Fill'er up

Was planning on finishing Poncho translation this week, but I've mostly been spending it catching up on my backlog. So I was going to make a Spring 2011 anime post today, but now I feel it's too late for me to take the effort, even though I'm not sleepy and will most likely be awake for another few hours. It's just that after a certain time I lose the will to be productive in anything. Well, aside from Japanese, I guess. But that's because it's not really much work if I just space it out with breaks in between.

So I'll just do a quick filler for now. Earlier this week I ended up leaving Japanese class and got followed by the girl from last time. Or, rather, she actually ran up to me and tried to get my attention because I was so far ahead and had my headphones on. But I always have my headphones on when I'm outside. In any case, it ended up with her running up and literally having to catch her breath from running to me. I actually wonder where she came from, because after class I usually stick around because the professor likes asking me about my learning methods and giving me various little pointers on certain things (and sometimes just feels like testing me by asking a random word and seeing if I know how to write it). In that time there's nobody in the class, so by the time I leave everyone should be gone.

Well, I didn't notice at all really. I normally would have just kept going with the excuse that I need to do something before my next class; but I decided I'd chat about Madoka's end with her if she was that eager to catch up with me.

So we headed somewhere and talked for a bit. She brought up the Madoka wiki and we talked about various speculations we had through the series and such (she freaking told me what that black cat was in the OP). Discussion moved around for a bit, I happened to have my Madoka manga with me so let her see it , along with some of the other stuff I had. Among them I had Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria, which was the first one she opened up and then immediately closed upon realizing it wasn't a manga. I told her she shouldn't be too frightened of it and told her she should try reading more Japanese materials than the textbook and such. But she's one of the students in the class that notably have a decent grasp on the language, so I assume she puts some effort into learning outside of formal lessons.

The conversation drifted a bit to her asking me if I've read Saya no Uta. She was interested in it because of Madoka but hasn't read it yet. She's read various other visual novels before and we casually chatted about some of them, but she's only really read a handful. Somewhere along the line she asked if I ever visit conventions or cosplay. But I don't go to conventions nor cospay, she was somewhat disappointed because she though I'd make a great cosplayer. I've no idea what really makes one a "great cosplayer" but I'll take her word on it.

It was about 20 minutes until my next class started, and I certainly had more time to hang out more, but I decided to leave early. Since we were browsing the Madoka wiki on my laptop, and it was on hibernate from before, I did end up having Skype open. So when I was packing up she asked for my Skype name. In the end, I didn't give it to her. My computer was off at the time and I said I was in a hurry, so she just gave me her Skype to add her. I still haven't and feel a bit bad for it, but maybe this week I'll make a dummy account and talk a bit. But then I'd probably feel bad being signed off all the time. I did mention I don't use the account much when she asked. Meh, I'll think of what to do later, if anything I could always just actually add her to my account if she's not too talkative.

After that I was supposed to have a presentation in the next class, where I show a movie scene and such. Luckily, it got pushed to next class. My group was last, and everyone wanted to show scenes that are ridiculously long and ate up the whole class time. I don't mind going next week, but the clips were boring to sit through really. And everyone loved picking sex and rape scenes.

But how about something less shitpost related? Here's a small treat for visiting. Before, I made a music post that contained some Chirinuruwowaka songs. Well, earlier this week they released a new album titled 白穴 （white hole) after about 5 years of no new releases as a band.. I thought it was just a side project that ended up dying out, but they've reformed it. I've been listening to the whole album all week. Very nice stuff, really like everything on the album. I'll just show 2 songs from the album. First is ホワイトホール (White Hole), the PV for it has actually been out on youtube for a while before the album was released.



Second one is やまみちにて...　(At the mountain trail), which is the second track on the album. I actually didn't know which one I wanted to use as the second post because I like all of them, so I just put my MP3 player on shuffle and let it pick which one I used.

Though, not entirely sure if anyone else will like them. I think they're pretty good, but I can never really tell how well my tastes match with others anyway. I'll see if I can get Poncho finished tomorrow. Or at least do a Spring 2011 anime post.

Take it easy.

~ Kirari ミ★

I don't think about the future

I don't think about the future. It usually gets in the way of taking it easy. The future is a bit too complicated to think about at times really, and I'm bad at predicting. I'm also extremely indecisive. But for some reason I found myself thinking a bit about it last night before drifting to sleep. Maybe it's because of the debt I've been accumulating and the fee I have to pay by next month before it escalates into a legal issue (in which case the fees would have increased dramatically).

If I had remained a NEET I could have avoided this really. I feel as if I've fallen into a scam I saw miles away but disregarded anyway. But that's just how it works when you take everything in your own pace. I'm not sure what I'll even do. The plan was never for me to work, even though it'd be obvious from the fees I'd have to find a job at some time. Being at a 2 year college, at least the debt isn't so large, still I've no idea what happens after I finish those 2 years. I could continue language in another school, but I'm pretty sure the only other school around that has Japanese would be an expensive private school that's hard to get into. And then for what? It's not like a degree in Japanese would really open any jobs that would be able to pay for the large debt I have. 

But if I just finish my 2 years and decide to start work after, what exactly will that lead to either? I guess it'd make nabbing an entry level job easier as resume fodder or something. But what the hell job would I work? For some reason I see myself working at a bookstore or something, through some entry level job like organizing shelves or working the register. And staying at this position to the point where 10 years from now I'd still be that quiet bookstore worker that occasionally knocks stuff over because of how clumsy I am. I'd still be paying off my debt by then due to my low pay and interest sprouting up. Of course, I'd still live with my mother, but this isn't something I've ever looked down on or thought was a bad idea. I find it more appropriate to live with your family, as it eases the burden of cash and you could always help support each other. But I guess some people find it as a sign that you can't walk on your own two legs so look down on it. Not something I care about really, I just felt like pointing out that I always thought it to be an odd idea to live on your own if there's no actual reason for doing so such as better job opportunities outside of one's hometown.

But as I was saying, it's hard to imagine myself doing anything more than small jobs. After all, I really don't think I've many skills. No, I really don't have anything special about me at all. People believe I'm good at computers, but I'm not really, I've just used them since a younger age than a lot of other people. In some cases some could say that experience alone counts as skill I have that others don't, but it's nothing that any employer would particularly find interesting. I know how to not be stupid with a computer, interesting skill I guess. I have a yellow belt in
Google-fu, which allows me to fix problems by stealing answers from other people. My family comes to me when they have computer issues and I usually just Google it and pick the first result to fix their computer. One could argue it's no different than learning information from a textbook, but I've no actual knowledge in how any of that stuff works most of the time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that anyone can do it, people just don't, so I'm not sure if anyone can call it an actual skill. I've gotten money for doing easy computer jobs from my father's technologically illiterate friends, but (no real offense to them) they're not exactly the brightest of the bunch anyway.

In the end I feel as if I can't really do anything. Maybe that's why I can only imagine myself at an entry level job that could be acquired without any college experience, and remaining at that position. A completely optimistic view of the future would be nabbing one of those nice translation jobs where I could work at home for a game company like Atlus or Capcom or something. Or maybe novel translations. Even manga translations. I can't even imagine this stuff paying much, but I'm sure it'd probably pay more than anything else in my head, and I'd have the benefit of not having to go outside. But I doubt this job has many openings, or that they'd be given to someone with no prior translation experience and only 2 years of classes to show for language proficiency. I guess if they actually tested my Japanese they'd know it was beyond the level I have a degree in, but that's not exactly something I expect them to do when shifting through resumes for a candidate.

But I suppose it doesn't matter too much. More money from a better job simply means I can get my loans paid faster. Besides, if I had too much money I'd probably stuff my room with too many figures and have a problem.

At least I've still got a strong goal and determination for learning Japanese. In my job working as a bookstore employee, or as a janitor, or as a cashier, or anything else, I can at least think of myself as being proficient in Japanese by that point. I don't think 2 more years on top of my current experience (which I've lost track of how long by now) would be an unreasonable time frame for me to be well versed in the language. I don't see myself dropping this determination. In fact, it's the only thing I've ever actually taken initiative and interest to sit down and study in my life. The only thing I really have a passion to learn. If I don't find success in Japanese, I really can't see myself succeeding in anything else. It'd be a huge fall, and a huge failure. But I'm not worried about this, because I've no doubts that I'll continue. I've come too far and I'm still far too determined to back out. That's why I can see myself being able to read novels and VNs fluently, even as a cashier. I can see myself taking my breaks in the bookstore to sit in a private corner and pull out a Japanese novel, reading through the pages at the rate I could read  through with my native language (maybe faster, kanji makes reading feel fast even at my current level). Because I really think that no matter what happens to me by that point in the future, my hard work now would shine by then.

But that's enough for today's shitpost. I downloaded Solanin yesterday and I'm going to give it a watch right now. Thanks for reading. Or skimming, I understand since my post is such a wall and I don't even know when to properly highlight certain points with bold or italics.. Or even just coming to this page to look at my image, that's fine too.

~ Kirari ミ★

My kingdom for strawberry fruit snacks!

I'm about to reveal a story that still haunts me to this very day. You see, I love fruit snacks, I really do. I remember being younger and getting a pack of them at the corner store before heading to school. I love those little colored shapes of pure delight. However, I am plagued with a curse. For my packages always...always are filled with those little demons. More than half of each package is filled with those foul, disgusting, and utterly revolting things. Oranges. Pineapples. These are my least favorite of the fruit snacks, and yet they torment me so! Why, why must I receive so many of them in one pack and so few of my favorite flavor?! Why am I forced to the torment of eating these orange creatures before getting my satisfying prize? Why do I not simply throw them out? I feel as if I've given up if I throw them out, as if some divine force out there is waiting for that day, so that they may personally come before me and laugh in the face of the mortal who thought they could endure this fruity torture.

NAY, there is INDEED a divine force out there there that is preventing me from reaching my delicious goal! Some grand force that simply frowned upon my very taste buds! For there is simply no statistical way for it to be properly explained! I've come to the conclusion that I am being targeted. I am being personally watched over and toyed with, by this fruit snack god. Why, why!? Why am I denied the pleasure of a pack filled with strawberries!?

"JUST ONCE" I cried with all my heart, my hands clasped tightly together as I prayed to the stars "I'D LIKE TO EXPERIENCE THEY JOY OF A FRUIT SNACK PACK WITH MOSTLY STRAWBERRIES! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR!?"

As if responding, the frightening boom of thunder cried throughout the skies. There was no lightning, there weren't even any clouds within sight; but somewhere out there, something had listened to my cries. My vision blurred, my body collapsed, and my eyes nailed shut. I woke up in what seemed like a full month later, though checking the date I could see it had only been a night. I didn't even brush my teeth. I didn't head anywhere near the bathroom. I ran straight into the kitchen. My legs trusted against the ground at a pace I've never felt them move at before, yet I was not controlling them. It was as if they were being moved by pure instinct.

I reach the pantry, and with one swift movement, throw the door open. There, in the center, a beam of light from a crack in the curtains shines a single ray right on what I seek. The box of fruity decadence, waiting for me to claim it. I pull the box out and open the flaps. My hands shake as I reach in and pull out a small plastic package. Every pore on my body tingles as my fingers fumble to the ends of the package and rip a small tear.

What's this? Pink? I close my eyes and gulp down what seemed like an anvil before opening them again. My eyes deceive me not, for there is indeed a pink fruit poking out from the very small tear I have created on this package. My breathing becomes heavy. My knees start rubbing against each other as if they've a will of their own. I further advance the rip to reveal yet another heavenly shade of pink. My heart races at a rate that makes me feel as if it's about to burst. My pants become violent. My glasses fog. My head becomes light. My body feels as if it's too weak to support itself. Yet my body straightens out until I'm standing on my very tiptoes. But no, it's too early, it can't happen now. I have to hold on. I need to wait longer. I lose control of my salivary glands and a trickle of drool seeps out from my agape mouth. But I mustn't focus on such little things. I must hold back. I must claim my prize!

I can no longer hold it in. It has to be now. A primal urge boils from deep within me. I rip the package completely in half within the blink of an eye, with the force of seven gorillas. The fruit snacks catapult into the very skies, soaking in the oxygen surrounding them. But I do not look. My eyes are closed. I extend my hands out and feel as they fall neatly into even piles within each palm. I close my hands and savor their feel for a bit. That texture, that soft stretchy feel, the slight coldness of each one. Yes, I feel them. I want them. I want them in me now. I shoot my eyes open and glare beams into my hands as I slowly open them.

My legs finally give in. The sound of a sickening smash and crunch echoes throughout the room as my kneecaps slam against the ground, undoubtedly either horribly dislocated or broken from the impact. However, I do not feel any pain whatsoever. I bring my hands up to my face. I press them with all my force against my skin. With a searing sound, I feel the snacks melt into my very core. The smell of fruit snacks wafts throughout a 40 mile radius, alerting all. Alerting them all of...my sorrow. I pull my hands away from my face. The hot, sticky goop thins out into small threads of liquid as I pull my hands further. The hot and sticky threads that drip down burn like molten lava. Rivers of tears fall from my eyes. However, nobody can see these tears, for they are hidden behind a coat of orange. I sit there, head bowed in defeat. Why? Why have I been denied once more? I was certain I'd get my wish this time. I was certain I'd achieve fruity goodness that would surpass the feel of any pleasure ever experienced in my life. I do not clean my face of this sticky goop. I wear it as a mask of shame, as an eternal reminder of the day I foolishly thought I could go against the fruit snack god.

There were indeed two strawberries within the pack, for they now stand as pink marks indicating where my eyes used to be. I've been toyed with. Never in my life have I faced such utter humiliation. And so I carry on, forever lost, denied the right to properly enjoy the luxury of the divine fruit snack pack.

This is my sorrow.
This is my pain.
This is my curse.
This is my story.

(Based on a true story of what happened to me this morning)

It sounds a bit odd considering all the typos I make (I notice them, yes), but I do sometimes writefag when I'm bored, usually in random /jp/ threads when I feel like it. some of them circulate occasional as pasta, but I won't point out which ones I've created. This story has nothing /jp/ related thought, it's just me writing down my tragic story. Since I can't think of anything to post about, I may think about just writing some stories here every now and then. But I think they'd be tl;dr and nobody would read them anyway, so maybe I won't. I have some assignment due tonight at 11 that I'm just procrastinating on, so it's all cool. It's an easy assignment anyway, but those are the worst because I end up thinking they're so easy that I don't have to jump onto it right away. Before I know it I have like 20 minutes to complete it, and even though it's easy to do, it becomes a race against time.

I'm going to get another fruit pack. It'll just be filled with oranges and pineapples anyway...

~ Kirari ミ★

Biting the bullet and changing my methods

So, I've been learning Japanese for quite some time. I do have quite a bit of work to show for it under my belt. While I'm not the best at forming my own sentences, I can comprehend and write pretty decently. I do study diligently, and I study daily, but there's one problem I've had really. My approach to learning is the "learn as you go" method, which is what I thought was more logical at the time, despite the fact that pretty much everyone that's actually made it far with the language have taken other approaches. I figured it was better for me to do it in the way I imagined. While it certainly hasn't gone fruitless, there are certain things I have a deeper understanding of that would have taken longer to get (I think) if I took a different approach, I do notice that I do move along rather slowly compared to everyone else. 

I don't like comparing myself to others when it comes to language acquisition, because doing that usually just makes you try to push yourself until you burn out, and that's not really good. What's important is not to rush past all the information and try to cram it in, but to actually understand it and actually keep it stored in your head. Of course, I studied Japanese before I started taking Japanese classes, and I can see why people usually put down Japanese class as a means of actually learning the language. But I use it more as a means of cementing some of the core grammar a bit more in my head, for foundation, rather than relying on class as a full blown means of learning the language.

But I'm digressing a bit from what I really felt like posting. I've known it for a while now, but never took the plunge. I've known that my way of learning is rather slow. I've always had thoughts in the back of my head that maybe I should have given the AJATT dude's advice another look before thinking it's not what would work for me (I disagreed with some of what he talked about, but some stuff I did agree on and actually incorporate into my study habits). But I looked at many different methods of learning, and picked up one I thought sounded more logical. That was, pick up kana first, take some grammar from Taekim, and learn vocabulary with kanji. I did try the kanjidamage thing at first, but decided it was too much information to take in at once, and it'd be better to learn the kanji used in words that are used within real sentences for better understanding of context. This is what I've based my studies on. It works nicely, but I can't help but feel I should have thought more about the alternate study paths.

So, I decided it's best to do it now. Everyone says it's easier to learn vocabulary and easier to read if you just get your kanji over with before anything else. Or at least, everyone that's actually made it somewhere decent in their learning. So I decided I'd put my current methods on hold for a bit. I'll go through the kanji first. At 25 a day I should finish in about 3 months, and then I'll start picking up where I left off, assuming everything goes smoothly and I don't bump into any unforeseeable hills on the way. I'm already familiar with a lot of kanji, how they're formed, what the stroke order should be (even for kanji I've never seen before, simply by following rules I already have in my head). Hell, I may even just go through with the AJATT method after that and do that 1000 sentence SRS step so I can get a better feel for more "natural" Japanese. 

As it is right now, I over think too much when it comes to forming my own sentences, and that's not very good. It's not as if I thought his methods were "too extreme" like most people think when they read his stuff. I do some of the stuff he talks about, but I don't even have to force myself into doing it. I just didn't think his method made sense at the time. Learning grammar without actually picking up a grammar resource? Just naturally letting it sink in by learning sentences? What the hell is that? I still think it sounds a bit strange, but at the same time I feel it makes sense, in its own way. Obviously, it's not good to follow the guy's stuff as if it was a bible, but nice to take some of his advice and adapt it into your own way. 

So, I'm just doing a reform of my learning a bit. It's not as if it wasn't working, I just thought over my options a bit more and felt that changing the way I learn might better benefit me. As it is now, I do notice myself relying heavily on furigana for kanji I don't know, and only taking a slight glance at them to note their radicals and going "oh, okay, that's nice" before completely forgetting them. If it's a word I know, I'll probably write down the kanji for future reference, but if I did this for every single kanji I came across and didn't know, I wouldn't be able to read without multiple interruptions. So, I've decided I'll take the plunge and just learn them all. Learn the kanji, even if I don't know the readings for them yet. At first when I thought about learning kanji separate from their readings and what words they're used in, I thought of it as a waste of time, because you'd still have to just learn them over again to learn how they're used. But I realize that it probably is for the better to have a great understanding of all of the most commonly used kanji before digging deeper into the language. I do notice that if there's a word that uses kanji I already know, I tend to learn the word much faster, and memorize it much better; and when I bump into a word with a kanji that's new to me, it takes longer, mostly because I have to write the kanji over and over to memorize the kanji, then memorize the meaning and reading, etc. It's a lot of work to cram in.

It can't hurt me really. Not having to deal with learning kanji at the same time as vocabulary seems like it'll make things run smoother. And no more completely ignoring kanji I don't know when I bump into them. Unless it's a oneshot web comic or something, I usually don't try hard to learn new kanji I bump into while reading, and that's something I hope to avoid.

And just because I feel he deserves a mention, I want to thank Tigoris.

 Seriously. I feel like it comes off as me kissing your ass or worshiping you for your knowledge, but I really just find a lot of your posts rather inspirational. I really do have an interest in a lot of the recommendations you've been making recently.It was some of your posts that helped give me a push in trying to go down a different study path. So far it seems to be going pretty well.

Though, I do realize it's a bit strange to do something like this when I'm supposed to be studying for a midterm next week that I still don't know much on. At least I looked up videos for one of the topics! Eh, doesn't really matter too much to me. My primary focus is what I really want to learn, and I don't think I should take away from that determination right now. 

So, wish me luck.

~ Kirari ミ★

Kirari returns with cool stories with a side of Takoluka

Alright, so I'm past the initial hook of my Marvel vs Capcom 3 addiction and settled down a bit so I don't have to stay on the game all day. I should continue normal posting starting tomorrow. I have a few images from my Flandre Nendoroid that just came in last week, so I'll be doing a review of her. I was thinking of reviewing Takoluka, but there's not much for me to really talk about, so I may just make a brief post tomorrow with cute pictures of her if I feel like doing so.

I might as well use this post to stuff in a few short cool stories to fill some space up. First of all, yesterday I went to my usual Japanese bookstore to pick up Yotsubato volume 10. I was also looking to see if they had that new Madoka Magika manga, but sadly they didn't have it in stock. I asked at the counter for them to special order it for me though, so I'll go pick it up whenever they receive it. 

I remember /jp/ had a thread about places in New York and mentioned that another bookstore called Bookoff is just a few blocks away from Kinokuniya, and sells Japanese books at very low prices. Well, I decided to give it a look, and wow. They're used books, but they're mostly in new condition, as if taken right off the shelf of a new bookstore. I managed to get Oyasumi Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 20, Mirai Nikki 3, and Kodomo no Jikan 1-5 from the $1 section. All in good condition. Also picked up Oyasumi Punpun 2 which was about $5, if I remember correctly. I'm very satisfied with the store, and will of course be doing business with them again.

I missed the deadline on a test from one of my online courses, but I didn't make a big  deal about it. Taking it easy, it's just something that can't be helped. The professor is a crab so I don't even feel like emailing her to ask if there's any way I can take a makeup exam. It does annoy me that she also gave a research topic that's limited to 1 internet source and 2 library sources. Honestly, I don't really understand the logic behind this. If you can find the information needed, it shouldn't really matter where you got the information from. Information is information, regardless of where you get it. I really dislike when instructors live in the past like this. I'm in no way belittling printed books by insinuating that they're no longer useful. Of course there are still things that are simply better found in books than on the internet, the internet doesn't have everything on it. But at the same time, the internet certainly has enough resources to complete a research paper in depth. I supposed if I was doing a thesis on something, I'd want to dig deeper into as many sources as I could get, but if it's just a simple essay then I shouldn't have to go out of my way when everything I need is at my fingertips. 

What makes this whole situation even worse is that the class this essay is for is, ironically, a Computer Science course. Now tell me, why the hell would I go to the library and pick out a printed book to do research on web design? What is the logic behind this? Literally everything I need for this research topic is right online for me to look up. I really doubt there's any books I can find that will tell me something about web design that I couldn't find out already on the internet. If I was doing a history paper? Sure, I may not agree with getting information from books if I can find it on the internet, but at least books give the chance of boring old dudes that write personal experiences of their time in World War II or something. But web design? Come on. I guess I'll just download am ebook or something, because I'm too lazy to go to the library just to pick out a PHP guide or something for reference.

That aside, tomorrow is my court date to fight the ticket I mentioned in a blog post last month. It was moved 3 times, but I haven't gotten notice of a new date yet, so I'm assuming that tomorrow is the real final date. I'll head over there tomorrow and hopefully get this settled so I don't get legally robbed of $75. I'll watch the newest episode of Kimi ni Todoke and get some sleep. Win or lose the case tomorrow, I'll probably just come home and celebrate, or take it easy, by playing some Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Until then

~ Kirari ミ★

Short rant on procrastination

Me being a lazy ass cat. Cats are professionals at taking it easy.

So I realized I had this essay due this weekend that I completely forgot about. I was a relatively easy essay though, but because it was so easy I pushed it back so far. The thing is, when I procrastinate I try splitting my free time in increments. So, I'd wake up and browse around online for an hour, let's say it's 1 PM by now.

 

"I'll start my essay at...2" is what I say to myself, because I haven't satisfied myself yet. But I don't do anything important in this time frame, or anything interesting, like watching anime (if I get too into it, I'll want to watch more and it will distract me), or reading VNs (easy way to lose track of time). So what am I left with? Just browsing online, lurking 4chan and constantly refreshing stuff for a full hour. An hour I could have spent doing something else, at least playing games or something. But by the time it's 2, I don't feel ready to do the essay yet. "2:30 then, really."

So I go and maybe take a shower or something to increase blood flow a little. But wait, I haven't eaten yet! No worries, at 3 I'll get started! Oh no, I suddenly feel sleepy now that it's 3, maybe I should nap a bit. I mean, there's no use in doing an essay while sleepy, right? I'll make sure it's just a 15 minute nap. Damn, 15 minutes passed already? I'm still sleepy. I'll just set the alarm for another 15 minutes.

Crap like this goes on the whole day. I know I'm making excuses to procrastinate, and it does more harm than good anyway because I waste the day for an essay that I could have done at the start of the day and be over with, leaving me the rest of the day to do whatever I want without worrying about meeting a deadline that I set for myself. I usually get stuff on time, but last minute. 

I was supposed to do the 999 review this weekend, but I kept saying "after my essay because I don't want to get caught up in writing it up" which is kinda how I keep myself from watching anime or playing games or something while in my procrastination stage. Maybe if I actually satisfied myself by playing a game or watching anime, or whatever, I'd actually stop procrastinating because I'd feel more relieved. But I never do this.

So tomorrow is class for me, but I don't have anything after, so I should have my 999 review up then. I actually wrote it up a bit before doing this entry, but realized I had to go in game for a few screenshots I wanted and didn't feel like doing that right now. I have to head off it a bit to wake up early for tomorrow's classes anyway, so I'll do a quick daily Japanese study session and maybe watch an episode of Aria to calm me down before I sleep.

~ Kirari ミ★

Kirari's first week of class

 

My new semester started. For anyone that was hoping I'd become BFF's with the girl last semester and we'd paint our nails and go shopping together, we're not in the same class. The Japanese class this time is composed of pretty much all Asians, aside from about 2 people. There weren't that many in J1, but I guess most people that took J1 just took it to get a language credit out of the way, or they all just don't like the time slot my class is in. Nothing too surprising really, just something I noticed since when looking around the room.

The professor this time around is just as nice as my last one. She's also very energetic and playful, which I think are very nice qualities for people in the teaching profession to have. She noticed I was at a more advanced level than the rest of the class on the first day, forgot how she noticed though. At the end of  the first class she asked me how I retain my information since I'm familiar with kanji that the J4 students are having problems memorizing, so I showed her Kanjidamage and Smart.fm on my laptop and such. Little did I know, in the next class she was showing off online resources and after showing some of her own she wanted me to show off the ones I told her about on Monday. I guess I could have declined the offer to go up, I told her 「でも、少し恥ずかしいですよ」 (But I'm a bit shy) so that nobody else would (hopefully) understand the remark, and she replied with a simple 「大丈夫、大丈夫！」 (It's okay, it's okay!) and just motioned for me to go up. Wasn't too much of a big deal, I was just hoping that she'd show it off instead, but I guess since I was more familiar with the sites than her (since she only had 2 days to play around with them) it is rather natural that I be the one to explain how to use them and such. She asked me at the end of class yesterday if I wanted to try moving up to the J3 class but I declined. I got the offer to move directly into J2 while I was in J1, but I didn't take the offer. I'm taking the classes because I want to cement the basics that I kind of brushed past and forgot by now into my head. I have a big vocabulary list and all, but my grammar is horrible. She told me I certainly don't sound like I have a problem getting my sentences out, and I know way more kanji than others in higher level classes, but understood and just told me that she can see I know more than I five myself credit for.

But just my luck. It turns out the exact day I advertise Smart.fm they put a notice that they're no longer accepting registration, and that the service will close down soon and become a subscription service. Of course, it's not my fault since there's no way for me to have known that would happen. When I showed the site in class there was no notice, but by the time I got home it was there. Wonder if anyone actually bothered visiting the site though. If they did, then it's kinda too late for them to join anyway. The subscription cost will be about $12 per month, which is quite expensive for a service that I mostly use 30 minutes a day. 

In any case, that's my cool story for now. This was actually supposed to be a part of yesterday's post, but I realized the posts were large enough to be split into 2 (I originally thought there wasn't enough material to make 2 separate posts, but ended up writing more than I thought). Hsien-ko and Sentinel were officially revealed today, and rather than making a new post just to show off their videos and screenshots, I just updated my older post with a link to the reveals.

~ Kirari ミ★

Bad start of the new year, cool stories inside.

So I'm sure anyone that cares has noticed, I haven't really made many blog posts lately. I'm sure by now I've lost a sizable amount of my previous visitors, but that's fine. I blog to blog, so don't mind if there are only a handful of people keeping track of it all.

I'm not mad, I'm still taking it easy despite recent events, but I just haven't been in the mood to blog because I wanted to ease myself a bit with my backlog and relaxing cups of tea. Of course, my streak of misfortune is entirely my fault, so I don't plan on blaming anyone else.

So, it starts off with me recently remembering that one textbook from last semester's courses was a rental. I have horrible memory, I've always been bad with keeping track of things. It took me almost 2 weeks to realize that I had a rental, and that it was due at the end of the semester. The fee for not returning the book on time comes out to $80. I haven't been called yet for the money, but I'm sure they'll eventually come after me. 

I had something to settle at school with my classes next semester and took the train to my school. I forgot my monthly train pass at home, so I purchased a 1 day ticket and got it stamped. The stamp machine smudged the ink horribly, but I didn't notice because I don't take the time to look down at my stamped tickets all the time. I got on the train to school fine, but when coming back they did random ticket inspection. I showed my ticket, but apparently the ink was so smudged that it was just a glob of black on the ticket. The officer said it was entirely illegible, and proceeded to write me a $74 ticket. I guess I can try to fight the ticket, the court date is on the 28th at 8 AM (ugh), so I guess I'll head in and hope there's a judge that will let me pass through. After all, it's my first offense, and I do have a monthly pass that I purchased long before that ride, with the pass issued under my name, and I even still have the receipt for it. But I doubt I'll win anyway, I'm too unlucky. I'll most likely end up with a judge that simply doesn't care, because I didn't have the pass on my person at the given time of inspection. Police are truly one of the many dangers of the outside world.

I also lost access to one of my email accounts because I deleted my saved passwords by accident while doing a routine cleaning of my system, and my memory is too bad to remember what my password for the email was. Even worse, I apparently put in a random security question, so can't even recover the account. 

"Where did I go for my honeymoon?"

What the hell was I even thinking putting that security question? I dunno, but apparently I put that question in 2 years ago, and there's no way I'd remember what was going on in my head back then. It's possible I used some kind of secret code that I thought I'd remember long into the future, because I do sometimes do stuff like that when the answers to the secret questions I can remember are too short to be used (why does my father's middle name and mother's maiden name have to be so short?!). It's the account I used for many Amiami pre-orders. I changed the e-mail on my Amiami account, and they said all future purchases will use my new email, but I have no idea what that means for my current pre-orders. Will they send the verification email to my old account, or my new one? I guess I'll drop Amiami a email and see what they say. Hopefully they respond before my Takoluka plush go in stock.

But I don't really mind much.I got a huge dent in my wallet and lost an account I associated a lot of things with, but I can still take it easy if I just lazily lounge around. Good thing this all happened while I was on break, or I would have had the stress of course work piled on with my bad luck. By the time classes start, I should mostly be over everything and have moved on.

As for my blogging, I'll most likely (assuming I don't run into another misfortune) start blogging again on a regular basis tomorrow. I have some blogs that I wanna read too, but haven't gotten to them because I feel that if I open up Blogger, I shouldn't leave without writing something; and because I wasn't in the mood to write anything, I didn't even check up on what all my blogbros have been up to. 

I already have tomorrows blog planned on something simple, just my first look and thoughts on a few Winter 2011 anime, then after maybe a review of 999 (which I finished while in my absence of blogging) and maybe talk about how the new patch for wrestling kitties with scuba gear does for the netplay issue it was having before.

All in all, I just hope you guys are having a better 2011 so far than I am. I'm usually an unlucky person, but this has been a streak of bad luck that's literally been costing me greatly.

Until next time.

~ Kirari ミ★

Kirari's final class

So, today was the final class I had for the semester. I did the written part of the Japanese final on Monday and passed with a 98, and we had an oral exam today. All we had to do was make a short speech about a vacation we went on in the past, in Japanese. Of course, I hate talking in public, and even moreso about myself, but since I never really go anywhere I just made up a vacation and talked about it. As expected, most people in the class didn't do so well, but most were understandable, and I won't act high and mighty, because I'm sure I'd be tripping along my words as well if I didn't have prior knowledge of the language before taking the course.

But that's not the highlight of the day. After all, it was just a normal exam. I'd like to be able to leave right after I present, but I couldn't find the right timing to slip out of the class, and my laptop was recharging, so I decided to just stay for a few more presentations. I was almost the last person chosen anyway.

Everyone finishes their presentations, I start packing up my stuff, I'm heading out the door but I hear 

"Kirari*, wait!"

 *Replace Kirari with my real name

So I turn and make eye contact with the person that called me. I saw she was nervous as hell, which says a lot considering she wasn't so nervous at all during the presentation. Then again, she's one of the few people aside from me that take the class to seriously learn the language, or at least it seems that way.

"Did you register for Japanese next semester as well?"

Er...Yeah, I did, but that was surprising. I told her I registered, and she proceeded to ask what time slot I registered for. I honestly didn't know, because I just picked one that would fit into my schedule. I'd like to have the same professor again, but her name wasn't listed, so I assumed she wouldn't be teaching J2 next semester. So she looks down, takes a deep breath and says:

"Because I hope we get in the next class together."

 That really threw me off. It was just surprising to me. I mean, it's not the first time I've been stopped before leaving a class for such a direct approach, it's happened before in high school, but when it's a boy I can easily react with a flat "no" leaving no room for interpretation by just shooting my normal uninterested expression. I was caught by so much surprise from this that I couldn't even react and kinda stuttered my next words out. I can't even remember what I said, it was something along the lines of "Oh, okay, uh. That....okay. Um, I'll see you." and walked off. Really, this is the first time a girl has been so direct to me. It happened a lot in high school with guys, both the subtle ones and the forward ones, but they're easy to keep away, especially if you stop them from trying the second they even try to get close to you (which was easy for me, even the ones that don't care about personality could be scared away with the right methods). 

I thought I was perhaps just so surprised by the whole thing that I was looking too much into what's just her trying to be friendly and that's still entirely possible but if it was a male doing the same exact thing I'd undoubtedly know that what he was trying to do. I haven't had a real life friend since about elementary school, so it's very possible that kind of invitation into friendship is normal, but I've just forgotten how real friends act when trying to know each other.

It's not that I like her, I was just so flustered over the whole thing that I couldn't properly react. If it wasn't for the fact that she seemed so nervous when talking to me, especially since she didn't seem so nervous before and that she specifically stopped me of all people, I don't think it would have surprised me much. 

Of course, I don't talk to people much at all, but there were times in class where we had to converse with one another just because it's a verbal exercise. Since I always sit in a corner in the back, and on the first day she did so too, we always sit next to each other (though we never talk really), so you can imagine we're always paired up for conversations. I never cared really, I just went on with the conversations. In fact, I don't remember much from those conversations other than the fact that she went to an all girls school from grade 1-12. 

She's shorter than me, which says a lot because I'm short, but she always wears heels and reaches about the same size as me. I do envy her sense of fashion a bit. I've never been into fashion, but she always comes in with different outfits that don't have extravagant designs that make her look silly. She wore a frilly dress that seemed very normal, and she always has hair decorations. She hides her powerlevel, making sure to say she just likes "Japanese dramas" when we first had to ask why we took the course (I just followed along with the "drama" thing when she said it and mirrored her answer). But when I brought in Yotsubato, she looked excited while reading through the pages and asked me where I buy my manga after. Since I sit next to her, I also see her doodling stuff, most noticeably a catgirl. At one point she did ask if I was in the school anime club, and frankly I didn't know there was one but didn't care. In my usual "end the conversation before it starts" manner I just told her clubs aren't my thing, and she said she's not in the club either but might join if someone she new was in there. At the time I didn't pay mind to it, but I guess that was her hinting that she'd join the club if I was in it.

What's even more st*range is that her phone number is in my notebook because we had to exchange numbers at the start of the class with someone in case we missed a day and need to contact someone for the assignment or something. She doesn't have mine, because I gave a fake one (kinda mean of me, but I really don't like keeping contact with people). I forgot about ti completely until I was looking through old notes on the bus for a kanji I was practicing before and saw it.

Cool story, I know. It was just odd for me. This kinda stuff happened occasionally before, but it's the first time a girl has done this to me, and frankly I don't even know what to think of it. I hope my next class isn't with her. I'd feel awkward seeing her again, I think, and wouldn't quite know how to react or be able to put up my "don't talk to me" aura. But this whole event will probably just fade out of my memory within a few weeks anyway.

~ Kirari ミ★

Still busy

I know. I promised the review today. I woke up at about 3 PM, watched some anime, and then got sucked into playing Maplestory (I know, I know. I thought I'd just drop in for a bit after having quit for a while and ended up being sucked in) again, and before I knew it so many hours had passed. I checked up on my assignments due dates and such and realized that today (or rather, yesterday, by this point) was the due date for as essay. I only had 30 minutes to complete it by that point though, so there was no way I'd get it done.

I could do my review now, but I'm too tired out. This is what happens when takin it easy goes too far. But it's all fine, hope you guys don't mind me takin it easy a bit longer. I'm actually really close to catching up on everything I've been neglecting these past few weeks, only need a few episodes of certain series before I'm up to date with everything again.

I haven't even been checking up on /jp/. Apparently there's this 999 game on the DS though. I wanna try that out, but I can't find my MicroSD to SD adapter for my flashcard. I don't like playing DS games on my monitor, mostly because I like being able to play on bus rides and such without pulling my laptop out. I mean, I could start right now and transfer the save when my new adapter comes in (I had to order one online because I seriously don't know where my original one could be), but I want to start it on my DS and end it on my DS. It just feels better that way, to me. Also, Witch Hunt is releasing their translation of Umineko 7 soon. I read it in Japanese, but of course I missed out on a bit, and it's always more satisfying to read something in your native language. Can't wait for that to add to my distractions next week!

And tomorrow, I have a lot of blog entries I want to check up on too. Doesn't that make you guys feel happy? You guys are also on my backlog of stuff that'll take me forever to finish! And you have higher priority than other stuff that's been there for months and I've never even touched before.

I'm also sad that I didn't get a chance to do my daily Japanese study for this whole past week. I guess it can't be helped when you're as lazy as I am.

~ Kirari ミ★

Presentation in Japanese class

So today I had the Japanese presentation I mentioned before. I decided to just go with manga, it's not like it's so strange for an Asian to like that stuff anyway (in fact, it's kind of expected of us). But I just went into detail about how it's very nice for practicing Japanese and such. I brought seven Japanese volumes of Yotsubato! and 5 English, along with 3 Japanese and 2 English Mirai Nikki volumes. I also brought in Welcome to the NHK!, but only 1 volume since I only have 1 volume in Japanese for it.

Everything was fine. Most people were just reading their presentations from their paper about generic stuff you can tell was paraphrased from wikipedia anyway. But after I went apparently there were more lively people. One girl in the class, the only one that makes it really known she's weeaboo, did an embarrassing presentation on maid cafe's. 

But hey, whatever. I sat through the presentation and didn't say a word. My professor had a face on that looked as if even she was uncomfortable hearing a presentation on a topic like that. A little after some other Asian girl did her presentation on Kanmen Rider. She was pretty damn into it, and even brought some merchandise that others probably wouldn't care much about, but I knew were actually rather expensive. She also made a few of the items herself, apparently from cosplaying. It wasn't a bad presentation really.

Then there was some dude that did his presentation on Japanese game shows, and I was thinking that was such an obvious topic with tons of flexibility. Probably would have been a nice topic for me to pick as well, but too late now.

After class ended my professor asked to borrow some of my Yotsubato! volumes. She said she liked Azumanga but never got a chance to read Yotsubato! yet.

So it was pretty fine. I just hope I didn't raise any flags for people to come rushing at me. I think I did a pretty good job not making it seem like some kind of obsession and making it seem more like something interesting to use to help me study (which is kinda is anyway).

~ Kirari ミ★

Kirari's (possibly) near rape encounter!

Get ready for a cool story. That's what blogs are for, right? Cool stories?

So, I was running late this morning for Japanese class because I was playing video games for too long. I usually have to leave at around 1 PM to catch my bus, and I get back home around 6 PM or so. I don't eat breakfast, but since I'm out for so long, I usually do eat something before leaving for class. Since I was running late, I didn't have that luxury. I mean, I could have done that whole "run out the door with toast in my mouth" thing, but I don't really like toast alone that much, and was running too late to even get a slice of bread out.

So I arrive at class just barely on time. I had a quiz today, so it'd be quite a problem if I actually came in late. After class I take my normal bus, and everything is fine. I go to the back and take out my laptop and kill time by reading my light novels and catching up on my news here and there. However, today was rather different. There's this guy that always sits in the back as well around this time. I never really cared about him or paid him any mind, but I do always see him playing his PSP, and we're always the only ones in the back. He comes in a few stops after I get on, and never sits next to me anyway.

So I'm on my laptop, killing time, and he asks me something out of nowhere.

"Would you like to get something?"

I didn't answer, because I didn't know what the fuck he meant and I try to ignore people until it becomes uncomfortable for me stay silent, by that point I usually proceed to end the conversation myself with "I'm busy" or something after answering their question. Usually I don't have to do that becaue I guess I just have this aura around me that spells out "don't wanna talk" to people.

So he asks:

"I mean like, to drink. Like Starbucks or something?"

Oh shit nigger, what the fuck are you doing? I couldn't leave this without responding, because he'd keep on, so I told him:

"No, I'm busy right now."

And get back to my laptop. He then keeps asking and insisting, and since I am thirsty and have a hard time dealing with people pressuring me into something

I give in and say yeah, shortly before the stop he apparently gets off at, usually. The Starbucks is right in front of the bus stop. We go in, I order some hot chocolate and a cinnamon bun. The cashier hands me my stuff and I tell the guy "I do have to go home though, so thanks for the drink and stuff" before he has the chance to say anything to me. He was saying before that he just wanted to buy me a drink, I didn't have to stay and chat with him or anything, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to him that I just leave after taking his offer. But then, he says something to me as I'm walking out the door.

"Ah, I live near here. The next bus doesn't come for about 15 minutes, if you want I can just get you a ride home"

But luckily, just as he says that, a bus comes. It's not the bus I usually take, but it does take me near my house. So I told him "No thanks, this bus is fine for me. Bye."

But the story doesn't end there!

I get on the bus, drink my chocolate and eat my snack. I'm on my laptop like normal, and while reading my light novel I start feeling a tad bit drowsy. When I get home, I just crash onto the sofa. I don't even take my stuff off, I just pretty much go straight to it and fall out. I stay knocked out for a few hours, and when I wake up I'm still a bit groggy, but decide to force myself awake.

So...what the hell just happened? Did I get something slipped into my drink? I mean, I'm not dumb enough to accept a drink from a stranger and not keep an eye on them to make sure my drink is safe, but I wasn't paying attention to when the drink was being made because an employee was making it. The guy does live around the area, so maybe it's possible he knows the dude that works there and they had planned this out from the start. Or maybe it was just coincidence. You know, like when you get sleepy after getting some warm liquid in your tummy and fill yourself up after being hungry? Maybe that's what happened? But I didn't gradually get sleepy, it pretty much just hit me like a train when I got home.

Needless to say, I'm not taking the same bus again. I wouldn't take his offer if I didn't think things through and plan on never seeing him again. There's another bus I can take that comes about 5 minutes later and takes a completely different route, but still leads me to my house at about the same time. Stuff like this makes me realize that I should have just stayed a lazy NEET and never ventured into the outside world again. Maybe I won't register for another semester and quit here.

~ Kirari ミ★

Takin it easy, the filler way~

Research paper that I haven't even started yet due tomorrow? Takin it easy. Panicking about it will get nothing done. I'll work something out, because I'm a master procrastinator. 

Test on Saturday that I forgot 90% of the material for? It's all cool, I can try to cram in some info, but studying has never been my thing (I tend to do worse when I study because I doubt my initial train of thought when I "recall" something I studied), so I'll just rely on gut instinct for it and take it easy.

Postin on my blog to show you guys I'm still alive? Well, I'm doing that right now, aren't I? 

Might do a review on something for tomorrow's post, but no guarantees because I suck at time management. 

I also have to pick one topic I like about Japan for Japanese class and do an oral presentation on it. Oh boy, now I have to pick a topic that won't reveal my power level or anything. Was thinking about something generic, like Japanese cuisine, but my professor is apparently grouping up people that have the same topic, and I don't want to work with someone else.

I don't have much interest in the country itself really, just what they produce. Not one of those GLORIOUS NIPPON people that wish they were Japanese and wanna move over there for the rest of their lives. So this should be something simple, for someone like me, but it's actually hard to pick a topic since everything I would pick as a topic is not something I wanna do a presentation on. Sure, I could do a presentation on manga, bring in some samples (in Japanese, of course), and relate it a bit to the course work or something, but why the hell would I do that? Everyone already has their attention on me in class because I'm at a more advance level of Japanese, so I'm able to answer the questions without hesitation and the professor kinda gives me semi-special treatment by making me answer stuff we're not supposed to know yet. I realize it sounds like I'm gloating, but believe me, that's not my intention. 

Pretty accurate depiction of me right now

The last thing I want is even more attention put on me by announcing I have a collection of manga or anything like that. I was thinking of just playing it cool and saying how I use it as practice material, since they obviously know I've studied the language for quite a bit before entering the class. Y'know, it's not so odd if I just talk about the Japanese aspect of it rather than acting like a Narutard and saying how awesome manga is. I think it'd work out if I did it like that; bring in my Japanese copies of Yotsuba, talk about how it's written in fairly simple Japanese and how it's great for practice, etc. But at the same time I don't want to do a presentation on something revealing like that. There don't seem to be many otaku in my class (thankfully, or if there are they're keeping their power levels hidden as well as I am), so I don't think I'd have a problem being suddenly swarmed by a group of people that suddenly have me on top of their "must talk to" list.

Whatever, I'll come up with something, I guess. If I can't think of a topic, I'll just stick with something generic and hope nobody else picked that topic.

I'll have more free time after my exams, so by Monday I'll be able to get something interesting in here. Looking at how much I used to type in my older posts and how little I type in my newer posts kinda made me feel a bit bad. I could do a continuation of the 2D post, been planning on doing that for a while. Oh well, I'm off to (slowly) get started on my research paper right now. I'll keep you guys updated on it a bit later.

~ Kirari ミ★

Light novel translations

So, I've always thought about this, but never really wrote my thoughts down on it. Light novels are a really niche market outside of Japan. I mean, to the point where their translations are usually cut after a few volumes. It's quite sad too, but I think it mostly has to do with the fact that...they're not found in bookstores. I mean, you'll see them maybe the first month they're released or so, but after that bookstores never restock on them, and your only way of getting them is from online retailers.

Now, being someone that buys my books online most of the time anyway, I don't mind that, but I don't see how that's good for their sales at all. Do the bookstores refuse to restock because they don't sell well, or do publishers refuse to release new batches for bookstores?

Lots of light novels never get any attention paid to them. There are some really interesting titles out there that just get dropped because not enough people know about them. I'm sure if word was spread around more about them, more people would be inclined to buy them (they're usually cheaper than a volume of a manga anyway).

But of course, there are light novels that actually do well, but most of those are popular because they already have a popular name within anyone who's into anime or manga. Suzumiya Haruhi's translation seems to be selling well, but that's not surprising really, considering how popular it is. That Death Note spinoff titled L: Change The World (which is actually a novel adaptation of a spinoff movie, wrap that around your head) even managed to make a top seller for some time, according to the New York Times. Of course, Death Note is popular as well. Meanwhile, other nice reads are never picked up because their names are obscure, they were never adapted, or their adaptations weren't anything that really sparked widespread attention.

So what of these titles? They usually just get dropped, and most of the time with no official statement of their discontinuation. Really sucks, there are quite a few series that I got into and was never able to continue because of their discontinuation. I have the Japanese versions of some of them though, just sitting on my bookshelf until I can read them fluently enough to actually enjoy them, rather than referencing an online dictionary every other page.

And I'm still butthurt than Tokyopop discontinued Welcome To The NHK before I got to buy a copy. It wasn't even on sale for that long. I've already read it, but I want to keep it for my collection. Too bad it's impossible to find now, unless I wanna drop $150+ on a copy. Aren't we in 2010? We have on demand printing now. I'd pay an extra $10 or so if they just freaking print 1 copy from an online order placed on their site or something. But that's just me getting a bit into a personal rant.

On the other hand, after a really long hiatus, Tokyopop began publishing the new volumes of the Karin novels. Where the hell did that come from? Whatever, I'll probably buy those, but I don't really have the urge to start reading 6. They're fast reads though, so I'll get to it eventually.

What bout you guys? You guys read any light novels, or had any series you were reading before but then got shut down? It'd be nice to be fluent enough in Japanese to actually read them without translations, but we all know how lazy we are.

~ Kirari ミ★

Short rant on the "leaked" character list of MvC3

Seth already said none of the leaked lists were 100% true. If it's not 100% true, it's not a leak, it's just guesses. A leaked list implies that someone got their hands on it straight from the source, when the source didn't intend to release it. If they have this list, it'd mean their list was 100% accurate, since it's straight from the source itself. The fact that it's not 100% accurate means it wasn't taken from the source.

What people fail to realize is the fact that there were a handful of "leaked" lists revealed on the same day with the same story.

"I got this from the main site due to a glitch on their part, but they took it down before anyone else got to see. But I have it!"

Yeah, okay buddy. That's fine and dandy, but it sounds like a cheat made up by some kid. Like the one that told you it's possible to unlock Master Hand in the first Super Smash Brothers by getting nearly impossible goals done (beat the game with every character in less than x amount of time without losing any lives and never getting above 50% damage!)

The thought never occurred to anyone that all of these leaked lists were released by the same person using different aliases?

If you take a multiple choice test one time and don't know the answers, taking it once will probably mean you'll fail. But what if you were allowed to submit multiple answer sheets? Well, your odds of passing just rose exponentially. Out of all your submitted sheets, one of them is bound to get a decent score.

That's what's going on now. People are selectively ignoring all the failed lists and paying attention to the one that actually has a good score so far.


I always see people talk about how unlikely some of the choices are. None of the choices are unlikely at all.

Okami rose a lot in popularity, and many hopes Amaterasu would be in. X-23 is quite popular in the comic book scene, and has been for quite some time. Of course, nobody knew her because nobody seems to read comics that aren't over a decade old.

Wesker had been expected ever since Chris was announced (day freaking one).

None of them are unlikely choices, you just want them to be unlikely because it backs up your claim if you make others believe this. Selectively blocking out evidence that disproves your claim, and then using coincidental data combined with your own personal bias to provide "evidence" that supports this claim.


We have evidence that the list isn't real. All of you attempt to brush this evidence away with "CAPCOM LIES" while presenting no solid evidence of your own. Capcom lying about the Street Fighter 4 disk is one single case, and I always see this as the first thing brought up when people say Capcom lies.

This is like going to a college campus, picking one student and asking their sexual orientation. when they tell you they're gay, you conclude all college students must be gay. From one single person out of everyone on the campus.Once instance of Capcom lying doesn't mean they lie a majority of the time.

I don't even care if most of the list is right; someone just made some really nice guesses. The other lists were wrong, and out of all of them, one of them were correct for the most part. Congratulations, but the list wasn't leaked. 

Not particularly mad or anything, just feel people are sometimes a bit too gullible.

~ Kirari ミ★

(I know my lasts posts have pretty much all been rants; Next entry will take it easy a bit and be about a review or something.)

Thoughts on 2D love

I'm sure you guys are very familiar with 2D love. I'm sure some of you find it silly while others take it seriously. I felt like writing down some of my thoughts on it all, but I'm also using some personal examples and experiences, so be prepared for a slightly biased view on it all. This isn't meant to be a persuasive blog post or anything, it's just me free writing my thoughts a bit.

First of all, I feel I should get the misconception out of the way that 2D lovers are actually in love with "ink on a page" or anything of that sort. I tend to see this comment quite often. Troll or not, it's showing ignorance. I'm sure there are some 2D lovers who do actually love the ink on the page, but a majority of us, from what I've seen, don't think this way. It's as if you have a photo of your wife. If someone points to that photo and asks who that is, the logical response would be to say that it's your wife. Of course, you're not saying the photograph is your wife, but the person in the photo. That's how 2D love is. It's the character that you'd be in love with, the one that the image shows. Everything about that character that makes them who they are. When you have a 2D lover, you love a concept, not a physical object. You love everything that the character represents. 

"But she was made by some fat sweaty dude who wants you to like her, so he gets sales!"

And what if your girlfriend's father was some fat sweaty dude who made her for the purpose of hopefully getting into a rich family? Hypothetical of course, but does it really matter? Your girlfriend isn't her father. It doesn't matter who made her. She could have hideous parents and really hit the genetic jackpot to graze past all their bad genes and come out beautiful. Does that mean you love her less because her parents look like the back end of a horse?

"But she's not even real!"

What's the point here? We know this. You're not saying anything that will lead us to some kind of epiphany. We know this, and accept it. Some of us are glad about this fact. You're implying that you can look down on someone because they don't have a physical object to channel their emotions to? That they don't have a real person to lust over? This isn't even an argument, it's just someone thinking they can throw this as some sort of insult. It's a childish attempt to sling mud at someone.

Furthermore, most people into 2D don't want real. They realize that in reality, "happily ever afters" doesn't happen very often. Without diving too much into the subject (this could be a whole blog post on its own), people love 2D for many reasons. I often see people say that 2D lovers only love 2D because they can't get 3D, as if it's entirely ludicrous to love a character unless you're in the depths of depression. You can't summarize the human psyche like this. When it comes to the human brain, there is no clear cut path. I'm sure there are some who don't really like 2D, but turn to it as a form of happiness to divert their attention from a depressed life. These are the kind of people that, if given the chance, would absolutely leave their 2D lover for a real relationship. However, this is one case, and from the looks of it these people don't make up the majority of 2D lovers. 

There are even those who love 2D and try to get attention from it, such as the dudes who marry their DS or dakimakura. I won't really judge them, but I personally feel as if they're just making fools of themselves, but perhaps my perspective on them would change if I actually talked to them and asked a few questions myself. Seems more like they just want to show everyone that they're "different" from the world.

Anyway, I'll save some more of my thoughts in some later blog entries. For now I'll just end this blog post with an obligatory video:

~ Kirari ミ★

Short rant on DLC abuse

What really gets me knotted up about the gaming industry today is abusing downloadable content. DLC was meant to add additional content to the game. Stuff that maybe the developers didn't think of until after, an added bonus to the game.

But lately more and more companies are releasing unfinished games and making you pay for the rest of it. Titles are coming out with DLC in the stores on launch date.

Dead Rising 2 didn't even have the ending of the game in it, from what I've heard. How do you make the ENDING OF THE GAME DLC?! The game is incomplete, and they're not only charging you full price for it, but want you to pay extra for a finished product.

It's going to get worse and worse. Don't get me wrong, I like DLC and all, I think it's a really nice step forward for the gaming industry. If done correctly, it means that you can get more play time out of the games you love to play. It means getting updates to fix glitches that make the game less enjoyable, and now even characters are downloadable for fighting games. Content downloads like this keep a game from getting old and stale. Downloadable content was following this path at first, but somewhere along the lines developers decided they'd love the idea of milking their consumers more.

The image I used for this blog post isn't too related, since Nintendo doesn't seem to have gone down this path yet, but that's mostly because the Wii doesn't have DLC. The Pokemon games aren't really true DLC since the content is already in the game. Then again, game developers have been passing off "content unlock" bundles as downloadable content, which is even worse. You're not even downloading anything more than a few lines of code that give you access to something that's already on the game disk.

What will they think of next, downloadable multiplayer mode? Or how about just giving us the game engine and having us download the actual content? Yeah, wouldn't that be nice? You buy the disk, pop it in, and then wait an hour for the game to download (and pay an extra $20).

When will they draw the line? Stop giving us incomplete games and having us pay extra to get what we should have already.

~ Kirari ミ★