Momonji went to Hong Kong together with my uncle and aunt. She left yesterday and thank God she arrived there safe and sound. She’s staying there for 3 weeks. I’m happy for her. I know she always wanted to travel abroad and now she finally had the chance to do it. Hong Kong is not much nowadays. Even highschool kids can go there but still, it’s overseas and you have to ride the plane to go there so I know it means a lot to my mom and I’m really happy for that. I hope she can enjoy her stay even with limited funds she got. On the other hand, I’m a little sad. I can imagine what my lunch and dinner would be for the next 20 days - canned goods, frozen delights, salted egg, Ka Millet’s BBQ, Andoks, Jollibee, Tapsilogan… haay, I will be deprived of home cooked meals for 20 days and that’s equivalent to 40 meals (lunch and dinner) –tears-. Breakfast is my only saving grace – I love Gutierrez’ pan de sal! And dear lord what will happen to my… uhm… clothes? My mom would definitely expect a 3 weeks worth of clothes… I’m so helpless, sue me. And of course, home’s not complete without my mom around…

Good news, today I finally completed the Clamp No Kiseki, yay! Sandy of Comic Odyssey gave me great discount on vol. 6 and vol.12. He’s so nice. By the way, ever wonder if there’s any connection with the other comic store Comic Quest? I highly doubt if the 2 shops are in anyway owned by the same person or group, there’s a big difference in prices. But what’s with those names?! Maybe I should put up one and name it ‘comic journey’ or ‘comic trek’ hahaha! Cheesy me hehehe. But I definitely prefer buying from Comic Odyssey. Aside from cheaper price, the owner and staff gives me discount and are very accommodating. Unlike the people of Comic Quest, they seem to be nice to REGULAR customers only. You know, the typical “customer service”.

Back to CLAMP no Kiseki, it’s a 12 volume publication that exhibits CLAMP’s works from 1989 to 2004. It’s a celebration of CLAMP’s 15th year in commercial manga scene. Each volume showcases exclusive interviews, artworks, short manga, essays and –deep breath- limited edition collectible chess figures. I don’t know how to play chess but I am a CLAMP fan so I decided to collect them. It’s a MUST have for fans! I learned a lot about CLAMP team from this publication and I became more obsessed with them hehehe. I learned that they are heavy drinkers and a bunch book worms. Despite their high profile, they were very friendly and approachable. Bunch of gullible also, right Takashi Yamazaki-sensei? Kidding hehhehe. But what really amazed me is that they are obviously more than just a team. They are very good friends. They used to live together but now they live separately, their cats Kakyou and Kogane, stayed with Ohkawa-san and the other 3 CLAMP members always visit them. It’s very rare to be colleagues and good friends at the same time without getting into huge conflict (case in point: Eraserheads). I’m pretty sure they have a smooth relationship otherwise they won’t stay together that long. It’s already their 19th year and they are still doing very well in the industry. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and XXX Holic are still ongoing and they have a project with Dark Horse Comics in 2009. CLAMP-sensei I love you!!!!

The bad news, no issue comes with a chess board and I haven’t heard that there’s an official release yet. Damn I can’t find the fuckin’ chess board! I need it for the pictorial! By the way, in Japan, if you completed the set, you’ll also get a Keroberos and Spinel as alternative Kings…. Too bad, I have the US version T_T

Oh yeah I know you're not asking, but I want to say that my favorite chess piece is the white king Shaoran and the black knight Nokoru. They are the apple and strawberry of my eyes, kawaiiii!!! 0_0