Hi everyone! I know it's been a while since my last post, so I thought I'd do a quick update today. Just to let you all know that I'm still alive, and that this blog still is as well (although barely). _(:3」∠)_
Sometime last month Armaine invited us to do a shoot at the Kawaii PH HQ. I found out later on that the theme was LARME meets Sailor Moon. I didn't get to watch Sailor Moon growing up, so it was a bit of a challenge for me. But it was really fun! The set design was SO PRETTY. I was awkward in front of the camera, as per usual, but I had fun. I always have a great time when I'm with these girls. (I'll post my photos from the shoot next time. For now, you can take a look at the official photos on Armaine's Facebook.)
This is, I swear, the most troublesome thing to happen this year so far. I have a love-hate relationship with MMORPG's, or RPG's in general, because once I find one that I really like, it's goodbye to everything else. I'm the type that gets sucked in the world so much that I only remember to get out once I feel the need to eat or sleep. It's crazy, and it's happened to me loads of times before—Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy, Pokemon—so I knew Blade & Soul wasn't going to be any different. And I was right. If you're wondering why I haven't been updating at all, this is the reason. But the good news is, I'm finally at the current level cap (45), so I can finally get back to working on my blog! Yay, I guess. (I apologize for being so weak-willed!!)
Good news is, I have started on taking photos for the blog again—I took photos of my small but growing collection of girly photobooks. I initially wanted to just show them off a bit, but I thought doing a short review (read: me gushing about the pretty) of each one would be better, so I put it off for later. I also I ended up taking 3 days to take proper photos of everything, since I wanted to get decent shots of pages I really liked.
I heard from friends that the old Pottermore site was completely revamped, and instead of the old interactive games (that stupid Potions game annoyed the hell out of me) they filled it with new exclusive writings by J.K. Rowling, which I was really happy about. Problem was, I had to create a new account, and had to be re-sorted. Okay. But when I did, I was sorted into Slytherin. What. I'd been a Ravenclaw ever since the first version of Pottermore came out, so I didn't know how to take it at first. Maybe it's because I've had a change of ideals over these past years? My wand is different, too. Or is it because I've become more evil (not that all Slytherins evil, mind you) as I grew older? Who knows. People change, so that's all there is to it, I guess.
One of my goals for this year was to downsize my wardrobe, so I'll be doing a major closet purge soon. Problem is I don't know where to start yet. There are a lot of clothes that I want to keep but only because I haven't worn them yet, or because I think they'd look good for a photoshoot. I tend to buy clothes with the latter in mind, so I end up having a ton of clothes that I don't even get to wear myself. Just yesterday I read Allie's post about her room and I was so jealous at how pretty and neat it looked. She mentioned using the KonMari Method, and having read that it worked for her, plus for another blogger that I follow, I'm quite curious about it now. (I saw a copy of the book at National Bookstore a while back, maybe I should get it?) Anyway, whether I follow KonMari or not, it doesn't change the fact that I need to get rid of some of my clothes, so that'll be happening soon. I might open an Instagram account for it, since that seems easier to do.
I also listed "Finish reading at least 5 books" as a goal for 2016, but sadly I haven't even started reading any yet. I've been reading a lot of manga though, as usual, so I might as well share the ones I've been liking a lot recently. I haven't been reading any shoujo manga at all these days, only updates of titles that I haven't either finished or dropped yet: Sugars (by Yamamori Mika), Honey (by Meguro Amu), Hibi Chouchou, and Horimiya. (Horimiya is listed as shounen, apparently, but I see it as shoujo, so.) As you can see, my shoujo reading list is quite short. When I find myself rolling my eyes more than usual while reading a certain series, I drop it immediately. I've already dropped A LOT of titles—Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji, Heroine Shikkaku, and Mairunovich, to name a few. Horimiya is this close to being dropped as well. Overall, I prefer reading joshi manga now. Right now, I like Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai. I've also discovered a new title, Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii. It's cute and funny, plus I can relate to the two main characters quite a bit. My favorite is still Oboreru Knife (which is getting a movie soon!). As for shounen, I'm still reading Haikyuu!! and One Piece, also included in my favorites. I've also started reading Bungou Stray Dogs; I became interested in it ever since I watched the PV for the anime. It's good and the characters are really interesting. As for BL.. I'm still reading whatever comes up on the Latest Releases tab on my manga reader app, lol. But I recently really liked Yuki no Shita no Qualia and Umibe no Etranger, both by Kii Kanna, and Itoshi no Nekokke, by Kumota Haruko. (Both of these aren't heavy on the BL, if you know what I mean, but the stories are really good.)
I haven't been keeping up with the latest anime of recent seasons, unlike before, but I do keep a lookout for what's good at the time. Right now Aian and I are really into Boku dake ga Inai Machi. I downloaded episodes 1 and 2 a long time ago, but only got around to watching it last night. Aian liked it so much that we ended up watching six episodes in one sitting. It's still ongoing, so that means we'll have to wait every week for it now as well, haha. I'm still watching Haikyuu!! Season 2, which is the highlight of my Sundays. Every Sunday I deliberately stay away from Twitter and Facebook until I've watched the current episode of HQ!! to avoid spoilers, even though I already know what's going to happen, since I read the manga anyway.
I saved the best for last!! Last February 11th, our Norababy finally gave birth to three lovely kittens. So cute and so smol!! We only realized she was pregnant only a month into her pregnancy, so we weren't expecting kittens at all. (We only thought she was getting fatter because of all the food she was eating. Turns out she was eating for herself and for 3 others, lol.) It's my first time seeing newborn kittens so up close, I have no idea what to do. But most cat care pages say I should leave everything to the mother, and Nora looks like she's doing a good job so far, so I guess I can only look on. I'm so thrilled at the idea that I'll be able to see them grow each day though. I promise to try my best to document everything!
Anyway, that's about it for recent events! I'll be posting some backlog and photodiaries sometime later, since I realized I left out a chunk of late December 2015 to mid-January 2016 from this post. I also had something planned for Valentine's Day but things didn't quite pan out as I'd hoped, so I'll save that for a later time. I'm pretty sure people might still be interested in it even after Valentine's is over.. I think. We'll see. For now, I hope you liked this post. Happy Sunday and happy Valentine's Day, everyone! ♥