Mandatory End of Holiday Post

It's that time again. End of the holidays. As usual, I just had to make a post dedicated to it. It's one week shorter than the last one for some reason. But hey, this holiday has made me realise a lot of stuff. Life-changing ones, in fact.

First of all, I've always been saying, "I want to emigrate to Japan!", "I want to be a mangaka!", but all I did was play video games and have fun, not caring about training my drawing skills. With my current skills, being a mangaka is just a dream. I can barely draw a full bodied character properly. I can draw the face and the hair well, but that's all. I can't draw the body properly, I can't draw any backgrounds. I barely know how to draw different poses, and most importantly, I can barely draw any hands and feet. Knowing that, I still neglected training, and thus, I was always stuck in this hole.

During the 4th week of my holiday, something just struck my head. It was telling me to draw, draw, and draw. The feeling was hard to describe, it was like recovering from amensia, or finding an old toy that you used to love. Because of that, I really started to ponder over what the f- I was doing all this while. I started to draw again, after 4 (probably) months of inactivity. I started to work out character designs for my future manga (31 different active characters are hard to think up mind you, especially when 3/4 of it are guys, which aren't my specialty). I drew actively in the past, mainly because I had Sean Koh as a friendly rival of sorts. He was into drawing, and was hoping to publish his own manga in the future as well. I last came in contact with him almost half a year ago. I lost his email address, and I lost his phone number because my memory card decided to fuck up on me, wiping out nearly half of my contacts, and stuff that I've stored. I still want to keep in contact with him, as fellow mangakas. We might not suceed in this career, sure. But as long as one of us pulls through, we'll be able to help the other with his dreams.

But well, guess what I'm trying to say is... well, I don't know really. Heh, what the fuck.

Secondly, I've also figured and planned out my future route. It's kinda different from what I had in mind last time, but... after I graduate, and finish army, I will be going to Japan, to a university, studying arts and design. I don't have much money at this point, so I've asked my parents to sponsor me for the flight to Japan and my rent for the first month or two. During said 1 or 2 months, I will be looking for a part-time job, in order to support my own expenses over there. As for school fees, I will be paying the first year through the savings I will accumulate during my time working part-time before army, and of course, the pay I get when I'm in the army. After that, it's working and saving up in Japan, meaning I'll have to abandon my hobby of collecting figurines and mangas, but that's a small price to pay. Before that though, I will have to get my ass through poly, and graduate with a Diploma in Info Tech.

Now, I do know that my plans will almost certainly not be as smooth as how I've planned out. I might have cash flow problems, I might not make it into a Japanese university, I might even die in army, literally, but as long as I don't die, I'll be sure to make it past all these barriers that pops up.

One of the most magical and happy moments for a mangaka that is just starting out, is recieving his own manga in the form of a book. Each mangaka will get free copies of his own manga before it officially gets into the bookstores. This is my goal. I can only imagine the joy I will be feeling in my heart when that moment comes, but when it really does, I will experience the magic first-hand.

Now for some misc thoughts:

1) For those that do visit, please please leave a message in the tagboard. Maybe not here, but over at my drawing blog. It really gives me the psychological support I need while threading this path. I appreciate constructive criticisms about my drawings, or my life and plans. If you're out to get me, feel free to do so too. Just don't expect any replies from me till the next millenium.

2) Again, for those that do visit and haven't read my apology post, it's the next post you'll see, since I'm coming to an end for this entry. Please read it, your name might be in it.

3) Ugh, I'll probably be combining both my blogs soon. It will happen when I find the time to do so. I'll be editing the format and theme as well.

Well, that's it. Thank you for reading.

1 and a half years till graduation..