Happy International New Trials Day 2016!

Happy International New Trials Day 2016!!! by wishluv on DeviantArt

I wish I could have finished the full version of this fanart, but I didn't think I would have time to color it in. Syaoran, unfortunately, is cut out but he's there, besides Sakura. 

I was trying to figure out how many years have passed since I began writing New Trials, and this year, I just couldn't do the math until I saw a Facebook post which said it's been 17 years! I realize now that I picked the right fandom to pursue when I chose to begin writing New Trials in fall 1999. I seriously think CCS has the best and most united fandom out there, and it hasn't disappointed in the near 20 years that I've known this series.

I think I mentioned before that one of the reasons I began writing a fanfic for CCS was because I was dead sure that CLAMP would never write a sequel for it. Boy was I wrong. I'm so excited that CLAMP did choose to write a sequel for the 20th anniversary of CCS, other than Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles of course. It means new artwork, new merchandise! And I'm hoping that the Card Captor Sakura Clear Arc will be animated as well. Dare I dream of a new collaboration between Yoko Kanno and Maaya Sakamoto?

Of course, I am so far along in New Trials that a new sequel really has no impact on the story I have in mind. I didn't get much of a chance to work on Chapter 73: The Other Side of Midnight over my summer break, but it's a chapter I'm really excited about. 

So, thank you for supporting New Trials and for us for supporting CCS for so long that CLAMP felt compelled to revisit their pet series. I swear, I think they must love Sakura and Syaoran as much as we do. I once wrote in some post long ago that though CCS is my favorite of CLAMP's works by far, I believe X, though yet unfinished, to be CLAMP's magnum opus. But perhaps, I was wrong, and it will be Card Captor Sakura, after all. I can go with that. 

Do check out the fabulous artwork being posted on Facebook celebrating New Trials Day!

Music Spotlight is Yui's Gloria. I listened to Yui's Orange Garden Pop album on the airplane and remembered how much I liked her music all over again. She has such a poignant voice. This song's been stuck in my head for some reason though.