Happy Halloween 2020! And Happy New Trials Anniversary from 1999 and onwards!

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Happy Halloween 2020! And Happy New Trials Anniversary! #cardcaptorsakura #ccs #카드캡터사쿠라 #カードキャプターさくら #newtrials #sakurakinomoto #syaoran

A post shared by Wish-chan (@wish.luv) on Nov 1, 2020 at 1:12am PST

 

 Happy Halloween and also happy 21st anniversary of New Trials! I drew the chibi sketch for Halloween 2019. In Naoko's fantasy, Sakura probably is a cute, klutzy novice witch, while Syaoran is the head of an ancient vampire clan. 

Of course, fall 1999 is also when I first published the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura on the internet, before the age of E-books. Time does fly, doesn't it? I think the greatest blessing is that we all grew up together, the CCS characters, the readers, and myself of course as well. I think in the difficult times we are in, we seek comfort in those things that are familiar to us, things that give us happiness, and the CCS and New Trials community is one of those things that I feel blessed to have with me. So, despite my sporadic updates, I just want to say how much I love you all and how grateful I have this community with me, as a part of my DNA. 

Music Spotlight:

I've been missing Broadway every since I finally got to see the Hamilton film back in July. I missed out on getting tickets several times when I visited New York, and it was awesome seeing it with the original cast. I vibed so much with with Angelica Schuyler and haven't even recovered since. As a writer, sometimes you feel so jealous of another writer's way with words, and the history major in me also felt quite giddy. Sorry for ever doubting Lin-Manual Miranda. I'm not sharing any Hamilton songs because I think it's more enjoyable watching the show with virgin ears (like I did!). Instead, I know it's cliche, but I can't think of a better Halloween song. And I've been really revisiting Andrew Lloyd Webber again. Phantom of the Opera is the epitome of a musical, and I think should be everyone's entryway into Broadway. I only recently caught the Phantom of The Opera at the Royal Albert Hall from 2011 and it was perfection, though I am such an original cast loyalist. I also allude to Phantom of the Opera quite a few times in New Trials, hence today's choice. Strange, I was always Team Erik, and thought Christine Daae was a ninny. These days, I can't help just thinking what a gentleman Raoul is.

 

  

 

Happy Birthday Li Syaoran 2020!

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Happy Birthday Li Syaoran July 13, 2020!!! #카드캡터체리 #카드캡터사쿠라 #カードキャプターさくら #cardcaptorsakura #ccs #newtrials #kinomotosakura # syaoran #lisyaoran #clamp #anime

A post shared by Wish-chan (@wish.luv) on Jul 14, 2020 at 8:27am PDT

Happy Birthday to Li Syaoran 2020! I realized as I was drawing this why I never draw SS in battle costumes with their wand and sword and also why I avoid group pictures.

Maybe the pandemic is a time to tap into my inner creativity, as many people seem to be doing, but I feel like the past couple months have been more of a period in which all creativity has been sapped dry. I think Syaoran's birthday is always a good period to jolt me back on track. I haven't really been feeling much inspiration in work, in my personal writing, or even my hobbies, nor can I name a single good drama or movie I've seen recently. I don't even listen to much music anymore. I have been reading a lot however lately, and I find it cyclical. Reading then finding inspiration again to create.

Hope you are all staying healthy and sound.

Music Spotlight:

Mongol800: "Chiisana Koi No Uta (Song of a Small Love)"



This is a cute cover version though I prefer the original version because of how raw it is. The song was an insert in one of my favorite J-dorama from 2007 "Proposal Daisakusen" back in days I was obsessed with Yamapi. The song lyrics are so sweet and uplifting.

Happy Birthday Sakura 2020!

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Happy Birthday Kinomoto Sakura 2020! #ccs #cardcaptorsakura #newtrials #wishluv #cardcaptor #카드캡터체리 #카드캡터사쿠라 #カードキャプターさくら展

A post shared by Wish-chan (@wish.luv) on Apr 1, 2020 at 12:35pm PDT

Happy Birthday to our dearest Kinomoto Sakura (and a bunch of other CLAMP characters)! This is just a short post because I am still working on other things, but I didn't want to miss Sakura's birthday. I think I mentioned before that I don't like drawing Sakura with her staff because CLAMP draws plenty enough solo Sakura artwork with her staffs. That's also an excuse because I find staffs and swords a pain to draw. It's actually a part of a much bigger group fanart that I was working on for the 20th anniversary of New Trials last year that I have been sharing little snippets of. My favorite staff will always be the star staff but what is your favorite staff? The bird staff is probably the iconic and the dream staff from Clear Card a version I am never going to draw. There, I said it.

I know the entire world is going through tough times right now, and we need all the cheering up we can get at the moment. Some of you may be undergoing social distancing and prolonged quarantines at home, others may be essential workers out on the front lines, some of you may be in areas of the world less affected by the global pandemic. But I hope you are all maintaining a good balance of public awareness and following your local government policies while trying keeping good spirit because a global pandemic is overcome through collective effort. Stay safe, healthy and happy.

And in the meantime, I leave you with a song that inspired the New Trials Sakura's Birthday Special "Pink Ribbon Trees" from so many years ago.

Today's music spotlight is an oldie, Dawn's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree." Sometimes I miss days when lyrics so effectively told a touching story as opposed to repetitive hooks and catchy phrases that are meaningless (which are addictive nonetheless). There is a reason why you always end up going back to classics at times.

Happy (Belated) 20th Anniversary to New Trials and Happy International New Trials Day!

Merry Christmas/ Happy New Year S+S unfinished fanart!

I don't how to get started, and this is not really the first blog post that I have started  in the past couple months. This might have been the longest period that I have gone off the radar in recent years. As the end of the year approached, I was overwhelmed in general with work and life. Nothing terribly bad but just had to prioritize things to get done because as I grow older, I realize that my energy and time is unfortunately finite. Once I missed one self-imposed deadline, I think the pressure grew stronger on me not to come back to the community until I had a substantial new update. And yet I don't have an update ready for today, but I just wanted to drop a note because of the situation of the world, combating a global pandemic perhaps in a crisis a lot of us haven't seen in our lifetimes. Because of my line of work, that's all my attention has been focused on over the past month and a half on the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, has only been named a global pandemic last week. (Initially I had been aiming for a February return to the New Trials Community because it's an important month for us, but that is mainly the reason for the delay). I know all of you are coming from across the world, some more affected by others, but I hope you are all take care of yourselves and your loved ones. My country was one that was affected by the virus earlier than some other places, and so we have been dealing with this for more than a month now. It's important to maintain a sense of balance, practicing caution and exercising good judgement in terms of hygiene and social distancing, but also, not to panic or go into a state of hysteria. After all, most of us aren't really scared for ourselves and more for our loved ones, maybe grandparents or parents who can be more affected by the virus. Because of my line of work, I need to keep going to work and am busier than ever, but the perks of social distancing is general social life has been minimized/cut off giving more time to reflect on other things, I suppose. But after more than a month of living on the edge, I slowly realized that all the joy in life was being sapped away from me. (It doesn't help that I've always been an extreme germaphobe, though I am pretty good at hiding that in everyday life.) Then, I wondered what is something that gives me join and happiness, and of course, that is writing and you guys, the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura community. And it hit me how much I missed being a part of it.

On a brighter note, I would like to properly mark the 20th anniversary of "The New Trials of Card Captor Sakura" here in the official blog and thank you all for your undying support. This whole experience, interacting with other Card Captor Sakura fans and just finding kindred spirits out in the world globally has been a life-changer for me, and an inseparable part of my formative years and the path to becoming who I am today. There are really no words to express the gratitude I have for everyone for sticking by all these years, and of course the best way to show my thanks is through action, which in my head is updates, which I have been bad about. The amount of my gratitude is always paired with my apology for how long it takes me to write and for those times I go missing.

In terms of productivity in writing, 2019 has sort of been a failure, in every aspect, but if readers will see it in a kinder light, it's been an important year architecturally to set the foundation of the end of New Trials. Amethyst Beloved (who in my head I call my chief editor who has been a major force in driving me all these years), in 2018 told me that I can finish New Trials to mark its 20th anniversary, and somewhere in my head, I've been pressuring myself into thinking I have to finish New Trials by 2019. I think somewhere in late autumn, I realized that it's just not happening. I missed posting on a lot of important occasions over the past several months because as long-time readers know, I oftentimes go on self-imposed exile when I am really trying to crunch down on finishing a chapter, or in this case, the whole series. This time around though, I think it's had a negative effect. I enjoy all the positive energy, and I really missed being a part of the NT/CCS community real-time (which I was so good about in 2018). I apologize for this, and it's not because I put New Trials any lower on my priorities or wasn't thinking about it, but consider it as my self-imposed punishment for not meeting my own deadlines and also what I think readers expect from me. I spent last year realizing and accepting my own limitations but hope 2020 can be more about trying to overcome this.

Happy Halloween 2019!

I was devastated to hear that Yahoo Groups has gone under while I was MIA. But then, Amethyst Beloved let me know that a group of longtime followers have set up a new backup account: https://groups.io/g/newtrialsring. Thank you again to Natasha Gibson, Serenity Shields, Jiri-chan, Kirei-chan, Mesel Tzegai and Amethyst Beloved! I love the NT community, the best group in the world, and am so grateful. Happy International New Trials Day!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy White Day! All these special occasions I missed while I was away. But my heart was still with New Trials nonetheless. Just sharing a few doodles I drew to mark the special occasions and ended up not posting.

Please take care, everybody! 

Happy Birthday Kaitou Magician aka Criminal No. 603! (His birthday is March 6)

Music Spotlight: "For Good" from the musical Wicked.