The Lily Cat Editorials

The Lily Cat Editorials – The Passion That Matters

I do admit though that it is also passion that made me do the wrong choices, say the wrong words, and ended with a lot of regrets.

I do admit though that it is also passion that made me do the wrong choices, say the wrong words, and ended with a lot of regrets.

Let’s talk about passion. When you hit up its definition, it is defined as a strong and barely controllable emotion.

Who would’ve thought that my passion for a certain genre and the desire to write about it has led me to make this blog has been running and part of my life for years?

When I announced my departure from the FB platform a while back, there were some comments left by people who I have been online friends over the years or might have known due to the FB groups that I used to be active in years back. As much as that was how The Lily Cat got so much attention from fans, I admit I have slowly grown sick of the platform. Part of it is due to bad experiences from some people who are on this platform and it is just that I have reached that point in my life that the platform has been too much for me.

I totally forgot when was the last time I was so active interacting with FB groups lately. I think the last one was like 2019 when I did a semi-hiatus in community stuff. I will be honest that I wanted to put that part of my life left in the past. It was fun while it lasted, but I think it’s about time that I would focus on the things that make me happy at my own pace and in my own time. I would still be with the communities I cherish, but I need to prioritize my passions from now on.

I do admit though that it is also passion that made me do the wrong choices, say the wrong words, and ended with a lot of regrets. Sometimes I think that I should have done better or I should have said things better. I wasn’t the best person ever. I try to be. I go no longer mend that permanent emotional scar when I ended up being used, abused, and worse being left out for someone better.

Life is crazy sometimes. I seriously wanted to let go of being that Serena who is so vocal and passionate about the things she loves, as well as be that echo chamber for people who cannot express it. But, after so much thinking, maybe I am not that person anymore. I wasn’t aware that this energy and effort that put me in the first place has slowly pulled me back into a darkness that I never wanted to be in anymore. I am tired of being in this endless cycle of self-hatred when almost I have no love to give for myself.

So, what am I trying to say here?

It is okay to do things you love and share them with others. However, do not give so much love and trust to these people immediately. Just because they jive with you, just because they are friendly with you, you never know what their full intentions are. These kinds of people are one of the primary reasons why I had to step back for a while. I lost a huge part of myself that I am slowly patching up things and make-up for what I missed.

So here we are. It is passion that brought this little blog back and pretty much all of my thoughts on Yuri and my other fandoms will probably just be here. There are a lot of things to catch up on—and I can’t wait to share them all with you.

Take care of yourself. Make that passion of something you cherish the most be that flame that would keep you going. It doesn’t matter if that light is weak, it will grow. As each day goes by, you would realize how far you’ve become and you might inspire and light up people’s lamps along the way too.

Thank you for still dropping by. I may not be the best content creator, reviewer, or critic, but I am just happy to share all these things—news, reviews, updates, and thoughts with you.

Keep that flame burning. Keep that passion growing. You matter.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts here and on Facebook. I’m also on Twitter just in case you’re interested.

Support The Lily Cat in providing news, reviews, and features by leaving a cup of coffee.

How to Keep Your Online Accounts Secured – A Lesson From A Stressful Ordeal

Just within 24 hours, two of my Facebook accounts were compromised by hackers. The first one is my fandom account (primarily used for The Lily Cat page) in which the hacker attempted to log in and change my password. I was able to catch it first and changed my password immediately.

Then just this morning, my other account (personal and work) was infiltrated by someone who logged in from Brazil. He added random people to my account and that was it. I logged out of the questionable device and changed the password immediately. I went through my profile to see if they have done anything else. Nothing so far, even in my messenger. I have blocked the two recently added people by the hacker just in case.

I honestly don’t know why they were able to successfully get through my accounts. Both of my FB accounts have 2FA enabled and my phone or email address should notify me ASAP if someone attempts to log in. I am not sure if this is crappy security from Facebook’s end or some wise engineering in the works. But if that’s the case, then there’s a chance I might have to slowly leave the platform if these cases persist. This is the first time this has happened to me before on the platform.

Even by just writing this, I’m actually not confident if my accounts are fully secured yet. The paranoia and anxiety are just too high right now and I just don’t feel like doing anything else. I tend to check my security and activity every now and then and so far nothing suspicious has happened. So changing passwords were the best thing after all…for now.

So in relation to this experience, I want to share with you some basic tips on how to keep your account safe from intruders. Remember that we are in a pandemic and having these online accounts are more important than ever so here’s how you can keep them safe:

Install Anti-Virus and Enable Firewall

As basic and obvious as it is, you should have anti-virus running on your PC whenever you are logged in. This was one of my big mistakes. I just remembered that I uninstalled my anti-virus software way back so I was unaware that there are some questionable files running or could be watching my movements. After installing an anti-virus again, my anti-virus warned me of two trojan files that are running in my system. This could be the possible culprit. I am not really much of tech expert so I can’t be for sure. But for the hacker of my personal FB account to be able to bypass by 2FA… this is possible.

Check If Your Email is Compromised

One of the basic entries for hackers to get into your accounts is your email. Once they have access to it, they are able to get into your other accounts.

One way for you to check if your email is included in a data breach is by typing in your email address here. If it notifies you that your email was part of a breach, change passwords immediately. If you have extra time, you must also change the passwords of all the accounts that you registered using this email.

Check Which Devices Your Email Has Signed In To

If you check on the security settings of your Gmail account, you would see a list of devices on which your account is signed into. If you see a PC or device that is logged in from a different location, logout that device first and change your password immediately.

Always. Always. ALWAYS. Use Two-Factor Authentication

Social media and popular platforms these days now include 2-Factor Authentication for additional protection. If there is an email that you mostly use, enable 2FA with it. It can be annoying at times but at least it gives you peace of mind every time you log in. It’s recommended that you use authenticator apps like Authy as a way to get authentication codes.

Regularly Change Your Passwords

For social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and IG, it’s important to regularly change your passwords. Online bank accounts as well. You must make it a habit to change everything when you hear that there is a recent data breach.

Conclusion

I wish I can list down more things related to this one but I have tackled the major ones already. I may not know what the intentions of the hacks are, but it gave me a good lesson to be more mindful and put effort into keeping my online accounts safe and secured. I honestly wished this wasn’t the “comeback” post that was waiting for here on the site, but at least I want to put this out here for you guys. Stay safe out there.

Puhon, We Will Meet Again

2021 and things are still not the same as before. Like last year, many events are pushed back. Some canceled. Some are still hanging on the balance if they will push through or not. Although virtual events are possible, it is not enough to fill that empty void that we longed so much.

Meeting friends in a convention, hugging them when we meet, screaming and cheering at the top of our lungs, meeting people who share the same passions as you…

Goddamn, I miss them so much.

These days are tough, but here we are still doing our best to make ends meet in the comfort of our own homes, finding new ways to enjoy ourselves while the world is still uncertain for now. I admit it is really hard to be hopeful when things are still not 100% okay.

Every time when I feel like giving up, every time I wanted to just stop being hopeful for the best. I always remember this one simple word, Puhon.

Puhon is Bisaya for hopefully, someday, or in God’s perfect time. It’s a simple word but it has a beautiful way of expressing something related to hope.

Puhon, We Will Meet Again.

The past couple of years is without a doubt, life-changing. I learned a lot from the many travels I had. I got to be part of a community where I met the best people in my life. They have become my friends, my sisters, my “fam.” I wouldn’t be doing these things, continue to be passionate about this genre if it weren’t for them. It’s not for certain to when I will be able to see them again, but Puhon. I will, once all of this is over.

They say when you travel, you meet the most interesting people in your life that would turn things around, change your plans, and make your destination a place called home.

You will laugh, you will cry. You will face challenges and meet them with victory. At the end of the day, lessons are learned. Memories are kept.

I will look forward to the day when I can finally step on that platform again, heading to my assigned seat beside that small window, my ticket in my left jacket pocket, my passport on my right.

The distance doesn’t matter, the expenses don’t matter. When you meet people who make you feel at home, nothing else matters.

See you soon. Puhon.

The Lily Cat at Five Years On

I wasn’t aware of the fact that this small site is now in its fifth year. This is something—almost half a decade of sharing things that matter to me.

I don’t want to go into a long wall of text, but I just want to say Thank you. Thank you for dropping by this site that has nothing but gayness, awesomeness, and randomness. And think that’s fine for me ^_^

I have some articles pilled up here soon as well as in my other site Zenbu. I’ll be watching the Winter Anime Releases so it’s going to be a fun ride from here!

Yuri reviews are also coming up and return. I also plan to venture into reviewing theater plays and Broadway musicals. Let me know in the comments what you think. I also hope that I will get to travel and just cover events again like before. I miss conventions a whole lot.

Anyways, cheers to more years for The Lily Cat. I would also like to thank my friends and fellow Yuri and GL bloggers and content creators I have made connected over the years for all the love and support. I will do my best to share this beautiful genre along with you guys.

Per aspera ad astra

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts here and on Facebook. I’m also on Twitter just in case you’re interested.

Support The Lily Cat in providing news, reviews, and features by leaving a cup of coffee or be part of the Kitty Squad. You may also visit my literary notebook, Fragments.

Take Care of Yourself.

Finally, I have the time to just write on the site again. This time around, it’s a little special.

[Slight Trigger Warning. Emotional stuff ahead]

Now before I get back to doing the usual reviews here, I just wanted to leave this personal post one more time. It’s a great way to close another chapter and just open a new one for the better.

Let me start off with this very simple question: How are you?

It’s obvious that this year hasn’t been great. Cancelled flights, travel plans postponed, and physical events are almost little to impossible. Like many people, it was really hard to wake up every day the past couple of months. The motivation to work was no longer present because of the fact that you can’t fly out because of the lockdown. Sure, there are many ways to bounce back and do other alternative stuff to keep going, but I miss the usual stuff.

I miss meeting people. I miss my friends, I want to see my partner, I miss the feeling of being in front row seats watching musicals, the loud noise of an anime convention hall. I fucking miss all of it.

Not only that I had to deal with the lockdown and restrictions. I also had to deal with my personal demons.

I had to deal with my never-ending battle of self-hate, oftentimes thinking and admitting that maybe my detractors were right: that I am a gutless piece of shit, that I don’t deserve someone else because I am an existing eyesore, and that I deserved to kill myself if ever my nth attempts of doing so were successful.

But here I am, writing all of this to you.

Very recently, I made peace with myself and made the right decisions moving forward. Old connections have become parts of my past that are best closed and no longer be part of a problematic emotional cycle of my life. While some are still trying to defend themselves and explaining their sides, I think those are irrelevant now. When you moved on and make peace, no one wins or loses. You just let go of everything and move on with your life. Never looking back on the people and experiences that hurt you.

Believe me, I learned it the hard way.

When you’re going through loss, remember that you must take time to heal and take all the damn time in doing so. Don’t blame yourself. It’s never your fault and that doesn’t matter anymore. Yes, cry all you want. Release the sadness.

But after you’ve done that, seek happiness. You deserve to be happy. You deserve a ray of sunshine on top of your head. You deserve love.

Sooner or later, you will be crawling out of the mud and rocky paths, reaching the peak, and find success. You will find a reason to sing, write, and dance again. You will find better things and better people that would make you whole again.

Everything is going to be alright.

If you’re still stuck in the mud right now and unsure of where to go, it’s okay. That ray of light is going to shine on you soon. You will find the reason to stand on your own two feet and believing in your own strength to keep going.

Right now, find joy in the little things. One day, someone is going to care, appreciate, and love you for being you. You will find friends who will comfort you and say the right words at the right time. You will make better connections, and you will be wise enough to let go of others that never helped you shine.

It doesn’t make any sense now, but someday it will. You will be okay again and I guarantee once this storm is over, you will realize that you have become a better person than you were before.

Right now, I want you to be happy. Seek happiness. Let go of everything that is hurting your heart, mind, soul, and start over. It’s going to be tough. But you are going to pull through.

Take Care of Yourself.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Feel free to leave a comment to share your thoughts here and on Facebook. I’m also on Twitter just in case you’re interested.

Support The Lily Cat in providing news, reviews, and features by leaving a cup of coffee or be part of the Kitty Squad. You may also visit my literary notebook, Fragments.

ABS-CBN Aired ‘Card Captor Sakura’ and Shaped my Childhood—Thank you, Kapamilya

July 10. I will never forget this date.

I rarely talk about Tagalog dubs here or even anime that’s been aired on Philippine television during my childhood. But I guess it’s about time I share what I feel about this whole situation, and what it means to me.

Aside from Sailor Moon, my second favorite anime is Card Captor Sakura. Anyone who has met and knew me personally would know this too well.

The first time I have heard and seen this anime was around the early 2000s. It was aired every Saturday morning in ABS-CBN, one of the Philippines’ largest TV and media networks.

As I continue writing about this piece, my heart aches for this network. On July 10, Friday, the House Committee on Legislative Franchises has denied its application for renewal. The past couple of months were tough for the network. It appeared that our public officials gave more importance of shutting down ABS-CBN rather than dealing with the current COVID-19 pandemic. There are so many things to enumerate and just really drop the mic in this piece, but I don’t want this to be a very lengthy piece.

ABS-CBN aired Card Captor Sakura, and in a way, shaped not only my childhood but also as a fan of this significant subculture. I owe it all to the Kapamilya Network.

I watched the show every Saturday morning. I was trying my best never to miss an episode. I remember getting pissed off as a kid when I never got to watch it because the local branch of ABS-CBN decides to overlap it with another show. The dub was in Tagalog, our country’s primary language. Although I had absolutely no idea what Sakura, Tomoyo, Keroberos, Syaoran, and the rest of the gang are saying, I enjoyed it. I loved it to bits.

My love for the series also motivated me to research more about it on the Internet. This was during the period where Angelfire and Geocities sites dominated the anime fandom world. My curiosity has also lead me into the pit of the Sakura and Tomoyo ship, which has fueled and sparked my love for Yuri.

The more I got into the anime, the more I was introduced to the other series under the CLAMP umbrella: Magic Knight Rayearth, Angelic Layer, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, CLAMP School Detective, Chobits, and so on.

The timing of everything, though. I just got back into the hype of the series due to having a marathon of the Clear Card anime. This hits so deep.

The government pulled the plug off a network that housed over 11,000 people composed of celebrities, journalists, writers, tech crew, and so on. This is not just in their main headquarters—but also to their other satellite stations across the country. I just wished that at least for a moment, at least for only one moment, these people would think about the thousands that would be losing jobs because of this.

REMEMBER THIS DAY. DO NOT FORGET THIS DATE EVER.

I am forever thankful for the Kapamilya Network, for it is one of the biggest factors that got me to the world of television, media, and anime. I might have been a different kind of fan—or perhaps a different person.

As always, and like many of the people who believed that what is currently happening to the network is just unfair, I only hope and pray for the best. It is an undeniable fact that the network has been a part of the history of millions of Filipinos—just seeing it crumble like this is just too much.

As what Sakura Kinomoto would always say “絶対大丈夫だよ”

Everything Will Be Alright. I hope and pray that this network will continue to bring more tears, laughs, action, and joy to every Filipino here and around the world.

ABS-CBN, thank you for introducing me to this incredible franchise. Before everything seems too late, Laban Pa Rin Kapamilya.

Four Years Ago, A Cat Found A Lily

Four years ago, I started The Lily Cat as a small place where I can share my love for yuri. As the years go by, I have written news, reviews, and just completely everything that sparks my interests. To date, the site has reached more than 100,000+ website views with unique visits almost everyday (even at times when I don’t have many updates).

I still can’t believe that I have lasted this long. I had a lot of shit that has happened recently. I am starting to sound like a broken record so I would no longer elaborate on this any longer. But with the help of my friends and the people who still visit this place, it kept me going.

Thank You. It’s because of awesome people like you, The Lily Cat still continues to where it is today.

2020 for The Lily Cat is going to be a lot different. I have finally made a decision to let go of some money-earning projects to focus on this site more. I realized that I have become more focused on other things that it almost made me forget what that makes me happy: and it’s to write about yuri, to write about experiences, and to share what’s happening to where I am. Next year it’s all going to be just that. Everything is still not set in stone yet

Expect more reviews and more antics from now on. Actually I was thinking of doing webtoon reviews again. I stopped doing them due to the DMCA reports that people are getting way back. But I think the waters are safe in doing these now. I am also now catching up on some series too. There has been some GL-related content that I was able to watch a few months ago so I’ll be writing about them here very soon.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the people that I have met while doing stuff for The Lily Cat. Special mention to the following people: Jay Agonoy of keepsakes., Yuri/GL Philippines, Cebu Cosplay Event Buzzer Gary Montejo, The Yuri Empire, and Okazu. These guys inspired me and there are not enough words to express how much I am very thankful for giving me and hopeful, eventful, and yuri-ful year.

The Lily Cat will remain as a passion project for me and always will be. However, if you love what I do, you may consider tipping me for a cup of coffee or support me through my newly-approved Patreon page. Any amount of help you give me would definitely help the site’s growth (and of course more stuff for y’all).

Happy Holidays and I am wishing your 2020 will be as awesome as this year.

Let me end this post with one of the songs I’ve been listening to lately. It’s the tribute version of I could be the one by Avicii and Nicki Romero. The beautiful tribute concert can be watched here.

The Lily Cat Editorials – It’s Already 2019, Stop Hatin’

The Lily Cat Editorials is back. Long overdue, actually.

I will call this out now: 2019 is 60% a crappy year for me so far. Although it had some many good ones, a lot was taken away from me. The biggest recent loss I had as of this writing is a close friend who passed away. He was a good person and his courage and things he had done for me over the years have motivated me to write about this.

Life is pretty unexpected. You gain some, you lose some. There’s a constant motion to this and we are have no knowledge on what’s going to happen next. You’ll never know the friend that you once thought would be there for you would actually just backbite you and keep indirectly insulting you online, making you a primary subject of their immature tea fest. You’ll never know that the person that you once gave your trust on would just use you and leave you like dirt later on. You’ll never know that those who promise you this and that ended up as just mere words with the vision never went into surface.

It’s 2019 already. Why do we still have the time to even care of these kind of people in our life? If these people never helped you in your growth, then don’t let them in your life even a single of centimeter. You deserve the better. The best days and hopeful tomorrows.

Let go. Time to move on and forget. We only got one shot of life. Before the unexpected happens, unless we took a lot of our time to celebrate with joy and good memories along with the people that matter. If you lost some people or something recently over some things, don’t worry. You deserve better ones and you’ll eventually find them. Just keep doing the things you love, eat good food (I’m getting a nice meal after this is posted, lol), and just do things that would help you grow as a person.

It’s 2019. Stop Hatin’. You are never too late to pick up the pieces and start over. Stay awesome, friends. We all can get through this.

The Lily Cat Editorials – PROFOUNDLY Speaking, I Rather Enjoy Life

People have been raving (no, abusing) over this Facebook app called Profoundly or Profoundly.me. It’s been like a few days since this app has been a thing on my timeline and I still don’t even know and understand the bottom line of it.

The reason why I don’t use this is because it’s a gateway to trolls. It makes you vulnerable to whatever insult they’ll ever give you. Yes, you can always ignore it. If you do confront them however giving them straightforward replies, they fan the flames even more. Some may have just received anonymous questions and good messages but let’s keep an open mind here.

This case don’t just happen on just one simple FB app, it can happen on any social media platform. Anonymous or not, people will always find ways to take you down. So if you are very vulnerable or if you’re the type of person that loves to give a damn about what people say about you, then why waste your time getting into this hype in the first place? The excuse of saying that “I’m just here for fun” don’t cut it.

As of writing this article, I have switched to a more personal Facebook account and I can tell you, it’s been great! You are more connected with people that matter more in your life, who celebrate your victories with you, and willing to help you get back up in times when you feel like you can’t do the things that you want to do anymore. In a way, this is somehow relevant to the thing I’ve posted previously but I have officially moved on from that phase.

The main point of this is that you can’t just listen to hurtful stuff that people leave anonymously on some app. You fight back with the best thing you know how: take a deep breath, leave, and ignore.

Also in case of issues and dealing with people who just can’t really stand you when you’re present, stay away from them. Enjoy life and improve at your own pace.

About The Lily Cat Editorials

The Lily Cat Editorials talks about life and Serena’s thoughts on certain issues.

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The Lily Cat Editorials – Yuri Helped Me Through My Heartbreak

It’s been a while since my last post and it’s with good reason. The last few weeks of 2018 and first weeks of 2019 weren’t really smooth sailing for me. As the the title says, I went through a very bad break-up. My girl called it quits. 11 months down the drain.

Until now I still asked myself why I was so stupid. Stupid for a few reasons. Why do I feel so useless and not looking at the whole picture? Why is it hard for both of us to understand on some things? Lastly, Why the fuck do people find it easy to let go of something when they are willing to go heaven and hell just for you?

The answer to all these questions? I don’t even know myself. I have done my efforts but of course, we are human. We bend and break. We have limits. I hanged on to my relationship because I thought, “Okay, this is it.” There is that feeling for regret but I know it would be really stupid to just hang on to things that didn’t really work out.

So I guess you know where this is going. I had a break-up, went through depression, and here we are. If you’re curious what I did on Valentine’s Day yesterday, I spent the whole day playing Overwatch.

Aside from distracting myself, I immediately went back to the thing I loved the most– Yuri. Even before my previous relationships, yuri was technically my first love. When all seemed tumbling down on me, I went back to it and somehow got me back. Now here I am alive and kicking (with a lot of yuri reviews on backlog lol).

So perhaps expect more stuff from the site in 2019. I’m thinking of giving myself a schedule of sorts to really get everything organized. As of writing this post, I’m already preparing for Otakufest 2019 which will be held in Cebu City. After this trip, I will be going through some of my yuri backlogs and my Winter Anime 2019 stuff so that I can share to you everything that I’m currently following and not following.

Just in case people will be “shooked” on the other stuff I will be writing about here: Basically the site is also catered to my other fandoms aside from yuri. I’m also be going full swings on my travels and covering events so expect some reports of my random adventures here and there.

So from the bottom of my heart, if you are still reading this or still stumble upon this place often, I would like to say thank you.

Although I still have things to fix personally, just writing my thoughts out for you guys to read is one of the things that keep me going. I really love doing this and if you’re also going through something right now, don’t worry. We can all go through this. Everything is going to be alright.