Mayflower Aria

Moved --->

2009-07-19T13:57:00.002+10:00

I'm trying out Wordpress again. If it doesn't work I'll move back here again but for now, further updates will be on my WP blog - http://infinitesoliloquy.wordpress.com/

Update on life - Zelda and Harry Potter HBP

2009-07-15T19:01:00.004+10:00

I actually feel quite mad at my mother at the moment because she chooses the very day my friends and I organized to go see Harry Potter HBP to go to Sydney. I've been trying so hard not to do anything wrong the last couple of days (and enduring stupid endless chores - for god's sake, it's called the holidays). I know I shouldn't be blogging but I am anyway. It's one of the senseless, self-contractradicotry things I just do. Let's hope I don't spill out any more negative energy as I have already. Sigh.

Barely been on the internet, except to check email, last two days. It's quite a feat for me which I know is rather sad and pathetic but I have no excuse really. I do feel rather miserable and pathetic at the moment. Mainly because I've gotten back into play Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii. I did start the game a few months ago but I got stuck at a certain point and I just couldn't be bothered to find a way out of it. Until now and I've discovered it's quite fun again. I looked at a walkthrough of it online and heck, I'm not even half-way after the last two days of quite hard-core playing - that is, only stopping for food breaks and when mother comes home.

I discovered it's quite epic now. Well actually, spectacularly epic. Spectacularly epicly long. I'm actually quite a fail as a video gamer even though I do enjoy playing video games. It's just the fact that I spend at least more than 30 percent of the time looking at a game over screen. That is where a certain level of skill is required to play the game. The cool thing about Zelda though, that differentiates it from older games (like this Mickey Mouse one I used to play on my brother's playstation one - doesn't that make me old - where everytime you lose all your 3 lives, you'd have to start all. Over. Again. It extremely sucked and we never really beat it) is that when you die, lose all your health or whatever you just start again from a nearby point in the game. This was good for me since I managed to be quite susceptible to many great failing things from falling over cliff-edge ridgety bridges (you know, the ones with only rope to grip on) and steaming lava to a remarkable display of ineptness at fighting and sword-wielding from a horse.

Hm, I actually feel a bit better now that I've written it all out. Writing can really help sometimes when I feel like crap. I still shall be rather sad to have to tell my friends that I can't go now.

It's done and completed.

2009-07-12T15:03:00.005+10:00

I finished reading Beauty Pop Vol. 10. The very last one. I feel really sad now - not the ending, just me feeling quite bereft that another amazing series has come to an end. This is exactly why I've been avoiding reading Volume 10 since it came out several months ago. Ugh, I hate this. The ending was all good though in the typical happily-ever-after style. I love it. I know it's kind of overrated these days, people just having happy lives at the end of movies and books because there's just something dreadfully wrong with an ending where no one dies and nothing truly devastating happens. But no, the Japanese are all for it :) Actually they're all for a lot of random, sometimes *gasp/stare* cliche events and characters, totally condoning the Western media and it's quest for subtlety. It's awesome, just getting the ending you want sometimes. Even though it's cliche. Manga is coolness.

Better research this time.

2009-07-12T10:28:00.003+10:00

Alright, so the last time I ordered books online, it ended up being a total shipping costs disaster from Amazon UK. Apparently it's at it's worst now as I've got a friend who orders books a lot from overseas (mostly Amazon) and she noted that the shipping costs have risen a lot recently even though the UK and American dollar has gone down.
So, I've decided I'm going to put a lot more thought into ordering a book this time. Here's my research on Political Philosophy by Adam Swift (2nd Edition) in paperback at all the online bookstores I would order from.
*all prices are in AUD
Amazon UK - $48.25 incl. shipping
Book Depository (UK) - $30 and free shipping
Angus & Robertson (Australia) - $56.95 not incl. shipping
Fishpond (Australia) - $37.21 not incl. shipping
BetterWorldBooks (USA) - No stock
Gleebooks (Australia) - $40.95 not incl. shipping
Readings (Australia) - No stock

The Book Depository is pretty cool, they have free worldwide shipping so there's a greater range of books for UK prices which is a lot cheaper than the RRP in Australia. I might just end up ordering from them. BTW can you believe that Angus & Robertson sell this paperback for $60 freaking dollars (when the postage is added). Honestly, it's absolutely ludicrous.

I got a boom box! And no cassettes.

2009-07-07T00:35:00.003+10:00

Here I am, officially owning a bright black and pink boom box that mum picked up from a previously rented house by her real estate. I think it's very awesome though I do have a irrepressible urge to spray paint it a metallic midnight blue even though mother expressedly told me not to. She adores bright colours.

Pink Five - Star Wars fangirlism.

2009-07-05T13:18:00.003+10:00

WIN.

Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | More Video Clips

FAIL.

2009-06-30T20:46:00.003+10:00

You know, I was planning for a totally epic final post but yes, that kind of backfired. EPIC FAIL.
Turns out I'm inarticulate and procrastinating. Oh and watching Australia's Next Top Model (up to final two now..). Wonderful. I was really disappointed that Clare went home! Sheesh, I mean she's been absolutely amazing throughout this whole series and she doesn't even make it into the top 2. I actually find her really inspiring.

Sigh. Back to work, got two debating speeches to finish and a history exam to study for by tonight! Hopefully I'll get some sleep at some point.

Farewell, BEDJ '09. It's been a good month.

PENULTIMATE POST

2009-06-29T18:35:00.002+10:00

Now I'm all jazzed. You know, I think I've actually gotten used to this whole BEDJ thing. It's becoming almost like routine where I regularly check myself whether I blogged today yet. And now, well this is the penultimate post of BEDJ. It speaks for itself. I feel sad and happy that's it ending at the same thing. Oh, disorienting feelings..

Today was OK. Did square dancing again in P.E. Was awful, especially because there were more boys than girls so I had round 4 partners swapping around that one period. The worst thing was that some of them had this thing where they just couldn't. Grow. Up. Apparently being fifteen does not classify as passing the "cooties" stage for some.

Got my English mark back for my Romeo & Juliet assessment task today. I got an A - which I'm glad I did OK. I mean, these past few weeks, I have just been so stressed about these exams/assessments and I'm just glad they're over and I did alright.

Anyway, I should get back to studying. My history test is this week and I have barely studied. Ugh.

A picture paints a thousand words.

2009-06-28T16:58:00.002+10:00

Not quite so much. But here's what I did today.

Evermore and non-sentimental goodbyes.

2009-06-27T14:41:00.007+10:00

So, my aunt and grandpa just left. My aunt's been living with us for the last couple of years and my grandpa, my whole life. I don't know even when my grandpa's coming back, really. It's because of this stupid family feud. Now everything's upside down and suddenly everyone's taking sides. Ugh. I hate this. "Bye," I said awkwardly, as they walked out the door. I felt like I should maybe give them a hug or whatever but I'm not really one for expressing sentiment. Now, I just feel like I'm in that awful gap of unknown on words left unsaid and things left undone. Which brings me back to my main point - I hate goodbyes.

Went shopping this morning but I didn't really buy much. I just went to the library, browsed some bookstores and bought two black headbands which are pretty nice. It's actually a bit of statement for me because whenever I go with mum, she never lets me go near dark colours. Apparently, they're "dark".
Reading Evermore by Alyson Noel at the moment. I'm getting rather sick of being in Eva's extremely irrational head and her no-personality "immortal" boyfriend (apparently he has no other skills other then simply being gorgeous). I don't hate it but I don't particularly like it either.

Hm. The online Angus & Robertson bookstore has really updated their stock lately. Which is quite extraordinary for an Aussie bookstore (usually they're very limited, we get everything last here) Might buy from them instead of going to Amazon next time.

Music: River's Dance - Greg Edmondson

The patriarchal concerns and other confounding things.

2009-06-26T18:52:00.003+10:00

Six things.
One. Why is it that the derogatory terms for females is "whore" or "slut" whereas the male supposed equivalent is "player" which isn't even really derogatory and actually compliments the male intellect?
Two. Why is the word "female" even derived from the word "male" anyway? Male with a 'fe' at the beginning.
Three. Why does another derogatory term for female mean female dog and for males, a hand movement?
Four. We're doing square dancing at the moment for P.E (I find this very ironical) and I can't help but think how patriarchal the whole thing is? I mean firstly, there's this movement where guys go in the centre of the dance circle and grasp each other's hands doing this comrade thing and turning 360 and the girls are meant to stand behind and clap and "ye-how" (by this, I mean I will do no such thing). Maybe I'm thinking way too into this (generally, I do) but metaphorically, it looks like the whole men going to war and fighting for freedom image while women stay behind to supposedly keep the "spirit" of the nation and pray for the men's safe return. It's just bizzare. There's some other things I find quite sexist about it but I will not bore you with the details.
Five. As you all might have already heard (unless you're living under a rock), Michael Jackson died today. Does anyone find it perfectly ludicrous that, in the media, everyone is saying what a hero he was, how he was such a huge inspiration, so unique and bursting with talent, there will never be one like him, how will the world exist without him and so on, when I'm quite sure, about 90 percent of my life, everyone I've come across professes to hate him and most pedophillia jokes are directed or referenced back to him. Heck, even my former Japanese teacher used his picture to teach us the word "hen" which means weird in Japanese. Sorry, that was a rant. I really mean no disrespect to Michael Jackson himself. I just find it quite absurd. Life, you know.
Six. Did you know people get charged in court for attempted suicide? Another utter absurdity. They have to serve the designated punishment (such as seeing a counselor or whatever). The wrongs are for "intentionally or unintentionally causing possibly major pyschological damage to family members and close friends" or something like that. I can see that, but to court? The lucridity.

OK, that's the end of my rant of things that baffle me. Don't get me wrong, my opinion can be incredibly uninformed sometimes but I'm not going to let that stop me saying it anyway as I have in previous occasions. Just like you don't have to be a politician to discuss politics without people accusing you of being uninformed.
Had a debate meeting today. I know, I'm such a geek but really, it's not very fun at all. The thing is, it's not a very enthusiastic debate team (huge emphasis there..) so basically a lot of arguing over who's doing what and what who doesn't want to do for an upcoming debate and just overall anarchy and offences taken seriously. Ugh.

Funky button necklace.

2009-06-25T22:39:00.002+10:00

Caspian (my wonderful wooden figure model) poses with my new necklace. I think it's kind of cool.

I know, it's virtually impossible.

2009-06-24T18:29:00.002+10:00

Must stop procrastinating. Honestly, I keep inventing new ways to procrastinate every single freaking day. I feel so annoyed with myself. Where has the time gone?
Turns out, I actually still have one topic test for science tomorrow on cells (oh, fun) and I haven't studied much at all for it. I am a disastrous planner. I really don't know what to do with myself.
So I'm going to get to it, now. Writing my to-do list, check.

It's all over.

2009-06-23T21:10:00.004+10:00

My exams, assignments, assessment tasks - everything is finally all over. It's quite liberating.

Now I just have two more weeks of school (including this week) and I have a two week break which will be awesome. I have more time to focus on all these things I want to do which means projects and working on those booklists! I'm still aiming for maybe finishing at least sixty books this year and considering I haven't really been reading much this year, I have a lot to do.

Finished watching the BBC 2008 adaption of the classic Thomas Hardy novel, Tess of the D'Urbervilles today. I have to say, that was by far, one of the worst endings, throughout the history of worst endings. I mean she had to suffer enough through out the book and it had to end like that!
The story may have been a little melodramatic but it was overall amazing. I can't say I'm much of a critic can I? I should really get around to posting about films/TV shows I hate sometime.

Another post for another day.

2009-06-22T19:08:00.003+10:00

I feel like I can't really express or describe anything properly today. I think I'm going to maybe start a new segment for this blog: rote-keeping.

Went to Sydney for orthodontist appointment, was late. Had lunch at Wok&Roll in Carlingford. Went home. Watched Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Now a little depressed.

I think I have cobwebs in my hair.

2009-06-21T15:36:00.002+10:00

So, I have been moving around heavy things today. Mostly desks, a fish tank (which we had to drain), filing cabinets and drawers. Mother (to be ironical) wanted them moved, so me and my cousin helped her. It took a couple of hours so I only just finished. After the desks were moved, and mother was finally satisfied with their positions, I was designated the job of setting up all the computers again which believe me, if you have ever tried to squeeze a ton of cables through a extremely narrow space, was quite difficult. In the process of lying under the table to get these cables in and all plugged in, I got this long stringy, cobweb stuck in my hair. I hate it how it's invisible like that. I haven't really checked if it's still there in a mirror, so I have no idea if it's still there. I might do that now.
Ugh. It's 3:52 P.M and I'm kind of starving.

Brilliant.

2009-06-20T19:54:00.004+10:00

It sums it all, really. Kind of scary..

Farewell, Firefly 'verse.

2009-06-19T19:32:00.009+10:00

That's the end, I guess. The end. The finale. Sigh. I hate farewells. I know it's not really a goodbye, I mean, I guess I can always just rewatch the episodes and be all fanatical but still. It's not the same. It's like living. And reliving. I don't know how to explain it. Serenity was awesomeness. The whole show and movie is genius. Absolutely brilliant. Just watch it.

On the bright side, I did my piano exams (prac one) today and PASSED. Isn't that amazing? I was so afraid of failure yesterday. I still am but I'm heaps glad that I passed anyway. Now I just need to do my musicianship (theory exam) which is in like, two months, I think. Definitely going to be more prepared this time round.

*Update* Yay for a blog revamp :D (enclosed pic for after the next revamp, trying to keep track of these things..)

My piano exams tomorrow. Yay.

2009-06-18T19:53:00.002+10:00

No. I'm panicking and partially hyperventillating and I really don't want to do it. I don't want to face the freeze that grips me when I enter the music conservatory (where I'm doing my exams)and how I hyperventilate when I sit down on the piano seat and wait for the examiner's foreboding voice to tell me what to play. The waiting, the night before and on the day is even worse. Ugh. The suspense. Last year, I was so prepared (relatively, this year I'm not quite so) and confident and then I went into the exam room, sick and nervous, I played too fast, trying to get it over with, and ended up running my notes together a lot and just, well, failed miserably. Well, technically I got a C, so I just about passed. Sheesh. And I tried really, really hard. That's the thing that bothers me. Have courage, that's what I need. I need to be brave and confident to face this imminent predicament. I'm not going to just "get it over and done with". The most important bit is the exam. Not my marks or whether I pass or fail. I'm going to do this and I'm going to do it good. Well that's my intended mindset anyway. Hopefully, I'm remember. And so with Meg Cabot's words in mind:

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that
something else is more important than fear."

Keep moving forward.

2009-06-17T17:52:00.003+10:00

I have nothing really to say today.

Winter has begun.

2009-06-16T18:03:00.004+10:00

I didn't even realise, though I did notice the temperature drop. Isn't it amazing how daylight hours grow shorter and it begins to get freezing in such a short period of time? I'd rather it this than summer, I guess, I prefer cold to the humidity. But the colds are a bit annoying. It rained today. Not the soft drizzle kind that makes everything look surreal after it stops but the downpour kind. Like, the one you would rather be inside watching then outside dripping, standing under a feeble umbrella for cover, toting a heavy book-laden bag, waiting for a bus that just isn't coming any time soon. Not so much.
Anyway, I should be getting back to catching up on all the schoolwork which I missed out on last week. Joy.

LotR referencing

2009-06-15T21:15:00.006+10:00

I can relate too well. She's a lot better at the reenacting though. What's also very cool is that now that I've watched all of the LotR films I get all of it.

I'm intrigued.

2009-06-15T18:29:00.005+10:00

Well, a lot more than intrigue. I think I might go fanatical about this because it is just. So. Freaking. Awesome. Well, the past four episodes of the first season of Firefly anyway. It's just like perfect sci-fi that doesn't look like sci-fi at all. Well, barely. I have been such a geek lately, this is the procedure:
1. Turn on TV.
2. Flick through the channels (I have Foxtel) and check what's on the sci-fi channel.
3. You guess.

That reminds me; though it's not really related, things remind me randomly like that; I got a haircut. Layers. Much to my disappointment however, I didn't get bangs because we ran out of time. My hair feels much lighter now though, so I'm happy. My previously non-layered hair was quite thick so it was just really a drag.

Another totally random fact that is so entirely not related to the last subject: I have officially watched all of the Lord of the Rings films! Yeah, yeah, it took me a while since my last post about it but I finally watched Return of the King yesterday.
My winning line: *IMDB action steal*
Witch King: [taking Eowyn by the throat] You fool. No man can kill me. Die now.
[Merry stabs the Witch King from behind; the Witch King shrieks and falls to his knees. Eowyn rises and pulls off her helm, her hair falls down over her shoulder]
Eowyn: I am no man.

It's just awesomeness and I don't care how many other people must like it, I love it all the same.

Being an MMO must be disappointing.

2009-06-14T09:53:00.006+10:00

Following the outrage that Star Wars: The Old Republic ISN'T a single player RPG i.e isn't KotOR III, it still looks completely mad awesome by this trailer. It blew me away XD

The big question is: WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO RELEASE THE GAME ALREADY!

I'm going to keep going.

2009-06-14T09:48:00.003+10:00

I can't believe I totally forgot about BEDJ yesterday! I mean, I was going to post after I had piano around after four, but it just didn't occur to me when I was watching an episode of Firefly (actually, that's the first episode and it's actually a lot better than I previously thought) and I fell asleep. Again. Ugh, this falling asleep spontaneously thing isn't something I'm really used to. Still sick.
I know. This is like the third time I've tripped up this month and there's really no excuse for it. But I'm going to keep going even though I think I sort of failed this thing, maybe just make it til the end of the month.

Oh gosh, that's hilarious.

2009-06-12T10:49:00.002+10:00

Sky News.

2009-06-12T10:05:00.003+10:00

Sheesh, I've been meaning to post about it for a while now but I keep on forgetting. The news has been an awful load of depressing lately, hasn't it? Typically, I just walk into the living room, the TV's on and it blares "...and Australia has become the 5th worst country with cases of swine flu with over 1200 [side note- it's actually 1224 at the moment], swine flu has been declared a world pandemic, marking the first influenza pandemic in 40 years and the first in the 21st century, the worse is yet to come for the global depression where it is predicted that by 2011, unemployment will be over 50%, terrorist suicidal bombers kill 200 people.."
Now that is exactly what I hear as the news reporter summarizes the whole lot of news stories.

This kind of sucks.

2009-06-12T09:53:00.003+10:00

The rest of my textiles class is on an excursion to an exhibition down in Sydney Darling Harbour and I'm at home, still sick. I am better yes, but mother - mum or mother, I use both but mother just to be ironical - refuses to let me go. "One more day, Jess." she says. "You wouldn't want to give everyone else a cold too, would you?"
Truly, I wouldn't. But I feel fine. Like a few coughs here and there, mostly out of the no-contact quarantine zone. But no. So, I'm stuck at home on this beautiful day. Actually it's been quite a week for beautiful weather and I've been watching it pass through my window. Seriously, the ocean is like, this deep colour of blue and it's pretty much cloudless skies and cool and balmy weather. Maybe the universe is against me or something but when I was actually feeling OK last week, it was raining and the kind of bleak and cloudy.
I read mostly yesterday. Finished An Abundance of Katherines. Loved it. Especially the footnotes. John Green has this way of always cheering you up. I really like Colin's character too. I do wish I had the US edition of the novel though. I like it better.
Oh well, I think I might just retire to watching movies, reading and maybe sleeping for the rest of the day. Will try not to think about where else I could be. Blah.

They censored the Chaser.

2009-06-11T09:40:00.006+10:00

So yesterday I found out that they censored The Chasers War on Everything, a show on ABC which has become quite a controversy for its satire. I actually didn't a get a chance to watch it that Wednesday night because I was in Sydney but apparently, they did a skit on the Make-a-Wish foundation which so much people were offended by that ABC had to suspend the show off the air and forced the Chasers to make a formal apology to the public.
If you're curious as to the actual skit:

My opinion? Yes, the skit was beneath them. Yes, it was outrageous and I really don't think it was funny at all; lampooning a good cause. But really, in the light of the matter, censorship? It's not really about whether the skit was funny or not, or enough people were offended by it - it's the fact that they will and can ban a program will if a minority of people feel insulted by it. What happened to freedom of speech?

BEDJ FAIL.

2009-06-10T18:05:00.004+10:00

TWICE. Maybe I'm just bad at this commitment thing or something but I've already failed twice and it's only been 10 or so days in..*coughs - literally* My cousins came down on the long weekend and one of them gave had a flu and they gave it to me. Ugh. Maybe I just have a really bad immune system or something but wasn't I sick, what, a few weeks ago? The symptoms seem to have heightened in my case too. Sore throat, headaches, blocked nose, overwhelming tiredness, overly temperamental body temperatures, thrumming head; I have it all.
My room smells faintly of nostalgia and sickness, though the "faintly" might mainly be attributed to my nose. I have tried to open the window when I go outside and have food and take some medicine to let some fresh air in (as it it's kind of windy at the moment and it's really cold when I open the window whilst actually being in the room).
I slept hours straight yesterday and felt incredibly tired even when I did wake up. I couldn't even read. Just laid in bed, not thinking and then sleeping and having bizarre dreams. I still don't feel altogether myself at the moment either. Hopefully I'll get better by Friday, I'm meant to be going down to Sydney for a textiles excursion which I've kind of been anticipating for a while but now, being prevented because of this stupid flu.

I probably should be getting back to bed anyway. My eyes are starting to sting a bit from looking at this screen.

Tired and may have caught another flu.

2009-06-08T09:13:00.003+10:00

I really don't mean to write all these negative posts. I don't. Maybe I've found my calling - a depressing writer? Ugh. I can barely stand my own voice at the moment. This is another early post just in case I don't get back in time. I'm going down to Sydney with my mum and brother today since it's the Queen's Birthday.
My cousins came up to visit us yesterday and and one of them had the flu and now I really hope I don't get sick. Again.

Republic Commando was awesome, albeit short.

2009-06-07T16:08:00.006+10:00

*this post contains subtle spoilers*

I beat it. After thirty or so hours (well at least that's what it says on the save file) I finally beat it. It had a very unsatisfactory ending. I thought it would go up until the infamous Order 66 was executed. Or at least show it. Now I'm kind of disappointed, apparently my team were the start of a full-scale invasion for the Republic which sounds all great except one of my fellow Commandos died in the process of it...it's sad. Yeah, yeah I know I'm a fan girl. I get attached to these things. If you really have no idea what I'm talking, I urge you to watch Star Wars. It's epicness.

*edit* Wow, after reading this post a second time...sorry for being so boring. I really don't feel like writing today.

I slept in.

2009-06-06T11:37:00.003+10:00

I slept in on my cousin's wedding. Ugh. Now I have to go. This is a last minute post just in case I don't make it back in time.

Sleep deprivation does make one feel tired.

2009-06-05T20:07:00.003+10:00

So, I was sitting there listening to my religions teacher drone on about something or the other; I can barely remember because I was only half awake. By half awake I mean I was barely conscious but enough to maintain the appearance of being awake. Everything was a blur and I was trying so desperately not to fall asleep. Time dragged on in that class like eternity and I was so glad when I finally got out. Surprisingly all consciousness and awareness was returned to me when I stepped out of that room. I'm not sure whether to conclude it was my own tiredness or just the teacher. After all, I had been having severely late nights this past week, more than usual.
Nearly finished with my p.j shorts in textiles. woot. Stupid hem. Now I have to redo it again because of one fabric fold.
Going to my cousin's wedding tomorrow so maybe I should do an early morning post since I won't get back til late..

Oreos and wine gum love.

2009-06-04T22:22:00.003+10:00

I reckon I did okay in my maths exam today. Right now, I'm just so glad it's over! The relief is just so liberating (been using this word a lot lately...).
I took out two more books out from the library today, as if I didn't have enough on my to-read list but I just have this thing where I just can't leave the library empty-handed. I've decided that I'm going to commit to reading all my library books (including Paradise Lost - been really procrastinating on this one...) in the next fortnight or so maybe. I used to read a novel a day and now I'm lucky if I finish a novel a week. At least I'm still reading I suppose. I'm aiming to read at least 100 books this year but so far, I'm not doing so well since it's already nearing the middle of the year. Sigh.

I think Oreos are inexplicably sensational. They just taste so freaking good. I can't imagine anyone getting sick of them. But then again, I don't eat them that regularly so I guess I wouldn't really know. Wine gum is nice also. I found this local store that specializes in selling international candy and it looked interesting so I went in and looked around when I noticed they sold Wine Gum in the UK section. I'm not sure if it's actually it but I remember charlieissocoollike doing a random video on wine gum? So I thought, oh gosh, let's try some wine gum. It's delicious. British candy is awesome.

I strayed, I strayed.

2009-06-04T00:09:00.007+10:00

I know, I know. This isn't exactly June 3 (but of course I will be writing another post today to make up for it). I totally missed the midnight mark by 10 minutes! I have a perfectly reasonable excuse to why I was detained though.

I actually think it's very reasonable - I met John Green today. Oh my gosh. He came to Sydney, he talked and he talked and he talked some more and time went by really quickly and I could hardly believe I was in the same room as him. He signed my copy of Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines and I was really happy but as always, I managed to say something utterly stupid while he was doing that. I mean, I had been imagining this moment for a while now and it definitely, was not - in fact, very far from any of my imaginations - what I intended it to be like. Do you know that feeling when a person you greatly admire speaks and everyone is asking all these intelligent questions and you just can't think of any and you remain silent like an idiot? I mean, I was pretty much hyperventilating when I was next in line at the book signing stand. He wrote DFTBA into my Paper Towns XD When asked to define a nerd, he said "someone who is awesome". I will never forget that. He talked about Paper Towns mostly, the ideas and questions raised in it and little side notes as he read the first page of the book out loud to us. One thing he talked about that I found particularly interesting was the endless complexities of everyone and how you will never know exactly what is to be another person. He elaborated a lot more on it of course and it was just all very awesome. He talked about how life is never quite how you imagine it. I've found that more than true in my case. Most especially in meeting him. God, I feel like such an idiot now. I also forgot to bring a camera so no photos. I guess the whole idea of going to meet him was kind of spontaneous in itself because it wasn't only til the night before that it was certain that I would be able to go.
I even found myself in one situation that I have never, ever in my life been before - in the city (Sydney CBD), alone. It was liberating yet afterwards became a little nauseauting at the same. I feel like such a small-town girl in saying such and it's really kind of hard to describe.
I also finally..after so many attempts to go there, went to Gleebooks in Glebe. By this time, I thought I was cursed (entirely irrational and absurd, I know) against ever entering that bookstore. I ended up only staying for 10 minutes though. It would have been 5, had they found the book I was looking for earlier. It ended up being behind some random stack of books. I was so anxious they wouldn't find it in time for me to make it to see John Green in the CBD by 7 P.M (by then it was already 6:30). I ended up getting lost after I was back out in the hall of the building too. It was all very intimidating, I have no idea how many levels there were so I ended up having to ask a random woman for directions out into the street. Yes, the whole "don't talk to strangers" thing was pounding through my head the whole time, especially being in the city where there would probably be a lot of creepy people. Afterwards, we went to a Japanese restuarant and it was quite nice and Miso soup isn't is as bad as people make it sound.

Anyway, that's the end of my anecdote. I might try to get some last-minute cramming for my math exam tomorrow. Adieu.

Art

2009-06-02T22:07:00.002+10:00

I just love this picture, very true.

Quick Hellos

2009-06-02T19:32:00.006+10:00

Man, I feel awful. I hate that most of my posts have been rather negative lately. I pulled a late nighter last night and I'm probably going to do the same today. When I got home and tried to study, I felt so tired so in my head, I told myself that I would take a quick nap before waking up 2 hours later. I just have so much studying to do and I want to do well in my exams but it's becoming rather overwhelming.
Hopefully I can get all my work done today so I can meet John Green tomorrow in Sydney!

The start.

2009-06-01T17:17:00.010+10:00

Let BEDJ begin! Yes I just wasted 3 words announcing the start of this busy (mostly study-wise) month. And even more words explaining it. Vicious, vicious circle.

Anyway.

What's busy? Exams, naturally. As you can tell, I am procrastinating at the moment by blogging but I've committed to this so I'm determined to finish it.

I am fairly stressed out by my maths half yearly which is coming up this Thursday. I am making the only exceptions now to my study time for the next week is this blog and reading. I'm afraid if I so much as pause and do something else when I'm in the middle of studying, I'll never get back in. I am also terrible at motivating myself to do math. There's just barely anything in it that I find vaguely interesting. It's just digits and letters and symbols that are rearranged to make well, more. I profess, I do speak this from an entirely partial perspective on the subject.
We're doing Romeo and Juliet at the moment and I don't think I can take any more of it. I think I've just about discussed it to death. Ha..sorry, that was an unintentional pun.

I've started reading about a total of 3 books in the past week and finished two. Altogether, I've got 8 books out of the library and one borrowed off a friend. I finished Stardust last night. It's actually a relatively short novel so no surprise there. I have to say, it was a lot less than how I expected it to be. In this case, I'd have to say I liked the movie better - I know, shock, horror, gasp, stare. Usually books are better than their film adaptions but in this case, I just liked the story of how things happened in the movie better. It toned down the reality just a bit. Stardust remains one of my favorite movies, though initially I did think the name was a little overrated.

I must get back to work now. Procrastinating. Again.

Music: Buildings and Mountains - The Republic Tigers

By the way, Melissa, if you're reading this, I think your playlist is genius. Love it!

Rainy days make flowers look nice.

2009-05-30T11:33:00.003+10:00

It's raining but the lighting is really nice inside.

T-shirt number one.

2009-05-27T20:32:00.002+10:00

This shirt is just made of awesomeness.

I'm having a nihilistic soliloquy.

2009-05-25T22:40:00.006+10:00

Note to self: Do not watch Dylan Moran when you're depressed. He just makes you feel even more depressed in only a somewhat rational yet entirely nihilistic way.

I hate...

I hate stress.
I hate that I let myself feel it.
I hate my maths teacher for being the utterly insufferable teacher that he is.
I hate that I waste a lot of time doing pointless things.
I hate half-yearly's.
I hate sleep deprivation.
I hate having a bad hair day.
I hate my inner-critic.

I guess I should probably stop. Just another bad day. I think I'm going to resist the urge to continue sleep deprivation today.

Upcoming:

~~finish reflection statement for English~~
study for Commerce test on Thursday
study for maths half yearly
review for geography half yearly

Wow, strong aperture on this one.

Today's lunch.

2009-05-24T14:17:00.002+10:00

Teenage angst.

2009-05-24T00:59:00.003+10:00

Don't ask me why I googled it but I got this definition:

Bullshit term coined by those who don't know the effects and feelings brought on by depression. While there ARE those who don't know the full effects and are, in fact, just whiny, the term teen angst is highly offensive to those who are in fact depressed, clinically or not, and the dumbasses who apply the term to general teen culture ought to spend one week in the shoes of those who they criticize.

1: Blogs are for whiners. It's just teen angst.
2: And guess what! Nobody cares what you think, jackass.

Wow, thanks for such a totally impartial and objective definition.

This is the start of blog o' WriMo

2009-05-23T14:08:00.008+10:00

Just got a new revamp on my blog as you can see. I've decided to commit to something next month, where I post every single day. Hopefully I will follow this through. It'll be like a blog o' WriMo for me.

I realise I'll probably end up writing plenty of vapid and pointless things but it's to get me back into writing again, something that I haven't been doing much of lately. Writers say that you don't start out with a 'voice'. That when you start out, you're mostly imitating a writing style of the particular books you're into, that's if you're a reader. Well at least that is how it is for me. I feel like I can never find that particular style that suits me and I just end up getting in a mix in between of what I want to be writing like and what I don't really want to be writing like. I imagine it isn't exactly the most interesting place to put a style in but that's where it presumably is. Hopefully, one day I will end up establishing my own persona and my own individual flair with writing but for now, I'll just be working towards it.

Still awake at zero-hour.

2009-05-23T00:33:00.001+10:00

I am obsessed with the idea of zero-hour. It's causing me a great deal of sleep deprivation.

Books

2009-05-23T00:21:00.014+10:00

Books currently reading:

Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway

My Shelfari Book Shelf

2009

Novels (incl. plays)
1. Before I Die by Jenny Downham
2. Tithe by Holly Black
3. Ironside by Holly Black
4. Wake by Lisa McMann
5. Valiant by Holly Black
6. The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pulman
7. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
8. 10 Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah
9. Hamlet by John Marsden
10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
11. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
12. Wicked by Gregory Macguire
13. Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
14. Camelot's Shadow by Sarah Zettel
15. Camelot's Honour by Sarah Zettel
16. Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve
17. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
18. Camelot's Sword by Sarah Zettel
19. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
20. Camelot's Blood by Sarah Zettel
21. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
22. Paper Towns by John Green
23. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
24. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
25. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
26. Evermore by Alyson Noel
27. Notes from a Spinning Planet: Ireland by Melody Carlson
28. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
29. Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

Manga
1. Negima! Volume 1 by Ken Akamatsu
2. Negima! Volume 2 by Ken Akamatsu
3. Negima! Volume 3 by Ken Akamatsu
4. Negima! Volume 4 by Ken Akamatsu
5. Negima! Volume 5 by Ken Akamatsu
6. Negima! Volume 6 by Ken Akamatsu
7. Tsubasa Volume 1 by Clamp
8. Beauty Pop Volume 10 by Kiyoko Arai

Camelot awesomeness and the sheer-ity of stress

2009-05-21T21:49:00.002+10:00

Merlin. Merlin, Merlin, Merlin. It started this whole phase of Camelot-Arthurian legend for me again. I just really love the whole concept of Merlin, a British TV show that was only released late last year. Other than those really awesome British accents, the cast is perfect presenting Merlin not as a old, long beard and infinite-omniscient-wisdom kind of character but a "charmingly dorky" young warlock who does "background stuff" XD I can't really describe how cool the show is, it's just phenomenal in itself.
So basically, I've been getting back into reading more Camelot books again and now I'm stuck in medieval Britain and I don't want to leave.

Coupled with the half-yearly exam stress - my teachers almost seem sometimes like they enjoy giving out stress. The worst thing with these exams is that I actually want to do well in them and my own opinions and desires pin me down into this awful state that I am in now. I've been trying to clear my mind a bit, and sometimes it works when I take a break from studying in watching movies and reading books etc. but it's really overwhelming sometimes when I'm actually studying. Mostly it's just the intense feeling that I'm not getting anywhere, that what do I hope to accomplish by doing this tiny piece of work compared to all I need to get done in the next month. All I'm hoping for right now is just to get these exams over and done with but at the same time do the best I can possibly achieve.

Troubles with THE thick hair.

2009-05-15T00:24:00.002+10:00

I am so, so, so glad that my recent exams are over that have been going on straight for the last 3 days. If this is how it is now, I can't imagine how much more difficult it's going to be in Year 12 where months of preparation are required. That reminds me, I'm still kind of nervous about that but it's a few years away yet so I try not to think about it too much.
I believe I may or may not be reverting back to my old sleeping hours. It's presently 12:27 A.M and as I am typing this, I am absolutely not in bed. Where I should be. Let the sleep deprivation return. It's like I am surviving on just caffeine for my source of energy. I really should try to go to bed early or maybe just establish a time where I could glad-wrap myself to bed or something.

Other than this sleep deprivation which is slowly taking over my life, my puffy, thick hair is becoming very annoying. As my awesome bangs have already grown out and I can't them again because of a certain parental unit who thinks that it "hangs over my eyes" and that "it looks hideous". I wish I could have a little bit more independence at least in this but no. Now I guess I will just have to look for a bang-free haircut that will suit me. Most possibly something involving layers to thin out the puffy look. Thick, short non-layered hair is overly puffy so I can never leave it out. This is the end of my rant about my stupidly annoying thick hair.

I'm going to bed. 'night.

Spend to feel better?

2009-05-09T23:29:00.003+10:00

I have finally discovered what I have been actually doing for the last few months - intense retail therapy. Whenever I feel depressed, bad or just bereft I try to get rid of it by buying books and other things I want. Thankfully, I do write out everything I spend so I worked out the sums for it and my income and it's looking pretty ludicrous. I can't believe I didn't realise this before this. I really have to stop spending so much. So as buying books are the main problem here, I'm going to swear off buying books for a while.

Not really thinking or listening to anything.

2009-05-04T17:47:00.001+10:00

Being sick sucks. I'm not sure even why I'm blogging about this. I swear, sometimes I blog for the silliest of reasons. Or for no reason for that matter. I feel like I'm trying to express something but I just can't. Little words bundles together to make a whole paragraph of absurdity. Usually I hit the backspace much and often but right now, I'm trying to stop that. I mean it's just insane how many times I must try to be perfect. I'm a big perfectionist. On my words and most of the things I do. I think it's time to lose the grip and hold onto the things that are actually important. OK, my eyes are starting to hurt from looking at this screen. Stupid flu or cold or whatever you are. I can never tell the difference.

Thoughts that flit.

2009-04-29T22:25:00.008+10:00

1 Just finished watching Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure finale episode. I am really sad it's over but I thought it was a brilliant ending to the series.

2 Defying Gravity and No One Mourns the Wicked are my favorite songs from Wicked.

3 While looking through some of my old word documents on my hard drive I came across this certain musing I wrote some time ago. Oh yeah, and it is a little embarrassing and personal.
I don't really think it makes that much sense if you're not me.

'One person may look ordinary but that one individual may be more astounding and unique than you can imagine. By turn of a nod, a warm smile, a meaningful look, a heartfelt sympathy underlining their eyes, a laugh or maybe a certain slant of sunlight. By their nature, their personality, the little things they do and love and like and hate and dislike and say.'

4 Two things I know for certain:
1. Dylan Moran is a genius
2. I am a terrible procrastinator.

Now I sign off knowing that some of the stuff I write here is quite absurd or repetitive and in many ways do no make sense.

Dance Inside

2009-04-19T13:09:00.003+10:00

I am such a klutz. I hate being a klutz. I hate the fact that being the klutz that I am led me to accidentally break my brother's $255 dollar computer monitor. Ugh. I can't even afford to pay him back at the moment. I find myself in quite a predicament.
Other than that I've spent the last two days doing a marathon of season one of Merlin. It's awesome though now I'm sad that it's over. I wish season two would just come out already.

OK enough recounting. I seriously have got to stop this blog from just becoming a stack of anecdotes. Its getting repetitive.

...I got nothing. I promise my next post will be nothing to do with my life itself.

Music: Dance Inside - The All American Rejects

You, Me & The Bourgeoisie

2009-04-10T23:13:00.008+10:00

I am finally back from a 2 day trip to see Wicked in Melbourne. Melbourne was spectacular - well, at least when all the stores are open anyway on yesterday as today was Good Friday. I thought their tram network was especially cool. There were trams and their rails, tracks and stations everywhere. It's a great way to travel as the trams come around each station in every 3 minutes or so. The roads and cars also drive a little differently to how we do it up here in NSW. One such road quirk is that there are these little holes (size of a car) on the roads where cars can just drive through it and turn around instead of having to drive to a roundabout or going into a driveway and make a u-turn. The shopping was simply...very extensive. Almost everything opens up to 11 everyday apparently as the city has long store hours. The trams also run along this schedule - I swear, they were everywhere, a way better way to go around the city then catching the train like in Sydney (in case you haven't figured already, I was very impressed by the trams, I'm being such a freak about it now).
Unfortunately though we didn't get a chance to visit all the places that me and mum wanted to go but the places we did have enough time to go were great too. I wanted to go to the Readings (a super spesh massive bookstore) on Lygon St and man, it was just fantasticly awesome bookstore. I wish my local book stores looked like that. They didn't stock everything in the world but they came pretty close in my world. It's very existence would be one of the reasons why I'd want to move to Melbourne. I ended up getting two books:

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith -I didn't expect to find this here as I was under the impression that it was not even sold in Australia - this is the place where we always get books last so if they sell it here, well, they sell it everywhere)
The Future By Us: Visions of Australia 2020 and beyond by Hugh Evans and Tom O'Connor (Eds) - this looked like a really interesting book, it was only published recently on the 1 March and as far as I know, I haven't seen it in any Sydney or other local bookstores so its more particular to Melbourne. I also love the cover. It reminds of Wall-E somewhat.

After that, I got this small-sized gelato ice cream cup which is actually 3 scoops of 3 flavors for $4.50 I think. Yum. Gelato is really the best ice-cream to be eaten. I chose strawberry, mango and aloe vera. The mango remains my favorite.
I also dropped by the State Libray which is officially know as the State Library of Victoria. It was very colossal and busy. Students with laptops, books were everywhere and quiet at the same time too which made it awkward when I walked in just like that. I quickly left the building because to be honest, I found it pretty depressing building in general - I didn't think I'd ever say that about a library.

I saw Wicked at 8pm. It was as phenomenal as I expected it to be. In the auditorium they sold these lighted greenish cordial-looking-like drinks to match the Wicke theme which I found out to be alcoholic later. The musical itself was amazing. I was kind of disappointed at some of the variations of the voice and certain non-existent emphasis that was placed on certain words in the soundtrack for the original broadway cast with Idina Menzel. My favorite moment out of the whole musical was when Elphaba rises up to the ceiling while near the end of Defying Gravity. It's all very theatric and slightly mysterious in the way they can make some people disappear in less than a blink where I didn't really see any stage doors. I was disappointed that we didn't get Anthony Callea for the role of Boq but instead his stand-by/understudy and Amanda Harrison I think it was for Elphaba. I think Anthony would have been perfect for Boq since he's so short, he'd be like the perfect, cute little Munchkin boy.

I'm tired now, its almost midnight. This is to be continued...

*UPDATE*
Meh I couldn't be bothered. I find the supposed first half of this anecdote quite dull already. No point in continuing.

Music: You, Me & the Bourgeoisie - The Submarines

Maybe I Will

2009-04-07T18:56:00.003+10:00

I think some good things really come unexpected because today I came home to find the advanced reader's copy of The Singing that I won in the MAILBOX XDD
I actually didn't know that was it until I opened it and was really pondering to myself "when on earth did I order a book from the U.S?"as the packaging had an Airmail stamp from the U.S.A. But yes, this is the first advanced reader's copy that I've ever received. I think its awesome.
Other than that it was a rather crap day which I shall not elaborate on to preclude this post from being yet another dull anecdote of bad days.

Currently really obsessed with Julia Nunes. I didn't get the hype about her on nerdfighters before but I finally do. She's phenomenal.

Music: Maybe I Will - Julia Nunes

The Moon and Sixpence

2009-04-06T18:01:00.002+10:00

One word. AWESOME. I absolutely love this mini-figure set of undines from Aria(anime)! I probably will never be able to own it as its like 7000 yen which is roughly $100 AUD. Sigh.

Despite me swearing off books in my last post I did end up getting some more new books but I really swear this time - no more. Well after the one that I ordered from the bookstore comes in which I do intend to buy. Then no more. I have like a half a dozen coming from Amazon so I really should stop buying books.
I've also been getting into reading manga again recently after getting 6 volumes of this new manga that I now, absolutely love. It's called Negima! by Ken Akamatsu. Sadly however I STILL haven't read volume 10 of Beauty Pop. I just really don't want it to end and I might actually end up getting the volume in paperback and read it then.

OK, must go. I seriously have to adjust to daylight saving - I was dead tired today even though the time did shift backwards an hour, I ended up going to bed at midnight which really, usually would be 1am and its awful going to bed at 1am and waking up at 6.

Music: The Moon and Sixpence - Falling Up

Somebody Else's Song

2009-03-08T13:42:00.008+11:00

I think I've officially watched the longest movie in my life: Extended edition of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Wow. 4 hours gone. I'm not sure how long the standard edition is but the extended edition was like having a TV show marathon. Open case. Disc 1 in. Disc 1 out. Disc 2 in. Disc out. Close case. Other than though it was an amazing movie. I absolutely loved it. I know its a bit late for my first time watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy but I only got the extended edition trilogy box set recently. I also seem to have a knack for coming late into fandom. Like I always seem to get into it after the craze is over. Like Star Wars which I only got into last year.
The only good thing about this little quirk of mine is that I don't have to wait if its a series. I would really, really hate to wait for the movies to come out one by one. That's what I'm doing with the Star Wars: The Clone Wars right now. I didn't have much expectations for it at first but after giving the show a chance one morning when I flicked through the channels and it was on, I actually find out so freakishly awesome now. It uncovers so much of the action that happened during Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith like who knew Anakin trained a apprentice!

Ok, enough of Star Wars - I realise I am a bit of a fangirl.

I've been buying too many books lately. I need to learn how to save. Or well just not spend so much money. Which is difficult once you get into the habit. I need to get a job. There's a restaurant a five minute walk from my house that has job openings. I want to apply but the prospect of dropping in my resume and leaving is a little daunting.

Books I have bought in the last month/30 days:
- Tithe by Holly Black
- Ironside by Holly Black
- Wake by Lisa McMann
- Luxe by Anna Godberson
- The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
- Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

...oh gosh. So each book is around $15-$20 each. Umk. Will save.

Music: Somebody Else's Song - Lifehouse

AT-AT Walker Boom Box = phenomenal awesome

2009-02-24T19:51:00.003+11:00

'nuff said.

Fairy Glass

2009-02-12T21:10:00.002+11:00

Aptly named "Fairy Glass" by Skye. I just love the vivid imagery and its lines-between-the-lines.

I see you
standing there, holding
the glass that catches
the light.

It mesmerizes,
playing with the colors, dancing
to the musical notes it carries:
faerie magic.

It flows,
these watercolored beams, swirling
through the particles, glowing
when touched.

You call to me,
wanting me, asking
me to join them, to shine
with them forever.

Whatever It Takes

2009-02-12T20:21:00.002+11:00

I've been getting into a book craze recently. I guess you can say my reading "block" is officially over. I've really been getting into the modern faerie tales by Holly Black after I bought the first book, Tithe on a random impulse a month ago. Right now, I'm reading Valiant which is pretty awesome so far.
The irony of those little things of life is so recurring! Like if you say "well, at least it's not raining" whilst you have a half-broken umbrella in your hand and then a minute later there's this sudden big downpour! It's total universe-against-me fail in originality.
And then this couple boards our bus today - its essentially a school bus but sometimes random public passengers hop on - and then sit in the seat in front of me and...make out. Blah. Gag, I do.
Anyway. Finally watched Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist last Saturday. I really, really liked it. Both the movie and the soundtrack is really awesome. They changed some bits from the book but I think it all fit in well and turned out really well. I loved Nick's mix CD cover art!
OK, procrastination ends here. Really have to study for Maths quiz on Tuesday and finish reading To Kill a Mockingbird for English.

Music: Whatever it Takes - Lifehouse

Harry Potter awesome

2009-02-01T10:31:00.002+11:00

Saw this from Maggie Steifvater's blog - hilarious XD

Australia Day and a partial solar eclipse *Google

2009-01-26T22:26:00.003+11:00

Ah I can not give up yet this tradition! I really half could not be bothered to put it up but today Google did a special logo for Australia day! Lunar New Year also coincided with Australia day which is a pretty special event that only happens every few decades or so I think which is quite amazing.
OK I'll stop gabbing. Here's the logo:

Hover Text: "Australia Day"
Period: 26 January 2009

Oh and did I mention I missed a partial solar eclipse today! I did not even know about until 2 hours two late reading yesterday's newspaper. Gah.

The "Starbucks" of Australia

2009-01-23T00:18:00.004+11:00

"Gloria Jean's is like the Starbucks of Australia."

Starbucks and Gloria Jean's are both international companies but Gloria Jean's just seem to make it better over here.

reminiscing

2009-01-19T15:38:00.004+11:00

my internet noob days, I had just opened my Gmail account back in '07 when Firefox 2 was NEW :)

From the Sea

2009-01-14T12:41:00.005+11:00

This is going to be a depressing post so really, this is a pre-warning: don't read it if you don't want to share the misery.
I'm staring a bit forlornly right now at the stack of to-be-read books that I have on my shelf. The thing is, lately I've really been feeling out of reading. Like it has ceased to be altogether interesting for me. What happened to the old me whom would spend up the AM hours furtively reading under my blanket with a flashlight while at the same time, ears on for the sound of footsteps? I have absolutely no idea.
Also what happened to my school books list for 2009! I tore my room apart for it last night and I could not find it anywhere. It's terrible. Of all things to lose, I had to lose that. With most of my friends gone on vacation, I can't really ask for their help either. So to sum it up, the last week has been really crap. First losing all my music files - then having to spend a few hours searching for a way to get it back and then actually getting it back - and then this.
I went to see Tale of Despereaux on Saturday with a friend and it was a really disappointing book adaption for me plus I find out something that really hurt. I won't disclose what it was on here but it just really hurt my feelings that that friend had been meaning to lie about it but didn't. Lie.
I hate how depressed I've been feeling. It's like a storm cloud is looming ominously above my head, following me around. Have you ever felt so frustrated that you just want to scream? That's exactly the measure of how bad I feel. And I do scream. Into my pillow that is.

Music I'm currently listening to: From the Sea - Eskimo Joe

Fireworks in Sydney!

2009-01-01T12:30:00.003+11:00

or the Daily Telegraph's video with better music.

*Google

2009-01-01T12:17:00.002+11:00

Hover text: Happy New Year 2009!

From 31 December 2008 - (will input date when it ends though right now on assumptions, it'll probaly be down by tomorrow)

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T00:24:00.007+11:00

I was duly not disappointed for the events at 12 am. Running out to the balcony, fireworks were already flinging from a few places along the beach followed by many hoots, screams and cries of "Happy new year!" and then a little later by some fireworks bursting from my STREET which my balcony offered a good view of as well. It was so loud that I had to shut my ears and blinding from the proximity but exciting all the same of having fireworks bursting in the sky in front of you.
I felt oddly elated and kind of mellow at the same time. Time was moving on - followed by those little worries that accompany the realization that everything will come to pass then by the reassurance that whatever I'm going to be going through, God will always be with me.
On the other hand, I feel really elated now because guess what? It's 2009! What's not to be happy about! Even the sky joins in as it is an IMPOSSIBLY starry night tonight as my brother predicted yesterday morning. Not a cloud in sight! I just stare in awe now at the myriads of stars above me blaze brightly in the night sky.
Happy new year everyone! :D

Music I'm currently listening to: Accidentally in Love - Counting Crows

Reflecting

2008-12-31T23:00:00.000+11:00

Okay I lied. THIS will be my last post of 2008. I just thought, now being an hour from the new year, I should reflect on the things that have happened this year; highlights, random things, memories, feats, accomplishments and whatever I just want to include in this last post of 2008.
I hear fireworks and hoots in the background as I type this. I'm expecting something big at 12am and hopefully I won't be disappointed.
Right, REFLECTING.
This year, many, many, many things have happened. A vague way to put it but it is true and I have changed a lot from the person I was on the 31 December 2007 last year, ready with high hopes to embark upon 2008. I learnt a lot of things - not only new ways to solve that maths equation! - but also a whole lot of other things which I'll just place in the points below with other random things I'd like to say upon reflection.

I really got into graphics and media; especially web graphics and using Photoshop. I also learnt the mechanics of making videos and other digital media related things.
I got out of leet speaking on forums, blogs and everything that is not IM which I used to do a lot last year.

I don't think I am any more a Christian than I was a year ago because to be honest I haven't made much progress on that particular path. I listen to and enjoy Christian music, sure, I read Christian books, yes but I don't see myself any more closer with God or anything of that matter. I do want to be further upon this path at this same time next year but that's another story for a post set for goals.

My vocabulary has vastly improved - yes no matter how lame that sentence sounds, I could find no better way to phrase it. I developed a curiousity this year on words that I didn't know in the books I read whereas I never noticed them - or maybe just usually ignored or skipped past them - before that now I am forced to look them up or my mind will be at total unrest.

I read classics like Jane Austen and Tolstoy that I didn't ever even consider on my to-read list last year and read a ton of other books and discovered the vastness of the world library *which to my naivety last year, I could not perceive beyond the books just availible in my library.

I have learnt to keep a real blog that I actually write in pretty regularly every month.
Accepting myself for who I am not someone else - I don't anyone really has truly accomplished this but I think I'm getting there.
Being a Nerdfighter and discovering the glorious world of vlogs earlier this year.
I love the fact that me and Jojo did NOT lose contact of each other this year very much unlike last year and extremely thankful that we could talk regularly like that even though two oceans from each other.

NEW TO FANDOM 2008!

This would be great if I could do a section like this every year :3 It's self-explanatory really so here's a list of those things:

- Star Wars (I can not imagine now how I could lived in ignorance of it)
- KoTOR (okay, well this is not the same thing as Star Wars even though it is related)
- Gilmore Girls (after watching the pilot episode in one PE theory class, I loved it so much that now *after watching many episodes with ad breaks on TV...* I own the complete series which I am very proud of)
- Beauty Pop (this is an excellent manga and I actually first read this in boredom thinking there weren't any other good mangas to read.

And that's about all I can think of. Less than 20 minutes until the 2009! For now, I bid you farewell for 2008!

Present disposition: EXCITED! XD *the continued hooting in the background helps a bit..I think there's a beach party down there*

I didn't want to end my year at 43.

2008-12-26T19:56:00.001+11:00

This post is just going to be me reveling in the landmark that I have achieved this year on this blog in reaching (now) 44 posts! It definitely feels great taking into consideration the number of all the blogs I've abandoned in my life that never really got past post count 1.
I feel kind of proud of myself for getting this far, with 2008 nearly over, finally owning an official blog which has had at least one post every month since its debut. Now I just need to get rid of the I'm Happy song from the Dr. Demento show stuck in my head. For anyone who does not know what the heck I'm raving about, I first heard it on this DA short flash animation.
My Christmas was very non-traditional this year. No one wanted to be the one to put up the Christmas tree (including me) so I left it until Christmas Eve and then stayed up late to do it. Seriously, doesn't procrastination have its limits? My family came up on Christmas day and we just hung around the house doing nothing Christmas related (not even crackers..).
I got some money and also a hardback standard edition copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K Rowling that I've been wanting for a while so I think its pretty awesome. There are two covers of the standard but personally, I prefer the blue cover that I have than the other one so I'm quite content.
To finish off, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and hopefully, will be seeing you next year as this will be my last post of 2008 - it sounds kind of dramatic when I say that :3

purdy! *Google

2008-12-24T15:00:00.001+11:00

I just thought that the new - well, not that new as its been there for a couple of weeks - Gmail themes deserved a post for its snazzy-ness. My favorite,

the Ninja theme is pretty sweet. I just love the cropped, uneven box look :3

And also for my personal record (because I just think it might be interesting), I'm going to try and post here every time the Google logo changes to a custom special occasion one and such posts will be marked by the *Google title.
I will include the text that appears when the mouse hovers it which will be referred to as Hover text.

Hover text: Happy Holidays 2008!
From 22 December 2008 - 26 December 2008

After A While by Veronica A. Shoffstall

2008-12-24T11:54:00.001+11:00

This is one of my favorite poems.

After a while you learn
The subtle difference between
Holding a hand and chaining a soul
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't always mean security.

And you begin to learn
That kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of a woman
Not the grief of a child

And you learn
To build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is
Too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way
Of falling down in mid flight
After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much
So you plant your own garden
And decorate your own soul
Instead of waiting
For someone to bring you flowers

And you learn
That you really can endure
That you are really strong
And you really do have worth
And you learn and you learn
With every good bye you learn.

an altogether impossibly-yet-possible situation

2008-12-23T15:08:00.000+11:00

Recently, I did discover- as title of this post says - that utterly shocked me. This is for all you Avatard-Star Wars fanatics out there who didn't know that:

Luke Skywalker

who is played by Mark Hamill, also voices *drum roll*

Fire Lord Ozai (?!!)

I would have never imagined that Luke Skywalker could sound so sinister! I do realise that while flicking through Hamill's imdb profile, he does voice a ton of other characters (evil or non-evil I have no idea) but him voicing Fire Lord Ozai was the most familiarily, unexpected. So, as any other fan who found such a shocking piece of information would do, (well at least a fan like me) I opened up a random Star Wars movie scene with Luke in it and another window with Fire Lord Ozai speaking to find the similarities. There were none except the listing on imdb to prove that Hamill truly voiced Ozai. After watching all this time, who would have known?

Ultraviolet

2008-12-20T13:06:00.001+11:00

What's a way to celebrate Christmas? A new theme of course! :) I really can't believe its the end of the year already. It sure doesn't feel like it.
This late into December and I still haven't done my Christmas shopping. Mum is planning on doing the ultimate last minute Christmas Eve shopping on the 24th where all the stores will be open up to midnight. It doesn't really sound like a very good idea to me but I have no choice now as I have no means to go to the nearest shopping centre. I swear, I will remember how bad I feel right now next year and do my Christmas shopping earlier!
With my house currently being renovated, I haven't had much to do since sometimes they had to cut the power out and I've found life without electricity and computers hence far, pretty boring. I re-read through Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban all morning yesterday and then ventured outside and down to the beach for a walk around after that. There wasn't really much to do by myself so I just traipsed around the rock pools, dipping my feet in them while looking for crabs. After that I just sat in on a sandstone ledge in front of the beach and read my book for a while before walking home.
This uneventfulness makes me want to go to the Star Wars exhibit in the Powerhouse museum down in Sydney even more. Hopefully before the New Year.
To sum up the last two weeks since school broke off, all I've been doing is:
- KoTOR I & II
- the internet
- one attempt at Call of Duty 4 which made me feel really dizzy from the obstacle shooting course at the beginning of game (probally would alternatively be called the tutorial level) and I'm not too keen on trying to play it again.
- walks around the beach
- helping mum out at her real esate office
- one trip down to Sydney which comprised of:

a checkup with the orthodontist for my braces - and being informed I will have to get taken out 4 baby teeth that still has not come out >.>
a haircut :D I got my bangs trimmed so they're back again and my hair is a centimetre or two shorter - around necklength now.

And that pretty much surmises it.

Music I'm currently listening to: Ultraviolet - The Stiff Dylans

Because I feel uninsipired.

2008-12-07T19:49:00.000+11:00

As I have nothing really very interesting to talk about, I'm just going to take John Green's survey on his blog.

1. What's your name?
Aria is my online alias. I prefer not to disclose my real, boring name.

2. What is your favorite thing to wear?
Presently, this lightish yellow t-shirt with this owl word pun on it, black-grey striped jacket and my jeans.

3. Last thing you ate?
Some random noodle soup. Because soup is always random.

4. One place you will NEVER eat at?
By my non-free will at the Skysitter Restaurant. It sounds nice though.

5. I say Shotgun, you say:
"Eh?" - shotguns are archaic. Blasters are so much awesomer.

6. Last person you hugged?
Virtually, an epic farewell hug with Jojo.

7. Does anyone you know wanna date you?
No. Not really.

8. Would you date anyone you met online?
Well obviously not if they were random people I met online but if I knew them well-enough, perhaps.

9. Name something you like physically about yourself:
I like my height. It's about average.

10. The last place you went out to dinner to?
A Chinese restaurant that I don't remember the name of.

11. Who is your best friend?
Jojo

12. What time of the day is it?
6:41 PM

13. Who/What made you angry today?
My Kingston USB. It took more than a dozen times of replugging it for it to register on the computer.

14. Baseball or Football?
Neither, seeing as I don't watch either.

15. Ever gone skinny dipping?
Nope. It is unlikely that I ever will. I'm not much of a kamikaze person.

16. Favorite type of Food?
Japanese and Italian food.

17. Favorite holiday:
Obviously the longest one. Which is Summer.

18. Do you download music:
Yes, illegally and legally.

19. Do you care if your socks are dirty?
I do. It irks me when they're sticky.

20. Opinion of Chinese symbol tattoos?
Neutral. I don't really mind them but I don't think I'll ever get one. Nor any other tattoo for that matter - I'm already terrified of vaccination needles. I doubt I would survive such an optional ordeal.

21. Would you date the person who posted this?
If you mean John Green, well no. As awesome as he and his novels is, he is middle-aged and married - two of the obvious reasons.

22. Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally?
Noo..it's kind of sad.

23. Do you love anyone?
Yes, fictional and real.

24. Are colored contact lenses sexy?
I agree with John, natural is better.

25. Have you ever bungee jumped?
Nope.

26. Have you ever gone white-water rafting?
Never.

27. Has anyone ten years older than you ever hit on you?
NO one has ever hit on me to be exact.

28. How many pets do you have?
None :( I totally failed at keeping sea monkeys though. I forgot to feed them.

29. Have you met a real redneck?
Seeing as I've never been to the America, nope.

30. How is the weather right now?
Balmy but it's insanely hot outside.

31. What are you listening to right now?
Shadowfeet by Brooke Fraser for the second time in my whole life. I only got her album Albertine today.

32. What is your current favorite song?
The metal version of Caramelldansen by Caramell. It's uber awesome.

33. What was the last movie you watched?
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. For the first time because I'm a very late comer into Star Wars fandom.

34. Do you wear contacts?
Nope. It sounds sort of uncomfortable to be honest.

35. Where was the last place you went besides your house?
My mom's real estate office.

36. What are you afraid of?
Flying bugs. They are just plain freaky, you know. Yes, cockroaches are included because they DO fly.

37. How many piercings have you had?
Two. The first time when I was 6 to get my ears pierced only to find out later it hit the wrong nerve making it bleed alot though I didn't feel anything.
I had to get it repierced again later.

38. What piercings do you want?
No more. They hurt.

39. What's one thing you've learned this year?
That photoshop has a lot more uses than just image resizing - I was on this impression for quite a while before that.

40. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
I don't go to Starbucks much nor cafes much full stop.

41. What Magazines are you reading?
I don't really read any magazines.

42. Have you ever fired a gun:
Virtually yes but I assume you meant in reality which would be a no.

43. Are you missing someone?
Yes. The internet does that.

44. Favorite TV show?
Avatar: The Last Airbender. I wouldn't be an Avatard if it weren't so.

45. Do you have an obsession with WoW?
I don't but I think I would if I gave it a chance. And the money to buy a copy.

46. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celeb?
No. Most people don't even think I look Vietnamese which is what I am but then those are the people who think China and Japan are the only countries in Asia.

47. What celeb do you look like?
Since there aren't that many Asian celebs out there, at least not many that I know of, I'd say the closest resemblance would be Lucy Liu. But then that's

still extending it pretty far.

48. Who would you like to see right now?
I really have no idea.

49. Favorite movie of all time?
I'm a little too young to be deciding on 'all time' as my favorites are subject to shift in the ever-so-vast future but right now, Star Wars. Any of the
original trilogy and the Phantom Menace which is the only ones I've watched so far.

50. Do you find yourself loved?
Sometimes. It's nice.

51. Have you ever been caught doing something you weren't suppose to?
A lot. That is why I must be work on my stealth skill.

52. Favorite smell?
The smell of freshly baked bread or pastries.

53. Butter, plain, or salted popcorn?
I don't eat much popcorn now because of my braces so I don't really remember the difference.

54. What's something that really bugs you?
A lot of things. Mood swings do that.

55. Do you like Michael Jackson?
I don't really know him so I have no answer for that but if you're referring to his music then yes, some of his songs are quite awesome.

56. Taco Bell or Burger King?
I've never been to Taco Bell so I'd say Burger King.

57. What's your favorite perfume?
I'm not really an expert in this area and I don't really understand why people waste money on expensive fragrances anyway. I'm fine with my deodrant.

58. Favorite baseball team?
I don't know any baseball teams to favorite.

59. Ever call a 1-900 phone number?
I don't even know what that is.

60. What's the longest time you've gone without sleep?
I didn't count...D:

61. Last time you went bowling?
Around two months ago I think. It was part of a PE excursion surprisingly.

62. Where is the weirdest place you have slept?
In my closet. It was very stuffy.

63. Who was your last phone call?
My mom. I don't call a lot of people.

64. Last time you were at work?
John is right, depends on how you define 'work'. I'll take it as my last non-leisure activity. About two hours ago, I was working on an English assignment.

65. What's the closest orange object to you?
An hand-me-down iPod orange sock case. I don't really use it much as it doesn't go very well with my green iPod nano.

Gotta Be Somebody

2008-12-06T12:36:00.000+11:00

Have I mentioned how AWESOME my Star Wars original trilogy DVD edition is? Because I love, love, love it! I got it on Thursday, going by Big W to check if they had it in stock because I saw it on their online store and they did! I was so excited, waiting for the clerk to get it out of the glass case. Mom gave me the guilt talk and look while I was waiting for the clerk to finish up what she was doing - which seemed like forever because of Mom's looks. She doesn't really approve of me 'wasting my money' on this sort of stuff but heck, it's my birthday money and since I haven't really spent ANY of it and I'm planning to save the rest that I still have.
No more Star Wars DVD's. *sigh*
It's actually meant to be Christmas all-in-one sort of gift but I just got it for myself. For Christmas.
The quality in The Empire Strikes Back is absolutely brilliant as I have the digitally remastered version of the trilogy but the original theatrical version is included as well as a bonus feature. I've only watched the digitally remastered version of Episode V so far and the original theatrical version of A New Hope.
Another really random thing were these self-serve counters at the store. So instead of having to wait up behind registers that have a clerk working on it, you can also use one of the self-serve counters to well, serve yourself. There's a barcode scanner and whatever you call those things you put credit or debit cards into. It's pretty interesting counter in itself.

On Thursday I also went to this debating day at a university about half-an-hour away from my place. I don't really know what impelled me to volunteer to go and be part of the team as the huge procrastinator that I am, I stayed up to 12 on the previous night doing my speech.
Altogether the whole debating day was funner than I expected. We got show bags that had Coke flavored Chupa Chups, different flavored mints, vouchers and various other merchandise in them including these really awesome purple pens that I love. The food was also provided by the university and we had these really nice ham-and-pineapple pizzas.

Now looking back, I can't believe it's nearly the end of the year. My summer holidays start half-way through next week after Wednesday which is the official last day for my school. In a way, I'm sort of sad that it's already the end of the year and it's going to be really different next year with all the different classes and teachers but happy that I can go back to sleeping in everyday for the next two months :3
We're also getting an internet upgrade to ADSL 2 + with 20GB which is insane from my present ADSL 1 and 2GB. *is anticipated*

Music I'm currently listening to: Gotta Be Somebody - NickelBack

Journey....to the center of the coconut...... (commentary sequel)

2008-12-06T00:14:00.000+11:00

FINALLY here is the long due sequel commentary by me to Jojo's:

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE
COCONUT...NUT...NUT...NUT...NUT

For response just comment on the original post as this isn't really a blog post on my blog but a comment in which I could not shove in the original comment wall.

Epic-but-not-so-epic KOTOR ending *because I am a freak*

I've fallen in love.

2008-11-19T22:26:00.000+11:00

THE G1 IS FINALLY OUT! Well it's been out for a while now but I just saw THIS and I fell in the love. At least they got rid of the previous quirky name..G1 sounds awesome.

LINKIE HERE!

Supernatural

2008-11-10T17:05:00.000+11:00

Everything has its distinctive smell. A new book. An old book. A library book. A new video game is in this case. Yes, I did just get my copy of KOTOR II today. Very deja vu to when I got my tablet - it also arrived on the minute just before I left for school. This time however, I got to chuck in the case in my bag as it was only as a big as an average DVD case and open it on the bus which made me even more excited to get home and play it.
The only thing that bothers me is the covers! To my chagrin:

Instead of this:

It may not seem like a big deal I suppose but I really liked the original full cover one and am very chafed at the first one.

I got this for my birthday from my aunt (which was last week on Friday) but it got delayed a bit by the shipping so I got it today. My birthday was awesome and I saw whales passing by - migrating south - as I stood over this cliff near my place in the afternoon which was pretty cool.

Other than KOTOR II I also got some money and:
- The Host by Stephenie Meyer
- Brisingr by Christopher Paoloni (everyone knew I wanted this so it was inevitable..:3)
- iPod Nano 4th generation (chromatic) from my mum - finally got to upgrade from my 1 gen. iPod shuffle! I still need to get a case for it though.

Music I'm currently listening to: Supernatural - Flyleaf

The lyrics are amazing.

NanoWrimo.

2008-10-29T22:30:00.000+11:00

I've decided I'm going to take up the NanoWrimo challenge after some long thought over it. It's two days until it starts and I'm nervous already. I really want to do this. I realize that I might not complete it but I'm going to give it a try. By 'going to give it a try' I really mean 'try not to give up half-way through'. All I can really say is I'm resolved to put my best effort into doing this.
All I've got so far are a few characters and no plot. I hope I'll be able to figure it all out before it starts.

Music I'm currently listening to ( and has been on repeat for the last couple of hours):

Pokemon (TV Theme Song) - Bill Crawford

Tear Drops on My Guitar

2008-10-25T21:01:00.000+11:00

Do I want this:
awesome 1
awesome 2
and
awesomest

Why yes, yes I do. Very badly.

"A sad KOTOR fan moment"
Girl: Carth is ugly.
Me: *shock/horror/gasp stare*

I've been reading a lot more lately which is terrible timing for a read-athon craze because my yearly exams are coming up. In a week. I genuinely really do want to do well in it but the same well-acquainted pet peeve impedes me: procrastination.
I am determined to try though. Which starts with a schedule and a long to-do list. Which is fine because I need to get myself together. Stop procrastinating.

I watched Enchanted again today. I find myself really encouraged by it. It's just that sort of movie that makes you feel all optimistic inside when you finish watching it. And Giselle's limited use to all words unpleasant as 'unhappy'.

I just found out yesterday that Inkheart has been made into a movie and is coming out soon which I'm excited about. I loved the book and I hope the movie will be just as good.

I've decided to theme this post with lists in three.

Movies I can't wait to see:
1. Inkheart (of course)
2. Nick and Nora's Infinie Playlist
3. Twilight (as a million other people do)

Books I want to get:
1. Suite Scarlett - Maureen Johnson
2. Paper Towns - John Green
3. Sovay - Celia Rees

Video games in demand:
1. KOTOR II (a must!)
2. Animal Crossing: City Folk (I need a console first..)
3. Star Wars Battlefront (yes, another Star Wars game)

Complete series I want to own:
1. Beauty Pop: all volumes by Kiyoko Arai(including yet to be translated volumes)
2. Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon
3. Artemis Fowl: all books by Eoin Colfer

[Lists stop here] Need more list ideas..

Things to do:
- watch more Red vs Blue episodes
- write an article on blogging for English
- think about a story to write for novella comp.
- get new music
- review theory and bookwork for yearly's
- write speech on gender equality for geography
- do all the above and stop procrastinating
- update blog more!

Song I'm currently listening to:

Tear Drops on My Guitar - Taylor Swift

Oh my.

2008-10-17T23:18:00.000+11:00

BEAUTY POP VOLUME NINE IS OUT!!!

*just found out ten seconds ago* It appears its only come out over here only a couple of days ago. How COULD I not have known?!

Sushi, green tea icecream and a KOTOR report.

2008-10-12T12:47:00.000+11:00

I went down to Sydney by train on Labor day (Monday) with my mom and my brother.
The weather was temperamental. One minute it's warm and sunny then the next moment it is showering. Fortunately, the walkaways were mostly undercover. We ate lunch at a sushi bar and I tried green tea icecream for dessert. Green tea ice cream doesn't seem to really have any flavor..
My brother got a new tripod; he's taken up photography as a hobby for the past few months. I think his photos are pretty good though I have no idea all the little modes his camera can do. He also took some awesome photos of Sydney that day.
I went to a comics store and got all the Beauty Pop volumes they had - which was one >.> (volume 4) I would really like to own the whole series one day. So far, I've got only two volumes.
It was incredibly windy round Darling Harbor and the Opera House. I expected this as I looked up the weather predictions beforehand. Mom really wanted to take some photos with us together there however (my brother doesn't live with us) despite the weather. We all ended up squinting in the photos, the wind fully smacking us in the faces. Yeah, awful weather - awful photo.

I am still on my over-due quest to learning to code a div layout. Which I stated a month or two ago but still can't get the knack of..
Now is also the time to catch up on all the things I procrastinated during the holidays - essays and assignments yet to be written.
School's back on the 13th. Tomorrow. Which sucks. I really enjoyed lounging about. Really. I feel sort of bad about all the time I wasted when I could have doing something useful.
I'm going to have trouble adjusting to early mornings again. Late nights and sleeping in for the last fortnight does not help.
I'm going to try to go to bed and waking up at the same time everyday from now on though, which should help if I can stick to it. I've self-afflicted myself with sleep deprivation lately and the feeling isn't too good so hopefully I'll remember how I feel right now and get enough sleep.
And now, for the awaited KOTOR report for Jojo! ^^
For those who don't know, KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic) is the game I've been stuck on for the last two weeks or so. I beat the game not too long ago. Yes, it's a Star Wars PC game. I think I must be the latest newcomer into Star Wars fandom ever. I haven't even watched the movies yet. Anyway here goes.

BASIC PROFILE:
Character Name: Hesterra Cora
Classes: Scout/Jedi Sentinel
Favorite character/s: HK-47 and Carth :3
Most preferred weapon of choice: Double Bladed Purple lightsaber and double equipped melee weapons before Dantooine.
IMO worst species: Rakghouls
Favorite planet: Tatooine - met HK-47 here! x)

~SPOILERS START HERE~

THROUGH-OUT THE GAME - A Planet and Space Ships Commentary by Aria

Note: The planets listed below are in the order I played them.

Endar Spire - Disappointed that Trask died. I don't know why he had to go and open the SECOND door after the opening the first door at the Bridge.
Taris - I think I would have enjoyed this planet more if I hadn't been trapped there. I disliked going down to the sewers, especially fighting the rakghouls. If it wasn't for Zaalbar and the Black Vulkar back base entrance, I would have avoided the place altogether.
Swoop racing was fun though I think going through all that trouble to rescue Bastila was NOT worth it. Here I also learned the very valuable lesson of when spiking a terminal, not overloading my own! It's killed me more than a few times.
Dantooine - Very surprised here. I did not expect at all to have the Force. In fact, I was actually becoming proud that I was such a capable non-Jedi person. I didn't mind the predators on this planet. The Kaths were way better than rakghouls *shudders*.
Manaan - This was an okay-planet. The Selkath got me chafed a bit on their 'neutral' views, and I found going underwater in the enviro suit very slow. The firaxas (big monster sharks) were very freaky when they came up close, especially considering I was only armed with a sonic emitter. After I finally reached the climax of this underwater mission, I chose to reprogram the haverster and lost the Republic lots of credits. (I don't remember how many but I remember Roland, the guy at the Republic embassy who sent me on the mission, being very appalled)
Tatooine - I liked this planet. Not only because I met HK-47 (the awesomest assasin droid ever). Favorite HK-47 quote here - "The chieftain does not seem to like you master. May I blast him?" XD
Korriban - Yes, I played Korriban after Tatooine. Normal people play this at the end but I had to go here after Carth went into Dustil mode! I found this planet very interesting. Going in the tombs were fun though gaining prestige did get rather tiring. The worse mini game I found for this planet was the energy transfer machine at the Naga Sago tomb. It was annoying because I kept on getting killed if I made one wrong move then I had to start all over again!
The Levithan - All I remember of this ship was - battalions of Sith soldiers and apprentices all trying to kill me, Carth getting his revenge on Saul. Oh and of course Bastila being captured by Malak. This was very weird as he was nearly dying and I could have killed him then and there but the game would not let me..
Kashyyyk - This planet was quite interesting; finally finding out more about Zaalbar. Also my last planet on my quest for the Star Forge. My highlights for this planet were - meeting Jolee, defeating Chuundar and finding the Star Forge map. By this time, I was already aware I was Revan so the holocron let me have the Star Map without questioning me - I've heard it would have been different if I was not aware I was Revan and gone to Kashyyyk before I went on the Levithan.
The Unknown Planet - This has got to be one of the most major crossroad planets in KOTOR. Especially considering when Bastila tries to entice me to the dark side after she got turned to the dark side herself by Malak (all those staying to the lightside lectures!). A highlight? Carth's love confession. x3 Definitely the best part. It was also the planet with the best landscape/scenery throughout the whole game - too bad I wasn't there on vacation.
Star Forge - One of the key things I remember from this ship is Malak's twenty lives (figuratively). It was very funny watching him go and regenerate himself in the midst of our lightsaber duel. The waves dozens of waves of Sith soldiers and apprentices were tormentous but I got through it. Some even appeared out of thin air! I like the idea of the duplicator machine in the computer room. I wore the Star Forge robes fighting Malak.
The End (Light side alternate ending) - I liked the video though I was really disappointed that it gave no insight on what happened to me and Carth..I suppose I'll have to find out in KOTOR II which I want really badly now. >.>
K, I am officially brain dead.

awesomest youtube video ever?

2008-09-29T00:44:00.000+10:00

clickie here

- to watch :3 -

Term Break! …almost.

2008-09-19T22:59:00.001+10:00

With my math and science term tests over, I can finally relax. Well in not having to worry about studying for any further tests and procrastinating it, anyway. I’ve still got an oral presentation and two assignments to tackle but that is fairly elementary. Another week to go before term break!

I learnt how to set up a universal remote, looking at an online manual since our original remote did not come up with one (how convenient). I’ve pretty much never used a universal remote in my life so I gave up after pressing the “magic” button an innumerable amount of times (go for the obvious method!).

New Google Phone: Android Dream. A quirky choice for a name but that’s what it’s called. It is predicted to rival the iPhone once it is released into the market. I was initially interested when I stumbled across this information that Google was even releasing a phone but I was surprised to find out later that it has been known for more than a year now. It sounds intriguing; there are quite a lot of prototypes for it, ranging from a keypad phone to touch screen like the iPhone.

In the meanwhile, I also bought a new PC game today. I don’t know if it’s good or not but so far online reviews have rated it on a 5.5 mediocre scale. Despite this, I still want to try it for myself. I couldn’t bring myself to return it and I generally don’t return video games anyway, even if they’re that awful. And that is how a collection accumulates ^^
So far, it looks quite good, I honestly don’t care that it wasn’t as good as the original PS2 game version of it because chances are, I will never get a PS2 and I will never play the original version. And now to resolve all the ambiguity, the game which I decided I wanted a mini rant about is: Phantasy Star Universe.

Font-oh-mania.

2008-09-13T23:45:00.001+10:00

I'm currently trying to battle the temptation to buy the font which is used in the books of Pellinor. I really love the look of it and it reminds me of Pellinor. I'm opting with the first reason more though because I'm afraid the the second one sounds a tad irrational reason to acquire it through money-spending-that-I-can't-afford means.

So I downloaded Zephyr (Twilight font) instead.

Blog Roll

2008-09-07T13:12:00.007+10:00

Let's say, new obsession.

2008-09-06T00:29:00.000+10:00

I now pronounce myself a Pellinorist! The books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon are currently my favorite series. I really need to finish the books then re-read them. I think I missed a few key points, which I didn't understand in my haste to resolve the plot. This book is really leaving me hanging by emotional ties.
Now I just want a pet crow to call Irc.

Writing

2008-08-31T12:09:00.000+10:00

My new inspiration: Alison Croggon

All of a sudden, I feel like writing again. Unfortunately, not to continue my previous attempt at a story (Discovering Alice).
I'm going to try to write more regularly even if it's terrible and more often than not I feel like giving up. I've discovered that writing records remnants of our earlier selves, it serves like sort of a photograph into certain points of our minds at a particular time. Our styles vary and change as you grow older. I've thought of some good ideas for this story but I'm still trying to draft and figure out the plot. I think it would be easier than just writing as I go along because I lose inspiration easily and this way, I will remember what the story is about and not wander off and do random scenes that I have no significance what so ever. Blogging also works. This is one of my reasons on why I desperately do NOT want to delete this blog or abandon it.

Another point I also must try to remember, is that I'm not trying to write to for general appeal. I make a habit of doing that but it just ends up looking ridiculously awkward. Writing should be about trying to capture something its in unique form and expressing it in words as close as possible.

P.S Did I mention how much I hate the phrase 'uh-huh'. Well, when its used online anyway. It's just so..insensitive and it feels like they're not really listening or could really care the less. Every time I hear it, it makes me want to scream and tear my hair out (all this drama is happening inside my brain of course).

Happiness
- by Skye

happiness.
it’s this swelling,
growing strong,
rising up from within.
like letting yourself flow
with the wind:
free.
nothing wrong,
everything oh–so–right.
a reaching out,
a longing,
a need,
but without the negativity.
it’s just there.
happiness.
a bubbling,
gurgling,
of life.
this force that takes over,
not letting you go.
flowing like a river,
just let yourself go,
and flow.
let it carry you along.
happiness.
let the happiness rise
within.

Endings.

2008-08-25T22:22:00.000+10:00

A extremely happy one too! Finally I have ended my miserable hours of procrastination on my English Assessment task and finished both my visual representation and 300-word analysis on it!

w00t.

you know you're addicted to PS if

2008-08-23T14:47:00.000+10:00

You go to a hairdresser and ask to get your hair cut in raster layers.
You burn down your house and look for the Undo button.
When the power goes out, you try to increase the brightness and contrast of the room you're in.
You have nightmares about the .gif monster.
You move into a new house and wish you could increase the canvas size of your bedroom.
When decorating your new room, you Posterize and put up Blinds.
When painting your house, you wish you could use the Flood Fill tool.
You try to colorize your clothes instead of buying them in different colors.
When you get bored in school, you imagine your teacher's face being warped.
When your class plays dodgeball in gym, you search for the Dodge tool so you won't get hit.
When people talk, you imagine a text box floating over their head.
You wonder what your breakfast would look like as a custom brush.
When you can't read someone's handwriting, you attempt to zoom in.
You give a friend a book of hex color codes for her birthday.
You try to use the Magic Wand tool to get people you don't like to disappear.
You have more fonts than hairs on your head.
You look at the sky on a rainy day and wish it was #36D1F8.
The magnets on your refrigerator are arranged by saturation and brightness.

Stereotype.

2008-08-21T19:21:00.000+10:00

English Assessment Task - Due 27-08-2008
Task:
Create an A3 visual representation of the ideas and issues you have studied in this unit on Gendered Fiction. In composing this, you are to make use of the techniques used in creating visual texts (eg layout, colour, framing etc).
..oh and compose a 300-WORD analysis of the visual text you have created.
Fun.

I've decided to do my visual representation on stereotypes of women/girls. Apparently from what we've studied there's two stereotyped images of woman:
- nurturing and exquisite goddess
- homemaker/housewife

You'd think it'd be easy to find such photos. Google images = total failure. Deviantart = okay but not corny enough and most photos are just girls dressed up in retro clothes, photo quality too good to be vintage. Googling "housewife stock photos" = found a good stock photos site that puts their watermark on the bottom of the photo (yay!) so I save my $40 per photo and just save it then cut out the bottom on PS.
Anyway, so I'm trying to plan out on the layout and WHY I did it that way. This is particularly easy when my layouts have no significance besides appeal (well, hopefully anyway).

Here's what I've got so far. It's starting to look a little like a collage. Now for 'why'? >.>

By the way, the hot pink heart has significance! It's feminine?

Right.

UPDATE: (two weeks later)

Pixel stretch, that's what. A3 does that. >.>

Midterms MAYHEM

2008-08-13T17:35:00.000+10:00

The dreaded mid-terms. That period during the term where every subject & class has an assessment task or assignment. It's like you come back from term break (normal people in AU call it holidays) and you have those few days of relaxing, catching up and then the teachers go crazy and start throwing the papers at you WITH deadlines!
Can you imagine the bewildered students as their teachers go INsane?? OK, maybe its not THAT frantic or dramatic but it seriously is MAYHEM.
I have a P.E theory assignment due in 5 days. Did I mention that its an oral/visual presentation thing? To stand in front of the class and talk, the horror. Public speaking never really has been my thing.

SMACK in the middle of winter

2008-08-03T15:50:00.001+10:00

I am writing this post in the above time *points to post title*

When will I ever learn? Never ever attempt anything next to a usable and connected-to-the-internet computer. It can be...distracting. I've already lost myself a whole day, doodly-daaing on it.
Yes, I said doodly-daaing.
My life's pattern has quaintly shifted away from digital wide world of late. Actually, just me trying to avoid it. Sigh, remember those times when I just came home, did my homework (by hand) and then read a book until I fell asleep then wake up the next morning to lose my page? This is my method. Well, at least keep internet usage to as little as possible. Oh and perhaps lose the sleep deprivation. I am officially the worse procrastinator that I know of. Procrastination is not just a habit, it has become a way of life that includes late night crams and slacking off all day. Getting back into video-games doesn't help either.

web designing: coding pandemonium

2008-08-03T13:54:00.000+10:00

Coding a DIV layout continues to remain on the vast horizon. I am not yet giving up though, I admit, I am a little vexed at my failed attempts.
So hence far, I've learnt the basics of HTML, CSS and going on XHTML (blogger coding!). Here's a preview of a layout/template in [seriously] beta stage for Mayflower:

The Navi bar is really calling out 'flash me'...I don't even know how to MAKE flash. The side bar, thus remains empty. I have no idea what to put there. So, it's already up in HTML but it doesn't really work until the CSS is coded too..ugh.

Yay, August! *can finally flip rip out July on calender with horrendously and scandalously pixel stretched photo*

Why?!

2008-07-31T22:43:00.000+10:00

Why does this HAPPEN to me??! I hear a song on a Huggies Ad (thats a really crappy video quality by the way on youtube) and I fall absolutely in love with it THEN I find out more about it..makes it even more entreating until I reach the dead end, it is an adapted version from Labi Siffre's version of 'It Must Be Love' by the Australian, Sydney resident singer, Melanie Horsnell and thus is not availible anywhere. ANYWHERE!

Researching Orcas

2008-07-30T18:06:00.000+10:00

So, now that I have confirmed that Orcas are probally one of my utmost favorite animals, I decided to do some research on them and find out more about them, besides what I already know. Personally, I prefer the Antarctic Orcas better but currently I have been researching all Orcas. I recently acquired a copy of Encarta Premium 2006 from my brother (he doesn't really use it much) and so far, it has been pretty awesome plus even though I have an old version, I can still have the articles up-to-date. OK, so some people prefer to use the internet better and I do, just when I have got enough from the internet, Encarta sums it up neatly on the neat pages, photos and articles put together on the topic.

I won't go on about it on here but it was fun learning more about them. One fact that really surprised me though was to find out that the Orcas belonged in the DOLPHINS family! Yeah, I would never have suspected.

*flicks TV and turns to AFN*

"Welcome to Aria's Fingers News, my name is Aria and I will be your ravishing reporter for today. Now, to AFN, we have discovered some rather scandalous news, Aria has successfully air-sealed the top of her left index finger, including the nail, with band-aids. This is all for today (relieved sigh) and I hope you will not be hearing from me sometime soon."

And that concludes my bit of weird wacky random for the day.

Oh and did I mention *squeals* BREAKING DAWN IS COMING OUT NEXT MONDAY!

Obsessed, right.

drinking hot chocolate behind an LCD screen

2008-07-28T18:33:00.000+10:00

Yuhmm ^^ So, I've just tried to make hot chocolate the way Gloria Jeans does and okay, I admit it isn't as good as the actual one but it still tastes pretty nice on a FREEZING day. Even inside (where we have no heater or cooling system of any sort, grr-brr)it is most probaly only warmer by a few degrees.
Here's how I made Hot Chocolate Gloria Jeans way!

1. Poured cold milk into that small metal jug that came with my espresso machine.
2. Steamed it up with the espresso machine, letting the foam bubbles rise up.
3. Put 3 teaspoons of Milo into a mug and then pour the steamed milk then mixed.
4. Put 3 marshmallows in and then got some whip cream and whipped the top.
5. Put some more Milo on top of the whip cream.

Here's my result:

EPIC - the finale

2008-07-20T22:38:00.000+10:00

I just finished watching the Avatar...finale? So I'm sitting here, feeling very empty and sad. I am looking forward though to the more promised series from the Avatarverse but the magic and awesomeness of A:TLA can never be replaced.
Here's a memento I found on the forums by dedicated Avatards:

COOLER than a popsicle in Antarctica.

2008-07-17T17:16:00.000+10:00

I'm just staring in awe at all these amazing graphics websites. Actually I've been inspired by them for a while now but whenever I check by, I can't help but feel amazed by the impeccable coded design, every little detail put into it. The most amazing thing about it though is that most of these designers are all self-taught! You might call this a unruly obsession but it just really strikes me. Thus far, I've only been making random banners and avatars and I've been really wanting to do something more so I've been attempting to get into coding templates lately but no success.
I'm been spending my term break very meaninfully - getting in to video games [again] and out of it [again], reading (and giving up on some out-of-modern-context books that I've been challenging myself to read), watching TV, never leaving the safe enclosure of my room and PC. ..Yeah, I know I should be doing something better with my time but I don't. Maybe I should figure out a plan instead out of going with the flow (that flow doesn't really take me anywhere, by the way).

P.S The post title has no significance. It was just one of those random thoughts that flit through my head.

Song of the moment

Shine - Krystal Meyers

Is it just me, or is this song super catchy?