In more awesome news, otahouse.com is now ours! For those of you new to my blog, Otahouse is my main group of friends from college. A random group of college students from an anime club that were drawn together in a search for roommates, and therefore create OTA (from the word otaku meaning geek in Japanese) and House.

Main Members of Ota minus Eric

This is from our Christmas (Rockmas) 2007 dinner and gifts night. Left to right: myself, Linuxjosh, Bastion, Shika, Amanda, Sean, Mukura, and Rock.

We did a lot of crazy stuff together: Midnight trips to the beach (an hour’s drive away); crazy drunken parties some which involved a yaoi paddle – plz, don’t ask; random road trips to out of state conventions; and one of my favorites – playing out in the rain during a hurricane.

Linuxjosh tried to buy otahouse.com a few years ago in order to create a home forum all of us who were about to go our separate ways, but the url was already taken then by a random production company that we’d never heard of.  So imagine my surprise yesterday when I received an IM from him saying he had finally bought it!

Linuxjosh has left the design of the site up to me but I haven’t really figured out what I want to do with it yet.  A photo gallery is going to be a must have as well as a forum, but other than that I’m still thinking.

For the moment, it looks like Josh and I will be staying put in Raleigh. There was some talk of him being transferred within his company to California. >.< While I kinda like the idea of being in a new location, that’s the nomad in me, the actual thought of having to clean out, pack, clean the apartment until spotless, and then drive one of the cars across country is just not a pleasant thought.  Not to mention that the standard of living out there is about twice as much as it is here. takaidesune!

I guess the point that I’m trying to get to is, that while we were in the big hurry to wait and see what was going to happen, I stated looking for jobs that I might be interested in on that coast and with that coast being big with the manga industry here in the US, I’m sure you could imagine where I started looking.  Within minuets of beginning my search, I found a job that I would absolutely love! So much so in fact, that I’m still going to apply for it and hope that they will allow me to telecommute and travel from here as needed. A big wish, but not impossible for this job I think.  What is it, you ask?

A Pop Japan Tour Coordinator.

I would get to  create and coordinate pop culture-themed tour plans, itineraries, and budgets; find special events, concerts, festivals and shows to be included in the itineraries; a few other responsibilities that I have some experience with, and then the best part: Serve as tour guide.  I would be paid to travel to Japan, and visit all the places that I’d already want to go to and see! Akihabara, Harajuku, some of the shines maybe, Tokyo Tower, the pier, and that’s just in Tokyo! Think of all the other places in Osaka, Nagoya, and Hokkaido that would be interesting to a Pop Culture enthusiast! The regular shows and conventions, the maid cafes! This list could go on forever! *-*

I’m really nervous about sending off my resume, which, thanks to the help of my aunt is all tweeked out to help me at least get an interview with them.  I’m still working on my cover letter. OMG I’m completely obsessing over every little detail for this! >.<  I even updated my LinkedIn Profile for it; something that I haven’t done since I joined the site. My weakest point I feel is my Japanese level, but I think that this will only improve, especially with frequent trips to Japan!

Music Video time! Warning: this video is soooo not suited for minors or little children. So, be warned!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

I hope your enjoying your day!

Today, I wanted to post a tribute to all my favorite anime pairings! First off, to get us in an even sweeter mood, I’ve posted ELS’s Two is Better than One amv. I LOVE this one, it’s sickeningly sweet. ^o^

Next up we have another by ELS, with the pairing of Amu and Ikuto from Shugo Chara.

This next one isn’t directed specifically at Tamaki and Haruhi from Host Club, but I think that it does show off the love/ friendship between them and the rest of the club.

And a final one to Saya and Haji from Blood +

Here’s a shot of my board that I’ve been working on to get it done.  I know that there were probably easier ways to go about this, but I just used things that I had on hand around my apartment: A scrap canvas painted white, some left over ribbon from the wedding, left over index cards from uni, a bit of charcoal to lay out the lines, a sharpie to label the sequences and acts and to permanently mark the lines, and of course, safety pins to hold everything together.  I’ll probably reuse this method until the canvas falls apart, but hopefully by then I’ll be a published writer, and the materials for a new board will be tax deductible.

So, I’ll probably get back to writing Grim Aspects again this weekend, now that I have a better idea of the direction that I’m heading in.  I still feel like leaving a snipit behind today before I move into my AMV for the post.  I’ve dug into my binder of goodies and pulled out a little something that I wrote a year or two ago.  There are a few rough patches in the scene especially where Nick gives a little too much information away, but I was leaving cluse for myself so I could pick it up later. This is definitely a piece that I’m looking forward to expanding on someday. A little warning though, PG-13 for strong language.

“NICKOLAS!!”

His fingers hesitated over his keyboard, eyes closing for the brief moment it took Sammie to bust in the door. He glanced up. She’d practically torn the bedroom door it’s hinges. Sammie stood there in the door way dressed in her normal jeans and tank. Anger washed off her slender body in waves as she tried to form a coherent sentence.

“A week. A fucking week you’ve been back, and there’s already some lousy junkie in my apartment! God damn you, Nickolas, why do you have to bring that filth inside my house?!”

He studied her carefully, before turning his eyes back to the screen. “His not a junkie. That would imply that he was addicted to …”

“NOT a junkie? Are you kidding me?” She interrupted. “Nick, that kid has more bite marks than I’ve seen at once on anybody! He looks like he was used for a freaking pin cushion, there’s no way he isn’t.”

Nickolas pulled off his glasses and rubbed his face before looking back at her. “Samantha, I saw the kid last night. He’d looked lost or something, but he wasn’t a junkie. He was the healthy kid he should’ve been. I caught some of them trying to dump him in an alley earlier tonight.”

She ran her hands through her long hair and let out an exasperated sigh. “Nick…that still doesn’t mean you have to bring him here. There’s places you could have taken him to…”

“You know as well as I do that those so called ‘centers’ do not actually help people. I’m not going to let some unlucky kid get stuck in one of them.”

She began to pace in the confined space between the door and the bed. “You can’t save them all, Nick.”

“We’ve had this conversation before. You know my feelings on the topic.” He turned away from her, clearly not wanting to talk more.

Sammie visibly shook herself. “You can’t do this here, Nick! You’re going to draw attention to yourself. And frankly, I may be stronger than the average human, but I’m not up for a fight against the strongest coven of vampires on the east coast. Damn it, you know what they’re like, you use to be one of them!”

“I was NEVER one of them.” he spat back. Nickolas stood then. He stepped around the desk and stopped barely an inch from touching her shoulder.

He kept his face straight on as he whispered,“Yes, it was their leader who turned me, but I did not take part in what the others did for ‘fun’.”

He turned his face into hers, taking a deep breath as his lips hovered over the pulse on her throat. “I may not know what I am, but I know what I can do. If killing enough of them will wake my sire from his sleep, then I will drain every single drop from their bodies.”

Sammie held her breath, staying as still as she possibly could.

Then just as suddenly, he was on the other side of the room. His arms wrapped tightly around himself. “Get out.”

“Nick…”

“Now.”

She often forgot how dangerous Nickolas could be. He had mastered the art of acting human and he never had to pretend to be dangerous.

Bless it, I still get chills reading this. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  ^o^

Now since I’ve got this vampire theme going with Grim Aspects and the little snipit with Nick, I thought I’d keep it going with an AMV from Vampire Knight, one of my favorite animes. Here’s a little insight to the story line.

Yuki’s earliest memory is of a snowy night in winter, when she was attacked by one vampire and was saved by another, Kaname Kuran. Ten years later, Yuki Cross, the adopted daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, has grown up and become a “prefect” (also known as a guardian) for the school with two purposes: to protect the Day class students (humans) from the Night class students (vampires) and to protect the true identity of the Night class students from being discovered by the Day class students. Her fellow guardian, Zero Kiryu, a childhood companion whose parents were killed by a pureblood vampire, is now determined to kill them all and refuses to trust them. Through a cruel twist of fate, Zero becomes a vampire himself, having been bitten by a pureblood vampire four years before, Shizuka Hiou. Kaname, Yuki’s savior, leads the group of Night class, with the help of Takuma Ichijo (the vice president). (wikipedia)

The two featured in this video is Yuki and Zero.

I think I may need to set this aside for a while, and come back to it later with a fresh perspective.

oh, btw, this is post 500. Crazy, uh?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the story I began for NaNoWriMo ‘09. So much so in fact, that I pulled up the document to read last night. The writing is a mess! While it’s in third person, the focus shifts between the characters and not in a good way, trust me! The characters don’t stay in character and there are plot hole abound!! There’s so much wrong with it that it’s just daunting to think about fixing it to be a proper story….but. I think that’s the one strong point pulling for it. While all these things were wrong I was still easily fixed into the story.  I wanted to know what was going to happen next, and I’m the author!  So I guess it’s needless to say that I will come around to this story again.

Today’s AMV is from the anime Blood + entitled Bring Me to Life.  Blood + is one of my favorite animes and it offers a unique perspective/ twist on vampires.  Enjoy.

I think I may just need to concede to the fact that I am NOT a morning person.  Let me stay up to all hours of the night and I’m fine.  That’s actually the best time for me to write, surrounded by the dark and quiet apartment.  I don’t know, I usually write about vampires, so maybe that also has something to do with it. Anyway, I’m just going to end up pushing everything back until I can get it done.

I receive my Horoscope everyday by email, and today really just hit the mark so I thought I might share with you.

General Daily Horoscope Influences

We may still be floating in the boundless fantasies spurred by the early morning conjunction of beautiful Venus and dreamy Neptune. But Venus and the Sun each make tough aspects to passionate Pluto, demanding that we give consideration to emotionally intense consequences of expressing our desires. But the Moon continues her visit to uplifting Sagittarius, helping us overcome the negativity that can temporarily stand between us and our success.

Aries : Monday, Feb 8th, 2010 – You might not be willing to justify your feelings today just because someone asks for an explanation. The truth is that your emotions are not subject to logic and analyzing them only detracts from your experience. Instead of attempting to make sense of your desires now, just share them when it’s appropriate without trying to get others to voice their approval. Remember, you don’t need anyone else’s permission to be yourself.

Fun, huh? Though, to be honest I’ve always had a very hard time applying logic to my feelings and expressing them to others.

On another completely random note: Fate is something that I believe in. I believe that everything happens for reason, but I also believe that you have the power to change your fate if you out forth the effort to. Nothing can be set in stone, and that if you will it to it be, what ever you wish for could come to pass.  I don’t mean to get all metaphysical on you, but things from my past are finding their way to my present. They remind me of who I used to be and add to who I am now.  I believe that I’ve found something that I’ve looking for.  And if I can straighten a few other things in my life, I will be very happy.

Things have been busy, busy, busy!! Last night was the first Friday of the month and that’s a big day in the artist’s community here in Raleigh. The galleries downtown open their doors in the afternoon and stay open late in to the night. Sometimes there’s food and wine, but mostly it’s a great night to network with other artists in the community or buy some art.

Last night, I went down to the opening day of a show at the LoDi Project Gallery.  They put out a call to the artists in the community and across the world to unite to support those in need in Haiti. The LoDi Project received over a 1000 pieces of artwork from around the globe! Each piece will be sold for $25 dollars with all the proceeds going to support those in Haiti. I submitted three pieces of my own artwork and was very happy to hear that one of them (iHeartbronze) sold before I could even get down to the gallery last night! I haven’t heard about the other two , but I hope that when they are bought, I might hear from the new owners. :)

iHeartbronze by =Sachula on deviantART

I’m a little stumped with Grim Aspects at the moment. I have written about 350 words of a brand new beginning, but I’m not sure if it’s the direction I want to go with Gabrielle’s voice. Here’s a snip-it, the very beginning of the first chapter. Feel free to tell me what you think.

The smell of burning wood tickled my nose. I opened my eyes to see a small fire burning only a few feet from me. The heat from it felt wonderful.

I sat up and rubbed my face. The dull ache behind my eyes was still there. That’s what I get for letting my emotions get the best me. Seriously, when was the last time I’d cried like that? I sighed and looked over at the fire.

Only one person I knew would go through the lengths to build a fire instead of trying to wake me. He was my saving grace, the only person I confided in and yet, when I think about it, I didn’t really know much about him other than his name.

Adrian.

“Do you have a death wish?” a voice said behind me.

I grabbed at my chest to keep my heart from jumping through it and spun around to face him. Adrian was stepping over the remains of the broken wall. He stopped, posed with one foot on a sunken stone and just like that, I was just caught in his presence.

It happened every time we met and every time, I couldn’t be less prepared for it. The way the moon light behind him caught the honey color strands of his hair and made them glow. The lines of his face that he had so carefully composed to give off that air of indifference. Every movement, the slightest gesture to the merest of nods, thought out intensely in the depths of his hazel eyes.

I shook myself from the weight of his gaze and found that, yes, I still had a working jaw bone.

“I have a death wish?! I think you’re the one with the death wish. Sneaking up on a highschooler in the woods at night. Jeez…” I turned my back on him and immediately regretted it, remembering all too late that even the thought of him standing behind me sent quivers down my spine.

For a while after we’d first met, it was a healthy fear of a stranger in the night, but as we met more over the years, my mind began to wonder just what Adrian would do if he were to stand against my back? Those thoughts brought an entirely different type of shiver to my body.

I need to keep working on it and I’m very, very glad that I have my cell phone. I’m away from my computer more often that not these days, and it seems that the notes app on my phone is getting a very healthy work out. I’m also still working on my Three Act Structure. I’m not thrilled with it yet, if I ever finish it – it will be a Christmas miracle. XD

This week I watched the anime Peacemaker Kurogane. I remember watching most of this a few years ago, but I couldn’t remember if I ever got to watch the ending. So, I looked it up on CrunchyRoll (my new friend, btw) and was very happy that I did finally get to finish it this time around. I enjoyed the historical aspect and it reminded me a a series of books that were set around the same time period. I’m going to have to go look those up and add them to my To Read List again.

Here’s today’s amv : Dive Right In // anime: Peacemaker Kurogane // music: Dive Right In – Story of the Year

its snowing again…

I spent my chilly weekend indoors mostly, watching TV with Josh and anime on my computer. I caught up on Tegami Batchi which I’m really liking, and I started and finished Nabari no Ou. I was bawling at the end of it. THAT is how awesome it was. I completely fell in love with Yoite’s character and Miharu’s evil side. If you’re into anime I would highly recommend watching Nabari.

The AMV I’m posting today is a Nabari no Ou AMV, because I’m still craving more of it. >.>

[AMV] Nabari no Ou – Meant to Live by AlaenaNight

Anyway, on to Grim Aspects update. I’ve figured out Gabrielle and Adrian’s characters for the most part. I’m currently working on Nathan’s (antagonist) and I’m also trying to work out my Three Act Structure – which is not going so well…hopefully I will get it figured out soon.

Anyway, I’m now currently in the process of re-writing the beginning of Grim Aspects. I’m really liking the new image of Adrian that I have in my mind.  When I first pictured him, he acted more like his age.  But when I thought about that last night, I realize that it really didn’t fit with how he looked like a twenty something kid. That’s when the sudden cord of inspiration struck me and Adrian’s new personality was born. It’s going to take a little effort not copy Ikuto’s character from Shugo Chara to refine it, but it’ll work.

This AMV totally sums up how I feel about life some times, not to mention it’s the perfect anime/song combination ever! Well, maybe not ever but close enough.