Today was a rather bizarre day. A friend of mine is entering the same university as me and, well, I nagged him to sign up for orientation since that’s where you pick your courses, and a crappy time table really sucks. He told me it’s today, and it just so happens that I had to have some papers signed by the registrar’s office, so I tagged along.

Ever since I entered university I sort of developed a special feeling for it. It’s hard to explain, and it’s not something most folks would understand since I’m pretty sure most folks dread going to school. Anyway, there’s a part of me that really wants to go back. I got that opportunity today, and without classes XD

Supposedly his oritentation starts at 9:30, so we decided to set off at 5:30, because taking into consideration the time wasted for the guy to get up, fill up on gas, grab coffee and breakfast and stuff, we’d get there by around 9. The problem was…well…I miscalculated and we arrived at 8:30, and the guy didn’t even sign up. Well, it’s his choice what kind of schedule he gets, and I go there and had my paperwork done.

I don’t think I’ve ever posted pictures of my school campus that’s not either filled with rotten leaves or in snow. Unfortunately, the weather was not the greatest today, but I think the pictures, for the most part, turned out all right.

The first stop is here. Supposedly this is where the new students are supposed to go, hear upper years talk, get some rumours confirmed/busted, etc etc. This is also where yours truely will be living starting September 10th.

This is the building where yours truely endured around eight months worth of sleepless nights and somehow still managed to pull through relatively sane. Bad memories from my roommate aside, it’s not such a bad place.

Going through the regular circle tour brings us to the building that houses the largest classroom on campus, as well as the biology labs.

While touring the place, we ran into a first year biology prof. Although he didn’t teach me, he did manage the electronic gizmos for my class. He allowed us a look into the lab, as he was going to check before the summer school classes start.

They're microscopes, incase anyone is wondering

We had a nice chat, and he was quite keen to explain first year lab stuff thoroughly with my friend, whom he also won’t be teaching starting September. What’s funny is that he confirms the fact that students are known as numbers, as he says himself that he’d remember our numbers before he learned our names (if he ever does). I need to remember to send him an email later to suck up to thank him for his time.

Math/computer department building

A quick look at the chemistry labs in the new material sciences building. Nothing is being brewed at the moment.

As with the last time I came here for photos, the physics labs are covered by blinds. A funny thing about the new building is that the structure itself isn’t perfectly leveled. This results in things moving under a near-frictionless enviornment (and a real pain to calibrate the equipments).

Next stop was one of the many libraries. This is the Taylor library, also known as the science library,  where science kids (like me) hangs out in near solitude and force stuff into brains. We took a quick look and moved on.

Social science building is next. I’d just like to add that the next few places were only looked at briefly, because I don’t have any classes in those places, so I’m quite unfamiliar with them. (This is also the part where the effect of caffein is wearing off).

a random classroom

Next stop the University Community Center.I do have a class here, but it’s in the cinema, so I didn’t get any shots of that.

Due to the fact that I was up since 3:30, I ended up having lunch quite early. Unfortunately for me, nothing except Tim Hortons is open, so on top of the coffee, Tim’s is also providing my lunch.

Next stop, Weldon Library aka the Social Science library. The April Fool’s edition of the school paper says something about people going there to hang out and “network” and, well, the only place where people care about getting work done is Taylor’s (then again, science people are also depicted as sociopaths).

We were approaching the end of the tour by this point. The second last stop was Alumni hall, which is a mixture of a gym and a residence building. Basketball tournaments are held here, and, well, there are people living in there as well. I came here to write my final exam of the year.

Last stop was actually kind of rushed, and…well…there’s nothing much to look at due to construction of the new engineering buildings (which I’ve never stepped into).

Misc Shots

Some extra shots, mainly due to the fact that my previous pictures were taken in the winter, where the ground is either covered by rotten leaves + Tim Horton cups or snow. It’s kind of depressing how I only get to see the campus like this when I’m supposed to be studying for finals.

We got there early, we’re leaving early. There’s just one problem, both of us are pretty sleep deprived. So, that means more Tim’s on the way home >_<

Time sure passes quickly doesn’t it? On this very day (I really picked an odd day, June 30th) of 2008, I’ve made my account on WordPress and picked up blogging.

Things were also a bit out of order these days. I was planning to write this post earlier, but a friend of mine from the lab invited me to have dinner with his friends.

The past:

A lot of things have happened in this brief year. A lot of change has overcome me and, well, you could say several “alters” was born the start of summer in 2008 (I don’t actually have dissociative identitiy disorder, so psychiatrists stay the hell away from me). The major one is my otaku identity, also more well known as GNdynames. Not exactly the most original internet handle, but I really wanted to get this thing off the ground, and as a science (now specializing physics) student I’ve made up a story that seems to make sense.

GN came from the initials of GN (Gilbert Newton) Lewis, the guy who discovered covalent bonding. Dynames is derived from dunamis, Greek for power or force (ironically they’re two different things in physics)

As for blogging itself, I was dragged in by a friend I met during elementary school. He initially joined the blogosphere because he wanted to improve his writing skills. Ironically, he quit and the person whom he influenced (me) stayed. He’s still helping me out with stuff such as banners (sadly I don’t know how to use photoshop) when he’s not busy.

I was more than clueless when I first started. Part of the reason being that I’m a very blunt guy who accepts everything he sees. This serves somewhat as a benefit because it makes it easier to learn things, but the drawback with this of course is that I would lack questions and/or opinions regarding various things. I see things the way they are, what happened happened and end of story. Thus, it is really hard for me to just draw up an article (I’m glad to say I’m actually improving). The other thing is I tend to like what I see and hardly criticise stuff, plus, I lack the sufficient knowledge to properly review things, on top of that science students like to keep things brief and to the point. All these factors serve to limit what and how often I write (and make most posts quite boring). This serves to make my blog “unattractive” to new viewers, and well, not having any external referrers didn’t help in the matter either.

Shortly after, I discovered Danny’s site and otaku.fm. It was also then that I joined the community of other otakus and fans. Soon, I got acquainted with other bloggers, the very first few being fellow Torontonians Rin and Saku. Later, my RSS feed got displayed on Anime Nano and Sankaku Complex, which also helped loads with traffic.

"Ecchi na no wa ikenai to omoimasu"

Of course, the other alter is the hard working one that takes over when I’m at school, which has an unbelievably strong will to study and keep studying. I’m thankful for that alter, but I’ve always wondered how the blog made it to this day alive.

The Present

Blog articles have always been random because, as mentioned earlier, I really can’t think of anything to write about unless it hits me in the face. The past stuff has usually been acquisition of figures, gundams, etc. Even though it has been one year, I still haven’t adapted to a proper writing schedule yet.

The post popular stuff here has been my Fate/Hollow Translations. Ironically it is also the one to get the least amount of comments. I had originally wanted to translate the game, but I couldn’t find programmers to help and so I decided to just publish them as a teaser of sort until whoever completes the translations, some day. Originally, it had been intended as a weekly thing, the problem with that is exams seems to always be hanging around the corner, and that idea (along with the last reminents of what was my “life”) was thrown out the window. My alter didn’t seem to care though, and thanks to him I managed to survive.

Currently, while not having all too much to do (at least going to class and studying qualifies as something), I’m pretty much constantly trying to think about the next topic blog topic. I also should mention that I try to pass myself as a perfectionist and thus I try to not make posts for the sake of making myself look “active”. Currently, I still have a few figures to be photographed, but I lack the lighting equipments to produce the quality of shots that most others have produced. I’ve been trying to get away with it by doing outdoot shots, it works for some cases, but not for others.

Speaking of figure. My collection has grown quite a bit since when I first started. According to Tsukiboard, I have 33 figures/gunpla in total (and 1 resin kit). 20 of which are PVC, 2 trade figures and 9 Gundams. 9 of them are Saber (and Saber Lion), 16 are from Type-Moon.

The Future

For me, the future looks bleak. I will be entering my second year in university in the fall, and it will certainly be a lot of work. First year kept me busy enough, but I’ve got even more class hours in second year, on top of that I will most likely be taking a third year course, which probably won’t be pretty. Once school starts, I will do my best to keep blogging. Although I can’t be too optimistic about what will happen and there is definitely the chance that I will be disappearing from the blogosphere (as well as the community). Also, blogging actually did improve my writing abilities, which is something I will need in the future, and another reason for me to do my best to continue.

Regardless of whether the blog lives or not, I am and always will be a loyal Saber fanboy.

Assuming that I do manage to keep blogging, things probably won’t change all too much. To say the truth I don’t have that dream of going and living in Japan one day, this will probably answer the question as to why I don’t write too much stuff regarding Japan, the Japanese culture, etc. I will do my best to continue the F/HA translations, and I will also be writing articles about advice on how to succeed academically, because I view things much differently from Danny.

Now, assuming that I do manage to keep blogging and remains alive until the end of my second year, I will be getting my own domain. But that’s still a year away, and there are many obstacles to pass.

A guy can always dream...right?

REALLY distant in the future (2 more years if I’m lucky) and I enter medical school, expect a big give-away event (and probably also a Toronto gathering with me paying for dinner or something).

Now, with only half an hour until my day is over, I’d like to have your attention for a bit longer.

I would like to thank each and every one of you for coming and returning to my blog, today would not have been possible if it weren’t for you. A special thanks for the members who are constant visitors and commentors (Rin, Blowfish, Optic, Saku, Q, lightningsabre and others, sorry, I’m running out of time here). You’ve made me feel like I’m somebody other than just another person on the internet, and for giving me something to look forward to other than the next exam paper. I am deeply grateful.

Thank you for taking the time to read. All the best to everyone.

I was planning to let my account just sit and rot forever, as I originally never intended to touch this game again. One day, a friend of mine wanted to buy my account. Seeing as this will allow me to actually quit and never touch it again, I activated my account with the 10 days free trial to play around for a bit.

I originally intended to write an article on the Death Knight, but collecting pictures while playing through the starter quest line proved to be more painful than I imagined (with an addition of several unfortunate accidents which resulted in deaths), so we’re stuck with the first bits of the new continent for now. Death Knight article will come out sometime this week.

I’m on my Blood Elf paladin, and she’s part of the Horde. Apparently the Horde is more into style than that Alliance, so instead of going in by boat, we get to go by zeppelin. The downside to this is we’re stuck with a bunch of walking corpses (I don’t like Forsaken).

The very first impression is that, Northrend is not as…”exotic” as Outland was when we first stepped through the Dark Portal. Well, that is to be expected, as you’re still on the same world you were for the first 60 levels. Of course, the good side to this is that it cuts down on computer’s requirement, as with my old computer I had to turn everything down to minimum.

I'll admit, this is pretty cool

What I found quite strange is that, once entering the new continent, there are no “orientation” quests. Rather, you’re thrown into action right away with the usual collect this, kill that, and so forth. The length of chain quests, if memory serves correctly, also seemed shorter shorter. There was one escort quest, which involves rescuing some dude, watching over his ass as he burns things and make sure he doesn’t get himself killed. At least he runs, unlike the old ones where a snail could even beat them in a race.

Burn...

I lol'd at this XD

The change in quality of items are somewhat similar to the transition from vanilla WoW to TBC. At least comparing some of the good gears (which I don’t have =/) from Burning Crusade with crap gear you get straight away, the good gear are still better. However, for average guys like me who barely played, I’m happy with the new stuff I’m getting.

Some (if not, most) classes have gone through major changes. I can’t say for the rest, but my paladin is now ten times more powerful and around five times easier to play. After a few quests and a second weapon change, I was shooting 1.6k melee crits every other hit (as opposed to…say…600 before), plus the benefits spell damage from attack power and instant heals on certain special attacks, it’s nuts.

I was still using my 75 DPS spear at this point.

Still using old weapon

When I used to play, all I really cared about were the casual quests which somewhat lead to the progression of the lore. I wasn’t one to run dungeons, even the regular 5 man stuff. When I was playing earlier, a few guys were looking for either a tank or a damage dealer, so I went and had a go.

The tank was high leveled so I could pretty much let loose with everything I’ve got. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that another spell changed. Apparently, I had one more damage spell that I could have used (Exorcism, that orange melty skull thing). Even so, I was third for DPS, with the hunter only beating me by half a percent. Not bad, especially since I wasn’t putting in much efforts.

That said, I’m not a complete noob when it comes to these stuff. I’ve done a few dungeon runs before. What I like about them is that you’ve got a mini story by itself in there, that and the NPCs actually yell stuff instead of spam texts. Just like the Burning Crusade dungeons, a fair bit of character control is required for different boss fights. There are instances where you need to do certain things as opposed to just sitting there and spamming attacks.

The main reason why I didn’t like running dungeons is the patience that is required to come with you when you’ve got less competent players. They’d either ninja your loots, or you get a lot of this:

Which came with the benefits of broken equipments as well as tons of time wasted. Time is the big thing, and the unnecessary frustration, which is why I tend to stay away from them, although my lack of committment prevented me in getting into good guilds (not that I really cared).

This run was overall successful, a few blunders here and there made us wipe twice, and it took two attempts at the final boss because we tried to four man it (healer went AFK to eat dinner, our druid tank switched to healer and the hunter’s pet tanked). A level 80 paladin helped out and we cleared him. Unfortunately, I was booted off before I was able to claim my rewards, probably due to my account being on trial version.

Overall, this game is known for the committment of the players, which is the reason why I can’t bring myself to continue playing. That and, the money saved from this fueled my hobby (some what, WoW is much less expensive). I can’t say much about the expansion as a whole, because a) most of the good stuff are at the end and b) whether you like it or not, you NEED it to keep playing. Plus, I don’t really find it “fun” and find it more of a hassel or a demand than anything else. Good thing my account will be gone in August, which will help pay for the Saber goodness in the fall ^^;

Tagged: games, world of warcraft, wrath of the lich king ]]> http://gndynames.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/wrath-of-the-lich-king-a-brief-glance/feed/ 2 GNdynames WoWScrnShot_062909_142820 WoWScrnShot_062909_143151 WoWScrnShot_062909_143341 WoWScrnShot_062909_144604 WoWScrnShot_062909_144655 WoWScrnShot_062909_175131 WoWScrnShot_062909_193138 WoWScrnShot_062909_175708 WoWScrnShot_062909_173245 WoWScrnShot_062909_174026 WoWScrnShot_062909_195011 WoWScrnShot_062909_195548 WoWScrnShot_062909_201205 WoWScrnShot_062909_205310 WoWScrnShot_062909_205814 http://gndynames.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/fha-adventure-around-the-maid/ http://gndynames.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/fha-adventure-around-the-maid/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:55:42 +0000 GNdynames http://gndynames.wordpress.com/?p=3121 ]]>

Yeah, sorry about the long delay. It’s really hard to work in a room that’s as hot as a sauna.

A few things I’d like to mention. First off, I’m not sure when hiatus will hit me, because I’ll be volunteering at a senior home. So before that happens I figure I’d get at least the interesting scenes out. Second, I’m actually running out of files that have pictures on them (and there are several that are like 26 pages long, which would probably take ages to translate). Because of that, I would like to actually start playing the game for myself and getting my own pictures from the scenes. So the next translation might take a while to come out.

This one is somewhat out of my regular writing order. For now, I’d like to publish the scenes that have have inspired figures (the fantasy maids, Saber’s new clothing, to name a few). Fortunately, the maid scene has enough pictures in the file to make it good (the same can’t be said for some of the other ones I’m afraid).

I’ll stop rambling now.

The adventure around the Maid

Time: October 11th

Location: Tosaka Mansion

Characters: Tosaka Rin

Scene 1: Living room

“…Good, it’s my time to shine again.”

I’ve been muttering the same thing the whole time I was brewing tea in the kitchen. Even though I hate to admit it, I’ve yet to make tea that satisfied that person.

“It seems that person’s full of vigour today.”

I heard it’s something about clothing

If we’re going somewhere for vacation then I won’t be able to find suitable clothing, Tosaka says as she started pulling things from her closet, such a large commotion.

Organizing a closet has nothing to do with a guy like me

“…Whatever, there’s no way I’m getting through this…”

If I insist on helping, I will only be greeted by an overcast of Gandr Shots.

So without her instructions I can only stay downstairs with one of her textbooks, whose contents are largely incomprehensable…However, she just called me up, so I brewed some tea to bring with me.

Scene 2: Tosaka’s bedroom.

“Tosaka, I’m come in.”

“OK…Ha…I’m exhausted.”

“Thank you. Hmm, a cup of tea after work really is a hard to come by enjoyment.

Tosaka took the cup, and pressed her lips to the rim of the tea cup.

Just like she said, she couldn’t wait for the red tea anymore.

Just before Tosaka presented her score on the tea, I noticed the clothes on Tosaka’s bed.

“Hmm?”

It’s some unfamiliar, foreign clothing

Black dresses with a white apron

This is…

“Looks like maid dresses.”

“Not ‘looks like’, they are servant (Servants referring to heroic spirits will always be capitalized to avoid confusion). I have no idea how they got here.”

Tosaka looked at the maid dresses as she drank her red tea.

Servants (beginning of a sentence, can’t be avoided)…That’s right, seeing as Tosaka lives alone here, so…

“Were there any before? Maids in Tosaka’s house.”

“…There were when father was here. The last one left when I entered middle school.”

“I thought the maid outfits were done with at that point, but I never expected them to show upagain. Even though it was an unexpected turn out, what should I do with them?”

“What to do with then…How about putting them on?”

Clothing are made to be worn, right?

“…Hmph, so Emiya-kun has a liking for this sort of thing~”

“Why do you have to put it like that. The purpose of clothing is to be worn. What else are you going to use them for, decorations?”

“Hehehe, What, the way you look at Ilyasviel’s maids, it’s not because they’re homunculus, it’s because they’re maid clothing right?”

“…”

I’m denying it.

I’m only impressed by the fact that they’re dressed complete in white, including their headscarves (when someone has a proper name please tell me).

“Then, why don’t you try it on, Tosaka.”

“You’re kidding right? As the head of the Tosaka family, why should I wear a maid dress!”

She’s pissed

Seems like her strange, stubborn pride is what’s stopping her.

“…”

I feel that as long as it fits, nothing else matters when you put it on.

“…But, you’re right. Clothing can only be pretty when they’re worn. If you must make someone put it on I’d like to see how Saber will look wearing it, I think it’ll be great.”

“Ah…Make Saber wear it? That feels a bit…”

I love this shot, gotta throw it out there

It suits her, and at the same time it doesn’t suit her.

No, she’ll be pissed at Tosaka as well.

What did Shiro and Rin make me wear, she’d yell

But…

“Are Servants termed so just because a maid is a servant?”

“Hmm, I fear it might be offending so I didn’t talk about the reason, but I knew you’d say something like this, I feel a bit more reassured.”

…Just like what I thought?

Even though Saber might be sitting on the floor and hugging her knees while shooting “No, No” or similar expressions on the carpet (imagine Mio, I guess), she might also ask questions about maid accessories without embarrassment.

“If Tosaka won’t wear it, how about Sakura?”

“…”

What’s with the exasperated look?

Even though I think she’s giving me the ‘You dare fantasise my sister in that kind of clothing, what in the world are you thinking, this is a moron sempai who lacks any integrity…’, but…

“That girl would happily put it on…then pretend Shiro is her husband…It’d really dangerous, I have to make sure Sakura doesn’t see this…”

The shameless and worthless big sister mumbled to herself in a low voice.

“What’s with all this husband stuff, what are you talking about. Sakura won’t do these things.”

“Eh? Ah, so you heard it..? Ahaha”

“Ok…Then, if Sakura is illsuited we’ll try Rider. Neither her attitude nor her appearance are bad, it feels she’s well suited.”

“…Lacking bad points can also be a scary thing.”

For the steady and selfless Rider, she will make the perfect image of being the personal servant of her master Sakura.

Seeing as Rider isn’t into fashion, she wouldn’t think of anything when she sees the maid dress, she’ll very likely just put it on.

“But Rider…Even looking at it from that angle she’s one to do reckless things…Hmm..”

“You’ve been muttering to yourself since we started, I have no idea what you’re speaking over there. Nevermind that, now, the other suitable person…”

“AHAHAHA!”

Tosaka suddenly bursted with laughter

It’s the same person in her mind, but her reaction is the complete opposite of mine.

“That’s a good one, Fujimura-sensei might be very happy! She’d be sure to wear it to school. Then, Shiro will have to frantically blurt out the reason as to why the teacher is wearing a maid outfit!”

That person actually said that with a very cheerful tone

…Even so…I was just thinking the same thing…

“…Even though I was only thinking that it was a good idea for a split second I’m still an idiot. Fuji-nee is absolutely off-limits.”

“Yes, it’ll be extremely agonizing if I ran into that kind of Fujimura-sensei. I’ll get a stomach ache from laughing. But, the chances of very interesting things happening are definitely high.”

Tosaka picks up the maid outfit on her bed.

She’s probably putting it away for now

But, I seem to be bothered by how things are just ending like this.

“…Hehehe…”

“W..What’s wrong Tosaka.”

“So you do want to see what I’d look like wearing it?”

“Gulp”

There’s no reason for me not to want to see

But, it’s kind of inappropriate to just say it out loud.

…On top of that, even if my wish comes true, I don’t know how much I’d have to pay back.

“But, nevermind…Even so I’d like to see.”

“Amazing amazing simply amazing, for the honest Emiya-kun, I’d definitely reward you some day.”

The closet door closed with a clank, the maid dress disappeared into the darkness just like that.

Ah…Good bye, another miracle must just occur.

“Good, I’m done.”

“You worked hard (not sure how it’s supposed to be, to be honest)…Right, there are some things in that book downstairs that I don’t understand.”

“Is that so, there’s still time, I’ll teach you. Bring it here.”

“Thank you, Tosaka. Then, for the learning, I’m in your care.”

Yeah yeah, it’s the summer, why talk about this kind of stuff?

A few reasons actually. But the one that people probably care about is that I’m getting lazier by the day, out of paint to work on anything else, and haven’t progressed much in terms of anime and games to write about that. Searching up my past year’s memories, and this really is the only thing I can think of. That and I’ve been planning out my time table (and my god it’s hideous).

I know going through first year university really isn’t all too much of an exciting or uncommon thing. There’s three or more years down the road until one gets a piece of paper that only qualifies one to keep going to school. Anyway, I know most of my commenters are older than me, so please don’t get offended at me handing out advice.

I graduated around this time from high school a year ago. Didn’t really care much about anything to be honest. I paid attention in class, somewhat completed my assigned work, crammed for tests and exams 2 hours before I went to bed, typical stuff. Getting admitted into university in Canada is extremely easy if you do the bare minimums listed above, and if not you can spend a few hundred bucks at private school to get one or two credits with 90s. The point is, I didn’t apply to any exceptional programs, got offers from 5/6 of the schools I applied to, accepted one of them. I graduated with an average of 85, not bad, but nothing special for my school (half of the graduates had a higher average than me).

I guess what hit me right after I entered is the fact that I’m surrounded by folks with entry average of 90 or above. In highschool, we often hear rumours about high drop out rates and such. I didn’t want to be one of them, because statistically speaking at that point my position wasn’t too safe. Subconsciously I decided to do something about it.

My psychology prof told us that for every hour spent in class, the average “high achiever” spends two hours studying outside of class. So that pretty much became my guideline (he also mentioned making a table and scheduling your time, that bit I completely ignored because I know that if there’s a schedule I’m going to follow, it won’t be the one I make for myself, things never go the way they’re planned anyway, which is why plans A to Z, roman numerals and numbers exist).

Every day (Fridays excluded), I’d either go to my residence building’s study room or the library and start reviewing the day’s stuff. Once that’s done, I start reviewing stuff for the next day.

Also, reading for the sake of reading does not work. I do what I call “learning everything three times”. First time is before the lecture. I read over the stuff and teach myself as much as I can. Second time is during lecture, where I pick up anything I missed or I couldn’t figure out for myself. Third time is after lecture, to ensure what what went in stays in.

I hate people who constantly chat in the library and those whose phones go off every other second, just throwing it out there. I also do my best to not get found by anyone, which is the main reason why I don’t have a cellphone.

Time allocation to different subjects is important. I spent much more time on psychology than anything else (and even then it’s my lowest mark, gah). I spent the least time studying for physics. Ranked second for time spent is calculus. Biology took up slightly more time than chemistry on average, but it depended on which prof was teaching.

The main and only drawback to said method is time. Depending on who you are and what course you took, it will take a gigantic chunk of your time away. Therefore, it is important to take breaks. HOWEVER, you shouldn’t overdo on breaks. I hear all the time about people talking about balance, and then ranting about everything except themselves when they get their test marks back. Physics students should know that equilibrium depends on all forces acting on a mass. Situations differ for everyone. For me, my “balance” was Friday nights off for anime club, no exceptions (OK if I had an exam on Friday night then it can’t be done, and if there’s no club meeting…well…that’s also an exception). Come to think of it, I have no idea why and how my blog is still alive.

Then come exams, and…well…This really wasn’t my favourite part of the year. For midterms, especially, since on top of keeping up you need to shell out time to review material. I have no general advice to give here, I spent every waking hour either at class, labs or studying.

Finals were slightly different, but my habits were no less brutal. 8:30-22:30 were spent studying, with around 2 hours for lunch and another 2 hours spent at the gym, every day, because classes stopped. How well this will work out depends on the individual. For me it lasted 10 days, and it got to the point where every time I looked at my notes, I could regurgitate every bit of small information off the page, and felt like throwing up. Yeah, happens every time. Not a good sign. On top of that, fatigue usually gets to you by that point, because at that point the body’s energy reserves have been used up (which is why I lose 10 pounds every time it’s exam season). Even so, I still don’t get 100s on my exams >.<

I guess the general thing is study study study. Getting burnt out isn’t as bad as you think. I’ll throw down a few additional pointers that may or may not help.

1. Study at a place where you are most focused, motivated, and least distracted. I prefer the library on normal days, because for some reason it’s usually deserted. During weekends I usually go to empty classrooms because libraries don’t open when I head out. During exam times, it’s either the library or my floor’s study room (but sometimes people pop in and out and talks, which is really annoying).
2. Get up and stretch from time to time. I approve of that.
3. Look through the materials and pick out possible test questions. This is big, and it’s how I earned most of my marks in psychology and biology (for the rest I ended up memorizing everything because it’s more convenient).
4. Look through old tests, because freebie questions are often reused.
5. Make anime references and analogies to concepts that you’re studying. I’m serious about this one, it works.
6. Write down stray thoughts when you’re studying about the material. This is especially true when learning genetics, because some of the connections are unbelievably rediculous.
7. I carried Nendoroid Miku with me everywhere I went during my March midterms. Helps somewhat, for emotional support.
8. Sleep regularly, don’t cram on the day of the exam. The only time I did that it dropped my psychology average by 3%. I had to work extra hard to redeem myself on the final exam.

That’s about all that I could think of for now. I’m not the brightest guy around but my average did increase by 8 compared to my highschool graduation average. I hope it will help some of you who are still going to school. I’ll whip up another article on test taking strategies next time when I have nothing else to write about.

"I...I ask you...A...are you m-my m-m-master?"

As if the wave of Saber Lilies hasn’t hit is hard enough.

Available on June 25th, another moe-some Saber Lily can be added to your already overflowing pre-order list. So start planning your diet for the remainder of the year, because you know you can’t resist.

*faints*

More moe-some pictures below.

How can you say no to this? =3

Instead of the usual “is she on anyone’s get list?” I’m going to ask, “Who’s not adopting her?”

Source: Mikatan’s blog

I acquired her in the same package that I acquired my first Saber, so she, too is one of my first Fate/Stay Night figures.

I bought them in the same bundle in order to save money. Not a bad figure really, especially since she’s not all that expensive. There’s something about the sculpting of the face that doesn’t seem right. Keep in mind that I’m a devoted a Saber fanboy, so there’s bound to be some prejudice when it comes to the female heroines of the show. But seriously the quality of the Saber figure is vastly superior.

Outdoor shots are generally on low grounds, as mentioned in my previous post, it is extremely hard to get a panchira shot, even those “accidental” ones. In the case with Saber, the a part of the skirt is just jutting upwards, with a slight glimpse of “heaven”. I can’t help but feel that she intended it.

Both Rin and Saber are in some sort of running motion. I believe I did do a shot before with both of them together once a few months ago. This time, the shots are more formal (and with a more high tech camera too).

So just hours ago Alter has unleashed two more irresistable figures that are up for pre-orders, 1/7 Nanoha from Nanoha StrikerS and…

Seeing as Mr Optic and Zenical have all screamed for Nanoha, I’m shedding some light upon the one that hasn’t been getting as much attention (but apparently hijacked by Danny and featured by Meronpan though).

The preview for this upcoming figure was shown around four months ago. Alter has finally completed her and she is now up for pre-order on Hobbysearch.

As expected, debates will go on about whether to get Alter’s or GSC’s Saber Lily. While the GSC version does have the armor detail and the dynamic pose, Alter’s version has that gentle emotion and a more passive pose which is a rare sign for the battle readied Saber we usually see. The ultimate decision comes down to the person, but Alter’s version is of the more common 1/8 scale and is a bit cheaper than the GSC version.

I’ve not pre-ordered her yet because I’m waiting for HLJ. Christmas will come early this year with an empty wallet to boot.

This is my very first figure shoot on my new DSLR of my very first Saber figure. Needless to say she holds a very special position in my heart.

She (on top of being Saber and all) is absolutely gorgeous. The details are amazing and it’s definitely one of the better Kotobukiya figures. Also, her pose and her teasing expression will make anyone’s nose bleed *faints*

Yeah, this is another reason why I love this figure (can anyone guess?)

The clarity is pretty insane, at least with my old camera (5 mp with 3x optical zoom) the dust particles remain hidden >.>

A few shots of her moe facial features *melts*

Somehow that bit of brightness really added some special effects.

One problem with the DLSR, aside from all the features that I have yet to understand, is the fact that full panchira shots are difficult to do when taking shots on flat ground. I ended up angling the figure for this shot, I think it turned out prett well.

I don’t know why or how, but I’ve finally signed myself up in Tsukiboard.

The way I see it at least, Tsukiboard is somewhat like an otaku exclusive Facebook, minus all the crap such as stupid quizzes. One can pretty much look up the figures in their mind at crucial times such as the First Annual HLJ Sale part 1. It’s a combination of data bases and community really, since it’s the users that contribute to the site. When looking up figures, I thought it was great that it displayed all the photoshoots of said figure by users, so one can go through numerous photos, in different lighting, backgrounds, and shot by different eyes and fingers. On top of that, users can leave comments, so it beats searching on google and going through various pages when researching on the figures you want.

My favourite part about Tsukiboard is actually the simplicity of being able to look at one’s collection. Although it’s different from room/desk shots because one really can not give a personal touch to your collection with styles of organization as well as non-figure stuff such as posters, computer desktop images, drinking glasses, etf. I feel, however, that the collection the user has on its own gives a touch to that person. Our collections are unique, and it’s universally accepted now that our hobbies are expensive and the most of us don’t get things for free. Therefore, it’s pretty hard to have exact duplicate collections between people. It may or may not seem like a big deal, but the uniqueness of our collections is something to consider and be proud of (at least it is to me).

I was also quite surprised to find gunpla on Tsukiboard, although those entries vary since some include production codes while some just use their more commonly referred names (The Type F Zaku II and Gouf Custom were added by me).

The other thing I really like is the “Did you know” section about the users that are automatically generated. So far, these are mine:

Did you know:

6 Saber make GNdynames’s army (It seems my Saber Alter got counted as Saber, and Saber Lion and Saber Lily GK not counted, just for the record I do have two Saber trading figures that were not counted and not listed in my collection).

22% of GNdynames’s figures come from Fate/hollow ataraxia (Not a real surprise here since most of the non-battle costumes are shown in Ataraxia)

28% of GNdynames’s figures were manufactured by Bandai (since there are several figure producers while only Bandai makes gunpla)

44% of GNdynames’s figures are 1/8-scaled

13% of GNdynames’s figures are HG

3.63 meters is the height of all GNdynames’s figures piled up (This is actually really cool)

2001 is the release year of the oldest figure of GNdynames’s collection (That being the MG Gouf Custom)

Also, it seems that wordpress won’t allow me to inplant html or something. This is why I don’t have my Tsukiboard link on the side panels. Feel free to drop by, comment, and so forth by clicking here.