Raphael/Akioh/Moon
He/him
29 Years Old

Hey, I'm Raphael and I love OCs! Yeah. Also I study linguistics. Idk what to put here.

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Japanese Music!

Mood: Neutral

I'm supposed to be working, but I can't focus. -u-b

Anyway, if you've known me for some time, you probably know that I generally don't listen to Japanese music. BUT, I've recently gotten into some of the music of this Japanese artist, so I GUESS I'LL SHARE IT WITH THEOTAKU. Because this is otaku-y, right? Yeah.
;o
Okay.

So anyway, I've been listening to music by this music producer/composer/idk called Sasakure.UK for about a week. I think he's primarily known for working with Vocaloid (Vocaloid wiki tells me his most prominent work is the series "Do Vocaloids Dream of Doomsday Birds?"), but I've mostly been listening to stuff off of his album The Fantastic Reality of Aesop. Here's a couple of my favorite songs from the album, and elsewhere!

Lost and Found ft. Hatsune Miku: This one's my favorite of Sasakure.UK's songs. I just think it's SO COOL... I don't usually care for Vocaloid music, but he somehow gave Miku's voice such an interesting quality in this song... Like, if you listen to the "k" and "t" sounds in the versus, you can hear a "pop from the microphone" as if Miku were actually singing into a microphone. Or something. IDK! I also appreciate the experimentation with tempo changes and syncopation. :V Yeah. I just think the song has some really interesting qualities.
One thing that Sasakure.UK does a lot with his songs is that he uses masculine speech patterns for a lot of his lyrics, but usually has female singers or vocaloids provide the vocals. Just an interesting bonus if you understand some Japanese. -u-b

A Soliloquy of the Boy who Cried Wolf ft. Cana: I didn't like this song that much at first, but learning the lyrics gave me a new appreciation for the song. :V The lyrics are actually fairly dark, compared to the light atmosphere in the song. I also came to like Cana's vocals in this song, a lot... I like the way she says "desu." xD (It's generally pronounced similar to "dess," but she says something similar to "dyeahs" or something and I JUST THINK IT'S SILLY BUT NICE AT THE SAME TIME.)

To Asteroid B-612 ft. Lasah: This song's in English! Amazing. I was actually surprised by the decent English pronunciation in this song, and it turns out Lasah is a fluent English speaker or something (or so the internet tells me). I don't really like the chorus all that much, but the song overall has a peaceful but kind of mysterious atmosphere. It's also about The Little Prince, which makes listening to this song fun if you've read The Little Prince. -u-b
I really liked Lasah's voice, and I found out Sasakure.UK and Lasah did another song together:

2 HAL 9000 ft. Lasah: This song's about 2001: A Space Odessey! Sasakure.UK does a lot of music about fiction and stuff, I guess. Anyway, I really like the rhythms in this song, too. Sasakure.UK just makes some really neat rhythms in his songs...!

Tiger Rampage ft. Rin Kagamine: I think this one is probably one of his more popular songs. I think it's definitely the catchiest. I love the interesting rhythms in this song! >:V /I keep repeating myself, sorry;;;

I actually found Sasakure.UK when I was looking up covers for the Vocaloid song Two-Faced Lovers, when I came across a cover of the song done by his side project/band/thing UK Rampage.
UK Rampage is really neat, too! I could only find a little bit of the stuff they did, though, and it's mostly vocaloid covers. My favorite cover they did is the cover of Kagerou Daze, but they also did a cover of Tiger Rampage which was really neat, too.
The only original song of theirs that I could find is The 5 Minute Hypothesis, and I'm still not 100% sure if it's an original song. Pretty sure it is. REGARDLESS, it's such a cool song, in my opinion. *u*b
What I really like about UK Rampage is how everything seems so clean cut and precise, but really complex at the same time...! I was watching some drum, bass, and guitar covers of The Five Minute Hypothesis, and the instrumentation is INSANELY COMPLEX... I like the vocals a lot, too. I think the vocalist is called Marina (?? idk, that's all I can find), and I think her clean voice really suites the band, as well. :V
So yeah. That's some stuff I've been into, lately.

Sorry I linked to so many songs, but maybe take a listen to some of them? ;o Obviously, it's totally up to you. Just thought I'd share some stuff with y'all! *u*; AND UH.. HAVE A NICE DAY!
Gonna get back to work now, bro. >:M

Hey, Yo, What up. :V

Mood: Not sleepy yet.

Hey guys! TheO's been pretty dead lately, huh... I check up on here everyday, but not much has been going on. ;u; I might start doing more blog-y posts, though, just for the heck of it. Haha.

Not much has really been going on with me, though. Just got through midterms about a week ago, and everything is going QUITE SWELL! I also think I've decided on Linguistics as my major, so YAY. ACTUALLY DECIDING ON DOING THINGS... I think I could potentially combine my Japanese and Linguistics into some job in the future (probably teaching), so yeah. Career path, woo. I'd still love to do something with drawing, but I'm cool with keeping it a hobby forever. Maybe I could do freelance stuff, idk. STILL PLANNING ON BOOTHING AT A CON ONE DAY, THOUGH...

Also, I just had a weird moment re-reading those couple sentences I just typed. I can't believe I just talked about CAREER POTENTIALS on theOtaku. xD Do you know what my first post on theO was about? It was about not having a scanner. And the next one was about an idea for a mini comic (WHAT COULD THIS COMIC HAVE BEEN??? That's a real question. I don't know.) I've been on theO for more than 6 years, now. WHOA. o_o

Since I guess this post is going in this direction, I'm gonna get all reminiscent-y on y'all. :V Maybe, idk. I'm kind of just rambling, so idk where this is going.
I feel kind of bad, but I haven't touched my Rock Band or A Life Like This characters in so long (ie: Dare, Rick, Tim, Michka, Zack, and Loyal). I doodle one of them out of nowhere every couple of months, but that's about it. Occasionally I have a desire to revamp the story, but I lose the desire after about a day because I don't feel like I have the ability to bring anything important out of their stories. Actually, Dare's story (which could be centered around comparing and contrasting perspective, rather than being a band story) I could probably still pull something out of... But Tim's story is centered around stuff I don't understand (alcoholism, being unemployed, popularity, low-income living), while Rick's story (centered around coming out) is becoming increasingly anachronistic as time goes by.

I started actually writing A Life Like This back in 2011, and I remember thinking constantly about scenes between Dare, Rick, Tim, and all that crew. :V But now I think about them barely at all. Like I said earlier, I only draw the characters every several months.
The reason I mention this is because my disinterest in A Life Like This makes me SUPER PARANOID ABOUT THE CHARACTERS I HAVE AN INTEREST IN NOW....!!! I'm always worried that one day I'm just not going to have an interest in drawing Stefan, or something. ;0; WHICH WOULD BE SAD, FOR ME...

I also have a similar paranoia when I make new characters! 8D You probably remember that over the summer I randomly created Nerdy and Jock and made a whole bunch of stuff about it, and then just stopped. :V;; The reason I slowed all of a sudden was because I got nervous about losing my interest in my other characters (OFAV, characters related to Noland) in exchange for Nerdy and Jock. That's pretty much what happened when I made OFAV... or mostly started drawing lots of Stefan and Gabe, where I stopped drawing the A Life Like This characters as much. So yeah, I was afraid that was going to happen;;; I think I'm pretty balanced between OFAV, Teach Me Something Good, and Nerdy and Jock right now internally, though.

Speaking of things I haven't done in a long time (I guess), I need to update OFAV. I SWEAR THE NEXT STRIP IS SKETCHED... I just worry about the quality of the humor in the comic. orz I was rereading the script I was working on, and I feel like a lot of the jokes either a) don't make sense unless you're me, or b) just aren't funny.

THIS IS TURNING INTO A STRESSFUL POST! *U*;;;;;; I always stress myself out with what I want to draw... I really should take things one step at a time and finish one thing before I move onto another, but I'm reallllly kind of bad at that. orz Idk.
BY THE WAY, in case you were wondering for some reason, I am SO CLOSE to finishing that SteGabe comic. I have one page left, but I really don't like the last page... I'll try to post all the pages I've finished REALLY soon, and then figure out something for the last page eventually. ;A;
/aha does anyone even remember the comic;;;

....yeah, I think that's about it. I haven't talked about story stuff without pictures in a long time, but it's nice to get this out somewhere! Aha. I don't talk about my characters and stories as much as I'd like to, these days. I'd like to get into writing so I could more easily see what direction I'd even want to go with these stories, but I'm not the biggest fan of writing as an art. I just dislike the way that the things I write sound inelegant yet pretentious to me when I look at them. :T I like keeping things light and fun as far as fiction goes, but it's something I have trouble translating into writing. I was doing a sort of experimental writing with Nerdy and Jock over the summer, but I didn't get too far at all.
Anyway, idk what that was about. Enough talking about whatever. -u-b

I GUESS THIS IS THE END OF MY RAMBLY POST! Thanks for reading, if you did.

THIS WEEKEND, FASHION DESIGN WORLD.

MOOD: SO SLEEPY GAH

OKAY.
THIS WEEKEND, I WILL INDEED MAKE A FASHION DESIGN THEMED WORLD/GROUP/CLUB/FUN THING. FO' SHO'. AND NOT ONLY WILL IT BE FOR POSTING FASHION DESIGNS, IT'LL ALSO BE FOR POSTING FASHION TUTORIALS/TIPS/ETC TOO.

I'm mostly just making this post so I force myself to do this, and not just blow it off for another year. xD

BUT YEAH, the fashion design world. I'll make another post when I make it for real, but if you want me to add you to the guest post/member list already, you can go and comment here. *u* ALSO, WHAT SHOULD I CALL THIS WORLD/GROUP/CLUB THING? I really have no idea, so if you could help me out.... that'd be great... ;u; Aha;;

Also for the group, I'm going to be making my ~*~first ever theOtaku challenge~*~!!! It's weird that I've never used the challenge-making feature since it started on theO. IT'S TIME. FASHION CHALLENGE. So yeah, look out for that when it happens. :V

And, uh. YYyyep. I'm going to go finish my homework now, just thought I'd pop in here with this little update. C: HAVE A GREAT WEDNESDAY!

Elricbrothers fan has done the tagging

Mood: GOTTA WORK BUT WELP....

I've been tagged by elricbrothersfan! Whoa diggity. I guess it's questionnaire time on theO. :V

1. Cats or dogs?
This is my favorite species of animal.
(Real answer: Cats over all, but puppies are really cute. Especially fluffy ones.)

2. Have you ever typed out "hello" on a 4-function calculator?
Yeah, I used to do that all the time in elementary school, and show off to my friends my SKILLS. And then I'd try to make other words. Maybe. Idk, my memory is pretty sketch. But yeah, I've done that. :V

3. Do you have a favorite item of clothing? What is it and why is it your favorite?
HMMMM.... I really like my white collared shirt. :^D SO VERSATILE, IT IS! But I bought a whole ton of new collared shirts from H&M this summer, which are all pretty sweetdiculous. I met some dude on campus who came up to me and was like, "Hey, I have that shirt! Cool." So maybe that's my magic friend-making shirt. :^D

4. Your guilty pleasure anime/manga?
AN ANIME OR MANGA THAT I FEEL GUILTY FOR LIKING.... Idk, I like my anime and manga pretty honestly! *u*; Idk, I'll get back to this.

5. Five random facts about yourself that nobody knows?
THIS IS HARD. IDK WHAT THE REST OF THE WORLD KNOWS ABOUT ME...!!! I'll just do some facts (?) about my OCs that I've never mentioned before. Because that's... similar, right....
(answer: no it's not.)
1) Even though Gabe doesn't have an official last name, I kind of internally imagine his full name to be Gabriel Duncan. This is entirely because I used to watch a lot of Good Luck Charlie on Disney Channel...
2) I've been subconsciously drawing Noland left handed. ???? SO I GUESS HE'S LEFT HANDED?
3) Noland's first kiss was when he was 18, with a girl in his pre-calc class. Noland's second kiss was when he was 22, with Stefan.
4) Stefan doesn't know how to change a diaper.
5) Chrystal's mom died from lung cancer when she was around 4 or 5. She lives with her dad, an artist.

6. If you almost accidentally ran your first crush over with a shopping cart in the grocery store, what would you say to them?
Sorry dude-- oh wait, no one was there.
(I don't think I've had a legitimate crush before, ahaha;;;)

8. What is your favorite movie genre?
Slice of life! If it wasn't obvious from the fact that I generally gravitate toward making slice of life stories/characters... But in general, I just like movies with interesting characters.

9. Frozen yogurt or regular ice cream?
HM... Overall, probably ice cream. But Tutti Frutti's strawberry yogurt is pretty dang tasty. :9

10. How good are your foreign-accent-imitating skills?
Horrible.
Actually, is "granny voice" a foreign accent.......

11. Did you notice there was no #7?
I accidentally read this question first whenever I was copying and pasting it, so...
kinda. 8>

OKAY.
NO TIME FOR MAKING QUESTIONS, GOTTA DO HOMEWORK;;;;

BLINDLY FOLLOWING

Mood: Full of sushi. :V

I have time before class, so why don't I do that doggone questionnaire that everyone seems to b doing.

Would You Rather

Pierce your nose or your tongue? My nose, because I want to be able to taste things using a fully in-tact tongue. :m And a nose piercing seems easier to take out (ie: not wear).
Drink whole or skimmed milk? Whole, but I'll drink pretty much any cow milk. WHY DO YOU NEED MY MILK-RELATED DIETARY HABITS, QUESTIONNAIRE.
Die in a fire or drowning? Fire, because I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY, DROWNING DOESN'T SEEM PEACEFUL... I mean, neither does fire, but trying to breath under water is giving me freaky images.
Okay, no more dying questions, right...
Spend time with your parents or enemies? My parents! I like spending time with the both of them, since I don't get to do so that often.

Are You?

Simple or complicated? Idk.
Straight, gay, bisexual, other? Straight.
Tall or short? RELATIVE TO PEOPLE I KNOW... I'm usually pretty tall. I'm a little under 5'8, I think.
Right handed or left handed? Right handed. :V I tried to learn how to write with my left hand, and...
I can't.
A lover of music or a lover of books? I don't really read, so I'll say music.

Do You Prefer

Flowers or sweets? Sweets because WHO EATS PLANTS, RIGHT...
I, uh... don't eat vegetables or fruits, generally...;;;
Grey or black? Black. BY THE WAY, a weird thing I was thinking about when I was answering this question is that you can make black into grey by adding white (obviously), but you can't turn grey into black because no matter how much black you add, there will still be that amount of white that was in the original grey.
Which annoyed me a lot in high school art class because I hate mixing paint. orz
Color photos or black-and-white photos? Color.
Sunrise or sunset? Regarding which is more beautiful, I don't really have a preference. I guess I prefer sunrise because it means the day is starting, whereas sunset indicates that I HAVE TO DO ALL MY HOMEWORK WHAT HAPPENED--
M&Ms or Skittles? Skittles. Generally, I prefer artificial fruit flavored candies... unless its caramel, or something. :V
Staying up late or waking up early? Staying up late. ;U;
Sun or moon? The sun because THE SUN IS THE ULTIMATE. MOON YOU ARE A MERE ORBITAL ROCK WITHOUT SUN... Actually, the moon's pretty cool, too. I often think it's bizarre that the sun is always there but you never can look at it without VISION-RELATED CONSEQUENCES... One time on this line of thinking I freaked out and thought "DO WE EVEN KNOW WHAT THE SUN LOOKS LIKE?" And then I realized we have cameras or whatever.
Winter or Autumn? Autumn, because I am not an icicle.
10 acquaintances or 2 best friends? Two best friends, which is probably what most people are picking...? I guess the benefit to 10 acquaintances is you have no obligations to them.
Rainy or sunny? Sunny. THE BEST THING ABOUT SUNNY DAYS IS that I can stay in my room and draw without having to turn on my lights. /lame
Vanilla ice cream or chocolate ice cream? Vanilla. I've come to accept the fact that I don't actually like chocolate all that much. NOT THAT I DISLIKE IT, BUT... usually vanilla's better.
Vodka or Jack? Jack, because Jack can be a person and maybe me and Jack could be great friends.
Though I guess Vodka could be a name, as well... maybe... somewhere. :m
I don't drink alcohol.
I'M TRYING SO HARD TO MAKE AT LEAST SOME OF MY RESPONSES MORE INTERESTING FOR YOU TO READ.

About You

What time is it? 2:56 PM. I've got class in 34 minutes!
Name? AKIOHHHHHHH.
WHATEVER KASA (who I stole this from so I'm basically going through all her responses as I do this) I WILL BE MY PSEUDONYM ON THE INTERNET FOREVER. Or until I'm 30, and then I can change my name to Stefan and...
Nicknames? Moon, Moon-chan, Aki, Aki-chan, etc...
When is your birthday? April 25th.
What do you want? To finish typing responses in this questionnaire. THIS WAS A BAD IDEA... TYPING TAKES SO LONG. orz
How many kids do you want? Zero, one, or two are all fine numbers for me. :m
What would you name a girl? I don't know. orz After naming my character Prudence, I've actually kind of come to like the name. Though I think my daughter would dislike that, haha. I wouldn't mind being named Prudence, at this point.
What would you name a boy? SOMETHING WITH LOTS OF SYLLABLES. Uh... DMITRIUS. I didn't pull that name out of thin air, actually.
You want to get married? Yep. Marriage isn't a big concern of mine at the moment, though.
What kind of music do you like? Whatever my dad listens to, whatever my mom listens to, and whatever other stuff I picked up along the way. :V /vague
In general, I like 70s and 80s rock/pop. BUT ALSO. I remembered that I really like certain disco songs. (???) Not all disco is created equally, though.
Le Freak. You ain't doing it for me.
Got To Be Real. I dig that.
/idk aha;;;

Unique

Nervous habits? Acting like I'm looking at my watch when I'm really just trying to do something to distract myself, not looking at peoples faces when I talk/they're talking...
Are you double-jointed? Nah.
Can you roll your tongue? Yah.
Can you raise one eyebrow? Nah. I think I move my eyebrows a lot when I talk, though. :m

Random

Which shoe goes on first? THE FIRST ONE THAT I SEE....? That's usually how it goes.
Ever thrown something at someone? Probably at some point. OH. Fruit snacks at Kasa. But that was more like throwing to her...
On average, how much money do you carry with you? Whatever I haven't spent. 8D
What jewelry do you wear? A watch.
Do you twirl or cut spaghetti? Twirl. I'M GOING INTO BORING MODE WITH MY ANSWERS.
Have you ever eaten Spam? Yep. Not bad.
Favorite ice cream? Cookies and cream. Dawg.
How many kinds of cereal are in your cupboard? NNNNONE... I don't really eat cereal, these days.

Last

Car ride? LAST SATURDAY, I TOOK THE BUS TO STAPLES!
Song played? I suppose it's this, since I linked to it like two seconds ago.
Person you saw? Keyblademewkasa, who just left for lab. 8D
Time you cried? Idk, I can't remember. My eyes tear a lot when I draw digitally, but idk if that counts. 8D;
Fight? Can't remember that, either.

OKAY I'M DONE.
THANKS FOR READING.
NOW YOU ARE WELL VERSED IN AKIOHOLOGY. Idk if that sentence even made sense, but oh well.