Hiten

Mood:

From the first live-action Rurouni Kenshin movie. It literally means Flying Heaven, or some translate it as Celestial. It's short for Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu, or Flying Heaven (or Celestial) Beautiful Sword-Style. This is the sword-style Kenshin uses. It's actually a real style, but few have actually seen it. I think this was also used in the 2nd live-action Rurouni Kenshin movie, too. The whole soundtrack's amazing!I might feature a couple more tracks from it in the future. I think this was also used as the main theme in the first one. It sounds epic, and has interesting parts to it.

I also finished watching Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno, which was the 2nd live-action movie. It was pretty good. I thought it would actually have the final fight between Shishio and Kenshin, but it ended much sooner. The last live-action one continues it. So far, the movies seem more intense than the anime. Maybe it's the live-action aspect of it...Hopefully the 3rd and final live-action movie will be just as good.

Finished reading Sanctuary by Faye Kellerman. I think it was a lot better than Day of Atonement. None of that back and forth between the killer's perspective and the detective's perspective. Had a lot more mystery this way. Interesting that Peter and Rina had to eventually investigate both cases in Israel. Normally, they either just stay in LA, where Peter's stationed, or there might be a couple of cases in New York state. First time they've gone outside the states, that I know of. Peter needed her as a translator. He knows very little Hebrew. A lot of the people they met over there knew very little English. When I was there, the people I met knew more than that. (They weren't perfect, but could carry on a conversation.) But, this is set in an earlier time than when I went. Turns out both cases weren't related. Had somewhat of a good ending. 

The next one that I have in the series is Prayers for the Dead. I've only read a few pages so far. It's about the murder of a well-known surgeon. It's the 9th book in the series. I've only read 4 of those, though. I have 4 more after this one, but I'll have to skip over some of the books I don't have again. Currently, there are 23 books to it. The most recent one was put out last year. Not sure if it was the last one. But, that's a lot of them.

Finished watching the Jdrama, Okitegami Kyoko no Biboroku, or The Memorandum of Kyoko Okitegami. I have very mixed feelings about this one.I didn't really like the beginning, then it grew on me, then I liked it, and finally it seemed to have a semi-good ending. I say 'semi-good', because it felt like they were trying hard to make it look like a good and happy ending. It really wasn't. We never knew who Kyoko really is, or even what her real name is. We don't truly know what her last memory is about. (It has her running through a brightly lit tunnel.) We don't know why she has amnesia in the first place. We don't know who wrote the sentence on the ceiling, reminding her that she's Kyoko Okitegami and a detective. I'm still curious as to why she doesn't keep a diary of some sort. She outright refuses to. How did she remember to always write down important things about the day, before she went to sleep, on her body? (Usually on her legs, arms, chest, etc.) Why is her amnesia so specific that she forgets everything the day before as soon as she sleeps? I feel really bad for Yakusuke. He fell for her, but every time she falls asleep, they have to start their relationship over. He even wrote out everything they've experienced together and called it K's Memorandum. She found it in the last episode, and didn't want to go to sleep for fear she'd forget him all over again. She also accidentally got rid of the document. Before she fell asleep after reading it, she kissed Yakusuke, finally. There were many moments where they had come close to kissing. I'm normally not into romance, but it seemed tragic if they hadn't done something like that. 

I've made a dA group called Sweet Endless Terror. (My first one ever on there!) It's based off of the theme behind my 2nd novel. I basically am curious about other artists' nightmares, and the goal of the group is to have them express it in some way. Like writing stories based on them, draw a scene from one, make a comic, etc. They could do it in many mediums. Even made a folder for the 'mature' stuff. The things that might be too disturbing to fit into the regular folders. I thought it was a really interesting idea, and if someone else had come up with it, I might have joined it. I'm mostly getting views so far. I'm the only member. It's still a rather new group. I know some don't have members until after a week or so. I'm thinking of drawing out scenes and symbols from the 12 short stories in that 2nd novel. I'll probably share it with that group. The drawings might bring more exposure to the novel, as well. 

I'm thinking of making a short youtube vid promoting my 2nd novel as a preorder. It might be coming a bit close to when the preorder period ends, but there would still be a little time. I might make a longer one for after it's 'live' or released. I might break each title up, and have drawn out symbols for each one. It'd be a little fun part for me. I'll write out specifics in the description part below both the vids, as well. 

I've decided to do mainly online promoting of my 2nd novel until after the preorder period. Then, I'll send out fliers. I'm going to ask to have it in 2 congregations' online newsletters at that time, too. I like one more than the other, but I was apart of that other one for most of my life. There still might be people I knew there and who would be interested. 

The only downside to preorders, it seems, is that 2 of the 3 retailers don't report sales to Smashwords until the novel is released.So, I don't truly know how it's doing right now. About a week ago, I noticed that it made it to the top 50 horror bestsellers on Kobo. It was #30. (#41 on the fantasy/supernatural one.) That's got to account for something.I checked Barnes and Noble a couple of days ago, and it was also around #30 on their horror bestsellers' list. I don't know how many copies it needed to sell in order to be on there...I'm a bit anxious about it.There have only been 5 downloads from Smashwords. I don't think very many people use iBooks. Apple was the only one out of the 3 that reports sales during this time. 

I decided to have my 1st novel, Alliance, be free during this time. After March 4th, it'll be $0.99. I think that's somewhat fair for now. I might increase the price for my 2nd novel in April, if it's doing well enough. (Might make coupons available for the first couple of weeks during that month, too.) It won't be by much, though. 

I still have a lingering cough, but my cold is pretty much gone. Yay!After I told my gastroenterologist that I had been sick, through an email, she seemed concerned. She immediately made a phone appointment for last Monday. She was an hour and a half late to it.I told her I was feeling better. She said she wants me to do a couple more tests. Ones that I really don't want to do. Kind of embarrassing and gross.But, she said they'll help give a better picture of how my IBD is doing. They might be even more helpful than the sed rate, and can give more details. She said if the prednisone didn't work, she wants me to try remicade or humira. They're stronger/heavier meds than what I'm on right now. One is given through an infusion that lasts about 2 hours, and it has to be done at a clinic about every 6 weeks. For the 2nd one, I'd have to give myself shots in the leg a few times a month. I'm a bit terrified of either.But, they might help me get better. I also found out that the appointment I had scheduled for the middle of next month was cancelled. She didn't tell her staff right away that she'll still be on break. So, I have to call again to reschedule. She's very popular, so it might be a while. It'll be the 1st time since the end of July that I'll see her in person. Everything's been through email, the phone, and tests.