Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Hello my friends and welcome to another addition of Minako's Strange Life! *"Applaud" sign lights up* Unfortunately, there won't be any guests on today's show because I have just made up this idea 3 seconds ago. Crowd: Awww... ^^; Well, maybe next time we can have a guest, ok? Crowd: *Applause with cheers and whistles* Alright, now for today's show, We'll be looking into the life of a foreign exchange student. What do you think of when you think of a foreign exchange student? A funny-looking kid who wears weird clothes and doesn't use deoderant? OR a very handsome/pretty guy/gal who everyone of the opposite sex is gaga for and has a sexy accent? Well, folks, you're wrong. A foreign exchange student is someone who is EXTREMELY brave. Why are they brave, you ask? Imagine your childhood/adoloscence. All the fun (and maybe not so fun) times you had with your family and friends. Take a year of that fun-ness (or not so fun) and shove it into a strange country where you don't speak the language (at least not well) with a strange family, a strange school, and yes, even strange friends. How would you feel? Excited? Lonely? Scared? The way one's foreign exchange year goes can depend on SOO many factors: The family you're living with (a MAJOR factor) Your own mental/inner stability Your friends (or lack there of) The family you are staying with can either make or break your foreign exchange year. They're the ones you see when you get home, They're the ones who are supposed to give you the care and support you need. What if they're not what you expected? Do you know what it's like to feel alone in a strange country, with no one to turn to? It's the scariest thing in the world, my friends. In order to be a successful foreign exchange student, you have to be bloody mad. No one in their right mind would leave everything they know and love for a year to be replaced by a new country, language, etc.!!!! You have to have the guts to face the world alone, and it's not easy, my dear audience. It's probably the biggest challenge of your life (I know it's been mine.) and let's give it up for the courage of our foreign exchange students! *Mass applauding* In conclusion, let's call today Foreign Exchange Student Day. If you know a foreign exchange student, congratulate them on their courage. Well, that's all for today's show, tune in next time to see what's on my mind next! Signing off, ~Minako Don't forget to visit this week's Member of the Week! ...We don't have to dwell on the painful moments. We won't be able to forget them, even if we wanted to. If you were to smile and have fun for a moment or two, I doubt anyone would blame you for it...Some might even be happier for it. Fai D. Flowright from Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle, copyright CLAMP

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Sunday, April 24, 2005

There's now a cosplay section to theOtaku.com now. O.O It's still a beta version (meaning a trial version) and the most prolific cosplayer gets an Anime DVD of their choice. I never thought that theOtaku would get a cosplay section. *shrugs* Why not? I finally have money for a change and I might just buy the Neon Genesis Evangelion DVD. It comes on at like 11:30 pm on a Sunday. grr. I don't feel like staying up that late to watch it. So maybe I'll buy the DVD then since I have money. heh heh. So, I'm headed to Turku this tuesday with school. Why's that? We're going to check out Turku University (I'm thinking about going to college in Finland, at least part of the time.). It's going to be me and my friend Johanna there and the lectures we want to hear start at 2, but we get there at 9. Guess what that means! Manga shopping. The newest book of Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle (#5) comes out on Tuesday (so it says in the book.) but I don't know if it's only in the states, but we'll see! There IS an anime coming out for Tsubasa, but I'm not sure when it comes out though. The site was in Japanese, and I only know 9 characters so I didn't get anything out of it! Speaking of my Japanese studies... I was reading the latest Tsubasa book (Tsubasa again) and I noticed that a character said "HUH?" and the japanese characters where there and I knew them! I understood it! I was proud of myself. heh heh. See, pointless post. I'm kind of Tsubasa crazy now, because it's just a great manga. When I get back to the states, I'm going to tease you all with Tsubasa scans (like Elves-chan does!). OH! and before I forget, Minako's Member of the week this week is.... Sara Sara is a great person with a heart of gold, and I admire her greatly. Though she doesn't post as much as I'd like her to (*hmph*), she's still dear to me. (Speaking of which, Sara, I'm going to send the package I keep promising now!!) So check Sara out, and see you next time. ~Minako

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Wednesday, April 20, 2005

ElvesAteMyRamen is going to kill me, but I had a dream that Shigure from Fruits Basket died. I don't remember exactly HOW, but I think Yuki had something to do with it.. *braces for impact* Anywho, back to the subject matter on my mind. I'm teaching myself Japanese (at least until I hit college in a little over a year). Yes, you heard, err, READ right. I'm teaching myself Japanese. I have a workbook to learn some basic words and phrases and I'm teaching myself some letters too. If you didn't know, there are 3 different character sets (alphabets if you will) in Japanese, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. I'm learning Hiragana at the moment. I know 5 letters and I'm proud! (a, ka, sa, ta, and na are the ones I know and I'm learning ha, and ma today.) Ok, how am I learning these letters? I'm going to learn one or two a day until I know all the characters in Hiragana. THEN I'm going to learn Katakana, and maybe then I'll learn kanji. My sources tell me you can get by with Hiragana and Katakana, so I'm learning those. To review: I'm learning Japanese. There are three sets of letters, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. I'm learning Hiragana.(I know 5 letters now.) I've learned a few words and phrases out of a workbook that I have. I've written words and phrases on the back of my left hand and the letters that I know on the palm, so I can glance at them every now and then. If anyone has some tips on learning Japanese, let me know, ok? ~Minako Don't forget to check out the member of the week, ElvesAteMyRamen No quote today, I couldn't think of one.

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Sunday, April 17, 2005

Hello! I'm back with a New feature for myO! I'm going to start doing... Minako's myO Member of the Week! There are so many cool people on here so I'm going to feature someone each week. This week's Member of the week is: ElvesAteMyRamen She is a SUPER nice person and an amazing artist! Her use of colored pencils is amazing and I am very jealous. heh heh. She also does gifs (little clips of Animes) and Anime Music Videos (AMV's). I HIGHLY recommend checking her out on www.animemusicvideos.org because her AMV's are great. So Congratulations Elves-chan! You're my first member of the week! Go and check her out. ~Minako

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Saturday, April 16, 2005

Hello. My rant today will be on Harry Potter. heheh. I just read the third book again and I was just soo happy when Sirius asked Harry to move in with him when his name's clear! FINALLY, Harry gets something nice in his life, instead of trying to be killed every year, and having to live with the Dursleys. (The Dursleys seem to resemble my uncle's family, where I'm living!...Well... Not THAT extreme...) After I read that part (having already read the 5th book) I was sad because Sirius dies before Harry even gets a chance to move in! I imagine the beginning of Book 6 (out this July!, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince) will be Harry mourning his godfather. I was depressed for the rest of the day! (especially after reading Chobits #4, yesterday was just an angsty day. heh.)I await to see what Book 6 will hold for our friends Harry, Ron, and Hermione. (I betcha anything that Ron and Hermione are going to hook up by the end of the series! Hey, Harry's parents met each other at Hogwarts!) Yeah, I was sad knowing that the one moment of Harry's life when he's ACTUALLY happy, will be shattered in a few years by Sirius's death. *sigh* Take Care. ~Minako ...Forgot my roots, If only for a day, Just me and my thoughts, Sailing far away... Like a warm drink that seeps into my soul, Please just leave me right here on my own, Later on you can spend some time with me, If you want to, All at sea... Song, "All at Sea" by Jamie Cullum

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Thursday, April 14, 2005

*NOTE: Pointless ranting on the way..

Yeah, I had a bad day. Please bear with me. Yes, well, it all started after school today when I went to pick up my pictures (I went to a studio last week to get my "senior pictures" pm me if you don't know what they are.). As soon as my normally critical grandmother saw them, she said "That smile is crooked." I mean IMMEDIATELY. T_T *twitch* Outside we got into a "discussion" about it. She claimed I understood incorrectly (which they assume a lot..) but no. I didn't. grr. THEN my orchestra practice kind of went down the tube when I thought I was supposed to play a B flat, when I was supposed to be playing D. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have taken it sooo hard, but since I'm the CONCERTMASTER, i.e. the HEAD VIOLINIST, I was rightly embarassed. It's times like these I want to go home. Not my home in Finland, but my REAL home, in the States. ~Minako ..It says home is where your heart is, But what a shame, Because everyone's heart doesn't beat the same, It's beating out of time.. City of the Dead, at the end of another lost highway, Signs misleading to nowhere... Song, "City of the Dead" by Green Day.

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Tuesday, April 12, 2005

If you haven't been on Otakuboards, let me say that I've been a lot more active there than I used to. Everyday I find new threads to post in and I've started a few threads myself. I've been to other forums, but the ones I've been to are only chatting forums, but at the OB, I must admit, at first, when they started the whole post quality thing, I was a bit upset. When I've stepped back and looked at the posts, I'm relieved that they instated those rules. I thoroughly enjoy reading those posts and the people there are great. Speaking of people from the OB, may I introduce my newest friend there, x kakashi x. He's a really great guy and I respect him so much! His threads and posts are so well done. (he always posts in my threads...) He posted a song of his in the OB Anthology (an area of OB for fanfictions, stories, poems, or just talk about your favorite books.) and I asked him to send me a link to it. Lo and behold, I find out that he's actually an up and coming singer! I really like his stuff, so I want you all to go and check it out, ok? Here it is! He doesn't seem to have a myO account, otherwise I would have linked to it. (To be honest, he isn't that bad looking either... heh heh) Okay then... I'm starting to scare myself... I had a rant in mind, but I forget. -_-; Take Care everyone. If you happen to be on the OB, I tend to hang around the Otaku Lounge and Music, Movies, and TV (Though I've been known to pop into Art studio and OB Anthology..) areas. ~Minako ...If I start to sink, Will you dive in and rescue me? From x kakashi x's album, "Fall Bears Branches, Birds Leave No Bark" Song name, "Hopefully Finding Hopeless"

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Monday, April 11, 2005

For those who do not know the greatness of Hallmark..

Hoops: Hallmark is my god. They created me. All hail Hallmark! Yoyo: They created me too, hail hail Hallmark! Hoops and Yoyo: All hail Hallmark, All hail Hallmark.. Yoyo: That's it. Since we must hail Hallmark, you shall go and see this link! (it works this time!) Just a pointless post... Nothing else to say really. One more final and I'm in *gasp* my final semester here in Finland. *sigh* The time really flies, eh? ~Minako

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Saturday, April 9, 2005

"Hallmark is my god, They created me, All Hail Hallmark!" --Hoops *SHAMELESS PLUG* (You HAVE to check these guys out! They're addicting!...if the link works..) Here's the link. If it doesn't work, go to www.hoopsandyoyo.com

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I apologize for yesterday's post. I was filled with pent-up anger and frustration and needed a way to let it out. No, I didn't get violent, although I did say a few *cough* choice words when noone was around. I even cried a bit. Thank you all for such kind words, it really helped. *hugs each of my commmenters* Today, I guess as a result of yesterday, I've been kind of down and out. I'm not sure why, and my cousins kept bugging me to let them play games on the computer, but they're not playing even though I let them. meh. I just really don't like it that they're in my room so much. I can say that I'm "studying" for finals (I DO have a test on Tuesday...)... Yeah. I might get Fruits Basket soon! My dad and I have made an arrangement that since he has an account on Ebay, I can tell him if I find something and he's offered to buy it for me. So, I was looking at Fruits Basket DVDs. (And Inuyasha, but since the series is so familiar to me, I thought I could see if I like Fruits Basket...mostly likely I will.) Ok. That's about it. Off to clean my room. grr. Sorry again about yesterday's post and today's post for being such a downer. That's what I am today, down. It could very well be these Wonderful teenage hormones. Joy. ~Minako In the end, It doesn't even matter, I had to fall, to lose it all, In the end, It doesn't even matter... Linkin Park, "In the End"

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