Yup, just a simple Merry Christmas to anyone who may or may not be looking at this. I hope everyone has a happy new year too!

 

Chapter 2.Hero of Strength

Hammer was the first. My first meeting with her was nothing but annoyance, she did nothing but talk. We found common ground soon enough. My feelings towards the matter of her father’s death are mixed. I welcomed it, for it set the stage of our friendship, gave us common ground in loss, but I hated it for the effect it had on her. Loss was loss, and I understood it well.

As much as she helped me with my obsession over revenge, I helped her with her depression over her father’s death. I knew what to say, what not to say, and when to say nothing at all. Her trust was always had, and there was never a question of me gossiping over what she told me. Never a time she worried that her confidence was broken, that anyone but me and Theresa knew that every once in a while she would need a hug. Only us two (for the time before we traveled with Garth) knew that in her sleep she would cry, mutter pleadings for her father to come back to her.

Hammer was a strange gal to be sure, but we enjoyed each others strangeness. Me with my clothing styles and her with her loudness, we would make quite the scene in towns, even before people recognized us. Our reputations preceded us nearly everywhere we went, some good, some bad. We two argued over morals, over right and wrong, all the time. Her a born clergyman (or woman?) and I a poor street rat, fighting to survive nearly all my life, were at opposite ends when it came to such things. Taverns cleared out when we discussed the gods of Albion, or lack thereof if you asked me, which she did, frequently.

Many a job we worked together, missions we completed as close friends and comrades, always at each other’s backs (and more times than not, at each others throats) no matter the fight. It was another sad day of my life, the day of the Crucible.

Okay, so I'm packing too much on. Yeah. Definitely packing too much on. I'm trying to juggle a ton of things without balancing any of them. And now my life is tilting dangerously far in the wrong (or not what I wanted) direction and I have to take some stuff off one side or add more to the other. I think, at this point the best thing to do is take stuff off. Lots of stuff.

1.) I need to get back to writing. No, not fanfiction and definitely not RP's. Actually, I should probably pull out of a couple. I need to jump on my original works. I recently finished off a short children's story (the ending of which I dislike, so I gotta fix that) and I I've been told I should really try to get it published (I think I mentioned that in my last post...). What I'd like to do is find an artist to grace the pages of my book with awesome art. Mostly really flowy mesmerizing kind of art, I think. The kind thats really detailed where you see something new every time you look at it. Where will I find an artist like that? I don't have any F'ing idea! I don't know where I could find any artist to, well, I don't even know how you would go about 'commissioning' an artist to draw for a book...

2.) The Anime Social, just isn't going to work for this year... I just need to drop it. Or should I not drop it? Should I pursue it, try at any cost to get it going? How will I pay for it? I'm trying to go to three conventions this year, two that aren't on this island which I need to pay to get to, stay at, and come back from. How will I pay for that after Christmas?! *scratches head crazily* Raaaah! Thats for another number... Breath in, breath out... SO, should I drop the Anime Social for this year, try again next year? Well, either way, its gonna be next year soon, and there is no way I'm going to try and do this thing in December. Maybe in January... But now I'm still stuck on- Do it? Don't do it? Do it? Don't do it?

3.) School. I have got to jump on those text books, really crack down. Go to sleep early, wake up early. (ha, messing that up as we speak) There are a couple reasons I need to hurry it along and really whip myself into shape. I want to graduate. I don't want to spend anymore years in high school than I have to. I want to start college. (or do I really? yet another question) I can take a class or two right now, but I think I think I'm too busy with high school to start college! Again, want to graduate! And last but not least, my graduation present is a round trip ticket to either Animazement or Anime Expo. So I've really gotta get it finished. Preferably before April, as I'll be busy then with Kawaii Kon and I don't want my mother to pay anymore than she has to because of late ticket buying (you know, the closer to the time of travel you purchase plane tickets, the costlier they are).

4.) Three conventions. Kawaii Kon, Animazement, and Anime Expo, in that order. KK, AZ, AX. HI, NC, CA. They made K-Kon earlier this year, so I won't have to hustle between it and Animazement, but its still worrisome. I have to save enough money from my non-existent income and pay for hotel, airfare, food, and the actual convention of course. *trying to get dad to pay for AX trip and mom to buy airfare to AZ as graduation present*

5.) I want to do a skit for Kawaii Kon. Also, I want to do the karaoke competition, have a table in the Artist's Alley, and if possible, hold some kind of panel on behalf of Anime United. Good luck to me.

Ack, I have to go to sleep before my mom kills me.

Night anyone who might possibly be reading this!

Oh boy... I haven't written a drop of fanfiction since Throughout the Life of a Hero. And sure, that wasn't that long ago, but damn! I've been busy with three all consuming RP's, my grandmother visiting for a month, making costumes(Rikku and Seras in particular), making my friend's Christmas presents... (yes, if your reading, beware! your Christmas present is probably homemade)

Arg! I also am in the process of finishing off an original short story, which I've been told by all who have read it so far, that I should find an artist for and get it published. Why an artist? Because its a childs fable. It has my own light mix of morales, a tad of action right at the end, and simple enough wording. It should be a fun little fantasy book for kids. The other thing everyone was telling me was that I should write stories for kids. As much as I wouldn't mind also writing stories for kids, I had to keep telling everyone "Don't worry, I already want to be a writer.", "No, this isn't a new development, I've been able to write like this for a long time." and "Actually, I want to be a novelist. You know, big books, sequels, prequels, and trilogys?"

Young adult, Adult, mature, Children, I'll write for them all! My books will be all over public libraries across America! At least, I hope so. I hope that one day my old co-workers from Kailua public library will be sorting through new books and see "Maria Harr" plastered all over the cover and go all "OmG! Its that girl who used to work here! She made it after all!"

I want people to wait on my sequels, send me fan letters. I want them to read my stories and get something out of it, enjoyment. Sure, they might learn something, or maybe pick up on the underlying morale values I instill most of my good guy characters with, but I really just want them to enjoy the story I've written.

Blah, I'll do it, what am I worried about? I rock! Mwahahahaha-alright, thats enough, shower time then I got a mountain of school to jump on...

My short little series, Throughout the Life of a Hero gives voice to the feelings my character experienced while playing her role in the world of Albion.

 

( The Journey Continues... )

Okay, so, I don't know how people usually organize fanfics, but I'll just tag it as Fanfic and hope everyone can find it from there. This is a Fable 2 fic that was inspired by sheer boredom and a picture of the bad, female hero. Who, yeah, was me, right down to the boots and hot pants. Because this fic is from pure, unadalturated boredom, I shall write it in first person. I'm so bored, that I'm lazing out as well, great. So don't expect anything particularly good from it...

 

It’ll be written as I played it. If I decided to do bad things in the game, Sparrow will do them here. If I did good things, again, she’ll do them here. If I was a complete chicken-shit going through Wraithsmarsh while playing at night… well, I wasn’t, so we don’t have to go over that.

 

 

Alright, I was bored, I wanted to write, I needed inspiration for some IshiHime fanfics I've been dying to write... So I went to YouTube, searched 'Ishida Uryuu', and the first vid that came up was a really good one. Liked it so much, that I checked out the other things done by the person, ZTX, and boy am I glad I did! Just about every vid this person has done (and its not many, sadly) I reaaaally enjoyed. One in particular, a recent one that I was informed of by subscribing to this person, made me laugh till I cried, cry till I giggled, then hit replay and start the process all over again. This video is NSFW... I think. It might not sound so good to anyone who can't see your screen, so turn down the volume!




Now, we move from the hilariousity onto the sad-sauce. Another AkuRoku, with the song I'll Be Waiting by Lenny Kravitz. This one is just sooo sad. Makes me sad sad sad. The beginning starts off with the piece of Kingdom Hearts that tears at my heart and makes me want to bawl my eyes out.

Axel-"Lets meet again, in the next life."
Roxas-"Yeah, I'll be waiting."
Axel-"Silly. Just because you have a next life."

And because that's not all we can be sad about, there's more.

Sora-"Axel, what were you trying to do?"
Axel-"I wanted to see Roxas. He... was the only one I liked. He made me feel... like I had a heart."

With the music from I'll Be Waiting playing behind it, it is incredibly sad. I give MAD props to the maker for this. She also made me a bigger AkuRoku fan. Before, I was kinda "Meh, yeah, it could happen. I mean, geez, Axel is so hot, I have to pair him with someone, right?" But now its Roxas or go home. I've become a firm believer in the AkuRoku system. Thank you Dr. ZTX! And now, the video...

Since I just complained for a while about W.i.t.c.h.'s ending, or lack thereof, I thought now would be a good time to look at a possible new costume to be added to my Dream Cosplay list. Or maybe a couple... If you read my last post, then you know I like the character designs. Well, some of them are pretty damn cool.

( Pictures and explanations... )

I am extremely disappointed. I just got done watching the second season of W.i.t.c.h. on YouTube. Yeah, I know Witch is a Disney show, but its really good! Character development, cute guys(I know their 14, but shut up they're cute!), badass baddies, neat scenery and animation style, and good ole' moral values that aren't shoved down your throat like most American cartoons. No, "What we've learned" things. Just underlying morals that you pick up on.

Thought I would post one of my more updated lists of cosplay for 08-09. 08-09 refers to every non-convention event where I would be cosplaying starting after Kawaii Kon 08. So, everything in between(Halloween, photoshoots, contests, socials) Kawaii Kon 08 and my planned 09 cons (Kawaii Kon, Anime Expo, Animazement) is considered 08-09. This list will say Who, What, Where, and When I'll be cosplaying. The order they are in is by level of excitement. The costume I want done first, or am most excited about, will be on top. This doesn't necessarily effect which costume will be completed first. I actually have a totally different list, "Level of Priority" that I keep to stay on track with which costume has to be completed first. On that list, costumes I'm buying go on the very bottom of the list, and those that I'm making make up the top portion.

Character-Variation/Series/Debut Date-Event/Who With/Acquisition/Status

Rikku - Samurai Dress Sphere / Final Fantasy X-2 / April 10-12, 09 - Kawaii Kon / Leland / DIY / 12%

Seras Victoria - Vol. 7 'Blood Seras' / Hellsing / July 2-5, 09 - Anime Expo / Ano / Buy / 0%

_ _ _ _ _   _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  - none / Final Fantasy ???(HINT: After 10) / April 10-12, 09 - Kawaii Kon / none / DIY / 3%

Orihime Inoue - Arrancar / Bleach / April 10-12, 09 - Kawaii Kon / Kala, Corrine, Misa, Kenji, Koichi, / Buy / 0%

Ashelin - none / Jak 2 / April 10-12, 09 - Kawaii Kon / Kala / DIY / 1%

Midna - first form / Legend of Zelda; Twilight Princess / April 10-12, 09 - Kawaii Kon / Corrine, Leland, / DIY / 0%

Tamaki Suou - King of Bali / Ouran High School Host Club / April 10-12, 09 - Kawaii Kon / Kala, Corrine, Misa, / DIY / 0%

Zorin Blitz - grated face / Hellsing / May 22-24, 09 - Animazement / none / DIY / 5%

Joker Minion - none / Batman; the Dark Knight / October 31, 08 - Halloween / 40%

Axel/Larxene - Organization school days / Kingdom Hearts 2 / October 31 - 08 / 13%

Character-Variation: Self explanatory. This is the character I'll be dressing as. If the character has more than one costume, or if I'm putting a twist on the original, this will be considered the 'variation'.

Series: Self explanatory again. This will be the series that the character I'm cosplaying comes from.

Debut Date-Event: The debut date is the (hopeful) day that the costume will be worn and shown to the public, as opposed to private parties. If a costume is worn to a private gathering/photoshoot, I won't consider it as part of the Debut Date, because even if pictures from said event get on the internet, the costume is still not "worn and shown" to the public.

Who With: Whether I'm doing a costume with a group, or just a few friends, they'll be up here. If you see your name up here and want it removed, just tell me and I'll have it off in no time. Also, the person's planned costume won't be displayed, because some people like to have secret costumes, you know?

Acquisition: How I'll be getting the costume. Will I buy it? (Buy) or will I make it myself? (DIY)

Status: Even if I'm buying it, there can be a level of completion for a costume. The percentage is just estimated, and I definitely don't have a special system of measuring status, but it helps to have a guess of how far through a costume I may be.

Aww. Gosh, thats a sad story. No, for all my literary genius-(lies!) IGNORE THE WOMAN BEHIND THE PARENTHESIS! Ahem, as I was saying; For all my literary genius (li*smother*) I don't think I could write a story in six words. And if I could, I have a feeling it won't come to me soon enough to put on livejournal. That said, I wonder how long it took Hemingway to write that? I wonder if at first he had to get over thinking "Thats impossible" and just move onto to think of it in simple terms. I myself would try too hard, stop thinking of it so simply, and trip myself up... And for some reason, all I can think of are horse's and feet xD

Today I got to meet a cousin of mine I've never met before. Well, actually, more like a third cousin, but she's a cousin all the same, ya? So, she came to Hawaii to visit her family on her mother's side (we're related to the father, and they are now divorced, so its kind of confusing but it all works out ^^) that are really good friends of my brother's. He befriended the daughter of the sister of the women who married my mom's cousin, then when she found out my mom's last name, we figured out that we're almost related to her! So, anyways, about this third cousin I met today; she came to visit our almost cousin, so we went and ate dinner with her. Then, today, we went to Bishop Museum with her, her friend who came with her, and my almost cousin. It was nice seeing all the old stuff again. I don't think I've been there since at LEAST 6th grade. If not that soon, then even further to 3rd grade. The only letdown was that the wing of the building holding all the Hawaiiana and the giant humpback whale suspended from the ceiling was closed till 09 for remodeling. Very saddening, since I love that giant humpy to pieces. At least I got to see a little bit of him through a heavily tinted window that I wasn't necessarily supposed to be looking through... But hey, I didn't know red velvet ropy-thingys meant "Don't step over these and walk in this area beyond"... XD So I got my whale fix, saw the new science building, and also saw the new exhibit on (guess what?) whales! So all in all, I had fun. My third cousin is really sweet and very pretty, so it was great meeting her.

(No, its not sideways, he's hanging out of the tree ^_^ )

Okay, I lied in my last post, I'm not fleeing to Word. I'm fleeing to Aperture! Mwahahaha! I recently took a bunch of pictures of my vast anime and video game figurine collection (lies! you only have about 8!) in my front yard. Recently, as in, yesterday, July 23. Back in the day, which btw, was a Wednesday. *pfft-stolen joke-hahaha* So, I took pictures of my Bome Kos-Mos figure, and my Guymelefs from Escaflowne. My front yard has this cool little garden/thingy next to the walkway to my front door, so I hijacked it and made everyone walk around my set-up(which included three umbrellas and a box of action figures 'cause it was raining) while I snapped some piccys. I'm pretty proud of most of them, and you can see the one Kos-Mos picture (whose properties I screwed with) as my default userpic. I used a Nikon D70, and it was around 1 to 3:30 and raining, so its obvious in the later pictures that the sun has left the building.

Because Photobucket wants to be gay with the Mac that I use for uploading pictures from my camera and editing them, I had to make a Flickr account. Heres a link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/miamiasma/

I think I might try making avatars out of some of them. Definitely will when I can borrow the two Auron figures my friend has and take some pics of him. Then I'll put them on the Aurikku-Pyreflies community for everyone to enjoy.

Hmm... Well, none of them are exactly secret. I wear most of my personality on my sleeve. I guess the quiet, ashamed, and self-hating one is most secret. Only my best friend knows about it. I think, if I was a friend of mine, I would be surprised to hear that I have very low self-esteem and stuff. I mean, aside from the whole "Not being able to take a compliment", I usually do extremely well in front of lots of people, so how would they know I'm the biggest scaredy cat to have ever existed. And not like a scared of the dark scaredy cat (and yes, I am XD ) but a scared of being the center of attention scaredy cat. And for a person who NEEDS to be the center of attention to survive, thats a hard obstacle to get over.

Hmm, I need to update my fanfics... Grawr, must update! *flees to Word*

Yeah, I think it should. Its just not cool to leave him out of the loop. I mean, he's a Greek god!


Grr! I should make a new entry into my Diary of an Al Bhed Princess, but I have no ideas! What do I write about? I guess I could just follow the story and go into the Moonflow sequence... Yeah, thats what I'll do.


That, and I'll finally make a second part to my ChadXOrihime story. Maybe even make it into a series? I've got an awesome idea to make an after-series story about them. All the after-series stories I've read from Bleach (two or three IshiHime's) have them stop fighting the Hollows and make it completely romance. But really... You lose half of the romantic opportunities when you get rid of the action and violence. Compromising positions, situations for saving each other. Action+Fanfic Magic=ROMANCE!!! Yeah...

Hello anyone reading,

Yes, so as the header suggests, this is my first journal entry on LiveJournal. Just made this account, what? a week ago? Yeah, that sounds about right.

So, I made this account just so I could join the Quite the Couple and Aurikku fanfiction communitys, because they rock, but since I'm bored at the moment, I decided to use this for its original purpose. And post a journal-ish thingy... Here I go! Wish me luck!

Went to the movies today, matinee time around 2:00, coughed up my $6.75 and sat down in a near empty theatre to see Hellboy 2; the Golden Army. Fun movie. I would tell anyone who likes old shoot-em-up movies, corny jokes with little twists, fantasy, and Men in Black to see it. It had that action movie charm, with the epic music playing everytime both doors swung out to reveal Hellboy, his cronies standing behind him. All they were missing was a halo of light behind them.

I liked the new characters, Noada and Noala, and I was hopping with joy when I saw the wingy creature thingy, just 'cause. Cause what? Well 'cause he/she had wings! *is sucker for wings, angel, demon or otherwise*

Oh, and, made a new friend today too! The anime convention forum(http://kawaiikon.org/forum/) that I frequent sets up a lot of gt's, and my buddy always sets one up for new movie matinees, and someone new came! So, I was all jittery with happiness for that. Ends up I'd actually talked to her about doing a Sailor Moon group cosplay at the convention and more on the forums. So, in short, it was awesome sauce. All I can think to talk about right now. Once I get back to my own computer(at my dad's workplace right now) I'll write up a new Aurikku fanfic, do a new chapter for my story http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4229778/1/Diary_of_an_Al_Bhed_Princess , and do my first Rippal fic and add that to Quite the Couple. Hopefully the community members will enjoy them. 

Thanks for reading! ( For Hellsing 2 Spoilers... )