Ramblings, thoughts, fiction ideas, whatever.
Yes...I'm home! I am blissfully happy right now. The only thing that might rank as an annoyance is the fact that i have to use a modem here...but who cares!^_^ Yay...home...Good food, lots of rest...lots of ROOM, a CAR to drive around in...hehehe.
Ok...must stop now^_^. Maybe I'll write later...but I doubt it. *runs off to enjoy all of the above mentioned things...*
Majo-chan
Final in three days. Ugh...learned lesson from the first final. Must stop procrastinating, so I'm off to...somewhere, to study. A place where I won't be distracted...especially by the net or the computer...
Wah! I want to write fics!^^;;;;
majo-chan
I wrote a long ramble and the blog ate it. That is irritating. Grr...Oh, well. Generally, it's early (late) over here. I'm tired, sleepy. Gonna go update. Maybe make a draft's page on my miscellaneous page (I learned how to say miscellaneous because of that page...).That's all. Good night (morning)
Majo-chan
Studying I got done: Finished reading econ lecture notes, started setting up problems on the practice final. Figured out all the review session dates and plan to attend.
Things I did besides studying: eat. Built a site on Angelfire. Uploaded all the pics I haven't posted yet up there for safekeeping. egads...I'm turning into Mel.^_^; My new site
Today's the last day of Dead Week *i.e. day 2*. So far, so good.
Majo-chan
Studying I got done: I read up to consumption in different periods in my econ lecture notes (about first half of semester)
Things I did besides studying:laundry, read mangas. Colored two pictures in photoshop. Made a friend a hit banner for her site. Cleaned out some files on my computer. Wrote a little.
*reads above*...boy, am I pathetic^_^;;;
GRR! MORE STUDYING TOMORROW!!!
Majo-chan
Yup yup yup. It's that lovely time of the year (semester) again. I STILL fail to see why they decided to call it Dead 'Week' when that week is in fact two days. Last semester it was three days. Hmm...obviously someone either can't count, or is bending the normal rules of counting a bit.
Dead Week is ...strange. There's the added benefit of having no classes, but the problem that all the free time would be lost with goofing off instead of studying. My case is particularly bad this semester, because I don't have a final until Saturday. No matter what anyone might tell you about my study habits, I am NOT a 'I Love Studying' type person. I've got a chronic case of severe procrastination tendencies, and given the choice between studying and doing something else, I'd do something else.
Of course, the two finals I do have this semester are nasty-horrible. Well, maybe not econ, because I kind of like econ and the professor is nice. But I know nice professors who would give hard tests. They're nice about it, but the test is still hard. And let us not get into math. Simply said, I suck a math. End of story.
So here I am, trying to study and failing utterly. I promised myself I would start today, and I DID...but I didn't do much more than that.There are tons of review sessions here and there, but I don't like review sessions in general. *sigh* And of course, knowing that all the trouble I'm having is a direct result of my own actions sure isn't nice.
Hmm...Rather off topic, but the server to my site wouldn't let me in. Just when I wanted to update some little things, and maybe upload some pics up onto the server so I can show some of my friends w/o sending them large picture files, the FTP screws up and goes, 'no, no'. It's irritating, especially since I don't update that often to begin with. My fellow webmasters seem to be busy, and I have yet to officially ask them for help...Ah, well. Soon, I guess.
I almost wish these things had reply options. It'd be nice to know what ppl thinks.^_^
Majo-chan
Anyone want to guess what I've been doing?
Yes, I've been engaged in the activity known as making gingerbread houses. Though they were made from anything BUT gingerbread *we used graham crackers. Are those the same things?*, it was fun nonetheless. After all, I usually enjoy artistic endevors, and when those endevors involve a copious amount of candy and frosting *yum!*, I'm almost guarenteed to have fun.
I don't think I did too badly for my first try. I've never actually MADE a gingerbread house before. I've seen them around on catalogs around this time of the year, but other than that, I have no experience actually building one of these things. It isn't hard...as far as I can tell, there are only three rules...2, if you're not going to eat the house yourself. One is to not be afraid to get messy, or to eat your mistakes. Two is to use lots of frosting, especially when trying to put walls/floors/roofs up. Three is to only use candy you'd eat, if you're going to actually eat the house later. Like I passed on the coconut sprinkles. They looked lovely, and would've made my house look very nice, except that I don't like the taste of coconut at all.
And that was my house-building experience. I'm thinking about giving the house or its parts away to the ppl on my floor, since I'm not really hungry...and I ate a lot while building the thing already.^_^.
That's my two cents on gingerbread houses. Finals week starts next wednesday. Yay...
Majo-chan
For those that might be interested...
A Status Report of Sorts
Fanfiction:
Slayers Inversed one-shot: An Enemy of My Enemy. Status: 90% finished. Undergoing finishing touches, the 'wrap-up' conversation and the 30th or 35th edit. Should be up by next update.
Slayers Inversed one-shot: Partings. Status: Completed. Undergoing a few more edits. Should ALSO be up by next update.
Slayers Inversed one-shot: Promises. Status: Completed but very iffy on the posting part. Needs about 10 more revisions...
Slayers Inversed: Twilight, part 11. Status:....woefully unfinished. The fourth draft is counting in at 5 pages, currently. So I'm almost halfway...
Other:Faerie (tentative title). Status: Very short intro. Still debating if I want to scare the world with more Xel and Filia fanfics...
Fanart
Assorted fanart for Inversed and some character sketches for Faerie... Probably won't get scanned until I get to go home for winter break because the scanner at school hates me with a passion...
And that's all, folks!^_^
*sets down inking pens, cleans off eraser crumbs, apply whiteout where needed and wait for it to dry*
Hehehehehehehe.....*takes out colored pencils*. LET THE COLORING COMMENCE! Gee...can you tell what I like to do?^_^;;; Must go now. Coloring awaits. Majo-chan
No topic..
Today is the last day of instruction.
Funny how gloomy and rainy it was for the past few days and today it's sunny.^_^. I have the last part of a final today, but I haven't started studying for it yet. Bad Majo, but oh, well.
yes, I did get my sleep last night. It was very wonderful, and I am wholly convinced that I will never get sleep deprived again if I could possibly help it. The effects vary for different people and different degrees of deprivation, but I seem to be one of those that just completely brain dead without enough sleep. It was really stupid how many times I had to reread test questions yesterday because I was so tired and didn't trust my judgement on choosing the answers. Of course, that might have been completely useless seeing as how I was STILL sleep deprived the second time I went through the test...
Ok, now that I've gotten my needed dose of sleep, it's time to get some food!^_^
I still didn't get a chance to color though. Bummer...-_-;
Must....sleeppp........@_@
This has been my random incoherence of the day. Good night everyone. *topples over*
Seeing as how I have yet another finals-type test in an hour, writing in this blog probably isn't the best of ideas...but oh, well. My brain has officially died so it doesn't really matter too much anyway. It's all about the marginal utility of doing more studying...right now, for me, it's negative, which would mean it's bad to keep studying^_^.
Weather. It's just too funky. It doesn't drizzle. Drizzle implies that the water droplets are big enough to be felt distinctly. It's misting over here. The water particles are so small that you can barely see them, and they drift around like dust motes. They're so small that you'd think that it's just like fog, but after standing outside for awhile and discovering that you're covered in a thin layer of cold water, you find that that isn't the case.
I don't like mist. Drizzle you can evade with an umbrella. Mist is just there and there's no real way to avoid it. I don't have anything against water, but when it's freezing cold already, being wet is not pleasent. Not to mention it probably isn't too good for my clothes either, and definitely not for my art folder. It was hilarious how I was protectively covering my art folder from the evil bad rainwater last night when I tried to get some pictures scanned. That endevor was a failure (scanning) but at least my folder's safe.
And yes, I still want to color, dammit....I need to do something relaxing, and I want to COLOR! Grr...
Ok, gotta go. Laters.
majo-chan
Hmm...I don't like finals. I think that's all I have to say. No, wait...I have more. I don't like finals that require insane amounts of memorization, all done in a state of sleep deprivation. i don't like finals one after the other, and I hate cold! And I want to color dammit. It's the only think keeping me awake right now, thinking of the free time I'd have after the torture to spend some quality time with my Prismacolored pencils...
This has been the obligatory rant before a final. Thank you for listening.
Majo-chan
And the above paragraph attests to that. Geez, it seems like I can never even stay on topic for more than a few lines... Anyway, on to why I like Slayers.^_^. A little background for you all who might not have heard of the anime. Slayers is basically a fantasy/adventure/comedy, with just the right blend of humor mixed with hints of a deeper plot/meaning. I'm not sure where the title came from, or if there was any particular reason for the creators to choose this particular name, but my opinion is that it is either derived in part from the show's heroine, Lina Inverse, or her (in)famous trademark spell, the Dragon Slave (which is a mangled version of the spell's original name, the Dragon Slayer). There's three series, a bunch of OVAs (or OAVs...I think they're OVAs though...), and a few movies. As mentioned above, the show's main character is Lina Inverse. There's a huge variation in the cast from the OVAs and movies to the series, but Slayers is all about the adventures of Lina, so she's there for both. Lina fans are in for a treat^_^. I'm going to need probably another 5 or 6 pages to get down all I want to say about her supporting cast, so I'll leave that either for later, or for never. Hey, I never claimed to be consistant^_^. Mainly what got me into Slayers was the characters, not the storyline. At least, not at first. In my opinion, the movies and OVAs are great for pure comic relief, and pretty graphics, but they are completely lacking in a decent plot. The series did a much better job of actually giving Slayers some depth, but some parts are still lacking. Oh, well, I didn't really watch it for the plot at first anyway. When I say characters, I actually mean Lina.^_^. Well, the other ppl are in there too, and they are very important, but Slayers wouldn't be Slayers without it's main character, ne? After what seemed like an endless infatuation with Sailor Moon and Fushigi Yuugi, Slayers and Rurouni Kenshin came on my list of anime favorites. I'll leave RK for another day...but Slayers was refreshing in its startling different heroine. Ok, so Lina eats like a pig, and has magical powers like most of the other animes. But here was a female character that could stand all on her own. She is not somehow dependent on a man (how many times was Sailor Moon saved by Tuxedo mask? And I'm not even going to START w/ Tamahome and Miaka...), and what she wants, she gets it, on her own power. Sure, some of her methods aren't exactly moral, and Lina certainly plays hard and fast with the rules, but througout the series, you do get to see that her heart's in the right place. And most of the time she picks on the bad guys anyways (either that or her hapless traveling companions...I guess that's just a price to pay to travel with the infamous Lina Inverse). It's INTERESTING to see Lina give explainations and justifications to her actions. And it's funny to see her blow stuff up too.^_^ Another thing about Slayers is its lack of romance. Don't get me wrong, I like romances in general. It's amusing to see people blushing or angsting over some love problem or another. But too much of it tends to grate on my nerves. There are only so many embarassing and awkward situations you can put a potiential couple through before it gets a little annoying (I will not say Tamahome and Miaka...oops, I just did!). Not to mention it feels terribly fabricated, like you just know that the artist/author is feeling sadistic and wants to make the couple suffer or prove their love one more time. Slayers doesn't overdo things, as far as the romances go. Most of it is either very subtle, or doesn't get rubbed in your face once every few episodes. It's nice to not have to go through one emotional trauma after another along with the characters.^_^ That is not to say that because Slayers lack romance, it lacks character interaction or development. It's interesting to see the 'team' dynamics of Lina and her 'gang' so to speak. Each member contribute their thing to the group as a whole, making it balanced and run smoothly. When one member is missing, there is always the sense that something's not complete, like when Lina's not there to boss people around and lead in the fights, when Gourry isn't there to chop things up or make stupid comments, when Zelgadis isn't there to show off his impressive magical/fighting skills and look for his cure (or at least talk about it) or when Amelia isn't there to make justice speeches or be bright and bubbly. As I've mentioned before, the plot in Slayers takes a while to surface. The structure actually seems to be pretty well definited for all three of the series. The first third of the series is usually character introduction/development, leading up to the first 'boss', so to speak. Some kind of showdown ensues around the middle/end of the first third of the series (Rezo/Shabranigdo, Mazenda/Kanzel/Garv, and Valgarv), and following that is what most fans call the 'screwball' episodes. Some of the screwball episodes actually have some content, but most are just for fun. Then the last third wraps up the loose ends from the first third, and the gang confronts their final enemy, and have another showdown! If that was all, then I wouldn't say that Slayers is all that interesting, plot wise. There aren't any mindbending plot twists, no profound or innovative insights (well, we can argue that in many ways...). All in all, the plot of Slayers is easy to understand. What interested me was the overall progression, and revelations made, in the story. Slayers characters, be they protagonists or antagonists, have interesting depth once you try to examine their motivations and purposes. What is nice is that while they are hinted at in the series, nothing is ever really clear cut, leaving plenty of room to do analysis, or to ignore it all together. I think that looking at the things behind the story gives it more flavor, and it also makes it more interesting for me. But I can also choose to ignore it if I wish, if I don't want to ponder the angst involved in Rezo's blindness, it's easy to let it fall into the background. It's rather versatile. That is not nearly all that I wanted to write, but it'll have to be enough for now^_^. Econ homework waits for no poor undergraduate.^_^ Majo-chan Why I Like Slayers
And finally I get to this...although looking at the state of incompleteness that my economics homework is in, I doubt that I will be getting to this anytime soon. Or finishing it, at least. I can multi-task. That doesn't necessarily mean that I am any good at it, merely that I can. It's amazing how easily I get distracted...anything from people talking outside to music that I'm playing on the computer distracts me. Then again, if the thing I'm working on happens to hold any kind of appeal to me, then I am dead to the world until I'm either finished, or so tired I can't work anymore. Hmm...writing Inversed used to be like that...Though most of THAT monster was done when I was supposed to be doing other things, like writing essays.
More rambles: Weather is weird. Sometimes it's sunny, sometimes it's not. For someone who's used to very regular weather all year long (being of an inhabitant of a place w/ subtropical temperatures, then of Southern CA), this is very strange. All of a sudden, an umbrella is a valuable commodity. Rain is no longer something that happens only during winter. And while it's not life threatening, it is now dangerous to go outside on certain parts of the year, since the rain's enough to give you hypothermia and the winds are almost strong enough to blow you away. Hmm...I'd hate to see how I'd fare in a place w/ snow...or constant rain. I hate cold...-__-;;;; Cold makes my fingers numb, which in turn means I can't get anything done. Well, except maybe read a book or something. But I can't draw or write or type.-_-; Bummer. I'll get to the 'Why I like Slayers' ramble later, since I'm still at school right now and other, more needy ppl need to use the computers in the labs. And of course, I'm kinda hungry since it IS lunchtime and all.... Majo-chan
And looking down, I guess that it was pretty strange of me to start my first weblog and write my first entries without even addressing one very integral part of my life. Actually, from the math rant, you might even believe math was really vital to my existance. Never fear, that is not the case. By the way, the title is not meant offend anyone with religious believes. I can't say I'm religious myself, but I'm a fond believer of live and let live. Though I'm currently atheist, I imagine I'll have the need to believe in something sooner or later...so I'm not burning any bridges yet^_^ Anyway, on to anime and why I'm writing a rant about it. Besides the fact that it's almost 10 pm here and I've still got homework to finish. Homework which is incidentally, graduate school level. Me, being a poor sophomore in college, find it quite migrane inducing. So I've decided to set my lovely econ homework aside and begin what I think is a rant/essay that will turn out crappy. Oh, well. Anime. I like anime. I like to watch anime, draw anime, write fanfiction for anime. However, I should be more specific, because saying that is like saying: "I like to watch TV" when 'TV' could be defined as anything from the nightly news to graphic porn. Hm. That seems to be a common misconception of people who are not familiar with this particular medium. One girl actually accused me of looking at pornographic pictures when I was surfing the web, when in fact, I was looking at some beautifully done (and completely NON-pornographic) fanart. Does that tell me something? That's like accusing me of watching porn when I'm sitting down to an episode of ...I don't know, I haven't watched regular TV in a long time, mainly because the programs stopped being interesting. I can't say that I looked long and hard, but nowadays most sitcoms are kind of boring to me. All them seem to talk about is sex. Not that I'm saying that anime doesn't have sex or refer to it, but saying a picture is pornographic when it isn't seems a bit extreme, doesn't it? Just what is so interesting about these so called 'cartoons'? Why do people look at fans funny when we say we like anime? I think a lot of that skepticism comes from the mentality that all anime are either cartoons or porn. The former is okay to like only if you are a young child, the latter is generally less accepted from any group. Because there are so many things that demand our attention, no one can know everything about one subject, and many just make the assumption to save time and effort. And therefore, the misconception runs amuck, leaving much mayhem for us anime fans. Anime, though, is incredibly varied and much MORE than just porn, or just for kids. In fact, most anime wouldn't be appropriete for children, because they are much more realistic (not in the art sense) than american counterparts. When I watch anime, I see an incredible range of topics and incredible depth when going into those topics. Some might have obvious deeper meanings, like Earth Girl Arjuna. Some have more subtle meanings that the watcher have to figure out for themselves. Others are just insane fun for the whole audience. Take CLAMP's epic work, "X" for example. (I had to write a midterm paper on the movie, so I'm rather well versed right now...) At first glance it seems like a typical 'end of the world' type story. Our hero, along with the aid of his companions, must prevent the end of life as we know it. There are bad guys, there are good guys. The world needs saving, in comes the heros, right? At least, that seems to be most of the plot for most of the movies/tv programs/comics out there. Again, I can't claim familiarity with those since I don't like those mediums all that much, but I can say that most of the things I HAVE watched fits that mold. Which means that it turns out to be a rather flat story overall, with no depth. With "X" though, things quickly start to get distorted, sometimes beyond recognition (The CLAMP ladies are (in)famous for their ability to do that^_^). Kamui Shirou is not the willing hero, nor at all happy with his role OR his companions. And it turns out there is NO saving the world, there are no 'good' or 'bad' guys, love turns to hate turns to love. People actually get injured *gasp!* and even killed, in horribly gruesome ways. There's no magical 'happy ending' and it seems that "X" is trying to break every convention of the usual 'end of the world' story (except for the end of the world part. And the angst. Can't forget about that^_^). Ugh...I'm tired...I'll end with this right now...Tomorrow I'll try to tackle why I like Slayers.^_^; That is, if I get my homework finished on time....@_@ Majo-chan And Let there be Anime
Is this red?? Or do I have to do Red like this w/ the numbers and all?
This is hard.... I almost wish for CF's tutorial again...
Let's see how this turns out^_^
Majo-chan
On the Virtues and Evils of Mathematics:
I used to LIKE math...I think I still do, a little. It's useful, it's wonderful, and sometimes I do get why the mathematicians would be doing cartwheels of joy once a certain relationship between functions come to light (the example that pops to mind right now is e^ix = cos x + isin x, don't ask me to prove it). But it is kind of sad how the school system runs and makes math into nothing more than horribly repetitive number crankings... So far, I think infinite series takes the cake for being generally unpalapable to the average student (i.e.: Me). It's just...there's so much of it! @_@. Math tests, math lectures, math discussions, math homework, etc...
This week's homework is surprisingly light...I think either the professor decided to take pity on us, or he's gearing up for the real biggie. *drumroll* How to solve differential equations with power series! *ominous clap of thunder* @_@. It was almost comical how the whole lecture hall echoed with the groans when he started putting that lovely summation sign on the board...Oh, well, more junk I'll be needing to know for the final.
Speaking of finals...I'm having them right now, courtesy of my Japanese class, since the language courses usually take the finals before the official finals week...oi, vey...
I will be returning to my math homework...oh, wait, I finished it sometime during this rant...I'll be tackling my econ homework now...I guess I'd better not start a ramble about THAT, otherwise all heck will break loose...
Ok, me go now...Majo-chan signing off.
1st Real Post:
Hiya everyone. Er...I'm still not quite sure what to make of this, and why I'm having a blog in the first place, but I guess it'll be a good thing to take up MORE of my time...
Currently, I'm planning for this to be a lot of ramblings, and maybe some much needed venting on/ about some of my fics...Ok...now to post this and see if it works...
Majo-chan
