Month: February 2016

Sidekicks Can Be Awesome Too

Author’s Note: This story was written in response to the following prompt in the WritingPrompts subreddit:

The main character has the gift to turn even their worst enemies into their greatest compainions.

This story was first posted on Reddit. This feels like it has a kinda rushed and unrealistic flow, but still, writing this has gotten me more motivated to write more fiction again. Also, I felt like my writing-with-time-constraints skill has improved, but I’m now questioning the value of that skill. Hm, I guess it can help me improvise on the spot better…

Oh, and of course, honest constructive feedback is highly encouraged and will be highly appreciated, yo.

Continue reading “Sidekicks Can Be Awesome Too” →

Illusion or Reality? Pride or Humility?

Serving God shouldn’t be a sad thing to do, indeed, and we should remember that humans aren’t perfect. 🙂

joy of nine9

During Lent, God presents us with a fundamental choice. Will we choose to continue to live in our human illusions or will we allow God to reveal His reality to us? Will we cling to false pride or embrace true humility? All too often we think we are more humble than we really are, especially if we have been striving to grow spiritually for a long time.

The Pharisees were also earnest about their religious practices. As Christians, it is easy to denigrate the Jewish Pharisees, thinking we have risen above such behaviour because we live in New Testament times, no longer under the burden of the Old Testament Laws. However, before we judge these men too harshly, we should remember they were simply striving to be good, observant Jews. In their zeal, they inadvertently ended up seeking respect for themselves rather than inspiring love for God.

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When Religious Duty Becomes…

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Fellow Fools and God’s Mercy

These days, it seems like when a person makes a mistake, a popular response to such a thing would be to condemn that person and consider them irredeemable. And considering how much I know, I feel like such a response was popular even during ancient times, even before the Roman Catholic Church was founded. Heh, even me and my fellow Roman Catholics aren’t fully immune to being merciless towards people who make mistakes! Freaking sad, no?

Really, such mercilessness breaks my heart, even when I’m not the target.

And you know, that sort of conflict has led me towards appreciating three saints more. They’re freaking significant people in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, but their lives weren’t perfect. Still, God called them, and they answered, followed, and served well.

Perugino’s “Delivery of the Keys,” or “Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter”

Saint Peter, the First Pope…and the Apostle who had disowned Jesus thrice.

Saint Paul the Apostle…the man who was once known as Saul, one of the people who actively persecuted the Christians.

And then there’s Saint Augustine of Hippo…a man who had spent years of his life in loose and sinful living before his conversion.

Unbelievable, no? I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people who would call God an idiot after knowing about this. Such a reaction is something that I fear, but it’s not so scary when I think about my experiences and those three saints’ lives. Believe it or not, God showed mercy to them and called them to serve Him, and I’m sure that he shows mercy to us through various ways…ways that we imperfect beings don’t clearly sense all the time…

Sure, we humans aren’t perfect. That’s true, and I’m sure that God knows that everyday. He hates sin, yes, but He sees goodness in us, even though it seems like we sinners don’t deserve His mercy. That’s something that I realized as I lived and grew up. God’s mercy…that has inspired me towards being merciful to other people, even though doing that is freaking difficult at times.

So yeah, trying to follow Jesus Christ seems freaking stupid these days, and I once thought that being faithful to God was a freaking stupid thing to do. Now, I understand why Jesus went through all that suffering, and why He said “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” and kept going through that suffering, not even doing the smiting that we warmongering idiots highly expect from God Almighty.

Yes, we are idiots, and we have misunderstood God again and again. But still, we can be truly good to each other and experience true happiness, things that shouldn’t happen without God.

Unbelievable, no? 🙂

For Momo-chan’s birthday, Tobby tried to sing Otsukimi Recital

For those who are wondering…yes, Momo Kisaragi is a fictional character. Not very book-smart, but she’s way more skilled in social stuff than Shintarou, her older brother. Also, her birthday is on Valentine’s Day. I feel like she’d have the most fun on that day by being with the Mekakushi Dan, though. Idol life is freaking difficult, you know, especially with Momo’s other circumstances.

So yeah, happy birthday to my favorite (fictional) celebrity. 🙂

And now, here’s this cover’s mp3.

Tobby tried to sing Toki no Ame, Saishuu Sensou

I tried to sing Orangestar-sensei’s “Toki no Ame, Saishuu Sensou” (“A Passing Shower, the Final War“). This song was written for Wolpis Kater-senpai’s album, Wolpis-sha no teikyou de o-okurishimasu. (Sending off with Wolpis Inc’s sponsorship…well, that’s how I translated that, though…), and it’s a pretty deep song. Also, I got mixing and mastering help from Arksh-san! ありがとうございます、アークシュさん！

And yes, I had a conversation in Japanese with a native Japanese person. I found myself both nervous and thrilled because of that experience! I first knew about Arksh-san when I was looking for covers of Pinnochio-P-san’s “Motivation ga Shinderu” (“Motivation is Dying“), and I started following him because of his rapping and his song covers! Although he claims that he’s an amateur at mixing and mastering, I think that he has potential there! I’d like to wish him strength, yo!

And now, here’s this cover’s mp3.