My mom wonders aloud, "How are you still able to move?" while the doctor jokingly asks, "How are you still alive?"

What's up? Let's see... I have severe UTI, and my pain tolerance is, apparently, crazily off the charts, 'cause I'm boss liek dat. I'm on antibiotics that make me feel doped and nauseous and even more irritable, and the weather is so not helping at all, and now I only went here to complain, again, after reading obsessively about UTI for the past couple of days. My apologies. It's been an incredibly painful half a year for me, and all because of an infection. *scoff* I wonder how it could've stayed in my system for so long without my getting sepsis. Hmm.

Note to self: be more of a whiner.

---

I suddenly got an urge to read IchiRuki Bleach fan fictions. So I did. I fairly enjoyed some but have yet to find something in-universe I could fall in love with. Meh. I wish FF.net could sort fics by average reviews per chapter. (Can't trust 'em total reviews—I've seen some thousands of them on thousand-chapter fics. Exag, but close enough.) Also, World: AU, so I can filter them out when I'm not in the mood for OOC Rukia and Ichigo.

Speaking of falling in love, it's official: I have fallen in love with Itachi/Temari. Naruto. Ewww. Blame fan fiction. Blame firefly, to be specific, because she writes the crack like WHOA). Actually, I'm probably a fan more of her writing than the pairing itself, but let's not get technical. (Again, check out "Commonalities", Sky Runs Red, and The Hazards of Amity. I'm floored.) I never read Itachi before so I have no idea about his personality (and, frankly, couldn't care less), but super awesome in-character Temari—whom even half of popular ShikaTema writers can't get right, sheesh—makes my heart flutter.

---

On another note, Togashi made me LOL in the data book. I had some random passages translated, and, out of curiosity:

On Kurama having two forms, Youko and Minamino Shuichi...
"I was thinking, 'If he's a demon, he can't go to school. What to do about it...'"

Now, that, I didn't know.

I actually don't give a crap about friend cuts, but with everyone leaving LJ (seems that way, at least), I just wanna say nice knowing you all... deserters. :p I just don't think LJ is for superficial things like that, so I didn't really care, but anyway... Feel free to cut me with no regrets; I understand perfectly. I'm not here as often as I used to be anyway. :)

Parting gift?



( I wrote this some time ago after I read a few volumes of YYH by Viz. Surprised me when I LJ alerted me of the draft. Posting it in this entry for posterity. )

Hello! Wow, I haven't been here in over a month. How have you guys been? How's 2012 starting out?

As usual, my life is never without problems, but whose isn't? Amusingly enough, though, it's currently lovelife-related. No, I'm not in love...which, apparently, is the problem. At almost 25, not only is being diploma-less unfortunate, being loveless is, as well!

Case #1: My daaaaad is saying crazy things like having "the house" built primarily in preparation for my future, i.e., when I get—shudder—married (jeezuz, to whom?!). I think it's time I tell him that I do not believe in marriage. I can just imagine the horrified look on his face and the sermon that follows. (Read: I can't see myself commit to someone till death do us part.)

Case #2: My "best cousin" has a short-term teaching contract at Pisay, and the younger brother of a certain co-teacher is so interested in her, he sent a huge box of astronomically expensive chocolates for Christmas. Guy wants to date cousin and suggests they each bring "someone" to double with. Cousin has been persuading pestering me to go for weeks! I really don't want to because (1) I'm close with her ex, and I still can't get over their break-up after six years of admirable relationship, and, (2) more importantly, I'm not interested in blind dates. Period. Boo. (Read: I'd feel bad if I were rejected.)

Case #3: This poses the biggest problem right now. I always attend a friend and her sister's annual joint birthday bash, and I've missed it only once in seven years we've known each other. (You might remember I write about this every year.) She sent this suspiciously pushy message last week that ended with, "YOU CAN'T MISS IT! YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO BE THERE!!!" Verbatim. She practically lived in our apartment back in college, so I know her well enough to know when something's up. After digging around, I found out that they'll be trying to hook me up with an acquaintance's former officemate.

Don't mind this, it's just very long rambling. Tl;dr, this guy is interested and aggressively making moves, while I'm not and just want to get away. I don't usually get pressured when it comes to this. I'm sure that, if the guy is really decent, we'll get along fine as friends.

To be honest, I think it's scary and unsettling that people—even my own parents and close friends—seem to think that my biological clock is ticking and that it's worrying (...what?) that I haven't had someone for a long time when I'm not even that concerned about it. I mean, what gives? -_-

Haaa. So, everything else: Boomer passed away; wrote about it but didn't have the heart to post the entry; still heartbroken; keeping myself busy. School is terrible; work is boring; family is a nuisance. Nothing new. Except a WD 2TB external hard drive, Ricky Lee's new novel (Si Amapola sa 65 na Kabanata, P300—why are local publications so expensive when they use such shitty-quality papers?) which is going to be a challenge to read, and a pair of jeans and a blouse from a certain [expensive] brand. First time I gave in to "retail therapy," and it did not feel good at all.

P.S. Chihayafuru has an animé?! WTH MUST WATCH! So that's why the scanslations are coming relatively fast, ohoho. I miss writing about manga and animé, sob, sob.

I never thought I'd see this kind of face (cropped from MangaStream's scanlation) on her.

And anyway, what the hell's up with her increased number of panel appearances and lines? It's making me think she's going to die sometime soon. =|

"DA: Vegetable prices to go back to 'normal' within the week" - GMANews.tv, 10/10/2011

Are you kidding me? They were still sky-high last Friday. Some even twice their usual price. I almost cried.

Perfect excuse to get a lot more meat than usual ohohoho. ( ¬‿¬)

I should be a nurse. No, really.

You know, I probably should just drop my current academic course and take up Nursing instead. I've become a pro at taking care of hospitalized people. That's fine with me since I get to stay in an air-conditioned room and have easy access to fastfood (which I don't have often). The downside is that I become an easy target of devious plans.

Papa, my maternal aunt's husband, was so bored after his kidney operation that he tried to hook me up with one of his nurses, who might've been majorly turned off when I dutifully ignored his offered hand. I swear, it wasn't intentional. But NCIS >>> some random cute guy, period.

---

Re-discovering Fullmetal Alchemist

I've been on a Fullmetal Alchemist mood these past two weeks. This almost coincides with the date Ed says never to forget, "3.Oct.11," when he and his brother Al burned their house down and moved forward. Subconscious talking, maybe? So I re-read some FMA chapters, and then I think again how amazingly amazing the story and storytelling are. Arakawa has made me a fan for life.

Of course, this means gorging on Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye info. It's one of those "it's not explicitly canon, but you know it's canon" kind of thing, their very interesting relationship. They have no need for words because their history says all. I love them. ♥ Not in the obsessive kind of way like I do Kurama/Botan (Yu Yu Hakusho) and Shikamaru/Temari (Naruto), but more level-headed (albeit not any less pure), more realistic, more mature.

RoyAi is, in my opinion, a lot more meaningful and exciting than any of the relationships in the series, even any of my OTPs. It's a relationship solidly built on trust and loyalty—a very strong bond. The situations Roy and Riza get into continually test these foundations, but RoyAi never wavers. I personally find ( that these spoilers for 60 and 61 are awesome. )

The more I familiarize myself with the series, the more wonderful things I find about it (and Roy/Riza, of course). It's no wonder it's one of the highest-ranked manga and animé in community sites. <3 The only reason I haven't bought the manga yet is because I can't decide whether to get the cheaper and more accessible Chuang Yi version or the controversial and highly edited Viz one, especially considering there are 27 volumes to collect. /faints (Honestly speaking though, from what I've seen, I prefer the flow of Viz' text more than Chuang Yi's. Translation-wise, I'd probably stick to the scanlations, lol.)

---

Naruto. Temari, mostly.

Temari is incredibly fap-worthy in the recent chapters of Naruto, if not for the fact that she looks like a major wallflower who happens to have lines. I know Gaara has the most important score to settle with the former Kazekage, but ( there are spoilers for 547, 548, and 553 here, so I guess Temari should go there. )

Anyway! Oh my gosh. psiteleport's Arranged: discontinued. There goes one of the smartest, most brilliantly-written ShikaTema fan fictions ever. And it's so close to the climax too. /sob Really, for such a huge fandom, ShikaTema has very few decent [multi-chaptered] fan fictions. (Meanwhile, oneshots, particularly the long ones, are very much loved.) The stories and writing themselves are fine, but the characterization mostly fails. Usually. Some writers seem especially skilled at butchering Temari's character. Ugh. I'm sorry, I don't care how in-command of the English language you are. The moment you use "troublesome" thrice every 10 words and portray Temari horribly, I'm outta there.

(Protip: ballades and pinkfairywand's hilarious The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer on How to Write Shikatema Fic is your friend.)

And remember this?

I see Itachi/Temari is becoming popular for some reason (I don't even know how it got started, or why), but it's pretty hot. :o Gimme nice fan fictions and I might like it.

I found one. And it's hilarious. "Temari, Itachi and Commonalities" from firefly's Crack Whims. I can see them exchanging "my brother is a psycho" stories, so friendship works. Kinda. More like war buddies, actually. Romance? I have yet to be convinced.

Sky Runs Red from the same writer looks very promising though, oooh.

---

Misc

I am surprised at how much of a fan of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 I've become. I am obsessed with the piece. I have six different performances saved, including one of Rachmaninoff himself with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1929.


Also, my internet has been slow since the all-day blackout a couple of weeks ago. And the inside of the house is still partly a waterworld after that awful flood. Again. /sighs

I know it's horrible, but I thought it amusing when I saw the neighbor's roof torn off and blown away by strong winds during typhoon "Pedring." It was almost fascinating to watch, until the iron sheet hit the gate of our house. Haha. (It makes one wonder if I could've been killed had that gate not been there to block it. Scary thought.)

Wow, I didn't get to write at all last month. Someone has been super busy. Bullets.

• Birthday: A belated thanks for the birthday greetings. *group hug* As gifts to myself, I ordered Dengeki Daisy v3-5 + pre-ordered v6 and High School Debut v1-3 + v13. They won't be arriving till around November, but good things come to those who wait. (Next payday: Nodame Cantabile v11-15...if the set's still available by then. *cross fingers*)


• School: I'm doing very badly. The more time I devote to studying, the worse the grades I get WTFWTFWTF. It's just. NOT. WORKING. I suppose I'm the type to do her best when pressed for time, but that's just a frustrating quality if anything.


• Work: Is work.


• Dengeki Daisy: *fap* *fap* *fap*


• Nodame Cantabile: Oh. My. God. I read the manga a couple of weeks ago, and... Oh. My. God. I haven't been this much in love with a series since Dengeki Daisy. I really adore the subtle romance and, perhaps because of it, can't relate with the reviewers over at MU who expressed their disappointment with the ending. I'm thinking they probably want explicit closure on the romance part and not the story as a whole—Chiaki and Nodame's development has always been not explicit and slowly evolving. (Although, I have to admit, Chiaki's intentions still pretty much confuses me.) If it was up to me, Nodame would've pursued teaching while still on the route to becoming a "true pianist" (because I generally dislike other people pushing their values and ideals on someone just because of talent) but I really can't complain at all.
  
  The box has been on for three days downloading the animé. I'll also give the live action a try because many people say it's good. (...but live actions really destroy the raw impressions I get from reading the manga and/or watching the animé counterparts. The actor playing Chiaki, for example, makes me wonder how in the world he can be called "cool." I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to pretty boys, I highly prefer the 2D kind because I really don't find those real-life bishounen [*ewww*] attractive, lol.)


• Mangaka You MUST Check Out: (my recently-discovered ones)
  • Yumeka Sumomo - I've been a fan since Bus Hashiru and Nanairo Sekai a few years ago, but it's just lately I got to familiarize myself with her other works. She's so good that I read even [some of] her shounen ai works hahahaha. Anyway, she's the artist who adapted two of Shinkai Makoto's works into manga (namely, Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised on Our Early Days). Her art is very lovely.
  • Kitazaki Taku - Perhaps Sakuranbo Syndrome is an excuse to make a pseudo-lolicon manga, but it's still a good one...as far as I've read anyway (the series has been scanlated up to only the fourth of eleven volumes). His other works have interesting premises, with a well-balanced mix of drama and comedy.
  • Mizutani Ai - She has only two anthologies scanlated, but I like what I've read from her.
  • Sakura Amyuu - I really love oneshots, and hers are really cute~ ♥
  • Someone please compile Takagi Shigeyoshi's oneshots in an anthology and license it! I'm totally considering buying the two-volume Flower in a Storm just for the oneshot in each book alone. (But of course, Ren's topknot makes my knees weak, too.)
• The Usual Complaints: I'll try to be more active, but finals are coming up, and I have little time for fun nowadays, and I'm also helping in sorting out the extrajudicial arrangements re: the land my dad and aunts inherited from my paternal grandma. If we don't move within the next year, I'm going to move out of the house, seriously. It's frustrating enough having to live with two guys (who don't know how to keep the house clean, wash the dishes, do the laundry, or even flush the damn toilet for crying out loud)—during the rainy seasons, the floods get so ridiculously high and I can't do anything when I single-handedly clean up every single time the water enters our house. I am neither their mother nor their maid, and no, capable individuals are not my responsibility. ^______________________^ Really, though, is it so hard to help out a little? Or at least clean up after themselves? I always remind them but—UGGGHHHH!!!!—they're such huge slobs ugh ugh ugh.

This makes want to me weep.

Scanlation by StarryHeaven
Strobe Edge OMGGGG I LOVE IT. And this page makes me so so saaaaad. /sob And the next page just totally breaks my heart. Gyaaaa. It's all Aoharaido's fault! Made me fall in love with Sakisaka Io's works.

---

This makes me really weep, period.

Midterms start on Saturday. 800+ pages of readings to go through, not to mention the web resources given to us. I'm better at managing my time these days, thank goodness, so I'm not as pressed for time as I was during the past couple of semesters. Back then I'd panic for a week and read everything the day before the exams, but in the past week I've been reading something everyday, with the aid of lots of bananas and water and Cobra Energy Drink.

I've been sick for the past ten days though, and the meds are definitely not helping, but I'm hoping that this surprising perseverance of mine will make me pull through. If I manage to get excellent grades this term, I'll try to overload next term, and then I might be able to get my diploma by summer next year yaaaay! (Just hope this isn't wishful thinking, of course.)

*** Jeezuz, Ryuuuuu! I love you! /sob Somehow I was not prepared for that, especially with how it went, but then I should have expected it. Ryuu has always been a no-fuss kind of person, and it was just so him to say it like that.

*** I'm right, I'm right about the reason Ayane reacted that way when she talked with Pin! I just knew it! I'm disappointed because I was hoping Karuho would prove me wrong. Or at least partly wrong. But what can I say? I'm a genius. -shot-

Seriously though, I love this chapter just as much as I hate it. The development delights me, but the events themselves frustrate me. And of course, there's damn Kent, who has completely won me over.

I really should stop being awesome at predicting how stories go. My suspicions are almost always correct, for some reason. One of the more unnerving and current ones being Karina's crush on Kotetsu (and I don't even know where that came from, just that I suspected it from the start, ffff! More hope for Shikamaru and Temari, maybe).

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Can't say I'm a fan of the cover, but:


That just sounds awesome.