All-nighters are hell

March 9, 2009

I was literally up all night last March 2, 2009. I hated the experience. The only reason I didn’t feel a deeper negative emotion to the whole experience was that I wasn’t the only one suffering. Doms, Arvin, Doms’s poor old computer, and I worked through our energy stores to complete a crappy documentary that was due on February 27, 2009, friday of the week before. The documentary was fortunate enough to be a group project, it would never have seen the light of day had it been left up to me to create it - especially with the deadline over.

Anyway, trying to figure out how to use video editing programs, throwing away almost 80% of the whole footage of the interviews taken, panicking when the computer couldn’t read the movie clips, converting the unreadable files, waiting for hours for the files to be converted, making scripts for the documentary while files were being converted, narrating the scripts into a voice recorder, narrating to the voice recorder again after stuttering, or getting tongue-tied, or suddenly forgetting how to read, arranging video clips in a semi-sensible order when they were finally converted, having creative bursts of ideas on how we would present the whole thing, being frustrated at the difficulty of implementing idea gained from creative burst, still being up when the rest of the household was getting on with their respective going-to-school routines, staring at a computer screen for hours (working), going to school without taking a bath or at least brushing one’s teeth (EEW), missing class, taking an exam with a stressed and frazzled mind, feeling very grouchy and weak all day, made me remember why I love loafing around so much.

After the whole dreadful experience I was looking forward to dropping my stressed carcass on my dusty, used clothing cluttered, unmade, bed and sleeping the whole day, but I still had an afternoon class to go to and a tutoring job to do. I went home to get at least an hour’s worth of sleep to get some energy to at least survive the rest of the day. I survived. But then my stupid body had a wicked surprise for me when I could finally get some much-needed sleep. It’s 9:30, earlier than my usual bedtime, I’m super tired, my whole body was weary, but I could. Not. Get. To. Sleep. I was lying in bed for about an hour and I wasn’t automatically going to slumberland. There was something wrong. My mind was screaming for Hypnos and Morpheus to take me to their wonderful land but the damn gods of sleep and dreaming wouldn’t let me. It was a frustrating experience. It must have been the weird grain tea I had at the koreans’ house, or the two pieces of chicken I had for dinner, or the one-hour nap I had earlier, or some weird masochistic impulse, but I could not get to sleep. I was curled up on my bed, feeling sorry and angry at myself, when I finally had an idea. I nuked a glass of milk in our microwave, had a happy moment of relaxation, and went to bed. I expected a one-shot-kill effect but I was still twisting around the bed, looking for just the right position, thinking that my milk idea was crap. The next thing I knew, it was noon the next day. Happiness.

A *bad* paper on some ethical theories

February 24, 2008

 What follows is a crappy attempt at passing some academic requirement. I generally suck at requirements and I’d rather not do them. I just like the idea that I could’ve done something great if I wanted to, I just didn’t. I like that better than the harsh reality of crating something stupid and crappy. Yep, real nice and mature of me.

 

So, this is what happens when I cram:

 

I heard from one of my professors that the immortal answer of a UP student to almost any question is, "It depends." A pretty safe answer that doesn’t choose any sides until it has sufficient facts. It also allows for the moderate relativity of a situation. This statement has allowed me to join some discussions where I know virtually nothing about the topic.
    I remember "It depends." now that I am faced with questions like these:

What is the Good?
How will we know the Good?
Are we free?
Is the Good based on God’s Will, or is God’s Will based on the Good?
Is the Good relative?

    What the fudge is the Good? The meanings may be as many as the stars. There may be shallow answers, deep answers, answers that make sense, and answers that just make you scratch your head while going, "Huh?" But since this is an Ethics paper the answers are limited to the definitions of Good in the field of ethical philosophy. "It depends" comes into the picture, offering a seeming veil of objectivity as we hope to scrutinize ethical theories.

(more…)

komiks, manga, organizing, translating and ZOMG the deadline’s today!

September 26, 2007

I'm currently abusing the benefits of friendship again by trying to do a short term paper for Kom1 in my very good friend Gene Paul's house. "Trying" since I can't seem to put all the things I've read into a coherent and organized piece of crap. I just stare at the screen and the blinking thingy thinking of how to write what I'm thinking. Usually I'd think of a sentence, I'd follow the thought given by that sentence and end up at a dead-end; like, bam! there's nothing more to say. So… I'd rather not think about how sucky my writing process is and I just surf the net (They have blessed DSL!) for more research sources and some more stuff. I hit another problem there since all the sources I see interest me a lot and I only just see that I wouldn't need much of them 'til after I've read them.

 

I'm doing a term paper on komiks by the way, and I am SO loving it that I can't get it on paper right.

(more…)

School, Experiencing Princess Princess, Anime fads, The five colors of mana

June 23, 2007

Pardon the crap that will follow. I'm just going to ramble for the sake of posting, which is all I ever do.

 

School's just started and we've been flooded with readings (that I haven't photocopied yet). People who already have copies found that the damn readings have eaten a large chunk out of their money. I spent my money on food and novels. Denial is such a sweet defense mechanism. I just hope I'll be able to scrape a passing grade again . Well, of course this not-doing-anything period  couldn't possibly be good for a secure future but whatever.  If I continue this train of thought, I'll be turning it into another post full of self-pity.

 

Regarding the previous post, I actually found the experience of being a human Bratz doll amusing. There we were just hanging out at the OSAD when Betch suddenly wanted to practice applying makeup on somebody else. The not entirely protesting victim was me. Should I have protested and said no with all my might? … uh… Whatever. The only colors Lizette had were of a reddish hue. Yes, very geisha like. I think. Punch me if I'm not making sense or just being a pretentious prick. They start putting eyeliner (?) on my eyelids and the people watching were complimenting the application of the product. And then came the blush and stuff and the clips. Well, they told me that I looked pretty nice. (I feel pretty… Oh so pretty! I feel pretty, and witty, and -) I hope they meant that. It would be fun if I could really pass myself as a member of the opposite sex … not for drag-queen purposes, just that it makes me a little different from the crowd. (Don't we all want to stand out?)

 

Of course, cameras were taken out and pictures galore were shot. I think I need a camera phone, just to camwhore and practice looking good in pictures. I never really look good in pictures… or is that a too self-depreciating statement? Where's my cutter? Oh yess… Life-bringing crimson, flowing from my empty, human shell… There is no meaning for my continued existence… -cut the emo crap. I'm quite glad that none of the pictures have found their way to the intarnets… Or have they? Are people looking at those pictures and thinking, Ting's wearing make-up, I knew he was queer! Or… maybe not. I don't think the pictures have that strong a hold on me that they can be used as effective blackmail material.

 

I need a job so I can runaway from home.  I'm still in my teens and my raging hormones are telling me to throw out old rules and bind myself  to new ones and call that independence. Yes, I'm a hamster wanting to get out of the safe tediousness of my cage without knowing how much harder it is outside the confines of the plastic prison.

 

Yay! We're descending to incoherence again!

 

I liked Death Note when I first saw it back in November 2006. I liked it immediately. Since I liked it, I introduced Death Note to my friends, who maybe introduced it to their friends too. I was afraid that Death Note would be the next anime fad. I didn't get started on Bleach since almost everybody was going Bleach this and Bleach that. The same goes true for Naruto. My fear didn't reveal itself as simple paranoia, it was quite true. The live-action Death Note movie was released here in the Philippines by 2Rats and Comic Alley along with the first few episodes of the anime. (I was able to watch the anime before the Comic Alley release thanks to Bionic HQ. They used to have a branch near UST but they had to close shop. The only other branch I know of is in Greenhills, Theatre Mall 2nd floor.) I haven't watched the movie yet and I may have lost all interest in watching it. Raito (Light) wasn't good-looking in the movie (though L was), Ryuk looked really fake, and a whole lot of other complaints. Thanks to the Comic Alley release, Death Note was made known to a wider audience. Comic Alley then stocked up on Death Note merchandise. Posters, keychains, necklaces, "Death Notes" (notebooks), pins, and plush dolls (Though I have to admit that the Ryuk and L dolls are cute (imagine if I typed kawaii…)). Pretty soon, everybody was talking about Death Note. I find it annoying that most  people only know of the movie. Basically, what I'm just saying is: I hate it when everybody likes what I like.

 

 

The book I bought is about a kitty that's tasked to save the world. It's not Brian Jacques pirate kitties that stand on two legs, it's a kitty kitty, white with a few black stripes on him. It's cute.

 

So much for a review

 

You know, I should get started on my research about the current human rights situation but joining an RPG messageboard sounds more fun.

 

Speaking of RPG boards, I'm a member of Terisia City but then I just mostly lurk. Terisia is a fantasy role-playing messageboard that's pretty centered on the Magic: The Gathering card game. I don't think you really need to know how to play Magic in order to join, but it would help though. What you just need to know is that magic is fueled by mana which is split into five colors: White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. White is the color of order and it is used mostly for healing and protection, but it can also be used for divine punishment and stuff. Blue is the color of logic and trickery, it is used to gain knowledge and to play tricks on reality, like countering magic spells, or unsummoning creatures. Black is the color that is obsessed with power, users of black mana are willing to do anything for power, raising the dead, summoning demons, sacrificing life, that kind of stuff. They also excel in using fear to destroy other creatures. Red mana is the mana of fire. Stereotypical red mana users are impatient and chaotic, they pretty much want to destroy their opponents as fast as possible using fire, lightning, or simple brute strength. Green mana is the mana of nature lovers. It doesn't have much in the sorcery department except that it can induce rapid growth in its creations and their creatures can rapidly multiply and overrun the opponent. Okay… forget everything. You do need a little M:tg knowledge to join. But if you still want to, go ahead. Terisia isn't just for mage-battles and the like, it also offers romance and a bit of drama. So-and-so's warrior hooks up with Somebody's drow  (dark elf to people who aren't familiar with fantasy races) enchantress and flirting happens in the inn. Oh yeah, Terisia is also the place of general SPAM. Shadow's Bar is the place where most of the veterans just hang around and be retarded. (Note: Shadow's Bar isn't involved in any storyline whatsoever… start a serious, dramatic scene there, and people will just get ticked off). Anyway, I'm just trying to get a few people to revive the city since it's been in a slump since a massive OOC (out of character) flamewar happened due to a few rules constraints. God I probably look like a nerd right now.

 

 (I'd like to bash wannabe Death Note fangirls and fanboys but that would just be plain hypocrisy since I find myself sitting like L)