Karenai Hana

Friday, November 28, 2008

happiness = science ?

So. I duly went for the A*Star seminar this morning.

And have only one conclusion.

I don't think it's what I want to do. Because from what I see, only the best, brightest and most committed fly. The rest swim about in the pond and do work for them.

And I know I'm not the creme de la creme. Neither am I willing to pour so much of myself into such work.

Maybe I'll give up the science for the humanities after all.

Sigh. I was hoping the seminar today would clear my head, but it seems like it's just made me even more muddled.

Since I feel so uncomfortable about it, I'll just happily assume that it's not the thing for me.

I guess.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Liberation Day 3

Went out with Shooee today!

^^ Thanks for telling me about such a cool art exhibition! I really really liked it, even better than the Biennale.

Manga! Anime! Games! Plus really creative forms like 'tracks of blue' and the 'models on a runway' and the figurines! Moomin was there! I liked the paper robots too. Reminds me of what Jason does with Lego and paper.

But I liked the short animated films best. Love Rollercoaster was typically Japanese, cute and lovable, heartwarming, engaging, unexpected and focussed on familial and community ties. Bonehead was quite funny too! Bananabananabanana! And A Clockwork City was rather heartbreaking. And there was this cute clip on veggies! >.<

If you want to see some pics on the exhibit, click on Shooee's blog over there => on the Links section :D I'm so dragging Kor down this Saturday.

They have the full set of Inuyasha, Nausicaa, Emma manga and some others. IN ENGLISH!!! Ahhhh I want I want I want.... >.<

The Japanese are really creative :)

Shooee and I also went to see a doll's exhibition, with dolls made entirely out of socks. I liked the rabbits. They were really adorable. ^^ Then went to art friend and managed to get a nice set of origami paper for a reasonable price.

*ahem. must rein in my spending*

Going to an A*Star seminar tomorrow. Don't really want to go, but I owe it to myself, my future, and my parents. Therefore. I am going.

Moomin version of Finnair's planes. And you thought Moomin was Japanese. Just like Nokia. ;)

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

think of me

Flowers fade, the fruits of summer fade, they have their seasons so do we.

I enjoyed the second day of my liberation today by doing two things I have never done before:

1) Going to K Box with Yokie and Eater

2) Playing DDR.

LOL. Especially the second clause. I just realized how hard it actually is! >.< I kept getting mixed up with all the arrows... like where's my leg supposed to go again...?

^^ And realized how out of touch I am with Chinese pop songs. Hahaha. But they're not my thing really, so I don't care.

Art exhibits with Shooee tomorrow!

Yay-ness.

Keep oneself busy to avoid thinking. A tried and proven method.

なら、
しくしてるから .

That's right. Busy busy busy.

Monday, November 24, 2008

AFA '08

Ahhhrgh. Sami Sami Sami where are you???

Janey is highly irritated tonight. Don't irritate her further. Come out, come out wherever you be!

>.<

Haish. Anyway here are the AFA pics I cared to take.

Shakugan no Shana


Graffiti Wall: Good one of Nagato Yuki


Graffiti Wall: Naruto *Psst! Look at the Spongebob version at the top right hand corner!*


Poster of Midori, Miku, Tsuruya, some Lucky Star side character and some others.


Siesta from Zero No Tsukaima


Tachikoma! Metallic finishing too! *drool*


Kusanagi Motoko from Ghost in the Shell. Shyo-san!


Lucky Star! Aimai sakusen...


Suzumiya Haruhi: *Aru hareta hi no koto* pose


Tachikoma! From left to right, Third Gen Green, Yellow Safety First model, Blue First and Second Gen model and Fourth Gen Grey.

Tachikoma!

Going back to writing my story ^^

I guess it's hard to feel irritated for long when the long awaited holidays have come!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Tachikoma. tachikoma...

Anime Convention!

I was so disappointed not to find School Rumble. Especially after Wanxin said he saw it yesterday, but by the time I went today it was gone.

:(

BUT!

I found the Tachiyellow model! The one that was going for USD92 (w/out shipping) and was sold out on ToysLogic! And I got it for S$90!

WHOOOOTS!

Behold!

There's a model of President Jameson, and I'll put that up later.

Yay. I <3 Tachikoma ^.^

More pics on the AFA tomorrow, after my LAST and FINAL exam.

Tanoshimitai ne!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Naruto 425

Hatake Kakashi died.




HATAKE KAKASHI DIED!!!!

NOOOOOO!!!!!!

No NO NO!!!! How could you do this Kishimoto???

YOU SUCK YOU SUCK!!!!

WHAT THE HELL???

ARRRRGHHH!



Waaaaah :( First Itachi, now Kakashi.

WHY WHY WHY????

Next thing you know Tsunade will be dead too.

Sniff. This sucks as bad as the F1 race in Singapore.

WTH.


Sunday, November 16, 2008

Pic Spam!

WARNING: Non-anime fan, you have been warned.

Got bored of reading about the Human Genome Project, so here are a few of my favourite pictures from School Rumble!

Enjoy! ^^

Since it's exam time what better picture to start with than this:

A Mangka's Tool
Boney-pokey one: Harima Hario's. Feather: Nijou-jou Sensei. Speaks a lot about them.



Autumn. Tenma. Karasuma.



Spring. Tenma. Karasuma. And Harima and (most unwittingly) Eri Sawachika.
Sawachika: I feel like people are staring weirdly at us.
Harima: It's your imagination, Princess.



Bunkasai Play Entries: Sawachika blaming the wrong person. Akira is the ultimate prankster with her straight face.



Bunkasai War Game: Good evening, Tsukamoto-san. (I shall purposely lose to you although I could easily own you.)



Bunkasai War Game: Tenma Vs Karasuma - Predicted outcome.



Bunkasai Preparation: Espionage High School Style



Bunkasai Preparation: Onigiri from the heart. It's the thought that counts, right Harima-kun? Even though Tenma's onigiri nearly killed you.



Bunkasai Preparations: Saatte, eat up, Harima-kun! (Could you refuse this face?)



Bunkasai Festival: Star: Ichijou Karen- Her hidden side.



Bunkasai Festival: Star: Karasuma Ooji - His cool side. (Or not. This is from Tenma's most biased imagination.)



Well there's lots more from the Bunkasai Festival but let's move on to sports.

First up, Aikido Captain Hanai Haruki

Recruiting his first member. A very honest fellow, as Yakumo can attest. (She reads minds.)


Takano Akira: Novel sports - Pool hockey. (I wonder if Sami would care to try this one day.)


Takano Akira: Extreme Sports - Motorcycle battles against the Yakuza. (How about THIS, Sami?)


Asou Hiroyoshi: His face speaks for itself. (What did you expect from the resident playboy?)



Ichijou and Hanai. A surprisingly good team. (Watch School Rumble Season 1 episode 22.)



Tsukamoto Tenma: Her usual place - At the sidelines.



Tsukamoto Tenma: Her hidden side - Hunting bank robbers. And skiing ^^



And onto matters of the heart, of course. Which high school story would be without it?

Love Letters......
The entire letter consisted of "Don't go! Don't go! Don't go! Don't go!" X 100 plus times. And she forgot to leave her name.


Ah well,

Mistakes do happen......
Who does Tenma-chan like? ... ... Think again, Harima.


I will not show you his later reaction.



Older sisters think they know all about love...
Evidently not.



Sometimes all you have is your own

Imagination......
But fantasy is nice, isn't it Tenma-chan?

When, as far as you can see, it's all you'll ever have.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Losing Steam

I DON'T FEEL LIKE STUDYING.

HELP.

I'm so dead if I start relaxing now. But I can't hold on any longer~!

Lalalalala. Only three papers left ^^

No, NO! Three papers! Three papers LEFT! STUDY STUDY STUDY~~~~!

What do grey-green eyes look like? I saw a few examples on Wiki just now.

Pale. Translucent. Undecided. Changing with the background. As unclear as they are clear.

Ahhh >.<

What have I got myself into???

Friday, November 14, 2008

Happy birthday, ACsian style

The ACJC birthday prank clip sent to STOMP has some Netizens calling us ACsians 'evil' and attacking our status as a mission school.

But what right have they?

To all those morally self-righteous people, were you there to see her cry and scream for mercy? If you weren't don't assume she was. Are you a student of AC? AC people are quite wild when they have fun, and not all of them are as easily hurt as some of you. I know, even among the very boisterous students, if she had cried or asked them to stop even those people would have stopped.

I personally don't agree with their actions, but if they have fun and no one is hurt, why bother? The one thing I disagree with is their doing it in school and posting it on YouTube. Just look at the consequences. A mountain out of a molehill.

Of course, some people salivate over videos. They feed on such things.

To the person who sent it to STOMP, congratulations on being so swa ku. Such trivial bits of school life aren't news worthy, just gossip worthy. Why don't you go on an espionage mission to all the JCs in Singapore and spy on them? You'd have volumes of information to go crazy over.

Your actions have just confirmed my view that STOMP is nothing but media hype.

And it's not as if this is the norm. Most classes just sing a loud birthday song and cut a cake.

To Mrs Kelvyna Chan, our dear long-suffering principal, thank you for sticking to the truth and sticking by us. That has always set you apart from other principals who are quick to condemn the young people they are supposed to care about.

I'm angriest about the way some hypocrites attacked our religion.

Watch out, buddy. That's God you're dissing. Good luck to you. Not that it'll be enough.

UPDATE: Finally, somebody with brains on the ST Forum

By coldstar-
"I wonder if you have even watched the video at all or you’ve simply based your comments on the twisted ‘account’ written by the prig who submitted this. Anyone would have seen that the birthday girl was not in any real distress at all; she was taking the entire prank in good fun and humor. An inelegant, messy and noisy one perhaps, but nothing one wouldn’t expect from JC kids at their age. I fail to see the elements of meanness and humiliation readers have inferred into the entire incident and if you pay attention to the video, one of them even helped to straighten her skirt so that she wouldn’t ‘expose’ herself.

Do not impose your narrow-minded judgment when you cannot even appreciate the context. There is no point in thrusting victimhood on someone who likely did not even feel that she was being victimized."

And by me, as acjc01-
"Thank you for speaking up so objectively, coldstar.

I do not represent the school, the administration, any of the teachers or staff or the principals, but I feel compelled to speak up for the principal whom all of us admire.

Mrs Kelvyna Chan's attitude should not be disturbing when she is choosing to stand on the side of truth, and on the side of her students. What disturbs me more are the one-sided, biased and uninformed comments that have been made.

If the girl herself has said that she had fun, none of those self-righteous people have a right to say that she did not."

Another one bites the dust

Some tomfool of an idiot jumped into the white tigers' exhibit yesterday.

The visitors got scared, the zoo personnel worried, the tigers stressed and the zoo now has a first black mark on its safety records. All thanks to stupidity.

Oh yes, the guy died, of course.

The newspaper refers to him as a victim, but I prefer to think of him as the perpetrator. Just like all those people who jump onto MRT tracks.

I'm only thankful the shooters didn't arrive in time to kill the tigers and that the zoo is just enough to see that it completely wasn't the tigers' fault. It's one thing to cage up cats and place them in a world of mice, but if a mouse chooses to wander in, nobody can help it.

If any of the tigers got killed for such a self-centered weenie I would have a lot more to say. Why doesn't the zoo use tranquilizers anyway? Or maybe they do and it wasn't mentioned?

I don't think he deserved to die, but I think he certainly asked for it.

Which is precisely the whole problem. Looks like even zoo cleaners need psychologists. Help, I feel inferior to that tiger. He gets his exhibit cleaned by people just like me. Only, I clean for people, not animals. But anyway, it's not fair and I'm going to go make him eat me!

Haish. I feel a bit sorry for him. I feel even sorrier for his family. I would be so ashamed and guilty as his family, in addition to grieving over the loss.


Even Tama-chan is pretty scary as a tame tiger. Being set on by three wild ones is really quite frightening.

But Reputation, as the Duke of Calabria told the Duchess of Malfi, is never found twice. Thanks to this mentally unstable person, the zoo has 'shook hands with Reputation/And made him invisible'.

So long.

P.S. Anybody knows how greyish-green eyes look like?

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Japanese anime studios

Evidently can't take it anymore.

Neither can we, the fans.

Sueing is not going to do much good in the long term, really. If you look at the whole situation, it's really very much like a black market.

Why do black markets exist? Because there is a shortage.

For those not in the know, here's a whole list of shortages and grievances, from a anime fan:

1) Quality subbing. A lot of those so-called "professional" subtitlers have terrible grammar, worse spelling, and couldn't be bothered to consider cultural nuances when subbing.

All we anime fans just love, irrationally somehow, something about Japanese culture, and it's a BIG setback when we don't understand what the hey is going on because the English translation doesn't look anything like English. When you have to pause the anime at every sentence to figure out what the subtitles are trying to say, there's something seriously wrong.

And the alternative: fan subtitlers who love the anime themselves, add cultural explanations and somehow are more masterful in Japanese and English then the so-called professionals. Plus point: you don't have to pay for the great quality. Pay $100 bucks for a fake Louis Vutton or get a real one free: which would you choose?

Which is why I go on to YouTube to watch Ghost in the Shell even though I have the original VCDs for both seasons and movies.

2) Variety. Even if I WANTED to pay money for it, I just can't get it. Like School Rumble and Full Metal Panic. I don't understand why local distributors bring in cheap, crap anime that doesn't sell over expensive, solid anime that does. Something's gone wrong in the free market mechanism here.

There's a solution to this whole stupid problem:

Get the anime studios to run online shops and sell their own DVDs and VCDs. It's usually not a problem of price: on online figurine shops like Toys Logic, the ones that sell out even before the pre-order is over are the EXPENSIVE and HIGH-QUALITY ones. Look, if you're going to spend money, buy something worth it. Whereas the cheap, lousy ones stay unsold, because no matter how cheap they are they're not worth your money.

We fans usually don't do things in a half-a**ed manner.

Which is why the studios should also hire fan subbers to do their subtitling. It would cost them less than those phony professionals; some fan subbers might even do it for free, or in exchange for a copy of the anime. Hey, it's an honour to be chosen! Plus, it doesn't always have to be in DVD format. Some of us are ok with VCDs in order to save a bit. And there you have some cost-saving solutions.

I know it's probably more complicated than anything I could possibly imagine, but I can't understand why the Japanese would allow the fruit of their hearts and mind to be tainted by lousy quality and subbing provided by distributors, when they can catch this market themselves.

おねがいします. Somebody out there PLEASE do something. The only thing this fighting can do is go round and round. グルグル回る isn't going to do anybody any good.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Wow, so the NJC people had the same blinding flash of fright too.

My doubts over the Bio syllabus are henceforth confirmed.

Anyway, Kimi-sama's Number 1 has been shifted on to Hamilton's car.

Ehhhh.... :(

だめ! だめ! だめ~~~!!!

Number 1 belongs only to Kimi-sama!

KIMI-SAMA!!!!

Kimi-sama, please get that Number 1 back on your car soon.

おねがいしますね!!!

さって, back to Literature revision.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

I always knew that s*** happens, but,

Biology today was horrible.

I don't know if all those smart RJC, HCI and NJC people will beg to differ, but personally,

It was CRAP.

Half-way through the paper I started wondering, seriously wondering, if I was doing the wrong paper. Then I looked up and saw my classmates and the badminton hall and realized I couldn't be.

Why did it feel so unfamiliar then?

I think most of us thought so. I heard someone gaily saying that she thought it was "alright", though. I want to know what on earth she's been using for practice to think that such papers are "alright".

I could answer most of the questions. Based on my own guessing and inference.

About three-quarters through the exam I began to think, "Did my teachers forget to teach something in the syllabus?"

By the end of the exam I was pretty sure that if I still manage to get an A for this,

It'll be God's grace, really.

やっぱり, 私はべんきょが: だめ!!!


Uuh. :'(

But at least now we all know what to expect from the days ahead, right Shooee?

Monday, November 03, 2008

High and Low

Heh. So it's over.

Massa won, but so did Hamilton.

But somehow, I don't really mind. I guess it's because it was all over for Kimi-sama long ago, and because Hamilton fought hard for it.

No more irritating "I'm entitled to this" behaviour. I think that's the thing that pissed me off most of all about him. But yesterday, he nearly lost it, then won it back. That's something.

Kimi-sama and Massa fought hard. But so did Hamilton. This is the second time in the running that a driver championship has been won and lost by a single point. Ah, guess I just like epic battles too much to be too upset.

Tanoshii deshou? Dakara, daijoubu da. But I'm sure Kimi-sama will give ALL of them something to think about next year, no?

Tanoshimini! I look forward to next year. I'm glad Kimi-sama and Massa have behaved like gentlemen about the whole affair. Being a gracious loser is as hard as being a gracious winner.

*Somehow the instrumental of Yuugao from School Rumble seems to fit this whole affair.*

Well it's all over for them, but it's not for my A levels yet. GP is down. Yea. Burn GP notes!

Lol. But somebody has choped all my notes already, so I guess I won't be making a small fortune off the garung guni man. Neither will I have free fuel for a BBQ.

Haish. Where's the fun if you can't absolutely destroy your notes, some of it at least?

Hahahaha. Can't wait for everything to be over!

Feeling hyped now.

Both Massa and Hamilton winning is like me seeing ラチネン-くん yesterday but not getting to talk to him. As a Lit student, I must say this. Yesterday ラチネン-くん was foreshadowing the results of F1. Hahahaha. Excuse me, been doing 3 hrs of Lit daily for the past 3 days. Maybe, if life was a book planned out by Someone. But of course, who's to say it isn't?

Confirmed: ラチネン-くん is alive, alright.

Lol.

*'Cause you know you make me feel like a girl.*

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Second November, 2008

Final shootout between Massa and Hamilton in Brazil, grand finale of F1 2008.

America votes.

And in Singapore, the last day before A levels begins.

Why must everything happen on the same day. -.-""

It would be nice to see ラチネン-くん today too. But it might make me sleepless tonight, so maybe it's not such a good thing after all.

Can't wait for all this to be over.

Skiing skiiing skiiing... スキ-.... すきだ.

*I will NOT look for the results of today's race until GP is over tomorrow. Will. NOT.