Monday, July 30, 2001 -- 10:31 p.m.

Something about my unfinished fics. After a long thought, I've decided to incorporate "Touch of Rain" into "Darkness".

Monday, July 30, 2001 -- 09:42 p.m.

Satsuki-chan, I'm so glad you're all right. By the way, I can't see your plant. Something about a "page not found".

My Kamui has abandoned me. Well, the group has been rather dead since Sei-chan, the moderator, disappeared last October. Actually, most of the X mailing lists are rather quiet. Guess the fans are busy blogging away. ^_^

Oh yes, the X OVA trailer. It's so grainy and small, and images zoom past so quickly, I can barely see anything other than the floating feather.

The wonderful rainy weather during lunch-hour prompted me to take the train and head for my nearest manga store. Out of sheer boredom, I picked up the first two volumes of a manga entirely for the sake of the cover pic of dishy bishounens. What can I say? I'm shallow. Thankfully, it was quite an interesting read and I do plan to pick up the rest of the series. A beautiful shounen-ai story about the relationship between a human and a once-heartless demon. Unfortunately, I found out that Kouri no Mamono no Monogatari is 17 volumes long at last count, whereas the Chinese translation has only about 13 released so far. Go to this wonderful site to view the colour scans from the manga and the volume summaries! I'm really surprised that there's only one site listed on Anipike, but it's a great one.

Friday, July 27, 2001 -- 11:47 p.m.

Satsuki-chan, since you've asked, my hair currently has a reddish tint to it. Too red, I think. But it'll probably fade with time, or when the new unaffected black hair appears. Erm, "Touch of Rain" is on a temporary hiatus. I've got lots of stuff on temporary hiatus. But I might continue with that Yami no Matsuei/X crossover after all. Blame it on the anime. While it took away much of the humour in the manga, it also made the plotlines a lot tighter, which is a good thing.

Meia, I saw that weird X book you mentioned. I didn't buy it. But you can't blame the bad covers. Obviously, as this wasn't officially produced by CLAMP, they can't use CLAMP's artwork on the cover. Some publishers might not have such scruples, but Tohan has been given most of the rights to the latest CLAMP series, and I don't think they want to scuttle such a fat deal by infringing on the copyright.

Taryn, here's an advice from one who had to name 11 cats. Write down all the possible names that you like but can't decide onto scraps of paper, and let Neko-chan pick the one name it wants. As for the other issue about being grammatically correct, here's a few possibilities for you:

Boku wa kimi o...
...koroshita (killed).
...shoyuu shimasu (own).
...ki no doku ni omotta (felt pity).
...hanashimasu (release).
...baka ni shita (made a fool of).
...shihai shita (had control over).
...etc

There is really no end to this.

Subaru is still alive, and Kamui is pining for him. I have faith in CLAMP not to inflict a double whammy on Kamui by offing both his ex-best friend (Fuuma) and the person he loves (Subaru). With the former showing no hint of a possibility of redemption and the latter somehow miraculously surviving the death of the Sakurazukamori, no prizes for guessing who I'm betting on to make it to the Bahamas with Kamui-chan.

Thursday, July 26, 2001 -- 08:20 p.m.

Had my hair trimmed and recoloured today. While heading for home after that, I stepped into the nearest video shop. Lo and behold! The Saiyuki OVA and Yami no Matsuei anime VCDs are finally here. I shall go and drool now, even if I think Tsuzuki is a wuss.

Thursday, July 26, 2001 -- 12:57 p.m.

I'm going to take you up on that offer, but you're paying. ^_^ But we might have to skip the Glay concerts. After touring all the X sites, rummaging through every Animate store that exists, and enjoying our honeymoon, I don't think we have much time left for concerts.

By the way, I belong to a very elite and exclusive fanfic archive. Nobody's fics besides my own, are allowed to appear in there. ^_^

On a mock serious note, I propose that we create a clique named NMC, aka "No More Cliques". Applicants shall be hanged and quartered at the public square.

Wednesday, July 25, 2001 -- 11:31 p.m.

Updated the list of sites that I occasionally spy (see left), and whose blogmasters do the same to me.

Uneventful day today, unless you consider an office PC infected with "Funlove", and almost losing one half of my favourite pair of diamond earrings, exciting.

In other news, seems like the waffy Clover fic I had wanted to do for Kristin's departure from Japan has been delayed. I promise I'll get around to it somehow.

Wednesday, July 25, 2001 -- 11:11 a.m.

Some utter randomness. For those who do have their Asuka on hand, don't you think Satsuki looks a lot like Ran from Clover? Yikes, A, B and C must have been cloned from Satsuki! This is freaky.

Tuesday, July 24, 2001 -- 11:48 p.m.

I ought to be sleeping, but anyway, I've added Natalie (thanks for linking me) to my list. I've also made some minor changes to the left-hand infor.

Kristin, I hope you've packed everything. Take care. Michi naka go buji de. Sei-chan is waiting for you back home! ^_^

Tuesday, July 24, 2001 -- 10:26 p.m.

The Asuka updates are finally up. Poor Sorata, but Yuuto is definitely cool. Blah! I really wish I could hug Kamui. The expression on his face as he pines for his dearest Subaru was so heartbreaking.

My Saiyuki love match test results from the Official Fan Book shows that I'm a Sanzo and would match well with either Hakkai or Goku/Lirin. I'd choose Hakkai anytime!

BTW, I saw Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within last night. The CG is good, though the facial emoting needs more work. But hey, it's better than many flesh-and-blood actors out there. The storyline is pure hokey and best forgotten though.

Sunday, July 22, 2001 -- 11:43 p.m.

Thanks, Lika-chan, and please let me know what you want. I feel so bad already.

My best friend in real life dragged me to watch Jurassic Park 3 with her today instead of Bridget Jones' Diary because she snuck off to watch it yesterday when I was caught up in Japanese class. Bah! Anyway, the dinosaur movie turned out okay. Exciting in parts, but a total no-brainer. There's so many plotholes big enough for a herd of brontosaurus (or whatever they call those long-neckasaurus) to easily graze through. I bought a Kero-chan plushie before the movie and hugged it throughout the entire show. Kero-chan is so kawaii.

I also got a book on yukatas. Tried to follow the instructions, but my obi looked messy. Well, I guess I'll have to wait for Sensei on Saturday.

Saturday, July 21, 2001 -- 10:17 p.m.

*Wails* LIIIKKKKAAA!!!! I think Seishirou really hates my guts. The Tokyo Babylon 2 tape you sent me has arrived, but in less than one piece. One corner has been smashed in somehow. According to the postal service guy, it arrived at their side in that state, so he suspected it got manhandled somewhere between your posting it and during the flight to Singapore. I hope I can find someone to fix it. The tape inside looks okay, so it's just a matter of tranferring the reels to a new casing. Thanks for the gift and Bigwig. ^_^

Anyway, to take away the sick feeling resulting from the smashed gift, I bought myself a yukata (summer kimono) in the afternoon and brought it to Japanese class. It's purple to match the true colour of Kamui's eyes. Sensei did a demonstration on how to put on and tie the obi. She also told me to try to get two long ribbons or stockings next week together with my yukata set so that she can teach me how to wear the whole thing. Three other classmates saw my yukata and rushed down to Daimaru after lessons to buy a set for themselves too. We've all arranged to turn up early for class next week so that Sensei can help us dress up, and we'll attend class with the yukata on. Maybe I should bring some Japanese tea. Canned ones of course. There's no boiling water available. *grin*

Friday, July 20, 2001 -- 08:57 p.m.

What's the deal with monks and revolvers? First, there's Sanzo from Saiyuki, and now there's a 15-year-old kid from Kagerou Nostalgia by Kubo Satomi. But despite the presence of plenty of powerful demons, this is nothing like Saiyuki. The five kids are real lookers though. The 14-year-old main character, Kazuma, looks almost like Kai from E'S, but with a more traumatic past such that he freaks out whenever a guy touches him. Hisoka from Yami no Matsuei would certainly sympathise. I'm currently into the second book and don't really know much about the story yet, but it is definitely dark. Since this hasn't reached western fandom, there aren't any image gallery that I can point to except this cover image. Satsuki-chan, there is another of your favourite pretty redheads here. ^_^

Incidentally, I realised that I might have opened up a can of worms with my previous blog message (see below). Those are only my personal opinions, and I'm not about take time off to trade bible passages. It's all there in the OT. If I've offended some religious sensitivities here, I do apologise. And I hope that you'll equally respect those who do not believe. Thanks.

Friday, July 20, 2001 -- 06:53 a.m.

People will always believe what they wish to believe, be it God, aliens, crystal magic, invisible pink unicorns etc. I have to agree with Lika sweetie that it's all an issue of one's upbringing. Even if I consider myself an atheist, having been raised a Buddhist, I'm still influenced by its philosophy and mythos at times. On the other hand, I do not mind it that much if that knowledge actually allowed me to appreciate and enjoy some of the more esoteric stuff in mangas like X. ^_^ Besides, Buddhism isn't a shove-it-down-your-throat religion unlike some others, plus I don't have to sacrifice a fatted calf during religious observances, so its pretty harmless I guess.

Back to the thing about influences in upbringing, any wonder why Judeo-Christian religions focus so much on early indoctrination? Kids come home from Sunday school, brainwashed by happy pictures of the old prophets and cute little lambs. Wonder if they ever taught about the passages where the prophets sacrifice the lambs in bloody ways. Or the parts where God sanctioned his chosen army to rape women and murder children. These sections are often skimmed over during adult sermons too (I've sat through a few) with some of the weirdest excuses to justify the violence. In today's world, those guys would have been hauled up to the Hague as war criminals.

Someone once told me that I must have a very closeted world view if I refuse to accept the infinite possibilities that comes with the belief in her Christian God. I think mankind might have made more progress in understanding the infinite possibilities of the universe if Christianity had not shackled us in early European history. If my memory served me correct, until the last decade, the Catholic Church still believed that the Sun revolved around the Earth.

Thursday, July 19, 2001 -- 10:10 p.m.

Reorganised the "Anime News" section of my X shrine slightly with a beautiful scan of the OVA poster from the latest August issue of Shoujo Teikoku. Yep, Kamui's eyes are brown. I hope they'll turn purple after Kotori loses her head.

Thursday, July 19, 2001 -- 06:24 a.m.

[This was meant to be posted hours ago but Pitas chewed it up. *annoyed glare*]

Finally finished my Psychology assignment. Yay! Time to hit those fics. *sigh* Well, though I may not understand a single word of Korean, besides "kimchi" (apologies Meta-chan), the soundtrack of Bichunmoo currently playing in the background is definitely rousing me to greater heights of heroic sacrifice and tragic passion! >_<

Meta-chan, I have to agree that the cast for the X OVA aren't the regular A-list. But it's a good thing, in another way. Maybe Kawajiri felt that the viewers would concentrate more on the story, instead of screaming "Koyasu-sama!" each time his voice comes on air. It's the fact that I can't recognise the bulk of the Saiyuki cast that I like it so much. No distractions. BTW, it's funny that Kanoe is being played by Saiyuki's Nataku. Sure they weren't supposed to get Kannon instead? *major sweatdrops*

Taryn, I don't see why Leareth, or anyone, should be precluded from doing a SSK fic. I've done my version months ago. Anyway, I guess you'll never forgive CLAMP now? ^_^

Linh and Kenchan, you're welcome.

Finally, Satsuki-chan, I hope your exams are proceeding smoothly. ^_^