ok, here's the link to Lady Rhiyana's fic series.

pwah~~~ one of the most machiavellian Slytherin fics I've ever read. Stayed up all night so I could read thru a few story arcs.

Pro-Slytherin the way Slytherin Rising is and very much pro-Malfoy. Except, it doesn't just make the Malfoys goody-two-shoes. Instead, much effort is poured into making the whole Old Families concept...well, ancient and mystic. One interesting note is the contradiction that even in the wizarding community there is a thing as too much mysticism. Luc, Lucius and Draco Malfoy are portrayed as players of a Game in which Slytherins are portrayed as arrogant and cruel but holding to their own codes of conduct as well. Of course, all that scheming and etiquette just makes my teeth ache, but it underlines the control and discipline while at the same time showing the deceit and darkness that seems to be core to the Game.

The writing style is just so wow - the author does esp well in original charac Luc Malfoy - thank goodness they are long stories so there is much charac development - my fav kind of fic. Am still not finished reading because there are at least five big 20-chp stories.

will post the link one ff.net's server is alive again *yawn*

wow.

freaked when Touya smiled at that GO salon lady - his eyes closed! - and he did that embarrassed head-rubbing thing!

the anime continuing to surprise me...

Sai honto ni kawaii!!! something to be said for giddy excited guys in baggy suits running in circles ^_^

*gasp* And how COULD I forget?! Fujiwara no Sai is the absolutest mostest extremest beautiful guy ever animated.

Seriously, IMHO, he beats guys like Hotohori and Aoshi, hands down, baby!

The fact that he is a childish, whining, naive, ancient Go addict with baggy turquoise pants, purple lipstick and a tall dorky hat is only part of the attraction, heh.

Oh yeah, look-a-likes. Record number in this anime:

Kishimoto - younger Brad Crawford
Ogata - also Brad Crawford! Weir-doh, man
Tsutsui - Yukito Tsukishiro - even their names sound similar...
Touya Akira - Xelloss! The hair, the hair!
Touya Kouyo - (much) older Aoshi Shinomori (dun ask me why, my brain is a scary place...)

*prowls for more* Heeheehee...

Watching Hikaru no Go recently, tho's it's been around for quite a while. Have avoided it before because the story's centered around a game which my 486 brain cannot process - Go. Basketball (Slam Dunk) is one thing, but Go is much more complex. Am right because the many many scenes of the Go board in this anime just go right over my head - every time catch no ball. But the animation is above average and pretty funny. Action is a bit slow-going, with the solemn violin bgm. But the intricate relationships are fodder for fic-writers.

Consider the Junior High Tournament match where Hikaru had initially wanted to step aside so that Touya, who went through a lot of effort to play against Sai, could achieve his goal (which is considered an important one because he is so eager and yet scared of Sai's power that his hands were shaking before the match). The tension is subtly created because while Touya believes he is facing Hikaru, it is actually Sai, who exists in Hikaru's consciousness, that he is so desperate to defeat. And Hikaru, who has just discovered that he does have potential in Go, gives up an important game with Touya (for as Touya wishes to defeat Sai and becomes stronger, Hikaru similarly places Touya as a marker he wants to reach).

The internet Go idea was something I had not anticipated. Before the Junior High Tournament, I was expecting the anime to be one where Hikaru just advances match after match much like Slam Dunk, Yu Yu Hakusho and Flame of Recca. Instead, the tension is lengthened and Hikaru's secret is maintained longer precisely because he took over Sai and played as himself against Touya in the Junoir High Tournament. It threw Touya off his scent, so to speak, and diverted attention from him and ancient Go expert inhabiting his mind.

It's hard to tell what is going on in Hikaru's mind also. He's one of those baka cheerful guys who sometimes exhibit startling talent. Much like Sakuragi Hanamichi except less kawaii. Dunno if that is the effect of fanfics though. Brightly Burning by Aishuu Sohma is one such fic.

There's an awful lot of crying in the show so far - macho sporting crying, of course. Like I said, right over my head. Just a little too abstract and philosophizing for me, so I do fast forward a bit, especially at the scenes of the Go boards. *sigh*

Am looking forward to more developments in the anime but I doubt I will buy the manga, probably just read manga summaries to catch parts not animated.

Reading: The Dragon-Charmer by Jan Siegel

Very very long since a normal paperback caught my attention. Found it while nosing around a used bookstore at Peace Center. Was initially drawn by the cover (unlike most, I do judge a book by its cover, heh) because it had a dragon and an intricate border design.

Then read a little of the front and a little of the back. I never spend cold hard cash on sad endings that depress me (a mostly unwavering principle) but I was struck by the lyrical quality of the writing which more than made up for its sinister aspect. It had the kind of descriptions and metaphors that really give you an image. And the author uses words like Atlantean, Medea and Merlin. With one Tree, she brings in famous trees from Norse mythology, Greek legends and gives them even biblical roots. Trees are not all the author brings in - she hints at Mordred, re-names Circe and Caliban. I don't know enough to say if she does right by their roots, but the way they are portrayed is very interesting to say the least.

It's the kind of writing that, unlike the fanfiction of which I'd imbibed far too much recently, lets you create for yourself the meanings and images, rather than tell you exactly. And yet not too obscure that my 486 brain cannot process. And although not all is sunlight and roses in the story, this is one book where the simple enjoyment of sinking into the words and letting them bring forth the story-world more than makes up for any trials that the characters may face.

The subject matter - on witches, the Gifted, dragons, magical Atlantis and ancient names - is too hard for me to resist. It's not a love story, at least not this book, but makes use of love to give the characters and plot more depth, more striking over-laps. Would have to say it reminded me of Lackey's Valdemar (Vanyel!) series a little and a little of Charles de Lint in term of the sinister Fey aspect.

And better yet, The Dragon-Charmer is the second book of a trilogy. Me always like long stories because I want to get to know the characters. Except my attention span while reading is unfortunately efficient. Meaning I have to stop myself from scanning and just absorb - because by skipping paragraphs, I would be missing out on the major attraction (for me) of the book - the (gotta use the word) lush descriptions and gathering of names and connotations from various ancient European cultures.

Screwed up a batch of muffins the other day.

Sis: I wanted to tell you but I was thinking she won't be so stupid as to mix up Farenheit and Celsius.
Me: ...
Sis: ... right?
Me: ...
Sis: Right?!

To think Ade the Idiot was laying in bed that night wondering if all the ovens in Asia can't bake muffins because they only go up to 250 degrees and not 375 degrees. Arrggghhhh!!!

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More fun-ness yesterday evening cause my friend invited me to her NAFA graduation gala. Got to eat painstakingly-designed food, and re-learnt why I should never put anything green in my mouth (unless I am fairly certain it has a high chocolate content). From now on, olives are my number one hated food. There are only two kinds of people in the world - those who consume olives and non-masochists.

While the food was wow, the clothes collections were even more so. I saw furry ones, colourful ones, glittery ones and huge ones and tiny ones. Got a cramp from trying to get good pictures for my friend. Unfortunately, the models won't even stop and I am fairly certain most of the shots were wild.

Really regretted running out of film when a later collection featuring a modern Peranakan style had a few guys sashaying down the catwalk in just sarongs *drools* Sorry to say the nuances of the designs are lost on a plebiean anime addict like me.

The music was pretty non-understandable, but added greatly to the mood portrayed by each collection.

Aaand, now that my film is finished, I can finally develop my graduation shots, heheh. Hope they all turn out ok.

eh, mom making layer cake again (kueh lapis?) so go to de-egg-white another 30 innocent eggs, heh. Am getting funny notions of cookie-making again...

eh, my aircon seems to have suffered an untimely demise...i didn't do it, natural causes, heh.

Oyy~ my aircon is making squeaky sounds exactly like an orgy of rodents. Really. And they are getting louder... Geh, can't sleep.

six hours since i got back from my grad ceremony - all spent regaining my precious sleeping time, heheh.

this year is just as back-breaking as the last with heavy robes and sewing/pining/hemming at the last minute.

but the ceremony is shorter and the valedictorian speech is really good ^_^

i sat next to a girl who goes to my church and her friend, whose funny loud commentary, and impromptu singing of the national anthem, was an interesting addition to the experience. Only read two pages of the book i had brought to stave off boredom, luckily. Seemed to be quite a number of holes in the grad sitting area cos some didn't come.

the balloon shower was fun. But then they got between the rows of seats and exiting the hall was like running through a war-zone because people were bursting balloons.

best of all, this time i got to stay behind and take pictures with my family and friends. Now i just have to figure out how to use up the film so i can develop it, heheh.

Just came back from my interview at MND. I think I was the first one and I was early so I hope that helped to make a good impression. Had a panel of six (wah!). I think I fielded the questions okay, but not really very well. I prepared these nice long answers on "Tell me about yourself" type of questions so quite naturally I didn't get asked those. *sigh*Felt like a dork because I didn't know enough stuff about the latest issues on housing. Also got to know a bit more about the job - seems overwhelming but gotta try my best, right? But utterly tired now - getting a crash from all that nervous energy...

gah! tossing and turning the whole of last night from 2.30am till 5am - quite torturous, I assure you. Mainly because my sleeping hours are screwed but i need to be "bright-eyed and chirpy" for the psychometric test this morning. Happy to learn there wasn't any numerical or abstract reasoning! *huge sigh of relief* I think/hope/pray I did ok on the questions. The only downer was that I messed up the writing test again. The previous one I took I couldn't finish but that was because there was a huge amount of material. This one is simpy cause I was careless and mis-noted the time I had, thinking I had ten minutes when I really had zero minutes. sob But I was happily picking out errors in the speech editing part. Felt like working on my thesis again, heheh.

then got really tired because after the sleeplessness last night, only really slept for two hours. When it caught up with me, I came home and crashed for two hours before going to my sec sch friend's b-day chalet. Had a great time satisfying my inner pyromaniac by helping out with the barbercue. Was in a prime place to reserve some food also (prawns! we were plotting next time bring crabs!)- no guilt cause it's not like someone else cooked it...I like barbercues, heheh. Nice b-day cake also! I think I watched too much CCS so became like Kero - I don't usually go back for b-day cake seconds but this one was good. Must buy for my sis's or mom's b-day, heh.

Once again, my old friend wows me. She's just so independent and mature in her thinking. She also has the confidence to think big, she already knows what she wants and is working towards it. Me, I am still small fry floating aimlessly. In a way, she is really my idol ^_^ because she took a different way but is so capable and far-sighted.

Came home to learn moi-moi got me an application form for Home Affairs. Cannot disappoint her right? So that is why I am hammering away at the keyboard (after missing The Amazing Race, wah~!).

Tomorrow going to cut my hair, I think...

Considering a DN Angel layout, when just half-uploaded my Yami no Matsuei one, fickle little me...

after a few blog entries, a few fanfics and manga summaries, have finally gotten sucked into the cuteness that is D.N Angel - i keep getting feelings of kawaii! and hmmph! shonen manga... while reading. Like the tiny little comic strips the mangaka has at the end of each volume. Plus the plot seems to be moving rather quickly...

Proof my sis has a way with words.

Me: Want a sweet?
Sis: No. I don't want your toilet-air-fresher sweet.

That's what i get for calling the green tea she drinks detergent water, I guess, heh...

You represent... happiness.
Boy, are you full of cheer or what...? You have a
sunny disposition and enjoy trying to spread
your happiness. You have a tendency to be a
little hyper, but you have the ability to make
your own fun no matter what.


What feeling do you represent?
brought to you by Quizilla
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hmmmm, a little too happy for me. Mebbe next time i could try choosing as many angsty options as possible?

Take the Spirit Quiz and visit Castle Diqueria
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*sigh* now that the obligatory round of internet stuff is over, gonna go read my manga until I crash. Nighty-nite!

went to the cosplay at NTUC Pasir Ris Resort today - not bad, quite an interesting turn out of cosplayers - and the live band and good emceeing kept the mood alive. More J-rock and video game cosplayers this time round, so kinda lost. But the most funny was the non-anime/j-rock/video game category - there was a contingent from Harry Potter and Star Wars. But the best was a group of elves from Lotr!!!

The best thing I got out of it was a CLAMP manga going for $10 - it's pretty old and hard to find, and I got it cheap, hehehe...the doujinshi was tempting but I didn't know the fandom, and was seriously tempted by the Wish artbok going for just $19!

had a funny dream last night (or actually this morning) - was in my sec sch (Bedok North Sec) and wearing my sec sch uniform except it felt like my jc uniform, sitting in my old seat at the back of the class, by the door. Reading this newspaper which had video and when it was time to go, i folded up the newspaper - the job section was facing up. *sweatdrop* Went down the spiral staircase and met people at each level - from pri, sec and jc. Even my old sec chinese teacher, ahhhh!

i did it! i did it!

also finally some Sano/Mizuki action in the latest HanaKimi, wai!

It takes roughly a day and a half to finish a 59 chapter fanfic, given that each chapter is about a 1/4 inch scrollbar...

Takes the same amount of time for me to make cinnamon spice cookies...

And the same amount of time to decide that spicy cookies are sooo not my cup of tea...I much prefer the sweet butter cookies from the other time round...

In other news...

Have been giving it a lot of thought about what I want to do. I have no freaking idea cos of a sore lack of experience, but I do know I get a charge out of fooling around with html and css code.

I guess i'm just not persistent enuff to really learn hardcore programming - i'm just not a very logical person you see. Dislike stuff that requires me to think in many complex steps. Practical stuff and scheduling is one thing because I can write it down and plan it, but abstract stuff like chess and programming, they'd fry my pathetic 486 brain. I always joke with my sis that I like designing and coding for the presentation layer, but everything else below it is her speciality, heh

But lately was wondering that perhaps, that's exactly what I need to do, really grit my teeth and learn more about this stuff (database, server and e-commerce security), or else all the things I tried out in uni is gonna go to waste.

Yet it's really daunting. I always looked around too much, and if there are lots of others who are much better than me, I get discouraged real quick. But then, I definitely do get a charge out of messin' with the code and instantly seeing the changes on the screen, you know.

Like designing your own landscape. (Bryce was a lot of fun, but then I realised that unless you know that castle looks like, you're gonna waste a lot of time undoing stuff in Bryce. So it's best to have a sketch and and my drawing skills are a mix between pseudo-picasso and fake-escher at best, meaning all my buildings look like hairy leering blocks of concrete.)

Maybe that's why I have a half-dozen half-done photoshop layouts of my website - your website's all yours, you know. Like your little tree-house and you get to decide if it's yellow or purple, has elevator access or just a rope, and if boys are allowed or not.

So.... twiddles thumbs