Entries tagged with personal

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i love wasabi peas, maybe that's why i'm spicy and salty

I have my final exam for this term soon. YAY! I think I would do just fine, I just hope I wouldn't make careless mistakes. I have kind of given up on my tone-deafness already...
I tried watching the Disguiser for the past few weeks in order to fill the empty spot left by Nirvana in Fire. Nope, it's just not as good, even though it's supposedly done by the same team. I have a hard time getting to even episode 5 without sometimes cringing or skipping scenes. I haven't reflected on what made me feel iffy about the show, though.
I used to dislike wasabi peas but somehow the taste has grown on me. I love it now. Especially on studying nights, they keep you awake (THAT STING, MAN) and they are... good with alcohol too... However, a combination of the two isn't the best studying companion.

Thoughts of learning languages: I got into an argument with a classmate about this. I got so angry at him because he treated me as if I'm stupid, but I know I'm fucking right (even the teacher agreed with me). What he's missing here is how you can't treat two languages as equivalents -- in terms of meaning and intention. The reason behind this is because when you are learning a new language, I believe you should also learn about the cultural background (at least a little) to understand the intention (or essence, if you prefer a fancier term) behind the sentence. That is why "translators" are often called interpreters, because that is what they do -- they don't take each word from one language and translate them word for word into another language, but they convey the intention and deliver it in the way it would be delivered in the other language. This is why most translations are not exactly the literal meaning of the original sentence, because interpreters prioritize the intention/meaning rather than the exact word-per-word equivalent.

(I'm rather bad with words, so this might be confusing... I hope you guys get what I meant.)

SO!!!! This dude in my class argued about something, let me write down the dialogue for you guys:

A：我昨天還沒念書，明天就要考試了。("I have not studied yesterday, and tomorrow we're already gonna have a test!")

B：____________________________

So yes, we are supposed to fill the dialogue for B. (it's multiple choice) Option A was definite wrong, so I'm not going to put that up, but the dude in my class chose option B (“還有好幾個鐘頭呢。” / "There are yet still several good hours.") meanwhile I chose option C ("那我們現在一起去圖書館念書吧。“ / "Then let's study in the library together.")

The thing is that these two sentences are good answers in English, but in Chinese, option B sounds like an incomplete sentence grammatically. If you said that to someone, the other person will get confused because they will ask you, so what? Good hours of what? Meanwhile option C gave a suggestion of what to do, which would be the best response. It's kind of difficult to explain this in English... I think honestly Chinese is easier to interpret in my mother tongue, LOL. B would be, "Masih ada beberapa jam, tuh.", C would be, "Kalau begitu, kita sekarang belajar bersama di perpustakaan saja."

Also, another reason being: the test is tomorrow. Not on the day of conversation. So there won't be several (the Chinese character meant several as in numbers under 10) good hours but quite a lot of hours, or the more appropriate answer would be, "There's still today." Therefore, option C is the best.

Anyway the dude in class told me that I have no sense of logic whatsoever because "obviously when we are talking about the hours here, it's about studying" and cut me off because I finished my explanation. I refuse to argue with an idiot, so I shut my trap after that. But I'm honestly still offended (plus, I really don't like him, I think he thinks too highly of himself that people like that really disgust me).

I notice that this is the most fatal mistake that most language learners have, though. They treat languages as mathematics, sometimes it does in a sense that there are formulas and logic behind the formation of words. But what they are missing is that languages also contain the cultural background and origins. The main function of a language is a communication tool, so if it doesn't deliver the correct meaning/intention, then it doesn't work.

I'm trying to figure out a way to explain things more properly nowadays, I think it's my main problem most of the time. People always think that my explanation is too detailed/roundabout and therefore difficult to understand sometimes! To think that I used to be a national debater back in high school... I think those trophies meant nothing, looking at how incompetent I am now...

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pursuing my true self

I finished the story mode and unlocked all the songs in P4DAN after clocking around 10 hours in game? It really is pretty short. I only have one King Crazy for ONE song in Easy mode, though. So no, I haven't gotten good at this game, so I will clock in more hours before I buy the extra songs on PS Store. 8')

My overall view of the game is really good. I think ATLUS really knows how to please their fans, judging from the amount of fanservice they provided in this game (it's the really good kind of service). P4DAN has the whole package -- solid plot (for a rhythm game, it definitely exceeds expectations), great visuals and animations, and of course, great sounds. It's amazing.

I am already fond of the scoring in Persona 4, so it didn't surprise me that I liked all the remixes too! But honestly, even my friend who doesn't play many games said that the songs are great. :D

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About the tragedy in Paris recently -- it caused quite a lot of arguments recently, and I felt that people were missing the point. I will talk about my personal opinion on it here, so I'm keeping it under the cut.

( paris, beirut, baghdad -- what's the difference? )

I'm sorry if I sounded rather preachy, but I will not apologize for my sentiment. I felt that the whole "Pray for" movement has become more of a social media trend than genuine care, and that worries me. If people felt that it's "enough" for them to "show that they care" rather than actually doing something... that can get dangerous. Of course, we can't combat terrorism personally, for a lot of us are ordinary people. But I think it's important for us to take what's happening in the world and think through the layers, instead of just gnawing at the crust.

The weekend is going to be over soon, so take care and I hope you all will have a great week ahead!

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I turned 2x

Yes, I still insist on keeping my real age a secret. (laughs bitterly) (Actually it's quite easy to guess from the cut text title...)
I'll finally come to terms with my age, but until then please let me be in denial. (A lot of people I knew online guessed older than I actually am, though, interesting!)

ALSO! The very first game I worked on professionally (Star Wars: Battle Pod) is celebrating one year this month. :)

My birthday was actually on November 9. But at the same day I also ordered birthday gifts for myself and I thought it's better to just keep things under one post, so I waited until I finally received them before I wrote this birthday post... It's image heavy, so I'm keeping them under the cut. ^.^

( It feels like a perfect night for breakfast at midnight )

Here are some reflections and resolutions regarding this year:
- To apprecate and respect myself more. Self-loathing is still one of my biggest hurdles, and I teared up a little when a friend wished for me to be kinder to myself.
- To learn how to communicate better... Hahaha. What is social skill do they sell them in Indomaret*-- I'll work on it!
*note: Indomaret is a famous minimart chain in my home country, it's literally in every nook and cranny
- Hopefully I'd be able to make peace with the awful things in the past and eventually recover from my disorders. I'll leave it at that.

Anyway! That's about it about my birthday. I hope you all had a great Monday like I did! :>

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the upcoming year in taipei

Here is a brief plan of what I hope to achieve as I moved there:

Go cold turkey on social media. No, seriously. I want to take this one year to focus on things. I need somewhere to pour my thoughts though, so I'll most likely come back here every now and then. Besides, I figured that typing my thoughts down here is a lot healthier than venting things on Twitter. Maybe it's something to do with the formatting?
Learn Mandarin Chinese until I'm comfortable enough to hold a conversation, to be able to read manhua raws and watch wuxia series with not much hurdle. (This is actually a very high goal... if I say so myself... my level of comprehension now is buying food, asking for directions and complimenting pretty girls... yes....)
Research on Chinese history, especially on materials that can contribute to the comic I plan to make... (It's a story of a warrior woman and a songstress set around the Southern and Northern Dynasty or earlier, I would not really call it GL but it has the subtext, but I felt that the message behind it might revolve around feminism more than the romance)
Draw everyday... No matter how small/fast! Gotta hammer down the discipline!
Related to the point above, relearn drawing! Gotta firm up those shaky foundations!
Build a decent portfolio! At least something I'm happier with, with a better direction!
Get a job! Find a way to live out there independently!

I'm sorry for all! the! exclamation marks!! I am hoping that everytime I read this as I check and re-check on my goals, I would feel the spirit again... Since I'm actually a pretty spiritless person in real life. ^^;

I'll spend the rest of my time before I flew off to plan out on stuff I want to put in my portfolio, so I won't get lost/make excuses when I got to the real deal. :> I am quite excited for the whole year ahead!

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and then he became a star

I had not spend enough time here so most of you probably don't know how much I love The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It practically became my comfort reading pick (although I always cry at the end of it). I was so excited to hear that they were making a movie out of it, so during my stay in Indonesia, I dragged my parents to watch the film with me on the first day it was released! Although I only got the mood to talk about it now because I was so upset. It's a really pretty movie with amazing score, to be honest. However... I can say that I'm extremely disappointed with how it turned out to be, especially regarding the plot.

( you become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed )

I tried so hard to find things I love from this movie, and I did really love the visual style and the amazing score (I bought the soundtrack regardless). I wanted to like it, to be honest, but I found it really hard when the qualities I adore from the source material was buried. Have you watched the movie? What do you think about it? I'd like to hear other opinions on this since most blogs and reviews just praised this movie without discussing the source material.

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a trip around europe (pt 1)

I went to travel around Europe with my family for 2 weeks! It's not really the ideal trip for me because I'd love to spend more time in each country and visit museums and historical places, but since it's a family trip I don't really have much say in decision making... We basically visited 9 countries in 12 days? (The other 2 days spent on transit). It was really tight.

( the differences are lost )

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Summer Come Sooner

Some updates about life:

I'll be finishing school in a week. Next Wednesday is my final presentation for a solo animation project, Thursday is my final submission date for all my other classes, I have no class on Friday -- after that it's only internship for 6 months. I was kinda bummed that my internship will start right after this semester ended (that means I will only have 3-day break after the long journey). But on the other hand I am kind of excited for the learning experience! (I'm going to be an environment artist, from the entrance test I think it's heavily texture-based so it's going to help a lot for my painting skills?)
I used to think that I just want to work for a game/in a game studio but after school, I kind of changed my perception on this? I am leaning more towards illustration and storytelling rather than the production process itself. I am planning to study in another school after I graduated from my current university, but some people I know are making fun of how my process is "going backwards" (because the next school I'm going to only offers diploma for Illustration).
My best friends (G and C) are graduating this month! I am very happy that G has scored a well-paying job in Tecmo-Koei. C is still going to complete his missing credits so I'll probably still seem him around in school (even though I am taking internship, I still need to go for the portfolio class). I am very happy that both of my friends have completed their academic journey! Ironically the company G is going to work for is a rival company to the one I am interning for. LOL.
I have been seeing a doctor for my issues and I think I am going to look for another one because he is just trying to provide me medicines instead of trying to get to the root of the problem. He even advised me that I should avoid my problems instead of facing them so that I won't have to deal with it. I don't know, maybe it works for other people... but to me, I think I should not do that because if I don't confront the problems, how would I grow stronger?

Some people I know on Twitter are already enjoying their Spring break. How about everyone else here?

Hopefully the Summer would be better!