Dive !! .. into the sidewalk.

So the other day, after finishing my shower I head over to my mom's bedroom to find a comb to brush my hair, I noticed the window blinds were open. My mom tells me it's okay to leave it open during the day, but at night when I want the light son, the windows have to be closed, because then people can see me if I'm there. Well, I didn't feel like closing the blinds at that time, and I figured I wouldn't hang around too long, so being seen wouldn't be too much of a problem, but then I thought.. What if in the brief moment when I'm combing my hair, someone broke through the window with a gun and gunned me down?! More importantly, I wonder what would happen if I screamed. Surely, my sister who was upstairs who might (or might NOT, since it's not possible she would ignore my scream of horror as if it were nothing) hear it might come running downstairs to check on the commotion. If that happened, she would be shot too, right? In that case scenario, I would like her to run. Don't check up on me, run, because I don't want you to be next. o_o

Isn't that a hard decision to make right then and there? To tell someone not to check what's happening as someone's getting assaulted because you value their life? Like, technically, Tomo, if you're reading this, this is what I'm saying: If you hear me screaming and gunshots or something, don't check up on me. Go run and find help. )X

This is scary. I almost want to cry. -dork- Because I'm scared, or something.

It's just like if there's a code red at school or something and the gunman somehow broke into your classroom and starts shooting, what are you supposed to do? At first I thought playing dead would be the obvious answer, because uh, then the guy would think I'm dead when I'm faking it, right? But how are you going to keep your breathing all calm as that happens? Moreover, what if the guy wants to make sure you're dead, and SHOOTS you another time just to make sure? You can't really get up and run, either. That's sure death right there, too.

Darnit, why do mean people have to come and threaten everyone's life all of a sudden like that?

Watching America's Most Shocking videos or something had nothing to do with this. XD I just realized that watching that yesterday was a funny coincidence. Dangerous people just come out of nowhere, it's scary.

On a lighter note! Well, it's still more ramblings on my wonders, but while I was playing solitaire many times and losing, I was wondering if every hand, as in, every game of solitaire, has a possibility of being winnable. Like, obviously, sometimes you might be unlucky enough to get a whole game where nothing can be done, but what about bad hands? I always wonder, as I pull a card from the deck to place it somewhere, "Will it be good to use it now? Would the card I need later in the future appear when I pull this card, or will pulling this card blow that chance away?" I somehow feel Solitaire, while it is a game of chance, is also a game of timing. One move could change the whole game for you later. It can make it, or break the game for you.

AND THEN I THOUGHT ABOUT how that was sort of like real life. I mean, we make choices in our lives, some more important than others, but like, sometimes people just end up wondering what would happen if they chose that, uhm, "other path". I use that allusion/metaphor a lot, and here I'm using it somewhat differently. What if we lived our lives the other way? Reminds me of Chrono Cross, where you get to visit that other world. EXCEPT I NEVER BEAT IT OR GOT TOO FAR SO I WOULDN'T KNOW.

Anyway, just some things I was wondering about. I always have questions wtf. )X

Well, it was done on a whim 'cause someone wanted it and it wasn't around, so...

futari_fansubs was looking for staff members, and I've been wondering what a timer/typesetter does, since I've been considering about doing that for awhile now. I can't translate Japanese, since I don't know anything about tee language (except for the stuff you pick up from watching enough shows, but that doesn't really count), but I've always been impressed with how fansubbers devote their time to subbing, and I kind of have been wanting to help. After finding out what a timer was, I kind of thought I could maybe do that. Just match text with time. o3o That's probably harder than I think. XD

Anyway, the point is I've been playing around with Aegisub for the past few days and after going through lots of troubles and difficulties, I sort of pulled it off, I think. The Japanese characters aren't in sync sometimes, but overall, I'm happy. XD

I don't know how to encode. I didn't even know the word O_O After subbing T&T's SAMURAI, the file came out to be like, 3.91 GB. O_O WHAT IS THAT. THE ORIGINAL FILE WAS LIKE ONLY 68 MB! I tutorialed it on fansubbers.org and got it down to 151 MB, but I still feel that's too big for a PV. I think I can forgive myself, though, since I'm new to this. O_O; APPARENTLY TIMERS/TYPESETTERS DON'T NEED TO ENCODE AT ALL. -dork- I should have known; there's a separate job for that in a fansub group, now that I think about it. Oh well. I kind of wanted to see the fruits of my labor in action.

I doubt she'd check this or anything, but I feel it to be necessary. nightly_001 put up with all my newbie questions and trouble shooting, but thank you so much for getting me introduced to (sort-of) subbing! n____________n

Of course I've been keeping up! XD I lost June 8's, but then found it, so I stuck it here with the rest of the mess.

June 8, 2008
June 14, 2008
June 15, 2008
June 16, 2008
June 17, 2008
June 18, 2008
June 19, 2008
June 20, 2008
June 21, 2008
June 22, 2008
June 23,2008
June 24, 2008
June 25, 2008
June 26, 2008
June 27, 2008

( The rest is just normal entry stuff. n____n )

http://hotimg20.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_060908-vi.jpg June 9, 2008
http://hotimg15.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_061008-vi.jpg June 10, 2008
http://hotimg15.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_061108-vi.jpg June 11, 2008
http://hotimg19.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_061208-vi.jpg June 12, 2008
http://hotimg16.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_061308-vi.jpg June 13, 2008

I'm quite aware of the fact that sometimes I draw Zombb with antennae, and sometimes I don't. XD


UNRELATED

So I have this journal-sort of thing I started writing in some years ago sitting in this pretty pink heavy-duty paper bag I received for my birthday from my aunt in my room. I wondered how long it's been since I last wrote in it, and though on most days I usually forget to tackle that curiosity, today, I remembered. ^^

Turns out the last time I wrote in it was ONLY two years ago. (Why does it feel so much longer than that?) I hope to maybe write some more in it later today, or sometime this week or so. This particular journal holds a special sentimental feeling for me; I wrote in it specifically to demonstrate self growth. I read the only two entries I've written in it, and I see that a lot of values I had then are the same as the ones I do have now, but some ways of thinking have drastically changed. I noticed that was written around my all-time low confidence streak, and now I'm a bit more confident, or rather, I hope I am more confident now. ^^ In any case, I should get to it sometime soon. I thought it was a stupid idea at the time, and maybe it still is right now, but I did it anyway, and it'd be a nice thing to respond to.

It's a long entry, so here are my artgrind submissions for yesterday and today. I didn't submit yesterday, but I did draw something. ^^;

http://hotimg14.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_060608456.jpg June 6, 2008
http://hotimg14.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_060708-vi.jpg  June 7, 2008

I organized it in parts so it's a bit easier to navigate. XD

The day before yesterday, I got myself introduced to the group Kanjani8. Although the group remains largely unknown to others, I kind of felt like I was lost in whatever obsession it was to most girls. I'd recognize a thumbnail of Nishikido Ryo as someone's avatar, but I'd be all up in the air as to which of the other 7 (or sometimes 6) were also named.

It's funny that I can trace this new-found discovery back to some car commercial (Not sure if it was car, exactly). The song "Secret Agent Man" was playing, and I went on Youtube to search it up. (I do this often whenever I hear a song I think I might like.) I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I never knew the song existed. I had a friend whose screenname for something was something like "Secret Asian Man", and I saw a comic in the newspaper titled the same thing. SO NATURALLY I THOUGHT THE SONG WAS SECRET ASIAN MAN. XD Anyway, it's a funny song, but not something I could listen over and over on repeat like I do with some songs. =o

So, what do I find? A Japanese version of the song. XD I click on it just to hear what it sounds like, since familiar songs in different languages are always a fun listen. I browse through the comments a bit whild the video plays, and see numerous mentions of adorable this Ryo-chan was even at that age. Already I'm cycling through my head, so he -MUST- be older and probably a singer by now, right? So I search -him- up, and get some videos, most noticably, his solo where he sort of.. unbuttons his shirt. I don't think that was such a great introduction for me, but the song was pretty good. XD I browsed through some other videos with him in it, but I don't think I watched them all that much or I just didn't like the songs as much as I did with the Spirits song. I did sort of pick up the fact that he was in Kanjani8, though at that time I didnt' bother to find out who they were.

I don't remember why I started searching the Kanjani8 (I searched up KAT-TUN first) up Wednesday. I think I wanted some new fast-paced music. o3o I *THINK* I looked up David Tao first. I can't remember if he was Cantonese or Mandarin, but his music is amaaazing. I loved Wu Liang Bao (Augh.. spelling. @_@) and his duet with Jolin Tsai, Jin Tian Ni Yao Jia Gei Wo. Then, afterwards, I was wondering what this famed KAT-TUN was all about, because it showed up in the Youtube side bar thing a lot. I thought its member, Akanishi Jin was part of this other group called KinKi Kids, whom Jackie showed me a PV of, but I guess it was a different guy. ^^; Anyway, my attention soon shifted to Kanjani8, since KAT-TUN is quite closely associated with that group, I believe. -shrug- Plus, I would recognize at least one guy-- Nishikido Ryo! XD I guess I'm not too good with faces, I need at least one guy I'm familiar with when I watch something.

I watched mainly the PVs, since I kind of don't care too much for live performances. XD; I liked most of whatever ones were out, namely Wahaha, It's My Soul, and some other ones I can't seem to remember the name. They're funny, upbeat songs, and I like that, since I don't do too well with slow songs, for some reason. (Some go by me fine, though ^^;) I watched Wahaha first, ('cause my sister might have thought the name was funny, and we should watch that first XD) and instantly I recognize Ryo. (He's hard to miss, isn't it?) The boy with the black frayed hair and crooked teeth was my favorite, though, and I went ahead to look at the other videos to try and find him, BUT I COULDN'T. I searched up photos to hopefully get his name, but aside from Ryo, Subaru, and you, I had NO IDEA who the rest of the group were. XD THEY ALL LOOK SO SIMILAR.

So, yesterday, I searched up even more videos with Kanjani8, including the live performances. I watched some, because I knew they did more live performances than PVs.. (am I correct? XD) I just watched video after video just so I could find Shingo, since to me, he was always hard to find. I think he's not as popular as Subaru, You, or the loved Ryo, 'cause I don't see much talk about him. XD In any case, I even watched the Japanese drama he played in, Dive to the Future to familiarize myself with him.

Uh, that movie was so hard for me to watch because in my opinion, dramas are really corny. XD My sister was watching one all day, and I didn't understand why she'd waste her time like that, EVEN THOUGH IT'S SUMMER AND SHE'S BOUND TO BE BORED SOONER OR LATER. However, the main reason why it was hard to watch is because it's a diving movie, all the guys wears Speedos. Yeeecch. I can't stand it; it's so scaaary. I had to look away from the video sometimes. Plus, Shingo's hair was long in that one, and I don't like long hair on him at aall. XDD

The FUNNIEST thing about watching it, though, is before the movie started, there was this ad with some man relaxing in a mudbath. I was like, just staring in disbelief, then.. SOMEONE EMERGES FROM THE MUD BATH. Then I was like, NO THIS IS TOO SCARY and I hit back. After that I was thinking, "Hey, it sounded like an ad, what if the movies after it?" So I click forward, and there the man in the mud bath was again! I hit back again, because it was scary. Hahah. I didn't want to see the man or the person emerging from the mudbath or the strange man announcing the purpose/product of the advertisement. At last, I figured I'd just.. pay no attention to the ad, so once again, I click forward. Even though I didn't see the scene, I hated hearing the advertisement. I don't even know what it was about! XD

I'm not too crazy about live performances, but hell, I sure wish I -could- dance. I know everyone loves Ryo, and I do admit he's good-looking, but he doesn't strike my interest. XD -shot- Nope, Shingo's my favorite, though it was terribly difficult for me to differentiate him from the other five or four, because he was always changing his hair. At least that many of the group dye or bleach their hair for the same performance. The only way I could recognize Shingo is by his teeth! It's such a strange way to identify someone, I think, but I always notice teeth since I've had dental problems for a long, long time. XD Shou from Kishidan/DJ Ozma was identified by the teeth, too, though it's obvious the hair asks for so much more attention. XD So, whenever I watched the Kanjani8 videos, I paid clooose attention to find those charming crooked teeth of Shingo's! Thanks to my sister, we found his whole name, too. XD Before it was just like, "THE CUTE GUY WITH CROOKED TEETH".

Anyway, the point after all that is that I now know who the Kanjani8 are, and feel like there's a part of this world's culture that I never knew about finally sunk into some form of knowledge. Hahah! But most importantly, I can recognize who Murakami Shingo is. n________n I don't think I'm a crazed fan of this group like many others, though, but I do like some of their songs. ^^;

KITTENS

My mom called me down yesterday in the afternoon because, apparently, there were kittens living under our patio! I've never seen kittens in real life before (I'M DEPRIVED OF THIS WORLD AND I KNOW IT) and they were soooooo cute. T_T They look so fluffy and everything. I just wanted to go out and hold one, but the mama looked pretty angry. XD Apparently, while I'm at school, my mom and sister see this fat cat hanging around in our backyard numerous times, and it turns out she was pregnant. I'm left out on this encounter, because my mom immediately noticed the mother cat was really skinny now, due to giving birth to the kittens. Anyway, the kittens must have been there for quite some time without our knowing, because they did have fur and could walk. They were playing around with our garden things like it was their playground. It was soooo cuuuute! >w<" My mom asked me what we should do, and right away, I answered, "CALL ANIMAL CONTROL. THEY CAN FIX THIS." My mom doesn't want to cause such an uproar with them, I think, so my idea was shot down. Eventually, we figured they'd go away once they were old enough, which should be soon since they all could walk and such.

>w< I want a kitty, but our family isn't good with animals or pets, unless they're fish. Maybe I can save this story for another day. I already rambled too much, and even if no one reads this, when I go back to this for a nice blast from the past, there's only so much I can take in, I think. XD

You know, when I think about it, those kittens are growing up in poverty. Their mama is a stray who just gave birth to them in someone's backyard, and who knows how she got those kittens in the first place. The poor things are playing around in their poverty-stricken area, garden things, and thinking it's their playground and all because they're children and don't understand the poor situation they're in.

Coming home yesterday, my mother told me she told a co-worker about the kittens and asked what we should do. The answer? Call animal control and they'll neuter those kittens so more aren't birthed. (X

GRADUATION

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY CLASS OF 2008. (X Highschool graduation was yesterday, and I didn't attend it because I didn't wnat to. o3o A lot of friends and folk were in disbelief regarding my decision, but my parents were fine with it. I only feel bad now 'cause my mom sounds like she wanted to go. Did she want to go that badly? I wish she would have told me. She said she's worried I'll regret it later in life, but I don't think so. College is more important, and I'll be sure to attend that graduation ceremony. (If I graduate XD)

http://hotimg15.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_060508.jpg

Not so very successful attempt at perspective. XD

http://hotimg19.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_060308.jpg

Don't know. Felt like drawing him all embarrassed when flattered. XD

http://hotimg10.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/zombb_060208.jpg

I can't say much today, I think.

I need help spiffing up his jacket. XD

Even if I'm not added officially (yet), I can still participate, right? XD

I think it's too big to show it normally

http://hotimg16.fotki.com/a/71_80/233_157/Zombb_060108.jpg

Uhhh. I joined LiveJournal just for this and don't understand how everything works. XDD

I think I was about to ramble, but now I'm too lazy. Or maybe I'll end up doing it if I think of things to say.

Uh, I was doing this other challenge thing, sort of, and it said to draw someone doing two things at once. So here's Zombb, bandaging up his left arm and trying to put on his jacket. At the same time. wow I know. He probably got into some street fight or something and right now he's thinking how late he is for practice and how screwed he'll be. =B

Though it hasn't been official or really cleared up with my buddy Sai yet, Zombb is the supposed drummer in a band with her characters. (X Oh, yes. Uhm, they're Neopets. Yay. XD AISHA EARS.

I guess I could write some stuff about Zombb so I'll remember to add it later to his profile or something. As hinted before, Zombb is sort of.. involved with gangs, though not so much as being in the deepest parts of the conflicts and such. Just like any typical (un)original G, he likes gangs, bikes, and girls-- I mean romance. He doesn't have a bike though. Maybe I should give him one. =B

It's obvious "Da Hood" has a purpose-- to hide Zombb's emotions and feelings. n.n Da Hood is quite large, and the teeth tend to conceal his eyes, so when speaking to him, you might be intimidated because he appears quite shady. He's quite the shy type, despite the menacing image he may give off. Any scary faces he makes is for the purpose of promoting the band image, of course! Unfortunately, he's no good at getting his feelings across either, so his words can sometimes be misinterpreted as being critical or even cold. (Whereas Shin does it on purpose. Odin is just blunt like that xP [I currently have NO explanation for the other two mentioned characters XD]) An example of this is, if there's a chatty character nearby who just can't seem to settle down, instead of telling her to "Be quiet, please", Zombb say "You're too loud.", which demonstrates hints of annoyance rather than an earnest request to "pipe down". =B

And uh. Because he sounds so mundane, I had him be a reader. Yes. He likes to read.

.. Dork!

Oh, and his hood changes with his emotions, obviously!