The End of a Lovely Month! (Keiko’s Nomination)

Hello all!

As the title indicates, to wrap up this month of love and affection I’ll be responding to the “One Lovely Blog Award” that Keiko (Keiko’s Anime Blog) nominated me for back in, what, November of 2018? Yikes, little behind, but better late than never, right?

I always enjoy chatting with Keiko, and I particularly like seeing what she’s been up to reading-wise in her “Weekly Reads” segment. She’s also currently at the end of the 28-Day Shoujo Challenge for February 2019, so now’s a great time to catch up on what she’s been up too. Thanks for nominating me Keiko!

Rules:


1.  Display Award.

2.  Thank the person who gave you this award (and include a link to her/his blog).

3.  Share 7 things about yourself.

4.  Nominate 15 bloggers (I won’t be doing this part just because it’s been way too long lol).

7 Things About Me:

1.  I recently wrote some poems about memory for a cognitive psych class and the professor(s) approached me with an offer to print them in the updated version of the course textbook! I’ll keep you posted if they decide to move forward with that.

2.  Even though it’s winter, I don’t actually own much of a winter coat. Instead, I prefer to wear layers of light jackets.

3.  My most recent hobby collecting obsession is acrylic stands of anime characters. I never thought I’d buy one, and here I am sitting with three with a fourth on the way. It’s an obsession that came fast and without warning. Perhaps I’ll save the rest of the story for a Cafe Talk . . .

4.  I love buying anime for my collection, but I like buying anime for siblings and friends even more.

5.  Believe it or not, all of my blogging work is done on a tiny hand-me-down ASUS tablet/laptop thing. I’ve never owned a desktop set-up, and while I never plan to, I do wish to upgrade to a nicer laptop sometime this summer. ^ . ^

6.  Recently, I’ve seriously picked up healthy eating and daily exercising to lose weight for cosplaying. The scale may not be giving me lower digits, but I certainly do feel better about myself.

7.  Spring is my favorite season. Like New Year’s, it’s a time for cleansing, revival, and of course, spring cleaning. With the warmer weather coming soon, I plan to strip down my old wall fabric patterns and put up a new bracketed shelf system for all my anime, manga, light novels, and other related items. It’ll be a lighter colored wood, which will be a nice change from the dark browns and blacks of my current furniture. Excited for spring!


And that’ll be all for this one. I hope you all enjoyed your February festivities. Thanks again Keiko! ‘Till next time!

– Takuto

I’ve Finally Been Recognized as Lovely! (One Lovely Blog Award)

Hey guys,

THE NOMMIES RETURN upupuPUPUPU! It’s been so long since I’ve been awarded one of these—it’s my first “Lovely Blog Award,” in fact! I also just happened to find a 20-min pocket of time, so why the heck not. This’ll be short, and you might learn a thing or two about me here in the next minute, so that’s cool. Special thanks to Mel (Mel In Anime Land) who happened to grace me with this nomination a couple weeks back. (I told you I’d get to it!) Check her out!

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Ok, ok, here are the rules:

  • Thank the person who nominated you and link their blog
  • Add the One Lovely Blog Award to your post
  • Share 7 things about yourself
  • Pass this on to as many people as you like (max 15)
  • Include this set of rules
  • Inform your nominees

And sorry, I won’t be nominating anyone because let’s face it: I can hardly keep up with everything as-is, plus this thing has likely made its rounds by now, haha. If you follow me or are just stopping by, go ahead and take this one on—I’m awarding anyone who feels willing to share more about themselves, for if you are reading this, you likely have good taste (and a lovely blog for sure, hehe :P).

Alright, let’s go!!

1. I was high school Homecoming Royalty

The king, in fact, hehehe! Why bring up high school now though (I mean, wasn’t it “the worst time of everyone’s life)? Well, my high school years weren’t half bad, my senior year being the saving grace. I also mention it now because, just a week ago, I got to hand off the crown to my sister, who is now the ruling queen—isn’t that kinda neat?! [insert “My Little Sister Can’t Be Royalty Just Like Me?!” light novel series here] Makes me wonder where she got it from, certainly not me, right? Ahaha, I kid, but seriously, it was tons of fun. To my class, who I know will never read this but regardless, thank you for all the laughs and the memories—it was an honor serving as your king over the past year~!

Would you have ever guessed it? Now you can can say you are friends with royalty 😀

2. I’m a night owl

Like Mel, I get most of my work done once the moon comes out. This can be a real inconvenience considering how, well, most people play by the sun, but somehow I make it through . . . by staying up late, waking up early, and feeling exhausted 24/7.

3. I LOVE granola bars

No, it’s like, really, really bad. Breakfast, lunch, snack, repeat. I am OBSESSED. I also like all kinds, simple chocolate chip or some kind of yogurt ones being my favorites. In fact, I hate nuts, but eating granola bars with nuts has given me a slight appreciation for them. Guess there are pros and cons to every addiction.

4. I LIVE for mystery stories and survival games

This is probably why anime like Gosick, Hyouka, Future Diary, Another, Higurashi, Fate/Zero, and, holy god, Danganronpa, my most recent obsession (besides the granola bars). I’ve traversed the entire franchise, watching the first anime many years ago, a Let’s Play of the second game last summer, and more Let’s Plays/video summaries of the other entries just these past couple weeks. I’m still searching for SOMETHING to fill the Danganronpa 3 void, so if you’ve got any recommendations, now’s the time to share . . .

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5. I’ve done music all my life and honestly, it’s meh

Sad but true. I’ve dedicated at least 4/5 of my life to something that . . . well, I’m not sure why I’m still involved with anymore. I play the cello (in a symphony, a quartet, and a small trio), and I can’t help but wish, everyday, that I was doing something else: painting, drawing, reading, writing—anything! The only reason I’ve stuck with it is because of the pushy music staff here. If they weren’t so clingy and even rude sometimes, I would have wanted to stick around. But crappy people are everywhere, so for once, I don’t even know what the moral of this story is supposed to be. Call it wasted potential or a future regret like all the others, but I don’t think that’ll stop me from retiring. When I’M ready, I’ll start up again on my own time. Like, “Can I please just move on with my life?”

6. I’m trying to get into light novels more

From the little research I’ve done, Japanese light novels are designed to be affordable, dispensable, and easily digestible written works, either as standalone novels or for a much larger series. They are relatively easy to publish, and that’s awesome for budding authors. What I don’t like is that many, especially now (like all media), rely heavily on the infamous “light novel tropes” to sell copies and hook readers, and while on paper it’s like “whatever,” many animation studios as of late have decided to spend all of their time and manpower on adapting these often times cliche, poorly written books. That said, I want to get into light novels more (which is why on Twitter I asked for suggestions). I want to understand them better, and maybe see if I can, sometime down the line, craft my own.

7. I am a collector, not a renter

That’s right, I don’t go to the library, nor do I occasionally stream shows. Instead, if I can score big sales and [blind] buy a ton of crap I know I won’t get to for 7 years, I’m gonna do it!! It’s actually gotten really bad, haha, so much so that I went on a no-buy (that didn’t last) and realized that “OMG, if I actually watch and read the stuff I actually have, it wouldn’t just have to sit there!” A novel idea, I know. If it’s any consolation, I do buy my stuff at THE BEST price one could ever find it at, so I do know a good deal when I see one. Unfortunately, if I avoided shopping during sales, then that would save money, too.

But enough of that smart thinking stuff. Time to go blow $80 on Sentai DVDs of shows that I wouldn’t buy otherwise unless they were $10 a piece. 😛


That wraps up this award. Did you learn anything interesting about me? Did you sympathize with my problems or just find me to be a big whiner? Either way, I’m curious! Again, if you want an excuse to talk about yourself, I nominate YOU to do so! Just let me know if you did so I can read it and share it. Again, big shout-out and thank-you to Mel for the nomination—it was fun! ‘Till next time guys!

– Takuto, your host

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