DIY

I know, I never post this late (it is nearly midnight)! Blogger was supposed to post this earlier today, but there was some sort of technical difficulty. I hope you all are enjoying your evening! I am (impatiently) waiting for Toonami to begin (or rather Kill La Kill to...I don't watch Dragon Ball). I'm most excited for the latest Sword Art Online II, I watched it subbed but I am loving the dub! I'm hoping I can catch a glimpse of Kakashi on Naruto Shippuden tonight (though doubtful ;____;). If I don't...I can just place him into the show. 

Anyway, I am finished with my rambling! To the point of the post!! 

I am a huge do it yourself-er. Partly because I love a good project and making things. But also due to my frugal nature. I mean, why spend a lot of money buying something when you can easily and cheaply make it yourself? A lot of my DIY projects involve recycling things as well.

I am lucky (or rather cursed as I see it) enough to have a mind that obsesses and fixates on things. When I have a challenge, I obsess over it and can not stop thinking about it until I come up with a good solution. I guess this is where my creativity comes in. I get a lot of that from my dad. He was always thinking of random inventions, but usually someone else had thought of them first.
 
I love taking old things and repurposing or renewing them. At one point I was looking for a new way to store some of my less expensive lipsticks but also to make it easy to find whichever color I want. I debated for probably two days, then randomly when I was glancing around my living room the answer came to me. Use one of my dad's old car cases!

The back of the car case is mirrored and difficult to photograph. Sorry!!

                                          

My dad was very into racing and collected a bunch of cars. So I took a small case that houses several cars and put some lipsticks in it. It is the perfect size for standard sized lipsticks.

Another example, I wanted to clear some space in my jewelry box and display my favorite necklaces. I noticed that I could hang the necklaces from an ornament hanger that we had laying around. It was short so I took an empty breadcrumb can, spray painted it and taped the ornament hanger to the top of it. Voila, a cheap but effective necklace stand!

                                                 

I also made a bracelet display/stand recently. I needed a way to organize/display my bracelets. They were previously just shoved in a drawer of my jewelry box and I always forgot to wear them. I saw some stands on Amazon...but was SO not into paying $10-$15 for one. So I racked my brain and came up with this idea! I took a paper towel tube, shelf liner, a piece of foam board left from a home renovation and my trusty hot glue gun (a must for serious DIYers. I use mine all the time!). 

First I cut the paper towel roll until I had one large piece and two smaller ones. I glued shelf liner to them, then glued the pieces together. Next I glued shelf liner to the foam board and then glued it to the bottom of the stand. 

Look at my cute little kitty ring stand *^*

                                           

Lastly, another time I was looking for a new way to store all of my nail polish. I came across nail polish racks which were perfect: I could easily display my nail polishes and store them so I could find them easily. The downside....that shit is expensive! So I racked my brain and came up with a solution: these rectangular baskets (they come in packs of 3) from the dollar store and thumb tacks. Super easy, cheap nail polish racks!!

I apologize for the horrid lighting. I couldn't get a better pic than this :( this side of my room is dimmer.

                                               

I have made and re purposed so many items to fit my needs. A lot of it has to do with organization and display. With makeup and jewelry if it isn't organized or displayed a certain way I will totally forget that it exists. DIY is not only about making and doing things yourself cheaper vs buying it but it's also about creativity! You can make some awesome things, many things I have made I love more than anything store bought. The things you make yourself are truly priceless.

I know a lot of people don't have that obsessive brain curse or may lack creativity. Just go make an account on Pinterest. I use Pinterest for everything! Event planning, DIY, gift ideas, pictures, you name it! Pinterest is the best resource you will find for DIY. I seriously don't understand how I survived without that beautiful website for so long. Any time I want to make something or need something and can't figure out how to make it - I search on Pinterest.

From time to time I will post about my DIY ventures when they happen. Around holidays I can even discuss decorations I have made. I can also discuss some organizational tips. I can even show off some other things that I have made. DIY is really fun and a great way to save money, so I love bringing others the joy of it. 

Xoxo
Moon prism power makeup!

Lust List: My birthday wishlist!

Hello lovelies! This month I'm doing a special edition of the lust list! I truthfully didn't have enough interesting items for the March fashion lust list that I didn't already buy. If you would like me to do a sort of haul/finds post of the things I got let me know!

My birthday is approaching (April 30), so I thought that it would be interesting to share my most wished for items this year. I truly never expect gifts or ask for them. I truthfully don't really get anything unless either of my best friends (love you guys!! <3) decides to get me something or if I buy it myself. So this post is purely for fun.

I have been asked before to share the link to my Amazon wish list, but I thought it would be pompous of me and that really no one cares. To me, when I see a blogger put a link to their wishlist on their blog, it's like they're saying "Hey buy me shit!" Or expecting something. So unless anyone badly wants mine, I won't post it.

But anyway I thought this would make an interesting post and something different for the lust list. I fully intend to eventually buy everything on this list. Here is my top 10 list of item on my birthday wishlist

1. Roku

I am DYING for a Roku. If I could choose any one thing for my birthday, it would be a Roku. I watch a lot of anime and Kdramas. I can't watch them at my computer, which is laggy when playing videos and it is extremely uncomfortable to watch videos at (I have to use a plastic folding chair as a computer chair.). When I do watch my shows, I watch them on my very old Android tablet (which is slowly dying at time of writing). I currently can only watch things on 2 apps: Crunchyroll and Viki. The browser sucks for playing any videos but youtube. I connect my tablet via HDMI to the TV in my room. But sadly, subtitles will not show from Viki via HDMI and my HDMI cable is slowly dying.

So I really want a Roku. It has all of the channels that I want and has a remote. Fire TV doesn't have every channel that I want and Chromecast doesn't have a remote. I would love a Roku 3 but it is HELLA expensive! I would be just as happy with the HDMI Roku stick.

2. Victorian style porcelain tea cups

I have been wanting a Victorian style tea set for a long time. For Christmas my best friend ( Hi Vicky!!! :D) gave me a beautiful tea pot. I have been getting into fancy loose leaf teas and browsing online for tea cups so my desire for a beautiful tea cup increases. I want something with floral that looks fancy. Also with a matching saucer. I have found a few Royal Albert cups as well as some other brands that I'm in love with. But oh the price tag ;___; . There is also a skull sugar spoon that I would love to go with it. The skull spoon actually matches a tea cup I already own.

3. Lots of figures

I have so many different figures on my wish list. I really want to build my collection. From Funko Pop figures like their horror villains collection and Adventure time to ones from anime. I really want a Kakashi figure, some Sailor Moon ones and a Kirito one.

4. Sailor Moon wig

I've been lusting over Sailor Moon wigs. I want one for my cosplay. There are quite a few options but the already styled versions are too much for me to afford at the moment. Though an already styled wig that is a good quality fibre wig is best, I would be happy with something like a blonde Hatsune Miku wig that I can style

5. Special Effects Makeup supplies

I have so many different products on my list. I want to build up my special effects kit and have new products to work with. I also want to start using better quality products, right now I just use some eyeshadow palettes and Halloween grease paint for coloring. I'm nearly out of liquid latex too and need some that is clear.

6.External battery charger

I go on adventures with my friends a lot and use my phone for various things - music, texting, internet, obsessive list making. Sometimes my battery dies so I keep a car charger with me. I really want to get and have been meaning to get an external battery charger so that I can charge my phone on the go -even when I don't have a power source. I have been eyeing one from Amazon - it's compact, has a good amount of power and a warranty.

7. Skincare products

I have quite a few skincare products on my list. My most wished for ones are Glamglow Thirstymud, Boots Ionic Clay Shine Away Mask and Clinique Clarifying lotion 2. I have a huge love of face masks, especially sheet masks. I always try to keep a good stock of sheet masks, I never ever want to run out.

8. Into The Woods and Annabelle

I do have a lot of DVDs on my list but these 2 are my most wished ones. I absolutely need them in my possession.

9. Shoes and jewelry

I combined these into 1 subject. There are a lot of jewelry items because I fully admit I'm an accessory junkie. But I do wear my jewelry a lot and use different things for different looks. There are quite a few items like these skull earrings and this Nightmare before Christmas cameo that I am wanting (Have I mentioned I'm obsessed with cameos??). This fabulous bat bracelet. Also Neo from twitter (Hi!) showed me these Black Butler earrings from Hot Topic. Needless to say I have to have them.

I also am dying to get my hands on a pair of these black wedge booties.

10. Plushies

I have had quite a few anime plushies on my list for a few years now. I need to own all of my babies in plushie form. My most wished for plushies are Kirito, Asuna, Grell, Levi and Sailor Moon. I also really want an Alucard and Yukio (Ao No Exorcist/Blue Exorcist) plushie but they do not seem to make them ;___;

So those are the top items in my list....out of like 200 or so items .__. (Hehe oops). At least I give options. I honestly wasn't excited or happy at all for my birthday this year. I was going to avoid everything birthday related....but now I'm throwing a (pretty cool if I do say so myself) party...if all works out!! What's pathetic is I haven't gotten a single thing (besides picking a date/ invitations) done on my list of plans...and I'm already planning my outfit!! That's so me.

Anyway thank you everyone for being awesome and reading this as well as putting up with my ramblings!! I normally don't do this, but if you would like to follow any of my social networks visit these links below, some are already listed in the blog side bar:

Twitter.com/lipstickxzombie
Pinterest.com/lipstickzombie
Ask.fm/sailorkhaleesi (Feel free to ask me a question, just don't be a creep or an asshole)
Sailor-khaleesi.tumblr.com
Instagram.com/lipstickxzombie

Hope you all have a lovely day!
Moon prism power makeup!

Sailor Moon Crystal Episode 19 Recap/Review

Hello my lovelies! I hope you all had a fantastic Easter (if you celebrate) and a wonderful weekend. My Easter was nice. We had an Easter egg hunt with my cats and it was very interesting! We took some generic plastic eggs, filled them with catnip and scattered them around the house. My cats went nuts and it was so funny! At one point they opened a few of the eggs and catnip went all over the floor...and they just rolled around in it!

So many things happened in  this episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, it deserved a review from me! I know I don't consistently review every episode - that just depends on if I have the time to review it. I slowly went through this episode and took careful notes so that I could provide you with the best, most detailed review. All images in this post are mine, I took pictures of the episode while it played on my TV. As always with my Sailor Moon Crystal posts, the spoiler alert is in effect if you have not yet seen this episode. This post literally took me all day to write x__x. Lots of hard work went into it, so I hope you enjoy it!!

The episode begins with Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, Tuxedo Mask and Chibi-Usa where they were when the last episode ended. Chibi-Usa asks Sailor Moon for help, to save the future Earth. She reveals that she's from the 30th century future of Crystal Tokyo and someone attacked her beloved home. Venus asks her to take them to the future so that they can see what happened to better understand the situation. Chibi-Usa becomes very upset and says that she can't. Mamoru comforts her.

The cuteness of Mamoru caring for her killed me!! I love any little moments between the two. It's so cute!!! It's also pretty interesting how fatherly Mamoru is to her already - not knowing that in the future he actually is Chibi-Usa's father.

Chibi-Usa is shown wearing Mamoru's shirt to bed. So cute!!!! Mamoru tucks her into bed and she shows him Luna P. They discuss her mother. Usagi is then shown watching the interaction between the two. She admits to Mamoru how jealous she is. I really appreciate how in this series, Usagi isn't made super needy or running around constantly whining about how jealous she is of Chibi-Usa. I also appreciate that Mamoru isn't treating her like shit like he did at a few points in Sailor Moon R.

Can anyone find a better quality screen shot of this?? It would make a fantastic wallpaper/lockscreen photo. I need it!!! 

Usagi asks to stay over. Mamoru hugs her from behind and Usagi confesses that she wants to stay by his side forever and protect him. Mamoru says that he feels the same way and always wants to protect her. Then they adorably kiss...I spazzed out so much. Usagi and Mamoru's love story is my favorite. They are my OTP (one true pairing). I honestly think their romance is better than Romeo and Juliet. Their love has transcended time, they have both been reborn many times and each time they find their way back to each other. I go nuts over any cute romantic moments between them.

Luna is shown having a dream with Queen Serenity. She follows Luna to a giant door and tells Luna not only to not venture further....but to completely forget that she saw it. I was so happy to see our gorgeous Queen Serenity!

In the morning Usagi is still there and it's made obvious that she stayed the whole night at Mamoru's...I'm convinced that they got it on!! *Insert creepy winky smilie/emoji here*.  But one thing I wonder...how did her parents allow her at 14 years old to sleep over her boyfriend's house??? She must have lied and said she was a friend's house. That or her parents must not care what she does. Chibi-Usa declares that she's going back to the 30th century and she wants Usagi and Mamoru to go with her. She uses the Space Time Key to transport herself, Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, Tuxedo Mask, Luna and Artemis to travel to the future.

The Black Moon clan see/figure out that they all have traveled to the future. The Wise Man tells Prince Demande (He's so pretty *^*)  that now is the time to strike to obtain the crystal. Esmeraude volunteers for the task of attacking the senshi and obtaining the crystal.

Chibi-Usa, the cats and the senshi (yes, Tuxedo is a senshi to me!!) make it to the future but they lost Chibi-Usa.

Yes, this blog post absolutely needs both images of Pluto. We all must take a moment to admire her. DO IT!!! *^*

They come across the door from Luna's dream. Sailor Pluto, the guardian of time appears to protect it (FANGIRL SCREAM!!!). Sailor Pluto is the senshi that no one is supposed to see let alone know that she exists. I legit screamed seeing Pluto, Pluto is badass and fabulous!! I love her so much *^*.

She attacks the group with Dead scream. Pluto intends to kill them for time traveling (which is a big no no). But then Chibi-Usa comes running in and stops her. Pluto lectures Chibi-Usa for running away and time traveling, turns out Chibi-Usa wanted Sailor Moon's crystal thinking it would be more powerful than her own. Pluto is mad but very happy that Chibi-Usa is safe. Pluto and Chibi-Usa are fairly close and Pluto has a soft spot for the Small Lady. It is revealed that Chibi-Usa is a princess.

Pluto opens the door to the future and allows the group in. She asks Sailor Moon to protect the Small Lady. I need to mention the fact that the entire time, Mamoru is carrying Luna. It's the cutest thing!!! Sexy men with cute cats, I'm all for that *^*. They see the devastation of Crystal Tokyo and all of the dead. There is a huge black cluster of crystal in the center of the city.

Chibi-Usa sees the crystal and faints. A voice tells Mamoru to stay away from it. Chibi-Usa explains that there was a gigantic explosion that caused the destruction. The black crystal appeared after it and everyone but her collapsed from it. Chibi-Usa then runs towards the Crystal Palace, wanting to see her mother. Every single time that they said Crystal Palace in this episode (which was quite a few), I kept thinking of the 2nd Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) musical. CRYSTAL PALACE!

[Here is the link to the above video for mobile users: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFZN53oKjYI ]

Suddenly the group finds themselves in the"Crystal Palace"....but it is fake and actually a trap set by the Boule brothers of the Black Moon, Chiral and Archial. They trap Sailor Moon, Venus, Tuxedo Mask, Chibi-Usa and the cats in crystal.

Her arm looks SO long in this picture O_O

 Sailor Moon tries to fight them with the moon rod...but it won't work!! Esmeraude appears and begins to taunt then torture them (that bitch).

A mysterious man...who we all know is King Endymion appears and tells Mamoru to pray to break the crystal. It works! The senshi attack and defeat the Boule brothers. Esmeraude flees.

They are then in the actual Crystal Palace. We see a huge cluster of crystals in the center. At first I thought it was like the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones but made of crystal. Hey it did resemble it! Neo Queen Serenity, Chibi-Usa's mother is actually trapped within the crystal.

Chibi-Usa's cat Diana ( And possible spoiler: Luna and Artemis' daughter) runs out.

You guys have no idea how hard I worked to get just this screen shot. Pathetically hard...but it's so cute!!!!

She then runs off towards a man....King Endymion! I made a noise resembling a Pterodactyl seeing him haha. First off, he was so cute with Diana!!!! Second, I love King Endymion *^* . Baby!!!!

This was a fantastic episode! So many important things happen. This was also a major fangirl episode! After all we not only see Pluto for the first time, but Diana, Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion. We are near the finale of Sailor Moon Crystal. I'm so bummed because I love this show so much!! I really hope they announce soon that there will be more. They're crazy if they don't! This show is crazy popular and awesome. I can't wait for the next episode!! I hope you all enjoyed my spazzy recap of this latest episode!

Xoxo
Moon prism power makeup!

Recent Animes - April 2015

Hello my darlings!! I hope you're having good weather! Thursday was a rare beautiful day. I'm normally not one to like warm, sunny weather. I actually hate the sun most of the time and prefer rainy, cloudy days. But we have had a never ending, very cold winter so I for one am happy to finally have spring! It was so warm out that I pulled out the shorts and took a stroll around my yard. I hope we have more weather like that soon. Sadly yesterday's weather was kind of gross. It was that "it's cold yet it's hot" weather, you know? Like it's cold, so I'm putting on a sweatshirt but it's hotter than Satan's armpit once I am wearing said sweatshirt. Then it poured on me when I was putting and taking groceries out of the car - so that was fun.

But I got to enjoy some super cute moments with my cats last night so that made up for it (I swear, the cat lady post is coming soon!). I found some cat meow notification tones on the Zedge app. One was of a kitten meowing, one of my cats who has had 2 litters and nursed a bunch of abandoned kittens before we got her started running around, meowing looking for the kitten. It was so adorable!! 

Anyway, to the point!  I thought I would start a "recent animes" series where I talk about some of the animes I've watched. I'll do it every once in a while, once I have accumulated enough to talk about. Most of these are recent, but I'm going all the way back to December/January for a few because I really want to discuss them. Any time there are spoilers or something may be a spoiler, I will note a warning)

Durarara X2

                                                      

This is the long awaited sequel to the Durarara (rararararararararararararararara) anime. I loved the first season so much so I was really excited for this one! There is something about the Durarara (ra ra ah ah ah ah ...Lady Gaga anyone?) series that is so different and I love so much. For those that don't know, Durarara (I promise, I'll stop the cheesy jokes xD) is about all of the crazy shit that happens in the city of Ikebukero and it revolves around a bunch of characters. There's the headless rider Celty, Shizuo the always pissed off/tough really strong guy, Izaya the information broker (and little shit), Shinra the doctor, Simon the Russian sushi guy, some high school students and a mysterious gang called The Dollars. Shizuo and Izaya hate each other, they're constantly running around the city fighting like a cat and mouse game and it's hilarious!  Trust me this show is very interesting!

(Warning: possible spoilers) 

SO much happened in the short space of 12 episodes so I'm going to try to touch on some main points. It was great to see what the gang has been up to since the first season ended. I felt so bad for Celty running from the police and pretty much the entire city. Next to Shizuo, Celty is my favorite character. She's really misunderstood and she has a very kind heart. Mikado had to deal with the Dollars starting to grow away from what he intended and move on without him. I wanted someone to beat the crap out of that little shit, Aoba who was trying to get Mikado to lead the blue scarves gang. I was so shocked when he stabbed him! It makes me wonder if Mikado is starting to go psychotic ...or if he's just starting to toughen up.

And that little girl Akane! I was so shocked when she tried to stun Shizuo but I felt so bad for her and her situation. We also got to see Simon and Dennis be kind of badass. I did not like Vorona at all. I wanted to see Celty punch her in the tit. I loved that we got to see some of Shizuo's brother,Kasuka. I hope we can see more of him in the future. Also the twins- they cracked me up. And HOLY SHIT the ending where Izaya got stabbed! That was insane.

(END SPOILER ALERT!!)

I was so mad when I found out the last episode was the finale, because it was so damn good! But we are supposed to get more in the summer! I hope there is more of Shizuo and Izaya fighting. I totally ship them. 

                                           

I want Shinra and Celty to get engaged already too!!

Death Parade

                                         

This was one of the most popular new shows of the 2015 winter anime season. Death Parade is about a group of people that work at this bar called Quindecim, but this isn't an ordinary bar. People get off of elevators and arrive at this bar....they are dead! They must play a death game to decide if they proceed to be reincarnated or tossed into the void. The people working at this bar are called arbiters and it is their task to judge and decide. The show follows Decim, the bartender as he judges those that have passed on.
I really loved this show and I hope that there's a 2nd season. I crave to see more. This show mixed a bunch of genres. At one moment it can be horror, another funny and then it could just rip out your heart and murder your feels. I am curious to see more about the characters. Especially the flower guy...what is his deal??? I also want to see how Decim does without Chiyuki. My favorite character was Decim. Look at this cutie!!

                                                       

 I also really liked Nona

                                  

Another

                                    

I watched this show waaaaay back in December/January. Someone recommended it to me so I watched it and I became totally hooked after the first episode. It's a horror anime sort of like the Final Destination movies. In this anime, there is a terrible death. A girl named Masaki died 26 years prior to the start of the show. As a result of her mysterious death, a curse is placed on her class - class 3 and every year the students live in fear.

At the start of the anime, a boy named Kouchi Sakakibara transfers to a new school...and ends up in class 3. He becomes drawn to a girl named Mei Misaki, who everyone treats as if she does not exist. He starts talking to her and befriends her even though his classmates and even Mei begin to advise against it.
Soon, the students in class 3 one by one die in violent accidents and Koichi discovers there is a terrible secret being hidden from him.

This anime was an awesome thrill ride. The horror and gore in it was beautiful. It kept me wanting to see more and more. I never saw the ending coming and was so shocked at the grand finale. It is definitely one of my favorite horror animes.

Golden Time

I watched this show some time in January, but I really wanted to discuss it! I loved Golden Time so much. I need to watch it again! It is a romantic comedy/drama. It's about a new college student named Tada Banri, about to attend law school. Banri has amnesia and is trying to get through his new life with no recollection of who he is. On the way to his freshman orientation he becomes lost and bumps into another guy named Mitsuo and they become fast friends.

On their way to orientation, Mitsuo's ex girlfriend, Kaga Koko comes along and hits him in the face with a bouquet of flowers. Koko is creepily obsessed with Mitsuo, Mitsuo went to lengths to apply to this law school in secret so that she wouldn't find out....she still found out and applied as well.

Banri eventually becomes good friends with her after many different circumstances. Their friendship turns into something more. But then, Banri meets an older student named Linda who turns out to be a former classmate of his from before he lost his memory.

This show sounds like a soap opera, but it is so good! I loved it a lot. I actually went a little insane when I finished it, not knowing what to watch next. I got very attached to the characters and found myself laughing and crying along with them.

Tokyo Ghoul Root A

                                                        

I LOVED the first season so I had to check this one out!

The first season was about a boy named Kaneki Ken who after being attacked by a ghoul named Rize (I love Rize *^*) becomes half human, half ghoul A ghoul is a creature that seems/appears human but they actually consume human flesh to live and have some pretty cool powers. He has to deal with his new life and adjust to it. Along the way he begins working a a coffee shop called Anteiku which is completely run by ghouls - but friendly ghouls who just want to live their lives and will only eat already dead humans. In this show ghouls are seen as monsters and the police to everything in their power to kill them all, innocent or not. This show had a great mixture of some horror as well as drama. Some episodes had me crying and I became so damn attached to the characters!

To be honest - there are things in the 2nd season that I totally didn't get. Maybe I didn't play close enough attention but I was sort of confused at times. But this season seemed like a mess of a plot to me and either I missed some things or there were plot holes. This season was mainly about Kaneki being a dick to everyone and joining Aoigiri, turning his back on all of his friends at Anteiku. At the same time the police are trying to crack down on ghouls and figure out who the ghoul with the eyepatch - Kaneki is. I did really like this season but it wasn't as good as the first. The ending totally destroyed me, and their choice of playing that emotional acoustic version of Unravel made it so much worse. Oh the feels ;__;

Cute High Earth Defense Club Love!

                                                    

I am so embarrassed by this but I still haven't finished this series! It's so bad how far behind it is. I really do love it but I keep forgetting to watch it! I need to sit down and marathon it.

This show is like Sailor Moon but with boys - magical boys! And they're pretty flamboyant and gay (yay gay!). The boys are high school students and they meet a magical pink wombat that tells them they are the battle lovers and must spread their love and defeat evil. It's in itself a parody of Sailor Moon and various other magical girl animes but it is brilliant. It's so funny! They transform with bracelets and even have transformation sequences and color coded costumes!

The enemies,  the student council are just as cute and flamboyant. I sadly can hardly ever remember the characters names but my favorites are Atsushi (the cutie with the glasses) and Ryuu (Pink haired girl obsessed cutie).

                            

I've also been watching Sailor Moon Crystal, but I've talked about that (maybe I'll do another review for today's new episode). I'm so sad that all of my winter animes are over! Now I'm hugely at a loss for what to watch. I guess I need to find a list of spring shows to check out.

I suck at summaries so I hope that these ones were fairly easy to follow! I highly recommend each show I mentioned. Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend. If you celebrate Easter, happy Easter! I do yet I don't celebrate it. I celebrate with my family but I do not celebrate the religious aspect. That I may talk about in a future post. Even if you don't celebrate it, I hope you all have fun with your families!

Xoxo
Moon prism power, makeup!

Singing

Hiiii everyone!! I hope you're all having a lovely day. Who else hates April Fools Day?? My phone decided to play a prank on me and not charge no matter what plug, cable or outlet I used. Luckily I restarted it and it is charging. Hahaha...fuck you phone. The only thing I enjoy about April Fools Day: Adult Swim's pranks. For those that don't know, Adult Swim (the adult programming on Cartoon Network at night) does a prank every year. Last night they did a coin hunt game with their show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It was pretty funny! I don't know which character won, but I was rooting for Meatwad. I remember one year on a saturday night (when Adult Swim shows/showed anime) they inserted fart noises into every show. I was practically dying watching Fullmetal Alchemist and Ghost in the Shell with fart noises. It was my first time seeing Ghost in the Shell and I legit thought that a character had a gas problem! XD. And of course, who could forget the infamous Toonami prank that got us our beloved block back.


 Anyway (Heather shut up and get to the point), yes another music post so soon! I had a sudden streak of inspiration. Truth be told I'm having the hardest time trying to think of good music related topics to discuss and I figured I would get this one out before I forgot to write it.

Those of you that follow me on twitter probably know that I'm a singer. I know I talk about recording and singing a lot. I don't claim to be the best singer but a lot of people enjoy my voice and I have a huge passion of singing so I record songs. I know that maybe 1 or 2 people listen to my songs, but they are a lot of fun to do and I'm grateful that even that few amount of people take the time to listen to them.

I am considered a trained singer. I took choral classes for 6 years, in middle school and high school. I practically begged my parents to let me take the classes in middle school, as they were considered an elective and you had to put extra time into them. My middle school chorus teacher taught me most of the things that I know about singing. She taught me a lot of the basics such as how to breathe, breath control and pitch. Truth be told, I can not read sheet music but I can identify some things on it. All because of the things she taught. If I could go back and thank her for everything she taught me, I absolutely would. She even provided extra attention to those of us that wanted it, holding extra practices during study hall where we would individually go over songs for our concerts with her.

My high school chorus teacher didn't really teach much of anything, but I did learn a lot. I had his classes every single day. Though I didn't particularly like him, I loved these classes. He expected people to learn as we went, for which I was thankful for my previous classes. I was one of the few people that took the class seriously. Most people were there for an easy credit but I worked fairly hard. Compared to middle school, we had far more challenging and a number more songs to learn. I loved the challenge. We sang the Hallelujah Chorus for one of our holiday concerts and I was doing the super high notes which took a lot of work to hit (I miss having that range ;___;) .

This class what where I started learning to hone my voice. Everyone was placed in groups according to vocal range. I was in the higher ranged soprano group. And I was often one of the louder people in my section. I was always involved with the music department.

Amy Lee from Evanescence was also a huge role in me learning to sing. She's my idol and inspiration. Her voice is so beautiful and I always wanted to sound like her. Listening to her albums growing up pushed me to want to learn to sing and also to start a band (this was before I realize I have a horrible case of stage fright). I would sit in my room with lyrics and sing along with her songs.

Singing properly isn't as simple as most people think. Sure, it is simple but there's a lot to it. One of the most important things is to warm up. You can't just dive into a challenging song, unless you want to hurt your vocal chords or your voice to die. You also won't be able to keep your voice going for long. A good warmup session is a must. There are also proper ways to breathe. Yes, to sing properly you need to breathe a proper way! Otherwise your notes will not have proper support. When I first started learning to sing, I had the hardest time learning to breathe! But now it's just second nature to me. Breathing from your diaphragm is important. Also pushing out as you breathe in.

Having a proper knowledge of vocal dynamics is important too. You need to know if your notes are too sharp, too pitchy or flat otherwise your songs will not sound good. You need to know what your vocal range is. If you push yourself to sing too high or too low ranges all the time you will damage your voice.
I was taught to sing loud and project my voice so that a room full of people can hear. That is a big problem when I record my songs. I don't use any sort of fancy equipment. Just a crappy microphone on an ipod touch. This microphone will pick up on any sort of sound. Often times when I sing loudly, it does not sound right on the recording. So I have the most difficult time with that, often needing to place the device across the room.

There are also SO many different vocal styles from Broadway to pop or rock. I have sort of an odd voice. I have the hardest time singing most songs. But I don't have much difficulty with Broadway type or Evanescence songs.

I haven't had any sort of music/singing/chorus classes for 4 years now, so my voice has gotten extremely rusty. I went from being used to singing every day and pushing my range higher to not doing so. As a result I lost some of my high range and my voice for a long time didn't sound as it used to.
In middle school, I used to record what I called at the time my "demos" which is what I do now - record myself singing. I thought it was cool and fun but sadly all of my friends thought they were stupid. I posted one online and someone said it was horrible. So I gave up on that until recently.

Now I know that this is going to sound cheesy and lame as all hell. One of my favorite movies is Phantom of the Opera. It's based on the Broadway musical. In the movie, the main character Christine's father passes away. As he died, her father (a famous violinist) promised to send her the angel of music. Being so in love with this movie, after my dad died I was asking where is my angel of music???? And as Christine did...I truly dreamed of something fantastic music related happening.

Since I started doing these recordings again, I feel like I have finally been visited by my angel of music so to speak. My voice sounds better now than it ever has before. Since I started posting my songs for others to hear, I never thought that I would get the responses that I have. I thought it would be yet another fiasco...people telling me how horrible my voice is (which I truly feel at times). But to my surprise people love my songs! I would have felt joyed by just 1 person telling me truthfully that my singing is good...but I have had a bunch tell me and even ask me for more songs.

So I work very hard on my songs. Often staying up half the night working on some songs for months. I push myself until I feel it is somewhat decent to share. Every single song I do, I record in 1 take. So it can get rather tedious singing the same song until I get it right. Every single song is raw as well. I don't add anything or do anything to them. I simply upload them from my ipod, to my computer and then to my Soundcloud.
So yes, I thought I would discuss my background in music, what I do and a little bit about singing. Sure, singing to the radio is easy and fun. But to sing professionally or seriously...even as someone like Katy Perry can be difficult! And if you don't take proper care of your voice the results can be disastrous.

For those that have never heard my music, here is my latest cover of Lithium by Evanescence. I have never worked so hard on a song before. This song took me 2-3 months of trying until I could get it. The higher notes at the end took so much time to nail. Truthfully I haven't been able to hit that note for years...and have been trying for years! I am extremely self conscious about my voice. So if you don't like it and think I suck, that's cool! But please don't be rude to me about it. It took me a long time to get the confidence just to share a link of it on twitter let alone on here where people can always find it.


[I tried to embed the link above, in case you cant's see it/are mobile here's the link:https://soundcloud.com/sailorkahleesi/lithium-evanescence-cover/s-Tuq3o ]

If anyone has any post suggestions/ideas feel free to comment! I'm always glad to have suggestions, though I think Neo (Hiiiiiii Neo!! :D ) is the only person that gives suggestions ;___; .

Xoxo
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