Bringing back an old meme to update people on what's going on with me. In case you still care. I wouldn't be upset if you don't, since I know I haven't been around...

You know how sometimes people on your friendslist post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out.

( I'll spare you the first part which is probably tl;dr...Collapse )

3-5 THINGS GOING ON IN MY LIFE:

1. Grad school, obviously. It eats up my time, but I absolutely love it. I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do for the past 4 years in undergrad but never really found a community for. It helps that my program is crazy and unconventional and we get to do a lot of things you'd never think people would get to do in an academic setting and get away with it, but somehow we do. For example, I'm taking a class called "Big Games", for which we've had to play World of Warcraft. And this week we're playing Assassin, water guns and all. And I'm doing a presentation on LJ roleplaying and campfuckudie. I'm having the time of my life, and it's awesome. ♥
2. Did I mention that we had to play World of Warcraft for class? I may have put just a liiittle more time into that than was necessary for the class. But it helps that one of my best friends, Robin, and her husband both play. Although she roped me into the Refer-a-Friend scam program and I upgraded my trial to a paid membership and now I feel obligated to keep playing even though it's no longer required for class. (But only until Dragon Age 2 comes out; then my gaming schedule will be occupied for a while. ;p)
3. 2010 was the year of sci-fi TV shows, but 2011 is turning out to be the year of historical k-dramas. It helps that so many of them are on Hulu now, I guess. As somebody said, though, they really are like crack... once you start a show, you just can't stop watching. So far I've watched 성균관 스캔들, 선덕여왕, 추노 and IRIS. Okay, IRIS wasn't a historical drama but the reviews were so good I wanted to know what it was all about. And they were right! So good!
4. On a more serious note, a month ago today, I fractured my elbow slipping on an icy sidewalk in Manhattan. I was in a splint for a week, and since then I've been wearing this badass looking brace (although the novelty of the "robot arm" and "bionic woman" comments has kind of worn off and is becoming annoying). It's locked so I can't move my elbow at all, which, you can imagine, has made my life rather complicated and inconvenient and simple things can be quite difficult. I'm starting physical therapy today, which I heard will suck, but it's definitely necessary.
5. ...I dunno, being single and living in New York? Life is good. I really can't complain. ♥

♥ How are you all?

Got this from glass_icarus; I guess it's kind of like a version of this meme except instead of asking whole questions you just give trigger-words. Let me know if you want to play. ♥

1. gaming

I've been into games for quite a long time; my family used to play a lot of PC games such as King's Quest and Myst together. Then I got into Pokémon (just the Gameboy games). In middle school I saved all my money to buy a PS2 and got heavily into the JRPGs; FFVII was the first. Over time I've built up a pretty decent library of PSX and PS2 games; not bad for someone who's never really had much time for gaming, I'd say. I also own a PSP (high school graduation gift from my dad) and, as of ~2 weeks ago, a PS3. And since last year I guess I've come full-circle and am slowly getting back into PC gaming as well, mostly because of Mass Effect.

I enjoy games a lot more than other fandom media because I find it so much easier to become completely immersed in the fictional world. I like how the game creators pay so much attention to crafting all the tiny details of their 'verses, like in-game histories and codexes and complex international politics and the like, even if those things only barely come into play in the game's storyline. For fannish purposes, especially, I think it gives us such a huge playground to explore and play in... I love it. ♥

2. graphics

Haha, not sure what exactly you were hoping for this to trigger. I... guess I don't make a lot of them? It's weird because this is basically my major (or, well, a small part of it, but still) and since I started college I really haven't done any fannish graphics as a hobby anymore. I think it's too hard to tell myself, "I'm *just* doing this for fun," and I get too caught up in thinking, "Man, if my professors saw this [awful typography/boring composition/poor color choices/etc.], they'd flunk me!" I do admit to also having gotten annoyed with easy access to Photoshop leading to everyone thinking they can be a graphic designer, and thereby devaluing a design education. But that's another rant for another day...

3. manga

I love manga a lot better than anime, and if it weren't for me recently rewatching some old series (Rurouni Kenshin, Excel Saga) with the ex, I... probably haven't watched any anime since freshman year. Manga I do read pretty regularly (though it's mostly BL). I haven't been too good about keeping up with the ongoing shounen manga that I like (Gintama, Air Gear) and I keep meaning to but it... doesn't happen. I'm not a fan of shoujo manga but there have been occasional exceptions. Tuxedo Gin was good (although I am clearly biased because of penguin-love), Love Monster was surprisingly entertaining, Shinshi Doumei Cross was bearable.

4. home

When people ask me the question "Where are you from?" I usually do a double-take and don't know how to answer. I prefer to say Europe but it's true I haven't lived there for the past 10 years. Sometimes I feel obligated to say Texas but I've never, ever felt at home there; from the time I got there I always wanted to leave. It's hard to think of Pittsburgh as home because even though I don't hate it here I think I've always known I wouldn't stay past college, so there's no sense of permanence here. Tokyo felt like home moreso than any physical place has ever done, but it's true that I was only there for a few months. I guess I usually come back to the "home is where the heart is" thing; my heart is with my mom and my relatives, so I answer, "Europe, by way of Houston, Texas."

5. dessert! ;)

I am not a foodie. Not at all. A lot of my friends are, but I honestly could care less what I eat so long as it makes the hunger pangs go away. However! Desserts are pretty much the one exception. I have a huge sweet tooth and am obsessed with anything chocolatey, fruity, yoghurty, you name it. At restaurants, I often look at the dessert menu first. (Not that I always get a dessert; I usually have too small of an appetite to even finish my entree.) I also love making desserts — for family gatherings we have the tradition that everyone takes care of one dish, and I usually volunteer for the dessert. I love baking cakes and pies and custards and mousses and whatever crazy creative thing I can come up with. My favorite dessert to make has got to be cheesecake; a few years ago my mom got me a big cheesecake recipe book, and I've made it my life's mission to bake all of them someday.

Somebody started the All the Single Ladies (or All the Ladies You Wish Were Single) unofficial celebrity girlcrush picspam. Since I have a lot of those, I figured I should contribute, also because most of my girlcrushes haven't shown up in other people's picspams yet.

I am first going to start off with some multiracial actresses! Being a woman of mixed heritage myself, I can attest to the fact that being multiracial is often very, very, very, very, very hard, and I have a lot of respect for these women who have not only overcome their personal struggles with it, but have gotten the rest of the world to recognize their talent and beauty as well. I fangirl over these women and I have many of their pictures plastered all over my wall and I wish I was only half as gorgeous and talented as they are.

( hapa, n. 1) a person of mixed race. 2) beautiful.Collapse )

Anddd now for the rest. These are mostly if not all Asian, because I guess that's how I roll? 8); Not that I think white women or women of any other race aren't beautiful, but they don't make me hot the way Asian women do, I guess.

( I've also spent much of my life wishing I could be more like them.Collapse )


ETA: OH WAIT! HOW COULD I FORGET!

( One more lady who makes me really incredibly hot.Collapse )

GUYS I JUST SLEPT FOR NINE HOURS. I FEEL ~*GLORIOUS*~. I seriously don't think I've slept for more than 4 hours on a weeknight since the semester started.


I did this meme a couple of years ago, but decided it'd be fun to do again now that I have lots of new people on the flist.

Instructions:
* Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile".
* I'll respond by asking you five questions to satisfy my curiosity.
* Update your journal with the answers to your questions.
* Include this explanation and offer to ask other people questions.

These questions are from zoi_no_miko:

1. Favorite femslash pairing and why?

That's tricky. I've never really had too many femslash OTPs, probably because I tend to be into fandoms that are male-dominated. Back when I was still into Bleach, I was really into Yoruichi/Soi Fong, but I haven't been in that fandom anymore for years and find myself growing ambivalent about those pairings now. Since then, I wrote female!Shepard/Liara from Mass Effect for yuletide last year and I do really like that pairing, although I'm not as passionate about it as I could be because that's not a fandom I'm into for the pairings.

I am really into a pairing from a fandom probably no one has heard of, and I'm thinking of requesting it for either Tanabata or Yuletide. There's a Cantonese movie called so close (Chik Yeun Tin Si) that's reeeaaally femslashy and I totally ship Sue/Hong. It's interesting because I'm not normally that into movie fandoms, but this is one I'd totally love to read and write fic about, because Sue and Hong have a great dynamic and lots of UST. (Also, I totally have a girl crush on Zhao Wei.)

2. What's the best part of fandom for you?

I finish a lot of media (especially games and manga) wishing there were more, that it would continue on. In the case of games, especially, I get really drawn in to the fictional worlds they create, and I want to explore it from every angle. For manga, I tend to be really into ones that are short and are not ongoing. So I guess fandom satisfies my craving for "moar, moar!" because by talking to people about it and writing fic and reading fic, we extend the life of the media beyond its original length.

3. If you were a dessert, what would you be?

It would have to be something eclectic, a mix of a couple of different culinary influences, yet subtle and not too sweet. Maybe the green tea cheesecake described in this fic. XD

4. What is your favorite user icon and why?

I have to pick one? I really don't have one all-time favorite because their use depends so much on the context. One of the ones I use fairly frequently that I love is this one, because it's so simple yet it really sums up how I feel inside when something shocking and painful happens. (And, Zhang Ziyi is gorgeous.) This one is a recent addition that I love because the concept of Altaïr going "YAY!" is just so ridiculous. I like this one a lot but do not have much occasion to use it.

5. Best Song Ever?

The song "A Walk in the Clouds" by Tiësto has been my favorite for a couple of years now. I love the ephemeral sound of it, and it always reminds me of the trip we took to Yamanashi while I was living in Tokyo. Aside from that, "Love and Warlords" by The Shanghai Restoration Project has been a recent favorite. I love fusions of different genres of music, and the vocals in that one are gorgeous and haunting.


I just need to survive work, yoga, 4 meetings & dance practice, and then I get to play Mass Effect 2 all weekend. YAY!