where there's a DVD player (I can watch DVD's on my laptop, but I've found I enjoy watching DVDs on a TV screen I can sit far from more than watching them on the computer). Goodbye for now!

Back from Camping

My parents and I went camping this weekend at Onion Valley, a campground 9,200 feet up into the Inyo National Forest. My parents had been there before but I had never been. It's really pretty - there are mountains all around, lots of trees, and even three waterfalls - two of which we could see from our campsite (though only at certain angles - the trees hid them from some spots). Granted, such a rustic campsite was lacking in amenities, like showers and even running water (they had faucets to get water from, but even that water you were supposed to boil before using). It had toilets, but they did not flush. But that's a sacrifice one can make for a weekend. I do regret not being able to make it all the way on the hike we did yesterday on the Robinson Lake Trail - but even my parents admitted it was very strenuous, and they're experienced hikers (they hiked Mount Whitney, for goodness sake). The trail was flat at first, but for the most part, it's a VERY steep path straight up the mountain. I could not catch my breath for more than a minute. Just goes to show how out of shape I am!

Most of the time I read a book I was trying to finish - Negotiating Religious Faith in the Composition Classroom, edited by Elizabeth Vander Lei and Bonnie Lenore Kyburz. This was a book the WeRead app on Facebook recommended to me because I put in that I was reading the books I was reading for my Theory and Practice of K-12 Writing Instruction class. It is not light reading, and definitely will not make sense unless you are either a composition teacher or if you're like me and have taken both a class in writing instruction and a class in modern literary theory, in which case some of the theories and theorists they invoke will sound familiar. I did find the book interesting with its relatively balanced view on the subject of how to deal as a composition teacher with students whose religious faith affects the way they write. To be honest, I do not usually mention my faith in my school writing; the only essay I have done that in for university is the final essay I had to write for my Sacred Texts class, and that was comparing Islam and Christianity so it was inherently religious; however, I quoted both the Koran and the Bible to support my points. It was still interesting to see how the various authors of the different chapters had dealt with students of faith.

I did get some writing done as well for my novel, but not as much as I would've liked. Mostly that was because on the way up I did not have much room in the car so I couldn't do much. Even trying to play my DS (yes, I took my DS camping) was difficult. On the way back I had more room. I did quite a bit of writing then; in fact, it was the primary thing I did on the way back, other than talk with my parents, play a little Solitaire on my iPod, and read some of Kerry Nietz's book The Superlative Stream (the sequel to A Star Curiously Singing) via Kindle for iPhone while eating the snack I got at the gas station at Pearsonville, the one stop we made. I also did a fair amount of writing while at the campsite waiting for my parents to come back from hiking; this was after doing some reading and trying to complete the Charizard challenge in Pokémon Ranger (in my rush, I had to go and grab the harder Ranger game, the one I'm really stuck at!). I probably should've stuck to my other, easier game, Imagine: Interior Designer, which I played for the first time this weekend. That game is actually pretty fun; basically like all of the Imagine games, it's a simulation of an actual job. But unlike more general sim games like, well, The Sims, the Imagine series games are specifically targeted towards girls. Plus this game has much more of a plot than The Sims (I played the GBA version of The Sims: Bustin' Out, and half the time I didn't know what to do with myself, especially when my scooter somehow got stuck in some inaccessible place on the map). Basically, clients come to you asking for certain things. If you do them, you succeed and win various rewards, like unlocking different patterns or elements or the ability to decorate your display window. Actually, it's pretty easy to succeed since when you're doing a client's order, the game won't let you proceed if what you have doesn't match what the client wants. Plus, when a client asks for a painting, it doesn't have to be some big artistic masterpiece. (Often they just ask for a personalized painting, sometimes with certain stickers, so you're more or less free to do whatever). There is also a free workshop mode where you can create things either to display in your display window, share with friends via wi-fi, or use to decorate your own room when that option is unlocked. The workshops are Painting, Pottery (which lets you create vases and lamps), Frame (which lets you frame photos or paintings, including paintings you made in the Painting workshop; this is required if you want to put paintings in your display window or room), Furniture, Curtains, Surfaces (which lets you choose flooring, rugs, baseboards, crown molding, and colors for walls and ceilings), and Room Layout (which lets you arrange things in a room). At any rate, it was a nice switch from My World, My Way, which is taking forever to beat. I did sort of spoil myself on who the ultimate boss is and some other stuff from browsing a walkthrough. Oh well. Apparently, you have to have the darn adventurer guy reject you three times before you get to the end of the game, which means defeating three big baddies before you finally get to the last area. Almost makes you feel for this selfish brat of a princess you are playing as. Right now I am in the Snow Land, at Ice Field I think.

I am still having issues with my websites as far as displaying site updates goes. I decided to create site updates blogs for them using Wordpress, but I am having trouble figuring out how to get the recent posts to display. I tried using the code in this article to do it, but it didn't work the way it was supposed to, as you can see if you go to Myu Corner and then compare it to what is shown in that article. It seems like the only way to do it is through PHP, and perhaps because my site is not coded in PHP it won't work. I don't know for sure. I can possibly make it work for my writing site using a script called Livejournal Magpie, which is a script for displaying recent LiveJournal posts that was created by the same person who created Enthusiast (the popular fanlisting management script). I found out about this script from The Oracle, a popular Sailor Moon site, since it is used there for site updates. But for the others I don't know. You'd think Wordpress would've made a plugin for this or something. Maybe they have, I don't know. I couldn't find one.

In related news, I made a fan page for Myu Corner on Facebook soon after making the updates blog. After making the fan page and playing with it, I sent a message to Elly of Miss Dream to tell her and she fanned it (and friended me as well; I had found her name in the comments on the Miss Dream Facebook page to send the message). I also invited my friends who liked Sailor Moon to fan it (such as Amy-chan and Reilia-chan, my fellow LAR "bandmates," as well as a few others). I added a couple apps to it: Extended Info (which I found useful on my writing Facebook; it lets you add more info than the default categories Facebook gives you) and NetworkedBlogs so I could publish my blog posts to the page. I also added a widget to the updates blog that lets you translate the blog into as many languages as you specify, using Google Translate. Since the Sailor Moon fan community is rather international, I figured this would be a good idea. I specified the following languages:

-Arabic
-Catalan
-Chinese Simplified
-Chinese Traditional
-Danish
-Dutch
-Filipino
-Finnish
-French
-German
-Greek
-Hebrew
-Hindi
-Hungarian
-Indonesian
-Italian
-Japanese
-Korean
-Norwegian
-Portuguese
-Russian
-Swedish
-Thai

Basically, I tried to think of languages in which Sailor Moon aired, based on the "Sailor Moon multilanguage" videos I've seen on YouTube. I realize now that Danish and Hindi are probably unnecessary, maybe Hebrew also. The major European languages (French, German, Spanish, and Italian) were no-brainers since I know there are Sailor Moon fans who read in those languages. (Sailor Moon is particularly popular in Germany, even to this day, and they just recently got a right to redub it in Italy). Arabic is also a major language, so I included it; I don't know if there are Sailor Moon fans in Arab-speaking countries though. I put in Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish mainly because some company recently got redub rights to redub Sailor Moon in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Plus there was a Swedish dub back in the day. I believe there are Moonies (SM fans) in Russia too, or at least anime fans since I have seen several Russian anime sites. The major Asian languages - Japanese, Korean, Chinese (in both forms; Simplified is used in China proper and Traditional in Taiwan I believe), Indonesian, Filipino, and Thai - also made sense. (The Sailor Stars photo album I have was even made in Korea). Dutch was kind of an afterthought (there was a Dutch dub though) and probably Greek and Hungarian too. Catalan is a dialect of Castilian Spanish (the kind of Spanish they speak in Spain), but there was a Catalan dub of Sailor Moon so I included it. Portuguese is also a big one; its dub is often criticized on YouTube however in "multilanguage" clips. I actually accidentially offended someone the other day with my negative comments on the Portuguese dub and had to make that right. Anyway, I played around with this widget after I added it and it was actually kind of fun. Sometimes the Facebook "like" button under the posts (part of the Facebook widget I have on the blog, which is also how I display my "like box" for the Facebook page) doesn't show up, and in Hebrew (which is written right-to-left) the writing looks really different (this is also true for Arabic, for the same reason).

Well I feel kind of tired, probably because I got up early as I always do when I am camping. Maybe I'll work on my websites tomorrow, since when I called my work to get my schedule they said I was off the next two days. (Yay!) I do want to go to the San Diego County Fair before it's over, but I can't go tomorrow because they are closed. Maybe on Tuesday. You can get a $1.75 discount off admission if you take public transit and show a valid transit pass, which my Compass Card should count as although it's not explicitly stated on the fair's website. The best way I guess will be to take the Sprinter to Escondido and catch the shuttle from there. That won't take too long. I haven't been to the Fair the last couple years so I am eager to go this year. I've never been by myself either so that will be interesting. (I usually go with my parents because my dad works for a local radio station and can get tickets sometimes). If anything, I want to see the Flower and Garden Show, since that is always interesting; the Student Showcase at the Plaza de Mexico, which showcases school newspapers and yearbooks and stuff; and the Star Trek exhibit/performance thing they are having on the Sparkletts Infield. The website says you can bring your own food in, which I might do because the fair food is both expensive and fatty (stuff like funnel cake and every fried food you can think of). I also want to go on the rides since I have not gotten a chance to ever do so. You have to buy ride tickets for those though.

Ok I'm tired. I think I may have a light dinner and then go to bed (since I took a shower earlier, because I needed one after not having taken one Friday or Saturday night). Maybe there is something wholesome I can watch after watching Sailor Moon Abridged and some of Tamao108's dubbing, both of which I always feel a little bad about watching since they're noticeably dirty. Good night.

Oh P.S. I meant to say this last post but I forgot. You probably noticed I changed my blog theme! After 6 years, I did away with the old theme at last. This theme is called "Storyteller." I like it a lot!

P.P.S. [Post-Postscript] The day before we left for Onion Valley I got off work at 1pm since I switched shifts with my coworker Kim because she had school, and I missed the 1:30 bus so to pass the hour till the next one I went and looked at GameStop. And what should I find, preowned for $19.99 and in excellent condition, but: SAKURA WARS ~SO LONG, MY LOVE~! Sweet~! I bought it, naturally, even getting a couple bucks off by using my Edge card (which they told me expires next month...I guess I can't renew it without also renewing my "subscription" to Game Informer magazine, which is a pity since I don't really care for the magazine but do want the benefits of the card, like 10% off used games). So while I wasn't able to get the special artbook you were supposed to get if you preordered it from this site (since I tried three times but couldn't get the order to actually process any of those times), I have the game now.

Fame

I think deep down I have a desperate desire to be famous. Or maybe not that. I guess it's more a desire to be noticed and/or accepted. I used not to care as much, I think. Sure, I wanted friends and all as a kid, but I just sort of accepted that I wasn't popular and hung around mostly with the same people, like my best friend Amy and my other friends like Que and Nichelle. It's sort of like with my weight. I didn't worry about it until high school when Que bluntly pointed out that I needed to lose weight (probably because she was on Slim-Fast herself because of the muscle weight she had; but as a member of the tennis team she got a lot more exercise than me).

Even as far as fads go, I didn't care what other people thought about me not pursuing them. The only fad I fell for was Sanrio (aka Hello Kitty), which was popular when I was in fifth grade, aka the 1995-1996 school year. That was back when they had those cool pencil boxes with the things that would pop out the side (like pencil sharpeners). Sadly, I don't think Sanrio has those anymore.

But nowadays I think I am becoming more concerned about what people think of me. I don't know what triggered it. I guess it must be part of that awkward identity crisis that usually hits you in adolescence that waited till after high school to hit me. (My dad says we're both late bloomers). The birth order experts say firstborns are perfectionists, and that I definitely am. I think perfectionism might also be a trait of Scorpio (my zodiac sign) or of my Asperger Syndrome. So that trait is very dominant. I think my mom's kind of a perfectionist too, so maybe I get it from her (although generally I take after my dad).

Nowadays also I find myself going after things other people do to become known, on the net mainly. You would be surprised how many articles I've been reading on writing, SEO, web design, and Twitter lately. I've also tried to become popular on YouTube, without much success (except for one video that got over 18k views). Unfortunately, I've figured out there are only three ways to get popular on YouTube: vlogging, to already have a big online presence outside YouTube (which the big companies, people like Marriland and groups like the PotterCasters have), or upload clips of anime - either full episodes or short clips. Sailor Moon transformation and attack clips, either official or fan-made, are particularly popular (my 18k-view video was of the PGSM transformations and attacks with the audio from the English anime dub). But my lack of a video camera or webcam makes vlogging impossible, I don't have a big online presence (and haven't figured out how to get one), and YouTube's copyright things make the last difficult (and I've had four accounts get suspended due to unintentional copyright infringement, so I know the risks).

Yet all of that shouldn't matter, right? There are more important things to worry about in life. Yet I find myself vying for popularity online and daydreaming about being on Jeopardy and American Idol, even though my chances of getting on either are slim - for AI I'd more likely wait for 14 hours to sing in front of producers for 30 seconds, like what happened to my former coworker Alex at the San Diego auditions a couple years ago. I could possibly do Jeopardy though, or Wheel of Fortune.

Maybe Dr. Feder was right. Maybe I do need cognitive behavior therapy. Because if I am going to beat this, I'm going to have to change how I think, and that's very hard to do.

I'm going to go now and blow off some steam playing my DS before work.

Finished at 12:25 pm iPod time

-- Posted from BlogPress

Period & frustration

Finished at 11:22 am 6/18/10

My period started today. I always hate when it starts on a work day because I would much rather stay at home, since on my first day I feel very restless. Since I don't get debilitating cramps like some people -- just discomfort which a single ibuprofen can usually deal with -- I can't call in sick, and I am not one of those people who calls in sick when I'm not sick. Even if my allergies are bad and I'm all sneezy and sniffly, I go to work if I am scheduled. The only times I call in sick are if I have a fever or the stomach flu or something like that. (I do get the stomach flu sometimes, though very randomly. The last time it was really bad...but I'll spare you that story).

I have been feeling very restless lately. All I've wanted to do is use my laptop in mindless zombie mode (where I do nothing but mindlessly watch YouTube clips or scroll through forum posts without posting anything myself) or play my DS. I did get some writing done, and on my days off (Monday and Tuesday) I managed to go places -- to The Wave (a local waterpark) on Monday and to Balboa Park (a park in San Diego where they have lots of museums, gardens, and a zoo known worldwide for its pandas) on Tuesday. But the energy I had to work on my websites last week has gone bye-bye. All my workdays for the past two weeks I've come home tired but with somehow enough energy to stay up till midnight. I did manage to go to bed at 10 the night before last, but I was still tired. Where has my energy gone?

I also have decided to try learning to draw manga. I bought a sketchbook from work and got a couple books on drawing manga from the library to supplement the two I already have. I had an idea to do a story called "Enchanted Supermarket" about a supermarket whose employees all have magic powers. I was going to set it in Japan because it was manga and their supermarkets aren't that different from ours, but Elly from Miss Dream (who knows about the manga because I posted asking for help about what "enchanted" would be in Japanese) said she wouldn't mind seeing a American manga set in America that didn't try to be Japanese. That made me think that maybe I would set it in America after all. After all, I think Tomo (a Christian manga) is set in San Francisco. And the manga I got an omnibus of from Comic-Con last year, Amazing Agent Luna, was Western-set too (and by a Western author). I suppose I could look into some of the Rising Stars of Manga winners' work, like Peach Fuzz and Sorcerers and Secretaries.

I hope I can get over this malaise. It's driving me crazy. Maybe I need to exercise-- play Wii Fit, take a walk, or go swim in the neighborhood pool. I felt good after going to The Wave and to Balboa Park, and one involved swimming and the other a lot of walking. It might help.

Well bye for now. I'm going to read A Wizard of Earthsea, continue the adventures of Elise in my DS game My World, My Way, or talk to my coworker Adam while I wait for the bus to work.


-- Posted from BlogPress

Releasing nervous energy

I'm having another of those days where I have a lot of nervous energy that needs to be channeled in some way. I tried playing the seemingly endless game My World, My Way (whose initial storyline is 10 gameplay hours long -- the rest is basically a repeat of the initial storyline). I tried to work on my novel but drew a blank. I read more of Suite Scarlett, one of the books I got from the library. But it's not holding my interest, maybe because it reminds me a lot of The Devil Wears Prada, a book (and movie) that I didn't care that much for.

But then I haven't started work yet. Maybe once I do I'll calm down. I didn't really have time to chill this morning like I have had these last two weeks where I've had 1-6 shifts, because today was election day for the state primaries, so I got up early to go vote before work. Then, since it was still early, I went to school to pick up the books I requested over the Circuit (a library borrowing system that links the major local university libraries as well as the county library system in one big network, allowing you to request books from any of the libraries in the network). Then I sat down for a few moments and checked my e-mail and stuff on my iPod. Then I went to the computer lab to search the catalog for books on drawing, a skill I've decided to improve. This ended with me going to the San Marcos Library (one train stop away) and picking up two books on drawing manga, even though I actually own two books on this already.

Why do I want to learn to draw all the sudden? Probably to blow off steam about my disastrous Graphic Design class (where, despite the teacher thinking my final project seemed "half-done," I somehow managed to get a B). More likely, it's just because I'm bored. Since I'm not taking classes this summer, all I'm doing is working pretty much. And honestly, that gets boring after a while, even if I am only working 5-hour shifts right now. These 1-6 shifts aren't ideal, since that's right about the time whatever energy I had in the morning is ebbing away.

I had planned to work on my websites this summer, but I'm not as motivated to do that as I was. Maybe that's because I've been pretty tired lately.

I did put in to get the last weekend in June off to go camping with my family. Hopefully I'll get it and get a break, since my vacation (which I also put in for yesterday) isn't till the end of July. Plus I found out I get two weeks of vacation this year so I need to figure out what to do with the second week. Plus I'd like to get a hotel at least for the Comic-Con days, but it might be too late, and I can't afford the official ones. But it would be easier than taking the train up each day and having to get a ride back.

Ok I'm going to go. I've got to clock in in 15 minutes.

(finished at 12:45pm)

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