Desk Diary 2013/02
Lack of time to sit down and write means that its once again been ages since the last Desk Diary ^^; Been traveling a bit since we last spoke - went to New York for New York Comicon, Singapore for AFA, Malaysia for Comic Fiesta, Thai for Thailand Game Show, Malaysia again for business meetings and TV appearances and Singapore again for Manga Festival.
Have also been working on various projects including making my own Mirai-chan doll.
Once upon a time, I spent most of my time writing blog posts and then one day I said to myself "I dont want to be just sitting here writing blog posts for the rest of my life."
Since then, my business has expanded into many fields and I hardly get time to sit down anymore to write ><
So - be careful for what you wish for because if you make it a need then you will make it happen.
Anyway, today we take a look around the office to see what has changed since last time.
Christmas came and went in a flash. Time is moving quicker for all of us as we get older. The same hour is different for all of us and this is the reason why - 1 year to a five year old is a 1/5th of their lifespan. 1 year to a twenty year old is 1/20th of their lifespan. Our perception on timespan changes as we get older.
We need to establish what we want to do in life as early as possible before time runs out. You may not discover what you want to do straight away but at least you have set out to establish whats right for you. Start today - not tomorrow or before you know it you will start to regret that you dont have enough time left.
My collection of daughters has grown to 10 >< Not all are Volks though.
This lovely lady is a BJD from Iple House - I need to get her more decent clothes. No name for her yet though.
Stuck up the posters that we sold at Comic Fiesta and Thailand Game Show.
These posters were priced cheaper than the ones we sold at Singapore because they were printed on more cost effective paper - perhaps a bit too thin though. The ones in Singapore were printed on high grade paper which was a bit overkill as the printer made them waterproof @.@
We are learning a lot as we start to manufacture our own products and aim to reach optimum quality and price range.
Mirai in her Solar Marine uniform illustrated by Piromizu-sensei.
Kanata, Mirai and Haruka in their Solar Marine uniforms. Wallpapers of this illustration lives here.
Mirai in her Winter uniform illustrated by Iizuki Tasuku-sensei.
Mirai in her Solar Marine uniform illustrated by Koku-sensei.
Haruka, Mirai and Kanata illustrated bu Iizuki Tasuku-sensei.
The Moecalendar illustrated by Ikkyuu-sensei. This was only sold at Comic Fiesta but I'm giving out the full res wallpaper of each month at the beginning of every month.
Time to dust off the figures - if you dont then not only do they gather dust but the dust gathers oil particles which is why you may notice that some of your figures feel sticky which then damages the paint ><
I use a big fluffy thing for large amounts of dust then a cooking brush from the 100 yen shop for the actual figure. Dont mix brushes and always wash the brush after a while or you would be brushing dirt onto the figure.
Need to take all the figures off the shelves to dust them properly and also to dust the actual shelves.
1/7 scale Alisa Ilyinichna Omela [アリサ・イリーニチナ・アミエーラ] from God Eater Burst. I still owe you a review ><
Latest PV for God Eater 2 for the PSP/Vita below.
Figures keep falling from the ceiling - this one is Kotobukiya Inia. So cute.
More ceiling figures - Kotobukiya Kirino.
Still one of my fave figma's - Mikuru Maid.
Max Factory Menma - facing the other way because shes got a cute bottle.
Rearranged the figures in no particular order.
Saber in Mirai's OL uniform made by Chun who makes great doll apparel - ping her if you need to commission something.
One of the SQLab girls - I picked her up when in Korea last year - still no name for her either.
I seem to take Yuki-chan around with me the most so that probably means shes my fave ^o^
Ryomo in Solar Marine uniform complete with her Millennium Blade which was made by Kazuki-san.
Brought back the second display to help me manage the various sensei that I work with - easier to have skype on one display with artwork on the other.
Here you can see the display arm that I use - picked up from Amazon which was 4,980 yen at the time.
If you are attaching a display arm on a glass desk then I recommend that you stick a piece of wood like this in the clamp for support - would not want the glass to crack.
Still a load of cables below the desk but not as bad as before.
All my precious data is stored on this 2TB HDD by Buffalo. When I first started computing on a Windows machine many moons ago, I experienced lots of data loss due to viruses or hardware failure. I learned that having precious data on the same drive as the system was too risky so ever since, my data has always been on a separate drive - even after switching to Mac.
With my data on this external HDD, when I travel abroad (which is once a month), I just unplug and plug into my MacBook Air. The data is regularly backed up to another external drive and also on cloud storage at Amazon S3. It costs about 60 USD per month to store 1TB of data.
60 USD may sound a lot but just imagine you lost all your family photos and videos - or even worse - your hentai_archive.zip. You would probably pay anything to get it all back right?
Its important to have redundant copies of your data on and off site. If anything happens to your house, you will have peace of mind that your data is safe and encrypted on the cloud.
What sort of data backup workflows do you have that you can share with us?
Anyway, the HDD is stored on the back of the iMac by a cheap alternative to the iMac BackPack - its just a deck box (just like the Mirai Carry Cases) taped to the back.
The Fiio E10 USB DAC/Amp for my iMac (about 7,800 yen). Mentioned it last time for folks who dont know what it is.
Did you know that Logitech is called Logicool in Japan? This is probably because there is another company in Japan called Logitec - while the spelling is different, the katakana would be the same.
Have been working on my own home made doll using 3D rapid prototyping - you can read all about it here.
I need this for working on my doll. I had no idea that this was called a digital caliper. In Japanese its called Nogis (ノギス). Got this one from amazon.
Aoi-chan about to omnom on one of my fave Japanese sweets - Yukimi Daifuku. Hope she leaves some for me.
Check out the retro CM below.
My audio gear - Blue Snowball Microphone (which I reviewed here) and the Sony MDR-CD900ST studio monitor headphones. We used this microphone for all episodes of Culture Japan Season 2.
When not used for travelling, my Mirai carry-on is used as interior deco ^^;
Temporarily removed the Ita curtains while I think of a design for new ones.
Itamado was one of the few April Fools that I didn't follow through with due to low priority ><
Picked up a couple of stackable containers from Muji to store bits n pieces around the desk. My pet hate is loose items! I kinda like to have everything clean and tidy in a box.
Nice n tidy ^^
The Chop Saber by Kotobukiya has developed - now takes batteries and glows.
As you know from reading through past Desk Diary's, we moved up from the first floor and now the office joins onto the lounge area.
Most TV's in Japan come with a TV schedule where you can record your fave anime and wot not.
Anime like Minamike!
This is the other side of my office behind my back.
Folks ask me "What does your wife think about you using an oppai mousepad?"
My answer is "Well she uses one herself and was the product manager for the project - what do you think?"
We have various staff members located all over the place. When they are in the office they sit here.
Most of the 3D work we do is on Windows which we installed on this iMac using bootcamp.
The glass slab on the table is the Vika from Ikea. Using lights below tables makes the room feel bigger as they illuminate the dark areas in the room. When used below glass tables, the place looks even more spacious.
How many of you use glass tables at your main workspace?
I wonder whats in store for the office this year.
Been using the GoPro Hero a bit lately to film some footage from my Itachari - videos up at YouTube.
I love retro mecha designs.
Mirai Summer School uniform on sale now - but for those who cant afford it - I'm preparing the patterns for you so that you can make your own - patterns distributed for free.
Figures and plants go well with each other.
Before I die, I want to make this into a product to stick on your glasses.
This is about the only stationary we have in the office on the 2nd floor. We try to keep paper down to a minimum.
With wifey in Japan, US and France.
The growing Mirai Suenaga Shrine of products.
How many of these do you own?
I still have not got round to doing the decals on the Mirai Itasha ><
Mirai Suenaga Nendoroid - your Japanese language learning talisman - mine was a poster of Shinjuku.
My earthquake detection system.
Black Rock Shooter White Edition with my clone -.-
Another Inia figure this time by Skytube - thanks to comrades at Hobby Search for sending her over!
New video equipment - got it for filming Culture Japan Season 3. I wanted a more movie like look and feel that we had in Japan Mode but didn't want the hassle of using a DSLR for filming - the NEX-VG30 enables me to use my existing E-mount lenses and a variety of industrial sound equipment too. It also has video stabilisation which DLSR's dont come with. Took a load of photos and hope to get a review out soon-ish ><
Most popular illustrators in Japan also do eroge stuff so I need to keep myself in the loop with the popular and up n coming artists and decide who could potentially come up with a cute illustration of our Mirai-chan - and that was the long excuse for having an eroge mag in the office ^^;
As for the inside - so many cute girls! J-List has a decent collection which they ship worldwide.
How many of you are knowledgeable with the latest eroge? If you are then let me know! We should talk business.
Our internal office phones.
Reina-chan is still nekkid from having her clothes taken around the world by Yuki-chan ><
The otaku's best friend - tissue. But it looks cooler when its military style. Got this from Amazon for 1,890 yen.
This is what it looks like inside - you can stick in other bits n bobs too.
Attached one of these electrical taps to the bottom shelf of the table which I use just for the camera adapters. Wifey has a Canon adapter (not pictured here) that goes on the left.
Business trips for this year include Malaysia (a few more times this year), Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Los Angeles, New York, Singapore. Possibly Dubai and somewhere in Europe too.
The VT-1 is still my all time fave Valkyrie.
Small plushie gift from a reader - cant remember who gave me this - lemme know if it was you ><
Mirai Nendoroid! I need to announce details of the free return ticket to Japan - I'll do it later today.
Jaina Solo by Kotobukiya - I've taken a load of photos already - just need to find time to post the review ToT.
Doll sized Vitasoy - prezzie from Avan. Its also a magnet which I use to cover the camera on the iMac as you never know who is watching you.
Krating Daeng - commonly known as Red Bull. Did you know that it originated in Thailand?
I nearly got injured when this lot fell from the ceiling.
Sorting through some of the passes I've collected on my visits to anime events worldwide.
Thats its for now! Will try not to leave it too late until the next instalment ><
And in the meantime you can have a look at previous Desk Diary posts to see what the office used to look like many moons ago.
