stolen colours

I never thought I’d say this, but it rains too much at the wrong times. I haven’t been able to jog for the past two nights because of the rain. It’s damp now (after an afternoon shower), but I hear thunder not too far away. Alamak. Worst case scenario: jog tomorrow morning. I don’t really like jogging in the morning because I’m all bleary-eyed and my muscles don’t want to move.

More dissection today! Maedhros is diligent and I’m so proud of ourselves. Prof Raj popped in at the end and had a long talk with us about choosing the right path. He said, if he could do it all over, he’d choose engineering.

When it gets to 2nd May, I’ll do an occasional ‘look back in time’ thing by re-reading last year’s blog entry for the same date. I officially opened my black-brollies.net sites on 2nd May – now I remember why I was so busy and had no time for a hide layout last year ^^;; ONE YEAR ALREADY! Oh my.

Daily SEED rant
Milly is fantastic! I just watched the scene where she knocked Frey down as the latter was about to fire at Diakka. One thing I like about Gundam SEED is Lt Ramius – she’s strong as a woman, not as a tough man-like woman.

Chrno Crusade Rant: I love adult Chrno. *can’t wait for episode 21*

New layout for hide. I didn’t do one last year because I was horribly tied up in April. It’s early for 2nd May, but raydance already put up, so I thought I might as well. Nothing special at all with this layout; but the picture is one of my favourites. I’d actually like to cosplay it. I’ve got to change the link colours, as I’ve realised after my laptop tells me they can’t be seen. Later.

The ‘j’ entry title was really hard to come up with; I had to wait till today when I got the chance to see Prof Raj for dissection. Dissection is rather fun, though frustrating. Deepblue and I tried in vain to pry deep fascia from muscle, while Addie and Calvin nearly died trying to remove all the fat from a thigh. I don’t want to be around when it’s time for abdomen *shudders*

SSM
Had the first meeting with the mentor today. She’s a bright, chirpy paediatrician who’s a stickler for doing things right. I thought SSM was a bore before, but from this point on, I hate it with a vengeance.

Daily SEED rant
Spoiler for episode 29.

[@*($#&#*% why did they kill off N!!! And T too! #(*^$#*]

You guys were right. I’m really hooked by Gundam SEED now. I find myself looking forward more to the quieter, character-driven episodes instead of the action-packed ones…because battles in Gundam SEED are never just pure shoot-em-ups, but the most emotionally draining combat scenes I’ve ever seen. So far one of my favourite episodes is the one where Kagari rescues Azran and they end up screaming and crying. *pause* Okay, that sounded weird. I don’t think there’s a single character I hate now. Not even Diakka or Isaac.

Daily SEED rant
My word. Kazuma’s (Scryed) seiyuu is the same as Kira’s seiyuu. Same goes for Frey and Ensign Natal Bajirul. Yes lynn, I like Azran so much more than Kira! I don’t like the name spellings that one fansubbing group came up with, so I won’t use them. Kagari has appeared and I do like her very much. I’m rather impressed by the supporting cast, actually. I really like Kira’s friends and Nichol. They just fill me with a sense of hope every time they get some screen time. Not just for the outcome of Gundam SEED, but for youth everywhere in general.

I snuck my laptop into the CRC auditorium today and checked my results while the speaker was droning on. I did rather well, to my relief; I got the same grade for all 3 tracks.

SSM today was a complete waste of time. The first speaker was decent, quite relevant, and quite interesting. The speakers for the second talk treated us like idiots. The third speaker who did library resources treated us like amoeba. *makes sound of disgust*

I should have brought my earphones, power cable and the Gundam SEED cds so I could watch. Sigh. It was too dark in the auditorium to read.

There’s too much waste. She wastes too much. Makes too much. Buys back too much.
I tried so hard to minimise that, to the extent that my day-to-day decisions are severely affected, but my efforts are insignificant.

As of today, I have decided to wash my hands of it all. Let HER bear the sin.

An old friday five:

1. What was the last song you heard?
Bonnie Pink’s Can’t Get Enough. Bonnie Pink’s one of the very few female Japanese pop artistes I like.

2. What were the last two movies you saw?
Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama.*cringes* Don’t hit me. Saw a bit of Underworld yesterday, but haven’t finished it.

3. What were the last three things you purchased?
Strawberries, cherry tomatoes and cuttlefish.

4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?
a) Reformat my computer. (I doubt I’ll actually get down to it, though.)
b) Clean up my desk.
c) Continue Gundam SEED.
d) Start reading Paycheck.

That’s a lovely list. One month ago it would have all been school related. Bleh.

5. Who are the last five people you talked to?
Brother, Sister, Father, Mother, Wei Theng.

Should I skip aikido on a Friday to go for my brother’s choir concert? Sigh. RJC choir concert at VCH, 7 May, $12. Anyone wants to go?

Mandatory SEED rant: I was just griping in my earlier posts ^^;; of course I’ll persevere! Many 26-episode anime start getting really good around episode 13ish or later anyway. SEED is longer…so… One thing about Gundam SEED, though: almost every battle has so much emotion tied into it. There’s a purpose for every battle. Not like some random Gundam pilot spotting an enemy base and attacking it for the heck of it. The plot may be nothing new (so far), but I do like how they spent so much effort on the characters. Nice focus on non-Gundam pilots, too.
Did you guys watch SCRYED? Don’t the SEED characters look like clones from SCRYED?

This is my 3rd post today. Sigh. I might as well do an episode review for every SEED episode after I watch it.

Chrno Crusade: just watched episode 19. Argh…now my main reason for living is to watch the next episodes of CC and FMA.

List of anime I’ve downloaded and watched: (I usually like ALL of them, else I wouldn’t have bothered to download the entire series)

Fullmetal Alchemist, Chrno Crusade, Scrapped Princess, Scryed, R.O.D (TV and OVA), Hoshi no Koe, The 08th MS Team, Haibane Renmei, Fruits Basket, Hellsing, Shinsetsukan Tsukihime. SCRYED.

List of anime I’ve downloaded but haven’t watched:Patlabor, Gundam X, Kimi ga nozumu eien, Naruto

List of anime my brother has downloaded and probably wouldn’t mind if I lent them to anyone:Last Exile, Gunslinger Girl, Saiyuki RELOAD, Rahxephon (no one borrow this. I’m going to watch), Gundam SEED, Wolfs’ Rain, E’s Otherwise, Avengers.

Lists to be revised once my memory stops failing me.

Some comment replies:

Lynn:how can you prefer Fllay to Lacus??? *simply not able to understand that fact*. wait, wait for Cagalli! she’s my absofabu fav.

Erm…because Frey has some fire in her, anyway. I just loved that part when she dragged Lacus to the bridge and screamed “Tell them I’ll kill her if they shoot down my father’s ship!” Ruthless.

[background info: Lacus and Frey are civillains on different sides. At that point in time ships of Lacus' side were attacking a ship that Frey's father was in. The two of them were on another ship.]

Aiyah…lynn, you just have this thing for singing characters ^^ Come to think of it, I don’t reckon there’s any pink-haired anime character I like. That’s discrimination against pink-haired characters for you, but they’re generally non too bright. Lux would be more appropriate…I can just see her advertising soap. I think the eyecatch where she’s blowing bubbles and Azran is sitting on the grass beside her is rather sweet, though.

To ivory: sure, I can lend you Chrno Crusade. I have episodes 1 to 18; am still waiting for Ani-Kraze to release episode 19. I have 2 motivations for watching CC: the plot, and the hope that Chrno will appear in grown-up 100-million killer demon form again.

To penance and avaris and anyone else: Penance wants and Trigun Fullmetal Alchemist? Or rather, I want to lend them to him and win him over to the dark side. Then some of us can form an alchemist association in medfac and go round clapping our hands. And Fruits Basket for avaris?

Just read an article on American Idol in Today and on avaris’ blog as well. I don’t really think it’s a racist thing; rather, I suspect it’s extreme kiasuism. Since John Stevens and George didn’t perform too well their supporters panicked and saved their SMSes, calls etc for those two, reasoning that since the 3 divas were so popular they were sure to have enough other people voting for them anyway. Ha.

Instead of saying it’s racial discrimination, why not gender discrimination? I think that the two males left in the competition are the weakest singers in the competition. Much as I like John Stevens, he’s not right for the music industry in this era. And I have NO IDEA what Paula sees in George. Absolutely none. You think he’s as good as Clay? No way.

I was actually rooting for Jennifer all the way. Sigh. Latoya is good but she’s good and boring. Fantasia overdoes her ‘yeahyeahyeah’ though her voice is more unusual. Jennifer gives you the chills, though her facial expressions need more work. @*($&#

This kinda defeats the whole purpose of things. I’m actually putting off blogging because I can’t think of blog titles! It was supposed to make coming up with titles a faster process, but… I guess I’m not imaginative enough. No matter. I’ll stick to it.

I know no one has seen me online very much, and sometimes I forgot to shut down ICQ before leaving my computer. It’s because I’m reading a lot and finishing one novel a day. That may be no mean feat for some people like Deepblue, but it is, for me. I haven’t read so much since lower secondary, when almost all my leisure time at home was spent reading, not on the computer. More productive, actually.

Daily Gundam SEED rant: I’m not progressing very far because the book I’m reading is more engrossing than Gundam SEED’s early episodes ^^;; I didn’t know it was possible to hate a Gundam character more than Relena Peacecraft, but it IS! I want to strangle Lux (or Lacus, depending on which fansub you use) every time she comes onscreen. I want to take a hammer to that stupid bright pink floating excuse for a pet she has. I want to slap Kira and yell “Wake up you goondu.” It doesn’t help that the fansubbers proudly proclaim “We ALL love Lux-chan!”. And she sings that nauseating song all the time! For an idol you’d think she’d had a wider repertoire. Does she keep doing that throughout the series? I didn’t like Frey, but the moment Lux appeared that changed.

Book log: Finished Juliet Marrilier’s Daughter of the Forest today. It’s not a bad book. Based on the tale of the seven swans and with a lot of Irish paganism thrown in. Recommended, though if you’re a guy you might not like it so much.

Anime log: just finished episode 7 of Gundam SEED. So besides the oh-no-my-childhood-friend-is-on-the-opposite-side quandry, they throw in a i’m-falling-in-love-with-my-childhood-friend’s-fiancee-even-though-she-looks-like-my-irritating-schoolmate tangle. And are they ever going to get off that battleship! Alright, I’m complaining a lot, but I do enjoy watching it. Just that I get rather impatient with the characters.

Activity log: Went out with Shmeen and Grace to Bugis. They were on a mission to buy jeans, and I tagged along out of sheer boredom. So we combed Edge, then went to Yoshinoya where we contemplated beef bowls and appendices epiploicaes. After that we went to Muji and sighed over high-class products like glue pens and tiny markers. I loved looking at their snack section, though I didn’t buy anything.

Note: at this point of time, Shmeen and Grace had each tried on a few pairs of jeans but found nothing to their liking. I am constantly on the lookout for skirts wherever I go, but had no luck at Bugis Junction. (If you say that you never see me in skirts, that’s because I haven’t found any that I like or can afford.)

Sample conversation:
Grace: Hmm…this is only $40…
Me: Only? … I wouldn’t think about paying more than $30 for a pair of jeans.

We crossed the road to Bugis Village, which happens to be my favourite clothes haunt. Half the ‘going-out’ clothes in my wardrobe is from Far East; the other half is from Bugis Village. We went to Level 2 first, but most of the shops were not open yet. We chanced upon a shop selling jeans at 50% discount – $43 down to $21.50. I saw a pair that didn’t displease me, tried it on, and bought it, all within a space of 5 minutes. The utter irony of it all!

Grace: Wow, that’s fast!
Shmeen: See, you CAN get a pair of jeans for less than $30.

Reluctantly, we left the air-conditioned comfort of Level 2. I didn’t know that manicures there are so cheap – $8.50 to $9. Are they any good?

After winding around several side streets we came to a big shop with a pushy auntie who practically forced pairs of jeans into Grace’s and Shumin’s hands. Shmeen and I wandered into the adjoining shop where I instantly fell in love with two tops. Okay, they’re black, which means I probably won’t be wearing them any time soon, in this hot weather. There was NO ONE in the shop at all! It would have been so easy for shoplifters to grab anything they wanted! Turns out that it was also part of the pushy auntie’s shop, who flung a pair of jeans at me when I went to try on one of the tops.

When we left the shop, Grace and Shumin were still empty-handed. I, on the other hand, had spent another $22 on two tops. Quite a bargain, actually. I love Bugis Village.

After that we went to another large jeans shop run by a friendly young woman. Grace and Shmeen tried on many, many pairs… Buying power depleted by then, I chatted with the shopowner. It’s a family business, the shop, and she runs it all alone. I had to leave while the two of them were still in the changing spaces. Wonder if they bought anything after all.

Mother cooked barley water today as a respite from the hot weather. I think that’s the only thing about today that makes it different from other days. My routine is pretty standard nowadays: wake, watch anime or read, eat breakfast, watch anime or read, eat lunch, watch anime or read or sleep, eat dinner, watch anime or read, jog, watch anime or read, sleep.

Okay, so ‘barley cob’ is pushing it. You try coming up with words that end with ‘b’.

To ivory: Too late! I’ve already started on Gundam Seed. 5 episodes down so far… I do hope the plot starts appearing soon. The tired old oh-no-my-childhood-friend-is-on-the-other-team approach was what caused me to stop watching after the first episode some months back. There’d better be more to this anime.

To penance: Actually I’m not really impressed by the mecha in the Gundam series ^^;;; Too chunky. The Endless Waltz ones are beautiful, but they’re so flamboyant I’m surprised they can actually move. Haven’t watched Char’s Counterattck yet. I much prefer the EVAs, which are more streamlined, flexible, and can actually spin and somersault. Those have severe power supply problems and dependence on pilots, though… It’s really funny how in mecha anime, the mecha doesn’t respond to the main character’s frantic manipulation until he starts screaming and pushing the button or gearstick really hard.