Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day thirty

day 30: Diana. Luna and Artemis were around much longer, but both had story lines where i hated their behavior. From the time Diana is brought in, she acts as her own person, but she's never malicious or hurtful to anyone. she's emotionally supportive without being a doormat, and her human design is adorable too.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty-nine

day 29: Senshi. it's a matter of characterization. the Starlights weren't brought in until the final story line, they had no flaws (except once when one was a little rude), they had no discernible personality, and then they died and i found myself absolutely not caring. the Senshi were introduced one at a time, and while none were as well-developed as Moon, they still had some subtlety, so you felt it when things happened to them.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty-eight

day 28: oh for certain, Venus. she's a boy-crazy, book-dumb, super-athletic girl who models sometimes and dreams of making it big as an idol singer. i am none of those things, and that's not even counting the physical difference between my looks and her blonde hair and blue eyes.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty-seven

day 27: hmm.. i don't know? none of them, really? or a blend of Mercury (shyness and bookish pursuits to avoid awkward social things) and Saturn (unavoidable health issues i just have to live with) but as a direct parallel none of them. though i do currently have hair the same color as Neptune, that's all the overlap that exists there.

it starts with me and you

song+ Make the World Move (ft CeeLo Green)-Christina Aguilera -Lotus
book+ nothing?
quest+ thinking about Halloween
upper+ feeling better
downer+ slightly sore
attire+ pajamas
drink+ water

i spent most of the week pushing my sleep schedule back to nights specifically because yesterday was Batman Day nationwide and Kyu and i committed to drawing at the comic shop for it. it wasn't a crazy day, the least lucrative of the three times i've done it, but it wasn't really an EVENT. i made a respectable amount of tips, considering the overall foot traffic, and i had a lot of fun since the employees i was less fond of have all moved on in the months since i was last there. i used to go up every weekend for game day, but several months ago the gaming group moved to another store because of those same annoying employees, and i lost me hangout excuse.

i think the highlight of my day was when a ten year old girl asked me for drawing advice (i was super flattered since both other artists present surpassed me technically). i told her that as silly as it sounds practice is the most important thing, and her reply was a very solid "yeah, but when i'm practicing, how can i get better at these things?" and she listed them and came around the table to watch my lecture from the same perspective. she asked to keep the card i'd sketched examples on, and her mom tipped me for the lesson. she wanted advice on heads, and lady bodies, and specifically hands. i actually gave a super simplified anatomy lesson for the hand part, and even her parents seemed impressed. not like names of bones, but breaking down hand parts into component shapes, hopefully it'll help her out.

overall, i had fun drawing lady Gothamites (i tried to stick close to the Batman theme), and i met funny new people, and i got fed tasty food, so definitely a really good time. i'm glad i pushed myself to draw for them last Halloween, i wasn't sure i'd be able to handle it, but it's actually really fun and people are so appreciative that there's really no stress. and for perspective, i stress out about being judged when i walk the dog, so most everything is stressful for me to some degree. i'm looking forward to heading back for Halloween this year, i'm even thinking i'll do watercolor pencil sketches instead of marker, even though it's trickier. my markers are drying out and it's not in the budget to replace them, but also i like that i'm getting better with the watercolor. maybe soon i'll even be ready to move on the the non-pencil watercolors i have waiting.

i dunno, it's stupid o'clock on a Sunday morning, i'm not gonna bother anyone if i youtube tips on watercolor painting, Kyu is asleep upstairs, and Harley is happy i let her lay on my feet to keep me safe. i guess i'll do that for a while.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty-six

day 26: something about the Death Busters. i liked the story line fine, but the villains were kinda boring? except for Professor Tomoe, who was really kinda interesting, i didn't really care about them or their plan. i knew the good guys would win, and while the villain as mirrors of the Inner group was theoretically cool, it played out pretty flat.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty-five

day 25: Jupiter's rabbit-on-the-moon joke when they travel to the ruins of the Silver Millennium in the manga. it's in the midst of such a serious moment that the joke stands out more than you'd otherwise notice. for non-fans, Moon's civilian name is Usagi, which is literally Japanese for rabbit. the Silver Millennium ruins are at Mare Serenetatis (the Sea of Serenity) which is the crater-ish dark spot you see on a full moon.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty-four

day 24: at the end of the anime's first season when Moon is left alone in the Arctic circle, because all of her friends have died to pave the way to the big bad. she's crying, unsure if she can do it, and their spirits appear to cheer her on.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty-three

day 23: the manga end, when Moon wakes up and it's her wedding day. it ends on such a heartwarming, happy moment, you can't help smiling at it.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty-two

day 22: senseless relationship drama with thrown-in love triangles (that frequently trashed established characterization) to pad out story arcs.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty-one

day 21: for all that they padded it out with filler episodes, i wish there'd been a few where the monster of the day was quickly dispatched, or even not in the episode at all. i think having episodes dedicated to slice of life things, with character focus would have been really nice. there were 200 episodes, there was time for it.

on the edge of something wonderful

song+ Take On the World -Girl Meets World theme
book+ nothing?
quest+ re-normalizing my sleep schedule
upper+ ah, stuff to watch?
downer+ last week pretty much sucked
attire+ pajamas
drink+ water

i spent last weekend working on cleaning the apartment with Kyu, which i mentioned in last Sunday's post. that by itself wasn't so bad, but starting Sunday night things proceeded to go wrong and escalate through to Tuesday and dealing with it left me feeling really off-kilter.

things are less terrible now with a few day's distance, but i don't feel completely fine by any means. i also don't really feel like talking about it. mostly i'm coping by playing Pokemon and watching TV shows aimed at 12 year old girls. i've also been working my way through basically every Cinderella adaption i've ever heard of, some of which are also aimed at 12 year old girls. my current total is 10 of them, which is kinda amazing on its own, like before i took the time to write them all down i could only think of three or four, but there's way more.

my only real goal for the next week is sleeping strategically to shift out of the nocturnal setup my insomnia forced on me. it's been really annoying dealing with it, because it's what my body has always defaulted to, so it takes a lot of effort to reach standard human operating hours and stick there.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twenty

day 20: i never liked much of what Moon wore, even in the 90s when that stuff was current. it wasn't all terrible by any means, but overall, she was most likely to wear something i didn't like.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day nineteen

day 19: subbed. in pretty much any situation i process it better if i'm reading. i even watch English-language things subtitled. our Netflix is set to auto-sub everything because that's how i roll and Kyu is an awesome roommate.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day eighteen

day 18: hands-down the manga. though i've been watching Crystal and i like it better than the 90s anime. it sticks closer to the things i like from the manga, while still establishing itself as something new.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day seventeen

day 17: it's not a named attack, but Galaxia pulling out a person's soul (Star Seed) with her bare hand is impressive. she does it several times and every time it's jarring.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day sixteen

day 16: i'm torn. i love Jupiter's Flower Hurricane for sheer visual impressiveness and area coverage, but something about Venus turning a chain whip into a great sword (Chain Wink Sword) and cleaving things is awesome, especially since her element isn't a standard element like water or fire, her power is love. sometimes love tears you up.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day fifteen

day 15: Pluto's Dead Scream is pretty impressive. calling on the souls of everyone that's ever died? that's something you don't forget.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day fourteen

day 14: like day-to-day? i favor the stuff worn by Mercury and Neptune mostly. structured classic basics and floaty elegant summer dresses.

burn everything you love, then burn the ashes

song+ My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light em Up) -Fall Out Boy -Save Rock and Roll
book+ nothing?
quest+ cleaning the living room
upper+ the worst was done yesterday
downer+ sore with allergy troubles today
attire+ summer pajamas
drink+ Sunkist

i completely failed to post last Sunday, other than the automated daily Sailor Moon challenge posts that are pre-drafted for the whole month. this is me doing better today.

anyhow, we have a management inspection of our unit tomorrow, so Kyu and i spent this weekend cleaning the living room while binge-watching Girl Meets World. we're both aware that it's intended audience is like, twelve year olds, but we were in the target audience for Boy Meets World, so there's a lot of childhood nostalgia factoring into our viewing.

there's still stuff to be done today, but we got rid of the enormous non-functional tv, and the even larger table we needed to hold the thing, plus the couch because Harley had been sick on it too many times to salvage. all that's left for today is figuring out the little stuff that piles up while we focus on other things. and vacuuming too probably, but i'm obviously not gonna have anything to do with that.

there's a lot of toys and statues piled up to be sorted through, lots of hobby things the same; markers and pencils for me, hobby paints and brushes for Kyu. there's also an insane level of chewed-up puppy shrapnel that had found its way under the couch. the hard part is definitely over, but there's still a LOT of other to get through today. it doesn't help that we were both so tired from yesterday that we slept later than intended. we can do this though.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day thirteen

day 13: Naru/Molly (again, depending on translation). it's gotta be hard to be the completely human best friend to a superhero, especially when you're not in on the secret. you know something's going on, but you don't know what, so you just try to be there when she needs you and hope she'll come back when she can.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day twelve

day 12: Sailor Jupiter. duh. i'm sure i've addressed it before, the visual, the power set, the characterization. i love the strength of her character; she's judged harshly because she looks a certain way, and she spends every day defying that expectation. she's tall and strong, but her dream is to run a flower shop and bakery.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day eleven

day 11: Sailor Pluto. while the green hair is cool, it was really more her role in the Wicked Lady/Dark Moon arcs that i liked. i like her calm reliability.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day ten

day 10: no one? this is a series with like 10+ powered heroes. while there were backgrounders, i think they're all fine there. i'd have liked to see more stories focusing on the supporting cast already, rather than add to it.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day nine

day 09: Shadow Galactica. by the end of the run Naoko's character designs were really out there. the series was a success, so there was breathing room to experiment, and i love those looks so much.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day eight

day 08: Dark/Wicked Lady (depending on the translation). as someone with anxiety, who's also lived through emotional abuse, a character that felt unloved and neglected, who was taken advantage of and turned against the people she felt didn't love her really affected me a lot. the hardest-hitting part to me was that the love of her (loving, but absent) parents couldn't break through the brainwashing. it was platonic love, from her best friend, the one who'd always had time for her, that saved her. in the end, she was saved, she achieved the thing she'd been trying to accomplish for years, but that meant nothing without her friend there by her side.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day seven

day 07: Sailor Jupiter. again, i've always loved her visual motif. the softly curling hair, the green theme and roses as a signature element, she's beautiful.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day six

day 06: Jupiter/Mercury. for the reasons given yesterday, but with my favorite characters. the tomboyish tall girl that loved baking and gardening and the shy bookish genius girl? i loved the idea that they could fit.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day five

day 05: Neptune/Uranus. it was the first gay relationship i ever saw in pop culture, and it really meant a lot in my emotional development when i was questioning all kinds of things. i could see traditional prince/princess stuff anywhere, but two princesses? unheard of!

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day four

day 04: Mars/Venus. even though they're not my favorite characters, i've always loved how close they were in spite of their vastly opposing personalities.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day three

day 03: Sailor Jupiter. i gained appreciation for the others as i grew up and realized i was allowed to like different things about different people, but i love her more than ever.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day two

day 02: Sailor Jupiter, hands down. best color scheme, relate-able personality, and hobbies i admired, even though i don't exactly share them.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: day one

day 01: late elementary school. i forced myself to get up early enough to catch it at 5am on Saturday mornings, and i loved it, even though i was aware even then of the often bizarre censorship and questionable animation.

Sailor Moon 30 day challenge: masterpost

one day at a time: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty