I cannot describe how it feels to have official goods made with my design!! I didn't know until after the fact when K-sensei gave these to me, but there were Shin-tenipuri goods on sale at JUMP Festa!! (I designed the new uniforms, including the logo, way back in the beginning)

I... I am so moved!!! I've had them now for a few weeks, but I am still so moved! Isn't it just amazing??!!

It makes me want to work harder to make my own manga happen... and rest assued I will!! Within the first half of 2010 this dream of mine is going to come true, promise!!

<3<3<3<3<3

PS: There is also this goods of my inner-shirt design! It's a bag... how adorable!!!!!! http://www.jamieism.com/lj4/japan2.jpg

I've (finally) updated my webpage!
As in, actually put it back up, lol!!

http://www.jamieism.com/

It's not done at all, but it's a lot better than a page that says "please see my lviejournal for more info" and that's all, lol. When I have a chance in the future (who knows when that will be?), I'm going to go ahead and keep working on it. It's a little bit.... big (not sure how to say, but it seems clunky and unweildy) too, so I'll eventually get around to fixing that. But at least with this up, it links out to the important things (lj and twitter) and gives a contact email (just in case! ^^)

By the way, for those that have wondered/are wondering, I DO have deviantart, youtube, and facebook accounts! But I don't use the first one, haven't put anything cool on the second one, and keep the third one private for just RL friends/family. Hence the reason that they're not linked. If/when I do anything cool with the first two, I will link them here and there of course!

I have some bad news to report, which is why I haven't been posting.. it's a personal thing, so I needed to take some adjustment time. T-T Basically, I have wanted a pet snake for years.. and I finally got one about 2 weeks ago! However, less than a week later, he escaped from my not-watchful-enough eye. He was a tiny thing, and I searched for DAYS. Set out food, tore my whole apartment apart, the whole nine yards. But he really seems to be gone, as he never touched the food. I honestly still hold out hope that he will reappear, but it's a slim hope at best. I feel awful about it, and if I ever get another pet, I will make sure not to let it out of my sight for even a split second (which was how long it took). I can't believe it... believe me, I have done everything that I can to search for him or coax him out, but I think that somehow he must have gotten outside. I don't have a clue how, but believe me, I've been beating myself up over it for a week now. I'm still kind of in mourning, but I have to go filming tomorrow, so I've got to pull myself together and work hard! In his memory if nothing else. T-T

Sort of continuing on with my last post, here is new chocolate milk tea!! Something that I've been making at my house for ages (it's not common, but I stock up when I see chocolate black tea =D), now in a convenient calorie&sugar-laden form! It tasted a lot like chocolate milk, so it was pretty good! But to be honest, I would rather make my own healthy version at home, with chocolate tea, pal sweet, and creamer. 20 calories as opposed to 200, plus a stronger chocolate taste.... but this version was definitely good too!

And for those who wanted to see pictures of my sister and her baby.. Here is one! My little sister Jennifer, her husband, and their son. This is their third kid.. My little brother is married, too. It's a little bit weird that I am the oldest sibling, but I'm not married or anything. But I guess for me, I have never found THE ONE (whether a girl or a guy, I can love anyone!), and my career is the most important. I want love almost more than I want anything, but maybe the one thing that I want more is success. So.. it's no-holds-barred to success in career and love both this year (and forever on!)!!!

Speaking of which, I have a few new things in my life that I do want to share.... and will be doing so soon!! Until I am ready to though, I am wondering...

How are you doing on your resolutions???

I am toning up my body slowly (but doing it!), posting more in lj, and made a new friend or two.. but the rest of the stuff has to wait for later in the year, lol. But I'm not being lazy about it, at least, and that feels good!! *goes off to get some raspberries and then paint the wall*

I am certainly the last one of my friends to post about this, but here we go anyways!! Chocolate sparkling (soda)!!

It smells like chocolate. Really, really smells like cocoa! It tastes vaguely of chocolate, with a very soda-ish undertone. All in all, I would give it three out of five stars, but while I liked it enough to want to drink it again, at 200+ calories a bottle, I think that I'll save my caloric intake for some real chocolate milk. Or of course the ever-delicious chocolate coke (coke and chocolate syrup-- to die for!). Why they didn't make it 0-calorie like a lot of the sodas coming out today, especially when it's obviously marketed at women, is beyond me. If they had, I probably would have stocked up on 600 bottles of it, much like I did when 0-kcal CC Lemon came out =D

Speaking of delicious non-calorie drinks, I finally found out that I can order one of my all-time favorites, 0-cal Calpis, from Amazon!!! In the year or so that it's been on the market, I've only found it in two stores. Despite intensive searching!!! So now that I know I can order it for a big discount and it will come straight to me, so no breaking my back with all of that weight. I am SO all over that! One good thing about Japan is the mail-order. It's so convenient!!

I also found out that they give free shipping over a certain amount, so I ordered craploads of the best spice in the world, Nihon-ichi Karai Ougon Ichimi! ("The hottest spice in Japan" is what they claim and it is pretty hot!) Konomi-sensei gave me a bottle for my birthday last August, and I've nearly devoured the whole thing since then... it makes almost anything taste better, nomg!

Well... time to go work out and then take a warm bath! Sounds like a great night =D I think I will read an english book and just forget everything else in the world.

you are deeppink #FF1493

Your dominant hues are red and magenta. You love doing your own thing and going on your own adventures, but there are close friends you know you just can't leave behind. You can influence others on days when you're patient, but most times you just want to go out, have fun, and do your own thing. Your saturation level is high - you get into life and have a strong personality. Everyone you meet will either love you or hate you - either way, your goal is to get them to change the world with you. You are very hard working and don't have much patience for people without your initiative. Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

This is so me, it's a little bit surprising... I don't know about anyone else, but I am always really surprised when something as simple as a meme can hit home so hard!!

A lot of things are changing for me these days, and I am a little apprehensive about the future, but also really optimistic! Making changes is scary, but sometimes, just sometimes, it's a push in the right direction!!

Here is to the future!!

Also, congratulations to my little sis and her new son! ^o^/

Does anybody remember how I posted about a hunt for the coolest house ever way back in 2008? (Of course not, lol) And was excited that it was in Kichijoji?

Well, I got to go inside it on Monday!! (Yay!) I interviewed Umezu Kazuo-sensei, aka the grand-master of Japanese horror manga, in his new house, and he has got to be the most genki 70-year old that I've ever known!! The column won't be out for a few months, but when it does come out, I'll let everyone know! He gave me a lot of tips on how to get myself published too! I'm so grateful!

I hope that I am that genki when I turn 70.. and OMG the inside of his house is to die for. I was just floored... and it was so much fun!! Kind of a disappointment when I ran straight from there to Konomi-sensei's studio afterwards (it's nice but not spiffy like that!), to start working on this month's chapter of Tenipuri. ^^;;

But just today, I got to draw trees, several bald eagles, and a flowered bedspread! So I guess you can't say that it's a total loss of a day.. right? ^^;; Currently in my off-hours (aka the time we are alotted to sleep), sitting at my desk and wondering how much of my own stuff I can get done before I succumb to the need for shut-eye....

I really, really wish that this place looked like Kazuo-sensei's house right now, though. I mean, who doesn't want walls made out of red velvet????!

Really, really sleepy. I need to study too, but I don't think that I will be able to make it. Need lots of energy for drawing more non-tennisy things tomorrow for our tennis manga. I did have a really great idea though!! In connection with the prints I have been working on (slowly) forever. OMG I can't wait to finish, now!

But first, bed. *nods off*

Croquettes banzai!

I think croquettes are very possibly my favorite japanese food, along with Chou cremes. I know that strictly speaking, they are not japanese in origin, but I had never seen or tasted one before I came to Japan. (Only heard of them) It's a good thing that I found out what I was missing!! So far, pumpkin ones are my favorite... though I long to find some new flavors one day (I did try a GREAT Kobe beef one in Ginza one day)! For all that I search online, I can't seem to find a hundreds-of-flavors croquette restaurant in Tokyo yet. I don't really get it, since it seems obvious to me (along with chou creme, and gyoza places). But for some reason, people are just not as adventurous as me. When I made chocolate gyoza a few years ago, my coworkers looked at me like I was crazy. But how is such deliciousness not obvious?

Anyways, I love love looooooooooove croquettes!! I don't usually like deep-fried food (french fries, fried chicken, not a fan. I don't really like tempura either, pumpkin aside of course!)

This has me thinking yet again... maybe I should open a restaurant some day. I don't want to be a cook, but coming up with things like chocolate-strawberry gyoza and sakura chou creme seems so natural to me! And they don't exist anywhere that I can find.. so I feel like I should partner up with someone who wants to be a chef who is willing to follow my vision!!

Any aspiring chefs out there who want to work in Tokyo one day?? =D

PS: Banana croquettes.... with chocolate sauce! I think this will be my first creation!

By that text, I mean that I finally redid my layout! I've been working on it for days (that's how slow I am at code).. and it's definitely not perfect, but I'm leaving it as it is!

hinoai hinoai hinoai hinoai hinoai

I wonder how many years I will have this layout, lol.. I think that it's very me, moreso than my last one. Though I'm concerned that it doesn't look very professional.... at least it's not boring!

By the way... my old webspace is going to expire really soon, and so any pictures older than a few months is going to disappear. I don't think that I will replace them anytime soon, so go back and grab them while you can, if you are interested!!

Who likes my new design?

And does anybody know how to add a link to the top bar? I want to link to another page there..



.

I didn't lie, this is related to art, lol... right? I just wanted to take a break from 'work' to let everybody know.. Shin Tenipuri vol. 2 just came out!! We added a number of pages to the story (in the middle of things, not at the end), so it fills in some of the parts that people were the most curious about! I really, really recommend it!! (Plus, the art looks much better in the books than the magazine!)

Pair Puri vol. 3 also just came out... I can't wait for vol. 4, because the special manga that we did for Nioh is so hilarious! Well, at least I thought so.. maybe it was just me XP

Can you believe that this ----------->
is the culmination of over a year's worth of work? We started actual manga production a year ago last December, although there were several months of design and preparations including taking pictures on location, etc etc. (The training camp is based loosely on real place(s), though I guess that goes without saying?)

Which reminds me.. did I ever post about JUMP Festa? If not, then I'll get to it sometime in the near future (hopefully!). Today is for drawing and practicing for Pop'n Press. Working on new lj design! (and webspace too!) I have faith that I will get it up by tonight!! (Wish me luck! To be honest my coding totally sucks so I might flub a bit)

Alright, back to work!

Right after I made my last post, I headed out to Roppongi for a training meeting. The director and producer for Pop'n Press are so nice, giving me a lot of feedback and training. (Of course this means that I'm not very good yet, so it's a double-edged sword), but I am very grateful for their help. We really want our program to get into prime time broadcasting one day! I will do my best!

After that, though... yesterday I went to the dentist. No worries there, I was just supposed to get a cap on one tooth. But therein lies the problem.... the dentist was closed for two weeks because of the holidays, and during that time, the same tooth started hurting a bit here and there. It turns out that I have an infection!! I even floss, but it never seems to do me any good. So, instead of getting a cap, I was drilled into and put on antibiotics.... and it involved more pain than anything I have felt in my entire life!! So much pain all night that I went to an emergency dentist in the middle of the night, sure that something was wrong! It turns out that this is one of the most painful kind of infections in the whole body, and it should lessen up considerably, but there was nothing they could do beside medicate it and wait for it to heal.

OMG I wanted to gouge out my tooth with an ice pick!!!!!! OW!

I did sleep on and off during the night, but even though the pain today was only about 10% of yesterday's, it is still just barely manageable. I have been studying my script and sleeping or eating most of the day, and from now I'm going to go ahead and get back to drawing.. as long as the pain doesn't come back!

I kinda just want to sleep, but it's honestly hard to sleep. T-T

My next post will be related to art! Promise! (Yay! It's about time!?)