ausare @ LiveJournal

Post count as of 4^th January 2009, 9:18 a.m.: 3 entries!

Yup, anyway, the turn of a new year.
My 2008 passed the same way my 2007 did—unnoticed. It felt so unfair that I didn't really get to experience my 2008. But, yeah, whatever. Time really does fly, no matter if one is having fun or just hoping to survive the year.

2009. Oh, 2009. Another 364.26 days of fresh beginnings and opportunities.
I dare not hope much for the year, and I pretty much stopped making resolutions because I know I won't keep to them, but I do wish for a few things, for people to:

Learn that everyone is different.
Accept that no one lives the same way—your way.
Respect each other's differences.
Understand that being different does not equate to being evil.
Understand that not everyone believes in your religion.
Understand that religious teachings don't lord over one's life, but are rather things that teach you to be a better person.
Blame each other a little less.
Respect each other a little more.
Think logically before acting and-or speaking negatively.
Realise that generalising people is the same as being prejudiced against that group of people.
Remember that we are all humans who have to share this living space and will be rubbing elbows with each other and should be treated with equal dignity and humane rights, even if laws and religions say otherwise, because after all, they correspond only to their specific group of people and are not things that define us. It is the compassion we have for each other that make us human, not intelligence nor culture, and it is only too easily forgotten for the sake of forcing our own opinions down someone else's throat.

Let's hope this will truly be a happy new year, because in the end, when all else fails, the only thing we have left is hope.

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.

- Tom Clancy

Because I hate Twilight so much, I find it fitting to contribute a haiku for the US Haiku day (21 December).

Twilight disappoints,
Undermines feminism.
Bad writing. 'Nuff said.

And don't go around calling Twilight "glorified fanfiction".
Please don't insult the fanfiction community, where I know for a fact that many great (although amateur) writers do exist and are better than Stephenie Meyer by leaps and bounds, because really, she claims to be a feminist? Her books (are they even fit to be called books?) have set second-wave feminism back a full century.
The feminists would have probably committed suicide if they had known what impressionable little girls are picking up from those books.

SAY 'NO' TO TWILIGHT!

Look at that!

LOOK!

And what is that tag? How should I describe it?
Gaudy? Tacky?
I have no words.
The wordings on the tag are actually in GOLD, and some areas were already washed off after ONE run in the washing machine.

(I used the black side of my blanket as a background in hopes that the tee wouldn't look too bad against it. I rest my case. If it looks horrible in the first place, NOTHING, will make it look even an iota better.)

Last weekend she went shopping with my paternal grandmother and despite my multiple warnings not to buy anything for me, and that I can live through one Chinese New Year with no new clothes, she's done it again.
The woman just waltzed into my room when they got back and went "Look! I bought you new tee-shirts!"
I blanched at that... mess. No words could have begun to described the expression on my face, nor the collective of exclamations and curses that hurricaned through my mind.
No words, I tell you.

(She bought two tees, actually. But the other one was just a cheaper, more plain, and deeper red version of an Esprit tee I had, so that's not a valid argument in her favour either. Why buy an almost-duplicate of something I already had?)

First, the colour.
Come on, tell me that was not what caught your unfortunate eyes right away.
I'm fine with stripes. And I'm obsessed with polo tees. The colour? Pure apparel vulgarity.
Tell me you disagree. I'll probably whack you upside the head, though.
There is an unspoken rule about stripes on tee-shirts: Colour contrast.
Grey and pale orange and pale green?
I can feel my bile acting up.

Then it was the fabric.
Perhaps it's hard to tell from the photographs, but already it's stretched and the seams aren't straight anymore.
FROM ONE WASH IN THE WASHING MACHINE.
Even my Giordano tee lasted longer than that, and their tees are notorious for wayward seams that don't survive multiple washings.

My mother was gushing on and on about "Now you'll have something to wear for Chinese New Year!"

The mind shuts down.

She wants me to wear that outside of our house, while we go visit friends and relatives?

The mind explodes.
'Nuff said.

SL and I were totally beat by the time we sat down at the restaurant. We had no idea how women have the energy to shop all day.

SL's theory is that they get to rest when trying out clothes in changing rooms or getting to sit down when checking out shoes, while us window shoppers walk non-stop.
I am just plain boggled.

Anyway, back to dinner.
First time at Astons. Not as expensive as I thought it would be. Phew!
We had our own Don't Forget/Guess the Lyrics!

And I put Britney Spears' Womanizer on loop in SL's mind (it's an annoying song for those who can't see the amusement in it).

Good times. Just gotta love my secondary school friends.

P.S.
I realised I knew lesser modern Mandarin songs (never liked Jay Chou, and I didn't really listened to JJ Lin) but more old/classic ones, and that I knew more old English songs and those from the last decade.

Me posting quizzes = me busy watching shows online
Whee! =D

How wonderful is that?
We should have more of them! The world will never tire of idiotic people.
Apparently, stupidity kills, but not enough.

* * *

On a happier note, here's another Torchwood fanfiction that I've written as a tribute to Toshiko. I blame it on my biasness towards other Asian characters. And that geeks rule!

Type: One-shot (droubble)
Words: 200
Character(s): Toshiko, team Torchwood 3
Warnings: Character death. Don't like, don't read. Huge spoiler for Series 2 episode 13.
Rating: Gen
Disclaimer: BBC and Russell T Davies own Torchwood. Sadly, I still don't.

Summary: Toshiko knows. And she is rarely wrong.

( All Will Be Right )

Also available on my website. Check the sitemap if you ever get lost.
Leave comments either at FF.Net or at my LiveJournal.

My first university semester is OVER.
Assignments: ALL DONE.

PHEW.

Now I can relax and watch the fourth series of Doctor Who. Yayness!

And to all my other friends in NUS and SIM who are still in the midst of examinations, good luck!
Persevere!
And the whole of December will be ours!~

* * *

And before I forget, here's the Torchwood fanfiction that I've completed months ago.

Type: One-shot
Words: 100
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Warnings: Slashy hints and mentions of canon m/m lip-contact. Don't like, don't read. Spoilers for Series 1, episodes 4 and 6.
Rating: PG-13.
Disclaimer:
BBC and Russell T Davies own Torchwood. Sadly, no matter how many tantrums I throw, it will never be mine.

Summary: Ianto could not remember.

( The Last Person )

Also available on my website. Check the sitemap if you ever get lost.
Leave comments either at FF.Net or at my LiveJournal.

Labels: Creations, Fanfictions, Torchwood, TV shows

2875 words.

I should stop underestimating my powers of analysis-lengthening.

One more assignment left!
C'mon! I can do this!

There is much hype about New Media. Critics and advocates alike make what seem to be startling claims. Many of these issues form around the question of technology. Flew (2002) provides an expanded account of "cultural technologies". To what extent are we determined by our technologies of culture and hence communication? Provide significant examples, from the literature, in your account.
(Note: Science Fiction is a great source for hypothetical and not so hypothetical examples.)

LENGTH: 2500 - 3000 words

Due date: 22-11-08, 3:00 AM EST (Australia time)

Major Essay Assignment
CMNS1110 Introduction to Communication Studies

C'mon! 1019 words left to hit the minimum word limit!
I can do this!

(Can't believe I managed to wake up before 9am, even earlier than what I've set on the alarm clock, when I only went to bed at 4am. Wow! I can barely function on less than 5 hours of sleep!)

By the way, I've watched the trailer for Twilight. Shocking, I know, considering my hatred for the series.
Is it just me, or has it finally come to the point where the book is so bad that it sets the first ever precedence of defying the tried and proven 'Book is Always Better than Movie Adaptation' rule? I reserve judgment until I am able to overcome my abhorrence for the Twilight series to the extent of voluntarily setting foot in the cinema to watch its movie.

Labels: Book recs

Bloody fucking immature adolescent assholes.

Perhaps I should be less judgmental of the poor beings who are apparently still stuck at the bottom of the evolutionary scale.

Self-importance much?
Hmm... Nope, not feeling the least bit shameful about it.
=)

And~ I'm off to my assignments again.
Less than 4 weeks away from the end of the trimester!
A long break is definitely welcomed.

When cyber-converted Yvonne Hartman turned on the rest of the Cybermen, with a single tear from her eye as she defended the Torchwood Institute ("I did my duty, for Queen and country."), I wibbled.
I honestly wibbled.

And at the end of the episode when The Doctor said to Rose Tyler that he was "burning up a sun to say goodbye", I knew there was only one way the episode could end for me.
What finally did it was when The Doctor couldn't say whatever it was he wanted to before the connection got cut off and he was alone again in his TARDIS- with tears running down his face.
=(

Yeah, well. Granted, there were funny parts in the two-part episode too.
Never let it be said that Doctor Who lacks humour.
I absolutely loved the part where the Cybermen and the Daleks were insulting each other.
Let's take over the world! But first, I shall have an argument with the competition!
So amusing.

Russell T Davies is just pure LOVE.

Labels: TV shows

I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Join PETA! And PETA2!

Yeah, well, granted you'd have to be in the US to be able to donate, and that it'll snow in Singapore before I ever turn vegetarian, there are many other animal cruelty acts are just plain disgusting, which you can simply send pre-completed petitions to show that you're not remotely amused (pardon the Doctor Who quote. I have started on series2 of the 2005 relaunch and- can I just say- I am SO loving UK television shows).

Actually, I do have many other things to blog about- but assignment deadlines are ruthlessly demanding my attention and I'm just this close to being dead from flu-and-sore-throat-and-cough (fever is gone overnight, thank goodness), which means that proper blogging will have to be postponed till an indeterminable time.

Labels: PETA, TV shows

Cons:

Completing everything alone.
Brainstorming, analysis, explanations, everything.
Spending near to two days in front of the laptop all by myself, rushing to submit a 2000 words essay amidst other individual assignments demanding my attention?
Not fun.

Pros:

Not to sound full of myself, but there had been no "staying up till 4am just to edit the assignment" involved.
I trust my language capabilities, and therefore I can correct myself before the words are being typed out.
Meaning?
Editing is on the spot, no need to lose temper over other people's horrible grasp of the English language while stretching my mad-editing skills to its maximum and trying to stay conscious at 3am with half-asleep eyes (also being stretched to full awake-size but is ultimately a futile attempt), and I get more than four hours of sleep before waking up for another day of school.

Oh well. You lose some, you win some.

Anyway.
The darn minor essay (for CMNS1110 Introduction to Communication Studies) has been completed and submitted.
1954 words.
Just under the word limit. Phew.

Next, website proposal for CMNS1000 Introduction to Digital Communication.
Yayness. Woots.
(Note the sarcasm.)

McQuail (1994:49-55) identifies four concepts of communication in contemporary Western culture:

1. sending and receiving messages (transmission);
2. forming and maintaining communities (ritual);
3. showing off oneself and one's wares (display); and
4. making sense of the world around us (reception).

Select either a locally-produced radio or television station, a newspaper, an Internet website and analyze the extent to which it manifests each of McQuail's four concepts, providing examples from your chosen media text.

From your analysis of the media text, assess how useful McQuail's theory of communication is to the media of non-Western cultures such as Singapore.

LENGTH: 1500 - 2000 words

Due date: 10-07-08, 2:00 AM EST (Australia time)

Minor Essay Assignment
CMNS1110 Introduction to Communication Studies

Ironic, isn't it, that I am completely robbed of time to churn out a few hundred words for a decent fanfiction and yet here I am, rushing to submit an essay of similar length to a proper chapter of Aki Kitsune.

After which, I still have (no thanks to CMNS1000 Introduction to Digital Communication) a website proposal to redo and a full website interface of at least 6 pages to create (excluding the splash page), complete with original graphics (ie. me slaving away on Photoshop), literary content and the whole HTML coding (ie. more slaving away in front of my laptop). Which is also entirely ironic, when I have no time for with regards to my own website.

And that's not all.
Courtesy of CMNS1090 Introduction to Professional Writing, there's a character profile to do, meaning interviewing someone I hardly know (which I do have an idea of who to look for but am SO not free to plan for right now) plus a review to do on, which has been oh-so-kindly restricted to exclude movie, music album and book reviews.
Darn. And here I was, cackling away (inwardly) at all the sarcasm I can use to "review" Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.
*Scowls*

Enough escapism. I should get back to writing that damn essay.
Ugh. Am not happy.

Labels: Aki Kitsune, Book recs

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series

For us "seasoned" and matured readers, we can't help but NOT like the series that has pre-teens all mad over (especially now that the movie of the first installment will be in cinemas sometime November this year).

There have been numerous character breakdown/explanation/ranting/bitching about the leading male character in the series (Edward Cullen), and here is a more complete argument that I've read.
Also, because I'm too lazy (big surprise) to again explain why I find the series mediocre, here's my reply to the aforementioned argument. It's not much of an addition to the character study the person had already made, but an abridged version (you can't possibly expect me to repeat the full version everytime someone mentions "Twilight") of my own thoughts about the series.

Anyway, a big round of applause for yours truly because today, I have survived an approximately 5 minutes (out of the requested 10 minutes) of my Communications Studies presentation on Habitus- which I've hardly prepared because a) there's not much in the given reading article for me to express my own opinion on, and b) the article is basically just explaining Habitus.
I must have been getting better at impromptu story-crapping.
*Shrugs*

SHOWS! The television shows that I watch are beginning their new seasons in US soon!

Chuck season 2: 29th September
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season 9: 9th October
CSI:Miami season 7: 22nd September (TODAY!)
CSI:NY season 5: 24th September
Heroes season 3: 22nd September (TODAY!)
How I Met Your Mother season 4: 22nd September (TODAY!)

And finally, my new love- Torchwood series 3!
Still in the filming process (hopefully KC managed to stalked the actors in Cardiff and get some decent photographs for me) and is slated to show in January 2009. At least, that was what I last heard.
Can't wait!

P.S.
Just watched the season premier of Heroes. Am DAMN excited right now.
=)

Labels: Torchwood, TV shows

And just when I thought there could be nothing more I could possible feel for lizards, here's another to the mix:

TRAUMATISED

In my attempt to immobilise/banish a lizard from my room, I tried to enlist the assistance of my parents (ie. let them do the work while I cower on my chair/outside my room; see above self-defined sentiment towards lizards), and let's just say that, although I would give anything in the world to have a fangirl!Gwen experience (ie. walking in on a Jack/Ianto moment in the greenhouse/hothouse), I really, really, REALLY wished that my parents had locked their door.
Now I'm conditioned to feel extremely EWW whenever I see a lizard. Ugh.

As pervy as I admit to be, I draw the line at Eric/Ryan and Jack/Ianto.
Why slash and not het, you wonder. Well, I should hardly want to get a "preview" of something that could happen in my future and then scaring and psychologically scarring myself so much that I don't want it when the time comes.

*Shudders*

There's a bloody lock in the door! Please! USE IT.

The circumstances about the whole incident was ridiculous- a simple teasing joke, at best. Yet it was strangely private and personal.
I know I'm just being idiotic over something that I'm sure had meant less than nothing, where nothing had transpired, but I don't care. It's a small rush that I haven't felt in a long time and I don't want to share the memory of those two short hours just yet.

Although I really wished I had been less of a bore (at least, that's how I thought I was) then.

Anyways, I'm typing this entry through FireFox because somehow, I can't access the Internet on my Internet Explorer.
Tried to install it again- didn't work. Uninstalled and installed it again- didn't work. Uninstalled and installed IE8 Beta 2- didn't work. Uninstalled IE8 and installed IE7 back- DIDN'T BLOODY WORK.

Well, it was just another excuse to not touch anything that required me to use HTML because for some reason, when I toggle between full style text and HTML coding on FireFox, it gets messed up and adds SPAN codes when I don't need it. Plus, I always check the coding after typing in full style mode because I can make sure that the code shows what I want it to show (yes, I'm anal that way).
Imagine the number of times I need to edit the codings each time I toggle between input styles.

The reasons why I keep IE when FireFox works perfectly fine for me are because it doesn't distort my codings, AND, certain China websites that host manga scanlations don't work in FireFox. It's just my luck when only those websites have series that other FireFox-friendly websites don't.
Pfft.

Anyway, my degree classes started just this week and we've already got article readings to do, notes to print and assignment plannings to submit in the very near future.
Speaking of which, I miss note-printing in Temasek Poly. The whole "Bring your own paper and print for free" thing is sorely missed, now that we need to pay 10 cents per piece in PSB Academy.
Shall be heading back to TP for cheap printing. And for BizPark's chicken chop.
*Salivates*

To the horror of all Windows-users' horrors, we have to use iMac for at least 2 of the current semester's modules. It's my little personal nightmare, frankly.
Mac is okay to use, but when you have lots of windows opened, it gets confusing about going where to restore them again.
And I can't use the Shift-Home/-End shortcuts to highlight text. Darn.

At least we have an amusing lecturer/tutor for our Intro to Media Production module:

He wears skinny jeans to class.

Yes. Skinny jeans. Add on to the obvious visual fact that he is quite slim?
*Guffaws*
Even I have more meat in my legs than him.
It's the single most darnest, entertaining distraction, because the moment you really took notice of him in skinny jeans, it is impossible to pay attention in class anymore.
I dissolve into a snickering, giggling mess every time I dared a look.

The one frightening thing about him is that he's only graduated about 3 years ago from his own course.

He is a musician of sorts (which he admits, and one newly-made friend found his MySpace page), which is fine because he knows his way around the media software, but when it comes to the theories behind it? It's an absolute train wreck. You can't bear to watch him attempt to explain things, and yet there's a perverse enjoyment in seeing him struggle to make sense while subjecting yourself to listen to what ends up being more confusing when he's done.

I half wanted to take over the class when he got to the part on frequency, amplitude and decibels. And I almost launched into a detailed answer for another coursemate's question pertaining to that area when minutes later, our lecturer still could not figured out what was actually being asked.
Hey, my Physics may have been the one subject with the worst grade in my O' Levels result slip but I did pay attention in class when frequency and amplitude were being taught.
Difficult not to, when during then we had a better Physics teacher. Who was a little psychotic and a tad sadistic. Then again, almost all our teachers in my secondary school are like that, and he was better at teaching Physics as compared to all the incompetent trainees and substitutes we had afterwards.

All right, work to do.
Have to force myself to be more conscientious this time, which, I can foretell to be quite a feat to achieve.

My writings
Fictions
Fanfictions
One-Shots
Ficlets
Scribbles
Fic: Aki Kitsune
Fic: Atarashii no Kisetsu
Fiction recommendations
Book recommendations
Random phrases

Baking
Photos
Manga
WILD ADAPTER
Minekura Kazuya
L'Arc~en~Ciel
Advertisements
PETA: Anti-Animal Abuse

TV show recommendations
Lovely*Complex
How I Met Your Mother
NBC Heroes season 1
NBC Heroes season 2

Tanjong Katong Secondary School
TP Student Internship Programme

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