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I'm glad I was finally able to talk to a very dear friend of mine after a long time of only a few emails keeping us in touch. Honestly, she does make my day seem brighter with just... being there... even if it is by messenger. I really missed her.

This last week there wasn't much to say...

Anyway, I wasn't really sure what to post as my week has been rather... dull. I think might copy Elf-chan's last post and put a story I recently wrote for Writing Fiction... it reeks of "Digital Souls" but my lecturer and classmates don't have to know that, do they? ^_^ As far as I am concerned it could be original fiction with some similar details to references of Megaman x universe. But there is no mention of it or anything else about it in direct relation. Oh, well. In any case, we are going to be analyzing this story on Monday (tomorrow) so I hope they like it! ^^ It doesn't matter, really, since liking it is not the point of the exercise, but so far, the people that have seen it have liked the story as it is, which is good.

Pride and Prejudice... or the case of the rampant admin.

I am considering leaving my status as a Moderator for Macross Generation. I am not the type of moderator that goes around editing the posts of whomever strikes my fancy, which is what apparently one of the Admins wants us to do. Curiously enough, when another mod asked him what it meant for him to be a moderator, he avoided the question completely and went on again on how whatever else was wrong. What annoys me is the tone, not his reasoning. There are other ways to address people than to be condescending, which is what he is.
Of course this doesn't mean I will abandon the form, heck, that place is cool enough as it is and some of my friends are there (RL friends, actually) posting all the time. I just don't feel comfortable when an admin asks me if being a mod is to me like being a VIP user: Of course NOT!
Just because I don't actively edit or erase posts doesn't mean I don't care about the flow of the forum. Although it is true I had avoided my duty in the way of not visiting for a couple of months.
But those are different things from what they ask. At least one, I think, doesn't know what the heck the discussion is about. The other two, thankfully, are very clear on their expectations and opinions (not to mention much more sophisticated and, well, educated.)

Fanfics, stories and comics

On another note, my fanfics are not doing as well as I had hoped this year... I still have to finish my epic: Masks and Dragons, which only has 16 chapters written out of 26 planned. I really think this is one of my best stories and honestly? People that have ignored it or thought it was just another story have really missed something. That's my opinion, of course.

I am working on one called Digimon Souls with another writer called Firehedgehog The story is going fine, and I think we are close to the end now, plot wise.

Another fic called: Of Knight and Death; by Kyer; a crossover between Forever Knight and Touched by an Angel has finally been updated.

I am not a fan of TBAA, I hate blatant Christian Propaganda like that, specially the type that promotes the stupid "Black and White" perception of the world, but the fic's story is good.

I found a very interesting doujinshi, which you can see by clicking here: The Powerpuff Girls I really like it. I think it rekindles my crossover-spirit.

Real Life

This last 14th of Feb was interesting enough in that... ^_^ I received a few emails from my friends. A belated "Thank you" is in order.

¬_¬ I also found out I have to submit YET another essay for my lecture in "Utopia and Dystopia"... oh well, I'll survive.

On another note, thanks, Elf, for the quick-tarot-reading this morning. Much appreciated. ^_^

Nya!

A new year, new dreams and new stories...

Year of the Rooster

Happy New Year! The second New Year of the year as far as I am aware, I celebrate Samheim myself, which happens in October, but still, New Years are possible new starts for those that want them. The question is, are you going to start something new? A new outlook on life? A new trip? A new career? A new job?

This is the perfect cycle of Life and Death, one old life ends and the new one begins, dates aren’t really that important, it is the moment of change. And Death is a very important part of everything. That is why I love and respect Death; it gives so much more to life than fearing it, if viewed on the right light.

And so ends the year of the Wood Monkey and begins the year of the Wood Rooster. Roosters are supposed to keep their own council, tend to be a little proud and enjoy being alone. They are also supposed to be the type that works behind the scenes. Hmm… reminds me of Zef… but no… he’s not a Rooster, are you Zef? I think you’d have to be much older than you are or much younger…

On a side note, Yoko Ono was born in the year of the Rooster. (If you don’t know who Yoko Ono is you might want to get to your closest Tower Records or Virgin Megastore and ask for incredibly famous groups from Liverpool, UK to get some hints.)

Speaking of the Year of the Wood Monkey, I was born in the Year of the Metal Monkey (1980) and I won’t say too much about us Metal Monkeys since it does sound waaay to good to be true. ^_^ So, I won’t brag more than I already have. (Leonardo Da Vinci and George Lucas and Charles Dickens were born in the Year of the Monkey!)

Moving on…

Today I went back to more normal dreams. At least for me. No more nightmares about missing lectures! Here’s a glimpse of my latest dream, not the whole thing, mind you, or in order…

Scene 1:

“You should get this book; it says all you need to know about demonology.”

Scene 2:

“Seiya!” Saori shouted. (Making note, all her saints but Aldebaran were dead and she pierced her own heart to bring them all to life at the cost of her own… I don’t think it worked.)

Scene 3 (Some of it is actual dialogue from the dream!):

Lord: Princess! Why did you bring your three headed demon to the party?

Princess: I wanted to show it to the prince!

Lord: What is that dreadful smell?

Prince: It’s… channel #5?

Lord: On the demon?! What have you been doing, Princess! Send it away…

Servant: why is there a hedge-demon in the kitchen?

Demon: no-one understands me.

Midget: You are one to talk…

Scene 4:

Kids playing rugby on a battle field with their opponents riding inside metal-cast spiked balls after them.

Scene 5:

Fullmetal Alchemist-type homunculus which I controlled. I was one of them then the other as they offered their lives to the others. Then I became their leader. It was kind of weird, waiting passively for claws to explode my head…

Scene 6:

Washing my hair and finding it had three different colors (gold, silver and metallic red) along with my normal tone and the dog wouldn’t leave me alone and was trying to bite me since I used his shampoo (It looked normal to me O_o’).

Don’t try to explain it! I usually dream like that. Or rather… do try to explain it if you can, I think it would be interesting. ^_^

And Finally: Tom’s Midnight Garden

Let’s see… Lewis wrote “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” and published it in 1950. Eight years later, Philippa Pearce wrote and published “Tom’s Midnight Garden” and what a change! The difference is so overwhelming that I don’t know how to exactly put it in words… so far, I think it had one of the BEST endings for this type of story I have ever read. While both have their respective Bible references (which appear to be a must-have in early 1900 children’s literature) they were so different here. From quoting Revelations (Probably the most interesting part of the whole Bible IMHO) to mystery references that gave that old grandfather clock an air of myth to blatant laughs at over-zealous gardeners… then the allusions to fairies…

I absolutely loved that “To Oberon, King of Fairies” letter Hatty left and Tom found and how she later played innocent and he never caught it. Both stories share that “magical threshold” but even when Narnia is a more fantastic land I would have rather be a visitor of Hatty and Tom’s garden, even if there were no unicorns or *sigh* dragons.

Another thing I really liked was that P. Pearce wasn’t condescending on her readers like Lewis was. He could have taken some hints and pointers from her. The story carries you through, and while not overly complicated and somewhat predictable, it is an excellent book.

Azumanga for dull days

What do you do when you have one of those days when things are just… dull? It’s not that there’s nothing to do at all, or that it’s too complicated, long, time consuming or boring, but everything seems just uninteresting. You have loads of books to read, either for university or for your own entertainment, but, even as much as you love LOTR or Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman or R.A. Salvatore, or heck, even god-among-fantasy-writers Richard A. Knaak you just can’t be bothered with books.

Today is one of those days.

Fortunately for me, “Tom’s midnight garden” by Philippa Pearce is not such a big book, so I will be able to finish it tomorrow in a couple of hours; more than enough time for my Monday lecture. Regardless, it really annoys me to feel this way.

This is where “Azumanga Daioh!” comes in. Whenever you are feeling down or restless and the world is dull, you can just sit back and watch this wonderful series. I never grow tired of it. Don’t remember how long ago I saw it for the first time, but I’ve watched it from beginning to end at least four times before this one. Anyway, it does bring a smile and a laugh, which are welcome indeed in days like this.

There’re only a few things necessary for survival in the world: Food, sleep, books, a pen and paper, winter-clothes, sex, Azumanga, a few AMVs and… drinks.

Anyway, Azumanga did make me think about something, how come we students never really think about our lecturer’s b-days? I have liked all my lectures, had had no trouble at all with my lecturers and in fact admired some of them, so, why? O_o’ makes me feel kind of bad, but seeing it on Azu also makes me realize how considerate doing that is. I will have to think about it though… what to get them?

Tomorrow, by the way, is the Chinese New Year; the year of the Chicken… and there is going to be a big party in Chinatown in Central London. I was considering going with my friends, but I will have to see if that is possible at all… and it also depends on what time we leave and at what time we come back!

-Nya!

Nightmares, Lectures and Meetings...

…not to mention pain in the back!

Nightmares

Now, today I had an interesting morning. I woke up early, hoping to get to lecture, only to notice that the lecture was until 4:00PM! So I just went straight to sleep… and I had a nightmare. The curious thing about this nightmare is that it wasn’t a normal nightmare for me, since mine include a lot of unseen horrors, feelings of evil, facing off against monsters, sometimes (if I’m lucky) bloody battles or gory rooms where I have to fight to survive and overcome my fears. But today, my nightmare was about missing the lecture that afternoon! I actually got so worried that I had got the time wrong (I was absolutely convinced it was in the morning) that I dreamt that I missed it… I’m turning into a geek.

Lectures

So, it has come to pass that I have finally had my last lecture for the week. Writing for Children was an interesting lecture I have to say. It was entertaining and we jumped right into writing exercises. To write for children, it was agreed, you need to be in the right frame of mind, and most importantly NEVER treat children like idiots or simpletons just because they are young. ::cough::lewis!::cough:: That was something I have ascribed to since I was working at Animekai (An official web page for Anime TV series. Mostly from Bandai. The page is now defunct.) where we had to deal with children on a daily basis. But it proved to be a more complicated thing than I had thought, at least where writing for them is involved.

I was happy to see that most people seemed to consider Rowling and her “Harry Potter” series a waste of time (at worse) or in desperate need of editing (at best) but it was generally decided that it wasn’t ability but mostly luck that got her where she is. I clarify: I don’t hate Harry Potter, but it is HARDLY the best book out there, it IS for children, no matter how certain individuals (idiots, most of them) feel about it. It’s not a bad thing, just don’t tell me it is demanding or gets you to think. It doesn’t and is extremely predictable from the very first page.

Meetings

Today, after winter holidays was the first official meeting of JCS (Japan Culture Society) at University, of which I’m Vice-president. It was good to see all other members of the society, even if one of them was ill and had to leave early. We had a few plans ready to be revised and a few more ideas to develop… heh, it is going to be an interesting year…

-Nya!

Lectures!

Ah, first day of lectures… I woke up forgetting that my first lecture out of three for today was in the morning… what can I say? Having slept so much yesterday I had to wait until 5 AM to actually fall asleep! Sigh…

First Lecture: Development of Children’s Literature in the Twentieth Century. Starting with “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis, which I just found out, can be taken as a brainwashing text for Christian Propaganda. I hadn’t thought of the Bible references there other than Adam, Eve and Lillith… ¬_¬ sigh. C.S. Lewis wasn’t up in my list of favorites but now he’s further down. Not only is he sexist, he writes in such a condescending manner that it annoyed the heck out of me. Certainly, even as a kid I hated that kind of attitude. I mean… some people cried when Aslan died… when it was absolutely obvious that the lion WAS going to survive or come back from the death.

The other text we took a look at was “The Hobbit” by Tolkien who is a much better storyteller -needless to say- Inklings or not. He treats the reader with respect, which apparently was too much to ask from Lewis and even knowing all the work he put into the development of his world, it puts to shame TLWW story-wise.

The course will compare various texts and discuss the techniques used to tell the stories we analyze, not to mention we have to do a presentation on one of the books. I’ll be doing one on “Northern Lights” by Phillip Pullman (who apparently agrees with me that Lewis is NOT a good storyteller, but those are rumors.)

The next lecture was: History, Theory and Practice of Stand-up Comedy. A little boring perhaps, since they didn’t give us a reading list and so we had absolutely no idea we had to have read a couple of books before today’s lecture, so it’s NOT the lecturer’s fault. Damn English Department! On the other hand, the lecture does seem to build up through the semester and now that we actually HAVE the reading lists it will be much more dynamic. I just loved the awkward silence when the lecturer asked us something. Heh.

The NEXT lecture was supposed to be Writing Fiction. Sadly the lecturer was sick! That’s not good! I really wanted to start this lecture as soon as possible! Oh well…

On a side note; Shun, thanks for the food. I shall endeavor to eat a larger breakfast next time. ^_^

Sleep and Dungeons & Dragons

Isn't it amazing how sleeping can help? I went to sleep today at 1:20 AM and woke up at 7:00 PM feeling refreshed... and not hungry at all. Why? Usually I can eat a whole horse in a day, but today, through the various times I woke up I didn't feel a bit hungry, only in more need of sleep. I had interesting dreams. I won't post them here, my sister might read them and draw another weird Psychological explanation for them. Sigh. Who needs psychologists anyway? ¬_¬

Going on to Dungeons and Dragons. Role-playing games have had a bad name for some time. Not that I care. I have been Role-playing for 12 years now. Almost 13. But I have always thought that those type of games help in the creative processes that eventually are so needed by people now-a-days. Yesterday, I forgot to mention that Andrew Dymon, creator and writer of the Sci-fi series Starhyke told me that he had also started playing Dungeons and Dragons when he was a kid… so there, my theory was correct! At least to him, since he agreed that it did help put you in the correct frame of mind for such work! Bwahahahahaha!

Anyway, I miss AD&D! Or D&D3.5 or any other RPG! Isn’t there ANYONE in the Putney area interested in Role Playing?! Damnit!

Oh, well…

Nya!

Buses, Trains and Claudia Christian...

... not to mention rain!

British Trains/Underground/Buses

What is it with british bus services? A couple of days ago, I arrived after a grand total of 19... 19! Hours of travel to London, took the underground to Hammersmith station and waited for bus #72 to take me to Roehampton Lane.

Supposedly, the damn thing comes around every 20 to 30 minutes and works 24 hours. Reality check: Comes around once every 24 hours apparently since I had to wait there for almost TWO HOURS! Sigh...

Anyway, on that subject, buses in Bristol aren't any better, let me tell you. SPECIALLY when it is raining. It seemed there was a frigging black hole at the end of the road... I watched three 5A buses pass by... and none came back... ok, one did, after an hour! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!

Anyway, here's a tip for turists coming to England... don't bother carrying trash unecesarily. These guys don't give a damn, they don't have 1, I repeat ONE freaking trash bin/can/hole/disposer in the whole of Paddington Station (which happens to be one of the biggest ones in London) and when I asked for one, they told me with a straight face that the nearest bin was OUTSIDE the station. With the rain. Snow. Mud and most important... COLD. Yeah. Sure. I'll walk out of the already freezing place to drop my trash. IDIOTS!

Ahh... vented frustration. Good... anyway, now on to happy occurances...

Claudia Christan...

... is probably one of the nicest people on the planet. If I were rich and famous and had as many fans as she had... would I act the same? I have to be honest and give myself a grudging "maybe" tending towards the more honest "probaly not". I hope I would.

Today, one of my dreams came true and I finaly met one of the people I have admired on screen in person. Not just MET mind you, talked to her, took my picture with her, discovered some things about her.

I am a fan of hers, make no mistake, but I am not the type of fan that believes that he knows the person he admires so. I realized, despite how many interviews I had seen, read, or heard with her how little I knew. How different she actually is from what I expected and I didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't someone as open and friendly as she was.

What did I learn during that conversation? That she is a very strong person.

Just see her eyes.

Her self-assurance...

I admit, I was enthralled by her. Her personality is just that strong.

And then... she goes around playfully annoying her co-workers from Starhyke; Simon Lewis, Andrew Dymon and Jonathan Brown. She is a very real person and I do believe the world is better for having her here. I cannot say that of every famous person I have met or even regular people... I am glad I met her and the others from Starhyke. True, I didn't get to talk that much with Simon but be sure I will do so next time!

So, thank you, Claudia, you really made my day by being more than I could expect and also real and honest with everyone.

Nya!