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.