Mai-Holic

Taking a break from studying...

My To-do List for my super short summer break:

[_] Movie-watching marathon: considering that I'm a college student, a jobless one at that, taking an actual out-of-town vacation is very much out of the question. So the almost next best thing for me to do is to go out and watch movies in a cool movie theatre.

[_] Head to the Seattle Kinokuniya: there's an Arashi concert DVD that I'm itching to purchase (only one left, last time I checked), but is, unfortunately, out of my range of budget. Maybe I'll luck out and find an affordable one on eBay or Amazon Japan?

[_] Catch up on sleep...

[_] To get the long-neglected exercise that I haven't had since a couple quarters ago...

Yes, sleepless in Seattle, though I'm not relating to the actual movie of that title.

It's been a while since I've last blogged, even seriously for that matter. Lately, things have been... crowded, stuffy, suffocating. I should be tucked into bed at the moment, but sleep hasn't been too easy for me, especially these past few weeks. Spring quarter is going to be over this coming week, I have three finals that are back-to-back, and yet... my body has given up trying to study, or maybe I'm the one who gave up studying (could be either one).

I simply want to give up, but all the hard work that I've done so far would go to waste. With the way things are now, I don't even have time to enjoy myself with the things I love to do.

After this quarter is over, I'm only going to have about a week and a half of summer vacation, and then it's back to school again for the Summer quarter. I chose an easier schedule for this quarter, so that I could breathe a lot easier... though the subject itself is no easy matter. I guess I'll just have to see what's in store for me.

I have made up my mind and I am NOT going to this year's Sakura con!

Reasons why my life is in the dumps...

1) I am absolutely broke. I'm living on a very, VERY tight budget right now. In fact, my bank account is near empty (nearing the cent value) and I hadn't even touched it for half a year.

2) My Spring quarter schedule is pretty sporadic. The subjects are hard ones, but because I need them for my AA I have to take them. I only need to finish Spring and Summer quarter and then it's straight to the nursing program I go. I need to get insanely good grades just to get in. So basically my life has been nothing but study, study, STUDY...

3) I am jobless at the moment and do not have time for a part-time job. If anyone accuses me of being a lazy b****, then that person does not understand my situation at all.

4) I need to save as much money as possible! For tuition and textbooks.

And another reason my life is crap...

My f***ing, just-recently-repaired-3-months ago laptop exploded again. Well... not literally, that is.

Last time, it was the hard drive. This time, I think it's the motherboard. Those are so freakin' expensive to repair that I might as well buy a brand new laptop. If anyone has any recommended laptop brands, please let me know (just as long as it is not HP or Compaq).

The hard drive could probably still be salvaged, so if anyone knows any connections to a person who can salvage my data at a cheap price (*cough, cough* preferably free, but whatever works), then please let me know. The tech place I usually go to was trying to charge me at a super insane price (triple digits! Can you believe that?!), but I thought no way.

I'm not too familiar with taking apart laptops -- my computer repairing skills are only limited to desktop computers, so please, pretty please help?

本当にお願いします!!!

Life right now is very hectic. I barely have one month until my Fall quarter ends, I have to take care of my house and all the house chores that goes with it, and my parents were in a car accident just this evening while my little sister and I are here at home waiting. Right now I pray for them to have good results...I'm still waiting for the good news...

I'm at my nth cup of coffee and the bitterness of the taste is still having no effect on my tongue.

I don't know when I'll be back...for now...take care everyone...

On HIATUS until the beginning of November!! See you then!!

Expect more BP scans by then!

I know that I'm a fair person, but lately I've become irritable. Things that have never bothered me before are now causing me much irritation.

For example...leechers. I just finished checking the stats of my RAW scans on mediafire and whatever else downloading sites that I've used. About TEN people out of the THIRTY+ individuals who have downloaded my Beauty Pop ch11 RAWs left me a comment with their appreciation. I don't gain anything from sharing my RAWs, but for goodness sakes people, whats so hard about leaving a damned comment? I don't bite and I know that I am a very approachable person. I did say comments appreciated right?

One of these days...I'm going to begin password-protecting my files. I don't want to resort to that if I feel that people are not commenting enough. It wouldn't really be fair to those that actually comment.

If after reading this you feel my opinions are unfair or idiotic or unjustified for the matter...then I apologize...(I'm an apologetic person <= my most irritating characteristic).

*mumbles* Ugh...I can't believe I start college in less than a week from now...

The BASIC "Golden" Rules:

1 - These are for PERSONAL USAGE ONLY - which means no distribution/sharing. I did allow distribution in the past, but for now, I do not wish for my scans to be distributed elsewhere.
2 - Credits are to be left intact.
3 - My links are not to be shared.
4 - I know there are a lot of shy leechers out there, but comments are ALWAYS highly appreciated (but I won't require it).
5 - Please do not contact me asking when the next scans/chapter/etc is going to be coming. These messages will be ignored and deleted.

Miscellany Stuffs to know:

** These scans are for your personal use ONLY. Disobey my simple rules, terms (or whatever you wish to call them), will result in NO MORE scans. I do not bite, but I do hold true to my words.

** If you enjoyed this scan, PLEASE SUPPORT THE MANGAKA. You can do this by either purchasing the author’s works once licensed in English or by purchasing the Japanese version.

** If you have any questions regarding scanlation/translation purposes, or anything at all, please email me at: mai.arisa@gmail.com

NOTE: I apologize if the quality is not good! And also if I'm super strict >.<

( Proceed to the Downloads! )

I've never made an LJ cut before...hope it worked... 

I'm going on a temporary hiatus. Reason why? Because my health is beginning to deteriorate due to stress, insomnia, and what not. No matter how tired my body is, my mind somehow refuses to go to sleep mode.

For the past few days I tried doing various activities that might help me fall asleep, but nothing has worked so far. Every night, I've done nothing but edit manga scans...hoping that I'd eventually get tired and drop off to sleep. It worked a little, but I still barely get enough sleep. I was used to this kind of thing before, even during high school when I was met with a lot of demand...but now my body/brain can't take it anymore.

Sleeping pills don't work well either. They make me more tired and forgetful...

So for now, I'll be taking a break from the internet for a short while...until I start getting a decent number hours of sleep. When I do come back, I'll have chapter 11 of Beauty Pop scanned and put up.

Waaah! I've been counting down the days till issue #9 of Ciao comes out. The freebies for this issue are just awesome and this issue is going to be a little bit more expensive (not really). I've saved up some leftover money so that I could purchase more than one magazine. ^^

On a side note, I've been very lazy the past few days. I've done nothing but sit behind a laptop or computer screen for the past couple of weeks since school ended. The more I think about time, the more nervous I get because I'm starting my first year of college. Ah! So nerve-wracking! Because of all those nerves, its making me think about my things-to-do-before-I-start-college list. I still hadn't done anything on my list too and time is just too short. ^^;

Heh, I'll be off then! I still have to revamp my personal site...

I've had this Fan Art for a long time, but I hadn't shared it with you guys.

CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW



SUMMARY: My first attempt at a Beauty Pop Fan Art. Somehow my style ended up blending in with the Mangaka's drawing style so Kiri and Naru look a bit different.

Kiri looks a little older looking and Naru...somehow he doesn't look right...


OTHER DETAILS:
Fan Art © tameme/mholic aka Alyssa G.D (mai.arisa@gmail.com) - My (C) details changed - ^^;

CREDITS:
The characters belong to Kiyoko Arai.

I will be posting more BP fan art later ^^

I've made a bunch of Beauty Pop projects, but they're not up yet.

My list of Beauty Pop Projects:
_ Mini Doujin: Drawing complete, but the editing is still in the works. I still have to clean it and add text. The main idea is pretty lame, but thats what happens when the creator (me) lacks great imagination. ( >.< )
_ Graphics: Pre-made layouts (LJ and regular...whatever that means...), wallpapers, LJ icons, banners.
_ Fan Art: All done, but I've been too lazy to upload them!!
_ Translation/Summaries: Starting at chapter 10, I think I'll be writing summaries on what is happening in the chapters. I get the gist of what is going on, but I don't think I'll actually scanlate the chapter...but maybe I'll consider it in the future.

Also, I had this idea going on for a while, but I think I'm going to make a Beauty Pop fan site. The problem is I need help in managing the information and such. I don't know if I should create a BP fan site, but maybe there is some helpful soul out there who is willing to help out. Please tell me your input on this.

I bought an issue of Ciao Magazine yesterday. Originally, I was going to buy it just for the Beauty Pop chapter, but a couple of series in it caught my interest. So, the next time I go to Kinokuniya I'll be purchasing the monthly issues. ( ^^ )

I'll be scanning the full chapter of Beauty Pop later and I'll post them here. Hope everyone looks forward to it!!

I've done nothing but watch movies for a month...whether I was willing or not. Most the time I was dragged around to go watch something with someone.


My list of movies I've watched so far: in no particular order

(001) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: It was okay...but to me, it wasn't how I expected it to be so I was slightly disappointed. There were other people in the movie theater who were much more disappointed - they were really loud.

(002) Hairspray: An entertaining movie...I actually liked this.

(003) Ratatouille: The story's plot was weird (only because something like that, the plot that is, would not happen in real life). Despite that, the moral of the story is "anyone can cook". I give an okay to this movie.

(004) Live Free or Die Hard: I have no idea how I ended up watching this as well...

(005) Transformers: I still haven't decided what I thought about this movie...

(006) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: half the people in the movie theaters ranted about how much it sucked, while the other half were happy with the movie. Me? I'm somewhere stuck in the middle.

(007) Are We Done Yet?

And the list is probably going to grow even longer...this list is just getting started.

I'm bored.

Nothing has caught my fancy at all these past weeks since graduation. I've basically just been idling around looking for random things to do and it makes me feel pathetic. I don't start college till September 24th and that may seem like a long time from now, but before I know it it'll catch up to me...thats what I'm most worried about.


Here's a basic list of things I've done since Graduation:

- Tinkered around with my domain...which unfortunately is still under construction.

- Lurked LiveJournal and various online forums.

- Busied myself with my scanner by scanning pages upon pages of RAW Japanese manga.


- Read manga (English-translated and Japanese).

- Ate lots of junk food and managed to maintain the same weight.

- Watched HP 5 and then proceeded to watch movies 1-4 as soon as I got home...HP marathon.

- Edited a manga...

- Scanned a few of my drawings...but never colored them. I have yet to upload some of my completed works. Lazy, lazy, lazy!!

- Chose my classes for college. Its really weird...I'm free on weekends and I only have ONE fifty minute class on Friday...sad.

- Sang a lot of Karaoke, much to the annoyance of my little sister. I don't think I'm too bad, but thats for other people to judge, eh?

- Took the metro to Seattle and walked around. My sister brought along her harmonica and annoyed the hell out of a few passersby. Poor them, but at least my sister can keep a good tune.

- And more uninteresting things.


Things I have yet to accomplish during the summer:

- Improve my writing skills (I don't feel confident in my own abilities, and I know I'm a so-so writer).

- To go on that (much needed) diet that the doctor said I needed to do...seriously now, I don't think I can lose 50 pounds that easily.

- To hang out with my "family"; my 'kaachan, parental unit, and my Carol poo.

- To hang out with some friends who I haven't spoken to since graduation or in some cases even before that (I feel so bad for that...I have to somehow figure out a way to make up for that, some friend I am, eh?).

- To get a paid PT job...for college fees, books, etc.

今日は楽しくなかった。毎朝は目がいたいん。ですから目がなみだをながす。昨日は今日ほどひどくなかった。私は絵をかくけれども、好きじゃなかっ た。でも、絵をかくことのたいすきだ。フィリピンりょうりの作ることのれんしゅう。フィリピンりょうりがとてもおいしいだよ。私はうれしくならないといけ ない。なみだのようなたきだ。せいかつは楽しくなかったというのにだれもわかる。

When I read the letter that my dad received from his insurance company I could not help but laugh out loud at the absurdity of it all. I mean, who the hell reports a so-called "vehicular accident" and demands for money just for a little careless accident that resulted with no damage?

Well, the person who reported the "accident" did. And mind you this is a true story...About a week ago, my dad and my little sister came to pick me up and they were waiting in the parking lot. There was a shiny, black Mercedes Benz parked besides our car. My sister, who does not pay much attention to her surroundings opens her passenger door all of a sudden and BANG! there goes the door hitting against the sleek and shiny black car. I got there while the lady was demanding and writing down my dad's info (insurance, driver's license, etc). I got a jist of what was happening and when I took a look at the "damage" of the Benz side...lo and behold! Not a single scratch! Not unless you peered very, very closely with a magnified glass then you would see a teensy little dot the size of a needle prick. And the amazing thing: its a black shiny car...the damage should have been obvious. But in this case, there was absolutely nothing at all...not a scratch, not even a bump. I even took pictures. And the lady has a nerve to demand for MONEY! And another thing: she doesn't even own the car.
My dad just went along with it anyways because the lady was being so demanding and such. However, when my dad tried to get her info, she rudely said no and zoomed away from site. How rude. How...UGH.

I still find this particular business funny, but if the insurance company even thinks about giving that rude woman some money for the "damage" done to the Benz, then that would definetely be screwed up. That would not be fair at all considering the similar circumstances my dad experienced and he did not even get any money for the damage done to his car when the other party was guilty. My dad's car has even more damage than that Benz.

That person is someone I'd like to call a fraud...because once again, who demands for money when there was absolutely no damage done? Yep, a fraud. Something that still exists until today. A sad, sad revelation.

I cannot believe a week of school has already gone by. So far nothing interesting has happened. The past week...I was holed up in my room doing nothing but painting and writing my "novel".

To Do List
_ Paint on a 3ft x 3ft canvas (thats pretty large for me)
_ Eat nothing but junk food for one day
X Fool people into believing that I am a bumpkin tourist visiting the city... (haha)
_ Waste my money on a bunch of mangas (waaah! the story of my life)
_ Go shopping with my mom (since I dislike shopping)
_ Get a part-time job :(
_ Go on a long drive even though the gas prices are so high...
_ Find a good, cheap, reliable host for me and my friend's Kanji Help Site
_ Get a life...

I really need to get out more...

I changed my domain name URL. Go here instead: http://mai-holic.net. My LJ is now presumed "dead" as of now...

I feel for those people who have their works online stolen, copied, redistributed, or altered. I was surfing a bit earlier when I stumbled upon a site that deliberately stole a another webpage's pixels and creations. The owner of the plagiarizing site did NOT even give any credit to the REAL creator of the work. It is very disappointing and degrading for any other webmiss or webmaster, a complete disgrace to other webpage owners out there on the net.

Please pay attention to what I am saying (I'm saying this to all stealers, plagiarizers, and redistributers alike), to please take into consideration what you are doing. Even if pixel-making or graphic-making is not really a real sort of art, it is an art, an art that they create with their heart and imagination.

In your mind, imagine what you would feel if someone stole or took away something that you worked hard on and really loved. Hurts doesn't it? It really hurts or bruises a person in some way everytime someone takes something precious that they've made that was meant to be appreciated. Even if you want something or want to share it with other people, please ask. Its only a simple little task. Ask permission, don't take and take, just ask. Otherwise, you'll only be hurting your own reputation and other people.

I hope at least one person has read this and thought about it. For now, I'll be standing by and hoping that someone or at least a couple of people is reading this.


EDIT//

My main site is still on a hiatus...sad, but oh well. I haven't really updated for months and months now. But anyways, here are the highlights of my spring break so far...

Sunday: Lazed all day....watercolored a couple of my drawings....

Monday: Found out that this one guy I really really liked since forever liked this other girl.....and she doesn't like him in return.... (hah!!! serves him right!!! but I feel bad for him... *sigh*)

Tuesday: Felt disappointed with myself...

Yesterday: got in an accident while driving.... geez.... my shoulder hurted....and it was dumb....

Today: sulking, because I have nothing else worthwhile to do other than homework......UGH

And thats my week so far...go cry me a river...

Testing, testing, 1-2-3!!