佳

I know I said I wouldn't blog, but just a quickie!

A couple of days ago, I realised that I still didn't know what my name would be like in Japanese - which came as a surprise; knowing myself, it's a wonder I hadn't tried to find out sooner. I indulged in a bit of smug superiority while I searched for a pinyin converter, because my "Japanese name" would be my real name, not just some typical internet-generated one like some others have to use. All I had to do was input my name in Chinese and it would be read as kanji, how brilliant! Of course, it's considerably less than brilliant that the only thing I can read in Chinese is my own name - and my parents sometimes forget that I can. How disturbing.

So I found a pinyin converter, and typed in my name: 佳彤

Unfortunately, my smug bubble was burst when I realised the second character isn't one of the many imported by the Japanese back when they first adopted traditional Chinese as their written language. *mope

But I was also quite delighted to find out that the first half is read as kei in Japanese, which would have been the same pronunciation used for Kaye. Isn't that most amazing? I'm getting to love my name more as time passes - and I'm not talking about "Kaye". Because at the end of the day, nothing fits me better than the one I've spent nearly two decades growing into.

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P.s.: Another three papers and I'll be free for CNY! This year, those fifteen days will mean:

• a reunion even more appreciated than before, because of
• the departure of an old, very close friend to somewhere new,
• a change or two (I won't say what just yet, heh),
• a time to contemplate the near future, and of course
• a boost in finances (as always).

I haven't had a single mandarin orange yet this year. Hmm.

hurrah, it's the weekend!

And that means one week of three down! It's rather unusual of me to go through an exam period this concerned about how well I do, rather than just wishing exams would end soon so the holidays can come. The last time this happened was probably SPM, though even then it wasn't such a big thing. The main focus for me is usually to just get through the exam period. Now you get why I'm such an awful student.

My DVDs arrived! The stupid postman just lobbed it over the gate, even though it was marked FRAGILE. Our postal service is the absolute pits, lower than the bottom of hell's toilets. Hmph. But thank goodness the wrapping was secure enough! In fact, the cardboard box and its lovely nesting of thick paper and bubble-wrap makes such a lovely home for my DVDs that I haven't taken them out yet. Somehow my shelf looks unsafe, heh. I should also mention that the box has a French postal stamp on it, together with the Japanese one I expected, so I guess it's no wonder the parcel took forever to get here. It's been on an adventure!

I've only allowed myself 30 of the overall running time of 220 minutes, because I decided (after 30 minutes of pure epic awesomeness) that something so amazing should be savoured with every ounce of attention I can give it - so I don't want to watch it with half my mind fretting about exams and reciting random facts. No, I'll give it my full attention after the exams. There'll be plenty of time afterwards for this. There, I've convinced myself.

But from here on out, the papers are the tough ones (although to be honest, Accounting 1 isn't included in this category), and the timing is less forgiving. So from now till the end of exams, no blogging for me. I should stop using Facebook and Twitter too, at least for the most part. I really have been grossly indulgent with myself for the past week of papers.

The aim for the next two weeks: to keep a calm approach towards studying (even if it makes me feel ill), to appear stress-free (in the eyes of everyone but my family), and to show myself some semblance of discipline and self-control. Lofty aim, especially for the gluttonous sloth that I am, but since it's short term and I'm putting it here in writing, it should be manageable. After all, the first step has to be taken sometime, eh?

psychedelic power

Another filler picture, taken a short while back right after I bought a few new hair ties to join the "transpaque" family. Equals three! Welcome to the family, Chocolate, Lilac, Charcoal and Apple!

There's no story behind this, it's just another aesthetically pleasing and functionally obsolete picture that turned out so nice because the Sun was being generous with its light. I don't know exactly what it makes me think of - probably a giant sunflower or a wormhole in outer space. Don't know why. Hmm. Either way, it has this funny power that makes me feel like I'm being drawn into a bright, colourful whirlpool of sunlight every time. I guess you could say it cheers me up, heh. Colon right bracket!

So yes, is a filler. 'ta!

update: bits and pieces

Hello, bloggie. I hasn't abandoned you because of the exams, don't worry. I is still going to follow my erratic blogging timing. Which means the next you hear from I may be tomorrow, but may also be next month. Heh.

But is not I's fault. I has no will to blog when I has nothing to share or nothing to think about. (When that happens, I thinks about grasshoppers and striped tablecloths, then I is all okay again.) Anyway, that means this is a filler post, meant to demonstrate my boredom and restlessness and anxiety and stress and depravity and whatnot. Also, you may have noticed I's terrible grammar. I personally thinks is kinda cute. Is funny.

Okay enough of that, it's actually taking more effort to write like that than not.

Boredom: because I don't feel like revising statistics tonight and I don't wanna sleep either.

Restlessness: because I want my parcel to arrive NAO and it feels really slooooow.

Anxiety: because it's exam time. Enough said.

Stress: because studying makes me ill. Lol.

Depravity: because I bawled like a demented baby over the last two episodes of Secret Garden.

Whatnot: because my kintoro doesn't seem to be working - but of course it takes time, no biggie.

Have I mentioned I'm finally going to learn how to cook something other than instant noodles? I'm going to learn to make pan mee after this gruelling exam period! Hehe. I'm joking about the instant noodles, by the way, of course that's not all I can make. I can also make instant soup, the kind that comes in sachets. Yup, that's me.

the way my mind works

This will probably come out sounding weird, given my ineptitude at conveying messages in coherent sentences when I most need to, but I'll say it anyway. I've only just realised recently that one very odd quirk of mine is that every time after I've read someone else's writing (especially others' expressions of their opinions) for an extended period of time, I feel this urge to read my own writing for a while, like some sort of balancing routine. That, or I write something myself (and then read it).

The most common scenario would be me reading through someone's blog or maybe through some random online forum where the posts are lengthy and eloquent - when I'm done, I get this feeling that I really need to read something else (preferably something by my own hand), and fast.

Into the New World (gasp)

[link] <-- click!

I don't know how to explain it, but somehow I'm always happy when I've got downloads running - the only thing that tempers the otherwise grumpy impatience. The same goes for awaiting the shipment of an order from online stores. Oh, this age of instant gratification is so twisted.

happiness in the mail

My first order arrived on Monday! Change Ur World and No More Pain, both limited edition releases. They're in good condition, thank goodness! So YesAsia gets a few brownie points from me now; I'll wait until the CDJapan parcel arrives before I deliver my verdict.

Also: my order came with a free toy! It's just one of those cheap gacha capsules, but it's still the most adorable thing a free toy can be! I haven't thought of a name yet, but when I do I'll tell you. Haha.

By the way, my DVD player appears to be region-free. FIST PUMP YEAH!!

we need a little recap...

Oh, dear. I started drafting this before Christmas and now look. It's already the second day of the new decade! And I can't blame it all on my lack of a computer; I really do procrastinate on an unbelievable level. Hmm. Well anyway. I don't normally do this, but I feel like the end of this year 2010 should be documented, for various small reasons and a few significant ones. Uh, I should probably change the publish date, though...

hands down winners

Decided to just go with CDJapan. The amount of stress caused by the indecision (and the worry that the limited editions would run out of stock) was absurd - I'll just order it tonight and go through the exam period only stressing over my papers and not about the worrisome quality of my package's shipping.

Speaking of the exam period...

I stopped watching almost all the dramas I was following because it took up insane amounts of time, but I'm still allowing myself one: Secret Garden. I can catch up with the rest at leisure in February, but this one is something else entirely.

In fact, just watching this puts me off all the others because it's so much more real and serious - face it, MMM fans, a sweet and goofy little love story between two kids is no comparison for one between realist adults who have so much more to consider in life than just their feelings. It's not a "star-crossed lovers" plot, it's about people dealing with the responsibilities and consequences that come with their actions - portrayed very well by the two leads and the two supporting, and that's not my bias. Just check out their ratings - they're number one for ratings in Korea, with an awesome 29.3% nationwide!

Okay, rant's over. By the way, I'm changing the labels on my posts from now on; instead of just "fanpost", I'll be more specific. Another step towards the development of my blog into a fanblog, ohnoes!

CDJapan vs. YesAsia

I'm in a real dilemma over which site to buy my stuff from. I've already narrowed it down to these last two, cdjapan and yesasia. I initially had it down to four, but then decided to scratch out Amazon and HMV (Amazon because the system was too confusing for my sleep-deprived brain to navigate, plus it involved secondhand merchandise - the horror! HMV because their shipping is expensive, you're signed up for express mailing without any say in the matter). The problem is, these sites have twigged aeons ago that because what they're selling is pretty much homogeneous, some form of product differentiation is necessary.

The result? A huge headache for me. See, CDJapan is known for being very quick and extremely helpful. They also don't have much problems with stocking and are very good for getting all those freebies that come with first-press limited editions. Speed is their best feature - it's amazingly speedy; sometimes you get your order on the day it's released!

YesAsia loses out on the gross price factor, because theirs are noticeably higher than those on CDJapan. But then again, it's actually just them hiding their shipping costs - because this site proudly promotes its Free Shipping offer. So net price-wise, YesAsia is actually cheaper.

However.

CDJapan costs more. Money is a sore point, with heavy weightage in this issue.

YesAsia has more cons, but its overall cheaper price makes it a serious contender still. This site tends to be rather erratic with its delivery - for some orders, it can be surprisingly efficient, but many have complained about having to wait for weeks to get their purchases, and sometimes never get their packages (which have already been paid for). Worse, some unsatisfied customers say that the customer service department is completely unhelpful when contacted, saying they don't know where the shipment is. They also have been said to be unreliable when it comes to getting the all-important freebies. This, I've heard, is because they actually only start sourcing for products when an order has been placed - which makes them a lot less attractive.

Both, apparently, are pretty good when it comes to packaging orders - plenty of protective bubble-wrapping. There have been a couple of stories about YesAsia's products being damaged, but that probably isn't a frequent occurence. CDJapan does have better packaging, though - they bubble-wrap your stuff, put it in a cardboard box for extra protection and tape it to the inside of the box to minimise movement.

Now, this post might seem to be slanting a whole lot towards CDJapan, but as I said, money is a pretty big factor. CDJapan's cost comes out to be about RM50 more expensive than on YesAsia, which could buy me a normal album in local stores already. That having been said, if I'm already spending a few hundred on this stuff, maybe an extra fifty to guarantee its quick arrival in good condition is worth it - it would not be funny to have my hundreds of ringgit disappear somewhere in the Pacific.

I don't know, really I don't. Someone decide for me, please - before stocks run out! :(