The Final Day's Reflection

Today's the last day of this so I think I can go ahead and safely confess it: for the last 40 days I have been on a fast. It's something my church has been doing, and my parents and brother have been doing it too. My parents have been more extreme about it, drinking juice and stuff. My brother has been fasting media. Me, I've been fasting snacks. And it's been hard; I've slipped four times. And now that I'm on the last day, I'm not sure whether it helped me in the way I think this sort of thing is supposed to. I went into it with the intent of seeking wisdom and guidance, like Esther did in the book of Esther, specifically on the future and my purpose and what God wants me to do regarding both. And I don't feel any more enlightened about it. Not to mention I haven't felt the spiritual euphoria Pastor Miles has said we should be experiencing. And I know what he means by euphoria, because he described what happened to him before, and plus I've read accounts by Christian mystics (Julian of Norwich, etc) where they describe the spiritual visions they had and the extreme feelings they experienced as a result. It makes me wonder if I've even been doing this right.

On the other hand, I have heard it said that God doesn't always (or maybe ever) show you the big picture. He just gives you enough for the next step, and you have to trust him for the rest. So maybe I have been looking at this from the wrong perspective, or asking God for the wrong thing. Not sure.

I did get something interesting today which might have been part of God's methods for getting through to me. You see, my coworker Tasi, a Meat Cutter, is also a Christian, and lately he's been writing Scripture on scraps of paper and passing them out to people randomly, including me. And the one he gave me today says this:

"Proveb 16:3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."

Somehow I felt like that verse was just what I needed today. It was a good feeling.

Today I was reviewing my results from the last two spiritual gifts tests I've taken - the one I took for the "Discover Your Spiritual Gifts" class at North Coast and the one for The Rock, the church I currently attend. Though taken some time apart, I think there is some correlation.

On the North Coast test, my top three gifts (what the teacher called a "gift mix") were Knowledge, Missionary, and Service. Rounding out the top 5 were Administration (#4) and Helps (#5, and somehow different than service). On the test from The Rock, my results were:

1. Teacher
2. Prophet/Perceiver
3. Mercy/Compassion
4. (tie) Leader/Administrator & Server
6. Exhorter/Encourager
7. Giver

So some correlation, though the categories are different. A Teacher is defined as "the God-given ability to study, research, explain and communicate truth (e.g. Paul and Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2)." A Prophet/Perceiver is someone who has "the God-given ability to communicate God's message in relation to the truth already revealed (Jude 3)...It is done for the purposes of encouraging, strengthening and comforting (1 Cor. 14:3). These have the ability to perceive the spiritual needs of others and meet those needs through Scripture." Mercy/Compassion is "the God-given ability to have immediate compassion for those who are suffering combined with great joy in meeting their needs (E.g., the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37)." Leadership/administration is "the God-given ability to lead others in meaningful endeavors which demonstrates personal care and concern in order to meet the needs of others and encourage their growth (E.g., fathers in 1 Tim. 3:4-5, 12)." A Server is someone who "has the God-given ability to recognize a need and administer assistance to others" which allows other Christians to use their gifts effectively as a result. As for the last two gifts, I think they're probably self-explanatory.

I can see traits of all of these gifts I just mentioned in me. I admit on that first test, getting Missionary kind of scared me, because although I'm very interested in both travel and in learning about other cultures, the idea of giving up the rest of my life to go witness in some jungle somewhere (the stereotypical missionary example; I offer it as an example of my thought processes only) frightens me. And I fear a little that I would go on missions trips more out of wanderlust than out of any noble spiritual purpose, which I don't want (I used this excuse - because I realize now it was an excuse - to talk myself out of a North Coast missions trip to Romania to teach English and witness). Maybe I always thought I'd end up like Robin Jones Gunn (author of the Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen series), who I read tried to get a missionary job abroad but couldn't and ended up becoming a writer instead, that becoming her missions field.

I also re-read the pages people linked me to when I asked on Google+ for lists of the various jobs available in web design. Cause I want to figure out where I fit. Cause gosh dangit I've spent almost 11 years paying my dues, and now I want an actual career. One I might actually enjoy for once. Plus I want to make sure I'm promoting myself right on my web design portfolio site.

These didn't help clarify things much. Other than that I definitely am not going for a graphic designer job, which I knew already. My graphic design skills are improving, I think, but artistically gifted - in a visual art sense - I have never been. Despite the fact that there must be some of it in my genes since my dad is always doodling and is actually not that bad at it. I do have some sense of what colors look good or don't, though, and I watch HGTV all the time. I think any artistic ability I possess is primarily in my ability to act, which I think I had naturally but which has since been augmented by my drama classes. And maybe dance since I do like to dance and have a rather flexible body. (My liking of dancing is really the only reason I'm even considering taking a Zumba class - well that and the fact that my friend Marina took it and really liked it).

Well, ok, let's be fair: every time I've committed myself to reading these articles, I've been tired and not paid a whole lot of attention to them. So maybe I will do that now. Because I want this post to be complete and also to kill time, since I am considering having a snack as soon as the day turns, since I actually had my "dinner" on my lunch period at work, which was SEVEN HOURS AGO, and haven't eaten since.

First off though, the advice that someone gave me in a text comment in response to one of my posts asking for lists of jobs in web design:

Hi, I am new in the field as well...what I did was to take stock of what my strengths are and what training I had. Then I sought out a local Web Design house near me, setup a meeting with the owner of the small business and asked him roughly the same ?'s you have. When in doubt, go to the horses mouth, some say...so he told me there are generally 2 categories--1. Front end designers--graphic/layout/photoshop/overall look of site 2. Back end developers--essentially all or most of the programming--JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and other software linking a site to e-commerce servers, etc. In summary, with that info, I decided that I can do it all on my own, that I don't want to be an employee and be labeled or tasked with 1 or the other. I seek to be my own boss...I feel I have equal strengths in graphic design and the nuts and bolts--HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. Hope this helps??? Good Luck!

So basically there are the front-end people and the back-end people. The designers and the developers, essentially, to use the proper parlance. I technically have training in both areas, though I suppose I would be stronger on the developer side because my coding knowledge is quite good (though it needs improving) whereas my graphic design skills are, as I said, meh. I kind of like doing the whole package with my sites, personally -- and more or less fought for this tooth and nail during my Web Design 3 team project, insisting that we all 4 send wireframes to the client because I was convinced that if we didn't, I would be the one left out because I was the weakest on the team in terms of graphic design skill. I managed to convince Carmelina (our de facto team leader) to see it my way and we all four sent wireframes. I forget which one we went with in the end.

As for the article from Practicalecommerce, I think I am mostly Role 2 (Copywriter) and Role 5 (Site Promoter) personality-wise, even though I kinda suck at website promotion. With Myu Corner, I got lucky that my politely-worded e-mails asking sites in my subject to affiliate with me all worked out, that a URL in an e-mail signature about sending Magic Knight Rayearth scans scored links to the site from Manga-Style and Sailormusic.net (both run by the same person), and that I got accepted for listing at The Deep Submerge Directory/Ten(sen)shi very soon after launching the site (my friend Elly said she was very surprised at this as the owner of that directory is usually very discriminating about what sites she adds). Elly, as I recall, suggested not even to start advertising till you have a steady update schedule for six months, and to not expect a huge fan following till 5 years in. I, unfortunately, am not that patient and usually put the cart before the horse in terms of promotion, going all willy-nilly about it and then wondering why it doesn't work. I'm an insecure person with poor self-image who desperately wants to be an internet star, preferably a viral one, but has yet to accomplish it. And for about 15 years (give-or-take), I have been on that fruitless mission. Maybe I should give that up already and just admit that I will probably never be famous for anything on the internet, and that's ok.

In terms of skills, I'm probably a little of 1/6 (Web Strategist) and 4 (Technical Programmer).

And now for the list from AAAA.org. The following positions on the list appeal to me:

• Content Strategist
• Digital Strategist/Planner
• Digital Strategist/Planner (2)
• Flash Developer
• Flash Programmer/Designer
• Front End Developer
• Front End Developer (2)
• Information Architect
• Interactive Copywriter/Content Writer
• Web Architect
• Web Designer

On closer examination, I'd narrow that list down to:

• Flash Developer
• Front End Developer
• Information Architect
• Interactive Copywriter/Content Writer
• Web Designer

I have an unexplained fascination with Flash. Maybe because it was the first Adobe program I ever really learned how to use. (Photoshop, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver came later).

Then there's the article from DesignShack, which is actually about graphic design jobs (which makes sense, as DesignShack, despite its about page claiming it's about web design, always struck me as a graphic design-oriented site). Since I'm not trying to become a graphic designer, most of the article doesn't help me. It does give some job examples for digital design, however, and I can see myself as a Front End Web Designer or a Designer/Developer based on their descriptions.

(6 minutes left till midnight...)

And finally, I saved the big fancy one for last: the slideshow at dabrook.org, which really lays it out there, even quoting salary ranges for various positions. In this case, I see myself mostly in the "5 Build the Site" category, as a front-end developer, though the idea of being a Social Media Expert is also something I could probably do.

Whoa, one minute left till the end of the night. Gonna go ahead and publish this and continue later.

New Year's Resolutions...from last year

I was poking around the folders of stuff on my computer and found my list of resolutions for 2012. Which, ironically, was made in April 2012 rather than January. Let's see if I met any of them, shall we?

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS 2012

Personal Life Resolutions

1. Grow closer to God through increased Bible study & prayer.

2. Be independent or closer to it by the end of the year.

3. Do something about my weight.

I don't think I fulfilled any of these last year. Maybe #1, but I'm not sure.

Writing Resolutions

1. Finally revise Darkly Bound

2. Update my writing website

3. Work on my craft in general.

4. Work on networking & possibly submission

I definitely did NOT do number 1. Darkly Bound remains unrevised. I hope to remedy that in March by doing National Novel Editing Month. 4 I didn't really fulfill either. 2 I sort of fulfilled; I did update my site minorly, but not the way I know I was thinking of when I wrote this list. 3 is the only one I truly fulfilled, since I did NaNoWriMo and stuff.

Web Design Resolutions

1. Finish my Web Design & Development certificate

2. Become more well-versed in CSS & PHP.

3. Launch Sparkle Moon on the web

4. Finish missing sections of Myu Corner

5. Change Myu Corner layout, blog theme & incorporate blog RSS feed

6. Work on Anime Guide Database

7. Work on Starry-Dreamer Galaxy (Liquid Mercury, Ayeka's Palace, etc)

8. Learn more graphic design

2012 was the year I finished my web design certificate and was hoping to find a job in web design, which is why this list is longer than the others. So obviously I fulfilled #1. #3 I planned on doing but ultimately gave up on as a lost cause. #4 did not get completely done in 2012, though I am working on it to this day. #5 didn't happen; I had to re-start the blog and have not yet incorporated its RSS feed into the site (I'm still trying to figure out how to do that), and I haven't changed the layout from the original one, a very pink one with an iframe - one that was ok for what code I knew in 2009, but which is no longer acceptable to me (or probably to any web design-savvy person).

#8 did not happen on any consistent basis. #7 did happen to an extent; like Sparkle Moon, I ultimately gave the resurrection of Ayeka's Palace up as a lost cause, but Liquid Mercury and Come Fly With Me (a fanlisting for the TV show Pan Am), the other two sites planned at the time for "The Starry-Dreamer Galaxy" (my name for the collective umbrella of my starry-dreamer.net subdomains), did happen. Eventually I closed Come Fly With Me due to lack of interest from the net and declining interest from myself. But Liquid Mercury is still up: http://mercury.starry-dreamer.net. I need to edit the home page for the Galaxy to reflect these changes (and make it visible in mobile browsers; it's not fully visible now in mobile browsers cause the main part was done in Flash).

#6 refers to an ongoing anime/manga episode guide wiki project I am working on. I did not get much work done on that in 2012, other than starting guides for two shows I was watching in early 2012: Futari wa Pretty Cure MAX HEART and Inuyasha. My intent was to finish some guides to start the database off with, and then add guides as necessary. I still haven't tried "working" for some wikis to learn the ropes of them yet, though, like I'd planned, so the wiki is far from prime time yet.

#2 didn't really happen either, but then it was a pretty vague goal. Although in 2012 I launched my first full-blown site that included PHP elements (PokéSideGames).

Other Resolutions

1. Learn to draw manga-style.

2. Improve my French.

3. Explore other video-making programs.

4. Explore careers at Career Center & pin down one.

#1 refers to a challenge where I was going to go through the "learn to draw manga" books I have and post my drawings from them every day on my Tumblr. Yeah, that didn't happen. But I have done drawings from those books, and you can see some of them on my DeviantArt, which I launched in July 2012. I have more drawn than are posted on there; I just need to scan them.

#2 didn't happen. At least not in an active way.

#3 was another sort of vague goal. I did learn a little of Final Cut Pro in my Interactive Media Production class in Spring 2012, but unfortunately, I can't use it on my laptop because it's a Mac-only program and I have Windows. I tried to install Adobe Premiere (the closest Windows equivalent) on my computer, but it requires a 64-bit OS, which I don't have, so it didn't work. Actually I haven't made videos for a long time; I've actually been more or less boycotting YouTube since their one update that made it impossible for you to delete videos from your subscriptions after watching them (you used to be able to click a little x in the corner of the preview image for the video in your feed, but you can't do this anymore, and despite how many people have complained about this, Google has not provided any help or tried to fix the problem).

I'm not sure what #4 was about. I've done career research before at MiraCosta, and as an Alumni Association member I think I still have access to the career resources at Cal State's Career Center. So I'm not sure what I was thinking with that one.

As for my resolutions for this year, they're in the previous post.

Good night!

P.S. I fiddled around with my template to make the blog title and description prettier and more readable. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas...and looking toward the new year.

And once again I have failed to post in a long time.

Merry Christmas. Or belated Christmas rather. My Christmas was good. I already described it on my Tumblr, so I'm not going to describe it again.

I have a feeling I may not post on this blog much in the future. I'm getting more into my Tumblr. I mean, I do still like this blog, and I've had it for 8 years, but at times I like the active community of Tumblr and such. I think I will still use this as a sort of semi-private journal, a place for when I just need to write down my thoughts. Like what most people use a diary for as kids. That was always the intention of this blog. I acknowledged the audience at times (you can't really ignore them) but mostly just forgot they were there.

The end of the year is a time for reflection, and thus I am reflecting on my life once more. I think I do it too much though. It's some sort of curse I have; I am extremely introspective. Might be an introvert thing, might be an Asperger's thing, I have no idea.

We (my parents, my brother, and I) had a long discussion about stuff at the dinner table after Christmas dinner, and the idea of me living in low-income housing came up. I knew this was an option, and an affordable one on my current income, which isn't enough for a regular apartment unless I had roommates. But I think pride got in the way, and I didn't want to even look into that option. But now I am thinking maybe I should look into it. I'm almost 30 and it's about time that I move out. Of course, I may have to talk to my parents about this, especially since my mom doesn't seem to think I'm ready to move out, and my dad got all weirded out the last time I attempted to move out (some school friends of mine and I were looking into getting an apartment together). I mean, I lack skills essential to living on your own, like making a budget and cooking. And if I move out, I would probably qualify for food stamps and stuff, which I'd have to apply for. Depending on what my rent situation was, I wouldn't have as much money and thus would have to budget. The food stamps/EBT would help for food, but I'd have to pay rent and utilities at least, plus the things I pay for monthly like my bus pass, cell phone, and subscriptions to Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll. (I might cancel the Crunchyroll one, since I haven't used that site in a while). Oh and now my Gamefly subscription. Plus I would want to tithe. And pay for internet access if I wanted it (unless it was part of the utilities). Cable TV I could do without; I did without it for about 14 years of my life. You can watch pretty much every show there is online now anyway (or through Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, etc), so it's possible to live without cable.

Just sent in a form for my bank's Financial Freedom service. It's free for all members (I belong to a credit union, so we're called "members") and is supposed to help you get your money situation sorted out. Hopefully that will help.

Then there's the job front. I got my certificate in Web Development and Design, but nothing has come of it yet because I haven't begun job hunting. The other night at work I was thinking I should try to research the industry and figure out exactly what kind of job I'm qualified for. That would give me a place to start. Currently on my web design portfolio site I list myself as a "web designer and writer," but I guess that might be kind of vague. I suppose I could try Dribbble too, since a lot of web designers are on there. There is also the issue of if I switch jobs whether I'd still qualify for low-income housing and so on, since a job like that would likely pay more than I make now. I guess for entry-level it might be ok though. I would have to check. I think my mom probably knows more about these things. (My coworker Adam has an issue with this sort of stuff; the reason he's always complaining about his hours is that if he earns too much money, he can't continue getting the Social Security Disability benefits he receives because of his Asperger's...but then that's his problem. I've gotten along just fine with my Asperger's without government help, but then Mum thinks I'm really high-functioning, to the extent that my Asperger's doesn't affect my ability to have a pretty much normal life all that much).

My spiritual life is still a mess, and I'd like to work on that in the new year. I really want to get into studying the Bible, praying, and growing in that relationship. My parents and my younger brother seem more spiritually mature than I am. But maybe because I am not sure I like people who bring God into every conversation. Or nearly every conversation. Maybe my almost 6 years in a rather un-Christian workplace are having a bad effect on me. I don't know. Agh!

So, as of right now, my resolutions for 2013 are:

1. Get my finances worked out so I can come up with a budget.

2. Begin looking into ways I might be able to move out on my own.

3. Work on getting an actual career job.

4. Strengthen my relationship with God.

5. Stop being just a consumer on my social media accounts and actually be active. This is something I wrote about on my Tumblr the other day. I realized that the reason I don't have a big following on social media is probably because on most of my accounts, I'm not that active. I just use them to consume content primarily. Maybe this is because I never really liked social media much to begin with, and only got into it in 2008 because it was something everyone was doing. I still prefer forums/message boards, which I have much more experience with and which seem to allow for more depth of conversation. Currently, between my personal, writing, and web design promotion accounts, I have Facebook (twice, one for personal and one for writing), Twitter (times three), GetGlue, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, Tumblr, YouTube (times three), Scribd, StumbleUpon, Flickr (though I never use it), Dribbble, and Instagram. Not to mention minor accounts for Blogger, Crunchyroll, Photobucket, and Technorati, and my new Viggle account. Can you see why I'm in over my head?

6. Work on my writing.

7. Get my web design skills up to snuff, if necessary.

***

Those are the only ones I can think of right now.

Whoa it's super late. I better go to bed.

Oh one last thing. I have started a new blog. It's called TARDIS Thoughts and is a Doctor Who episode analysis blog. It's been up since October but I just recently started really promoting it. It already has an authority of 86 on Technorati, which is pretty good. I just posted an analysis yesterday of the 2012 Christmas Special, which I was really excited to see and write about. Check it out!

Ok, good night!

Website priorities

So, after my epic fail with my new Fancy Lala fanlisting (I didn't get it done in time, so it got removed from The Anime Fanlistings), I decided to focus on getting my existing websites shipshape.

The problem? I have 8 of them. That's right, EIGHT. Well, nine if you count the one-page domain hub for starry-dreamer.net (starrydreamer.net). Not to mention the various projects past and present on my web design portfolio site (every piece there is live), this blog, and another Blogger blog I'm working on (and which I will reveal soon - though if you've read my Blogger profile in the last month or so, you already know about it, since it's hosted on the same Blogger account as this blog).

Two of these 8 sites are fanlistings which only need to be updated every couple months to satisfy TheFanlistings.org rules. And if I can finally figure out a PHP fanlisting management script setup for those sites, that process will be easier to do. Even though I took a class in PHP, I still have trouble understanding the code for those scripts. ^_^ Anyway, these two sites are Come Fly with Me (a fanlisting for the TV show Pan Am) and Singing Soldiers (a SeraMyu fanlisting and a subdomain of my SeraMyu fansite Myu Corner). So hopefully those sites won't be much of a problem.

Most of my sites are under my personal domain, starry-dreamer.net. That base URL simply hosts a Flash page I made with stars featuring the various subdomains of that domain. I need to make a non-Flash version of that page for mobile. The domain is referred to as The Starry-Dreamer Galaxy. The "stars" of the Galaxy are: Come Fly With Me, Liquid Mercury, and Ayeka's Palace (which hasn't been moved to the galaxy yet).

Other than that, I have my author site, my web design portfolio, Myu Corner, and my new website PokéSideGames.com, a website devoted to Pokémon side and spin-off games. For a total of eight.

And, unfortunately, I am even more insane than that, because I am planning another site for a near future release. This site would be a complete redo of my planned PGSM fansite Sparkle Moon and would focus only on providing transcripts, my original intention for Sparkle Moon being that it would house PGSM transcripts, something that has been missing from the Internet since the fansite Shingetsu-PGSM went down. But now that the new anime is on its way, plus the fact that my friends at Miss Dream are almost done translating all the PGSM episodes, I have expanded this idea to include transcripts for each PGSM episode from both the TV-Nihon sub (the fansub of PGSM that most fans are familiar with) and Miss Dream's subs, as well as...*drumroll* TRANSCRIPTS OF THE NEW ANIME! Yep, I am going to attempt that. The scripts will come from the simulcast (assuming the simulcast has subs, which considering it's going to be supposedly simulcast worldwide, I'd be really surprised if it didn't) and from Miss Dream's subs (since they've already come out and said they are going to fansub the new anime). Why two sets? Well, for comparison's sake really. Plus, the site will feature transcripts of the PGSM omake segments and the Pin Spot interviews, which not even Shingetsu has!

This project is already begun; I have transcripts written up for Acts 1-3 of PGSM (which I did a while ago when I tried to make a HTML version of Sparkle Moon for a school project), for two of the Pin Spot interviews (Azama Mew and Komatsu Ayaka), and for the "Make Up!" special that aired a week before the series started. These are all based on TV-Nihon's subs though, so I still have to do the Miss Dream versions. But it's progress!

I still have to actually MAKE the site these will be on though. I suppose I could use a CMS for this (to take off the coding burden for the most part). But I am wary of using a CMS. One, because I don't know how to make a CMS look custom. Then again not a lot of people do - heck, there are people who get PAID just to create customized Wordpress blogs/sites (one of the girls in my Web Design 3 class did this for a living). And two, because I am at a stage where I would like to enter the web design industry, and thus I would like to prove my skills to potential employers. (Especially since I got a C in Portfolio Development, which means, from my teacher's POV anyway, something about my portfolio site must suck, cause I worked REALLY HARD in that class - with that and my other two classes, I literally had no life for the last 2-2 1/2 months of the semester). I suppose I could try to incorporate a JavaScript slider and stuff. And maybe a MySQL database for the transcripts themselves - well actually no, MySQL still stumps me. I was supposed to use it in my final project for my Dynamic Web Development class and it didn't work out. (Which reminds me - the video tutorials for that class, which I downloaded so I could have them for future reference, are currently trapped in Megaupload hell...I uploaded them there for backup purposes when I was rebooting my laptop, and now I can't get them back...grr). I don't know, I'll have to think about it.

Then there is my huge project known as The Anime Guides Database. This is barely started and probably won't debut for a little while. It's essentially a wiki for spoiler-free episode guides for anime series (and eventually anime films - both those based on series and standalones - and manga series). It will, hopefully, finally satisfy the desire I've had since I first got into anime 14 years ago to make a site that really encompassed all my anime/manga interest (well, ALL my interests really, not just my anime/manga interest, but I tried personal sites for that in the past and they didn't work out). And, being a wiki, I won't have to do all the content creation work, because a wiki is, by definition, collaborative.

The reason this won't debut for a while is that I know nothing about running a wiki, let alone writing for one. I wasn't even going to make it a wiki at first; I was going to make it a site with a forum attached to it through which people could submit stuff, similar to how Miss Dream used to be set up. But when I ran this by my friends on the Miss Dream staff a while back, they said a wiki would be a better idea. So, since they seem to be more web design-savvy than I am, I am going to take their advice and do a wiki instead. Most likely I will use Wikia or MediaWiki for this, since the existing fan wikis on the net (Wikimoon, Wookiepedia, Bulbapedia, etc) usually use one of those two methods.

So what I intend to do is to join some of the anime-based fan wikis - Bulbapedia, the Precure fan wiki, etc - as well as maybe similar fan wikis like the Winx Club wiki and the Avatar the Last Airbender/Legend of Korra wiki. As just a writer/participant. So I can learn the ropes. And also possibly make friends I can then invite to be part of my wiki in the future. Besides this, I did some research and found books on the subject, which I intend to find again & re-consult.

So at some point I may have 10 sites to take care of. Am I insane? Yeah probably. And it'll only be worse if/when I get a job as a designer and have client work to do too. I read somewhere that potential employers like it if you do personal web projects because that shows them you're self-motivated or something. But it will still be a lot of work.

I have been thinking of making sites for my planned Music Land Maestress, Sailor Grimm, and Enchanted Supermarket stories too. But I may make sites for those using website builders like Wix, since they're likely to be small sites. If I feel the need to make them bigger later, I can do that and host them on my own domain. Music Land Maestress I want to do first since I've decided to make it my NaNoWriMo project this year, and NaNo is coming up pretty soon (1st of November). That is if you can put your writing up at such a place...I don't know how NaNo works exactly cause I've never actually done it before. The other two sites, therefore, will come later. Especially since I'm starting to think I should take Gina Biggs's advice and seek out an artist partner for Enchanted Supermarket (since that's intended to be a web comic). As for the Sailor Grimm story (whose actual title is "Soldier of Hameln"), I need to at least finish Grimm's profile soon (by Halloween) so whoever gets me in the Secret Santa thing I entered Grimm in on DeviantArt will have something to go off of for his/her drawing.

I wrote priority lists for my website work, based on to-do lists I wrote up back during my vacation in August, on the one day I went and hung out at the CSUSM library for several hours to fight my boredom without spending a lot of money and also get some work done. I will try to get on it tomorrow (or today I guess).

I did pray about this the other day. I just felt a prompting to do it. I don't know where it came from. So I did, and I felt less anxious. Well, until I started writing this post and realized I am probably insane. But hopefully this will be a learning experience for me to get me to trust God more. We'll see.

Well it's late. Good night!

Confirmed Cast for "Catching Fire" - So Far

There have been a lot of announcements lately about who's going to play who in the next Hunger Games film, Catching Fire (official title: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). And since this is release weekend for the first film, I thought I'd post about this.

So who for sure is in the cast?

Well, one thing we know is that pretty much all the main cast from the original film is returning. This means we will once again see:

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen
Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark
Liam Hensworth as Gale Hawthorne
Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket
Stanley Tucci as Cesar Flickerman
Willow Shields as Primrose "Prim" Everdeen
Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy
Donald Sutherland as President Snow
Lenny Kravitz as Cinna
Toby Jones as Claudius Templesmith

The next film depicts the Quarter Quell, in which (in the case of Catching Fire) Katniss and Peeta are put into the Games once again. So of course this film will have some new faces portraying the Tributes for the Quell, all former winners of the Games, as well as any other new characters. Here's who we know the casting of so far:

Jena Malone as Johanna Mason

Johanna I think appears in Mockingjay as well, so we may see Ms. Malone in more than one Hunger Games movie as this District 7 tribute. Jena Malone's an up-and-coming actress who has already had 7 award wins and 12 nominations, including two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations and a Golden Globe nod. Her wins consist of one Saturn Award (an award given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films that honors the top sci-fi, fantasy, and horror films, TV shows, and home videos of the year), a DVD Exclusive Award, a Sonoma Valley Film Festival award, three Young Artist Awards, and one YoungStar Award. Her trademark appears to be playing teenage girls with problems or from dysfunctional households (a sort of typecast Lawrence herself has complained she's been getting). Her roles so far seem to have been pretty small, though she did voice Lettie in the dub of Howl's Moving Castle and played the starring role in Saved!. The roles she's known for are her award-winning role as Young Ellie in Contact, her SAG Award-nominated role as Carine McCandless in Into the Wild, her role as Lydia Benett in the 2005 Focus Features version of Pride and Prejudice (in which Donald Sutherland also appeared as Mr. Benett), and her role as Rocket (sister of Abbie Cornish's Sweetpea and Babydoll's first friend) in Sucker Punch.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything Malone's been in, so I can't say whether she'll be good or not. District 7 is the lumber/paper-making district, and based on Katniss's POV, one of the poorer districts, so we'll see how that is portrayed in Johanna.

Alan Ritchson as Gloss

Alan Ritchson is cast as Gloss, who along with his sister Cashmere represents District 1 in Catching Fire. He's mostly done TV movies up to this point, it looks like. He's also known for his starring role as Thad Castle on the Spike TV series Blue Mountain State and a recurring role as Arthur Curry/Aquaman on Smallville. He looks pretty handsome, as one might expect from a District 1 guy. Again, haven't seen anything he's been in.

Amanda Plummer as Wiress

Amanda Plummer has been cast as Wiress, Beetee's fellow tribute from District 3 who becomes an ally of Katniss's in Catching Fire and is the one who figures out the arena is clock-shaped. She's an award-winning actress, having won multiple Emmys, as well as being nominated for a Golden Globe. She also has some stage experience, which I think is always good for a film actor. She also played the recurring role of Alice Hackett on the TV show L.A. Law. The roles she's known for are Honey Bunny/Yolanda in Pulp Fiction, Laurie in My Life Without Me, the voice of The Fates in Disney's Hercules, and Rose Michaels in So I Married an Axe Murderer. She looks promising. I did see Hercules, but it was a long time ago, and I don't remember what the Fates were like talking.

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee

Hunger Games fans have been waiting ravenously for this role to be cast, considering how big of a role Plutarch plays in Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Hoffman's primarily known for his roles as Brandt from The Big Lebowski, Art Howe in Moneyball, Owen Davian in Mission: Impossible III, and Andy in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. He's also appeared in a number of other films, including Pirate Radio, Doubt, Charlie Wilson's War, Capote, the TV movie Empire Falls, Cold Mountain, Almost Famous, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patch Adams, Boogie Nights, and When a Man Loves a Woman. An impressive résumé indeed. I just hope he plays Plutarch right.

Meta Golding as Enobaria

Meta Golding is cast as Enobaria, one of the Tributes from District 2 in Catching Fire, along with Brutus. She doesn't seem to be known for anything of note. She did, however, play recurring roles in a few TV shows: as Melissa Curtis in the TNT show Dark Blue (a show about the leader of an undercover unit), Jordan Todd/Agent Jordan Todd on Criminal Minds, Jennifer Mathis on Day Break, Lt. Tali Mayfield on JAG, and Tina Brown / Rachel / Tina Brewster on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Seems like a good résumé for a Tribute who got her teeth cosmetically modified to look like fangs.

Lynn Cohen as Mags

Lynn Cohen plays the oldest Tribute in Catching Fire, Mags of District 4. Mags was a character that seemed really positively portrayed in the book, so I hope the movie does the character justice. Cohen is a busy lady, with one movie already out this year (Not Waving But Drowning), four other movies scheduled for release this year, and a movie scheduled to come out in 2014. She's known for her roles as Mrs. Wierzbowski in Eagle Eye, Golda Meir in Munich, and Patty at the Good to Go in The Station Agent. She's also known for her recurring role as Magda, nanny/housekeeper to Miranda Holmes (Cynthia Nixon's character) on Sex and the City, and reprised her role in the 2008 Sex and the City movie. Her other major TV role is the recurring role of Judge Elizabeth Mizener on Law & Order. She looks the part I think (it's been a while since I've read Catching Fire). We'll see.

Bruno Gunn as Brutus

Bruno Gunn plays the other District 2 Tribute, Brutus. He definitely looks menacing. Gunn has done mostly TV work before this. He's known for playing Rawley on the long-running soap Guiding Light, a police officer in Bad Teacher, a technician in Mickey Blue Eyes, and "Bald Trip Fan" in Herbie: Fully Loaded. Mostly he seems to guest star in shows as a guard or a policeman. So I guess that explains the menacing look?

Patrick St. Esprit as Romulus Thread

St. Esprit plays Romulus Thread, the newly-appointed Head Peacekeeper of District 12 in Catching Fire. Don't know who that is? Well, he's the guy who had Gale flogged in public. Yeah, not a nice guy.

St. Esprit seems to be known for his recurring role as Elliot Oswald on the popular FX show Sons of Anarchy. He's also had recurring roles on Fox's The Chicago Code and TNT's Saving Grace and played a number of roles on Walker, Texas Ranger (a popular cable TV series starring Chuck Norris). In short, he's mostly done TV. I guess we'll see how he does.

E. Roger Mitchell as Chaff

Mitchell plays Chaff, one of the representatives of District 11, the same district Rue from the first film is from. Like Rue and Thresh, he is black. (I don't know where they got the idea that people from District 11 are black...supposedly this is actually canon though). Mitchell is known for his roles as Agent Kirkland in S.W.A.T., Fire Chief Tom in The Crazies, a Company Captain in Battle: Los Angeles, and Aaron in The Legend of Bagger Vance. He's also made appearances in the TV series The Shield and One Tree Hill. He has four movies set to come out this year: The Last Exorcism 2, Blackhats, Awakened, and Flight.

Maria Howell as Seeder

I love the plant-themed names in District 11. After all, they are essentially the Bread Basket of Panem. Anyway, Maria Howell plays Seeder, the other District 11 representative in Catching Fire. She is known for her roles as a welfare worker in The Blind Side, Jules's doctor in What to Expect When You're Expecting, a wife in Daddy's Little Girls, and Momma in the short film Reverie. She's also appeared on several TV shows, including The Vampire Diaries (as Ayanna and Mrs. Halpern), Army Wives (as a Counselor and Major Barcenilla), and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (as Goldie). She certainly looks lovely, and is more lighter-skinned like Rue.

Stephanie Leigh Schlund as Cashmere

Cashmere's role is the latest one to be cast. Cashmere is the sister of Gloss and his fellow Tribute from District 1. Schlund's list of credits is still quite small. She is known for her role as Megan Blakelee in The Last Song (in which Liam Hensworth starred - it's where he met his fiancée Miley Cyrus), an uncredited role as a waitress in We are Marshall, and an unknown role in The Survivor. She also had another uncredited waitress role in Stomp the Yard and was a model for 7 episodes of The Price is Right. Since she is so new, I'm not sure what to say about Schlund. I hope she can manage such a big role.

***

So that's who's been confirmed. Now on to who hasn't been cast (or announced to be cast anyway).

So far, according to the official Catching Fire cast page,  the roles still up in the air are:

• Beetee, the other District 3 tribute. IMDB states that Tony Shaloub is being rumored as playing this role.
• Finnick Odair, the hunk District 4 tribute. A number of actors have been considered for this role, namely Taylor Kitsch, Armie Hammer, Hunter Parrish, Grant Gustin, Luke Mitchell, and Garrett Hedlund. English actor Sam Claflin (William in Snow White and the Huntsman, among other roles) is the current rumored actor for this role. Robert Pattinson was also rumored to have been cast as Finnick, but THANKFULLY that rumor was debunked. I've had about enough of Pattinson, thank you very much.
• The nameless Tributes from Districts 5, 6, 9, and 10. 
• Cecelia and Woof, the Tributes from District 8.
• Blight, Johanna Mason's fellow Tribute from District 7.
• An unknown female character whose silhouette appears next to Jennifer Lawrence's picture and just below Chaff and Seeder's pictures on the official Catching Fire cast page's gallery of cast members. 

Thanks to IMDB and the official Casting Fire casting page for the info above (to access the casting page, you'll have to be signed into Facebook and then like the page in order for it to appear).

Even though Catching Fire's release is a ways away yet, I'm still looking forward to it. I just wish Gary Ross had stayed on to direct this one. According to the Hunger Games fan magazines I have, he is a big fan of the book series. I'm not sure why he chose not to direct this film (and I think he's not doing Mockingjay either, though that might change obviously). The new director, Francis Lawrence, is primarily known for directing music videos, and has directed music videos for the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Aerosmith, Will Smith, and Britney Spears. But he has directed regular movies as well, having directed I Am Legend, Water for Elephants, and Constantine. So at least we know he has experience in fantastical genres and in post-apocalyptic stories. He's also currently filming a fantasy drama TV movie called Gotham, about a female cop who discovers an unseen fantasy world within New York City.

So...I hope more of the cast is announced soon. I am a little worried that most of the new announced cast members have just done TV; I hope they do ok in a film. Bye for now!

(Oh, and btw, I bought the Target-exclusive 3-Disc Deluxe Edition DVD set of The Hunger Games yesterday. I have put pics of it on Instagram. Either look for user "vegastarlite17" on your Instagram app, or look up the username on Instagram viewing sites like Pingram).

Trip to Little Tokyo

I took vacation this week (for reasons I am not permitted to broadcast), and I want to make the most of it! After resting all day yesterday, I decided to have some fun today and make a day trip up to Los Angeles, specifically to a district of downtown L.A. called Little Tokyo. I'd first heard of the area from a one-page article in Sunset magazine (a magazine devoted to the western US), which I later adapted for a Web Design 3 assignment. But today was my first time going there.

The last time I went to L.A. on the train was January 2011 for Anime Los Angeles. That time I took the Amtrak because I did not know any other way to get there. This time though I took the Metrolink, a commuter train line, because it was considerably cheaper ($15 each way as opposed to $27 each way on Amtrak). It turned out also that your Metrolink ticket also gets you free rides on the L.A. Metro and downtown bus lines all day (this is what I was told anyway; I never got a chance to find out for sure as they never checked my ticket on the Metro), which is great because it saved me the $5 I would've spent on a L.A. Metro day pass otherwise.

I admit I was somewhat disappointed by the place; a vibrant cultural enclave Little Tokyo is not. People at the train station where I had to switch trains on the way up (the downside to taking the Metrolink) warned me that there wasn't much culture there, and they were right in a sense. The same can be said of L.A.'s Chinatown (which I found myself in as well because I was given bad directions regarding what Metro line to take and ended up walking through Chinatown for a while before deciding walking to Little Tokyo from there didn't make much sense - they look close on the Metro map but they really aren't). Both are rather spread out areas, covering a couple streets apiece that don't look much different than your average downtown streets, except for the Chinese or Japanese signs. Chinatown was particularly uninteresting; along the main drag (Hill St.) there isn't much except for some restaurants (including one whose facade proudly proclaims it as a shooting location for the movie Rush Hour), tiny shops, a Chinese Methodist church, and a Best Western hotel. Most of the shops are in little alleys off the main street, like Chung King Road. I also found a nice bookstore there (Numing Book Co. - it's located on the edge of the main area a little way past Chung King Road), which has shelves and shelves of books in Chinese, as well as a small selection of books in English and a couple books in French. The prices are great too; I got a book of Chou En-lai's poems (in English) for $3.25.

If you do walk toward Chinatown from where I started (the Civic Center Metro Station, which has the tallest escalator I've ever seen), you do at least get to see Grant Park and the Pioneer Memorial (honoring Mormon pioneers who helped fight for the independence of the area). Also, the Cathedral of the City of the Angels is near the Civic Center station; I heard its bells as I crossed the street from the station. Supposedly the Walt Disney Concert Hall is nearby as well.

As for Little Tokyo, this is situated more in downtown (whereas Chinatown is kinda in the middle of nowhere), mostly around 1st Street (the historic center of Little Tokyo) and 2nd Street. The Metro Gold Line is the quickest way there; it's only one stop south of Union Station, the city's main public transport hub, and two stops south of the Chinatown station (located on N. Spring St). The Dash A bus also serves it. Just make sure you don't miss your stop going southbound, because otherwise you'll find yourself in East L.A., a neighborhood you don't really want to find yourself in (so I've heard). If you go too far north on the Gold Line, you'll end up in Pasadena, so watch that too. The Little Tokyo station also serves the Art District of L.A., by the way, if you want to go to an art museum like MOCA while you're there.

Right across from the Metro is one of Little Tokyo's main landmarks, the gargantuan Japanese-American National Museum. Unfortunately, it was closed today (museums like to be closed on Mondays, I guess; most of the Balboa Park museums are closed on Mondays too) so I didn't get to look around there. Across the street is a Buddhist temple, though it's so integrated into the Western-style architecture you could easily miss it.

Across the street is where the true district begins. If you get lost, pretty purple signs (topped with a fan and the words "Little Tokyo") will direct you to the main landmarks. I relied on these a lot. On the main street there are pretty much just small shops and LOTS of restaurants featuring Japanese food such as udon and sushi. Along this street you can find the anime DVD/manga/CD part of the famous Jungle Collectors' Shop (which at the moment is in three parts; they're going to be combining at the end of August, an occasion that will be marked by a Hatsune Miku-themed event) - whose selection of items is not bad, particularly of Studio Ghibli stuff (they also play anime openings on the TV there; I was delighted to hear/see the "xxxHolic" opening "19sai" play while I was there) - Fugetsu-do Sweet Shop (a long-standing establishment that sells Japanese sweets, including several flavors of mochi), the Visitor Center for the area, and the Koyasan Buddhist Temple (which turns 100 this year; I had trouble finding it without directions as it's not listed on the purple signs...it is accessible via an alley just past the Miyako Hotel - look for the obelisk that says "Koyasan Buddhist Temple" on its base). There are also little shops selling various things; I found some nice things at a store here called Bunka-do ("Bunka" means "culture" in Japanese, and true to its name, the shop has a lot of cultural stuff, including books on Japanese culture and on learning the Japanese language. I even saw the new Sailor Moon manga there, and a picture of Haruka and Michiru from one of the original Sailor Moon S DVD covers hung by the stairs leading upstairs).

Little Tokyo has three major shopping areas: Weller Court (near 2nd Street), Japanese Village Plaza (near the entrance to the district), and Little Tokyo Mall (just behind Japanese Village Plaza). Weller Court is home primarily to restaurants (including a coffee place called Demitasse that boasts a sign saying "Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks," which is somewhat ironic as there is a Starbucks on the other side of Weller Court) but does boast a large market, Marukai Market (small grocery store-type "markets" seem to be popular here), a store called Marukai Kawaii (which mostly has Hello Kitty stuff) and a branch of the popular bookstore chain Kinokuniya, which has tons of books, mostly in Japanese, though their selection of English books is quite good too. Their manga selection is quite massive, featuring manga both in English and Japanese (the Japanese manga being arranged into sections by publisher - Kodansha, Shogakukan, etc - which is helpful for non-Japanese-speakers) as well as manga magazines and artbooks. Their kids' section is pretty decent too. Weller Court is also home to a monument honoring Ellison Onizuka, the first NASA astronaut of Japanese descent, who died in the Challenger disaster.

Japanese Village Plaza is like your typical outdoor mall, except mostly with restaurants serving everything from mochi ice cream to shabu-shabu (Japanese hot pot), as well as a small market (like I said, they're popular). It also has a Sanrio store (with a UFO Catcher machine outside) and a couple stores that felt like they were targeted to tourists IMO but which had a lot of interesting things like various Japanese cooking utensils, Hello Kitty stuff (also popular here), and some anime stuff. One of the stores, Maneki Neko, has some nice cultural stuff (including a number of figurines of the famous Japanese "lucky cat" the store is named for).

Little Tokyo Mall is right behind Japanese Village Plaza. It only has a few shops, as well as a fusion restaurant upstairs. Here is where you will find the other two thirds of Jungle Collectors Shop. One of them is right as you come in and boasts nothing but several purikura machines (fancy Japanese photobooths). For $5/person, you can rent cosplay outfits, wigs, and accessories such as headbands to wear while you pose in the photobooths (which cost $10 just by themselves); however, be warned - they only have size medium in the outfits. You might also need some help from the attendant with working the machines as they're in Japanese (translations are provided next to the screen for when you print out your stickers at the end, but I didn't find them very helpful). That being said, the machines are fun and feature many cute backgrounds (at least mine did). You can also add little hearts and stuff to the pics at the end. And even if you're like me and the provided costumes don't fit you, you can still cosplay! I rented a wig and a bow headband and did just fine.

The other third of the Jungle Collectors Shop is mostly figurines and knick-knacks like keychains, cell phone charms, pins, notebooks, etc., with both new and used items on sale. They also seem to be rather paranoid there; I wasn't allowed to hold on to anything I picked up to buy more than a few seconds before some guy came up and offered to hold it for me up front. I'm curious what Jungle will be like when the three separate stores get combined.

Another highlight of Little Tokyo is the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, located on San Pedro Street (near where Little Tokyo meets the Civic Center district). Nothing was going on there when I went there, but this place is also home to the James Irvine Japanese Garden, accessible from the center's basement level. It's a seiryu-en, or Japanese walking garden, and though small is very quiet and peaceful (amazing for being in the middle of downtown L.A.!). I also saw dragonflies there - and I don't think I've ever seen dragonflies in person before! (I tried to get a picture of one, but they were too fast).

In short, I spent a good ~5 hours in this place, which was plenty of time to look around (though if the museum had been open I might not have had as much time to do so). What the place lacks in culture it makes up for in shopping and restaurants; just be careful and don't spend TOO much money (which I ended up doing). Also keep some cash handy; stuff is pretty cheap here (except at Kinokuniya) but pretty much every shop has a $10 or $15 minimum for you to use your credit or debit card. Also get it out on the way; there aren't many ATMs in Little Tokyo, and the ones that are there have steep fees ($3!). Also, if you know some Japanese, use it; many of the shops, especially the smaller ones, are run by Japanese people. They will usually know English, but in one store I thanked the people in Japanese and they seemed delighted). And look into other places to go (Littletokyola.org has a good list); the Little Tokyo branch of the L.A. city library is supposed to be great, for instance). Most of all, have fun. And try not to go on a really hot day (like I did; though you may not be able to control this). Oh and also, while you may want to snap a pic of everything you see in a store here, BE CAREFUL - most of the stores here (Kinokuniya included, unfortunately - I really wanted to take pictures in there) have "no photography" policies. You MAY be able to sneak a pic or two though, particularly if you use your iPod or phone, but if you do don't use a flash (which will give you away) and do it in a place where the employees are not as likely to see you. (I did this for one picture I took at Kinokuniya; I took it in the kids' section, which was pretty far from the register). Though it's probably best to just follow the rules and not take any pictures at all.

That's all I can think of to say. Despite my gripes, I did enjoy myself. I also apologize for the less subjective nature of this post - I didn't intend for it to sound like a school report or travel magazine article, but I wasn't sure how else to approach this. Will have pics up soon - both regular camera photos and Instagram ones. At least writing this post gave me something to do on the way home (my Blogger app is usable offline).

Good night!

Posted via Blogger for iPhone

[FANMADE] New Sailor Moon Anime Opening

Big news Sailor Moon fans!! There was a big Sailor Moon event on July 6th in Japan to coincide with the Japan Expo going on in Paris this last weekend (through today) and the series' 20th anniversary. And in promoting the event, a big announcement was promised.

And the big announcement is....A NEW SAILOR MOON ANIME!! Not a continuation or a film, but a full-on reboot of the series! Animation quality in Japan has improved dramatically since 1992 when the show first aired, so I'm expecting big things from this new show. You can visit this page at Moonkitty.net to get all the scoop on what's confirmed, what's still speculation, and all that good stuff: http://www.moonkitty.net/new-sailor-moon-anime-in-2013-information.php.

One of the things that is confirmed is that Momoiro Clover Z, a popular girl j-pop group, will sing the series' opening theme (and I think the closing theme too). What song that will be is not 100% confirmed, but many think it will be "Z Otome Senso," one of their new singles that was just released last week (the single's B-side is "PUSH," which seems to be Olympics-related based on the music video; the single also features their song "Mite Mite Kochi Kochi," which is being used as the latest closing theme for Pokémon Best Wishes [known as Pokémon Black & White in the U.S.] in Japan. So I made a little fanmade Sailor Moon opening featuring "Z Otome Senso," which you can view above. Please enjoy it!

Here are videos of those other singles of Momoiro Clover Z that I mentioned:

PUSH:




Mite Mite Kochi Kochi: