Let's talk about dreams.

Just recently I had the chance to see my favorite group, Perfume, perform live right here in Nagoya.

I was so excited when I was told they'd be here that I instantly purchased the ticket, despite the fact that it meant I'd be going alone. 

I was so excited that even when I went on the day that I had purchased my ticket for, turned out to be mistakenly for the next day, I happily purchased a second ticket and went twice!

This was my experience:

The huge lights and stage created an outer space atmosphere. The music boomed right into my soul, it felt like... and now I feel I can never listen to their music at a normal volume again.

And the girls, A-chan, Nochi and Kashiyuka with their years of hard work and experience danced perfectly. Despite sitting next to an unenthusiastic older man　盛れ上げないおじいさん  both times, I was ecstatic. 

I follow this group well enough to know their story, to know that they almost didn't make it. That in a time when they could've given up, providence happened, and now they sharing their dream with the whole world.In that moment I was awe struck. Because I was standing there, in Japan, watching them, living MY dream. 

And I thought to myself, God really must care about people's dreams. Not just the dreams of people who believe in him, but everyone's dreams. And He blesses hard work towards making those dreams come true. 

I won't be overly modest in saying that I didn't put effort into being here. But there was so much divine intervention to help me overcome obstacles which sometimes I didn't even know were in my way. Almost as confirmation, at that moment, the chorus of the song "Miracle Worker" blasted and I just about died of happiness.

A-chan ended the concert with saying, "Everyone, sometimes you have hard days, but you're not alone. We all have our own problems to overcome, in whatever it is we're doing. So let's all do our best, every day." Sniffling back my tears I went home charged for the week- for my whole life maybe.

I'll never forget the time I saw Perfume... twice. Which I think was also divine intervention, as once was definitely not enough.

Webcomic host blogーーーacitvate!

I've created a sister blog to my website with which I will be posting a couple of webcomics:

Japan VS America, the one I previously mentioned, and my baby... Moonlight Havok!

So far, I've got the first episode (?) of Japan VS America.

I've got a lot of ideas for it's continuation, so please look forward to it.

It's been a while since I've worked on MLH though, so it might be a little while before I can get the ball rolling on it.

Please look forward to it, however. It's the comic I want more than anything to succeed, so I was waiting till I was at a more professional standing, but I finally decided to just go for it after reading a note in Mangakuukan by one of the professional comic artists. 

He said, "The comic I most wanted to make is, The me who cannot go to school Please read it."

And I was like, Dang it! I want people to read the comic I most want to make!

Here I go!

Until I can figure out better methods for displaying these comics, here it is!

http://parapearlcomics.blogspot.jp/

Japan VS America

This is an idea for a strip comic chronicling the interesting experiences I've had so far living with my Japanese room mate, Eri. A running joke that has developed between us is "Japan VS America".
There are a lot of fun stories that I'd like to share, so please look forward to them. For now, it's late, and I'm sick, so I'll just tantalize you with this crappy sketch of the first story.
On Eri's birthday I hid a party popper in the bathroom... but she ended up getting home at nine, and not using the bathroom until 4:00am!
It was still awesome.

Self diagnosis and treatment for Unproductivitus.

Unproductivitus is a disorder that develops from a deficiency in organization and motivation coupled with a daunting amount of things to do.

The sypmtoms of Unproductivitus include lethargy, stress, inability to focus, anxiety and even panic attacks. If left untreated, Unproductivitus can develop into unrealized dreams syndrome.


The remedy for Unproductivitus takes only a few steps and self treatment is the best method.

1. Get paper, a pen, a calendar and a timer.
2. Set your timer for 30 or 60 minutes and begin making a list of the most immediately necessary tasks or projects you have to do. Anyone can focus on a task if given a strict timeline to accomplish it.
3. Break down those projects into their most basic steps and calendar when you will do them so that your project will be completed in time.
4. If doing this takes up your whole time limit, then begin by tackling the first steps on your list. If you have remaining time, move on to step 5.
5. Write another list of secondary tasks or projects that you need to do and calendar the steps for those to be completed as well. (Be sure to schedule these tasks for after your most important tasks.)
6. Repeat steps 1-6 weekly until a pattern develops. For aggravated cases, a task list should be made daily. These steps help increase organization levels which reduces some of the more severe symptoms of unproductivitus. The next steps are important for increasing motivation levels.
7. Upon completing projects it is very important to reward oneself however is best suited to the individual. Some recommendations include: taking a nap, going out to eat, buying a small present for yourself, doing something fun and chocolate.
8. Communicate accomplishments to friends, family and co-workers. Unproductivitus is not an uncommon affliction so you shouldn't be ashamed to celebrate your successes. People who love you will be happy for even your smallest victories.
9. Spend quiet time thinking, meditating on or praying about your current endeavors and the future. If the above steps are being implemented then you should experience a feeling of excitement and hopefulness.

Some activities which aggravate unproductivitus are: Youtube, facebook, instagram, twitter and any other form of social media, texting, snacking, television and unnecessary cleaning (also known as procrastinating).

Unproductivitus should not be confused with ACTUAL PHYSICAL SICKNESS. If you are sick and you do not rest, you will die.

I hope this helps someone.

keeping the milk carton rolling.

So, tonight I found myself making mini-vans out of milk cartons for my Saturday school English lesson. As I was testing it out I was down on all floors, pushing, blowing with everything to keep that smelly little box rolling. And then it connected to my life... ah, how interesting it is when that happens.
You think... my life is like a makeshift race-car crafted from garbage. Haha.
I've got all the right parts... an education, a platform, vision, etc., but they aren't in the position or quality level that will bring me to the place I want to be in. But the answer to getting in that spot is right there... just keep it rolling, learn what needs to change, adjust and keep it rolling.

Networking 101

Hello world, my name is Sara Cooney. Here's my business card. Hope to hear from you soon.

Need for speed: Speed drawing pose practice

I've always thought that speed is a skill that is very important to comic and manga artists. Meeting deadlines and also being able to continuously create new ideas isn't something that can be done if you spend 30 minutes perfecting each character's pose. This is my problem.
To remedy it, I've been trying to make the habit of practicing 45 second drawings on Posemaniacs.com It's a great website that I was introduced to in college for my drawing 101 class.
I've been doing sets of 10 as recommended by the website. Within only one week I can already see improvement in the completeness and structure of the poses.
It's an exercise that I recommend any budding artist add to their regimen. It only takes about 7 minutes for a set of 10, 45 second drawings, and onlly 5 minutes if you do the 30 second drawings.
That will be the next step up for me.

My first bout.

Today's practice.

You can tell that the drawings are much more complete.

I'm very happy about it. I hope if you've never heard of posemaniacs you will check it out. It's a great resource.