Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Rut of Summer

“There is no formula for success except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.” - Arthur Rubinstein

Greetings All! In the wake of Japan, little can really seem all that interesting, but I’ll try my best to squeeze out the most interesting stuff that I can. Life hasn’t been all that eventful since Japan, though. I’ve had to find ways to make my life interesting. Currently I am working on the new poster for the anime club at my university. My advertising campaign last year shot our club attendance up 50% from the previous year and I hope this year it will do the same. I’m working on a poster using an image from DeviantArt.com as a base. The artist is Mou_S and the piece is called “Into Nothing” (it is the piece of art I chose to put with this post). It’s a wonderful piece of art and Mou_S was gracious enough to give me her permission to use it in my poster. A good friend of mind, Noe, suggested that I increase my advertising campaign by not only creating a poster but creating a smaller black and white flier to go on the tables in the cafeteria and student center. Brilliant, I say! This year no student on campus will be able to miss our ad, and with the club now being official by university standards, I can see nothing but growth. So, onto the new year with some flare!

A Sudden Lack of Complacency
Have you ever felt like you’ve missed your calling? For the last couple weeks I’ve been feeling that way. It is all due to this summer school class I am taking: US History. It has come to my attention that I really love history more than I realized. This class has really impassioned me. I actually find my self getting angry or getting happy with things I am reading. When I read and learned about the American treatment of the Native Americans in the late 1800s and the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War Two, It physically pissed me off to an extent I can’t describe. Very little has ever had that effect on me and history seems to be able to do it.

I believe this is an effect of my underlying love of history. I never realized it before, but when I look back on all my favorite classes and the things I choose to do out of fun, a pattern seems to emerge. When I went to visit my grandfather who had cable before we did, my favorite two channels were Cartoon Network and the History Channel. My favorite class and favorite teacher in middle school were my US history class and my teacher Mrs. German. My favorite class in high school was a history and analysis of the science fiction genre. For my senior vacation I chose to go to England because of it’s history and wanted to spend the whole trip in museums and going to historical sites around the country. For my topic-free research paper in my English II class in college I chose to write on the history of science fiction. My favorite art class I’ve taken in school has been the history of art. All of the elective courses I’m taking this semester are history courses, not art courses, before college I had only ever taken two art courses in school, one in middle school and one in high school. Why is it that I’m pursuing graphic design and not history?

I honestly don’t know exactly why I am doing art and not history, but if I had to guess I’d place the blame on my high school US history teacher. US history was the only advanced placement course I took throughout my public school education. The teacher was wonderful but he taught the class like a college course and gave us a work load equivalent to that of a college course despite us being in high school. I couldn’t handle the workload and I think perhaps that class turned me off the history idea. I never even considered it. I wish I had now, because I could be doing something very much different.

Don’t get me wrong, I am quite satisfied with the graphic design field, but I just wonder if I could be happier doing history. I don’t have any other friends at school who are doing graphic design, but I’ve had multiple friends doing history, including my best friend through grade school. It’s too late to change things around now, but I will forever be stuck with that giant “what if?”

The Next Convention
This next convention that I’m going to, AnimeFest, is going to be my last convention to attend while in college and perhaps the last convention I will get to attend for a while. So, given this, I wanted it to be as good as it possibly could be. It is certainly looking like it is going to meet my expectations. All of my best friends, with the exception of two, will be there staying in the room with me including a friend I have yet to meet in person, the guests for this convention look to be amazing, and for the first time in a couple years I will cosplay because my one-time Shugo costume is once again getting completed. I only wore it once to a convention two years ago and I haven’t worn it since due to it’s destruction in the wash. A friend of mine offered to remake it for me using my original pattern and I happily agreed to let him. He will have it finished by this convention. AnimeFest has long been my favorite convention and it seems only appropriate that it would conclude my college con-going experience. I sincerely hope that it won’t let me down, and at this point I don’t see a reason to doubt that hope.

The Money Situation
At the end of my Japan trip I was broke. I had no money at all and the little I did have was graciously donated by my parents. I am pleased to announce that my wallet is yet again approaching a state of fullness. I’ve had some unexpected income, such as miraculously finding $80 in the pocket of a pair of shorts I haven’t worn in a very long time, and I got my first paycheck two weeks ago. Hopefully by the end of the summer my bank account will look something more like what it needs to, and the good news is that it’s rapidly on its way there.

Well, I have nothing else to say for the time being so I’ll go ahead and bid you all a fond farewell! Have a great day and I’ll see ya ‘round!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

Comments (0)