Saturday, August 25, 2001 -- 12:30 a.m.

Fans of X, check this out. Apart from the brown eyes, Kamui looks great, especially in that delicious close-up.

Meanwhile Kamui has begun to assert his leadership, and become a little more matured, in the latest Asuka. Like the 17th Major Arcana card, the Star, there is hope yet. Oh yes, X17 is scheduled for release on 17 November. Hey, that's the 9th anniversary of my first cat, Loki.

Friday, August 24, 2001 -- 10:04 p.m.

Asuka is here after all. Sorata!!!

What have I got in the mail? Thank you for the cute little bottle of pure maple syrup. I'm going to have delicious pancakes for breakfast this Sunday. I shall dream of anime-Kamui's eyes. You're such a sweet angel.

Talking about the X RPG blog in the making, who are going to be darling Kamui and charming Seishirou to my Subaru? I'll get to work on the write-up soon.

Friday, August 24, 2001 -- 06:51 a.m.

I'm so really happy you have finally received my package. My faith in Canadian Post has been restored...a little.

Lika is now a prisoner of my bed. So keep your paws off her.

On a more sombre note, due to Kino's restrictive policy of shipping in magazines only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'll probably receive my Asuka earliest next Tuesday (28 August) instead of today. *wails* On the other hand, at least Sorata gets to survive a little longer in my reality.

Sunday, August 19, 2001 -- 11:36 p.m.

Why is she calling you "darling"? *glare of death*

Audrey, the information you require can be found here. I hope you have Japanese language encoding available on your browser. The information on the trading cards is just above the one for the calendar, and they're all found towards the bottom of the page. The special Asuka issues are in red and just above the big black "X Topics" somewhere in the top half of the page.

Saturday, August 18, 2001 -- 11:01 p.m.

*drools* Finally laid my hands on the Saiyuki postcard book. 32 sheets of pure heaven. Why do the illustration works look better on postcards than in the artbooks? But I'm not complaining.

By the way, Asuka is releasing a few special issues to coincide with the release of the X anime. By the looks of it, they might be a compilation or summary of the earlier X manga volumes. I'll post more stuff when I find out what they are. The first special issue is scheduled for release on September 13. Also, a set of X trading cards will also be made available from November 25, and there's going to be a B2-sized calendar released in the same month. I want the calendar!

Friday, August 17, 2001 -- 09:47 p.m.

I rarely rant on any topic, except when my Asuka is going to be late. Anyway, here's something that's been bothering me for a while, and the two of you have probably heard most of it.

I'm talking about slashing D and Leon from Petshop of Horrors, and calling it "fact".

One does not have to be a three-headed dragon to see that D looks at Leon with disgust. The term "savage man" probably swims in his delicate mind each time they meet.

Which begs the question: why does the Count tolerate Leon's visits instead of killing him? Same reason he tolerates most of his customers. Firstly, Leon is harmless. Secondly, it'll be difficult to explain Leon's absence to the police, especially when everyone in the precinct knows that Leon is obsessed with investigating D's alleged criminal activities. Thirdly, humans, despite the horrible deeds they might have done to other lifeforms on earth, are still part of the earth. D is much too elegant a soul to commit genocide. While he despised humans, his opinions had always been much less radical than his father's, and had nothing to do with Leon. Perhaps the pet shop was D's way of passing judgment on the humans that did not deserve to live. Leon never crossed that line. If he had, I have no doubt that D would present him with a deadly succubus in the form of a beautiful woman. Leon would never resist such a gift! ^_~ Besides, the Count was probably subscribing to the wisdom to "keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer".

As for Leon, he's merely the comedy sidekick and nowhere near being the love interest.

If there was really more going on between D and Leon that I didn't manage to catch in the manga and anime, then my precious POAs, Subaru and Kamui, must have been rolling together in the hay for that entire month that flashed by after Rainbow Bridge collapsed.

Friday, August 17, 2001 -- 08:15 p.m.

After running some tests, Doc says that it's very unlikely to be CTS. More likely a milder case of repetitve stress injury (RSI). Phew! Anyway, I got myself the Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro, and am now trying to unlearn all my bad typing habits. This keyboard is huge, it barely fits into my keyboard drawer! Tsk tsk.

But thanks for all the concern.

By the way, I realise that my previous entry will very probably hurt the fragile heart of my dearest, but I have to admit that I am shallow. Will you forgive me? *puts on purple contact lens*

Friday, August 17, 2001 -- 01:56 p.m.

*DIES!* I'm really envious now. It's times like these that I wish I was in some city with a decently huge anime convention going on annually. The best I get here is a pathetic little anime cosplay thing hosted by a cable station at a shopping mall that I didn't bother to attend. They didn't even have a special guest this year. At least they invited the creator of Blue Submarine 6 last year. Bah! I'm in the Sahara of true manga fandom. Meta-chan, will you let me have Midorikawa-san's autograph if I agree to marry you? *pleading puppy eyes plucked out from Tsuzuki's head*

BTW, do you suppose Kusanagi will get a headache from fruits grinding in the blender? *ducks*

Thursday, August 16, 2001 -- 10:35 p.m.

Hi Taryn and Psuzan, see your pretty little links on the left? Now be happy and no more complaints.

Taryn, Denise, thanks for the emails. The pain is quite bearable at present, but I try to go easy on the hand.

Tuesday, August 14, 2001 -- 01:48 p.m.

My right wrist HURTS.

Yeap. I may have gotten the dreaded CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome). The doctor advised me to avoid using my right hand for strenous repetitive work, such as manipulating the mouse. So my mouse has now shifted to the left. But I'm right-handed, which means I keep hitting the table instinctively hunting for the non-existent mouse. Aarrgh! According the the Grand Design Theory, does this mean that man was not made to do computer work?

Sunday, August 12, 2001 -- 10:22 p.m.

My best friend carted off my Yami books! "Darkness" shall be delayed, yet again. *grumblings of discontent and shouts of murder in the background*

On to slightly happier news, I've completed my Stats assignment...well almost. I have no idea what the fricking book was talking about. Hopefully, I've managed to pluck the correct formulae and plant the right figures, except for one question where a standard deviation seems to be missing somewhere. I can't find it, and my aircon broke down right in the middle of a hot humid Sunday. *hurls a Hello Kitty against said appliance*

Lika, if you wanna marry me, you'll have to come over to Singapore. No way am I going to be stuck in Ottawa with no Kinokuniya and no decent Japanese restaurants beyond the usual sushi/sashimi places.

Meta-chan, did you manage to get Midorikawa-san's autograph? *squeals* I was so hoping that he'd voice Subaru. Tsk tsk.

I see that Kristin has a new fic. Very atmospheric. But since I never got to see that movie, I can't comment about the character motivations. Still, I trust you to keep them well within character. As for my Clover fic, it's coming along very slowly. I've caught your "hopelessly slow writer"'s bug.

Leareth, haven't had much chance to catch hold of you. I understand about the "11pm and let's turn the house around" thing. My parents do that to me almost all the time. They just can't understand the concept of daylight.

And I believe I might have seen an Angelique character book or something like that at Kinokuniya. But it'll have to depend of why you're threatening my dear Lika.

Back to staring at cutie Kai, Eiji, Yuuki, and the rest of the E'S cast on my wall.

Thursday, August 9, 2001 -- 12:45 a.m.

Thanks Meta-chan. Tatsumi's little banner is now sitting on my blog. ^_^

Wednesday, August 8, 2001 -- 11:40 p.m.

Ahhh...back from my shopping trip. Satsuki and Lika, your pressies will be on their way soon.

I managed to pick up volumes 1 and 2 of Akiyama Tamayo's (in case you're not aware, she was once a member of CLAMP) Secret Chaser. The artwork in this series is less cluttered and blocky than her previous works such as Cluster and Mouryoukiden. In fact, it reminds me a whole lot about Mokona Apapa's style in Tokyo Babylon. The private detective-cum-priest, Shinozaki Tatsurou has the eyes of TB Seishirou, and the police detective, Yoshida Kazuya, resembles a grown-up TB-style Subaru quite a fair bit. No idea about the plot yet, and there's almost no information available on the web.

Anyway, something interesting happened today. My best friend in real life, whom I never expected to be the anime type (she equates anime with the "prehistoric" Candy Candy series from our childhood, and often makes fun of my manga obsession) actually bought the Yami no Matsuei anime on a lark, and now she's hooked onto it and gushing over the pretty guys even though she can't pronounce either the title of the series or the names of the guys. Apart from complaining about the length of the series (a mere 13 episodes), she wants to borrow my manga. *grins* Wait till the X anime series becomes available here...

Tuesday, August 7, 2001 -- 08:38 p.m.

Ways to kill Subaru? With lots of love and kindness, naturally. Preferably Kamui's, but I'm willing to fill in anytime. ^_^

Talk about indecent service at Kinokuniya Main Store. They claim that they're still having problems processing my order for "G Fantasy". Apparently, they're not even sure if the magazine exists. Hey guys, we're talking about the monthly serialisation of E'S and Saiyuki here, and it's even got a website, for Kanzeon's sake! Anyway, to add to the insult, I just found out that a member of my E'S mailing list has been getting a regular order from the Liang Court branch. I'm going to abuse Kino tomorrow, or their boss will be getting another email from me.

Tuesday, August 7, 2001 -- 12:24 p.m.

*SCREEEAAMMMSS!!!* Kinokuniya Singapore is having a 20% storewide discount at all its outlets on 8 & 9 August. Time to get my Saiyuki Backgammon artbooks. Bad news is that they'll stop issuing new loyalty cards from 10 August onwards.

Satsuki, Lika, any other manga/artbooks that you guys are interested in?

Monday, August 6, 2001 -- 11:49 p.m.

Lika, the package has been sent this afternoon. Anyway, you want a new layout? Any particular preference?

Audrey, kitties are like babies. They're more fun when they belong to someone else and you don't have to clean up after them. Only kidding. They're just too much fun. *hugs Kira*

Sunday, August 5, 2001 -- 03:53 p.m.

Time for another layout change, and this time it's a non-manga/anime layout featuring three kitties by Makoto Muramatsu. I scanned it off a collection of postcards I have. For more cute Muramatsu kitties, take a look at this place. Kawaii!

Saturday, August 4, 2001 -- 10:11 p.m.

Lika, there weren't that many CLAMP merchandise available, but you were lovely with the Tokyo Babylon OVA, so I've decided to send you the following items:

Tokyo Babylon Postcard Book
Yami no Matsuei Character Book
Pair of Yami no Matsuei pin badges featuring SD Tsuzuki and Hisoka

Please look out for them in the mail. ^_^

Friday, August 3, 2001 -- 11:09 p.m.

Gomen nasai, but your Clover fic will just have to wait a while little longer. I'm still fighting hard to resist the urge to squick you.

In other news, a new chapter to my X/Yami no Matsuei fic, "Darkness", is up. Enjoy.