Manga madness

I like to think of myself as a person with a variety of hobbies, although I guess most of them are somewhat linked together. One of my most prominent hobbies is my passion for anime and manga.

I've liked Japanese animation before I even knew it was Japanese animation. I just recognized anime from the style it was drawn and that it was different from cartoons, but I never quite bothered looking up the difference.  At one point in my childhood my sister taught me that the animation we loved so much came all the way from Japan and most of the anime we saw where adaptation of Japanese comics, or manga.

I started searching for manga online. At first I read manga of the series I knew from my childhood.  Then I slowly started branching out to different series, until I was finally swept off my feet into a new medium of fiction, a land I never left again.

I've always loved reading.  And right in front of me I had now a new form of storytelling.  A book can paint the same page in different lights, depending on the reader. A manga is different, but the same.

I'm not going to pretend I am some sort of manga-guru. I cannot explain the science of manga any more than I can explain the anatomy for the human body (although I can refer you to my sister for that). What I can say I am is a fan.  A fan who had to order custom made shelves in order to have enough space for her ever expanding manga collection.  Now that I can finally see all the manga I own in all their glory, all I can think of is, that I cannot wait for the day when I will look upon my manga collection and say:

IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!

Peace,
R

My collection, looking forward to the future expansion.

P.S. Not pictured are my Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto manga Boxsets.

Just a small thought.

People should not ask questions they do not want to hear the answers to. If you are going to ask 'Why do they cut the people in a y-shape when dissecting them?' you will have to brace yourself for the answer 'Well, the skin can be folded back well that way. If they only use one one long cut in the middle, you would be able to fold back any skin now, would you?' and not squirm about as you make disgusted noises.


P.S. This is what happened when my mother asked me the above question. Not sure why I'm posting it, but it is the middle of the night and I am finding it quite amusing. Might regret it in the morning....

This turned out to be an ode to Harry Potter...oh well...

Ohisashiburi dana? Meaning (or at least I hope) "It's been a long while, hasn't it?"

So, I totally abandoned this blog again but I am going to offer no apologies for two reasons:

1) If I apologize every time I fail to write on this blog, this will turn out to be a collection of long winded 'sorry's instead of being a collection of...what? Hmm, looks like I'm still undecided on what this is after all...

2) I honestly doubt someone aside from my sister (Hi Steph) is reading these, so since I have no specific audience, the apology would fall on deaf ears. (I'm not calling you deaf Steph, not right now.)

Now that that is out of the way, I guess I'll write a summary of what I've been up to.

I finished work one week ago so I've basically been enjoying sleeping my mornings away since then. I will be trying to go back to the usual routine of waking up before eight now though. Not because I have anything to do after eight, just because I start University again next week so better get used to it soon.

I've been re-reading Harry Potter lately because I realized I must have read the last two (or three) books only once (the horror!) and I had never read the whole series in a row. Right now I've just started the seventh (last) book of the series and at first it was fun, noticing certain things that I knew would come up in later books (like the vanishing cabinet at Hogwarts which was so important in book six. It actually shows up in the second book and we find out it was Nearly Headless Nick who broke it) or just noticing elements of foreshadowing I had refused to pay attention to the first time I read them (like in book five, when Harry mentions the awful feeling he got when he said goodbye to his godfather. Second time around, you now that that is because next time they meet...next time...oh screw it. The ones who read the book know what I'm talking about.)

Anyways, like I said, at first it was fun, probably more fun the first time I read them, but now it's just getting depressing. Every time a character I like who I know is going to die, shows up, I get a bit distracted. I honestly think this is the first series which made me like characters so much, so much that I actually care about their fictional deaths. It is probably because I ended up growing with them, first through the books, then through the movies. I will most probably never experience this kind of thing this strongly again, but it is nice to know I had the chance.

"Vroom, vroom!" "Slow down!"

Well, well, well. Where to start?

Actually, not much has happened really. I've been working on my summer jobs as usual (although now I'm done with one of them), but now I've found out I have no idea when I'll be paid for either of them, so that's left me a bit pissed off.

Well, it's not all bad news though. I just received an email telling me that I have been accepted to continue my course on the Honors Program. Basically, after I finish my first two years, I can either continue on the General Program and finish my studies at the third year, or else if I have a high enough average I can continue on the Honors Program and finish studies on my fourth year. I managed to get a good average, and since the Honors seems like a big deal, I decided to try it out. God only knows if I've made the right choice.

Also, I may be getting my driving license earlier than I expected. So far I've had a lesson a week for three weeks (which makes my driving total three hours), but my driving instructor is quite happy with my progress and he might make me take the exam in about five to six weeks. Whenever I remember our conversation, I keep drifting between periods of happiness and excitement  to terror and uneasiness. I am just terrified that it might been too soon, but I really really want to get my license so that I'll be a bit more free and I may less of a burden to my parents.

Plus I love driving. I love being behind the wheel and going where I want, see the world go by. It's true that when you are driver you then to do less of the seeing  part and more on the 'focus or we all die' piece. But it still feels awesome.

There are plenty of things I still need to grasp though. I almost always start slowing down a bit too late when about to go round a corner and I never quite allow as much space between me and curb while turning. Hmm... looks like my problems lie mostly with corners.  Which is probably why I spent half an hour driving around houses on my last lesson. My teacher probably realized where my flaws are. I also might press too much on the gas occasionally...

I think next lesson we'll probably focus on parking. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that parking will be one of the hardest things. It's probably just my impression though. I wonder what other people think is hardest part about driving. What do you think?

Memories, anyone?

Sometimes I  wish I could turn the conversations my sister and I have into a script and just keep it to be able to flip through them on a day when I am bored or feeling too apathetic to actually do anything. There is nothing special in these conversations, nothing special to other people. The two of us would probably be the only ones who would be able to chuckle at those words, as we re-live the moments in our minds. 

One such unimportant scene happened last Sunday, as my sister was sitting in my room playing video games while I shifted between surfing the internet and reading the last book of The Hunger Games trilogy; Mockingjay (maybe more on that in another post). 

She was playing Final Fantasy XII and as we were chatting about the game, I told here that I had finished it at around level 60, which is unusual for me cause I usually try to train as much as possible before reaching the final boss. However I felt like a challenge, so during the latter section of the game I barely trained. The end result was somewhat unsatisfying. The final boss battle took a bit longer than usual, but it ended up being repetitive without any of the usual fears like, "Crap, my party is going to die at this rate", or "I'm gonna be fresh out of MP soon". In the end, it was just long.

As I was telling my sister this, she told me that she believed boss battles in general weren't really hard anymore, just long. As memories of earlier on this year surfaced in my mind, I started laughing softly and told her, "Oh, I beg to differ."

With her eyebrows raised, she spared a few seconds and looked away from the television screen and to my face. "What do you mean?"

"Remember the last game you played?"

She focused her gaze back at the screen and adopted a pensive look as she tried to shift through the list of games she had played and put them in chronological order. All of a sudden, her eyebrows shot back up and I could hear her as she sucked the air around her. 

"Oh! Oh, oh, oh!! I differ! I differ!!" 

And at that moment we both started laughing at the memory of her swearing at the TV screen, cursing at the protagonist of Kingdom Hearts II whenever he failed to land a blow on his final opponent. 

These memories. The ones that make me smile even though there isn't really anything to smile at. It's just my sister and I, just another Sunday afternoon. A moment in time we have shared together.

Other moments would definitely be included in this fictitious script. Moments I have shared with my family, others with friends, even those alone, while walking on a street to somewhere and coming across something unique. 

My memory is very bad though. I cannot possibly remember everything that has ever happened to me. But just as I am writing this sentence, I realize that it's OK if I do not remember them all. Because it seems like I have enough of these moments to spare.

Warning: This post will not make any sense to non Harry Potter fans. Sorry.

First of all, sorry for the lack of posts lately, though I hardly think my four follows have noticed my absence much haha.

Second, this is going to be a short post. I don't have much time at the moment but I figured it's better to write a short post than nothing at all.

Third, I just signed up for Pottermore. When I came back home from work, my sister was freaking out about signing in for Pottermore so I signed up as well. I wasn't that psyched up for it honestly, partly because I still have no idea what the site is all about yet. My enthusiasm also dwindled a bit when I realized I was one of the lucky million that made it into the site early. If one million are only a fraction, they must be expecting a hell of a lot more people for this.  

Also, you do not get to choose your username. You get a 5 options to choose from, and as a result I have forgotten my username already. I know it starts with Hazel, followed  by another word and then 3 numbers, but I'm at a loss as to what they are...

I just went to check with my sister and I think my username is something along the lines of HazelCharm183. Probably. So whatever the hell Pottermore turns out to be, feel free to add me as a friend/comrade/classmate, or whichever friend system this turns out to be. 

That's all I have time for. Hopefully I'll be back soon. Till then, this has been R.

Why does it feel like...

... I am cheating on books when using an e-book reader?

Yesterday I received an e-book reader as a gift. The moment I realized what the box in my hand contained, I was hit with a multitude of different thoughts. First up was:

1) Oh dear lord, it's a freakin' e-book reader? I can't accept this! I want to. But I can't! It's a frikkin' e-book reader for pete's sake!

And while this thought was stuck in repeat in my head a second thought managed to creep in which went something like:

2) An e-book reader! Must have cost a bit...but...am I going to use it?

I love reading. And I love books. And when I say that I mean that I love EVERYTHING about them. The words which are my gateway to a different world, but also the feel of the paper, the texture of the cover, the slowly yellowing pages, the smell, the paper-cuts gained when a book protests from being opened for the first time.

I am a bit fearful of e-book readers which are threatening to  take all of this away from me. Now that I actually have one I must say that it quite a useful contraption. You can basically carry a small library in your bag, a library which weighs the same, or even less than an average book. It is not even a strain on the eyes like I had imagined it to be.

I will probably try to find a way to use the reader at university (beats carrying a mountain of books any day). Bottom line is- E-book readers are a useful invention, but I'd rather curl up in bed with a book made out of paper and glue any day.

Now...

...it has definitely been more than a week. *Sigh* I didn't know having a job took this much time and energy out of you. Oh well, I'll be done from my first even job once I finish inputting the surveys I took online. I still have about twenty-one to do and it takes a couple of minutes more or less to input each one in, so if I focus I could finish in about an hour.

If I focus...which is pretty much what I am NOT doing now. Meh....

I finished another book, earlier this week. It's not the Sword in the Stone though. I kinda abandoned it for a while to read something else, the first book by John Green; Looking for Alaska. It was different than what I had imagined it to be, and because of that it was probably a greater read than I would have imagined it. Once again, this is a book I would lend to my friends...the only thing is that it's not mine to begin with so I can't. Thanks again to my sister for lending it to me. I'll be stopping by for more books to borrow very soon, you can count on that.

Unfortunately, no results came out this week. How hard is it to correct a bunch of multiple choice questions, geez. At least those results should have come out be now. *Pouts*

I still have not found the time to play or write so far this summer. It's a bit sad but since I know I actually am doing something with my time, I'm sorta OK with this. After all, the summer is till long (in case anyone cares or wants a dose of envy, summers over here are three months long. That's right, three whole months of absolutely no school.)

Well....what else is there to say? I will start my second job next Monday, on the 18th, up until the 22nd of August if I remember correctly. I don't think I'll get a job for the remaining month of holidays, I'll probably focus on enjoying myself and getting my driving license that month. I'm not sure how it works in other places but over here we have a written exam and a practical one (i.e. driving on the street) we have to pass to get our license. Yesterday I had the written exam and passed. Now I just need to call the driving school and start my practical lessons. *Takes out a fancy glass filled with an opaque yellowish liquid* Here's to me hoping that I don't end up crashed into a wall on my first lesson. *Drains the glass*. Mmmm, I love pineapple juice.

Till next time, take care.

This has been R.

It's been....

...almost a week. My plan is to update this blog at least once a week and since it has not been a week yet I have not broken any (self-imposed) promises, but I still feel a tad guilty for letting this much time slip by. Anyways, I honestly doubt any of you want to hear this kind of useless ramble, so lets switch to a different kind of rambling.

I got another result, this time a B. The subject was 'Media, Society and Culture' and the exam was a nightmare. When my friends and I walked out of the exam, we looked at each other, our faces wearing the same expressions;

Did we ever even go to these lectures? What the hell was that about?


Oh well, thankfully that went well too. Fingers crossed for the other seven results to come.

I also started working this week! I had a meeting with my employer and other students like myself last Tuesday, and now I get to go around interviewing random women about women at work and sexual discrimination. So much fun... I have thirty-three surveys to complete until the 13th of June and so far I've got 13 done. Slow moving work...

On Wednesday I had a barbecue on the beach with friends from the same course. Not everyone showed up, some people were sick and others were too busy with work, but it was fun nonetheless. I probably won't see them in person until I start my third year (if I get there) since we live quite apart, but that's what Facebook is for.

I started reading 'The sword in the stone' for some reason. I had forgotten I even bought the book (it was years ago) and I saw it sitting on the shelf, a blue spine with the owl Archimedes, the name of the author T.H. White written in white on the bottom part. Somehow this made me chuckle so I picked it up and started reading its now yellowing pages. Unfortunately I've been a bit busy so I have only read a couple of chapters, but hopefully I'll find the time to finish it soon.

Anyways, that's all that happened to me lately. No word about the other job I'm supposed to have. I wonder If anything is going to turn up...

*Warning, a title to this post cannot be issued due to the fact that the blogger's mind seems to be malfunctioning. Please stand by*

First thing I did when I woke up was to finish reading 'Life of Pi'. Finally! It's an awesome book and I highly recommend it to anyone. The moment I was done with it I went to had it over to my sleepy sister, who humbly accepted it before placing it on her bedside table and resuming her sleep. Unfortunately she did not get to sleep long, you'll know why in a minute.

I turned on my laptop, intent on writing a new blog post since it has been a couple of days since my last one. Before getting down to business I completed the usual routine of checking daily sites for news, email and of course Facebook to see what my friends have been up to. And there I saw that a friend had posted that the first of our results had come out. So it was with shaking hands that I logged on to my student profile on the university website and clicked the link which boldly stated: 'View current Results'.

After which I proceeded to run to my mother to inform her that I had achieved a B+ in Content Analysis and Semiotics, all the while jumping up and down on the spot. After that it was my father's turn to be informed, who nodded at me pleased from the back garden, contently puffing smoke from his pipe. It was at this point that my sister emerged from her room, a confused look across her face. She smiled to the news before wandering off to the bathroom to wash the remaining fragments of sleep from her eyes.

So the long path of waking up each morning, wondering whether the day will bring news of success or failure has finally started. At least we started off on a good note, even though I can't help but feel a tinge of disappointment at the fact that was only two points away from getting an A. Oh well, no use dwelling over things that cannot be changed, that is one of my mottoes (I am way too much of a carefree character to have only one motto, although that is the most frequent one).

Good luck to all of us, wherever it is needed.

Until the next post, this has been R, coming to you from an island somewhere.

This blog comes to you...

...from my new laptop. Unfortunately my previous (and first ever) 3-year-old laptop started giving me trouble a while back. Basically every time things started getting even a bit crowded, as in, running three programs at the same time (for example, internet, music playing and an application) it would just turn off suddenly. And when I started back up it would pretend nothing ever happened. No "Unexpected shut down occurred" or "Sorry for making you lose the work you had been working on". Nothing.

I took it to a lab to get fixed but after two days they told me it never gave them any trouble and did not shut down on their watch. So I took it back home and after fifteen minutes, history repeated itself.

So anyways, I had to loose my purse strings a bit and fish something out for a new laptop. But it's an awesome laptop so I don't really mind. 

Despite me loving technology, it seems to get a kick out of causing me trouble whenever it gets the chance. Which reminds me, my mobile has been going even more bonkers than usual this past week. Though luck, that's going to have to stay put for a lot longer...

Putting that aside. Not much has happened since the last blog post. Although I may have managed to get two jobs out of the applications I sent in. One of them is going to be only a couple of weeks long, and I still have no real information on the other job except it's location. It's probably going to be office work, although I am not really sure...Oh well, we'll see how that goes. 

I still have not written a line since exams ended apart from these blogs, although I finally started reading 'Life of Pi'. Been dying to read the book and I finally have the time, phew. 

Well, that's it for today, hope the post managed to keep you entertained for a minute or two.

Take care!

R

FREEDOM!!!

… is what I am celebrating right now.  Today I finally finished my exams for my second semester of my second year in university.  Until the end of next September I need not give university a second thought, that is until sometime next month when results will start coming out. I’ll either be crying from joy at passing or out of despair from having to sit through the re-sits. And since I had 9 subjects to go through, which totalled to seven written exams, three assignments and one presentation, only time will really tell how I managed through them.

So until September I will be shuffling my time between trying to get a decent summer job and actually working at one, playing video games, watching anime and most importantly writing. I also need to read the small pile of books that has slowly been accumulating and unfortunately ignored due to studying, and I need to get my driving licence. Wow. Maybe I should dedicate this blog to keep check of how many of these projects I’ll actually complete.

Hmm, so this is the list so far:

1. Get a job
2. Get driving licence
3. Finish the first draft of story
4. Play all the video games I have been buying and accumulating
5. Read all the books I have been buying and accumulating
6.  Read the books my sister has been buying (I noticed a couple of good ones around, including the books by John Green)
7.  Watch all the anime I’ve been meaning to watch (the list is never ending)
8. Keep writing this blog

I’m pretty sure that there are a couple of things I’m missing out. Oh well, I’ll add them on a later date I guess.

Well, I have three months to accomplish all this. I wonder if I’ll manage…

R

Edit:

P.S. I remembered another point for my to do list. My father asked me earlier on this year to help him translate a book from Italian to English together with my sister. I wonder if he still wanted me to do that...

Hi and welcome!

So, here we go.

I guess the thing to do when you start writing a blog is to introduce yourself, right? Let’s try it out then.

I am a twenty-year-old second-year student at university and I’m studying Communications with Psychology as my secondary area. I have two main goals in life; to become a writer and find someone I love who is crazy enough to want to share what’s left of their life with me.

Two of my hobbies are writing (duh) and procrastination, which is how I’ve come up with the idea of blogging. I do not have a lot of confidence when it comes to writing so I figured I could use this method as a way of practicing writing and in order to increase (or rather, create) the confidence I need. It’s also a way to kill time without actually feeling like I’m wasting it.

Other hobbies of mine are playing video games, listening to music, reading (manga and novels) and watching anime.

I’m still not sure what this blog is going to be about. It will most likely contain random thoughts and happenings in my life with a random review about random things thrown in I guess. Whatever this endeavor will turn out to be, I hope you will stick around to find out and help me create whatever the hell this is going to be. But most of all, I hope that I will be able to entertain you while I also enjoy myself.

I guess this is enough for an introduction. Hope you’ll make your way back here for the next post. Till then, take care.  

R.