ANTI SOCIAL LIFE

Lately I have been quite depressed and just don't feel like doing anything. I've been watching animes frequently just to keep my mind busy, but sometimes I just don't feel ... alive. Maybe I'm tired from consecutive days of working, and most possibly drained by different kinds of trials going on in my life right now. My boyfriend said that I'm probably all burned out, and perhaps I need to go out with people.


And so, despite being post 24-hours duty (and pre 24-hours duty, as I'm working again tomorrow), I decided to get out of the house for a change. Today's a local holiday, since it's our city's Charter Day, so some of my friends don't have work. So I called up Gervie (a bank employee) and Don (a university professor) and we decided to hang out in the afternoon to have a drawing session. I was encouraging both of them to participate in the local comic convention come October, since they are both gifted artists and it's quite a shame for their talents to go to waste. Gervie started sketching panels while Don did some anatomy studies. I tried to make character designs for my story, but ended up making a fanart...

" I am Reisys V. Felicity Sumeragi. KEKEKE~ "

It's another sketch done with a ballpoint pen. Because of my current melancholic state, I'm also in some kind of an artist slump. (Although technically I don't really consider myself worthy to be called an artist. Not yet, anyway.) I just finished the anime Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai last night and surprisingly found it quite enjoyable. It's very funny and dealt with a group of anti-social characters whom I can somewhat relate to. My most favorite character is Hasegawa Kobato, a cosplaying middle school kid who is the sister of the main protagonist. I thought I'd make a fanart of her, and although I kinda messed up on this, but it was a fun experience drawing her. And talking with Gervie and Don regarding drawings, animes, our common interests and random stuffs somewhat uplifted my mood.


Then around 5pm, I left the boys and went to an outing with my discipleship group from church. I didn't really want to go swimming with them, and initially tried to squirm my way out by making some excuses to our leader. But I kinda felt bad about it, knowing that they were totally looking forward to the event, and so I changed my mind and went. It was perhaps our group's first time to actually go to someplace really different, and when we got there, I was amazed by the beautiful view...

It was a private hilltop compound overlooking the city, and at one side is an infinity pool! I didn't know we have such a lovely place within our city! We chitchatted, had a sumptuous dinner, and then our leader shared to us a message by Pastor Craig Groeschel about praying boldly to God, like what the first Christians did. "What you pray for reflects what you believe about God." I found it to be a very powerful and encouraging message, and would like to share the video link [HERE], that it may bless you as much as it has spoken to all members of my d-group.


After that, we took a lot of pictures and some of the girls went for a night swim. As I am not particularly fond of getting myself wet, so I didn't join them in the pool. I still got wet though, cos it was so dark and I accidentally stepped into the catch basin for the water. Got my Chucks soaked, boo.

I had fun today. And though my circumstances in life have not changed one bit and my heart still feels heavy, but I have my God and He gave me friends.


I know I will be okay. (^u^)

SPRING 2012 IS HERE! 

[ click image for full view! ]
chart source: The Rewards of an Anime Fan 

It's one of those most wonderful times of the year when I stare for a long time on a visual chart and ponder deeply. Yes~ Being the hoarder that I am, I do plan ahead on which anime titles to download for the season. And as pathetic as this may sound, but I actually base my initial choices on the images on these visual charts. If I like what I see, then there's a good chance I might download it. Then I read the descriptions, check out the studios responsible for the production, and if I'm in the mood, maybe even seek other resources like ANN,  wikipedia, or anime review sites (i.e. Random Curiosity and Squidoo). Once I gather and process all my data, I proceed in making my list (and checking it twice! ^o~).

For Spring 2012, I've read that quite a number of otakus think that it has not much to offer. I somewhat agree as I'm not really interested in majority of the animes. This makes me glad though cos this would mean that I will download less, and (hopefully) watch backlogs more.

For continuity's sake, I am definitely picking up the second seasons for Fate/Zero, Kimi to Boku, Phi-Brain -Kami no Puzzle- and flash-turned-TV-animation Haiyore! Nyaruko-san. Also getting a sure spot in my list is Hiiro no Kakera, which is based on the popular otome game by Idea Factory, the same team who brought us Hakuouki. I expect the anime graphics will not be as awesome as the game, but I'm still keeping my hopes up that it will have a great story. In contrast, I am very much looking forward to the excellent visuals of Production I.G.'s Shining Hearts - Shiawase no Pan- and KyoAni's Hyouka. I will also be getting Zetman cos my friend highly recommends the manga, and Sankarea simply because I like the girl with the umbrella. 

Keeping my download list short(?) with these NINE titles, though I might also check out the gag shows Shirokuma Cafe and Gakkatsu! and maybe the first few episodes of Jormungand, Medaka Box, Accel World, Tasogare Otome x Amnesia and noitaminA's Tsuritama to see if I will like them enough to follow. 

For movies, OVAs, extras and such, I will be keeping an eye out for  Kimi ni Iro Machi OVA, Another episode 0, UN-GO episode 0, Rurouni Kenshin: Shin Kyoto-hen OVA, Sacred Seven: Shirogane no Tsubasa and the extra episodes for Fate/Extra, C3, Kobato, Thermae Romae, and Prince of Tennis. Not in this chart but also slated for a spring release are the promising anime movies Space Battleship Yamato 2199, S-CRY-ED Alteration II Quan,  Gothicmade - Hana no Utame, Momo e no Tegami by Production I.G., and Deva Zan the film directorial debut of THE Yoshitaka Amano.

*whew!* So, those are my Spring 2012 picks. How about you!? (^w^)

THERMAE ROMAE

I must admit that when I saw this image as part of the Winter 2012 line-up, I didn't bother to give it a second look.

But today, when I saw this trailer, I changed my mind!

So I immediately looked it up, and learned that Thermae Romae is an award winning manga by Yamazaki Mari that has spawned a three-episode anime and this upcoming movie to be released on April 28, 2012. The casting for the live action adaptation includes veteran actor Abe Hiroshi and pop celebrity Ueto Aya. It tells the story of a Roman architect named Lucius Modestus who hasn't been successful with his designs. One day, he visits a public bath, and somehow got trapped in an underwater hole and then transported to a bath house in 20th century Japan. He then uses these modern ideas to build his own bathing facility.

A hilarious story about bath houses and time travel -- why am I not at all surprised that this epic piece is from Japan!? \(^o^)/ Abe Hiroshi's multiple facial expressions in that trailer are absolutely priceless! I literally laughed out loud! Once my no-new-download month is over, I will definitely put this on top of my queue list.

UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS

I am the bone of my sword

Unknown to death, nor known to life

Unlimited Blade Works!!!

Archer, voiced by Suwabe Junichi, also the seiyuu for Uta*Pri Ren~ ♥   

To kick off My Manic Month of March (yes, that's what I decided to call it!), I picked Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works as the first anime for this month. Just finished watching it, and because I'm diligent today, I'm making another blog post! ヽ (＾▽＾)ノ

First of all, I'm no Fate/stay night fan. I have never played the game, do not really care about the story, and pretty much got bored with the animated series. Emiya Shirou isn't exactly my definition of a strong/likable character (in fact he was downright weak and annoying IMO), and I'm also not particularly fond of tsunderes like Saber and Rin. I did like Archer and Rider in the series, but they were killed off, so that was a real bummer. The Unlimited Blade Works movie was released early of last year, and as I have just learned from reading Wiki, is actually the second branching storyline of the game, which you can unlock after finishing the first scenario.

I love Shirou x Rin!!! ^w^

The movie is only around 105 minutes long, so everything was concise and fast-paced. At first it started off like the TV series, but later on the plot veers off into a more action-packed and satisfying course. We get to see more of Archer (yehey!), less of Saber (yehey!), and more solid character and relationship developments for Shirou, Rin and Lancer. Then there's that "heartwrenching" scene of Gilgamesh fighting Berserker and Illya, and epic battles between Archer x Shirou, and Shirou x Gilgamesh. Fanboys might be disappointed because of minimal Matou Sakura air time, but will be generously compensated with separate fanservice scenes by Saber and Rin. The quality of the animation is impressive. I watched the movie with hardly any expectation, and was surprised to find it highly entertaining and enjoyable. Fans of the game are probably even more delighted.

Decided to do a quick sketch while watching it to commemorate me finishing the movie. So, yah. （*´▽｀*）

...And this is the part where I throw a bowl at the enemy, and was rewarded with sparkling sakura petals from Okita-kun~❤

Simultaneouly watching the Hakuouki anime while playing the PSP game. （´∀｀）

I can't decide which Shinsengumi captain to choose... can you!?

VELTPUNCH + STAR TREK

I was at the mall earlier, waiting for my Mom, while watching students playing at the arcade. There was this guy on Drum Mania, and he kinda sucked in playing (teehee~ ^o^), but what caught my attention was that he chose the song CRAWL by VELTPUNCH. I immediately had a feeling of recognition, and then, when I heard it....

... ZOMGWTF it's the opening song for NABARI NO OU!!!!

Why is that song on Drum Mania!?!? I absolutely LOVE that song!!!! After seeing the opening theme once or twice, I usually skip them when I watch anime episodes. But this is another OP which I'd sit through and even sing along to. I like it that much!!! (And remind me to look up Veltpunch's discography!) Sadly, I can't say the same for the anime, which I started watching last 2010, but still haven't finished the last 4 episodes until now. It's not that bad, but I thought it has sooooooooo much potential, yet somehow just fell short to become a big disappointment.

It took me a while to recover from my excitement, after which, for the lack of better things to do, my Mom and I went to a hair salon so I can get a haircut. I decided to have some bangs again (since I really liked my new bangs before) and asked the stylist to trim my hair at shoulder level. I must say, like all my previous haircuts, that it was another bad experience. My first thought was, "OMG. I look like I just got off the set of Star Trek!" followed by "OMG. My hair is too short! Just a few more inches and I'll look like 猪大哥!!!" TAT 

Ate, what part of my chin is called shoulder-length!?! ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

My Mom was so surprised (horrified!?) that the only thing she could say was, "Ah.. well, a new look is good too..." TAT *sigh* I keep telling myself that it will eventually grow back anyway. For now, I guess I'm stuck with this Star Trek look.

~ BEAUTIFUL STORY ~

If you are familiar with the popular franchise Densha Otoko, then you might also be familiar with Getsumen to Heiki Mina, the anime spin-off from the TV drama series. If I recall correctly, in the height of my Densha Otoko x Mina days, I blogged something about it here.... hmm... here it is! (interspersed within an ultra-long rant about random stuffs XDXDXD) Well, it took me a while to finally get my hands on a copy of the 11-episode anime, and even a longer time to watch it. I just finished it this morning. Yay!!! /(^o^)/


Getsumen to Heiki Mina is about a high school girl / TV announcer named Tsukuda Mina, who transforms into a supergirl (miina) and battles sports-obsessed alien rabbits alongside other miinas. (Yes! You heard me right. These are alien rabbit mutations that will literally kill for their favorite sports game TAT). The plot is nothing special, and may even be downright ridiculous, but what I love about the story is the pure and determined nature of Mina. The other characters are also likable, even the comical Mutsumune Escartin (who is the recurring butt-of-all-jokes in the series). I just wished we could have seen more of the other miinas and known their backgrounds, but I guess 11 episodes are just not enough for more character development. Thankfully, they made brief cameos in the final episode, so I guess I should be contented with that. And yes, I was particularly satisfied with the last two episodes, which served as the climax of the story. Mina finally realizes what she must do in her life and accepts her fate. I also realized that as cliché as that may sound, it actually got me to shed a tear or two. >__<


Another thing that I really really REALLY LIKE about this anime is that the character designs are made by one of my most favorite artists, Okama!!! His other works include the designs for the animes Kamichu!, Himawari!, Gunbuster 2 and many others. He is also the artist for the manga Cloth Road, and is the costume designer for the Wii game No More Heroes (which is quite an interesting game, but sadly, I do not own a Wii console. TAT) I really love his style, and the soft colors of his illustrations. See more of his wonderful illustrations <<< HERE >>>.

With that, I'll end this post with the ending theme of the series which is filled with Okama's pretty drawings!

Here's Beautiful Story, by Marina Inoue, the seiyuu for Tsukuda Mina/Tsukishiro Miina. 

ENJOY!!! \(^w^)/

TiME LEAP AND FEEDBACK


★ Maybe everything you wished for won't become stars.
But if you have a dream to believe in,
They'll be thousands of the most glittering jewels in the night sky... ★

[Rabid Fangirl Rant Ahead. You Have Been Warned.]

GUILTY PLEASURE

"Fall in love with me. Love me ten times, twenty times as fiercely as you do now, until you can't bear to be away from me..."


I was supposed to post this last month, but this entry somehow got delayed. Well, recently I've been indulging on something that's atrocious, shameless and wicked... and before you read any further, let me just warn you that this entry might not appeal to the general public. So read at your own risk (I guess...) and let me tell you the story of...

How I've been whisked into the world of Boys Love.

MATSUMOTO JUN IS A DIRECTOR!?!

About a week ago, I was browsing some random blog when I chanced upon the writer's entry on the anime, Senkou no Night Raid. She said that it was being directed by Matsumoto Jun. I went totally berserk! WTF!?! He's not only a freakin' F4/Arashi boy but also an anime director!? I was so impressed that I just had to tell my boyfriend. He was skeptical about it, but he believes just about anything I say. ♥ ♥ ♥

Well tonight, I was browsing through ANN when I caught MatsuJun's name again. Curious, I clicked on his link and came across a whole bunch of animes that were credited under him...

Digimon... Ghost In The Shell... Persona...

WAIT A FRIGGIN' MINUTE!? THAT'S A DIFFERENT MATSUMOTO JUN!?!!!! XD

Well, that's just so typical of me to not think at all and simply jump into crazy conclusions. ^_______^

P.S.
Well, since I brought up the topic of MatsuJun then I'll just say something about him (the REAL Arashi/F4 MatsuJun!!! XD). Apparently he did a drama with Takeuchi Yuko this year entitled Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku, which translates to Summer Romance Shines in Rainbow Color. I am so excited about this 10-episode romantic comedy that if I had a better internet connection now, I'd immediately download this instantly right away! (notice the redundancy and the extravagant use of adverbs.. that's just how excited I am! XD) They even received several awards for this drama. I'm definitely putting this on top of my (very long) queue list! :)

ANIME-TURNED-MOVIES TO DEFINITELY WATCH OUT FOR!


I was browsing through the net when I chanced upon these yummy trailers!



This is the live action movie for the music-themed anime BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. Although I haven't seen the anime yet, but a friend has recommended this to me. And I'm also looking forward to it because Mizushima Hiro's on it. He's cute. :)
Judging from the anime, this slice-of-life movie will probably be about peer relationships and personal triumphs. And yes, it will have A LOT of music in it too. XD




This next one's still set for 2011 but I'm so excited for this live action movie of Gantz. I've only read the first chapter of the manga, and haven't seen the anime yet, but this one was also highly recommended to me. And I think I'll like this because it's psycho-suspense, and I'm a sucker for that. ^^

This live movie is uber-loaded with bishies, starting with Hongo Kanata whom we all remember as the cute kid in Moonchild who grew up to be the Prince of Tennis; Matsuyama Kenichi, this rising talented idol whom we loved as L and Krausser; and my Arashi luv, Ninomiya Kazunari, who never fails to brighten up my day with his boyish grin. He was great by the way in the Hollywood movie, Letters From Iwo Jima. That movie's packed with a lot of wonderful Japanese actors, and directed by no less than Clint Eastwood himself, and it's something I'll recommend if you're into war movies.




And last but definitely not the least is my most awaited movie for this year, the live movie version of Kimi ni Todoke!!! ^_________^ I've been soOoOoOOooooOOO high on the anime when it was airing, and soOoOoOOooooOOO high on the anime even when it ended, and just when I am starting to move on from my Kazehaya-fandom, we get this movie!!! I thought the girls who play Sawako and Kurumi are really cute, and they do kinda look like the characters. At first I was really surprised (but not disappointed) that Miura Haruma was cast as Kazehaya-kun. I know he's a great actor and has even downloaded all of his dramas, but I think his face has a really strong expression, and he's always been acting tough guy roles (i.e. Bloody Monday, Koizora, Gokusen 3, Crows Zero II etc). But when I viewed the trailer (over and over and over...), I realized that he can look soOoOoOOooooOOO sweet as well!! I can't wait for him to show my ultra-favorite shy/embarrassed Kazehaya-look! And doesn't Miura Haruma, in some angles, kinda remind you of Gackt? Haaaayyy, I am so in love. And I am just so ecstatic! I can't wait for September 25 (and for the day when it finally gets subbed!!!).

Haaaayyy. I think I'm just soOoOoOOooooOOO happy. :3

On a side note, I've also browsed through some ongoing/upcoming korean dramas. Ate Yeyen has fangirl-ed over Coffee House so I'll think I'll add that to my watch list. And then she's also watching My Girlfriend is a Nine Tailed Fox and it looks like something that's so much fun (plus the pretty Shin Min Ah's playing the fox!), so I think I'll add that to my list as well. I'm also looking forward to Playful Kiss, the k-drama version of Itazura Na Kiss/It Started With A Kiss! (which is my 2nd favoritest manga-turned-anime-turned-multiple-drama-versions, next to HanaDan). Kim Hyun Joong gets the main lead, and I don't know if he can act, but I guess it's not much different from his Boys Over Flowers role. But truly, surely, definitely, I will be watching this!!! ^___^

WAR OF THE GODS


I recently got interested in Norse Mythology because of two things:

Neil Gaiman's American Gods

and

Matantei Loki Ragnarok

American Gods is a novel that tells the tale of Shadow, an ex-con who was recently paroled and found himself working for the mysterious Mr Wednesday, and got caught in a war between the old gods and the modern day gods. I'm not very familiar with myths and legends from around the world, and I'm sure one who is well versed on this topic can further appreciate this bestselling novel. Despite my lack of knowledge, I still enjoyed reading about the characters and discovering their secrets as the story unfolded. I love the side stories inserted in between and the clever plot twist in the end. It is after all a Neil Gaiman novel, and you can't expect anything less from the master storyteller himself!

Now as I was finishing the book, for the lack of other useful things to do, I started watching Matantei Loki Ragnarok (aka Mythical Detective Loki). I thought it was the appropriate anime to watch at that time. I was impressed by the opening theme but was initially bored during the first few episodes. I grew up feeding on Nancy Drew books and immensely enjoy detective stories, but I just didn't quite get the hang of this anime. It was on episode 8 when I found out about the secret identity of Yamino-kun that I finally sat up and started taking interest on the crazy relationships between the characters. And then on episode 13, this guy came along...

... and my world changes... <3

Matantei Loki Ragnarok is the story of the trickster god Loki who was cast away from the realm of the gods and sent here on earth in a young boy's body. In order to go back, he has to collect evil auras, and so he opens a detective agency that deals with the paranormal. As the story progresses, more and more gods cross over to this world to stop Loki from achieving his goal.

Now I don't really have a thing for shotas, but characters with alter egos sometimes attract me (well, especially if the other side of the coin is a yummy bishounen *hearts!*). Loki (in shota form) somewhat reminds me of Niwa Daisuke from D.N.Angel and love of my life Li Shaoran from Card Captor Sakura. Most of the time Loki just appears in his kiddie form, but I really get excited over rare scenes where he gets to show us his charming, mischievous side, such as this...

<3 <3 <3!!!

The series ended at 26 episodes, and although I didn't really expect much from this anime, but I would have wanted more yummy-licious Loki. Hahay. Now I have to hit the books (and wikipedia) and do more readings on myths and stuffs, just so I'll be a little bit more wiseass than I was yesterday.

REACHING YOU (and my goals...)

Although it has minimized a bit, I must admit that my Kimi Ni Todoke flames of fandom still hasn't died out yet.
*points at blog lay-out* See!?!

For my Nokia 5000, I use a pic of Kazehaya as wallpaper (so I can perpetually stare at his loving smile<3).
For my Sony Ericsson G605, I'm using this:

I love this picture!

Everytime I look at this image, a lot of thoughts run through my mind. What is Kazehaya thinking while his arms are wrapped around Sawako? We know he's possessive and all, and here we see him acting really boldly and playfully. There is a hint of satisfaction and smugness in his smile, yet he's also blushing as if really shy. Look at those long arms and big hands. Is he hugging her tightly or holding her loosely? What on earth is he thinking!?!

And Sawako... What is she thinking right now? We can see that she's a bit of in shock, probably from embarrassment or surprise. Her eyes are wide with disbelief, is she fearful, or just naive that she's too happy where she is? Her arms are held up. Is that a sort of defensive move or was she just caught unaware when Kazehaya grasped her from behind? And that stray strand of hair atop her head (ahoge FTW!), did she take a bath this morning!? x___x

These are some of the questions I like to think about whenever I stare at this wallie. I think I'll keep this image for some time on my phone. Right now, I still haven't found a new anime too go crazy over, although I am currently following Kaichou wa Maid-sama, which is also really fun and Usui is mucho delicioso. I also recently finished The Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas and Himawari, underrated animes which I believe deserve more attention and love from otakus. Among so many other titles, I'm downloading Bakemonogatari right now, which I think will be a real feast since I love animes with interesting and unusual plots. *sigh* I wish I have more time to watch animes. The to-watch list just keeps getting longer and longer, but I'm not using my spare time wisely. I have to be more firm in reaching my goals, or else I'll be stuck with a whole lot of videos which I couldn't possibly finish watching in this lifetime.

OUR COUNTRY NEEDS AN ALLY OF JUSTICE! BRING IN ... IRON MAN! XD

I was working alone this morning cos my partner Lloyd went to CDO last night so that he could vote early today. When he got back around noon, it was my turn to hurry off and catch a bus ride home so that I too could exercise my right of suffrage. I thought I would not be able to join this year's election but I really wanted to support G1BO. I really hope he wins cos it would be such a waste if we let the chance for him to lead us just simply slip by. I really pray he will win. May God bless our country.

I got home around 3pm, and after a quick meal, my mother took me to the public school in Nazareth which served as our voting precinct. My parents already got me my priority number and details in the morning so when I got there, all I had to do was simply show them my card and I was quickly ushered in. They looked me up in their list, saw my name (and old pic!), and made me sign on their registry. Then they gave me the ballot and a smartmatic marker. I already had a list ready in hand to make the whole process easier. As I shaded in number 8 for idol G1BO, I felt my heart swell and a warm sense of pride filled me. His name was the only one I wanted to choose, I really couldn't care less about the rest. After I finished and rechecked my choices, I stood up and inserted in my ballot into the PCOS machine and got the congratulatory message. I thought of pocketing the smartmatic marker just for the heck of it. It could prove useful in marking my CDs. But one of the ladies took it from me and ushered me back to the front desk, where I impressed my thumb mark on their master list. Then they dropped this huge blob of indelible ink on my index finger, so now it's all purple.

It's really better automated. Prior to election day, I've heard a lot of negative criticisms about the new system and how it will probably flop, but I've always thought that things would work out fine. Of course there may be a few glitches, but I think it was OK overall. Thank God for that! However, I thought the phrase "Vote for not more than one" in the ballot was quite confusing. Why didn't they just write "Vote ONE only"?

Afterwards, my mother and I went to Divisoria to buy cake and ice cream and ensaymada. Today is my parents' 29th wedding anniversary and it was also one of the reasons I came home today. (Well I wanted to go home yesterday for Mothers Day too, but sadly, I couldn't get away from work.) We went home to get my father, then we had dinner at Rai Rai Ken. We then parted ways cos I wanted to watch a movie, but they needed to go home to catch their favortie TV Soap (er.. NO, NOT Agua Bendita XD).

So yey!, I finally got to watch Iron Man 2! My mother told me earlier that it wasn't really that good but I didn't want to be swayed by her opinion! And after seeing the film, I beg to disagree!!! Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark is absolute ♥ ♥ ♥!  I really enjoyed his crazy antics, his superior attitude, and his egotistical speech (I have successfully privatized world peace! (^o^)v). While he might have acted foolishly and arrogantly and narcissistically in the beginning (which by the way are his appealing traits XD), I just simply love how his character grows in the end. I think he's my most favorite comic-turned-live-movie superhero.

I was a bit disappointed though to find that Terrence Howard did not reprise his role as Rhodey. Don Cheadle did a great job, but I somehow found it awkward to see a different face for a well loved character (*also think Maria Bello in Mummy 3* =___=). I do wish they made the final battle between Ivan Vanko and Iron Man longer and even more action packed. I somewhat felt that the genius Russian physicist needs more screen time to literally lash out his fury and vengeance. Lastly, I was also hoping they would further build up the relationship of Tony and Pepper, but maybe that would be asking for too much cheese. XD It was overall satisfying though, and I was immensely entertained. After all, who wouldn't be captivated over THIS!?! ^____^

YUMMY!!! =P

I grabbed a grande cup of Espresso Crumble at Bo's before getting a ride home. I dropped by Divisoria again and gave in to the temptation of buying some DVDs. *sheepish* My spoils for the day are: Spiral, Hana Yori Dango, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, and the Taiwanese drama  Legend of Brown Sugar Chivalries. More backlogs to watch! XD

I feel very happy today cos I got home to unwind, but tomorrow it's back to the gloomy hospital life again.

OH WHY, OH WHY...

... DO YOU HAVE TO BE ...

... SO DAMN ...

... HOT!?! ...

New Bishie TAKUMI USUI from Kaichou wa Maid-sama ...
Bishie Luv coming right at yah! <3<3<3

FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU . . . ALL OVER AGAIN

I just finished watching Ranma 1/2 : Akumu Shunminko, which is a Weekly Shonen Sunday 50th Anniversary Celebration Special. The artwork is a bit different from the series, and somehow I feel that Ranma (girl vesion) just grew bigger boobs. XD But right now all I can do is simply make a deep satisfied sigh and grin with much pleasure. I would have actually preferred a different ending which gives more emphasis on the love-love aspect, but I know that would be expecting too much from two of the most stubborn anime characters in history. XD

Just a brief overview of this anime special: Due to some accident, Akane falls into a deep sleep, although she is still "awake" physically. As she is making these random weird dreams, in reality however, she is reacting to her surroundings. Well, mostly she’s just leaving behind a path of destruction. And like a typical Ranma 1/2 episode, everyone joins in to make the situation really crazy. My heart was greatly overjoyed to see all the familiar faces, but mostly I was just thrilled to be staring into the handsome face of my Ran-chan.<3 I mean who wouldn’t go crazy over this...

*droooooool...*

This was when he suddenly turned his head in surprise, and was also when I felt my world stop for a split second.
He is just so... MANLY. <3 *swoons*

I know it’s plain crazy to call an “otoko onna” (boy-girl) MANLY, but ever since I laid my eyes on my Ranma, I can only describe him as such. The many expressions on his face, the broad shoulders, the strong muscles on his back just make me wanna reach out and touch him the TV screen. I almost forgot what it felt like to be so in love with my Ran-chan, but now I just fell madly in love with him all over again! This silly fan girl in me is that foolish indeed!

Hahaaaayyy... \(>w<)/

RANDOM-NESS!

I just got back from Malaybalay City. I have just ONE DAY to do a bunch of stuffs before I leave for Camiguin again on Wednesday. I need to do the following tomorrow (in no particular order):
- watch Clash of the Titans
- drop by PRC to get my license (note to self: MUST WEAR SHOES!)
- go to the bank, pay bills
- visit the dressmaker and have new smock gowns made
- blog, internet
- pack bags/prepare for work
- etc...

I hope I'll be able to accomplish all of these tomorrow. I tend to slack off and waste time, but unfortunately, time is not a leisure I can enjoy. Somehow, time passes so fast when I'm engrossed with work. I do enjoy earning my money, but I often wish I had more time to do things for myself, like blog and watch my DVDs and read my books, and more time to spend with my parents. Seems like I never get anything done lately. Reading Chi's blog entry about her allotting time for reading books and watching DVDs inspires me to do the same, although with my schedule, I just don't know how to do it. I actually have work scheduled until the end of May(!) already, though hopefully I might get a few days off and go to Manila(?)... Nyehehe, I'm not so sure yet.



Recently watched a bunch of Hollywood movies which I borrowed from Mam Cha, and also finished some animes. Currently I'm watching two Taiwanese dramas, THE ROSE and SUMMER x SUMMER. both are actually manga-based, and both coincidentally stars Joe Cheng. I like him and all but just can't bear to watch him play other roles besides Jiang Zhi Shu in It Started With A Kiss. Both series are actually quite OK, though I'm still on episode 8 of The Rose, and episode 3 of Summer x Summer. Well, more about these dramas next time.

I am currently quite stressed because I gave away my copy of Hakushaku to Yosei (Earl and Fairy) but realized that I don't have my own copy. Then I threw out my anime copy of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge (Perfect Girl Evolution aka The Wallflower) cos I thought it was damaged, only to realize that I don't know where to get another copy and cannot find a site to download it from. I haven't watch both animes and I want these so badly for my collection and so I feel pretty distressed. Right now I cannot think straight because of these concerns. Or maybe I'm just too sleepy already.

To end this pointless entry, here's a really nice PV by supercell (recommended by Yume). It's the ending theme for Bakemonogatari, another great anime which I still have to procure.



And now I will sleep.

NEW LOOK. SAME OLD ME.
ephemerality: a piffle princess story version 8.0

I finally decided to take the time to change my blog lay-out. I've been meaning to do this for quite some time but has always been procrastinating. I can't understand HTML at all so changing the lay-out has always been a painful task which pretty much involved a lot of guesswork. But this time I merely conformed to blogger's custom templates, took a nice pic and edited in text using MS Paint (I still don't know how to use Photoshop, fufufufu...T__T), and with a little bit of tweaking ended up with this.

TA-DAH!!! >___< I must admit, it's really nothing to be proud of, or worth complimenting. But you can be proud of one thing: that I've finally returned to my blog after bumming around for 6 months, and you can compliment for another: because I am simply the most beautiful creature on earth... Or perhaps the most senseless. XD So anyway, back to the lay-out... The banner features Kuronuma Sawako and Kazehaya "Love of My Life" Shota from the recently ended anime, Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You). It's been a while since I've been fixated over an anime series, and KimiTodo simply knocked me silly and giddy with all the Kuronuma x Kazehaya Love *hearts* so I just simply had to feature them! I got this image from the first volume of the manga.

As for the title... I was searching for a word that would connote something that's only impermanent and fleeting, since I don't really intend to stick with this lay-out for so long (well, it really depends on my procrastination powers, so I don't want to raise your hopes up yet...). Found the word "EPHEMERAL" in Thesaurus.com and supposed that I liked the sound of it. I initially planned to combine it with other words and ended up with titles like, "Ephemeral Phase" and "Road to Ephemerality" but none of them sounded quite right. Eventually I decided to keep it short and simple, and so I just went with the word, Ephemerality.

This is apparently the 8th lay-out since the birth of this blog in 2003, but I honestly don't quite remember anymore. During the long hiatus, I actually did consider closing down this blog and maybe start anew somewhere else, or perhaps just simply stop blogging altogether. But every time I think about leaving this, it pains me. I may not have the best blog and may not make the most frequent updates, but I have somehow painstakingly maintained this site for SEVEN years, and I think that really speaks a lot. This blog and I... we've been through a lot, especially during the first few years when I was still spending long hours in internet cafes to maintain this site. I recorded a lot of my memories here, rambled about anything-under-the-sun, and most importantly, met a lot of new friends through my blog. I primarily created this blog as an outlet to channel and as a buffer to support my overflowing thoughts and emotions, but now, deep down in my heart, I somehow quite believe that there are also people who actually care enough to read this, and who enjoy what I write, and maybe were, in some way or another, touched by my thoughts. This gives me great pleasure and I am overwhelmed and simply filled with appreciation and gratitude for all these years of support. Thank you very much.

And as I close this entry, I just want to say that IT WAS NOT MY INTENTION TO MAKE THIS ACADEMY AWARD-LIKE SPEECH, LOLz! But what the heck, I have successfully ended up making my comeback entry extra-cheesy and emo, and I'm too lazy and sleepy to fix all that so we'll just leave it that way.

Bye for now!!! (^o^)/

SOME RANDOM PIFFLE BLOG ENTRY


So, Mam Cha and I went out today after work. We brisk-walked around the capitol grounds for around 30 minutes then went to Café Royale to eat. XD She ordered a Royale Burger, and I had Fetuccini Carbonara. The place is OK, and the food is so-so. I might eat there again in the future.

So after dinner and after Mam Cha bought dog food for her pet Bluto, we went to Mercury Drugstore to buy some groceries. I bought some food stuffs and the usual box of coffee, while Mam Cha bought shampoo and stuffs. We parted ways after that. I walked for a while, burning with the desire to buy potato chips and pistachio nuts and ice cream and Jollibee etc etc etc, but I figured that I really don’t need those junk in my body. I bought bread instead (for breakfast tomorrow). I felt a bit better that I didn’t indulge in my temptations.

BUT! I did drop by the DVD stalls near the plaza! *kitsune-ears!* I haven’t bought DVDs lately because I’ve been trying to scrimp money, at the same time avoiding the urge to hoard unnecessarily. *coughs* Well, when I visited this one stall, they were selling several interesting anime titles which I still don’t have: Love Get Chu, Tiny Snow Sugar Fairy, Mushi-Uta, Phantom Requiem, Needless, Canaan, Munto, Maria Holic, Moetan, plus so many other titles I can’t possibly remember! I was about to get Phantom Requiem and Mushi-Uta, but when I tried the discs, Phantom Requiem only had 6 episodes (not sure if this is complete), and Mushi-Uta erroneously contained Kaze no Stigma episodes (and I’ve already seen this. It’s kewl, btw! ^o^) Embarrassed to leave the place without having bought anything, I decided to get a copy of Natsu no Arashi. I had planned to download this before, but maybe I’ll try to watch the pirated version first before deciding if it’s worth the effort and time to download. It looks promising though.

Then I went back to the hospital. I’m supposed to clean my room then get some badly needed sleep through the night, but I got distracted and I’m now copying animes, watching a bit of this and that, while trying to finish writing this random blog entry. I watched Lovely Complex Live Action (Teppei LoVe!<3<3<3), a bit of Lucky Star, and some parts of Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou. Aya Hirano - MOE! ^___^ I haven’t exactly finished watching Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu though and I heard there’s already another new season. Can’t.Catch.Up.Must.Catch.Up.!

I’m currently watching Princess Princess... I’m still not done with it. Hopefully I’ll finish it this week. Then I might start watching Suoh’s animes so that I can return all of them to him when I get to Manila...
Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi
Bakuretsu Tenshi
Genshiken 2
Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun
Kamichu!
Lucky Star
Minami-ke
Myself, Yourself
Noir
Rahxephon
Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei
SuzukaI actually borrowed these maybe 2 years ago? Hehehe I don’t think I can finish watching all of these though in just a few days’ time, so maybe I’ll just save them temporarily in the PC. I have no more disk space (again!) so I need to start burning them into DVDs.

Perhaps I need an external hard disk? Maybe, one terabyte? T_____T



ABSOLUTE TEPPEI YUMMY-NESS!!!<3<3<3

HOW MY DAY WENT FROM RIGHT TO WRONG, THEN FROM WRONG TO RIGHT


Today’s trip home was a deviation from the norm.

I was supposed to leave the hospital early because I planned to drop by a lawyer’s office to get a Special Power of Attorney, and then drop by the Budget Office in Mambajao to get my paycheck before I take the 4pm fast craft home. Sounds like a smooth and easy plan right? Yet everything just went totally wrong!!! 0___o

First the driver was a bit late. Then we waited for the midwife who knew the way to the lawyer’s house, but she didn’t arrive on time so I told the driver we’ll just pick her up from their house. It turned out that she wasn’t prepared yet! When we got to her place at almost 3pm, she was still taking a bath! Since I was in a hurry, I told her that we can do this some other time, but she insisted that we do it already and eventually got into the vehicle with us. The lawyer’s house was a bit far but it was along the way to Mambajao anyway so we still went. However, we learned that the lawyer wasn’t home so we hurriedly proceeded to the Budget Office. It took me only around 10 minutes to get my check, then we were breezing through the highway headed straight towards the Benoni pier. The long drive from Catarman to Mambajao took more time than usual though and so when we got to the port, I was just in time to see the Paras Seacat riding the waves gracefully.

And there goes my ride home. T____T

Because I was still with the driver and the midwife, I tried to appear unaffected and just cheerfully told them that I’ll be fine taking the barge home. I went to buy a ticket, and learned that it’s already for the last trip, which leaves at 6pm! I frowned, remembering the last time I took the last barge trip home. I had to wait for two hours in Balingoan for the bus that time and arrived at CDO past 11pm already! I was so not looking forward to going home so late, especially since I was wrestling with my two heavy luggages. But I didn’t have any choice.

Sitting forlornly in the ferry, seeing that I still got almost 2 hours of waiting time, I fished out the hard copy of Breaking Dawn from my bag and finished the last 100 pages of Bella-nonsense that I’ve been putting off. By the time I closed the book, dusk was already settling in. Twilight, I thought to myself. How fitting. (*rolls eyes*)
I tried to kill time by texting, while crossing my fingers and wishing that by some miracle, I’d get home by 10pm. Fat chance of that happening!

And then... I saw him. And he saw me. Our eyes met, And everything changed. (LMAO!)

It was one of the med reps who covers for Camiguin. The one whom I hadn’t seen for the past week. I think I didn’t even see him last month. (Oh, and that would simply mean I forgot all about his products already XD). He waved and hurried to sit next to me. We chitchatted for a while, and he offered me a ride home in his car to which I immediately agreed to. I absolutely had no desire to wait for two more hours for the bus ride home.

He moved to another seat closer to the TV. When the ticket inspectors came, he waved at me asking if I paid already. I waved my ticket back to him, indicating that I’ve already got one. The ticket officer then approached me, took my ticket, and gave me back my money. She told me that the med rep already paid for both of us. I thought it’s probably best to decline, but then decided otherwise and just pocketed back my money. That’s Php135 saved. Yay-ness!

When we got to the port of Balingoan, he offered to carry my bag because I guess it was the chivalrous thing to do. Then we went to get his car, and off we went whizzing down the highway. I had a very good feeling I was going to get home safer and earlier than expected, and that I won’t appear as haggard-looking as I imagined myself to be. Around halfway down to CDO, he stopped in a resto and ordered dinner for us. I was hoping we’d just go home already, but I guess he must’ve been so hungry by then. Anyway, it was charged to their company so I didn’t really feel guilty about digging in the Bulalo, Inihaw and Kinilaw.

The rest of the ride home took less than an hour, and I didn’t bother pretending to feel embarrassed or anything when he offered to drop me off in front of our gate. I was very glad to have a convenient (and free) ride home and was thankful that he was opportunely there. GOD must really love me so much to provide me this good fortune. THANK YOU LORD!

It was exactly 945pm when I got home. My good friend Lalac then texted me saying that she was on her way to my house. We had made plans earlier to meet and I thought we would just have to cancel the appointment because my trip home was delayed. But since I got home relatively "earlier" (hey, I expected to get home past 11!) so we pushed through with our plans to see each other. I haven’t seen Lalac for quite some time, and it was also her first time to visit our new apartment. It was also her first time to bring along and let me meet her BOYFRIEND. I just took a peek cos I thought it would be rude to stare. LOLz

Lalac took my two guitars home with her. Since I hardly play the guitar anymore (heck, I’m not even good with it! XD), I have decided to sell one of them to her. Lalac is great with musical instruments and I’m sure she’ll take good care of my acoustic guitar. My other guitar (which is a classical type) was damaged, and she volunteered to fix it for me. I’m sad that it was broken and I hope she’ll get it fixed. I also sold her one of my Sony Ericsson cellphones, but I’m not sure if she’ll buy it. She said she’ll check it out tonight and decide tomorrow if she’ll purchase it.

Yes, I know. I’m now so POOR I’m already starting to sell my things! LOLz!

To end this crazy day, I’m now copying Shikakage’s anime files into my computer so that I can return her DVDs tomorrow later. I got the following titles from her:
Azumanga Daioh
Code Geass
Code Geass R2
Gundam Seed Character Theater
Haibane Renmei
Kimikiss Pure Rouge
Magikano
Major Seasons 1-4
SCRYEDI haven’t watched these yet, and will probably not watch these anytime soon. I am just in a hoard mode right now. Hehehe Getting some much needed zzz’s after this!


gOoDnIgHt!!! ^________^