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:


I got my Luka figma today.  She's like all the other Vocaloid figmas in that they only include "happy" and "happier" faces. However, her faces are a bit more subtle so you can make her expression look different based on the angle.  Her "happier" face works well as a trollface.  Also got Mari today.  She has a special neck joint, and it's very fluid and fun to pose.  But it also means I can't headswap her.  Mari's one of the tiny, skinny figmas like BRS.  I love Mari's chest joint.  I've never had any joints move so fluidly.

I'm having trouble putting the control levers on her plugseat, so I'm leaving that off to the side until I put a hairdryer to it.  The plugseat has joints, joints everywhere.  Luka's tuna, on the other hand, is a single, hollow piece of very fragile-feeling plastic.  If I tap it with my fingernail, it sounds like glass. Calling it right now:  I'm going to snap the tail off while trying to make Luka hold it.  It's a tiny area, and there's a seamline right there.  Tuna's mouth also opens into the hollow area, so enjoy your dust-filled tuna.

It seems figma's taken to putting plastic sheets around EVERY joint now, not just the torso.  It's a pain to take them all off, but I had no stiff joints, so I guess it worked.   Luka had a lot of plastic around her hair, though.

I think Luka was a lazy half-assed job.  Luka herself is the same quality as every other figma.  Nice paint apps, very detailed. Microphone's nice, too. But the iffy choice of sculpt, the quality of the tuna and included components all seem very rushed.  By "accessories" I mean things like a stand for the tuna, or the di:stage covers that come in new figma boxes.  Luka doesn't even have the plastic rod stands like Dead Master has for the skulls. Oh, tuna's stand hole also opens into the hollow area.  Her box had the metallic silver background that was common to old figmas.  I'd say that they did it to be consistent with the other Vocaloid figmas, but she has new-style hands.

My other issue with Luka: hard skirt.  Max Factory, if you used the soft PVC that you use for most skirts, wo could have had a better range of motion and a more relaxed sculpt.  At least Luka's torso can bend, though.  Either way, neither Luka nor Miku can sit. I think that's because MF has issues with the metallic paint they use not liking the soft PVC they use.

Mari includes many extra items.  She's got two stands for the plugseat, extra parts to make her glow green for BEASTO MODO, alternate hair, and more hands than she has rack space.  She has no stand hole, though, just a clamp.  And not a nice clamp like di:stages or BRS include.  It's a fixed clamp.  Looks bad, man.  I'm probably never going to use the beast mode parts.  If I do, I guarantee that I will lost one of the chest gems.  I almost lost the green one just taking it out of the box.

Akihiko to go with Protagonist came in, too.  Looks good, just like Protag.  Has shiny shoes.  Took ages to take off his torso, though.  It was really on there...At least the holster and evoker went in easily.  Like I hoped, he looks much better IRL than in the promo shots.  His hair and face looked off to me in the shots, but they look good IRL.

I'm not sure if I'm going to order the other EVA figmas.  Definitely not getting Asuka, since I think the test suit is fug.  I'm not sure about Rei, though.  I'd get a normal suit Asuka and a test suit Mari if they were announced, so I kind of want a Rei to go with them, but the Rei figma's boring.  I am hoping we get the male pilots and Misato, though. I'm also on the fence about Senjougahara.  I want Araragi, but Senjougahara's boring.  Max Factory, you were supposed to one-up the Figutto, not copy it.  At least the Figutto included the crab.