Fairy tales are more than true: not because
they tell us that dragons exist, but because
they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
- G. K. Chesterton
.Chii.
23rd March (same as Minekura Kazuya-sensei)
21. Dragon. Aries. Atheist. Cynic. Lamer. Perfectionist. Packrat. Ngee Ann Pri. School choir.
Tanjong Katong Sec. School choir. Temasek Poly. Logistics & Ops Mgmt. · · ·
The University of Newcastle (PSB Academy, Singapore campus). BA of Communication.
.Wishlist.
48 hours each day.
iPod nano 2nd gen skin and pouch.
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.
What? It's the last few hours of the last day of the year already?
Why is it that I have none of those "a year is coming to a close" feelings? Not to mention that I have no idea that 2008 is just around that corner.
I mean, I'm aware of each passing day of the week, just not of days with respect to the year. Such a sad, sad sign of growing up; losing the simplest joy, even if it's just watching each day being crossed off the calendar.
All right. I figured that there isn't any use of me to make new year resolutions because other than the fact that it has never been a tradition of mine, there's a high possibility that I'll not adhere to them anyway, thanks to my high prowess of procrastination.
Heh, whatever. *Waves hand distractedly*
I'll attempt to complete Aki Kitsune before 2008 ends. Hopefully. Right, having one goal is more than enough for such a lazy person that I un-shamefully am.
On another note: my new LiveJournal site! Because the older one had a longer and therefore more tedious name to type.
The new version's colours are just so much more appealing than the current version's. Even the Rose Pink is comfortable to look at. Plus there's no ugly Gold colour this time around. Another aesthetic plus? The buttons on the d-pad are transparent. The letters and the arrows are printed on the bottom and the buttons are see-through. Pretty!
Still, I don't think I'll ever get one. I just like to look are pretty things. Especially pretty gadgets. And what with my life being so busy these days that I can't even complete Final Fantasy X yet, getting a PSP will just add number of not-yet-completed games to my already long list.
Although, there is a possibility that I may want to get a Nintendo DSlite in the future. Why? You see, older Final Fantasy games are being remade, and the new graphics are (pardon my repetition) pretty. Of course there're the new Pokémon games Diamond and Pearl. Yes, Pokémon, because I'm old-fashioned that way.
Speaking of my now busy life, thanks to my internship, there isn't enough time for me to edit and upload Aki Kitsune for the time being. So, here's me announcing yet another hiatus. But no worries! I'm still writing the chapters from time to time (including sacrificing early sleep on weeknights to churn out some words. Have I mentioned that AK chapter25 is half done?) so just check back here for updates.
Look at that! No, not the PSP Slim & Lite. The laptop in the background! The mouse pad looks so cool!
MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM is already out. Go search for it's pv because it's really very pretty and it reminds me of the pv done for winter fall. I'm hoping that I have enough savings for the L'Anniversary Live DVD when the normal edition comes out. If only I could have the limited edition but... for the sake of my miniscule savings... *sob* October's single, November's single, and then there's the new album that's coming out after a 2year and 5months wait since their AWAKE album!
Went to this Thai restaurant at Parkway for lunch. Event? Early celebration for my paternal grandmother's birthday. She's still young, ok! Haha... Before my mother came back from Taiwan to live with us, everyone else used to mistake my grandmother for my mother.
Anyway, it was after we came back from lunch that I continued my mad AK editing session so that the chapter can be uploaded today. Guess I succeeded!
Found this absolutely amazing L'Arc live performance of Dive to Blue from 2000. Apparently, HYDE-sama hurt his rib before this, which explains the strange leather binding thing around his torso. However, it seems as if nothing can stop HYDE-sama from prancing about on the stage. And what's with Tetsu and his obsession with throwing out bananas in every concert? Nevertheless, he's still adorable. I just love how L'Arc dominates the stage in this performance, and the way HYDE asserts his stage presence.
Yayness! Exams are finally over! Oh Internet, how I love thee~ Oh manga, you're my one and only~
And to maximise the mediocre one week we have as a shadow of the two-months holiday we usually get- which this time we don't, thanks to the student internship that's starting in a week or so- I have already rented eleven manga books, rented three DVDs, and gotten my eye checked today right after my paper ended.
The degree of my left eye went up, in case anyone would like to know. And the guy at the manga shop remembered me! To think that I was so worried that he couldn't because it's been at least a year since I've last went there. He even remembered my name! Woohoo!
Anyway, I've also posted chapter 20 of Aki Kitsune! Yes, a new chapter, after so long. It isn't beta-ed though, because goodness knows what Phoenix is up to, shirking her beta-ing job. Here's another link to FictionPress.Com, by the way.
Three cheers for my unbeatable skill of procrastination! For without it, I would have finished studying a whole subject by last night instead of completing chapter24 of Aki Kitsune! And that would be totally unforgivable, no? (Pardon me while I knock my head against the wall to punish myself for not putting more effort to bring myself to actually read my lecture notes instead of flipping through them as a cover whenever either of my parents walk pass my room. And to think that I'm nearing that double-decade mark of existence already!)
I have no idea why, but chapters 23 and 24 somehow made me go way over the 2000-word-per-chapter mark that I've set for myself.
Let's see...
Word Count Chapter23: 2878 Chapter24: 2814
Phoenix will kill me for making her beta long chapters. If she finishes her beta for chapters20-22 first, that is. Oh well, at least that distraction is out of the way and I can now concentrate on full-out mugging.
On another note, the TPmail that I stalked? It wasn't him. And like I ensured to YL and Julia, I'll just forget about it and not push my luck (so to speak) anymore because it always seemed to run out whenever something's got to do with him. Either he appears when there's too many people for me to talk to him for fear of embarrassment, or he doesn't show when I deliberately wait where he's supposed to show, or he does show up at the time where I knew he would but I've already given up the chance because I went to school earlier than usual to meet YL and Julia.
Guess I'll just continue ogling from a distance from now on.
Regarding my posting hiatus from Aki Kitsune, rest assured that I fully intend to finish this story.
Actually, as I speak (type, post, blog, whatever), I am in the LOM lab and using the 3-hour break in between my lessons (because there weren't any more Materials Management tutorials) to try and finish up chapter24. It's proving itself to be another one of those difficult-to-continue chapters.
Nevertheless! I shall persevere! As of now, I am at 1427 words.
Okay, my full-body ache didn't worsen today, although, neither did it lessen. The only irritating part was the skin on the balls of my shoulder where it got burnt the worse on Friday. Ugh, the pain. I intend to send out death threats when I return to school on Monday and just wait for the first victim who's stupid enough to test my patience and level of sunburnt-pain endurance.
Anyway, I'm sort of stuck at the 1200th plus words of Aki Kitsune chapter24 and am trying to finish the chapter up. 800 words had never seemed so impossible before.
One reason for my lagging writing speed would be the distraction. An example would be the weekly uploaded video for Lovely*Complex.
Amazingly enough, my Internet connection worked fine today and allowed me to load the episode in one go; no refreshes, no scampering to my parents' room to connect directly to the modem just so I can watch the episode that I've been anticipating since the anime started.
No hidden links this time. I'll be kind for a change.
I feel a little accomplished. Chapter24 of Aki Kitsune is half-complete and I've also written a 561-worded scene for Atarashii no Kisetsu last night (or more precisely, around 2am) that was started in my mind months ago by a short phrase that contained the words "brutality" and "repulsive", if my memory served me right. Don't worry, it's not an outrightly dark-fiction, although the two words above sounded rather alarming. The only dark aspect of anything I could bring myself to write was solely on the emotional-feeling side rather than the obvious act of it.
You see, I do have a sliver of innocent goodness under the shadow that is my sadistical perversity.
I am fiddling around with Photoshop and surfing through loads of online tutorials. In preparation for Aki Kitsune, I've been messing with eye colours since yesterday.
Okay, my editing skills aren't that good yet, I'll admit that. Hmm... this wouldn't reveal too much about AK, would it?
I have a feeling that I'll never learn how to use fully utilise Photoshop. And I'm getting the urge to draw again. It's just that I am painfully aware that my skills aren't as good as they once were. Even just being mildly rusty was grating on my nerves; I feel sad and depressed when I flip through my old sketches. Well, I'll have to start investing in 180gsm papers and colour pens because I really want to do something about my laughable colouring skills. Then, when I know how to use Photoshop at a less embarrassing level, perhaps I'll try to do some illustrations for Aki Kitsune.
Speaking of that, I have loads of plot inspirations. Not just for AK, which I am still a distance away from completing, but for other stories that are waiting to sprout from the deep figurative soil of my laptop word documents.
Thought I'd list them down, because it looks nice, as if I'm some professionally amateur author and because I'm bored. Please bear with the Japanese terms, because I'm a fanatic that way.
.: MULTI-CHAPTERS :.
a. Shiki Chronicles (aka. Four Seasons Chronicles)
1. Aki Kitsune (Work-In-Progress):
Protagonists: Kuromura Aki, Torikawa Sekai
Well, I'm done laying down some explanation for Aki's past and more will be revealed towards the end of the story. Where else would the suspense come from if I had explained everything? Shame on you, if you've never heard of AK until now. This story has been up since last Christmas, or earlier than that. Go read it if you've haven't. I'm typing chapter24 now, by the way.
2. Atarashii no Kisetsu aka. New Season (Upcoming):
Protagonists: Hasegawa Aoi, Kawasaki Kaoru
This one's going to be less angsty than AK, more playful and- dare I say it- flirty. I'll attempt to write heart-racing scenes and also heart-wrenching scenes. Believe it or not, I have an ending all done. The beginning chapter is done too, although I may use it as a prologue or cut out a part of it to be the prologue. It's about... adventure? Somewhat about adventure, self-discovery, inner-growth and fending off instinctual reactions of teenage hormones and confusions. Expect some Japanese-anime-manga-ish fantasy stuff. No Evangelist-Sailormoon-crazy-outfit-madness, I assure you.
3. Yukichou aka. Snow Butterfly (Upcoming):
Protagonist: Yuki, full name not decided yet. Ditto for male lead.
I'm going to base this off a little off my one and only experience on relationships. The things I had to go through, the notions, the conflicts, the lessons learnt... Yeah, those rubbish *shrugs* This one's more musically-based, like, a band or something. I predict that I'll be draining out major volumes of brain juice for lyric-creating.
4. Natsu no E aka. Summer Picture (Upcoming):
Protagonist: Tsukino, Katsuya. Full names not decided yet.
Think Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. Think Lovely*Complex. Minus the boys' school and minus the tall-girl-short-guy-banters. Add in the comfortable friendship, constancy of each other's presence. Slight angst (because I'm an angst-junkie) but will still make you break a gentle smile at the two leads.
b. Déjà Vu:
Protagonist: Name not decided yet. Female though. I'm seeing a pattern here.
I've wanted to try a story involving time travel and time paradoxes. Perhaps I'll attempt writing an Alternate Universe this time. In this story, the female lead is not the usual angsty-but-secretly-kind-person, nor the innocent-but-fiery-when-provoked-by-a-certain-individual, and definitely not someone you can ask a favour from. She will be somewhat selfish and she sees people as a mean to attain an end. A person you wouldn't want to make friends with, and if you already did, you'd avoid stepping onto her figurative tail. Anyway, she meets someone, courtesy of a death and she gets on a journey to reverse that death. That's as vague as I can put it to prevent too much of the plot leaking out.
c. Bait of Blood (tentatively titled):
Protagonist: Anna, temporarily named.
I got the inspiration for this from Phantom of the Opera. Strange, I know. I'm weird that way. Anyway, there's no phantom in this story of mine. No sudden bursts into songs. Although, it's a vampire story, hence the title *points upwards* A little spiteful, a tad rebellious and a touch melancholic. Oh, the different things I want to experiment on.
.: ONE-SHOTS :.
a. Five Senses Collection
I'm done with the Touch ficlet and there's still four more to go. I have some ideas for the Sight ficlet but they're all over the place and I'm having trouble putting everything together coherently.
Remember the one time I mentioned CaVG? I haven't gotten about to write it. Damn.
2. Harry Potter: Soap Gets In Your Eyes
Pairing: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy
Strangely, that wasn't my first OTP* of this fandom. And this would be my first attempt at crack!fics. If it ever gets written/typed out, that is. The title and the whole plot of it came to me one day when the title of the song "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" popped into my mind mysteriously. Told you I'm weird.
Yup, those are the stories/plots that have been swimming in my head, trying to get out. And I have a feeling that it'll be a very long time before I can finish all of them.
*OTP: One True Pairing. For your information, my first OTP for Harry Potter was Sirius and Remus. Which reminded me, Chong guffawed at me when I told her I read Harry Potter fanfictions, afterwhich we got into another conversation topic of slash-fanfictions.
And I've decided to put Aki Kitsune on a teeny tiny hiatus for now, because both Phoenix, who happens to be my Beta, and I are now too busy with projects and whatnots to churn out some decent semblance of output.
Not to worry though, I'm still writing from time to time and to reassure those who read AK, I've completed chapter23 last night. It's the longest chapter to date with just over 2900 words and no matter how I try to shorten it, this length seemed to suit it the best.
Sunday! I love this day because the lastest episode of Lovely*Complex anime is always uploaded on Sundays! Click for Episode13!
And to keep up with my story posting schedule, Chapter19 of Aki Kitsune is up! Here it is on my website. Use the sitemap if you can't find the page. As per normal, it's here on FictionPress too.
"There is strength in our differences, And there is comfort where we overlap."
Can't remember the exact place where I read that from, but I'm sure it was from a Harry Potter fanfiction. It seemed like the older fanfictions have more depth and better plot and character development, as compared to those updated/created in 2007. In the case of HD* fanfictions, anyway. And I haven't even begun reading SR** fanfictions. Grr...
I am now trying very hard to try completing chapter23 of Aki Kitsune, but it's proving to be an annoying pain in the rectum area. But, I'm still persevering, because I know there will not be much time for me to when school starts again after the end of this week, what with all the projects and stuff. I don't even want to start thinking about those things.
One thing that's recurring in my mind though, is Wild Adapter fanfiction. I've got an inspiration on a new WA fanfiction long ago in the bathroom (what's the deal with my muse intruding with my private bathroom-using time?) and I'm wondering how it may turn out to be.
It has crossed my mind to try writing an outright smut fic but I'd get all flushed up just arranging for the plot to develop towards that point and coming up with different yet classy and uncrude vocabulary for body parts and *ahem* positions so... to prevent myself from dying from embarrassment before the fic could even be finished, it may become one other fanfiction with only vague Minekura-sensei styled yaoi hintings.
And it's the first time that I've got the title and summary planned out before the fic's even started, much less completed. I am only so aware of how writing summaries for posting at FictionPress.Com and FanFiction.Net could stump me to such a horrible extent. Plus, I'm fickle when it comes to choosing a title.
Title: Cigarettes and Video Games Summary: You have the world twirled in your fingers while I played it in my hands. Your balance, my constant. Or was it the other way around?
I just can't get to starting the fic, when AK chapter23 is beckoning to me to complete it. *sigh* Dammit.
*HD: Harry/Draco slash fic. **SR: Sirius/Remus slash fic. My yaoi-contaminated mind is too lazy to explain how I crossed from Japanese yaoi to English slash.
i am leaving for LOM camp this afternoon! so excited!! um.. because i didn't bother to sign up for last year's so i might as well join this year, seeing that it's my last year in TP. and to fully utilise the fund that we had contributed to.
anyway, i'm posting up chapter16 of Aki Kitsunehere at my website and here at FictionPress. i know i usually post every half a month but it's to sort of make up for my hiatus during term tests.
YAYness! chapter 15 of Aki Kitsune is finally up after my hiatus for mid-semester tests!
as usual, it can be read from my website, or here, from FictionPress.Com.
and now, i'm going on an intense editing session for chapter 16. let's keep our fingers crossed that i can get it posted before i leave for LOM camp on monday afternoon.
*yawn* this afternoon had been sort of sluggish. you know, those kinds where the slow heat and the heavy sunshine cooked your brains and made your mind hazy with fuzz as if your head had been stuffed full of cotton. everything felt so languid and thick and slow, and although there is a hint of sleepiness, you'd rather keep doing what you had been doing, just at a slower pace because your cotton brain isn't processing things as fast as the genuine grey matter.
anyways, i had been editing Aki Kitsune chapter15 today and will most probably conduct an intense editing session tonight to post it by today, if i can. because if i don't then chapter16 won't make it up by sunday, or monday morning latest, before i leave for the camp organised for my diploma course.
so! back to editing~ *yawn*
oh, forgot to mention, i've created an account on netlog, somewhat similar to... i don't know. friendster? "where are you now?" those sort of online communities, let's all make friends, find people on the web sort of site.
and i've already received 2 mails today!! how hilarious is that? totally flabbergasted when the first was a message that called me "babe" *insert gagging sound* and suggested that i find him on friendster or msn messenger.
catch number 1: i don't use friendster anymore since years ago. useless site, at least to me.
catch number 2: isn't it superficial to private message someone because his or her profile picture looks nice? this just constitutes one more reason why i hardly ever post my photos on the internet.
well, the second message was even funnier.
oh my god, what is this? an attempt at poetry, prose and adoration? was it because my extra profile on the site had the answer of "Cracking lame jokes in an attempt to be romantic." to the question: "What do you think is romantic?"
*guffaws* this is so terribly unbelievably crack-your-jaw-HILARIOUS. at least attempt to type in proper logical sentences- D'OH.
and didn't i put it in my profile as "Single & not interested"? stop writing me strange messages of admiration! i won't be able to handle the responsibility of the limelight and all the crazed fans worshipping the virtual ground i walk on!
THIS will be my last blog entry until mid-sem tests end on friday.
anyone who know me will be aware of my lack of perseverence, especially now, thanks to my love for the manga and anime series Lovely*Complex.
here's the nineth episode, the reason for this last of lasts entries before term test. (good gods, it's loading so fast i'm shocked down to the last cuticle on the tips of my toes! in the span of time i took to type this short post, it has already finished loading!!! *still in shock*)
and despite my wanting to study last night, i ended up finishing chapter21 of Aki Kitsune instead. *curses under my breath*
why doesn't the drive for story inspiration surface when i want to, yet coming forward to disturb me when i desperately need to purge my mind of everything else save for the things i need to remember to score for tests?
