5 childhoods worse than yours.

I think all kids go through a phase during which they think their lives are so difficult. I certainly did. But whenever I was about to complain about it (and I am being totally serious) I'd think about how much worse it could've been. There's always someone worse off. Knowing that makes me a little more grateful for the mundane struggles I face every day.

Here we have five fictional characters who have had it pretty bad when they were kids. This time I'm counting down, because it gives more impact that way. :P

5 uke attributes.

No, this isn't a summary of the anatomy of a ukelele. We're talking uke characters from BL games, or certain (most) series with BL potential, or just any old anime/manga that happens to have any percentage of yaoi fangirls.

Note: I could've called this 'How to Spot an Uke', 'You Know You're an Uke When...', 'Become an Uke in Five Easy Steps', or something to that effect, but I like keeping in theme. x3

Another note: Though I'll say 'you must', this list is by no means exhaustive and there are no hard or fast rules to being an uke ('hard' and 'fast' are more a seme's specialties after all xD /shot), so take it all with a grain of salt and (hopefully) have a giggle.

4 unachievable cosplays.

I frequently see pictures of certain characters and feel the urge to cosplay them. Or I see pics of cosplayers and wish I could be as awesome as them. Sadly, for various reasons, there are certain cosplays I don't think I'd ever be able to pull off, regardless of how much I want to. I suppose it's always healthy for one to realise one's limits. Although there's only four on this list today - everything in moderation. xD

more gifts!

So I arrived home today from having to work on a Saturday (buh). All I had on my mind was "food", "bum around" and "read No.6"... But then sitting on my bed I found a package from Ballad(e)!!

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Guess what was in it?

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If anyone was wondering, yes I am still squeeing my little head off right now. I was so distracted by the sheer awesome that I even forgot to take them out of the plastic packaging until half an hour later...

The detail on these two are so good. They're posable, their buttons are actually buttons (lol), and Sebas-chan's pocket watch chain is also a chain of sorts. Also, I was curious as to whether they had sewn the detail on Bocchan's contract eye. And yes, it turns out that they had. :O

Isn't it beautiful? :D

Thank you so much, Ballad!

the final stretch!

Alois x Ciel Magnet ver.! And my fail colouring/photo editing skillz.

Procrastination rocks! I've almost finished all the chapter plans for Phantom High School Host Club! This was the first ever piece of writing where I've done so much planning, and I'm thankful for it. If I didn't plan, I'd have no motivation to write the actual chapters.

I wrote out bullet points for each chapter, and then wrote chapter plans in which I expanded on the bullet points. Since I've got everything written out, it's easier to keep things consistent, and see where everything fits together. Right now I've planned for around 30 chapters, but it may increase or decrease depending on how I write the chapters. Gosh, why didn't anyone tell me how to do this when I was younger? So many good stories gone to waste due to bad planning.

Upon finishing the plan for the final chapter, I'm really excited to get writing! I almost cried when I typed up the last summarising point... What a dork I am. And hopefully the ending meets expectations... Perhaps I shouldn't raise them too high during the course of the fanfic. xD

At this point though, aside from my slow rate of update, what concerns me is that my writing style has become rather bland. Sometimes I get bursts of creative energy and I'm surprised by how well I write, and other times it feels as though I have to force myself to even come up with a nearly-decent sentence. That's kind of what happened in the most recent chapter. That, and I had to plan out an entire murder mystery plot (even though I barely used it in the story at all - I guess this means I can use it for an actual murder mystery party?).

Anyway. I wonder if it'll be any good to write up my post-chapter-writing thoughts? Sometimes there's so much I want to tell people about my chapters, but honestly I don't think they'd care. :/ Ah well. I shall post them here if I do get around to writing them, because I really need to get that sorta stuff off my chest. You are hereby forewarned.

Btw if someone can fix those flowers in Ciel's hat in the above pic, let me know. I can't draw flowers to save my life. =_=;;

writer's block.

For months, Rhapsody struggled in a losing battle against every writer's nemesis - Writer's Block. Every time she turned on her laptop, she would see the latest chapter of her fanfiction, still unfinished. Each time she laid eyes on that icon on her desktop, her heart felt heavier than a morbidly obese person (BMI over 50) carrying a baby elephant, riding a tank.

However, she couldn't let it end like this! There was still so much to write, there were still so many fangirl wishes to grant. Her reviewers encouraged her, and she herself mustered up the willpower to soldier on. Sentence by clumsy sentence, she slowly pieced together the next installation of Ciel's adventures with the Stoneleigh Park Academy Host Club, and finally, on the thirteenth of October, 2011, Rhapsody submitted Lesson Seventeen of

Phantom High School Host Club.

...And there was much rejoicing.

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Really though, I'm so relieved to have finally finished this chapter. I've literally been working on it for months due to lack of motivation/inspiration.

If you don't know what this is, it's my Kuroshitsuji fanfiction - I stole the concept of Ouran and combined it with Kuro, to make a rather interesting mix.

Do check it out if you have a free moment! Although...if you're more into sci-fi and fantasy type stories, this won't be your cup of tea - I absolutely fail at writing that genre...