Amount

Well, hello again.
Yeah, it's been pretty quiet here, isn't it?
Who else but to blame but the blogger?

Yeah, I've been pretty much done nothing but sit around doing nothing during summer

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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.

Home, not-so-sweet, home and some other moronic person

Well, I'm back at home and it's damn freaking hot! Woooh~
That's the price I pay for going somewhere cold.

I don't feel like giving anything detailed; just that it was fun and pretty amazing, and there was a bit of cultural shock. Hey, at least I know what to expect the next time I visit Korea again. Overall, the food was nice, the accommodations are okay and the people there are rather polite. I've bought a few things which can't be found here and ate stuff that tastes a whole lot better than what we've got.
Visit Korea if you have the chance to, it's pretty fun.
Yes, I AM promoting to visit a foreign country. What we have here is meh...

Right, I've stumbled upon a really interesting but maddening article in Baka Manga Updates as I was heading to the releases section to check if my daily fixes was available.
This article was about a guy in Iowa, USA being charged for allegedly obscene manga, particularly for yaoi or BL (boy love, homo, gay...whatever else you might call it). He faces up to 20 years in prison.

The full article and story and be found at the following sources:
Click here and Click here too.
while a personal opinion of a manga fan can be found here.

Here's where I'll start my own opinion:

I think that the lawmakers and enforcers should spend more time thinking about more laws to save our dying planet than to go through people's parcel and posts or go around arresting people for reading comics.

Yes, that's exactly what I think. And yeah, it might probably be a really naive opinion; what do you expect out of a 17-year-old, huh? It's true that I might not understand the magnitude of the situation and am just a bystander or onlooker; a rather far onlooker that lives all the way across the world at that. But this affects me in a way, like it affects all the manga fans in the world.

How? Let's take this article for example: Click me
This article is complaining about Peach Girl, which I have previewed two years ago, around the age of 15. Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I can understand why the parents are complaining; but don't you think that ignorance (in context of the child) is actually bad?
And to answer the question that was posed by the mother of the child, MY parents DO know what I'm reading and they TRUST my judgment on what's right and wrong.

I have to admit, this topic is a double-edged sword. In one way, the child may grow up and mimic the scene that he/she had once saw or read about. In another, the child is aware that there is a kind of possibility of that scene happening to him/herself and will take precaution when out alone or that this kind of situation does happen in the world; rare as it is but it does happen.
Unfortunately, parents never seem to comprehend the latter fact; only thinking about the supposed 'pollution' that the graphic novel/ manga will do to the child. Come on people, YOU CAN'T SHIELD ALL THE BAD THINGS IN THE WORLD!
If they don't find out now, they'll find out eventually; perhaps in a harder, more painful and scarring way.

Nudity, present in some of the graphic novels that I've come across. Sometimes, the underwear is slightly seen and the undergarment is slightly revealed, so what? Compared to the cultural shock I experienced at the spa in Korea, these things are like grass at the side of the highway. Perhaps that experience has made me a lil more mature than others, and I know that it IS a NORM in certain communities in the world.

Besides, most of the graphic novels have labels clearly written on them, like +13, +15, +16 or for older teens or they give warnings like slight language and stuff. I qualify most of the manga that I read, being as old as I am. My sister, who is six years younger than I am, is barred and banned from touching and even coming near to the books in the first rack of my bookshelf, where all my manga are kept.
My point is, it's NOT the publisher's fault; rather, it's the fault of the reader's curiosity (or age). Humans have a brain; the brain has a section called the cerebrum which carries out mental processes such as learning and making judgment. The child SHOULD be able to make the right decision or judgment when it comes to picking up that novel. If taught correctly by the parents, the child should know that he/she is not at the right age to pick it up. So, the fault also lies at the parents.
Therefore people, don't blame the publishers; blame yourself that you've not taught your kid on making the right decisions. Yes, YOU.

What right to I have to even say that statement?
I don't touch yaoi, yuri, shotacon, lolicon and the worst, hentai; I don't even go near them. Sure, I am curious by nature but I DO know where to draw the line. I sure don't need my parents, teachers or even people who have nothing to do with my life to interfere at all.
To those people interfering with other's lives, BUTT OUT! It's none of your business. If that person doesn't pose as a threat, leave them alone! What's your problem? You got nothing better to do isit, huh? You go worry about your financial crisis lah! Bother about what people reading about for what?
(Sorry about the Manglish; kinda lost it there)
What about those romance novels, huh? The best example, Barbara Cartland; all the heaving bosoms and what nots. Just be happy that your kid is not reading about those!

Bottom line is (I'm getting sleepy now) just leave us alone. Everything has been so peaceful (I can't say for the economy though) and suddenly, they dropped this bomb on us. We've never done anything wrong, unless now you call reading as wrong. I like reading these graphic novels because it occasionally makes me feel fuzzy inside with their warm love story and to fill and brighten up my boring and mundane life; I'm sure there are a whole lot of other people who feels the same too.

Caffeine is bad for you; but yet millions of people drink coffee everyday (which includes me, for I did the past few days).
Smoking is bad for your health; but the tobacco business is one of the most profitable ones in the world. Not to mention that 6 out of 10 people in the world smokes.
So, don't take away our hobby; if we take away caffeine and cigarettes from you, you wouldn't like it, would you?

Braving The Cold

As if the unseen forces of nature heard my wish, it actually snowed! Yup, it was snowing when I woke up in the morning.
The floor was freezing cold when I got off the bed; wondered how bro could manage to sleep on the floor the entire night... And yes, I'm still using my mom's laptop. I've gotten used to the way the keys are positioned and am typing like normal.

Reports about the day will be done when I get back, which is in two days. It's 12 midnight at my place and we've got a lot to visit tomorrow. We're heading to the actual place where they filmed 1st Shop Coffee Prince and then learning how to make kimchi later on.

Oh yea, I managed to get my hands onto two ACTUAL Korean version of Goong. I've not opened the plastic wrappings yet, but I will as soon as I get home and then wrap it with my own embossed plastic.

I'm also sore from the skiing in the afternoon. I've got a mild sprain of both of my legs due to me trying to avoid people and ended up sliding off course and falling onto my back, with my legs still attached to the skis and upright. Can't get a picture of that? Umm...I'm sitting on my ass and my legs are at my side with the skis forming an 'A' shape, pointed edge at the front. Do you even know how painful that was? With the sore back from sharing a bed with my sister and enduring her kicks, my whole body is now sore. But the skiing part was fun; I now know how to turn right, left and how painful it is to fall. I barely know how to stop, which was part of the reason why I knocked onto people.
Bro was pretty awesome with his snowboard, even when he is a beginner.
I'd probably save up to get a skateboard so that I could snowboard the next time I go to a four season country.

I guess I should go to bed now, it's another long day ahead tomorrow.

tto manayo~

Snow

Yes, I am writing this in Korea, with great net speed at 19kbs at min and an awesome 333kbs at max, on my mom's laptop. If I could, I think I'd want to live here! I mean, comparing the wireless speed with here and back at home, our speed is like, meh.
I think that the MMORPG game would be awesome, if only my bro didn't delete of CABAL in mom's.

It's one hour earlier here; and it gets dark pretty early too.
Anyways, I've seen snow! Yea, snow! I've even had a snowball fight just now! Hehe...
We're going skiing tomorrow, then heading to Seoul to learn how to make kimchi.

I guess that's it for now; the full details will be when I come home, in three days. But that depends on whether I'll remember everything or if I have the mood to write about itI'll be an hour younger too! Mea rong! (blek!)

tto manayo~
In plain english, see you later~

PS: It isn't that cold; and sleeping on the floor is kinda nice, if the floor has a heater.

Today is a title-less post. Why? I'm sorta rushing for time. There's things to pack and dinner to worry for; and there's a few songs I need to sync into my MP3.

Okay, time's up. I need to bathe and go out for dinner now; see you guys in a week, yeah?

Moronic and Awesome

Just had a haircut a few days ago, dyed my hair too. Shocking, isn't it?
Why? I HATE IT when people ask about my hair, especially when they first start talking to me. It's always the same thing:

Person: What's with your hair? (or somewhere along that line)
Me: Oh, it's natural.
Person: Really? But you're so young!
Me: Well, it's in my genes. Blame genetics and my DNA for choosing that as my dominant.
Person: Ah. *looks at me awkwardly*

The most moronic ever was by a teacher:

Teacher: Eh, don't you know the school rules?
Me: Huh? Did I break any unknowingly?
Teacher: You did something to your hair!
Me: What?
Teacher: Don't you know that you can't highlight your hair, girl?
Me: Highlight? Umm, you must be mistaken. This IS my natural hair colour.
Teacher: You think I was born yesterday? This is called highlighting your hair.
Me: Just one question, who in their right mind WOULD want to highlight this colour, hmm? Besides, don't you think it's a lil too random? Highlights wouldn't look like this.
You can take it and try bleaching it, it'll still be that colour! *plucks one out*
Me: You can go call my parents, and they'd probably give you the same answer. If you would excuse me, I'm late for class.
Teacher: *speechless but glaring at me*

So, to get rid of that problem, I've dyed it olive brown! Yup, I really did it. It isn't any different from my original hair colour, which is dark brown (mostly). You can only spot the difference when I stand under the sun; it'll give a sort of reddish colour.
I wanted to have something like a brunnette, but mom was worried about the whole NS thingy and chose a more conspicuous colour. I'm fine with anything; I just want to get rid of it.

While the hairdresser was cutting my hair, I told her to keep my fringe short. Mom said that I was no longer in school and don't need to follow any rules. So, I just let the hairdresser do her stuff. I'm pretty happy what she did too. Sorry I can't offer any pictures. You can try to imagine though, for people who knows me personally.

Anyways...I'm leaving for Korea tomorrow! YAY!
This year's destination happened to be one of the countries that I'd want to visit. Sweet.


The flight is a night one and we'll be reaching Incheon early in the morning; seven in the morning to be exact (six in local time). The temperature has dropped to a staggering -8 yesterday and I'm hoping that it'll snow. It's not like I've not seen or touch snow before (I've had a horrible experience of having snow fall on me from the rooftop and got sick from it); we live in a country that's near to the equator, so chances of us experiencing snow is pretty low unless we travel. We're also spending a night at the ski resort and I hope that I could at least learn how to ski (or ice skate). I'm also looking forward to wearing a hanbok!


So for the next week, I'd be forgetting about all the problems back here and blissfully enjoying my vacation.