Happy Valentine's Day, whether you celebrate it or not! I suppose I don't care either way, as long as I get chocolate. I'll use any excuse for chocolate, really.

(^-^)

My boyfriend worked all day, but brought home a box of my favorite chocolates~ I've already devoured half of them.

My childhood home was 5 meters away from being burnt to a crisp in the Victorian bush fires, literally! The flames engulfed the granny flat that sits beside the house and my family had to be evacuated (o_o). No one was hurt, but it's still horrible to think about... I'm glad I live in the city.

Lighter news: I posted the first chapter of the scanlation project I mentioned in my previous entry at ribon_wakuwaku! The scans are horrible and my editing skills are non-existent, but I got the damn thing done! I just want to spread Yayapuri love across the world~ Keke.

If anyone has any editing tips, please let me know! I'm using an old version of photoshop (v.6 to be precise) because I have no money to buy the current one.

I'm working on a secret translation/scanlation project at the moment to promote a favourite gag manga of mine that nobody seems to care about yet.

I've translated the first chapter, now all I need is to get my boyfriend's scanner fixed...

Watch this space!

I just realized that Chibi Maruko-chan wasn't in Ribon this month... nor will it appear next month. Totally missed that news, hah.

My boss came back from Japan WITHOUT Ribon Special as it had been sold out. I really wanted to get my hands on that Chocolate Cosmos side story. SCANS PLZ.

Ribon updated their site with information pertaining to next month's issue, and still there is no Yamamoto Zenjirou to Moushimasu. Let down! It makes me wonder what is actually wrong with Maki-sensei...

I am exhausted.

My Advanced Japanese Reading Skills class is killing me, not because it's particularly difficult (excluding my unknown kanji problems) but because I feel like I'm doing twice the work. I have two vocabulary tests per week, each on a different set of words! Gah. Friday's are especially nauseating because both classes run consecutively. That's four hours of uninterrupted Japanese. It's hard to stay alert.

My bosses are going to Japan tomorrow and asked for my measurements 'just in case we find a good costume for you', they said. It's highly likely they'll have me cosplay when working at the convention in a few months time. I hope they don't choose anything too.. scanty.

Blah. Must concentrate and study more.

Giniro's true feelings for Kisaki are revealed in the second installment of Mistress Fortune - they run much deeper than a simple giddy feeling at the sight of her large chest. Thank goodness! I'm thankful for this development, especially after being so disenchanted with the lack of depth in the previous chapter. There is only so much Tanemura can express in three chapters (+ one side story), I thought to myself, resigning to the fact that this latest work wouldn't be crafted as delicately as others, but it looks like she might be able to put this story together seamlessly.

Giniro is a mystery in the first chapter - the protagonist doesn't know anything about him and neither do we as readers - but this month sees him opening up to reveal his past to Kisaki and lay his trust in her hands. However... just as he makes himself emotionally vulnerable to the young esper, it seems she might be taken away to work for the American division of PSI.

Oh my!

I had hoped to see a little back story to Kisaki in the final chapter next month, but it doesn't look promising...

I don't have any time to be sitting in front of a computer screen at the moment, but let me just say that the final chapter of Rockin*Heaven was extremely well done. Mayu Sakai knows how to conclude a story!

For those interested, dot-point spoilers:

-Ran and Sawa get back together, but not before Sawa lets her man know how badly he had hurt her. He apologizes and the two kiss.
-Akira's manga is accepted by Berry mangazine!
-Sawa's mother gives birth to a baby boy named Chie.
-Tsubaki confesses to Akira and asks her out.

Flash forward a few years, and...

-Tsubaki and Akira are getting married.
-Sawa has a little boy named Aoi.
-Ran becomes a teacher at their old high school!

I felt really good after reading this chapter, and for some reason it makes up for the shit Arina Tanemura pulled at the end of Shinshi Doumei Cross.

Now back to the books before my weekend away...

Classes would have resumed today had my lecturer not fallen ill... in the very first week! So, all of the rushing I did to get on the appropriate train after work this morning amounted to nada, which is kind of irritating seeing as I wanted to pick up both the new Ribon issue and the photos I put in to be developed.

I won't be in the city again until Wednesday, dammit. I want to read the final Rockin*Heaven chapter now!

No spoilers, please. (>_<;)

I caught my boyfriend's cold when looking after him the other day, so he's coming over after work tonight to look after me! I haven't eaten all day and I'm running out of tissues - he'd better bring some surefire remedy to ease me out of this sickness... like chocolate.

My latest purchase from YesAsia arrived the other day: the Yamamoto Zenjirou to Moushimasu (2) that was out of stock when I bought the other two, and Yoko Maki's collection of yomikiri, 14R. I am particularly pleased with the Yamazen volume because I didn't realize it contained a side-story published in one of the specials that I hadn't read, Hotate's Diary, which involves Hotate trying to find the beginning of the rainbow with the aid of a cute little bunny. Very sweet. I might scan it for my site...

Cough.

Time to find some tissues...

Exams are over! I am free to do whatever the heck I please until the second semester commences in three weeks, which is not so divergent from what I usually do, but now I can do it without a guilty thought.

I've never been the biggest fan, but I've resolved to watch more anime for "research purposes" pertaining to my new job - they always say never to blog about your workplace lest you be caught out bitching about workmates and be promptly fired, so all I will say here is that I import Japanese goods for resale - and I've started watching Vampire Knight. I've never read the manga, but the anime seems interesting enough. We also stock a lot of Lucky Star merchandise, but I'll be damned if I ever watch more than one episode again. One was enough to realize I wasn't quite the target demographic!

Anyone have any other recommendations (preferably recent)?

It's past midnight and I'm still awake. No doubt I'll hardly be the most animated in conversation tomorrow at lunch with friends. I'm sure they won't mind if I just stare blankly past their eyes and answer all questions seemingly directed at me with a low grunt.

Blink.

Still awake.

I think I'll watch some Zettai Kareshi drama and bask in Hiro Mizushima's charisma. Damn he's a good looking boy.

So, Rockin' Heaven has one more chapter left of the story, which Mayu Sakai is busily writing now. Is it just me, or does everything seem to be ending at the same time?

The hostility between Ran and his father dissipated entirely in the current installment (#31), with recognition due to Sawa. Although her constant butting into other people's business usually grates on my nerves, I think it was actually necessary in this situation.

As the previous chapter concluded we saw Sawa approaching Ran's father, saying that she had to talk to him. This chapter, she confronts him about his estranged relationship with his son, asking him if he knew that all this time Ran had been blaming himself for the death of his mother. The father is shocked by this news - he had never known. Ran bursts into the room to put a hand over Sawa's mouth to shush her, but his father begins to talk things through, saying that it wasn't Ran's fault - that it was his fault. And blah, blah, blah the tears start to flow freely and the two embrace.

The next morning in class, Sugishita approaches Ran to properly thank him for intervening with the school board for his sake, and Ran let's him know that he is planning on taking Sawa back from him. A knock at the classroom door interrupts their conversation: a pair of younger students wanting to ask Sugishita if he was dating anyone. Sugishita denies this rumor, then goes on to point at Sawa and Ran and announce that they were the ones dating. Leaving the classroom to go to work, he commands the pair to 'fall in love' over his shoulder.

It looks like in the final chapter next month we will at long last have a resolution between Sawa and Ran!

I've picked up my Ribon copy, but what with beginning a new job, studying for exams and trying to find time to spend with my boyfriend, little has been read.

Mistress Fortune is... odd. Arinacchi wastes no time jumping into the action, with everything go-go-go from the first page, and I felt as though I started reading it in the middle of the story. Admittedly, I don't know how to feel about this one at the moment. I think I need to read it again to fully digest the story before forming an opinion. Anyone have any thoughts?

The issue did come with two very beautifully drawn postcards, one of Mistress Fortune and the other of Shinshi Doumei. Very nice illustrations, indeed.

Let down.

昨日も今日も勉強して怠くなったんだ。

やっぱり勉強は大変だなあ。。。

面白いことを書けないほど疲れるのよ。そして、書かないと思う！

授業が終わったけど、今もうすぐ来る試験のために一生懸命勉強しなくちゃ。明日彼氏と昼ご飯を食べに行った後、日暮れまで図書館でずっといる。頑張りまーす！

昨日は寒かった。今日も寒い。明日も寒いそうだ。

もういいよ！

私にとって冬のような天気が寒すぎる...　(>_<;)

PCが壊れちゃって、超不便だ！　(→o←)ゞ　今MACを使うけど、慣れないからちょっと難しいと思う。小さい機械から（ラップトップなのよ）使いにくい。スクリーンがちゃんと見えないからです。

わああ、どうしよう！？

もうすぐ試験が来てから勉強のためにパソコンを使うはずだったのに。。。まあ、いっか。しょうがないね？　できるだけ頑張らなくちゃ。

もう午後２時だよ。すぐ寝る。

Blah, computers are as untrustworthy as car salesmen. 　

So... chapter 30 of Rockin' Heaven didn't revolve around Ran trying to win Sawa back - it focused on the death of his mother, a story never told before. When he was younger, Ran would always fight with his father and storm out of the house. On one particular night after another of these quarrels, Ran runs off into the rain. His mother chases after him, but he ignores her and keeps moving - straight into oncoming traffic. His mother deftly ducks in front of him to protect him from the impact, and dies instantly. Poor Ran has been blaming himself, hating himself ever since.

The second part of the chapter shows Ran and his classmates gathering signatures to petition against Sugishita being kicked out of the school, and they succeed. Of course, Ran makes it well known to Sugishita that he is not doing this for him! I think he was doing it for himself, to stand up to the father that despised him for causing the death of the woman they both loved (as his father is the chairman of the school).

The end of this episode sees Sawa staying behind while everyone leaves to celebrate their victory to speak with Sugishita's father. "I have something to tell you," she says.

Hm, so it looks like I was incorrect to assume we would see the last of Sugishita - he will remain a student of Amabane Academy after all. In what capacity will he contribute to the story from now on, I wonder?

*

The boyfriend and I have somehow won tickets to see a Helen Hunt movie tomorrow night -I don't particularly like Helen Hunt, so I didn't really pay attention to the title- and although I'm not anxious at all to see it: woohoo, free stuff! There's nothing a miser like me enjoys more.

  

It's a real shame that Ank, the band I'm listening to at the moment, is now defunct. I think they showed real promise, kind of The Brilliant Green-esque, but with their own flair. Good thing I bought the entire back catalogue before it became hard to track down their stuff...

I need to get my own scanner. It's a bother having to carry everything I need to scan over to my boyfriend's house (and he lives on the other side of the city, by the way) and back again. We're moving in together at the end of the year, though. I suppose it isn't wise to waste my money when I'll be able to use all of his stuff at leisure soon~ But I'm an impatient bitch sometimes. Hah.

I bought Fumi Eban's collection of yomikiri, 'Sangatsu no Yume', along with the YamaZen volumes I wrote about before, and I'm really glad I did. Not only are the stories simple and heartwarming,  it's really interesting reading about the lead-up to Fumi 's debut! She wrote that she first submitted a story to Ribon when she was in her first year of high school (it got rejected though, poor Fumi). Anyway,  I highly recommend Midori no Kakehashi if anyone gets a chance to look at it. It's about a young girl who is having trouble fitting in with her classmates and how caring for a little bird helps her overcome this problem. It's really sweet.