How terribly depressing.

I’ve been a fan of Blood+ for a very long time; I remember having watched the series back in 2007/2008 on Animax. The anime was really good, and although I had people telling me that the manga had a different story, I thought I wasn’t missing much by not picking it up.

Boy, was I wrong. I started reading the Blood+ manga two days ago, and I found it really endearing. I’d say it’s better than the anime, but each has its good and bad points, so I won’t go there.

Diva turns out to be not as bitter as she is in the anime, and her history with Saya is altered dramatically. Van Argiano is so much more than the idiot he is in the anime; I thought he was very intimidating and shrewd and, well, evil. Solomon is such a girly pretty boy and a real creep; far worse than his anime counterpart (seriously, the entire time I was reading the manga I was liking Solomon less and less). Riku isn’t annoying, and even likable. Haji isn’t as cool or as expressionless as a rock as he is in the anime; he had his stupid moments with Kai, which I thought were hilarious. Kai isn’t an idiot, and a great big brother to Saya. Nathan is still very gay, although I like him less than his anime version. Amschel is still obsessed with Diva, but I thought he cared for her more in the manga than in the anime.

And Karl - holy frikking thing, he did not exist in the manga. Instead, his counterpart is the adorable little Charles, who is Diva’s favorite chevalier. I was absolutely disappointed when I realized that they decided to rob the anime of its Charles. Seriously, Charles is so cute and evil and adorable and I’d prefer him to Karl any day. It’s not as if I ever liked Karl to begin with, but really - I thought Charles was a great symbolism of chiropterans who, just like Saya, are trying to fit in with human beings, especially since he’s always with his caretaker, Van Argiano.

On that note, I really think Van and Charles make a good pair. No, seriously: I love Charles x Van. There’s something about their master-servant relationship that is both twisted and fascinating to me. (And I also ship Charles x Riku, although I’m guessing to a lesser degree.) I’ve never even considered yaoi before, but Charles x Van and Charles x Riku made me.

I was browsing through the fan fiction archive just a while ago, and I’m terribly disappointed to see that there isn’t much about Charles, or his relationship with Van or Riku. Which really sucks, because he deserves more stories about him. People who have seen the anime don’t even know who Charles is, and if you’re one of them: You don’t know what you’re missing. (Give the manga a try. NOW.)

I just realized how difficult it is to fan girl over a character/pairing that only a very few people know about. It’s terribly frustrating, and I’m just glad I have this anime/manga blog where I can post something like this.

Here’s to hoping that more people will give the Blood+ manga a try.

P.S. Go here if you’re a fan of Charles. ♥  

It's Valentine's Day and I'm still being a nerd over it.

From 14 Ways an Economist Says I Love You.

My birthday was last September 11, and I gotta say I received one of the most fabulous birthday gifts I can possibly ask for: a NatsumeHotaru fan art. The pairing is probably one of the most un-heard of in the fandom, and I didn't think anyone would actually humor me and give me so much more than what I had requested.

The gracious Mari/Innocent Sorrow actually took the time to draw the pair, even though she's mostly a NatsumeMikan fan. Thank you very much, Mari! I can't tell you how much I appreciate this! :D

Ah, so where do I begin?

Last night, while I was going through my files, I realized that I have no copy of The Game of Let's Pretend in my laptop. I only have a list of its chapter titles – but not the chapters themselves. It was so ridiculous that I laughed (what kind of author doesn't have a copy of her own story?), and ended up looking all over my room for my old flashdrive, where I knew I saved my copy before my old computer died. When I found it, I checked for TGOLP, and sure enough, all the chapters were there.

I wanted to read where I left off; I wanted to remember where I was when I stopped writing. But then I realized it would be more fun if I start from the very beginning. So I went over chapter one, planning only to read it, but ended up making edits to it, even when I had no plans of updating or doing anything with it - at all. In the end I posted it back up, and decided in that moment that I'd continue. Hell, I already have several chapter fifteen scenes in my flashdrive; I might just well make use of them instead of ditching them completely, no?

Yesterday night I decided I'll temporarily remove the chapters while I make edits to them. This, which to my surprise earned me a nasty "fuck you" welcome greeting when I checked my email today, was done for several sound reasons, most of them for the benefit of those who are reading the story.

• Temporary removal of the chapters will give new readers a chance to pace their reading, as old readers have previously done. In other words, they get to wait, too, for the good bits. Kind of reliving the old days. By this I'm trying to somewhat control how much everyone is reading, so they won't get bored of the story.

• Posting the chapters back up only after they're edited gives old and new readers a chance to read the story more smoothly. More fluid narration, less errors, less typos, all the good stuff that results from editing.

• Temporary removal of chapters will ultimately benefit old readers. Unlike some reviewers might think, I'm very much aware that I haven't updated in two years. I realize that readers might have forgotten the little crucial details that shape the story (hell, I've forgotten many things myself). By posting the chapters one at a time, I give them incentive to read only the materials that are up (since they've no choice), and I'm hoping this will help them recall the events/ideas/theme/details of the story. I need my readers to read again and remember. Because trust me: The devil is always in the details.

• My decision to NOT suddenly throw chapter fifteen out there is because I'm aware that people are always to eager to read the new materials posted, even when they've forgotten why and how things must have gotten there in the first place. It's already been two years since my last update, and the last thing I want to do is read comments like, "You took so long to update that I've completely forgotten the story; I had to reread the chapters to understand this." Even worse is the probability that the reader wouldn't even bother to reread the previous chapters because they're too long, etc. Either of this scenario would have ruined the fifteenth chapter entirely, and this is what I'm keeping from happening. I'm trying to help my readers avoid this, because I want them to completely enjoy the fifteenth chapter once it's up - hence my efforts.

Although, it would seem that there are several who failed to grasp the logic behind what I did and instead threw a bitch fit at me without even trying to understand where I'm coming from in the first place. At the moment I'm seriously, very much pissed off and put off by this fiasco. Here I was making an attempt to assure everyone that they're not waiting for nothing and I'm finally going to update after two long years, but all I get back are nasty, unsigned comments telling me to delete my story and fuck off. Like, seriously? How about having the courage to actually sign your rude messages? Didn't the GAFFN population mature even the slightest while I was away?

I explicitly stated in my author's note that I lost my muse for TGOLP a long time ago; which is why I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was last night, when I realized that I could edit a TGOLP chapter in less than a day. I was so excited to get back to writing this story because I finally decided I want to get chapter fifteen out there; I want to share it with the many readers who have been through this story for so many years. I still do, even after the horrible messages, but I'd be lying if I don't say that my excitement has been ruined - quite ruined, in fact. I'm put off and very disappointed by what has happened. My words have been taken out of context; I've been called stupid for the repost and author's notes even when I can very well explain my good reasons and intentions for them; I've been accused of having an attitude; I've been told to fuck off - all because I'm finally going to update my story again, after two years! I doubt anything could be more ridiculous than this!

Just for the record, I'm not forcing anyone to read my story. Frankly, I don't need readers as barbaric and as impolite as these people.

I'm supposed to be in school right now, enrolling myself for the next semester, which will start on the 9th of November. (Yup, it's a Tuesday; and no, I don't know what's up with the crazy let's not have classes on Mondays and start the week on Tuesdays instead thing. Well actually I do, but that's not the point.) I didn't go to school today, or yesterday, because I'm sick. I've a cough, a cold, and a slight fever that cannot make up its mind whether to stay or leave. Seriously.

In my uni we have this computerized enlistment for our subjects. Every student has her own account through which they post our grades (because class cards are sooo last decade). Every scheduled date before the sem starts, we're supposed to enlist ourselves in the subjects we fancy. When the enlistment closes, the uni's computer processes all our accounts, granting classes in absolutely random order, or according to your priority status.

I was granted 16 units, which is 3 units short of the 19 I'm planning to take this sem. This means I still have to prerog - a manual enlistment, if you may. When you manually enlist, you go to the college where the subject you want is, fall in line, and wait for them to enlist your name in the subject. Usually this takes a really long time, and people are practically dieing over the limited slots (hey, they can't enlist a hundred students in one subject, y'know), because not everyone gets the subject they want.

I wasn't able to get the Econ 141 that my friends told me to get during the computerized enlistment, so I was pretty depressed about it. I was not going to go through the nasty lines just to get that subject OH NO. I've been sick since Wednesday evening, and I wasn't going to school on Thursday to prerog. It's just wrong; I might faint or something. I felt pretty bad I couldn't join them, though.

It was then that one of them, Hannah, told me over Facebook that she could do the prerog for me. I was very  surprised by the offer, of course; prerog is really, really no laughing matter! That she'd do it for me was very kind of her! I said "Oh, wow, really? Will you really do it for me? Isn't it too much trouble? Thank you!" or something to that effect. I sent her my form5a, which contains my class schedule (kind of an ID during the prerog. You're supposed to print it, then show it to the person behind the computer so he'd enlist your name).

Yesterday morning she was texting me how long the line for the prerog was. I couldn't do anything about that, so I just sent her text messages every now and then, checking on her and her progress and stuff. I wasn't hopeful; the subject I wanted had only two slots left. It'd be a miracle if I get one of those two.

At about 3 PM she texted me again, abusing the caps lock and raving about how she managed to get me the subject they wanted me to take. I could hardly believe it myself, but well, she pulled it off, and I could just message "Thank you x 1000000!!!" to her. One out of two slots? That's just crazy. Lucky crazy.

It was later that night that I received a message from Marie, another one of my friends and college-mates, telling me I should go today (Friday) to school, because she's holding my form5a. Apparently she went with Hannah during the prerog, which of course means she fell in line,too, for my sake.

When I signed into Facebook I thanked them again, barely able to imagine how much trouble they must have gone through the day for me. And then Hannah told me how much trouble exactly they went through. It was A LOT.

Apparently there were three of them who had to fall in line so I could get that subject. Hannah and Marie left the line at 9:30AM to prerog in a different college, for a Math subject. They left my form5a with Amel, another of one of our friends, who I'm guessing must have also been manually enlisting for a subject himself. Hannah and Marie came back at 1:30PM (gracious, four hours!), only to find that Amel was still in the line!

The details of the whole thing is still not clear to me at this point, but apparently the officer inside the computer lab took my form5a so I could enlist, but since I was not there, he rejected it. Amel, thank goodness for him, told the officer that I was out for some bit, but I'd come back, so I MUST HAVE THAT FRIKKIN' SLOT!

Once Hannah was back she claimed to be me, and asked the officer to give the slot to her (who is now me, and man this is confusing). The slot had supposedly been given to someone else already, but Hannah's persuasion worked, and the officer granted her (me) the slot.

When I heard the whole story I nearly cried, because I was so touched that they really went that far for me. Marie asked me to come today so I could pick up my form5a. Since I'm still sick (and a lazy arse), I asked Jazelle if she could do that for me, to which she said yes. I'm going to school on Monday for the final prerog in another college, where I'll meet up with Jazelle for my form5a.

I'm just so very thankful for my friends, and I thought I'd tell this fancy little story. 

And so I've moved for the nth time. Because I can't stay in one place (err, site), just like a nomad.

All updates about me, my fan fictions, and my favorite anime/manga would be posted here. To this effect, I have deleted my Tumblr account, as I'm decided to maintain this site alone. It's most convenient, and I find my current template absolutely gorgeous. ♥

In any case, I wanted to inform everyone that the polls for the third and last HGAFFC are finally up. You can go here if you haven't read the entries, and then proceed here to vote for your fave. Meanwhile, the link to the newsletter subscription can be found right here. Polls will be closed on February 6, 2010, so cast your votes early.

Well I think that's about it, aside from the fact that I'm on an indefinite writing break.