Magazine for Freaks

I recently thought that it would be nice to have a magazine that is made for people like me.
Sure there are magazines for themes like tattoos, classic rock, metal, anime, etc. But they're too focused on one thing. It should be more diverse like the common women's magazine.

For example there could be editorial about steampunk fashion, recipes for singles, Goth make-up tutorials, video game reviews, anime convention reports, portraits of classic rock musicians...

Any ideas for other things that could be featured? Read more on this article...

My day at work

Well, I promised to write more about my life, so here I go.
Today was quite a nice, diversified, busy, but not too stressful, day at work, so I decided to tell what I've been doing. I work in website management, we take care of a webshop that exists in several European countries.

My alarm clock rings at 7 AM, but I stay in bed a little longer. I take the bus at about 8:15 AM, it takes 15 minutes and additionally I have to walk a bit to get to work.
Today the bus took a little longer, so I arrived at 8:40 AM. I have a digital time card, so I can check later on in the intranet the time at which I arrived. It also keeps track of how many hours I worked and it's a kind of prepaid card for the canteen, too.
While my computer boots, I make myself some tea. I don't like coffee, so for caffeine I drink guarana tea. I get some fruit salad from the canteen as a second breakfast, check Google news and chat with colleagues. I also check our company Facebook and Twitter page - I'm not responsible for that, but I like to keep up with what's happening on there. I also check my mails, the intranet and sign in to my personal Twitter account.

The rest of the morning is spend with testing. We go live with changes to our webshop once a week, so there's a tight testing schedule.
Today I first had to test some bugfixes to the product recommendations in the webshop. You know product recommendations from amazon: "customers who bought this item, also bought..." - the like. We make quite some money with those, so we recently upgraded to a newer system. I was project manager for that project and we're still in the "aftermath".
That didn't take too long, but then I had to test an adress validation tool which we implemented in two forms in our Swiss shop. It checks for errors in the adress a customer typed into the form and gives feedback and suggestions for correction. Our Swiss shop is available in German and French, and I had to test all kinds of errors a customer could do, and in several browers, too, so testing took more than two hours.

At noon we all go for lunch together in the canteen. This time the food wasn't too good though.
After that we go for a walk "around the block". It's a habit I took on at this workplace. I sit at the computer all day, so the walk really is a nice change. And healthy.

Back at my desk I checked my mails again and answered a few. We want to have product recommendations in our newsletter, too, and I'm helping with organising the hosting. Actually I feel like I'm just forwarding mails and questions, but oh well... They absolutely wanted my help because I arranged the hosting for our webshop recommendations, too. It's not like I know anything about servers and hosting.
I also take the time to check some professional eCommerce blogs. It takes up some time, but it gives me an overview about what's going on in my field of work and sometimes there's valuable information or a good idea in it, too.

At 2 PM I had a meeting with a colleague who works on another webshop in Switzerland (we belong to the same company, I have no idea why we have two different webshops in Switzerland...). This was again about product recommendations - as you might have guessed, I'm the "recommendation expert" in our company. They don't have any recommendations at all in their shop, so I explained the system, helped her plan the next steps and told her what decisions she has to make.
After that I had some free time again, checking my mails again, the usual. I also put a note down about the aforementioned hosting in a project status report. Those status reports were installed by a former boss of mine - I don't think anyone else is doing this anymore, but I think it's a good idea. Then I got hungry, but the canteen was closed early because there was a presentation about how to prevent burn-out. So I had to get something from the vending machine.

At 3:30 PM I had another meeting. This time it's about coupons. We use coupons in an Advent calendar each year. Now the team leader responsible for this feature is supposed to do the controlling (planning how much it will cost us, checking the status, etc). I made an Excel file to keep track of the numbers (planned and actual) for each coupon, each country, keep track of changes, etc. some time ago. I explained to him how the sheet works and the meeting was a lot shorter than originally planned. That's because my Excel file is awesome, of course.
Since I had it opened anyway, I added sheets for the next two seasons. We have two seasons per year: spring/summer and fall/winter. The planning now already starts for spring 2013 (and the deadline for plan figures was today).

After that I finally had some time to work on the concept for a "My Shop" section we want to implement - again product recommendations. The concept contains what I plan the new section to look like, design and technical specifications. I'm almost done, but not quite. I had to look up some things in the manual, test stuff, etc.
When I'm finished, I'll talk it through with my team leader, I guess. Then I'll give it to the design and texting team, so they can come up with an actual layout and text. The texts need to be translated into French and Dutch, too. Also the programmers take a look at the requirements, so they can tell me whether it's actually doable and how long it'll take.

At 5 PM I leave work.
Today I got off the bus two stops earlier because I wanted to do some shopping at Lidl. The weather was nice, so I walked home from there. Read more on this article...

Posts about my life?

I was thinking about doing some more blog posts. Smaller ones. Maybe some other than manga/anime reviews, but also posts about my life, life as a single woman, travelling, work.
I mean, it's not like anyone is actually following this blog and interested in my life. But just... I don't know... just because.

If - against all my exceptions - there is someone reading this: feel free to post what you'd like to read about.

I also thought it'd be nice to get someone else on board again, but I'm not sure who to ask. Read more on this article...

I am what I am - I am my own special creation

I'm most definitely not lesbian. I'm not even bisexual.
If I was Native American I'd probably be called a Two-Spirit. I'm not really a tomboy - that implies being sportive or aggressive. I don't dress or look androgynous.
I guess I could be called bigender - though I don't think I change inbetween different behaviours. I guess the newest trendy word would be "genderqueer" - but honestly I think that's a lot of bullshit.
I don't have some disorder, neither am I not part of some secluded LGBT community.
I have no doubt about identifing as a woman.

I am what I am. I am me.
I have my very own personality. Mine might be a bit more surprising than some others, but that's all.

"I am what I am. I don’t want praise, I don’t want pity.

I bang my own drum, some think it’s noise - I think it’s pretty."

That doesn't mean though that this little peculiarity of mine doesn't give me a hard time sometimes...

This blog post's title is taken from "I am What I am" by Jerry Herman. Read more on this article...

reviews: Hanasakeru Seishounen, Heart no Kuni no Alice, Kuragehime

Hanasakeru Seishounen

And another reverse harem anime...
There's lots of nice bishonen guys (I especially like Li Ren), and at first the main female character Kajika Burnsworth doesn't seem too annoying. The plot does a transition from the expected romance with a weird set-up (her father plays a "find the husband" game with Kajika - when she's 14!) to focusing on the political affairs within one country, how some companies are mixed up in it and some Burnsworth family secrets. That part was actually quite good. The last few episodes then go back to the romance theme and get completely ridiculous.

The annoying thing about Kajika is that she's supposedly perfect. Everyone likes her, even her enemies. She heals severe depression with suicidal thoughts and panic attacks and helps everyone out with her wisdom. She's not pushing the plot forward herself most of the time, but just reacting, while most other characters act. But still all the hot guys fall in love with her and will never want another "woman"...
She's also 15. Of course most of the time she's acting much more mature - or else no-one would watch it. If they let everyone act more mature than they're supposed to be, why don't they just make them older?

Still: Li Ren rocks.

Also this series holds the record for the most useless bodyguard ever: Toranosuke

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Wikipedia



Heart no Kuni no Alice

Called "Alice in the Country of Hearts" in English, this is another one of those Otome games made into a reverse harem manga. As such we know what we have to expect: one girl, surrounded by guys, who all fall in love with her. Actually even the manga itself mentions that this is what it's all about: they all fall in love with her. At that point you'd think it's a parody, but the rest of the story doesn't feel like that. But who cares, we didn't really expect a plot and all the expectations towards the bishonen guys are fulfilled. Additionally, since this is a kind of "Alice in Wonderland" adaption, it doesn't need to make any sense anyway.

One thing that's rather unusual is the amount of violence. It's never really gory, but there's more murder than you'd expect in that genre. A life isn't really worth much in Wonderland, so killing is either a every-day job or a fun past-time.
While the main female charater in my opinion isn't as cynic and strong as the description claims (she's got a sadistic streak though), she's not totally annoying. So we can concentrate on the hot guys better.

There's a movie, but I couldn't get any information whether it will ever be published in Europe.

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Kuragehime

I knew I might like "Princess Jellyfish" when I saw the opening with all the movie references.
It's about Tsukimi, a young illustrator, who lives in a flat-sharing community in Tokyo with a bunch of other nerdy girls, who all shun contact with popular and pretty people - and especially with men. Then one day Tsukimi gets in a fight about a jellyfish (she loves jellyfish) and gets helped by a beautiful young lady who then uninvitedly crashes in her room - and the next day turns out to be a pretty boy who's been cross-dressing! Kuranosuke (a fashionista, but neither gay nor a transvestite), who comes from a wealthy family of politicians, takes a liking to Tsukimi, so he decides to show up there frequently. Since no boys are allowed in the flat, they have to keep Kuranosuke's real identity a secret. Soon Kuranosuke gets more and more involved with the inhabitants.

I got a little sceptical when it seemed to turn into yet another "ugly duckling" storyline and the guys only seemed to be in love with Tsukimi when she's dressed up. But luckily it didn't turn out quite that bad (though it certainly has moments like that).
The characters are exagerated, which makes it a bit harder to identify with them, but I guess that's the comedy element to this slice of life anime. I'm really glad that the main characters are basically a bunch of freaks, not kawaii or moe at all - and that it's fine like that (mostly; I can accept that for business matters some dressing up might be required).

The anime is rather short, only 11 episodes. After finishing it, I think I'd like to read the manga. But apparently it's only licensed n France and Italy (and the anime only available in the USA) - what a shame, it's so hard to find decent josei.

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Read more on this article...

It's so easy - all you have to do is fall in love.

I've been out of the game of love for quite some time now. I'm not quite sure why or what happened. It might have to do with my depression. Or it might not.

I often feel like I'm a bit different. Alright - that's an understatement. I am different.
I'm very far from your cliché woman. But I'm not a sporty tomboy cliché either. I'm just myself.

In my experience guys like clichés. Maybe everyone does.
But I think, as much as they complain about it, most guys actually want a woman who takes ages in the bathroom, who bitches at them, who spends large amounts of money on shoes, clothes and make-up. If she's bitching about something, she'll get chocolate or flowers - doesn't sound like punishment, does it?
So, there's not a lot of men who'd be interested in me. Even less with me having gained some weight, I guess. Also, I'm getting older, and many men my age are already in a relationship. So, the fish in the sea are getting less.

At the same time, I'm not interested in most men.
I'm not really sure whether that's a good thing or not. I don't think I'm asexual.
Of course I might have high standards. I don't know. I'd want someone who has about my level of intelligence. I guess that rules out the majority of people...
Sometimes I worry that I might have a case of ephebophilia. On the other hand, I don't think that's it. But I think that there's something about young men that I find attractive, and that is harder to find when they're older. I can't quite put my finger on it, though. Maybe a lack of adjustment to general society? Or maybe a more androgynous body frame?

Sometimes I think about one night stands.
While I wouldn't have a moral problem with it, I just can't seem to be able to do it. Maybe because I'm afraid. I didn't have very many opportunities either. It seems like only British men are interested in me like that - I only ever got offers in England or Ireland. And on these occasions I wasn't interested.

It's all just one big mess, and I can't see a way to find out of it.

Or maybe I just fail at relationships.

This blog post's title is taken from "Play the Game" by Queen. Read more on this article...

review: Saiunkoku Monogatari

by Sai Yukino (illustrations by Kairi Yura)
Rating: 5/5
Volumes/episodes:
manga: 8 (ongoing);
anime: two seasons with 39 episodes each
Mature content: no
Genre: Shojou(-ish)

Like Koukaku No Regios this anime also is an adaption of "light novels", a book series for teens. So far there's 22 books - but they haven't been translated into English.

It is set in an ancient Asian country, which is divided into eight parts, governed by eight families, who are named after colours. Nine years ago there was a civil war in which all but the youngest of the sons of the ruling family were killed. So the country is left with the scars from a civil war and a very young emperor, who shows no interest at all in reigning his country.
Young Shūrei and her father are really poor, even though belonging to one of the most powerful family clans (their poverty a result of helping the commoners during the civil war). With them lives Seiran, who is a mixture between a servant and soldier and a family member. Shūrei dreams of working as a civil servant - but women aren't allowed to take the entry exam. To make ends meet, she takes up several jobs and when a high court advisor offers her a large sum for a temporary job at the palace, she immediatly agrees - without yet knowing that this job will be living at the court as a consort to the young emperor (who according to rumours prefers men over women) in order to motivate and teach him, basically to make a good ruler our of him.



At first the anime looks a lot like a reverse harem or like one of these series modeled after an otome game: a young girl surrounded by lots of good-looking men. But there's more to it.

More than the romance series it first looks like, Saiunkoku Monogatari is a fantasy and adventure series. The plot contains intrigues, power struggles, manipulations. There's some fighting and some magic here and there. I think it's a very good and entertaining mixture. There are dark moments, but in the end everything turns out alright (more or less). There's a few very funny scenes, too (usually caused by the emperors bluntness or Seiran being a meanie).
Also the female characters are actually normal, not whiny and dumb; many of them are even quite powerful. That's something rather rare and I find the absence of whiny, stupid characters with huge tits very refreshing.
All characters have their strengths and weaknesses. They're not black and white, they have some depth, while most of the time still staying clearly on the good or bad side.



Shūrei might be a bit naive sometimes - after all when the story starts she's only 16. But she's clever and frank, very hard-working (I wish I had just half of her energy) and most of all she's a very good speaker. Though sometimes it seems like she becomes too much a "legendary hero" sort of character, always full of energy, never giving up and always winning in the end.
Among my favourite characters are Seiran, Kōyū and Rin Sai-Tei. The latter doesn't have a big part in the story, but I think she's a very interesting character. Kōyū is a genius, but has a hopeless sense of direction. He has a bit of a short temper, but I really like his friendship with Shūei Ran. Seiran is absolute eye candy, an amazing fighter and always there for the ones he loves. But on the other hand he can be quite mean and absolutely ruthless and definitely has a dark past. What I think is confusing about Seiran is that I can't pierce together his past, when he came to Shūrei's family he looked a lot younger than he should have been.



Unfortunately I had a little trouble keeping some characters apart, with some names sounding very similar - that they are written with different kanji doesn't help me. In the anime the colour coding of the families (people tend to wear the colour of their clan) helped a little, but since the clothes are rather colourful it didn't help much.
I also find it very hard to judge the age of the characters. There seem to be either old or young men at the court, but maybe it only looks like that because the middle-aged men look very young (with the exception of Shūrei's father).
There are a few events that are confusing in the anime, why certain people show up and what their connection to other characters is, why people do or don't do certain things, what their motives are, etc. The manga explains things a lot better, so if you liked the anime I definitely recommend getting the manga.
But those are all minor drawbacks, nothing that really spoils the joy of reading or watching Saiunkoku Monogatari.

I really can't wait for the next manga coming out in English - and I really hope they won't stop publishing for a long time.
I wish the novels were translated and the anime available on DVD (Region 2 with English subs), too.
Saiunkoku Monogatari is not getting the attention it deserves.

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Wikipedia
Free manga preview at shojobeat.com

Read more on this article...