New Gimmick

I've been bad at updating in general. I haven't updated my fanfiction since, what, August? And it's been since the beginning of October since I've updated my website. Dunno who really checks it out other than lizalou, but whatever . . .

I've been inspired lately by yet another graphic novel I've started reading, this one by the title of "Hot Gimmick." It's quite good and I like the art style a lot. Once again . . . I'm addicted. I know. The addictions never end. But I've been dying to use this picture of Cymon on my website for something, and then I was inspired to draw a new picture of Arrowin too. Too bad I haven't been able to actually sit down and write anything new. Or at least not anything of substance. But I'm working on making a handy dandy character reference at the moment which should be . . . well, handy. That way all my facts will be in one place instead of on twenty million different slips of paper in different places, or somewhere in 500 pages of writing. Too bad most of that writing sucks. Well, it doesn't totally suck, it just sucks in comparison to my writing style now—or at least it doesn't fit with my style now. Plus the plot and characters and world itself have changed over time and I need to clean things up a lot to make everything consistent. So much work. And none of it lucrative. Not that I care about that, though it would be nice to get paid for it. And yet, I probably wouldn't enjoy it so much then. What a dilemma. Not really . . . I'm just bored.

I did get an order from homestarrunner.com last week which was fun. A Trogdor messenger bag (with majesty), Bubs t-shirt and Strong Bad Email DVD's. Plus, I got a freebie "StrongBad Sings" cd—very enjoyable. Everyone needs to hear the full version of Trogdor and The System is Down.

On a more serious note, last Wednesday was a SCARY day. Or, I suppose I should say Wednesday night—or technically Thursday morning. I woke myself up thirty minutes after I finally fell asleep at 1:30am, screaming bloody murder. I don't remember anything about the nightmare which prompted my scream, but it must have been terrifying since my heart was pounding so hard it hurt and I screamed loud enough to wake my parents up. My dad came down to check on me, and then he passed out. I didn't know what was going on except that I heard a noise like something breaking and dad wasn't responding to me. I went to check on him (I had been in the bathroom at the time) and he was holding his head and moaning. He wouldn't respond to me at all, not even when I started shrieking his name at more an more hysteric volumes. Mom heard and came running when I started screaming for her in an equally hysteric voice. She didn't think dad was breathing when she came down to check on him—by that time he had fallen completely silent and wasn't moving. I called 911, but he had regained consciousness by the time the ambulance got to our house. He was okay and didn't need to go to the hospital, but it was still REALLY, REALLY scary. I hope I don't have to go through an experience like that again—at least not for a LOOONG time.

Nice to Meet You, Good to See You

How did I not discover the extreme sugarshock cuteness of Card Captor Sakura before now? I've had a sticker of Kero-chan on my cell phone for, oh over a year now …and yet I didn't fully appreciate it because I didn't understand how incredibly cute he really is.

I knew I needed to see some of the show/read the manga after getting addicted to Tsubasa so I would know more about the characters' origins. I just didn't know how addicted I would get. What's with me and getting addicted to the really kiddy shows? Well, not all of them. Just CLAMP-made kiddy shows, I guess. Reminds me once again that the CLAMP School boys had better show up in Tsubasa! I need Nokoru, Suoh and Akira in all their cuteness.

Anydangway, I'm also addicted to Alice 19th now too. I am definitely in a "filling up the inspiration reserves" mode right now. I went through a long "cranking out creative stuff" phase, but my creative tank ran down to empty; hence my inspiration gathering process of the last few weeks. At least, that's how I justify my recent addictions. Where was I? Oh yeah, Alice 19th. It's been awhile since I've been addicted to one of Watase's creations (Ah, Fushigi Yuugi) but this story has completely sucked me in. She has definitely improved her art style over the years, though I can see hints of Tamahome and Koji in Kyo, and hints of Tasuki in Frey. I really like Frey, yet I can't decide if he's my favorite--a dilemma which surprises me considering his quirkiness and his physical similarities to a certain fiery seishi. Oh, and the bunny's cute too. Though now bunny can be as adorable as Momiji. But there I go bringing Fruits Basket up again.

For any fans of my WHR fic though, I want to share that I have been writing. It's just taking me a little while because of all of my distractions lately, and because of the long break between writings, I want to make sure it flows with what came before. Sorry for the long wait, but I want to make it worth it!

Fruits Basket Isn't as Fruity as It Used to Be

What the frell is up with Akito being a girl? My vision of evil though feminine bastard with shonen-ai tendancies has been shattered. He is now a she. I just don't know how to react to this knowledge. I mean either way, he-she is still a bastard. But now I don't feel as creeped by his-her fawning over the Juunishi boys. And yet I'm still creeped… Such conflicting reactions.

And really, how many more gender surprises can we get in this series? Not that I'm complaining really. It's an awesome anime and an great manga series. I'm just very freaked about recent developments…

I just picked up some graphic novels on sale. The new Tsubasa is out! And it was incredibly cute as expected. I want more xxxHOLiC though…Picked up another manga called Aria. It doesn't have a whole lot in the way of interesting plot so far, but it's pretty and inspirational as far as exotic locales go. The main character really reminds me of Tohru though (which is fitting after my whole furuba thing up there).

I also watched the Here is Greenwood OVA yesterday, and it was a lot of fun—old school style. And Nuriko's voice actress played the character with a questionable gender…again. But I got all weepy because I didn't realize how much I missed Nuriko! Then I got all nostalgic about Fushigi Yuugi…and now I'm thinking about Twelve Kingdoms again. I WANT MORE!!! Spoilers ahead:There wasn't nearly enough of Keiki, King En or Enki. Not to mention the Tai folks . . . I really want to know what happened to poor King Tai and Taiki. Well, we know where Taiki is at least. But hot white-haired, red-eyed, dark-skinned Gyousou? Where or where is he? He better not be dead or someone's going to get a severe beating. Oh, and I forgot Rakushun. I missed him too. Need more . . .

So, basically, I'm suffering from a complex multi-directional obsession with a variety of anime and manga. And I'm not progressing on my fanfic. You can whack me over the head now. I don't know what my deal is, but I know that forcing myself to write only results in uninteresting, blah-ish drabble. It will flow when it flows.

So you found my blog… It must be “Hitsuzen”

What is Hitsuzen, you ask? It is "A naturally foreordained event. A state in which other outcomes are impossible. A result which can only be obtained by a single causality, and other causalities would necessarily create different results." Maybe I've just been reading too much xxxHOLiC by CLAMP. It's a very interesting manga…you should check it out if you haven't already. There I go giving out free advertisement again. But hey, if it's for the CLAMP ladies, I don't mind.

For those of you who know me and characters from my story (the big ass long one, not the fanfiction--wait, the fanfic is also now big ass and long), you might be wondering why Cymon is on this page given that he would probably hate blogs with a passion. Perhaps it is because I tend to externalize a lot of my sarcasm and cynicism through him. Or perhaps it is because, like Kynda, I simply like to annoy him and cause him pain by associating him with something he would hate. He's just so much fun to annoy…

So, there you go. My design teachers would be proud. I have a concept—sorta. And justification—kind of. Hell, that little explanation was almost as good as art history bs.

Now, how about a little explanation for this website's name? I know you're dying to find out just why I gave it such a redundant name, and why I chose to spell grey that way (at least you might be wondering that if you're American). I heard you when you first opened the page, after all. "What's all this brouhaha?" you asked. "What's it all about?" Well, I have a question too. Why did you say "about" in a Canadian accent? Or maybe that part was just in my mind…

Regardless, the answer to all of your questions is "yes."

At least "yes" is the answer if you ask a Vorlon. But since they can be rather cagey, elusive creatures, I will elaborate further. Back in drawing class, I worked very hard to achieve lots of what I liked to call "grey shadows" in my drawrings. Some sophistimicated people like to call them chiaroscuro, but that just sounds so stuffy. I'm not really sure when or why I coined the term "grey shadows" in the first place, but I do know that somewhere along the way Sam Gamgee got involved and made his position clear on the matter. He popped right out of the Lord of the Rings and into a parody a friend and I were writing, proclaiming his love of grey shadows. Considering our parodies also included many college basketball players along with a variety of Final Fantasy characters, Mr. Gamgee's appearance isn't so strange.

Finally, as if the answer were not already apparent, my spelling of grey was also due to the story of Sam Gamgee's origin and the spelling used in Tolkien's beloved books. If my website were a wizard, it would be more like Gandalf and less like Saruman. Although, I suppose I should specify that I'm referring to Gandalf the Grey here, not Gandalf the White. Not to even bring up the whole "Saruman of the many colours" thing.