| Alex Rider fan? |
 75% |
Fun quizzes, surveys & blog quizzes by  |
Yes, sadly, only 15/20. I would have thought, considering my obsession with the canon and the fanon, I’d get it all right. XD But the questions were seriously tricky. I’m lucky enough to be so part of the fandom that I recognize Amitai, Von, and Jusmine, but the line “Reader, we murdered it”? I’m sure I’ve read Amitai saying it, but I’m just not sure. XD
Glad I scored more than 86% of test-takers though. XD
If you notice what I usually post on this blog, you’ll soon find out that it’s mostly contemplative stuff, a bit of dreaming and a bit of rambling. This time I’m going to be talking about something rather more controversial, and it’s going to be one of the few times I’m actually going to take a stand on something.
Two years ago, we had an entire quarter of the schoolyear devoted to abortion and contraceptives- or rather, not using them. Our teacher was adamant that abortion without good reason (good reason here meaning things like ectopic pregnancies) was murder. By the end of that quarter, nothing could convince me otherwise.
I’m pro-life myself, but there are times when I become something more along the lines of anti-pro-life. This kicks in when I see the pro-life extremists in action- demonstrations, hate mail, and basically any hostile action, not only against hospitals that offer abortion services, but even against schools that teach about it. I’m not against sex education at all- in fact, I’m all for it, since it’ll give us young people the information we need to make our choices in life. Some people, however, are against even this, and demonstrate it in a way that is disrespectful and sometimes even violent. I cannot understand how a value that prioritizes the human life can have such complete disregard for the dignity of other humans.
Anti-abortion extremists in the US have apparently been posting the home addresses of doctors and nurses on their website, and another site in the UK seems to be taking after them. Not only are they disrespecting people by sending them hate mail, they’re also risking their lives by making them targets for other extremists! Shouldn’t this be illegal? Isn’t this a violation of privacy, which should be a basic right of all humans?
Perhaps as people defend the lives of unborn, helpless children, the tendency is to forget that others have lives of their own as well. Perhaps the tendency is to forget that everyone was created by the Lord and that we are all deserving of a certain amount of dignity, and a certain amount of respect.
I was at the premiere of Tormented in Leicester Square a few days ago, starring Alex Pettyfer, April Pearson, Dimitri Leonidas and Tuppence Middleton. Alex (Alex Rider in Stormbreaker) was a no-show, but I got April’s autograph! 
I don’t know quite what to think about Alex anymore though. I mean, I adore him, but perhaps only for his looks and acting. He’s just, well, not my type of guy. He has an absolutely angelic face, but there isn’t anything innocent about him judging by the interviews with Malcolm Mackenzie and Martha de Lacey. I know there are probably some girls swooning over him (haha, I do when I see a Burberry ad [Spring-Summer '09] with him in it) but I’m not too fond of what appears to be his attitude. I can’t really judge based solely on a few interviews so I hope the image I’m getting of him is wrong.
People who know me well know I go a little crazy over cute things, faces included. And true, I still go into my trademark “OMG KYAA!” mode when I see Alex (who is 19, British, and blond) but at least now I know I’m not one to go for looks alone. I can keep my head, haha. To be honest, looks don’t play much of a key factor in the little crushes I get (on real people- characters and actors don’t count).
And by the way, for the people who don’t know Tormented (a.k.a. the general public) it’s a small film recently released in the UK about a bullied student getting his revenge. Basically, this guy is tormented so much by the in-crowd at school that it drives him to suicide, and he gets back at them from beyond the grave by haunting them and picking them off one by one. It’s more like a teen soap than a horror film, and I wouldn’t really watch it (not my type of movie at all).
But what gets me is how the bullies did their thing- by emailing, posting on forums, etc. I adore the Internet, and I hate to see it used in such a way. It can really destroy a person completely, and I think most of us now don’t realize it, or we do and we just don’t care. It’s sad to think that as we gain so much from the interwebz, we might be losing our sense of responsibility and worse- our consciences.
Oh, dear, I haven’t updated in ages, have I?
Well, this summer hasn’t been too productive yet. I’ve managed gain so much weight, and I’m afraid to say that I haven’t been concentrating as much as I should in review class, though I’m getting passable scores. It’s really quite lucky for me that most of their questions are about reading comprehension and languages, so my scores there make up for my abysmal math scores. But aside from scores, the review class is really quite fun. I’ve made a few friends, like Sam and Gelo. They’re both really really fun, and I feel a bit bad I won’t be able to see them again (I think. Well, we can always hope).
Literature Update:
Lakshpanakha is (obviously) on hiatus. I’m sure you’ve all noticed. I was rereading it and I realized- oh my gosh, I posted this? So I’m going to be rewriting the whole thing which could take a very long time. Sorry to disappoint any who may have actually been reading it XD
Seraphim hasn’t been forgotten. It’s also on hiatus until I can get over the mental block.
MUSEical is being updated as I write, haha, but I’m still having a bit of trouble with the middle. I know the end, I’ve sorted out all the songs, but it’s the plot that’s giving me trouble @_@
I was rereading the entire Alex Rider series again (yeah, I’ve reread it many times, although I seem to be missing Skeleton Key and Snakehead now) and I was inspired. I’m now writing an AR fic of the Y/A persuasion, although it is not to be posted here for obvious reasons 
It will go elsewhere and that place will be a secret.
Anyway that’ll be it for now. I don’t have much to say (my mind’s wrapped up in a fanmix I just finished downloading) right now so… yeah.
I realized that I still have a very, very long way to go when it comes to volleyball.
Today we played after school, an informal game. In the beginning I was with most of the guys, and wow, they hit hard. I have to admit, I was very much afraid of being hit by the ball- so everytime it came my way, I would move out. Honestly, I couldn’t contribute anything to the team, so I was feeling a bit disappointed with myself. This went on for several minutes, or maybe even an hour.
Then one time, when the other girls had come in to join already, I saw that someone had hit the ball really high up, and it was coming down towards me. I went to move out of the way, but the ball had been hit very high and was taking a long time coming down. I decided, hey, I’m going to hit this thing. So I stretched out my right arm and pak! I hit it as hard as I could, which wasn’t very hard. But I hit it.
And, apparently, I can’t pass a ball with two hands. I have to do a one-handed pass, which is probably much more difficult. But you see, my brain works a bit slowly so it takes me a while to register the incoming ball- and by the time I’ve registered it I usually don’t have the time to get both my hands into position. So yeah, I’ll stick with my one-armed passes. I hope I’ll be able to learn how to do it properly.
And then, when I tried later on to do service (sidearm) I couldn’t do it anymore. I probably wasn’t concentrating, but it was still very frustrating.
Serve count: 17 in my lifetime. 4 today.
But I honestly really disliked my performance today. I was so afraid of the ball at first, and I actually don’t have bruises on my arm. To me, the bruises were a symbol of how much I practiced, that even if I failed, i had proof that I tried my best. But I had no bruises at all today. 
One hour and forty-five minutes of constant practicing with a particularly hard volleyball.
Maybe some would say that it’s not much of a feat, but to me, it certainly is. It’s the first time I’ve ever willingly practiced a sport of pain, and it’s also the longest time I’ve ever willingly practiced any sport in one sitting. And I’ve certainly got the battle scars to show for it.
My right arm is now littered with tiny bruises and dots of clotted blood. My wrist has an invisible, tender, slightly swollen spot more painful than any of the bruises.
And yes, I feel like I’ve been battered by a meat tenderizer. It’s better now, but last night, my arm got hit by one breeze from the electric fan and it twinged with pain. I never thought that could happen.
The practice itself was amazing. Constantly hitting the (much too hard) ball with as much strength as I could muster, until I was crying out with the pain of trying to serve… And still continuing to practice. By the time we finished, my arm looked like it had a thick red glove on it, and by the time night fell, the clots decided to show themselves.
All in all it was a great experience, one I would like to repeat.
Thanks, Adrian. 
For the ball and for teaching me. I came out injured, and not a victor in the battle to conquer volleyball, but I came out with newfound courage. Next time I’ll be injured still, but triumphant.
Oh yeah. And one day, I’ll be in a volleyball team. I’ll make sure of it.
The IRRI trip was so fun. Actually, all of yesterday was fun. But twelve grueling hours of traveling took its toll on me. >.< I’m happy to be home. But I did get home at 11:30 pm. XD
I lost my beloved purple koala finger puppet, and my fourth hairclip. I’m so sad. I really loved that purple koala, but I guess this is a lesson for me- I should take care of my things more.
Aside from that, the IRRI trip was one of the best field trips I’ve ever had. I adore the lab there. They’ve got an awesome shaker incubator, a really awesome tissue bank, a giant autoclave, cool centrifuges, four PCRs, disposable sterile plastic Petri plates, an amazingly perfect way of parafilming (must come with practice, hehe) and KIMWIPES. Kimwipes are made by a branch of Kimberly Clark called Kimtech Science, and they’re basically tissues that don’t leave lint. XD They’re awesome.
I wasn’t too interested in the screenhouses, where they grow the plants they modify, but yeah. It comes with it. Pretty interesting too, I guess.
They have this infinite experiment going on there, it started in 1963.. From what I gathered they were looking at the effects of long-term intensive rice growing in a certain field, and they were using different amounts of nitrogen fertilizer. There was also this cool experiment involving C3 and C4 plants, which I won’t expound on much.
They have the Riceworld museum thing there, and I was honestly amazed at the number of things one can make with rice. Also, it was really cool looking at the different instruments used in planting and harvesting rice, and some stuff about fish hunting for some reason. I mean, I figured I wouldn’t really see anything new because I live somewhere between the coastal and the agricultural area of Pangasinan, but to my surprise I found out a lot of stuff I didn’t know before. XD
On top of that, their caf is cool. It’s airconditioned, and they sell this MOUND of rice for six pesos. SIX PESOS. And it was slightly difficult for me to finish it- and as you may know, I LOVE rice and usually eat a lot when I can, so this is quite remarkable.
On a side note, I took this test in Blogthings and I was pretty pleased with the result. Now, if only I could apply it in real life. T_T Maybe one day I’ll be able to wear my costumes to my heart’s content. For now, I’ll settle with wearing the most adorable (but some people would consider them very weird) outfits I can think of.
You Would Win Best Costume Design |
 You are imaginative, artistic, and very unique. You are a natural designer.You can picture entire movies in your head. You are incredibly visual.As long as you can remember, you’ve always had a flare for fashion. You like to experiment with looks. You like dressing up in costumes and outfits. And not just for Halloween!
|
My latest obsession.
Geek in the Pink, by Jason Mraz. It’s a really really cute song, I can’t believe I only found out about it recently. I know it was used in a few fanfics (which is why the title is familiar), mostly in anime fandoms like Naruto and Death Note. In DN, it’s used to refer to Matt 
I don’t know why, he never wears pink, but still.
T_T I fear I can no longer dance.
As you may know, I love dancing, but I haven’t been able to practice in a long time. Lately, though, I’ve been thinking of starting again- why stop doing something I love?
So I woke up this morning, and decided to test my flexibility. All seemed well, but I had to work out a few kinks in the muscle.
When I got back to the dorm from the Achievement Test, I stretched a bit more- this time, some more complicated things, putting stress where one wouldn’t normally put stress- unless of course, you’re a dancer. (Which I hope to become one day)
Incidentally I discovered that my legs had lost some of their flexibility around the knees and hips, so I tested it by doing one of the cheerdance moves from first year- the log thingy, basically where you roll around the floor. And, as I feared, I couldn’t do it properly.
I tried testing my spine’s flexibility- to my horror, my torso didn’t curve properly. I had to practice that a bit more.
And then, I tried a few dance moves from summer. I COULD NOT EXECUTE THEM PROPERLY.
I have lost all power to dance.
I’m sure it’ll come back with practice, but when can I practice? I was just lucky now that all my room mates are gone, so I could practice alone.
Was it a mistake to decline joining SaGala?
Oh well. I’ll find out in a few more days. Meanwhile I’ll be testing strength as well as flexibility.
Hope I can get back in shape.
OMG. OMG. OMG.
I think I’m changing. It’s… satisfying, of course, but it’s still quite… freaky.
I’m becoming more determined to succeed. I’m studying more. I’m becoming my second year self again- but still, I’m different.
One thing that worries me is this: I have been ingesting dangerous amounts of (dare I say it) healthy food. Like now, as I’m having dinner- I have just voluntarily eaten two pieces of carrot. Now, you may laugh, but to me that is a LOT.
Also, I haven’t been having butter with my popcorn. Okay, I still can’t give up popcorn, but I can at least give up the… delightful melted butter… drizzled on top… mm… STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!!!
Another thing is, I haven’t been having much instant noodles. Okay, well, I admit I had Tekki Yakiudon yesterday when I was starving and begging for something to eat because it was too late to go to the caf. But usually I have cup noodles thrice a week, and that was the first in three weeks.
Things are changing, for the better I think. Hopefully I have the discipline to continue changing.
