chu_totoro | Entries tagged with fangirling

I think the fact that I took the time out to photoshop this instead of practising really proves how far my mentality has fallen.

I don't even have a legit excuse to be ditching rehearsal right now, aside from practise, which I'm obviously not doing, and aside from the fact that I feel like it's a waste of time and don't want to go, which is obviously not a legit excuse.

The irony is - this manga is about piano! No but srsly guys, I don't remember if I raved about this before or not, but I love this series. You're hard put to find ANY manga out there that's about classical music, and this one's brilliant and it's actually written well.

Without further ado, Piano no Mori ch44~! :D (I picked up where onemanga left off.)

Megaupload
~~Sendspace~~
*second link down for minor tweaking

(Despite the tag, my editing is pretty halfassed because editing takes sooooooo much tiiiiiiiime and I'm lazy. T____T Also whoever scanned the raws attempted to get rid of gutter shadow in various places and sucked at it. Oh well.)

In other news, as some of you may or may not have noticed, I have destroyed my facebook! I did this last night because I was rather pissed at life, and now that I am less pissed I think I'll keep it that way because facebook isn't healthy anyway.

BUT I had to temporarily revive it for a couple seconds to retrieve some photos...

...because all emo inner turmoil aside, it's senior year, it's the last WEEK of senior year, school is ending foreverrrr and we are going out with a BANG.

Behold, our epic end-of-the-year Obama mural, MADE ENTIRELY OF POST-IT NOTES.

WE ARE THE AWESOMEST PEOPLE EVER. SRSLY. ♥

To prove that this is not a hoax, here are some pictures of the process-of! (Sadly, we only remembered to take pictures near the end because in the beginning we were panicking about how ridiculously impossible this project was gonna be.)

I have no words to describe our awesomeness.

edit: addendum - tagwords for google; [piano no mori chapter 44, the piano forest, the perfect world of kai, forest of the piano]

editedit: addendum2 (should I just stop using 'edit' and switch to 'addendum' instead?) - MAYA'S BOOK IS COMING OUT OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/rabid fangirl

triple edit: addendum3 - I miss the days of waiting for Drop Dead Gorgeous. :(

So today I woke up and my parents were nowhere to be found. After sleepily showering and scrounging up some scraps for breakfast, I found this note on the board:

妞
吾等上莊子去也
下午返
如有事打細胞電話

... ...

Last week it was just

妞
吾等佛學課耍子去也
-爸

and I thought that was bad.

真是有一點哭笑不得... 天知道你只在我家看得到這種留言. ((trans: dunno whether to laugh or to cry. god knows you can only see a message like that at my house.)) Simultaneously nerdy, literary, stupid, and hilarious at the same time.

edit: for those who don't speak chinese, the notes are fairly ordinary in meaning. they translate to:

Niu (my nickname; means 'girl')
We are at Zhuangzi class
Back in afternoon
Call cell if you need anything

and

Niu
We are at Buddhism class
-Dad

What's funny about it is that it's written in old style (Monkey-king style) Chinese. Much like if he'd left a note in Shakespearean English. And he translated 'cell' literally to 'cell' instead of 'cellular' and... /facepalm

Only baba.

edit: Oh, in other news, I read a great fic called The Secret of Slytherin by Kirinin and it is very good. Definitely better overall than Sacrifices, which MAY BE because the author was not pumping out a chapter a day, which I think is only really acceptable if you're doing something like NaNo. The plot overall is very well-knit; the only issue I have is that the characters, while all well-characterized and likable and all, seem to resemble one another too much. Harry and Draco and Severus and Remus... even Ron and Hermione, all of them were excellent but I can't shake off the feeling that they were all fundamentally the same. Same root. I know there was the entire inlaid theme of 'we are all Slytherins sometimes' and 'we are all Gryffindors sometimes too!' and the general 'we are all everything at some point' idea, but it still bothered me. People can be radically different while still holding to similar ideas... for example, I think Maya illustrates diff characters v. well (it always comes back to Maya). Also it was Gryffindor/Slytherin-centric and neglected the other houses somewhat, but that was probably unavoidable as it was Harry-centric.

Sometimes I could care less about my friends, I'm so detached.

Other times I love them so much it hurts.

... I feel like such a contradictory person.

In other news, I have become addicted to an Alternate Universe Harry Potter fic (or more accurate fics) jointly referred to as the Sacrifices Arc. This person is ambitious, man. An AU that has seven parts, paralleling the books, spanning 7 years, and all the parts nearly equivalently book-lengthed. So far the writing's been a bit raw, the plot isn't as tight as it could be and there are other places that could probably be better, but I'm hooked. *__* Also I'm almost certain that by the 7th faux-book (I'm on what you might call the 3rd book right now) it will have improved.

General storyline is that Harry has a twin brother named Connor, who's the Boy-Who-Lived while Harry is only the protector, and his twin gets sorted into Gryffindor while he's sorted into Slytherin. The characterization's obviously different for this Harry than book Harry - actually brought up by his parents, has a twin, no Dursley abuse etc etc, and maybe not spot-on necessarily for all the other characters as well (what fic ever is? it's always interpretation), but what I really like about this fic in particular is that it focuses so much on house rivalry, explores so much the themes of house unity and Dumbledore's bias (which Rowling never adequately addressed, presumably because Dumbledore's bias was her bias and the entire series' bias :x), and really, for once, makes the situation into a much fairer-seeming (in terms of balancing out house equality) and much, much more complicated one than the linear situations presented in the real books. There's a constant struggle to determine Dark and Light, right and wrong, and while some characterizations seem overplayed and other plot points have loose ends, it's really quite addicting. The sibling relationship between Harry and his twin is also interesting, and while his relationship with his parents/Dumbledore/Sirius seems somewhat unrealistic upon reflection, all things considered it is believable enough in context [edit: right, that stops ~3rd book] and it's definitely interesting to see things from a different perspective. :x

(Also, I haven't finished the entire series yet, so it has yet the possibility of tying all the loose ends up as it goes and getting better and better, or flopping on me. ~~But I'm counting on the former. XD~~ Sadly it is starting to bore me. :( I did a bit of research and attribute this to the fact that the author wrote this massive series on the time schedule of a chapter a day (o____O !!!) which leaves not enough time for, well, putting thought into it to make it good. and. better. :( quantity > quality?)

Gosh people who knowingly have adware/spyware/trojans riding on their computer and don't bother to even try and purge them irritate me. >.>

rar.

In other news, tagged by Keropi and Melody both!

( meme )

I tag Mel, Kero, and... the next 14 people who read this. Have fun meme-ing!

In other other news, I finished watching season 1 of Code Geass today and it reminded me very strongly of that Hou Wen-Yong book, with the snowballing effect and stuff. No, I lied, I didn't think of that book until typing the sentence just now, but the idea of things spinning larger and larger until it forces a way on you definitely echoed somewhere.

Lelouch reminds me a bit of Light.

Character development = ♥
Plot = ♥ but depressing.
Character design = ♥♥♥! (go CLAMP~)

I think I have destroyed my sight staring so long @ computer screen. Bet you anything tonight I dream strange dreams about mecha robots and boys with purple eyes.

Maya wrote a short story called An Old Fashioned Unicorn's Guide to Courtship, and it made me :) :) :) so hard. Highly recommended. Esp. for people who don't know Maya and aren't into the slash... this is a perfectly clean, safe, amusing little story that is incredibly *sensible* and reminds me, oddly enough, of The Enchanted Forest series.

In other news, she's also finished Quality of Mercy. That makes me happy inside, and also so sad in some ways, because it makes it so much more real - it's over, she's done, one more chapter of Drop Dead Gorgeous and everything's going down, for ever and ever more. No more waiting, no more fic updates to look forward to, no more of the characters I've come to love so, so much, she'll still write I'm sure, she's publishing her book and everything, but this - the livejournal, the fic - is all coming down.

I'm going to have to go back and reread the first twenty-some chapters of QoM sometime before I can read the last two, because I've forgotten a lot of what happened. xD; And DDG has always been the one that went to my heart. I'm glad she's finishing that last, actually - but when she does I am going to be so sad. homg.

Iunno. To me, Maya is like a god. dess. Whatever. I can't really express how much I adore everything she writes.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

/spontaneously combusts

I so, so, so did NOT see that coming.

I find I am never able to express coherently the sheer amount of... of worship I have for Maya. She is so good. You have no idea. I've never read anything else that's even come close to Maya-writing. Well, maybe The Shoebox Project, but I wasn't there when it was in progress and it just isn't the same.

I'm going to be so sad when DDG and QoM end. Forever. NO MORE. EVER.

I think that might be enough to turn me off HP fandom forever, when Maya stops writing. Maybe I'll keep up with some of the higher quality stuff on the Snitch, but the entire fandom won't be the same without Maya to look forward to. It won't be my dominant fandom any longer, that's for sure.

:(

DROP DEAD GORGEOUS DROP DEAD GORGEOUS YAYAYAYAYAYAY~

/drools at the mouth

I cannot express how much I love Maya, whom I still can't get used to being Sarah, and I also can't wait for her book to come out so I can grab a copy of it and proceed to swallow it whole, and. And. ♥♥♥♥♥♥!

wooooooooo so link here for anybody who wants to check it out, which is probably not that many people, since, sadly, many of the people on my friendslist do not like reading about Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy being gay for each other.

But seriously, that's a really bad description. I know fanfiction horrifies a lot of people, but there's a lot of GOOD writers too, kay. You just have to look.

In other news, yesterday was Tiffany's birthday! I made cookies. We celebrated and ate cake and she owned me at Mario Party. /cries

Tomorrow a random lunchtime excursion is in the planning. :O

Sometime in the future, before break ends, I have to go visit a bookstore for an hour or two with my mom. I want to buy some books. Such as the rest of the d'Artagnan series and Cassie Claire's books (however bad the recommendations I feel they deserve to be read, if only to see for myself). And, I just want to sit in a bookstore for awhile. It's kind of nice, the atmosphere. I like it better than a library for some reason.

Speaking of books, right now The Fountainhead is in the reading. I really like it so far. But it's distracting me from my piano practice. As is Drop Dead Gorgeous. /headdesk

DROP DEAD GORGEOUS CHAPTER SEVEN IS OUT.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~!

^______________^

Before I start reading, however, I'mza record the bizarre dream I had today, because you know after I finish reading I won't remember anything else.

Starts off: I'm in some random room, something of a cross between a bedroom and a kitchen, sitting on what seems to be a bed with a fellow poetry student, Miss Sarah Tang. I know I'm in Ms. Sutton's house (not that I've ever been in her house; you know how you just know things in dreams sometimes), and somewhere in the back of my mind the other poetry students are there and so's Ms. Sutton, but in my dream I don't see them, I just know they're in the background. Sarah and I are engaging in some ridiculous activity, painting her walls maybe, and Ms. Sutton's screeching at us to not tell anyone she has electricity in her house.

Scene shift. I'm still in the same room, but the person next to me isn't quite Sarah anymore; I don't know who she is. Something of a cross between Paulina Tsai, Felicia Tang, AND Sarah. But it's not v. clear, not like "this person is a combination of these three people." More of "this person could be any of these three people because I'm dreaming vaguely and not specifying." We're both still sitting on the bed, and the room's the same room but it's changed a bit, more bedroom-ish now than kitchen (really the only clear parts of it I remember are the bed and the white wall in front of me and a door in the wall to the right of the bed; the rest of the room's a fuzzy haze), and I know I'm in Saratoga High. Never mind the fact that no way was this Saratoga High, it simply was. External knowledge or summit.

Stuff happened, don't remember. At some point Thomas Wang appeared in the room and he was talking to me and Felicia-Paulina-Sarah, explaining something I think. I remember this because he took the chalk and started drawing diagrams on a green chalkboard, which appeared out of nowhere (or maybe it was always there and I didn't draw attention to it until I needed it in my dream) of these fairly realistic looking miniature people-sketches (NOT stick-figures) and I had this distinct moment of bizarre clarity thinking, Wow, Thomas can draw? (draw WELL, I mean; not trying to be insulting here) and then it sank back into the dream.

Talking talking talking. Then, outside the door (which also didn't appear until that moment of the dream) these junior boys in speedos started going past, laughing and jostling each other and in general talking v. loudly. 'twas blurred and unclear as to who but even guessing at vague figures in a dream I'd bet anything it's the band kids xD So then Thomas left to go talk to the band kids and join the speedo march, and then it was just me and Paulina-Felicia-Sarah, and we made o_____O faces at each other at the bizarre train of people going by outside the door.

Scene change.

Same room, chalkboard's gone (or faded to fuzziness, w/e), Paulina's gone, all the other people that were supposedly nearby in the room and talking amongst themselves and stuff that I knew were there (held by a thread at the back of my mind) were also now gone, and it was just me. Alone.

I never moved, but I was now no longer in SHS but in my house. My room, to be exact, even though the proportions are all off and the details are all wrong. Same premise as in real life - parents aren't home, they're in Vegas, and I'm by myself.

Random things happened that I don't remember. There was a TV in my mom's working room that I walked past a time or two and remembered for no real reason except a sort of wtf because the TV was stationed where, in real life, the unused fireplace is. People tried to get into my house, slightly nightmarish but not up to irrational heart-pounding fear, at some point I recall an old woman beating me up outside my front door and then walking away. --; It was all sort of floaty and dreamy though, not the downright nightmare FEAR RUN HIDE STOP GOING TO DIE GAHHHHHHHHH type of intense adrenaline, if you know what I mean. I had a spasm of mild paranoia where I thought to myself, they'll be back! and then started going through the house and locking all the doors and closing all the windows, then halfway through... I got this epiphany. THAT I WAS DREAMING. And I had school. And the shock shocked me awake.

Awake, I was now standing next to a Korean boy who could've been Younghwan, but also could've been Wooho, and he was holding his cellphone to his ear and saying into it something that sounded like "chung-go iru no ageh?" except he said it real fast so it was more like "chungoirunoageh?!" and I asked him "what does that mean?" and I kept asking him and asking him "what's it mean?" "what's it mean?" and he told me and the dream-me nodded as though she understood, even though the real me couldn't hear what he said. Then I had another spasm of shock and a lightning bolt cut into my brain that I was still asleep and still dreaming and I'M GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL. And then dream-me and Younghwan-Wooho began to fade, and fade, and fade, and there was just the repeated echo in my head of chungoirunoageh, chungoirunoageh, chungoirunoageh... and then I opened my eyes and found myself in bed, the words still echoing through my head.

So I was late to school this morning.

Anyway. Off to teach Omid!

MAYA. You lovely, lovely woman. I love you.

chapter 2 of Coda came out

@.@ Drop Dead Gorgeous owns my soul.

I swear, I swear I wasn't planning to read it! I promised myself not to read anything unfinished because it always leaves the empty horrible feeling of longing for more (sometimes even completed fics do that _o_) but The Way We Get By was right there and it was finished! So I thought, oh, where's the harm, it's a one-shot (sort of. Maya-version one-shot = kind of 4x the size of a one-shot, but well, whatever), and she was done, so I just spent some time reading it butbutBUT being a one-shot pulled out of Drop Dead Gorgeous, it was more of a snippet that doesn't exactly come to resolution, just an inkling of DDG from a different perspective! And I. DIDN'T KNOW. How could I know? I hadn't read it yet.

...so, of course, it lured me on to DDG and my SATs are doomed. /cries

Done now. Maybe if I do nothing but study starting now I'll be okay.

I took an online Chem SAT Practice Test and got a 610. T___T /FAIL whyyyyyyy can't I take it in June. stupid stupid Adam. I suppose if I fail I'll just not use it in my apps.

Also took a Math IIC online and got a 790 because of a couple stupid errors. >> Hopefully that won't happen on the real thing. That'd be REALLY annoying.