No more tears to shed, no more tears to cry
The past is a scar, the past is a lie
Hope has long gone, Hope has long fled
The hero has come, now the hero is dead…
-End Shall Come by soda-cola-pop
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12-15-2002
^_^ About time I updated this thing. Nice of you to drop by. Welcome to my sphere of influence, though, not all of my works can be found here (I have most of my stories saved in the CPU of my computer at home ^_^) I’d get to post some of my other stories, poems or whatevers when I feel that they are presentable enough for the readers. For now, let me share a little something about myself…

I’m an eighteen-year-old videogame addict who goes by the name (my first first name) Rachel (I have a reeeeeeeeaaaaaally long name, three of them actually and that still doesn’t include my maiden name and my last name ^_^) and obviously, I write under the penname soda-cola-pop. Why the nickname? Well, I used to drink lots and lots of soda, but then I’m trying to avoid it now since we have a line of diabetes in our family. And about my age, I’ve been told that I don’t really act like it, and yeah, I do admit I am/can be very childish ^_^. You’d usually see my name scattered on the FFVII or Rurouni Kenshin review boards.

Favorite genres for fics: Final Fantasy Seven and Rurouni Kenshin

Favorite Food: I eat basically anything but then I can’t stand pizza and I’d rather not eat cheese. ^_^ Weird? Oh well… Oh, I enjoy gorging on Japanese food (sushi, tempura, sashimi, tonkatsu, gyakiudon, Yakisoba… ^_^ yumyum) and Chinese food (ramen, butsi, siomai, siopao… ^_^) But my all time favorites are kare-kare, paella, Reese’s peanut butter chocolate, Chips a Hoy cookies and Double Dutch ice cream… *salivates*

Favorite Movies: Umm, I’m really into Chinese movies, I think they have the best action sequences, camera angles and cinematography- so much that I’ve forgotten some of my Western favorite movies. ^_^ I do know that I love “What Dreams May Come” And my favorite Chinese movies are: “The Duel” with Andy Lao, “Final Romance” with Edison Chen and Amanda Strang, “Gen Y Cops” with Edison Chen (and this really hot Chinese star with the cutest dimple! Too bad I keep forgetting his name), “Shaolin Soccer” with Stephen Hwo, “Love at 2001: Lavender,” “A Man Called Hero,” and my ultimate favorite, “Fly me to Polaris” with Cecilia Cheung.

Favorite Books: ^_^ “Joy Luck Club” and “Hundred Secret Senses” by Amy Tan, “A Walk to Remember” by Nicholas Sparks, “Dictionary of Mythology” by Bergen Evans and “Spiderweb” by someone I cannot recall at the moment. ^_^

Favorite Game: Need I say more? FFVII!!! ^_^ The first and only PS RPG game I truly enjoy and love (still play it whenever I can)

Favorite Anime: Rurounin Kenshin, Ah! My Goddess and Boys Be. ^_^

My Top Ten Favorite Final Fantasy Seven Fics (in no particular order):
A Labor of Love by Meriko
Cloudy Gaze by zelda6
Dawn by magnum opus
I’m Ready by GlassShard
Shards by Frank Verderosa
Sink to the Bottom with You by Catalina
Tendencies (I cannot remember the author at the moment… sorry)
The Night has a Thousand Eyes by Tio Rank P
The Revealing by rokusan
When I needed You (I cannot remember the author at the moment… again, I’m sorry)

My Top Ten Favorite Rurouni Kenshin fics (in no particular order):
Ballad of a Lonely Heart by Midori Natari Himura
Between Love and Frienship by Aoko
Break me by the Druid
Broken Pieces by Linay
Complicated Love by nemo
Defying Gravity by dementedchris
Jinchuu by Gracey
Mail Order Bride by omni82
Walking on Water by Talaco
WHEN THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND YOU by chiki

My favorite FFVII pairing:
Zack/Tifa (cheers to zelda6! ^_^)

Other FFVII pairings I support:
Reno/Yuffie (cheers to magnum opus! ^_^)
Reno/Tifa (cheers to anime faerie! ^_^)
Biggs/Tifa (cheers to Tio! ^_^)
Vincent/Yuffie (cheers to Catalina! ^_^)
Vincent/Tifa (cheers to Kimetara! ^_^)
Rufus/Tifa (cheers to lenan! ^_^)

Rurouni Kenshin pairings I adore ^_^:
Anyone/Kaoru (as long as it's believable)

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Other rants and whatevers…
11/24/2002
The next chapters of Shades of Gray are on their way. I chose to keep Black Soul, Dark World at hold for the meantime... ^_^ Gomen.

10/21/2002
The greatest loss, the one thing that truly saddens me is when an author (and a really capable one, at that) writes stories, only to leave it hanging in the air when s/he feel that s/he have lost inspiration, or when s/he really doesn't feel like continuing it anymore...
Hey, I know it isn't really my business (Yeah, I could always choose to continue mine, like what I'm doing now ^_^) but then there are a lot of people who actually spend their time and effort reading those stuff... It's a great loss not only for the readers but for the whole community as well. As I heard once, "A great writer is a great reader." A writer could truly outdo himself by exploring other 'works of art,' s/he knows what s/he wants and what s/he doesn't like when it comes to reading, and s/he could very well apply it to the obra maestras s/he is making...
And don't you think it's a waste if someone sooooooooooo talented would just take tha particular talent for granted? Everyone is given different gifts and talents... ^_~ Hehe, yep, I've been rereading some stuff on ff.net again and I did notice that the fics I checked out almost two years ago STILL haven't been updated... What the heck...

As John Lennon said (and I quote): "Let it be."
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I love you more than words could say
I love you more each passing day
I love you then, I love you still
I love you now, I always will
-Untitled by me
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