Risen from the Dead... to Rant (Ranting Post#1)

Yes, yes, yes, it's always the same thing. I'm sorry for being away for so long blah blah blah blah. Truth is, lots of stuff have happened, including the passing of one of my relatives and me missing AFA (the two are sorta interlinked).

That and the fact that I am unchangingly lazy in touching this blog. Don't get me wrong, I love this blog. But I'm lazy. See the connection?

Now, to rant. What is ranting? You might already know this, but since this is a ranting post, I'm going to explain anyway.

rant
verb (used without object)
1. To speak or declaim extravagantly or violently; talk in a wild or vehement way; rave

So there you go. I don't think I am speaking in a violent and brutal fashion, nor am I wildly saying things (or maybe I am), so the best example would be me raving crap. Loads of it.

Right, now that we got things clear, let the ranting begin!

Firstly, books. Lots and lots of them. Shockingly, I have to admit I'm getting a little tired of reading them. Oh the horror. Well, not technically ALL of reading. Maybe English books. Somehow I find myself less and less in front of the pages. Frankly, I'm a little scared, but maybe (and hopefully) this will give me more time to study. But seeing that studying involves books as well...

On a side note, I have started reading a Chinese Light Novel (since English ones are damn hard to find) which I have bought from Popular. The plot sounded interesting enough, and I hope I can have a good time reading that.

Information on the book can be found here (Note: the entire webpage is in Chinese, so you'd best be able to read before going there).

Now, where was I? Oh right, in front of the computer.

Anyway, the next topic I would to discuss is the perplexing greeting of 'What's up?'. No seriously, this is a problem I do face with some people. I mean, what do you actually say in response to that? Usually I see people and go like, 'Hey there!', or the more common 'Hi.' or 'Hello.'. Rarely do I see anyone and say, 'What's up?'.

I mean, HOW do you respond to that? When people do greet me that way, I usually laugh or merely respond with 'Hi.'--which doesn't answer the question.

OK, OK, I'm going to give some examples of situation in which the two words are not exactly answered.

Situation 1:

Friend: "Hey man, what's up?"

Me: "Hey, what's up?"

Friend: *Goes into some random topic*

Me: HE DIDN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION! D:

Situation 2:

Friend: "Hey man, what's up?"

Me: "The ceiling/the sky! Geddid?" *Laughs loudly*

Friend: "Errr... okaaaay. I'll see you around later..." *Leaves while giving me weird stares*

Situation 3:

Friend: "Hey man, what's up?"

Me: "Giant unicorns and purple meteors!"

Friend: "Errr... okaaaay. I'll see you around later..." *Leaves while giving me weird stares*

There you go. Perhaps there is a way this question can be answered. Maybe there is an underground cult who is passing these two words as a subliminal message to induce all to worship their dark god and convert all of us into mindless slaves for all eternity.

That or I just don't get it.

Next, on to stuff about recent events. Swag. What the heck is that? Is it edible? Visible? Playable? Or is it a newly discovered type of animal. What is swag? It's like asking, what are birds? WE JUST DON'T KNOW.

I'll hate you and your swag.

However, I define swag as an air of coolness one possesses which is visibly felt or seen by people around him or her. You know those hierarchy in high school, where the cheerleaders are at the top of the pyramid? Well, I guess they have a lot of swag. Or it could be swagger. Which means:

swagger

verb

1. To walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others

2. Discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate

3. Act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner

Swagger can also be a Pokemon attack!

Swagger, PP: 15, Accuracy: 90%

Confuses the foe, but also sharply raises ATTACK!

How the hell does Wobbuffet have swagger?!

Anyways, I don't mind swag actually. Those who do not understand (or those who don't give a damn) can just live their own lives without swag, while those with or surrounded with swag can live their swaggy lives. Unless they infuse swag with stupidity.

So there are people who thinks that swag overrules everything. Right, let's see how swag gets them a job next time.

EXACTLY.

When swag becomes too mainstream?

Onwards to the Olympics! Which will be held tomorrow. Or the day after. And shown on TV on the 27th. I think. In fact, I'm not even sure I want to watch it that much. Perhaps it is due to the rumor that Hatsune Miku will be performing there live. Or holographically live, to be accurate. Yes, Hatsune Miku is not a real person. Fans depict her so, though, so who am I to complain? In fact, there are millions of people world wide who take her in as their waifu (wife) and worship her as an omnipotent god or something. Maybe a cult worshiping her will rise, and the world will end with Hatsune Miku taking over the world instead of Cthulu.

Cult worshipers Fans at the Hatsune Miku concert in Tokyo.

But I digress. Hatsune Miku is a Vocaloid, a synthetic voice program which allows people to manipulate the lyrics and the tune of the song. Thousands and thousands of songs have been composed with this program, and last, last year they made a real, life-looking (as anime-ish life-looking as possible) hologram out of her which danced and sang and generally interacted with the mood of the crowd.

Hatsune Miku hologram.

What's weird is that I shall completely skip the Olympic games and perhaps just watch the opening and closing ceremony. Cause that's me. And things happen.

Right. I have nothing more to say. Except for unicorns, which are awesome.

YC, signing out.

So... Lacking... Inspiration...

Yes, you've read right. During the exam period, ideas and creativity flows like the River Nile. More than two weeks have passed since exams, and I still have not written a blog post. Ugh, now trying to find inspiration is almost the same as searching for a drop of water in the vast Sahara Desert.

My whole life is a lie.

So, I've collected whatever inspiration that was left in me to write this post. Ugh.

Same goes for stories.

Right, exams. That poisonous event in which our knowledge in school is tested... I would like to say I have no comments for that, but it'll be a lie. There wasn't anything memorable about it, except for a few subjects. Moral is stupid (as it always will be), and not surprisingly the marking schemes are different for each class. Sejarah is okay, I guess, but I'm still not certain about what I would be getting for it.

I think I've made several careless mistakes for Biology, and as for Mod Maths, I ain't so worried about it. As for Add Maths... Well, I'll see you on the other side. I've realized that most of the questions which I supposedly do not know how to do were actually easy as crap. And I've skipped them. Now I feel like shooting myself.

Well, at least there are some good news. I did mostly well for BM (which is soooo important in Malaysia) and I expect good stuff out of it. As for English... I actually wrote a story about the future, in which humans are populating other planets and that aliens attacked us and what not, and teacher actually said it was good. I actually have to thank the author of the book Ender's Game and one of the short movies from Halo Legends, Prototype for the epic idea.

Prototype poster.

This is one of the rare few short movies that nearly made me shed a tear.

Most memorable quote from a dying marine:

"I need you to be strong. Stronger enough to do what you've never done in your life. Can you be strong enough to allow yourself to be-can you just be human? If not for your sake, for all of us. If you would just allow yourself to feel something... maybe you wouldn't be a ghost any longer."

I suggest all of you to watch that movie at least once. It's probably around 8 minutes only.

This isn't the completed version. The starting and ending are skipped. Go to some anime website to watch the full version.

Right, let's abandon that depressing story and move forward to a less-depressing one.

I barely did anything productive this holiday. Besides studying for around 2+ hours each day, and struggling with 5 (IT'S A NIGHTMARE!), I jog occasionally (for that Jog of Hope thing). I also drew a man-eating vegetation which I uploaded on Facebook, as well as progressed in my story writing. I have not uploaded my one-shot story on to Fanfiction.net, due to the overall laziness holiday brings. The story can be downloaded here. It is based heavily on a doujin as well as the game Phantasmagoria of Flower View, and it involves a certain sadist.

She sees you when you're sleeping, she knows when you're awake...

Other than that, I'm camping in front of the computer. Like a boss.

Also, my driving lessons are kind of fun, and the test that is coming soon makes me kind of nervous. I hope I don't do some weird stunt on the road.

I have to go, my planet needs me!

In other news, there was a case of a man eating another's man face (and I mean literally) in Miami. It took police six shots to bring the man down. And the guy who had his face bitten was sent to the hospital. Either the man's real high on drugs and resistant to bullets, or...

Pills here!

Well, I'd still have to delay my Touhou post which I have promised all you readers, but as I said, inspiration is near zero. I'm probably going to do another drawing (and I hope it'll be as epic as I imagine) before the holiday ends. Oh, there's AFA as well! For those who are still clueless or have no idea what AFA is, go to this link.

Another Criken goodness!

And for something really epic...

I swear, your 1 hour will NOT be wasted listening to this. Awesomest, epic-est orchestral medley.

YC, signing out.

Team ⑨ball Poems

So I was finishing my school exams today, and with the extra paper in hand and 45 minutes of nothing to do left, I boarded the creativity train in my head and went on a (sorta) poem writing spree. As you can tell from the title, it will be about Cirno and her gang (consisting of Daiyousei, Rumia, Mystia, Wriggle and Chen mainly, but I added Nazrin too), and most of them are pretty stupid and one of them actually depicts the real actions of a youkai.

In case you wonder what is Team ⑨ball, you must not be familiar with Touhou. It's basically a group of youkai (most of which are considered weak) lead by the baka ice fairy, Cirno. More information will be divulged when I update my Touhou posts in the future.

Note that I know nothing about poems, except that some part of them must rhyme.

The format that I use are:

1) A

    A

    A

    A

2) A

    B

    A

    B

3) A

    A

    B

    B

Right, so without further ado, let's start with the poem writing! Let's start with Cirno first, since she's the leader and all that...

Cirno's Poem

Cirno, Cirno, you are so easy to beat,

Your expectations fulfilled, your demands easy to meet.

Your Spell Cards on Easy definitely can't hit,

Even it is harder to dodge Sanae's rice and wheat.

Calling you baka and nineball is a treat,

But with practice, you'll soon be the strongest kid.

Because this Cirno is epically draw.

Daiyousei's Poem

Daiyousei, Daiyousei, you're always left out!

Oh my, that was quite the loud shout!

What's that you say? A danmaku fight?

I'd rather fight youkai or vampires at night.

Crying and complaining that you're not strong?

You might as well learn and train for long.

Um, sorry...?

Rumia's Poem

Rumia, Rumia, around you go,

In a dark ball, like a black hole.

Looking for humans to hunt and eat,

Or other youkai and shrine maidens to beat.

One important thing though, is that she can't see,

And with regret, she slammed into a tree.

This is how the youkai Rumia wanders about,

Often found under a tree, fainted and knocked out.

Took a long time, but I finally found it.

Chen's Poem

Chen is a nekomata you'd want to keep,

But do not do so, or you'll end up in a heap.

For you see, she is Ran's shikigami,

And mess with Chen, you might soon see a shinigami.

Nevertheless, she is a good friend,

Who will help those in trouble right till the end!

While she may seem small, and sweet as honey,

Beware her Spell Card, Blue Oni Red Oni!

Can't really find a proper picture of Chen, but for those who get this picture, enjoy!

Wriggle's Poem

The bugs of the forest answer to none,

Except for Wriggle, who is their queen.

And every night she goes out to have fun,

For there are games and danmaku that she needs to win.

Flying in the sky, she is easy to spot,

Challenging those who cross her path.

However, down like a rock she was shot,

As the Border Team had the last laugh.

Not so fortunate for Magicannon Team, as they suffer the brunt of a Wriggle Kick!

Mystia's Poem

I sing a song in the quiet night,

Haunting tunes that take away your sight.

Making your world go dark even in light,

Watching as you stumble left and right.

However, it is because I am a Night Sparrow,

That I know the most sorrow,

Of not wanting to be heard or longed,

Due to the curse of my blinding song.

Still it is through this haunting song,

That I am able to stay up on my feet.

For you humans will not be blinded for too long,

As you will soon be nothing but fresh meat.

Keep focusing on Mystia on the picture. Just her. And watch the magic that happens.

Nazrin's Poem

It is my duty to find what my master lost,

For it is my cause as well as her right.

You might wonder what things are at cost,

It is a spear and a pagoda of light.

With my pendulums and my dowsing rod,

All the items are easy to find.

So in the end I'd amount a treasure hoard,

Only to go back and hear my master whine.

Because pendulums and rods are cool.

Thoughts

Well... nothing much to say really, only that I couldn't draw anything on my paper because I had no reference, and my teacher doesn't really like people drawing during exam (lacking taste in art, it seems).

Most of these were thought up on a hunch, and they don't really mean anything, especially the Daiyousei one, since she her character isn't really explained, only in most doujin she seems like the type to get bullied a lot.

The Mystia one is the best in my opinion, with Rumia second and the rest behind. Mystia's picture is also really good, especially the optical illusion. Find Mystia's theme, Deaf to All But the Song and look at the picture again. Feels different? No? Then it must just be me...

Note that I will not be doing poems on a regular basis, since it really isn't my style, but today's exam was such a bore. And anyways, off to study. More horrible, mind bending subjects ahead!

YC, signing out.

In Sickness and in Health

Exam time is here. Next Monday starts the death of a part of my soul as my brain will be tortured, tormented and subjected to all kind of horrors.

Well, actually, exams isn't that serious. I'm just making it sound really bad. What's really bad is that I am on medication. Again.

Yep, some ol' sickness crawling its way back towards me. And this time, I think it is rather serious, despite the seemingly harmless symptoms.

It all started... Monday? Around the 1st of May, maybe. It started as a really bad throat itch which wouldn't go away, even after a good night's rest. The next day, I began coughing up phlegm. They were green, viscous, sticky and... well, you get it. I'll spare you the disgusting stuff.

However, what was in the phlegm was also blood. Yes, blood. Strands of them were found in the phlegm, and surprisingly, I wasn't much bothered by it. My parents said something about some hidden flame that is burning inside me cause I didn't get enough sleep. I don't really see the connection.

No, not this.

And so, days passed and nothing special besides the daily dose of blood in my phlegm. Then, one day, there was this... pressure in my ear. You could say it was sort of something like how your ear would feel when in a plane during accession. This, and the fact that it is only happening in my left ear makes it annoying. I cannot hear things clearly, and the sound of scratching my head or chewing my food was amplified.

So, following my parents advice (I was forced to), I went to see a doctor. The doctor was stern faced and serious-looking, and after much examination the doctor found nothing in my lungs, ears and throat. So the only place left was my nose.

The doctor said that somewhere in my nose there is a blockage. That was the only explanation for the blood and the ear-thingy. So sometime in the future I would have to see a more professional doctor and maybe a surgery is in order. Note, this is just a maybe, so don't go all worrying.

Last but not least, I am to not eat anything oily, spicy, or cold. The doctors said strictly NO. But I ate some curry noodles yesterday and a mouthful of ice-cream, therefore I think my road of recovery isn't very bright. If this keeps up (the blood, I mean), I would have to see that doctor again.

No, not this doctor. This one's awesome.

Oh well, I hope I get well soon. Maybe I should post one of those Facebook things where I will miraculously recover to full health after getting 50 Likes or something.

YC, signing out.

How Long Again?

No, seriously, how long has it been since I posted here, on this blog? It feels like an eternity already. Several times I have opened my blog, steeling myself to write a new post, only to be distracted by a Facebook message, a random youtube video or... DotA 2.

I have no idea what Bane is doing here.

Yes, I have received the DotA 2 Beta Key invite, big whoopy-doop deal; Steam has started spamming these invites to those people in SEA, I think. Many of my friends have already received the beta key to this game, and I can only wonder how long till we have to start paying.

Alright, back on track: I know I have promised to write a post about the lore of Gensokyo (or Touhou for that matter) as well as introducing the 2 main heroines of the series, but I could not find the time to do it. Or even if I did, I was busy writing my own story, which I am sharing with several of my friends to read and review, and hopefully correct some mistakes of mine.

And then there's the upcoming Mid-year Exam. The thought of this exam has been looming over me like a dark cloud for several weeks already. Granted, I do study, but I am not sure if my brain could absorb all the information I have read. I am kind of worried, since I am quite sure that I do not have enough time to read everything, especially for Chemistry, Sejarah and the notorious Additional Mathematics. I am trying my best not to play so much hardcore games like DotA 2, and instead relax myself through minigames like Touhou... But it seems that Touhou pumps up your adrenaline by some level.

I apologize for the short post, and I assure you all that I will be writing a Touhou-related or after-exam related post, after a long hiatus of course. Can't really blog while I'm wracking my brain cells for the exam.

One last thing to give you a laugh! :D

YC, signing out.