That Day

...How did this journey take so long? But I suppose all that matters is

we're here now.

AIM

Holy

fucking

shit.

I mean, I guess it doesn't really come as too much of a surprise, and in any case all the important logs had already been saved many years ago. But...still, that's 15 years of relationships, at all levels of friendship and intimacy, across all levels of 1D through 3D interaction.

Thank you.

I've never really considered what I'd do if invisionfree was to sink one day. For a largely dying forum culture, I guess I should feel surprised that Ash has been consistent and stable  for the last 11 years? It was down for two or so days only once, ever, and yet...

Things I illogically take for granted and wrongly feel would stick around forever:

Dir en grey
Ashmunkenapple
my parents

And before today, apparently, AIM.

Dir en grey Tour '07 Inward Scream, 2/10 New York @ Nokia Theater

Ah, if only I had been able to avoid the trip to Queens, and waited outside the Nokia since nine in the morning (as was the original plan)! I was later told by DanLee that he'd managed to sneak into the place at ten-ish, got backstage and observed the band members from some mere feet away before he was kicked out by a staff. ("'Ey! You aren't supposed to be in here yet!" "I work here." "Psh, right. Where're your badge and I.D.?")

The weather hadn't seemed so bad when I initially stepped out of the 42nd St. station at 1:10 PM. I called Dylan, and was slightly horrified when he told me that he, Zhu, and Ridwan were stationed all the way back at around 47th St. When I passed Nokia's entrance near 43rd, I sure-as-heck glared at the bastards who must have camped out since Friday-god-knows-when, all huddling and stamping and weeping from the cold, wrapped in their blankets, eying the line of later-comers behind them with an unmistakable air of feline pride. The thick line along the sidewalk was sectioned and divided, going down 7th Avenue up until just 47th, wrapped around the street corner, and (I imagine) wound the rest of its way around the block. I spotted Dylan's curly mop-head and red jacket just next to the street-corner pay phones, and gave Zhu a greeting punch to the fatty stomach before shifting next to Ridwan. These guys had arrived there around an hour earlier; the line behind them was already growing far beyond the bend.

The next five hours of my life was absolutely the worst waiting experience I have yet undergone. The sun was still nice and comforting until 2 PM; after that, it suddenly became cloudy (and even windy) and the chill was starting to set in everyone's bones. In Jing's case, her worst sufferers were her feet. (Converse does not exactly provide the thickest soles to separate the concrete's iciness from socked feet. Two toes on my left foot remained unresponsive for almost a month before I started regaining feeling in them.) Nelson showed up at around the second hour of waiting, providing Dylan and Zhu with alcohol (that royally pissed me off) which they all passed around, while we played a paper-version of Word Association (the highlight of the 5 hours?). Then the three of them decided to crash at a Friday's one block down 7th Avenue, and left Jing and Ridwan to suffer the coldest hour during that entire afternoon (4 - 5PM) while desperately fighting to keep our spot as the group behind us suddenly decided to push forward as much as they physically can. Some time after five the three returned, all smelly-breathed and rosy in the cheeks, and Nelson checked out at about the same time Dan finally showed up. Apparently the latter left after said encounter inside Nokia and went to Union Square to hang out with some of his Junior friends, instead of, you know...holding the rest of us a much better spot on the line.

The crowd finally began to move at 6:05, which I guess was relatively punctual. It really felt as if they were scanning in the tickets as slowly as humanly possible just to make us suffer even more. In a frenzy, we stuffed our bags one inside another's to facilitate the checking-in later. By the time we (Zhu, Dylan, and I) finally dashed into the venue, there was already quite significant a huddle around the stage. The rail, long-since-invisible, seemed a holy and unattainable place in my head. I looked behind and around, looking for signs of Dan and Ridwan's return from the coat check while checking out the place as a whole. It was amusing to see the seated portion in the back, where the younger audiences and their parents would be filed.

As everyone finally reunited and more people shuffled continually behind us, Dylan blew the first condom balloon. Some idiot hit it beyond the rail and onto the stage, but thankfully, the security guard served it back into the crowd instead of trashing the thing. A second, less-well-made balloon went up in the air, and both were popped soon after. =/ A dumb squealing poser girl tried to crowd-surf even before the concert has started, and was yelled down in no time.

The lights then dimmed as the background music toned down, impacting immediately the crowd's dynamic. As people squeezed forward to the first extremity, I counted the heads in front of me: some obscure number between five to ten, perhaps seven. Our little group was already starting to drift apart; Zhu, Dylan, and even DanLee somehow all ended at odd rows behind me. The only reason Ridwan and I managed to stick together for the entire night was because he held on to my shoulders/waist and wasn't letting go for dear life. Stage lights (green, red) were initially turned in such a way that the crowd was too blinded to very well see those who entered on stage.

Bleed the Dream looked like your average emo band, and the vocalist (kind of cute, but mostly meh) had on this pair of extremely tight pants that went unzipped five minutes into the show. About half the crowd was physically moving along to their music, which all sounded the same after the first or so song. I suppose the highlight here was when he swung the mic by its wire some five times around his neck and managed to not only avoid choking himself, but also unwinding it in quite a non-awkward manner.



===End of original draft===



Dug up this thing that blogger somehow saved for the next six years, a report that I unfortunately never finished. Now that I think about it, my timeline with Deg goes something like this:

2003 - discovery of band
2006 - Deg tests the water in the US, but tickets sold out within the first few minutes at Avalon Club. Jing skipped track anyway to stare at the outside of the venue, bought and ate a pack of expired cashews to commemorate, and morosely went home.

2007 - Successfully bought tickets to the above show with Dylan in person at the venue the day sales started. Highlights include: holding direct eye contact with Kyo for what felt like eternity, catching Die's pick, and getting majorly yelled at by parents because landlady reported to them that I didn't get home until ~1AM.

2008 - Second time I saw Deg, went with Jarek/Jimmyn/Jen. Got as close as second row, touched the bar, but wasn't able to squeeze all the way to the front. The two chicks ahead of me had to have been on drugs because they literally did not stop full-body headbanging for the entire x hours of the show. I had to be physically supported on the way back to Jimmyn's car, surprisingly not bruised. Performance-wise, this was a better show than my first, and my feelings for Toshiya enjoyed a 200% surge ever since he stole the show.

And...nothing for the next five years, apparently, despite Deg having toured the US a few more times.

Until now.

September, two months ago, marked the tenth year anniversary of Vulgar's release. They've grown no less than I have grown.

Something NOT Saint Seiya? WTF

I surprise even myself. Hello, PaintBBS. Long time no fucking see, default colors. And how can I possibly forget you, animations?

But if anything, I feel one thing I've definitely improved upon since those years is a certain taste for value. Therefore, thanks to easy adjustments:

These are how I like things now.

A new oekaki board

Try me.

Fujou is gone, Skylands is gone, and fearsome is slower than a crawl. Oekaki seems to be a thing of 2003. Yet...now, in this age, I have a board. In beta, yes, with limited features, yes, seemingly without even basic options such as changing board-wide template, yes. But...

I wonder.

[365-30] Intuos4 Medium

In the vein of the last time I had an upgrade:

So it looks like I get an upgrade every five-ish years?? Here's to hoping that this one will last me much longer than that. Things are fixed now, but I had a mini-panic attack earlier as I ran into the common bug of missing pressure sensitivity in SAI.

Differences I noticed already:
- Significantly less bugs in software
- Different drawing surface feel
- Greater pressure sensitivity
- Bulkier tablet, will need special case

Still getting used to:
- Flipping pen over for eraser (!!)
- Left-hand scroll wheel shortcuts for zoom and brush size (!!!)
- Pen nib does wear faster (...)

Needless to say, I'm still overall thrilled. Thanks for doing this for me, Jing.

303. Waterpark

For some reason this picture makes me feel nostalgic as fuck. Even though it never looked like this when we were there.

Real actual conversation #405

Circa 2002.

Tina: That's the cheesiest thing I've heard.
Jing: What does "cheesy" mean?
Tina: Lame.
Jing: What does "lame" mean?
Tina: Cheesy.
Jing: And "cheesy" means...
Tina: Lame.



(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

14. All memories are created equal.

...Unlike what we'd like to say or believe of humans, or of any other members of a uniform species.


Halfway through today that giant hole/feeling of emptiness finally caught up with me, and, as I was dozing off on the bus to work, I mulled over some qualities of the nature of long-term remembrance.

[The end of last night was so sudden, so chilling, and so rather reminiscent of certain other fresh wounds and clean breaks from once upon a time. If this were a bone it would have been a greenstick fracture; the jagged edges and sharp projections screamed hurt, pain, and lonesome abrupt premature demise. The parents of my look had run off, and awaiting me on that then-empty second floor corner room on Neil was only one or two leftover hands who didn't go at all, who remained only to clean up. It was desolation at its very best; it was the untreasured postclimax. It was the cold stink of aftermath as I wrapped myself inside the detached train of my skirt.]

There is no discrimination between memory of just one second ago and memory of fifteen, eight, or four years back. On that bus, I attested to this. Regardless of its linearity or circularity in the grander scheme, time remains cruelly unidirectional for us objects traversing space. What is memory?

The best I can pinpoint is a class of dual-action that occurs simultaneously: a vision of things as I saw them then behind what my eyes currently input, and a feeling, a contraction, a reaction of some kind from that familiar place at the diaphragm pushing into and lifting from my stomach. There, regardless of age, quality, or quantity, the playback system tells me it is fair and just, as I see them all clear as clear can be. The brain is capable of playing tricks on the cache, but the system for retrieval is undeniably cleanly functional. There, on that bus, the quality of image with which I remember my studio takes on a same texture as I do that townhouse in Forest Hills. As I stare at passerby whirling back, one with the land, they, too, become memory irrevocably. The moment is permanently lost no matter how much I strain to hold their snapshot imagery in that frozen stance against my occipital. It joins the library of all others in a selectively limitless base. From hence on, all flavor of reality it once held is lost; all texture that remains is one artificial, web-like scale series that feels identical to all the rest. The chair on which I sit and type now is entirely different from the chair in my mind as I unnecessarily unfeelingly reminisced on a moving bus. I am returned to it, unlike I have never returned to so many other moments in space and time, and already, even so, it is a different chair. This hasn't even anything to do with all of our nanoscopic erosions and sheddings and denaturations. This is no termite pseudergate.

Because time only propagates one way for us, and brains can only do so much.

NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE

Well, isn't this kind of embarrassing...it's already February. I'll turn into Slowpoke at this rate. :D WHICH IS WHY I THINK IT A GOOD IDEA TO POAST SHIT THAT I BELIEVE IS FOUND NOWHERE ELSE ON THE INTERNETS (or at least haven't had much exposure at ALL)...DATING TO VERY DAMNED OLD INDEED. LIKE, PRE-STUY, PRE EVEN TINA OLD. Point and laugh at your leisure. I don't really suppose I'm feeling all that correct tonight, given what has been drawn and poasted here earlier just now. Crap crap crap.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold Jing's first digital work (OH MS PAINT) ever:
December 26, 2002. And then,

January 25, 2003. In case people can't read. I suppose date isn't really relevant past those two, but I'll try my hardest to keep things chronological. (It's like 3AM right now, leave me alone.)

July 17, 2004. First time I ever went to Ohio, between freshman and sophomore year. I stayed with my dad for two weeks and had literally nothing better to do all day except soaking everything in Half Price Books into the marrow of my bones. I was up to CoT (book 10 of the WoT) back then...for the first time. And, for whatever reason, I decided to slap an Aiel (EXACT IDENTITY SPOILER-CENSORED) and Ayami Kojima together. I believe the notes are actually my plotting out how I'd have it as an oekaki. >_>; Of course it did happen, and of course it kind of phail'd, and of course I'm not about to show you that just now. Dig through fujou at thy own risk.

March 18, 2005. "Ganelon." One of those unfinished pieces on Goddess that is now lost in oblivion. Other than the ridiculously unfitting head, I think the anatomy is still something to be proud of from back then. Another thing I was very pleased with was the water effect. Too bad I haven't gone back to it much, if at all.

June 28, 2005. "Durga." Haah, back when I still believed in mousing my lines. Castlevania AoS monster influence...though to be technically correct, I had the color scheme of Kali (mistranslated as "Curly" in the game) in mind. Jing's first rather voluptuous figure, except for the ridiculously thin waist that also happens to be off. I think one thing in common with all the shittles I'm poasting here is that I'm HEAVILY inclined to go back to every single one of these and make them RIGHT, or COMPLETE. >=/ Except I never do.

January 23, 2006. "Stalk." Jing gets Open Canvas from teh rora. 8D I remember being extremely amazed by its "pressure sensitivity" available for mouse, and this was exclusively playing around with that.

December 2, 2006. "Water." ...And then I became incredibly guilty-feeling for a while for having something other than Oekaki and yet never using it to make something more serious. =/ I suppose this was my favorite out of all those other half-assed attempts. Very nice...texture. The one thing I perhaps miss about OpenCanvas. Then again, I'm sure at least one of Artweaver's brushes can achieve similar effects, and I'm suffering from the same symptom of never getting around to seriously play with it. @_@


Speaking of water, I missed one. D: ANACHRONISM LE GASP September 3, 2005. I've made several attempts to recreate this nice atmosphere through the years, but something is always off and eventually given up. Perhaps it's the hand-drawn Paint BBS white 1-pixel water color texture...or perhaps it's the pond. Simple, but apparently impossible to reproduce. XD I still remember that day: Jing scraping her little toe against the wall against all odds, and rora asking her out to windowshop at that exact moment or so. Trying on skirts on 86th Street. Dropping by my mother's store and catching her very, very surprised. At me, at a friend, at my bloody toe.


...Moving on.



May 20, 2007. "Mu." (And originally with Shaka in mind on the right...except the resemblance is so terrible his name didn't end up making it into the title at all. *tear?*) I remember when I was madly obsessed with crazy face angles at one point. The pointing-down period didn't last all that long...but here's my reminder. 8D Also my single Saint Seiya fanart...and a pairing, no less??!! OMFG what. Where's my Soma x Genya? T_T




January 28, 2008. "Rip." (As in, Rip Van Winkle. As in, HELLSING.) I have a very vague impression that I may have shown this to Jarek during one of our very earliest days back then. (2008? Le GASP!) In fact, I think I scanned it at all because Jarek said he wanted to see what I doodled. Hmm. In any case, special because it's perhaps the first Hellsing-related thing drawn since freshman year. That is, the OTHER freshman year...the special one. At Stuy.

Four years into the future...



March 9, 2008. Title as indicated. I just noticed the dates I've been using in this post are dates shown on the computer...meaning the day I scanned, or the day I last modified. Which can mean a lot of them are off and age a mystery unless it's a signed sketch. Hoo... -_-; Anyway. Boredom during tutoring of that Korean girl. There's been more, but she usually whisks away the originals...I think including this one. Scanned and thus saved because I actually liked it and had bothered with references. This I should definitely do more often. Also BOOBIES


April 13, 2008. And MOAR HIPS AND BOOBIES 8D INDEED Like, Oh, my gwad!~ *heart heart heartle much?

(In actuality, I believe this was the first thing I actually drew with my tablet. By which I mean it's not a bunch of squiggly lines and my name written over and over in various pressures and all that goodness. YES I KNOW THERE ARE STILL SQUIGGLY LINES IN THERE BUT UH THEY ARE QUITE THE ARTFUL DON'T YOU AGREE? I LOVE YOU LAVENDER CURVES)





...The end.

- a n k i - ?!

1. http://anki.nce.buttobi.net/
2. Manually append /archives/ to the url once the above link loads.
3. ????
4. PROFIT

(You must do it this way; direct linking http://anki.nce.buttobi.net/archives/ does not work.)

Surprising turn of events.

I don't know how many of you have been up to date with SamBakZa's flash series (a.k.a. "the really cute flash vids of that bunny chasing around this cat"), but I only found out recently...and it's nothing short of shocking, to say the least. =/

(Please actually click on the link and wait to watch before reading any further. Unless the seemingly randomness of the following semi-memoir doesn't bother you...in which case, please watch anyway.)



Hedgehogs.

There once had been two in our rather-ghetto cellar in China. I was a bit too young to have understood its exact architectures then; in retrospect, it was perhaps just a simple square hole dug into the ground lined with bricks, covered by a pile of logs. In winters we'd store white cabbage there, though we did have a real refrigerator-- there was just something special about the taste of nappa stored and dug out from underground.

And one year, instead of bringing inside another cabbage, my father motioned me and Mother to come out. There, under the space made by logs. There were they: two gray-brown ball-shaped masses, huddled close together and not a muscle shifting. Especially impressionable had been their spikes, the tips of all of which a bleached color fading close to ashen white.

Not the same at all as I'd seen them in books and cartoons.

We laid out food for them, small pieces of meat and yam among other things, and checked at weekly or biweekly intervals. My mother had forbidden me to disturb them on a daily basis after we'd carefully removed all cabbage from around them, still enclosed in plastic bags, though they never seemed to notice anything we do. The meat, however, was always gone. The other foods, not so much.

We kept the area quiet through all winter. Dogs, children, meddling neighbors; none had known about our pair of spiky visitors sleeping under a pile of logs.

'Til one early spring day, of course. They had gone, as quietly and unobserved as they had come, leaving us a gift of an empty cellar now smelling ever so slightly of certain odors left by wild animals.

The cellar had been empty since.

Sometimes...

I feel like this place should be torn down for the facade of pretentiousness it presents to the face of the world. We have all changed a bit too much, perhaps, but that itself isn't the root of the problem...
We can never tell each other certain things along a certain line because it was never a topic tolerated to begin with. Our silently banned subject since sophomore year.
Not that I'm even suggesting that this could be changed/improved in any way, by now. Our comfort zones have long-since been deeply set in place. The ones that happen to be too closely involved--well, they will have to know; but for the rest of us? We were chosen to remain in the dark...because, likely, we'd rather (or think) that we'd rather to choose to not know, too.

The majority of us would (probably, simply) rather be passing buddies than closer friends anyway.
But I still think it's rather freaky (odd coincidence?) that we--the majority, at least, it would seem--all...happened...to have become(became? at some point?) (more than?) close with one person.
Funny how in a (perhaps very) twisted sense, in this intricate web of promise of secrecy, he became our lone source of keeping in touch with how everyone is doing.
Or perhaps that last "our" was only a royal "we", and I meant only myself.

Jing is probably the only (distant) voyeur here. I may very well be a selfish bastard.

yuuzora (5:03:29 AM): There's a fine line between caring and being nosey.
yuuzora (5:03:42 AM): Or maybe it's a blurred line afterall.

But he needs his release, too.

Because...

How funny is this? That after all, the most intricate web of all webs of all...

is the system of listeners and confessors. To each his(her) own.

Private laws.

I am but an observer.

Let's Go Backwards~

Does anyone else remember random memories? Let's share some~ :3

• Stealing Jing's Skittles and getting chased by Jing, who fell down (by tripping over her messenger bag with her Converses) in front of a classroom. I lost the bag of Skittles. ;_; (Junior year)
• Just sitting in a corner of the half-floor with Hyo and Rezu, discussing possible strategies (or things we can do after school).
  
• teh KOOL KLUB (insert positions and member titles here)
• Sitting around the guidance room with Hyo, doing nothing. Helping organize some storage room, inserting report cards into their respective folder slowly so that the lady wouldn't think we were messing up.
• PROM: (I'm sure someone else can comment more about this.) It was such a beautiful night (though I didn't expect it to be.) Everyone looked so elegant... I feel bad that I er, made John and Maggie late. They had to look for me and stuff since John's sister was driving us all to Waldorf=Astoria.
  

(to be continued...)

[Random image added by yuuzora]

June days and portraits

Reflections over people, in more or less the order I've come to know them. As the reader may or may not remember, the idea was first planted in my head when wifey sought my opinion over her own deliverance of the same to her circle. Of course, as I recently found out, the elaborate plan on her end did not go down so well...and I dare not try/risk the same within our fragile little group. Keeping my authorship anonymous, as she had tried to do, is out of the question. We all have too distinct a written voice, and I like thinking that my own is too unmistakable in any case.

I strictly believe I need not mention names in the following, as that should hardly make a difference given the level of SCREAMING OBVIOUSNESS LOLO.

Please also keep in mind that I'm clearly not doing this with any intention of bringing about any form of controversy or hurt. However, I cannot promise that you will not be disturbed, or laugh, or raise an eyebrow at what I write. I do not yet know who or how many I plan to, or will, cover; for the purposes of this entry, only one person was done due to major laziness/exhaustion/running out of steam. Read for fun, if you will.

-

As I may have mentioned, chronology is a thing I always try sticking to in the telling of anything, and for that purpose, I start with the one I often credit as what lead me to the rest of you.

Her physical state is, perhaps, one of those that have warped/changed the most since my first days of meeting her; however, most change seemed to have taken place during sophomore year, and any that may have come afterward is minuscule in comparison. Whereas once the adjective to describe her may have been a cute and simple "pudgy", now it hovers on a rosy and harmonious "plump". Not many may recall her ancient form as a freshman three-somewhat years ago, but she did once possess the generic, shoulder-length straight-cut hair with no bangs of the stereotypical, quiet, glasses-wearing, anime(*COUGH YAOI COUGH*)-loving Asian girl. Post some time and emofication (of hair, that is), it came to our attention that she is, in fact, quite pretty a creature underneath her quiet guise, and that the features framed by her tastefully (read: deliciously) round face/head/hair are, in fact, of lolital beauty. There was a time when the default summon for her was, "Widdu girl, widdu girl, come here! I gots candy for you in de baffwoom..."

Perhaps the shiest and definitely most quiet of our group, her pose and gesture always tend to make her one to stand out least. Stalking/hopping about from place to place, even her jab-in-your-back/tug-on-your-shirt/"HEY [insert name in lower case]..." to get your attention is reserved in nature. Her laugh is quiet, silent, and gone after an initial chuckle; the rest is almost always a smile half-hidden by her hand. Her sneeze reminds me nothing more or less than the most darling "nya~" from a docile cat.

Mild and dawdling, she is never one too moved or too decisive (though the last is a mark of our entire group, lawl), and is almost never one to spring to action. "Hurr"-ing or "uhh"-ing like an old turtle lady, she would draw a glance off to the side before eying you again, perhaps giving a fake "a-hah...(aha)h..." laugh, and then shrugging back to inaction. Though she is a caring person and will not totally forsake your bond under any circumstance (e.g., when everyone else is ignoring/excluding you), lazy idleness will prevent her from getting in to anything overtly deep. Though she will talk to you still, she will not speak out. Though she has endless support, she will not actively be at your defense. Anything problematic or troubling you unload onto her will be received with a sympathetic nod, but the second she finds it hitting close to home (i.e., prompting her to some sort of action or bringing about change), she will turn a silently blind eye and pretend that nothing has been said. The impression here is that profound thought troubles her sleeping brain, and she really would rather just let things be. Intensities, extremities, and struggle in life exist not for her; she is one to let the flow take her wherever 'til the end of days.

Reserved, lukewarm, quiet. These words are the air she breathes around her. Timid to physical touch, the only time one is to ever see her jump is when she's recoiling from a forceful hug or predatory touch. Quick to slap your hand and push your face away, one can almost believe that she's a no-nonsense person. But really, like any of the rest of us, she is up to some good (albeit maybe slow) fun. Picky and sophisticated over her choice of food matters, she's usually the one who is sure to take pictures of whatever is on the plate before it is eaten. Of course, that is not to say food pictures are the only ones she takes... Like largely the rest of the whattheboobians, she has a taste for the visual and dabbles in drawing/photography. Many of the more artsy-looking pictures around trace back to her hand, and her drawing style is one of much distinction and character, contrary to what she may think.

-

Yeah. =P

Chronology, 1995-2006

(1995) Virgo Shaka - Saint Seiya

The first androgynous male in memory who left his mark in Jing's psyche--note the age; the girl was five or six years old and wasn't quite sure of his gender, but already blown off of her feet regardless. Saint Seiya was my first manga and exposal to any type of anime-stuffs...and, well, yeah. Shaka was also most probably the father, the origin of Jing's obsession with men of LONG WHITE HAIR. (It looked white in the manga. -_-)
As to Shaka himself...he keeps his eyes closed the greater majority of the time because he tends to overkill whatever he happens to be looking at. This works somewhat like the "release art control" levels of Alucard from Hellsing.
Lasting influences: For the longest while, Jing had the strong tendency to draw a dot or some other kind of "decoration" between the eyebrows of her humanoid creations almost compulsively. (Examples: see this and this.) Also, during the age of doujinshi-creations (circa 2002), the concept of the closed eyes were prevalent in Jing's character design.


(1995) Aries Mu - Saint Seiya

In the manga, there was no way to tell that his hair was pink...so all he looked like was an awesome girl with no eyebrows (but instead two huge dots in their place) who tied "her" hair in a manner I have adored ever since. At least I was dubious over Shaka's gender, but for this guy? I seriously thought he was a girl. I couldn't stop giggling at first when I watched it on YouTube because his voice sounded so manly and all...
Lasting influences: I often find myself drawing things or people with dotted eyebrows, or eyebrows with accented dots. This has happened since as long as I've drawn human faces, and never once have I realized that Mu was the father of it all. (Examples, see this and this.)


(2000) King Meifuisu/Memphis - "Daughter of the Nile"

This series was the origin of Jing's fascination with ancient Egypt and the whole Pharaoh thing...the whole reason why, years later, YuGiOh's plot will have so much appeal. The story itself is actually quite cheesy now that I think about it in retrospect, but for the ten-year-old Jing, it was spectacular. Influences from the series included the whole concept of time travel and...Egypt, period. Bishies like Memphis and Izmir simply pushed things further.


(2000) Prince Izumiru/Izmir - "Daughter of the Nile"

The second person to push Jing's "obsession" with dudes with long white hair. Again, that way of tying his hair...ended up being the one other lasting influence in Jing's character design.


(2003) Malik Ishtar - Yu Gi Oh

Getting closer to the present...or rather, that legendary year of eighth grade. For a long while I worshiped this dude as a god. Woosh. Here was where the "long white hair" fetish had a little tweak: now I feel crazed toward the combination of extremely light-colored hair contrasting with dark skin, and light eyes to accent it all. But that wasn't all--seriously, Malik has to have the most awesome character design out of anything I have seen to date: knife-carvings on back, choice of clothing, etc.
Lasting influences: The color lavender/purple, the number 23, blades. This last item on this list hast to do with the fact that for a while during eighth grade, I became obsessed with weaponry design. Or more specifically, just swords and anything blade-y.


(2003) The males of Ayami Kojima - Castlevania
...I think this is rather self-explanatory. But goodness, there's so many of them. XD The only thing I will say is that had my first game been Harmony of Dissonance instead of Aria of Sorrow, I may have a bigger liking for the Belmonts than I do the vampires. But since Soma was the first to come to my attention, Jing is rather significantly biased...
Soma Cruz - Aria of Sorrow
Genya Arikado - Aria of Sorrow

Juste Belmont - Harmony of Dissonance
Leon Belmont and Mathias Cronqvist - Lament of Innocence

Joachim Armster - Lament of Innocence
Alucard - Symphony of the Night

Lasting influences: Vampires (not too surprisingly) and again, blades. With specifically Soma and Juste (and Joachim) came the final realization that albinos are simply awesome.


(2004) Lucifer and Rociel - Angel Sanctuary

These first came as influences from wifey later in eighth grade, though I didn't start to look deeper into the series until Faye got them later. I know I'm into Rociel simply because of his looks, but I forget whether I liked Lucifer first because of John Milton's Paradise Lost or vice-versa.


(2006) Gemini Saga - Saint Seiya

Yes, the series make a comeback. I'm starting to realize that everyone seem to have their eyes closed a lot. Or I just happen to save a lot of their pictures WHEN they have their eyes closed. (WTF?) But anyway...it was quite interesting, because the first clips of Shaka I found on YouTube were of the part where he gets killed by Saga and two others, namely Shura and Camus. The later two looked like total douchebags from beginning to end, but Saga remained fascinating, the way he always had that sad sad look on his face, "weeping tears of blood", as Mu says. Then I found out more about how he has a twin and also has a split personality, blah blah blah...plus (lame as it is) Jing is also a Gemini... *snore* Anyway. He's easily the prettiest of the Gold Saints in the anime, or at least the Hades OVA part.



...And I think I'm done. Notice these are NOT every SINGLE bishonen Jing has ever liked in the history of her bishi-exposal, but just the ones that have at least somewhat of a significant (psychological? spiritual, even?) meaning to her. Of course, it may seem odd how Saint Seiya should ultimately be the one series here that mean the most to me (yes, as in, more than Malik and all of Castlevania combined), but...really. Jing may value things she remember more than she does things of the present. But the things from a distant past that she doesn't remember much about--or not at all, even...it's the rediscovery of those that mean more than anything. This whole business of finding Saint Seiya again--finding Shaka again--brought forth a period of near-depression, what with the feeling of wanting to cry her eyes out but no tears would come. Meh.
This was the opening theme to the arc that contained the part where Saga and co. kills Shaka. Though I will advice this: KEEP AN EYE ON THE TIME AND STOP PROMPTLY WHEN IT REACHES 35 SECONDS. I promise you, everything after that mark is total crap. The song sucks because it doesn't progress beyond what you have heard already, and when the final part hits...goddamn it, Kyo's falsetto is better than this girl's and her chorus's. But other than that...ugh. What an unfortunate opening; that sweep through all the Gold Saints (do we see Mu's pink hair, followed immediately by Shaka and Saga?) and the way there are so many petals and how the logo was introduced were made for tears and nostalgia.
Boohoo.