Me, Myself and I : I think that if you are reading think you probably know me by now, but if not, then : My friend called me X, yeah, must be the left over from my X-Philes day, I think I still am, really. So, it's X. What I do for a living is not really important, just know that most of the time it's boring. My favorite things to do... I read, a lot, and I write, some. I watch a lot of movie (certain kind of movie) and a lot of anime, yes Japanese Anime. I got a collection of them and also what I tried to watch with fansub on week to week basis (which is a lot) and go out and get the ones I like when it actually licenced and out in my neck of the wood.
Movies and Tv Show, oh yeah, those are the 'must' for me. I watch at least 10 shows each week, so that's a lot of TV right there, as for movie I tried to see them (the ones I'm interested in, which is easy to say that it doesn't include comedy or romance in anyway).
Music : NIN, Staind, Taking Back Sunday, Chevelle, Disturbed, P.Roach, Mary Elizabeth McGlyn, Evanescence, Finch, I think you kinda get the idea.
Poster Girls : Sarah Connor and Cameron Philips Series : Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles Program : The always faithful Photoshop and Dreamweaver, because I can't code everything by hand, just don't have that kind of patient.
new hobby
Yes, I got a new thing to be obsessed over. BJD (Ball-Jointed Doll) I've been wanting it for the longest time.. Actually I saw it just a bit after my friend showed me some Blythe's picture, I found the first photo of BJD on Flickr.com I think. And since then I've been looking at them and wanting them, I think it's been a year now and I finally got 1 (or 2 depend on how you look at it).
I placed an order with Luts on 4/27 which was a Friday, which meant that even though my payment confirmed right away (like no more than 30 min after) the order won't be sent to the production till Monday. The waiting time is 35-45 business days, which was why I didn't expect the dolls before 2 months (because of the face-up too... that is another 14 days tacked onto the waiting pediod).
Surprised, surprised, we got the dolls less than a month later. :)
I ordered a Kid-Delf Hodoo and a Kid-Delf girl Bory.
They are adorable. I was afraid that I might not want them anymore once they got here, but hey, so far so good.
I learned to sew.. yeah... I didn't think I would but I did. Not so good at it right now, but I'll make it.. practice, baby, it's all about practice.
Gah! I've been so busy with BJD that I hardly do anything else, it's time to get back on the horses as they say.
new collection
I bought a small set of Sylvanian Families the other day.. it was Papa Boris' Garden set. I like small things, so Re-Ment, Sylvanian Familes (Calico Critters in the US I think) are right on target. :)
The mall nearby has a sale right now. You can get 3 or 4 levels shelves for $8 and $11 respectively. The outside of it is white, but the inside is either blue or pink. I wanted the blue, but there as no blue (or maybe I didn't see it) so I picked up 4 levels one, I might get more. Maybe I'll lay in on the side on top of my other shelves. Actually, the purpose of it was so I can have a place to put my dolls in and small things, because they occupied my other desk and I needed the space, last thing I really need is to knock one of them off the desk because I was getting stuff. They are a bit too expensive for that.
The size of each level was pretty good, even though it's not high enough for the doll to stand (it was a little under 12") But it's fine. I made a closet for it too, cause I need a place to hang up the doll clothes.
My sister just sold 1 and she's gonna go ship it out today.
She said she's gonna bring all her dolls (the one she might sell) and leave them all with me, because there seems to be problem everytime she said she gonna sell. It was weird.
I told her maybe they didn't wanna leave!!
Anyhow, I got stuff filled in on each shelves already, but things are subject to change. :)
Blogger's being a B yesterday, I couldn't get in, don't know why.
And when I finished the dolltrunk, I will start on a new layout for this and my site as well.. time to change.
been a while
Well, I've been away from blogging for a while. Maybe because I've been doing something else. :D
I've recently gotten a new phone. Only because the last one died. I'm not one to change phone often, because I like familiarity, I like to know what to do with what I have. Everytime I change cellphone, it usually takes me a little while I get use to it. This time is no different.
My last phone was iPaq,a pocket pc. It worked for me.. although I don't think I've used it to its full potential. :) I rarely even sync it to my comp.
At first I wanted to wait for iPhone, for the 3G to be ready in my area, but well, when I thought about it, what's the point. And since my phone died, I needed to get a new one..
And then came Omnia.
I've always liked Samsung, my very first phone was Samsung and it served me well, until the washing and drying took it. LOL. Then my second phone, also Samsung, and the third was also Samsung VGA1000. I loved that phone.
Even my fourth, until it was stolen, that is.
So, now it's Omnia, and so far, I liked it a lot. :) It's easy on the eye, the camera on it was 5megapixle. It sounds good, and well, not that complicate.
Also, my family's into Blythe recently as well. The damn doll is on the rage right now here. It's cute, but I won't spend fortune on it.
I have 5, 2 of which remained in boxes, 2 were second hand, and 1 was brand new, the only reason that the last one got taken out of the box because my nephew accidentally stepped on the box (I'd rather not think that my sister planned it so I would take the doll out... )
What I have ... Excellent Hollywood (only because she reminds me of Miranda Priestly from DWP, and I do love Meryl in that role) French Trench (another short hair girl) Dainty Biscuit (I'm not big on pink, but her eyes are gorgeous) Miss Sally Rice (well, her hair's blue!!) And my last My Little Candy (another gorgeous eyes colors.)
Also been making doll trunk for everyone else but me.
I've make 2 already, first one my aunt took..
And second one, my sister took..
Now I'm currently making a third one, which again, my sister called dip on it. This one holds 2 dolls. And a girlfriend of my cousin asked for 1, but she didn't get me material yet.
I used cardboard from a Microwave box for the first one... one large cardboard box was enough for the entire thing!
The second one was made from cardboard boxes also, 4 of them, from this healthy juice thing my mom ordered... they are small, so... still recycle!! (or was it upcycle?) Hardware I got from local hardware store, and some handmade paper to decorate.. not to shabby. :)
Belate, Happy New Year and all that
Wow, it's been a really long while.
I've been occupied with other things. Nothing really stand out, just a bunch of stuff.
Recently (well, it's been months) We decided that a wireless internet access is a good addition to the apartment/hotel thing we have. So, yeah, we talked for a while, mainly me and my aunt, since she's overseeing day-to-day things here. Quite a few guests were asking for it, already. So, we decided, yes, we'll get it.
First, the phone company was being an ass. I don't see why we couldn't get 2Mps speed when I can get it easy for personal use. They said they couldn't, my question was why, since it's not like they send us the wireless signal, but instead we got it through phoneline like in the house. What morons.
Anyhow... we set it up normally, though I have no idea if it was the way it usually done in building like this. But it's easy for me to get it done and maintain myself, so it'll have to do.
We got N1 Vision by Belkin because it has the strongest signal. Of course, that doesn't cover 5 floors, so after N1 is set up. I picked up range extender, also Belkin (easier to get them all the same brand, compatibility is key here)
I got the extender set up this morning. Worked well, when I figured out that the security didn't match on both.
Had to be WPA and TKIP, instead in N1 it was WPA+WPA2. Now I just have to hook it up on the 3rd floor and then maybe another one on the 4th and we're homefree.
Picked up a new Nintendo DS lite as well. A black one. I had N5DS before hand and whatever people review said, it did not give me any problem. At all.
Also got NDS Lite in white for my sister too.. and Kitty's case for it. Cost me a pretty penny, so she better appreciate that.
Now I'm addicted to it. I'm playing My Sims, Harvest Moon IoH, Animal Crossin : WW. Such a dork I am.
wifi/star war tribute
Tuesday : Me and another 2 friends went to pick up a Belkin Wireless ADSL Modem+Router G+ Mimo instead of going to my violin lesson, of course I was planning on canceling the class anyway since I wasn't feeling well and my throat hurt. So, it was a perfect timing when my instructor also called to cancel.
So, we picked up the Belkin G+ Mimo. Before that my friend also picked up a Belkin G+ for her home use, this latest one was for her cousin's office. We didn't think that there would be any problem, since they set up the thing easily, except the security which she called me up for help. It took little time at all for her and 2 brothers to get it going. Of course the one that actually did the setting up was her younger brother.
Now, right the next day she called me up that she couldn't get it to work. So, I sat and look through Belkin site for her, the hard part was that, I don't know what she was looking at, I have to be there to actually be of any help.
She said she should pick up her brother for him to do it. But she didn't.
Today : I spent most of the day trying to help her out over the phone, it's like flying blind, we did several times, but I never really sure what she was looking at. I guess we'll do it again tomorrow. She was having problem with the internet itself. So, I told her to try calling the ISP to see if their line was perfectly fine. SO we could be sure that it was the modem and not the ISP. My phone nearly die but before that she said she had it for today.
Guess we'll start again tomorrow.
I never knew setting up a dame wireless modem+router could be so hard.
I saw this the other day from Youtube... and well.. Love it!!
Anime : Jigoku Shoujo : Mitsuganae/Mouryou no Hako
So, new season of Anime, and what I decided to watch...
First off, 3rd season of Jigoku Shoujo, titled Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae (The Cauldron of Three). Despite some repetitive theme in the series I actually like this one, so imagine my surprise that they made it a third season. Normally, they only made so many episodes and that's that. Though lately there are a lot of of the continuation of the well-to-do series. I guess there's nothing wrong about the studio trying to capitalize on their money maker.
I'm not gonna review the anime, I don't think I can keep up anyway, but I'll post the screencap and my reaction and stuff... whenever I feel like it. O.o
Emma Ai was punished at the last episode of Jigoku Shoujo Futagomori (The Two Prisoners) and we all thought that she's no longer the Hell Girl. So, even though I know that she would be the main character again, I was interested to see how they were gonna bring her back. So far we were introduced to another girl, Yuzuki, whom we are yet to know the relation to Ai, except that one bathing scene where Ai showed up in her vision and pulled her in, kissed her, Ai said she was cold and for Yuzuki to open. I'm assuming that she was Ai's vessel, a way for her to come back. We'll see how long this's going to last.
At the moment though, Yuzuki could see what Ai was doing, like Tsukumi did. We also get to see the new sorta servant, a boy Yamawaro, so we got another doll, different color.
And the story went as always someone felt that wrong was done to them, in this case a girl, whom pretty much self-centered, thinking that one teacher was out to get her, and that he was so horrible, though in my opinion, she was the one that was disrespectful. So full of herself that she thought she had to get rid of him because he dared written her up. Eventually we learned that he didn't, that it was all just a threat and nothing more. But it was too late he went to Hell.
Another one I'm starting to watch : Mouryou no Hako.
Just starting so more on that later.
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Project : Bookmaking
I'm working on a book, no, not writing a book, but making a book.
Way back in July my current favorite fan-fic writer posted an epic The Devil Wears Prada fanfiction, Truth and Measure, and it was impressive size of story, a novel, I'd say, longest of its kind.
So, I decided to make it into a book. Why, I have no idea, I just wanted it to. Telanu herself had it made into a hardcover back via lulu.com. Me... I'm one of those that will do things by hand if I can.
So I made a book.
It is not complete, I have the back cover to make and also the spine. I'll pick up a metallic marker maybe, for the spine because it's so dark in color that anything less won't show up.
But this is what I got so far of the book.
I've changed the paper that I use for cover twice, printing the last part page by page by sitting by the printer and feed the paper by hand. The paper was one of those eyecare thing. I came to about 450 pages, while the Telanu's copy was 669 page. I reduced the size of the font to 10 pt. and the margin to 0.8" all around. Probably why I got less pages than she did.
Now I've just written Telanu's name on the front cover, what's left is the back and the spine. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully it'll come out good.
Project : Truth&Measure Book
I decided a while ago when Telanu posted Truth and Measure (The Devil Wears Prada fan-fiction)And epic for this fandom, comprised of over two-hundred thousand words. Telanu herself had it made into a hardcover book via lulu.com.
I myself, wouldn't let other people do what I can do myself (sometimes)so a bookmaking project was in order.
I started formatted each part. There were 6 parts plus the epilogue. Altogether made up a 450 pages book. I printed them at 10 point Times New Roman and 0.8" margin all around. Otherwise it would be a much thicker book. (The professionally made one Telanu order from lulu.com was 669 pages as she had posted on her LJ.
Each section I simply ordered it to be printed on both side I periodically check if the pages were stuck together, and with a fresh cartridge. But when I got to part 6 which has 100 pages. I had to sit by the printer and fed it one by one. just so I don't waste any paper, and avoid disaster.
Now, making holes. I made 5 for traditional Japanese stitch. Didn't work. It was much too thick to be bind tightly.
New plan. I unbound it and make more holes, this time 9. Allowing for me to pull tight.
I put cover page on the front with quote from Marie de France.
'For above all things, Love means sweetness, and truth, and measure; yea, loyalty to the loved one, and to your word.'
Right now I'm in the process of making the cover for the book. For that I went and bought a bunch of handmade papers, which I won't be using all of them, but it's good to have choices and laid them against one another. Now I'm settled on the blue, and inside orange.
The front over is almost done, a few more things, like author's name. Then it's on to the back, I already decided. Now all I want to getting something to hang off of the bookmark. Maybe a little heeled shoe. :)
New season of a lot of shows are also starting. Which made me really happy.
So far, True Blood is awesome, Sarah Connor Chronicles is shaping up really well, although I still don't know why they got Shirley Manson for the liquid. But I'm will to wait on the judgment.
Now I'm looking forward to Supernatural, which is tomorrow, and then it was Criminal Minds and NCIS. Man I can't wait for Criminal Minds to see who's the unlucky bastard to be in the car that got bombed.
I hope it's the southern detective, don't like him, and I will be very disappointed if JJ decided to leave BAU, because it would be such a bad move for a character that worked really hard to get where she was just to throw it away for a man.
Like Cruella DeVil said more good women were lost to marriage than any war or deceases.
1 laptop at the store (which I share with my mother, whom only play solitaire on it.)
I used Firefox for my browser, and even though I still have IE on both my comp, I rarely used it, except to check on a few things. I'm happy with Firefox, for the most part.
When Firefox released version 3, I was kinda apprehensive, especially when I heard about a few bugs. But well, I upgraded anyway, but only on my desktop at home. As for my laptop, I left it alone.
And I found some trouble, but nothing that bothers me too much. Still I did not plan to upgrade on my laptop.
And then Firefox 3.0.1 came out.
That morning I went to the store, turned on my laptop, and when the prompt to upgrade came up, without thinking I pressed install.
What an Idiot!
Only after the installation of the new version that I realized what I've done. Man, did I feel like kicking myself. But what's done is done.
Then my first irritation began.
I could not load youtube. And I did almost everything I could think of, I cleared the cache, the cookies (as per the recommendation) still nothing.
So, the next day, I tried again, and it was the same ol' thing. And this time, when I tried to get to my friend's hi5 page, I could only get the text and not the format and layout. I tried youtube on IE and it worked just fine.
Now I had to look at all the add-on I have.
I went and turned off most of them, except a few. Then restarted the firefox. and Voila! Youtube worked, hi5 worked. Now I went back and turned a few back on, except better you tube, and one another. Man, I almost create a new profile. That would've sucked big time.
paper marbling : homemade liquid starch 2
Finally, after several trials of trying to make sizing that's gonna work.
The first trial was completely a waste of time and material. It was much too thick, I was going too fast, too much. So, that had to be thrown out.
The second trial, I stuck to the recipe I found. 1/2 cup of corn starch and 1 cup of cold water, mixed then pour into boiling water. (of course the recipe I found it said to mix corn starch and cold water in big bowl and pour in boiling water). As it turned out, the damn thing didn't turn clear and it was way way too thick. Since I didn't know how much of boiling water I was suppose to put in.
So, I tried smaller portion of corn starch/cold water. This time it was 1/4 corn starch and 1/2 cup of cold water, into 6 cups of boiling water. It still didn't turn clear like the recipe said, but I found another one that said it might be cloudy, so I guess it's ok.
I left it to cool down, and now I found one that work!!!
So, next step, figuring out how much water and acrylic paint to mix and how much dish detergent to put in. Currently it was a good size acrylic and about 11 CC. of water and a drop of dish detergent. Seems like it was pretty good, but it spread out too much. So it'll be another few trials I guess.
In my current experimentations dedicated to replacing carageenan and methocellulose, I am finding a factor of 10TB CS to 5 C water a reasonable ratio. I do like mine thick, however.
Please keep in mind that paper is a factor in this form of art. I use stonehenge print-making paper for my professional use, but use anything I can find around the house for playing around with.
As for pigments, I highly suggest the Golden Brand Fluid AIRBRUSH Acrylics. High pigmentation to low volume, meant specifically to disburse, lots of colors and reasonably priced.
One thing that's important I've found out just this evening is that hot or cold water makes no difference *HOWEVER* the mixing process does. I use a hand mixer. You're going for the consistancy of buttermilk.
Keep in mind traditional marbling uses Alum as a binder from paper surface to pigment. It's my hope that by seeking the correct ratio of CS to H20, this can be bypassed without via the use of modern acrylic pigments and/or india inks (my next series of experiments will focus on that, and their dilutive properties).
Paper Marbling : homemade liquid starch first trial
I decided to make a few books, and I'd wanted to try to do paper marbling for a while now. So, it seems like a good time as any.
Well, I got the recipe, which is easier and use the easy to find things. Or, so I thought.
First acrylic paints, well, they aren't hard to get, so it's all right, I picked up a cheap set, because I still need to start slow.
Liquid starch, they said you could get it at the laundry section of any store. Well, I picked up a few and it wasn't usable. It wasn't thick enough and most of the paint just fall to the bottom. So, that's a bust. I went to the store again, hoping to get the powder kind, so I can mix it myself. No such luck.
I ended up having to make it, myself. I wasn't sure of the consistency that was needed, so I went big. like a cup of corn starch to 2 cups of water. Not good... there wasn't enough water, or rather too much starch (depends on how you look at it). So, I ended up with paste that I can't use, too thick, but they would work well for something else, so I save it for now. I might do a back of some fabric to make cover. I'll have to decide, but that's gonna have to be quick, because it'll go bad in several days.
another venture into the art of bookmaking... (well a part of it anyway)
Several years ago I took a papermaking class, at the time, it was a class that offered me nothing toward graduation (it was a filler for me, since all the credit I needed at that moment was only from Senior Studio). It wasn't a class I enjoy too much at the beginning, although I liked it.
Only by the end of the class that I enjoyed (not the project though) Then after that I wanted to take bookmaking, but it was full, much too quick. And I didn't feel like fighting for a spot with anyone. I did learn how to bind a book, though, and basic bookmaking.
I made a book for my last Senior Studio class, and my advisors loved it (as well as the people that showed up at the show) So I guess it's good. :)
Now, I tried my hand at another thing. Paper marbling.
Since I can't get the supplies here that are especially made for paper marbling, I had to go for homemade method stuff. And one I chose to do is with liquid starch. My first trial (which is barely an hour ago) was all right, the color wasn't as bright as I thought it was gonna be.
I used generic store brand liquid starch (which now that I can see it didn't seem to be thick enough) I might just make it from scratch.
The paint was a set of acrylic paint, which works well, but I have to play around with the consistency, although I read somewhere that oil paint will give more vivid color. Also I have to try with alum threat paper too.
I watched the vid of paper marbler, and the sizing he used was left clear once he finished with one sheet, so I don't know. Oh well, gotta try my hand in a few things I guess.
Another thing, I finally made that The Devil Wears Prada fanfic listing that I've been meaning to do for a while. The list keeps going longer and longer though. It's my favorite fandom at the moment (gotta give props to Meryl Streep.. she did really awesome Miranda, and man, I'd do her!)
Anne Hathaway is good too. :)
Now I'm gonna go watch a few Marbling demo on youtube. Maybe I'll get a better idea.
no class today!
I have no violin class today, my instructor canceled it, not that I feel all too good anyway.
Friday night I woke up (well, Saturday morning) at around 5 AM itching all over, but what I felt was stomachache first, but after that the itch set in. Man, that was a torture. I got some anti allergy from mom and took it. Then right the next morning she woke me up, and then I found that something was wrong.
Went to the doc, nothing serious, but annoying. I mean how would you like to go around all day feel like something stuck at the back of your throat you can't swallow and then when you tried you gonna upchuck all over the floor.
Yeah, so I got some medication for allergy reaction I had, which we still don't know what it was that I was allergic too. (suck, big time) Doc said I have to pay closer attention to what I was eating.
I wasn't even eating any seafood. weird.
But now I'm feeling a little tired all day because the med. Still I have to take all of them, for 7 days, and then I have another appointment.
A friend of mine decided that she's gonna clear up everything at the place she's at right now and come home.
I said it's about time.
I mean, she said she has opportunities there, which I wasn't sure about, but it's been years now and they didn't pan out, none of them.
And now it sounded like they are trying to chain her to where she was, and give her nothing at all. So, I told her, come home. Better off here even if she get small salary, because no rent to pay.
So, we'll wait and see if there's anymore obsticles.
Sometimes people thinks they are being nice by saying she would be miss and all, and she should say, oh what would we do without you and all that, but they didn't help when she has no money. So, how nice are they being?
Anyhow, I'm chatting with her everynight (well, almost everynight) I'll let her borrow money if she needs to, but she said she won't until she's really desperate.
fic rec : Truth and Measure
I've been anticipating the coming out of this fic for a while, ever since Telanu announced it a while back.
Personally I like a good size fic, I like to read stuff that has development and character driven, I mean, PWP is good too, but give me choices and I'll pic a good long one anytime.
Apparently it was more than 200,000 words. I'll put them in word and see how many there were.
I'm a little obsessed with DWP fic right now. :) (like anyone that read this wouldn't know that already)
I spent about a day reading (with some interruption in between) I finished at 4:30AM, and I started it at around 8:30AM. And man I wish there was more.
New project I assigned to myself was DWP fic-listing. It's been a long time coming. So, I'm gathering the links and the list right now. Typing a lot of them up, but I still have to go through the LJ to find more. I do remember a few that weren't post to DWP community, but instead posted on Passion and Perfection and such.
The format of it still need some work. I don't want to clutter up anything, but at the same time, if I want to put rating and summaries, and pairing, it'll be.
I guess I'll figure it out as I go along. Now I'll just get all the links and titles and authors down. Hopefully I'll get the first draft hammered out soon.
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3:30:00 AM
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cho, at
June 05, 2009 8:06 PM
cin, at
February 04, 2009 10:15 AM
