I will attempt to be succinct @ Hudsonning.

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 dream of...sessha?

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

A sliver of heaven in the bundt cake of hell.

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:

1. 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:
2. 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!
3. 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!

All ur text are belong to ME.

State of mind: frazzled
Current soundtrack: Snatches of 'Purple People Eater'

Guess who's the copywriter/editor for Batch 51's graduation campaign? X3 Between me and my trusty, equally grammar-finicky assistant, no syn(tax) shall go unpunished*! No verb shall be treated as a noun! The F7 button will sing beneath our fingers! Behold, TOA, She-Noun and the Masters of the Grammarverse! *triumphant cartoon music* One small problem—I really don't know anyone in the board besides some of my classmates. I guess now's a good opportunity to get to know some people from other majors besides the old foundation gang.

Internship is going along quite smoothly. So far, so good—we're all bouncing merrily off each other and it's proving to be a pleasant experience. Expect to see some of my sketches here soon. :D

I had a horribly, unashamedly moe-riffic dream last night. There was an Ultraman event on for the school holidays—a GREAT BIG event!!!—in which Noa handled a crying baby expertly (cue squeeing from author), I saw a massive flock of Brahminy kites on a beach and life was so good I refused to wake up until I'd overslept one hour. :P

Firnheledien comes over tomorrow for a visit! ♥ But tonight...proposal work. @_@ *reluctantly detaches self from blogging and goes to work*

* we sincerely hope.

L > T?

State of mind: somewhat confused
Current soundtrack: Heisei High - Ultraman Tiga - TAKE ME HIGHER (V6)

See, this is what you get when the blogger's grandfather was a Latin student and the blogger's mother has taught English for more than 30 years.

The newspapers astound amuse puzzle me sometimes. Apparently a couple of days ago in the Malay Mail (famous for being sexy enough that the government threw a hissy fit and shut the weekend edition down), there was an article on how a 'tomboy' was denied entry to a popular nightclub in K.L. Quotation marks aren't mine, so it's clear we're not talking about a merely boisterous and bustling young woman here. No, we are talking about They Who Must Not Be Named: lesbians. Or sapphists, if you prefer to be less offensive to the long-suffering people of Lesbos.

So. The woman who cannot enter a club because she has short hair and dressed in a masculine fashion? Tomboy.

The teen who spirited her girlfriend off, acts like a man and has a short short buzzcut? Tomboy.

The woman who likes other women but is still feminine and is quite happy to maintain the stereotypical 'female' role in a relationship? Possibly Still A Tomboy.

...Let's try and shed some light on this, shall we? I called upon the 1337 and wordly powers of Dictionary.com and compared our two words. Let's see what it says for 'tomboy'.

–noun
an energetic, sometimes boisterous girl whose behavior and pursuits, esp. in games and sports, are considered more typical of boys than of girls.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v1.1)

Hm. Nothing about alternative sexuality there, eh? Let's try again.

–noun
n. A girl considered boyish or masculine in behavior or manner.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Nothing about liking girls here, either. Something is obviously wrong! D:

–noun
1553, "rude, boisterous boy," from Tom + boy; meaning "bold or immodest woman" is attested from 1579; that of "girl who acts like a spirited boy" is first recorded 1592.

Still nothing! But wait, I hear someone in the back. "These are all American dictionaries! You are following the West!!!11!" Fair enough. Or rather, we're following the wrong part of the West. Let's bring out a big old British English dictionary - the Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary. It's a bit old — 20 years, to be exact — but I hope you don't mind.

–N COUNT
A tomboy is a girl who likes playing rough or noisy games.

Nothing about liking others of the same gender, people. NOTHING. For that, you have at least three very useful and appropriate words: 'homosexual', 'gay' and 'lesbian'. Two words are already accepted in the Malaysian press, kinda, so why won't you use the L word? There it is sitting in a corner on the verge of cutting its wrists, playing emo music and feeling fat and unloved.

Is 'tomboy' some strange Malaysian euphemism for teh gurlsex that I haven't heard about? Because as a real tomboy, one who preferred Sabre Rider over Sailormoon, eschewed frills and pinkness and went from 'boys suck' to 'certain boys still suck, but damn that one is FINE', I reserve the right to feel a certain irritation. Besides, even if it IS a euphemism, please exercise your sparkling wit to come up with some way to refer to the more feminine lesbians of the community, hm. They need love and reference too.

A word of advice to the Malaysian press at large: 'lesbian' is no dirty word, no dirtier than 'gay' or 'homosexual' or 'triskaidekaphobia'. You will not be stricken, smitten or covered in pimples just because you use it. Honest. :)