CMYk - 1 000 000 colours of unusual

Summer! Sea! Stupidity!

2008-06-21T07:39:00.004+08:00

State of mind:
Current soundtrack: Playlist name - series - song title (artist)

I—buh. Ultramanland is INSANE. (taken from their official site)

★Shoowatch Stage★

Dates: 19/7 - 31/8
Time: 1230 (until 31/7), 1300 (whole of August), 1500 (13-15/8), 1330 (16, 17/8)

For the summer holidays, we're having a daily special show!
There's the cheerful presentation by the Ultra Warriors of 'Ultra Manzai'
The earnest battle of 'Ultra Kaijuu Pro Sumo'
Heroes fighting to a jaunty beat in 'Ultra Stomp'
A slightly different type of souvenir photo session, the 'Memorial Photo Battle'
And on top of all that, a fun stage show you can sing and dance to with the Ultras and aliens 'Ultra Feature Band'!
All this and more at the daily special show!!

Somehow, I THINK I see where some of the really cracky fanon characterisations come from. This seems like fun; I'd be crying with laughter over there at almost everything. Ultra Stomp sounds like great fun! And ZOMG, the band. Song, dance AND Ultraman? YES YES DO WANT. I probably expose my geekery (and fujoshidom) when I say that a stage show where the audience *sings* the hero back onto his feet would be for the win. Especially since if I were able to attend one, one loud female voice would rise above all others—and if it was one of the post-Heisei Ultras, the words might even be English. (Note that I never said 'melodious'. I've had several opinions on that the past few years.)

Anyone going to Kumamoto come summer? Want a translator? I will work very hard. :D;;;

But let us all remember; Ultraman isn't just manzai and songs and sumo; it is the glory of victory and the light of day; the bitterness of sorrow and the sharpness of defeat; the sweetness of belonging and the strength of connection. It's that and this and a little bit of that other stuff over there, and THAT'S UM. :3

There's also mention of some kind of Japanese Matsuri-ish thing, AND Ultra Bon Odori, but if I go on talking about those, my brain will explode out of my skull and go to Kumamoto itself.

Maybe because I feel like a nightingale

2008-06-10T20:03:00.004+08:00

State of mind: uneasy
Current soundtrack: When You Say You Love Me (Josh Groban)

Today for no apparent reason I wish to point out/share one of Those Stories by Oscar Wilde. You probably know the type. Oscar Wilde has all these slightly poetic and sometimes religious short stories, which also oftentimes contain Enragingly Stupid People.

This one has a bonus—TWO ESPs! And I first found this on—of all places—ALC, which is where I currently go to do most of my JP-EN-JP translation.

The Nightingale And The Rose

"She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses," cried the young Student; "but in all my garden there is no red rose."

From her nest in the holm-oak tree the Nightingale heard him, and she looked out through the leaves, and wondered.

"No red rose in all my garden!" he cried, and his beautiful eyes filled with tears. "Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched."

"Here at last is a true lover," said the Nightingale. "Night after night have I sung of him, though I knew him not: night after night have I told his story to the stars, and now I see him. His hair is dark as the hyacinth-blossom, and his lips are red as the rose of his desire; but passion has made his face like pale ivory, and sorrow has set her seal upon his brow."

"The Prince gives a ball to-morrow night," murmured the young Student, "and my love will be of the company. If I bring her a red rose she will dance with me till dawn. If I bring her a red rose, I shall hold her in my arms, and she will lean her head upon my shoulder, and her hand will be clasped in mine. But there is no red rose in my garden, so I shall sit lonely, and she will pass me by. She will have no heed of me, and my heart will break."

"Here indeed is the true lover," said the Nightingale. "What I sing of, he suffers - what is joy to me, to him is pain. Surely Love is a wonderful thing. It is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it, nor is it set forth in the marketplace. It may not be purchased of the merchants, nor can it be weighed out in the balance for gold."

"The musicians will sit in their gallery," said the young Student, "and play upon their stringed instruments, and my love will dance to the sound of the harp and the violin. She will dance so lightly that her feet will not touch the floor, and the courtiers in their gay dresses will throng round her. But with me she will not dance, for I have no red rose to give her"; and he flung himself down on the grass, and buried his face in his hands, and wept.

"Why is he weeping?" asked a little Green Lizard, as he ran past him with his tail in the air.

"Why, indeed?" said a Butterfly, who was fluttering about after a sunbeam.

"Why, indeed?" whispered a Daisy to his neighbour, in a soft, low voice.

"He is weeping for a red rose," said the Nightingale.

"For a red rose?" they cried; "how very ridiculous!" and the little Lizard, who was something of a cynic, laughed outright.

But the Nightingale understood the secret of the Student's sorrow, and she sat silent in the oak-tree, and thought about the mystery of Love.

Suddenly she spread her brown wings for flight, and soared into the air. She passed through the grove like a shadow, and like a shadow she sailed across the garden.

In the centre of the grass-plot was standing a beautiful Rose-tree, and when she saw it she flew over to it, and lit upon a spray.

"Give me a red rose," she cried, "and I will sing you my sweetest song."

But the Tree shook its head.

"My roses are white," it answered; "as white as the foam of the sea, and whiter than the snow upon the mountain. But go to my brother who grows round the old sun-dial, and perhaps he will give you what you want."

So the Nightingale flew over to the Rose-tree that was growing round the old sun-dial.

"Give me a red rose," she cried, "and I will sing you my sweetest song."

But the Tree shook its head.

"My roses are yellow," it answered; "as yellow as the hair of the mermaiden who sits upon an amber throne, and yellower than the daffodil that blooms in the meadow before the mower comes with his scythe. But go to my brother who grows beneath the Student's window, and perhaps he will give you what you want."

So the Nightingale flew over to the Rose-tree that was growing beneath the Student's window.

"Give me a red rose," she cried, "and I will sing you my sweetest song."

But the Tree shook its head.

"My roses are red," it answered, "as red as the feet of the dove, and redder than the great fans of coral that wave and wave in the ocean-cavern. But the winter has chilled my veins, and the frost has nipped my buds, and the storm has broken my branches, and I shall have no roses at all this year."

"One red rose is all I want," cried the Nightingale, "only one red rose! Is there no way by which I can get it?"

"There is away," answered the Tree; "but it is so terrible that I dare not tell it to you."

"Tell it to me," said the Nightingale, "I am not afraid."

"If you want a red rose," said the Tree, "you must build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with your own heart's-blood. You must sing to me with your breast against a thorn. All night long you must sing to me, and the thorn must pierce your heart, and your life-blood must flow into my veins, and become mine."

"Death is a great price to pay for a red rose," cried the Nightingale, "and Life is very dear to all. It is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and to watch the Sun in his chariot of gold, and the Moon in her chariot of pearl. Sweet is the scent of the hawthorn, and sweet are the bluebells that hide in the valley, and the heather that blows on the hill. Yet Love is better than Life, and what is the heart of a bird compared to the heart of a man?"

So she spread her brown wings for flight, and soared into the air. She swept over the garden like a shadow, and like a shadow she sailed through the grove.

The young Student was still lying on the grass, where she had left him, and the tears were not yet dry in his beautiful eyes.

"Be happy," cried the Nightingale, "be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with my own heart's-blood. All that I ask of you in return is that you will be a true lover, for Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, though he is mighty. Flame- coloured are his wings, and coloured like flame is his body. His lips are sweet as honey, and his breath is like frankincense."

The Student looked up from the grass, and listened, but he could not understand what the Nightingale was saying to him, for he only knew the things that are written down in books.

But the Oak-tree understood, and felt sad, for he was very fond of the little Nightingale who had built her nest in his branches.

"Sing me one last song," he whispered; "I shall feel very lonely when you are gone."

So the Nightingale sang to the Oak-tree, and her voice was like water bubbling from a silver jar.

When she had finished her song the Student got up, and pulled a note-book and a lead-pencil out of his pocket.

"She has form," he said to himself, as he walked away through the grove - "that cannot be denied to her; but has she got feeling? I am afraid not. In fact, she is like most artists; she is all style, without any sincerity. She would not sacrifice herself for others. She thinks merely of music, and everybody knows that the arts are selfish. Still, it must be admitted that she has some beautiful notes in her voice. What a pity it is that they do not mean anything, or do any practical good." And he went into his room, and lay down on his little pallet-bed, and began to think of his love; and, after a time, he fell asleep.

And when the Moon shone in the heavens the Nightingale flew to the Rose-tree, and set her breast against the thorn. All night long she sang with her breast against the thorn, and the cold crystal Moon leaned down and listened. All night long she sang, and the thorn went deeper and deeper into her breast, and her life-blood ebbed away from her.

She sang first of the birth of love in the heart of a boy and a girl. And on the top-most spray of the Rose-tree there blossomed a marvellous rose, petal following petal, as song followed song. Pale was it, at first, as the mist that hangs over the river - pale as the feet of the morning, and silver as the wings of the dawn. As the shadow of a rose in a mirror of silver, as the shadow of a rose in a water-pool, so was the rose that blossomed on the topmost spray of the Tree.

But the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the thorn. "Press closer, little Nightingale," cried the Tree, "or the Day will come before the rose is finished."

So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and louder and louder grew her song, for she sang of the birth of passion in the soul of a man and a maid.

And a delicate flush of pink came into the leaves of the rose, like the flush in the face of the bridegroom when he kisses the lips of the bride. But the thorn had not yet reached her heart, so the rose's heart remained white, for only a Nightingale's heart's-blood can crimson the heart of a rose.

And the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the thorn. "Press closer, little Nightingale," cried the Tree, "or the Day will come before the rose is finished."

So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.

And the marvellous rose became crimson, like the rose of the eastern sky. Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.

But the Nightingale's voice grew fainter, and her little wings began to beat, and a film came over her eyes. Fainter and fainter grew her song, and she felt something choking her in her throat.

Then she gave one last burst of music. The white Moon heard it, and she forgot the dawn, and lingered on in the sky. The red rose heard it, and it trembled all over with ecstasy, and opened its petals to the cold morning air. Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to the sea.

"Look, look!" cried the Tree, "the rose is finished now"; but the Nightingale made no answer, for she was lying dead in the long grass, with the thorn in her heart.

And at noon the Student opened his window and looked out.

"Why, what a wonderful piece of luck!" he cried; "here is a red rose! I have never seen any rose like it in all my life. It is so beautiful that I am sure it has a long Latin name"; and he leaned down and plucked it.

Then he put on his hat, and ran up to the Professor's house with the rose in his hand.

The daughter of the Professor was sitting in the doorway winding blue silk on a reel, and her little dog was lying at her feet.

"You said that you would dance with me if I brought you a red rose," cried the Student. "Here is the reddest rose in all the world. You will wear it to-night next your heart, and as we dance together it will tell you how I love you."

But the girl frowned.

"I am afraid it will not go with my dress," she answered; "and, besides, the Chamberlain's nephew has sent me some real jewels, and everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers."

"Well, upon my word, you are very ungrateful," said the Student angrily; and he threw the rose into the street, where it fell into the gutter, and a cart-wheel went over it.

"Ungrateful!" said the girl. "I tell you what, you are very rude; and, after all, who are you? Only a Student. Why, I don't believe you have even got silver buckles to your shoes as the Chamberlain's nephew has"; and she got up from her chair and went into the house.

"What I a silly thing Love is," said the Student as he walked away. "It is not half as useful as Logic, for it does not prove anything, and it is always telling one of things that are not going to happen, and making one believe things that are not true. In fact, it is quite unpractical, and, as in this age to be practical is everything, I shall go back to Philosophy and study Metaphysics."

So he returned to his room and pulled out a great dusty book, and began to read. [+/-] The Nightingale And The Rose

Just to say I am alive

2008-06-03T21:47:00.005+08:00

State of mind: pleased
Current soundtrack: SKILL (JAM Project)

Rather a bit has happened in the past month. For one thing, I graduated, hopefully seeing the last of my batch pres for some time; I received confirmation that M.Y. + traditional Chinese costume = hotness; I cried as I watched Mebius in its entirety; two-three of my colleagues have headed out to do their own thing and follow their dreams; three classes now face the horror that is Grammartutor; work gets busier and busier; we had a barbeque at Joanne Kok's place the other day, which included swimming and alcohol; I need to do something about my flabby middle other than dance madly. :P

I am brilliantly, gloriously un-emo, thanks to good music, science fiction and thoughts of a certain race of silver giants. Thank you, son of Candela, son of Darwin—bless you, the sons and daughters of the shining grounds!

Very quick SULK.

2008-05-03T11:01:00.003+08:00

State of mind: frus-case
Current soundtrack: quiet office-type noises

In Pyramid: Ultraman Max's Malaysian tour.

In office until 1 p.m. - M.Y.

Noooo I wanna gooooo I bet you I'm the only person in Malaysia who can sing the Max theeeeeeme I want to see the big cross-eyed lunkheaaaad GAAAAAAAA HALF-DAY LEAVE HALF-DAY LEAVE I WANNA GOOOOOOOO WANNA SQUISHGLOMP MAX AND XENON AND SING HAPPY UM SONGS~~~

*sob!*

*goes back to burning videos for great justice*

My emo and my e-moment

2008-04-28T20:31:00.003+08:00

State of mind: relaxed
Current soundtrack: Playlist name - series - song title (artist)

Work was slightly awkward today. Bad day.

Went home and talked mom's ear off. Not so bad day.

Poked Alphonne awake and turned on some AAA full-blast. Emo level decreases. Rationality returns. Acceptable day.

Anticipation of a peanut-butter sandwich with milk and a cold pill before bed. Not too bad a day.

-

You know how there're the Befrienders and the Samaritans? I was just thinking—there should totally be a Dial-a-Buddha service.

"Dial-a-Buddha, Manjusri speaking. How may I help you?"
"AIYO, Wen Shu. Terrible lah, my day today. Why are people so sorhai one?"
"It is the way of the physical world, caller."

Pomp and Circumstance(s)

2008-04-26T11:47:00.002+08:00

State of mind: gleeful
Current soundtrack: middleboss.Vince's iTunes turned up loud XD

Life has been quite good of late (except for that one blip last Saturday...), for the following reasons:

I got Patapon. And played it. And went crazy over it. And played it through (in a little more than 40 hours, because I inSISTED on grinding for another Barsalapon before going out to fight the final boss. Review sometime.)
I went to the 2008 Adobe Creative Leadership forum for two days, which was a good break from the office. I saw silly people and shiny presentations, drank some wine, danced a bit and received knowledge that Kali was going to stomp on my enemies for me. Gee, ma'am, thanks...
A...nun blitzkrieged me the other day. Yes, I got shtupped by religion. Again. But for the first time in my life, I am wearing a rosary. OK, a fake rosary with plastic beads, but still. You can never have too many Kuan Yin talismans. Especially one with all the festival dates on the back...but still, where's my man Wenshu, yo? Protector of the rabbits and wisdom needs to represent D:
I got a very nice call from a very nice dude offering a freelance job that seems right up my alley. :D
Last but not least, I am finally graduating. Today. Yes, tonight. Yes, I'm in the office. No, none of the others involved are. I have no leave, and had plenty of stuff to finish. Shurrup. :P

So things are starting anew again, in the middle of the year. Here goes!

Fanfic Writers' Meme

2008-04-12T18:47:00.005+08:00

State of mind: hungry

Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad. While you go out for dinner tonight, I shall stay home, eat chow fun and ramble about Ultraman to other fans! Good times.

And by the way, Sakon, noooo I don't hate you for this meme. So I'm ganking it. ♥ ^_^

How about a brief introduction?
Call me Ishmael. Oh, you mean ME. Hi. Call me M. I write stuff.

Fabulous! And what got you into fanfiction to begin with?
Powerpuff Girls and Ultraman. Not necessarily in that order. I used to write all these kiut kiut stories about what the six brothers did when they were younglings, and after that went on to writing OC Ultras...

I see. So what kind of fanfiction do you like to write?
Gen with some romance/action thrown in, and themes of mystery, sacrifice and acceptance. One day I WILL write that long, sprawling epic about the Emperan Occupation (it had to be an occupation, says the back of my brain, or Zoffy could never have fought in it) and or Zoffy and that sword-of-light, but eh.

Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the aspects of writing you struggle most with?
I write a beginning, and sometimes I write the end...and the middle dangles tantalisingly out of reach. In place of that I get snips of conversation and descriptions that are beautiful, but perhaps don't quite fit the context.

Write a few sentences or so of your favorite pairing or character.

He is beautiful, in a way very few things are beautiful. Light made flesh, so different from our flesh made light; he is the midnight sky and the silvered moon and quiet, deep water all together. His awe at our lands is tempered with caution and backed with curiosity. He desires to know us. Perhaps he is the one, the 'hero descending from the heavens'. But we shall see.

Bonus points if you know who the narrator is and who's being referred to. XD

Are there any fanfiction clichés or trends you're sick of or just can't stand?
Feminine Ukes and Super Virile Sekuhara Semes. Let's not get any more specific, shall we?

Are you guilty of any fanfiction clichés you hate? Or any other ones?
Forgive me, authors, for I have sinned. I once wrote Mary-Sues, self-inserts and character bashing all in one fiction. I'd like to think my favourite OC has mellowed out of her uber-specialness, though.

What was the first fandom you wrote for, and do you still like/participate in it?
In two words, Ultraman. Yes. Whee!

Name your OTPs or most frequently written pairings/characters and explain what it is about them that you love to write.
Saiyuki; Gojyo/Houran, because I pray they will find their understanding. Yes yes, I know Houran is jailbait at the time of the movie. >_>;;; 585 because it's so easy to see the two ease into a dependable relationship.

Ultraman: Tiga/Dyna/Tiga, the brothers-in-arms. See them fighting in perfect tandem in the TD movie, and tell me they're perfect strangers. I'd like to think they once worked together, on the superancient Earth. Hikari/Mebius/Hikari, again for the brothers-in-arms thing and the progression of a stout friendship to a partnership on fairly equal footing. Noa/Zagi/Noa just to see them play off each other, yin and yang, light and dark. Only Zagi can destroy Noa can destroy Zagi. Anything else in the way would probably get smacked out of commision. XD

What would you call your writing style?
Long and descriptive. Evocative. XD

Do you read other people’s fanfic? If so, what do you find yourself reading the most?
Yes. I find myself looking for fics that break the extreme uke/seme dynamic.

Name one thing you'd LOVE to write, but have been too afraid or shy to do.
Full on sex scene.

Do you have trouble taking criticism? Or worse yet, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
I think I do, sometimes, but it's part of the process of posting stuff online.

When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? Quiet room?
Music sometimes. And talking through it out loud.

What inspires you?
Writing, reading other people's stuff, random imagery that pops into your mind on a lunch break.

Lastly, how would you sum up your fanfiction experiences and yourself as a writer?
Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's painful. Sometimes it's desperately cathartic.

Tag some friends because they'll hate you for it.
Well, I'm not forcing them at gunpoint to do it! But anyway, it's free for the taking so spread the love/hate! [+/-] Fanfic writers' meme

I laugh like a firehose.

2008-03-30T21:29:00.003+08:00

State of mind:
Current soundtrack: Playlist name - series - song title (artist)

Sigh.

M.Y.: GAAAAH My Alphonne-chan is all DIRTEH!
Cleaning solution: *spritz spritz*
Cloth: *squeek squeek*
Al: *cleeeeeeaned*
M.Y.: Yay! Hallo Internetz, what do you have for me today?
Internetz: OH HAI. YUR FREN SANDPANTHER HAS PICTURES OF 8 KYOUDAI HOSTS TOGETHAR ROFFLE.
Picture: *is four different kinds of crack**
M.Y.: *SPORFLEDY*...hoship.
Al: ...D: *covered in sporfle and a single mysterious booger*
M.Y.: AAAAAUGH.

* Asuka looking like Aznil Nawawi in general; Daigo in a suit; Gamu's jeng boots; Goh's biker leathery getup

Get out of my dreams and into my, uh, laptop?

2008-03-28T23:10:00.004+08:00

State of mind: drowsy
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Mebius - Ashita e no Hishou (Sahashi Toshihiko)

Tagged by Labucchi! Sort of...

List 10 fictional characters you wouldn't kick out of bed(in no particular order) and tag five people to do the same.

Hikari - excuse please, but who do you think one attempts to dream of on Fridays?
Mebius - far from kicking him out of bed, I would grab him and tickle him and hug him and wuv him...*flees enraged Mebifans*
Dyna-shihan - although I might spend the rest of the night cowering at one corner of the bed in utter stupefaction.
Tiga - who would be glomped tight and never let go. EVAR. *laughter from pits of hell*
Sha Gojyo - yes, I would spend the rest of the night telling him to stop propositioning me, but I wouldn't kick him out of bed. I think. I'm pretty sure...
Cho Hakkai - I...would not be able to resist. D:
Kikuchiyo - he'd be like a hot-water bottle. A big, weird, metal hot-water bottle...
Black Jack - mind you, he would probably get out of his own volition. And I don't want to ever be so sick such a situation is warranted...
Katsushirou - see the entry pertaining to Mebius.
Hikari - Again, it is FRIDAY. *sigh*

[+/-](Not *quite* SFW)
I'm tagging you, you, you, you, and oh yeah, you.

In other news, I turned 21 last week, I am full of misanthropic tendencies and someone shanghaied me into a ParaPara Paradise dance-off on Thursday. I would like to say I whipped that young snapper properly, but really, the best I could do was beat him by a few thousand points. *shrug*

Noa Reborn(?)

2008-03-25T13:07:00.004+08:00

State of mind: agitated
Current soundtrack: white noise

I think I may have found Noa-tan.

One of the handphone people who shares shop space with Vision Art, behind TOA, has a sort of blocky laptop—Compaq, because the old logo sans really swooshy Q is on the back—with a black back and rounded corners. And one of the keys in the top row is missing. I haven't gotten close enough yet to verify that it's the U key (which I had to tape to Noa a few months before his disappearance), or if it really IS a Presario M2000.

If it looks like a duck, and sounds like a duck...but may not quite be your old duck...then what is one to do?

(ETA 1710 - You eat your face about it for a while, then go down and check, apparently. The key is missing from the wrong row, and the M2000 insignia isn't there. *sigh* False alarm, people. But honestly, I still hope Noa-tan IS out there, not broken to piecemeal for crystal meth, and...maybe at least being loved and taken care of, and once again storing founts of work, art and dodgy fanfiction?)

Clearly I have some kind of multiple brain-scheme going on...

2008-03-15T23:10:00.006+08:00

State of mind: pensive (and maybe a little pleased)
Current soundtrack: Get Chuu! ~ AAA

Something short and sweet to ponder:

I Shall Not Live In Vain
Emily Dickinson

If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain.

Let's all do one nice thing today, even if our hearts have been broken and fixed and rebroken and sello-taped together. (Mind you, if you had said this to me thirteen hours ago, I might have shot you a look of disgust. Mood swings. Tsk.)

The Japan blogposts seem to have frozen riiiight at the UMLand part. :P Should sit down and finish them up...but I can't stop myself from squeeing as I edit the pictures! @_@

(ETA: YAAAAAAAAAGH there's a White Day event at Ultramanland, ye gods, do want, do want, DO WANT, chocolate from teh Ultra cheffies aaaaaahhhhhh *dies of dead*)

Sukikyara Baton

2008-03-10T19:13:00.022+08:00

State of mind: distracted
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Tiga - Brave Love, TIGA (Chikyuu Bouei Dan)

Ganked from Sarutobi's place. I seem to be the only person who brings these things out of a Japanese environment. No matter. I shall pimp this to the other Ultra fans. Elsewhere. *slight smile*

This meme is Not Quite Worksafe.

Sukikyara Baton/Fave Chara Meme

Target: Ultraman Tiga (or Tiga-sama, so sayeth Sarutobi. XD)
Rule: You must answer the following questions about your target character.

(1)Do you like this character?
He's high on my favourites list. So, yeah. :D

(1.5) Talk about this character's appeal.
Tiga was the first of the 'humanised' Ultras, and has this aura of classicness. There's something about him that seems noble and dutiful and good to the point of hurting. But you see him bleed, and hurt, and love, and die. So there CAN be people who are THAT good.

Also, as a Ninja Manual character? FADORABLE. Fadorable and dutiful and full of hope and innocence.

(2)What do you call this character?
Canon!Tiga remains Tiga, occasionally 'son of Radian'. Ninja!Tiga is and probably always will be chibi(-chan). Because he is tiny and kiut.

(2.5)What lines/actions of this character made an impression on you?
There is a sequence in Final Oddysey where he gets pummelled by Kamiira yet continues to protect Rena's GUTS Wing. Sod you, Tiga, that trumped EVERYTHING ELSE in the movie. T___T

(3)Looks like your character just got lost. Now what?
...I suppose he would navigate by the stars, or ask the nearest friendly person for directions. Manual!Tiga might freak out before heading for a convenient rooftop and searching for a landmark.

(4) What's this character's 'image colour'?

Red? Gold? GOLD. The white-gold of light and goodness.

(4.5)What would you like to dress this character in?
Hakama and kimono. *grins hugely*

(5)What's this character's image song?
Take Me Higher, obviously. :/

(5.5)What animal would this character be？
Silent, swift, loyal...one of the older breeds of dog, like a saluki or greyhound.　Ninja!Tiga is a weasel, thanks to an old AU that never got written.

(6)What do you think this character's blood type is?
*runs through the Home Made Kazoku song* Uhm. The multi-talented B?

(6.5)What type of underwear do you think this character wears?
If Ultrans DID wear underwear? *shrugs* Tighty whities?

(7) In the show this character appears in, is there any other character who you would 'allow' to have a relationship with him/her?
Rena or Dyna, and nobody else.

(7.5)Does this character top or bottom?
...Type-changers are flexible, shall we just say that? Yes?

(8)Is there anything you want this character to say to you?
Canon: "The Light resides in you, too. I know."

Yup. That's it. Even just that would do.

(8.5)Is there anything you want to say to this character?
Canon: "You were the first light and hope, and for this I thank you."

Ninja: "Take real good care of shihan."

(9)What would you rather do: hold hands with the character, be hugged by the character, or be kissed by the character?
Be hugged. Because I would give him a big old squishy hug right back. EVERY Ultran needs a big old squishy hug.

(9.5)What would you pick if you could have one of this character's possessions?
One of canon Tiga's memories (what?! It's still a possession!). Ninja!Tiga's silk hat.

(10)Pick the next five people to do this baton with their target characters.
Cirdan_Havens - Hikari
Seiza - Ace
Sandpanther - Mebius
Cygnus - Agul
Sennetari - Zoffy

[+/-] English version

-----

指定：ティガ様 w
ルール⇒指定されたキャラについて以下の質問に答える。

(1)このキャラのこと好きですか？

すきですね～。大好きですね～！
いつだって気に入りリストのトップ5にいます。

(1.5)このキャラの魅力について語ってください。

最初に出た「人間的ウルトラマン」なので、なぜかクラシックなオーラが感じれます。礼儀正しくて義理硬い印象もありますし。まさに、痛いほどの「善」の擬人化。
それでもティガは血（液光？）を流し、苦しみ、愛し、ものを守って命を落とした事もある。それで証されるのは、この世に善で生きる人がまだ居るってこと。

後は、ウルトラ忍法帖のティガがひたすらきゃわゆいだから。（爆）
可愛くてまじめで希望と無邪気さであふれる！

(2)このキャラのこと何て呼んでますか？

皮ティガはただ「ティガ」で、時には「ティガさん」　「T」「レーディアンの子」。

忍ティガは「チビちゃん」。だってきゃわｙ（略）

(2.5)このキャラの台詞や行動で印象に残っているものは？

ファイナルオデッセイの、カミーラにボッコボコのギッタンギタンにされても、レナのGUTS Wingを庇い続けるシークエンス。
てめえティガこんちきしょ。最後に命を落とすシーンよりてか映画の何よりも、それでハラハラにされたんじゃないのか！（泣）

(3)「好きキャラ」は迷子になったそうです…。

…たぶん星で道をナビるか、通ってる人に道を丁寧に尋ねるでしょう。
忍ティガは少しオロオロしながら屋根の上に跳び目印でも見つけ出す…感じがする。ｗ

(4)このキャラのイメージカラーは？

金色。
光と善の、淡く白混じり金色。

(4.5)このキャラにさせてみたい格好は？

袴と着物。

ガイジンギャールの妄想ですﾊｧﾊｧ（やめれ

(5)このキャラのイメージソングは？

ストレートで「Take Me Higher」?
ほんと他は考えない＾＾；

(5.5)このキャラを動物に例えると？

無口で足が速くて忠実…古い原種の犬。サルーキかグレーハウンド。
忍ティガは鼬＜別世界小説の影響

(6)このキャラの血液型何だと思いますか？

マルチタレントのＢ？

(6.5)このキャラはどんな下着つけてると思いますか？

下着なんてないよ、ウルトラ族は！

でも着たらブリーフ？

(7)このキャラの出てくる作品の中で「こいつとならくっついても許す！」って
　　キャラは居ますか？

レナとダイナ！こいつ二人だけ！wwww

(7.5)このキャラ、受？攻？

…タイプチェーンジができる彼は柔軟。それだけにしておこう。ね。ハイ。v

(8)このキャラに言われてみたいセリフはありますか？

「あなたにだって、光はある。私は知っている」

…うん。それでいい。それだけでもいい。

(8.5)このキャラに言ってみたいセリフはありますか？

皮:「あなたが最初の希望と『光』になった。だから、みんなの分までありがとう！」
忍: 「師範は、頼んだからね」

(9)このキャラと手を繋ぐ、抱きしめられる、キスするの内どれがいいですか？

抱きしめられる。ぎゅうううううううううううっと抱きしめ返すから。ウルトラはみんなハグが必要！（謎

(9.5)このキャラの持ち物を一つ貰えるとしたら？

皮の思いで一つ（まだ持ち物に限っているから！）
忍のあのシルクハット

(10)次にバトンを回す人を５人、キャラ指定でどうぞ

上にあります。
日本にいるファンたちに、時期に回ってくるでしょうとｖ [+/-] すきキャラバトン、日本語ヴァージョン

I say, where DID my jaw roll off to?

2008-03-09T10:06:00.003+08:00

State of mind: surprised
Current soundtrack: Kimi to Iu Na no Tsubasa De (Kobukuro)

The government said to remain calm. Do not celebrate. Do not hold victory rallies. (If that's not a veiled reference to '69, I don't know what is.) So, OK, I'm calm. I'm not celebrating. But my heart is a big, old, sweet rolling dance party.

The opposition coallition (DAP-PKR-PAS) has claimed 4 states in the elections, including my home state; perhaps not so happily, PAS alone has won over Kedah. 3-4 ministers lost their seats. Overall, BN has a simple majority and not the much-desired two-thirds. In Malaysia, this is probably the closest a not-Alliance party has come to FLAWLESS VICTOLEE.

Things are about to change, people, and don't you say you weren't there to see it happen. And if the 'Opposition' screw this up, they will never get the chance to get these seats again, so Do It Right, people!

2008-03-08T11:43:00.002+08:00

State of mind: perky
Current soundtrack: UM Gekiden - do do la do (Sudou Hitomi)

To all the Misses, Missuses, Madams, Ma'ams, Aunts, Aunties, lengluis, xiao jies, da jies, ah sohs, por pors, piu chehs, ka chehs, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, anes, tangkachis (sp?), ah mois, ciks, kaks, adiks, fujoshis, furgirls, lassies, ladies, daughters, granddaughters, matriarchs, moms-in-law, dames, broads, hussies, girls and women of the world: Happy International Women's Day. Enjoy it!

I have other things to say, about my students. However, they are mostly unprintable at present and there are...shall we say, better ways to express one's self?

The Only Election Post.

2008-03-07T22:53:00.003+08:00

State of mind: shivery
Current soundtrack: mirai e (redballoon)

So the 8th of March is polls day in Malaysia. That's tomorrow. GOOD. I've had it up to my ears with posters and campaigning and everyone slagging everyone else. But really, I hope those eligible to vote go out and do it. I would like to very much, but the election is 2 weeks before my 21st birthday. -_- Never you mind, I have four, five years to patiently document any screw-ups or thumbs-up the government performs. But y'all gotta elect a sound one. No more leaks and snarks and general brainlessnesses, please.

I hope that nobody votes for someone because anyone told them to.

I also hope that nobody votes for someone because some distant relative bribed you with an angpau.

I hope that nobody votes for someone just because they are told there is Only One Choice.

I REALLY hope that nobody votes for someone just because the someone is a lengzhai or lenglui, never mind the actual prowess. (But beauty with brains? Ohoho. Bonus. :D)

I hope that you vote because you've thought it over, weighed your decision carefully, made yourself informed of both sides' arguments and are ready to participate.

So go. Follow the rules, don't slug anyone, and CROSS THE PAPER PROPERLY. Don't spoil the vote and for pete's sake, please don't do it on purpose. At least think of the dead trees.

Go.

Aaaaaaa?

2008-03-05T20:34:00.007+08:00

State of mind: confused
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Nexus - Requiem (Kawai Kenji)

Dubious M.Y. is dubious. Is there, perhaps, some piece of history that I missed in the Ultra pantheon? Did Ultraman suddenly age? Was he put under a lot of sudden stress? Acid attack? Freak accident involving hornets?

...No? Rly? Then why do I see the A-type mask in the upcoming Daikessen! Ultra Ultra 8 Kyoudai? Again?

Old 'Man's the flagship of the fandom: the first, the original, the beginning. One would assume you want him to look his very best, and let's admit it, usually he does. One also hopes, with many hopes, that the site Flash uses some standalone promo shot and the A mask was not used in the actual filming. If it was, then Tsuburaya, you have some 'splaining to do! D:

I at least expect Tiga to have some 'By the Light itself, what happened to your face?!' moments, because he and Man have met before.

Work's going OK. I have the brain of a ten-year-old. Also, I saw Hako for lunch today and we had a long mutual unloading session about events past.

Aw man FOOOOOOO!

2008-03-04T07:01:00.002+08:00

State of mind: gleeful

'Deru and DMJ probably know this by now—seeing as how they were there, but DARN it, someone beat me to the punch!

Hard Gay in Malaysia, FOOOOOOOOOOOO!

At least I don't have to worry about getting the hat and gloves now. Psst Cons, Crys, does that bodysuit seller still exist?

(and for those readers who do not know what the HG phenom is—Google it. Yourself. I want to pretend this blog is still kind of worksafe.)

Brainfart Central

2008-03-04T00:00:00.004+08:00

State of mind: disgruntled
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Boy - Bokutachi no Hero (Project DMM)

It has been a most brainfarty past couple of days. I do believe I exhausted this month's ration of brainpower deciphering the Actionscript exam on Friday. Suffice it to say I have done things I should smack myself in the head for, only...I kinda need those neurons, yanno?

Am currently working on three (four?) projects at once, yet am strangely content if a little scatter-brained.

Have I mentioned the Complete "Tiga" Edition is one of the winnest of Ultra music wins?

Paint(<)Chat

2008-03-02T09:12:00.004+08:00

State of mind: blissed out
Current soundtrack: Return of Ultraman - Return of Ultraman (Dan Jirou, Misuzu? Children's Choir)

A quick bit of background: Paintchatting (or oekaki chat/e-cha) is done through a Java application, a cross between a communal oekaki/paintboard and a simple chatroom. It's fun! You can sit around mostly yakking and occasionally drawing simple doodles to illustrate the point, or break out the tablets from the first minute and produce some stunning examples of work. Let's not forget the 'amida', and the scratch, both of which I haven't done in a long time...There are ample examples of sessions archived out there, but none of the sites I want to mention are 'link free'—which, ironically, means free TO link, not free OF links. Anyway. The site responsible for this wonderful insanity is Takamin.com. Go check it out.

Last night I had the opportunity to head over to the site of a BNF, S, who finally decided to host a 'room'. I haven't been paintchatting for about a year or so, so I was a bit rusty, but...she saved all the dippy doodles I did to get warmed up, and I have a saved copy of the Mebius!puppy we did in the first session. It didn't go very far after that, because poor S had stomach trouble and T, who came in a bit later, was very quiet and...dropped off to go to sleep, I think. We just yakked a lot after that and I recounted lots of stupid tales about my Japan trip. ^^; So really, it was more chat than paint.

Hope to have another session with them soon, but preferably when S' stomach has stopped tormenting her. I want to see her at work, damnit! XD

29th February!

2008-02-29T21:32:00.002+08:00

State of mind: deflated

Happy Day of Bounciness! A bit too frazzled by recent events to make a post of more coherence, though. D:

The days of n00bishness must end. The days of 1337ness must begin: for ALL.

drums fingers

2008-02-21T21:59:00.005+08:00

State of mind: scratchy-throated

Happy Chap Goh Meh! Anyone join me in going vegetarian?

CNY was fun (um, yes...pictures at some point...) but it's been the daily grind for the past few weeks. Not to name names or anything, but...it would really help certain students to learn time management on the double (do it! DO IT NAOUGGHHH!) and not cheese off your lecturers. Just sayin'. ;)

I appear to have caught ANOTHER cold. Clearly, one did not eat enough mandarins during CNY *cough* and one is going straight to bed for once. Blurgh.

Non non, wait wait, I DO have something vaguely interesting to mention. It's election season in Malaysia, and the Jasin MP has been dropped from the list of candidates. *CACKLE* Fare-thee-well, you one-eyed, leaky-brained distinguished gentleman. I wonder if the Kinabatangan MP will be next. That would be worth all the Valentine's chocs in the country. Also, I pass a big old billboard promoting an MCA candidate on the way home, and...someone has quite neatly blacked out his face, as if with a giant whiteboard marker. O_o Poor chap. The opposition is being blamed, but hey, anyone 'opposing' this fella is HIS opposition, so...

Baton sono DEUX!

2008-02-10T22:45:00.001+08:00

State of mind: wibbly
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Nexus - Boukyaku no Umi (Kawai Kenji)

Happy Chinese New Year! What did you do with yours? I finally got round to watching Ultraseven X—uh, yes, almost all of it in one sitting. *sheepish* I am a wibbling fool, thanks to the ending. That's WRONG, man! It's full of illegal amounts of squee! [spoiler]At least there's a universe/proof out there where Dan and Anne may live happily ever after. They're only the oldest couple to set fangirls' hearts ablaze with the hope of interplanetary romance![/spoiler]

Ganked this baton from U, since s/he was passing it out freely:

Your 5 favourite Ultras
- Hikari - Renaissance man with a sword and an angsty past. :D
- Mebius - The young warrior who never says die!
- Dyna - Proof that hey, Ultraman can be funny AND deep!
- Tiga - Something so completely different I thought I could never like it. Still, over the seas he came, and hooked I became. Speaking like Yoda now, I am.
- Nexus - Truly one of the most human Ultras, ever.
Actually, this list could actually go on for-bleeding-ever. I like them all! It's like having 35 brothers/confidants/sounding boards! XD
Your 5 favourite monsters:
- Hanejirou - Peanuts! 'Pamu'! Puppy dog eyes!
- Lim-Eleking - The cutest chirp this side of the fandom.
- Mew - Tragic little jobbie, he was.
- Sheila - the mutated parakeet with the death wish.
- Guardie - Only the best dog an Ultran could wish for. THANK YOU FOR KILLING HIM, MASAKI, YOU WASTE OF GENETIC MATERIAL.
Yes, these are all generally benevolent monsters. Your point? ;)
Your 5 favourite sure-kill techniques:
- Zoffy's M87 Beam - A miraculous 870°C bolt of awesome.
- SF!Ultraman's Specium Ultra Light Wave (oi!) - A...very, very, BIG bolt of awesome.
- Mebius' Mebium Blade and Hikari's Knight Beam Blade - wrist-blades of awesome and doom.
- Ace Sword - for the, erm, wtf factor.
- Leo's chimney-chucks of doom - because I get a kick out of them in UFE 0 :D
Your 5 favourite teams:
- Night Raiders - dark, serious and full of surprises.
- CREW GUYS - Formulaic yet strangely random. And they WORK.
- Super GUTS - See comment about Dyna. Hibiki yelling at everybody is awesome.
- GUTS - It was interesting to see how the old tropes translated into the Heisei fandom?
- ZAT - The eternal fandom clowns.
Your 5 favourite episodes:
- Pride of GUYS (Mebius #10) - Mebius holds Tsurugi's hand as he's dying. Enough said.
- Distant Baohn (Dyna #8) - Before Baohn, Dyna was just another series. After Baohn, Dyna was fiercely loved and squeed over. The spitting in the palms! The sumo stomp! The triple twirl as he falls down fast asleep! Sulking Baohn! The list goes on and on!
- Offence and Defence of Zelda Point (Tiga #32) - in which there is a monster fighting for final justice. This rocks so hard, on so many levels. Oh yeah and it made me cry too.
- The Devil's Judgement (Tiga #25) - I think this is the best example of how Tiga draws strength from 'the light of humans'.
- Eiyuu -Hero- (Nexus #24) - The one where Himeya!Nexus fights his final battle and gains his personal redemption. Again, this rocks so hard on so many levels.
Your 5 favourite mecha:
- Gun Wingers/Phoenix from GUYS/Mebius. Go METEOR system!
- Chrome Chesters from NR/Nexus
- Wolf 777 from ZAT/Taro
- MAT Arrows from Return of UM
- Sky Whale from ZAT/Taro
Your 5 favourite protagonists:
- Hibino Mirai (Mebius). Go go PUPPY!
- Himeya Jun (Nexus). Go go ANGSTY PHOTOGRAPHER!
- Higashi Koutarou (Taro). Go go, SMILE OF CHAMPIONS!
- Hokuto Seiji and Minami Yuuko (Ace). Go go, DUALISM!
- Hideki Goh (Jack). Go go, BEANPOLE! XD
Your 5 favourite heroines:
- Mother of Ultra
- Beth
- Yullian
- Amagai Konomi
- Saijyo Nagi
Hey, Tsuburaya, GIVE US MORE ULTRAWOMEN DARNIT.
5 monsters/aliens you thought were strong:
- Gatanozooa - upside-down nautilus/ammonite reject, yes. But upside-down nautilus reject who rules the darkness, and has a beam of rip-roaring death. I still wince thinking about its effects.
- Zoigar - Gata's minions.
- Kirieloid v2 - The man is scary. D:
- Emperor Seijin - Not quite the dude from Mebius. The original mysterious dude who occupied the Land of Light. Somehow, skimpy bodysuit with stuff pasted on doesn't quite scream "ultimate evil!" to me. A static, out-of-proportion shadow does the job much better. Which is sad.
- Unknown Hand - Sneaky, conniving, manipulative, heartless bastid. Just the sort you'd call to off your enemies!
5 Ultras you're passing this on to:
Well, let's see if they read this blog. XD
- Sennetari
- Hoshikage
- Sakon76
- Cirdan
- Sarutobi (but take your exams first! This can wait! @_@)

[+/-] Ultra 5s meme

Gong Xi Gong Xi!

2008-02-06T22:38:00.000+08:00

State of mind: chirpy
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Cosmos - Power of Love (Project DMM)

*bobs head softly in time with music*

<:3 )~
One rat for your prospeRATy.

<:3 )~<:3 )~
Two rats for your posteRATy.

<:3 )~<:3 )~<:3 )~
Three rats for your hilaRATy. *is immediately shot for pun crimes*

Hope you all have a lovely CNY, folks. Larger updates coming soon--I hope! I have yet to regale you all with the moe that was Ultramanland, or the weirdness that was our annual dinner.

Atromen.

2008-01-25T20:49:00.000+08:00

State of mind: dumbfounded

HAPO BENDO NIE?

The remix of Gaia at the beginning and ending was an interesting stuff, but I have to hand this over to people better versed in 'loghe Kelate' to translate most of it.

In other news, Mori Chuck kinda looks like Ando. %\

Gamble on the bramble ramble ramble

2008-01-24T22:52:00.000+08:00

State of mind: bleh
Current soundtrack: Black Jack 21 - Destiny (Shimatani Hitomi) on triple loop

I work on two briefs.

I tutor two classes and make them laugh, sometimes.

I have my first paycheck. (pictures laterterter)

I also have a huge rolling cold. Rhinovirii are attention whores!

Cold: *is coy and teasing*
M.Y.: Go 'way.
Cold: *whines*
M.Y.: Sod off, I have things to do.
Cold: *BITCHSLAPS M.Y. UPSIDE THE HEAD*
M.Y.: BAAAAAAK-CHOOM! (yes, I sneeze like that. In Caps Lock.)

Cold medicine brings strange dreams. I was back in my old highschool, and there was a tree with leaves of giant mantids, and flowers of butterflies. Also, one got to meet up with, judging by the age group, Sarutobi and three of her Ultrafriends. If you believe my brain the Ultra Galaxy series has spawned an RPG/FPS combo, the first chapter of which involves a fadorable grey puppy that belongs to...Hayata. I can't remember its name at the mo. The only way you could get tokens for it was with UG gashapons, and I didn't have the money so I watched on the sidelines.

...koffkoffkoff

2008-01-22T07:53:00.000+08:00

State of mind: bemused

Whaddya mean, we're kinda responsible for Abe Shinzou quitting?

I will attempt to be succinct @ Hudsonning.

2008-01-21T21:43:00.000+08:00

State of mind: peckish
Current soundtrack: AWAKE - Un Dia Llegara (Josh Groban)

I saw a Black Jack kewpie in the shops today. It might as well have been called Kowasugi Creepy McCreepypants-Ohmyheart. °A°

Karcy brought this issue to my attention, so I ran with it. Non-denominational deity on a flatbread, it took THIS long to reach my ears? You'd have had me frothing and cheesed off in two seconds flat, but now I'm so peckish I can barely curl my lip and snarl. I may not have caught the cake one at once, but that poem about the turtles? I remember it! By gum, do I remember it! Wangst and martyrdom shall be no excuse for flicking it! It's far too clean for a coincidence!

Anyway. What shall I hudson, then? Let's try this little extract; you'll have to excuse me if I can't make it rhyme. She got away with it.

Lafazlah kau 'gin' dan bir'
Sementara ditempatkan selamat di sini
Dan dihantar ke pertempuran kecil;
Tetapi bila membunuh
Kau akan bekerja demi air
Dan menjilat but sial pemiliknya.
Ha, di iklim panas Injia,
Di mana kuluangkan masa dulu
Berkhidmat untuk Duli Yang Maha Mulia Permaisuri,
Daripada semua pekerja keling
Yang paling cekap
Ialah bhisti pasukan kita, Gunga Din.
Dialah 'Din! Din! Din!
'Kepal habuk batu yang terhincut-hincut, Gunga Din!
'Oi! Hitherao licik!
Air, dapatkannya! Panee lao,
Patung hidung penyek, Gunga Din.'... [+/-]Gunga Din oleh May Chong!

(And before you go ANY further, Kipling is one of my favourite authors and this, clearly, was meant as a piece of satire, jokery and jiggery-pokery; and yes, the k-word is not a nice one. But you transliterate 'blackfaced crew' into modern sensibilities...)

Next week: A piece about Poppies! No, wait, someone's already done that...

I am phull of phail.

2008-01-20T22:28:00.000+08:00

State of mind: blur
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Nexus OST 1 - Ultraman Nexus - Space Beast ~Crash~ (Kawai Kenji)

Friday was a mess of being blur and klutzy. Also, it was the first time I'd handled the new, big, shiny, kengchow video cameras the department procured, so of COURSE I proceed to put the battery in the wrong way, become unable to flick a power button and try for 15 minutes to jam the tripod mount back in, upside down. The less said about orange Vitagen the better. OTL

Musically, things look good. *points up at current soundtrack*

Ultramanically, Max has been on the screen for, what, months now? I tune in today and catch the first episode. Also, TV3, *put the themes back in*. Max's happens to be full of bounce and rock. >x<

Sanity springs a leek!

2008-01-18T06:15:00.000+08:00

State of mind: incredibly amused
Current soundtrack: Ieva's Polka - Loituma
Go crazy with me, hapless readers, and ask me not what I've been doing up since half-past-one. :D

The good, the bad, the ugly and...?

2008-01-13T18:07:00.000+08:00

State of mind: annoyed
Current soundtrack: Black Jack - Fantastic (Ami Suzuki)
The good
I've survived my first full week at work, graduated, and made Hazmer want to go to UMLand. *evil, evil laughter* I even got a job offer—background and character design, fr srs!—but nope. Have to wait another 2-3 years first.

The bad
Leaving them AS 3 files in the student computer on Friday. Oops. Hope they're still there on Monday, otherwise have to do some heavy-duty bugging...orz Bank a/c dropping precipituously due to necessary purchases, and I haven't even gotten my first paycheck yet. Adobe Creative Suite, thou growest farther and farther away...TT_TT

The ugly
Omaigod, another teeny-weeny girl got kidnapped. Edmund Hillary's dead.

The just plain weird
Never mind the fact that Tsuburaya seems to consistently romanise ジョーニアス(Jōniasu) as 'Joneus', which imo looks...clunky. Now it seems they cannot decide on a constant romanisation for メビウス: TWO acceptable romanisations are mentioned. I'm not one to pass up a good running concept—with the whole 'infinity' and 'future' and 'connection' themes, and ALL those ∞ motifs, why stop at the hero name?—but for REAL, TPC. I left UMLah in an argument over this issue. Just pick *one*, clean up the typos and stick with it. If even Joneus *shudder* turns out to be official, aye, that's what I'd stick with.

Almost as weird: Mebius DVD vol 3 has a little insert that mentions Hikari was offered the post of DIRECTOR of the Space Science and Tech. Bureau (Eien Wolff retiring?) but turned it down; many say it was 'because of the planet Arb'. If they mean 'because of what happened to Arb' and not 'because he was ON Arb', Himeya Jun would probably like to go out for a drink with Hika-cchi some time.

* Because I have yet to find the Holy Grail 1st/2nd Super Hero Chronicle UM sets...

Woooo.

2008-01-11T23:13:00.000+08:00

State of mind: tired

Re: Volt has officially graduated.

I am tired and grubby and happy and miffed, all simultaneously.

Good luck in the future, y'all. And learn the value of PROOFREADING, or I swear on my pretty black pantsuit I will hunt you down and PUNISH you.

Bilingual Batons of...Bombasticness!

2008-01-10T22:45:00.001+08:00

State of mind: sleepy
Current soundtrack: Black Jack Back-to-back - Black Jack - Silence Whispers (TRF)

I cut my hair very short today, and got another meme! Not in English though—It's from one of my Ultra contacts, Sarutobi, and thus it is in Japanese. Apparently they're called 'batons'.

It's to do with fandoms and illustration, so here we go:

We will now start the illustration baton, but how's your state of mind at the moment?
I'm...interested. And wondering how long it will take to translate/scan/answer. ;)

At what age did you start drawing on the computer?
I think I was 6 or 7.

So now, how long has it been since you've started?
Ah, asking for my age, are you? 14, 15 years? I still prefer my pencils for sketchery. :)

Can we see the first pictures you drew?
You may not. That PC has long gone to a family friend's family. *gulp*

If possible, could you show us some of your first pictures?
Isn't this a repeat of the previous question? Cheh. FINE. Where are those paintchat pictures? Ah, there we go.

I've gotten a bit better since then—this happens to be the last paintchat I did before everyone really started going to work/falling ill/becoming busy.

...I miss yakking with those guys. :(

What do you usually do for colouring?
Flat blocks of colour with two, maybe three layers of shading. Vector images...generally don't need that much colouring, and my pencil sketches remain black and white with occasional smudges of grey.

Whether it's art sense or anything else, is there anyone you want to train under or look up to?
Oh yes, plenty. Ursula Vernon, for one. I suppose I want to have a go with Kidchan, Matsuru or Kinsun. And there's always U, Tuge, Natsuki and Sunagimo.

Answer honestly. Do you have confidence in your pictures?
Mm. I like them, they get the message across and drawing makes me happy. No, that doesn't answer the question, does it? I'd say yes, although one tries to firm up one's skills and improve. :)

Now put 5 names for each category, and pass this baton on to them.
Ehhhh?! One, I don't know that many people/bloggers/artists and two, I've never seen a meme try so desperately to spread itself. But OK. *goes through the fanlinks and picks out names*

Cute pictures - Sarutobi, Weiss, Tama, Kannazuki Hayate, Himataro

Cool pictures - Takigawa Takumi, Sunagimo, U, Zid, Halxion (actually...Hal's pictures kind of scare me.)

Beautiful pictures -Tuge, Ursula Vernon, Firnheledien, Kidchan, Matsuru

Warm pictures - F&S, Arche, Miyanishi Tatsuya

Refreshing pictures - Kodama, Aimo, Midou Kazuhiko

Soft pictures - Moyashi, Ten, Gizzy, Akeboshi, Kurage

[+/-] show/hide this post

Wokei, that's it.

Tomorrow is Re:Volt's exhibition launch! This is your chance to see the blogger in her Haado Gei short black leather outfit! (Hey, the dress code IS punk/goth/subculture.

troubled

2008-01-08T23:10:00.000+08:00

State of mind: bercelaru
Current soundtrack: Black Jack 21 - Destiny on loop

Class went fine today, I tried the goodness of J.Co donuts (OHMIGOD FOODGASM) and it looks like tomorrow might yield some actual work. I AM tutoring my tutor's sister! 0_0 Kind of fawesome. But in the meantime, I have issues.

...For serious, man, why me and why now? I don't know how this is going to work out. While I am loath to hurt anyone, you go ahead and take that one step. See if I don't push hard enough for everything to fall. Better now than later.

Even if I fear the coming reactions. Manjusri, Hikari and the Ultran Trinity, give me strength!

M is for maudlin

2008-01-06T20:39:00.000+08:00

State of mind: wistful
Current soundtrack: Ayashi no Ceres - Cross my Heart (Globe)

Ikusen no ai no kotoba yori
Anata ga soko ni iru dake de ii
(More than thousands of words of love
It is better that you are just there)
Destiny ~Taiyou no Hana~, Shimatani Hitomi

I am thinking rather hard of someone at the moment, and missing him greatly, though it really is for the best that he '(is) just there'.

One misses that singular warmth and friendliness, his very physical existence. He is not mine—I could not be so arrogant—but I wish he was, in some small part, and I miss him greatly from the bottom of my little fleshy heart. One wishes to pick his mind for philosophy and listen to his tales, to savour these foreign words and thoughts like a warm draught; to just be there with him once more, to be at rest.

Strange and beautiful, things ultimately are.

...For the love of Pete, it's not Black Jack. It's not Hikoboshi either, for those who know that story. Not even Ultraman! (And contrary to what SOMEONE thinks, it is far from YOU.)

(ETA 10/1/08)

Resolutions 2008

2008-01-03T21:03:00.000+08:00

State of mind: thoughtful
Current soundtrack: see below

This year, M.Y. resolves...

To carry out her tutorly duties in a way that really helps students
To push herself to do new things within design projects
To study Mandarin, and achieve enough to briefly describe oneself and order food.

Brief, brief, brief, brief the blurcase tutor!

2008-01-03T20:22:00.001+08:00

State of mind: inexplicably sleepy
Current soundtrack: White Noise (Ceiling Fans)

Some choice snippets from today:

I got a little keychain as an X'mas present from Reuben. Wahliau, paiseh only. I got nothing for anyone (._.;;;;) What I DID bring back from Japan was a t-shirt for mom and fingerpuppets for classmates-and-one-lecturer, so um, yeah. I did manage to pass one puppet off today, to Mintos. Nice-oyaji will cheer you on your way, lassie! *thumbsup*

-

Printing was nucking futzorz today at William's. @_@ Well, what I've printed is what I've got, and dash it all if I'm not going to roll with it as best as I can.

Still, Gah, gah, and gah again. Won't be much longer now.

-

Was taken round round round the college today by the HR head, and met (Wei) Meng from the design department, whose subject I'll be tutoring with 'Ben. She has an exceedingly firm handshake (and when I say this, I mean YOW THAT'S A FIRM HANDSHAKE.) Digital Photography for MM is a fairly new subject, and I daresay I shall be getting a DSLR this term. *bank account screams in despair* It will be interesting, I think—three sorta-skinny bespectacled blur-looking young people, all teaching one subject. Mind you, Meng sounds dead stern...

(I'll also be tutoring Digital Media 1, which used to be my Time-Based Media (animated Flashy animals!). Reuben is...shall we say considerably busier?)

-

Someone was leaving the MM Department today (to China, it seems), so they decided to sign a big big card and throw him a farewell bash on Friday.

Got home. Phone deedled at me (read: Maeda Tatsuya starts singing 'wow wow wow'). It was from work asking me if I was going to join them.

Wosheet. Not on Friday. At Friday's.

Um, but you know I'm wishing you all the best in the East, right, Teck Yew? :D;;;;; Have a great time, do great work and see great things.

-

That's been my day so far. Now I have to go read my employee handbook again, for lack of better things to do; how's your day been?

Working nine-to-six

2008-01-02T06:46:00.000+08:00

State of mind: cold
Current soundtrack: Taiyou no Hana (Shimatani Hitomi) in my braincells

I start work today.

EEYARGH!

Don't lemme dieeee! *flail*

(ETA 2037 same day - I'm not dead! Was briefed on certain points, proofread the Digital Media 1 teaching files, worked on a weeny little Macbook and arrived home. I has a job contract! Also, an office key!

Tomorrow the briefing continues.)

One last meme

2007-12-30T10:32:00.000+08:00

State of mind:
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Max Song Collection - Ashita ni Nareba (Project DMM)

[muse]Max songs contain a lot of the word 'genkai'. Mebius songs mention 'mugen' a lot. [/muse]

Well. As you can see, I'm back from Japan—and I returned with loads of UM stuff, a splinter in my finger, influenza virii and plenty of powerful memories. But before I actually, yanno, do some work and write up the whole trip, I thought I'd pop in what will probably be this year's last meme. :3

Was 2007 a good year for you?
Yes and no.
What was your favorite moment of the year?
....Going to Ultramanland, obviously.
What was your least favorite moment of the year?
A toss up between ending the year's first term—it was a very aggravating three-four months—and getting Noa-tan snatched. If they TOUCH him, I hope he shocks their balls off. D:<
What are your plans for 2008?
Keep the job, start saving for UMLand AND Adobe Creative Suite, make new friends.
What countries did you visit?
Japan!
What date in 2007 will remain etched in your memory?
December 25th.
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Got the YCLMS! *beam*
What was your biggest failure?
Failure to acquire any sort of social life. Pflurgh.
Did you suffer any illness or injury?
Flu, flu and more flu. And a twisted ankle.
What was the best thing you bought?
Can't think of anything beyond all that UM music at the moment.
Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
In two words, Malaysian Parliament.
Where did most of your money go?
Food and books.
What did you get really really really excited about?
UMLANDUMLANDUMLANDJapanUMLANDUMLAND
What songs will always remind you of 2007?
Probably James Blunt's '1973'. Ironic, I know.
15. Compared to this time last year are you:
a) Fatter or thinner? Slightly more weighty.
b) Happier or sadder? Sadder. One more layer of cynicism—although when the happy breaks out, it shows all over!
c) Richer or poorer? Marginally richer. Angpow money, mah. XD
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Socialising, schmoozing and asking questions.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Self-doubting.
How will you be spending Christmas?
I SPENT it. At Ultramanland, surrounded by stage shows, squeeing adorable children* and men in rubber suits.
Which LJ/MySpace users did you meet for the first time?
...BNF-known-as-N doesn't count, does she?
Did you fall in love in 2007?
Speak not to me of love.
How many one night stands?
What did I just TELL you!?
What was your favourite TV show?
Mebius KINDA went on into 2007. Haven't watched any of those episodes though. ^^;
Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Eyep.
What was/were the best books you read?
For One More Day (Albom), Papa is Ultraseven, Home Sweet Home (Miyanishi), Never Let Me Go (Ishiguro), UM Story Zero (Mabune)
What was your greatest musical discovery?
Josh Groban. Yum yum!
What did you want and get?
Ultraman music. The YCLMS scholarship. Some work. Lots of education.
What did you want and not get?
Ultraman Fighting Evolution for the PSP TT__TT
What was your favourite film this year?
300. SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAA!
What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I went to class, watched a movie—300—and through serendipity met some old friends for nonalcoholic drinks. I turned 20. I still don't really 'feel' it.
What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?
A love interest, perhaps? One that reciprocated, for once?
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Chunky shirts and mansandals. ;) Also, I discovered layers. And makeup. And the fact I don't look half bad in traditional Eastern costume.
What kept you sane?
Ultraman. Not the fandom batshittery, mostly just Ultraman in itself.
Which celebrity did you fancy the most?
Josh Groban. Again, yum yum!
Which political issue stirred you the most?
BERSIH walk followed by the batshit that was HINDRAF. Brain hurty, kthxbi.
Who did you miss?
My sister. Shortly. Currently it's a few good men back in Arao.
Did you treat somebody badly in 2007?
I may have.
Did somebody treat you badly in 2007?
It is possible.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year?
Three things are very important: gumption, social skills and time management.
Quote a song lyric that sums up your year...
*cough*
My past rides into my memories
And it's coming again with this music
I'm trying to fight for me
For my life; for my right
(Another Day Comes, Pay Money To My Pain)

[+/-] Was 2007 a good year for YOU?...

If I don't see y'all again before the year is out, here's wishing you a happy, happy 2008!

*apparently the words 'adorable' and 'children' coming out from my mouth = sign of the apocalypse.

DAY SEVEN: FUKUOKA > KL

2007-12-27T23:56:00.004+08:00

State of mind: still nostalgic
Current soundtrack: 4-5 stars - Even the Nights are Better(Air Supply)

Sigh. Last day. We had breakfast, and Hajime snagged a lift with us on the tour bus to the airport. XD Turns out his daughter Chika was coming down to meet him, and they were going to go harngkai around Kyushu. We bought some final souvenirs, and headed for the plane. Nothing else of import happened at Fukuoka…except, wait, yes, I saw THIS.

…May I remind you I was ALREADY pining for UMLand? ^^;

I have, so far, been quite lucky when it comes to airline food. My luck ended that day. Lunch was some kind of NASTY miso-drenched teriyaki chicken, but the less said about that the better. D: At least there were no screamy children, but just as the plane touched down in Singapore, the boy in front of me hurled. Woops.

There was a little lull of transit in Changi airport, and then we were back in softly cloudy Malaysia. Suddenly, we were home.

And that marked the end of my little stint in Japan. I left Malaysia with an empty heart, sick of people in general. What I saw filled my heart; Nagasaki put the lid on; Ultraman kept it full. I'll treasure what I saw and experienced for a long, long time. It saw me through the beginning of a new time in my life—may it continue to do so!

DAY SIX: ULTRAMANLAND REDUX (KUMAMOTO > FUKUOKA)

2007-12-26T00:00:00.036+08:00

State of mind: nostalgic
Current soundtrack: 4-5 stars - Ouran High Host Club - Itsumo Soba ni (Kirii Daisuke)

Five minutes after this picture was taken, Mebius did something that took my breath right away. But first...

Went for breakfast (wtf, nabemono for breakfast? Nowai.) and set off for UMLand once more. Dad had a golf appointment with his old uni mate Hajime, so I was free as a bird! I girded my loins for battle set off for UMLand, singing ‘Radiance’ loudly for much of the way. This time, I actually made it to the East Gate proper. Boy, was it worthwhile. Lookit the ROAD!

I bought my ticket (aaaand another GUYS pin) and was just in time to take pictures with Gaia: the first session of the day! It was great that the guy bothered to put his arm round my shoulder (yeee!) but…you can sort of tell I’m going to fall over, right? *didn’t know where to put big Malaysian feet*

The day proceeded much like the preceding one, except that I, er, documented the place a bit more, and there were a few other events of note:

I ate Ultraman. Ultra-man, rather.
I specifically aimed to come in winter so I could try these: Ultra-man, or Ultra pau! Too bad that yesterday, they hadn’t any! The staff lady promised to make some today, so y’all can guess what I had for lunch. :)

Ultraman: Everybody’s Ally! Too bad the first character in ‘ally’ is the same as ‘taste’. This makes for groanworthy puns.

Ultraman all the way down, it is—and then you tear it open.

Gaaaaah. So meh. Mind you, I’m used to char siew pau, and char siew pau this was most definitely NOT. There were mushrooms and…turnip?...and mystery meat (probably pork), so it was edible but not the most enjoyable of foods.

But come on, admit it. How COOL is it to admit that you’ve eaten an Ultra-man? BNF N (from yesterday) told me that she once went up to the counter and asked for ‘Urutora-man wo kudasai’ (Please give me Ultra-man). The girl’s surprise was, apparently, very evident. Pfuh. If the real Ultraman was that cheap, damn, I’d buy one and take him home! Heck, I’d buy several! ;)

Apparently the counter girl thought I was from China. Nope, sorry miss, three generations too late.

Shihan and Sensei—I mean Dyna and ‘Man showed up.

So I’m eating my average Ultraman with orange juice when, suddenly, from the main building, I hear a very familiar battle cry. Packing the pau with a paucity of pauses, I pattered promptly podiumwards, proceeding to powerfully...nearly spit my lunch out. Dyna and the original Ultraman!!! Together! Apparently this meet-and-greet or fureai time wasn’t on the list. For an Ultra Ninja Manual fan, this was near-brilliance. A pic op followed, so I grabbed my travel log and a big black marker, scribbled down something and went for piccies.

This proves two things; One, my insanity to all and sundry, and two, it really IS possible to resemble the ‘:3’ emoticon. The text, naturally, is a UNM reference.

And then I got them to sign one of the cards I got yesterday, so I had a lovely UNM assembly: Dyna-shihan, Gaia-kyoushu and Man-sensei!

Cosmos stageshow: Kimi wo Omou Chikara

Oh God. Oh, GODS. Best. Sodding. Moe. Show. Ever. How good? Fanfic-inspiring good. It did NOT help that I saw this so close to leaving UMLand, at the end of yet another tumultuous year.

I must have missed the memo that post-Cosmos, Justice and Chaos Header (CHAOS HEADER?! HED-DAH? Okaaay…) were now under Derashion fighting for ‘absolute justice’ (zettai seigi). Derashion? Hon? Take that gods-damned [white noise] ‘absolute justice’ and STUFF IT. It doesn’t exist, not in my mindset. Your justice is not tempered in the slightest by compassion or mercy. What good is your justice when it slays the pure with the wicked? What good is it when it pits Cosmos against Justice and Chaos Header, AGAIN?! I ask you, what good comes of killing Cosmos, AND Justice AND Header? WHAT GOOD WHEN YOU DARN NEAR KILL THE MC LADY? EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH?!?

*cough* Sorry. Getting ahead of myself. I’m better now.

So yes, Derashion wishes to hammer Earth because it is STILL being stupid and selfish and martial. This is underlined by the MC’s encounter with a disillusioned Hook Seijin (I think) who is reading the papers and getting ready to quit the Earth. (The MC didn’t know the name of the current US Pres, by the way. Despite someone yelling ‘George W. Bush! GEORGE DABLYU BUSH!’ from the back. Heh.) Justice and Header (in the form of Chaos UM Calamity) encounter a blissfully unaware Cosmos, and give the poor man an earful. Two earfuls. “What have you been doing? We left the Earth in your hands!” A battle ensues (horribly brutal, yet damn good). Cosmos still does not want to hurt his friends, despite getting turned into pizza by the other two, and he fires Justice this verbal salvo:

“But (if you wish to destroy me)…Why is there no weight to your fists?”

This was Justice's cue to break down and grab Cosmos about the shoulders. “Of course!” he replies. “How can I fight my friend?” (This was M.Y.’s cue to take pictures and preserve the moment, muahaha.) Chaos echoes this sentiment. AW CRAP WHY ARE YOU TWO SO ADORABLE I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO LIKE Y'ALL THAT MUCH!

Decidedly cheesed off, Derashion sends the robotic resetter Gloaker Pawn to kick everybody’s tushies. Having been kicked up and down the stage—errrr, streets, Cosmos is no match for the metal lunk and literally dies on his feet. Justice and Header plead for his life like crazy mad. DO WANT. Gloaker knocks them both off, and…'Justice’ MAY have missed a position cue, because he falls and gets stabbed—in the BUTT (Yes, an Ultra was just kancho-ed to death. Hurrah.). The robot then pushes Cosmos over, but the MC blocks his fall (eee!) and stands in front of him, against the advancing chunk of junk. (EEEE!)

Right at the end everyone revives, and Derashion is persuaded to give this stupid blue planet one more chance, and there is a very Gary-Sueish ending…although I would have preferred much more audience participation. I mean, screw this Derashion, if you’re going to kill me I demand a chance to speak! I believe in the general good of man; that is the hope you left us with 4 years ago. (5 years, at actual time of completion of this post...)

Speaking of Justice? His, er, her, er, hir voice is surprisingly feminine. It could be construed as androgynous, but it strikes me as deaaaad feminine.

And here’s the thing. I sort of like Cosmos. Not the show, which was kinda meh, and not even the movies, which Filem Karya Nusa has ruined for me FOREVER (“MusHashi! MusHashi!”). Just the music, because Project DMM was still a novelty then, and Cosmos as a character. And as you can see, I was full of adoration and squee. I think (no, I’m pretty sure) I clocked him on the jaw when I hugged him. (._.;;;;) Yes, I hugged him, finally continuing the tradition from the FIRST time. *cough*

Between squeeing and glomping and pau-eating, I made one trip to the Ultra de Restaurant but just had a Dyna Calpis, I mean a soda. Wasn't half bad. Got to chill out and watch people go buy, finish logging some things and listen to lots of Ultra music in general.

I also made several trips to the UM M78 World shop, performing reconnaissance and finally completing as much of my Ultra shopping list as I could (yet somehow completely forgetting to buy that lovely costume mask…*headthwack*). How beautiful, that so much Ultra can be squashed into that amount of space. From clothes to DVDs to squishies to postcards to figures (of course), if you can conceive it it's likely to be here. Ironic, then, that I couldn't find the Hikari Saga DVD TT_TT. I even managed to impress(?) two junior high-schoolers with my 1337 1337 sk33l5. (Yes, boy, I KNOW ALL THE ULTRA NAMES BOOHAHAHA. Run scared nao kthx.)

One also got to meet Seven (who signed the travel log), Leo, and Agul. Yes, Agul again. Not only does he seem to be a frequent 'attraction', he’s also sod-damnedly friendly. I saw him giving a little girl a ride on his shoulder! AGULLLL! Has romance cooked your brains? What would Reiko say, heck, what would Gamu and Gaia say?! XD

The final Ultra of the day was Mebius Burning Brave (…appropriately enough…). Filled with equal parts reluctance to leave, courage from N’s Agul display yesterday and female hormones from the Cosmos show, I glomped him as hard as I dared. And as I stepped away, the man very cheerfully patted me on the head.

…Ohsnapz. Mebius patted me on the head.

MEBIUS.

MEBIUS THE ULTRAPUPPY *PATTED ME ON THE HEAD*.

Gentle reader, I damn nearly cried. ありがとう、メビウス。ほんの少しの勇気付けてくれて、ありがとう。

With much reluctance, I finalized all my purchases, talked to a few staff members (oh N~I know your given na~me no~w ;)), and set back off to the hotel. If anyone tells you they heard an anguished string of Japanese being yelled at a certain building in Arao on Boxing Day evening, um…they’re lying?

The rest of the travel log for that day was filled with wobbly, wooby Ultra observations one’s readers might do better without here. Except for this one, because it's important in a fangirlical fashion:

It's probably different for the girls. Ask the boys what UM is to them. You get "Strength." "Beams." "Hissatsu waza/Surekill techniques." "Nutrition" (I don't get that one either.) Or the older ones might be too embarassed to answer. Now ask the girls what UM is to them and they say, "Protection." "Mercy." "Sense of justice." "Someone cherished." When it comes down to it, I think girls even cheer louder than the boys for their heroes.

I have a T-shirt with Ultra Mother looking out over the sea and some Engrish pondering her motives. I think I know. Koyumi is waiting for Ikio's return...the girls, fragile and tenuous, hold out for their heroes.

Got back to the lobby to find that Dad and Hajime had finished up early. Whoops. Sorry fellas! Took a train to Hakata, and then a taxi to the hotel, which had such lovely soft beds! We all wanted to go eat some Geniune Kumamoto Ramen, so Hajime said ‘oh let’s try this place’ and we flagged down a taxi. The driver, however, didn’t seem to approve.

Hajime: We'd like to go here...
Taxi driver: Aw, that place? It's all price and no taste. How about I take you to Nagahama instead?

…Brilliant. Mild-mannered taxi driver is actually RAMENMAN. ;) But his suggestion paid off, as we ended up in a little street store/yatai, sheltered from the elements with plastic sheets. Inside its tiny but cosy exterior, the good stuff. The smell of the soup was GLORIOUS (...meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat), and it was thick to the point of whiteness. We ended with a little bit of sushi at a different place (…is squid even SUPPOSED to go *squish squish squish* like that?!) but sad to say, I sort of prefer Sushi Zanmai’s. (M.Y. is a noob. She knows.)

Packed again and bumbled around and generally got on each other’s nerves before finally bedding down. Tomorrow we were going home, but I feared my heart would stay behind.

DAY FIVE: ULTRAMANLAND

2007-12-25T00:00:00.035+08:00

This post is dedicated to (chef!)Agul and his suitactor(s) AND his other colleagues, whose woobie shenanigans kept the strange longing Ultrafic flowing for three months straight. Thanks a bunch, you big blue tsundere squeeball. ;___;

State of mind: hungry
Current soundtrack: Dance Mix - Kamen Rider Den-O - Climax Jump (AAA)

When I saw N hugging chef!Agul—nay, clinging to him as if for dear life—I was reminded very suddenly why we like Ultraman. Outside your family, you attach yourself to something that gives you stability. And that, in the form of a costumed chef who will pet you on the head, was hers.

Gweeee. Sorry. Just had to get that off my chest.

Sped through brekkies today and left the tour group—ye gods, FINALLY. I will speak not about the family who have personified kiasuism and pushy parenting for me forever. Much. Headed for the train station and promptly realized that oh shite, we didn’t know where the platform for the train was.

Luckily Japan had thought of that, and all you needed to do was just follow the handily coloured trail.

Boarded the limited express/tokkyuu Ariake no. 10. Talked to an old guy in the train who later helped me with my bags, yay! Snagged a taxi and headed for the teenyweeny but cosy-cosy Hotel Blanca. Surprise surprise, it literally DUMPS you into Mitsui Greenland. (Now I know where to stay the next time if I can’t afford Verde! *w*) The reception was very kind, evidenced thusly:

R: OK, and here we have some discount vouchers for (insert little list of Greenland-connected theme parks)
M: Gee thanks, that’s all really nice of you, but I just want to go and see Ultramanland today.
R: Oh, that’s very easy. *unfurls Map of Awesome* You go aaaaaaall the way over there, and when you arrive at the East Gate, you just go out. K?
M: ‘Kay! :D Thanks!
R: Have fun! See you!
M: Oh I WILL. :D Byebye!

…I went aaaaaaaall the way over SOMEwhere. Couldn’t find the gate at all, and Greenland is all over goddamn hills. Would you believe I wound up ENTIRELY LOST and ended up exiting from a service/staff exit?

M: Wait! Stop! *hee haa* I want to get out!
Staff: Uh, miss, you know if you’ve come out here you can’t come back in?
M: _Ohshit._ Uh…I have this…coupon thing…this is OK, right?
S: Oh yes.
M: Lovely. So, which way is UMLand?
S: *points*
M: Thank you! *hee haa jog jog jog*
S: Have fun!
M: I WILL! 8D~

A few hills and one crossed road later…it APPEARED LIKE A BRILLIANT VISION @o@. Tiga, Dyna AND Gaia statues were there, guarding the road before it. And LO, M.Y.’s heart did sing and soar and do happy bouncy dances.

Tickets were being sold with original CREW GUYS badges (for a small surcharge) so I got one—AND a discount voucher. Which I could use tomorrow. ♥ I’d missed the opening ceremony by a fair bit, so went walking around a bit before catching every single show that went on after that. (and to be truthful, some of the pictures I'm still planning to put above this? Taken when I returned the following day.)

This was how it went.

Christmas Fantasy — Santa’s White Bag and Black Bag (Santa no Shiroi Bukuro Kuroi Bukuro)

Otherwise known as The One With Booska In. Oh gods. I HATE Booska. Wryyyyy?!!

Anyway. Show starts with your friendly yellow monster being lent a white scarf from the MC lady. The story moves on to Santa, who senses a dark aura and traps a rampaging Red King in the form of a toy, in his black bag. Santa goes on to natter something about all darkness being evil. ‘Ah,’ says M.Y., ‘I know where this is going. Agul’s in this, isn’t he? Light-and-shadows-and-balance, and all that.’ Wrong. Santa was dead serious. : Booska bumps into Santa, knocking him out (lay off the ramen!) and accidentally procuring the black bag and Santa’s other, white one. He accidentally chucks the RK figure out, which brings it back to life and prompts Gaia to appear—in a Santa suit!— (“Eh? Where’s the party?”) Booska makes his escape, and a short interlude follows involving Christmas music, and Nice in a Santa suit singing ‘Jungle gym’ in lieu of ‘Jingle bells’ and performing an Opappi routine.

Nice: Sonna no kankee nee, sonna no kankee nee…
Everyone else: BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
M.Y.: _What in the world is this unholy doinkery?_ OAo;

A voice issues from the black bag, begging Booska to release its wronged owner. As is usually the case, it is a fakeout; Booska does this anyway, and a seijin pops out mwahaha-ing away, intending to steal the presents and destroy all his competitors. Boo runs in shame (Gaia appears again around this bit) but is persuaded to atone for his doings by the mysterious MC lady. He returns, and another fight ensues where he recaptures Santa’s white bag. He vacillates for what seems to be FOREVER about what figure to chuck out from the bag (JUST THROW THE WHOLE THING, DAMMIT!)

So he throws a figure. Just one. Finally. And Agul appears, back to the audience and looking frightfully awesome, because he is the original Blue Badass Antihero Ultra. The first thing out of his mouth?

“Merry Christmas.” (+ thumbs up)

“Not what we called you here for, Agul!” ←x_x; (Gaia, half-dead)

"...Do you have ANY idea how embarassing it was to say that?!"

Ahem. Anyway. The two fight, and are duly trounced. However, Santa appears to kick some butt (wait a minute...) and the MC heals the two to full power. (WAIT A MINUTE...) The final battle ensues, and Santa/MC reveal themselves to be Ultra Father and Ultra Mother. Ohboy. Why did I not see this coming? This, btw, is also about the only time I’ve seen Ultras do a dance in real-life. A-Agullll… *sweatdrop* (trust me. You may not want to ask where the dancing came in...)

OYAH. ‘Santa’? Agul is ‘dark’. Faust and Mephisto were ‘dark’. Tiga WAS dark. Your manga oniisan was dark. You of all people should know the world is not binary.

After the show, Father went off outside to take pictures with the adoring public. While in the queue, I overheard a conversation between a mother-of-two and um, some-other-lady, and chipped in helpfully with ‘yeah, Ultra-love is eternal.’ See how much of a kaypo Malaysian I am? XD We then got to talking further.

“You’re not Japanese?”

“Oh no, Malaysian.”

“-_-…Do you go online?”

“-_-; …Yeah, I’m M2000…”

“Oh my. I’m N.”

“ZOMAIGOD N-sama!” *takes her hand and pumps it*

N is a BNF I hadn’t been in contact with for about a year. I had mentioned to her friend (and one of my worships) S that I would be coming down, but never expected to see her instead! Sorry guys, no pictures—Japanese BNFs, particularly from this fandom, are all veddy veddy veddy shy and secretive. In public, anyway. But she is kiut, and her kids are kiut too. :D

We talked a bit and spent s’more time hanging out later. But now it was time for the next show!

A Warrior’s Determination (Senshi no Kakugo)

Hikari sounded good. Mebius sounded…generic. ):/

Kyuraso Seijin works for an ebil organization, but seeing Mebius and Hikari in action, he decides he wants to be an Ultra too. Someone’s willing to help—too bad someone happens to be Mefilas, who happens to be planning world domination. Again. Smarmy man obtains Man and Seven’s cell samples in battle, and turns Kyuraso into Chaosroid U.

:O Mebius and Hikari are warned about Mefi’s plans, and Hikari (smexily) beats some info out of a Muzan Seijin but is tricked and bashed up. Flying in to help is Scott, and the two go to help Mebius, who has been tricked into some sort of pact by Mefilas. (“Defeat Chaosroid, and I will leave the Earth.” “…That’s a promise, y’hear?” “Yes, of course. IF you win.”)

Kyuraso!U is finally defeated (of his own volition), as is the Chaosroid S(even) that later appears. But the coolest part of the show is Mefilas going down in a blaze. Mebius is cheered to full strength by the audience, and fires off a beam—and straight down one side of the stage, a full line of firecrackers went off with a splendid and cool effect. How splendid and how cool? Dude, I watched this show FOUR TIMES and I forgot to take a picture of it at every single go. I just stared with my mouth in an ‘O’.

Mefi acts well, and is deliciously cruel (how DARE you kick my puppy!!!) but talks waaay too much. Pontificatus maximus…

During the show I saw three kids with hand-sewn UM appliqués on their jumpers. Law, were they squeeable.

Ultra Gakkou

…Um, 80 teaches road safety. Baltan interferes. Then he doesn’t. There’s not a lot more to say. I wish there was!

Paper Theater (Kamishibai): Ultraman MomoTaro

LORD SAVE US ALL, ULTRAMAN MOMOTARO. *dies laughing*

The story goes as the Momotaro story generally goes – old couple (Ultra Father and Ultra Mother) find a peach and cut it open to have a kiut little baby spring out. Ultraman Momotaro goes forth into the world with his banner (it says ‘Uchuu-ichi’ instead of ‘Nihon-ichi’) and ‘millet dumplings of light’ to defeat the monsters on Ogre Isle (for some reason, this includes a daikon-snarfing Gomora). On the way he meets Nice (the dog), Zearth (the monkey) and Dyna (the pheasant).

Very cute, with JUST as much crack as you’d come to expect from something containing Taro. *dies laughing again*

Ultra Petit P

The last time I went, there was a fadorable Zetton in the Petit P. Picture him, this angular, grumbly black space dinosaur, killer of Ultras and emitter of searing fireballs, *squealing* into the audience, “Minasan, konnichiwaaaa~! Boku wa, Zetton desu~~~~!” This time it was a not-as-fadorable Taraban, and a definitely-not-fadorable Hanejirou. Mm. This should tell you something, as Hanejirou IS the essence of fadorable. Both were in Santa suits. The day after, Taraban took leave and was replaced by Zarab.

Nothing much to report here. It was a song guessing game.

Seems that N comes extremely regularly to Ultramanland, so everyone knows her and her chibbits. :o~ Ii naaaaa. She was extremely reluctant to leave at 5, as was I, so we, er, dillydallied near the Ultra de Restaurant (‘Land also has an Ultraman M78 World shop and Ultra Dessertland). Apparently less and less people go to Ultraman per year (although that day, supposedly, was not too bad.) Chef!Agul showed up, and aye, I remembered N luffluffLUFFS Agul. Seeing her hug him, and him stroking her hair, made me wibble mightily. I have to admit that much. When I saw N hugging chef!Agul—nay, clinging to him as if for dear life—I was reminded very suddenly why we like Ultraman. Outside your family, you attach yourself to something that gives you stability. And that, in the form of a costumed chef who will pet you on the head, was hers. And it’s not just her. To the fans, he is ‘mercy and (a sense of) justice’. He is ‘a cherished thing’. He’s Ultraman. We may never find the likes of him again, yet one can always hope.

Got back to the hotel, futzed around figuring out how to pack stuff, and went for dinner at the hotel’s little restaurant. We were the only people there. O_o; It was fun translating the courses for Dad. It was NOT so fun realizing that Ho Lee Shuet, the little fish was NOT the main course and was followed by a little steak. So…much…meat…*falls over*

Even the weather seemed happy to cooperate. I hoped it would tomorrow. Tomorrow, I would try to complete every goal I set, including the shopping. I was still short of much music!

DAY FOUR: SHIMABARA > KUMAMOTO

2007-12-24T00:00:00.011+08:00

State of mind: fatigued
Current soundtrack: Ultraseven X - Groove of X (Komoguchi Yuuya)

Had ANOTHER hot bath today—in the wine-infused rotenburo! This may yet explain why I feel somewhat drunk and sleepy. :P

Grabbed breakfast and hopped a ferry to Kumamoto (much faster than driving all right round the island).

The guide provided breadcrusts, and nearer the destination we fed the kamome - black-headed gulls, only in their winter plumage so they were pale-headed instead. Noisy rascals all as they snatched the crusts from our hands. Got several shots of them—yay for high shutter speed!

Crossed some water and headed for Kumamoto Castle—it’s almost done up for the 400th anniversary this year. But right at the gate were two young men dressed up in period armour. One was not bishie. The other one WAS. I think you can see my devious little teeth gleaming in that image.

It was only the castle's top bits that were still under reconstruction when I went. Lots and lots of exhibits to see, most of which involve the Hosokawa clan (who, it seems, did many great things). And I DO mean lots and lots! Five floors! Helmets, historical timelines, spears, reconstructions, crests, yokestones, donators...the list goes on.

Had a sukiyaki lunch and heard, of all things, Itsuka no Merry Christmas by B’z. Patutlah it sounded so familiar, I have the House of Strings instrumental…

Next was Suizenji Park, preceded by a stop for ‘ikinari dango’ and tea. The former are slices of sweet potato topped with mild red bean paste and wrapped in mochi. Apparently they’re ikinari because they’re made so ‘suddenly’, according to the auntie there when I questioned her. Not a sweet potato person, so it was a bit meh—but they had sweet potato EVERYTHING there. A fan would have been halfway to heaven.

Headed for the park and fed the ducks—or rather, tried to without the gulls kapo-ing all the food. There are also carp in the big old pond, bloody huge ones, and occasionally they would bump into the gulls for shits and giggles. Well, I giggled. The gulls mostly squawked, and if you had wet, scaly fish nose up your butt, I'm sure you'd squawk too.

What EVERYONE failed to mention kthxbi is that the park contains a Shinto shrine. Hey, I can’t get a proper Buddhist talisman, Shinto will do. Performed ablutions and obeisance, bought an omamori for exams/work and an omikuji. Took photos of the last and tied it to the tying-place, and then we were off again.

Next was, well, Singaporean tour mah. SHOPPING. We headed for the Kumamoto shopping district. It was nice and there was plenty to look at (including a bish or two). They even have a blood donation centre. THAT'S taking it onto the streets! There was an Animate, but being out of touch with that scene (and desperately seeking a toilet for much of that time) I found nothing of interest (…except maybe the stranger who lost control of her bladder, oh, yes, and KIDCHAN’S DOUBLE WORKING THERE.) Got some health tea, a wall-scroll and a second-hand copy of Katamari(!!!) for the PSP. (No UFE 0 D:)

Arrived at the hotel in a state of near-exhaustion (ANA Newsky ailabyu nao), went for station ramen (…not as nice as I remember it), muddled through getting train tickets and stumped back to bed.

Tomorrow I have to learn a few key phrases: namely, ‘please take us to X’ for taxis and ‘is there a taxi stand nearby?’ Becooooos hey hey HEY, TOMORROW IS ULTRAMANLAND!

Merry Christmas, moi! ♥

P.S. – My mikuji said this, by the way.

Yuudachi no//ame wa miru/miru //hareyukite//kozue suzushiku//semi no//naku nari
The evening shower fades; on a branch, the cooling cries of the cicada

Toki ga kite omou koto wo shidai shidai ni dekite koufuku no mae ni atsumaru keredo yoku yoku mono wo kangaete shinai to fui no koto ga ate son wo suru koto ga aru Kore wo kokoroete sureba yoi
While the time will come and your thoughts will gradually come true to bring you good fortune, do things without thinking them through and the unexpected will bring about losses. It is best to remember this.

Unsei Suekichi
Luck: Slightly lucky. Otherwise known as the meh-why-bother result. ;)

Negaigoto: Odoroku koto ga aredo Awateneba kanau
Wishes: Surprising things may happen, but hasten not and it will come true
Machibito: Kuru deshou
Awaited person: Will probably come
Usemono: Chikai tokoro ni arimasu
Lost things: Somewhere nearby
Tabidashi: Sashikae wa nai
Beginning travel: No replacement (wt?)
Akinai (shoubai): Sawaganeba rieki
Business: Profit if a fuss is not made
Gakumon: Ayaushi Zenryoku wo chakujitsu ni yare
Studies: Dangerous. Go steadily at full power. (Alamak!)
Arasoi: Mi wa katsu ga ima wa ashi
Struggles: You will win later, but things look bad now
Renai: Ima wa mada dame desu
Romance: Now is still not a good time (Oh. Tee. El.)
Osan (Shussan): Anzan Sango wo taisetsu ni
Childbirth: Easy birth. Take care during the postpartum period.
Yautsuri (Teni) : Yoroshikarazu
Moving house: Not good
Yamai (Byouki): Ki wo tsuyoku shiteba anshin
Sickness: Remain strong of spirit and all will be well
Endan: Seii de sesshi kanjou wo osae yo
Marriage proposals: Make contact with sincerity and suppress your emotions (Supp—but doesn't that defeat the purpose?)

Chiisai sakaki no sono hitoeda ni kokorometaru mitamagushi Tatoe kyoman no zaihou (takara) wo tsunde mo, takara ni oshimi ga kakari, hokori ga tsukeba, mattaku michibe no ishi (rooftile-stone) mo onaji (douyou) de, kamisama wa fujou wo uketamawanu. Kami-sama ni tsunagu kokoro no tsuna wa, aku made kiyokunakereba kamisama ni tsuujinai.
On a little branch of the sakaki hangs the holy lot. Even if you compile a great treasure, one will be loath to use it; if pride should appear, thou art the same as a roof-tile by the roadside, and the gods will not accept your impurity. The cord that binds the gods to your heart must be completely pure, or it will not get through to them. [+/-] Yuudachi no ame wa miru miru...

DAY THREE: NAGASAKI > SHIMABARA

2007-12-23T00:00:00.020+08:00

State of mind: boneless
Current soundtrack: Ultraseven X - Arl (J.S. Bach Cantata No. 51) (Saitou Takahiro)

Onsen today, yes. But before that…

Started the day with a big breakfast and checked out, heading for the long-delayed Glover Gardens. It’s at the top of a hill, past a storybook museum (!!) and at the end of a looooong shopping street.

Seems the three most-pimped things in Nagasaki are chanpon, sara-udon (fried udon?), castella sponge cake and kakuni manjuu. Popped up on every second sign I saw!

Right, the garden. It was…a bit meh, actually, as we were slightly rushed through the whole thing (Well, I was. Oo look, a tree...*dawdle*). It includes bits of Japan’s first foreigner settlement, Madame Butterfly memorabilia, and Japan’s first asphalt road and tennis courts, but honestly? Not all that pretty and I still don’t know who the heck ‘Glover’ is. Seems to be a preserved foreign residence/settlement, with a ‘performance art’ museum (read: nifty shape-based floats)

But you have to admit, some of the floats damn cool. Shachihoko FTW! Look at the splashiness!

The Peace Memorial was a bit better...well, sort of. We ended up in the Atomic Bomb Museum instead, if you're going to be pedantic. There’s a big old gold-coloured statue in front of that to commemorate all the teachers/students who perished. The tour group went straight ahead into the museum after some pic ops, but they missed a very beautiful statue off to the side of two girls flying gloriously. It’s based on a painting by Matsuzoe Hiroshi and is…quite uplifting. You need this just before going in, let me tell you. No pictures were allowed, so I sketched up a storm. (Thumbnails for now, btw. Click for a larger view.)

The memorial has a good, interesting use of space and ambient sound. Mind-stopping/changing exhibits. I’d recommend this place to anyone who comes down to Nagasaki, just maintain some respect for the site. Walk through and soak it in, and never mind the maudlin copywriting at the beginning. It’s best enjoyed as a long, quiet walk with no major interruptions. Which is what someone should have told the @#*^~in’ Taiwanese tour group who entered. “AND THIS IS THE THINGIE FROM SOMEWHERE. AND OVER HERE AR WE HAVE THIS DOOHICKEY FROM SO-AND-SO”. I’m getting a headache remembering how the guide’s voice cut like a chainsaw through the smooth silence. OK, so y’all read no Japanese or English. But please, please for the love of mercy: Shush! It felt so paiseh just being in the same room with those people. (And it just occured to me. Doesn't the place produce Chinese pamphlets? Hey, boss, here's our next comm. service job. It would be brill. :D)

Rant aside, the place is quite…depressing? Blood-curdling? Chilling? Awe-inspiring? It’s kind of hard to say. Maybe all of that. You look at the blistered trees and things with shadows burned on them from the heat; at the melted glob of rosary; at the cathedral which was torn down during Sakoku and rebuilt and FLATTENED by Fat Man (only one wall remained, slightly warped inward); at the people who were peppered with debris like machine-gun fire when the wind blew back into the hypocenter (this is where mushroom clouds come from); at the cancerous spleen vs the normal one; at the amount of nukes still out there today. I didn’t read a lot of the testimonials, fearing I’d dissolve into tears there and then, but what stuck with me was this:

A girl, 10 at the time, had a 2-year-old sister trapped under a large wooden beam. Many sailors tried to move it; they could not. Girl’s mother came back from the fields, where she’d been harvesting eggplants. She’s covered in shrapnel. Her body is burned purple from the intense heat. Forget all clothes. She’s naked, wounded and exhausted. The daughter called out, she gave the sailors a long look, and she put her shoulder under the beam and heaved. IT MOVES.

The girl went free, but all the skin came off the mother’s shoulder and it was stripped to the bone. She died in agony later that night.

It’s not a pleasant image, but it stays, and is touching. To me, anyways.

I came away feeling very…tired. Bought a book about the Hiroshima Panels (also incredibly depressing) and headed back to the bus.

Moving on to lighter things (must try!) the group headed out to the Peace Gardens (yay!) There was a big blue-green statue there (10 m high) with a little moat around it. It’s a very tranquil place. At one end is Big Blue, part Buddha* and part God; at another is a fountain, in memory of all those who died with pleas for water on their lips. The streams form a sort of wing shape, ala a crane.

Through the park/garden/area are bits of preserved Nagasaki...prison, and statues from various countries, hoping for peace. NZ’s one was really nice; Germany’s was blocky and square and, er, Germanic; Bulgaria’s had a kind of grace to it. It all makes you feel even worse when you recall missionaries first came to Japan through Nagasaki and it still got the shit bombed out of it. Makes you feel more hopeful when you see how beautiful and calm and all-together Nagasaki is today.

A quick lunch at a Chinese restaurant and we left Nagasaki for Shimabara. On the way we stopped near Mt. Unzen and went up to a lookout point. Bought some loquat sweets (nice, but meh) and saw, would you believe it, a big old Harley-Davidson. It belonged to one of three very old Japanese chappies (< = 79) whom we got pally with before leaving. Big strong bikers with hearts of gold, travelling Asia...

...But I cannot really account for THESE on the Beemer-ojisan's bike. O_o;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Ohgodpleasebeusingthemformereaestheticvaluepleasebeusingthemformereaestheticvaluepleasebeusingthemformereaestheticvalue

It was then time to go again, but there was another stop—a buried village, smothered in Fugendake’s pyroclastic flow of 1991. O_o;;;;;; Luckily everyone had been previously evacuated, so nobody died or was injured—even M.Y. can only take so much death and destruction in one day. Houses got buried up to the roofs, though. They run a little cottage industry-thingie nearby, and I mean this because the price stickers say ‘XYZ made by so-and-so-san’ etc. Very nice.

We finally stopped for the night at Shimabara Kowakien, a ryokan-hotel combo jobbie. ZOMG, SWISH. We were treated to a lovely Japanese dinner (I dare not say kaiseki, as it probably wasn’t), and there was of course the ONSEEEEEN. To be more specific, the ROTENBUROOOOO. It was very appealing, once you get past the ‘argh naked boobies naked with other people’ mindset. I went twice! They have a yuzu-infused tub *bob bob* and a normal tub, which is larger (and somewhat steamier?). I intended to check out the outdoor baths the first night, but my body had other thoughts; 3 m out the door, at night in early winter, in the raw, and I had to turn around and flee. I honestly felt FREEZING. Plucked up courage once more and tried again, but a cold wind blew s-o-f-t-l-y through the door and I finally admitted defeat. For now.

I feel very clean and shiny. I’m doing it again tomorrow! Now I shall curl up in my futon(!!) on the (tatami!!!) and prepare to don a yukata(!!!!) in the morn.

As if it was possible to love Kyushu even more. :D

* It's not just the face; upon further inspection while prettying up the pictures for blog consumption, it appears that Big Blue may have a third eye.

DAY TWO: FUKUOKA > NAGASAKI

2007-12-22T00:00:00.001+08:00

State of mind: awed
Current soundtrack: Ultraseven X - High Response (Komoguchi Yuuya)

Bleared through the day, talked to random people, scared the crap out of the tour group and saw extreme kyooteness.

Right. Starting over now.

Finished up at Changi Airport and slept fitfully all the way to Fukuoka, waking up just in time to catch a GLORIOUS mid-air sunrise. Naturally there was no way to get a half-decent picture through the window. *sigh* Breakfast was unusually FTL (salty cheese omelette, BLEUGH!) but everything else went fairly smoothly, even the dreaded evil gaijin terrorist profiling foreigner registration thing! Thumbprints, picture, out the door feeling somewhat violated. Snuck ONE picture at the airport entrance, partly for the logo and partly for the semi-bishie guy standing around.

Met up with the rest of the tour group and realized my poor carry-on bag had started to split from all the crud I’d put into it (゜Д゜；；；) Went on tour nevertheless…and found the plan had changed somewhat. We were off to Huis Ten Bosch (‘hosu ten bosu’).

Before I actually start talking, it may be worth to take note again that the whole tour was conducted in Mandarin. Alamak. I’m an English-and-Japanese-speaking-Chinese in Japan, having to listen to a Mandarin tour for seven days. WO BU JIANG HUA YI. @_@; You could say I lost quite a lot of info through this—thank god I can at least read attraction signs and things!

So, HTB. Turns out this European-themed minicity is based on the Dutch queen’s palace. The name means ‘house in the forest’…what, HRH lived in the forest ala Red Riding Hood? 8S Anyway there were many interesting things to see, including a teddy bear museum (4 m tall teddy, anyone?), leetle dwarf horses, lots and lots of flowers, swans and ducks, and the M.C. Escher exhibition hall.

This would have been of interest to Lamster, as true to the twisted nature of Escher’s pics, the floor was uneven and there were fake crooked windows, doors to nowhere, birds turning to fishes on the wall tiles...They even had a special ‘3D presentation’ based on Escher’s neverending waterfall picture and…something to do with demons and angels. Don’t look at me, but…if you name your dog FOOFY, something BAD is going to happen.

This being a DUTCH-themed area, there were plenty of opportunities to bicycle around the place. Rented an altered tandem from the hut and pedaled up and down and up the roads. It was there we reunited with the tour group. Reunited? Yep. The tour guide neglected to mention all tickets had already been bought, so we *bought our own* and drifted off. Scared the crap out of everybody. :P Hey, we found them again, didn’t we?

There were maples, so of COURSE I had to freak out like an ulu person and take lots of pictures amirite?

For lunch we ate so-called Taiwanese ramen at this place called Lao Lee. It was…ok, but oi, lao lang, is that the best you’re able to offer? D: Tried my luck later at the teddy bear lottery, and won one! Selected a black bear to combat ‘disasters’, who is sitting on my office desk right now.

Headed for the tour bus early, lugging that, some maps and an Escher-themed gacha. Slept much of the way back to the cosy New Tanda Hotel in Nagasaki (it was a sign! *rimshot*) and had a little wash before dinner. Interesting spread, including chicken curry (Japanese curry! Yum! ♥) and ‘chanpon’, which is a bit like Canto-fry yee meen—the ones with the white eggy gravy. (Wikipedia tells me ’chanpon’ is used much as ‘rojak’ is locally. Sweet.) It’s a local specialty (one of three, you will find). They then turned us loose o the Nagasaki Chinatown, within walking distance of the hotel.

Before you didn’t ask, no, I didn’t see a sign saying ‘Chi Cheong Kai’.

It was…interesting. I expected to hear more Chinese, but didn’t. Dad saw an old man spit into his hands, but we both agreed he reminded us muchly of Dad’s eldest bro. %/ Lots of curio shops selling biidoro (pipe-like glass instruments) and trinkets and things, as well as a tortoiseshell shop boasting the ‘lowest prices in Japan’ that still made me feel ill at ease. Tons of restaurants, many specializing in kakuni manjuu: thick slices of tender simmered pork belly in buns. Bring it over to Malaysia and you’d probably call it kong bak and man tou. There was also a fadorable set of Northern lion dance dollies (sound-activated) that sprang to life at a clap. The feet tap and everything as it cuts the rug—go go disco inferno lion!

Suzaku, Seiryuu, Byakko and Genbu decorate a bridge across the river. Very traditional! (The four are also known as Zhu Que, Qing Long, Bai Hu and Xuan Wu. Blame Fushigi Yuugi for my default terms.)

Bought a charming Manjusri/Monjushi talisman/deco at a shop (that’s in my purse now) and Dad bought persimmons, being nuts about them. Dressed for bed, drank some water and went to sleep.

Onsen tomorrow?

DAY ONE: KL > FUKUOKA

2007-12-21T00:00:00.001+08:00

State of mind: frantic
Current soundtrack: Rurouni Kenshin - Heart of Sword ~yoake mae~ (TM Revolution)

Finished packing at around 3-something p.m. and headed for the airport—yes, lugging all that stuff, with the travel log around my neck @_@. Sorta like a little black albatross! Unfortunately the albatross’ spine started breaking and male parental unit would NOT stop giving me flak over it for the next seven days. Ohboy. Once off to check in, I swear I saw my big boss checking OUT. Must ask around and see if he was out on hols…

Had a very sad KFC dinner (this is what you eat on your last night?!), got mistaken for a foreigner(?) and got frisked once at security. My thick black jacket kept falling off, much to one’s irritation. >_<+ The MAS flight MH0607 roared off into the cloudy night sky, and not too long after we blundered our way off to our seats. Mind you, I was still lugging a lot of stuff, which smashed into people’s seats in my wake. Sorry folks. Still, got to the place all right, sipped scalding hot tea and chilled. We have now established MAS pilots can fly planes, but cannot land for NUTS. Also, it’s like a rule of the world that you WILL get stuck in a flight with one kid who cannot handle the pressure changes in the plane. No, kid, miles and miles up in the air is not a good time to express the wish that you “wanna go out!”

Changi Airport, 2230 - Ran through a convoluted dance of checking luggage in and out to keep it extra super-specially safe, and then fled for boarding passes. 1.75 hours to kill before boarding. I CAN HAS CHAIR? I HAS A CHAIR. U NO B STEALING MAH CHAIR.

Nothing to make you feel more antique than the sight of two leetle mat salleh girls playing the A-B-C handclap game (complete with ‘guess-what-finger-I-poked-you-in-the-neck-with’), when you’ve not seen or played it for almost 10 years. I AM LEGEND DATED. Now I wanna play it with someone.

Changi Airport has automated drinking fountains! OMNOMNOMNOM. I drooled over them like a dork—and actually, yanno, drank from them. :D Spent some time with Dad puzzling which country uses the term 食用水 and 飲用水. (China and Japan respectively, it seems.)

Went through the exhibition of William Farquhar's nature sketches up on the airport’s highest level (sorry, only pictures of Farquhar, no sketchies D:) and had some supper. Burger King taro pies be quite tasty—and I don’t even like wu tao!

SQ656, 0100 - …Well, it’s on. We’re off to Fukuoka, what else do you want me to say? 8D I was kinda hoping to get to sit next to a kiut Japanese guy, seeing there was a big bunch of students on the flight, but it was not to be. A kiut guy came out of the toilet, though. :D;;;

...I should go to sleep.

A woman's blog? But where are the CLOTHES posts?

2007-12-20T22:17:00.000+08:00

State of mind: thoughtful
Current soundtrack: Kanata E (Kobukuro)

You got one.

In the teeny-weeny suitcase:

two pairs of jeans (the third's going on my hips)
one set of full thermals
two extra thermal tops
two extra long-sleeved tops
eight short/cap-sleeve tops
plenty of undies
one pair of long socks
soap and shampoo
extra gloves

In the not-teeny-weeny suitcase

Dad's gachang and clothes and things
a pair of boots
a kinda tight pair of sneakers

In the carryon:

toiletries (soap, shampoo, handgel, vaseline, eyedrops...tissue)
bundles of markers (wt...?)
rolled up mini-rucksack (...adalah benda)
two Japanese dictionaries, four phrasebooks and a kanji lookup
pencilbox
cam charger and travel adapter
some (negligible) space for putting stuff in later

In the pockets:

lipbalm
wallet
camera tied to hip
sketchbook attached to OTHER hip (have to find out how to do this SOMEHOW without futzing the binding rings *cough*)
writing implement

Things that will stay on most of the time:

Crazy orange coat
waterproof jacket
favourite thin red-grey-white jacket
brown shirt-jacket-thing
the somewhat-lala but comfy undershirt

My bag is full of sardine-fied clothes rolls. Tomorrow, the tour shall begin! :D

YOU WAIT! KEJAP LAGI AKU DATANG!!!

Mm, what a lovely few hours.

2007-12-20T00:13:00.000+08:00

State of mind: sleepy
Current soundtrack: Playlist name - series - song title (artist)

Tonight, I had a lovely evening out with my old friends from S(M)K Assunta: SK, GBW (real name Mickey), Firn, Charles and Ju. We were joined by Aris, another cosplay contact of Firn's, and drank punch with tinges of vodka in it, had shell pasta with very lovely meatsauce, and finished off with a pre-21st birthday carrot cake with cheese frosting. (I'm still really sorry I PHWOOPHED out all the candles, guys ^^;) We told lots of jokes and funny stories (I related my driving tribulations). This was followed by an intriguing if incredibly mystifying round of card tricks from Aris, and then the others went out to club, Firn and Aris discussed cosplay images and I, uh, went home.

See y'all online, guys. Eat lots of turkey at Christmas, and for the love of all holy, Dash does not drive y'all to TGIF, k? ^_~ (I kid. I'm sure normally Dash is a fantastic driver.)

An interesting jobbie.

2007-12-18T17:57:00.000+08:00

State of mind: achy
Current soundtrack: Re: Volt exhibition team discussing on my right

TOA, you lying liar of lies, you. X_X I was told there would be an interview today, for the Multimedia Department, and to bring some my portfolio to college. This, of course, was the time my Digital Portfolio chose to go phut. Swallowed some bile, gathered together what files I had and prepared to launch them straight off Alphonne.

Three things: 1) The interview was a formality. 2) I WILL be tutoring—two subjects in fact, and 3) I could SWEAR I was supposed to start at a lower salary than THAT. NotthatI'mcomplainingohno. Σ（゜Д゜）It's going to be me and Reuben the Re: Volt art director starting at approximately the same time, and hey, guess what, I'll be sitting in one of Hazmer's classes (still!) to learn Actionscript over again. That should prove interesting.

My 5.5 day Workweeks begin from 2nd January. O gods, look down upon this fresh tutor!

I went to Pyramid and got my digicam today (yes he will have a name, no it prolly will not be Zagi), and will go buy a Berol pen and those delicious leather lacings before I head home, but my bank card futzed up somehow and I have to stop by Sunway again tomorrow WITH my bankbook. Cursed numerical memory! I hope I can get it fixed so I can withdraw some cash for the trip.

2007-12-17T17:37:00.000+08:00

State of mind: bemused
Current soundtrack: Playlist name - series - song title (artist)

You wouldn't think I had a job interview tomorrow, oooooh no. 8/

This is partly a record in case I lose the paper—again!—and partly to help draft the backdated entries later. Here's what the tour package looks like.

DAY 1 - KL - Fukuoka
Nothing special here. Take off at night. Sleep on board. Change planes in Singapore. Touchdown the next day. (Technically, you could call 騙人! on this one...*koff*)

DAY 2 - Fukuoka - Nagasaki
Touchdown. Get whisked off to Glover Gardens overlooking Nagasaki. Head for Peace Garden, Statue of Peace, Atomic Bomb Museum and...then...oh, come on. LOOK at the tourist group composition. Some people Malaysian. Some people Singaporean. What for go to blimming Chinatown?! Spend night in Nagasaki anyway.

DAY 3 - Nagasaki - Shimabara
Head for Huis Ten Bosch theme park and wander around Paleis Huis Ten Bosch, 'a life-size reproduction of the royal residence in the Netherlands.' Aloi, is that it? O_o; I foresee a lot of pictures being taken. Spend the night at Shimabara and check out an onsen.

DAY 4 - Shimabara-Kumamoto
Head for Kumamoto (yey!) and check out the 300-year-old Suizenji Park—which is just a park, the ~ji has gone. *pout* Proceed to Kumamoto Castle (ahhh, this I wanted to see) and then Kami Tori and Shimo Tori, major shopping belts.

DAY 5 - Kumamoto - Beppu
This day includes a visit to Mt. Aso National Park, the picturesque green Kusasenri, and the stop at Beppu to look at the human steamboats—I mean, hellish boiling hot onsen.

All this we are eschewing for, yep, Ultramanland.

DAY 6 - Beppu - Fukuoka
Again, Ultramanland. (I have things to do there, okei?!) The rest of the group is going on to Hello Kitty Land, Canal City Hakata and Hawks Town for a big big ol' shopping spree. If, however, someone had mentioned that CC Hakata contains the company store of Ultraman World M78, I might just have sat through pinkness and bargaining just to catch a glimpse of that. Dayyamn! x_x

DAY 7 - Fukuoka - KL
Perhaps some last-minute shopping before heading home, burbling happily all the way :D.

Memestealage.

2007-12-17T11:35:00.002+08:00

State of mind:
Current soundtrack: 300 - Cursed By Beauty (Tyler Bates)

Aaargh my stomach it be dying, and I know not why. It doesn't help my appetite happens to concurrently be shot to pieces.

And so I do backed-up memes. :3

Leave me a casual comment of no particular significance, like a lyric to your current favorite song, your favorite kind of sandwich, or maybe your favorite game. Any remark, meaningless or not.
I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
Update your LJ blog with the answers to the questions.
Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.
When others respond with a desultory comment, you will ask them five questions.

Here we go.

Dimmu's questions:
1. I've forgotten the reason you love Ultraman so much. Reenlighten me.
Oh pshah, that's easy. :D I wrote it down all here. But on a more current note, Ultraman has been a part of my life for almost all of it, in some way; also, that show is the reason to believe in a greater good, a greater presence. Not necessarily Gods of some sort, that's a different kettle of fish—just a greater good. :)

2. Just HOW proficient are you in Japanese? I know you can hold a teatime convo with Japanese friends, but your limit?
Good question. I know enough to read blogs and things, and verbally I think I COULD still hold a proper casual conversation. However, when it comes to officialese (education, certs, taxes, travel), I think my brain shrieks girlishly and shuts down. This will again be put to the test in about, oh, four days, so the answer for this may change.

3. Has your granddad sorta accepted you're doing art yet?
I think so. We don't discuss the matter much.

4. Who would be more mature, in your opinion: You, or Deru-senpai?
I think we're somewhat equal, but Deru.

5. And regardless of the answer you give for #4, WHY?
By virtue of age, experience and exposure. Not that one can tell sometimes, when we get to squeeing online. XD [+/-] DMJewelle's questions

Firn's questions:
1) What made you first start liking Ultraman?
At 4? Probably the weirdness of it all. Giant silver alien smashing scary monsters, WTH.

2) Why did you choose an icon with a girl that looks like my sister? XD
Amagai Konomi does NOT look like your sister. :O She's there because she's a nice young thing with glasses, and happens to be eye-smashingly KIUT. :D Shame she dropped the glasses for contacts midway through Mebius...sellout.(For the curious, the icon in question is here)

3) What is your greatest fear?
That I will end my life utterly alone, with not a single trace of evidence I existed.

4) What is your favourite dish?
With rice: French beans fried with soya sauce. DELISHUS. :9
Alone: A good carbonara pasta.

5) How do you think you have matured in the past 4 years?
I think I've become marginally more patient with people (...marginally.) and become more willing to work in groups. I don't lose my temper as easily, either.[+/-]Firn's questions

And now it's your turn, folks. Comment away. :D

Happy Birthday Midou-sensei!

2007-12-17T09:02:00.000+08:00

State of mind: cheerful
Current soundtrack: UM Mebius - Kanashimi no Sensou (Sahashi Toshihiko)

Happy Birthday, Midou Kazuhiko, you purveyor of barely palatable ecchi, kappas and perverse Ultra-based humour. Also, in connection to the latter, let me just say that you have at LEAST one fan of your long story arcs, because those are full of intrigue and win. 'Specially when they involve the chosen genome Heisei Ultras.

I'm still wondering if you got those letters I sent, because I hear a lot of news that you DO reply fanmail fairly regularly. It was part of the reason I bothered to try in the first place.

Have a good one, dude, and you an Man drink an extra jug of sake on me. :3

Much luff,
M2000

T, er, J minus 5...

2007-12-16T21:15:00.000+08:00

State of mind: giggly

Five days to Japan trip.

I have my crazy orange scarf, hat and coat. I have my shopping list(s) done up. I've bought soap, shampoo and am going to steal Ma's travel-sized bottle of talc. Tonight I will get my autumn jumper back from my aunt. On Monday I shall wash my backpack. On Tuesday, I will go buy a new digicam, a berol pen and some leather laces. On Thursday, most likely, I will pack and stuff. On Friday, I will do my carryons, sleep a little and scrub myself to squeaky cleanness—oh come now. I dunno about you, but I doubt I'll feel like saying hello to a bathtub in winter, ANY type of winter, without heated water and much smelliness.

All this, and I'm still not sure whether to bring Alphonne along. *pats laptop* It'd be good to keep a running blog draft for when I get back, and have a place to dump some of my photos, but 1) I don't think I can bring her onto the plane WITH my carryons and 2) Noa's loss still rings a bit fresh to entrust the girl to the hands of the air carriers. The blogdraft is going to be pulled from my little black travel log anyway, and I'll have to be creative about culling photos if storage runs out (touch wood).

Tokyo temperatures today are said to run from about 5-11°C. My junior Kimm in Hokkaido says she recently went through temperatures of -2°C. I'm looking forward to temperatures that don't drop below freezing; if they do, one hopes for a little snow.

I'm excited. I'm rambling. You can tell, right? :D

U-san updated with MORE Ninja Manual-ly goodness. Words cannot express my delight, especially since it includes a little sketch of beaten-up Gaia. (feudal Japan, check, parallel universes, check, wounded graphic people, check check CHECK...)

(ETA 17/12/07: AAAAAAGRGRGRGHHH. This is where I start singing Bonnie Pink's It's Gonna Rain!, isn't it? *shiver*)

I dream of...sessha?

2007-12-15T18:36:00.021+08:00

State of mind: giggly
Current soundtrack: Playlist name - series - song title (artist)

This is the post that finally convinced me to get up offa my tail and find out how to make an, um, LJ cut, if you will. If you weren't convinced I was crazy before, you probably will be at the end of this post. So, if you'd like to keep your impressions of me as a merely SEMI-crazy cynical-cum-romantic fangirl of weird things (phew, quite the mouthful), it might help to stop reading riiiight here. You've been warned.

OK, now that THAT's over with...you know, most women will have their mancrushes. Some people like THIS type and some people like THIS type and some people even go for THIS type. (Personally, I like this one.) Where was I getting to? Oh yeah. So, women. Mancrushes. Some have multiple. One of mine happens to be a noble-hearted martial arts master who's upright in nature and pretty good with children. He pulled himself up out of poverty (...somewhat?) and is sometimes a little silly. But most of the time, he's a deep and serious teacher who cares very much about all his students/disciples.

VERY unfortunately, if you haven't caught on yet, he also happens to be a) 2-dimensional and c) not exactly human.

This is Dyna-shihan (first and one of the last appearances in Ultra Ninja Manual)

YES, I likes me a piece of Dyna-shihan, and it is partly THIS man's fault.

Who, sessha?

Yeah, you. You, Himura Kenshin, with your bleedin' split personality. They think you're all sessha and obliviousness and sweettalk—next thing you know, shit goes down and out comes the ore, Hitokiri Battousai who plays nice no more. Stupid rockin' sexy Rurouni Kenshin. *grumbles half-heartedly*

Thing is, once I got the concepts of sessha and ore down pat, it was pretty hot. I liked the idea of a sweet, kind soul who would turn deadly and prove his true mettle if someone important to him was threatened. The torture and the angst and the bittersweetness preceding that, I didn't enjoy so much, but still. Granted, I didn't watch a lot of said torture and angst; I got that much from a senior of mine, and she'll clout me about the head if I mess this explanation up somehow. XD

And then, around the time I was 15, along comes this nice piece of work called Ultra Ninja Manual: Kotobuki.

Actually this is from UNM Ultra, but you have to admit, those are some mighty hot arms. :3

Ultraman luff: check.
Pre-existing Dyna fannage: check.
Martial arts fannage: check.
Feudal Japan fannage: check.
Mysterious angsty past overcome: check.
Kicks butt with style: check.
Supremely honourable: check.
Soft spot for children: check. (Strange, seeing how I generally don't like kids much.)
Oh my lookit them *arms*: CHECK.
Dual sessha-ore pronoun user: CHECK CHECK CHECKITY *CHECKERENA*. I was sold.

For a few years this went on, with relatively silent squeeage, because I couldn't explain why I adored shihan the way I did. Maybe it was Kenshin-nostalgia. Maybe I wanted a protector. Maybe I just liked the guy. It was kind of hard to explain the delicacies of the sessha-ore archetype because OF COURSE I delve into the definition of this and the connotations of that, and it sputters to a graceless finish. The comparison to Kenshin is not very clear beyond that. RK is like a fine willow tree reaching the peak of its maturity. Shihan is like a great crabbed oak—although, mind you, one places him at being in his late 20s/mid-30s. I just went on fanning shihan and taking inordinate glee in documenting Japanese pronouns, converting a grand total of one person to that club. And then, today, two kindred spirits discovered each other.

Digression time again. There's a fansite out there, Japanese in nature, which does the most fantastic UM art. The webmaster keeps a blog, on which s/he expressed happiness in winkling out the pronouns Ultras ostensibly use (There's an SMS service in Japan that sends off monthly messages and OH GODS, DO WANT.). Anonymously, through webclap, I gush that 'omg, I love shihan and his ore-sessha duality' etc etc etc.

Lo and behold. Today the webmaster's blog was headed by a familiar-looking character. Clicking on the thumbnail with great anticipation, I let out a great whoop of joy when I saw shihan standing tall within the drawing, and a little squeefit on how adorable the character was. Oh help. Oh mercy. He has other fans. He lives. It is a truly great moment, to realise that you're not the only one who loves this silly old crabbed oak, that someone else is watering it with the same fervour that you do. (And again, I said as much through webclap.)

Hi/r shihan happens to be very easy on the eye, too. Mmhm. :D

Himura Kenshin's a sessha. Dyna's a sessha. Hell, SD Gundam 3 Kingdoms' Guan Yu is a sessha. These are all good and upright men, so what's not to like? Keep your ores and bokus, if only for now. In my heart, I will always hope that one day, a good sessha will appear in my little circle.

One can always hope. :) [+/-] Of archaic pronouns, hot aliens and unusual metaphors

Huh.

2007-12-15T04:04:00.000+08:00

State of mind: bleh
Current soundtrack: Alphonne humming

Nothing's quite as unique a downer as realising the disc that held your Honshu visit photos from whay back when? Never actually did.

Just sayin'.

...at least the UMLand photos are intact. *emo*

(ETA 15/12 - Gyaaa I take that back. Nothing's quite as unique a downer as going through the above, then dreaming your family goes missing while shopping for pork in a backwater Indonesian market.)

Deep breath. Close eyes.

2007-12-14T07:38:00.000+08:00

State of mind: resigned
Current soundtrack: Shadow Skill - Hyoumon

While this blogger was off angsting, two street demonstrations occured. One was a walk for clean elections. One was a protest on behalf of the hardcore-poor Indians of the country (ostensibly).

After much yeses and noes, it's finally come down to this. Five Hindraf leaders have been detained under the ISA. You may want to get a local paper and look very closely at those faces. I highly doubt you'll be seeing them again in two years.

(Also, this is my perplexed rebuttal to those who keep saying demonstration is not part of our culture. Not that I approve of people biting police officers, but I don't approve of tear-gas fired into a crowd containing children, either. Good gods, y'all, peaceful resistance! PEACEFUL RESISTANCE!)

(the pic comes from Rob Cockerham, and a rather mysterious 'Josh'. Thanks dude.)

I can has musical memory?

2007-12-13T22:02:00.000+08:00

State of mind: annoyed
Current soundtrack: Samurai Slammin' - SAMURAI 7 - Kiru! (Hayashi Eitetsu, Wada Kaoru)

Pfleh. My insides do not like me today—which is why I spent most of it ripping music and making some playlists. Yes, all my playlists have horrible wordplay. It runs in the family, sorta like the Hapsburgs only the jaw doesn't stick out as much as the wit. ;)

Part of the main reason to go to Mecca Ultramanland this time is to rebuild my Ultraman music collection. Not that this was a conscious, planned decision or anything, mind you, but since I'll be there and I have the chance, I intend to assemble as complete a run as I can. It was during this Search For The Ultimate Compilation* that I realised something that horrified me. Muchly.

I've forgotten a huge chunk of my Ultraman lyrics.

Ow ow ow ow @#*~^!! Stop hitting me!

I think of my mind in this regard as a large book—turn enough pages and the appropriate info generally pops up. To open the book and realise there are sizable chunks missing from the Gaia/Cosmos sections is lightly unnerving. Where'd the 'koko kara ippo' lines go? What's the first verse 'dream(ing) on' for? What's the second verse 'beat(ing) on' for?! WTH is—yike, can't even remember the group's name—that strange girlband pontificating about in Lovin' You Lovin' Me?

I gotta dig up my old old OLD Ultraman tapes. That should at least serve as some refresher. (Yes, I made my own UM song tapes. With inane preteen commentary. Yes, I have a little casette player, SHURRUP ALREADY. =x_x=)

Male parental unit's planning to get in touch with a friend of his from uni—which is cool, I can totally get that. He wishes to help us book a hotel while ninjaing away from the tour group to take in Kumamoto (read: go to UMLand), and hints that it will be near and very cheap.

*pause for thought* Yanno, I would die of paiseh if he actually DID it, but if we end up in Mitsui Hotel gorramjesucrackers Verde? I would probably keel over in a fangasm. They shot the Evil Tiga arc in that area. It's literally across the road from UMLand. It might be too much for one's delicate constitution. XD

*...one of which has Nexus' Fight The Future but nothing else special. None of which have Noa's 2 image songs. Hey, they're good aright? Somewhat dodgy lyrics, but good.

Insert bow-chicka-bow-type theme song.

2007-12-11T12:53:00.000+08:00

State of mind: hungry full
Current soundtrack: SAMURAI 7 - Unlimited (Aikawa Nanase)

I really need my old doa music back. :P

http://www.ultraman-land.jp/blog/archives/2007/12/post_619.php

...(fili fele tomatosauce)Those who received a winning card will receive a Reimon Monslord version, also in commemoration of Reimon figures hitting the shops.
Here we've run out of win cards, so the campaign has been closed.
If you're asking who Reimon is, he's the mysterious hero appearing on TBS' 'Ultra Galaxy Daikaijuu Battle', so he seems to be holding a key to the story.

...Reimon. Raymon? Equal parts of me are screaming "Hikari!" "Uchiyama!Melos!" "Xenon!" "Deep One!" "Ikan pari!" and rolling around the floor making snide comments. The plot, it seems, must thicken.

P.S. - HATEVETICA PULLED AN A-. ZOMG. Special thanks to my lecturers, Sweii and Hazmer, and the external assessors.

OTL OTL OTL

2007-12-10T08:13:00.000+08:00

State of mind: off-kilter

"Summon Ultrajesus!" he says! And Ultrajesus goes 'Ding!'

-

Things came to a sort of head last night, so no sudden angsty blogposts for this section of the Intartoobs. But my sister is going back to U.K. tonight, and I'm still a bit worried about how the Japan trip is shaping up. Not to mention results.

I can has hugburger?

Shine on, ye little beacons.

2007-12-07T22:29:00.000+08:00

State of mind: drained
Current soundtrack: Starting Line (Kobukuro)

Today kind of stank.

Developing travel plans kind of stank.

In-car convo stank.

Monkeys kind of stank. (They did. Monkey pee, PHEW)

Fireflies in Kg. Kuantan DID NOT STINK.

Shine, little fireflies. You are Dyna's hope, Hikari's symbol; you become my hope. All this though I cannot touch you. You are too fragile.

...Look, shihan, hakase. The fireflies shine on.

Belum lagi kulepas dari hutan...

2007-12-06T21:57:00.001+08:00

State of mind: drowsy
Current soundtrack: The blips and blops from MechQuest

Not too long back for Digital Portfolio, Wai Khong mentioned that a couple of us were going to be interviewed by the Multimedia Department along with our final DigiPort mock job interview. Without putting too fine a point on it, my interview could have gone quite a bit better.

Just got a call from the MM Department to confirm the date of said extra interview—maybe should ask Keith and Foong whether they received one too. They were hoping for 21st December (no, thank you, that's Leave-for-Japan Day), but it's been confirmed for the 18th, at 10.30 a.m.

...Now, exactly what shall I show them? ('_')*

Darnit. And yesterday was so peaceful, too. We went up north to go see the fireflies, but ended up enjoying the monkeys on Melawati Hill and the seafood dinner with random water-bird sightings much, much more. (photo credits mostly go to Sis' fiance Jyoti Barker)

P.S. - Dear Malaysian government: There's not much use enforcing a law against jaywalkers when cars DO NOT SLOW DOWN in front of zebra crossings. Just sayin'.

P.P.S. - ....Certain big-name faaaaaaan, why is Faust in a dreeeeeeeessssss? Why does shi have eeeeeeeeyelasheeeeeeeeessssssssss?!!!!

*Kumonface. Those who get it, will get it.

Status report, Private!

2007-12-05T12:54:00.000+08:00

Pssssst. I'm alive. :D Final projects are over, and I'm now doing 3 things:

1) Finishing off the last required correspondences for Re: Volt;
2) Waiting apprehensively for my results (and a few other things);
3) Tidying up the loose ends before heading to JA-freakin'-PAN. Kyuushuu and winter and Ultramanland, here I come! Phear teh crazy orange hat of crazy! (...and the crazy orange coat of crazy, and the crazy orange scarf of crazy, and the crazy...um, blue gloves of crazy. Hey, I want to be easily recognisable, k?)

My sister is back from the UK—all right, she's been back for two weeks already—and now I finally have some free time to spend and be silly with her. At the moment life is very peaceful.

P.S. - The laptop has a name now, and it is Alphonne. ;) Pictures to come.

Good grief.

2007-11-10T22:55:00.000+08:00

Why does this make me tear up?

Alamak(eris)!!

2007-11-03T09:22:00.000+08:00

State of mind: semi-bitter
Current soundtrack: Gintama - Yuki no Tsubasa (redballoon)

Astute world citizens may recall, two years ago, Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein took a keris into the United Malays National Organisation GM. He waved it around a lot during his speech(es).

Last year, someone thought it would be a good idea to have a live telecast of the UMNO assembly. It wasn't, because we got to see exactly how asinine some MPs happened to be, and how much they liked the taste of their feet. AGAIN the keris came in with Hishamuddin, and he waaaaved it, and braaandished it, and I think he even kiiiiissed it. Someone asked him if he was going to actually use it.

...Adoi.

This year...well, this is what our lovely Education Minister has to say. Thanks NST! The emphasis is mine, though.

Hishamuddin said the kissing and waving of the kris would be a standard feature at UMNO general assemblies.
"If we discuss this in a sane, intelligent way and explain what kissing and waving the kris means to Malays, people of other races will accept this."

Um, yeah, you tried explaining sanely and intelligently LAST year, remember? And some of us still think it was insane and unintelligent. Or, as Nazri likes to put it: "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Sigh. Well, there's one way to solve this.

Since Hishamuddin says keris = Malay culture, MCA, you take thiiiiis...and MIC, you take thiiiiis...I'd find y'all something shorter and easier to flail around, but this is the best Wikipedia could show me on short notice. Something closer to the far-off motherland--yeah, that far off "motherland" some of us haven't even smelt, because Malaysia's the only country we've damn well GOT. One used to contemplate going to Japan, but stories of xenophobia, ugh. Besides, look how it goes with immigration now.

Obviously if we ALL start waving weapons around, it's a sign we're fighting for our respective races. [/sarcasm]

So who likes Saul Bass, eh? :D

2007-11-02T16:19:00.000+08:00

State of mind: pondering
Current soundtrack: white noise

Today I partitioned my harddrive, downloaded some fonts, stuck some random doohickies back in and went searching for the grail of all grails, unbooked Ultraman Gekiden chapters...because I have no PS or AI yet on my yet-unnamed girl. (Laaaamster, I'm looking at you. ;))

So. Saul Bass. Is he not full of squee...why you all looking at me like I'm speaking Swahili? He's the supposed father of motion graphics, not to mention a fairly bitchin' graphic designer. If you've seen The Man with The Golden Arm, Psycho, The Shining's movie poster or even the AT&T globe logo, you're familiar with his work. Bell did quite a bit of handlettering, and a tribute site decided to duplicate his kinda-crooked-kinda-jiggly letterforms. The result was Hitchcock, in homage to one of the directors he used to work with, and was recently put back online. This means squeeing and font pimpage from yours truly.

You can get Hitchcock (and should get it nowhere else!) at http://typographica.org/001110.php. There's a sample there, too.

P.S. - Ken Taya's Super Ultra. SWEET LORDY LORDY. *collapses in laughter as the red-and-silver lean, mean dicing machines stare blankly*

AAAAHAHAHAHAHA.

2007-10-31T17:03:00.000+08:00

State of mind: delighted
Current soundtrack: Some random moojik

So. Hm. Nicovideo/Nicodouga. You find the weirdest things on it. Today alone I uncovered a behind-the-scenes look at Great*, an Ultraman version of Let's Go Onmyouji** and some snippets from Malay dubs. Naturally they were all bastardising the B.M. and I had to resist the urge to post subtitles. An English-speaking user on a Japanese site viewing Malay video clips. Ph34r globalisation, n00bs.

The interesting thing is that all the video comments go scrolling across the video at certain points. On one hand, it's irritating. On the other, it's kinda amusing, especially when you see things like Great crashing into the building, and a commenter going "Oh wow, that really looks painful". Or something funny happens, and a string of random 'www's*** goes flying across the screen. Yes, they're sorted by time, too.

Nicovideo requires registration, and you can only view the site between 2 am - 7 pm Japanese time.

*in which the intricacies of his helmethead assist greatly in hiding the power for his eyes :D
** Look it up on YouTube. It's been posted, parodied and rehashed like mad by now.
*** w=warau. Think of it as a long string of LOLOLOLOLOLOL...

It's that 'new car' feeling, yanno?

2007-10-31T00:02:00.000+08:00

State of mind: awed
Current soundtrack: ...No music, la.

At first sight, she took my breath away. Actually, it was her 2 gigs of RAM and DVD-R drive that did it, but who's keeping count?

Out of the wrinkly plastic that enfolded her, she looked amazing. The smooth corners. The glossy screen. The deceptive lightness. The wonderful keys, all so irresistible to touch. I am only yet discovering her idiosyncracies, but I think we'll work very well together in future.

...Yes, I got a new laptop. I haven't named her yet, though, only decided that she's a she. I mean, soft touch, rounded corners, refined exterior, looks better unwrapped, asks too many questions, reacts wildly if you don't touch her right*...Cygnus mentioned Konomi, and I'm weighing in on Nagi/Noa Reborn. Suggestions, anyone? M'not calling her Maki, before someone suggests that. It's not on and anyway, Maki would stare at my laptop and ask what I need all that fillifelle RAM and space for. And I will have no definite answer, except that the RAM is for handling all manners of work.

Oh? You want pictures? You wait 'til I set everything up. All the programs and add-ons, and suchlike. Maybe get my imageshack account back, too, seeing as how I am inexplicably unable to log in. Then y'all get a picture.

But she's BEAUTIFUL, my girl is. This...this can only be love.

* You only WISH I was kidding.

Guh, Nazri. Just GUH.

2007-10-28T21:35:00.000+08:00

State of mind: blank
Current soundtrack: Ultraman: Choutoushi Gekiden OST - Ougon no Choutoushi (Ike Takashi, Tozuka Osamu)

Words truly fail me.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/SundayInterview/20071028074831/Article/index_html

No quotes. No opinions. No, as Nazri likes to put it, 'rubbish'. For as long as this link stays fresh, you can go and see exactly what this man thinks of bloggers, protests with feet and, erm, the definition of 'crisis'.

私たちはもう光の国に帰って参れぬ。

2007-10-27T18:05:00.000+08:00

State of mind: gleeful
Current soundtrack: redballoon's Yuki no Tsubasa single

I had a dream where I went to a fantastic library. By fantastic, I mean there was a veritable final tome of Ultra information. Canon, noteable manga adaptions, stuff like that. Oddly enough, there was no mention of Ultra Ninja Manual.

The interesting part was that it showed some rather dubious backstory as to how Ultraman and Seven came to protect Earth. Showa canon dictates that Man kind of followed trouble down to our little blue home, and Seven apparently did something of similar ilk. (Why the heck was he poking around mountains, anyway?) On the other hand, we now have Man on the moon, sufficiently googlie-eyed upon beholding this new planet 'so beautiful...it could drop from the sky were one to not hold it up', and Seven heading down to Earth on Man's request. But oh, my friends, this read like a whackjob fanfiction. Man used to be a traffic cop on M78, and Seven was just...drunk a lot. But somehow they met, and gazing at the Earth from the moon, looming large and blue and misty, they thought as one 'Watashi-tachi wa mou...Hikari no Kuni ni kaette mairenu.'

It was sheer beauty. I had to look it up again (although as is wont with dreams, the content changed slightly). There it was, reversed white against the black, black blackness of space: 'We already...cannot return to the Land of Light'. It was not a matter of doing, but a matter of capability; transfixed by this planet, they could not leave more than they would not.

And then I woke up to battle my cold in a slightly dustier reality, sans that book. Goooods, I desire that book. There were several Scandalous Revelations I should have liked to read over.

That night I dreamt my teeth fell out.

Wheeling and dealing

2007-10-25T08:42:00.000+08:00

State of mind: speechless

How'd I miss this one? Woke up this morning to read the papers, and some indignant letters leapt out at me.

Karpal: Lawyer wrote part of judgment for civil suit

Fair enough, but check out the end of this article:

Earlier, touching on the subject of manners, Karpal irked Datuk
Badruddin Amiruldin (BN-Jerai) when he remarked that there was little
hope of seeing courtesy and good manners in the house."The Jerai MP is notorious
for using foul language. The Kinabatangan member (Datuk Bung Moktar Radin) is no better," he said, referring to a foul word uttered by Badruddin during a sitting. An angry Badruddin shouted back at Karpal. "You are no better. Calling us (BN MPs) animals... you insult people. Now you are sitting in a wheel chair. God has punished you."

...You see what I mean when I say some politicians do very well taking themselves down? All that sounds like is 'Same to you, serves you right, neener neener neeeeeener'.

Which reminds me, I got Amir Muhammad's 'Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest[sic] Things". And they do, honestly. Good grief, Bung, wash that piehole of yours out with soap!! Even Ng Yen Yen—yes, we know her, she launched S.O.P.—has a kindasorta dumb quote.

A eulogy for Noa-tan, a.k.a. This. Really. BITES.

2007-10-21T20:26:00.000+08:00

State of mind: annoyed⇔depressed

Yesterday I became part of a not-so-proud majority in Malaysia - I was the victim of a snatch theft.

About 2.30 p.m. on Saturday, I'm heading to someone's nice, quiet house for a voice recording session when said someone screams. I turn, and there's this...skinny guy darting towards me. Of all things to do (running, screaming, yelling, clocking his white-helmeted face with Noa-tan's heft), I froze. And he grabbed Noa-tan's bag, thumping me on the back of the hand to make me let go. Bastard takes one step forward...and swivels round, snatching my pencilbox out of my hands as well.

...MY PENCILBOX. Ohyashure, that's going to be full of valuable shite.

I'm all right. I'm not hurt, and nobody else was. We got the license plate and I'm hoping it wasn't a stolen one, too. /snark While I am alive and kicking, although doubtlessly dead for progress showing tomorrow, is it natural for me to want to punch the sod smack in the kisser?

We're looking at two slim Malay/Indo men, medium-dark skin with tan or black jackets, possibly now with weapons (...from my pencilbox). They're swift and fairly silent, and the license plate is BHN 4638. USJ residents, especially, take note; and if you see them, my readers, notify the police ASAP. They snatched a girl's wallet the same day on the same street; both reports were made at the Sunway police station, 03-56382122.

I don't really care what you think about the local police force, but help us catch them, guys. I want my Noa back.

Prose arose.

2007-10-13T23:52:00.004+08:00

State of mind: drowsy
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Dyna - Kimi Dake wo Mamoritai (Nakajima Bunmei)

Sweet, sweet googledy moogledy. They're changing the graduation theme. Again. Three times now, in six weeks, and tensions are rising. We've gone from heroes to villains to just raging against the machine. Moving on...

Write a letter to your favourite Ultraman!

Here's a quick translation:

At the moment we're collecting letters to the Ultra Heroes inside the (Ultraman Land) building. Let's write a letter to your favourite Ultra Hero and hand it over. You can even do it when you take your souvenir picture or shake his/her hand!
Come to think of it, I've been using the computer and my handphone to send mail so much, I've stopped writing letters. I was never much for writing letters, anyway, but...It may be more convenient now, but we shouldn't forget things like this.

A lovely sentiment, but what exactly do you SAY to your favourite Ultra Hero, particularly when you're a bit beyond the days of 'Ultraman is my bestest best friend and I took him home from the hospital and we fought coconut brushes?*' I can think of but a few things:

'Dear Ace, don't believe those manga artists. Nobody will die if you love them.'
'Dear Noa, how are you defending alternate Earth? Has Zagi visited yet?'
'Dear Mebius, are you eating enough curry? I'll treat you to some real good stuff if you come to Malaysia.'
'Dear Maa, have you found your parents yet? How are the others...Piko, in particular? :D'
'Dear Sebanecs Seven X, Elder Almighty, how did you get those damn abs!?'

But after that, what do you say? A simple 'ganbatte kudasai!' sounds so trite, and a sort of 'you're doing a great job as a suit actor' may spoil the illusion for any KPC little kids who want to read. What do you say, really, to the alien tribe that gives you something to laugh at and cry at; the alien tribe that comforts you in your darkest hours and marks your highest dreams?

What DO you say to they who saved your life, beyond a great hearty 'thank you'?

*True story. This is what happens when you let six-year-olds read Oscar Wilde.

"Hey//As long as you stand next to me//I will sing for you"

2007-10-08T09:32:00.001+08:00

State of mind: rather unimpressed
Current soundtrack: Ultraseven X - Another day comes (Pay money To my Pain)

All right. All right. Call me some kind of plebe and roll me in breadcrumbs, already. I managed to snag the op theme of Ultraseven X, which I'm listening to again as I type this. After so many years of bouncy-bouncy-WHEEEEEE! DMM numbers, I really don't know what to say now. Tsuburaya suddenly decided that they wanted something along the lines of rock, so they got this band (longest name I've ever seen, by the way) to do the theme. In English. To be fair, it's pretty GOOD English—better than, eh, doa's PIECE OF NOTHING for lack of example.

The other reason I'm not laughing is because the full version of the song is SIX MINUTES LONG. Two of these are devoted to an intro that segues from slow piano to Tak Matsumoto-esque guitars and then some serious axe-grinding. You don't need two minutes of intro for an Ultra theme, full v or no! :O Neither do you need to do that...shrieky thing into the microphone. Srsly. I don't need to go crawling in my skin.

...Despite all this, given the appropriate avenues I'd probably fall for Seven X, despite the fact campiness of UM > staid, dark themes of Seven-ness. I watched the pre-millennium Seven OVAs and the only thing I brought out of it was knowledge of the Akashic Record. On the other hand, let's look at the record:

Tiga: "Type-changing? Whuffor? Why so different?...Oh. Hm. Daigo and Rena are cute. And there's backstory. And Tiga actually IS teh luff. Human power! \(xox)/"
Nexus: "*A* AAAAARRRRGHHH NOOOOO angsty serious Ultras WTHWTHWTH...ZOMG angsty serious Ultras with HUMANITY and LOGIC yes plz."
Max: "Meh, nothing to yell about at the first episode...ho hum...Heeeeey wait a minute, why didn't anyone tell me this actually became entertaining?!" (I have Lynn to thank for this, really. She sent me the amnesia ep...and the hovering monster...and the surreal Butterfly Dream thing...)
Gaia: ...No, wait, I never DID like Gaia as a series.

Cygnus, for one, says that Seven X is pretty sweet stuff, and I'm inclined to trust his judgement—he was pimping Max to me while I basically went 'meh' and 'uh huh, yariteshure.' Only later did I come yelling to him 'Why didn't you tell me it was THIS FUNNY?' He says it's definitely very pretty-shiney-whee visually, but let's see whether it comes down the puddle to Malaysia first-lah; by some miracle my download rate jumped between 0.7 and 100+ kBps today, but I don't think that miracle will last with TMNut Screamyx.

How many songs do you know that have the lyrics 'My past rides into my memory', anyhow? Heh.

(ETA: All right, all right. Roll me in breadcrumbs again. It wasn't 'my bus rides into my memory', it seems. At least it didn't turn out like the time 'grit your teeth' turned into 'eat your face'...)

Happy now, are we?

2007-10-06T21:45:00.000+08:00

State of mind: furious with a capital F
Current soundtrack: Ultraman Mebius - Fukushuu no Yoroi (Sahashi Toshihiko)

Are you? Because in three years, I've never seen her cry before, and you managed to do that. Twice in almost as many hours.

You see her as this loud, hurtful, tactless person who has dissed the whole batch. I see her as one of the few and closest friends I have ever had here in TOA, who slogs her butt off, gets great grades and is as weird as all get out. She's vehement and loud and irreverent, but I have perfect confidence she's going to get out there and rock this world. You got a bone with her? Tell it to her face. Don't you DARE slag her behind her back.

She is not picking up her phone tonight and I swear to you, with every fibre of this sin-filled soul, that if you caused her to do anything stupid, you will pay. I might not be the one to dish that out, but if heaven has eyes...

(ETA 0104 Sun 7 Oct: She was *asleep* when I called. OTL Wahoo, wtg M.Y.! At least she seems all right now. I wasn't looking forward to some godforsaken surprise in the papers when I woke up.

Anonymous #1 - I kind of forgot. I think you're very lucky if you have never felt like the world has turned its back on you, and you are completely, wholly alone in a crowd. Gods know I have.

And why yes, I am a little insane. :D Thanks for noticing!)

O Manjusri, what in eighteen hells IS this?!

2007-10-04T14:00:00.000+08:00

State of mind: negatively bemused

Death Note murders in Belgium.

Now this? This is villainous.

2007-09-27T08:17:00.000+08:00

State of mind: grim
Current soundtrack: "Old newspaper...Paper lama...*tootle tootle*"

U.N. urges calm amid Myanmar clashes

At this point, one was just waiting for the other boot to drop, really.

I may not be the BEST Buddhist in the world (who am I kidding? I'm not!), but one thing I learned quite early, while writing up Gensomaden Saiyuki fanfiction.

There are 18 levels of Buddhist hell, the lowest of which is deemed Avici. The suffering is nigh endless and the space is flexible. There are a few crimes that, um, secure your place there: matricide, patricide, killing an arhat and shedding the Buddha's blood, to name a few. Some group matricide and patricide together, and include suicide. The list changes here and here, depending on where you look, but one crime is usually on that list: creating discord in the sangha, or the community of monks/nuns/practitioners.

Deaths and tear gas for a peaceful protest, led by a respected religious institution. Mm. I call discord, all right.

So yes, o junta, I must agree with the catcalls of your people. Justice will be served in another world. You are fools. You are fools.

And if y'all are curious about why I didn't link from a local paper's site - I looked at three, and couldn't find the exact article.

So suddenly, the graduating batch wants to revamp themselves as Villains. Fine turnabout, from the heroic theme we once had.

I don't particularly care how dark and edgy and anti-establishment and WILDLY DIFFERENT it is. Anti-hero, ho yes. Bringit. Anti-villian, convoluted, but I like. Even my co-writers' outlooks on that brought me round a little. But *Villain*? Outright bad guy?

vil·lain
–noun
1. a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
2. a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
3. villein.
[Origin: 1275–1325; ME vilein, vilain <>villa, -an]
—Synonyms 1. knave, rascal, rapscallion, rogue, scamp.

Maybe I'm idealistic (who am I kidding? I am!), but I didn't come to TOA to emerge as some dark force of power, forcing change. I came because I wanted to change the world in a non-violent fashion, and if I want to be evil, malicious and cruel, I'm perfectly capable of doing that on my own, thank you, away from the industry.

What's bad about being negative? Well, it's all there in the question. The world is dark enough as it is. I refuse to pour any more shadows onto it.

A sliver of heaven in the bundt cake of hell.

2007-09-23T23:37:00.000+08:00

State of mind: relaxed (supposed to be busy...)
Current soundtrack: Un Giorno Per Noi (Josh Groban)

I think it's been a very...trying week in general, with brinjals stuck up odd places. Iftheycatchthatfeckerpleaseturnhimintoasalad But I would like to count my blessings:

I know my language skills are better than very many classmates, which opens up a few possibilities in future. Although I do need to learn some Mandarin chop-chop. Which leads to:
I scored the highest in the whole batch for the Business Presentation final exam. 95/100! I never got 80-per-anything here before, 'cept for maybe SEA Culture Studies. :D The best part was I even managed full marks for the second question. Weehee!
I got Josh Groban's Awake at the shops today. The man's not heartbreakingly gorgeous, but he can SING and he has wavy hair and the packaging has nice typo AND there's an Italian version of A Time For Us which is my favourite Mancini piece AND I AM HAVING AURGASMS THANK YOU. *points to the current soundtrack*

More news at the next full-day break!

Meme ganked from D.M.

2007-09-18T00:12:00.000+08:00

State of mind: sleepy

Aye, another one. The connection seems to have stabilised now, but you should've heard the parental unit thunder at the Streamyx call centre staff.

1. A is for age: 20

2. B is for beer of choice: A&W Root Beer. I'm more of a shandy-and-cocktails person.

3. C is for career right now: Design Student.

4. D is for your dog's name? Don't have one. Would call it Mebius. Or Gardie.

5. E is for essential item you use everyday: Handphone/Laptop

6. F is for favorite TV show at the moment: Ultraman Mebius. I don't get out much.

7. G is for favorite game: Pokemon: Mysterious Dungeon Red.

8. H is for Home town: Petaling.

9. I is for instruments you play: Recorder, vocal cords and air guitar. XD

10. J is for favorite juice: honeydew.

11. K is for whose butt you'd like to kick: This would be a loooong list...

12. L is for last place you ate: Home. We had fish and beans and it was nummy. :D

13. M is for marriage: Not yet, but yes please.

14. N is for your full name: ...Do I have to? ):D

15. O is for overnight hospital stays: None so far. Let's hope it stays that way.

16. P is for people you were with today: My dad. And the domestic.

17. Q is for quote: "What SHITTERY is this?"

18. R is for Biggest Regret: That I couldn't overcome the Hikoboshi Incidents for three months.

19. S is for status: Wanna be popular woo. ;)

20. T is for time you woke up today: 8 am, swearing profusely.

21. U is for underwear you have on now: ...Sloggi's.

22. V is for vegetable you love: French beans and kangkung and bok choy and potatoes...

23. W is for worst habit: I pick my scabs.

24. X is for x-rays you've had: None. One endoscopy of the throat.

25. Y is for yummy food you ate today: ...French beans! :DDDD;;

26. Z is for zodiac sign: Aries, the ram. Which might explain the current memesheepage. MEEEEEEEEEEEHHHH.

Memesheepage, BAAAAA.

2007-09-16T21:49:00.000+08:00

State of mind: annoyed

Meme ganked from several LJ contacts, including D.M. and Firn:

1. Go to careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top ten results.

Se~no!

Desktop Publisher (That's...kind of still in the scope.)
Sign Maker
Cartoonist/Comic Illustrator (Ultra Ninja Manual doujin, anyone?)
Dental Assistant (Ironically, I am more suited to be one than Firn, who is actually, yanno, TRAINING to be a dentist.)
Fashion Designer (I might not be too popular. For one thing, you'd actually be able to WEAR the stuff I put on the catwalk. <_<)
Animator (Ninja teabags!)
Costume Designer (...well I did sew that Ultraman costume way back when...)
Taxidermist (...)
Nail Technician (. . . . .?!)
Hairstylist (Of all things?! Have you SEEN my hair?)

Some of the other careers suggested included graphic designer, journalist, critic (feh, aren't we all?), translator and jeweller. Somewhat frighteningly, website designer was at #18 on the list. Computer animator was #20.

The frellin' broadband connection is out; I suspect that it was affected by the quakes in Indonesia. Male parental unit is blustering and threatening the hapless customer service rep over the phone with cancellation of membership, although he seems to have conveniently forgotten other established competitors don't cover our area. The once trusty dialup connection has been spotty at best for the past few days, abruptly disconnecting in an hour more times than most artistes lose touch with reality in a month. =_= Still, as the proverb goes, 'got no cane, settle for roots.' Even if the roots aren't really that reliable.

なんてこったぁ…

2007-09-14T10:46:00.000+08:00

State of mind: OTLed. Just OTLed.

No.

No.

NO.

いやだ―!!

Tsuburaya Enterprises sold to TYO Prod.

Oh man...OTL Let's hope TYO* doesn't do anything, er, untoward with Big Red-n-Silver. As it is, this has turned the smackdown of Chaiyo into some kind of Pyrrhic victory. Is it can be manga buying tiem nao pleez?

What is Tsuburaya's fate now? Tune in next time to find out!

*I just typed this as TYPO. Methinks I've been thinking about books too long.

Scrumdiddlyumptious!

2007-09-13T23:31:00.000+08:00

State of mind: enlightened

Yanno, I peeked at Google today and wondered why there was a peach in the title. The alt text was enlightening.

Matilda! (James and) The Giant Peach! Chocolate (...from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where else?)!

Happy Birthday, Roald Dahl. You made for very happy years of childhood reading (and a few similarly enjoyable years of adult reading, too).

Down, down, down in a burning ring of firrrre...

2007-09-12T07:56:00.000+08:00

State of mind: hungry
Current soundtrack: crows waking up

Well, the new semester's started—my final one. I talked to the fresh meat, er, the new intake. It was quite pleasing to see that they were actually, y'know, talking to one another and had the decency to laugh at their poor senior's lame jokes. ;P It was also pleasing to see Ruzy, who is one of Hako's friends.

It was not as pleasing to find I had become the only speaker slated for that day. *panicpanicpanic* Why all you others fong fei kei on me?! DDDDDD:

Also, moooooommy, the ruling coallition is lambasting the opposition again. There was some flag-burning going on shortly after Mereka, in Batu Buruk, and guess who's a convenient scapegoat? :S Granted, all right, all right, there may have been some militant, disgruntled Malaysian who decided to turn the Jalur Gemilang into a Jalur Goreng. But no, the precious part comes in Parliamentary debate. (Doesn't it always?) Quoting from the September 12 2007 edition of The Star, an MP 'said such people should be kicked out of the country for not caring about the country's dignity' and further went on to interject, "It is not our loss if we kick such ungrateful people out."

The precious part? That MP was Jasin's Mohd. Said Yusof. As in, Mohd. Said "Close-One-Eye, All-Your-Logs-Are-Belong-To-Me, Leaky-Women-LOL" Yusof.

Pack your bags, Datuk, because if the opposition go, you're definitely bound for Timbuktu with them for your damage to our country's dignity! Maybe you can take your Kinabatangan counterpart with you. It is not our loss, after all! >:3

*cough* Back to work now.

(ETA: Edited to correct the place where the riots took place. Not sure where K.T. came from.

Also, you know you've been roleplaying on Neopets too long when you automatically type a double set of brackets, ala OOC, for a simple blog ETA note. GAH!)

Yang panjang untuk Merdeka/The long one for independence.

2007-08-31T21:39:00.001+08:00

Keadaan minda: kreatif/khusyuk berfikir
Lagu kini: Derum penghawa dingin

Hari Kebangsaan ke-50 Malaysia, kuraikan di rumah dengan sebotol minuman yogurt Dutch Lady. Hidupku amat membosankan.

Sebagai tradisi, blog pada 31 Ogos ini kukirimkan dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Bahasa Malaysia, jahanam! Bahasa SEMUA, bahasa yang melahirkan satu imbuhan akhiran yang kita warga Malaysia (baiklah...dan juga Singapura...) amat suka. Jadi, relek-lah! :D

Hari ini saya bersantai aje kat rumah sebab letih dari kegilaan Sen-sasi Kemegahan. (Inilah terjemahan rasmi. Saya patut tahu. Saya yang mengilhamkannya.) Tahun ini, tiadalah animasi Flash seperti tahun lepas, tetapi ada pula sebuah sajak:

Dirgahayu

50 tahun di dunia ini, pendek masanya
Satu-setengah-hampir-dua keturunan anak-anak Adam dan Hawa.

Lihatlah tanah airku ini!
Kereta dinamakan sempena ikan, pokok, haiwan;
Dengan satu imbuhan berirama, rakyat jelata disatukan.
Bila dekat, penghawa dingin dipeluk semua
Bila jauh, rindu pada hari-hari membara (tapi biasa)
Berpadu dalam kepelbagaian
Dan berbagai dalam perpaduan.

Kadangkala terfikir
Di manalah pingat
Untuk Yusof-Yusof Rono yang menghilang?
Siapalah yang menegur jerat-jerat
Yang jelirkan lidah ke arah kancil meradang?
Akan dikurangkan lambaian parang puting
Dan dilebihkan lambaian tangan, untuk bahu diganding?
Itulah tugasku sebagai anak merdeka.
Jikalau sebegitu, hatiku lega.

Akulah cicit empayar tauge
Dan saksi kepada wawasan pertama daripada semua.
Darahku dari Selatan;
Seleraku keutaraan.
Mindaku mengadukkan Timur dan Barat
Tapi pada Malaysia hatiku taat.

Dirgahayu
Negaraku
Setia dan sejahtera.
50 tahun di dunia ini, cuma permulaan sahaja
Kekallah ibu pertiwi untuk keturunan yang seterusnya.

State of mind: creative/contemplative
Current soundtrack: The hum of the aircon

I toasted Malaysia's 50th Independence Day at home with a bottle of Dutch Lady yoghurt drink. I lead a very boring life.

So, as per tradition, I'm writing this entry on the 31st in Malay, or Bahasa Malaysia. Bahasa Malaysia, dammit! EVERYONE'S language, the language which gave us the one suffix all us Malaysians (all right...and them Singaporeans too...) truly love. Relek-lah! :D

I just chilled out at home today because I was shugged out from the madness at Sens of Pride/Sen-sasi Kemegahan. (That's the official translation. I should know. I thought of it. This year there will be no Flash animations like the last, but I do have a poem for all of you:

Dirgahayu

50 years on this world is but short
One-and-a-half-almost-two generations of Adam and Eve's children.

What a country this is!
Where cars are named after fish and trees and beasts;
Where one musical syllable unites us all unconsciously.
We clamor for air-cons when near
But miss the stable (if blazing) days when afar.
United in our diversity
Diverse in our unity.

Sometimes we think
Where are the medals
For the Yusof Ronos disappearing?
Who chides the traps
That stick their tongues out at the furious mousedeer?
Will there be less waving of dirks
And more waving of hands, that we should rub shoulders?
That is my job as a free child.
Should it be, I am happy.

I am the great-granddaughter of a beansprout empire
And the witness to the first of many visions.
My blood is Southern;
My stomach Northern.
My mind blends West and East
But my heart is with Malaysia.

Long live
My country,
Loyal and happy.
50 years on this world is but short
Let my motherland remain for the next generations.

S.O.P.: Day Three

2007-08-30T23:31:00.000+08:00

State of mind: incoherent

Today was...bad. I'm not even sure how much we sold, because I was transferred from promotion to coupon counter, and fled to coin-stacking around 6 pm. I have coupons coming out of my eyes.

Thankfully, no child was left unattended in Sens of Pride today and other than that rather nasty thing with the coupons, I think it was OK overall, just a little quiet.

Happy Merdeka, people. Expect another post tomorrow.

(ETA - President just SMSed to say we sold RM 2 565!!! W00t!)

S.O.P.: Day Two

2007-08-30T08:30:00.001+08:00

State of mind: disturbed

We sold almost 2k in tickets today. Woohoo! Got some more product samples on my body (one glittery dragon down the cheek and 10 dragonfly-embossed fingernails). The Dep. Finance Minister, Dato' Ng Yen Yen, appeared for the launch and it was real spiffy and all, particularly as Veron showed up and Sens of Pride appeared, finally, in three-dimensional shiny glory. My Dean of Studies is a weird, hippie-type person. Still like her.

It really shouldn't NEED to be said, but my experiences over the past few days leave me convinced that apparently, it does. So here it is. I'll even put it in cautionary red, extra-special.

Mothers, please do not leave your young children alone in the middle of a mall for any amount of time. Especially if you are in a foreign country. Especially if the children do not speak any of the local tongues. (Because in all seriousness, I thought that kid was DEAD. DEAD, ALL RIGHT?! You really suck.)

That will be all.

I have to replace my dinner with a very Veggie Breakfast tomorrow.

S.O.P.: Day One.

2007-08-28T23:09:00.000+08:00

State of mind: sore

We sold about RM 1 000 worth of coupons and shite today--and it started off pretty slow, considering! Singing didn't work. Neither did yelling. Finally just dogged anyone who came in and killed them with kindness. Setup hadn't been started at all for some reason, which was weird seeing how they were all HAI EVERYONE PLEEZ TO COME AT NITE TO SETS UP.

The public, however, is patently weird, some examples including

the tourist who left BOTH his kids—a girl of five and another of indeterminate baby age—alone with me and under my care. Excuse me. Hello. You do not leave young children with strangers. Heck, you don't leave older children with strangers, either! The craft fair is not a babysitting centre. I'm glad you paid for the full RM50 program and all, but would it hurt to sit with your child as she makes her keychain and sand art and window stickie? I don't care if you've done it before. I don't care if the previous batches did it. You don't leave young children alone with strangers, certainly not in these times!
The poor precocious three-year-old girl, who had her art sense controllllllled by her mombot and...babysitters? Teenage sisters? No clue. We ARE running creative kids' activities. Your daughter won't care if Mr Bean's jacket is a weird colour of sand, or if he has a black face, or if her aeroplane window art is bright, bright pink and ONLY bright, bright pink. Let her have her gaudy pictures and black faces while she still can, hm?
the tendency to just simper at misbehaving children. Other people's sprogs can be appealing, gloriously appealing—for two hours tops. Seriously, when you smile as Junior spills fluorescent pink sand on the carpet, I'm not thinking about how wonderful and active he is. I'm thinking about how expensive the sand is, and how much of a bitch it's going to be to vacuum out in the morning. The others are very lucky. They actually like children. Me? Suuuure, children aren't bad. Particularly if you add plenty of tomato sauce. (Although yes, some were patently ADORABLE—see bit about precocious child and limited appeal of strange children.)

Well, tomorrow is another new day. My back and feet are slaying me, and I am going to bed before they complete the job. The Dep. Finance Minister is coming to launch the whole shebang proper tomorrow. Kidchan should also be there. Come, already!! @w@

And now, the aftermath...

2007-08-27T21:44:00.000+08:00

State of mind: pleased
Current soundtrack: The rumble of thunder (it's raining! It's raining!)

So yes, now that I HAVE passed me driving exam, I have a little announcement to make. From 6 pm onwards for the next seven six days, I am going vegetarian. You do not pray to two or three different buddhas/bodhisattvas and make a vow in exchange for an exam pass without fulfilling it. Besides, Manjusri—supposedly my patron buddha, hooray rabbit year—has a rather gnarly alternate form, and I don't want to have Yamantaka fooking up my dreams, thankyouberrymush.

I see a lot of buns and dairy drinks in my diet for the days to come. Merdeka Craft Fair starts tomorrow!

Mom also informs me that while it's not harmful, no, people don't usually drink a whole bottle of blessed water in one sitting. @_@;;

MERDE-blimming-KARRRRR!

2007-08-27T14:44:00.000+08:00

State of mind: jawdrop-level shock
Current soundtrack: The white noise of the room fan

Today was my fifth—FIFTH!—attempt at gaining a probationary driver's license. (Shoddy steering, shoddy steering, a big ninja bus and a sputtery engine foiled the first four attempts, if you choose to recall.) I had a pen. I had my blazing red preppie shirt. I had a stable stomach. I even had a bottle of blessed water that one of my mom's colleagues gave her several months back (To drink beforehand, not to throw at crotchety examiners). Got to SDC, paid some outstanding bills and went to get my number. If you pass your parking, but fail your road test, you get a J number, for jalan. That gets you a little priority in the lining-up-for-numbers and test times, supposedly. SUPPOSEDLY.

8.30 - Receive number. Go sit down at porch.
9.00 - Waiting. Listening to very non-J numbers being called out.
10.00 - Waiting waitishly. 11J is called. 10J is still languishing in some limbo. Candidate 123 is called again. Optimum test times start now (because everyone's in the office, and nobody's starting off for lunch...)
11.00 - Waiting waitishly with waitingness. 11J actually goes for her exam. Still more non-J numbers. Candidate 123 is called for the fifth time, and still does not show up. More experienced J-number holders speculate on what grisly fate awaits him when he finally shows up. Optimum test times winding up. M.Y. prays desperately.
11.15 - Good news! Examiner finally shows up and starts looking for candidates. Bad news! Examiner is female. Worse news! It's probably the same examiner I almost helpfully ran into the ninja bus!

M.Y. drinks the blessed water and prays even HARDER.

11.30 - Test starts.

Let me tell you, Internets, I may not have been able to steer for nuts, but I can BALANCE a clutch like nobody's business. Funnily enough, I ended up with a very bad deal today, as the moment I eased on the clutch the car would hack and complain and generally threaten to die. Cheer up, emo Kancil. :\ I got about as far as the junction up and out of SDC before everything jammed, and the car died. Pull handbrake. Thump clutch. Start engine.

Going uphill past traffic light. Balancing begins. Car dies. Pull handbrake. Thump clutch. Start engine. Car dies again. Pull handbrake harder. Squash the clutch into the ground. Start engine.

Going downhill towards traffic light. Car dies. Pull handbrake. Thump clutch. Start engine.

Finally sputtering back to SDC. Car dies. Refrain from screaming aloud. Pull handbrake...

This, I must say, was one of the most nerve-wracking rounds round that part of town I'd ever had. It was OK to build speed after a while, but that blasted clutchery! *cry* It has been hammered multiple times into one's mind now that with the engine, it's three strikes and you're out. As we trundled back into SDC, I said in the teeniest voice imaginable "Thanks for letting me finish the route."

"...Here, just sign."

"HowmuchdidIgetthistime...*squeak*"

All at once my legs went weak and my throat went dry(er) and my eyes swam. Five times, and...

I'd finally passed, with a mark extra at that. (Instructor says the dyings may not have counted as the car didn't roll backwards or forwards.)

I'm still a little swimmy on this point, but I do remember marching triumphantly into the office and asking for a license application before going out for a celebratory meal at Swensen's. And now here I am at home, typing this post up and preparing to crosspost it, and scanning pictures of the actual marks sheet.

Thank you Mr Amini for your lessons; Mr. Nasir and Mr. Balan for their extra tips; and last but not least, a certain JPJ officer called Shida. May metta fall on you copiously from above! :DDDDD

Now to figure how the gears work in an auto...

So you wanna meet CMYk.

2007-08-25T21:31:00.000+08:00

State of mind: drowsy

So let's say you'd like to meet a crazy young blogger who loves Ultraman and meeting her readers. Now's your chance. *ahem ahem*

In conjunction with Malaysia’s 50th Independence Day, Sunway Pyramid, Da Vinci Creative Kids and The One Academy’s December graduates are throwing a bash you won’t forget!

Come join us down in Sunway Pyramid’s concourse, where there’ll be fun for the whole family at the Merdeka Craft Fun Fair. We have great face-painting, stunning glitter and henna tattoos, colourful sand art, wacky caricatures, educational craft workshops and the inaugural exhibition of Sens of Pride.

Sens of Pride is the product of our young creative minds, who sought to find an innovative, community-centric way to commemorate Malaysia’s 50th anniversary of independence. Community-centric it is, as you will see when you behold the flag built entirely out of 50-sen coins. Every donation brings the work closer to completion, and you can watch it grow day by day. After it’s completion, 70% of the flag will go to charitable causes.

With the purchase of an RM 50 book of coupons, which entitles you to almost everything we have to offer, anyone can stand a chance to win the grand prize in the Dice and Win game, a tricky game with three chances at advancing. Could you be the lucky one this Merdeka?

Come one, come all to support the next generation of young creative talents as they come together to show their pride in their work, and their pride in their country.
Let our Sens of Pride rise along with yours this fair Merdeka day!

..I'm sorry. You can blame me for the puns. *doffs copywriter hat* The fair and Sens of Pride will be up at Sunway Pyramid from 28th August-2nd September.

I will be there every day except Friday and Sunda, and will most likely be running around Sunway Pyramid, singing what patriotic songs I know. Tanggal 31, Medan Bakti, Setia, Sejahtera Malaysia, mostly those four. If you see me, buy a coupon! Look for a skinny promoter with glasses and a ponytail if you don't hear singing. XD Actually, buy RM 50 worth of coupons! It entitles you to the whole sweet shebang. And you stand a chance at the grand prize if you can roll three sixes with our giant dice.

In short, I would LOVE to see all of you there. Especially some of the people I know in RL (Jac, Gu Bak Wan, Hako, Dimmu, yeah, looking at all of you. XD Do stop by if you're free.)

More (and older news) after the break!

Blogging, Blagging and Buggery.

2007-08-12T21:09:00.000+08:00

State of mind: jumbled
Current soundtrack: Black Jack songs on loop (Anyone got Tak Matsumoto's BJ theme? The Miracles of Life one?)

Let me tell you, Intartoobs, this week bordered precariously on Terrible, No-Good and Downrightdisastrous. The New Media projects unexpectedly turned belly-up and group leader took a big blow. Natural 20, critical hit, elemental weakness and all that. D: But trees will prevail! Trees will grow!

Despite having kept odd hours for the past few weeks, and having a good chance of having 25% of my holiday eaten by...well, SOMETHING I'll tell y'all about soon...I spent 20 minutes scrubbing the bejesus out of my stinky hair this morning and another using far too much soap. I am clean, and I am *at this moment* very happy. 24 hours ago I was incredibly annoyed. 48 hours ago I was unconscious.

---

It seems I moved out of Livejournal at about the right time. After Strikethrough '07, we now have Blackout(?) '07.

To summarise, two artists got banhammered!!! banned for life over at LJ for one offense. One. The reasons, depending on who you ask, range from the pernicious peddling of pedo porn pics to lack of 'artistic merit'. And, sneaky sneaky, LJ/SixApart did this juust before a fandom convention.

Were this any other fandom, the backlash might not have been so bad, but they picked on Harry Potter.

And lo, the drama flooded the intertubes. The angry responses lay down with the civil ones. Cat macros spammed the news page. Comments reached the (maximum) FIVE THOUUUUUSAND. But it didn't stop there. The bones users are currently picking with LJ include:

The immense length of time between incident and announcement of 'resolution'. (5 days!)
Refusal to clarify, in writing, the changes to the TOS (read: refusal to update TOS page)
Changing the 'strikethrough' of a banned LJ-username to something bolded and linkless. The action is seen not only as confusing, but also as a way of robbing the user of their 'Strikethrough' battlecry. :S
The perceived double standards in censorship. Nazi communities? Can't do anything. Racist communities? Sorry, not our business. Pro-anorexia? Nope. Gay buttsex pictures? ZOMG BANBANDIEDIEDIE!
The asshattery/stupidity of two staff members: burr86, for posting in a snarky humor comm but refusing/failing to address the concerns raised in 4000-odd comments at the LJ news community, and coffeechica , for insisting that yes, she knows what anorexia is: simply 'an aspiration to be thin'. Way to go! Where would you like that failcake decorated with failsprinkles and failcherries?

Does the outcry go on? It's hard to say, but I bet you the next news or lj_biz post is going to be maxed out with comments too. I've seen very few banners, or calls for themesongs and suchlike. But this happened THREE MONTHS after Strikethrough in almost identical circumstances. Big-name users/comms deleted on the sly, just before a large event (Memorial Day/HP convention), failing to take into account the size of the LJ community and the outcry that would result. As it is, one of my closest LJ buddies has made the leap to another journal site, although he admits the interface is foreign to him now. If I hadn't jumped to Blogger beforehand, I might just have followed him.

People are angry. People will leave. Communities talk (it's already up on Digg that LJ supports pro-ana). Customers will go to other places. 6A will learn it is not wise to poke the sleeping dragons - particularly as the dragons render fictional erotica and pay them shiny money.

One day, I wish to teach Consumer Behaviour—simply because I want to pick up a textbook, tell the students to turn to the pre-chapter case study on Six Apart and Livejournal, and say 'You see this, guys? THIS WAS REAL. I saw how some of it went down.'

Um...no.

2007-08-03T07:35:00.000+08:00

State of mind: weirded out
Current soundtrack: Playlist name - series - song title (artist)

Yanno, if the ruling coalition wants the progressive next generation's vote, they may have a leeeeeeetle slog ahead of them. UMNO youth head Khairy Jamaluddin has been pretty cool in general, but lambasting people—even Anwar, who is pretty much painted as Lucifer—is just Not Cool.

In making the declaration, Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaludin said:
“The (coming) general elections is not about politics but the future of the
Malays.”

“Anwar is a puppet of the United States and the Jews, thus he must be
hounded until there is no more place for him to run to,” he told a state Umno
Youth gathering on Wednesday night.

...O rly? Silly me, I thought the coming general elections was a chance for the people to choose who's going to helm the country and make stupid comments in Parliament for the next coupla years. (Jasin, Kinabatangan, please get yourselves new MPs. For great justice.) I thought we were supposed to stop playing the racial cards here.

Also, Malaysia's an Islamic country and all, but not all Jews are Shylocks and...um...Shylocks. Oy, I fail. Will the Children of Abraham please stop bickering, already? It's not that simple, I know, but what have the Jews done to Malaysia? I'm pretty sure they're not sending haze our way, or poisoning our food, or sending fire-breathing dragons to raze the virgin rainforests.

There's a bit more to the article, but that's what first jumped out. Ranty rants about your considerably trampled enemies? Not endearing. In fact, it's somewhere between keris!love and jokes about leaky women, teeheehee. So before the votes go the way of the rocket, the green triangle or even the sacrilegeous twin moons, good people, think of what image you're putting forward and be civil, confound it.

Still, why do I get the feeling this is going to turn into an 'ala Mawi' thing once I register to vote?

P.S. - NST Online, a day behind? Tsk. D:

(ETA: Thanks Hako, for catching the rather off spelling error.)

My typedorkery is official.

2007-08-01T11:01:00.000+08:00

State of mind: bemused
Current soundtrack: MMLab 2 denizens going off in various Chinese dialects

...Other sane women squee over Brad Pitt, Rain, Johnny Depp—stuff like that.

I happen to squee over UM Dyna, Igarashi Shunji and...fabulous typography videos. This happens to be Eine kurze Geschichte der Typografie.

(Not that I don't like Johnny Depp, because anyone who can alternate between gritty, kooky pirate and desaturated snarky confectioner has my deeeeeep respect.)

Finally!

2007-07-29T00:18:00.000+08:00

State of mind: braindrained
Current soundtrack: Black Jack - ROOTS (B'z)

So I finally glommed my aunt's copy of HP&DH/HP7/Source of Potterdammerung!!! and read it.
All right, I speed-read quite a fair bit of the clash-bang-boom thing at the end, because Mom wanted to head home. But come, spoilery art and Messenger titles and Metaquotes! I fear you no longer!

Ohright, thoughts. It was OK. I got choked up a bit at some points (not telling you where). Despaired at the death of *blip* by *blip* because it was so darn *blip* and then *blip* and *blip* died so suddenly after *blip*...I'm not overly troubled, but no wonder people got miffed. I happen to be very fond of the second and third last blips in there.

There's always time to read it in a leisurely fashion at some point in the future. :)

[spoiler]...Heeeeehehehehehehehehehe, Uncle Potter and his sons with DQNames.[/spoiler]

Music, mayhem, and, yes, manga dorkery.

2007-07-28T09:26:00.000+08:00

State of mind:
Current soundtrack: Playlist name - series - song title (artist)

I like music. There's a neighbour across the street who has been regularly playing the piano for years, but I have yet to see his/her face. So, it didn't surprise me when I heard the sound of a guitar while eating brekkies this morning.

It was pretty loud, though, and so was the...singing?!

Look closely and you can glimpse a sneaker.

First thought: OMGyey busking person!
Second thought: Why's this person playing just beside my hedge, behind the protection of a car door?
Third thought: ...Gilasiao* dude strumming guitar outside house?

He went on strumming, anyway, and I'm still wondering if the gods are crazy on weekends.

--

So I mentioned I'd bear proof of my mild shopping addiction, and of course my dorkery, correct?

Now it's time to play 'Guess M.Y.'s favourite brand'.

I went to Body Shop looking for concealer (panda eyes) and perfume oil, and walked out with a blusher brush in tow. @_@ But that's not proof of dorkery, you say? You're right. It's not. But this is.↓↓↓

Ka―nashige―ni saku―hana ni―

Finally couldn't pass up the manhwa shop's Black Jack manga box set, branded as Most Advanced Caricature *choke*. It contains a whole truckload of macabre medical goodness, shrunken to four-pages-per-page and translated into Chinese.　I've been looking for BJ manga in the shops, but I can't find that all-important first issue, so I really can't start, can I? @_@ The Chinese translation is the best bet, considering any other translations out there would have been sourced from this one. (It's a hypothesis, but a pretty strong one.)

Oh yes, there's just one last thing. I can't read Chinese. :P

*gilasiao - 'Crazy-crazy'. Malay-Hokkien. Personal portmanteau.

Accio irony!

2007-07-22T23:52:00.000+08:00

State of mind: exhausted
Current soundtrack: J-Pop-Rock - REDEMPTION (Gackt)

It's raining outside, a nice pleasant sound with a nice pleasant temperature to go with it. This is one of the best times to be curled up under thick blankets with a fluffy pillow, and drifting off to the sway of one's one thoughts.

I am not asleep. I have a stiff neck, but I have just finished sketching the last sketches...I hope...of the P.S.T.C. internship project and I am pondering the irony of how I, a child of Multimedia Design and Generation-Y and all that, am fervently wishing for a media blackout of about, ohhhh, shall we say two weeks, for the following reasons:

1. My aunt, who is the big Harry Potter fan, has hidden her copy of Deathly Hallows SOMEWHERE in my grandmother's house, and I haven't been able to find it.
2. She's not revealing its whereabouts 'til she finishes reading it.
3. My aunt reads v-e-r-y slowly - it'll probably take her three weeks to finish the book, which in the language of myself and the Internet is half of forever. (To give a sense of scale, I ploughed desperately through OOTP in two days, though without much enjoyment - and HBP took a long Sunday afternoon/evening.)

The annoying part is I don't want to be spoiled at all for this book. I don't want to know who dies when or where with the what by whom. I already felt cheated when someone blurted out Dark Zagi's true identity on the board that must not be named, and since then I have been doubly anal about fandom matters.

Which, of course, makes it perfectly natural for two spoilers to hit me between the eyes within 24 hours; once when I clicked on an LJ-cut to comment on how bleedin' fast someone was reading—I scrolled down, but the browser jumped and a big spoiler sprang at me, and once more when someone slipped an R.I.P. into their Messenger alias.

YEEAAAARGGGH!

Now is the time for the path of least resistance, and less Internet. But I swear if anyone comes up and blurts out anything...there will be carnage. @^@

I also promise you that I will be sneaky and furtive and put any long spluttering rants about the death of (insert name here) behind white blocks of span style.

In the next post: Pictures of what I just blew half my month's stipend on shopping for, and proof I am a complete DORKUS. (If you didn't know that already.)

erk ork ark...ACK!

2007-07-11T16:47:00.001+08:00

State of mind: hopped-up
Current soundtrack: Animated!TF Movie theme on loop %3

After a long long absence from the theaters (the last silver screening I caught was 300 — yey manchest!), I decided I needed to go see Transformers, for my sanity. I used to love them robots back in the day. They also introduced me to the idea of death, for I clearly remember Ultra Magnus getting, um, stepped on by Megatron and wondering for years and years whyyyyy they filled his coffin with SPIDERS...Yeah, I don't get it either. (._.;) It was actually a whole mess of daisies. But it looks like this was something out of Headmasters, or so the Transformers Wiki tells me.

So! I accompanied my fellow fangirl Lynn to the theater. We came, er, a bit late, and had to squeeze past a lot of people to get to our seats. I then realised we were...rather close to the screen. But no matter! Movie! Hilarity! Big shiny robots!

Transformers: The Movie

The Not-so-rabid Fangirl Review

To summarise the story very very quickly, the uber 1337 powderfull Cybertronian Allspark plummets to Earth. Powderfull indeed, as not only is it able to Create Life, the right person touches it and it neatly compresses into a cube about, oh, a tenth-maybe-twentieth of its original size. Megatron pursues, but gets frozen in the Artic (n00b!). 19th century Witwicky finds Megatron, gives him a bad touch and gets the map to the Allspark printed onto his eyeglasses - many years later, Autobots and Decepticons show up to find the map to the Allspark, then the Allspark itself, and finally there's a big crash-boom-bang-through-buildings kind of fight, and the Autobots decide to make Earth their second home.

Now, I didn't want to watch the movie at first. I mean, I saw what they'd done to the designs first. Where was the sleekness? Where was the simplicity? Where was the Inherent Cheese?! And I'm talking about the Autobot designs here! And then I saw the really ah beng flames they'd painted on OP. But I did end up here, partly because it looked like the treatment was going to end up something like the 2004 ULTRAMAN movie - a modern reimagining of an old concept. If you compared Ultraman to The Next and then the robot redesigns, sure, it made sense.

...'mma going to kill that pimptastic Michael Bay. At least ULTRAMAN's got a three-minute time limit excuse hidden in the fandom's core consciousness. Transformers doesn't have enough Transformers. Not enough for my liking or Lynn's, anyway.

When I saw this, I squeed. Out loud. In a packed cinema. Thankfully nobody shushed me. *dies*

I mean, it was a pretty movie. It was full of crashes and booms and bangs, and every time the Autobots convoy rolled out, it sent shivers up and down and diagonally through my spine. There was a lot of pop culture references, like the insignia and the leaking lubricant. (I thought leaking lubricant meant to blather on? Or am I thinking of Kup from the other movie?) And it was full of human drama. Which meant there weren't enough Transformers.

There were also a few other problems I would like to address here:

How am I NOT supposed to love a woobie face like this? @_@

Um, Mikaela. Just a little, in the beginning. After that she rocks socks in box...es. Because really, doesn't this kinda look like that Sideshow Mary Jane figure that has/d feminists up in arms? All right, it's fanservice, we get it. Cheez. Some of your audience happens to be female, you know. -_-;

One has to sit through about half the movie before any Autobots finally appear. Hi, can we please have our protagonists nice and up front?

The Autobots learned their English...over the Internet. Er. I'm just kind of glad nobody burst out in a string of 'all your base are belong to us' or 'zomg' or even 'is it can be cheezburger tiem nao pleez?' They seem to have picked up...rather a lot of slangy language, but thank god they didn't pick up Memeglish or Macroese. ^^;

What did they do to Optimus Prime?! He's PRIME fercryin'! He's witty, but not snarky, grumpy or impatient; nor, for that matter, does he say things like 'My bad.'

Snarktimus Prime also needs to keep that mouth-mask thing on. Mostly because it looks like his lips are pasted onto his chin. x_x Umf, do not want!

The head of Sector 7? Needs to be given a goooood kick in the pants. He only useful for five minutes, and pretty much a turd for the rest of the movie.

Did we really need to have Bumblebee's...lubricator outlet...there? I mean it was funny and all, but the term 'golden showers' never seemed so appropriate before.

Those parties who decided to rope Bumblebee like a beef steer, tie him down and freeze him? OMAIGOD DAI. YU DAI NAO IN FAIYAR THXBI.

[kindoflargespoiler]Did they HAVE to kill of Jazz? I mean, G1 Jazz roxxor the soxxor in the boxxor! He was one of my favourites along with Bumblebee and Ultra Magnus, and you SNAPPED HIM IN BLIMMIN' TWO![/kindoflargespoiler]

Bumblebee's unusual British accent. British? Not that I have anything against the Commonwealth, but...nice, proper, mature British? I thought Bumblebee was supposed to be small and nippy and quick and young. D:

Please do not perform petting or making out on top of Transformers, people. Even if they're in car form. Specially if they're in car form. Special-specially if the OTHERS are kind of parked around. Teehee voyeur TFs

Not enough Transformers already, confound it.

In conclusion, while it was an adequate movie, humourous and awe-inspiring in good amounts. the focus might have been a smidge misplaced. Because I honestly and whole-heartedly tell you, there just weren't enough Transformers. For me, anyway. It's worth a tub of popcorn for the boom-bang visuals and the unintentional LOLmoments. Seeing 5 TFs trying to conceal themselves in a suburban yard is like watching Iron Giant in quintiplicate.

Oh, here. To show I'm not ENTIRELY humourless, have a Burger King commercial with Prime in it.

ETA: VGCats has summed up my feelings about the situation, and much better than I could. Hooray Intart00bz!

I'm in ur comments, fighting mi worz.

2007-06-27T18:34:00.000+08:00

State of mind: giggly
Current soundtrack: Black Jack - Fantastic (Suzuki Ami)

...I'm sorry. This borders on blasphemy, but I can't be the only one who thinks it's funny that suddenly, Transformers are appearing in Yasmin Ahmad's blog.

It's a perfectly Y.A. post, and it was published somewhere around the vicinity of the zomgbaldness fiasco. For two thirds of the way it's all quite sane, and then suddenly, Megatron decides to input his two sen.
INSECTS!

FLESHFORM YASMIN, FLESHFORM AMYMARIA, FLESHFORM ANON,
FLESHFORM HOLDERS, FLESHFORM KEKURE, FLESHFORM MAS, FLESHFORM AZIZI AHMAD ...
AND ALL PATHETIC FLESHFORMS READING THIS.

HEAR ME NOW.
I.
AM.
MEGATRON.

YOUR BICKERINGS VEXES ME.

IF THERE IS TO BE JUDGEMENT, IT SHALL ONLY COME FROM ME, FILTHY FLESHLINGS.

YOUR EXISTENCE TAINTS ME. YOUR FLESH IS WEAK.
YOU ARE WEAK. YOUR INTELLECTS ARE WEAK.
INSIGNIFICANT INSECTS.

ALL YOU TALK ABOUT MATTERS FOR NOTHING!
SOON YOUR PLANET WILL BE A WASTELAND. THE HOUR DRAWS NEAR. THE ALLSPARK WILL BE MINE.

IT WOULD BE BETTER IF YOU ALL SELF TERMINATE NOW.

MEGATRON
06.18.07 - 1:32 am #
Not too long afterwards, Optimus Prime himself (w00t!) joins in, pleading passionately for the partially pitiful psyches of PC perusers. And then up pop Bonecrusher, Bumblebee, Spike, and even Starscream. Even Michael 'Bai'. Pop, pop, pop! Suddenly even Michael (Jackson) and Ronald (McD) spring out of the woodwork.

Somewhere in the middle was a commenter scolding the anonymice for faffing around in the comments section, but...I feel nothing but amusement. It could be a collection of trolls, but...it's a collection of intelligent, benign trolls on Yasmin Ahmad's blog. And that makes a certain dippy blogger roll up in giggles.

...Wonder what Yasmin thought about all of that in the end.

Short, for once.

2007-06-24T22:24:00.000+08:00

State of mind: thoughtful
Current soundtrack: the whirr of the aircon

I've been having strange dreams about pale-skinned alien women recently. That's all I should say, for fear of further public confirmation that I'm Stark Raving Bonkers.

Took the compulsory extra two hours of driving classes today. It didn't turn out too badly, I think! At least the engine didn't die and for the most part, I didn't run into anybody. The rearview mirror is like a revelation.

Memes again!

2007-06-20T21:59:00.000+08:00

State of mind: drowsy
Current soundtrack: Black Jack - here I am (globe)
When I was typing this bit, 'Cross My Heart' came up on WMP. I love this song. In fact, it's one of my favourite pairing anthems—but I hate Ayashi no Ceres just as much as anything else by Watase. Darnit, how come such crap anime had such great music? O_o

With that in mind, a meme I picked off Fenix to do before bedtime:

Name 13 songs in your mind and answer the following questions.

Eiyuu (doa)
Heaven (Bryan Adams)
Cross My Heart (Day Break)
Qing Sheng (Nicholas Tse, Charlene Choi)
Chikai wo Kimi ni (ibid)
Salvia no Tsubomi (HOME MADE Kazoku)
Taiyou no Uta (Amane Kaoru)
Pass The Flame (Yiannis Kotsiras)
Itsumo Soba Ni (Kirii Daisuke)
Kimi no Ai to Boku no Yuuki (Kageyama Hironobu)
Do You Hear The People Sing? (Les Miserables)
here I am (globe)
Kimi no Kiss de (ayaka)

Who do you remember when you hear no. 4?
The first man I had a crush on in college.

Does no. 8 make you happy?
It's spirited and energetic, but it doesn't make me HAPPY.

Has no. 3 made you cry?
Nope. Probably won't, ever.

In what occasion did you hear no. 9?
Someone on my old blog mentioned they had the image song for OuHos' Mori. I like Mori. I download.

Do you miss no. 10?
The sentiment makes me wistful, but I have the song on my laptop, so no. :)

Which lyrics do you like the best from no. 1?
Otoko nara
Dareka no tame ni tsuyoku nare
Onna mo sou sa
Miteru dake ja hajimaranai

(If you are a man
Then be strong for someone close to you
Same for a woman
Nothing starts if you watch without a clue)

...Yes, I translated the song. Yes, the lines rhyme. I had a lot more free time back then.

Imagine something when you hear no. 2.
I think of a man and woman at night, under a large tree. The stars are out. They lie head-to-head, staring at the sky and holding the other's hand.

Who do you remember when you hear no. 6?
My parents. For obvious reasons, if you've heard this song.

When was the last time you heard no. 11?
Three years ago, during Lit Nite 2004 (Miracles).

Who told you about no. 8?
No one did. I heard it during an ad for the Athens Olympics and went looking for it.

Do you often sing no. 11?
Only just recently, because it's included in the Les Mis epilogue. And I was singing that because I was preparing a wallpaper. >w>

Have you sung no. 7 to anyone?
Would anyone listen?

Does no. 10 inspire your life?
Sometimes. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy. :)

Does no. 5 tell about your feelings?
...This one? Hard to say. It energises me. It's my alarm ringtone. But yes, sometimes I feel this way. Or I need to. ;)

What do you feel when you hear no. 2?
Sorrow mixed with hope. A great deal of hope.

Do you smile when you hear no. 11?
No.

When was the first time you heard no. 1?
At the end of A Chinese Tall Story. And I fell in love.

If you could dedicate no. 9 to someone, who would it be?
Firn, most likely. The person I first wanted to dedicate this to probably doesn't even care now.

Does no. 7 mean a lot to you?
It...depends on my mood XD

What’s so special about no. 10?
I can actually see this as Dyna and Tiga's song. If you saw them fight together, you would too.

Would you sing no. 11 to anyone? to whom?
No, unless they wanted me to. (Why. Do you like. 11. So. Much?!)

Does no. 8 remind you of someone?
Not really.

What memory comes to your mind when you hear no. 5?
Seeing the Six Ultra Brothers for the first time.

Do you want to hear no. 12 right now?
Oo yes, let's. :D *puts it on*

Can you remember clearly the first time you heard no. 13?
I was...in my room, last year, during term break. Nothing else really worth remembering. XD

Aw, man.

2007-06-19T22:20:00.000+08:00

State of mind: slightly amused
Current soundtrack: J-music - Starting Line (Kobukuro)

WAHOO, KENA SHOOT BY CLIENTS TODAY. x____x;

All right, it wasn't THAT bad, but it does set the project back considerably...OTL Content needs childifying. Characters need to get their corners sanded off. Also, the interaction wasn't interacting today.

Gwar. Such is life. Still, it's actually good to be in a group and feeling useful again - I just ran the (fifth) draft of the child-friendly content and am sending it around.

Tsukareteru yooooo. I need sleep.

Was talking with my cousin earlier, and I have my first (extremely cheapo) freelance gig. I'll talk a bit about this later.

'They were to come back for me, but they never did...'

2007-06-17T23:33:00.000+08:00

State of mind: surprised (and slightly drowsy)
Current soundtrack: The white noise of the fan and the ticking of the keyboard

This is probably going to make no sense to anyone except myself, but what the hey.

It's been a very weird weekend, as I found some fairly old doodles I made while taking my trial HCEs three years ago. One of them included a backstory for one of my characters, Hakugin (Shi had nicer footwear then. I might bring that back.), and it involved two soldiers who were later reincarnated as...well, two others in an already established series. I won't go any further. One was skinny and brash, the other was a big, sweet man. The weird part? A year later, I had to prepare a script for my Drama class. Not only did I turn it into ANOTHER Hakugin backstory, conveniently forgetting this one, I managed to transplant the two characters in—and switch their personalities AND reincarnations. Skinny and brash became slim and innocent. Big and sweet became strong and silent.

...I swear when I scripted Never Alone, Kiichiro and Jinnosuke were designed then. I didn't quite expect them to turn up a year prior to that on an old Math Magic competition form, or hide in my brain and await a chance for rebirth.

Also, I had a dream about being scammed on a family holiday - twice. The first had the whole clan walking home through colourful, chest-high tulip fields (please remember I live in a TROPICAL country), and the next had me kidnapped and thrown into freezing 'brown water', only to later chase courting hornbills and get bitten by the irate male of the pair. To be fair, They were extremely pretty crowned pigeons at the start of my dream. Even better was the look in the male's eyes when I finally stopped playing dead, before he chewed by nose off—"Ha, see, I knew you were alive, you naked Wingless! Phear my 1337 papa hornbill sk33l5!"