I'm alive!!

I"ve been dead from internet this last week, I was working on my animation for crit week and my paper. I think I kinda bombed my paper (didn't have a concise thesis, it was too general) but at least it's done. My crit went well too, the faculty panel told me I should work more on my concept before I make more things for my animation and make a concrete storyboard to know what I want to show.

I gotta hit up the contemporary museum tomorrow so I can write my last three-page paper for art history, then I'm gonna relax for the rest of the week- play some more P3P, go to the library to use the pianos there, pick up drawing again, etc.


Ugh, I don't know if it's because I was really stressed, but I kept feeling like throwing up or gagging, and I've been getting lots of dizzy spells and headaches. I started to cough recently, but I think it's because the air is too dry. Even when I wake up in the morning my throat burns like hell.

Anyways, time to sleep, I'm getting a headache again, bah.

DECEMBER ALREADY?!?! It's kinda hard to believe that I graduated from undergrad this May ._____.;;

Aghhhh I can't wait until this week is over, but until then, I must work my butt off.

Next Saturday is the Distant Worlds concert. So excitedddd ^^ And in three weeks I'll be home again, yayyyyyy

Okay, time to go back to work now

Wow it's been a while since I last updated this thing. I've been dead from the internet this whole Turkey break. So, quick recap time!!

Wednesday- woke up at 5:50 to get to airport by 7:30 for a 9:30 flight. Got picked up by oppa at the airport, went home and watched oppa play Assassin's Creed, took a nap, ate dinner, went to sleep.

Thursday- helped umma clean the house and get stuff ready for Thanksgiving dinner because people were coming over. Had lots of food and had a pretty good time with the kids. There weren't too many little kids/babies so it was pretty calm throughout the whole evening.

Friday- city day!! Woke up at 9, got to Manhattan by 10:30ish. Checked out Gamestop with LHecht and JTchao and got Muramasa Demon Blade (me), Warioware Smooth Moves (LHecht), and MGS 4 (JTchao). Went to MoMA to meet JChu and her brother for Tim Burton, but the tickets were sold out for the day :( So we walked down towards AMC Loews but stopped by Rockefeller Center (chocolate store and Nintendo store, I got a small Wooper doll ^^) and Kinokuniya (had fun reading yaoi titles out loud, there's some funny and silly titles haha) on the way. Watched New Moon, had a good time laughing at it (go Team Charlie!!). Ate dinner at Kum Gang San, then went to karaoke for an hour at Duet, then went home.

Saturday- I was mad tired and slept in late, then for the rest of the day I played Muramasa Demon Blade. I started off with Kisuke's story since I like his voice actor (Yoshino Hiroyuki- Allelujah Haptism in G00 and Firo in Baccano!) and I was super close to finishing his story the first time around, but I got too tired to finish it. Had a huuuuge dinner of sushi and ate almost a quarter of a whole pumpkin pie after that.


Now I'm back in Chicago, and I'm super tired and I don't wanna work. But after this week is over, I'll mostly be home free.

Finally got Dissidia: UT and P3P a couple days ago. I'm kinda upset because for D:UT, I have to redo two missions- play for 15 hours and battle for 10 hours. That took so freaking long to do man >____< At least I don't have to play for 15 days straight again, that would've killed me. But now that they have English voice acting, I can fully understand what's going on in the story mode scenes, and most of the voices aren't too bad :)

And P3P!! I beat my first real full moon shadow (on the train), and then Akihiko came up to me in school the next day and said that he's free on Monday and Fridays 8D I CAN START DATING HIM NOW AHAHAHAHAHA ♥♥♥♥♥


And uh... I'm going home on Wednesday. Yayyyyyyyy ^^

I feel like crap because today, my coworker kissed me on my cheek. It's pretty awkward since I've only worked with her maybe 10-12 days, but I don't know if it's normal for her to do it (she's from India, she came to America to go to college) and the next time she tries to hug me or touch me, I'm gonna have to tell her 'do not want' -_____-


In happier news, I got into the video game modification class!! We're gonna hack into Half Life 2 and learn about game mechanics with that and do cool things, haha xD


Watched the finale of ANTM Cycle 13, and the girl I wanted to win won, yayyyy ^^


Now I'm super tired, maybe I should go to sleep early today...

Lately my left hand has been hurting me. It's not my whole hand though, just the side where my pinky is. Maybe I've been doing keyboard/computer stuff way too long now .____.;;

I finally finished my girl model!! Her face moves!! She walks!! Her arms get a bit too deformed if I move the too much, but who cares!! Now I'm modeling buildings for a city, and then I need to get a concrete storyboard down.


Totally random- this week is when registration for Spring 2010 classes start, and MFA students got to register yesterday, which I did. And then I got an e-mail this morning, saying I won a $50 iTunes gift card from a random drawing out of all the students that registered yesterday. I thought it was a joke, but then I went to the office today, told them my name, and they gave me a gift card. Weiiiiird.


Oh man I'm going home next week for Thanksgiving!!! I don't wanna think of all the work I have to do after that, I just wanna relax ^^

I bought a ticket for Utada Hikaru's concert in Chicago on Feb 2 today 8D First the Final Fantasy concert on Dec 12, now Utada's concert, JOY ^^ Oh man, I just noticed that the dates were the same number- 12/12 and 02/02, weeeeeeerd XD


I felt a sting on my right foot so I looked at it, and somehow I got a scratch 2-3 cm long, and it's on the same place as a scratch on my left foot. My feet are twins!!


I'm still waiting for Dissidia: UT and P3P to come in the mail, I've been checking my mailbox every day since the 7th, and it's driving me crazyyyyy >______< I don't remember Play Asia ever being so slow with deliveries, except with my PSP and Dissidia last year because it was Christmas time, so the mail was slow. Gahhhhhhhh I wanna date Akihiko right now ;___;


Time to go do work now, bahhhh

I've been feeling really tired and cold lately. I dunno why I'm tired, but the cold thing is because after a freakishly warm weekend with 70 degree weather, it went back down to the 50/40s. And this school is too stupid to just leave the heating on, so everyone freezes while we wait for the heater to come back on again. Just leave the damn thing on and let us turn down the heat ourselves if we're feeling too hot, stupid idiots. Internet speed freaking sucks here too >___<


I have a ten page paper for seminar due December 7, joy. Great fun for right after Thanksgiving, but in the end I think it's better if I finish it before and just enjoy doing nothing for one class the rest of the semester. It'll be a nice treat for me to finish a seminar paper and have crit week done before I go to the Distant Worlds Final Fantasy concert on the 12th, yay.

Also before Thanksgiving break, I have another short art history paper due, which won't be too bad, I just wanna write it and finish it now.


Lots of things to do and get done for Thanksgiving. I need to get less sleep and stop fooling around on the internet so long. I mean, I have been doing work, but now it's really getting super close to crunch time, and I don't wanna screw up near the end of the first semester. Which reminds me, I need to email professors to see if it's okay if I sign up for undergrad classes without taking prerequisite classes, because I'm a grad student, harhar.


Kinda random- 2PM's new MV is kinda epic, the choreography is pretty interesting, I'm still like "whoah..." But who in the world styled their hair? They just tie up tiny random part and it looks like onion sprigs or something...

I just remembered something that made me pissed off on Friday night.

The Chinese girl that bothers me called me out of the blue, and I was shocked since we don't really talk with each other. So she says hi, how are you doing, and then she asks for a favor. She wants me to check out some cables from the media center because her and her partner forgot to take them out when they took out other equipment for filming. She said she couldn't do it herself because she would be at her filming location before the media center opens, so she wanted me to check them out to give to her friend that would go to the filming location later.

However, I didn't want to do this for her because a) I don't really like her and b) if anything happens to the cables (they get damaged or lost) or if she's late returning them, I'm the one responsible, and I have to pay fines, and I don't want this responsibility on me. So I tell her that, and she says "oh no, please trust me, I will have everything back safely," and I don't believe her because a) she can't read emails properly- she got an email from the media center saying she had a reservation for something, but she never picked it up, and she thought they emailed her for a fine for not picking it up, which the email never says, so she doesn't read things thoroughly enough which means she's not very careful and b) last time her and her partner checked out stuff, they mixed up stuff from different cameras they checked out and even left tripod slides on the cameras, which means they're not careful with packing up and making sure everything's in order.

So I keep saying no, and then she either said "I want to be a better friend" or "I want you to be a better friend." And at that point, I was super pissed off. If it was the first thing she said, she never was friends with me, the stupid twit, because in the beginning of the semester when we were on okay terms and it was our first day of art history, she totally walked past me and just talked with the rest of her fob Chinese friends. We didn't talk during our break, and at the end of class when we're walking back, she catches up to me walking back to our dorm and hesitantly says "Hiii Janeeet" and how she didn't see me during class, which is a total lie because before she sat down, we made eye contact and I was about to say hi, but she just turned away and kept talking with her Chinese friends.

If it was the second thing she said, after all the stress and irritation I went through explaining how to move files, setting up the camera for shooting, telling her what to write on our proposals even after our professor explained for two weeks, and getting in trouble during class for explaining things to her while the professor was talking, I'm not helping her anymore. Do things on your own.


Ugh, I just never want to talk to her or see her ever again -___-;;

Yesterday I had crit, so the past two weeks I was kinda freaking out and working on showing stuff for crit. Crit itself wasn't too spectacular because I didn't have a storyboard or animatic to show, so everyone didn't know exactly what was going on with the story and why I was making this. I just showed a lot of Maya experimentation stuff, and everyone didn't really like that since they don't understand Maya and why making everything right is so important in the beginning and blahblahblah. Whatever, I'm gonna go at my own pace.


Today I met up with Regina Son, who came to Chicago with her design class to visit some firms. We ate deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno, which is supposedly the place where the deep dish pizza was born. It was pretty good, and the garlic bread with cheese was soooo yummyyyyy ^^ We walked around a lot because it was 70 degrees today, craziness. There were tons of people walking around, it was crazy.

After we parted ways, I kept walking up to see if there was a Lord and Taylor so I could buy foot pad/gel things for my high heels, since my feet keep slipping out and my feet hurt after I walk around a lot in them. Alas, the store was gone and replaced by American Girl Place, so I start to walk back, but my knees did not like that idea, so I rode the subway the rest of the way back.

I took a super quick nap, then met with a classmate to go to another classmate's house for an outside grad student meeting. It was full of fail since we walked way too far and kept walking in circles, but once we got there it was fun (our classmate's place was freaking sweeeet, really big and nice windows and small chandeliers, it was just awesome). Then we walk back, but after getting off the subway, we walked in the opposite direction from our dorms, so we walked in circles again.


In other words, today was a day full of walking and I am dead tired and my legs hurt a lot. I'm hoping I see P3P and Dissidia in my mailbox tomorrow or Monday to make me feel better.

Went to the Museum of Contemporary Art this morning for art history, the exhibit we saw was focused on Iraq and there was an archaeologist/anthropologist talking to us about the military and culture of the Middle East. It was pretty interesting to listen to, but they could've used more engaging imagery for the exhibit.


Got the H1N1 flu shot today (haha, using the "fancy" name) even if I didn't want to because umma was worried about me, so I got it to appease her. It was quick but kinda painful because after the needle was taken out, my upper arm hurt and kinda got numb and I couldn't use my left arm to open doors. It still hurts if I lift it too high or lean on it.


Freaking Chips Ahoy cookie packs cost around $4.40, what the crack man. Why are they that expensive, I can buy a whole loaf of bread for less >:(


I was on a good roll for animation, but things are effed up with my model, so I have to remake her whole head, mother flipping cracker.


My left knee has been hurting more lately, maybe because it's getting colder and more agitated, iono. I'm still doing leg exercises to build up the muscle, but that makes it hurt more lately. Sometimes when I lie down, the pain goes up to my mid-thigh. Bahhhhh


I was feeling pretty good today after talking on Skype with Michelle, but after we hung up, I got hit with a wave of 'frustrated pissed-off-ness,' which isn't making me a happy camper right now.

NOVEMBERRRRRRRRRRR
THAT MEANS P3P AND DISSIDIA UT IS OUT IN JAPANNNNNNN
MINE WILL GET SHIPPED TOMORROWWWWWWWWWW

can't wait can't wait can't wait ^^


Yesterday I read the first book of Frank Beddor's The Looking Glass Wars trilogy. It's interesintg, but it's for younger teens. I felt like the story could've gone much deeper, it just seemed to gloss over everything and be like "okay this happened, now this is happening," and doesn't really show how much time is passing.

Earlier this month I was super excited about getting a job that I pre-ordered stuff and used up almost all of my first paycheck. I pre-ordered Dissidia: Universal Tuning and Persona 3 Portable. I bought Miyano Mamoru's J☆S and Refrain singles that I got today and I squealed like a little girl because the covers are prettyyy and the songs are okay too. And I was so happy they made the jacket paper things for CDs useful this time because it had pictures of him on the inside, which I promptly taped on my wall in front of me, hahaha XD;;

I also ordered the Hey Ash Whatcha Playing Season One DVD that also came today, and it is quite funny. I wish they had more outtakes though, they were funny.

I also bought one more thing that you'll see a picture of, most likely this weekend 8)

Now after all that splurging, I'm trying to be a good girl and not spend all my money after I get paid and try saving money. Not having people to hang out with helps a lot so I don't have to spend money going around to different places and eating at restaurants :);;


Ahahahahahaaaaa I love Haagen-Dazs strawberry ice creammmmm XD

Random bits!!


It's almost November! Which means P3P and Dissidia Universal Tuning are almost out!! Which means I have to wait until at least November 8 probably to get them in the mail!!! BAHHHHH


I completely ditched doing readings for class this week. It gave me a lot more time to do other stuff. Maybe I'll make it up tomorrow, we'll see.


Chinese girls. Why do they always talk to me when our professor's explaining something? They just turn around when they don't understand something and ask me, which makes me miss out on more things that the professor's saying and if anyone else asks a question to clarify stuff, I'm missing out on that too. And I keep telling them 'wait until the end and I'll explain.' But they keep talking! So I say something short, but the professor stops talking and looks at us because we're having our own private conversation, and it's always me getting caught talking. ARGH. JUST STOP ASKING ME. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ASK THE PROFESSOR LATER YOURSELF.


I stopped by the grocery store, but I forgot to get some stuff, so I'll have to go back tomorrow. I bought a dish drying rack and a scale today too. I was worried that I was gaining more weight because I didn't think I was moving around as much as I used to, but when I weighed myself, the scale read 122, which means I lost three pounds since the end of August. I think the scale is lying...


I got a pop quiz at work to see if I was a competent worker and knew the basic of the basics of the workplace. And I passed!! With a 90/100!! Which means I'll get paid more!! YAY!! It'll only go up a quarter each hour or something, but I'm still happy :) There's three more levels after this, so I better know the rules and equipment names better.


I still think it's weird when people say my oppa and I look alike, because we don't have any facial features that look remotely the same. But it's also weird when people see his picture or see us together for the first time because they automatically ask me "Is he your boyfriend?" They never ask my oppa if I'm his girlfriend though, it's always me who gets asked.


I wanna spend at least one day in the week walking to random places in the city, especially close to the water. The view is b-e-a-uuuuuutifullllllll.

O M F G

Someone turned on the heater on our floor. More like blasting it, I stepped out of the elevator and it felt like I walked into a sauna (it really isn't that hot, but when you're walking in from outside where it's chilly, it's pretty damn hot)

Also my room is freaking hot because Texan roommate decides she likes it super hot, so I'm kinda slowly dying. I put the heater on medium so if we're cold we can just put on a sweatshirt or something and if we get hot, we can wear shorts or whatever. I'm dying and she's in her normal temp, great.


And I don't understand why in the world someone calls her at freaking midnight and she stays up sooo long to talk to them!! Sometimes they call earlier than that and she spends so much time talking to them, and I always hear the same things over and over and it's getting pretty annoying. If it's her stupid guy friend back home that wants to hook up with her, I want to send viruses to his computer and phone so he'll freaking stop calling her every day >:(

I tried sleeping earlier so that she'll tell the person to stop talking and let me sleep, but no, she just talks in a super hushed voice. I tried sleeping later to see if she'll eventually get tired and sleep first, but she just takes this as a sign to keep talking until I wait for an hour or so.


Ughhhhhhhhhh

OH MAYA ANIMATION
I wanted to get an animatic done for my next advising meetings this Monday and Tuesday, but it took me wayyyyy much longer than expected to model and try to get my girl to move properly (I gave up trying to give her a real skeleton) and trying to make facial expressions (which is kinda failing) So I'm just gonna show what I have, say I'll have an animatic working for next meetings, and try to get more lighting tests done.


Went to the planetarium on Saturday, it was pretty neat. It's right next to the aquarium, which is next to a museum, and the place where they're located is GORGEOUS @____@ I regret not taking my digicam, but I got some pics on my cellphone. Two couples were taking wedding pics there too, good thing it stopped raining and finally was sunny that day :)


First art history paper is completed! Not the best thing in the world, but I think it'll pass.


I started playing Avalon Code and omg, I am going around EVERYWHERE and facing every single direction and spamming the A button because I want to get full points for the maps in my book. The missions are kinda wtf right now, but I can go back and redo them later, yay.


Every time I hold Cristobal and try to work on animation, it never works. I have no idea why, when I have him near me, I troll around on YouTube or find random manga to read. I should stop holding on to him when I work.. ^^;;

Yesterday, I had a massive headache for some strange reason, so I slept at 10.


Getting a bit nervous about working on my animation, but I want to have fun with it. And sometimes I feel like I'm being rushed into doing things because I expect to be in a certain stage of completion, but things always take much longer than I think it will :(


Art history paper isn't too bad, I just have to write more stuff to fill up space and explain things in more detail.


I'm gonna visit the planetarium tomorrow :)

( It's been a while since I ranted about a certain someone )


My first art history paper is due on Monday, joy -____-;;

I find it ridiculous when half the class for Contemporary Films in South Korea is made up of fob Korean kids. I mean seriously, did you have to come to America to take a class on Korean films that you most likely watched in Korean movie theaters, taught from a fob Korean teacher? Even the fob Chinese girls in my class were like "wtf is up with them."

Today was a very productive day at work. I re-coiled all the wires for portable heaters, utility lights, power strips, and extension cords. My hands got super dirty and it took about two hours to set everything straight, but it was fun :)


Advising meetings with my advisers are a bit tough to handle sometimes, because both professors have such different ideas and things that excite them, and I'm just like "well, I can't use everything you tell me in my animation." Which is alright, they don't expect me to follow everything. But it's like arghhhh, I just have to do more different things and show it to them and see what they'll say.


I have a weird throbbing/pulsing in my right ear. It's not the first time it's happened, but it's been weeks since it last happened. And it's been going on the whole day. Maybe I should ask health services about it ._____.;;