clouds in my coffee

KH nostalgia

seiza — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 12:26:58 GMT

Replayed KH2 (or not; the first time doesn't actually count since it was in Japanese on easy mode just for the thrill of double-keyblade-wielding-awesome and we understood noooooooooothing). I'm beginning to see where the Leon/Aerith pairing is coming from. :O Hmmmmmmmm. They're like both surrogates for the other half of their respective pairings, or something like that.

I know I had a major bitching session over the English FF voice-acting in KH2 back when it first came out. I still remember crucifying Suvari's Aerith and whoever did Leon's voice. But 5 years after and away from the crazy fandomness, those voices actually don't sound so bad anymore. They're actually kinda decent. Seifer's voice was PERFECTLY bratty. The Cleris scene is still all amounts of squishy cuteness, whether in Japanese or English. The expected implosion from extreme cringing did not happen. It's amazing what perspective does to an opinion.

SavedbyassgrabbingHerc!KH1 Cloud is still >>>>> emotoocoolforschool!KH2 Cloud, though. Hey, I tried, but I still don't like the AC costumes in KH2. They make Hollow Bastion look like a freaking funeral parlor. This was a chance to have fun with the FF designs and we get recycled clothes! On the other hand, the way Hollow Bastion was included in the storyline was wicked awesome, and I do so love Sora's interactions with the HB crew.

Sora! is so much fun to play! Even more so in English!

Anyway, just two more exams, and I plan to end four years of uni life playing KH2 in the hostel lounge. x3

Freakydeaky fan attack

seiza — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:59:06 GMT

Hey guys. It's nice to be alive!

Why? Here's a PSA, just for you.

Do not approach a fan turning at top speed (3, fyi) with a hanging bath towel. There's a good chance fate will decide to play a freakish joke, slide the (rather thick) towel right through (rather thinly-placed) bars, snap the blade in half and send it flying through the fan and into your stocking.

My stocking's a little traumatised, but it should live for another career talk.

Seriously, people.

I'm not in Final Destination 3.5, am I? !@$#!

I wouldn't survive a Gender Studies class

seiza — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:14:22 GMT

[edit: Random is random, but damn if this hasn't been annoying me all week.]

You accuse men of assuming all women are weak, fragile, brainless, etc. Then you claim "men just don't get it", and have no way of backing yourself up on that when challenged on your broad-brushed stereotype.

You complain about discrimination but what is your personal experience with it? Are you forced to stay at home because of your gender? Does The Man control your spending? (Considering the number of women toting Prada bags instead of golf clubs around Orchard Road, I'm guessing not.) Your dress? Your thoughts?

Nope, but you're "discriminated" against because a guy pulls a chair out for you and from that one little action, you know that he secretly (or, even worse, subsconsciously) thinks you're a weak princess who can't do anything herself? You're "discriminated" against because a bunch of guys might get together and make sexist jokes? (In that case, I'm an admitted self-sexist since I joke about both genders.) You're on auto-discriminated mode because "the system" is "patriarchal"?

I just don't get this brand of feminism.

P.S. Guys, stand up for yourselves! Geez. "Equality of the sexes" also means you don't let a girl mouth off in a class totally unrelated to her pet peeves! ...Fine, I'll assume most of you were as lazy as I was to get involved in a red-meat shouting match that had nothing to do with our class topic.

coffee with god... or far-away oogling

seiza — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:06:36 GMT

NEIL GAIMAN IS COMING TO SINGAPORE.

...OMFGYES.

*BRINGS SLEDGEHAMMER TO MAKE WAY TO TICKET COUNTER*

O WOE, YE OF LIMITED HOTNESSRADAR

seiza — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:34:31 GMT

I've heard that the lecturer of the management mod is very good and fun, but nobody told me he was also SO FRICKING CUTE.

I mean bordering on staring-at-him-gooey-eyed-as-he-lectures-in-front-and-totally-missing-what-he-says hotness (thankfully, he seems at least subliminally aware of the dreamy stares he's getting because his powerpoints are packed with notes).

When he announced that he had some good news to share? One girl muttered, "That you're single?" (It was not me.) That sort of hotness.

When he continued that the "good news" was that he was getting engaged, and you could feel the whole female population in that lecture hall deflating at once? That sort.

He's "turned on creatively" by imaginative metaphors and loves eerie silences. He loves words and weird factoids (I shall always remember why railway tracks in America are 4' 8" wide). (I think I now know the real reason the bid points for this mod were so high... it almost bankrupted me, but damn if they weren't well-spent.)

What gives, network of female friends?! I thought we looked out for one another -- by looking out for hot, adorable guys! Did the memo not get through? *ultimate flailing*

buses and panic attacks

seiza — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:27:33 GMT

OMG. This is why I can't stay in Singapore. Or I better damn well have my own car.

I took the wrong bus back to my place (rather, I took the right bus but in the wrong direction), but it loops so I'd still get to my place eventually. Just that instead of turning right and taking, say, 5 minutes -- it turns left, goes through some freaking industrial sector (There was a sign saying "JURONG PIER". I SAW A TOLL-LIKE STRUCTURE. There are NO toll-like structures in Singapore except nearing IMMIGRATION... and, apparently, so I've just learned tonight, around the pier), and takes 45 minutes.

Call me a paranoid Malaysian, but I start getting edgy when I'm in an empty bus in the middle of nowhere (even though "nobody dies in Singapore! :DDD"). I think the last passengers getting off were looking at me funny, probably thinking "where the heck is SHE going? there's nothing but piers thataway!" (or "oh, those crazy lost Malaysians!").

At least with a car, I'd still probably end up in some freakish tunnel or a nighttime pier with just enough blaring lights to put the fear of aliens into you, but at least I'd be able to pull over, have a nervous breakdown, a good cry and pull out Street Directory to save myself.

the new place

seiza — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:22:44 GMT

Wow, where do I begin? So much did not happen during my holidays that I don't know where to start! (My MSN still says "packing!" but that was before I left Singapore for my summer holiday :P)

I feel like I'm a star of my own series (single girl moves out in her final year to stay alone in the middle of nowhere -- Singapore codeword for that is "the heartlands" -- and all that); since I perpetually live in my head anyway, that's not too off-kilter even for me. :D All that's missing are the quirky neighbours and the cute guy-next-door.

See, I've moved off campus now. NUS finally got to kick me out. It's a dramatic and ironic story, full of anguish and life laughing at me (I had enough points to secure a room, except admin forced me to be part of a separate group of students returning from exchange, and this group's average was about 10 points higher than mine), but I'll just skip all that and revel in my new, more expensive room instead. I've got aircon. I've got internet. What more could I ask for?

Well, I could use lower rent. At SG$580 a month, I am so blasting my a/c bb.

The landlady is very nice -- a grandma who seems to be constantly babysitting, even the grandkids who aren't hers. You might know by now that I have a fondness for kids who aren't mine, so I adore these little tykes (I guess it also helps that I could sleep and study through a war, so any noise they make is never enough to disturb me). She tries very hard to make me feel at home, to which I graciously respond by running to my room and locking the door when I get back. It's a bit hard to get used to friendly people after three years of doing this in various student residences >_<

I went drinking with Clorith last night -- that's exaggerating, of course, for I was sufficiently out of the game after some koelsch and sparkling wine. I'm sure the dear girl wanted to throw back a couple more, but for my liver's great wimpiness. She did say I improved after going to Australia for the exchange, though! *beam*

Anyway, this is my final year at NUS. Then I'll be just another one of their alumni who never donates. :D (What do you call an alumnus from NUS? A-NUS. Thank you, thank you, but I got that from my uncle, an ANUS who never donates.) I've got a thesis to do and the first idea I got was, of course, to write a history of anime (then I narrowed my options by thinking of writing a history of Ultraman, and if not for my Japanese being limited to words wrongly gleaned from anime, I WOULD'VE DONE IT TOO). I'm sure everyone else in my cohort has already decided on a topic and are halfway through their final draft (I am serious, my cohort is always crazier than my senior's -- damn kiasu '86ers!), so I'll be behind the class as always.

Now I hear there's this new thingamajig called Dreamwidth (or Dreamhost?) that's in beta and former LJ peeps are lovin' it there. I'm sure I'll get on the bandwagon as it dies out. For now, I'm just glad to be back on LJ :D *snuggles FL*

"I think this might be the thing that finally destroys Twitter." - Treacher

seiza — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:39:36 GMT

My bro just sms-ed me. Michael Jackson dead. OMG, this is too surreal... I was just on a MJ-music vid-watching streak two months ago, after years of not listening, and there was so much excitement over his London concert.

Wow. At FIFTY. My goodness. RIP.

Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, now MJ. What an end to an era.

it's always like this with the last paper

seiza — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:44:02 GMT

OMFG WHY IS IT NOT OVER YET CAN IT BE MONDAY NOW PLS EVEN THO I HAVEN'T FINISHED STUDYING ANYWAY SO IT'S GOOD TO HAVE TIME BUT THEN AGAIN I HATE HATE HATE HAAAAAAAAAAATE WAITING FOR THE LAST EXAM WHY WHY WRRRRRRYYYYYYYY ISN'T IT OVEEEEEEREEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Hmm... Somehow, other people can make this look so artistic.

STATUS UPDATE.

seiza — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:54:00 GMT

Still breathing.

Breathing a bit too well, actually. Friends are so stressed out that they can't even sleep, but me? Slept like a burped baby last night. Just finished two exams in a row today, only 3 more to go! \o/

I'm thinking more about what kind of job would hire me for 3 months while I'm on vacation-- which isn't McDonald's, but hell, maybe I'll take that too.

This is the calm-before-the-storm thing, isn't it? I am SO dead this semester, aren't I? >__<

seiza — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:36:24 GMT

Exam season is 'round the corner, if you couldn't guess from the dearth in random posts (this is subtly different from when I make random posts like crazy about nothing, which indicate essay deadlines hunting me down; and not at all different from my random hibernation periods).

This is old (in the pop culture timeline, i.e. just over a week old), but hey, it left me with a smile and hopefully will for you too:

Britain's Got Talent: Susan Boyle ♥

LOOKIT SIMON'S MOONY WIDDLE GRIN. LOOOOOKIT DAT.

That said...

seiza — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:39:35 GMT

I'm actually feeling quite upbeat. Just finished with my semesterly ritual-- a last ditch major room cleaning (& washing tomorrow!) before that last ditch weeks-long cramming session. Mopping with your feet is harder than it looks. O_o

I'm ludicrously satisfied with how the face-off against the Somali pirates went down. It's a US ship, not even Malaysian, but ours have been taken before. The douche threatens to kill other Americans in other hijackings in retaliation, which sounds terribly, ah, threatening... but other countries have been appeasing the CRAP outta these scumbags for who-knows-how-long and it's not gotten better. (And they must know that the minute they harm any other American, there won't even be sharkbait left of them when it's all over. These, as far as I know, are not kamikaze pilots or crazy jihadis. I figure they actually might wanna live. A dead hostage =/= living.)

seiza — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:24:39 GMT

Bleach manga spoilers: chpt. 353

OMG. UlquiHime has been Clerisified. Glorious, glorious hand-reach scene ♥

Dude, PAIRING HEARTACHE. At least Cloud got a firm grip, know what I mean?

The poignancy of this death scene was gut-renching. That final panel is just beautiful. I'm really looking forward to how this will be animated. Manga has never made me cry, but put it together with voice actors and music and WHERE'STHEDAMNKLEENEX?!

This has to be one of the shortest 'ships I've ever done, heh. Sorta kinda got into it briefly when their first meeting ~~kidnapping~~ aired, then forgot about it, then my friend entered a huge Ulq!fangirl mode in the last month. She showed me the slapping chapter but, what, a week ago? And boy oh boy did I get on that ship!

And this happened. The ol' fangirl curse strikes again!

I wonder if the meltdown over Aerith's death was anything like I've seen on some journals over Ulquiorra's. I didn't exactly get on the FFVII fandom until AC, not being addicted to the internet until long into my teens. Big grown men blubbering in front of their TV screens are one thing, but girls crying and declaring Ulq was their only love and swearing off Bleach/taking down fanarts/etc.? Doesn't seem to be a major part of the fandom, but it's still... an experience.

Makes me wonder. Kubo Tite is to be credited for being able to affect his readers so strikingly, but to some extent, it's all about how you build up the character in your own mind, I think. At some point, the writer's skill ends and the reader's imagination goes into overdrive.

The icons are already out WITH MUCH FORCE. Fandom, go!

:O ... :O

seiza — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:34:37 GMT

NSFW? I'll spoil you briefly for your own sake: the first photo is a mock-up of a giant pink penis.

Japanese penis pandemonium.

Clorith's pink condom chocolates are so passe now...

a meme... in JAPANESE! :O

seiza — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:39:06 GMT

Tagged by araeli! I read this as OTAKU BACON. Hee.

...Man, some of my answers are so dated. *headdesk* Showing my age, and my total disconnect from the current big anime hit series. *needs a walking stick and monocle*

#1 - オタクバトン - OTAKU BATON

◆好きな女性キャラクターを五人答えてください (Your five favorite female characters.)
Princess Leona (Dai no Daibouken), Princess Natalia (Tales of the Abyss), Asellus (SaGa Frontier), Death (The Sandman), Aerith (FFVII)

Honourable mention: Miyuki (Taiho Shichauzo), Kino (Kino no Tabi), Alice (Shadow Hearts)... I don't fangirl female characters much, as you can see. >_>;

◆アナタが一番好きなのは誰ですか？ (↑ Who do you like the most?)
Aerith, without a doubt. All her versions have a little something special, but the FFVII version kicks the most ass in the dearest corners of m'heart. Street-wise, awesome business sense, cutting sharpness, tragic past, sense of duty, pink dress and combat boots. But I've talked about her so many times that I'll blab a little about the rest.

Princesses Leona and Natalia: See, one of my biggest peeves are princesses who can only think of escaping to see the wider world, and it takes a whole plot to make them gain a sense of the sheer responsibility on their shoulders (if they ever get one). Not these gals. Natalia starts off kicking ass from the beginning, and heaven help her, she even has the haughty bearing of a princess. Unbelievable! (Or believable, rather.) Leona is a blast from my nostalgic past -- the "white mage" equivalent of the Dragon Quest games, but I find her nicely balanced between needing protection (a fact of life for priest characters) and having her own strengths. She is really the leader and intiator of the group -- Dai may be the main character, but Leona's the one organising conferences and getting things moving. What makes her (and the other females in this series) extra-speshul is that this manga came out in the 80s... but I think Leona's a great example of a strong female character (as far as manga characters go) that doesn't have to wield ten swords at once or screech at other male characters just to show how rawr!feminist she is.

Asellus: Human gets run over by not-vampires-mystics. Human gets blood transfusion. Half-human/half-mystic gets involved in a madman mystic's harem, is crushed upon by all the other harem-girls, kills madman mystic, and is the only one of the seven main characters who can turn insane and evil... with her own harem. I ♥ Asellus! Her storyline would make an awesome manga -- I'm thinking Yuki Kaori-style art, frilly gothic dresses, gender-bending Asellus (she's called "Prince" even though she's clearly female) ripping through hoards of Mystic evils with blood-thirsty Asura. Her quest was also my first intro to yuri and I didn't even know it!

Death: Dream's sister. She's classic Gaiman-girl: punkish, eclectic, overwhelmingly capable and smart and awesome... and yet so un-Mary Sue and likeable. Gaiman's girls make me believe you CAN have good Mary Sues -- it's all in the writing and your skill as a writer to pull them through.

◆好きな男性キャラクター五人答えてください (Your five favorite male characters.)
Cloud (FFVII), Blue (SaGa Frontier), Nicolai (Shadow Hearts 2), [Flay] Gunnar (Mana Khemia), Jade (Tales of the Abyss)

Dude, this was easier since I have so many faves, but so much harder too... Honourable mention: Leonardo (TMNT), Giroro (Keroro Gunsou), Shuuei and Kouryuu (Saiunkoku Monogatari), Roxis (Mana Khemia), Nash (Suikogaiden), Tomo (Fushigi Yuugi), Jack Russell (Radiata Stories), Kyouya (Ouran).

◆アナタが一番好きなのは誰ですか？ (↑ Who do you like the most?)
...Maaaaaan. Would I be too predictable if I said Cloud? But I must admit that I vehemently dislike his KH2 version. Way too emo and detached from the main plot. KH2 was the perfect chance to see a lightened-up version of him a la Leon/Squall (stingy bugger, SHARE YOUR HAPPY PILLS!), especially after the angst-fest that was AC. What else are alternate universe cameos supposed to be about? I might be in a shrinking minority of old fogies, but I still subscribe to a long-forgotten image of Cloud as a character you could make fun of. His Dissidia appearance was better, though.

I've blabbed about him tons too. So-- *boots him with Aerith in the flowerfields* Have at it, boyo. In the meantime, let's see...

Ah, Jade. Jade is wonderful. Jade is Godly Smex in a Uniform. Jade is cunning. Jade is sly. Jade is mysterious. Jade is oh-so-slashable (despite being a yaoi fangirl from an early age, though, this is a rather minor point... still.). Jade has magic spear (hurhurhur). Jade could spend an hour just chanting spells and I'd die happily. Jade Jade Jade. Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade. Jade is why I'm saving my TotA episodes to be watched only after I've finished watching everything else.

(This is sounding rather familiar... I think I made a post like this once.)

As for Flay/Gunnar. Well. I SWEAR, he could take over the world if he wanted to. He is apparently so gundammit powerful that Vayne can't even REMEMBER being KO'ed by him.

◆好きなゲームを三つ答えてください (Your three favorite games.)
Man, this is a doozy. I'll just kick FFVII to the curb, since it's the most obvious choice.

Shadow Hearts 1 and 2 (what? >_>''), Suikoden II, Tales of the Abyss.

More honourable mentions: Radiata Stories (THIS GAME NEEDS MORE LOVE. LIKE THIS MUCH MORE LOVE. Pay attention to your other children some time, SE!) Also the Mana games. SaGa Frontier (so much potential... so, so, so, sooooo much wasted potential...)

◆好きな声優さんは？ (Your favorite anime seiyuu?)
Koyasu Takehito. It is no coincidence that many of my fangirled males have had his voice. This man's voice could melt diamonds.

◆好きなアニソンは？(Your favorite anison [anime songs]?)
Er... I don't remember actually hearing it on Gundam SEED Destiny, but I adore Toki no Sabaku. Wonderful pacing, builds up into a lovely climax. I keep imagining some kind of funeral with the song in the background.

I also love Keroro's Kero to March, but that might now count as a "real" song... And Aura's theme from .hack. Few songs send such chills down my spine as when her evil theme played in .hack//SIGN. Bleach's Hanabi and D-technolife.

◆コスプレをする？またはどんなコスプレをしてみたい？ (Do you cosplay? Or, what kind of cosplay would you like to do?)
Hell no! Don't have the discipline or the guts. XD

◆アニメ・漫画・ゲームの中で現実に欲しいものは？ (Does the one actually wanting it : in the animated cartoon, the cartoon, and the game?)
I think this means what series would I want as a cartoon and a game? Or what I want most from a cartoon and a game?

Um, I would love to have a Keroro RPG (I can't think of it working as anything other than a FFX-2 style, though, with disparate missions and, yes, the group posturing) and a FFVII anime (none of this Last Order revisionist crap, none of this prequel/sequel crap, just the original game in all its animated glory!).

◆アナタが最も萌えを感じるものは何ですか？（What makes you feel "MOE" the most?）
Guys with glasses and/or swords. Clothes are optional, although half-pants and half-shirts (such as the abomination that Tidus wears) won't be doing you any favours.

◆このバトンを回す人五人 (Five people who you pass this baton to.)
Ahoy! *chucks the baton at anyone interested~*

wicked awesome Alice videos (Vocaloid: Alice Human Sacrifice)

seiza — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:58:12 GMT

I love any alternative take on the Alice books. The freaky-deakier, the better! ~~Still building up the titanium balls needed to play American McGee's Alice, though.~~

Words can't describe how much I love this. Enough to find youtubemp3.com and rip the song from the vid. And download a German version just for the heck of it. THAT'S HOW MUCH. The Red Alice reminds me of Asellus-- only thing missing is the green hair and Asura! Blue Alice reminds me of Persona 3's Minato ♥

A different vid with English translation, and another one of my favourite versions artistically.

There's a Nintendo version (Ash! LINK!! Other characters I don't know!) and a Keroro Gunsou version (which is a whole 'nother load of explodeywickedawesomitude).

There must be a FF version out there some way, but my Japanese is too much phail to find it D;

seiza — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:05:44 GMT

Stumbled on this while searching stuff for my essay:

Y! Answers: Aren't Singapore and Japan third world countries with lousy quality of life?

I've seen a lot of weird questions being asked on Yahoo!, but this struck the ol' funny bone like nothing else.

Oh, the sheer irony of choosing Singapore and Japan, of all the Asian countries out there, as examples of "lousy quality of life"!

Boot to the Head!

seiza — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:52:35 GMT

hattip: madsqueeble

Mikey is, sadly, quite perfect in his role. XDDD

What? Er, yeah, I'm doing work... Am too! AM TOO! *bricks*

"I thought it'd be Kuma from Tekken"

seiza — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:46:09 GMT

Youtubing as a destress session. As much as I wish fiery death upon certain organisations, headsmashing the keyboard will only do so much.

Note: watch the volume, you're responsible for your own eardrums. ;)

Brad's screams remind me of TMNT's Mikey. It's that weird, shrilly, awesome scream of man-geeks. ♥

"It's an Asian thing".

seiza — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:53:52 GMT

Thus far, I've had two separate lectures dealing with cosplay by the same researcher. The findings haven't changed much over the two years: Singaporean cosplayers think Western cosplayers suck. Reasons: they don't look physically like the characters they cosplay, they don't respect the character and they don't put thought or effort into the costume.

I suggested in discussion that Singaporean cosplayers might have a negative bias against Western cosplayers and that's why they rank them so lowly ("the worst", apparently, according to a poll my lecturer did among SG cosplayers at one of the cons). There's a basic East vs. West generalisation underlying their reasons: that Westerners don't try to understand the character or the concept of cosplaying as much as Asians (to respect the character by doing research, acting IC during cosplay etc.). That Westerners only see it as "dress up" and are more willing to mock the character.

Ironically, they focus on "understanding" the character, yet Westerners get an automatic demerit because their physical features don't match anime characters, which they identify as more "Asian". The other irony is that early Japanese anime characters were designed precisely to NOT be Japanese, but to have no distinct nationality or to look more Western (hence, big eyes and wild hair colours, and the preference for blonds). That's all changed by now (one might say that current anime series are being exported explicitly with Japan-lite culture), but history always puts a funny twist on things, dunnit?

In the video on Singaporean cosplay, the prime example of bad Western cosplaying is the fat dude who dresses as Sailormoon (to the shame of my geek cred, I don't know who he is or what he's called). I can't believe anyone takes that as serious cosplay (feel free to correct if I'm wrong), and am tempted to send an email to lecturer to clarify that Sailor Dude is a purposeful parody of cosplaying. I highly doubt he actually thinks he looks good in a short skirt.

Now, some take offence at parodying cosplay itself. If this really is the case, I'd like to research why Western cosplayers are more willing to laugh at themselves than uptight Asian cosplayers who don't know how to let loose.

I suggested, basically speculated (i.e. talking outta my ass) since I've only read one thread on cosplaying on GameFAQs many years ago, that maybe Western cosplaying has different criteria on judging cosplay: maybe while Asians value technical skill in making the costume (sewing, choosing appropriate materials and physically similar characters), Western cosplaying puts more value on having the courage to take part in cosplay to begin with, on the effort put into making the costume as accurately as possible (even if it looks a little shitty in the end). Not saying they're values exclusive to any one group, but since we're making broad generalisations...

Most interestingly, someone in my discussion class said it's because we "share Asian values with Japan" that it somehow makes Singaporean cosplayers better. I dunno about you, but anytime I see any non-Japanese speaker pull a "Kawaiiiiii~~~~", chills run a marathon down my spine. Even more interestingly, she turned it around and said that Western cosplayers were a better fit for Western characters, such as Star Wars, than Asian cosplayers.

Then time, as it is wont to do when things start getting interesting, ended, and the discussion was never heard of again.

the ONLY upside is that I get to use this icon

seiza — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:14:07 GMT

FFFFFFFFFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

Certain buttons on cellphone decided to die. Again.

It's the equivalent of losing right-click function on your mouse/thumbpad.

So this is the salt to the already grievous wound of wearing my earphones out, huh?

*COMMENCE HEADMASHING*

insanity = doing the same thing repeatedly, and hoping for a different result

seiza — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 06:40:31 GMT

Ever tasted something absolutely horrible, then find yourself going back again and again? There's a claypot stall in NUS that I've gone back to at least three times, even though every dish I've tried there is frustratingly tasteless (you'd think something involving garlic and onions wouldn't be so damn vanilla!).

I gagged when I bought some raspberry-flavoured tea at a cafe last year. Lo and behold, bought a pack of blackcurrent-lemon combo tea last week.

Honeyed teas taste so nice when I buy them ice-cold from bubble tea shops, though. But maybe that's because they're honey... and full of syrupy badness.

Maybe I keep hoping that my tastebuds will eventually, at some point, take to fruity herbal teas.

That, and the herbal tea model in Harvest Moon looked incredibly cute.

dum DUM. time to get political! >O

seiza — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:24:41 GMT

Petition to revoke the independence of the United States of America

As a citizen of a former British colony that continues its links with the motherland through a distant, faceless, generally unknown and/or unremembered organisation known as the Commonwealth (the last I heard, we hosted a game sometime last century) -- and because I've nursed an irrepressible crush on the British accent even before Harry Potter -- and because I am a good, well-informed, well-intentioned global citizen of the global world and stuff -- I joined. :D

Lots of nice lines (look out for the tax line! It rings the truest), but one of my fave lols was: The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour'; skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters.

P.S. The Wall of Shame may be the best part, but don't you worry-- highly-strung people who can't take a joke exist on all sides of the puddle.

seiza — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:24:20 GMT

Why does my laptop have a whirring, motor-like sound coming out of it?

...

*scoots away*

*Fujitsu laptop transforms into Fujitron!*

--

On another note, madsqueeble, I really did print it out. XD

Singaporean unis going nuts

seiza — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 04:10:27 GMT

NUS student dies

AN AMERICAN exchange programme student at the National University of Singapore (NUS) died after suffering breathing difficulties in his hostel room early yesterday morning.

Mr Scott Monat, 21, had been hanging out with a friend - it is believed the pair had been consuming alcohol - in his Prince George's Park Residences room when he apparently had trouble breathing at around 5am yesterday.

That was a few days ago. Then I hear this from my friend about NTU:

NTU staff found hanged

Mr Zhou Zheng, 24, a Chinese national from Hubei, who worked for the Division of Information at the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE), was pronounced dead in his flat at Block 101C Nanyang Heights at about 10.50pm.

His body, which was found hanging in the balcony of his apartment, was believed to have been taken down by a friend before police arrived at about 10.30pm.

Which, of course, comes right on the heels of a NTU stabbing by a student on his prof:

His death comes five days after a final year student, also from the School of EEE, fell to his death after stabbing a professor on Monday morning, the same day Mr Zhou started work as an NTU project officer.

Singapore's universities are self-destructing?