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^)

HOARD YOUR HORSES!

(irrelevant title x.x)

Joseon X-Files... Playful Kiss... Secret Garden... Sungkyungkwan Scandal... My Princess... 49 Days... City Hunter... 

I just noticed that I've been downloading a lot of Korean dramas lately. (Note that I said "downloading" and NOT "watching" >__<).

Now I have decided to catch up on my Taiwanese dramas, so I did some research, and here are some of my choices:

First stop are dramas which have finished airing early this year...

愛似百匯 / Ai Si Bai Hui (aka Love Buffet) is a 13-episode drama starring Yu Hong Yuan flanked by the two Fahrenheit boys, Aaron Yan and Calvin Chen. If I'm not mistaken, this series was based on the  well-known manga Parfait Tic, but I'm just not familiar with it...

Beside it is 國民英雄 / Guo Min Ying Xiong (aka Channel-X)  which is a mystery thriller starring Joe Cheng and Amber Kuo. I have yet to see Papa Joe in an semi-action role, so I think I'm gonna get this one too.

This next set are currently airing dramas...

The first two pictures are both dramas starring Mike He --  幸福最晴天 / Xing Fu Zui Qing Tian (aka Sunny Happiness) and
美樂加油 / Mei Le Jia You (aka Love Keeps Going, Mei Le Go!). Now I'm not much of a Mike He fan, but I thought of also putting these on the roster.

The next one -- 拜金女王 / Bai Jin Nu Wang (aka Material Queen) -- is a wannabe-rich girl x poor guy story starring Vanness Wu and Lynn Hung. Now, Vanness did a spectacular job in Autumn's Concerto (I haven't seen it yet, but I heard from friends) and so I'm looking forward to more of his projects.

醉後決定愛上你 / Zui Hou Jue Ding Ai Shang Ni (aka Love You / Drunken to Love You) stars Rainie Yang and Joseph Chang as total strangers who got drunk and then got married to each other. I first read about this in Song Yong In's blog and has listed this one at the back of my mind. Maybe it's high time to finally secure a copy.


This next one is an upcoming 2012 drama called 我可能不會愛你 / Wo Ke Neng Bu Hui Ai Ni (aka In time With You / I May Not Love You) starring Ariel Lin and Wilson Chen Bo Lin. The premise of the story seems interesting, and I find it appropriate for me cos I'm around that age too. Plus I just love Ariel Lin! So I hope to watch this when it comes out.

These last three series are Taiwanese Dramas adapted from Japanese mangas starring Korean actors. 

Huuuwhhhaaatttt!?! O____o 

I know right!? That's just SO WEIRD! ^o^ It's not a bad kind of weird though, but I just find it ... peculiar. 

Anyway, these are really great titles, so I'm quite excited about them!

旋風管家 / Xuan Feng Guan Jia 
(aka Hayate the Combat Butler)

This series totally caught me by surprise because I really didn't expect Hayate the Combat Butler to give rise to a TV drama.
I haven't read the manga but I have been meaning to watch the anime, and now I've started downloading the first three drama episodes, subbed by DoReMii.

Took a quick scan of the first episode, and it looks quite enjoyable. Park Shin Hye takes the role of the rich heiress, while George Hu makes a really cute butler! ^w^

華麗的挑戰 / Hua Li De Tiao Zhan 
(aka Skip Beat! / Extravagant Challenge)

Originally from the well-loved manga/anime of the same title, Skip Beat! was one of the dramas I was looking forward to last year, because the original cast was supposedly Jerry Yan and Ariel Lin. 

Well for some reasons, they've changed the female protagonist to Ivy Chen, and  the male leads to Super Junior's Choi Si Won and Lee Dong Hae. I'm no fan of the group so I don't know these guys, but this isn't their first time to act in a TV series, so let's just wait and see. 

絕對達令 / Jue Dui Darling 
(aka Absolute Boyfriend)

Based on Watase Yuu's famous manga, ZETTAI KARESHI, which also spawned a live action J-drama in 2008, this upcoming series stars Wu Chun from the boyband Fahrenheit, and Korean actress Goo Hye Sun, who rose to fame in Boys Over Flowers.

Well, that's it for now. Drop me a line and tell me what you think. And if I missed out on any good dramas, tell me too!! My hoard mode is on, and once I free some disk space, I'll hopefully get all of these rolling... ^o<

UPDATES OF MY LIFE (AGAIN!)


I'm sitting here in the hospital pharmacy, leeching off the hospital broadband using "Lorna".

What the heck is a "Lorna"? I'll tell you about it some other time. LOLz! For now, here are some random updates of my life, since I've been away for more than a month. You will soon learn why...

• 01. WE CURRENTLY DO NOT HAVE AN INTERNET CONNECTION!
  Because of the recent move, we terminated our DSL connection. I was planning to get connected to PLDT DSL once we settled down but that was never realized (see number two). It makes me sad to be offline, but for the past two months, I actually accomplished a number of stuffs (i.e. read my books, clean up my room) without the internet tempting me all the time. I know deep down that the internet robs me of my precious time and I really don't accomplish much in life when I'm in front of a PC. So I'm now reconsidering if I really need that DSL connection. I'm not home most of the time anyway. It's probably wiser to do some cost-cutting, and this would hopefully cut me off my idleness as well.
  
  
  
• 02. WE'VE MOVED AGAIN!
  I mentioned last time that we were leaving EVA UNIT-01 because of some problems. We only stayed in that unit for two weeks. We moved into a two-bedroom bungalow unit last August 22, and I thought that it was the end of our problems. BOY, I WAS SO WRONG. During our first week in UNIT-02, some stranger was able to enter our compound, and BORE A HOLE IN ONE OF OUR BEDROOM WINDOW SCREENS!!! We later learned that all the houses within that compound have been robbed of some stuffs, and even the neighboring houses have been robbed too! My parents were totally freaked out and we had to close down all the windows and curtains, making the place one huge sauna bath. We finally decided that the place was not habitable, and we were out of the place after 2 weeks of stay. So last September 5, we moved for the third time to another apartment very near our old residence, and although a bit cramped, but I think we feel a whole lot better and comfortable here.
  
  One of the downsides of all these transferring is that we have exerted so much effort in cleaning and moving. My Mom especially had to leave from work just to clean the house and pack our stuffs (and she can be really super-diligent when it comes to cleaning!) I feel sad that I wasn't home to help her. Most of the time I wasn't in CDO because of my work, so I can only trust other people to help my parents with moving.
  
  The most painful loss during all these time is that I have spent so much money already. TOO MUCH. Each time we move to a new house, we had to pay for the laborers and the truck drivers, not to mention do some repairs and buy doorknobs/locks, electrical equipment, etc. The owner of EVA UNIT-01 returned most of my deposit, and even apologized to us. We parted in good terms. But the owner of UNIT-02, cunning as a snake, charged us with PhP9000 just for two weeks of stay! I was seething with dissatisfaction since I felt that we were at a disadvantage. My parents were so emotionally shook up to the point of losing weight, and even our dog lost weight as well probably since she was up all night barking the intruders away. I didn't want any more problems though so I just accepted his terms and wish I don't have to do any further business with him in the future (and he should cross his fingers as well and wish he'll have no business with me in the future as well).
  
  Bitter. XD
  
  
  
• 03. MY SISTER IS ALREADY IN JAPAN.
  She left Cebu last September 7, and is now experiencing Japan. OooOohhh... I am so envious! She told me about their train/bus rides, their crazy rollercoaster ride on the Thunder Dolphin, and their work stuffs. She also described her trip to Akihabara, and the first thing she told me was, "Atsy, daghan kayu anime dinhi!!!" (Sis, there's so many anime stuffs here!!!)
  
  I am just so GREEN with envy.
  
  
  
• 04. I BOUGHT A NEW STETHOSCOPE.
  This is not exactly part of the budget plan, but my ever reliable black Classic Littman Stethoscope finally rested in pieces last week. I occasionally have problems auscultating but I thought that my ears are problematic, and not my steth. Well, around 2 weeks ago, I noticed that the earpiece wore out and that the tubings have developed HUGE CRACKS. Afraid of having nothing to use at work, I fixed it up with some adhesive tape (plaster XD), and it was fine until last week, when I realized that I could no longer hear anything with it! It was already making a hollow sound, which affects my examination and diagnosis. I had to say goodbye to my black steth, which has served me well for 7 years, and hurriedly purchased a new Classic Littman Steth, this time in RASPBERRY PINK. Hehehe My other choices were NAVY BLUE and HUNTER GREEN.
  
  
  It wasn't cheap though and I even had to make a cash advance for it. Huhuhu...
  But I can't work without one so I had no choice. T___T
  
  
  
• 05. MY PORTABLE DVD PLAYER BROKE DOWN.
  This is so sad. In fact just thinking about it devastates me. I'm actually so fond of that player so it's hard to imagine that I can't use it anymore. About a month ago, I placed it inside a laundry bag and brought it down the ER. I hardly bring down my player but that time I was in the mood for some music. I placed the bag on a chair, and a few minutes later, THE BAG FELL OFF!!! It wasn't a very strong impact, and the player was still fine then. I was still able to finish watching Gakuen Heaven. I noticed though that the USB port was no longer working. A few days later, I was watching Yokazura Quartet in Camiguin when the video suddenly froze. And then the player refused to read ANY discs at all! It just kept saying "LOADING" but the video doesn't load. I took it to an electronics shop and they told me that the lens broke and they do not sell that type of lens in CDO. I'm taking the player to Manila next month and pray that I'll find the appropriate lens there. I am really so sad over this because that player means so much to me and I envisioned a long future of using it. It broke down after 3 months because of my carelessness. *very very sad*
  
  
  
• 06. I'M LEAVING FOR MANILA NEXT MONTH.
  I'm off to Manila come October 11-19 for personal matters. LOLz Actually, it's my boyfriend's birthday next month and I want to spend that special day with him. And I decided to use that time too to take a break from work, visit my friends, buy scrub suits and stuffs, and attend the COLLECTICON scheduled on October 11 in Robinson's Ermita. It will definitely feel like a trip down memory lane since Rob Ermita used to be my "territory". XD
  
  I was talking to my classmate earlier this week and he told me of a conference sponsored by the Philippine Society of Emergency Physicians come November 9-10. Their programme is really interesting and I think we will learn much from the lectures, so we are thinking of attending it. Hopefully we can save enough money by then so that we can join that confe. As an added bonus, the Anime Overload Festival to be held in SMX Convention Hall in Mall of Asia is set on November 8, so I think that's a really wonderful coincidence that I don't want to miss! I will have to miss work again though. *sad!!!*
  
  
  
• 07. FINISHED SOME BOOKS.
  I finished reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons which is such a superb fast-paced exciting adventure. Every page leaves me amazed and wondering how the author has come up with such a brilliant plot and unexpected twists. And yes, it might be a bit controversial because it tackles on some sensitive topics, but I was never convinced that it was non-fiction. It was just a fun book to read, but I never took it seriously so I don't really bother with the controversies. Now I can finally watch the movie version (and see Tom Hanks in action, hehehe).
  
  I also started reading the sequels of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga. I've read the first book Twilight last year, and although it was fun from time to time and made me giggle with glee in some parts, but I was never caught up in the Edward-Bella fandom. I just simply can't bring myself to rave over the books the same way I've raved over the Harry Potter series. And I just don't know why they keep comparing the two when they are both of different genres. But anyway, since my friends Jan and Joey have been telling me to read the rest of the saga (with Jan sending me pdf files of the book, and Joey actually lending me the hard copy!), I had no choice but to admit defeat. If you can't beat them, then join them. Hehehe I've put off reading the books for so long, and now I finally opened them. I've finished New Moon and currently reading Eclipse. Hopefully I'll finish Breaking Dawn as well this week. My opinions haven't changed at all though. And I think the only characters I like in the series are Alice and Carlisle, though not even them can bring me to fangirl level. Edward is sometimes likeable, but Robert Pattinson is NOT. XD
  
  
  
• 08. DOWNLOADING...
  I've lost my 300-something torrent list when my sister reformatted our Desktop PC. XD So right now I'm back to zero. I don't know if I'm actually relieved or frustrated. But it's more of a relief, I guess. I've always felt that the 300-something torrent list was binding me down. It made me feel that I was always chasing after something, that I was obliged to accomplish the downloads, and that somehow burdens me. Yes, they made me feel good, but they also weighed me down. I've always thought I am just TOO MUCH of a COMPULSIVE HOARDER.
  
  Now I'm back to downloading again, but for now I've only queued Hetalia Axis Powers and Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. The hospital connection is kinda slow (we're running on SmartBro), and I feel like I'm back to my old days (but at least NOT the dial-up days, hehehe). I have somehow leeched 6 episodes of HAP and 4 episodes of Umineko in two nights. XD

That's it for now I guess. I am actually on 24hour duty now, and it's way past my bedtime. I still have to work tomorrow. It's fun to blog again, and hopefully I can do it more often. Maybe with "Lorna", I can keep this blog rolling.

Or being that I'm too lazy, then maybe not. XD

UPDATES OF MY LIFE


Just got back from Camiguin. And now, for a quick rundown on the present state of my life (in no particular order)...

• WE NEED TO MOVE OUT OF OUR APARTMENT ASAP. We've been living in simple and cozy apartment for almost 15 years (I think..) but my parents were just informed yesterday that we need to move out as soon as possible. The landlord has decided that they will be using this unit for one of their daughters, who already got married. My father's paranoia is cracking up, while my mother is fretting over small things. And I was planning to handle this rationally but got pissed off when my mom started bickering about my CDs (which isn't really the main issue here). My father is dead set on buying a housing unit in a subdivision but I told him that it's not that easy to process documents and loan money for that, not to mention that such a HUGE DECISION requires careful planning and discussing. Now is just not the time for that. I told them that we all need to calm down and the first thing we need to do is to find a place where we can move in for now, and other issues will just have to wait. I know this is just a trial and that there's a purpose for this. I am praying that GOD will take care of us in the days to come, and that He will guide us to a place where He will be glorified and His will be done.
  
  
  
  
• MY SISTER IS GOING TO JAPAN. My sister has been working in a Japanese IT company in Cebu for the past two years, and she has been waiting for her chance to go to Japan for training. And now the time has come, and she'll be leaving come September and will be staying there until early December.
  
  She will be staying here.
  I am so envious!!! Going to Japan has always been my dream but I guess my sister will have to take care of my otaku fandom for now and buy my "needs" for me when she gets there. I feel quite excited for her and this new adventure, and I pray that she'll be safe and happy there.
  
  
  
  
• I NEED TO GO TO MANY PLACES TOMORROW. My agenda tomorrow will involve going to the offices of PMA, BIR, CAP, Philheath, SSS and maybe try to find a house where we could move in. I hope I'll wake up early tomorrow cos it's going to be a long day. I might watch a movie if I will feel like it. Wonder if Hannah Montana the Movie is still showing or if it's another movie that I've missed to watch again.
  
  
  
  
• MY TEN DAYS IN CAMIGUIN WERE MEMORABLE. I was able to do 3 spontaneous vaginal deliveries, one of which is an undelivered second twin. It's my first time to actually do something like that. I also had a patient who was stabbed by his brother, and arrived at the ER with the knife still stuck to the hilt in his back. I was quite shocked to see something like that, but resuscitation measures were futile since the patient already died on arrival. And on my last day I had another admitted patient who suddenly died. He was quite a complicated case yet I cannot quite explain why he died. A similar incident happened last month too. I hope this won't become something like a monthly tradition or something. It's making me all the more depressed and burned out.
  
  
  
  
• MY UNCLE RECENTLY DIED. Before I left for Camiguin, I received news that my Kotiu suddenly died due to an acute onset of low back pain. It was an unexpected event, and although we were not exceptionally close and have lost contact over the years, but I've always remembered him as one who treated me like his own daughter when I was still a kid. He used to live next door to us with his five daughters, and they'd often count me in as their 6th sibling. Suddenly hearing him die of an unknown illness, and not even getting to see him for the last time makes me feel regretful. I so wanted to attend his wake but I couldn't because of my work schedule. I so wanted to meet my cousins too who came home for the funeral. It was a shock to all of them since they have also lost contact with him for some time as well. I hope my uncle rests in peace, and my cousins will overcome their grief.
  
  
  
  
• MY FRIENDS GOT MARRIED. Before I left for Camiguin, I also attended the church wedding of my friends, Chris and Doc Grace. It was a small and simple wedding, only attended by family and close friends, and I was lucky to be invited, and even luckier to take part in the entourage. I was able to find a nice and simple green dress which matched the motif, and thankfully, I did not goof up when I tied the cord on the couple. I feel very happy for them and wish them many many blissful years ahead.
  
  
  
  
• I GOT A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT. I originally didn't plan on getting one cos I don't have the time to manage something like that. But my boyfriend suddenly decided to register on FB, and my high school friends sent me messages to join, so if you can't beat 'em then you really just got to join 'em. I still don't know how to play around with the applications, but hopefully I'll get used to it soon. We're planning our high school reunion come June 2010 in FB, so it's actually quite fun discussing all these and remembering old memories as well. More details re: the high school reunion when we get to finalize the plans.
  
  
  
  
• I NEED TO SERIOUSLY LOSE WEIGHT. With an upcoming high school reunion come next year, I suddenly feel desperate to lose my "excess baggages". And I know my lack of discipline and sedentary lifestyle also contributes to my current feelings of burn-out and depression. OK, 'nuff said. Don't really wanna talk about that. But I want changes, and I want them to be DRASTIC changes.
  
  
  
  
• I AM SETTING A KIRIBAN IN MY DEVIANTART ACCOUNT. And I've set it on the 999th pageview. Whoever captures a screenshot of it gets an OC rendition from me. I know I haven't been making decent drawings lately, but I really have lots of ideas brewing in my mind right now, and I've already made a prototype character design for my OC, Chappi-tan. More details of that (and more scrap art) will be posted on http://pandaandpotato.deviantart.com soon.
  
  
  
  
• I FINISHED THREE ANIMES AND ONE TV DRAMA IN THE PAST TEN DAYS. And they are: Bokura Ga Ita, Neo Angelique Abyss, Izumo: Takeki Tsurugi no Senki, and the Taiwanese Idol Drama, Love or Bread. I'll write more about this in a separate entry.
  
  
  
  
• I JUST CHECKED MY TORRENT LIST and realized that I've finished downloading the J-doramas VOICE and KOIZORA. Next in line is another J-dorama, ONE POUND GOSPEL, based on the Rumiko Takahashi manga, followed by LIAR GAME and BUMP OFF LOVER. I also have to facilitate transfer of my internet connection to wherever we're headed for. Hopefully we'll have better connection and Sun signal there.

That's all for now, I guess. I'm still quite tired from the travel so I'm going to catch some zzzz's now. Will blog again tomorrow.

RUNNING AROUND

Seems like I've been "running" all over the place for the past few days.
Unfortunately, it's not the type of running that sheds off weight. XD

I'm talking about how I'm going about trying to accomplish the following :

• Process papers and complete application requirements;
  
• Meet friends and return their DVDs;
  
• Catch up on my internet life;
  
• Buy needs and prepare for work come Sunday.

Somehow though, I feel that I'm trying to do so many things with so little time, and this just makes me so tired. The fact that most of the time I'm away from my home, far from the hustle-bustle of city life, and disconnected from my internet for 23 days of the month -- this fact makes me so tired. And perhaps that's why I just have this uneasiness within me. I'm not really complaining, because I'm very blessed with two jobs. But it's also really quite difficult to find time for myself when most of the days of the month, I'm just not at home. And the times I'm at home, I'm always so busy trying to catch up and trying to do stuffs I need to do before I'll be leaving again. But maybe this kind of lifestyle is also what I need to keep me from idling my time away in the internet.

Anyway, the past two days, I went to take a neuro-psychological exam, which was quite a weird experience for me, since the last time I took a similar type of exam was still in med school. And somehow, I feel that I'm not very good at these, especially on the abstract reasoning part (being the unreasonable person that I am XD). When I was interviewed by the psychiatrist, he praised me for my drawing of a person, which was of a long haired girl wearing a gown reminiscent of my Romeo x Juliet fandom. LOLz He asked me if I want to have further studies in Fine Arts. I merely shrugged and laughed, knowing deep down that the path of an artist is something I've long abandoned.

Next I went to have a drug test, and silly me, I thought they were going to take a blood sample. When the med tech gave me a bottle to collect my urine, I tried to pee but I couldn't even if my life depended on it, so I gave back the empty bottle and said I'll just return later in the afternoon. I drank more than 1.5L of fluids at home before I went back to make sure I'd have more than enough urine sample. Of course I tested NEGATIVE. But my picture (taken by a webcam) on the test result looked really weird. XD

I also went to get an NBI clearance. It was my first time, and it was quite an unusual experience, especially the part where the officer took my fingerprints. I guess to ensure the validity of the results, an NBI staff is assigned to LITERALLY assist you in taking your fingerprints, as in he really lifted and dabbed my fingers one by one in the black ink, then on my application form! And then I had to wait for quite a while before my number was called to pay at the cashier, after which I stood on the next window to have my picture taken. Since the officer in charge of taking my picture wasn't looking at me and seemed busy with some papers, I kept looking uneasily at the camera, and rolled my eyes to the left nd right, feeling quite uncomfortable. Then before I knew it, the officer suddenly gave me a thumbs-up sign, implying that my pic was already taken. HE DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME TO PREPARE! u___u It will definitely be another weird photo. I'm just so sure of it! But I won't be getting my NBI clearance until after two weeks (since I guess my name is too common) so I will just have to wait and see how weird my photo will appear. XD

I also went to the Philhealth office to apply for accreditation as physician, but there were a list of requirements that I need to comply with, so I will need to go back again to submit them. I wasn't able to visit the Pag-ibig office or the PMA office because I didn't have time anymore (because I kept waking up late in the morning, ehehehe XD).


I was able to meet up with my friend Lalac yesterday, and we had a fun evening just talking and eating cake. I met her again today because I had to give something important to her, then I went to meet my friend Yume for dinner at Rai Rai Ken then for a little ice cream at Fiorgelato (yum!). She's starting her career as an elementary school teacher this Monday, and I just wish her all the luck. After dinner, I went to see my friend Joey at her house and I gave her some DVDs and she showed me her (huge) collection of downloaded videos and stuffs, mostly related to DBSK (Tohoshinki). She's so "obsessed" with them right now. I like them too but I'm just not so familar with all their songs and achievements. Besides, I feel that I don't have the time to fangirl anymore. I mean, I already have so many things in my hands, and following so many series/animes/mangas. I can't afford to obsess on something else cos I will end up doing more of THIS...

PLEASE DON'T ASK WHY I HAVE 295 FILES QUEUED. XD

Joey also let me borrow Twilight Books 2, 3 and 4. So I no longer have any excuse NOT to read them. Hehehe She showed me a teaser trailer of the upcoming movie, New Moon. I am not much of a fan really, and just do not find Robert Pattinson attractive at all (I am so turned off by his pasty make-up T__T). But maybe reading the books may help me change my mind.

Or maybe not. XD

Lastly, tomorrow I have to meet Gervie and Hime, buy stuffs for use in Malaybalay, buy a dress and shoes for the upcoming wedding I'm attending, and have dinner with my parents. Hopefully I can still find time to blog tomorrow...

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS DOWNLOAD SPEED!?!



I am absolutely dumbfounded. XD

RE-ARRANGING MY COLLECTION

Because of my obsessive compulsive nature and my impulsive drive to download and hoard whatever anime I can get my hands on,
I have somehow amassed a huge number of CDs and DVDs. I've been planning to re-arrange them but never got around to doing it, until now. And goodness, I feel so tired already but I'm not finished yet! *fail* T___T


You see I'm very meticulous when it comes to arranging my things, especially my CD collection. This would always involve taking out ALL the discs and putting them back one by one in some sort of order (usually alphabetical, by genre, chronological, etc). In this case, I had to remove them from the zippered cases, and transfer some of them to spindle cases.


So when I have rearranged them a bit, I noticed that I have more zippered cases now. 6 of them are currently empty! Uh-oh... Does that mean I have to download more so that I can fill them up? Hehehe


I hardly touched my drama collection because they are already quite organized. Besides I haven't really procured a lot of dramas lately because I've been too lazy to watch them... Well, this pic here below is my Korean Drama Collection. The reason why there are so many CD cases is because we used to order them in VCD format from Manila. That was the time when Asian dramas are not so popular yet, and we had to order from Manila in order to get a copy with good quality and feed our obsession and craze. XD Not shown in the picture below are my Japanese Dramas (because they are contained elsewhere) and Taiwanese dramas (because there's really not that many titles, and they are in raw format with chinese subs).


I also got this huge CD Case from my boyfriend<3. It can hold around 100 CDs, so I used it for my Audio Collection. Most of the songs are Jpop and Jrock, and a little bit of Kpop too.



I'm not done yet though... This is just part one of my many struggles with rearranging my collection. Hopefully I can finish most of it by tomorrow or Sunday because I have to leave for work on Monday already. After this, my next project is to rearrange my room. Now THAT is definitely some super hard work I'm not so looking forward to. Hehehe


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Some other random updates...

• My mom is watching the K-drama, East of Eden. The Taiwanese channel, CTV, started airing it three nights ago, and my mom is TOO excited. But because of the bad weather lately, the reception is poor. And since my mom doesn't want to watch from the internet, and I refuse(!) to download 56(!) episodes of the drama, so I bought her a DVD9 copy instead. In fairness, the copy is quite clear with tolerable subs, so my mom is in such a happy-little-puppy mode, and watched straight until episode 8. She just went up to sleep, at 2:45am. XD
  
  
• On a side note, I'm NOT watching East of Eden (EOE) yet, but Song Seung Heon is <3<3<3. I'm not really his fan, but I found him really attractive and appealing in the drama, Summer Scent (which I did NOT like), and in the movie, He Was Cool (with the late Jung Da Bin). In EOE, he has a rugged look which quite suits him. So... ^___^<3<3<3
  
  
• I have just finished downloading the manga-based J-drama, Mei-Chan no Shitsuji (Mei-chan's Butler), which looks like a really interesting and fun series (with so many good looking boys to boot! Woohoo!). I'm currently downloading Cat Street, which is another drama based on the manga of Kamio Yoko (creator of Hana Yori Dango).
  
  
• I've also downloaded a bunch of random manga scanlations and burned them into 3 DVDs (so that's around 12GB!). Some of them are of psychological genre (Monster, 20th Century Boys, etc) but most of them are romantic stories (Bitter Virgin, Koukou Debut, etc). Not reading them anytime soon though.
  
  
• I'm currently loving songs by the duo, ON/OFF, composed of Naoya & Kazuya Sakamoto. They are actually identical twin brothers!<3<3<3 And I think they shot to fame with the song, Futatsu No Kodou To Akai Tsumi, the opening theme to Vampire Knight. Anyway, I love that song but I love all of their other songs too! ^____^
  
  
  
  
• Fortunately, my tonsilitis did not worsen after I started taking some antibiotics. But unfortunately, I have a gnawing toothache that doesn't seem to go away. This really bothers me because I have to leave for work on Monday, and will be out of CDO for 16 days (be back on May 19!). So I hope it doesn't worsen because I don't have time to see a dentist anymore... I really hate toothaches! u__u
  
  
• I will watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine on Sunday! But I don't know if I will still have the chance to watch Slumdog Millionaire (Jai HoOoOoOoOOoooOO!)...
  
  
• I actually went brisk watching with Yume last Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, and it was really fun because we got to talk a lot and pretend to exercise. Yume and I are surprisingly pretty good friends when in fact we hardly knew each other before and just met during the CDOtaku beach party last year. I went to hoard some more of her DVDs, LOLz! We weren't able to go out walking on Thursday and Friday because of the rain, but we met for a bit on Friday evening because she wanted to tell me something. Then we went to scout some pirated DVDs in Divisoria before going our separate ways.
  
  
• I'll be meeting Joey tomorrow later just to catch up and return some of her stuffs.
  
  
• I need to prepare CDs for my cousin, Achi Beth, and for my friend from GenSan, Jan. I'm currently working on that now, plus Jan's letter too!
  
  
• Oh, and I think Manny Pacquiao will win on Sunday. But that's just my baseless opinion...

Well, I guess I'll end it there for now because I got to get my not-so-beauty sleep or else my Father might get angry at me again for not sleeping early. Plus I have to clean the house again tomorrow, er, later... ^___<

ON DOWNLOADS AND (more) BACKLOGS AND OTHER STUFFS


I'm more or less an hour away from completing my Boys Over Flowers download.


Downloading at 82.3 kB/s!
Can you believe the amazing speed of my new ISP?! XD

I recently switched from broadband to DSL and it sometimes freaks me out when I see the download rate. This has never happened when I was still on broadband. Not that I'm complaining. This suits me real fine. It feeds my download obsession really well. *grins*

I have decided to just pool together all my Boys Over Flowers episodes and schedule them for marathon watching come May 1-6
(It prolly won't take me 5 days to finish it, but I just want to make sure I have plenty of extra time). I just got back yesterday from Malaybalay and will only be staying for two days here in CDO, then I'll be leaving again for 10-days of work in Talakag, Bukidnon.
It will be my first time to work there, and although it was endorsed to me that the workload is light, yet it was also endorsed that there is no DVD player in said area. *sigh* Since I don't have a laptop yet (and not planning to buy one yet either), so I won't be able to catch up on my backlogs for the next ten days. I guess I'll use that time (hopefully) to create some new drawings and maybe to read some books (which have also been quickly piling up *sigh*).

Speaking of backlogs, my friend Gervie came over to my house today. He was always the type who likes to drop by my place just to talk and share stuffs, and it's nice to have him around because he talks a lot. LOL I didn't know why he was coming over, but then he sometimes likes to just hang around my house so he really does not need a reason. Well, he brought me some more backlogs books/graphic novels to read...


The Last Avengers - Peter David and Ariel Olivetti
Hellboy: Seed of Destruction - Mike Mignola, John Byrne
Trese Unreported Murders: Cases 5-8 - Budjette Tan, KaJo Baldisimo
American Gods - Neil Gaiman


... and more movies to watch ...


The Spirit, The Orphanage
Just Friends, The Incredible Hulk, The Day the Earth Stood Still


I don't know how I am going to deal with my growing pile of backlogs but I will just have to try harder to make good use of my time.

STAND BY ME

I watched the second episode of Boys Over Flowers tonight with my mom, and I couldn't help but stifle a *kilig* grin.

Lee Min Ho, the guy who plays Gu Jun Pyo (Doumyouji Tsukasa/Dao Ming Si), makes the most amusing facial expressions! He is absolutely adorable when he looks confused or dumbfounded because he unintentionally shows the "baka" (stupid -- but we all love it!) side of Doumyouji. (And for some weird reason he keeps reminding me of Jerry Yan. XD)


Priceless.
I just love it. Hahaha
(I purposely chose this pic because it also has Kim Bum in it! Weeeeeee!!!!)

Won't write spoilers. It's best to watch it on your own. (^o^)v


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Next to Lee Min Ho, my next favorite F4 has got to be the baby-faced Kim Bum!!!



I read HERE that this guy has shown great acting potentials in East of Eden (makes me want to watch EOE too - Song Seung Hun kyyaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! - It's airing in the Taiwanese channel soon but I'm too lazy to watch TV. XD). Kim Bum's boyish grin yet manly charm prolly make him a good choice for the role of So Yi Jung (Nishikado Soujiro/Xi Men).

And it also makes him a good ogle target for fangirls like me, hahahahaha...


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I seriously need to watch Boys Over Flowers before it hits local TV because then it will create a local fandom and I don't want to be part of it. I want to catch the fever early on (yet, the series has already ended and I'm still on episode 2?!? 0__o). I've downloaded until episode 19 already but I temporarily stopped because WITH S2 (I love them!!!) hasn't finished the subs for the last 2 episodes yet, so I'm waiting for their release before freeing some space in my disk drive.

Right now my utorrent is downloading more of my random clicks and choices (i.e. random surreal animes and random smutty mangas XD), which brings us to the next topic...


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I've been downloading some smutty (hahaha...) shoujo manga scanlations and surprisingly started reading through some of them.
Right now I'm hooked to reading Ukyou Ayane's Yokujou Climax (Desire Climax), which is a rich guy-poor girl story. It has shown quite a number of interesting twists in the first three volumes and I'm excited to see more of what happens next.

Or rather, I'm excited to see more of this guy here...


SMEXY PRINCE JINNAI SHOEI!!!
* nosebleeds *

I've also been reading some of Kayono's works, like the rich girl-poor guy tale of Royal Seventeen. Kayono makes really beautiful boys *coughs* art... I wish I can draw this way...


* more nosebleeding *

One similarity I've noticed though about these smutty shoujo mangas is that they are really full of smut (hahaha...) which follows a certain pattern:

• Girl is approached by a stranger, who happens to be a good looking guy (who usually has a dual personality)...
  
• Guy suddenly becomes aggressive and without warning pounces on the girl, throwing her to the ground/bed/wall/etc...
  
• He steals her first kiss...
  
• Then he kisses her some more with a lot of tongue action...
  
• Next panel shows girl already half-undressed (how the heck did he do that!?!)...
  
• And guy is biting her [*bleeeeeep*]...
  
• And his hands shot down to her [*bleeeeeep*]...
  
• Then he [*bleeeeeep*]...
  
• And he [*bleeeeeep*]...
  
• Then they [*bleeeeeep*]...
  
• And [*bleeeeeep*], [*bleeeeeep*], [*bleeeeeep*]...
  
• And we see that somehow the girl's virginity is still intact...
  
• And in next volume girl is already running after the guy, wishing he'd touch her more...

WTF!? 0__o Please explain and make some sense of this to me!!! XD

The guys are HOT though, which pretty much do not need any more explaining to me or any rabid fangirl out there. *winks*

ON MANGAS, EMAILS, AND WHY I'M STILL AWAKE AT 3AM


Interesting.

I was browsing through onemanga and I stumbled upon the title Monster Hunter Orage. Curious, I clicked on it and THIS came out...


Apparently, this is the manga version of the hit CapCom game, Monster Hunter! I got the chance to play this on my sister's PSP and it's really fun (that is, if you like being knocked silly by various monsters and in the process, develop calluses on your thumbs XD).
I feel very excited about the manga despite the fact that it only has 11 chapters released as of the moment. And it is being drawn by no less than Mashima Hiro, best known as the creator of Rave and Fairy Tail. Impressive indeed! ^___^

Actually I spent the entire day downloading mangas and filing them into folders. So far I've "leeched" the following titles...

Ai Hime -Ai to Himegoto-
Backstage Prince
Bitter Virgin
Hot Gimmick
Koukou Debut
Prince to Yobanaide
Shinsei Doumei Cross
I also checked the scanlations Yume and Fangli gave me before, and started arranging and grouping similar files. I was also downloading some random titles (just click whatever title shows up) and read through two different mangas -- one was highly filled with sexual tension, and the other overflowing with yummy yaoi-ness. XD

Don't ask me for a copy cos I already deleted them after reading. LOL

Then tonight I decided to check my email, and deleted around 70+ messages. In the process, I also forwarded some of those interesting (and not-so-interesting) emails, and spammed the inboxes of many of my acquaintances. Really really spammed. T__T

Right now I'm still awake. And I don't know what I'm really doing. I wish I can say that I have made some sort of achievement during the entire week I've stayed at home, but I think I made even more mess than before. I've done nothing but sit in front of the PC surfing and downloading random titles that I won't have time to watch or read, and playing Aveyond which is not really an important priority right now. I didn't play today though.

Maybe I should go sleep now. Will prolly write more later.

Maybe. Or maybe not.

This is a pretty random entry...


P.S.
Perfect!
Now I know how to watch softsubs and load .srt files. I can watch Boys Over Flowers episode 1 now! Woohoo!!!

I'M NOT YOUR SUPERWOMAN

Because of the current nature of my work, I have been living within hospital walls for the past three weeks. Although the people at work are uber-nice and the workload is bearable and (yes, thank you Lord!) there's good pay, but I felt all stressed out because of the simple fact that I'm always away from home. I'm away from my family, away from my dog, away from my PC, away from my usual ordinary and boring lifestyle. When I'm out there at work, I can't do the stuffs I used to normally do before (i.e. have coffee with my mom, clean my room, watch movies, download torrents etc). It made me realize that time at home is really gold, that I shouldn't take for granted my time with family, and that there really is no place like home.

Right now, I'm trying to catch up with stuffs that I need to do here (before I go back to work again next week... *sigh*). Some of them are relatively irrelevant stuffs though, LOL. But I thought I'd list them down here (in no particular order) just to give me some perspective...

» Download Drama/Anime Torrents.

After the PC got busted last month and had to be reformatted, I lost my very long list of torrent queues. Well, I think it's somehow a blessing in disguise because most of them were pretty random titles that I just clicked and probably won't watch. But now I started downloading some more torrents again...


(click to view clearer image)
As you can see from the list, I have Kurozuka and Kuroshitsuji there because I wasn't able to download them last month. I also have Code Geass R2, Terra no He, and White Album on the list. And I'm also supporting Hetalia: Axis Powers. For dramas, I'm downloading the raw version of Boys Over Flowers, the korean rendition of Hana Yori Dango which is gaining popularity these days. I'm just not quite sure yet how to load the .srt files with the raws, but I'll figure it out eventually... (hopefully... 0__o;)

I'm also looking forward to download/acquire the following Taiwanese idol dramas:

• Honey and Clover
• Love or Bread
• Superstar Express (ToGetHer)
• Miss No Good
• Extravagant Challenge (postponed indefinitely... *sigh*)

Oh yah, and I need to prepare/burn animes for my friend Jan and for my cousin Beth too!

» Download Manga Scanlations.

I don't know when I'll have the time to read these though. But I've been randomly downloading (or planning to download) the following titles:

• Monster
• 21st Century Boys
• Hot Gimmick
• Kare First Love
• Tokyo Crazy Paradise
• Cat Street
• Shinshi Doumei Cross
• Ore no Hanashi wo Shiyouka
• etc etc etc

» Clean Room and Arrange Things.


'Nuff said.

» Watch Pending DVDs.

Last month I've returned a whole bunch of borrowed stuffs. This time I plan to return Joey's DVDs and the rest of Gervie's stuffs by the end of the month or early March. But I still have yet to watch them...

• Darker Than Black
• Night Wizard
• KimiKiss Pure Rouge
• Tehnjo Tenge
• Baccano!
• SCRYED
• Berserk

Then I plan to watch Suoh's CDs so that I can return them next month. But I'm not confident that I can finish them.

» Read my Books.

Just finished Paulo Coelho's The Pilgrimage. And contrary to the high recommendations Gervie and Yume gave it, I actually couldn't quite appreciate the book. Maybe I'm just dense. XD

Next on list would be Katherine Neville's The Eight, which is a very thick book that Yume lent me. I think it's going to be an interesting read, but I'm intimidated by its thickness. LOL

I also bought a book yesterday - The Rule of Four - which was quite a bestseller last year (or the previous year?). I think that will be another exciting novel. And I still have a lot of unread books which I bought from Manila.

It's also important to read my Bible daily and to study my medical books everyday. But I still need more DISCIPLINE to be able to do these, hehe XD

» Finish Playing Aveyond 2.

I'm currently playing the PC RPG, Aveyond 2, the sequel to well... Aveyond. XD Somehow I think the first game was more exciting, but that's just my opinion.

I might make an Aveyond 2 fanart later on. But that's just a plan. And that brings us to...

» Finish Pending Drawings.

Right now I have 4 unfinished drawings, 9 unscanned artworks, and a whole bunch of ideas in my head which cannot make its way to paper because I lack talent. *sigh* But please continue to watch and support my DA page, my labor of love. I'm not yet good enough, but I try to make decent works, so hopefully people can appreciate my efforts.

http://pandaandpotato.deviantart.com

And I still have many other important things to do like...

• get my PMA ID
• go to the bank
• iron my clothes for next week
• update blog, deviantart, friendster, emails, etc.
• decide if I will change ISP from SmartBRO to Bayantel DSL
• have some scrub suits made
• buy toiletries, etc
• meet Joey on Friday
• meet Shay-Shay (not yet scheduled)
• meet Yume for exercise (hehehe, not so sure about this)
• etc etc etc

I wonder if I can finish all of these in just one week... So many things to do, so little time... *sigh*

MORE ENERGY MAS HAPPY

I've been tagged by Doc Grace to reveal seven random facts about myself. You can read about it HERE, and it's one way of shamelessly plugging my DA page and hoping people would watch me too... XD

And I'm tagging:
Suoh12, Ate Yeyen, Doc Grace, Yume, Kazumi, Kimmy, Hime, Nica-chan, Shikakage, Sumire, and anyone else who wants to do it...


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Lately I have been feeling tired. I think it's because I have an unhealthful lifestyle. All day long I bask in the warm light of the PC monitor. I don't eat nutritious food. I sleep late and wake up late. I don't exercise. I only leave the house when necessary and that's when I have been called to work. So other than that, it's ZERO social life for me!

I've always led a sedentary lifestyle, and I'm happy this way. It's just that lately I feel that I am losing my energy, that I'm hardly accomplishing anything, and that I'm pretty much wasting my time and my life. And my back hurts. I really want to do more with my life, to achieve a lot of things, to have raging energy flowing down my veins, to have a busy yet fulfilling schedule... I want to learn to swim, to play badminton, to watch all my animes nonstop, to lose weight, to become a great doctor, to blog almost everyday, to write anime and drama reviews, to translate songs, to draw skillfully, to earn lots of money, to clean my room, to go to missions, to serve in church, to encourage other people, to just do all sorts of things...

Oh... I need some ENERGY!!!!

Maybe I should buy Enervon-C. More energy, Mas happy. XD


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I'm currently downloading the following torrents:

>>> 1. Fated To Love You eps 20-25 - I forgot to finish downloading this. It's not like I'm gonna watch it anytime soon though, and I was actually hesitant to finish this download because the complete series is already available in the market (literal market, i.e. Cogon, Agora, Carmen... XD). It's cheaper and requires less effort and disk space to buy the DVD instead.

>>> 2. One-Armed Swordsman (1967 Kung Fu movie) - This one is for my father, who's longing to watch this really old movie with a weird plot. I guess he's reminiscing about his youthful past. I have no qualms downloading stuffs for my parents, but this one's taking almost forever to finish! Nobody's seeding it, and until now I'm still at 70%... Actually it's a miracle it has reached 70%... It was stuck at 2.5% for several days until this morning.

And I've chosen my anime picks for this season:
>>> 3. Hakushaku to Yosei
>>> 4. Vampire Knight Guilty
>>> 5. Skip Beat!
- Because I deserve some good lovey-dovey romance animes brimming with gadzillions of bishies... (Check out the ED theme of Hakushaku to Yosei, the guys are *gawks!* topless and lying on the bed... so sMexy... \(^w^)/)

>>> 6. Mouryou no Hako
>>> 7. Kuroshitsuji
>>> 8. KUROZUKA
- Because I'm just plain sick and wants to watch these dark and gory tales. I've seen episode one of Mouryou no Hako, and I cringed at the opening scene, which involves a freaky, dismembered head that is clearly undead. Nice. XD The character design's by CLAMP by the way, although that doesn't make it any less creepy.

I didn't download the moe titles such as Toradora!, Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka, CLANNAD -after story-, Kannagi, To Aru Majutsu no Index, CHAOS;HEAD (well, this one's not really "moe", but "morbid" XD), etc because Suoh12 is already downloading them. He would've probably preferred I download Linebarrels of Iron and Tales of the Abyss but I didn't... XD I chose the freaky animes instead.


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I'm actually just randomly ranting... I know I'm supposed to be blogging about important events and stuffs but I'm not really in the mood... And I'm supposed to be sleeping now since it's 3:30am already, but I'm still up amd rambling incoherently...

Yes, I really think I need that Enervon-C. More energy, Mas happy. XD