Shayera

A meme about the past

shayera — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 10:41:33 GMT

I'm going to do a meme!

How it works: you comment saying you want to do the meme, I give you an age (please tell me how old you currently are as well), and you fill out the meme questions with what applied to you back then, and what applies to you now. naye gave me 21.

That was a long time ago. I turned 21 at the midyear point of 2002.

I lived in:
I still lived with my parents and brothers in the house I grew up in. It was a two-story house built in the 70s or early 80 in a place some 30 kilometers north of Stockholm. We moved in there right before I turned six, and I went to school in that area. It still sort of feels like my "home town", even though I haven't lived year for many years now. It was a nice house, but very uncentrally placed even within the town. Most of the year, the best way of getting anywhere at all was going by bus to the center (and possibly commuter trains from there to go to Stockholm), and buses only came every half hour - and on weekends once an hour. Biking was nice in summer.

In the fall of 2002, I went to Japan for the first time, for three months. During that time, I lived in a small (but by Japanese standards, actually quite large!) apartment in Shimotakaido, close to Shibuya in Tokyo.

I drove:
An old-fashioned three-geared bicycle. Otherwise, nope.

I was in a relationship with:
I knew even then that "relationships" weren't my thing, even though I didn't have the words for why, or knew that there were others like me out there. (Turns out I'm asexual and aromantic, concepts that I didn't discover until 2005.) I did, however, have an excellent friend group at that point. I have many happy memories of weekends playing tabletop RPGs (mostly Shadowrun), though at that early point in time, I think I was too shy and awkward to roleplay much of anything - I got better.

I feared:
Failing at anything. Speaking in front of people. Making a fool of myself. Broadcasting my ignorance of pretty much everything except the topics I had specifically studied in school/university. Being noticed. Not being noticed. Having someone be attracted to me and having to turn them down. Being such a boring person no one would want to be friends with me. Breaking down and crying in public. I was still basically a teenager, and it didn't help that I was living with an untreated depression that made everything more difficult than it should have been.

I worked at:
My main occupation was studying Japanese full-time at Stockholm University. The department was absolutely horrible, and I chalk the fact that I made it down to stubbornness more than anything else. The reward was, apart from learning Japanese, the three-month stay in Tokyo (studying at Nihon University), mostly financed by a scholarship arranged by the involved universities.

I did work quite a lot during the summer of 2002, as a grocery store clerk. It was sort of boring and brain-dead, but it was easy enough, and it brought in money.

I wanted to be:
Happy, I guess. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted from the future except some vague idea of stability and contentment that I had no idea how to accomplish. I liked being a student, because studying, at least, I knew I was good at.

It is now thirteen years later. On the one hand, it feels like at lot has happened in that time, and I have certainly grown a lot as a person, but on the other hand it feels like it wasn't that long ago.

I live in:
I have just moved into a tiny sublet apartment in only slightly off-central Göteborg. It feels quite comfy now that it's furnished, and it's by far the most central place I've ever lived in in Sweden. (In Japan, though, I've had apartments five minutes from Shibuya twice, which is way more central.) It's tiny and grotesquely overpriced for its size (because of subletting), but I think it's good enough for a year or two.

I drive:
Nope. I still don't have a driver's license. It's quite likely I'll never get one. (Although in Göteborg in particular, this is almost a plus! Turns out driving in Göteborg is notoriously maze-like.)

I am in a relationship with:
Like I said above, asexual and aromantic, so no. I have a better relationship with myself these days, though - the chronic depression is under control, and I don't hate myself as much. And I still have friends, even though they're all long-distance by now.

I fear:
I fear the future, for all sorts of reasons. I fear growing old. I still fear being friendless.

I work at:
I have recently been employed as a PhD student of History at Gothenburg University, which is basically a dream come true. In Sweden, being a PhD student comes with an employment and a salary, which means they only take as many students they can pay a full salary for, which means competition is very stiff. But it also means I now have the safety of a real, full-time job, while doing what I love to do - studying and researching history. I have four years to write a thesis while also taking some courses, attending seminars and conferences, and probably spend some time teaching university students at lower levels.

I want to be:
A PhD student! Which I am. o_O After that, the ideal would be to stay employed at a university as a researcher, or at the least a part-time researcher.

Some Homestuck recs

shayera — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 11:40:35 GMT

Homestuck is doing things to me again, and I've poked at fandom. Below the cut are recs for three brilliant vids and two sweet ficlets (descriptions of the fics contain spoilers for the recent developments)

Vids:
Make a Man out of You by KintanaChan

This is presented as Karkat and the other trolls by their computers in the Veil are trying to make heroes out of the human kids. And it's brilliant in every single way, matching characters and situations with the words and maintaining a flow with clear progress throughout the song, and oh characters. I can't stop rewatching this vid.

How Far We've Come by Darkdog862/Artisticazurite

This one is also showing the progress through the series, and at least to me it seems to say something about character development and growing up and fighting against fate against impossible odds when everything is crumbling around you, which is very much a thing in Homestuck. The lyrics and clips really tugs at me.

Live the Life by Pyrotechnicstars/Karen

This doesn't have that sense of narrative, but it's still brilliant how it fits the lyrics to the images and the characters, capturing feelings that are just so right. It's beautifully edited, too, though there's a bit of an aspect ratio problem which I don't know if it's intentional or not.

Fics:
Land's End by Dulcetta

A gen ficlet with Rose and Dave at the point we saw them recently, being slightly older and more relaxed than they were back in the game, but still beautifully themselves. Silly shenanigans, cute banter, being there for each other, dealing with shit, and actually having a pretty good time.

What Your Schoolfeeding Never Told You About Culling by Azzandra

A bit of insight on the childhood of Kankri Vantas and the culture of Beforus. It gives a pretty sympathetic and believable background to how he turned out so wrong. Instant headcanon.

Midsummer Blogstice

shayera — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 10:36:23 GMT

The lovely naye suggested a blogstice around midsummer to get back into the habit of posting. And she has a point. I just tend to think I have nothing to say. :P

This Wednesday I went on a 14 km walk - walking very slowly, looking at stuff, picking wild strawberries at times and generally enjoying myself. I love taking long walks in areas I haven't walked before. This was basic Swedish countryside, fields and forested hills and little red houses.

I might have overdone it, though, because I got a bit of a sunburn, and yesterday I was pretty much down and out with some annoying fever. I feel better today, though.

I've been reading a lot. Other than Homestuck (still obsessed!), I recently read 精霊の守り人 (Seirei no moribito), which is a very good Japanese fantasy book. Then I read スレイヤーズ (Slayers) which is... not. Ugh. It might work as an anime, but it doesn't work as a book at all, although the book is the original. >_<

I'm also reading a book from 1670 (downloaded in scanned format from Stockholm University's library), written in England about Japan. It says a lot more about the European world view than about Japan, but that makes it very interesting. The first chapter starts with the biblical Creation and goes on about Noah's sons, to explain what they considered the background to far-away countries!

It's midsummer, and we're about to have strawberry cake. A week or so ago my mother made rabarberkräm (rhubarb... jelly?), which was amazing. I'm addicted to it. :D

Bad juju

shayera — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 14:53:56 GMT

It's been way too long since I posted anything, I guess.

Well. Here's a reaction post about today's Homestuck!

That's UU.

Ahahaha!!! It explains so much!

Well, no, it doesn't, because in the typical Homestuck way it opens up a million other questions, but they're different questions from what we expected. And I've been sort of irked ever since UU was first introduced because it didn't make sense with what we know about the trolls and their sessions - I was thinking that even if it was a third iterations of Alternia's universe they would still need a 12-troll session, because that's how Alternia's session worked. So I sensed that something was wrong about it... But I trusted in AH to make sense of it eventually, and now he has.

Lord English's species.

I am blown away. O__O

And it's true. UU never actually said she was a troll. She just implied it, like so:

UU: actUally, i have written hUndreds of pages examining the striking differences between hUman and troll romance, as well as reprodUctive habits, as the comparison makes for a marveloUs case stUdy in xenobiocUltUral differences.

So she's fascinated by two different alien species, and likes comparing them. (Which makes sense since we've now been told that the "cherubs" only mate in a hateful way and find affection to be either disgusting or exotic).

And this one:

UU: not that this matters since we are alone here, bUt interestingly, in ancient troll cUltUre we woUld both be considered pariahs.
UU: for different reasons of coUrse. those of his blood coloUr were very rare, existing by way of genetic glitch only. they were oUtcasts, having no place in the social order.
UU: on the other hand, those of my blood coloUr were once actUally qUite common! bUt later they were all hUnted to extinction.

In ancient troll culture. Well. Yes! If they had been trolls, which she's not saying. Interestingly, the little tidbit about the limebloods (which is still where Karkat would have been if he had not been a mutant) still stands.

UU: details of the genocide are historically mUrky. it's one of those maddening voids in my Understanding of yoUr elaborate epic.

"Your" epic. It actually does seem to imply that the history of the trolls are not part of her own history.

Also, look at this:

UU: void players are said in texts to have a way with flUmmoxing even those with plans beyond mortal Understanding.
UU: and i'm far from anyone like that. jUst a girl who wants to help!

It made me laugh when I read it over again just now. Is UU's tongue slipping again here? "those with plans beyond mortal understanding" indeed...

So... What is this Cherub species? o_O

--It's been pretty established that UU and uu share a body, or at least only one of them is able to be active at the same time. They do have physical differences, like different blood colors. We don't know how normal this situation is for the species.

--They have different blood colors and usually type in those colors just like trolls. Though maybe the only colors are bright red and lime green. We've seen that Lord English's blood is bright red.
--Speaking of Lord English, Dirk accused UU of "pretending to be British". Ahahaha...!

--They're asocial and usually never meet other members of the same species, unless it's for mating, which is violent and always what a troll would call caliginous.
--It's still considered improper for UU and uu to hate each other enough to be attracted to each other.

--They never know their parents, because those that spawn them "precede Us by millenia."
--But they do get their "Juju" from their ancestors.

--The species has never had a home planet.

--It's been hinted that they're powerful, which... duh, Lord English!

And Calliope has to be pretty atypical for her people, because she feels lonely, and considers the humans her friends. Which doesn't jive with the asocial thing.

UU and uu are stuck on a dead (killed, not just lifeless!) planet which might or might not be Alternia (they do have an Alternian keyboard). And it seems UU actually likes it there (like she said about Jane's Land: "reminds me mUch of home. so peacefUl, so mUch space to yoUrself and time to think."), and uu doesn't, because he's desperate to get away from it.

And. CALliope. Cal is obviously involved, being a juju and all.

uu: THERE'S ONLY ONE REASON FOR THOSE TO EXIST.
uu: IT IS TO TuRN THE LIFE OF EVERYONE WHO OCCuPIES THE SAME uNIVERSE WITH IT.
uu: INTO A NIGHTMARE.

And that chess game they played? The trick uu pulled is extremely similar to the description of what Calmasis pulled in Rose's novel - a trick to make it possible to keep playing after the game was over. I'm still waiting to know what exactly Alpha!Rose was doing writing those books. o_O

Homestuck still gets me excited. ^_____^

Happy New Year!

shayera — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:51:41 GMT

Let's hope 2012 will be a good one. :3

I can actually see Mt Fuji from my window today too, but barely. It's pretty misty. I tried to take a photo, but it's too faint to stick on the camera. Sadly, there are no dragons.

I'm posting this from Dreamwidth. Most of my friendslist is on LJ, so it's not like I'll be able to jump ship, but I'm testing the crossposting out.

Crossposted from http://shayera.dreamwidth.org/114433.html.

Homestuck

shayera — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:57:20 GMT

I should go to bed but Homestuck has updated and I've already watched the vid several times and I'm going *squee* and *eeep* and *OMG* and *ooooh* and *waaaah*!!! Not necessarily in that order.

Jade got turned into a God with the extra powers of a First Guardian.

Jade fulfills her promise to Echidna by taking all the planets and everyone on them with her. Just like that. so cooool

Dave and Rose got godded too! All of the glee. All of it!

So the Tumor wasn't a bomb? It seems to contain two vials of ghost slime for two dying universes (the humans' and the trolls')... Whatever Dave and Rose and/or the others are supposed to do with that! Combine it?

(It brings to mind this virus that Sollux wrote. Knowing what was explained about .ath code on the pages before that one, the code looks suspiciously like he's playing with two alternate universes. When the blue universe dies, the red THIS is executed, and when the red universe dies, the blue THIS is executed. I still don't know exactly what it means, but it seems Sollux's virus is doing an impressive Mobius Double Reacharound just about now!)

But if the tumor wasn't a bomb and didn't explode the sun, where did the light that the trolls follow come from? (Aww, that little scene with Karkat correcting Terezi's directions to Sollux was SO CUTE! :D) And if it did explode the sun, why didn't the Green Sun powers disappear?

Speaking of which, PM!! PM is being Bad Ass.

And I'm sad that all of the other Exiles died, but I've been worried for so long that the blood on Jack's hand when he appeared in the troll session was Jade's that I was almost relieved that it was WV's... Poor WV.

Also, hah, I did think that the frog dial that WV discovered in his bottle cork way back was for switching universes! But that was a long time ago, and I didn't think Jack would be the one to use it eventually!

Speaking of poor people that Jack killed, CD actually did something pretty clever (Ahaha, he got Dad's wallet. It was loaded with a ton of shaving cream!). And fulfilled his mission to kill Jade (which Jack himself told CD to do!). But Jack was a good dog, bad villain. :O

Sollux goes all Psiioniic and pilots the asteroid. Which seems to be what kills him... :( But while he's doing that, he's also hanging with Aradia. Because Sollux has got the skillz to be in two places at once.

Jade and John and their entire Medium go crashing through the Fourth Wall. Heeeee. To the yellow yard?

Scratch tells Gamzee they are suckers. Which means everything they're doing is part of Lord English's plan and/or what must happen because it already happened. That's not good! Inevitable, maybe, but not good at all! o_O

(I'm still hoping against everything that the dead trolls will become not-dead somehow. It's not fair that all the kids become gods and the trolls just die?)

Homestuck fic

shayera — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 11:43:01 GMT

I want to write about RL stuff, but at the same time I don't want to. Whining is boring.

So I'm going to write about fandom instead!

I'm still in over my head in Homestuck, despite the sad, sad fact that it's still on hiatus and probably won't update until some time in October. But the fandom on AO3 is so awesome, and it's making me all squeeful!

I don't think I've been this into a fandom in... Ever, possibly. Or, okay, I've been fanning heavily on a lot of things, most notably One Piece and Doctor Who, in pretty much the same way I'm doing with Homestuck right now, but the difference is that I'm also seeking out fic. I don't tend to do that a lot, at least not beyond what my friends rec. Fandom and fanon tends to scare me off, for some reason. And with Homestuck, I even felt uncomfortable with fic at all at first, because it's a webcomic and not a published media. (The creator being "one of us" - an internet creative person - skeeves me a bit). But I'm staying away from AH personally and reading fic on AO3, and it turns out there's so much awesome stuff out there.

I think maybe it's the fact that AO3 doesn't seem to be infested with badfic writers. And also that wank doesn't tend to happen in and around fic. And Homestuck fandom on AO3 is so active and so creative and I just want to hug all of it. ^___^ (Of course, not all of it is my cup of tea. Doesn't stop it from being amazingly creative.)

Fic recs in no particular order!

A Sailorman's Hymn by VastDerp
~25K, finished, gen.
The Signless finds the Psiioniic in a dreambubble after death. This fic is absolutely incredible and heartbreaking and hopeful in all the right ways.

the end of the world as we know it by VastDerp
~13K, unfinished, gen.
The four humans meet the surviving trolls in the Veil. I'm not sure if there's a plot, but I'm too distracted by the absolutely amazing writing and characterization to care.

Game Over, Player One by VastDerp
~3K, finished, gen.
A missing scene on the Vast Glub incident, with a wonderful Sollux POV. I didn't even knew I needed to read this, but then I did, and it's all headcanon now.

And We're Alive by RedPen
~8K, finished, gen.
The four kids gets back home. To their home sites on a post-apocalyptic desert Earth, that is. This is about how they survive and find each other again, and it almost made me cry, but in a good way.

Mostly Harmless by inverts
~26K, unfinished, apparently John/Karkat.
AU where Karkat is being held as an alien specimen at Area 51. John saves him. Then Rose, Jade and Dave has to save John. Lots of worrying and h/c that pushes my buttons in the best ways.

Not What We Planned On by Elemental
~42K, unfinished, gen.
The Earth is recreated and the trolls end up there with the humans, three of them with each kid. It's not an easy situation for anyone. This also has some beautiful characterization, not just of kids and trolls, but the Guardians as well. And there seems to be a plot going on, too.

Don't Breathe Too Deeply by Rebbe
~2K, finished, Equius<>Nepeta.
Easily the best Equius/Nepeta story I've read.

Culinary by bramblePatch
~1K, finished, gen.
In some nebulous post-game, John cooks for his friends. And the sheer characterization that happens through that is beautiful.

Everyone's But His by bramblePatch
~4K, unfinished, Eridan<>Feferi, Eridan <3< Vriska.
Excellent pre-series Eridan POV with an actual workable moirallegiance and a less healthy kismessitude.

stitching up the circuitboards by dellaluce
~7K, finished, gen.
An amazing look at Jade, growing up on her own on that island. I love how it takes the challenges she must have faced seriously, but still gives us the same Jade.

Sinner's Music by wilySubversionist
~4K, finished, gen.
A scene from the life of Bro raising Dave, which turns out to be a memory in an afterlife dreambubble. A dead Dave ends up there as well. This fic says so much about the relationship between Dave and Bro, the love and the hate and the way things just work.

Hold Your Colour by lantadyme
~12K, finished, gen.
The fic where the Earth is rebuilt, and everyone comes back but Bro. Dave tries to cope on his own, which is heart rending, and his friends worry about him. It's fantastically written.

Easy Vertebrae Access all Around! by Sout
~2K, finished, gen.
The humans and trolls meet in the trolls' Veil. John is being cute. There are hugs. My heart melts.

And Justice For All by a_mere_trifle
~13K, finished, gen
It's after the game, and Vriska has conquered the Earth. Terezi and Dave wants to take her down. This fic is beautiful and sad and literally made me cry.

I've been writing fic myself, too. Right now I'm writing a longfic, As It Should Be (Post-Scratch, the human kids end up on Alternia, and things aren't quite right. ~12K and counting) - which I probably shouldn't, given my track record of giving up halfway... But I want to finish it, and it's not like I don't know how it's going to end. Ganbatteru!

(Posting Homestuck fic to AO3 is happymaking. I love getting kudos - of course comments are better, but all those kudos means someone is reading and liking it, and it makes me all fuzzy inside. I'm so easy. ^^)

Latest Homestuck

shayera — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:33:13 GMT

So troll Empresses are basically immortal, and Feferi's Ancestor is still alive. Not just still alive at the time of the meteors, but still alive at the time of the Exiles, 612 sweeps later.

(Hah, so without Sgrub, it would have been Feferi's job to kill her own Ancestor. XD Although, I guess, every Empress is probably meant to be the Ancestor of the next one... Paradox bloodlines might have messed the line up in the long run, but still.)

Her ship's symbol is basically Betty Crocker's (plus it's the Battleship Condescension. BC). And Scratch wants to give her employment. Her Imperious Condescension is Betty Crocker. And I still sort of think Betty Crocker is a Scratch/Demonherald in the human universe, which would explain what Scratch wants employ her for... O____O

Sollux's Ancestor was still alive too, up until the Vast Glub. So those voices of the "imminently deceased" in Sollux's head -- no wonder he had migraines if one (two?) of those voices belonged to the Psiioniic! ;_;

I still want to know what's up with the Aradia girl!!

Homestuck

shayera — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 03:27:45 GMT

I should post about something else. But then Homestuck updates again and...!!!

SWEET TROLL JEGUS. Quite literally, too.

OWWWWWW. KARKAT.

I knew that Karkat was a mutant and that the symbols are related to blood color, and how come I never even wondered where Karkat's symbol came from?? It's a pair of SHACKLES.

And there's a Vast Expletive, and I don't know whether to cry or giggle at that (perhaps cryggling would be appropriate). Hello Karkat's eternal RAGE.

As if Karkat's life didn't suck enough already, he's inheriting a burden that's more than anyone should have to bear.

He doesn't even believe in Ancestors. Although at this point I'm starting to suspect that he doesn't believe because at some level he is aware of this, and wants nothing to do with it. Self-preservation, in some sense. And then he goes around hating himself...

I think the Sufferer did realize, there at the end, when everything turned into rage, exactly what he himself had done in another reality. That would explain the sheer power of that "final sermon". IT'S ALL MY FAULT. And Karkat would have inherited that, having a guilt complex the size of a universe. Again, pretty much literally.

I find it incredibly sweet that Redglare was a follower of the Signless, though. Somehow.

And. The Highbloods tortured and killed the Signless. Was Gamzee's Ancestor among them? That would bring all sorts of levels to the relationship between Karkat and Gamzee...

On a different note, all of these versions of characters are kind of hard to refer to. There's basically four versions of each character (I'm assuming the Ancestors are basically clones of the Heroes), so there's the v1 trolls which were the original Heroes and the original Ancestors, and then there's the v2 team which are the current Heroes (previously the Ancestors) and the current Ancestors (previously the Heroes). And it's a pain to refer to one particular iteration!

There should be a system. For example -

Karkat 2H (v2 Karkat, Hero, being the Karkat we know and love)
Karkat 2A (v2 Karkat, Ancestor, being the Signless Sufferer)
Karkat 1H (v1 Karkat, Hero, being in the failed original team that created Scratch)
Karkat 1A (v1 Karkat, Ancestor, who we actually don't know anything about)

To make it all more complicated 2H=1A and 2A=1H, since the Ancestors and Heroes switched places. Perhaps I should indicate that in the system too...

2Hc, 2Af, 1Hf, 1Ac, with c standing for "current" and f for "former"?

So the 2Hc trolls are the trolls we have gotten to know, who are on the second round of the game. The 2Af trolls are their Ancestors. The 1Hf trolls were the heroes during the first round of the game, and they failed and choose to cause the scratch to reboot the universe. The 1Ac trolls were their ancestors.

The 1Hf and 1Ac trolls lived on "good" Alternia and the 2Hc and 2Af trolls on "bad" Alternia.

Um. At least this way I will know what I'm talking about? ^^;;

Nevermind. THIS IS STUPID. (I'll still use it to keep track of the different generations as groups, but it seems we're about to get tags for all of the 2A trolls, which will help!)

Homestuck

shayera — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:20:18 GMT

I keep impatiently pressing F5 at Homestuck.

Addiction is a powerful thing.

First of all, I wonder if it's a bug or a feature that this page doesn't link to the next page. It strikes me as odd.

Anyway, anyone wants to speculate about who that troll girl is? It sure looks like Aradia, but... HUH. How does that fit?

I figure she could be...
1) Alpha Aradia from sometime later in her timeline?
2) An alternate (doomed) Aradia?
3) Aradia's Ancestor? (the trolls do have a serious case of Identical Ancestor going on, and we know nothing about Aradia's!)
4) Aradia's Descendant? (unlikely, but hey, stranger things has happened. Jade has a grandson!)
5) A random person who just happens to look like Aradia? (nah, don't think so)

Going against the theory that she's Aradia herself is the fact that this girl fights like Rose, needlewands and youth rolls and suicide threats and everything. (and Aradia's Strife Syllabus is Whipkind)

I'd also like to say that Doc Scratch has finally gone from Creepy Manipulative Bastard to Creepy Evil Bastard in my mind. Not that he wasn't always, but... eeep. ._.

But I laughed at the glimpse of AH we got from the fifth wall (how many walls are there?). He's... folding two fourth walls on each other and preparing for the characters to go from one to the other through a distance of exactly one ~~yellow~~ yard? And Scratch doesn't approve at all, hee.

ETA: Update!!!

Aaaaaaagh! I love this story. ♥

I was right about Ancestors being involved, and about the explanation being the most complicated one possible. Because nothing is simple in paradox space when it can be tangled up in a ball of timey-wimey stuff! Not that the girl was actually explained or anything, but it's leaning heavily towards her indeed not being Aradia as we know her.

And it's all Scratch's fault that troll society is terrifying, and it's the alternative past selves of the Ancestors who made the whole thing possible by trying to be heroic and sacrificing themselves and Ancestor!Karkat remembered it and I can't see how that would have ended well for him, and WTF does Scratch want not!Aradia to do?

(The trolls we know all had alternate past lives as their own (peaceful) Ancestors. Hee.)

More Homestuck

shayera — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 01:37:03 GMT

I am obsessing. Nothing to see, move along.

OMG it's all Gamzee's fault that the kids' universe is bonkers! Seriously. It might be Karkat's fault that the universe is self-destructive, but it's Gamzee's fault that it's insane. That explains that, I guess.

It also explains John's nightmares. About clowns. Aww. And we did know that Dave had nightmares about Cal. I wonder about the girls, though, they don't seem to have had nightmares? Although Jade hasn't had a non-Prospit dream for many years, and Rose probably wouldn't mention it if her life depended on it.

And it was all Dave's fault that Gamzee went insane in the first place. I've been thinking for a while that this is setting it up so that everyone is guilty of messing everything up, and this continues the trend. Although technically, the reason Dave gave Gamzee that vid was because he got the idea from this update's conversation, so... Timey-wimey. For maximum impact, here's Dave and Gamzee's other conversation.

And Betty Crocker gave Dave that vid. Waaaaaah!!

Thinking about that Jack = cancer thing... Jack is the cancer because he hates Universe Frogs, and Jack exists in all sessions (or at least the trolls' session too). In fact, all Derse agents hate frogs - AR certainly does, and Kanaya mentioned "agents" pluralis. Does that mean that by expelling the cancer, the kids' universe has made it spread into the Medium and by extension every reality? Or perhaps the sickness already exist in all realities, personified by the Derse Kingdom, but only in the kids' reality did it grow dangerous by the series of cancerous events that gave its Jack Noir all that power?

Homestuck updated~

shayera — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:15:10 GMT

Oh Karkat. Oh Karkat how you need a hug very badly. Also not literally carrying the universe on your shoulders would probably be good.

The fact that most of the doomed Aradiabots came back in time to stop Karkat from doing stupid things is... Yeah. It sort of explains why there were so many of them, and I have actually been wondering about that. Dave only went back in time to stop a doomed timeline from happening once, but Aradia did it hundreds of times, so there must have been lots of mess-ups. Poor Karkat. On the other hand, I'm thinking perhaps that's how this game usually goes? The Time player's role is to stop mishaps from happening, and in the process get themselves killed over and over again?

In other words, the Time player, being the one who gets to see the whole timeline and knows how it's supposed to go, would be the one ultimately responsible for things happening the right way. Meaning that if this is indeed a mess-up, then it's not only Karkat's fault, but also Aradia's?

In any case, seeing as the kids' Earth is obviously not our Earth, it's not all that surprising that their universe was cancerous. Which also explains why there was a Tumor in the middle of their Battlefield, I guess.

And! This update is obviously Karkat before Vriska is killed and Karkat talks to John about the thing they're doing to try to survive. Which means that even if this was always technically a doomed timeline, and even if Karkat sounds like he's giving up hope now, he must get it back later. Time doesn't really work out in the Furthest Ring anyway, and going there to blow up the Green Sun is cheating in the first place, so perhaps they can cheat in more ways than one? (Bring back dead trolls y/y?)

And then there's the Fourth Wall. Remember that Karkat told Jade (relaying a message from Future Jade) to sketch the Fourth Wall to her Sylladex? If anything is cheating, the Fourth Wall is cheating. Who cares about doomed timelines and cancerous universes? >:D

This is also obviously before Karkat deals with Gamzee, although speaking of that...

The thing is, Karkat can't have killed Gamzee. Because there are these two pages, in which "The most important character in Homestuck fondly regards the miracle of a new beginning. " In other words, Gamzee is there, apparently alive and at a computer when the Critical Event happens. So - what did Karkat do?

Unrelatedly, I've found where we first hear from "fedorafreak". It's here. In which he is sort of panicking about a meteor striking his neighbor's house. Except perhaps he misinterpreted it? Perhaps what really happened was that his own house was moved to a fiery place in the Medium right before the meteor would have struck the neighborhood? (I love foreshadowing, and the fact that this random Serious Business guy apparently died on a Quest Bed somewhere is very intriguing.)

I'm writing!

shayera — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 01:22:34 GMT

Uh. I seem to have committed Homestuck fic. o_O

It's just a bit of family fluff, four little pre-series ficlets tied together by a theme. 3200 words. On Parents. (Because children ask questions.)

Update-ish

shayera — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 08:15:26 GMT

Over the last week, I've kind of madly fallen in love with Homestuck. Which is all xparrot's fault, though it's my responsibility for being intrigued by her pimping post. And she has good taste (with which I mean, similar to mine).

It's awesome, but terribly distracting, and I absolutely did not have time for a shiny new fandom to obsess over right now. But now I'm stuck feeling all fannish! *flails helplessly*

In fact I'm supposed to be reading stuff like this:

今船御府内御取締向厳重被仰出候付而は辻番所之儀番人壮健之者差置持場内勢々為見廻夜中は別而心附怪敷者等徘徊致し候ハ々早速取押置最奇御目付に相届触候事

Direct quote from a document I have in front of me right now. Except the original is slightly more complicated, because some of the kanji there are pre-simplified, and my computer doesn't have the pre-simplified forms available. And yeah, that's Japanese, slightly less than a hundred years old. It's like a whole different language.

Which is difficult and awesome at once, but only when I'm not in the mood for fannish flailing? Uh. ^^;;;

To top that off, the pleasantly "cool" 25 degree days are over and the soulcrushing humid heat is on. UGH.

Todai pics

shayera — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 09:32:19 GMT

Time for more photos! This time there's a bunch of pictures of the Todai (University of Tokyo) campus in Hongo under the cut.

The classical image of Todai is the clock tower, of course. Kyodai in Kyoto has a similar one, but Todai's have a double row of ichou-trees leading up to it. The picture is from early april, when they weren't leaved yet, but ichou leaves are the symbol of Todai. They're very distinctive.

A hanging sakura by the clocktower. You can sort of see it to the right in the top picture.

The front of the main library. It's a nice old building.

This is from another side of the library.

Sakura really does fall like snow on the ground.

This is the building where the history faculty is located.

There are two things that make it very clear that this sign was made before the War. Can you find them?

Inside the building. The corridors are old and cluttered. A lot of the time it seems like stuff that no one knew where to put just ended up in the corridors.

Like this, for example. Some old and new electronics, put there in different ages, but now gathering dust next to each other.

And then there are the light yards, which are apparently dumping grounds for anything and everything that the university doesn't need anymore, but doesn't want to pay to get rid of. Or so it seems. There are all sorts of office supplies just sitting there exposed to the elements.

The Todai campus is built upon the old grounds of the Maeda shogun's Edo residence. There's not a lot left from that time, but the Red Gate (Akamon) that leads to the university grounds is one thing, and this pond is another. It's an old, beautiful pond that is surrounded by trees and almost makes you forget that you're right in the middle of Tokyo.

There's even a waterfall, seemingly trickling down from the forest.

This flower is called shaga. They bloom in early May, and I was surprised to see that they don't only grow in the city, but also in great numbers wild in the forest on the mountains beyond.

Photos of the place where I live

shayera — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:22:57 GMT

Alright! Some people wanted to see photos. I have way too many photos to try to go through everything at once, so I chose start with some from my apartment and the area close to here. Still, be warned for picspam.

My very tiny apartment. There's a bed and a desk and a chair. Also a bookshelf and a refrigerator. Behind my back is the exit, and beside that is a small bathroom (it does have a tub). That's it!

On a very clear day, I can see Mt Fuji from my window. It's awesome.

Fuji is to the west, and this is the view to the east. It's from April, when the sakura was still in bloom. You can see the train tracks that goes right below my window. The trains pass every couple of minutes, and it's very annoying, but there's nothing I can do about it.

The local neighborhood kitties relax at the bike parking.

This is kind of what the city is like right here. It's a little bit off from the center, but still very cluttered.

These are one of the most annoying things! They look like wild strawberries. "Smultron" in Swedish. I love smultron. But these aren't. They're called "hebi ichigo" (snake strawberries), because they look yummy, but they taste like paper. :P

June is the time when the ajisai is in bloom. It's very pretty, and comes in many different colors.

Finally, this sign for a university water polo club caught my attention:

They're using Chopper! ♥ (For something that involves swimming. I love it!)

pokes self with a stick

shayera — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:17:34 GMT

I'm not posting. I'm going to have to do something about this.

At first, I wasn't posting because I thought I'd wait until things calmed down a bit. I'm starting to realize that maybe they won't. Heh. It's not that I have a lot of classes or activities, it's just that I'm working hard and learning so much that is new to me that when I have time to spare, my brain feels dead.

So. Is there anything in particular you want me to write about? Any questions about what I'm doing or what things are like here? Do you want me to post photos?

I'd post a poll, but since I'm not on a paid account, this will have to do.

RIP

shayera — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:53:50 GMT

I just learned that ~~Sarah Jane Smith~~ Elisabeth Sladen has died. I never thought the news of a celebrity's death would make me this sad. But damn, she was good. She'll be missed.

Participating

shayera — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:53:16 GMT

As a research student (研究生), I'm not duty bound to participate in anything - but I have the opportunity to. And opportunities are for taking! I'm taking a few classes, and participating in after-seminar activities, and it's a fascinating experience.

If this had been a few years ago, I might have been too shy to go through the effort. Because it is an effort - finding out which classes exist, choosing, finding the right classroom (none of this is easy, and some required the assistance of my designated senpai. Who by the way is amazingly helpful. ♥).

And then there's being the only westerner in a classroom full of Japanese people, where you're expected to follow along as well as a native. I do follow in general, but I miss stuff, and taking notes is completely out of the question when listening to the teacher speaking very fast for long periods of time. Luckily, the classes I've joined are seminars, not lectures, and though I might be required to do presentations, I'm going to feel justified in doing that as late as possible, when I've gotten more used to the whole deal.

It's weird how I'm used to being one of the smart ones, participating actively in discussions, and now that's not really possible when I'm so conscious of the language all the time. I try to listen and learn.

For each class, everyone has had to introduce themselves, and me being the one person who is "different", people tend to remember my name. And I tend to not remember other people's. This is kind of embarrassing, especially since it's more polite to use the other person's name than a version of "you" when having a conversation with someone! But I'm making a point of asking names and trying to memorize them.

S-sensei's seminar is before lunch, and afterwards the tradition is for the entire class and teacher to go out for lunch together. And M-sensei's seminar is in the afternoon/evening, and he takes the class out to drink (飲み会) afterwards! Neither would be possible in Sweden, but it's kind of nice. I don't even drink, but just participating, being there and talking loudly to my classmates, it's like I'm actually part of a group. It's a sense of nakamaship.

Last night was a welcome reception (歓迎会) for all the new students in the history department (日本史研究室). That, too, included self-introductions - everyone had to step up on the stage and make some brief greeting - and lots of mingling.

As with the finding the right classes and classrooms, information is a bit hard to come by - it's generally expected that you know things from someone. I only found out about the welcome reception because I was emailed. It's almost as if the inner workings of the university is on a need-to-know basis, where you only need to know if you are part of the group. But as I participate in these things, it seems like I am part of that group.

As an example, I was waiting outside the... well, "Study Room" (研究室), the other day, and someone saw me, and told me to come on in. Which I did, and it feels so strange, because it's a completely different world, but I'm not only looking at snippets of it from the outside, I'm actually a (weirdo, Swedish) part of it.

A proper update

shayera — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:13:58 GMT

I've had a busy few days, as it tends to happen when you've just arrived in Japan.

On Wednesday, I went to the university for the first time. It's a bit of a journey - it takes about an hour door-to-door, and you have to change trains twice. I got my student card and a bit of information at the foreign student office, and then I had to go register my student card at the library office to be able to use it as a library card.

There was a guidance meeting for all new foreign research students in the Humanities. There were only thirteen of us (and me and a Czech woman were the only Westerners). Apparently the group was supposed to have been twice that size, but catastrophes happened in Japan, and a lot of people didn't come. In general, there are very few Westerners in Tokyo right now - enough that I'm noticing the lack. I can't tell if there are any fewer Asian foreigners or not, but it's likely.

We had a tour of the main library, and then there was a random Japanese test. Just to see how good we were. I did not do well on the parts that required writing kanji. I keep writing all my Japanese on the computer, and completely basic kanji sometimes slips my mind completely when I try to write them by hand. ^^;

On Thursday, I went to the introduction meeting with the History post-grads. It was my first time as one of the students in a class consisting of Japanese people. A lot of teachers introduced themselves and the classes they were teaching. As a foreign research student, I'm not required to take any classes, but I can if I want to - and I'm also apparently free to attend classes without doing the assignments if I don't want to, because research students can't get academic credits for classes anyway.

I'm working under S-sensei's seminar. He seems to be a very nice person. After the introduction meeting he took me and the other three students who are in his charge out to lunch, and we talked about all sorts of things. One of the other students was assigned as my "tutor", which basically means she's my senpai who's going to help me around until I get my bearings. After lunch she showed me around a bit on campus.

I really did need someone to show me around! Todai's main campus in Hongou is an absolute mess - or, perhaps, a maze. There aren't enough signs for anything, and important things are often hidden away in some cellar or the third floor of some random building and to find them you have to pass through narrow corridors that often happen to be dark right now because of the energy conservation plan. Just finding your classroom is a dungeon crawl. XD

On Thursday afternoon I went to a compulsory lecture in order to get a student account at the library computers. I'll get my password on the 14th, apparently.

And then I met a student from Singapore who just arrived the day before. She had never been in Japan before and was completely lost. So I helped her out - we went to Mos Burger and then to Shibuya to shop for some necessities (she needed a plug to connect her computer to electricity in Japan!). Turns out she lives in the same place as me, just a few buildings away.

So now I have a teacher, a senpai, and a kouhai. :D

Today, the plan is to go to the class that S-sensei teaches, because it sounds like an interesting one (it's on Meiji society).

Earthquakes

shayera — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:47:17 GMT

Two earthquakes in as many nights.

At around ten o'clock on Wednesday night, I felt this quake. That was weird - it was the first time I've ever felt a quake, and I was mostly just fascinated. I was also pretty tired. I had already gone to bed, and when the bed started shaking, my first thought was "where did the cat come from?" because it felt similar to when one of the cats back home jumped up on my old rickety bed there. Then it kept shaking for a while. o_O

And then, at half past eleven on Thursday night, this earthquake struck. It was stronger, and it woke me up. It felt like the entire building was rocking back and forth. Still, nothing fell off the shelves or anything, so it wasn't all that bad right here, but it was strong enough that I started thinking what if it gets worse, and that was freaky. Apparently it was worse up in Sendai, again.

Hum dee-dum~

shayera — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:46:19 GMT

Starting to settle in. Still a lot of things to do, not the least of which is to clean the place up properly, because it's dirty. :P

This is probably the tiniest place I've lived in yet. It has the added inconvenience of no kitchenette - I don't usually cook anyway, but I miss having a kitchen sink. The bathroom sink is very low and not very practical. The furniture isn't what I would have chosen for a place this small myself, but beggars can't be choosers. At least I've rearranged it a bit to make it livable - I had to do that the first day, because the way the last person living here had set it up made the room even smaller! But now it feels better.

There's one big problem with this room, and it's the location right next to a railway track. It feels like minor thunder every time a train passes, which is every few minutes except for a few hours in the middle of the night. I'm telling　myself that I will get used to it, because the alternative is that it drives me insane, and that would be sad. Since there's nothing I can do about it... Trains are a natural part of living in the big city? Or something.

The good thing about the location is that it's close to a station, and a couple of conbinis (though I haven't located a supermarket yet). There's also a beautiful park right on the other side of the rails, with lots of sakura!

Today, I've been to the ward office to register as an alien. I love the fact that as a foreigner living in Japan, you have to be a Registered Alien. Makes me feel like I'm an extraterrestrial of some kind. XD

And then I went for a walk. I was going to go from the ward office to Shibuya station, which is two stops by train, but I ended up going in the wrong direction when I set out, which meant a long way around before I noticed. I did get to see a very nice neighbourhood (small buildings, hidden away temples, even some unpaved roads!) that I didn't expect, so it wasn't so bad, and I did manage to get to Shibuya eventually. It's the best part of being in a city I've never lived in before - lots of new places to explore on foot. ♥

Tomorrow - heading for the university! There's some registration to be done there, too.

I am arrived

shayera — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 06:16:58 GMT

I have (finally) arrived safe and sound in the dorm in Tokyo. I have not slept in a day and a half and will now proceed to collapse in a heap on the bed. Further updates later.

Confirmation!

shayera — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:35:51 GMT

I have my flight tickets!

Will travel!

shayera — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:26:49 GMT

I talked to the Japanese Embassy! Apparently, the tickets are a bit late because of the chaos in Japan right now, but there are no plans of canceling trips for foreign students except for those universities that specifically say they can't take students right now. And I've been in contact with Todai, and they're in business as usual.

I was offered the choice to cancel the trip right now and go in October (and only stay for one and a half year) instead, but I said no. I could try to justify that decision, but suffice to say, I know myself well enough that I can tell that staying in Sweden now would launch me into a full-scale depression. If they had told me that I couldn't go, fine, I'd have to accept that. But I'm not going to decline the offer when they tell me I'm welcome to go now.

(And yes, I asked about waiting a couple of weeks or a month. That is not an option, because apparently everyone has to be there at the start of a semester, or the paperwork will go wonky, and we wouldn't want that, would we?)

So I'm going! The Embassy tells me the tickets should arrive on Tuesday! I don't know if anyone can understand this, but what I feel above all else is relief.

And then, after making that phone call, I checked my mail, and had gotten something from Todai - instructions for arrival in Japan! They tell me I'll arrive in Narita on April 4 at 10:10. So. No tickets yet, but an arrival time!

Right now isn't a good time to be in Japan. In Tokyo. But it happens to be my time. Wish me luck.

Shayera

A meme about the past

Some Homestuck recs

Midsummer Blogstice

Bad juju

Happy New Year!

Homestuck

Homestuck fic

Latest Homestuck

Homestuck

Homestuck

More Homestuck

Homestuck updated~

I'm writing!

Update-ish

Todai pics

Photos of the place where I live

*pokes self with a stick*

RIP

Participating

A proper update

Earthquakes

Hum dee-dum~

I am arrived

Confirmation!

Will travel!

pokes self with a stick