Overused Cyborgs (Here Comes the Punk/I NEED That Hat).

     Hello, all.  G-star here.  For once this post is being written when it's supposed to.  What a miracle.
     Before yesterday I didn't really have anything to talk about, but now that I do, let's get started.  I get my braces off tomorrow (woohoo!) and, while it's going to feel weird, I'm looking forward to be able to eat caramels again.  In celebration (and because I've been wanting to do this for a while) I'm going to get a bright blue streak in my bangs.  Mom made a hair appointment next Friday for a cut and dye.  Apparently it's my birthday present.  Happy birthday, me.  Even though it isn't for another month...
     I'm also working on a "web comic" inspired by my recent rereading of the entirety of Megatokyo and introduction to Applegeeks.  I'm still a little lost on the plot, but I have the characters pretty well pinned down and that's really what matters in a piece-by-piece comic that you can make up as you go along.  The main character, as far as I know, is a cyborg.  Robots are overused in web comics so I tried to stay away from that cliche.
     I've had an odd obsession with cyborgs recently.  It probably started with a new Minecraft skin I made last week.  It ended up as a cyborg, and it was pretty cool looking...then I updated it and found out that jackets don't work on any of the newer versions.  Now THAT was frustrating.  All that work, down the drain...
     Speaking of cyborgs, I wanted to find a picture of one to use for my G+ picture, which led to my wanting to make my own, which led to an odd little draw-off with +Akira Akiyama.  Now we're both going to draw a cyborg and see which one people judge as better.  She has a crazy realistic style that I could never live up to, and this thing is going to end up being judged on tastes; if people like stylized comic-style art they'll pick mine, if they're not into comics or anime they'll choose hers.  It's a tense situation.  Not.
     I promised Akira I'd show the picture to her first when I finished it, but as soon as I do that I'll post it here.
     ....and that's basically all I have to say.  What is this?  Has my social life decreased yet again?
     Oh!  Of course.  I've recently found an interesting website called Hogwarts is Here; it's an online version of Hogwarts, complete with classmates and homework (not that I need any more...).  I immediately shared it with MC and we are now dorm mates in Ravenclaw and both taking the Defense of the Dark Arts course.  It just started up a few months ago, so everyone's a first year, despite their age.  It's actually pretty cool.
     I just discovered the cutest ship ever: Percy Weasley + Oliver Wood.  Now, I don't normally support yaoi in any way, but...it just works so well.  They're adorable.  Check it out; I promise there are no dirty pics out there.
     There's a book/show I've been wanting to read/watch for a while that I just started: The Nine Lives of Chloe King.  I got the three-book set from the library, and it's pretty good.  MC keeps insisting it's about her.
      I really want Brian's hat...if only I could knit.  Or even sew.  I should learn.
     Speaking of kitty hats, Fred Gallagher of Megatokyo has one in the Megagear store that Piro and Miho wore sometimes in the comic.  I asked both MC (as mentioned before) and my parents for it, but my mom thought it was a slipper and when my dad saw the ears he quickly said no.  Oh well.   A girl can dream...I might ask Mom to teach me how to sew so I can make my own.  I really do like it.
     And that is all.  Next time I post I'll have my braces off and may have a blue streak in my hair; I'll post a picture if that has happened by then.  Until then, this is G-star, signing off.

The Reason Behind My L33t Sp34k (Shooting Down the Sad Kitty Hat).

     Hello, all.  G-star here.  Sorry I haven't posted lately; I'm at the last bit of the curriculum in Business Class and haven't had any computer time at home.  Also, there hasn't been anything worth talking about...
     Bibbidy asked me a couple days ago how many fandoms I was a part of that weren't anime or manga.  I had to think about it surprisingly hard, only ending up with a whopping eleven, but the first one I counted was Megatokyo (I even had an omnibus in my hand at the time).  I've loved the thing for about a year now.  I found the first omnibus on display at the library and quickly became obsessed; I read the omnibus and then spent the next several months catching up to the web comic on the site.  I pitied Piro's lack of self-confidence, cheered on Kimiko's pluckiness, gasped at Erika's hidden secret (I'll never tell), and laughed at Largo's majorly self-inflicted pain.
     Miho, on the other hand, always kind of weirded me out, and by the most recent posts I gave up trying to understand what she was saying...but that didn't stop me from desperately wanting that sad kitty hat she and Piro wear so often.  <3  It's in their Megagear store, but I'm not sure how my parents would react to my wanting to order something online from a site they've never heard of.
     For some reason I always related to Sera(phim), Piro's fashionable, angelic conscience.  I don't know why.  I don't care how I look, and I definitely can't give advice about what's right and wrong.  Maybe because our names sound similar...?
     Fred Gallagher has been updating it recently, if rarely, and that makes my life so much better.  Unlike Applegeeks, which hasn't had a new comic since 2010 (thanks for ruining my life, guys T-T) this is still a continuing story, four omnibi long and then some.
     The two main characters, Piro and Largo, are gamers of different sorts: Piro is an otaku, obsessed with dating sims and who turns to shojo manga situations to solutions to his problems.  In fact, he's probably what got me really into manga in the first place.  Quite often Piro's seen wearing a really cute black hat with big cat ears folded back, sold in the website store as "Sad Kitty Hat".  Needless to say, I WANT IT.
     MC asked me just today what I wanted for my birthday and that was the first thing I named.  She shot me down faster than my cat eats her dinner.  Unfortunately, there's not much else I want...there's a t-shirt from Applegeeks that I'm pretty sure they don't sell but that I could fairly easily make for myself.  Haha, this sounds selfish.  But she asked.
     Anyway, until about chapter 3 I pronounced Piro's name as Pyro.  I was convinced that made sense until I heard (I dunno where) someone pronounce it "Pee-row".  I still think it sounds odd...
     Largo, on the other hand, specializes in first-person shooters.  He's apparently extremely paranoid...or maybe he simply sees things others don't.  To him, everyone is a zombie and they must all be eliminated.  Somehow he has constant access to destructive weapons.  That pretty much sums him up.
     This guy taught me how to speak l33t.  Sure, the only times I use it productively are when a username I want is taken, but it's kinda fun.  Sometimes I'll catch myself saying "j0" or texting "j00".  Also, doing chats with l33t-sp34k is fun too.  (Not that I do chat rooms like ever...seriously.  Just when I'm messaging with rl friends.)
     So.  There's an extremely vague description and review for Fred Gallagher's (and, technically, Rodney Caston's) Megatokyo web comic.  Check it out!  It's been in my "Check These Out" link list for a while now, so...
     I really want to make my own web comic.  Most are based off real people and completely random or unrealistic plots.  And that works for me.  I'd have myself, MC, and Patveli.  Possibly more, but I don't like having lots of characters.  I can draw well enough to maybe pull it off, but my main problem is drawing fast enough.  Like I've said before, I'm a perfectionist, and it would take forever to get it exactly how I want.  Not to mention the humor part of it would be tricky with making each strip a stand-alone.  But that doesn't change the fact that I desperately want to do it...
     If I ever manage to pull it off, this is the first place I'll post it.  I probably won't be able to post until maybe midway through next week.  Until then, this is G-star, signing off.

What Powell's Has Hidden in its Deepest Chambers (A How-To For Blogging/Another Web Comic/Stable Income)...

     Hello, all, G-star here.  Yep, really liking the new site...
     As you probably know, Friday was my dad's birthday, and Saturday he wanted to go to Powell's Bookstore, the largest bookstore in America.  So, of course, we went.
     I spent my entire time in the Gold Room, where the fantasy and scifi genres dwell, along with, more importantly, the manga and graphic novels.
     I have a thing about actually buying manga.  I've always been a little frugal, so I don't want to waste money buying something I'll read in twenty minutes and never touch again (unlike novels, which I can read several times).  I convinced myself not to buy a manga by thinking "you can just read it on the internet or get it at the library for free....just walk away."  Of course, I ended up getting the first two omnibi of a webcomic called Applegeeks.  My main motivation for this was the fact that Fred Gallagher had done an illustrated foreword.
     If Piro likes it then it has to be good.
     And it is, at least so far.  Unfortunately, the book itself is horrible quality and the pages have been falling out ever since I started it.  It's very, very frustrating and makes me want to attack it with a roll of tape.  - _ -
     A couple alternatives that I had considered were a novel version of xxxHOLIC, which I deemed to be exciting to find but not quite worth it, and just some random three-volume omnibus of some manga that sounded interesting.  I didn't even have a particular one.  I've done this before and it almost always turns out well, so it's usually on my list of options when I go book shopping.  There was also vol. 2 of a manga I had started at the school library but could never find again.  Again, I didn't deem it worthy but I did sit down and find out what happened to my favorite character before putting it back.
     Along with the poorly made comic books I got a book specifically on blogging that I found in the science building my dad wanted to stop at.  I'm really not sure why it was there, but I was mesmerized, even if half the book was about advertising.  It had a bunch of stuff about title, design, topic, and "voice", which I think I have pretty well pinned down, don't you?  Apparently there are blogs out there that are entirely composed of pictures.  (I don't personally read blogs despite my obvious obsession for them, so I wouldn't know.)  I thought the whole point of a blog was to tell people things?  I suppose a picture "is worth a thousand words", but still....
     Like I said, about half the book is about advertising on and about your blog.  (I don't know the details though, I'm only partway through the book.)  Actually, when I renovated the site I considered getting an Adsense account to share my blog further or put up ads on my blog of products to get some spare cash, but I need a bank account to do either, and I don't have any money, much less an account for it.  I need a job.  (My parents have been trying to get me to consider babysitting, but do you really think that someone who spends all their time around kids their own age, using manga and music to tune out the world would be able to have authority over small children?  I don't think so.)
     A hotel was just torn down in my area and an organic grocery store is going to open there in a couple years.  By then I'll be old enough to get a job, so I may try to get one there...
     Or I could just get a bank account and open Adsense.  With the views I'm getting now I might get a fair profit.
     (Alright, I'm finishing this a few days later, so I have had time to finish the Applegeeks books I bought.)  Now that I'm done with the omnibi I've been reading the online webcomic, and I've already caught up to the most recent post.  The art changes a ton, but in a good way, unlike Fruits Basket.   It has various plot arcs and they all defy logic, not to mention physics.  But that's what makes it so interesting.
     We have another sub in Basketball class.  Very slowly, the disorder that follows the teacher ignoring the students has been driving me insane.  Finally I managed to get one of the girls to stop playing her own little game in the middle of the court during Blitz, and that gave me a small amount of bliss.
     ...and then the rap began.
     Patveli mentioned on a share for one of my posts that some rap is good, and does have a tune.  That may be true, but not for this rap.  (There are actually a couple of rap songs I enjoy, but they all have choruses and fairly meaningful lyrics.)  It's all cuss words and repetitive beat.  At one point the sub turned off Pandora or whatever it was and instead starting screwing with the radio.
     I liked him for about eight seconds before he turned the rap back on.
     I'm so glad I got out of that fast.
     Right now I'm posting from the school library because all the computers in the labs, including the one used for Business Class, are being updated.  It's nice since I don't have to be interrupted...and the headphone jack on this computer actually works. 
     Right.  All I really wanted to do was finish this, since I started it on Saturday.  Also, I've finished my story for Lit, but it needs a little editing and I may make it longer before I put it up here; I had to cut a bunch out to get it even near the maximum word count, and it's still well over 2,000 words.  Oh well.  I'll figure something out.
     I'll be back on tomorrow to edit it and I'll see if I can post a bit then.  Until tomorrow, this is G-star, signing off.

Mini-Ramble: Various Foods That Do and Don't Exist (Going To Hogwarts).

     Hello, all.  G-star here.  Everything's been going just fine and dandy since I updated the site; more views, more comments, and a little free advertising.  I knew that sharing option was a good idea.  ^_^
     Also, the music player is great.  Apparently it scared MC (a new purpose for it) just by playing King of Anything.  Think what it would've done if it had been playing Monster...heheh.
     Today's my dad's birthday.  Happy birthday, Dad!  We're going out to dinner straight after I get picked up from Minecraft club; which, by the way, Smore has decided to join.  (I shall sacrifice her to the horrors of gaming...)  My dad picked Cornucopia for his birthday dinner.  But not just any Cornucopia.  No-oh.  Usually the food tastes weird and the wait is horrible, but this is a special outlet.  It still has a long wait, but the food's great!
     We found it together by accident when Dad and I went out to a fundraiser concert for a Christian singer.  She was pretty good, but what I really looked forward to was the opening act, Caleb and Sol, one of my favorite groups since elementary school~ ^_^  But that wasn't the best part.  It went on pretty late, and by the time it was over, Dad and I were starving.  It was a pretty long drive home and the closest restaurant was the Cornucopia across the street.  We resigned to eating there, but when we got our burgers I realized we had stumbled upon heaven.  They were SO AMAZINGLY GOOD.  Juicy, flavorful, perfectly spiced....
     We've been dreaming of going back there ever since.  I'm looking forward to it.
Yesterday the French club had a Harry Potter day.  Naturally, I attended.  It all worked out, because although I had to skip Gaming Club, I had gone on Tuesday because Book Club had been moved to Wednesday.
     ...probably the only one who understands my schedule is me...
     Anyway, they played The Goblet Fire in French, with English Subtitles.  Their French voices sounded odd, especially Hagrid's, but Fred and George's sounded right.  Speaking of the twins, I noticed that during their fight after growing beards because of the Age Line around the Goblet Fred threatens George with "I'll tear your ears off!"
     ......ah, the irony.  The sad, sad irony.
     They served butterbeer along with Berty Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and the butterbeer at least was great!  (I didn't risk the jellybeans because once when a boy brought some back from Orlando I kept getting spinach and play-doh flavor.)  At Hogsmead the butterbeer is slightly alcoholic, but obviously they didn't do that for French Club or they may have been arrested.  Instead, they used an abundance of cream soda, ginger ale, heavy cream, and brown sugar.  And LORD, WAS IT GOOD.  I had two, even though I was still full from the first.
     A few otaku friends of mine were there too and we had some intense discussions about the movie.  We agreed that sometime we have to organize a movie marathon at one of our houses.  I would bring the butterbeer.
     The best part is that sometime this year my family's going to Orlando to visit Disneyworld, Universal Studios AND Harry Potter World!  (A feat only accomplished after weeks of nagging.)  I'm desperately anticipating it.
     Well, that was all I had to talk about today.  Here's a butterbeer recipe so you can make your own at home!  (Minus the alcohol.)  Enjoy, and until next time, this is G-star, signing off.



Ingredients
**All research I conducted turned up that McCormick’s Imitation Butter Flavor is vegan, but I cannot guarantee it**

FOR THE BUTTERBEER
6 12-ounce bottles chilled cream soda, or 1/2 recipe Homemade Cream Soda, substitute diet cream soda for a still yummy sugar-free version
3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) imitation butter flavor, or 2 tablespoons clarified butter (instructions linked above **clarified butter does not always blend well with the cold beverage, see info above**)
OPTIONAL – 1 ounce light rum, per serving, for adults only

FOR THE FOAM (Vegan/Dairy-free recipe linked above)
2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons sugar, or splenda for sugar free version
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons imitation butter (if using clarified butter, double the amount to 3 teaspoons, or 1 tablespoon)

To make the butterbeer: Set out 6 16-ounce glasses. Place 1/2 teaspoon of imitation butter (or 1 teaspoon clarified butter) in each glass. Pour 12 ounces of cream soda into each glass, over the butter. Lightly stir, if necessary.

To make the foam: In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, whip the heavy cream on medium high speed for 3-4 minutes until it starts to thicken. Add the sugar and continue whipping until very soft peaks begin to form, another 3-4 minutes (if you need to whip more or less, then be sure to do so, the times can vary quite a bit based on environment). Stir in the vanilla and imitation butter (or clarified butter), then whip for another 30 seconds or so, until soft peaks form.
Spoon a generous portion of foam on top of each glass of butterbeer, mixing gently, if desired (or spoon the foam into the bottom of the glass and pour the butterbeer over the top). Serve immediately.

Recipe by Darla

http://bakingdom.com/2010/11/butterbeer-oh-yes-friends-butterbeer.html

Mini-Ramble: Site's Up!

     Hello, all....HOOHA!  After about two hours of messing with HTML and CSS I know nothing about I finally got the blog to play music automatically when you open the page~!

     I want to go hug the person who made this gadget.  Even if I am only using it to play a 1 hour loop version of S3RL's Rainbow Girl....eh.  I'll add more songs later.  It's just that that song's awesome and it was the one I had up for that favorite current songs side bar thing that no one touched.

     Anyway, I just finished editing the site, probably for good.  Well, apart from the "List of the Week" and playlist bits.  I figured that, since I promised regular lists when I first started writing, I had better make good on it.  The picture up as the background is what I've been working on lately; the girl in front is me and the one behind me is MC.  I thought that, since "Hello all" is what I put at the beginning of each and every post, it would be good to put in there...and I needed something to fill up that giant space.  

     Okay, just added a bunch more songs to the playlist.  You can skip around it at will, too.  Anyone who's seen my Likes playlist on Youtube will notice a trend throughout most of the songs.... X]  For those who haven't, about half of them are songs from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle AMVs (Anime Music Videos).  I find a video I like and then I get attached to the song that goes along with it.  I even have a Miley Cyrus song in there.  Not that I'm putting that up on my blog.

     In any case, I'm very happy with all this and I hope you are too!  It turned out very well!  Until tomorrow or whenever, this is G-star, signing off.

9/9/9: The Day of the Bloggers (Request to Destroy/Unrealistic Writing Limits)!

     Hello, all.  G-star here.  View stats are at nine hundred and ninety-nine, so this is a landmark event!  (I admit a couple of those were probably me checking the layout on different computers, but it's still kinda cool.)  After you read this (or even before; I really don't care) comment below and the first comment (AKA view if you do it right) gets their choice of a blog dedicated to them about the topic of their choice (well, it has to be appropriate) or a hand-drawn picture of them.  So get commenting!  (I think I may prevent MC from participating.)
     Speaking of drawings, I finished the one I was working on for the background.  It turned out great and I think it represents the blog pretty well.  ^_^  The only problem I have is how I'm going to get the color scheme of the page to work with the colors I used in the picture...ah well.  It'll all work out.  How odd that if I'm working on my comic or just some random drawing I rarely get it finished, EVER, but if it has to do with my blog I'll finish it in two days.  There's my dedication for you.
     Now that the background's finished I'll (probably) be working on editing the site all day.  It may be offline if I can figure out how to make it so, and oddly, I hope I can because I have this cool picture I found to put up when you can't access the page that I doubt anyone's gotten a chance to see.  I don't know exactly why I've been so impatient to change the layout, but one reason is probably because I just got bored of looking at it.  While it looks decently cool, I need change once in a while.  (As long as it's not moving or going bald or anything.)  Another reason, however, may be that, if I get my blog looking better and put my own art up, it might get more popular.  I want to put up Adsense as a part of the new template but I don't have a credit card, much less spare change, so it'll have to wait until I get a job...or something.  Until then, do you think any of you may be able to mention or advertise it on your various social networking sites?  I'd do it myself, but the only ones I use are roleplaying sites that I only use one of at a time and G+, where my posts are already published regularly.
     If you can, then thank you.
     A substitute teacher has been overseeing my basketball class this last week, if you can even call it that.  He has no authority, and even if he did he's not very threatening so I doubt anyone would listen to him.  While we were supposed to be doing drills half the class was just wandering around and shooting randomly.  A few just stood and dribbled in the middle of our Rush drill, and it was annoying BEYOND BELIEF.
     For the last twenty minutes of class (T-T Twenty minutes....that's too long to do one repetitive thing!!) we played Blitz.  The teacher has an amp setup at the back of the gym and has someone play music the whole class.  For some reason during Blitz the person always plays rap.
     This combination of a repetitive game I hate and repetitive music I despise nearly makes me crack.  Every day.  I had an odd Nagato-like urge to go up to the substitute, say in a monotone voice "Request to destroy.  Permission?" and then go bust up the amps until I couldn't hear that boring beat and incessantly fast swearing. 
     Yeah, I wish.
     I really do hate rap music.  It can't even be called music, because music, by definition,

"an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color."  Rap does not contain melody or harmony.  Color, however, it has in abundance. - _ -  Yes.  It's very colorful.  It's colorful like a war zone.

     Topic change time.  In IHS Literature we just finished the book we've been reading, The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and now our end-of-book project is a choice: an essay on theme, an essay on character, an extra chapter for the book, or a short story about the detective of our choice.

     A "short" story.  Right.

     I, of course, picked the short story, which seemed the best choice, especially since I already had a detective character from a story I started in middle school (but didn't save or print and so lost to an end-of-year computer wipe T-T).  Originally he was based off the main character of my comic/previously posted half-story (hence the name Zane White), but ended up being much different than the original.  And for the better.  I centered him around the classic PI characteristics.  Technically I'm not sure if they're "classic" per say, but they were in Calvin and Hobbes and that's good enough for me.

     Understandably, my Lit. teacher doesn't want to sit and grade twenty novels, so she put a word limit on the short story of 1,500 words.  At first glance it seems perfectly reasonable...until you start writing and realize how unrealistic that goal is.   White has just found clue 1/5 and I'm already a thousand words in.

     Yeah, THAT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN.

      I don't want to have to make the teacher read a novel in two days, but no amount of cutting and editing is going to get my mystery anywhere near her limit.  It's a bit worrying, but she said to just write and then work that out later.  Right.....she's going to end up having to read my 4,000-word book.

     Once it's finished I'll post it up here, because it's actually pretty good, at least so far.  I might end up having to take out several parts, but I'll put the full one up here, possibly with a continuation if I can't fit in absolutely everything I want to write.

     The rough draft's due next Monday, so I should have it up at latest by Wednesday.  I'm considering doing it in chapters like my previous story for shortness's sake, but you tell me what you want.  I'll be updating the site for the rest of the day and possibly longer, so don't wait up.  Until then (or tomorrow, if I have a reason to post), this is G-star, signing off.   

Mini-Ramble: My Drawing Methods, Explained.

     ..........
     Hello, all.  G-star here.
     Y'know what?  I think I'm going to ditch the poll idea and just do what I will.  I've only gotten one vote, the one from MC, and it doesn't count.  Besides, I have all sorts of ideas and have already started drawing a background picture.  It's one of my best yet.
     I've also been drawing a picture of a few people for G+...or trying to.  As I mentioned before, I had some trouble with my drawing tablet and so had to stop drawing on the computer for the time being.  But it's all been working out.  Hand-drawn pictures take far less time to finish because 1. I'm not distracted by the internet while working, 2. I can't undo things when inking, and this forces me to continue with what I have, 3. I can be in much more comfortable positions than curled in a ball in an office chair, 4. I can work on it whenever I want, whereas with the computer I can't if brother's on or parents aren't home (this password thing is frustrating), and 5. I can work on it virtually anywhere (depending on what stage I'm in.  I can only color in my room because I have quite an assortment of colored pencils, and none of them are very portable).  Right now I'm still sketching the background picture.  That is, if you can even call it 'sketching'.  I'm a perfectionist by nature, and while most comic artists draw vague outlines and go into detail when inking, I do absolutely everything that will be in the final drawing while still in the 'rough' sketch stage.  It takes longer, but makes me feel safer about my art than putting in the little stuff in ink when I can't change it.
     ...and that's pretty much all I wanted to say.  Until tomorrow, this is G-star, signing off.