6/23/00 A tiny update on life. 
Not that anyone reads this section anways. but I felt that an entry was in need. I don't work at Winn Dixie anymore. Or Keytrak. I'm now a freelance graphic artist. (anime art on commission. ^_^ If you're interested, please contact me and I'll give you my prices.) Also, I don't I live with my parents anymore. I moved out and rough it out in a small apartment. I graduated from high school. Whoo! 

Conventions. I'm going to Anime Gaijin (that's in Florida) and I'm going to AWA (that's in Atlanta Georgia). I am selling artwork at a convention in Baltimore called "Otakon", but I'm not going to be present at that one. ^_^

The Lain anime series was amazingly cool. I still don't understand it, but, wow! The Sonic anime was uh.. well.. the dubbing left much to be desired. Anyways, I wanna see anime Sally and Bunnie, not just Sonic, Tails and Knuckles.

Play Legend of Mana. What a beautiful game. It's no Secret of Mana, unfortanently, but taken on it's own, it's good. bai bai!  

10/19/99- Serial Projects Lain.. Another Matrix, or something deeper? Here I am with another freetalk... bear with me, I go off on a whole series of tangents. Let's start with Serial Projects Lain.. a series I've been interested in ever since I stumbled upon AB's page years ago, amazed by his beautiful character designs and attention to detail in clothes. I did a little bit of research on the series on Pioneer's webpage about a month ago, and became even more interested when I learned that the series starts out with a girl who commits suicide, and then mysteriously emails her classmates from beyond the grave, telling them to join her in the WIRED. Interesting. There's a plot I've never begun to ponder before. This was something completly original. So, finally, a few nights ago, I finally was able to see it. Oh my god! Lain is the most awesome series!! I watched the first 4 eps on DVD one after the and then proceeded to order the next 3 DVDs online. I just can't get enough. It's just so. weird.. ... surreal. Jared kept insisting that it's the "Matrix" but I don't think so. It has it's similarities (like the two "agent" dudes with the red lights), but, it can also be argued that my theory that I came up with when I was five years old about how life works is like the Matrix too. (I oughta sue. ^^) so.. Lain is one of those series that after watching only 4 episodes, it had put me into thinking mood. I was looking at the world in a whole new light.  ...... So, check out Lain. Confusing yet intriging storyline, a cute girl, and computers.. right up anyone's alley.

I noticed that Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie is out.. Has anyone seen it? And if you have, did you like it? Was the dubbing decent? I wanted to buy it, but I'd hate to waste $20 on a piece of crap. I would have bought it subtitled, but it looked like they're only offering it dubbed..

I almost bought Thousand Arms.. or Suikoden II, but decided that I would go ahead and rent those and instead pick up dubbed Rayearth today. damn... Hikaru almost perfectly plays the part of a japanese school girl--except, it's very grating to the ear when you combine high pitched cute voices with english. (I remember this chinese girl who used to ride my school bus and she was the loudest most obnoxious person on the bus with her shrieked high pitched voice.) 

And they choose a girl who probably never had any formal lessons in singing to do the opening and ending songs.

It may sound like I'm all complaints, I actually enjoyed it. Having been a fan of Rayearth for many years (I've known about it for like 5-6 years now.. having acquired the manga back when I was in 7th or 8th grade)I found it fun to go back and sit back and concentrate on the animation for once, rather then reading the subtitles.

The accents are handled well, Ferio and Caldina aren't annoyingly southern in accent, but only slightly so you notice that there's a difference without being totally distracted.

BTW-- the reason for the sudden influx of work is due to the fact that I have a bit of extra time on my hands right now because I'm not getting the amount of hours I want at work. (about 4 to 10 hours instead of 25. ugh. Winn Dixie sucks!)

to BE continued...

 9/16/99- Mr. Hurricane, a view on updates, and a slice of life. For those of you who didn't know, I reside in lovely Florida, where, from time to time, I am blessed with the possibility of a hurricane dropping by on my doorstep for a visit. Floyd was one big storm, and it had us all scared. But, at the last moment, right when there was a declared state of emergency and they were going to evacuate the whole state, Floyd decided to change course. I now jokingly say to my friends, "Floyd was a big hoax set up by grocery stores and hardware stores that weren't selling enough plywood and bread and water." And if that was really the case, (which it wasn't, but work with me here. ^_-) it was a pretty darn clever plan, because I worked the day before the expected arrival of the storm, and there must have been 50 thousand people in there. And that's only a small exaggeration. All ten registers were open, with about twenty people at any given time waiting in each one. Non-stop work from 5-10. Remind me never to work before the day of a natural disaster again. (Not that I had a choice. -_-;) Winn Dixie made 10 times (about $35,000) the amount of money they make on a normal day. Anyways, point here is that I'm safe. ^_^ It's awful how things work.. now that Florida isn't threatened by hurricane Floyd, we're not paying attention to where it's headed. Nevermind those poor people in North Carolina.

As for updates, expect a lot more as soon as I get a WACOM tablet for my computer. ^_^ I've been in a bit of a drawing slump lately since I spend 3 hours a day in school working on artwork for my AP Art Drawing portfolio. As for requests, feel free to continue sending them in, but no promises on whether or not I'll do them. Mata ne!

  9/4/99- Um Jammer Lammy commentary, and talk of the upcoming Square game, FF8. Well, I loved Parappa the Rapper--which, unfortanently, I was introduced to long after it first came out released--so I just had to go out and buy Lammy the day came out. And I loved it. The first game in the series was innovative, but the cool thing is, while this game takes on the same mold as the first one, it's rather different, with all sorts of new features. (2 player mode, objects to make the guitar play differently) I highly recommend it to Parappa fans. Love it, love it, love it. Have you guys played it yet?

So, who is looking forward to my renditions of Final Fantasy VIII characters? I'm going to be honest with you: I'm not very interested in the game, or the characters. They're all boring to me. And I know you've heard this complaint before, but I'll say it anyway: what happened to the fantasy in Final Fantasy games? FF8 is all technology, and to me, that just isn't very interesting. I want my dense forests, chocobos, moogles, rural towns and magic spells. I want fantasy elements, not rockets and super nuclear powered cities. Heck, we get enough of that from real life, don't we? I realize that Square is still combining some fantasy with all the technology in FF8, but, they are starting to really stray away from how the FF games used to be.

I admit it, I'm not *all* negative comments towards FF8. I've seen a preview of the dance sequence in FF8, which has my fave FF8 song in it, and I was impressed. The graphics were very detailed, and movement was very realistic.. but.. I miss the good old days of pixelated sprites. Here's to Legend of Mana instead, which I'm going to welcome with open, loving arms. BTW--the point to my ff8 ramble is that I will *probably* not be doing any ff8 fanart. Gomen ne to those who have contacted me expressing their excitement in seeing what I'll be doing with FF8.

7/1/99- Minako suffers at her new job, worries about school, and comments on Amidala. So, how is everyone doing? I could be doing better. . . hmm.. The asuka icon would have been more appropriate in this cause, I think, since I'm going to be doing a lot more bitching than pondering in this particular free talk. A free talk sure has been overdue, hasn't it? I've been keeping a diary of all the odd dreams I've been having lately.. I was thinking of putting it on my free talk section, but I wasn't sure if you guys would be interested or not. The people I've let read them have found them interesting, but, they know me in real life, and pick up on people places and things I mention in my dream writings that you guys wouldn't understand. So.. tell me if you want to read them. =/ Hey, guess what? I finally got a new computer! I've been asking my Dad to buy me a computer for almost 5 years now (which is how outdated the one I had been using was) and he kept telling me, "Sure Lin, when Christmas comes around." Every year, the same thing. So, finally, Jared, a very good friend of mine, bought himself a new computer and gave me his less then a year old computer. (He kept the moniter and hard drive and a few other things, so I had to buy those myself. He loaned me $200 so off I went to buy computer parts. (and I'll be spending another $200 very soon on a wacom tablet, if I can find one that cheap. ^^;) And now I'm $200 in debt, which forced me to get a new job.. which brings me to my next topic. I have the wonderful job of being a cashier at Winn Dixie now. We have to wear an extremelly ugly smock that has pink and white vertical stripes over a white collared shirt, with black pants and black shoes. It just looks.. well, ugly. -_- I see other employees wearing khaki pants, but I guess they're special or something. =/ Winn Dixie offers other types of shirts which are much more appealing, but I hear that you have to pay for them. (And, I have a bad feeling that the shirt I already recieved from them will be deducted from my first paycheck from them. Nothing is ever free, after all.) So, I'm into my third day with this job.. I've watched a billion winn dixie videos, which are hillarious. And I get to cashier with real customers starting Thursay. *super nervous* Just watch me get all the mean ones. ;_; Wish me luck. ^_^

Summer is getting close to an end, and I'm starting to regret the fact that I signed up for AP english. I am supposed to read two books over the summer, and I'm only half way through the first one. (250 pages into a 500 page book.) Well, I'm told the second one is shorter.. It's not the reading part that's making me read at such a slow pace, it's the fact that after every chapter I have to stop and write a page or two or three on the chapter I just read so I won't forget things. We're going to be tested on the books the second day of class. o_O My other problem with having signed up for AP english is the fact that it has messed up my schedule. I signed up for two ap art classes, and now I'm down to one because these classes are only offered during the same hour. I can't decide if I should drop AP english and see if I can get back my other AP art class, or just suffer with the way it is now. Everytime I try to call my guidance counselor to talk to her about this, however, her line is either busy, or I get the answering machine. -_-

Something that has been bothering me:  I occasionally get emails from guys who come to my webpage and, for some odd reason, instantly fall in love with me (?!), and want to "get to know me better". PLEASE don't do this, because it makes me feel very uncomfortable, and I will not reply to these types of emails. Keep in mind that while you may feel like you know me since you've been to my webpage, I don't know you. I really don't want to hear about how much you love me or other such nonsense. Ok? Please? I'm not interested.

I'm serious. I really do get these types of emails. I used to have this one fellow who IMed me everyday telling me how beautiful I was and how much he loved me. o_O otay. Just had to get that off my chest. ^_^

BTW-- Bottom line. Queen Amidala is a major cutie. And.. weren't her outfits nifty-keen? ^_^ (How could I forget to mention that in my Star Wars rant?!)

5/22/99- Video Games and Star Wars rant. Ugh. All these new awesome rpgs keep coming out and here I am, still playing Xenogears (and Zelda 64). I'm finally past that part in the sewers with Mr. Redrum-san. (That's 'Murder' backgrounds. *Snicker* How creative. Can we say, "the Shining"?) That was a really hard boss. I was afraid I'd die and then I'd have to find him *again*, which took me forever to do. Yep yep.. All these nice pretty rpgs coming out and no time to play them. I remember when maybe two rpgs came out a year, and you'd play them until you found every secret in the game, and then play them again because there wasn't any other games out. The date for Lunar has been pushed back AGAIN. ARGH! Wasn't it supposed to be out on like the 24th of December? And here we are, still waiting. -_-

Oi! I saw Star Wars "The Phantom Menace" on Wednesday. Wait, wait! Don't write me off as some Star Wars 'person'. I was forced to see it. ^^;; Went to the biggest theater in Orlando, a big tourist spot called Point Orlando. And all the food there is over priced. I ate at this burger place (because every other place would have been a 30 minute wait) and for $5.00 you get a little burger. No fries, no extras. Just a burger. =/ What a rip. Well, there's tons of Asians running around there, so that's cool, at least. ^.^ Anyway. Star Wars. I know saying this is probably going to get me killed (^^;;), but I thought the movie was horrible. It was obviously geared towards eight year olds, and there was no plot (sure, you had your basic, 'let's go here. Oh, now we need to go there. Let's do this. Ok, now we should do that." But there was no real plot. The whole point of the movie was simply to get the emperor guy into power, and maybe even to get Ani under the master Obi Wan Kenobi.) or character development. I was just sitting in the movie theater praying for the movie to end. ... .... I think I'll shut my big mouth now before a bunch of people flame me. Well, you're more then welcome to email me and discuss the movie with me if you want (idiotic, pointless flaming WILL be ignored, however). ^^

4/26/99- Food for thought.. and then some pointless babble about farm critters. =^.^= Today I went walking with a friend of mine after school around my neighborhood, and then down a mile and a half dirt road outside my neighborhood. It was a pretty good workout (I've become a health freak lately.. no sodas whatsoever! All they are is sweet goodness and lots of calories.. baaaaaad.) Heading back towards my neighborhood, we passed a middle-aged semi-obese male on our right. He was jogging in the direction we had come from and in a gesture of friendliness, waved as he passed us. Me and Jared waved back at him, but I said nothing, puzzled at the irony of what I had just seen. No, I wasn't puzzled because I was witnessed a fat man running. I was puzzled because here was a man concerned about his health, and he was _smoking_. He'd jog a little ways, take a puff of his cigarette, and jog a little ways more, then complete the cycle again.

Also on my walking expedition, I encountered a little farm on the side of the road. A sign read "For sale, sheep and goats." Now, I'm a big lover of animals, so I stopped and walked over to the fence. An old couple, maybe in their 60s or 70s were feeding a bunch of sheep and cows. They owned the cows and sheep, and the old lady walked over to us, and talked to us about the animals, and how her daughter owned the one named Kayrn. Those poor cows (and bulls); they must have had a billion flies on their backs (not to mention other obnoxious insects.). After a little while of observing them, we returned to the task of walking home, and the sheep bleated a hearty good-bye to us as we left.

3/14/99- The FLAME Ok, I shouldn't be pointing and giggling here, but I can't help it.. I found this amusing. It's from a Japanese page (which will go unnamed) "Welcome to [snip]!! The FLAME is used in the this site. If you can't browse the FLAME exactly, please click to enter "NO FLAME" ."

2/25/99- KawaruXShinji One of my favorite episodes in Evangelion is the episode in which Kawaru shows up. Kawaru takes an immediate liking for Shinji, and makes Shinji extremely uncomfortable, but at the same time, relived that he has such a caring friend. The ending of the episode is very sad, and I won't anything about it here, lest I spoil it for you. (And I HATE it when people spoil major events in movies and whatnot. Hate it, hate it, hate it. =P) I'm sure you know what happens if you know who Kawaru is, but, I won't say anything anyway.. Recently, a good friend of mine, Doshi-kun pointed out to me a very neat site that discuses the pair up of Shinji and Kawaru. (It also has a shounen ai ShinjiXKawaru gallery at the bottom of the page.. ^__^) If that sounds at all interesting to you, I encourage you to check it out.

While we're on the topic of Shinji and Kawaru, let me also direct you to a scan I made of a comic in an Evangelion Doujinshi (no, it's not a hentai one, baka) I own. This is one of my more favorite comics in it. Even though you should be able to catch on to what's going on without my assistant, I'll also offer you a shoddy translation of it in a later update. (Though by then I'm sure you won't need my help. ^^) Enjoy!

2/20/99- Looking back.. The first anime I ever saw was Vampire Hunter D. All I can remember about Vampire Hunter D is D had a talking hand, there was a LOT of blood, gore, and violence, the cover of the box was drawn by Amano, in one scene some rich boy backs the main character girl into an alley and she gets really pissed at him and calls him a bastard--ooo.. bad word--and the mayor drives said girl around and rips her shirt off.. Some great stuff. ^^;; After Vampire Hunter D, I scouted around and rented Moldiver. Back then there was this video game store that rented out anime. Too bad at the time I was finicky and refused to rent anything but dubbed. . -_-;;) The first manga I ever got was Sailor Moon. (and the guy I bought it from totally ripped me off. $12 for a 300 yen manga?! I was a LOT more cautious of buying stuff from people after that. ^^;;) I was totally hooked on anime after getting my first taste of these, and whenever I went over to my cousin's house, which was where that video game store was located, we'd beg her dad to drive us to the video game store and rent us more anime.

2/11/99- Hard Drive Crash My 2nd hard drive crashed today. All my writings and well, everything is gone. ;_; It's really quite depressing. I have to submit an piece of writing in a week with my application to get into AP English, and the piece (an essay about honor.. it had Kawaru in it too. Hehe.) I was going to use is gone now. o_O ARRRGH! Well, back to having one lousy 500 meg (yep, that's right, only 500 megs total on the whole freaking thing) hard drive. I can not begin to tell you how frustrating it is to have to constantly have to delete files because of not having any room on the hard drive to save stuff. -_- And who knows when this one will crash on me--it's been around for a good many years.

2/10/99- Thoughts on Magic Knight Rayearth, and My Dear Marie Ok, I admit it, that date is actually a *gasp!* lie. This stuff was actually on the old page. I'll have some NEW discussions and pointless babble here next update ^_^

I got Magic Knight Rayearth--you know, that lil action RPG for the Saturn--for Christmas. I'm pretty happy with it, but I still like the Japanese version better because Working Designs cut out 98% of the spoken dialogue in the English version. They said that in an early playtest, a few people said it slowed down the game.. What a letdown.. I had really been looking forward to hearing the voices in English. And call me crazy, but how hard would it have it to program in an option to turn off the voices? I finished the game a week or so ago.. (still one more freaking indigo rainbow crystal to find still.. argh! Must... find.. all.. secrets.) Pretty easy to beat.. I think if all that wonderful, wonderful spoken dialogue would have remained in the game, it would have helped lengthen the game. And the game seems so silent without it! Overall, if you like Rayearth, I suggest getting the Japanese version (you don't need to know Japanese to be able to muddle your way through it.), but if you can't get that, go for the English one.

Has anyone seen "My Dear Marie" yet? I thought it was really cute... I was disappointed to discover there are only 3 eps of it.. it ended with such a cliffhanger. (I won't say more then that, because I don't want to spoil the ending for you.) If you're looking for a cute, short (and somewhat perverted anime), try this.

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