Plush Tobi-Kadachi

Recently got into Monster Hunter: World, and I love it! It's the kind of game with a dynamic, open-world environment that changes in real-time, and the fighting aspect of this game, while simplistic as compared to Dissidia: Final Fantasy, is also engaging and enjoyable. I think what helps is that the behavior of each monster is different, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, so when you fight them you really have to think about all these factors; you can even use the environment to your advantage and if two monsters meet, chances are they'll also try to kill each other. But just describing the gameplay by itself isn't doing it justice—go watch streams and videos of it on Twitch and YouTube and you'll see exactly what I mean. I really do recommend it to people who love open-world games with a lot of action! 😁

I will say I've known of the existence of MH for a long time now. I've been seeing plushes of them a lot in the Kotobukiya store in Akihabara (they have their own space full of purely MH merch too), as well as the Yamashiroya store in Ueno. About a couple of years ago I bought a plush of Inferno Blade Dinovalde and Astalos, but I wasn't into the game at the time. It wasn't until MH:W that I properly got into the series, and good lord what I said back then was right: one day I'm going to get reaaaaally into the MH series and would want to collect plushies of the monsters in-game. 😂 Lo and behold, the power of words:

Tobi-Kadachi was the first monster in a story mission that gave me a lot of trouble and annoyed me for a time (but eventually I realized half the time I was being very reckless about it rather than actually coming up with a strategy or reading up some tips online 😅). Looking back it's actually fairly easy to deal with now, and upon seeing this plush my heart just melted for it.

Here's a little story for you guys: I'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Training class in my Japanese language school, as some of you know. When I received this plush in the mail, I was so excited that I placed it in my bag and brought it to school the next day. Childish as it was, it was a joy to just see it and pet it in my backpack. Then some time later that day we were told that we were eventually going to do teaching exercises and we had to come up with creative ways to introduce lesson topics to the class. Looking at the plush again gave me such an awesome idea: I'm planning to use this plush as my teaching partner when the time comes, and it excites me to just think about it. I really look forward to teaching in the future with it. 😄

Laksa

The types of Laksa vary per region in Malaysia. They have more coconut milk in the north, less in the central, and about half in the south.

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More old photos from my inkbook in 2015.

This was a doodle of ingredients found in Laksa, a spicy, Malaysian noodle stew with bok choy, peppers, bean sprouts, cilantro and seafood. Drawing this made it easy to remember when we had the lecture related to it back in college.

This old photo was in sepia filter if I remember correctly. Like the last photo of Thai cuisine, this one also discolored over time and became like this:

#nofilter

Doesn't seem to have changed much compared to the last one but I prefer this new one nonetheless.

Thai Cuisine

Influenced mainly by the Chinese and the Indians, Thai cuisine is known for its wide range of fresh and exotic ingredients. The Thais also hold rice in high regard, to the point where they hold festivals in honor of their rice goddess, hoping that she will bless their fields with a bountiful harvest.

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Another old photo from my old black inkbook back in 2015.

This is actually an old photo I had fished up from my old Facebook albums, which I edited so that it looks sharper and brighter since it was a photo from my old 4S. When I opened the inkbook again recently I saw that the colors had either faded or changed over time, particularly the brown areas, which have turned into shades of dark olive green:

Brought to you by iPhone 8.

It's not too noticeable though, so you might have to squint.

The Project

Gender: ??? (Seemingly female)
Age: ??? (Around early 20's)
Occupation/Class: Experimental Test Subject
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 63 kg./139 lbs.
Likes: ???
Dislikes: ???

The Holding Compound holds many mysteries to the young Maiya Frost, but regardless of what they are, they all seem to revolve around this unknown, armored figure sleeping in the depths of the Compound. Maiya herself does not know what is it about this... Person (is it even a person, she wondered) that fascinates the Compound's scientists so. However, all she knows is that from their mere presence alone they are nothing to be trifled with, and Maiya hopes to never cross paths with them during her stay there.

Unfortunately for her, fate (and the Compound scientists) has (have) other plans. What's more, as it turns out the Project has developed a rather curious and keen interest towards her, and desires to meet her face-to-face in the near future...

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Another OC from time immemorial. For a long time I debated on whether or not their identity be known the minute they were introduced, but an air of mystery apparently turned out to be the better idea in this situation.

I had opted just let this be an unfinished sketch and a messy doodle when I was working on the legs, but I just couldn't bring myself to stop after I had something going on with this already. Also thought of adding a background, but I think the smudged background looks decent enough. Glad with how this turned out.

I have also decided to temporarily call these series as Maiya's Story. Cheesy, yes. But I intend to rename this in the near future once I have something more solid to work with. It's also better than filing these under Sketch Dump.

Formalities

Was digging through some of my old things and I saw this little comic I drew of Viresco back in 2016 (thus explaining the old, straight-haired me). How time flies! Still hoping to find my old red inkbook somewhere, but so far I haven't been successful...

Maiya Frost

Gender: Female
Age: 18
Occupation/Class: High School Graduate

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 62 kg./138 lbs.

Likes: Hanging out with friends, her family, parties, traveling, working out, hiking, surfing, snowboarding, tropical beaches

Dislikes: Awkward people, staying indoors all the time, having nothing to do, seeing her loved ones hurt, being unable to help others

Everyone knows who Maiya is in Quicksilver High. Friendly, sporty, and a go-getter, she's also very popular amongst her peers. Wherever she goes it's always a party. She's also a member of an influential, upper-middle class family in the higher echelons of Quicksilver society--half of it is thanks to her entrepreneur of a father, and the other half is thanks to her grandfather being a former hero in the army. Popular and privileged, she's the person everyone just wants to be friends with, as evident by the hundreds of likes she gets on her online Lyfsnap photos on the daily.

Due to her popularity and massive circle of friends, she's had the luxury of living a normal, happy life throughout high school, unlike some of her other, hapless acquaintances. But one day she wakes up not in the comfort of her warm and familiar bedroom, but on the cold, hard ground of a dreary holding cell, held prisoner to unknown captors. Where on earth she is and why, she hasn't the foggiest, but all she knows is that she has to find some way out of there and get home, stat...

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An OC from time immemorial.

Like many of my other OCs, I have wanted to write her story for some time now--a story that has spanned more than ten years in the making inside my head. I have a rough draft in my head and I've had to revise it over the last ten years, but despite how long it's been they're all still bits and pieces right now. I'd be contented if I could just have something concrete and put them up here for future reference... And just for the sake of keeping this blog running as well.

The city of Quicksilver is also a nostalgic one to me; it's as old as this OC, really. At some point in the future I may post about it. For now, simply imagine a city like Los Angeles, albeit with some quieter suburbs, and there you go.

Concluding a Year of Inactivity

So before anything else, allow me to post what has become of me after this entire year:

Yes. Overweight, if not more so. If my original 68 kg. wasn't bad enough, I've actually shot up to freaking 75. Christ above. I really need to shed weight off of myself. Gym memberships are in order when I return to Japan on the 6th (as I'm currently home for the holidays).

Next, the state of this blog. Good lord. I told myself I would finish Inktober 2018... But school, plus lack of any motivation whatsoever, plus health problems. But mainly a lack of motivation. I have a lot of ideas but I find it so hard to put it on paper, then I look at what I have in my backlog (backstories to revamp, One-Third's setting to flesh out since I really do want to continue that story but that also needs me to flesh out other stories) and it all feels so overwhelming to me. I really want to be able to change that next year.

Next, health problems. As some of you know I've been dealing with a mix of health problems--starting with a strained muscle in my left leg, followed by neck hernia in July, numbing hands, and a discovery of my worsening scoliosis in November. Aside from my weight troubles I also want to alleviate these problems and the best way to do so would be to exercise a lot more often... Again, the gym memberships. And a diet. Definitely in need of one.

And seeing as it is the beginning of the year again and I am a little more confident about my Japanese at this point (though I will say I am still getting there) I've also decided to finally go and look for another job in Tokyo. I just want to get some money for myself and start saving more money for the future. Plus it is good work experience and a good way for me to practice Japanese more often.

Would I call this a list of my New Year's resolutions? Oh hell no. I don't even want to call them resolutions anymore. I've realized every time I make resolutions I only end up disappointed and unable to live up to them. I just want to view them as goals--no more, no less.

Thanks for all who've been sticking by me in my rough patches, and here's to a more fruitful year ahead. Cheers!

-Zip