Margaret's School Chapter 2

Margaret's School Chapter 1

Warning: This is very long, and also it is not final. Things are going to change with it (I may add things in, or take them away) but for now I'm happy with it. Page break, because it's over 10,000 words.

The Jeeves Omnibus 2 by P.G. Wodehouse

This will be a very brief review because I'm exhausted from yesterday... ^^

I have literally to finish two more episodes of Jeeves & Wooster, and then the whole TV series is finished for me... I'm actually really sad about that, even though the TV series took up hours and hours of my days and entertained me these past few months. On the bright side, I've still got a LOT of the Jeeves omnibus to read, and then after I've finished all those (if I ever finish them - P.G. Wodehouse wrote the amazing series over a span of 59 years!) I still have the rest of the author's books to read; and he wrote a lot!

I've just finished the second omnibus, containing the stories; 'Right Ho, Jeeves', 'Joy in the Morning', 'Carry on Jeeves' and a selection of short stories at the end.

My favourite part was in the short stories, where Bertie had to give a speech at a girl's school, because Jeeves is trying to put him off from wanting to adopt a daughter; and the only way to do that was to lie to the head teacher of the school and say that Bertie wanted to give advice for the future!  It was really cute (in a sadistic kind of way) to see Bertie struggle for words in front of all those staring school girls that were just trying to be vindictive! The way Wodehouse talked about the all-girls school really reminded me of my own school, as the girls there are exactly like the ones at my school... Also, this story was set from Jeeves's point of view, which was quite an interesting change.

Another thing I liked was where Bertie was forced to kidnap this baby he saw on the beach - and honestly, it sounds more sinister than it actually was - because he thought it belonged to the girl who he wanted to get back together with his friend. From that point, I actually thought it was going to turn into a big mess (I mean, how do you get out of kidnapping a poor baby?!), but as usual, Jeeves manages to think of something. It was such a cute, slightly odd, moment where Bertie had to train the baby to say "Kiss Fweddie" in time for the lady to meet Freddie on the balcony!

Some other parts of the novel were set in New York, as we often see in the TV series. However, in my opinion, I prefer it when it's set in London, to be honest. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it may be because I'm more familiar with places in England, than in America.

Some people say that the plot of the Jeeves series gets old after a while, but I'm still laughing after reading the second omnibus, and I plan on getting the rest of the volumes. The Jeeves series makes very entertaining, very pleasant reads, and certainly is a change from the horror books I usually read.

Happy Birthday Aika!

I'm so happy I finished this today, because I wanted it done in time for her birthday (the 26th May) and I didn't think I would manage with all my homework and exams this month! There was going to be two more designs, but I was really short on time... And the anatomy fails, but really I'm just focusing on the clothes at the moment. (it's my dream to be a fashion designer or costume designer as well as an author)

The first design was something I made myself, based on 50s poodle-skirt designs and nautical style, and the second one is loosely based on Pullip Tiphona's stcok outfit by Innocent World, as you may see on my Pullip doll, Aika! These are only a selection of outfits I know she has, but really she has many more, and it makes me envious that she has the biggest lolita wardrobe of all my characters! Clothes are my favourite things to draw, so I count this as practice.

I swear I write and draw about my character Aika the most of all my OCs because she's my favourite; we have a lot in common! At the moment I'm writing a story about her called When The Summer Ends, and I'm just past chapter 15 right now (it's going quite slowly, but I'm really enjoying the experience!).

Hanjuku Joshi by Akiko Morishima

It's about time I picked up a new manga! I haven't read comics for a long while, except Black Butler of course, and I thought it was time I tried something new... As I like some shounen-ai/soft yaoi (the words "soft" and "some" are key) I thought I'd try some shoujo-ai for a change. And actually, I really, really enjoyed it!

Rambling aside, one of the things that interested me was that I had quite a lot in common with one of the characters! Usually I find it hard to connect with people in real life, so I look for similarities between myself and fictional characters, and when I find a character I can connect with, I'm always really happy. I feel I have some similarities with Yae Sakura.

Yae Sakura always wished she could have been born a boy, and is really frustrated because of how feminine she is; she has cute, fluffy hair, a short-stature, rounded-face, large breasts, and an interest in sewing. She meets Chitose Hayami at her first year of an all girl school, and it seems they are made for each other, and fall in love at once, no questions asked. Chitose is actually really boyish and energetic, and doesn't really see herself as a girl.

Because Yae really detests how girly she is, all that changes when she meets Chitose, who makes her love herself for who she is.

This couple is really sweet together and it's obvious that they really love each other. We see their first year of school together, bits of their past and previous loves, and several dates together. There is also another sub-story with a student-teacher relationship between Mari Hanashima (who seems very gyaru-styled to me) and Ran Edogawa, but I was mainly interested in Yae and Chitose.

I absolutely love the ending as it was so sweet! I loved that Yae learned to accept herself at the end, as it was a really cute moment! Another thing I loved was Yae's design - her hair is just so cute and fluffy, and the uniform they both wear is just so adorable! It's been a while since I read a book set in Japan, so it was also very nice to see the cultural things like uniforms, for example. The art was really beautiful, the characters were lovely, and the ending was very satisfying! Basically, I'm happy that this was the first shoujo-ai manga I read, just like I was happy that Challengers was the first shounen-ai manga I read.

Black Butler Chapter 93

First of all, I've realised that this arc of Black Butler seems very promising for glimpses into Ciel's past. I've always wanted to know why his parents were killed and his house burned down, and why he was kidnapped, so hopefully we'll have some more knowledge on this soon. This particular arc is very interesting (but also very heart-wrenching at the same time!). 

The chapter starts with Ciel still in a traumatised frame of mind (poor boy) and he is still rejecting Sebastian and all adults. Tanaka has to stop Sebastian from "shocking" Ciel at the beginning, but I misunderstood what exactly was happening at this part.

The scene then moves back to England to see the queen and her butlers. Sebastian had sent her some kind of plant for her butlers to examine, and there was this really strange scene where her butler has a finger puppet of Albert, her deceased husband, to calm her down! The Double Charles team examine the plant samples and are really shocked at what they find, however what exactly they found has not yet been revealed. I think the finger puppet part was a much-needed bit of comic relief, as recently the manga has been really depressing. The Queen then sends a message, but it's not revealed what the letter says.

Then, we return to Ciel. It was really interesting to see his thoughts, as they were split into two versions of Ciel; a confident, calm Ciel, and a frightened, child-like, innocent version of Ciel. They had a conversation, and it seems Ciel can't make up his mind as to what he wants. I won't reveal too much about this scene, but I'll say that it was rather surreal.  I just love the way Yana Toboso drew this part, it looks really dream-like with the huge chess board, star-shaped lights, and huge pairs of stage curtains. The design was amazing, and the artwork was simply gorgeous!

After that, I'm really starting to wonder whether Sieglinde is a good character or a bad character... I mean, she seems nice, friendly, and willing to help Ciel, but I can't help but feel there is more to her than what meets the eye. We see her being carried off by Wolfram, and the look in her face is just really sad, like she's really going to miss everyone. She gets scolded by the women in her village, and in the end she gives up and tells them all that she will get rid of Ciel and his servants from the forest.
Sebastian  goes back into the basement of that place that Wolfram tried so hard to keep secret, (the place where the werewolves were last time) and I really, really want to know what he found.

In the end, the letter is delivered by hand to Sebastian by the Queen's butler. Still, I have no idea what it says... Next chapter, I hope we'll have more answers!

Wonder Cookie Lolita Co-ord

Sunday

Blouse: Bodyline

JSK: Dream of Lolita - Wonder Cookie

Socks: Secret Shop

Glasses: Claire's Accessories

 

 

Today I'm going to try my best to write a lot of Margaret's School, and then maybe later I'll colour some more of my latest picture; it's for Aika's birthday on the 26th May! With the exams from school finally over, I'm hoping that they'll go easy on us with the homework situation... So maybe I'll finish the picture before the 26th.

My Nana and I have been playing tennis in the garden as it's a really beautiful day. Between the two of us, we're really rubbish at playing tennis, and Cleo kept on running after the ball and hiding it in the bushes where we can't get to it! It was really fun.



A New Story Coming Soon

 At the moment I've come up with a new idea for a story called Margaret's School. Strangely, the whole story was inspired by a dress from a Japanese indie lolita brand called Margaret School... Basically, the story is based on my school, and the things I've noticed going on there, and all the people I've met (read: watched). It is based on a few of my own experiences too, from the start of high school, until the last few years. The main characters are Margaret, and a girl called Evangeline who is her best friend, but sometimes can be rather distant and strange.
It sounds rather boring when I write about it like that, but I'm hoping I can make it more interesting when I'm writing about it, and besides, the main reason I'm writing this is to get more experienced in writing description and scenery. Actually, it's set in my own home town, Southport, as many of my stories take place in foreign countries like America and France, I thought I'd write one set in England for a change.
Maybe I'll post it soon, as I've typed up around 2,000 words for the first chapter today. At the moment I'm still going strong with When the Summer Ends, I'm just not posting it for now. I might publish it to Kindle someday, like I first wanted to, but if in the end I don't for whatever reason, I definitely post it here. Right now, I've just finished chapter 15 of When the Summer Ends, and I couldn't be happier, however sometimes I think my writing is a bit dull, as not much really happens in it. There's no action, no adventure, but I like to think I focus more on emotions.  

Why I love Sailor Lolita Fashion

Sailor Lolita has to be one of my favourite sub-styles of Lolita. It can be classic-inspired, or sweet inspired, but is typically in sax or navy blue with a sailor collar, stripes along the hem, and capped sleeves. Sailor style usually comes out around late spring-summer time, and Metamorphose temps de fille release a lot, and sometimes Baby and Angelic Pretty, too. Sadly I don't own many at the moment (I have a Hell Bunny sailor OP that I love, but it sometimes gets overlooked when I go to my closet. Going to wear it soon!), but I post these for inspiration for one day where I finally get good at sewing, or sudden become un-bankrupted.

Midori (ミドリ)

Recently I've got some new Midori (ミドリ) on my iPhone, and it made me realise how much I love this band! Before I only had about two albums, plus some videos I've seen on YouTube, but I've downloaded the albums; First, Second, Swing, some demos, and their live album; so I wanted to make a post about them.
Midori is described as a Jazz-Punk fusion band, with Mariko Goto as the main vocalist. The combination of both jazz and punk is unusual but really appealing in my opinion, as I love all kinds of music with jazz elements! Goto sounds sweet and innocent at times, and quickly changes to becoming angry and passionate with her vocals, along with the music to match the "mood" of the song.
I suppose they could be described somewhat like the Sex Pistols with a jazz element, but almost twice as lively! Some songs are gentle, some are crazy, but mainly I enjoy all of them.
For some reason, their sound reminds me very much of summer and nautical things, like sailor suits and the ocean... Summer because I really got into them two summers ago, and perhaps sailor suits because that always seems to be Mariko Goto's outfit when she is performing.