Age: 19. Ugh. I'm ooooold.

Appearance: Short blue-black hair, dark red-brown eyes (given what my brother told me once). Usually wearing black clothes...

Likes: Anime watching TV in general, surfing the 'Net; writing poems and stories (duh!); learning different languages (Japanese, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Latin, etc...); hanging with my friends; writing songs (mostly in Japanese)...

Dislikes: hypocrites; Mary Sues; pretenders; "having the ability to write but nothing to write about" (to quote Sherbet Mayhem)

Location: Alternating between Davao City and Quezon City, Philippines (a country in Southeast Asia). I do hope to go to Japan (or England, or France...XP XD) someday...

Currently: taking an art class and challenging myself not to draw in my usual style for that class; also wanting Adobe Illustrator (7 and above).

Favorites:

Colors: Black; red; blue; white; purple (Not very cheerful, am I? ;)

Anime: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade (the first and third seasons); D.N.Angel; Naruto; Fushigi Yuugi; the Saiyuki series; Fruits Basket; Prince of Tennis... gak, there's such a lot...

Books: the Harry Potter series; Sign of the Chrysanthemum; the Ninja; the Miko; Jian; Giri; If Tommorow Comes... the 'Hannibal Lecter' series by Thomas Harris, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova... hmm...there's too much to list down! XD

Manga: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade; Naruto; Fushigi Yuugi; Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle; Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch; Vampire Game; Basilisk: Kouga Ninpou Chou (Yes, more ninja! XD); Fruits Basket

Singers/Bands/Artists (whatever!): Utada Hikaru (Hikki); Minagawa Junko; BoA; FLOW; Orange Range; My Chemical Romance; Ellegarden; Janne Da Arc; Makiyo; Evanescence; Usher; S.H.E; Rhythem; Akeboshi; Strings; Namie Amuro and other J-Pop artists...that sound nice, at least... ;

Hmm...where to start about me (aside from what's already mentioned above)?

I'm currently a college junior in the Philippines - the 'Melting Pot of East and West'. I've been living away from my family for a little over a year now, except for the few breaks that I take advantage of to go home and spend time with them.

I write, obviously, and draw in my spare time. In fact, I'm in the process of turning my first original manga into a mini-novel, however, I highly doubt that my little project will see actual publication. So in the meantime, all you'll see from me is art - both fanart and original (on www.darkangel-hikari.deviantart.com) - and fanfiction.

I also enjoy singing - in fact, I inherited the talent from both parents. I wouldn't brag about my voice yet, though, as it still needs 'tuning'. And I don't limit myself to singing just local and English-language songs. As you've probably noticed, most of my favorite bands and music artists are foreign - that is, hailing from Asia, Japan in particular. And while I'm more fluent in Japanese than any other Asian or European language (aside from English), I know quite a few songs in French, Italian, Russian and, to some extent, Hebrew. However, most of them are just foreign-language versions of well-known Disney songs - and a few that aren't from Disney, but are still wonderful to listen to.

So if you have had the opportunity to read my fics, you'll notice that I tend to insert a phrase or two in Japanese, or use foreign songs in chapters that are 'song-driven'. I don't know why, but sometimes when I write a chapter, it seems inspired by one particular song, which, if fitting, I then insert into the chapter.

And speaking of fanfiction, I find it interesting to see how my writing has improved. My first fanfic, titled 'Wings of Darkness' was a meagre 55 pages long, comprised of 12 'chapters'. Rather, they seemed like chapters to me back then, when I was just starting out. I haven't posted it here; I wouldn't want you guys to lose your sanity just from reading that amusing little piece of drivel. I still keep it, however, in hopes that I may someday succeed in re-writing it into a full-fledged fic; several times I've re-read it, and always it is the underlying plot that catches my attention - the part of the plot that was never developed properly, to be more precise.

Also, I'm happy to note that I've stopped putting author's notes (A/N) in the middle of paragraphs. I've done it with a few of my earlier fics - the ones after 'Wings of Darkness' - but thankfully, I've gotten rid of that habit.

I've got my hands a full with a new schedule and new professors. Oh, and three school organizations when before I had only one - Lingua Ars Cultura, Touhou no Yuujin, and CAPES, to be precise. And there's talk that I'll be part of a new wushu team my school is putting together soon, so training and stuff will take up a bit more of my time.

So... where I was a bit laid-back with almost nothing to do, now the pace has been stepped up a bit, and I have more on my plate that what I've been used to. But, with God's grace, I'll succeed at everything I set out to do, and this includes continuing to update my fics - particularly those that haven't been updated in a year or more (I still feel embarrassed about those).

SHOUT-OUTS!

A big shout-out goes to Moonlight Serenity for being such a great online friend and writing really good - and cute! - KaixHil fics. I find that I feel really good inside after reading one of them - even just a chapter - or that my best KaiHil art comes soon after reading one of your fics.

Another shout-out to Angelic Kitsune, my first adoptive little sister and fellow Pinay all the way in Australia! Hope God's been good to you, just as He has blessed me.

Another goes out to Ruriko M. Minamino, for forcing me to memorize each and every detail pertaining to the Naru-verse; if my paltry re-telling of each week's chapter starting February 2007 has been helpful in your fics, the memorization has definitely been helpful for me.

And last, but certainly not the least, a shout-out for Sherbet Mayhem. Yours was the first Beyblade fanfic I've ever read since I got into the fandom ('Hidden Adversary'), and it was this very fic that showed me what I was doing wrong with my own writing and set the standard for my own fics.

And of course, I can't forget my faithful readers; its because of you guys that I write the fics I'm writing now. I've been ignored and unwanted even before I hit puberty, and so to know that people actually want to read products of my wild imagination and 'listen' to my views on certain aspects in different anime series...its heartwarming. Each time I finish a chapter and learn your different reactions, its fulfilling.

Well, I suppose that's all for now.