20230817 Deep Space Domain Lord's Weekly Journal: Chapter 44

Hey everyone! It's that time of the week again for another journal update!

Ghost Month is here—is anyone else feeling a little spooked? I never used to care much about it, but lately, I've been leaning toward "better safe than sorry" and actually avoiding some of those old superstitions. Confession time: I used to think the whole "pointing at the moon will get your ears cut off" thing was a total myth. But then I saw a relative with a cut on their ear, and when I asked what happened, they said it was because they pointed at the moon! It completely blew my mind. Now I'm stuck wondering, "Wait, is this just something adults make up to scare kids, or is it actually real???" It feels like the whole Santa Claus conspiracy, where all the adults just silently agree to keep the lie going!

This week, I had my second electric guitar lesson and my fourth vocal lesson. I learned a tiny bit of the intro to *Fullmetal Alchemist*, but honestly, I feel like I'm memorizing things so slowly. I have to watch my teacher demonstrate it multiple times before I can remember which string and fret to press. My teacher reassured me that once I get the hang of it, I'll be able to read sheet music and instantly know where to place my hands, which was a huge relief! There are tons of guitar tabs online that apparently let you play a song just by glancing at them—I really hope I can reach that level soon! As for the vocal lesson, my teacher gave me some voice exercises. I'm finally starting to understand the difference between head voice and chest voice. Singing in my head voice still feels a lot easier, but it makes my vocals airy, overly high, and weak. So, my current goal is to build a nice, effortless chest voice and smooth out the transitions between the two without cracking or going off-pitch.

We had a group collab stream on Tuesday, and after chatting off-stream, it turned out my performance was pretty well-received? I was actually quite happy with how I did, too! (Mostly during the Q&A segment at the end, haha.) I might have stumbled a bit in the first half, so that's something I can improve on for our next group stream. By the way, do you guys like listening to me chant sutras? I looked it up and found out there's no harm in chanting the Heart Sutra during Ghost Month, so I was thinking of doing a challenge stream like "How many times can I recite the Heart Sutra in an hour?" Sounds fun, right? lol. The Japanese VTuber Chima Machita once did an endurance stream singing *Kibou no Hana*, which was absolutely insane! I definitely don't have that kind of stamina, so setting a time limit is probably for the best! (Plus, it's a great excuse to practice my speed-running stream-ending skills.)

This week's novel recommendation is *I Achieved Success With the Karma System*. It’s about a female protagonist who reincarnates as a journalist and uses a karma system to punish evil and reward good. She sneaks into dangerous places to expose crimes. The story arcs so far have been really engaging—there's one about catching a serial killer, an exposé on an internet addiction boot camp, and a crazy case where someone poisoned a water supply and swapped regular drinking water with heavy water just to steal a house. There's even an arc about child trafficking. Overall, the tone is surprisingly lighthearted, so some parts require you to suspend your disbelief, and the main character gets incredibly lucky at times. Still, the writing is solid, so I'd definitely recommend checking it out!

Oh, and FF41 is coming up! To all my little cotton candies heading there, please stay safe! Remember to stay hydrated and keep an eye on your belongings. But most importantly, go with a good mood and come back with a full heart (even if you don't end up buying anything)~~

Alright, that wraps up this week's journal. See you all next week!