The Chaotic Life of Adrien Melody

  As you’ll know if you’ve spent any time on my Blogger profile , I have many interests outside anime and video games. I’m also deeply interested in philosophy, psychology, and religion. In particular, I’m absolutely fascinated by the Bible and church history, as I’m a devoted Christian myself. Today, I was trying to compare Calvinism and Arminianism —the two major branches of theology in the Protestant churches. My own pastor is a hardcore Reformed Christian (which I’ve learned is the nice way of saying “Calvinist”). Meanwhile, I’m more of a Wesleyan in my thinking, so I identify as an Arminian. We had butted heads during a recent luncheon together. Not to say we were evenly matched—my pastor is a powerful intellectual, and it was quite clear the entire time that I was well out of my depth. Fortunately for me, he is also quite gracious, and doesn’t require that I share his theological position, despite my being on the church’s payroll as a musician. Ever since our stimulating tal...

I decided I want to get into video gaming. Well, truthfully, I’ve always wanted to. I’ve been entranced by the art, lore, and music from series like  The Legend of Zelda  and  Bravely Default  since practically forever. But my actual gaming experience has been limited to trying out  Ocarina of Time  on my brother’s 3DS when we were younger, and exploring  Minecraft  on my old roommate’s console before I moved out. I never invested in a console or computer of my own—I didn’t think I had enough time or money to justify spending either on games.   But recently, my perspective on life has changed a lot. I realized my perfectionistic tendencies  were causing me to postpone anything fun or meaningful—anything not completely necessary to get by and reach my goals—and it was sapping the life out of me. More specifically, I was holding myself to such an impossibly high standard, in my work and life, that I was constantly stressed out because noth...

  I’m not a very good artist, but once in a while I decide to draw something. This time, it was Konata Izumi from  Lucky☆Star . I had just finished watching  Nichijou: My Ordinary Life , and I had  really  enjoyed it. (In fact, I was so impressed with it that I splurged on a copy of the UK-only limited-edition Blu-ray —which I happened to find brand-new on eBay!) My only disappointment with Nichijou was that it had only one season. Thinking another one of Kyoto Animation’s earlier titles might give me that same feel-good slice-of-life energy, I decided to watch  Lucky☆Star . Although it’s really nothing like  Nichijou ,  Lucky☆Star  has been very enjoyable. It’s filled with references to Japanese culture and media (particularly  The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya , another of KyoAni’s earlier works). The characters—including the core cast of four high school girls—are fairly simple, but they’re enjoyable and endearing. There isn’t much ...