Ohh I have a TON of updates today! It's gonna be one heck of a roller coaster ride (literally). I'll classify the updates accordingly, so start on the heading you're interested in. You can skip whatever part you don't wanna read about.
Anime -- Ranma 1/2 and Shakugan no ShanaToday I realized (for perhaps the 3rd time) that I didn't know how Ranma 1/2 ended. (1) I don't watch each episode; (2) I have better things to do on my PC, and (3) I got used to Ranma and Akane's bickering (redundancy). I read a review (the link is up there *points above this bunch of text*) of Volume 36, the last volume of the manga, where it is described that Ranma and Akane had a happy (yet uncertain) ending. Nyuuu~ I didn't want Ranma to get married. ;_;
Anyway while reading Wikipedia's entry on Ranma 1/2, I decided to scan through the manga characters where I found
Shirokuro, Ryoga (aka P-chan) Hibiki's family pet. I was rather intrigued by the Trivia part, where it was stated that the dog's breed can either be
Akita Inu or
Samoyed. I dare say she's an Akita, judging from her appearance (the ears and big, fluffy tail) and her temperament (the only family member with a sense of direction,
and stays at home cleaning (!) the house and taking care of her puppies). Needless to say I read into the Akita section and found
Hachiko (the loyal dog, he's very well known in Shibuya ^^), and I read a lot of stuff on InuYasha as well. (they did say
here that his ears look like that of an Akita's XD)
This browsing lead me to the second of the series featured here, which is
Shakugan no Shana.
Rumiko Takahashi, creator of Inuyasha and other famous series such as Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2, stated that the lead characters of both series have various
similarities. I eventually had to explore the entry and while reading the plot summary, I found this quote:
Infinite time stops its heartbeat, and people are soundlessly consumed by fire. Not a single soul notices as the world becomes dislocated, and is engulfed in the flames of the Crimson Realm.
— Alastor
Mmm. Love these stuff. I think I'll have something to read for the next few weeks now. I smell a next anime review. ^_^
(for more information on the series, please click the link given above for its Wikipedia entry.)Friends -- Going InternationalSince I started playing online games (and even as early as 1999 when I got addicted to mIRC) I have met several people living overseas who have eventually become my friends, and in some instances, friends of my other friends. This also counts people I get to chat with on Y!M and those I get to talk to in the different forums I visit. Veteran visitors of my blog might remember me crediting YouTube members, forumers, guildmates and many more, but at the moment, I would only be talking about 2 people.
Ikarius - he is/was a Polish player whom I met in early 2005 on the MMORPG,
MU Online Philippines. He was the guild leader of the now defunct Najebka guild. They merged in with my guild, the
Holy Order of the Light, and that's when we (and a few other Polish members) became close friends. A very level-headed and approachable person, and he has very good English skills too. I gave him the nickname "master noob wiz", a pet name I think is for my exclusive use. LOL. He was one of the few people to first reach level 300 in MU Philippines' Bahr server. He was also very well known by the community not only because he's a foreigner, but because he can be a very good friend.
I hope I can talk to him again somehow, because the sacred creature of my goddess alter ego in EiC will be named in his honor. I do hope he'll approve. :3
Konstantin - if you scan the previous posts on my Tagboard, you won't miss him. He is a Russian-born guy who now resides in Germany (I interviewed him on that XD). I gave him the lyrics for three of Origa's songs, which contained Russian text, its romanized lines and their English translations. I enjoy talking to him on e-mail at present, and he recently helped me in a VERY big way by romanizing
'player' and
'date of rebirth'. (you can read more about this on my Ghost in the Shell post)
I might post the lyrics after I edit some parts and translate it to fluid English. And who knows, maybe in the future, I might just as well dub the songs and post videos on Youtube. *sheepish grin* I wouldn't be able to do all this if it wasn't for Konstantin. Cheers for you mate! ^_^
This brings us into the next part of my post.
Music -- Origa & Audition Online OSTSince I have parts of the lyrics, I'm now looking into the possibility of obtaining the rap lyrics, which was performed by the singing duo
Heartsdales. I'm not sure how I'll do this really, I was only able to catch parts of it. Well, we never do know what will happen. XD
I have also stated in a previous post that I really like playing
Audition Online. I have also taken to downloading the songs in the game, and so far I've managed to compile 11 of them (I am very picky XD), which already includes Beat City and Dance Flower. If I have the chance I may post download links (or maybe even the MP3 files themselves) for easier access. :3
Online Gaming -- RAN PH GangsThree days ago my boyfriend and I decided to take the "Through the Tunnel" quest, better known as the TradingHole (TH) quest. Unfortunately for us, lag and a bug in the shaman's walking speed caused us to fail the quest. (I never should have put skill points there just yet! -_-) He died three times while I died twice. We got into a sort of bout since I got annoyed by his cursing and sworn off the damned quest, and it completely ruined my morning. I was really grumpy even with other people that day. ¬_¬; He did end up apologizing much later (around 3AM) but I was already royally pissed, albeit an I-am-not-in-the-mood-to-forgive mood. And so I carried the bad mood for the rest of the day.
Last night we went back to a much more normal status but I didn't say he was forgiven. (when people piss me off it takes some time for me to recover) I was shocked to hear him demand (as in demand) me to join the gang he will soon create. DUH! "Dude, I haven't even gotten over your last stint, now you have the guts to ask this kind of thing from me? WTF??" is what my brain automatically yelled. I know
Netorious has all the potential to become big someday, and I also know it's a big deal for him of course, but at a time like this that my gang (the UP gang of Alab server, Phoenix school, RAN PH) is currently having a situation with its members, now is definitely not the time to leave. I did stress in telling him that I am not a deserter
(hindi ako alaskador), and it would be hard for me to leave my friends behind. And another thing that really ticked me off is that he wants me to (temporarily) stand in for him when the time comes for him to work. And I thought I already told him I was a No Good (NG) leader. =_=
I would have berated him today if he had not told me he already joined UP Gang, with the consent of our master Roj, aka Sir_Mayhem. I asked permission yesterday on YM, but I didn't expect my bf to use my account and pretend to be me! @_@
I expect Roj to talk to him tomorrow, when he can play again. For now, I'll tend to the poor jerk and ask him if he's still vomiting blood. Nasty karma. ¬.¬
Personal Life -- The Doting AuntieMy brother, his girlfriend and their kid (duh, of course, my nephew!) came here last Feb. 4! I was sooo happy~ (due to exaggerated excitement, the author has experienced a lack of articulateness and chose a very simple word -- happy) It was a pity they only got to stay for 1 and a half hour. I wasn't even able to serve them snacks because my nephew was practically grabbing all of our attention. (sorry guys! ;_;)
My nephew's name is
Keith Nigale Ilagan (meh, forgot Nica's surname x.x). Haha. Hope he doesn't misspell it someday. :P Now here're a few things I observed in my nephew:
- He's a big kid considering he's turning 1 this February 19 (that's both in height and weight XD)
- He has long, straight hair, chinky eyes and puffy cheeks! Cute~!
(good thing he doesn't look like his dad :P)- He likes kicking people. I just might teach him basic Tae kwon do. Muahahahaha!!
- He likes watching commercials, but pays no attention to TV programs.
- He likes Animal Planet! He was just sitting on his mom's lap the whole time! ^_^ (time to get cable brother dear. >:p
- When the commercials end, he starts to squirm and escape his parents' grasps.
- Ang likot nyaaaa! @_@
- He's pretty strong for a small kid. I got a roundhouse kick while tucking him in his dad's arms and I remember it connected with my jaw. TT.TT
- He drooled on my jogging pants that day. Nix did say he's a drooler. LMAO
- He likes shiny things. You'll see evidence of that later. XD
- The kid's gonna be a gamer someday! He totally liked watching a kid here playing O2Jam.
- He's ticklish in that private area. Hahaha. XD
And now, here are the pictures!
Bad angle, it showed my bad teeth. XD Anyway we tried to catch him while he watches O2Jam, but he wasn't really smiling. And the lighting was all messed up! X3
By this time he noticed the moving box on my server PC (the capture box), and that's where he paid his attention now (lol, got bored of O2Jam XD) so we took a pic while he looked at my monitor. In this pic though, he looks constipated! @_@ 
My brother took this pic and it was an absolute worst. Nica attracted Kiel's attention with a gold CD while Kenny took the pic. When I saw the horrible angle, I squealed "you're a bad photographer!" with which he snapped back, "that's not even a real camera!" Hey, a webcam's still a camera dude. WebCAMERA. =_=It's too bad we weren't able to capture those 2 moments when Kiel poked at my cheek in a loving way. So cute. I didn't even mind that my hair was a mess trying to get him to look at the cam. On second thought, even without the picture, the memory would forever be in my mind (and heart). :3
Oh, before the webcam shots we took pictures with my old Kodak. After the film gets developed I'll find a way to scan them and post them here as well. Watch out for them Nix! ^_^
The Thousandth Visitor -- I totally missed it!Today I celebrate my 1,000th hit! Thank you for the continued patronage, though I have no idea who you people are. XD In reality, that wouldn't be the real thousandth visitor, since the blog existed so much earlier than the counter (for reference, see the blog footer).
A screenshot of my 1,001th hit... (that was me :P)
...and brainfreeze's comment. (haha)I really am shocked but nevertheless thankful that my blog reached 1,000 hits within less than 2 months. I found it rather weird, but I liked it. I wish that 1,000th visitor lots of good fortune in 2007. Hey, Chinese New Year's coming up after all. ^_^ I also hope traffic in the site increases in the months to come, but I sure do hope people would bother introducing themselves on the Tagboard. Is that too much to ask? Lol.
I guess it's off to Neverland for me now. Heck, it took me 8 hours to finish this particular entry! Three words:
I was busy. (what were you thinking?! XD)
Our Golden Apiga will not be left ignored! T-shirts, bags and pig stuffed toys are in store for those who have Golden Apiga(s) in their inventories!
Hunt monsters around the world to retrieve medals. There are two types: Medals and Glittering Medals.
I wonder what he wants to do here. O.o
