Saturday, April 27, 2002 10:45 a.m.

Alright! I have finally moved my blog. It's now hosted on my subdomain and powered by Blogger! =) Here's the new URL: http://sky.anifics.com/blueskies/index.html

Tuesday, April 23, 2002 10:23 p.m.

I'm going for my first cooking class tomorrow morning and guess what? I'm going to embarass myself there because I don't know how to cook anything save fried eggs and instant noodles. Alright, does chucking rice into the rice cooker count? I don't think anyone in their sane minds would want to eat something I cooked.

Anyhow, my semester two exams are due in three week's time and everyone is under pressure to do well. My revision has been going on well and I have finished revising for Chemistry. There is one more chapter left for Statistics and I'm currently working on some A-Levels past year questions for Pure Math. Biology is fine too, and I only have this semester's worth of Business topics to clear up. I guess all the consistent work paid off. =)

Oh, by the way, Heidi from the HP fandom owled me a few days ago after I posted on a thread in FAP stating how disappointed I am with the HP fanfiction community. Well, I posted feelings on how some popular writers in HP tend to reject any negative criticism on their works and that hasn't happened in other fandoms I have dabbled over the past few years. At least, not as serious as the situation in HP is. Basically, according to Yen, Heidi thinks that I may be mad at certain people and she is trying to keep me happy. I wrote back and thanked her anyway. At least, I get to know someone new and I do appreciated her efforts to discuss such a topic with me.

Seriously, what do you guys think of my new blog layout?

Sunday, April 21, 2002 04:26 p.m.

Ah... Finally got a new blog layout. =)

Saturday, April 20, 2002 11:51 a.m.

A few days ago, an underage girl was raped by her grandfather, father, brother, brother’s friend and nursemaid’s son. It was on the front page of every major English daily.

It totally sickens me to read such news reports. It sickens me further to know that there are some whacked out people out there who would rape their own granddaughters, daughters or sisters just for personal satisfaction. Perhaps it’s just me, but I noticed that there has been a sudden influx of rape cases appearing in newspapers. I don’t know whether it is because women are braver to make police reports on rape cases nowadays or that men are getting more and more depraved. I truly hope it is the former, but this world is getting scarier to live in.

Perhaps we should start introducing sex education in Malaysian schools. I wonder why are people still afraid or shy to talk about sex. I mean, it’s a natural part of life and why view sex as a taboo? Kids have to be taught on how to protect themselves from such people and I’m sure that will prevent lots of lives from being destroyed. From what I have read from newspapers and magazines, rape is very traumatizing to the victim (especially for young victims) and the emotional wound would never heal.

Perhaps it’s the Asian society which is causing lots of emotional and mental stress towards rape victims. In fact, some parties may even claim that a victim deserves to be raped because she wears scanty clothing. A recent study has shown that perpetrators target women from all ages, regardless of clothing. The laughable part is, why did they claim that a victim wants to be raped in the first place and that it is not the man’s fault?

Saturday, April 13, 2002 10:11 p.m.

If I were a sappy movie ballad, I would be Everything I Do (I Do It For You) from Robin Hood: Prince of Theives Inspiring tears in lovelorn 14 year olds across the globe, I proclaim that every action taken be in the name of a loved one. "That time I tripped down the stairs and broke my nose, that was for you, my love." What sappy movie ballad are you?

Hm, this is weird...

Friday, April 12, 2002 06:50 p.m.

This week has been rather hectic overall and I’m definitely half-dead when I got back home. Apparently, the wardens have starting grounding student when they are caught using the Internet connection illegally. One of my friends has been blacklisted, and for every wrongdoing, the punishment is being grounded for two long days. =( ::sighs:: Everyone is complaining that the wardens are getting stricter and stricter, and the entire gang of my friends were gaping at the horribly long list of grounded students.

Ah, the results of the Mathematics quiz came back today. I scored full points for Calculus! ::cries tears of joy:: This is the first time I have ever received a perfect score for Pure Mathematics! I just love Calculus! I think I love Calculus as much as I hate Trigonometry.

Also, mom told me that there were a few phone calls from strangers looking for me throughout the entire week. Apparently, JPA (my sponsor) is organizing interviews for the new intake. Ever since I (and of course, the members of our all-Chinese clique) was awarded this scholarship to read medicine, many Chinese students in Subang Jaya felt that they were finally given a chance by the government to study medicine overseas, which previously were only awarded to Malay students. Many of them were very eager to try out and they even went to the extent of stalking me now. =( When mom asked those people on how they got my house phone number, they answered that an acquaintance had given it to them. I mean, those were total strangers and mom said that the telephone line was bursting from the overload of calls from such people. Guys, please leave me alone! Every interviewer will ask different questions, so there is no point trying to get tips from me! I can also tell you that there are thousands of students applying for medicine every year and don’t put any high hopes because you may get severely disappointed. I didn’t expect to get this scholarship either. It just came… unexpectedly. I am just another lucky student who got picked. There are loads of brilliant Chinese students in Malaysia!

On Monday, there was this serious incident which caused a huge rift in our all-Chinese clique. Su Ann was extremely selfish and she didn’t wait for us to put our culture dishes into the autoclave. I mean, why couldn’t she wait for five measly minutes since we practically prepared our culture medium together? When Winn Hui confronted her, she claimed that she didn’t want her agar to get contaminated. Alright, she didn’t want her agar to contaminated, so what about us? We had to wait three long hours before she was done with her autoclave. If 5 minutes can cause contamination, what about 3 long hours of being exposed to the so-called dirty air? Also, the autoclave nearly exploded because of her selfishness. We had lectures for three different subjects and we had to wait for our lecturer to leave before we could check on the autoclave. We were late by 15 minutes and when we got there, the pressure meter was already far beyond 15 pounds. ::shudders:: I don’t dare to imagine when will happen if we were delayed for another 5 minutes. Our scholarships may be even pulled back for causing such a serious accident in the Biology lab!

Well, all of us ended up acting cool towards Su Ann. We are supposed to be members of the all-Chinese clique and if we start acting inconsiderate and extremely selfish, there will be an internal rift sooner or later. When this happens, our group pressure power will be weakened and we may be bullied constantly. We are very disappointed with her. How could she do this to us? All of us felt betrayed. Although she apologized the other day to Winn Hui (woo… Winn Hui can be very scary if she is hacked off…), I have a feeling that things may never be the same again. We may not be able to trust her in future. Somehow, after this incident, Winn Hui and I have became closer. That is not a bad thing, right? =)

Saturday, April 6, 2002 03:44 p.m.

For the past few days, I have been pondering over this question: why are some Harry Potter fanfics so insanely popular and why are some so severely underrated? Actually, that wasn’t the only thing bothering me. Since I’m rather new to the HP fandom, I finally realized that there are many cliques of fanfic writers, ranging from groups of extremely popular ones to lesser known groups.

Writers’ cliques aren’t new to me. I have been in a few cliques before this, such as the A&M Clique where we have the Aoshi-is-a-sex-machine (AIASM) group and even before that, I belonged to a pretty popular clique in YYH fandom. The thing that bothers me isn’t the existence of the cliques, it’s the attitude of the writers who belong to those cliques. In both YYH and RK, we don’t segregate ourselves so clearly from the rest just because we are popular among readers. In HP, the Inner Circle (argh… Who coined his term?) has problems interacting other fellow not-so-popular writers and they really have trouble accepting Constructive Criticism from other people.

I’m indifferent towards their attitude because I don’t write fanfics for popularity or reviews, as opposed to many writers, but then a few recent incidents have me convinced that there are problems brewing in the HP fanfic community. Legions of fans are blindly siding their favorite writers and whenever people try to criticize their idol’s writings, they will try to flame the so-called ‘unappreciative’ reader. I mean, this is a free world and I advocate free speech online. Everyone has their right to voice their own opinions and I’m sure most of us were well-educated people. Why use such a barbaric way to ensure that your idol’s popularity isn’t threatened? The writers themselves also have egos the size of this planet and they have difficulty trying to accept C&Cs. I was once popular in two other fandoms, but I’m not as vain as not to accept that there are weaknesses in my writings. Well, there are some popular yet humble writers in HP fandom, but they are of a dying breed.

Here’s the question: Why do readers adhere to the ‘appeal to authority because of popularity’ rule in HP fandom? I don’t get it.

Recently, I have been invited to join a relatively new clique by a fellow writer (Yen, this is another matter apart from what we have discussed). I haven’t quite decided to join yet because I’m not sure whether this is the best way to resolve the problems within the HP fandom. Any opinions on this matter?

Saturday, April 6, 2002 11:19 a.m.

Sorry, I haven’t blogged here for quite some time. I have been extremely busy for the past two weeks and I can barely breath above all that work that has been piled on me. Okay, anyway, there are quite a few things I want to say.

First of all, I celebrated my 19th birthday last week. =) My hostel mates threw me a birthday bash in one of our rooms and it was kinda fun. They invited all 13 of us to celebrate and we stayed up talking until 2am. Leow wrote me a Tolkienesque-styled poem and I have to say that he’s quite talented when it comes to poetry. I may post his poem up here later. Then, Ming Huei sent me a birthday card and the message there is quite sweet. =) Well, I’m happy that she remembered my birthday.

Also, my research topic has been approved! Yay! I was so worried about it for the past two weeks that I could barely eat or sleep. Thanks to Mr. Guna, I can now sleep and study in peace. My topic is on natural antibiotics and I think I’m going to have fun culturing pathogenic bacteria. Now I need to figure out how to extract onion juice…

On Wednesday, I have also registered my philosophy topic (on embryonic screening) with Mr. Stephans. I think it’s a pretty good topic because we can argue on ethical and human rights issues, especially when this comes hot on the heels of this case in England where a couple conceives a second child through embryonic screening because their older child needs a bone marrow transplant and they can’t find a matching donor. Yasmin and Khaliq were pretty happy about the entire thing.

As on my net life, I’m doing pretty fine there. =) I have just posted the third chapter of Nox Noctis to Schnoogle and I’m waiting for feedback now. I think I may want to postpone the release of chapter 4 until next month because of the second semester exams.

Music currently playing on my WinAmp: Purest of Pain by Son by Four. It’s such a beautiful song… ::sighs dreamily::

Monday, March 25, 2002 03:01 p.m.

For the past week, my life is so screwed up that I can't even recognize it any longer. After that blog entry on Wednesday, I went for the Extended Essay briefing and got racked up by all those possibilities of not being able to choose a good topic in time. In fact, a lot of my coursemates even wanted to book lecturers ahead of time.

Alright, that wasn't the worst. Straight after the briefing, all students staying in Block C were called to an emergency meeting in the Principal's room. There, we were told to evacuate in 15 minute's time and we had to move over to Block D because the mactriculation students were coming in last Sunday. Everything was in a mess. Luckily, I had a few coursemates to help out or else I'll just collapse into a sobbing heap. After that, I had to clean my new room. The horrors! I didn't have a mop, so I had to wash the floor by hand. Serious! It was all about wiping the floor with a rag and a bucket of soap water. It sucks, really.

Next thing is, I had to think of a topic for my Extended Essay. Fast. And Good one, at this point. Finally, on Thursday, I managed to think of a Biology research question and it is on garlic and its antibacterial properties. I'll fill in this in a blog entry this weekend since I'm really too tired to think about anything study-wise now. ^^; After that, I had to write out all the proposals for this research topic and I still have yet to convince my Biology lecturer to approve it. He said that he would look into it but he didn't say when.

The final blow came when the principal sent out lettters to every class informing us that we can't go home this weekend because the mactriculation students are reporting to college this Sunday. And we were supposed to welcome them. :( When we tried to reason with the admins that the matrics student don't need so many people to welcome them, we were told that it is a college tradition for the seniors to help the juniors with their baggage. To top it, there was no internet access on Saturday and I forgot to bring my diskette containing chapter 5 of Nox Noctis. Library wasn't open on Sundays so the thought of going online or working on my HP fanfic is totally out of question.

The next bad thing to befall me was all those stupid hostel rules in Block D. No offence, but some of those regulations are purely idiotic. For example, we don't have enough clothes lines, so we have to hang damp laundry by our room windows for them to dry. The new rule forbids it. Where are we supposed to hang our clothes then? Then, there comes the rule of not allowing shorts and sleeveless T-shirts to be worn in the vincity of the hostel because of some sensitive people. ^^; Oh please... There are only girls staying in the entire Block and we don't go walking around in our birthday suit. The rules are so screwed up.

Finally, there is a Mathematics quiz coming up this week and my semester exams are only 7 weeks away.

Why is my life so screwed up now?

Wednesday, March 20, 2002 02:03 p.m.

Okay, I'm quite frustrated now. I'm looking forward to spending a nice and relaxing weekend this week and it's all spoilt now. There are rumors flying around that we aren't allowed to go back home Friday as the Matriculation students are coming in this Sunday. To top it, we are expected to help out with their registration. Well, I think it's quite unfair because nobody welcomed us when we came to this college, save for a few lecturers. Oh well...

And I didn't bring the floppy diskette in which the unfinished draft of chapter 5 is saved. That means, I won't be able to finish up chapter 5 in two weeks, as I have promised Sarah in an e-mail a couple of days earlier. Ah well... I'm getting extremely frustrated now.

Also, I have just sat through a really long briefing on the thesis paper we are supposed to do. I think I may be choosing biology as my research subject as medic students are encouraged to take up biology-related research questions. It may help to pull us through the entrance requirements.

So that's all for for. I hope I get to go home this Friday.

Saturday, March 16, 2002 12:47 a.m.

I should have blogged yesterday, but I was too absorbed with posting the second chapter of Nox Noctis to Schnoogle.com. Well, I’m free now so I’m going to write some stuff here. It’s Raining Men is playing on my WinAmp now and I’m a mood to write something more on girl power. Heh! Ginny’s getting a backbone made of steel in chapter 6. Draco’s going to have a field day here. =) I have also planned some Quidditch scenes and most of all, a really good self-realization part for Draco.

Anyway, I’m currently working on chapter 5 of NN and it’s coming along fine. I have decided to pick out certain scenes telling the complicated story of the Four Marauders, Snape and Lily through many perspectives, namely Harry’s, Snape’s and Sirius’. After that, I’ll write a small multipart side story to this arc. I originally intended to write the entire arc into NN itself but my prized beta suggested against it because it will confuse readers and mostly, interest in my story will wane if I totally focus on the older generation.

I have a feeling that NN will eventually turn into a Draco/Ginny-centered story. ^^;

Speaking of college work, I’m fine now. I have settled all of my assignments and I finished studying for the Chemistry test next week. Now, I only have Business Communications to read up and I need to drill on some questions concerning Chemistry Kinetics.

Ah, the joys of life.

Monday, March 11, 2002 09:12 p.m.

Alright. I'm screwed this week. Really screwed. The work piled on me is horrendously great in amount.

Anyhow, the performance on Saturday and Sunday was fun. Really fun. =) Actually, Saturday was fun'er'. We got the chance to go shopping for cosmetics and we had a lot of fun applying makeup. I bought a new set of blue eyeshadow in various tinges and well, everyone said that my eyes look good in blue.

But then, everything came with a price. I was feeling bored after the makeup session so I went to take to stroll. On the way, I met Jay and Leong and I asked them to accompany me for a walk around the Bangsar shopping complex. The horrors.... We took too much time loafing around that we were nearly late for the concert. ^^; The next day, the boys bore the brunt of Mr. Stephan's beration on why we must be punctual and everyone was banned from walking away from the backstage. :( Poor guys...

And obviously, Mr. Stephans wanted to save some face for me. ^^; I felt so guilty after that. I hope Jay and Leong would forgive me, though.

Friday, March 8, 2002 03:56 p.m.

Okay, I'm going to be Extremely Busy this weekend. The lecturers weren't kind when they heaped tons of homework and assignments on us today. I have one major Physical Chemistry report due on Wednesday, one Biology lab report due on Thursday (argh... Paper Chromatography...), one Pure Math portfolio due on Tuesday and tons of other worksheets and questions.

Also, the school choir is performing in the Bangsar Actors' Studio tomorrow and this Sunday. Our dresses have arrived last Tuesday and well, people are grumbling that they should have joined the choir because the dress is really beautiful. Sleek, elegant and simple. All black satin. =) And it costs me RM90 to get it tailored. If we are taking photos this weekend, I'll try to find a scanner and upload my picture online.

On the other hand, I think I'll be releasing the second chapter of Nox Noctis in FictionAlley next weekend. I hope the response will be good though.

Tuesday, March 5, 2002 03:25 p.m.

Alright, my life is getting really hectic nowadays. Since Sunday night, I have been attending choir practices and I have sang for a grand total of 5 hours. 5 long exhausting hours and I'm not very happy with the air-conditioning in the music room. Our big days are on Saturday and Sunday. My ex-piano teacher is going to the concert also and I'll be meeting her. Well, I have been learning music from a teacher for a few years now...

My BM presentation went rather fine this morning and the teacher was rather surprised that I managed to come up with the 'tension' factor. Well, Sarah, if you are reading this, you can see where are all my ideas for Nox Noctis are coming for. Statistics are a joke this morning. The lecturer didn't even remotely teach anything other than ask us to complete the exercises in our textbook. ::sighs:: The joys of being in college.

Alright, I think I need to go for a CAS lecture now. That's all for today.

Sunday, March 3, 2002 01:22 p.m.

I know I have been extremely lazy when it comes to blogging nowadays, partly because I have lots of college assignments to clear up and my Harry Potter fanfic is coming along fine. Now, what should I start first?

Alright, I’ll start off with college stuff. On Tuesday, our principal had a meeting with us and announced a lot of things. First of all, he introduced a new system for Internet usage. Now, he wants every student to pay RM5 per month for unlimited usage and I think that is a fair deal. Besides, they have ISDN lines and I can now enjoy broadband surfing at college for RM5 a month. =) This way, I can always check my e-mail constantly and troll FictionAlley Park. Also, I may be able to post new chapters of Nox Noctis to Schnoogle from the college computers.

Secondly, my ToK assignment has finally kicked off with us attending lectures on how to choose topics and such. I have already formed my team too, and there are three of us on it. I know it sounds a little selfish, but I have chosen my team members carefully. Only those with the capability to do work and think properly at the same time get to join. No offence, but I have turned down a couple of requests because I don’t have confidence in that classmate. It’s all a symbiotic relationship among us three, and we don’t feel ashamed to admit that team members are chosen through invitation only.

::sighs:: I won’t be back from college for the next two weeks, meaning that I won’t return home for next weekend. I have a charity concert coming up next Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be singing in the college choir. I wonder why they scraped off O Fortuna… Personally, I think it is a very good song for a classical concert. Now I’m stuck with A Clare Benediction, which I totally hate. The sadness… I won’t be able to talk to Sarah via IM for the next two weeks. We are having so much fun discussing Nox Noctis.

Alright, back on Nox Noctis. A few days ago, I had this really weird dream. I dreamt of some scenes in my fanfic and it was so realistic that when I woke up, I freaked out. I mean, there was the D/G sexual tension scene, the H/Hr scene in chapter 6, a Snape scene at the end of the fic and finally, a Ginny/TR scene somewhere in the middle of the story with O Fortuna blaring out loud in the background. Then, on Wednesday evening, after a gruesome hospital visit, I was studying and listening to Mix FM 94.5 when a few songs came on air. Suddenly, I was weeping hysterically because that Snape scene flashed past my mind again, and it simply got more realistic than ever. Is that a sign I’m getting too obsessed with Nox Noctis? Or should I stick to Robert Frost’s immortal words that ‘No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader’?

Anyhow, chapter 4 is finally done and I have sent it off to my beta-readers to read through. According to one of my betas, she says that it is the best chapter so far. She even urged me to get a good fan-artist to do fan-art for this story, but I think if my story is really that good, people will start sending in submissions. =)

I’ll blog more when I get back to college.

Friday, February 22, 2002 12:20 p.m.

I think I have just wasted the entire two weeks of my Chinese New Year vacation. The only constructive thing I’ve done is to post my opinions on various Harry Potter related issues to FictionAlley Park and finish up chapter 3 of Nox Noctis. Speaking of Nox Noctis, I’m happy that the reaction at FictionAlley has been rather good, considering that it is the first chapter of a new fanfic by a first-time Harry Potter fanfic writer. =) I’m just happy for it, that’s all.

Anyhow, school will be reopening on Tuesday and I’ll be going back to my hostel on Monday evening. After that, I may not have the time to write as fast as I want to. That’s why I’m aiming to clear up chapter 4 of Nox Noctis by this weekend so I can post one chapter per month until end of May. That’s when I get my three weeks’ worth of holidays and I can continue working on it.

Saturday, February 16, 2002 04:31 p.m.

Anthony, please don’t kill me!

I did something really evil this morning. I dropped Anthony a Jumbo Jet (side note: In Cantonese slang, to drop an airplane is to not turn up for a pre-agreed meeting) because I woke up late this morning. I hope he isn’t too mad about the entire thing and going around town trying to stick posters of that charity concert isn’t very appealing. I prefer staying at home, grooving to the current song playing on my WinAmp. Speaking of music, I really like this new sound by S Club 7 titled Don’t Stop Movin’. It is very upbeat and it’s really good for disco dancing. =) I just don’t get why it isn’t popular here in Malaysia. It has an 80-s beat to it and I love old music.

Feel free to give me a BeeGees album for my 19th birthday 26th next month. I love the BeeGees, especially some of their songs like Stayin’ Alive, Words, Melody Fair, Tragedy and First of May.

Also, I posted Nox Noctis (my new Harry Potter fanfic) online finally and so far, I haven’t received any flames. The response isn’t actually too hot nor too cold. It’s just... nice. Already, I have quite a few e-mails from people saying that they are interested to read the next chapter. True, there is a lot of competition out there but I think Nox does stand a chance against those heavy weights in the fandom because I’m planning to do original stuff in my fanfic and my betas are rather enthusiastic about the entire thing.

Ah, speaking of betas, Sarah finally replied my e-mail when I thought I have lost a fantastic beta for good. It seems that she has been extremely busy and her Internet connection went down, and she is still interested in beta-ing future chapters. Anyhow, I’m happy that she is still around to help me. It’s difficult to get dedicated betas nowadays and many are just interested to read the story before anyone else. Also, I wonder if anyone is feeling frustrated about insincere betas just like I am now. No offence, but some people like to tell you to send your story over and after that, you don’t hear from them ever again, no matter how many e-mails you send. If a reader isn’t interested in helping out, they shouldn’t just offer their services like that, and if they choose to abandon a writer, they should at least tell him/her.

Another good beta of mine has to be Jenny. Sarah is more of the characterization and plot beta because she really discusses the plot with me, whereas Jenny is the Grammar Queen. She managed to catch most of the grammar mistakes I have in the first chapter and I trust her to do a good job of beta-ing the second chapter. You guys can’t believe how grateful I am now.

I don’t respect people who don’t bother to send a bl**dy e-mail to say that they have no time for a story. It just leaves the writer in a lurch. That’s why I tend to test-drive my betas before committing my entire story to them.

On the other hand, Cassie has just made my day. The big chapter of Draco Veritas came out today and gawd, it has to be the best chapter since the ending of Draco Sinister. I’m a bigger fan of Sinister than Veritas but I really want to know who Ron’s Mystery Woman is. In DV6, it is Hermione, yet it isn’t Hermione. Damn Cassie, I was planning for something like that in Nox, and you have used it now. ::sighs:: I need to figure out something else for that scene in my head. =)

Thursday, February 14, 2002 10:51 p.m.

I just watched While You Were Sleeping starring Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman (alright, he has that guy next door look) for Valentine’s Day. Yeah, I know it is a lame way to spend such a day but I have no date to go out in the first place. =( Anyhow, that movie left a warm and fuzzy feelings in the pit of my stomach after watching it because it’s so romantic and funny at the same time. Gosh, I wish there’s someone like Jack beside me at the moment.

I’m just an old romantic at heart.

Wednesday, February 13, 2002 11:01 p.m.

Things to celebrate:

#1: Happy Chinese New Year to anyone celebrating it, especially to Ruby and Myra! It has been a rather boring few days in Batu Pahat where shopping complexes are closed for the national holidays and there aren’t many relatives to visit, hence the greatly reduced amount of red packets I receive. Anyhow, I managed to catch Elizabeth on a Singaporean television channel. I didn’t know Kate Blanchett could be such a powerful actress. =) It’s a good watch, nevertheless.

#2: My sponsor has just entered $600 into my bank account! Yay! Finally, after eight months of waiting! I haven’t planned on how to use the money but I think I’ll buy more movie vcds for enjoyment. =) Maybe I’ll shop more some new clothes in Mid-Valley Megamall later this week.

#3: LotR received 13 nominations for the Academy Awards! I hope Sir Ian McKellan wins the best supporting actor award! He is Gandalf.

#4: I may be releasing the first chapter of my Harry Potter fanfic online in Fiction Alley late next week! Yay! Many thanks to a few people who offered to beta!

Current music: Dreams by The Cranberries and Careless Whisper by George Michael

Friday, February 8, 2002 08:24 p.m.

This week was terribly hectic for me. On Sunday night, the nine of us Chinese students had a reunion dinner in celebration of the Lunar New Year in one of our rooms and we ate pizza and loads of yummy Chinese food, like Su Ann’s fried rice and Nina’s beef noodles. Since we are the minority in the college, we are quite close-knitted and well, all of us are like sisters in arms.

Then, on Monday, hell broke loose and I was miserable for the entire day. I saw on the notice board that all of us were supposed to send in their Personal CAS portfolio by this week and I hadn’t touched a single page. There, I started typing out 11 days’ worth of reports detailing on my two-week stint as an auxiliary nurse in a hospital last holidays. I even risked Anthony’s wrath by coming to the choir practice ½ an hour late. ^^; Anyway, I managed to get everything printed out by Tuesday and guess what? The CAS coordinator clarified that the portfolio deadline had been extended by another two weeks and we only have to hand it in after the Chinese New Year holidays. Grrr….

Also, the lecturers are having a field day handing out assignments and worksheets for us to work on, especially for Pure Math. My head is still pounding from all those complex numbers and De Moivre’s Theorem questions and the Chemical Reactions topic made it worse. Now I have to figure out how to clear up everything before I go off for my New Year vacation.

I’m also feeling resentful about those illegal immigrants who create trouble in Malaysia. I mean, being illegal is one thing, but beating up our policemen before going on a vandalism rampage is another. Our country is so full of these illegal immigrants that I don’t feel safe walking alone outside any longer. There are all sorts of violent crimes committed by those people, eg. murder, rape and robbery. As I was coming back from college today, I was stuck in a massive traffic jam and there were dozens (maybe hundreds) of policemen and members of the Special Forces (FRU) along the whole stretch of road, not to mention a helicopter flying above in circles. Maybe they were raiding some illegal immigrant settlement.

At least that is positive action. =) I really hope our Government does something effective about this problem soon.

For now, I think I need to go find some more betas for my Harry Potter fanfic…

Sunday, February 3, 2002 12:34 p.m.

I have just posted a long rant on a Harry Potter Fanfiction ML and I think it deserves a place here, on my blog. =) Just read it and do e-mail me privately if you can an all-out discussion on this topic.

Hm, I know this is really late but nevertheless, I would love to add my two sickles to the fanfic-writing discussion which was a hot debate topic a few days ago. I'm a nobody in HP fandom (eek! I haven't even released any HP fanfic to date), but I hope my experiences from other fanfic communities can help here.

Likes:
*Good characterization and story planning.*
This is my #1 pet peeve. When you have language problems, there are tons of beta-readers (again, I beg to differ that all beta-readers can do a good job. Some betas are just interested to read the story way before anyone else) out there to help you with English, but when the characterization and plot is way too bad and smell like rotten eggs, no beta would be able to clean it up for you. The most they can do is to point that out to you and you are on your own again. Even betas can get frustrated at writers who don't seem to get at least 50% of the characterization correct.

Again, none of us is JK Rowling, but that isn't an excuse to make Draco fall in love with Ginny at first sight. Also, arguments like 'this is my fanfic so I have the right to slash anyone together without a reason' don't work on me. I'm already immune.

*Good Summary and Title*
Sometimes, I don't get it when people don't bother to think up a good title and an equally good summary. No offence, but titles like "harry potter luv hermione" turns me off, with those atrocious spellings and wrong punctuations. Before a reader starts reading a fanfic, the first things he/she will see is the title and the summary. In other words, if you want someone to give your fanfic a try, think of a catchy title and summary, and get two other people to look at it. Also, I don't understand why people can't notice the bright red line under each misspelled word in Microsoft Word? I believe most of us are using MS Word to type out fanfics. Either color blind, or just plain lazy.

- Uh, want me to go into the medical explanation of color blindness here? Not that they can't see the colors, it's just that color blind people can't differentiate colors properly. They see colors in a different way than we do.

Dislikes:
Everything opposite of what I mentioned earlier.

*Emotional blackmail and the 'I-wrote-this-in-X-minutes-so-don't-flame-me' syndrome * There are many people who write fanfics just to get reviews, hence the occurence of messages like 'if I don't get at least 10 reviews for this chapter, I don't want to post the next' at the bottom of fanfics. Sometimes, it's a sad thing that fanfic writing has degraded to this point. When I started reading and writing fanfics 5 years ago (albeit in other fandoms), writers are very proud of their works and we don't write to get more reviews. We do it to get salf-satisfaction, and also, to get fun discussions out of our favorite fanfics, which sadly is only present for Cassie's Draco series and a limited number of other fanfics in the HP fandom. It seems now that a lot of writers are writing for reviews only. Undeniably, reviews are pretty ego-boosting and they are good for self-motivation, but does it really matter if one gets 100 reviews with 'I LUV THIS FIC!!!' one-liner instead of a long and really constructive piece of comment? I can tell you it does. Better to have received a good piece of C&C than to have your inbox bombarded by tons of worthless one-liners.

Also, if a writer really loves his work, he will get the fanfic checked by many times and of course, patience is virtue. Don't rush? Why hurry? To get more reviews? To me, that is plain immature. It is a real turn off to see 'the X-minute' factor in introductions.

*Starting a multi-part fanfic and not finishing it*
Sadly, I’m guilty of this in a certain fandom, but I have learnt my mistakes. I really, really hate it when writers start a promising fanfic and not finishing it. Worse still, some writers will post lousy ending to the story and that destroys the entire thing. I know this quite common among fanfic writers when the dreaded Writer's Block strikes, but I know of some ways to counter this problem. First of all, before you start a story, plan it out first. Make a rough outline of the events that are going to happen in your fanfic. You can write in a notebook or any surface which a pen can scribble on. Personally, a lot of good ideas come to me when I'm solving Advance Math problems like proving trigonometry identities using De Moivre's Theorem. Jot them down before they run away and compile them. Get your beta-readers in a online-discussion (e-mail, IM, whatever) and refine the outlines before you start writing them. Also, think of a suitable ending to your fanfic and this will help you to draw a good conclusion to it. I believe that conclusions are very important in determining a good story.

Another point here: Try to write outline a few chapters before the one you are writing now. With this, you can catch loopholes easily. For me, I normally don't release any chapters before my story is finished, or at least half-done. This is what I'm doing now for HP fandom. It's not fair for readers to anticipate chapters which you are not going to write.

Do a favor for readers, will ya?

Saturday, February 2, 2002 04:41 p.m.

Time passes so quickly that sometimes I feel that I couldn’t breathe at all. Time seems to flow in great dollops. One moment I’m at home. The next, I’m in college talking to my Biology lecturer. After that, I’m doing my Math homework. Before I knew it, I’m already at home typing away. Somehow, I feel a lot more confident this semester than the last one. It could be because that I have finally settled down in college and also, I have gotten used to the Malay food they serve in the canteen, albeit the fact that I still miss dinner on Mondays due to the horrible menu there. Studies have been going on well and I have not faced any flake from lecturers and college mates. In fact, I think I have gotten along well with them this week.

Before coming home for the weekend, I managed to clear up all of my college assignments, except for the damned Biology report due next Friday. Well, that can wait and I have complete my De Moivre’s Theorem prep questions in the library last afternoon. Sometimes, I wonder about the logic of making a medical student take up Advance Mathematics. Alright, I can settle for reasons like Math can enhance your logical thinking, make you systematic and it disciplines you. I don’t mind studying Math, but do the questions have to be this tough to solve? I took up one entire hour cracking my head over four proving questions on De Moivre’s Theorem and people were throwing startled glances at me when I shouted for joy when I actually managed to solve these questions.

Ah, speaking of LotR fanfics, I don’t think I can stomach a Gimli/Legolas fanfic. ::Siew Lee blanches:: C’mon people. Gimli and Legolas? With the movie out now, I can’t imagine pretty boy Orlando Bloom smooching a dwarf. Ah, speaking of Orlando Bloom, I watched Black Hawk Down on Monday and Orlando looks so different in this movie! I mean, it took me more than ½ hour to spot him in his crew cut! As for Ewan McGregor, No, I Did Not See Him Anywhere. The movie’s pretty okay, albeit a tad boring in the beginning. I was starting to get irritated by those macho-man talk when the battle scenes started and I was glued on my sofa set already. ^^v

Ah, on the interesting side, I have resolved a huge problem I encountered while doing the planning for my new Harry Potter story. Surprisingly, it came to me while I was tossing and turning on my dorm bed for not being able to sleep properly. The next moment, I found myself patching up a gigantic loophole present in the plot. =) And yes, the story is getting more and more interesting now.

But alas, where are all my beta-readers? No-one seemed to be replying me this week and all of them do not seem to be online this weekend. I really need someone to give me input on my new chapter.