That took a long time...
Jun. 25th, 2004 02:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Wow, LJ is really slow today... It look me forever to log in! And I couldn't go on some of the journals... *cries* I need to see if they wrote anything! :( I don't know what compels me to go and read their updated journals... It's kinda like a ritual. I go and I read their journals and then I go off doing whatever I want to do online.
One thing that needs to be noted today is I just found out that Mekakushi no Kuni, a manga being scanlated by DGT and Dragon Voice has been licensed. I'm really disappointed since I was really getting into this series! Next thing you'll know it'll be Seishun Shiteru Kai that's being licensed. It's really a shame since they just released a massive update and up to the first chapter of the next volume. I know definitely I won't be buying this manga when it comes out here since I'm not THAT into it. Hey, what can I say? I'm a poor college student.
But I just got Autocracy and I'm getting Genius 221 so that makes up for it. Autocracy is a HikAki doujin (scanlated, yay!) and you know I love anything PoT. I'm going to guess that Fuji wins in this chapter. I know he wins over Akaya but it's been building up for so long that if he doesn't win in this chapter, I'm going to feel like it's a bit drawn out. I can't wait to read Ryoma's match with Sanada. It's going to be great -- hopefully. Geez, I wish Anime-Otakus would get off their asses and release the next episode already. I need to see it! They're sooo behind that I'm starting to worry that PoT might get licensed before they get to the Samurai episode or the chibi episode. Those are the ones I really want to see.
I did also get Rajipuri 64 last night. It had a clip from Echizen Ryoma's next CD "Samurai" called Cry in the Sky? I don't know if that's the real title or not but it was the only thing I could understand from their description of it. It's a really soulful, moody song and I'm starting to like these less up beat, more gritty songs that are coming out of Minagawa Junko. I can't wait to hear the entire song and to get the CD. From what I heard, it's really two discs so they'll be a good many songs. I can't wait!
The show also had Kaidoh's newest song and my first impression was "Wow! Kaidoh's singing!" In all his other songs he's just been kinda talking (like Inui) but he can actually sing! It's pretty good -- his deep voice is just perfect of course. I don't know when it's going to come out or what the CD is because as far as I know, he doesn't have another CD coming out so I'm wondering if it'll be on Taka-san's next CD. But that's just stupid right? It's Taka-san's CD so it should only have Taka-san's songs. And from what I've heard from Tenipuri on the Radio, Taka-san's CD is going to have a really good song. His CD should be coming out soon so I'm anxiously waiting for it.
Good news! My FMA 22 completed without mishap. Sherry is very happy because she didn't waste 170 Mbs.
Tomorrow Diana's starting the Summer Academy. It's going to be weird not having her around but I'll probably only have to endure three hours of her being away since I wake up so incredibly late.
I stayed up to watch Wimbledon this morning. It was a total wash out yesterday with no games what-so-ever with 45 matches still in the first round. That's pretty bad. Every single day has had a rain delay since it started. I think was the only 19th total wash out in Wimbledon history but it kinda comes with the territory. Me as a spectator love the rain delays. I know it's incredibly frustrating to the players (you should have seen Roddick's face during the wash out) but I just find it so incredibly funny. They have to practice indoors sometimes without even their rackets so it's kinda funny to just see them go through the motions of a forehand and find some way to occupy the time. The people who have matches on that day had to stay there the entire time because they didn't know if the games were going to get cancelled or not so they basically have to find something to do while they wait. They were playing cards, going on the internet (yeah, internet!) and some of them were just staring out the windows, looking like they were praying to the rain Gods to have pity on them. But no such luck -- they finally cancelled all the games at 6 PM, which is pretty late.
To make up for the wash out, they resume play on the fourth day (today or rather yesterday since it's 12:43 AM here) an hour early which meant I would be able to see some of it. Usually it starts here at 5 AM because it's live play and usually even I'm not that crazy to stay up that late just to watch a tennis match. But since it was an hour earlier I was able to catch the 4 AM showing. (That reminds me... I wonder if it's the same today because I would love to see more tennis.)
I started watching tennis last summer when I was just getting really into PoT. I started watching it in May and I finished up the entire series up to what A-O had released up to that point in June (episode 75). I was really into it so when Wimbledon came around, I was in this all tennis hype. Immediately I fell in love Andy Roddick -- who wouldn't? 20 years old (at the time anyway), cute and a great tennis player. I also like Srichiphan (sp?), the South Korean with his amazing moves (although not always smart). It was his shot between the legs at Wimbledon that won me over -- a signature Kikumaru move and you know I love my Eiji. I also liked Andre Agassi -- simply because he was so masterful and such all around great player. He might not be the youngest person there but he certainly is still getting better and better. I was so sad when he had lost the Australian Open... He so owned that Grand Slam. I mean he's won it so many times... It was such a pity to see him not play.
And Agassi's not in Wimbledon this year! :( I was so sad! I love to watch him play! He's out with an injury so hopefully he'll get better soon and he'll come back in time for the US Open.
I'm so siked that I'm going to be in New York during the US Open. I hope I'll have a chance to get tickets and go and watch them. Last year I was envious of all those people who had those really huge tennis balls and was getting them signed by all my favorite players. I wanted one of those balls so badly -- they were so kawaii but so expensive. They were going for $30 at eBay. O_O Just way to much for me to spend on that sort of extravagence.
Anyway I digress. I was going to talk about yesterday morning's match. It was Andy Roddick finishing his first round match with Jimmy Wang from Chinese Taipei (19 years old, first time at Wimbledon). The match was pretty much finished from the get-go since it was clear to everyone watching who was going to win the match. I mean you have this tiny 19 year old guy, first time at Wimbledon and playing on Centre court (14,000 people packed in there watching them play) trying to combat Andy's huge and powerful forearm? Get real. But what made the match so interesting was that even though Wang was incredibly disavantaged, he didn't let that get to him. He was so calm and collected, something I didn't expect from a 19 year old. He did what he needed to do and he altered his play. He knew he had no chance when it was Andy's serve so he tried his damn hardest to keep serve when it was his turn and he did so well in the second set. Every point he earned and I applaud him for that. He was such a great competitor. What he did was he came up to the net a lot more than Andy and he slowed down the pace.
Andy's a baseline player who loves his forearm shots and he usually controls the pace. It's usually pretty fast but when Wang went up to the net after his serve and on Andy's second serve, Wang just slows it all down and he was able to sneak in a lot of shots. Even when Andy went up to the net himself (something he rarely does), Wang was still able to send the ball flying past him and winning the point. He ended up playing a great second set even though he ultimately lost it 5-7.
The problem was Andy's serve. He's too big of a powerhouse. And he's always getting better. His second serve is definitely get really good. It's almost as fast as his first which is something you don't really see all that often. The Williams sisters are also like that. More on them later.
They say Andy's going to be the next Sampras and considering how well he's playing right now, I can't say I doubt it. Sampras had the best second serve out there and Andy's definitely getting there.
I only meant to watch about 30 mins of the match and then go to sleep but I should have known better. Once I started watching it, I just couldn't stop. It was just so good to watch the match. You could even see Roddick getting just a little frustrated at how his opponent was getting points which is fun to see on a top player.
Everyone has something to improve on. In Wang's case he's still a young player so he has a lot of time to beef up his game. He was one of the top ametuers and he was pretty well known in those circles. I hope he continues getting better and I look forward to seeing more good things from him.
For Andy it's definitely serve and volleying. I know he's a baseline player and all but Wimbeldon is on a grass court! Come on! Everyone knows the ball is really fast on grass so it's perfect for a serve and volley. Andre knew that and combined with the fact that he's such a great returner has made him one of the best on grass and on clay (where the ball goes pretty fast as well). But nowadays Serve and Volleyists are so hard to find. Everyone's all about the muscles and the baseline play so they could hit all those big forearms... I saw Andy not doing so good with the serve and volley last year and this year he still wasn't all that great.
Martina Naratilova (sp?) is a nine time Wimbledon champion is serves and volleys. After nine titles, you'd think people would start understanding that that's the way you need to win. If she doesn't know Wimbledon, who does? And at 47, she won her first round match. She ended up losing today, but hey, the fact that she's still playing is great.
Today was a sad day in Wimbledon. Venus lost her second round match. There had been a mistake on the chair umpire's fault and she ended up losing the match. That's so sad! And the people who organize Wimbledon admited it was the chair's fault but they put the blame on Venus and on her opponent for not point out the mistake. Everyone could see that both of them were very confused but none of them questioned the chair and continued on playing. This was the first time Venus had ever lost so early in the game since like 1997. I feel for her so much!
They so should not have put on the blam on the players! I mean it was the chair's fault! Everyone knew it! And both Venus and her father afterwards were so blase about it. Venus just thought she had lost track of the score and her father was like "everyone makes mistakes." Geez, this ended her Wimbledon game. I know it was unlikely that she would have won it but still losing at the 2nd round is just sad, especially for a two time Champ. I wish I knew how the other players felt about it. This is first in Wimbledon history and hopefully the last. I hope the chair umpire got fired. Mistakes like that can turn an entire game! It's all about how the players are thinking. They can't play their best if they're thinking they're losing. I just can't believe it happened.
Okay, enough of that ranting. Right now I'm multitasking. I'm making icons (will show them off later) and downloading manga. I'm in a manga mood tonight since I don't really know what anime to download. I'm trying to find Bleach, volumes 1-4 since I don't have them... I have volumes 5 and beyond and parts of volume 1 but I'm still missing bits of 1 -4. I've requested volumes 1-3 off of Otaku-Savior but that still leaves volume 4. I wish I had it... I know TW has scanlated it but it's licensed so...
I've just downloaded a couple chapters of Aishiteruze Baby, just updating to what they've released. I am really starting to like this series so I hope it's not going to get licensed soon and that there are many more updates. I'm going to read that later along with my HnG doujin and that one chapter of Rookies that I downloaded tonight.
Rookies actually reminds me a bit of GTO only if Onizuka was a lot more naive and more idealistic. It's a nice series but it's only one chapter. :(
I'm also downloading Naruto manga since Diana obviously does not want to waste time downloading it. I think that's about it actually...
Here are those icons:

The third one is really blurry and I really didn't know what to do with it... The first one is also blurry but I like the font in it (it's Air Conditioner) and the pic was really nice. I tried sharpening it a bit but even more would have really made it terrible looking. The second one appeals to my girly side (blues and pinks!) but again, I really didn't know what to say. Hopefully the text doesn't over-power the picture which is for once not blurry. The last one is my latest and the last one for tonight. I like it a lot -- it's a good pic of Kimeru and the words match. I really wanted to use Edwardian for the "Kimeru" but I had a hard time choosing a color for it. At first I wanted to do complementary colors so it would have been a shade of green because it was red. Except I hated the green so I decided to screw that and just do whatever. My instincts (my dismal instincts) screamed "blue" because I love the color blue but it just wasn't working out all that well. Eventually I settled for a purplish, dark blue color. The color for "Endless" is the color of Kimeru's shirt in the pic and the "pain" was supposed to be his face but I ended up using a darker version of the same color. All in all, I like it so I'm making it my default. I have 10 Kimeru icons now and there will be definitely more. I just wish I had better Kimeru pictures! I can't seem to find any better ones or even any at all. I really want Kimeru pics, any pics and all pics but I'm just not finding them. I would seriously kill for some Kimeru pics right now.
One thing that needs to be noted today is I just found out that Mekakushi no Kuni, a manga being scanlated by DGT and Dragon Voice has been licensed. I'm really disappointed since I was really getting into this series! Next thing you'll know it'll be Seishun Shiteru Kai that's being licensed. It's really a shame since they just released a massive update and up to the first chapter of the next volume. I know definitely I won't be buying this manga when it comes out here since I'm not THAT into it. Hey, what can I say? I'm a poor college student.
But I just got Autocracy and I'm getting Genius 221 so that makes up for it. Autocracy is a HikAki doujin (scanlated, yay!) and you know I love anything PoT. I'm going to guess that Fuji wins in this chapter. I know he wins over Akaya but it's been building up for so long that if he doesn't win in this chapter, I'm going to feel like it's a bit drawn out. I can't wait to read Ryoma's match with Sanada. It's going to be great -- hopefully. Geez, I wish Anime-Otakus would get off their asses and release the next episode already. I need to see it! They're sooo behind that I'm starting to worry that PoT might get licensed before they get to the Samurai episode or the chibi episode. Those are the ones I really want to see.
I did also get Rajipuri 64 last night. It had a clip from Echizen Ryoma's next CD "Samurai" called Cry in the Sky? I don't know if that's the real title or not but it was the only thing I could understand from their description of it. It's a really soulful, moody song and I'm starting to like these less up beat, more gritty songs that are coming out of Minagawa Junko. I can't wait to hear the entire song and to get the CD. From what I heard, it's really two discs so they'll be a good many songs. I can't wait!
The show also had Kaidoh's newest song and my first impression was "Wow! Kaidoh's singing!" In all his other songs he's just been kinda talking (like Inui) but he can actually sing! It's pretty good -- his deep voice is just perfect of course. I don't know when it's going to come out or what the CD is because as far as I know, he doesn't have another CD coming out so I'm wondering if it'll be on Taka-san's next CD. But that's just stupid right? It's Taka-san's CD so it should only have Taka-san's songs. And from what I've heard from Tenipuri on the Radio, Taka-san's CD is going to have a really good song. His CD should be coming out soon so I'm anxiously waiting for it.
Good news! My FMA 22 completed without mishap. Sherry is very happy because she didn't waste 170 Mbs.
Tomorrow Diana's starting the Summer Academy. It's going to be weird not having her around but I'll probably only have to endure three hours of her being away since I wake up so incredibly late.
I stayed up to watch Wimbledon this morning. It was a total wash out yesterday with no games what-so-ever with 45 matches still in the first round. That's pretty bad. Every single day has had a rain delay since it started. I think was the only 19th total wash out in Wimbledon history but it kinda comes with the territory. Me as a spectator love the rain delays. I know it's incredibly frustrating to the players (you should have seen Roddick's face during the wash out) but I just find it so incredibly funny. They have to practice indoors sometimes without even their rackets so it's kinda funny to just see them go through the motions of a forehand and find some way to occupy the time. The people who have matches on that day had to stay there the entire time because they didn't know if the games were going to get cancelled or not so they basically have to find something to do while they wait. They were playing cards, going on the internet (yeah, internet!) and some of them were just staring out the windows, looking like they were praying to the rain Gods to have pity on them. But no such luck -- they finally cancelled all the games at 6 PM, which is pretty late.
To make up for the wash out, they resume play on the fourth day (today or rather yesterday since it's 12:43 AM here) an hour early which meant I would be able to see some of it. Usually it starts here at 5 AM because it's live play and usually even I'm not that crazy to stay up that late just to watch a tennis match. But since it was an hour earlier I was able to catch the 4 AM showing. (That reminds me... I wonder if it's the same today because I would love to see more tennis.)
I started watching tennis last summer when I was just getting really into PoT. I started watching it in May and I finished up the entire series up to what A-O had released up to that point in June (episode 75). I was really into it so when Wimbledon came around, I was in this all tennis hype. Immediately I fell in love Andy Roddick -- who wouldn't? 20 years old (at the time anyway), cute and a great tennis player. I also like Srichiphan (sp?), the South Korean with his amazing moves (although not always smart). It was his shot between the legs at Wimbledon that won me over -- a signature Kikumaru move and you know I love my Eiji. I also liked Andre Agassi -- simply because he was so masterful and such all around great player. He might not be the youngest person there but he certainly is still getting better and better. I was so sad when he had lost the Australian Open... He so owned that Grand Slam. I mean he's won it so many times... It was such a pity to see him not play.
And Agassi's not in Wimbledon this year! :( I was so sad! I love to watch him play! He's out with an injury so hopefully he'll get better soon and he'll come back in time for the US Open.
I'm so siked that I'm going to be in New York during the US Open. I hope I'll have a chance to get tickets and go and watch them. Last year I was envious of all those people who had those really huge tennis balls and was getting them signed by all my favorite players. I wanted one of those balls so badly -- they were so kawaii but so expensive. They were going for $30 at eBay. O_O Just way to much for me to spend on that sort of extravagence.
Anyway I digress. I was going to talk about yesterday morning's match. It was Andy Roddick finishing his first round match with Jimmy Wang from Chinese Taipei (19 years old, first time at Wimbledon). The match was pretty much finished from the get-go since it was clear to everyone watching who was going to win the match. I mean you have this tiny 19 year old guy, first time at Wimbledon and playing on Centre court (14,000 people packed in there watching them play) trying to combat Andy's huge and powerful forearm? Get real. But what made the match so interesting was that even though Wang was incredibly disavantaged, he didn't let that get to him. He was so calm and collected, something I didn't expect from a 19 year old. He did what he needed to do and he altered his play. He knew he had no chance when it was Andy's serve so he tried his damn hardest to keep serve when it was his turn and he did so well in the second set. Every point he earned and I applaud him for that. He was such a great competitor. What he did was he came up to the net a lot more than Andy and he slowed down the pace.
Andy's a baseline player who loves his forearm shots and he usually controls the pace. It's usually pretty fast but when Wang went up to the net after his serve and on Andy's second serve, Wang just slows it all down and he was able to sneak in a lot of shots. Even when Andy went up to the net himself (something he rarely does), Wang was still able to send the ball flying past him and winning the point. He ended up playing a great second set even though he ultimately lost it 5-7.
The problem was Andy's serve. He's too big of a powerhouse. And he's always getting better. His second serve is definitely get really good. It's almost as fast as his first which is something you don't really see all that often. The Williams sisters are also like that. More on them later.
They say Andy's going to be the next Sampras and considering how well he's playing right now, I can't say I doubt it. Sampras had the best second serve out there and Andy's definitely getting there.
I only meant to watch about 30 mins of the match and then go to sleep but I should have known better. Once I started watching it, I just couldn't stop. It was just so good to watch the match. You could even see Roddick getting just a little frustrated at how his opponent was getting points which is fun to see on a top player.
Everyone has something to improve on. In Wang's case he's still a young player so he has a lot of time to beef up his game. He was one of the top ametuers and he was pretty well known in those circles. I hope he continues getting better and I look forward to seeing more good things from him.
For Andy it's definitely serve and volleying. I know he's a baseline player and all but Wimbeldon is on a grass court! Come on! Everyone knows the ball is really fast on grass so it's perfect for a serve and volley. Andre knew that and combined with the fact that he's such a great returner has made him one of the best on grass and on clay (where the ball goes pretty fast as well). But nowadays Serve and Volleyists are so hard to find. Everyone's all about the muscles and the baseline play so they could hit all those big forearms... I saw Andy not doing so good with the serve and volley last year and this year he still wasn't all that great.
Martina Naratilova (sp?) is a nine time Wimbledon champion is serves and volleys. After nine titles, you'd think people would start understanding that that's the way you need to win. If she doesn't know Wimbledon, who does? And at 47, she won her first round match. She ended up losing today, but hey, the fact that she's still playing is great.
Today was a sad day in Wimbledon. Venus lost her second round match. There had been a mistake on the chair umpire's fault and she ended up losing the match. That's so sad! And the people who organize Wimbledon admited it was the chair's fault but they put the blame on Venus and on her opponent for not point out the mistake. Everyone could see that both of them were very confused but none of them questioned the chair and continued on playing. This was the first time Venus had ever lost so early in the game since like 1997. I feel for her so much!
They so should not have put on the blam on the players! I mean it was the chair's fault! Everyone knew it! And both Venus and her father afterwards were so blase about it. Venus just thought she had lost track of the score and her father was like "everyone makes mistakes." Geez, this ended her Wimbledon game. I know it was unlikely that she would have won it but still losing at the 2nd round is just sad, especially for a two time Champ. I wish I knew how the other players felt about it. This is first in Wimbledon history and hopefully the last. I hope the chair umpire got fired. Mistakes like that can turn an entire game! It's all about how the players are thinking. They can't play their best if they're thinking they're losing. I just can't believe it happened.
Okay, enough of that ranting. Right now I'm multitasking. I'm making icons (will show them off later) and downloading manga. I'm in a manga mood tonight since I don't really know what anime to download. I'm trying to find Bleach, volumes 1-4 since I don't have them... I have volumes 5 and beyond and parts of volume 1 but I'm still missing bits of 1 -4. I've requested volumes 1-3 off of Otaku-Savior but that still leaves volume 4. I wish I had it... I know TW has scanlated it but it's licensed so...
I've just downloaded a couple chapters of Aishiteruze Baby, just updating to what they've released. I am really starting to like this series so I hope it's not going to get licensed soon and that there are many more updates. I'm going to read that later along with my HnG doujin and that one chapter of Rookies that I downloaded tonight.
Rookies actually reminds me a bit of GTO only if Onizuka was a lot more naive and more idealistic. It's a nice series but it's only one chapter. :(
I'm also downloading Naruto manga since Diana obviously does not want to waste time downloading it. I think that's about it actually...
Here are those icons:




The third one is really blurry and I really didn't know what to do with it... The first one is also blurry but I like the font in it (it's Air Conditioner) and the pic was really nice. I tried sharpening it a bit but even more would have really made it terrible looking. The second one appeals to my girly side (blues and pinks!) but again, I really didn't know what to say. Hopefully the text doesn't over-power the picture which is for once not blurry. The last one is my latest and the last one for tonight. I like it a lot -- it's a good pic of Kimeru and the words match. I really wanted to use Edwardian for the "Kimeru" but I had a hard time choosing a color for it. At first I wanted to do complementary colors so it would have been a shade of green because it was red. Except I hated the green so I decided to screw that and just do whatever. My instincts (my dismal instincts) screamed "blue" because I love the color blue but it just wasn't working out all that well. Eventually I settled for a purplish, dark blue color. The color for "Endless" is the color of Kimeru's shirt in the pic and the "pain" was supposed to be his face but I ended up using a darker version of the same color. All in all, I like it so I'm making it my default. I have 10 Kimeru icons now and there will be definitely more. I just wish I had better Kimeru pictures! I can't seem to find any better ones or even any at all. I really want Kimeru pics, any pics and all pics but I'm just not finding them. I would seriously kill for some Kimeru pics right now.