Worlds of Discovery

dynast_harmonia — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:14:46 GMT

First off, yes, I am still alive (but not much on LJ, though I do read my flist daily, I just don't post much...or at all any more). Secondly:

Originally posted by kangawu at post

Originally posted by cantarina1 at post

Originally posted by electricdruid at The fiasco continues

ACTA in a Nutshell –

What is ACTA? ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. A new intellectual property enforcement treaty being negotiated by the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, and Japan, with Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada recently announcing that they will join in as well.

Why should you care about ACTA? Initial reports indicate that the treaty will have a very broad scope and will involve new tools targeting “Internet distribution and information technology.”

What is the goal of ACTA? Reportedly the goal is to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries’ law enforcement agencies.

Essential ACTA Resources -

Read more about ACTA here: ACTA Fact Sheet
Read the authentic version of the ACTA text as of 15 April 2011, as finalized by participating countries here: ACTA Finalized Text
Follow the history of the treaty’s formation here: ACTA history
Read letters from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden wherein he challenges the constitutionality of ACTA: Letter 1 | Letter 2 | Read the Administration’s Response to Wyden’s First Letter here: Response
Watch a short informative video on ACTA: ACTA Video
Watch a lulzy video on ACTA: Lulzy Video

Say NO to ACTA. It is essential to spread awareness and get the word out on ACTA.

Via Tumblr

—

If you are in the US, the only thing I know of is this petition, which requires 25000 signatures in 30 days for any sort of response: https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/end-acta-and-protect-our-right-privacy-internet/MwfSVNBK

There are only 3000 signatures right now.

I don't know what options there are in other countries, but again, for the US, I imagine calling Senators would be a course of action. It worked on the surface for SOPA and PIPA, at least, and it at least sends the message that this is not okay.

If you do, though, opusculus notes that it has been signed already so it is probably worthwhile to mention that you know that and are protesting it anyway.

ETA: this tumblr post has more global resources for how you can protest ACTA.

♥

In which dynast_harmonia blogs about the state of her country.

dynast_harmonia — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:30:52 GMT

Right! Since I have no idea if there'll be a telecommunications blackout tomorrow like what the rumours are suggesting, this goes up today. Yes, Malaysians from all walks of life are probably sick to hell of hearing about this, but I believe that as tiring it gets to keep explaining, people should know about these things. Not interested? Please scroll.

On the 9th of July (aka tomorrow), there is a call for Malaysians from all walks of life to assemble at Stadium Merdeka under the banner of Bersih 2.0. Bersih is a coalition of civil society organisations unaffiliated to any political party that's rallying for FAIR AND CLEAN ELECTIONS. In 2007, there was a rally for the same purpose; the objective behind the march has not changed.

What has changed, however, is how the government has reacted. Let's have a

June 26th
- 30 members of the Malaysian Socialist Party who were campaigning for Bersih were arrested under charges of (apparent) possession of paraphernalia alluding to communism and attempting to revive the communist ideology.

June 29th
- Police start arresting people who wear the yellow Bersih shirts.
- Make sure you don't have shoes, cars and buses with the Bersih logo too, or you might be arrested.

June 30th
- An MP is arrested for wearing a yellow shirt. It was not a Bersih tee.

July 1st
- Mainstream media told to demonise the rally and submit daily reports of their news coverage on the rally.
- They are instructed not to name the rally, but nevertheless to discourage people from joining in. Footage of police using violence on the rally-goers is taboo.

July 2nd
- A follow-up from the arrests of the 30 Socialist Party arrests-- 6 of them are re-arrested under the Emergency Ordinance (EO). The EO basically states that a person can be arrested without a magistrate's remand order for up to 2 months. If the Home Ministry deems you a threat even after that, this can be extended to two years- without a trial. All 6 activists were denied legal access.
- Bersih is now declared an outlaw organisation by the Home Minister.

July 3rd
- Another MP arrested, this time for wearing a yellow shirt that read "Negara Bersih, Rakyat Bertuah" (A Clean Country Means Healthy Citizens, roughly translated). They were walking about to promote a community cleanliness campaign.
- Three other people were arrested for wearing the Bersih tee under another shirt.
- Arrest count so far: More than 100.
- The king issues a statement.

July 5th
- Ambiga, head of Bersih, meets with the king to discuss options. Bersih agrees to hold the rally in a stadium instead of on the streets.
- The prime minister agrees to allow Bersih to hold the rally in a stadium.
- Police find weapons together with Bersih shirts in various parts of the capital.

July 6th
- Police erect roadblocks 'to prevent “undesirable elements from smuggling weapons” into the city.'
- Bersih wants rally to be held at Stadium Merdeka in the capital. This place is symbolic- "Merdeka" stands for independence and it's one of the country's most well-known places.
- A "fitness activity" is arranged in one of the states possibly in a bid to prevent teachers from attending the rally.
- Home minister repeats: Bersih is still illegal.
- Police refuse to grant an assembly permit to Bersih as they are illegal.
- Army carries out a simulation exercise. The banners read: "Disperse, or we will shoot."

July 7th
- Civil servants forbidden from joining the rally
- Police place a restriction order on 91 individuals from entering the capital, including the organisers of Bersih.
- Announcement: Bus routes to the city centre (where the rally is supposed to start) have been rerouted.

July 8th
- Lockdown of the capital starts at midnight. However, people on the highways have been reporting that it's already started around 7 pm.
- ??

So as you can see, it's been a long two weeks. Frankly, I've left out quite a bit-- of how there were originally another two rallies supposed to run concurrently against Bersih, of threatening SMSes to Ambiga. I'm aware of how many of these links lead to the same websites, and how this may be considered some sort of bias. I'd however like to remind everyone that the mass media in this country is controlled by the government. Alternative news sites are how we can get our information-- and Malaysiakini is being DDoSed as I type this.

For extra information, you may want to read these (possibly triggery) and browse the main Bersih website and the Bersih wiki.

I realise that it may seem hypocritical for me to write out about this when I'm not joining in the rally. That's okay, I don't mind being called that. I only ask that all of you out there keep the people who are marching tomorrow in your thoughts, that no one will be hurt. They do not march for political reasons-- they march for fair elections. There will be other rallies in other cities around the world for this as well, and I hope you keep them in your thoughts as well.

And well, ahaha, our capital's like it's under siege this Saturday. All this for a rally that'll only last for 2 hours.

Thank you so much for reading this!

In which I update.

dynast_harmonia — Tue, 31 May 2011 13:55:28 GMT

Hello my dear darling LJ, I have not posted since um. April. Yes. It's not because I've forgotten about you! More like it's because I don't think I have anything really worth writing about.

Uni has been...uneventful? A huge bunch of my batchmates are graduating this semester (though I'm not due to being held back by a year- I have Ping Yeen for company, yes, but she's only staying on for an extra sem...I think) and as much as I think Monash Sunway's better for me studies-wise, the irritation of having to rely on public transport (or close to public transport) to get me to uni irks me a little. I'm at uni from 8-5 every day even if my class finished at 12 but I suppose that's where all those extra study hours come in. I miss being able to nose my way into chem eng club functions (since there isn't one here) and the weekly career talks (and pizza, can't forget the pizza). The fun lecturers who go out of their way to make tutorials fun (like Karen who basically made the first hour of Control tutorials some kind of amazing gameshow thing, I loved that and I'm glad she was voted best lecturer in the faculty that year) and well-- basically, Melbourne's atmosphere. Back here it's all really studystudystudy and I'm quite obviously not contributing to helping out that statistic by being a faceless MUST STUDY GET DEGREE student. But, like I said, it's better studies-wise.

I hope, at least! I'm really really nervous for Transport Phenomena this sem and if I fail one more subject, ahaha. End of the road. Time to look for a job?

But either way, who knows? I might be going back there for a short holiday this year since one of my cousins have recently gotten engaged and I uh, still have money in the bank. Oops.

For now, it's mostly just FOCUS ON GETTING PAST THOSE EXAMS, getting that degree- oh, and that orchestra performance I'm watching this Friday. Is anyone going for the Philharmonic one that day? Yes? No? There's also news of VGL coming to Malaysia again but that's in....October, I think, so that's far away. Yeah.

So, what's up in your life, flist?

It's just one of those days!

dynast_harmonia — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:03:21 GMT

Here's to hoping that next week will be better.

Week 7, you are high on my shit list.

dynast_harmonia — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:43:25 GMT

You too, Week 8 and your two-labs-and-two-tests-plus-sup-surprise-comsol-how-do-you-like-that-hmm attitude. Can everything just stop aaaa.

No, seriously, I'm just horror-facing at everything at the moment and I'm just taking three units this semester. I can only imagine how my coursemates who were taking four were coping last year when they did Sustainable/Nanotech on top of well, Transport. And Bradley's weekly assignments. And Ravi's biweekly tests.

...engineering students have lives? \o

Somehow, I miss being able to give Sook Yan a call and say "I DON'T WANT TO STUDY ANY MORE, COME OUT TO MCDS WITH ME D:". Granted, I can probably do that while I'm on campus (in which that's where I spend 75% of my waking hours these days, what is life) but why oh why does no one live within walking distance here, boo. Or actually, why don't I live within walking distance? Hnngh.

herrjustice is amazing because she puts up with all my whinyness about my coursework in general. :(

But, yes! Calling pre-emptive unofficial hiatus from RP for next week because slowatus is probably the wrong word to describe my tagging attitude (seriously. If I average at one tag a day, a slowatus would mean one tag in two days? Or...? Too many variables, please reduce degrees of freedom) at the moment. I reckon that even if I have the energy to tag, I'll be severely picking and choosing which threads to work on and well, yes, that's probably not fair, but that's why this is a heads' up. Since most people I thread with are on my flist.

.....this is a very bad welcome to the people who've just friended me from luceti, I realise, sob. Welcome to my LJ, guys! I'm usually less whiny than this...I promise. Probably. Maybe.

dynast_harmonia — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:03:22 GMT

Pandora Hearts + Shitsurakuen icon post! My character bias is obvious.

Uni's been pretty...okay so far! I'm not sure if it's because I already know what to expect for 2 out of the 3 units I'm taking so I can devote my attention to the third (that is arguably the most difficult of them all, or so the rumours go) or if it's because it's too early in the semester to tell. But if I'm a third into the semester and thinking that stuff is okay, that's a good sign, right? Either way, I'm happy that I'm at a zen place for studies, even with the ones that require me to sit down and derive....lots of equations, ew. On the bright side, differential equations are no longer my enemy! ...yay?!

Assignments being due every other week really isn't my favourite thing, but really, I don't think it's anyone's. Ah well.

I wanted to write a meaningful blog post about How The Week Has Been...

dynast_harmonia — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:50:53 GMT

...and then Pandora Hearts chapter 59 comes out and my heart is broken. So broken, you have no idea.

brb writing tons of happy normal fic. Why can't Elliot have a normal life, he just wants to be normal and grump around aaaaa

You were all my pleasure/ My hope and my song/ I will be here dreaming in the past/ Until you come/ Until we close our eyes

...right? There isn't a lot of Leo to icon from this chapter though Vincent's expressions are pretty amazing this round.

So yes, a normal update will come tomorrow...maybe...when I'm less heartbroken in general from this chapter.

Week 2 of the semester....

dynast_harmonia — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:03:52 GMT

...and this is basically my face at what's happening next week and the week after.

Except that I look nowhere close to Nanako and obviously this was in class and not over the phone (because I think I'd go D: if a lecturer told me that over the phone). Shitty typesetting, go! Art by hiimdaisy of course.

I can deal with the MATLAB test and the two tests on week four. It's the one next Tuesday on vectors and tensors that's frightening me because Raavi has the tendency to set merciless questions and have them masquerade as innocent "open-book tests". I learnt that last year during thermodynamics when you taught THAT, sir. brb googling what we've learnt so far because this textbook doesn't believe in examples.

On the bright side, thermodynamics isn't as...panic-inducing as last year (yet) and I'm actually enjoying the lecturer for this subject! She's new and yet somehow she kinda...explains things in a more interesting way than Raavi even did, even though her English isn't perfect (but let's face it, neither was his all the time) so my interest is sustained all through talk of EOSes and manipulating ideal equations and all that stuff. Personally, I think her largest challenge will be when we start playing around with modified Raoult's Law since that's mostly qualitative and the driest part of the whole unit. She's pretty dedicated and somehow...knows the names of some of us in the class despite being brand-spanking new. I'm not sure about the rest, but I have no idea how she knows my name and to look at me when I've never actually approached her with questions before, but whatever it is, there's some dedication behind it. Man.

I wish I could say the same about 3167 and 3165, but I think nothing can top Bradley's 3165 lectures (even though I am sad to see that he's switched to Powerpoint slides this semester...he did such awesome lectures with just overheads and layering them- they were a joy to watch) while 3167 just. Makes me depressed in general because other than the MATLAB component, there is so much mathematical notation and calculus in there that it looks like I'm attempting to read Greek. I could very well be.

On the RP side, apped PH!Leo at Luceti and am so excited for everything it's kinda ridiculous. I have new icons and a spot at my home game aaaaaa I love everything. Let's just see how well I can balance two characters now, sob.

PH raws out next week! ♥

Step 1 on phasing yourself into a normal sleep schedule: Stop sleeping at 2 am.

dynast_harmonia — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 11:03:55 GMT

...otherwise, it is entirely normal to feel tired the whole day long and that is so very not cool when the uni semester starts in a week. Monash, why are you giving me 8 am lectures, goddamn.

But yes, my extended holiday is over and it's almost time to go back to school- and that's slightly depressing and slightly frightening as well, I suppose. Most people I know will be graduating in about a semester's time and well- I'm held back by a year or so due to my time off plus my failed units. Play time's over, there's no more room for failing any more, nor making excuses of "I'm no good at this" when I've had half a year to understand exactly what material I'll be studying this semester. Here's to hoping that it pays off.

On a less depressing note, chapter 58 of Pandora Hearts was better than I even expected! I think I've fallen in love with the series all over again with just this chapter alone. So much writing (and app writing) in the past few days aaaaa I love this series. ♥ And yes, if I'm RPing with you and you've noticed how absolutely slow I've been lately, well. This is why. I've also started on another Leo icon set, but colouring is...taking a while so chances are that 59 might be out before I can icon the entirety of this chapter. On the bright side, there will be like. 12+ colourings in one icon post on teaegg, at least.

Because sitting in front of my screen pressing F5...

dynast_harmonia — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:30:27 GMT

...and hoping for the PH chapter to materialise is not exactly the best use of my LJ, have an update! It's been some time since I've actually posted, though I've been reading my flist daily; I just...browse, and hop over to RP journals these days. Yeah.

Chinese New Year has been relatively good for me, I guess? There was the usual visiting, people coming over to visit and what not- though there's clearly been a steady decrease in the places the family goes to visit each year. There have thankfully been no deaths in the family, though there are more people on vacation this year, or have migrated and what not. I'll miss returning to Melbourne to visit my grandaunt, sadly, since paying for my way + my parents would cost a bomb (and they definitely want to go since they're not sure how long more she has- judging by Skype video conversations that we've had with her). I'll miss autumn and spring in Melbourne as well, haaah.

....man, Melbourne, some day I'll go back and go skiing. My one regret!

Uni's starting in March so I have about a few weeks more before I try this studying thing again. There's no more "not sure not sure" half-assery again- I've successfully delayed my graduation by a year and that's...really not cool considering I'm not the one who's paying for my education. Slogging go! I need to relearn MATLAB as well no thanks to Transport Phenomena, though attempting to relearn coding without the program at hand is actually more difficult than I'd thought. Boo.

★ luceti
RISE KUJIKAWA
IC: She's very :| in general over last month's event even if she hasn't connected the dots on why she'd turned into Souji. Attempting to let go of a crush and seeing his face on yours really isn't progress, man.

OOC: I love love love playing Rise! I know I complain about playing her once in a while because I think I've started spreading feelers out into headcanon-land (which is a terrifying place, never leave me alone there) and I tend to question some calls I make on her tags, but she's honestly a character I will always enjoy playing because of how she can just stick her nose everywhere. I love how Luceti is so chill with backtagging because, man- if I had to finish a thread in a day, that'll never happen. Though I do go ;A; on days when I wake up to 14 notifs, man. (It has hit 20 once- all Rise tags.)

There are of course, days when I feel like I can't play her at all, but those are becoming rarer. I'm glad.

To-Do: Plan partiessss-- no, I'm serious. I might step back from her being poster girl for the next Welcome Centre party because it'll coincide with the weeks when assignments start being due, but I have plans for other partying stuff in Luceti. I love mingle stuff and would like to organise something like cherry blossom viewing come spring and a beach party come summer- with fireworks and all the works. Or perhaps co-organise would be a better word because I think I'd cry if I had to organise everything on top of finals nnnnrgh.

Desire to Play: ■■■■■■■■■□
Desire to Drop: □□□□□□□□□□

★ ilpromenade
LEO
IC: He's discovered Sablier in Promenade! Also, Elliot not remembering things is a right pain because he can't figure out exactly why.

OOC: Uh. Okay. I will admit: I really really am afraid of losing Leo's voice. I think I am because I'm defaulting to the voice that I usually use when I'm super unsure, and he isn't a character with a particularly distinct voice. I'm questioning if I did the right thing by taking him from most recent canon (which is awesome for jossing shenanigans, not so much for my sanity since I keep going "Am I doing this right considering what we know?). I cannot see him as a character who's sociable by nature and I really don't like dragging people down just to interact with me.

I'unno, it's like every interaction I make with him feels stilted and unnatural, and it wasn't this bad back when I started playing him. I've canon-reviewed and gone over his lines but I am still afraid. I don't think who I'm playing is Leo because of how generic his voice is coming off to me and I'm wondering if he can really work in an RP setting due to his highly dependent nature on Elliot.

Yes, whine whine gripe gripe. I won't point fingers at the game for being unwelcoming to me because I have been hesitating so much with what I do that it's ridiculous. I take a day to tag back and I understand that with how predictable his threads are, people will get bored. I'm surprised if they aren't bored by now. Maybe it's me not feeling the game too! I just- I don't know.

There's so much I can whine about my insecurities about playing Leo but ahaha, I think I'd better stop there.

To-Do: I don't know. I'd like to plot with the remaining PH cast, and I want to stick around because I know a potential Oz is looking at the game and I hate quitting when I know that I haven't been putting in the effort but-- okay, let's stop this self-pity train here.

Basically. Get my ass off the pity cushion, canon review intensely, watch other Leos to see how they make their interpretations work, start thinking of possible stuff to do. Contact the Alice and have cast shenanigans. Brainstorm. We've missed St Bridget's, what else can we do?

Desire to Play: ■■□□□□□□□□
Desire to Drop: ■■■■■■■□□□

★ OVERALL
Save for Leo, I am...pretty zen with RP in general. trainingwings is taking the stress of constantly playing Rise all day and I've been throwing characters into people's posts and enjoying it (even characters whom I have accounts for but have never dared play on dear_mun due to being frightened at voice failure- i.e. Makoto). I'd initially entertained the thought of apping Shitsurakuen's Yuki in, but I reckon that I'd quickly fall into the same conundrum that I'm having with Leo at the moment (i.e. non-distinct voice, potential canon jossing). I might consider messing around some more in trainingwings and apping her in May if my schedule permits.

...I am also entertaining the thought of apping Makoto to Luceti since it would bring a different level of derp to my current (one-character) lineup, but she will be very full of headcanon since the movie isn't very informative on her history past "meeting Chiaki after he gets beaten up". Plus just because I had an awesome one-off thread doesn't necessarily mean that I can play her and- idk. We'll see. We'll see.

RIGHT, tl;dr over. Man, that was long. Chap Goh Mei's (read: the end of the Chinese New Year/15th day of CNY for those unfamiliar with the terminology) tomorrow, don't really have any plans hnnnngh. I WANT MY NEW PH CHAPTER, PLEASE. ;A;

Four items to note:

dynast_harmonia — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:47:30 GMT

#1. What the hell, PH 57. Not only do you give us mind-boggling jossing each round (Yura arc: Where at least half the minor character cast gets sudden epic development, holy shit), you just have to stomp on hearts.

baaaaaaw damnit elliot and leo

#2. Attended the hearing with the academic progress committee today, had a...favourable outcome (or rather the outcome that I was expecting, albeit with a few interesting optional twists thrown in) despite me thinking that I stumbled over my words far too much. I think I'd have done better if I'd stood up and said my piece but it'd have seemed rather...awkward. I'm wondering how bad my body language was, though.

I. Kinda wished they'd smiled more, though. It's bad enough when you know that they're judging you to see if you're good enough for the course- all that frowning sure didn't help any nerves.

I still think I should've stood up and given a two minute speech on my performance but eh. Details.

#3. I'm looking at diversifying the CNY cookies these years since it's boring just making the same stuff over and over again (though the mainstays will be there because mum will be :| if I didn't make them, oops). Recipe recommendations, those of you who'll be busy baking in the coming few weeks or so?

...I suppose I could also consider learning how to make a new dessert for reunion dinner but let's focus on the more pressing issues at the moment. :|a

#4. MY RP DRIVE IS NON-EXISTENT. ;A; Have a meme instead:

Pick a character and I will give and explain the top five a few ideas/concepts/etc I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to accurately depicting them.

...assuming people know who I play other than Rise, uh. I'd do that shipping meme, but I'm not a shipper and would have "idk" as most of the answers, oops.

And today, a random observation.

dynast_harmonia — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 14:18:45 GMT

On the personal side, anyway.

After not having seen most (if not all) my classmates from secondary school (i.e. high school for those unfamiliar with the term) for a good part of 6 years (not on purpose, but rather everyone having gone their separate ways; most of which, according to Facebook, are currently in the UK and all over Australia. Those who are still studying anyway, most have graduated, last I checked), I ran into two ex-schoolmates yesterday and today. I didn't realise that it was then when they were passing by me so I didn't greet them; it was only after they'd gone when it occurred to me, "...oh, I know them."

It feels rather surreal after having lived in this area for so many years and never having seen anyone after everyone finished their SPM. Huh.

This seemingly random observation was brought to you after reading the last story on lightning in Fuan no Tane, noticing that it's storming (with lightning) outside, falling asleep and waking up questioning "What is reality".

In the words of numi_nami, "..............brrrm".

I also got my hair restyled today! Got highlights -red ones- after many many years of never changing my hair colour. They're super hard to photograph though, and I am absolutely terrible at camwhoring so no matter how I try to get my phone camera to work, the colour just doesn't show up. Failll.

[edit] In other news, I also want to try gerai_neon's apple tea! :(

So I got around to watching Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva today.

dynast_harmonia — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:34:40 GMT

I'd say that my general impression of how the storyline turned out was pretty ಠ_ಠ. I liked the little bgm details- using the puzzle themes, Layton's theme (I love Layton's theme. It's something I can loop while doing some work) and the art...wasn't bad, I guess? It is Level-5 stuff after all. The puzzles made me go "....eh......" at times but nothing- and I mean nothing in this movie beats the twists.

...I don't even know if they're considerably good twists- they just had me facepalming at the end. Someday I will lose my suspension of disbelief for this series, I swear.

In other news, my hearing with the academic progress committee is scheduled on the 18th. Won't this be fun.

It's 2011 on the GMT +8 front!

dynast_harmonia — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:14:52 GMT

Soooooo...

HAPPY NEW YEAR, GUYS

I'd say I have resolutions, but it's mostly just...y'know. Go back to uni and kick my exams' asses, write like a mofo (because this is how I destress after staring at calculations), CONTINUE LOVING EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING.

I love you guys, and happy 2011! ♥

Last post before 2010 is over?!

dynast_harmonia — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 05:37:12 GMT

Because I don't think I'd have anything to write about tomorrow! I'm terribly unimaginative like that. Ahaha.

First off! futomimii, I received your card thank youuu. Your art is still so pretty. ♥

The past few days have been...eventful...to say the least! Was down with a strange bug for two days (in which my temperature decided to play the seesaw dance. Not fun) before zipping off to a day of macaron-making class. I have immense respect to patisseries that make these little things now- they are so difficult to make and I think it'll be a while before I actually attempt them. Maybe I'll. Start working my way up by learning how to make cakes and what not properly before I attempt them again.

...plus they are really really sweet and I think eating more than one would give me such a huge sugar crash that I'd be out of commissions for the short-term. Nnnngh. But at least I learnt stuff! And I think with whatever I learnt, I can now attempt most of the recipes for Chinese New Year cookies in the recipe books.

...yay?

I also really like this song for some reason. I think it's how she just goes Anarchyyyyyyyyyyyy.

CF was...

dynast_harmonia — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 18:04:33 GMT

...tiring. But kinda amazing in the sort of way where you live on a little water and all adrenaline all day and you're busy going "Yes, can I help you?" with bright smiles all day long and you don't get tired of it because it's to see people so enthusiastic is so fun. Except when you get back home and realise "Wow, I'm so tired you can't expect me to think coherently."

Damage to the wallet: 56 bucks. Most spendy item was probably amei and wredwrat's sketchbook collab (but so worth it, goddamn), and I actually managed to get PH stuff! Not so lucky on the Suiko end though; then again, CF has never really been overflowing with Suiko stuff in the first place!

Fanstuff being sold this year leaned towards Vocaloid, FF, Kuroshitsuji (there were Ciel, Alois, Sebastian and Claude dollfies at one booth. I kid you not), Panty&Stocking (a strange trend) and tons of BRS stuff. Can't comment about cosplay since I spent most of my time either: (a) Sitting at the counter or (b) Browsing artist booths to see if I missed anything.

...but it's okay because my camera was kinda shitty anyway and the tons of pictures that'll make their way to the forums will be much better.

And since I'm rambling and it's. Well, 2 am, I'm off to bed. Sleep: do want. Come back again next year, CF.

CF is tomorrow!

dynast_harmonia — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:29:58 GMT

So not ready aaaaaa all the previews are so pretty my money no longer exists

That ending scene was just baaaaaww -holy shit, Professor, your hair- wwwbaaaaw. Claaaaaaaire.

I want to RP her so bad, but I think this is more of the fact that I liked her style than me really really feeling her voice. But I would rewatch scenes with her (Celeste or otherwise) in a heartbeat, because she really did appeal to me. Unlike uh. Flora. Cucumber sandwiches, professor?

I liked the game very very much compared to Diabolical Box, though, I must say- the second game kinda felt a little meh for me since the buildup didn't really seem to point to "lol mine gas". Anton and Sophia's story was really bittersweet, yes, but overall, it fell a little flat. Though the swordfight was cool.

But yes. Unwound Future was amazing storytelling-wise (and I didn't expect there to be more after the Future!Layton=Dmitri reveal since the previous Layton games usually have one high point and the game ends), the puzzles were decent (and didn't have that many of those irritating move-the-blocks ones. I'm still sad that the pouring-water-from-jug-to-jug ones never made it past the first game) but that Clive reveal scene was so "AAAAAA" for me.

Though I still think I'd have preferred it if they'd really travelled to the future and Clive was future Luke. It was interesting to think of what could've influenced him to become as sarcastic and witty as he was! The first thing he does is throw a puzzle battle at you, after all.

....I totally ship Clive/Flora, by the way. For the shallowest of reasons- I thought their portraits looked good together and so. Yes. Never mind that there's a 10 year gap or so (though it would've been nice had they really been 10 years in the future and we'd seen that Luke and Flora had hooked up. So cute. ♥ ). And I'm not usually a shipper too, hmm.

A++ this game, would play again.

Obligatory "dynast_harmonia talks too much about this one con"...

dynast_harmonia — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 15:06:09 GMT

...because CF is next week and I am not ready for this aaaa. kagu_chan, are you attending? What are your plans?

A week after I complain about no promos for doujins and stuff at CF, I now have a list that may or may not have sent me over the RM 100 budget limit depending on the prices of several things on the list (that are on TBA at the moment). Why so many awesome things all at once, man.

CFers on my flist! Do you have a list? Share your shopping list so I can add to mine if need be (because several fandoms are an insta-buy for me....most of the time). I swear I only splurge this badly once a year.

On the less RL side of things (but no less geeky since this deals with RP)- luceti's 4th wall is on the 18th and 19th as well and please invade! There's plenty of fandoms in the game and I would suggest using the comm's flist to browse (since the game is journal-based) the posts that pop up during the weekend. Come have epic 4th wall-y threads, guys. ♥

Probably should...update.

dynast_harmonia — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 07:24:00 GMT

CF is in less than two weeks! Artists selling doujinshi and stuff, where are your promos, I can't draw up a tentative purchasing plan without them. My annual pre-CF planning noooo. Here's to hoping there's stuff being sold from my fandoms! As tiny as that hope may be.

Got PH volume 13 aka The Volume Where Elliot's Dere Faces Are On Every 20 Pages, no thanks to chapter 50 and 52. So much dere face, cannot cope.

Also, have a meme, I have nothing to write about:

Reply with a fandom and I'll tell you the following:

favorite character
least favorite character
prettiest character
character I wanna marry
favorite pairing
favorite episode/scene
unpopular opinion

However, I don't really have unpopular opinions since I'm zen with...most things. But we'll see! Also-

To all of you going through a rough patch at the moment, I love you all and stay strong. Okay? ♥

In which dynast_harmonia rambles a little.

dynast_harmonia — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 16:22:07 GMT

Ahhh, December is almost here! It seems like almost yesterday that I flew back from Melbourne (and I still have to fly back to get my stuff, nnrgh, arrangements). I've enjoyed my life as a hermit - and will be enjoying it for the next few months as well since Australian universities go on their summer holidays- but I'll admit that it's been getting frankly annoying at times to sit at home and just study on my own (and spend copious amounts of time staring at LJ). On one hand, I don't have to worry about project group members and deadlines (another daunting thing that I'll have to face come the new sem since I don't know anyone in that particular intake and most of my other coursemates are now about a semester ahead of me), but I've done these subjects before so...it can't be that bad. Right? Right! ...right?

Either way, I kind of miss living on my own. Chores as a form of distraction was....nice, for some reason. Let's not go into the issue of decent public transport in Melbourne vs that available here.

Time, where have you goneeee.

On a less real-life note, 14 Pandora Hearts icons! I've finally realised that I will never play Lottie as much as I'd like to try, siiigh.

The reason I'm awake at 4 am (and have been for the past month, ew):

dynast_harmonia — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 20:07:09 GMT

Insert copious dancing and plenty of "What the hell did I do with my November, goddamn"s, please. This stupid thing isn't seeing the light of day until I'm off this writer burnout (in say, January, maybe later) despite being wholly incomplete (and having choppy perspective, nonexistent characterisation and just yours truly failing and pounding out 50k words, sob.)

BRB GOING BACK TO SLEEPING AT 1-2 AM INSTEAD OF 4 AM. Aaaaaaaaaaa.

ALSO-

(11:09:47 PM) Marbles: there is nothing wrong with Disney songs D:
(11:10:10 PM) Marbles: /was singing Colors of the Wind while looking at frog embryos in lab today D:
(11:12:13 PM) Dynast: ...
(11:12:34 PM) Marbles: Dynasttt don't look at me like that
(11:12:43 PM) Dynast: ..../judging look
(11:12:50 PM) Dynast: /silent judging
(11:13:00 PM) Marbles: )B
(11:13:03 PM) Masa: Pocahantos would never disect frogs
(11:13:16 PM) Masa: YOU WILL NEVER HEAR IT CROAK NOW
(11:13:50 PM) Marbles: they were tadpoles!
(11:14:01 PM) Marbles: 7 mm in length. D:
(11:14:25 PM) Masa: You think the onle people who are people, are the ones as tall as you?
(11:14:59 PM) Dynast: /laughing, dying
(11:15:35 PM) Masa: /Pocahantos stands outside Marbles's window, a tear in her eye
(11:15:50 PM) Dynast: This is going onto my LJ
(11:15:52 PM) Marbles: ... that's rather creepy.
(11:15:55 PM) Marbles: NOOOO
(11:16:09 PM) Marbles: why even, Dynast D:

ilu all

Going to watch Deathly Hallows 1 with the rest of the chem eng crew in approximately 7 hours time! Kinda sad that Amber and some of the others can't make it for the lunch screening, but I'm so glad to be able to see Mei Xian and co. again. ♥ A few months of no "LET'S GO FOR ICE CREAM." "IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER?!" "YES" "YOU'RE ALL CRAZY PEOPLE", and I've missed everyone so much aahhh.

How was your November, flist?

...so, today was full of delicious.

dynast_harmonia — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 16:40:44 GMT

Went for an early birthday dinner for my father with the family today and had chilli crabs! It was very spicy and I would have taken pictures (of the before and after pile) if it hadn't slipped my mind, oops. But rest assured that it was delicious and I enjoyed them because lol I haven't had them since...two years ago, I think.

Random interesting fact that may or may not be somewhat related to RP: I came back, stared at my email for approximately 2 minutes and went to collapse on my bed upon arriving home. And woke up one hour later. I think the combination of spiciness + bad sleeping patterns knocked me out for a while. Um.

Same rules apply, permission to icon as long as credit is given to me or teaegg whichever. I'll probably do a few more and crop some of them into icons before throwing up a post to the comm. It'll probably all be Gilbert because I can't shade blond hair to save my life and the whole chapter 55 is all Vincent, Lily, Oz. I can't shade Break's hair either, so boooo. Maybe I should try colouring Fang?

RP-wise, luceti has been occupying so much of my time because stuff has been awesome and sociable character is sociable. The rest of November and December are shaping up to look pretty damn awesome (possible fourth wall + grab bag + draft! Dude. Duuuude) and my only gripe at the moment is that I don't have enough time to do too much of all this awesome because lol, backtag mountain. But! I'm glad I got back into this game because I am loving everything and everyone. Plotting, occasional prosing, doing wtf tags....aaaaaa. ♥

[edit] Also, on the RP-verse side of things:

The How's My Driving? Meme

Nnnrgh.

dynast_harmonia — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:14:54 GMT

Note to self: Learn to tell when you're actually mentally exhausted so you don't end up stumbling over everything you say when you go out with friends. Haaaa, I have no idea how mistressnaoko and gerai_neon put up with me all through dinner, ahaha. I came back, crashed on the bed and fell asleep for half an hour and woke up going "I DON'T WANT TO PLAY SCRABBLE" when my brother knocked on the door (because he'd asked me earlier and I'd grumbled that I was too tired and didn't feel like it). Aaaaaaa.

I swear NaNo is the one that's throwing my entire body clock out of skew. Once I hit 50k, I'm returning to sleeping at 1 instead of...3. Maybe then I'll stop feeling vaguely exhausted all the time. :|a

In other news, PH 55 is full of badassery (hervictory finally gets her chapter of Gil awesome) and everything is just amazing. But now, I want next month's chapter, and I have a feeling that MochiJun will still try to drag out the whole ceremony thing. Ten whole minutes, man.

lol facial contours.

I'll post this up on teaegg once I have more stuff to post (...like my HnKnA!Julius icon set? idk), but for now, it'll sit pretty here. NEED TO COLOUR MORE LEO....or actually, maybe I should attempt recolouring my icons, like I've been saying that I'd do for the past month or so.

On a totally different note- I've been attempting to master this since I'd heard it. It's so pretty, and the notes really aren't that difficult.

On gaming, NaNo and...a meme, I guess.

dynast_harmonia — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 17:41:58 GMT

DDS is being nothing but awesome so far although I must admit that playing the game depresses me immensely. Maybe it's because I've never played dystopian games or at least nothing as nitty-gritty as DDS before but...yeah, it's kinda hard to come out of playing DDS without being pretty :( in general. Gale and Heat are being favourites of mine at the moment, though Argilla is growing on me.

NaNo wordcount as of 14/11: 28.6k. I'm ahead of schedule but still lagging behind mistressnaoko, baaaw.

Name: Dynast
Age: Twenty-two. Man, where has the time gone?

First Livejournal RP Experience: Well, if we don't count the time I made an account for stuff for my character from Host Boards, suiko_rpg. I'd been stalking LJRP for some time before that already, though.

Other games you have been in: colors_rpg (ahaha), memento_eden, thetower_rpg, luceti, polychromatic, wonderlandwars, witchesreign, somarium, sirenspull. I only lasted about a month or two in the last three though, haha. I burned out so bad attempting to juggle games (and also suffered the curse of Playing Anti Social First Characters).

What canons have you played from? Suikoden, Pandora Hearts, Tales of the Abyss, Gurren Lagann, Olimpos (never seriously at a game, though), Persona 4, Durarara!!.

Favorite character(s) to play? Mmm, that's a bit difficult to say. It tends to vary depending on my mood, but I'd say Rise for the sole reason that she's really easy to tag around with. Her voice has been an on-off thing for me lately, but she's easily the most sociable of all my characters and uh- least dependent, I guess. Yes, I'm still clinging on to my dependent character trend, ironically enough. :|a

Favorite RP Canonmates: Trap's isntyourfriend for PH (and also Numi's surfacage but that's Dynast being particularly masochistic for you), nowheresman for P4, EVERYONE I'VE PLAYED AGAINST FOR SUIKODEN BECAUSE YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING.

To be honest, I don't really have that many favourites because I used to be (and still am) pretty shy around castmates so I never really got to work closely with them. I think I've gotten better at pinging people, though! ...I think!

Favorite muns to play against: Trap and Ari since playing with you guys always promises an awesome thread in the end. Insert remark on how I'm terrified of pinging people here. Or people in general.

What kind of tagger are you? A very inconsistent one. I tag some threads much faster (it helps if I talk to you often- a lot) than others and there are stretches when I go at one tag a day and I suddenly get tired of it and play the tagtagtagtagtag game and rack up lots of comments. My RP moods, let me show them to you.

Have you met anyone in RL that you've played against? Not on LJRP, otherwise there used to be kemuridono and doujinsangel. Arguably, I knew them before my foray into forums RP (due to CF), but hey, details. Oh right, I did meet esuzumy back when I was in Melbourne and she was at Poly!

Pimp a game? I've never been able to quit luceti- I tried once and half a year later, I came back (because a certain Trap kept telling me about plot stuff :|)- so well, you all know what I'd be pimping for. Otherwise, I'd go ahead and pimp out somarium- I got to know so many awesome people from there, and I'm honestly sad that I dropped the ball with Anri when I was there. Everyone was so friendly and I'm glad that I played there, even as brief as it was. ♥

In other news: I need to start looking for cookie recipes again so I can start prepping stuff for Christmas presents.

And I've also just spent half an hour doing that and I need to write 2k words or so tonight aaaaa brb writing

In which Dynast reconsiders her sanity for attempting 50k in a month.

dynast_harmonia — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:27:00 GMT

...I hit 23k for NaNo tonight, but it sure feels like I've been writing idk, 100k or so. The writing's beginning to drag in accordance to that amazing inverted bell trend for my motivation as the midway mark approaches and just. Augh. It's the 11th night in a row that I'm up till 2-3 because I can't get in the mood of writing during the day (and this is actually the reason the people I'm RPing with tend to get tags like...once a day. Sorry, guys!). Watch me burn out on writing after this month and just stick to commentspam for a few weeks nnrgh.

Updates-wise, I managed to get my hands on DDS and have been playing it (and despairing, mostly, because I have a horrible sense of direction and the game seems to enjoy exploiting that-I got lost for three hours in the Solids' Citadel). I don't think I'm very far in the game yet, though! There's a long way more to go...especially if I'm going to get as terribly lost as I did in um. The second dungeon of the whole game. But the music is marvellous!

Pandora Hearts chapter 55 a week more COME TO ME AND BULLY MY PERSONALITY WRITEUP, MOCHIJUN. Your trolling has already rendered my very first writeup (close to) unusable, I'm sure it can be done again with idk. Sudden Leo backstory?!. I love this series even if it abuses me so bad, I really do.

...man, did this entry even make sense?