Seven Days of Gratitude: Day 6

I honestly keep forgetting about this meme… How long has it been since I started, I wonder? But never mind that, let’s just continue!

1. Pangya. Oh my goodness, after such a long time, I finally got my pangya client to work again! It’s still killing my connection first before loading though, so it takes time before I get to actually play, but I get to play again so who cares!
2. Nuri’s Wings. I’m not sure if this is a particularly rare item, but look at the pretty, humongous wings!!! The animation for this is amazing too! I could just keep watching it forever!
3. My job as a manga artist. Good gracious, I am getting ulcers from this line of work, but I love it so much… I just wish I was popular too… “I want to be popular, damn it!!!”
4. Cosplay. These cosplayers continue to inspire me to take care of myself even though it’s so tempting to just eat junk food all the time. I may not be as thin as them, but at least I’m healthy!
5. Showers. Whoever invented showers should be given a Nobel Prize. How else would a manga artist from the tropics survive without air-conditioning??? Seriously…
6. Dreams. Sleep is fun to begin with, but dreams? Even the scary ones that I remember will eventually make its way to my manga pages!
7. Sardines and Tuna. The poor artists’ only source of nutrition in the middle of the night. It is the only thing that keeps me going when I am already at my limit in chasing deadlines.

Meme aside, aren’t those wings just the most beautiful things you’ve seen today?! Yes, I suppose, I do have a wing fetish of some sort… Oh well…

Two Thousand and Thirteen

Another year has come and gone, and… yes, I do realize how late this post is! What can I say? Things got so busy around here with family visiting, family celebrating, and family arguing!

In other words, another successful New Year’s celebration! Congratulations to us all who made it through another End of the World!

So now it’s 2013. Looking back at last year’s resolution, I’d dare say I completed last year’s mission! I managed to lose 10 pounds and kept it off even after the new year’s celebration!

I have to admit though, I didn’t really take it that seriously! There was an entire month where I rested to prepare for my Oh No! Manga debut, and I made a cosplay sword for my cosplayer, Tracy for the very first time. It was worth it though, as it was one of the highlights of my year! However, that is still no excuse and I will definitely “take it more seriously this time”!

I’ve also cosplayed for the first time during the debut of my latest series, Crystal Shadows! I’m sure I don’t fair well compared to the professional cosplayers out there, but hey, I finally did it! And in the process of manga making, I’ve met so many new friends like Enjelia, Jeff, Jayron, Jaden Kaiba, Ray, Matchang, Mazjojo, Misaki-taichou, Pochaco, SWTRD, just to name a few! Who knew an introvert like me could meet so many amazing people in one short year?

2012 was a fantastic year… I’m sure it had a lot of downs to go with it, but I distinctly remember forgetting about them.

This year, I want to grow more… spiritually speaking. And I made a promise to myself to be a lot happier, no matter what happens. And so, I will be filling my journal this year of all the little things that make me happy.

I hope I can stick to that resolution, as it would be a lovely present for my grandkids in the future. Then again, I’m not planning on having any kids, so maybe my nieces and nephews instead. Your aunt’s incredibly sappy today, I’m sorry my kiddies! Please don’t disown me!

Here’s to another amazing year!

Nutritional Diary 2012.01.18

So, after 2 weeks of this whole “dieting / eating better + exercise because this is my new year’s resolution (again)” thing, how am I doing so far?

Well, the bad news is, I stayed up late for about 3 nights in a row. One of which was an all-nighter. Literally. No sleep for more than 48 hours can seriously make you crave the worse kinds of food. You can probably guess the guilt-trip I went into. I mean, 3 sodas, snacking, junk food, and a ton of coffee? I feared the weighing scale!

Surprisingly though, I lost 3 pounds from new year’s day. Mark it, people: 3. pounds.

Woohoo! I guess all this walking really does help! But of course, this doesn’t give me the excuse of eating a lot of junk food simply because I can walk it off! No, no, I really need to do better next time and try to get some proper sleep! And I still haven’t found a good jumping rope yet… I was going to get one last Sunday, but I ended up staying in because of work!

Oh well, in the meantime, I’m celebrating that 3 pound lose like a boss! I hope this will last for a while! I’m beginning to like walking up and down the stairs for the additional tone-up! But I guess, since I was quite athletic before, I need to up my training a little bit. I don’t think I’m sweating as much as I first did a few weeks ago… Ah, and more water, less coffee for me! Hope I can stick to my goals this week!

And to remind myself that I should take better care of me, I’m going to buy those yarns and start making that cosplay sweater. I’m not saying which cosplay this is for yet! But yeah… time to start~!

Nutritional Diary 2012.01.10

As far as the new year goes, I’m no different from everyone else in the world. Our number one resolution?

“This year, for sure! I will lose those pounds!”

And every year, it’s the same story… “I gained weight!”

So how is this year going to be any different?

Well, there’s this blog sitting around doing nothing. It’s hardly ever updated anymore, since I don’t write as much as I used to. Not to mention that I’ve been concentrating on kurohiko.com most of the time. So in order for me to write more and keep up on my diet, I’m planning to update this blog 2-4 times a month regarding my exercise, diet, and binges!

This is probably going to be super tough and embarrassing. I’m already regretting writing about it, but I need to keep my mind focused on losing weight. Hey, if the world’s ending this year, might as well look good for it! And cosplay before everything blows to smithereens.

So how was my first week++ of January?

Looking pretty good! I’ve been keeping my rice portions down, although I did finish a full cup that one lunch with my mom. Chicken cordon bleu, why are you so tasty? Ah, and there was that one McDonald’s day where I had a Coke Float… I can’t help it! Coke is my comfort food! But I gotta do better next week and skip the soda!

I’ve been cooking vegetables for dinner meals though. Not every night, but it’s more veggies than this family’s ever seen or eaten in a long time! Mom’s so proud.

As for exercise? 2 days of 5k walks while wearing a raincoat (a friend of mine swears that it’s super effective) and a night of swimming 10 laps at Ace Water Spa. Not bad! I want to at least maintain a 2 day per week of walking. Maybe get a jump rope too since it gets boring after a while, even with new songs in my mp3! When it’s taking too long, I sprint the last few hundred steps.

So! What’s your new year’s resolution and how are you doing so far?

Creativity Flows

I believe I've had what is called a "creative week", which I really need more of.

A.illusions' page079 was a bit of a trial by patience. The final panel was a little annoying because of the bugs' details. When I drew the bug back in 2005, I was inspired by the Megaman manga series I had. I'll double check later who the mangaka is... You guys can view a close-up shot of the bug in page027 and a colored version in page030.

This also marks the first time I used Sepia for the comic panels. It makes the panels looks like a flashback though, I'm not sure if I want to try and do this again...

I'm itching to create more updates for A.illusions though! I haven't been this inspired since I started this webmanga. I just hope it lasts since I'm in a bit of a pinch for the rest of this month.

See Tori's expression there? That's how I feel right about now... >.<;;;

I'm also drawing up a bunch of Onegai My Melody fanarts. This one is a sketch I did at the back of a meeting handout when I got bored... not during the meeting, mind you! I was on lunch break..!

All the sketching I've been doing lately reminds me to finish up another art meme that's been in the back burner for some time now... Maybe I can get that done soon too.

But my creative endeavors didn't stop with pen and paper.

I've been doing some clay art again. This time, some Hello Kitty Online creatures. The idea came about when we were discussing about the kind of HKO merchandise we wouldn't mind having... And with Abby's "The Grand Order of the Box Pig", I figured... eh... why not?

Gotta love DSLRs~! *o*

I still owe Ernest a sheep... I need to get some white clay tomorrow, and some more yarn to create another slouchy hat for cosplaying purposes...

It's funny how creativity sparks when I'm at my busiest... or rather, most stressed times.

Girl Talk and Crepes~

People who know me personally pretty much know that I hardly get out of the house. It's not like I don't want to, but my parents don't really allow me to have dinner with friends and such.

Yesterday evening however, was an exception.

I got to meet up with 2 of my high school friends in Trinoma to play catch-up. :3 We went to Italiani's for some pasta first, and then over to Cafe Breton for some crepes. Le Magnifique was truly magnificent, by the way... Chocolate, hazelnut, and bananas really go well together. I'm so getting back to my diet when Monday comes~! xDDD

It was so much fun to talk about the past and the present, that my anxiety for the awkward silent moments was a thing of the past.

I was surprised that one of our batchmates and good friend was already married. She got married to a nice guy last year, in an outdoor wedding. There was so much news that we decided we had to meet another dinner or coffee with all the other people we still have contact with...

I never liked high school, but I enjoyed that dinner. ^_^

It was funny that we got talking about friendster too. One of the girls commented that I looked like my icon there, and she thought I drew her. Then I realized... I remember which icon I used a long time ago...

It was Lacus Clyne from Gundam Seed.

I always wanted to cosplay her, and maybe now I'll have the guts to finally do it. xD

Finally, in other news... I heard that my high school crush was attending church somewhere near... I would have thought he left the country already, but he's apparently still here! Meep~! x3

My friend told me he looks well, much better than he was in high school, so I'm more than willing to bet he's happy with someone already. My friend begs to differ though, and convinced me to get her to ask him how he's doing...

No harm in knowing right? I was pretty much still flustering like my high school self when we got talking about him... And I couldn't believe I was still crushing for the guy.

Ok, I'm so shutting up now. xDDD The evening was a blast, and I'm looking forward to the next one~!

..Oh, I Want!

Amazing what you can find out from the ads you decide to display in your blog... But because the policy dictates that I can't click the ads myself, I copied the URL instead.

..oh my, I want this so badly. Can you see the detailing of that armor Saber is wearing? I never liked her armor, but this PVC by Satoshi Toda is making me think twice.

It makes me wonder actually, if I attempt to cosplay light saber, maybe I should make her armor that way. The detailing will be a pain to do but the photos should be worth it, yes?

There are two versions of Saber's face, the other being more realistic than this one, but I personally prefer her anime look, since the realistic one is smiling... Saber is usually angst isn't she?

Oh Santa, all i want for Christmas... ;~;

I unfortunately will not be able to afford buying this any time soon. So I'll have to settle for the picture for now. Giyeh~ for being poor!

Needs moar Sabuers~ ;.;

Cosplay in SM Marikina

I accompanied my brother in SM Marikina yesterday along with my aunt and uncle from the USA. We had visited a friend of my aunt's in Antipolo and so decided to walk around SM before going home.

There seemed to have been a contest going on for some online games sponsored by ASUS. I wasn't too certain at that point, but there were a lot of cosplayers present. My aunt loved it and wanted to take a lot of pictures... It was just too bad that the pictures didn't come out so well. *must save for new cam-phone*

At least for blogging the pictures are workable. The little kid in the Voltron outfit was pretty cute. He's like a 3 and a half foot Voltron, Defender of the Universe..! Hehe~ And yeah, he had all five lions.

There was also a giant Optimus Prime walking around the mall. My aunt found him to be the most impressive of all I think. It was funny to see him walk very robotic-like.

You can pretty much see how huge he is in that picture on the right. A lot of people had to look up to see his head. I think his entire costume was made of rubber too if I'm not mistaken.

Not all of the cosplayers were pretty and/or impressive. My brother was a little disappointed there weren't a lot of pretty girls there. He liked this girl in brown, who was getting a lot of her pictures taken by random people who happened to be passing by. I think Dark Magician Girl got a little jealous about all the attention she was getting though... ^_^

All in all, it was a fun trip to Antipolo and Marikina. I used to go to Marikina just to bother the Culture Crash people, haha. Thesis days made me quite annoying I think.

Come to think of it, I wonder how they are now..?

Oh yeah, happy birthday to my officemate~ Haha, I won't say who, just in case he's shy. ^_~