Life's short and boring...

I'm currently working on the next comic for Attack All Attackers.

OHHHH!
This morning, I finally got my new AAA cds in the mail. As for the collectible cards. I GOT NAOYA AGAIN?! I swear, I keep getting Chiaki and Naoya cards, it's driving me insane. I have all of the cards(from different singles), but the ONLY card I don't have is Shinjiro's card. I have all of them except his!!! What luck! I just keep getting piles of Chiaki and Naoya cards with every new cd I buy. It's like there's a surplus of Naoya cards or something.

I didn't have class today. I still had to go, but all I had to do was print out my test results in the computer lab. I then ran into one of my friends in the cafeteria, since I had nowhere to chill after finishing. She had to leave, so I hung out with her friends who were staying late. One them draws mini comics like me. I was working on something for the web-comic and he saw me drawing. He asked me about it. Actually, I didn't disclose any information about it. His work is pretty interesting. But his stuff is all about ninjas, assassins, and demonic powers! So violent. He draws things on a smaller scale with such fine detail. He's one of those "one-shot" artists. Meaning, he goes straight into inking without really planning ahead in pencil first. It's an amazing talent, but it's poor technique. His stuff is really good too. If only I had my sight back, I would be able to draw like that again.

That reminds me, I've been working on a lot of tributes.
There's Nishijima's tribute coming up next week....
Then... there's Shinjiro's special homage in early October!

I wanted to write last night, but ended up not writing.
Basically, I purposely lock my posting entries at around 11:30pm, leave it blank, and I go off to do something else. So in reality, I don't start writing until 3:00 - 4:00am.

Last night I lock the entry around the usual time, then I watched many episodes of "Big Bang Theory." I watched up until 3:30am, I was way too tired to write, which is why I left that very random message in the previous entry.

So anyways, my summer is ending soon, I need to get back to life. But for now, I'm trying to enjoy my time off for as much as I can. There hasn't been much for me to do lately. All I do is sleep in, eat, build the Zoids I got from Japan, eat, watch anime, and sit around the house. I'm loving the Zoids I got from Japan. I obtained some super rare ones. I really am a hardcore Zoid collector. Just yesterday I finished building Liger Zero's custom "Schneider" CAS unit. It's a rare armor upgrade exclusive to Japan. Liger Zero has 4 upgrades (now I own all four), Schneider, Jager, Panzer, and Phoenix. Phoenix was the odd one out, because it was the only upgrade for LZ that was in the form of "Blox." Which are cubic pieces that must be assembled using plastic pegs... so tedious. Normally, most Zoid kits are click and fit, Blox fall apart easily due from instability.

Besides immersing myself in the wonderful toys from Japan, I've been watching animes to pass the time. I just finished "Kuroshitsuji," oh wow was that anime dark, well... it's not as morbid and messed up as "Hell Girl." I haven't seen it, but I heard it's gruesome. Of course I watched some Zoid animes too. The first Zoid anime I ever saw was "ZOIDS: New Century Zero" back in 1999. It takes place after "Chaotic Century," Zoids are used for sport and competition in "New Century." In "Chaotic Century" Zoids were used as weapons of war. Right now I'm watching "ZOIDS: Genesis," which takes place 1000 years after "New Century" and Zoids are used as war machines once again. I'm hooked on the opening song now, I think it's catchy.
It's "Yotaka no Yume," by Do As Infinity.

Tomorrow's a Friday, busy day... always a busy day at work on Friday. Can we fire the other waitress since I've returned from Japan and we will no longer be needing her services? I want to watch more anime, I hope the lunch rush is dead tomorrow.

I checked my e-mail earlier and Arata finally responded to my favor. Okay, so I've learned that there are several ice rinks nearby. The prices are insane though. Over here admission + rental is about $7, but in Japan, it's about $20 for both. Wow, I could buy a meal with that. If I brought my own skates with me, it'd be about $14 just for admission. That is crazy, but understandable since their public skating hours are almost every day as to the rink near my house which is open twice a week during skate season and once a week any other time.

What interests me most is the synthetic iceless ice developed by Mitsubishi. It's a type of plastic that was designed with 90% the slick surface of ice and it doesn't need to be maintained often, it lasts. But it's only for hockey games/players, because figure skaters would tear that thing up so fast when they would launch. It's so cool, but probably won't be available anywhere else.

Oh yeah, the WonderGirls and 2PM concert is tomorrow. I can't wait!!! I'm so excited. I got special meet and greet tickets with Miki. It's a pre-show thing, so we need to get there early. I get to take pictures with WonderGirls and 2PM!!! I get to speak Thai with Nichkhun since he's the non-Korean guy in 2PM and he's Thai. Ohh... maybe I'll ask for his autograph, but we'll have to see what the record label's rules are on that kind of stuff. I know that some companies are super strict about autograph policies. I need to go to sleep quickly so I can go to the concert early. I'm super excited... I'm just wondering where Miki went. Miki still isn't home yet, it's late.

Tell me, tell me...t-t-t-t-t-tell me!
Again and again and again and again...*beeping sounds*

Sadly, "Again and Again" is the only popular 2PM song I know.
I'll probably get pictures from the meet and greet and concert up by the day after tomorrow because I'll be too wiped from the concert to actually post anything. It's a maybe.

See you after the concert!

So today I went to the dentist to get some cavities filled and ouch do my teeth  still hurt!

I was told that since I've been good, we could go to Mitsuwa!!!
Okay!!! Going to the dentist wasn't a complete waste of a day. We went to Mitsuwa and I was super hungry! I didn't eat all day because I'm not supposed to before going to the dentist. I ran quickly to the food court and went to the ramen shop. I was reading through the list of different ramen, all of them were written in Japanese and they were numbered with pictures next to them. I saw it as an opportunity to brush up on the rare Japanese knowledge I almost never use. Instead of being a total American and ordering by number, I actually said the name of the ramen I wanted to order, which I read off the menu list. There's no English on the ramen list, with the exception of the words, "contains: pork, shrimp, egg." I was so happy I read it on my own without Arata's help, I feel so accomplished. I told the cashier lady that I wanted "Shio Ramen" and she understood me. But then she got super excited because I could read the menu. She had this amazed look of "ooh wow, you can read Japanese? Very nice! So good!" she was so excited and kept praising me. Yeah, a non-Japanese being able to read Japanese is shocking to people in Mitsuwa.

Here's my Shio Ramen!!!!
It was REALLY YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!! The cashier lady was really nice.

Remember? There's a Chinese place in Mitsuwa. My parents like to eat the dumpling soup from there and I like the Shu-Mai. I was ordering for my parents at that place too. I was yelling questions back and forth in Thai with my parents about what they wanted, then the cashier guy asked, "Filipino or Thai?" I said Thai and the cashier responded with "kap kun maak kraup," which is the male form of "thank you very much" in Thai. I responded with "kap kun ka," the female form of "thank you." And I got my Shu-Mai.

So delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Jockey" makes the best yim-sum!!!

After finishing my ramen and Shu-Mai, I went to go buy some yummy "purin." My all time favorite dessert!!!! Like the line from one of my favorite songs, "~DAISUKI SA PURIN." It's so jiggly and smooth, softly sweet and creamy to the finish. Japanese pudding has no flaws... Sorry I don't have a picture of it because I forgot to take a picture.

I then walked to the bookstore inside of Mitsuwa and I remembered that I wanted to get a membership reserve on magazines. My cousin Isara does it all the time, so I wanted to give it a try. I can't go to Mitsuwa often(even though I live close), because I'm too busy. I signed up so the book store will reserve magazines of my choice for me and I can come pick them up when they arrive in the store. I reserved.... mostly Johnny magazines... specific issues... because I want the May issue which won't be in stock until July! I filled out my member request sheet... but then I horribly remembered that I was going to be in Japan in July! Which means I can't pick up my magazines. I then told the cashier lady who had me fill out the form that I wouldn't be able to pick it up and asked if I could change the contact number to someone else who "could" pick it up. This lady was really nice too and she kindly gave me the form to change the information. While I was writing, my parents were yelling at me in Thai to hurry up and I was yelling back. And then, this cashier too asked me if that was Tagalog... I said, no... it's Thai. What is with me today? I keep having all these fun conversations with the cashiers at Mitsuwa! She was very amused when I said I was Thai and she was very interested in the fact that I was going to Japan. We kept talking about Japan and Thailand and my magazines.

I then made a purchase. Guess what I found?! I found the "Kanjani 8" album "Puzzle" LIMITED EDITION being sold in Mitsuwa!!!!! This limited edition deluxe album is really rare to find on the internet. It has the coolest packaging!!!!!!! I can't believe there was only one and it was being sold at Mitsuwa!!! I was so excited!!!! You really can't find it anywhere! Kanjani 8 fans would kill for this awesome limited edition album! I am so lucky to have found this!
Check out the awesome album:

Yes... that is a AAA 4th Anniversary DVD under that album, just arrived!
It's designed to look like the box in the music video and it looks like a shipped package!!!! The fact that it authentically looks like a package is what makes this album super cool!!! I was about to pay for this and the cashier lady looks at the box(album) and you can see her face light up with excitement because the box amazingly looks like a package, but it's really an album! She turns to her co-worker and they giggled like fangirls. The co-worker asked,"dare?" And the cashier said, "Kanjani!!!" then she said, "sugoi ne..." Both of them turned to me and asked, "you know Kanjani?!" I said, "Yes! I love their music, it's so fun and sometimes touching, I love their modernization of enka/pop fusion. I love AAA just as much, but I cleaned out your entire stock of AAA CDs and you haven't restocked since then..." Both cashiers were amazed by my taste in music and the packaging of the album I just purchased! They even gave me a new stamp card because I lost mine. Wow, everyone who works at Mitsuwa is really nice and talkative.

The cool features of this limited edition album are the box itself, the CD + DVD, behind the scenes, a well made mock Kanjani 8 news letter about the album and it's sales, and the jigsaw puzzle. How appropriate, the album is called puzzle and you get a jigsaw puzzle of Kanjani 8 to play with!!!

As you can tell, I pieced the puzzle together.
The box is so cool! When you open it up, the inside looks like a little house, you place the finished puzzle into the box and it looks like Kanjani 8 is sitting in a little house! Before I put that puzzle on top, there's an area underneath that had the CDs, which I pulled out before placing the puzzle on top. It was so fun to assemble and it's so cute. I love my limited edition deluxe album!

I was listening to the album and it had all of their best hits on it. My favorites on this CD were Musekinin Hero(irresponsible hero) and Wahaha! I heard "That's My Soul" too... that... was the most traumatizing music video I have ever seen... That video had them in super short postman shorts... it was a very traumatizing visual... People hate me for showing them that video of That's My Soul... Hearing Wahaha! after such a long time reminded me of how much I missed Kanjani 8's silliness. Wahaha! was one of their most craziest... randomest videos they have ever made!!! Here is a video of Wahaha! Don't worry, I won't burn your eyes with That's My Soul, you don't deserve the torture.


Don't ask why they're all naked in a bathtub together at the end of the video...
I really liked the slo-mo filter used in this video. The faces they make during their slo-mo moments when they pretend to fall... they're just creepy faces. The purposes of the Kanjani 8 videos are for humor. Their songs are comical, but some of them are sappy too, it's a balance. Wahaha! on the other hand, is just plain funny and random! This song reminds us of how much a smile can brighten everything up. Smiles are contagious and they cheer everyone up!

I am so happy to have gone to Mitsuwa!!!!
I had so much fun today! I wish I could go to Mitsuwa more often!
Until next time, bye for now!

Seriously...
Is it just me or does AAA's new video, "Dream After Dream" ...
kind of looks like "Signal," by KAT-TUN?!

There's nothing wrong with my eyes, but the two videos have a few things in common.
Dream After Dream just reminded me a little of Signal.
I'm not implying that someone copied the other, but their CG was similar. I'm not blaming anyone, don't worry, nobody's copying anyone, if you want to see some true idea stealing... Otsuka Ai -Planetarium vs Rikki -Suteki da Ne, can you say "plagiarism?"
It's fine, both PV's are unique and very different, just a few scenes look similar.
AAA's CG effects are completely original, there's nothing wrong there, but I only saw two similarities.
Credit: Dream After Dream from attackallaround @ DW, I made the screencaps.                                                               

This is from the conveyor belt scene, both PV's have the groups standing on a moving CG conveyor belt. The only difference (if you've seen both videos) is that the one in "Dream After Dream" is moving backwards, while the one in "Signal" moves forward. Both videos use a lot of CG backdrop. I found it really interesting that AAA used the conveyor belt idea, it brought back some memories of when I used to listen to KAT-TUN. Although both groups have amazing outfits... sorry Misako, KAT-TUN's outfits sadly looks better than yours(yes, I am aware that Johnnys dress horrible), it's a strange situation.