Why FFX-2 is Actually a Pretty Good Game

RLN:
currently listening to: Jack by Pixie Lott, but covered by Seohyun (서헌 <3)
Ughh I'm under house arrest because I'm sick (thanks to the frickin' photographer *sigh*) and I haven't been outside in like daaaaysss. On top of that, I watched a depressing Doctor Who episode and I read a terribly depressing, but also moving book called Peony in Love by Lisa See. She is an amazing writer.
You know, a lot of things have been happening to me, I feel like, so maybe I'll just write a blog post about all that sometime.
I've been playing 358/2 Days again and Roxas makes me want to write in a journal again. Maybe I stopped all those times because I dumped so much into it, but I like his; they're just simple, informative, but also expressive.
My favorite part of last week is performing Gangnam Style in front of like 1000 people, that will always be a fond memory ^.^
So yeah that's what I've been doing while away--Gangnam Style!!!....and a few other things, of course.
RLN over.


Whoa, what a plot twist--someone actually liking X-2!
Alright, I admit I actually hated it, at first. I was disappointed by all the changes and wanted the old Yuna and the old Spira (and the old music) back. However, I quite like how it's turned out. Well, except for most of the music, but not much we can do about that, can we?

First, Yuna didn't actually change as much as I thought she did aside from appearances. Yes, she's sort of trying out new behaviours she admires (emulating Rikku and Tidus at times), but she's still a people-pleaser, still withdrawn and reflective, still self-sacrificing and kind-hearted, similar vibe. If anything, I really like how she turned out because she kept all her best qualities from FFX, but developed a more adventurous spirit and became more outspoken, too.

Also, I love the songstress theme they've added in. The opening cutscene was visually beautiful and I just loved everything about it. Actually, it made me want to jump onstage and do the same (oh, if only I could sing--and not sound choked up in front of people at that).

Plot-wise, I definitely did not think it was filler in any way. Yes, it was very sidequest-centered, but I thought that was quite fun, personally!
I really love the idea of going on all these different adventures while traveling on an airship. Also, sphere-hunting made me think of treasure-hunting, which is also another fun little theme. The Celsius is pretty cool though and I totally wanted to be part of the Gullwings (Your Friendly Neighborhood Gullwings!!!--another thing I enjoyed) so I could just, well, do this:

Well, anyways, back to the plot. I really liked the story of Lenne and Shuyin, and actually felt very sad for them. I loved them, and one of the new characters, Gippal and I totally ship him with Rikku oh I just said ship didn't I? and I really like Baralai too. Nooj is...well, he's alright. I like the whole trio thing a lot, though. I just realized they all parallel each other. Yuna is to Baralai as Rikku is to Gippal as Paine is to Nooj.
I love the chemistry between YRP! I don't know why, but I like when they act like normal teenagers/early twenties, so they're a little childish and give each other high-fives like normal friends XD. It sounds small, but these little details are left out a lot.

Random battle quotes:
Yuna: Gimme a Y!
Rikku: Gimme an R!
Paine: Gimme a break.

Rikku: I'm gonna kick you in the spleen...
Paine: Spleen...???

Yuna: It's so big.
Rikku: Whoohoo no more climbing!!!!!
Paine: Could you please focus?

Yuna: Bring it!
Rikku: She's sure getting into this.
Paine: She's trying.


Okay, that's a few of them lol

I thought the conflict between two factions three if you count machine faction... was interesting, and realistic. I appreciated the mix between plot and a sort of do-your-own-thing thing.
Additionally, something new happens through every playthrough because there is just so much detail. (It's so hard getting to 100%!).
And, like every Final Fantasy, I get some inspiration out of it from, well, everything you've read above.

30th Musing: Characters I Admire (VI)

So this post's character is....

Laguna Loire from Final Fantasy VIII!

MBTI type: ENFP! (most likely)
(I'm actually trying to not use any MBTI types on my character posts until I've gone through them all.)

Here is Laguna in one of his best moments!

Here is Laguna in one of his not-so-best moments!

Honestly, I just love this guy. And now my rambling about him starts.
I really don't have a starting point. Okay, I'll just get inspired by those pictures up there.

I really love the sincerity and realism they put into his character! He started out as just another soldier traveling along with his two friends, Kiros (I love his snarkiness.) and Ward. He sort of bumbles along, doing stupid things (as pictured above) that anyone could do, really (yes, I'm drawing from personal experience teheh).
One small quirk that I loved that was also very realistic was that his leg would cramp up whenever he was nervous. He had a cute little crush on Julia Heartilly, a singer and pianist who played regularly at the Deling City hotel (so of course Laguna frequented it often). As he got up the nerve to approach her, you'd see "Oh, my leg's cramping up!" and then he'd hobble away as Squall said, "...Sad." Also this happened when he was nervous in battle.

He's just clumsy in general. I think my favorite is when they have to make an escape by jumping off a cliff into water. He pushes his two friends first and is then like oh, you guys are so brave! as he proceeds to just climb down it. I guess it's karma when he loses his footing and falls all the way down anyways. It sort of sucked for him though because he needed a lot of medical attention afterwards. Scene as seen below (pun intended).

Another favorite moment is him starring in a random movie. That was just an amusing part of the game...

But besides all of his funny, clumsy moments, he can truly be an inspiring character. After he fell of the cliff, he washed up in a small town called Winhill and was cared for by a woman, Raine, and an orphan girl, Ellone (Elle for short) about five years old. Eventually, they became like family to him and he would do anything to protect Elle from monsters or the army looking for children her age to be the next sorceress (part of the story plot, by the way). He would go to any length for her, fighting whoever stood in his way and really became like a father to her. Even when she grew up about...twenty years? A bit less? Well, even then, she still called him "Uncle Laguna." He calls himself the "Monster Hunter of Winhill" and calls Raine his commander and Ellone his assitant commander.

Laguna's dream was to be a journalist (the pen is mightier than the sword!) and make money with his travel articles. (I really want to do that--just travel all over the world and write about my stay). However, he became president of the isolationist country Esthar instead...

It happened as, some events later, ended up being captured in Esthar, which was still ruled by the sorceress. While captured he ended up agreeing to join the resistance against her. Somehow he comes up with a plan to capture the sorceress and seal her and her powers away for good (as long as close surveillance and many seals are kept on it).

For his bravery and triumph, he was elected leader of Esthar!

Then, the main characters finally meet him as they must defeat a new sorceress tyrant who has the power of Time Compression! And to overcome this, he has a short little spiel about how to not be lost in it.

Yes, I think I'll stop there... ^^

29th Musing: Tumblr Types

RLN:
So, I am far more positive than last post! It helps that I had in an audition in which I didn't leave feeling terribly or sort of "down" about. (I think the acting went quite well, though my voice was dreadful. However, I think they considered the fact that I lost my voice a few days ago. At least, I got into it and acted while I was singing though and that's pretty important, right?
Anyways, currently listening to: the Nutcracker Suite Op.71 :)
RLN over.

As I peruse tumblr obsessively, I've noticed that there are five distinct types of people who go on tumblr and I'll list the specimens here:

The Artists: comes in two subgenres--the Writers and the Photographers who post artsy stuff made to express themselves and/or inspire others, pretty self-explanatory

 The Intense Ones: people with all the feelings. Their posts will probably depress you. Some accurately represent life's trials and tribulations while others may be a bit melodramatic for your taste. Somehow people tend to be 500 times more emotional on tumblr than anywhere else.

The Fans: comes in two subgenres--Fandom Worshippers (99%) and Celebrity Worshippers (1%). Many are crazy and rabid, so caution is advised when approaching. However, if you're going through an obsessive phase, going through pages upon pages of said obsession can be quite gratifying.

The Activists: Once again, these posts may depress you. Oftentimes, they have an important message, other times it's "like this post to spread awareness" which is better than doing nothing, I guess--at least they're still spreading the message, while others are a bit extreme.

The Floaters: People like me who go on there and usually reblog instead of posting. (However I might be edging into the Fandom Worshippers XD). Their blog page consists of whatever strikes their fancy and they don't really get sucked into it even though they might spend two hours just scrolling through Avengers or Kingdom Hearts gifs.

Well, that's what I came up with, but if you have any more, tell me!

28th Musing: Why I Hate Freud

RLN:
So I sent out to a couple literary agents and one talent agency (and I had to resubmit because I oh-so-intelligently forgot to attach the resume. Wonderful. Besides the headshots, the picture I sent is pretty funny because I tried to do a Jenna-Louise Coleman (Oswin Oswald in Doctor Who) sort of face except with the eyes looking at the camera and it ended up making me look very...well, I'm not sure how to say it, but I definitely looked distinctive and like I have a lot of personality!
I guess we'll see how it goes.
oh, so I am still sick, which is pretty sad because it's been since Sunday, but I'm on antibiotics now, so we'll see when it dies down.
was listening to: the piano duel from "The Secret" a Taiwanese (I think) movie--still amazing every time I watch the video of it
RLN over.

So as I was reading about Freud and subsequently complaining about him to my friend who shares the same passionate hate, I thought why not just make a blog post with all of my complaints?
I'll just make a list for easier reading.

1. He relates everything to sex!!!
     a. example: he believed that you have always been unconsciously jealous of the parent of the same gender because he/she is in your way of having sex with the parent you "desire"
     b. the story I was telling my friend was: once he had a patient who had no feeling in their hand without any biological/neurological reasoning. So, obviously it MUST be because he "had fear of touching his genitals" (not my words)
    c. he believed that at every age (even babies...) people enjoyed deriving some sexual pleasure and believed through every age we go through some part of the "psychosexual stages"

2. He was completely sexist
     a. one of many examples is that he thought when women started wearing pantsuits that they had "penis envy". I mean, it's really hard to be objective when studying him--it's like he has bricks for brains or something.

Ok, I can't even continue he just bothers me so much.

The few things I do like is that he came up with the id, the ego, and the superego, which I think is accurate (though I don't believe the id is purely sex-filled as he, of course, said). Also, I find his defense mechanisms to be mostly true. He has some good moments, but was blinded by idiocy.

Going slightly off-topic, more and more, I'm starting to hate most psychologists/therapists just because they are generally just kinda...useless. None of them really know how to take care of a patient AAAND they are mostly crazy themselves!! So, crazy and useless. BUT when they aren't, they are wonderful! BUT, it's rare...

27th Musing: Enjoying the Moment

looong RLN:
So, I'm pretty sick and totally lost my voice--somehow that manages to happen to me...not that it goes well because any who knows me knows how terribly silent I am....
Whenever I'm around people and I can't talk, like right now, they always make fun of me by either laughing or doing the old "What?? I can't hear you!!" and then they laugh. Okay, I maybe actually find it amusing XD
But another update is that I am currently having a query crisis! So, I sent mine in to the Query Shark (you should all follow her, she is soooo funny and really awesome!) AKA Janet Reid of Fine Print Lit. for a possible chance of being critiqued. Additionally, I've joined some forums where people will just give critiques for free, which is very nice!
Oh, so I finally had ramen at a legitimate Japanese place (as opposed to some instant concoction I would make at home)! It was a combination of noodles (obviously), corn, bamboo shoots, onions, and fishcakes (these rubbery things that don't quite have taste, but they're very fun!

and here we see fishcakes! which are actually called kamaboko?

Aren't they so happy-making? :D

Anyways...that might have gotten ramen out of my system...for now!

Currently listening to: Ice Cream by: Hyuna (don't judge me, well ok, you can--I'm judging myself, too).
Current obsessions: 1. Tom Hiddleston and soon to be Robert Downey Jr. too and the rest of the Avengers actors and characters too (yes, still), 2. literary and talent agencies (who seem to hate me lol)
I guess not much has changed!
RLN over!

Now for the actual topic, I'll be pondering on something that is basically striking me from all corners and I sincerely believe it's like some sort of message at this point. I've been seeing "Enjoy the present, live the moment, etc" sort of statements before and, especially, since TWEWY. It's the main motto of the artist CAT, whom the protagonist deeply admires and part of the story is about him broadening his world and, as stated above, enjoying every moment for what it is.
The weird thing though is that I get these notifications on a certain popular social networking site (oh what could it be?) from "God" or some sort of application I looked at once before and it's basically philosophy that God would say (or something along those lines). So when it says "God has a new message for you!" I usually ignore it (sorry), but this time something inside said to click it for some reason and what comes up...is another "enjoy the moment" statement! Although, it was quite nice. I'll just repost it here:

"Every moment is an opportunity to be happy.
Don't just take a shower--feel into and receive pleasure from the water on your skin. Don't just walk on the street--enjoy the fragrances of the trees and flowers on your way. Don't just drive your car--sing karaoke to your favorite radio station" (so would MLA want me to cite this as God? XD)

It's a bit shortened, but that's the gist. Personally, when I'm walking I do appreciate the beauty of nature around me and other little things that people ignore or take for granted. I think my problem is that I'm not quite slowing down enough to be completely satisfied with my life. Even though I'm young, I have so many goals and aspirations that I feel like my life is unsatisfying when they aren't happening. I need to stop that because my life is perfect the way it is, and dreams have their time to come true.

My friend (I actually talked about her in my post about learning Korean) has her own blog (which I can't read...yet!) and she posted a philosophical quote semi-recently and translated it for me. It was a metaphor about how young people always want to be successful and achieve so many things in their lives, but they are like flowers and need to bloom fully and really develop until their time comes. Everyone takes a different time to bloom because there are, of course, many renowned young people. But, it's really just reiterating today's musing (which is not actually at midnight, go figure).
To those of you who know this metaphor, sorry if I botched it up or explained it wrong in any way.

on a semi-related note, look how pretty these floor tiles are!
I think they're Italian? They are fireweed flowers, which I discovered
a couple minutes ago. So you, too, can bloom on this floor tile! Yeah...
I'm gonna regret putting this on...

I hope my blog posts aren't too long? I would say today's can make up for my lack of speaking ability, but...they're always like this! :D
I hope you have a great morning, day, night, wherever your time zone lies!

What a Fail.

I would like to take this moment to point out that I spelled the title of my own manuscript wrong (sort of). It was one word and I botched it up because I am a fail.
And I have sent it off to agents.
That is all.
You can applaud now.

26th Musing: A Small Resolution

Another post about acting! It'll be short (though knowing me it will tangent into something long), I promise!
So as I was giving up on my acting dreams and wondering whether they were truly dreams or something I just thought I wanted to do, I realized that I didn't want to give up just yet.
The thing about me is, I know how to act and what I should do in my mind, but in front of people and expressing it, I suddenly feel awkward in my own body and I feel silly if I use emotion, as if I will actually emote wrong (because, like I said in another post, I'm not good with that). Typical commercials would be so easy for me because it really requires a bright personality and confidence in front of a camera. It's like modeling, but saying a conversation...right?
The real acting lies in complex emotional works. Personally, I prefer tragedies. Some comedies I like, but they don't move me like tragedies do unless done in a certain way that appeals to me personally. I especially do not like musicals like "Grease", "Hairspray", "Fame", etc. I did like the "Hairspray" movie though, that was good, but generally, they're unappealing.
So as I was watching "Thor", I was so inspired by everyone there, especially Tom Hiddleston and so much in the end! His voice, his body language, the depth and emotion he conveyed (especially as he was totally different from how he acts in interviews!!). He's just so brilliant and inspiring, so I would really love to be like him!
Therefore, my resolution is not to give up on acting and put myself into it and any emotions I have. I may not work up to expressing myself in real life, but at least I can do it on stage/camera, whichever (though I feel 50 times more comfortable with the second). I would really like a commercial agent, so I could sort of work up, I guess. The theatre around me is all either musicals or comedies, so my heart wouldn't be in it at all. Is that the wrong attitude?
I suppose we'll see what happens. I have the determination, initiative, and technically the experience, so...who knows?

25th Musing: Literary Agents, the Query Process, (and Thanksgiving!)

RLN:
To all the Americans out there, Happy Thanksgiving!!! I am thankful to anyone who is reading this! and so many other things too! Listing them would take up way too much room, so I'll stop there (plus I sort of made a Thanksgiving post a couple weeks ago). To every other country, happy Thursday!
Speaking of which, has anyone seen that "It's Thanksgiving" video that's supposed to be the next Friday? My favourite part is when she randomly starts rapping then sings into a turkey leg. I also like when the producer guy just slowly pops up from the bottom of the screen. I would give you a link, but...do I really want to promote it?
Current obsession: perfecting my piano playing of Chopin!, nothing really new here (as it's been less than 24 hours, but I like to keep things fresh).
Currently listening to: Bubble Pop by: Hyuna (lol Will I be judged for this?)
RLN over.

For quite a few months now, I've been trying to get a literary agent and landed myself with nothing but form rejections! Now, I know that's normal and it doesn't get me down unlike some people who get one and fall into some depressed state. It's luck, really, and a lot of "query formatting" and hard-work....but once you got a good query down, it's A LOT of luck.

Right now, my dream agents are Janet Reid (doesn't represent my genre anymore :( ) and Brooks Sherman who is quite the character! I have reblogged the things on his tumblr too many times... Though somehow before I developed a, what I call to be, "agent crush" on him, I wrote to him at the end of August with a standard query, which wasn't personal because I didn't have any info on him really. Now, I've tweeted him a couple things and got replies--alriiight! Although I hope he isn't creeped out that I actually told him I have an agent crush on him...

(Update: Yay! He responded to me! The gist of my tweet was that I was sad that I somehow already queried him in August before I developed my agent crush on him: "Aww. Well, tweak that query for other agents. And if you query another project in the future, look me up! ;)"
(I love this guy XD Hmm...maybe it would be best if I found another agent crush--someone I haven't written to!)
If you're reading this...I'm not really sure what I want to tell you...Have a good day?)

Anyways!! I won't put my query letter here, but I will say that my genre is psychological/slice-of-life YA (young adult). It's loosely based on "A Tale of Two Sisters" (at least the psychology part) and a sliver of it is based on...well, here is the part where I'm glad the internet is anonymous!!
...Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue... (but just THAT PR, not any other series! This one is quite complex for a little kid's show, really!)
I just continue to embarrass myself, don't I? It's because I love you readers.

    ???

(Ok, it's not based tooo much off of these, just a couple things here and there, so it's not THAT unappealing, I promise!)


Generally, querying is confusing because many agents say different things. They do all agree on the fact to NEVER make your query longer than a page (well, unless that specific agent is unique and wants more). Some want a lengthy summary and some want a small blurb--the big picture. Some want personal, some want blunt. It really comes down to the type of person they are, so I make sure to do a lot of research!



My outline goes like this:

Dear wonderful agent,

intro--how I found them, maybe personal detail, genre, word count, and title of my book (title is in CAPS)

small summary with main plot points. The spoiler about my book is that the two characters I switch off between are actually the same person, but I read not to spoil something like that here unless I have a bigger twist.

bio

Thank for your time and consideration (etc.)

From, desperate author (juuust joking)


Well, that's the basics! And now I'm off to put my sheet music in the right order...

24th Musing: Tokyo!

RLN:
So I really couldn't think of anything to post about! Actually, I had a couple ideas, which I forgot, of course! That tends to happen when you think of things while you're half-asleep...
But anyways, this came to mind, so here it is! (well, after the RLN).
Current obsessions: 1. still TWEWY and playing the "Another Day" section, 2. I need to make ramen!! or Tamago Kake Gohan (look it up lol), 3. blogging..., 4. The Avengers!! yes, again. Maybe add the individual heroes to the list too.
currently listening to: Chopin's Revolutionary Etude (op 10 no 12). It's awesome! (usually don't use this adjective, but I guess it fits...and trust me, I really don't listen to classical music that often because I'm so picky about it!)
Is that really all? I thought there was more...
RLN over.

Recently, I watched some travel show special on Tokyo for Japanese class with a stereotypical Australian guy for a host. When people imitate Australian accents, it sounds just like his--like Steve Irwin! (Who seemed like a much better guy, though). It was actually kind of funny! ...Well, I thought so!
Anyways, he was like a typical, clueless tourist who couldn't speak a word of Japanese, but he seemed at least fascinated by it. Though, I could tell he was pretty arrogant, but amusing. Very ESTP, too XD.

Anyways, he went to different places in Tokyo (including Shibuya!) and it made me want to go more!
(Jeez, I feel like my Japanese "sensei" :D should see this and, like, give me extra credit or something). Anyways, the fashion looked so strange, but most of the time, it was pretty cool! Of course, the streets of Harajuku had a generous share of unique fashions that one would only find in Tokyo. I feel like Shibuya fashion is generally a bit more mainstream.

Another place that looked really nice was the inn, which was very traditional--futons, decorated screens, and all. I really liked the isolated, tranquil feel of it. I really appreciate it when countries still honor their culture like that....and I really wanted to sleep there! Though I'm not exactly introverted, I would love to squirrel away in that small little room and just...do whatever I wanted with no disturbances in such a nice atmosphere!

Speaking of hotel-like places, there's a hotel that's popular with business who missed their train (it stops running at a certain time), so they just go into this cheap, but cool-looking place where the rooms are literally capsules. I wonder if I would feel claustrophobic or like it?

The city is just so lively and interesting! Before I thought of Tokyo as just another metropolis, but it really has a distinct flavor about it. Someday, I'll get there.

So currently, I decided to watch "Durarara!" (can't forget the ! at the end, which is actually part of its title) because it reminded me of "The World Ends With You" (and whoever translated it to the dub version uses the exact same slang ("Gotta bounce!"), which is more nostalgia (but not nostalgia because I'm still playing it...
on a random note, Izaya is just so...interesting.
Here's the fun scene I talked about before!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKEaf3bpJB4

It depicts Tokyo as less safe than TWEWY, but overall, it's a pretty similar perspective. And it's weird how they both talk about realities changing with the person, which is something I've always thought of but never heard voiced until I played "The World Ends With You".
Maybe that will be my next (or somewhere around there) topic!

captioned as: Harajuku's main strip

Harajuku girls!

(photo cred (because I should start doing that): Wikipedia for all of them coincidentally).

23rd Musing: Characters I Admire (V), but perhaps I really shouldn't... (II)

This one will be kinda short, maybe. I guess we'll see!
So, our character this time is....

Loki from "Thor" and "The Avengers"!

MBTI type: INTJ

See? He doesn't look evil, he looks friendly!

Alright, fine, I'll give you an evil picture:

I'm not sure whether to classify him as a sympathetic villain (in my opinion) or an anti-villain. Hmm, most likely a villain because even when you think he'll change his mind or return to the side of good, he stabs someone with a scepter or something of that manner.

I really love the way he speaks and whenever he had an exchange with any of the modern Americans trying to stop him, I always thought they sounded so unintelligent after hearing him (or Thor, for that matter). Except, Ironman. Somehow he always managed to sound witty even when he was using modern language/slang.

But seriously, he's just so cool! The way he walks, dresses (as the actor said, approximately 30 pounds of metal and leather!) with the cool pointy helmet (and here's where I start to sound like an excited 10-year-old if I haven't already). And the actor really pulled off the menacing glare or the creepy smile when he needed to.

Tom Hiddleston is utter perfection, especially as he knew exactly where Loki was coming from and refrained from judging him in order to become the character on camera. A good actor truly loves the character he plays. Loki isn't completely terrible, he just...has a lot of feelings!...and a healthy (?) sense of determination! Of course, I don't like his homicidal (genocidal?) tendencies and the fact he wants to rule all the worlds, but I do appreciate the complexity of his character. No matter how strong he appears, he has a vulnerability to him, which every person has. (Good job, screenwriter!). 

Hmm...anything else? I guess this did end up being long.

RLN:

So I had a depressing blog post, but I deleted it because it didn't come out so coherently and whatever, I'm over it. I'm not sure I'll have a "my life at the moment" blog post soon. I kind of want to, but I'm not even sure what I'd put! Ha, maybe I'll put a TWEWY-themed post. "I'm F-ing this ramen! F...for FABULOUS! I only F things I really like!"

current obsessions: interpals!, Loki/Tom Hiddleston (but that goes without saying...), blogging, TWEWY (still), ramen (no, like, seriously)

22nd Musing: Learning Korean...

It's so hard! I'm not sure which is worse: this or Chinese :P However, the Korean writing system has even less letters than us, which is nice. And, apparently, knowing Hanja (Chinese characters used in Korea) is not necessary to even a native.
By now, I can read generally well...about as well as the average first-grader XD However, when I actually know the word, I can read it as a whole in Korean (though I really don't have much of a vocabulary...).
Yesterday, my Korean friend was helping me with my pronunciation, specifically on the "ng" sound paired with a vowel.

So the first: Muhnchung-ee. (means stupid lol though how I spelled it is for my phonetic purposes, and is not the correct romanization!)
She said I pronounced it muhnchun-gee, but you have to separate the "ng" and the "ee", which I only got right about 30% of the time? Except when I pronounced it correctly, I couldn't even tell the difference! It was like saying one word over and over in the same way and hearing right or wrong randomly.
(I just substitute this word for the synonym--babo! much easier and more fun to say!)
As always, I'm better at writing (this is every language for me. Is anyone stronger in speaking over writing? I'm curious to know...). Actually it's kind of like a puzzle; some letters go on top of each other, some require a circle, and others go next to each other.

My name: 줄리아 :) (I just realized that I should write Korean characters on my keyboard because they're really hard to find without knowing where they would be.)
Fun!
Well, for some...

Honestly, the accent is really hard because they have a lot of sounds we don't, one of which I've only heard in French. So, unlike Japanese, it is really hard to pick out what they're saying unless I know those words really well.
Said friend is pestering me to watch K-dramas to improve and I want to watch them, it's just...I'm never in the mood for some reason! Some day, 유경, I will get to Coffee Prince!

Maybe I'll talk more about Korean stuff, but I don't know if this was a boring post. :/
Well, for now:
고마워오!

21st Musing: My Blog's Viewer Trends

RLN (cool, I have my own lingo now):
I don't even know why this is called Midnight Musings now because I really don't write anywhere close to midnight these days...
Current obsessions: I don't know if this counts, but I spent like a couple hours looking stuff up about Korea. Bwing-bwing! (Just kidding...but I'm gonna do that just to annoy my Korean friend). Here's what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIw8U7B8sF8
But anyways! Aside from that... I don't really have anything, though this blog seems to be slowly taking over my day. Actually I might do a blog post about a day in the life of me. It'll be pretty exciting, yeah...
RLN over.

So something I noticed is that the posts I expected to have the most views had the least and vice versa. The ones that have the most are my intro (and then it goes down after that...), well the winner is actually the one about Nick Vujicic, while the others are insights about people or characters I admire. I don't remember the exact winners, but I realize that blog readers want really personal insight into someone's life as opposed to politics or fashion (unless it is a blog specific to those things, of course!) or things that are less human and more cerebral or surface. Personally, it's not going to stop me writing about what I want, but it's interesting to note what appeals to people.
One of my friends who had a blog attracted readers just with all of her emotions and how she experienced life. I think people, including me, liked it because we all like seeing a glimpse into another's thoughts or feelings as opposed to what we can get through any conversation, which has its own merits, but a blog has full-disclosure a lot of the time.
It's good to keep in mind, though I can't promise full-disclosure quite yet...
Maybe someday though.

20th Musing: Characters I Admire (IV) (Though perhaps I really shouldn't this time...)

Random Life Note:
I learned that philosophy and psychology do not necessarily mix and just because I like the former does not mean I will like the latter. As I was discussing with a couple people earlier, I realized that psychology really should not be a science. That's what I've been annoyed with lately.
Current obsession: Izaya cell phone smashing scene...I just really want to watch Durarara!! I think I'll make it a dub this time (I've been watching so many subs). It must be because of this whole TWEWY-Shibuya thing... However, I wouldn't call wanting to watch it an obsession yet...I just didn't have anything new to put on here.
I recently just watched a short movie called "5 Centimeters Per Second" that's supposed to be really fantastic, but... well, the animation's beautiful and it does leave me with a certain melancholy because it was good, but I didn't love it.
RLN Over.

This has some TWEWY (The World Ends With You) spoilers...
So this character is...odd. Yes, odd, because he's neither a hero nor a villain and I still am not sure whether he is an anti-hero or anti-villain. Because I have good judgment, I'm going to stick to anti-hero though. Our character this time is.....

Joshua Kiryu!

MBTI type: INTP

I actually saw him for the first time in KH3D and fell in love with him. His voice actor so perfectly captures his tone, which mixes amusement and smarminess at the same time (good job, Aaron Spann!). I love his dialogue too...
He could potentially have come off a little creepy, but once again, the actor voices him brilliantly. Joshua is extremely intelligent (always a couple steps ahead) and a very complex character, so you never quite know what's going on inside his head. Even though he comes off as arrogant and, to Neku, strangle-able (new word), he's just a lonely kid who feels like he's on the outside looking in. (Then again, I always seem to get suckered into characters with secret vulnerabilities). I could see why Neku would be annoyed at him, but I think Joshua is just so amusing and I would probably laugh at his jokes even if they were directed at me XD. Honestly, I think the two of us would get along quite well as I can see a few similarities between us (that perhaps other people will never see, but that's generally how it goes), although my conscious is far more...in use?
Also, I don't know why but this dialogue is my favourite (and only the people who have played this will find this funny or at least understand this, I think...):
*on the back city streets
Neku: I thought you were looking for the Shibuya river
Joshua: I am.
Neku: Uhh...I don't see any rivers
Joshua: Thank you, Neku.

Like I said, one of those "you had to be there" jokes, except it's more of "you had to play there". Yeah.
The one reason I was thinking about not liking him is because of the whole (spoilers!!!!) murdering the main character thing, but it was just to use him as a proxy to decide whether to destroy Shibuya or not. But later, he doesn't destroy Shibuya because Neku doesn't shoot him because he trusts Joshua and they're friends now, maybe?
I found it ironic how all this time when you think you're doing worthless missions like helping a business man sell these pins to all of Shibuya to make them popular, you're actually contributing to the major plot (assimilation plot, that is!). Something like that happened in 358/2 Days when you just thought you were installing a couple random machines (but they led to your potential demise later on!).
Hmm...okay, I think my rant is finished. Fellow Joshua fans, I would tell you to comment!
(But no one ever does.....)

Here he is!!

Ok, but more seriously...

19th Musing: A Note About Fanfiction

Random Note About Life
(so I'm on the 8th season of 7th heaven and David Gallagher has killed someone (accidentally). It's getting so intense and half the main cast has been replaced...*sigh* I miss Matt!
anyways, current obsessions are: finding good blogs!, Shibuya (still), and finding a literary agent!!
Random Note Done

For the main topic, fanfiction, there are many misconceptions. When I told my friend that I write fanfiction (which I don't tell most people, eheh...), she was like you do NOT want to tell people that! And when I asked her why not, she told me that there was some article published about how it's all a bunch of erotica, basically a playground for a writer's id. :P
So there is some of that stuff, but I don't want to read that! That's not the whole population! Like I said in an earlier ranty post, I really don't like all the yaoi, especially...M-rated yaoi, but at least there's a filter and I can read the ones by average people who appreciate the author's pairing. (Okay, fine, I have read one Draco X Hermione story, but it was rated T, so it's all good). To be honest, no matter how old I am, I probably won't go to the M section just because it's not my thing. Most of what I see is T, so fanfiction isn't just that at all! It's a smaller sub-culture! (Sort of...?)
It's things like 50 Shades of Gray that give it a bad name! (It was originally a Twilight fanfiction and anything related to Twilight is crap, so it shouldn't have any credibility at all!
On a slightly unrelated note, that book is most popular among married middle-aged women. You have to wonder about marriages these days...

18th Musing: Legalization of Marijuana Opinions

Random notes about my life:
(currently listening to Jay Chou! Like I may have said earlier (can't remember), probably THE top Chinese musician, surely the most famous pianist. It's so interesting, also, how he combines piano with more modern...instruments? beats? I don't know what to call them. It's sort of a remix addition?
Also, I must say that Joshua is out of my obsessions...I'm sort of on the fence about him. I still like his personality, but his morals...I don't know.
So my current obsessions: new cosplay dress to sew, Okami art, and Xiao Yuan (Chinese youtube cover singer...she sounds really young, but no one knows how old she actually is...)
Random notes end here!

So this whole marijuana thing is a hot topic, especially since Amendment 64's been passed, making Colorado the first state to legalize marijuana for "recreational use". It will still be about a year until it's in full effect, however.
At first, I must say I was dead-set against this. I have never smoked in my entire life and I would delight in the mass destruction of it by some magical means. It's a physically and psychologically addictive (yes, really) hallucinogen that can trigger permanent schizophrenia and basically make you do a lot of stupid and potentially fatal things. That is how I sum up pot in one sentence.

But then, I was discussing this amendment with a very politically active friend of mine and doing a little research of my own, and I came to the conclusion that this might not be such a bad thing after all for people like me, it might even be good, especially since public consumption still isn't allowed, so the rest of us don't have to breathe it in, and neither is DUI. By selling it in public, though, it'll get rid of all the "underground" dealings. Now, there will be regulations and taxes on marijuana, which will lower its usage in a couple ways:
1. Who wants to pay more money than they used to?
2. It takes the whole...rebellious thing out of it. If people are told they can't do something, that something looks all the more enticing. Common fact about human nature: people don't like being told what to do.

So even though I really hate anyone smoking pot at all, at least there is a way smaller chance that people will consume it, at least that's what I believe based on how I've observed human behaviour.

However, in my perfect system, people wouldn't go to jail or get off free, but just be penalized with a lot of fines, so they don't take up jail space or our taxes for something that doesn't exactly deserve the full attention of the police or the court, to be honest.
I will say that other drugs are a different story and should be completely illegal because they do a lot more damage to the user and those around them. Sorry if I sound like a "goody-goody" or a "kill joy" to some, but these are my honest opinions and I hope someday I'll live in a world without drugs because, if you think about it, they cause some of the world's biggest problems, but I won't talk about that here.
For now, I've said my piece.

17th Musing: Characters I Admire (III)

Random Tangenting Note About My Life--skip until next bolded sentence to get to actual content
Well, it's just...I really don't know what to write about. It's because I don't even have a life--for the past while I've been scrolling through tumblr and watching the US navy do their own version of Oppan Gangnam Style (one of like 500,857,459.5 versions of it). Actually, I'm far too obsessed with kpop for my own good--Which brings us to...my obsession note of the...day? week? post? whatever...
Currently I am obsessed with: honing my skills on the piano! (just watched Piano no Mori and listening to these amazing Chinese pianists really inspired me), Joshua from The World Ends With You (he might be one of my "admired characters" posts someday. He's very unique in the way he expresses his aloofness and cynicism), sewing (found a new cosplay and I am going crazy without anything to sew!)...so recap: piano, Joshua, and sewing.
Random Tangenting Ends Here!!!

So today's character is....

Zack Fair!!

MBTI type: ESFP

He is from Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. I think I was meant to get this game. My friend told me how much she loved it and I was like okay, sounds good, maybe I'll pick it up someday. Then, by chance, I was in gamestop and it was on sale for seven dollars. It seemed decent, I liked the two scenes I saw from it, so why not, right? Good deal, I thought.
So I fell in love with Zack pretty quickly--it's impossible not to! He's nicknamed Zack the Puppy and it's completely accurate. He is loving, loyal, energetic, but at the same time not annoyingly so or blindly so. He's just a really happy, nice person who, I can imagine would make others feel the same if he was real (well, he makes me feel happy when I play the game, but that's different lol). I admired his simple view on life and the way he'd always "chin up" when things looked bad. For everything that he'd been through, he only had one, maybe two, if it counted, breakdowns.
Also, I really loved that he just wanted to become a hero (I don't know if that sounds cheesy?), but I liked one his quotes that my friend actually decided to use for her yearbook quote: "Embrace your dreams. If you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams." 

(I couldn't really find a good picture...he looks sad in this one...)

Spoilers from here on out:
Honestly, the end was heartbreaking the way he everything and everyone he once lived for in ShinRa turned their backs on him. Additionally, he could have lived, but he decided that he had to see Aerith and, once discovered, that he would protect his best friend from soldiers out to kill them for escaping the people who were illegally experimenting on them (unfair). Actually, it was so sad watching him turn from such a happy-go-lucky guy to more serious and cautious because of his circumstances.

Side Note of Sorrow:
 I swear the game makers put in the DMV for the very end. I found it...artistic? Is that the right word? the way they showed you through the Digital Mind Wave how his mind and memories were slowly deteriorating and being erased from all the damage he was taking and how weak he was becoming. Then, all the flashbacks...
Needless to say, that was an emotional game for me, even the second time through. :'(

16th Musing: No Arms, No Legs, No Worries

(I think I might add a current obsession note at the top just for fun *shrug* so far my current obsessions would be: TWEWY (make that Shibuya too XD), I AM THE BEST by 2NE1 (plus Minzy blows my mind), sushi (but that'll be a lifelong obsession), one day making a Shiki cosplay, and Kyon (or narrators like him because he is just really special). And with that outlandish and ultimately useless list, I'll move on to the main topic!

So as Thanksgiving is sort of approaching soon (less than a month at least) in Americana, an idea for a post about Nick Vujicic came to mind. Like the title suggests, he has no limbs, but he has managed to stay really positive through really rough times. Even just seeing his video (the title is above: No Arms, No Legs, No Worries--though I could have sworn it was No Problem instead of No Worries, but anyways--), I could tell he had such a wonderful and revitalizing presence (and the accent helps, I must say XD). After he speaks, he always has a lot of people crying, but in a good way. He tells everyone that they are special and perfect in their own way, but does it in a way that it's not just empty words--it's as if he knows exactly who he's speaking to.
One thing (out of many) that really stuck out to me is his story of how he became a professional speaker. So he would call hundreds of schools and they would turn him down, but nonetheless he persisted because this was his dream. Finally, he came to one school and just introduced himself as a professional speaker and said he wanted to come to their school, which was 2 hours away, and they would only pay him fifty dollars. Because he had no limbs, he obviously couldn't drive, so he asked his brother who refused at first, but then gave in when offered 50 dollars (first paycheck gone before he even did the job lol). Unfortunately, they only gave him 5 minutes to speak, but it was his first job so he just felt thankful to have it. Now, he has spoken to millions around the world!
As I think about him occasionally, each time I feel really thankful for my health and all that I have in my life because he feels extremely lucky despite being born without any arms or legs. I really don't know if I could feel even half as optimistic if I had been born like him, so he is extremely admirable, to say the least. So, I would like to use this blog to thank God for all that I have in my life because I feel so lucky.
I also remember reading this post on...I believe it was a site I found through stumbleupon (of course) where this one girl wrote, "As I'm thinking about how much my life sucks, I go to my room and listen to my ipod to feel better, but then I realize not everyone can have an ipod. And not everyone can have a bed."
That also reminded me to appreciate anything I've ever taken for granted.
However, I am in no way trivializing any problems that are less than life-altering because they, too, are valid, obviously. I was more just highlighting what I am thankful for because anything that makes us feel bad shouldn't be trivialized.
So, that was just to clear up the general topic. But yes, I will probably update before then, but if not, happy holidays!

15th Musing: Characters I Admire (II)

Shall I do shorter posts when possible? I think so...
So this character is........

Kate DeVries!

MBTI type: ENTP

 from an actual BOOK! not anime/manga/video games, etc.! (You probably will not see this often...)
Anyways, she is from the Airborn series by Kenneth Oppel. (Ooh I just looked up his picture and he looks about twenty years younger than he really is...but anyways--)

She is basically like a Haruhi Suzumiya (oh and there is the anime reference) who isn't morally crooked or exceedingly tyrannical (though she is a bit bossy, which I don't mind). Personally, I related to her because we're both quite individualistic and off-beat on the inside in a very similar manner; we follow our own path and are very strong-headed (and she in the very early twentieth century where one had to be far more proper), but we play along with society and try to adhere to its rules to generally be accepted. However, once you get to know us, we tend to live outside the rules that tend to bog people down.
We differ in the way that she loves biology and I find it boring, but we would both happily go on an adventure on an unknown island to find a mysterious creature! Adventures are fun! I think I really admire how straight-forward she is and have tried to develop that quality in myself. So next time I'm having trouble saying no or I want to deny my opinions/feelings on a subject to someone, I remember Kate DeVries now. The one passage that stuck out to me was when the main character, Matt, was trying to make her jealous by kissing another girl. It worked, though he didn't know if she actually saw them or not (odd circumstance) but later when they made up after a fight, he apologized and said he was trying to make her jealous and she just came out and said that it worked and she was quite jealous and mad at him for doing that (and they weren't even...what would you do in those times? Date?).
So yes, I love her character!

There aren't any pictures of her, so she's that teeeeny person on the right...

14th Musing: In Which I Talk About Fashion...

Yes, nothing deep this time! Just me...musing! All my blog posts are basically things in my head that I ponder from time to time and this is one of them.
For awhile now, I've wanted to make a fashion blog, but I think I'm just too lazy to actually implement this idea because I don't feel like taking pictures of myself or people on the street or clothes I see on the internet, etc. but that might change...
This new game I got called The World Ends With You has sort of resparked my interest (Shiki's love for fashion, especially really cool Japanese fashion, is rather contagious lol). I'm not very interested in American fashion for some reason, though British fashion can be pretty cool. Maybe it's Western culture in general that interests me less than the East.
But seriously, after playing that game and looking at all the clothes in Shibuya, I think I'm starting to dress a little like someone off the street of Tokyo (though I suppose it's nothing new). I do tend to be inspired by characters (for example, Yuna who wears a scarf as a sort of crossover shirt with her obi sash over it. I made my own scarf into a shirt, then put a big black waist belt over it (not to mention with black lace fingerless gloves as an added accessory) and received a lot of compliments. One comment was...I couldn't quite tell what it was, but I was quite entertained when someone passing in the school hallway called out "your scarf is really intense!" and literally ran away and up the stairs. Whatever she meant, I enjoyed the whole scenario either way! XD
Oh, but also in the game the character Shiki Misaki wants to be a designer and she's a very talented seamstress. That really made me want to get back into cosplay and sewing again! Just recently, I had material I never used and some scrap ribbon and lace and decided to make a skirt out of it. No one could tell I made it! I was very pleased, as many of my projects are less than successful...though that may be because I get a bit impatient with the details.
On a random note, I realized that the way I write is very much like the way I think, but very different from the way I talk. Yes, I know that's only interesting to me. Thought you all should know...
Alright, that concludes this post!

Okay, I lied, quick note: I think I'll try to put in a picture to go with the post more often. Nothing excessive though. I read this one article about a woman who was a dentist, or in that field, who pulled out all her ex-husband's teeth and the article writer had to put in a picture so he put one that was a random dentistry picture and labeled the caption: and here we see an unrelated picture of a dentist and her patient. I thought he had a sense of humour.
Okay, tangent over.

And here we see Shibuya street fashion!

And here we see an uncomfortable-looking dentist patient!

13th Musing: Ramblings About the Future

(You know maybe if I kept this blog up more often, I'd have more than two followers who only follow me because they're my friends...)

So I have recently discovered after several years of holding on to the dream of being an actress, I realized that the theatre is not exactly my forte. I really love acting...but when I'm alone where I cannot look foolish in front of an audience. It's really facing other people and gauging how ridiculous my interpretation of a monologue is or something that inhibits me. Also, I am terrible at screaming or crying even when I'm alone, so emotions are just very hard to show on stage. Film acting sounds extremely fun and I'd probably do very well at commercials being the upbeat sort of person I am. However, real acting is a challenge. In school, I dropped my last year of theatre because we weren't doing anything except reading children's stories out loud to each other or other busy work exercises like pretending to be parts of a machine (to learn teamwork!! :/ ) and then she criticized us for doing a half-assed job whereas I wanted to criticize her for giving us a half-assed activity. Or maybe more like 10% assed. What a weird expression.
Currently, there are many things I want to be, though what I would love to be soon is a published author. I love creating characters most of all (and I don't know why, but naming them is really fun...)
In another life I would love to be a concert pianist (but I'm afraid it is not important enough for me to spend hours upon hours of practicing and studying theory). Fashion designing sounds really fun too, but once again, the level of dedication has to be there. Also, I dress very well, but I don't like mainstream fashion as much. I like when it has a certain flair. I think street fashion, especially in Japan, is pretty cool...
Oh, but anyways, I find it interesting when I find my friends or other people even ten years older than me saying they still have no idea what they want to do in life. I've always known in every stage of life--I had a very large goal and smaller, more practical ones.
I know that school makes it hard to focus on your desired career because they force you to study subjects you hate, especially in East Asia where you have to study for hours on end--like Korea where you have to stay at school until 10 at night. Without free time or a more specialized approach, it's hard for someone who really knows themselves to get a sense of what field they want to go into. Though this could bring higher test scores to fuel the government's love for competition, it can ultimately hurt a country because there would be no innovation or passion for their work, but instead a lot of business people or doctors or lawyers who may not want to help people so much as want money, a respectable career, and a stable job. It just hurts everyone.
I'm not saying this is everyone's case, but it is definitely a clear outcome that is all too common.

12th Musing--Characters I Admire (I)

Some posts, like this one, will be an analysis of characters I admire and why. It kinda segways into other topics to explore, but maybe not. I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say...

Character One: Tohru Honda! from Fruits Basket (manga)
Here she is!

MBTI type: INFP

To be honest, most of my friends hate her because they think she's a pushover, too nice, unrealistic, etc. While I agree that she can be too nice/generous at times and a doormat, there are key traits that make me love her. She is extremely compassionate, forgiving, caring, and trusting. She's not even overly trusting despite what everyone thinks. She has a healthy dose of caution.
I also love that she's not naturally talented, but she is very, very hard-working and that takes her far. Whether in work or with the people she cares about, she never complains about a task and gets right to work.
I have read through the whole manga twice and each time, I believe I've grown by emulating her example. I value hard work and I am more caring and generous towards people. Additionally, I am more forgiving because I know that everyone makes mistakes and most people truly do have good intentions or they did and lost sight of how they originally were. Tohru has taught me to believe in the goodness of others, which I wrote about on...perhaps my second post? I can't remember.
I think a good example is with, for those of you who know the manga, Hatori. She was told not to be left alone with him because he couldn't be trusted, so I was also quite wary of him. As we both freaked out when he called her down to talk to her about the whole situation relating to the plot that I won't explain because it'll take too long, her friend who was living with him (they were related) told her a story about his life that opened her heart to him, though she never would have heard it Hatori himself.
Another example is when she helped to emotionally heal the character that everyone hated. But that character was so terrible because she was facing so many problems of her own that no one else knew about, but expressed them in all the wrong ways.

So Tohru and the rest of the manga has really taught me much. That is why I say artists are perhaps some of the greatest benefactors of this world because they can affect people where it matters.

10th Musing: About These So-Called Social Hierarchies

(random ultra special life note: I'm on the fifth season of 7th Heaven now. It's weird how a few months ago, I thought this one character was so young, but by now she's the same age as me...)

This is lengthy so my main point is under the next bold if you want to skip...
So on to the main topic...
Throughout my life I have had many experiences trying to define social hierarchies, wondering how one places themselves higher or lower, whether it exists or not, etc. The answer to the second question I've found is that it does...and it doesn't. Like I said, I've had many revelations on the subject, but the one I had today really clicked with me.

I won't give any names (and if you're one of these people and you happened to stumble upon this, the description of you will be objective, but not very flattering for either of you, so...sorry.), but I was with three other people ranging from friends to acquaintances grouping up to get work done. I'll call them H, Y, and F.

F talks to Y, but always talks about her behind her back. However, to her face, I wouldn't think that she particularly disliked Y. F also likes to feel superior to Y. I could be wrong, but it's what I'm gathering.
Y seems dependent on being accepted so she always talks to F because she's a familiar face even though she seems a little uncomfortable with the "friendly teasing" at times.
H also needs to be accepted, however F has nothing bad to say about her so this less-and-less wallflower type follows F with her teasing of Y.
I tell Y not to listen to either of them because they're being annoying (of course in their same joking manner, though I do think they are being a little rude to her).

The result is that now Y has someone of good company (me) while F is initiating little irritating remarks as H follows.

Lazy readers (just kidding) start here!
So I've finally gotten to my main point. I realize that the social hierarchy of our group went like this from most power to least, I guess we could say: Me (hear me out), F, H, Y. And no one assigned this except we, ourselves. By trying to get acceptance and not standing up for herself concerning both F and H... Y then put herself below them all on her own. By imitating F's actions against Y to get acceptance, H thought herself above Y and below F. By not caring one way or another and being a sort of leader?, F placed herself in her mind above both of them.
And why am I above them? Because I was willing to sort of help Y out and actually talk to her instead of making jibes and really not caring at all what the other two think, even though I love them as friends of course (you know how it goes) and knowing I don't need to copy others or change my behavior in general in order to gain acceptance from those worth it (and this last sentence was a general life lesson as opposed to concentrating purely on that situation, so as not to seem dramatic ;D)

So yes, there is my long rambly musing.
Thanks for reading!

9th Musing: Female Protagonists (especially in YA)

As I am an avid reader, I obviously come across many female characters (as that is our topic of today's midnight), but rarely are they ever satisfactory! Ironically I've noticed they're least annoying, which is to say, lovely, in the average middle grade book and only semi annoying in the average "adult" book. As for the YA (young adult) section, they are absolute book-ruiners. In teen books there are generally a select few personality types authors choose to use:

1. The melodramatic "I'm just so in love with him" type. Instead of giving you examples, I'll tell you to look at any romance, especially that of the paranormal subgenre. Bella Swann is our captain here.

2. The girl who tries to be tough and "badass" but just ends being a #1 (see above). I'll say that Tris Prior from Divergent is the poster child for this. (Though I admit I feel bad, as I couldn't decide whether I liked the book or not and I really liked the idea, it just seemed like it was written in the tone of every other teen book, and I wasn't a fan of Tris, though I really loved the guy that came in (go figure), and a few other characters as well, though I think she killed off too many people, run-on sentence, run-on sentence, run-on sentence....)

3. The girl who must be snarky at every moment and find some smart-ass comment at any given time. I mean, I love snarky/sassy!--but when it's done CORRECTLY! For example, Diana Ladris from the Gone series does it perfectly and she's a wonderful three-dimensional character. However, Sophie Mercer was great in the first book Hex Hall but in Demonglass, she was a little too much.

4. They're just meek and blend in with the wall paper. Usually they end up becoming brave and do stand up for themselves, but their personalities are still quite plain to me.

Now I feel a little bad because I did like those books (excluding Twilight--that one is a literary shame, which I probably will continue to reiterate when it comes up). In high fantasy, however, the women are all just sort of these boring, maternal blobs! We need more Hermiones and Diana Ladrises (as far as grey characters go) and Kate DeVrieses (oh what a brilliant character she is <3 ) and etc.
Does anyone agree with me? (As not many people read this I don't expect actual comments but mental concurrence is nice too).

8th Musing: Religion

(Hello, I'm back! Did my followers miss me? All two of you? Actually I'm back here because my friend reminded me to write, so I'm writing! I just lack good subject material in general lol)

On to the main topic...

For me, this whole subject of religion has become quite ironic recently. I was possibly as cynical as anyone could be about religion, especially Christianity (and I'm very sorry if that offends anyone reading this, but it's true). I tended to ridicule most religions, finding them stupid, irrelevant, wrong, a waste of time, the list could go on. However, as I watch 7th Heaven (middle of fourth season!) while I continue to work on an Aerith cosplay :3 I feel like I'm slowly being converted. It's really weird actually because my opinions are slowly shifting all the way to the other side. No matter what religion they talk about on that show (in the rare occasion they discuss one other than Christianity), it always sounds wonderful. Judaism, Buddhism, etc. (though I've always liked Buddhism even if I couldn't agree with it on some points). My views on Catholicism haven't changed a bit, but the show put everything else in a new light. I realize that it isn't the religion I couldn't stand, it was the corruption made by people willing to use it for war, amassing wealth, blaming others, etc. In its purest form, the reason for its creation, Christianity seemed far more loving and accepting than it does now. (And of course, good old Reverend Camden sticks to those ideals). I think about everyone I know will find it weird if I suddenly decide to join a church. I've been the furthest thing from atheistic, though I've also been the furthest from religious. I have a more spiritual mindset. Perhaps it is the spirituality I hold in my beliefs that first crafted the religions in their incorrupted form.

Just some thoughts that passed through my mind.

7th Musing: Proper Usage of Yaoi! My ranting--no flames allowed

So being an avid fan of manga, anime, video games, and the like, I come across a lot of yaoi in fanfiction and it annoys the heck out of me, to be honest. Usually when I complain, people agree with me, but then there are the "you're against homosexuality? You're a terrible person!" So clarifying things right away, I am definitely not against it, I support love in any shape or form as long as both partners are happy (I'll just keep it as that because, well, that's a whole other topic to delve into, which I probably won't unless I'm actually interested in pondering it).
I guess I'll zero-in on Kingdom Hearts, a video game. Two best friends (and that's it!). The main character all but declares his love for the girl in their little trio and she returns his feelings, which is one of the reasons why the other (heterosexual) character is jealous of the protagonist: because he's also in love with her. Now when I'm trying to find a good story on ff.net, it's all yaoi pairing the two guys together, which, honestly, ruins the whole story for me because, aside from thinking the protagonist and said love interest are quite cute together, these people are twisting the characters' actions and making the whole story about them secretly being in love with each other.
Now a few I wouldn't mind, but when there are hundreds of them and it's hard to just find a good old friendship story (and don't even get me started on two other main characters who are like brothers because they also fall in love with a girl, the third member of their group). I think yaoi can be good if it's canon like Magnus Bane and Alec, and I love Jakotsu---he's one of my favourite characters in the whole show, or Dekka and Brianna, though this one is sad because the latter is straight.
Basically, I'm just saying: use it properly, people! The author wrote it a certain way for a reason! Stop twisting their words and prior actions. Like I said, I can understand some yaoi when the author doesn't intend it, but it's inescapable now to the point where I can't find anything else for my favourite stories. *sigh*

6th Musing: School Systems

Random daily update: (Two of them actually. One, today I repeated something that sounded very familiar to my friends and then I realized it's because I wrote it, but it was quite true. The friend who reads this laughed at me, but I realized I should just have stock-phrases from here in my head now :/ )
(Second: I just finished an amazing (beautiful!) book called Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe).

So I guess since I haven't had many ideas, here's one that tends to circulate in my head sometimes, especially because one of my friends is really bent on changing it. And that would be the school systems of...well, more than one country. And this will be a shorter post too.
I'll be simple.
Here's what's wrong:

Standardized testing
Grades
Favoring memorization over free-thinking and opinions
Forcing students to learn certain subjects past certain grades.
Required reading (by board members, most of whom have never been educators) and have you read The Song of Solomon? Besides emotionally scarring its victims--readers--it teaches me nothing except that the author has mental issues. To be fair, the last two pages were quite good. And I will never forget the time we had to read 150 pages about a man in prison and it consisted of him talking about what he ate at his meals and how grueling and mind-numbing it was to lay bricks for hours. For a few pages he would talk about his family and how they thought he was a spy, but the rest discussed what I wrote a sentence ago.

There's more, but those are the biggest problems as far as purely education goes. So I think there should be a mass reform.
1. Once students know that they hate math or language or any other subject besides writing (because they'll have to do this their whole life anyways), those subjects should not be required because that time otherwise wasted could be devoted to refining their real skills.
2. There should be no grades. Tests are a terrible way to measure intelligence, which renders grades irrelevant to a person's skill. Einstein failed math.
3. A council of current teachers will decide what books to read and they're not all terribly boring, they know books that are both enjoyable to read and those which contain valuable teaching material.
4. Just get rid of standardized testing, it's a waste of time, energy, and really just to fuel America's place in the worldwide competition of "which country has the best students?"

Just some of my thoughts. Also...I lied about this being a short post.

5th Musing: Out of Musings (but somehow we get to sci-fi)

So I sorta skipped a day of musings and with my sincerest apologies, I must also say that I have no musings at the moment! But then I thought: Ah! What a paradox this is!
Because really, I am musing about the fact that I have no musings. If I had musings, I could muse, but if I had none then I could muse about how I could not muse.
And that is how this post has the word muse (or a word in its family) 9 times in 5 lines. That should be some sort of record.
But while we are on this topic of paradoxes, I must say they, especially those of the temporal sort, are some of my favorite things about which to theorize. It's because I watch things like Doctor Who and the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (you can't forget Final Fantasy VIII in addition to that).
I warn you there are spoilers ahead!!

With Doctor Who we could talk all day about paradoxes, so I'll just talk about MoHS. So in the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (like I said: spoilers coming up). The main character's just minding his own business, trying to turn the world back to its original way and then the crazy girl who we thought disappeared like 15 episodes back randomly comes in and stabs him in the back (literally). So while he's writhing in pain and she's making sure he doesn't make it out alive, two saviours step in and save him. One of them is obviously the main character from the future with his friend, a time-traveler, though they only reveal his silhouette and voice. After the second time watching (and reading a couple of forum posts), I realized that he was only alive at the end because his future self saved him. But how did that future self get out alive?  Technically that future self shouldn't have existed.
Or what about that story where this man wanted to see how a building burned down so he went back in time into that building and knocked down the lantern that started the fire. So basically, he caused what he wanted to witness.
So I have to wonder: if time travel is possible (and I really do believe it is, we just haven't achieved the means yet), could these ever happen?
And what about time loops? How many times have you lived this day if it turns back so that you can't remember? In the Endless Eight (MoHS again), they all felt a strong sense of deja vu. Now whenever I feel that, I get creeped out because I think of time loops.
I'd like to find out how much of this is possible and how to achieve something like this because, really, I believe that manipulating time is a possibility, we're just not advanced enough.

4th Musing: Acting

At the risk of this being a topic not many people aside from me will care about....I don't really care, so just wait for tomorrow's post or something.
So basically, one of my dream careers (of many) is to be an actress (film preferred over theatre) and my recent college level theatre class really inspired me to become more serious about it. There is a lot of analysis about human behaviour, which is my niche (psychological brain, to refresh your memory) and also how to display certain characteristics on-stage. My teacher is extremely passionate, which is probably my favourite characteristic in a teacher, and she was always telling us to study actors and listen to their tones and watch their body language. It's just so interesting to see how some of the really excellent actors can capture characters so well. Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, and the like can become entirely different people, yet still believable through each one.
Aside from the three mentioned, my list of inspirational actors is as followed:

David Gallagher
Miyano Mamoru
Jun Ji-Hyun (though I've only seen her in one movie--My Sassy Girl--she is fabulous!)
Alan Rickman
James Franco
Daniel Auteuil
Heath Ledger just because he could become a character completely
Robin Williams
Christopher Lee!

Ahhh the list could go on, but those are the ones that sprang to mind.
I recently discovered just how much an actor can change a character even by one word. I was listening to the Japanese version and then the English version of, well, a video game (but they have really top-notch actors--how I miss you, Billy Zane...). Basically one character accused the second character of not having a conscience and turning to the dark side, so the second character replied, "Conscience?"
So when I first heard it in English it was sassy David Gallagher saying it in a sort of disdainful tone. Then we have a non-sassy Miyano Mamoru say it in a different tone, as if he's hurt that his friend suggested he didn't have a conscience and he seemed far more vulnerable than the closed-off English interpretation.
I was about to tell this to my friend, but I feel like I'd given her enough Kingdom Hearts, and furthermore Riku analysis for a lifetime (but it's only the latter, really, that I'm afraid she'll get tired of). So, sparing her, I just explained my little observation and personally just found it fascinating how it was only one word and how two totally different interpretations can be "correct" (and by correct, I mean give the feel of the character).

And with that I bid you adieu until the fifth musing.

Third Musing: What Makes a Personality

(random daily update: I couldn't write yesterday because of a very bad stomachache :P I must say, though, that I should call these ramblings instead of musings. Thank you for putting up with me.
~listening to Yamagami no Mori he from Hotarubi <3)

So I can safely assure that many of my friends would expect this post by now. I guess I'm what one would call a psychology junkie? MBTI, enneagram, Global 5, astrology, quizilla character personality tests, you name it. Some I like more than others (that would be 1, 2, and 4 on that small list) and I use them to obsessively type my friends, characters I like, celebrities, or just people I'm interested in, in general.
As for me, I'm an ENTP, 4w3, and Pisces (Aquarius moon), which happens to be extremely contradictory. (4 symbolizes individualism and loner tendencies while 3 needs success and depends on admiration from others). Pisces is emotional, Aquarius is rational and so forth, but enough about me. I was just pondering that which contributes to one's personality. Personally, I was never much for the theory stating the brain is your being. Despite the opinions of what I like to call narrow-minded scientist types, I believe in a soul and that the heart, not the brain, rules emotion.
I also never understood the people who claimed that children are just a product (or sum?) of their parents. Yes, I've definitely taken mannerisms and ways of interacting with people based on what I grew up with, but I have my own unique personality that's been with me since I was born as does everyone. I like to claim some individuality.
Another thing that annoys me is that my English teacher (though she's actually my favorite English teacher ever and she is amazing, I promise) one year always had us focusing on our identity and while she told us to look deep within ourselves (and present our findings to the whole class twice a semester), we also had to focus on "external identity" such as race, religion, neighborhood, etc.). I can honestly say that I don't care about any of those and they do not contribute to my inner self whatsoever and reading those articles saying that we are also a product (sum?) of these things was equally irritating. Let's go down the list then:
Race: coming in contact with racism can certainly make one's life harder, sure. What else?
Neighborhood: good or bad can determine your life, not your inner core
Religion: can corrupt or improve a person--nothing to do with personality or who someone truly is.

...So that's my $0.02.

All About People

random update from じゅりあ！: I'm listening to the song kanekane shigure from Hotarubi no Mori he (To the Forest of Firefly Lights), beautiful music to match a beautiful movie, but there is no sheet music anywhere, how saddening).

afternote: I warn you this is very rambly and maybe cheesy :P I didn't want to make it too long, so I'll just give you some thoughts that go through my head oftentimes.

So what I've noticed is that there are a lot of people (especially on the internet where one can remain anonymous and rant and rave all they'd like) about how much they hate other people. I really don't know where I'm going with this and my mind has a stream of consciousness manner to it that unwinds like thread on a spool....so bear with me. I suppose I just can't understand them because I love people. Sometimes it's hard, especially with the news where bad people are broadcast 24/7. And I definitely know that there are things that happen that are really disturbing, but the culprits are never the majority because there are so many good people who hate them just as much.

"There is more light than darkness in this world, but darkness is a lot louder because it loves attention." This is a quote from a very wise woman I know and I found truth in it.

 Another thing is, I have a friend in mind who, though she is very loyal with a wonderful system of values (though passive-aggressive to a head-ache inducing extent at times), can rarely find positive aspects in others or their intentions. I try to help her look for the good in others because I always do that and I usually find it right away, but she always assumes the worst of everyone. I believe that if you're kind, you'll find kindness in return, and so forth. 

I manage to make friends easily (and in random places) because of this, I think (Well that and addressing them in a chummy manner when first meeting and sometimes calling them by a Spanish version of their name depending on my comfort level). People tend to tell me their life stories a lot, but I think it's because I actually care about them and they can see that *shrug*. 

One time I was in the nurse's office for a terrible stomach ache (and got out of yoga, chyaaa ;D) and there were two friends talking and then said sorry "girl over there" for disturbing me, though I found their conversation really funny and somehow we all started talking. So with about 25 minutes left we, well mostly one girl and I because the other quietly listened, got into deep discussions and debate about the government, depression, drugs, and everything and she told me really personal stories. I haven't seen them again (they're a year ahead), but I find it so interesting how people are so deep with so many layers. 

Another semi-anecdote, I always felt bad for pre-judging this girl in my class who looked really, I don't know, standoffish, stuck-up, pick an adjective, and I ended up really liking her and she defied all expectations. Now, I make it a rule never to judge. I mean, there are still unconscious processes (biological hardwiring), but I will make no observations about someone's inner personage until I really know them and have had some sort of substantial conversation with them.

And for my Sunday sermon-worthy piece: everyone is the same, we all have the same insecurities and doubts. We want to be accepted and, no matter what people say, everyone cares what people think at least a little (there's that biological hardwiring again.) 

One more thing: I don't have the exact quote, but I was reading the Japanese book Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe and one character, just one minor character who barely appears, made a really interesting point about how everyone is every age they have ever experienced. I recently theorized that everyone is both a mature adult and an innocent child. I see kids several years younger than me say surprisingly wise, insightful things while I've seen people a lot older than me having the same basic wants and feelings as a young child. You don't truly know someone until you've seen both.

And people are like ogres. "Like onions, they have layers."

(Well I thought it was clever...)