Writing introductions is a bit tedious so....just take a look at my first post if you want to know more....

....and if you get curious about the name of this World or my posts, check out the second one.

Dumdum Dummy Dumbstruck

Recently I've lost the ability to say no to my students. Really it's a wonder I held out as long as I have (nearly 3 years) without cracking. (I'm weak against kids...) So, long story short, I have something like 93 requests waiting to be drawn. (Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.) Of course, I like drawing so it's not that bad, and random requests help me get better at drawing lots of different characters and styles, but.....I wanna draw Al!!!

Yeah...my Hetalia obsession has kinda gone through the roof....good thing 夏コミ is in just over a month.

Anyway, I was kinda freaking about the 93 requests a few weeks ago, but then I realized that nearly all of the ones with pre-summer break deadlines were finished. Finally starting to see the light at the end of that metaphorical tunnel. Just two more to go and then....Alfred, you are going to be drawn so amazingly hot....

I might do him together with Arthur if I'm feeling ambitious. (Oh, who am I kidding? I'm always ambitious.) I love Artie when he's being all "tsuntsun"...I guess he's my "similar personality" character in this series, but for some reason I'm not dying to draw him. That's a first. Well, second. I've never felt confident that I could draw Asuka well, and never really been too anxious to try, but it's a first for guy characters.

The girls from my old school's art club said they're gonnna try and put out their magazine one more time before break so it's the perfect time for me to draw something really awesome. (I kinda raised the bar over my own head when I was in their May issue...) I'm sure they would appreciate a little Hetalia. Maybe I can even manage a few other characters in chibi form or something...hmmm....

Strangely, I've also developed a fondness for these two this week. Gilbert the insane, and Elizaveta - badass fujoshi living in her own BL manga (really? how could her life get any better?)

I think that pretty much says it all.

The United Front [Discordeque Mix]

Recently I've become obsessed with Hetalia....

But in real life...I work with this girl, let's call her Sacchan, we're not friends but she's not on the top of my hit list or anything. She likes to read a lot of manga, but she's definitely not an otaku. She's made comments like, "I hate when my kids ask me if I'm otaku! I don't collect figures or anything! I don't cosplay! Cosplay's weird!" which I have pointedly ignored (b/c if I didn't I'd be fired after she "fell" out the window) but otherwise I don't have anything against her. She's less whiny and a lot more sensible than most of the people around me. I leave her alone & she returns the favor. Mostly.

I thought I"d like Germany/Italy best...

Today we were at school together and she was telling me about how some of my ex-students (who are now hers) had to introduce themselves to her on her first day.......

Here's girl A, 12 years old:
My name is N******.
I like gundam.
I have a gundam book.
I want a gundam model kit.

(keep in mind these are Japanese kids who are introducing themselves in English after having learned it for only about 3 months)

Sacchan's description went as follows:
I don't know if she doesn't know that everyone was laughing at her, or if she just doesn't care! She was such an otaku! I mean, everything was about gundam this and gundam that. I couldn't believe she would say that in class and not be embarrassed!

OK, now girl B, also 12:
My name is M*****
I like Arashi.
I want a boyfriend.

And Sacchan's reaction to this one:
It was so funny! I was shocked at first, but she was so calm about it, like she really knew what she wanted. I mean, you're only 12, you don't need a boyfriend, but if that's your goal than I'm proud she can stand up and say it like that.

(yes, the pronouns are a bit mismatched...it was like that when she said it)

Now, what I wanted to say, but didn't b/c I wasn't in the mood to get myself worked up was, "Why are you proud of the girl who wants a boyfriend for being able to say it & not care what anyone thinks, and yet the girl who says she likes gundam can't receive the same courtesy?" Shouldn't you be proud that she can stand up and say what she really likes without being worried about what the "other kids" will think? Shouldn't you, as a teacher, encourage her even if you don't particularly like that thing yourself? Tons of my kids play soccer and you know what? I hate soccer. It's boring. But I don't tell them that. And I certainly wouldn't encourage other kids if they laughed at them for liking soccer. I tell them to do their best and have fun just like I would any other kid.

But that's just me. I can't see why anyone should have to hide the thing they like. But then again, I also can't see why most people think it's ok to laugh at people based on what they find interesting. It's not hurting you for them to like it, right? So just leave them alone already.

...but it turns out I'm rather fond of US/UK.

Princess & Dragon Part 2: The Majestic

I got the Eva 2.22 DVD. Of course I haven't had time to watch it, but I got it. And all the stuff that came with it. Mug, NERV case, day planner, shopping bag, train pass case, um....there might have been something else too.....Of course since the DVD was coming out there's been lots of new products in Animate too. Revoltech makes these really cool figures....

Eva 02 - The Beast version

Mari and Asuka (test plugsuit version)

They're kind of awesome. Pretty much every movable joint you can imagine (including hair), 3 different faces, tons of different hands, cellphones, guns, blood splatters, you name it, they come with it.

Lately I feel like I'm busy when I know I'm not. Or maybe it's I should be busy but I'm not doing anything....something like that. I definitely have a lot of requests to draw. It feels like I'm down in a trench...which is weird b/c I usually don't notice until I've come back out of it. My computer is acting weird again too, almost as if it's stressed out. Maybe it's the heat.

A lot of those requests came from a school I wasn't very fond of last year. I asked to not go there at all this year in fact, but someone else canceled today and I had to. And I remembered that the reason(s) I didn't like it have all graduated now. And T*****-kun (giver of popsicles and lover of Bleach) and Y***-chan (artist of the amazing Lavi drawing) both go there. But too late now. I won't be going back. T*****-kun did give me this today though...

In class today I was thinking what a great manga character T*****-kun would make. He's loud and short tempered, but smart, and thoughtful underneath. Although, I probably wouldn't have had that idea if I hadn't been tempted to make another of my students at a different school into a character earlier this week. The teachers refer to her as "Fushigi-chan", but her name is M**. The first time we met she was in 2nd grade. She lives near me but goes to a different school than the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. It's not much farther away, but I'm still not sure why she does. She doesn't live in my building, but by the time she was 7 she had already figured out it was faster to cut through the parking lot and the downstairs hallway than to do the "polite" thing and walk straight up the street and around the building. We walked about halfway to her school together one day that year. I was going to a different one, but for some reason when I ran into her I felt like I couldn't just bike off when she was trying to talk to me. Near the school we started seeing PTA members acting as crossing guards at some of the bigger intersections. The first one we met said hello to M**-chan, and she promptly responded with, "This isn't my mom." and pointed at me.

Back then I thought it was just one of those things a 7 year old would say since anyone could clearly see from looking at the two of us that there's no way we're related. Now that she's in 4th grade....well, if I said she hadn't changed that wouldn't be completely accurate, but....I guess the term "Fushigi-chan" fits her pretty well. She's got her own...everything....somewhere inside her head. And she'd definitely make a good character.

Just because other people can’t keep up with my logic doesn’t mean my logic is at fault… it merely means no one is smart enough.

Memories in the Rain 2: Nocturne

I hate rain. Ok, maybe that's not completely true, but I really feel like I hate it this year. It rained for far too long in the spring and suddenly it's the rainy season already even though it's still not nearly warm enough to feel like the end of May. It seems like we barely had 2 weeks of sunshine. And while I know I'm still not supposed to get much sun....well...you can't take the Florida out of the girl after all. I'd at least like to see it. Not this constant gray that seems like it's always 7pm (or 4am depending on how you want to look at it). A girl I don't particularly like was trying to tell me how nice rainy days are b/c of the cool weather. Sorry, not interested. I want my hot, blazing summer. And when it rains I want my thunder and lightning dammit.

None of this half-assed water falling from the sky shit. If you're gonna do something, do it all the way, right?

Suspicion 2 (of Tears)

I don't cry much. I used to a lot when I was really young, but maybe everyone does. I remember being in high school and thinking, "I should be crying right now," about certain things that happened, and not being able to. When I first came to Shizuoka I remember other foreigners telling me, "Japanese people cry a lot!" and I saw it happen at graduations and other things and thought, "Wow, I guess they do..." and then gradually forgot about it and just came to accept it as normal, just like everything else around me.

Yesterday was my last day at yet another jr high school. I wasn't that fond of the school itself, it was just average. I asked to go to it back when the schedule was made though b/c I've been teaching all the incoming first year kids for about 3 years now at 2 different elementary schools. I figured I'd at least be able to have fun w/them since I wouldn't have to go through all the, "we don't know you so we're scared to talk to you!" crap that always happens at a new school. It turned out that a whole lot of the 2nd and 3rd year kids remembered me from their own elementary days too. That was cool.

There was an art club at this school too. My last school didn't have one, but it was a pretty otaku saturated school so I didn't mind. I'd forgotten how fun it is to actually have a "place" though. And how surprised the kids who never interact with other ALTs are when I show up.

The kids put out a "magazine" once or twice a month. They don't actually distribute it to anyone outside of the club, but it's still really cool. Everyone does a page and then they all get copies of all of them stapled together. It's a pretty good idea since people who draw, or like manga, often want other people's drawings. They asked me to do a guest page this month since I was leaving....

Just like every other school, I had to make a quick speech on the morning of my last day. Just like every other time I got through the English part of it with a big fake, "I know you can't understand me," smile. And then I started in on the Japanese, and for the first time I noticed what a teacher once told me, my voice changes. Like, a lot. I sound like a completely different person. And as I was contemplating this, I caught the eye of the track team captain (one of my favorite 3rd years) and had to look away really fast. Only to be caught in the gaze of one 1st year student after another. Apparently it's harder when you really know the people you're saying goodbye to. Any normal person would have had tears in their eyes (or possibly rolling down their face) along with the second voice change I noticed.

As if that wasn't enough, the last day at the art club was like a big party. I brought them presents from Super コミ, we complied the magazine, took pictures, and I got tons of letters and presents from them too. Finally, at 6:30, nearly 2 hours after I'm "supposed" to go home, we finished up and the 7 second year girls and 2 third year girls waited for me to get all my stuff from the teachers' room. Half of them should have gone out the back gate to go home, but they all walked to the front one with me anyway. It was raining. I'm sure we made a strange site, 10 girls with umbrellas walking ridiculously slow. We split up there and the remaining 5 went to the corner that leads out of the neighborhood with me. The last 3 second years went home there and I was left with the 2 oldest girls, also the president and vp of the club. They decided to walk me all the way to the bus stop, at least another 10 minutes away. About 5 meters from the stop we saw the bus coming and they started to sound panicky. It's a busy street so I said I'd wait for the next one, figuring it'd be about 5 of 10 minutes. Enough time to say goodbye anyway. But as we stepped under the tiny roof and I put my umbrella down the next bus appeared. I couldn't really justify waving it on when I was obviously standing there waiting for it so I hugged them both quickly and jumped on. When I looked back the president had one hand pressed over her mouth and her face was red. The vp had dropped her umbrella and was waving with one hand and rubbing her eyes with the other. I shouted (in a slightly too forceful voice) "Don't cry! We'll see each other again!" and stood at the door and waved as the bus drove off. And then I sat down and didn't cry.

I need to redo my site. I keep saying that, but it's not happening for some reason....I also need to make a list of the post titles I've used. It's getting to be a bit less interesting and a bit more of a pain scrolling through them every time to make sure I don't reuse one. I'm thinking I should make the whole thing my own art. Avatar, background, banner, all of it. It's almost like it's unfair to keep using someone else's at this point.