Mistakes of Youth: The Blog (Powered by ur mum)

Original Post

Will write a rant when I don’t feel like crap.

Party was good. Got see lots of friends I don’t get to see that often anymore. Got lots of clothes, but I needed them. All my pants have holes in them, and not in the cool places. Also got some money, and some small anime-related items, too…

Air volumes 3+4 and Gundam Musou are on the way as well.

Of course the biggest present I got was my new computer about a week ago.

Hay guys, I’m 20 years old today!

All I really want is

…and maybe some money to get the latest Megami, or a new bag.

Also, instead of happy birthday, let’s all sing OKKUSENMAN!

Here ya go

I’m also on mixi, if anyone cares…

Here’s how it happened: One of the pencil boards taped up on my wall fell down behind the shelf, and while I was moving the shelf away from the wall to get the thing, this ancient piece of paper from elementary school slipped out.

See, Pokemon was fucking hot like 10 years ago. So hot that my school (and probably many others) banned it since it was interfering with stuff. As such, they did this– the “Pokemon Festival” in which one could, as the sheet says “think, talk and breath Poke’mon.” Honestly, the experience must not have been terribly memorable, since I can only remember it now because of this little slice of the past that I happened to trip over. I was sure into those Pokemon back then, though. I still have my 5 billion cards stored away some place. I could probably sell them all for like 50 cents or something.

After a very stressful yesterday/last night, I finally have a sexy working version of XP running on this machine. It took blood, sweat, tears and the help of many great men. Thanks go out to Rob, Randall and Chase for helping me get this sucker installed.

It works great! It feels just like my old computer except for Photoshop starts up in 5 seconds and nothing slows down ever. The real test of this machine’s power will come in the form of some epic Photoshopping (which should happen today or tomorrow), but as of right now things are more or less perfect! The only losses from all this were Dell’s little mini-view thing, but that didn’t do much but look kind of cool and space-age-ish anyway, and my Hizashi no Naka no REAL save game. Well, it’s not really a loss since the harddrive on my old PC is still intact and I probably backed it up but I have no idea where to find it. Any fellow lolicon out there have ideas? Alternatively, a full save file would be good… I could never get past 75% complete…

Normal comicing/blog posting will resume shortly~

Not sure how I feel about Vista. People have told me I should keep it installed, since it’ll use all of 4 of the gigs of RAM I paid for, but it’s causing more problems than making anything easier. I can live with its aesthetic, but other very basic things are wrong here. For instance, when copying over all of my fonts, there were a number of duplicates. It asked if I wanted to replace the dupes, but of the options it gave me, none of them were “yes to all” or “no to all”. As a result, I had a stay there clicking away until all my fonts installed. Also, the OS basically prompts you about everything and is too secure for its good (ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO INSTALL THE THING YOU JUST CLICKED ON etc etc etc.) I’ll give it a spin for a few days, but I’m really leaning towards just loading up XP, especially considering the fact that my scanner doesn’t work with Vista (I can still scan through the laptop, though)

Anyway, other than OS issues the new machine works great. I will however miss the old guy, though. I used my old Vaio desktop for something like 6 years, and I guess I became attached.

I’m not sure if I’ve made it very public on this site, but for those who don’t know, I’m currently in the process of applying to study in Japan in the spring of 2009. The biggest hurdle to get over was grades, since Sophia University requires a 3.0+ GPA to get in. Thankfully, my grades for this semester were nearly flawless (I got mostly As, and scrapped by with a C+ in math) so that’s taken care of. Now I’m focusing on the paperwork, which is mostly straightforward except for this goddamn Certificate of Eligibility form. Looking at it is almost like looking into the eyes of death itself. Just try and see if you can imagine this: 4 pages, both in Japanese and badly translated English with no sense of design at all. It is the most fearsome bit of paper I’ve ever seen– an assault of kanji and compact, cramped English text with very little breathing room. Reading the thing is a challenge, especially considering a lot of the English translation reads something like English Akiba Blog.

Thankfully I’m nearly done with that form. There are a lot of areas I’ve left blank, but that’s only because I really think I should go over them with my study abroad advisor so I don’t screw up. Beyond that, I just have some areas that I need to go over with my parents and professors, and after that’s mostly smooth sailing. It’s pretty much guaranteed that I’ll make it over there, but given my experience it’s best not to get excited until things are 100%.

Also: Thanks for everyone’s help with my new computer. It’s currently on its way here and should arrive on Wednesday…

Story is my main desktop is just getting old and stupid and the laptop is a pretty beat up little thing that wasn’t all that good to begin with and now has a stubborn bit of spyware on it. I can live with the laptop for now, but my desktop is in dire need of a replacement. I’ve had it for something 5 or 6 years, so its time has come.

Obviously I do a lot of Photoshop work, so I need a machine that’ll be able to keep up with that. I was thinking of getting something like this with a 500GB HDD and 3GB RAM. Does anyone have any experience with these built-to-order deals? Do they end up working well? Oh, and can someone give me advice on what processor and stuff to choose? What power protector to choose?? I am not a computer person at all.

Too scared to switch over to the Macs. I’ve been using Windows all my life, so you know.

edit: So uh apparently my laptop is infected with this horrible smitfraud c.coreservice thing and when I google that all I get are horror stories. Apparently I shouldn’t even be connected to the internet with this thing on my laptop, but I can’t even get on the internet with my desktop (the wireless adapter decided to stop working) so this is The Only Way. I’ll probably reformat this thing tomorrow since I don’t want to go through all the drama it takes to get smitfraud off so hopefully reformatting will do the trick. It’s not like I have anything special on this machine anyway. Ugh, what a headache.

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Original Post

Yes, for the first time in god knows how long, I will not use the internet.

I’ll be away from internet land for a week due to a couple of reasons: 1) because it’s finals week, and this semester I actually have finals I need to study for, and 2) I’m sick of the internet in general so I figure a break would be good. I’m not totally cutting myself off, though. I’ll just be not blogging, posting on forums, or using AIM/MSN/ICQ/IRC. I’ll still download anime and check my email. I won’t be updating my stats on MyAnimeList because going on there may compel me to be social, but my last.fm stats will keep current since it does that automatically. Not sure how long this’ll last, but dammit I’ll try, and hopefully come out of it a slightly changed man.

Anyway, until next week!

Seriously, what the fuck? I don’t even see cosplayers in Tokyo Kid past the odd Naruto headband, so why the fuck are they parading through this small Japanese shopping center? Last week I saw two Naruto guys, both clad in leather, too many belts, and one had horribly dyed green hair. Just today, when I was down there to get a hot plate of curry along with some mochi ice cream I saw some guy dressed as Athrun just walking around with his friends, one of whom was wearing a cape and was probably cosplaying as some character I don’t know.

I mean… c’mon. Do they think just because it’s a Japanese shopping center they’re allowed to dress up as anime characters and just sit down at Kotobukiya for some sushi? I mean, I try my best to just not even wear anime shirts around there…

comic regarding this hilarity is written but may or may not become a reality

…for freezing while I was in the middle of shading. And I didn’t save. Ugh. So I had to do the comic shading again. Man, like I said, I really need some upgradez. But such things cost money. Sigh.

I’ll make a real post soon, I promise. In the middle of spring break, and trying my best to relax (most attempts have been thwarted by The Family, lol.) Anyway, since I literally have nothing to do today I’ll just lay down and do nothing. Or fill out some job applications. Maybe both!

Here’s a picture

• Spring break is NOW.
• Will try my best to make a comic this week. It’s really just a matter of scanning and colouring… on this slow-as-hell laptop, even slower than my normal machine. I seriously need some upgradez.
• Hitting up Anime Boston next weekend. No table, I’ll just be running about like mad.
• I’ve started updating my Live Journal again, after about 3 years of hardly touching it… not sure if I’ll keep that up.
• I have a job interview this week!

Cool cats Jeff and moyism recently divulged to us the awful truths behind how much they spend on anime and anime related goods. This, of course, got me thinking about how much I waste on my sick and twisted hobby for devil worshiping sinners. Now, I come from a fairly well-off family (and I’m sure they hate me very much each time they read this blog) so basically all my living stuff is covered. Thusly, any money I make on my own goes towards CRAP, and I’m horrible at saving. That said, it’s not really all that much, at least compared to those two guys. Then again, they have real jobs, and I’m just a stinky, fat and ugly college student. My personal spending quota for the year usually turns out to be something like ~$1500. Now, this usually covers all the stuff I REALLY want, and lesser things such as DVDs are usually saved as birthday or Christmas presents. Still, if I had a real job, I’d probably be spending a lot more. Probably a bit more than Jeff, but not nearly as much as moy (I don’t see how the man does it!) What follows is my ideal anime crap budget.

• DVDs- $1000: This is probably too much, as I doubt I’ve ever bought $1000 worth of DVDs in one year, ever. But I’d probably easily spend within that much on DVDs, considering the things I watch and feel like watching again.
• Figures- $1000: $1000 can get you between 15-20 figures in a year, roughly. Over the past couple of years I’ve amassed 30 figures, so chances are this one will actually be a bit too much also, but it’s always good to have enough budgeted if for some reason they start shooting out 5 figures of each of my favourite characters!
• Hug Pillows- $1500: Again, I’m probably overshooting here, considering how frequently they come out and how many of them happen to be of characters I care about. They are however expensive, and this also takes into account the more pricey doujin covers/event only covers you’ll see on Yahoo Auctions.
• Books/Other stuff- $500: I don’t buy much manga, mostly because the titles that come out here don’t interest me much. There are some things I’ve had my eyes on though, and things I’ve put off collecting due to lack of money. So if I could, I’d probably pick up all those with $500 easily, with some left over for the odd artbook.
• Cons- $1000: I don’t go to many cons, at most two a year, so this is overshooting as well. I usually drop about $300 at cons, but it’s good to have some leeway in case the con happens to have that rare limited edition Shuffle! bedsheet I’ve been wanting…

So, about $5000 total is the hypothetical absolute maximum I’d spend on anime in a year, if I had that kind of money. Not so bad, really. Now, where to get the $5000…

Happy New Year, and all that other stuff.

Pictured

• Air volumes 1 and 2 (w/ box)
• Black Lagoon volume 3
• Cymbals- Anthology
• Fresh Pulp
• Hello, Please!
• Japanese School Girl Inferno
• Paprika
• Pani Poni Dash volume 6
• Riding Bean
• Space Battleship Yamato OST 1
• Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu volume 4 LE
• The Adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus and Cigars of the Pharaoh
• Tokyo Scope

Not Pictured

• Money
• Scarf

Best haul ever, I think. I got everything on my list except for the Evangelion calendar, but only because that was OUT OF PRINT. CD Japan’s current calendar selection doesn’t seem too inspiring, so this year I’ll only have Hayate and a small Gurren Lagann calendar to keep me company (I’ve been meaning to write reviews on those, too.) I actually already had those two Tintin books, but only collected with other stories. I always wanted the individual volumes, so I dropped hints.

Hope everyone else had an awesome holiday, and best wishes for the new year.

Going back to DC for winter break.

Photo taken when I was going back to Boston after Thanksgiving break. I actually take a lot of photos, some of which are kind of decent. I should get a Flickr account, or something…

No comic this week because I’m taking a rest after 3 days of final projects and studying. Break is only one week away!

Also, I’m totally downloading SPACE ADVENTURE COBRA because I am convinced it can be nothing but incredible right from the title. It’s an adventure, in SPACE. Adventures by themselves are fairly rad, but adventures in SPACE are just on a whole different level of RAD. The opening (which I’ve linked before) confirms this belief further as it paints a sexy picture of high quality science-fiction PULP. COBURAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

YEAAAAAH. 3/4 projects fuckin’ COMPLETED. I just got ONE MORE to do tomorrow, and some dumb paper, and I am more or less DONE. Past that, I just have two exams, one of which will be a super easy Japanese test, and the other will be an Art History test which won’t require more than 2 hours of half-assed studying. Then I am DONE and finished with art school FOREVER, as next semester I will be a COMMUNICATIONS MAJOR. YEAH. FUCK YEEEAAAAAHHHH.

And now, Kaede.

I need to get some toilet paper. Time to see if that CVS really is open 24 hours…

(sorry, GuroRanger, I just had to use that line…)

Guys, I figured it out. It’s LOGIC that keeps us down. If we just abandon all LOGIC everything will turn out for the better! This striking epiphany hit me while I was thinking about the complex themes behind The Greatest Anime Ever. Who the fuck needs logic? Seriously, FUCK THAT. Dwelling on things such as logic just makes a you a boring and predictable person who leads a boring and predictable existence. So, that is why, as of RIGHT NOW, I’m abandoning all logic and acting purely on emotion. By emotion I don’t mean shitty and dumb emotions like depression, I mean MAN emotions like HOT BLOODED PASSION THAT BREAKS HOLES THROUGH THE UNIVERSE AND INTO TOMORROW. I feel by doing so my life will benefit greatly.

Yeah, it’s like almost 3:00am, and this came to me while I was flipping through some issues of Megami. I’ve been running around most of today, and I’ve had to fly, so it’s been kind of a Long Day. I just needed to get all that whateveritis out of my system.

God this is turning into a LiveJournal. If I have time I’ll write about this strange musing I had which involved comparing Death Note to The Godfather movies.

my world has just been turned upside-down

It’s like finding out Santa Claus isn’t real, or something.

I present to you anime beauty, perfected. Well, I’m bias, since I have thing for ’90s designs. But she’s pretty hot, yeah?

Talk about nostalgia, I just watched the first Tenchi movie, TENCHI MUYO IN LOVE (what a lovely Engrish title.) This movie holds something of a significant meaning for me, since it was the first anime I ever watched UNCUT AND UNEDITED. Many (if not all) of you readers probably don’t know this, unless you’re one of my friends who was also there on the fateful night of my 13th (?) birthday, when a friend of mine brought over the dubbed VHS from Potomac Video…

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Sequel to this post. People who know me well enough will know I live in two places– Boston during the school year, and Washington DC during the summer. This is my room in DC. While reading this post, please listen to the Galaxy Express 999 theme.

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Today is my goddamn birthday. I am 19 years old now. Yay.

All I want is…

• My very own Sakura Kinomoto
• My very own Kaede Fuyou
• My very own Mikuru Asahina
  
• And my very own Misato Katsuragi

Podcasts, a comic and further photos to follow (I really didn’t take many though. Seriously, no more than 10, tops.) For now, the loots. If for some reason porn offends you, don’t read further!

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I AM DOWNLOADING RENKIN 3-KYUU MAGICAL? POKAAN. ARE YOU HAPPY ABOUT THIS? ARE YOU? All the borderline loli porn you posted pushed me over the edge, and I just had to see this goddamn thing.

By the way… Lastarial is a smashing fellow. He runs a blog about railways, music and occasinally writes about animu. Check it out, will ya!

Well, apartment, but you know. I posted some pictures back when I first moved in, but I figured I’d post some now that it’s more, uh, “lived in.” Also I wish to do battle with Os. Room battle. Please read this post while listening to my theme song.

Pics after the jump. 56k no. NSFW.

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