Gifts and more manga...

So my best friend returned from Vietnam last night and got me some cute stuff... in fact, she got me quite a bit of ... stuff, and uhm, ahahah I'm very grateful she did :D. I could never get enough of stuffie and while she was giving all these things at my other friend's house last night, he kept on laughing as though he got things in his throat. It was when I realized man, I really miss her, ehhehe... it was her presence that made me the happiest. I'm not sure how it's suppose to be since I've got somewhat of a cold personality and it's always hard for me to make friends and warm up to people, but once I do, I feel a great attachment or connection. And to realize that the last few weeks to me had been so dreary and bleak and lonely. However, she'll be moving again soon and it seems like it's gonna be where she'll be happier than here. It makes me feel useless and very sad actually, that I couldn't make her happier as my friend... I'm not sure how I can express these feelings though... that once away, she'll forget all about me and get on with her new life with new sets of people and I will be noone but a mere memory. That thought alone makes me somewhat depressed. I've already lost one friend that I truly treasure due to a mistake on my part, and until now when I look back I still cannot help but feel a great regret weighing down my heart... Sometimes I wish I'm more vulnerable and take more initiative, maybe, maybe then I won't appear to be so hard to approach, then I would allow people to come into my life easier. Sometimes I wish my life would be like in those dramas where friendship strikes in the most unusual circumstance and we'd hit it off really fast and become the best of buddies for a long time. You know, often I think how it's so unfair some people make new relationships so easily while others can't, how someone would lose a relationship and go on starting a new one and get really intimate while some find it a difficult task to have that kind of quality relationship again with another person. I'm more of the latter. Guess I expect too much out of the others and often get disappointed and in a sense, not feeling much attachment to the current relationship I have. Seriously, i don't understand what i want either... hence I don't give out as much... could be because i'm scared... fear of intimacy maybe... if there's such a fear in this world. A lot of time I don't know why I try so hard to understand myself and the people around me, don't you think those things can weigh a person down??? Ahh, too much sentimental stuff hihih... but I took a picture, so hehe :D




So below is my manga purchase for the first two months of this year... and I kept on wondering where my money went when I don't even go shopping -___-;; Here it's missing After School Nightmare volume 5 since DeepDiscount doesn't have it in stock T___T... Aww, and I was looking forward to reading that one the most. I already read 12 days, tramps like us and Orange and well.. I love how Tramps like Us ended, as for the other two, they're just short stories and I still don't know even now how I feel towards them. One thing though, Orange's artwork is gorgeous and absolutely breathtaking!!! The whole graphic novel is in color, isn't that so neat? The original price is $15 but I got it cheaper for 11 bucks on Amazon. Benjamin is an amazing author, I <333 his arts. And I'm very exciting to read Solanin because I love the artwork and the synopsis so far :D. Flight vol 5 is just a must since I enjoyed the other 4 volumes.

random insignificance...

Kiana+T. took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Shelves her ambitions and forgoes her desire for p..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

Hm... I must say it's very true which is quite scary.

waiting for spring...

Hm and I found a pretty good song to share... I find the plot of this song somewhat puzzling though... Why break up when both of them still seem to be very deep in love with each other? Anyways, it's a very good song so I thought I'd share.

GOODBYE
By: Cho Shin Shung

Running away... God, please lead me to you.

LEAD ME TO THE CROSS
By: Hillsongs



To be honest, I'm feeling very down lately. It's that feeling of emptiness like nothing is worth looking forward to anymore, like all the hopes within me is drained away, leaving my soul wrecked and dying...

I'm being closer to God now than I was ever before however. It feels like I've been running away and closing myself off from the face of the earth, at least for this whole week... but God is showing me that what I've been doing will only add to my pile of agony.
... that I'm a coward.

It's gonna be so difficult and I'm very scared. Almost my whole life I've been running away when faced with a challenge or difficult situation. I'd rather give up... but this habit is hurting me so bad lately that I just can't bear it anymore.

I'm going to face my fear today. Please, God help me reach your heart. Amen.

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Another horrible attempt at watercolor -____-;;;a... Hm... what was i thinking... well, i'm not so sure since I'm sick today and trying to get over my serious stress/borderline depression. Guess it does say something about the state of my mind right now huh, lol.

A quiet week... & some manga reviews.

I'm not really in the mood for lengthy talks, I still want to briefly cover a few manga titles that I read and love recently. It might not seem like it, but I absolutely adore manga, especially those that deal with unusual subjects and dare to challenge readers' perspectives, not being afraid to get real and brutally honest. That is not to say that I just read everything and anything weird just for the sake of it... because until now I still completely behold this grudge against unnecessary gory and graphic manga. However, unusual art styles do attract me quite often, especially when it stays consistent throughout. Anyways, let's move on to the more important thing: the manga :D. What titles do I have high respect and love for so far... this list is in no particular order since I usually don't rank my manga much; though I tend to have a top 5.

Tramps like us



This is such a wonderful josei manga (josei is a term used for manga that targets older females like those in college and above). The premise might put some readers off however, I was one of them in the beginning. The story talks about Sumire, and beautiful and intelligent working woman who seems to have it all: from looks to brain. However, since she's so smart and beautiful, other people feel intimidated and envious of her and keep a distance from Sumire. At her workplace she faces discriminations even when her works are always done perfectly and topnotch, just because she's a female in a place stocked with male workers who don't like having a woman standing above them (literally and metaphorically, darn she's always shown half a head taller than most men, :D). So, even though from an outsider's point of view, Sumire is the lucky one who shouldn't have any worries at all... but in reality, away from her workplace, she converts into a lonely lady with low-self-esteem. One day, she happens to find a beaten guy outside her door and took him in. He doesn't want to leave, so she suggests to keep him as a pet and calls him Momo (the name of her dead dog). So there you go... from then on, the two of them stay under one roof, with one condition: the guy stays and acts like her pet dog: Momo. Sounds pretty sick huh. I knew of some people who were totally totally disgust by this manga. However, this manga doesn't focus on that pet-owner relationship for long... as we slowly see just how fragile and lonely Sumire is. She wants someone who care for her, but is too proud to admit it, hence the weird request. Read it if you want something a little more mature than the usual Sailormoon-ish soap opera romance.


Nodame Cantabile



I knew nothing of this manga beforehand. It wasn't even popular online as scanlations, nobody talked about it at all. So one day, I walked into Barns & Nobles and habitually browsed the graphic novels aisle and stumbled upon this one, thanks to its unique drawing style!!! (See, artstyles do help :D!). Upon reading the first volume, I fell in love instantly from the very first few pages!! It was just soo... different and carefree, and I love the subject matter: classical music. The first volume was one hell of a hilarity ride... never had I read something so silly like this and enjoyed it so much. It must have been the carefree attitude the author put into it that makes everything about this manga a breath of fresh air, so refreshing and bursting of energy! Read it, read it!!!


Moon Child



Hm... this is an older manga and is very... weird. I couldn't help but be drawn to its story, however. Let me dig up a synopsis (I can't think of doing it myself, since until now after 7 vols I'm still pretty much clueless, hahaha...):

According to prophecy, the daughter of the greatest traitor of mer-people, Seira, and her human husband, will either bring an end to the feud between humanity and the mer-people or bring about the destruction of all life on Earth. When the mer-man named Shona, who has seen the daughter of Seira many times in his dreams, comes to Earth to find her, he meets a young boy, Jimmy, suffering from amnesia. As Shona continues his search for the girl, he finds out that the mystery of Jimmy's identity might be the cause of Earth's destruction...

So... what do I like so much about it? Because it's just sooo... strange. You see this place that resembles earth, but at the same time so far removed from it. You see these people living as people but underneath that facade have another self. You get gender confusion, predestined love, hatred, and tons more and just have no clues where things will lead. This manga is a work of art, in my opinion. I don't care if it seems directionless sometimes, or just so... out there, I enjoyed it tremendously. Or perhaps, I'm just a romantic who likes to be emerged into an enchanted supernatural oasis, lets myself be moved around just as long as I get that feed of foreign stuff. I know... it's kinda sad, hahaa... but hey, let me tell you... it's a true joy :D.

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Well, that's it for now. It's getting so late, so I will be talking more about manga in another post when I'm not so constricted with time. By the way, all those titles are available in English so if you're interested, take a look at them at the bookstore or library. Ja ne!!!!

Back to school... and hard at work.

School started again for me last week. I have 5 classes, and each one is around 3 hours long. On Tuesday and Thursday, I'm in school from 8 am to 5 pm, going through all 3 studio classes that last around 3 hours each -__-; It's a bit overwhelming and tiring, but I've set my mind to do the best I can for everyone of them. I'm amazed at myself.... since I'd never been this serious about school before. My classes are as below:

Monday: Adv. Drawing (8:30-11:20)
Tuesday - Thursday: Sculpture (8-10:50), Design Studio (11-1:50), Printmaking (2-4:50)
Wednesday: Adv. Drawing (8:30-11:20), History of Prints (2:30-4:50)

Thank god I don't have class on Friday, but then it's time for me to work, same on Saturday... and on Sunday, I've got to be practicing with my church youth group :).

The picture above is one that doodled in my sketchbook, photographed and transfered it to Photoshop to do a little clean-up before I started water-coloring it in Painter and then brought it back to Photoshop to do the final touch-up with colors and everything. I've never drawn using watercolor before, believe it or not so the result was quite... dismal. However, I've been sketching more and am getting more comfortable now. Good thing comes with practice... I realized this kinda late, but it's late then never, right ^^? I wish everyone a blessed week!!

My trip to Cali ^^

Below are some pictures from my trip to Anaheim, California. We were there for 6 days from 12/25 to 12/30 of 2008, but I still felt that it was not enough time :D. If it was possible we'd have waited to join New Year there before flying back home. Nevertheless, it was a very fun trip, and if we could visit it again, will probably take more pictures since we won't be running around trying to get on all the rides. The schedule went something like this: on the 25th, we joined Chi's cousin for a Christmas party after we landed in Anaheim that late afternoon; the 26th, we were at Universal Studio; the 27th, Disneyland :D; the 28th, Knot's Berry Farm; the 29th, shopping time at Phuoc Loc Tho, Korean town, etc.; the 30th, time to go home T__T; So we actually didn't have time to go to LA or Long Beach to visit Queen Mary ship; and my plans to visit the Art Museum and French bakery shops couldn't be met either; but my brother had sometime to visit one of his old highschool friends in Vietnam: Nghiem. Still, it was amazing :D, especially our time in Disneyland ^^v.

That's it for this post. Ja ne!!!