Not Dead...Yet

Goodness, I thought I could keep up on blogging. I'll have to work on it more. But it's been way too long since I last updated, and so much has happened since school ended last year! My summer was amazing, for one thing, with a lot of fun, most of which was spent at my new favorite place to work, the Japanese inn I mentioned previously. I'll post something separate about my experience there later. If I wasn't at the inn, I was on vacation to the Outer Banks or at summer camp. Needless to say, I felt like I was never home long enough to unpack everything before repacking for a new trip. But, end result, I had the best summer yet!

The school year so far hasn't been as exciting as I thought senior year would be. Sophomore year is still my favorite year. I took chemistry at my community college last semester, and I really enjoyed it. I'm also taking two other classes, the one I usually take every year, Literature and Composition, as well as my new favorite class: Western Civilization through Filmography. Telling people that class's name is quite a mouthful, but I love it so far. All we really do is watch movies with a historical background lecture. Occasionally there are short papers and assignments to write, but not much. My inner film geek also loves learning the film parts, like learning about the music, awards, directors, etc. I'm finding that I was quite ignorant about film previously, so I think I'll make more of an effort to learn about future films' details. Also, before I graduate, I have to finish American History and Physical Science, which will entail mostly sitting around reading. It's a little tedious at times, but I am focused on graduation.

Now, for my biggest news yet! I'm simply bursting at the seams with excitement, because I've started an official videography business! I decided that next year, instead of going to college right away, I'm taking a gap year and working on getting my business off the ground. It's a lot of paperwork right now, but I'm getting there. If it doesn't work out, Lord-willing that it will though, then I'll probably go to college for something other than film. Maybe. At this point, it's just one step at a time and letting God lead me where He wants me to go in life.

I hope I'll remember to update again. I'm resisting the temptation to drop blogging. I don't think I'm very good at it anyway, since I don't exactly know what to blog about.

(Please excuse misspellings and grammar I may have missed. I'm going to bed and not bothering to proof-read right now :P )

Summer Adventures: Inn Work

*Blows at dust*
I suppose it's been a while...I keep telling myself to update, but even my new summer is now sweeping me away. I'm writing this from a hotel room in which I'm staying while I and my mom attend a home school convention. I'm here to attend a film camp. It should be exciting since I love film so much! The only prospect that doesn't thrill me is going from 9 A.M. to 5:30 P.M., all day. After camp on Saturday, we have to rush back home for graduation for our two seniors. Thrilling! And I'm just getting started.

The next morning, I leave for work at a Japanese Inn. No, not in Japan. In the middle of nowhere. Mountains, woods, a beautiful pond with ducks and geese, steamy hot springs to soak in after a long day of work...I'm going for two weeks, then almost a month a little later this summer. I get my own little apartment below the inn, with a kitchenette and a small bathroom. All to myself. My work will consist of basic chores like washing laundry, helping serve meals, cleaning the rooms, washing dishes, etc. Oh, and I must socialize with guests. Not too worried about that, except I tend to babble on and on about myself when I get too involved in socialization. Ah me, a paradoxical case for the stereotyping of the home schooled. Speaking of conversation, I'll also be boosting my Japanese speaking skills. I hope to speak Japanese fluently by the end of this year, if not the end of this summer! I'm pretty excited for this experience.

Ahh, to be away from socialization to work, think, and maybe even some video-edit (AMVs, most likely).

Well, I have to rise bright and early tomorrow in order for us to get a parking space at the convention center.
Ciao for now! Have a great summer, m'dears!!

~K

Exciting News

Friday morning, I slept in late. Like, 9 A.M. late. The only thing that dragged me out of bed immediately was Mom knocking on my door telling me that my teacher was on the phone and wanted to talk to me. I instantly panicked, thinking I was in some kind of MEGA HUGE trouble or something. But it was actually something I never expected. She wanted Mom on another phone to listen too. Dreading her next words, I heard, "K, you are the state winner for the LAL!" Of course, I was too stunned to speak and was shocked for the rest of the day.

(If you don't know what the LAL is, go here. Basically, you write to an author (dead or alive) of a book or poem that made a significant impact on your life in some way.)

Mom, my sister, and a friend staying with us all wanted to read my letter. Then we called and informed Dad, who was equally ecstatic to hear the news. Unfortunately, I couldn't scream the news to the world yet because my teacher wanted my classmates to be surprised. So I was bursting at the seams to tell everyone until Tuesday. Now, I can share it with everyone. I'm still pretty shocked about it all. I wasn't even trying to win anything. I just wanted an A from my teacher. I got an A++, as I recall, and that made me pretty happy. But 1st place, level three, at state level?? That's almost too much! Needless to say, I'm pretty ecstatic! National level, here I come!

Ciao for now!
~K

Me...with Edward Elric??

If any of you know my anime fandom, you'll know that my favorite anime series of all time is Fullmetal Alchemist [Brotherhood]. EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH IT. If you haven't watched it, well, you're REALLY missing out.

Anyway, I recently got a friend hooked on the series. Before he watched it, however, he constantly poked fun at me for it. Aha, but look who's singing a different tune now? He is so into the series that he has begun playing some of its themes and sound tracks on the piano and drawing fan art. And a piece of his fan art included my character, or OC if you will. Take a look!

Of course, I'm thrilled to be in a picture with my all time favorite character, Edward Elric! It made my day.
Here's my friend's original blog post: here

~K

For The Anime Fandom: Best AMV Ever

Yeah, I haven't updated in a while. This isn't much of an update (still so busy with school), so it's more of a "I'm still around" post.

So, I've seen this AMV at least a hundred times by now. Even if you love anime but you're not into watching AMVs, you really should watch this masterpiece. Out of the thousands of AMVs I've ever seen, this one is always, always the best. It contains all of the raw emotion that you can get from anime. And that's a lot. It portrays anime in its best form and contains everything that anime is about. I love it.

Funny how every time I come back to watch this again over the past couple years, I recognize more and more anime series...Enjoy!

~K

For The Avatar Fandom

And by Avatar, I mean the ORIGINAL Avatar. The Last Airbender Avatar.

I was on deviantart the other night when I remembered a fan comic of Avatar that had cracked me up. So I went searching for it and finally found it after a half hour of digging around. It's actually a series of comics set during different moments of the original series. If you're a fan of the old TV show, then you'll love this.

Zuko and King Bumi's Medicine
Aang's "Concern"
Side Effects May Include...
What A Relief
The Perfect Solution
Side Effects May Also Include...
Because of a Cat

~K

Island Bird AMV Studio: New Intro

I ain't dead from this shtick yet, honey. New intro for my AMVs has been made.

Just those stupid codec problems...I can't wait to make more AMVs with Sony Vegas now though.

Happy New Year's Eve!!

~K