Warning Labels

Well, it's the last day of 2009, so I'm trying to put on one last post and close the door of yesteryear two hours from now.
And what a weird way to end the year's post with warning labels.
Warning labels?
Yes, warning labels.

.

乙女

乙女ガム is something that I'm dabbling into right now.
That's the reason behind my recent weird tweets.
...Speaking of which, I've noticed that the manga genre is running on 'Alice in the Wonderland' plots right now.
Westerners are into vampires while the Japanese are into Alice... Heh?

The one that I'm currently playing is the first of the 'Wonderful Wonder World' series - ﾊーﾄの国のアリス．

.

Changes

皆さん，ただ今帰りました!

Ehehe...
I won't do a full recap of my vacation in China. Here's the summary:
- Ken and Liang (the Chai bros) came along, so did Ms. Chai.
Last year was the only year that the Chai family didn't join us for the annual vacation. It's a pity they didn't get to join us, since Korea was by far the BEST vacation experience.
- I had to share a room with the tour leader; SHE is female, you dirty minded people. D:< - All we saw were rocks and lakes... And more rocks.
Most of the time, I was imagining the scene of the ドラマ CD I was listening to on my MP3.
- There probably won't be any uploads of photos, since I was too lazy to take pictures.
- I didn't spend much on this trip and the only splurged item was the outerwear I bought in Samuel and Kevin while waiting for the transit in Guangzhou.
- The ONLY eye candy WORTH a second look is the manga that I had stored in my laptop.
- The net speed was decent at some places and I got pretty great ddls at some of the sites. But...
- Internet access is SEVERELY LIMITED. Facebook, Blogspot, Twitter, Flicker and a whole lot of other sites were blocked by the Great Firewall of China. (No pun intended)
- Spending Christmas in China was not a good idea.
After witnessing and experiencing the HORROR of pushing bodies and heavy smoking of the crowds, I scoff at their CLAIMS to be CIVILIZED.

And to further my flamings, here's what I think of Chinamen:
- Chinamen are rude and obnoxious... I'm ashamed to be associated with such barbarians who had refined the method of paper making and invented the compass.
- There was a family who had really bad table manners and we were forced to share a table with them to even out the number. They fit in really well with the Chinamen.
- On most days, we go hungry because THAT family tend to lick their chopsticks and THEN go on to picking the dishes with their SALIVA-LACED chopsticks. Disgusting.
- Chinamen DO NOT believe in the system of QUEUING UP. They do what they can to push themselves to be the first.
- They think themselves to be superior, only to fall flat on their asses when we spoke to them in English.
Hey, you only speak ONE language and probably your own dialect; I speak THREE languages and TWO other dialects while I understand FIVE languages and THREE dialects.
Note: Three are the normal E2M (English, Mandarin and Malay) and the two dialects are Cantonese and Hakka. The extra two languages are Japanese and Korean (both of partial understanding and in the process of learning) and Hokkien for dialect. <- No bragging intended.
- They are SELFISH and SPOILED BRATS, not to mention CUNNING and SLY.
- They just can't go on without smoking. They'd probably DIE if they had to go on without smoking for a day.
- They SPIT at EVERY FREAKING PLACE! And to make matters more disgusting... They tend to step ON their spit and DRAG THEIR SHOES ACROSS IT!
Yeah... As if you could HIDE that trail of slobber scuff mark leading to your shoes...

Finally,
I declare my cousin INSANE for getting married to a Chinaman.

*takes a deep breath and goes back to Zen mode*

On a lighter note, I'll be making some changes to my blog.
Yup, you heard me... SOME changes.
I won't be closing it off like the last time.
I'll be making the changes through my sub-blogs (yes, I HAVE sub-blogs that are meant for experimentations) and that would make the transition more smoother.
And if it doesn't work, I don't have to worry about messing up my current template.
I won't be revealing what changes I'll be making, just in case the plan falls through.
The only obstacle right now is to bug my dad to get me a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS4...

Hmm, I think that's it for this time.
Imma go play ﾊーﾄの国のアリス! :DDDDD
Blood threw me on the bed when I visited him last night... I wonder what's he going to do next?
*shifty eyes* <- BerryCarmen
Fictional guys are probably the only guys that are able to get my non-existent heart reappear and go 'ﾄﾞｷ―ﾄﾞｷ'.
Like I said the last time, real guys just can't measure up anymore.

PS: I'm thinking about watching Sherlock Holmes this coming week, probably in OU / 1U (or what other names). Contact either bro or me through whatever means if you're interested in joining us. Date will be decided later.

漫画お宅

始めました，あたしわ鳳惠。こにちわ！

Lol, I finally figured out the way to get my keyboard input to type kana.
I've also found the way to enable my taskbar to display in unicode, so that both Chinese and Japanese could be featured.
Even my calender is in Japanese...
See, I do learn some useful stuff while on the internet!

Oh yeah, I'm sorry for not updating often. Been sorta busy with finals and stuff... Life.
I'm just dropping off to say that I'll be adding some new stuff to my blog around three weeks from now, which is when I'm on sem break.
I've also noticed that there are some readers from Japan coming to this blog to look for raws... which is kinda odd.
There are no raws here, but there will be something else that I will put up later on.

Gotta go study Bio now, last paper tomorrow.

Win

Yup, it's awesome!
I won NaNoWriMo!



And before you pop out the champagne and stuff, so did the other 1k+ people.
Don't get the meaning of the word 'win' here wrong; I did win, and so did they.
Being a winner doesn't represent being number one in this case, or any other similar cases; it's a win because we accomplished something.

You see, many of us wouldn't even think about writing a novel.
Even if we did, we'd actually procrastinate and never get to finish it.
So, this is where NaNoWriMo comes to play; and I think I've written about this before.
It challenges you to glue your ass down onto the chair to finish a 50k word novel in a month's time.
You can have a preplanned plot and drafts, but not a completed story.
You'll have to cast away all doubts and think about it as your fingers type; decide as you watch your characters materialize in front of your very eyes.
It also taunts, mocks and laughs at you whenever procrastination shows up; belittling you whenever you lean towards temptation.
Believe me, there wasn't a night that I wasn't sitting in front of my laptop and absorbed with getting my story out.

And you know what?
I'm not even done with my story yet.
Yeah, I can actually hear someone asking how the hell did I win when I'm not even done writing.
Actually, the goal of NaNoWriMo isn't about completing a novel in 30 days; it's writing a 50k story in the month of November.
And that, people, is the minimum number of words which makes a story qualified to be termed as a novel...A short novel.

There isn't a particular genre, and there isn't a best in genre.
The thing about this competition is, there simply isn't one ultimate winner.
There's no judging schemes, no bad blood amongst writers...None of the sort of evil.
A novel is considered a novel if you think it is one; just like how the first kiss is- It wouldn't be a first kiss unless you consider it to be.
The sky's the limit, and the earth is your canvas.
If you want to write about the apocalypse, you're welcome to.
If you want to make it that your vampires can be killed by nothing but chillies, go right ahead.
There are no rules, laws or anything...YOU are God.
It's a alternate world / universe that bends to your will and fancy.
It'll be as you dictate, even if it defies the law of Physics.
But mind you, your characters would sometimes take a life on its own to write itself and will not do as you command.
That's what happened to me and my characters. My FMC and MMC didn't turn out like I expected them to be, and there is definitely some friction that will happen to the MMC and his best friend.

This is also a good way to train your creativity and to think outside of the box.
Science students are generally blocks of wood, seriously.
Don't get me wrong, I am a wooden block myself.
We obey all the laws and principles that we are taught, like Newton's Three Laws of Motion and all the other principles.
It'll always be 1,2,3 and never h, k, 8.
When writing, it could be 1, m, 8, di, 389...You get my point?

My news of victory was received in cold response from my family.
My friends, on the other hand, were supportive. :D
(Thanks, guys!)
I felt happy that I could write that large amount of words in 30 days when I thought it to be entirely impossible a few weeks ago.
Now, I know that it's possible and I am capable of writing more than that.

What now?
Well, I'm going to finish writing my novel and try to come up with a title.
I think I heard a gasp and someone fainting...
Yeah, it's still a untitled novel. I left it as Story 1.
Here's the good part: The winners of NaNoWriMo are entitled to have their story printed!
Yup, the organizers and Createspace are going to print out my draft and compile it into a presentable manuscript... FOR FREE!
That's right, you heard me! Even the shipping is FOC!
The offer will end in June 2010, so I gotta finish my novel and its edits by then.
After having it printed, I can either sell it in Amazon or look for a literary agent that will read my book and then hopefully agree to represent me and take care of my career as an author.
But... That'll be decided later on.

I guess that's it for now.
I'm still trying to persuade my FMC to go on a trip with the MMC and his best friend, but she's worried about her siblings...
That's about as much of a spoiler that I can give; it's more than generous.
I guess you'll just have to read it when I'm done and satisfied with it.

Now to plug in my earphones and continue my literary quest to bring happiness to my FMC's life.
Too bad I can't do squat about mine.