Sunday, December 26, 2010

I like phone charms

I am sick again!  I think it's still the cold from a few weeks ago, since I never fully recovered (I've had no appetite--seriously, I've lost five pounds--and have been waking up completely congested with my nose bleeding since I had that cold).  I'm blaming the stress from exams and Christmas for weakening my immune system.  I'm pretty tired today, but that's probably because I've forgotten to take my iron for the past two days. Lolanemia.

I was looking at Boxing Day sales yesterday and today, but none of the deals were really that great.  Actually, no, the deals on Slim 360s and DSis were good, but I already have a normal 360 and slim DS.  No point in buying a DSi since the 3DS is about to be released. Which is obviously why they're all on sale, etc.  My mom gave me a $150 gift certificate to a nearby mall for Christmas, and I'm going to use it for a 3DS since that mall's gift certificates are weird and must be redeemed at once. I might use it at the Coach store if they come out with nice spring purses.  Most of their fall/winter stuff was pretty ugly.  I wish that mall was like every other place where you can carry over unused credit, but no, that's just too practical or something.

I ended up going to the anime store since their sale on manga and accessories was pretty good.  I got a set of five EVA phone charms (Rei, Rei, Rei, Asuka, and Unit 01) for $10.  I also got five volumes of Maria Holic and a Macross F keychain with five character charms (Sheryl, Sheryl, Ranka, Klan, and Alto).  I plan on pulling the charms off the keychain and adding them to the EVA phone charms.  Some will go on my phone, some will go on my mp3 player.

It took me two hours to read one volume of Maria Holic.  Fuck you cold, I'm taking a nap.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas

We had family Christmas drama.  We were doing so well, and then the fight happened at 8:30pm on the 23rd.  At least it was mostly resolved by dinner on the 24th, though.  My uncle's still not talking to my dad, but they've been fighting on-again-off-again for months so that's not too bad.

The fight was over my grandfather's Christmas present.  His kids (my father, uncle N, aunt P, and uncle T) all decided to chip in to get him a new TV.  They chose  a 47", 1080p, 120Hz TV that came with a free BluRay player.  Then on Thursday, we were going to buy it and set it up while my grandfather was asleep.  Thursday, we (me, my dad, N, and P's son S) went to buy it. N decided to bring his wife along, and she's prone to causing drama.  Basically, she kept saying the TV was too expensive (but they put in a fixed amount of money, so that shouldn't have been an issue for them) and they should get a small, crappy one for half the price.  N took her side, and he and my dad fought and no TV was bought.  N took the money envelope and left it in my grandparent's kitchen.

The rest of us were upset that Nonno would be out a present because of the fight, and both sides kept doing that passive-agressive "oh, THEY have the problem, so I'll let THEM decide" thing. So me and my uncle T decided to take the money and by the goddamn TV.  We also got him two of his favourite movies on BluRay.  The envelope only had $910, so I pitched in $140.  I said it wasn't a problem since I lived with my grandparents in high school, and Nonno still pays my cell phone bill, but my dad and aunt said it wasn't right for me to pay for what should have been from them.  I've been reimbursed $100.

My mom spent yesterday with some family friends.  She told me that three of their kids are dating now, and my response was "What? Aren't they twelve?" No, they're 14-16 now.  I remember their mothers' pregnancies and helping their grandmother take care of them when they were tiny. I feel old now.  Old and ronery.  Those kids' relationships are more serious than any of mine. A relationship would be nice, but I honestly don't like spending a lot of time with one person and it's rare that I find exceptions to that rule.

I need to cut my hair soon.  In the past week or so, it hit that length where it spontaneously forms giant, matted, tangled clumps. I have been brushing it constantly, but they keep re-forming.  Besides, it's really looking thin now.  I need a cut to get rid of some of the weight.

Monday, December 20, 2010

I hate waiting.

Today's exam is from 7-9 pm.  It is in a gym building, which means we will be waiting outside until we're allowed in to write.  Waiting outside, at night, in a windy area (campus is near the lake), in winter.  Oh so much fun.  This is like a repeat of last year's Anthro midterm*.

To be honest, I'm more bothered by the 7pm thing.  I want to get this over with.  I don't want it hanging above me all day.  I don't even need all day to study.  This is Genetics, the easiest class.  Hell, the second half of the course (which is all we're being tested on as the exam's not cumulative) was a repeat of high school philosophy for the most part.  Half the exam is tutorial material, which was all pretty straightforward. Then again, the Human Bio office is a group of slackers and we haven't had our tutorial quizzes returned.  Those would be nice to study from.

My feelings about the Physio exam:  Prof 1 is an asshole. We've got lecture recordings to prove that you told us we didn't need to know the topic and it would not be on the exam.  Then you had multiple questions about it on the exam.  (This happened for a few topics, actually...)  At least they mark them quickly, and we have a different prof for the next half of the course.  This is my GPA-killing course.  Again, not because it's difficult, but because Prof 1 likes using cheap tricks on tests.

*Last year's Anthro midterms were screwed up in general. Midterm 2 was held after the final class, but before the final exam. I don't get it. Midterm 1 was held in the lecture hall for the class.  This lecture hall was originally meant for graduation ceremonies only, but as classes got larger they started holding lectures there.  This means there are no writing surfaces.  We bring clipboards to write on.  I pay thousands of dollars in tuition to write on a goddamn clipboard.

They had an army of TAs to ensure everyone was spaced apart properly and no one had any papers or markings on their clipboards.  Half of the class was to write from 6-7pm, the other half from 7-8pm.  I was in the second half, so I got to the location at about a quarter to seven.  We had to wait outside the building.  It was snowing a bit more heavily than usual.

Because this exam was a logistic clusterfuck, the second half didn't even ENTER THE BUILDING until 8:30pm.  They didn't tell us they were running behind. We just waited in the cold, all huddled together.  Someone did come out at around 7:30, but just to tell us we were waiting at the wrong door.

By the time we did get in, we all had numb hands and had to waste 15 mins of exam time defrosting enough to manipulate a pencil.

EDIT:  My Puffy 3tone blue lenses are in!  I'm organizing a time for a facetrade with the seller now.  I can't wait to see how they look!  I'll post pictures as a review once I have them.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

More exam ranting

So to practice for my Biochem exam, I did last year's exam.  All the structures in the questions? Lewis diagrams.  Lewis diagrams of large organic molecules.  I'm crying right now.  Lewis structures all look the same. ;_; Also, we have a few questions where we have to discuss the nutritive values of certain foods.  When did this become a nutrition exam?  I didn't do horribly on the past exam, but I could stand to study more.  At least I know what to focus more on, now that I know the types of questions this prof asks. We have four profs in this course, so the midterms weren't written by the same profs (midterm one was written by Prof One, midterm two by Profs One and Two), and the final will be written by Three and Four, but mostly Four (I think Three only has like eight questions out of the sixty).

Someone in my Physio class posted their study notes to one of the course forums.   They're wonderful.  Diagrams are integrated nicely, there are tons of extra bits of information. I think I'm going to use them instead of my notes. --;

I actually went to the mailbox to get the mail today, since I found out that no one's been in a week.  My Persona 3 FeMC headphones came in.  They're a pair of $5 Sony knockoffs from eBay, nothing special.  I was surprised by the colour.  I was expecting a bright apple-red, but they're a deeper ruby red.  Really pretty.  The sound quality's good for a $5 pair of headphones, but I wasn't expecting much from a pair of $5 headphones.  I'm probably not going to use them, though, since I prefer earbuds.  And the 'arm' piece on these would catch my cartilage piercing if I take them off too quickly.  I can't wait 'til the break so that I can actually get to sewing progress on my cosplays.

I found out that Starry Sky~in spring~ had been translated, so I played that for a bit during study breaks.  I've cleared Suzuya's route so far.  Working on Yoh now.  Yoh's boring. I should have gone for Kanata this time.  The uniforms are gorgeous, but Suzuya's belt buckle confuses me.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Finals

My first final was today.  It was Molecular Biology, three hours, 65 MC questions.   I finished an hour into the exam and waited half an hour for someone else to hand it in first.  The first few questions were difficult, but the rest was really easy.

When I left the exam room, a girl from one of the other rooms stopped me to ask if I had been writing the same exam.  She was panicking because she'd finished so quickly.  I find that as long as you can read quickly, you can easily finish MC questions in less than half the time that the instructor allots.

Now I get to spend the weekend studying like mad for Biochem.  And by studying like mad, I mean memorizing structures.  All our other profs tell us not to bother memorizing them, since we'll always have a reference in the lab.  That's what makes it so troublesome when one prof does want them memorized.  I'm doing well in that course, but that's because I know the concepts and how to apply them.  Not because I know how to draw all the structures involved in every reaction as well as the structures of the enzymes that catalyze said reactions.

And then I have my Physio exam the day after.  Let's just not talk about Physio, okay? Well, at least Physio's multiple choice.  But I need to do really well on it to make up for the last exam. I've never been to the building that the Physio exam is in, though.  I need to go early so I can look for it.  They gave us a weird code for it, too.  Normally campus building codes are a two letter alpha code, but this wasn't.  I'm not 100% sure what the alpha code would be, so until I figure that out, I don't know where I'm writing. :/  I think I know what building it is, but I'd like to be 100% sure so I don't end up at the wrong place come exam time...

If you can't give us a proper code, you can at least give us an address. :(

My two exams next week are in one of the Kinesiology buildings.  So I'm writing the exams in a gym.  Feels like high school.  I hate writing in that building because there are no clocks. And we have to wait outside before the exam.  In the cold, Canadian winter.  At night, too, for one exam...

I can't wait for the 21st.  That will be my last final, and then I'll have about two and a half weeks off.

Weeabooing starts here:

Monday, December 6, 2010

Oh, JFC...

My glasses broke today.  I took them off to clean them, and the screw holding the frame shut on the right side just fell out. :/  These glasses are only about six weeks old.  My dad got glasses at the same place and at the same time, and his also broke (about two or three weeks ago--he's already had them replaced).

My mom's going to get a glasses repair kit on her way home from work, but I'm not sure how well that will work.  The screw just plain fell out, so I think the thread's been stripped (I didn't get a good look because lol bad eyesight and by the time I fixed my glasses, I'd put the screw away so I don't lose it).  My dad said that's what happened to his glasses. :/  

Since I'm sick, I can't wear my contacts.  So I decided to look for my old pair.  Then I realized that they're at my grandmother's house.

I improvised. I stuck some wire through the hole and wound it to keep the frame shut.  I couldn't clamp the frame down fully, though, so a bit of the lens is still loose. It took me forever to find the pliers, though.  And then once I found them, I lost the lens that had fallen out.  I'm too blind to be looking for clear things without assistance.

My dad said he's going to bring me to get them repaired tomorrow, and since it's near my grandmother's, we'll also pick up my old glasses.  I've still got the screw, so hopefully the repair kit will work.  It would be very annoying if I had to use my old glasses for a week.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

I disappeared again...

I was studying for finals, but then I got sick.  So since then I've only been awake about eight hours a day, and haven't been doing much.  I watched a lot of anime, but mainly because that doesn't take effort at all.  I tried doing some summary notes to study from, but I could not spell at all.  Stupid cough syrup.

Speaking of cough syrup, I decided against buying the fever reducing kind since I rarely get fevers no matter how sick I am.  I may have had a fever seven years ago, but I never took my temperature at the time.  My last confirmed fever was about 13 years ago.  And of course, I started running a temperature about six hours after buying the normal cough syrup. :/

I've been moisturizing the shit out of my nose since I've rubbed it raw with tissues.  The skin's so dry that the cream stings. ;_;

 Today, I watched Tales of Vesperia - The First Strike.  Impressions: [some spoilers]

Monday, November 8, 2010

Bah, I disappeared again

I haven't posted in a week because once in a while I feel really fucking boring.  Nothing interesting has happened.

I finally got my OSAP cheques after needing to renew my ID, and then OSAP thinking I was no longer a student despite having communication with my school. Blah.  So later this week I'm printing my tuition invoice and bringing it to the bank to pay.  Probably on Wednesday since I've only got two hours of class.

Finished my New Game+ in P3P today to see the lover endings.  As a huge Shinji fangirl I must say...Akihiko's was the best. I was underwhelmed by them. :/  So, Atlus, I think you should make an otome game with random-ass characters from your games.  And by random-ass characters, I mean Shinjiro and Akihiko.  Dr. Stiles and Mitsuru are fine, too.

Tomorrow's day 2/2 of the Fall Study Break.  I wish we got the full week off. :(

Also, I love how LifeSci students bitch about any writing homework.  We have a 500 word writing assignment due Thursday for Genetics.  And half the people in my tutorial are bitching that it's too much! Bitchplz, we had to write double that (at the very least!) in high school, sometimes in-class!  And this one doesn't even involve research!  It's just writing about an article the prof wants us to read.  Count your blessings.  I admit, I'm still bitter about the eight page Anthro essay last year where one of my sources started to say (around page 300, so I'd already invested some time into it) that all anthropologists are going to burn in hell for disturbing human remains. WTF book, you made so much sense until then.  

Hell, it'll take my longer to write citations for a two-page essay than it will to write it.  But that's just because every fucking prof uses a different citation style and I never get the chance to get used to any of them.

Monday, November 1, 2010

D: x 10000

So I have an exam this afternoon and I was so caught up in studying for it that I forgot I have another exam tomorrow evening.  And I have a lab immediately before that exam.  Guess who will not be sleeping tonight? D:

Friday, October 29, 2010

I think my weeaboo is showing (or, I really love anime merch, sometimes more than the source material itself)

Today's unexpected good luck: while buying bus tickets, I saw Old Dutch Jalapeno & Cheddar chips.  And there was a two for two dollars sale.  These are my favourite chips and I have only seen them in stores once since I was in the sixth grade.  They are so delicious and spicy.  One chip is enough to make me start coughing and my nose start running.

I got the last package from my September haul (lol SAL) and my October haul package today.  I spent an hour opening/playing with everything. Mostly opening because damn Amiami loves tape. I took pictures, but they came out shitty.  That was very annoying because my phone usually takes very clear pictures.  I have no idea why these ones were randomly low-res and grainy.

Anyways, onto the loot:
September Haul (only the AmiAmi ones arrived today): figma Kyon, from a /toy/soldier through the BST, because it was one of my grails; figma Haruhi (Winter), from AmiAmi, because now that I have Kyon I need a Haruhi for wacky hijinks; figma Yui, from AmiAmi, because I have the rest of HTT and they make a good back-up band for Miku and they make for good wacky hijinks poses; and the best item (and my most expensive figure to date, but I still paid significantly less than it's known to sell for), Kotobukiya P3 Protagonist, from MFC's sales.

 K-On and Haruhi figmas come with a nice reaction faces, so with a few Re-Ment/Orcara/MegaHouse miniatures, I like posing them in silly dioramas.  ATM I have the K-Ons acting as a band for my Miku figma, but once Luka shows up I'm rearranging them.  I must say, though, the detailing on the K-On instruments is amazing.  Mio's bass and Mugi's keyboard are exceptionally gorgeous.

Protag is gorgeous.  You can see his (fully painted) watch up his sleeve, you can read every letter--and they're less than 1mm in size--on his headphones, you can see distinct zipper teeth.  My only issue:  for some reason, the printing on the SEES armband had the seam between the two Es, so they don't line up exactly. I have him posed with the back half of the armband towards the wall, so it's not too noticeable.  I need to get Akihiko (and whenever I think or say that name too quickly it ends up being Kiko, so that's what I'll be calling him from now on) to complete the Protag, though, since his base has a cutaway for Kiko's.  I've got Kiko on backorder from AmiAmi.  I know HS has it in stock, but I have pre-orders at AmiAmi so I'm hoping it'll come in and I can save on shipping by doing that.

October Haul: Nendoroid Black Rock Shooter, since it was on sale for 1100 yen at AmiAmi; and Revoltech Yotsuba, also from AmiAmi.

I have learned that I do not like Nendoroids.  Since BRS was so cheap, it was a test purchase (I was on the fence, since I'm not all that crazy about their proportions) and because my other two October pre-orders were delayed and I didn't want to waste EMS on Yotsuba alone.  I am 90% sure I will be selling this thing at Anime North.  People always said figmas were fragile and Nendos were so sturdy, etc.  I look at this thing the wrong way and her pigtails fall out.

I've got it in the cartoonish battle damage pose at the moment.  The cartoonish bangs?  Do not fit the head's cut.  Gaps all around the face.  People bitched that the BRS figma was so flimsy and fragile, but that feels so much sturdier to me than this does.  And Nendos need to include a storage container like some other brands do.  So many extra parts.  I want to be able to store the box in my closet until I sell it and not have to deal with digging it out if I want to partswap.  I can't believe that my local anime store has the gall to sell these things for $70.  The only good thing:  the long pigtail has a peg separating the long and short locks so they can be posed separately.

Yotsuba's fun, though.  My first Revo, and even though I knew about the ratcheting joints, they were still a bit weird at first.  Not liking all the swivels, though.  More real joints, please.  The swivels are so loose, too.  It's hard to get them to hold a pose.  Currently I've got Yotsuba beside MC using her watergun to mimic his pose.

Shit that should be coming in in November:  figma Itsuki, from the BST; figmas Luka, Mari, and Aigis, from AmiAmi.  Kiko's coming whenever he comes out of backorder.  I kind of want figma Metis for Koromaru, but I dislike Metis.  Didn't play FES, and her design is ugly so I don't really want a figure of it.  Well, I can always hit up the BST to see if someone's selling Koro loose.

...Wow that was longer than I'd expected.

I also have my new glasses now.  I can see, plus the frames are thinner and the lenses are a higher RI than my old ones so they're a lot lighter.  Hopefully those bruises will go away soon.

In other news: my Classics prof still doesn't know how to use microphones, tall brunette in my Genetics tutorial still doesn't know how to answer questions, I am still colouring my Franziska wig and it is slowly making me insane, and blah school I wish we had a fall reading week like a certain nearby school.

Oh, speaking of school, the bookstore sells GIANTmicrobes in the medical section now.  I didn't get any because I couldn't decide which I liked best and Moyashimon's microbes are way cuter and the plushies are bigger so they wouldn't really fit in together. :(  I do want one of the ants (I know, not a microbe) but they didn't have any.

Monday, October 25, 2010

FREEDOM

I have no exams or assignments due this week.  I am free. It's a nice feeling.  I also have no Genetics lecture this week.  Prof has a conference to go to.  Why am I happy about missing that class?  It's a two hour lecture with the most uncomfortable chairs on campus.

I got my mark for the first midterm I did this year: 80%.  I am quite happy with that, considering I'd been slacking a little in that class.   I've been checking Portal like a madwoman for my other marks.

I've been playing Project DIVA 2nd since yesterday.  I like it more than the first PD.  Better songs and costumes, and it's easier to unlock costumes.  My only issue is that some songs are the same as PD and I still try to enter the key sequence from the previous game. --;  I've been putting off finishing Roxas's Ven's route in BBS, since I don't want to see the bad end a third time.  That and I'm at Neverland, and I've always hated Peter Pan.

I got a lot of money for my birthday.  I was not expecting that.  I'm not too sure what to do with it.  I think I'm going to save some of it for a 3DS, get more sweaters, and buy figures with the rest.

I do need sweaters, though.  It's getting cold and my clothes keep disappearing.  I blame my mother, since they usually turn up in her closet and by that point, they've been stretched a bit so I can't really wear them out anymore.  I've got to go return a shirt at Forever 21 this week, so I'll buy some sweaters then.  My pants and skirts don't go missing since they don't fit my mother at all.  Just my shirts.

I get my new glasses next week.  Since I can't see shit with my current glasses (there's about two diopters difference between the old and new prescriptions), I'm very happy about that.  I still need to order new contacts, though.

My Persona 3 Gekkoukan patch came in the mail last week.  It's gorgeous.  I want to commission the same person to do the patch for my Miku costume, but I'll need to vector that first since the reference image is shitty.  I'm having issues with that because my image software is being a brat and failing if I try to crop images or use vectors.  Time to acquire some new software.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Blah

So I had a post written, but it got erased.  The gist of it was:
-midterm this morning was easy
-birthday dinner with family; drama ensued
-relatives ordered me drinks since it was my 19th
-the alcohol did nothing
-got money from relatives; will buy nice things now
-very tired, will sleep for a long time now

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Midterm Hell

Hey guys, I read all your blog updates, but I didn't really have time to comment.  Tomorrow's midterm is number four of four midterms in less than two weeks. It's also half the length of all my other midterms but has over two times the amount of questions. ;_; They'd best be easy questions.  I'm also up to 17 pages of summary notes.  This is supposed to be the "easy" elective!  I was able to summarize everything else into less than ten pages.  I have four more chapters to summarize, but can't do them now because the course website isn't loading properly.

I've been skipping lectures all week to get my studying done.  I've only been going to my mandatory classes.  It's paid off, though.  I didn't have trouble with the last three exams.

Someone from UTAMA (my uni's anime club) is doing a circle lens group order.  Going to get two pairs for my upcoming cosplays.  I'm going to get a red pair and a blue pair. I'm not giving her my order until later on tonight, though.  I have an optometrist appointment this afternoon, so I'll get my updated prescription.

I'm very happy about going to optometrist.  My glasses are a few years old, and I can only see a few feet ahead with them.  My eyes like to stay stable for a few years, then suddenly become much worse. D:   My contacts are more recent, so I've been wearing those more often.  I need to stop soon, though.  They're uncomfortable in cold weather. I want to see if I can get prescription lab goggles.  My current goggles are so uncomfortable to wear over glasses.  No contacts in the lab*, so I can't wear those underneath.

*The polymers that the contacts are made of can react with chemical vapours in the air and melt onto your eye, blinding you.

I'm kind of disappointed that we didn't have to watch the ridiculous UofT lab safety video this year.  It's wonderful--giant fireballs, vats of bleach jumping onto unsuspecting students, etc.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Anime - General

So, since most of the people coming here will probably be anime fans, I thought it would be good to let you guys know what I'm a fan of.   Here's my MAL profile.  It'll give you an idea of what I've watched, but not really of what I like since I usually don't bother to rate most of my entries. --;

My all-time favourite anime is probably Moyashimon.  It's cute, funny, and taught me everything I know about fermentation and I remember microbe names easily now.  Okay, I draw the Moyashimon version of the microbe beside its name in my notes in order to remember.

Eureka seveN and Simoun are pretty high up the list, too.  E7 was just amazing--the plot, the characters, everything worked together beautifully.  Yeah, the Anemone/Dominic thing was a bit of a cop out but it was so cute.  Also, vaguely creepy when you remember that Dom is older than he looks. Simoun had wonderful character development and beautiful art and music.  Shame people always write it off as yuri fanservice.

This season I'm watching Star Driver, Togainu no Chi, Panty & Stocking, and OreImo.  Star Driver is great, but the recycled animation is getting annoying.  Fish Girl's song, too.  It's a beautiful song, but do we really have to hear it every single time they enter Zero Time?  I'm watching Togainu no Chi because I have some of the figures and I feel like watching it will "justify" the cost.  That and TnC is one of the few yaoi series I like.  I have a love/hate relationship with PSG.  When it's good, it's great and when it's mediocre, it's horrible.  It's more often great than horrible, though, so I'm okay with that.  OreImo is...I neither like it nor dislike it.  I do like that it's less "I want my hot sister" and more "Yay, I'm being treated like a big brother again!" if that makes any sense.

Intro

Hey, I'm Larissa.  I'm a second-year university student majoring in Cellular Biology and Human Genetics.  I like watching anime, reading manga, sewing, cosplaying, baking and playing video games.

I'll probably be using this blog to review anime/manga/games and to talk about my other interests.  I'll post any interesting tutorials or recipes I come across as well.

For the time being, I think this is all that's relevant for my introduction.