Where Am I?

It's a real busy year, what with my honours project as well as 3 papers in one semester, plus I've got a new website project I want to start working on. So I wont be updating here too much, but will be continously updating my twitter, which has kinda become my mini blog for now.

Wondering where I'm at? Am right HERE

Guitar Tree Revamp

I am starting out a new project of revamping all my old artwork. I love the old stuff and will not discard them ever, since they were what made me realize I can actually draw pretty good lol. But I wanna patch them up, make them look better. First in line was Guitar Tree, which I drew about a year ago. The first image is the original piece, and the second is the revamped one.





I dunno how it is with other people, but when I listen to music, like really really really good music, it kinda sends me into a trance. Whatever I am doing I will stop, and I will close my eyes and just listen. I would see images, like mountains or streams, or even colors depending on the tone and lyrics of the music/song. That's why I decided to add lots of color to this piece, since it conveys my feelings towards music.

Zombie!

Hack/Slash

Spent the better part of my day today drawing out a poster of one my fav comics: Hack/Slash. I really wanted a poster of the comic to stick to my room's wall and decided to create my own one lol.

Click on images for larger to see more detail and stuff.

Here's the 10 minute-ish sketch that I scanned into photoshop




Here's my take on Cassie Hack




Here's my take on Vlad




And here's the final poster




Am still pretty bad at drawing the background ._. Really need to improve on that. But am really happy and proud with the end product =D

Can't wait to print it and hang it up yay!

Darth Vader

Oh God xD I am literally choking from laughter xD

BRILLIANT! ahahaha

Internet Vigilantism

A vigilante, as defined by Wiktionary is “[o]ne who takes the law into one's own hands”. Internet Vigilantism is a very recent phenomenon that came into existence as a result of the formation of the web community with the birth of the internet and the World Wide Web.

Though the word vigilante has good intention tied with it, the Internet Vigilantism phenomenon is somewhat disturbing, due to many cases of it being similar as to the harassment of a lynch mob. The most notable method of Internet Vigilantism is public shaming, where the violator’s crime is publicized widely across the web, almost always followed by personal information of the perpetrator such as name, photos and even email and home address. Social networking tools as well as forums are utilized, thus leading to the public shaming spreading faster than an epidemic across the world.

Dog Poop Girl

One of the most widely publicized and talked about example of public shaming tied to Internet Vigilantism and followed by harassment of a lynch mob is South Korea’s “Dog Poop Girl”. In 2005, a commuter in Seoul took a photograph of a fellow commuter who refused (using colorful language) to clean up her dog’s defacement on the floor of a subway car. The photo showed the dog owner, a Korean woman, seated in the subway car with her dog in her lap; it’s defacement on the floor in front of her. Fellow passengers surrounding her look down upon the sight with disgust plainly visible on their faces. The commuter who took the photograph posted it on a popular Korean website, voicing his anger and disgust.

Within hours, Internet Vigilantes quickly sprang into action, labeling her as “Dog Poop Girl” (it being the less colorful version of the woman’s new title) and began spreading the photo across the web. Within days, as further punishment for her violation, she was identified and much of her personal information was exposed on the internet, as well as more pictures of her. Parodies of the incident were even made. The story reached mainstream media, and the public humiliation and harassment, even against her own family, lead the woman to quit her university and issue a public apology online.

Breaking the norm

It is interesting to note that the Dog Poop Girl case stemmed due to not following the norm, rather than breaking the law. The lady was expected to clean up after her dog. Instead, she refused and in a very offensive manner. Usually, this would follow with norm enforcement such as an angry scowl or someone telling off the lady. Dog Poop Girl’s norm enforcement was rather extreme, as she was tracked down by a cyber-posse, who took matters into their own hands and publicly humiliated her. She is forever branded as Dog Poop Girl.

A similar example is of 16-year-old New Yorker Sasha Gomez. She decided to steal a Sidekick II cell phone she found in the back of a cab rather than turning it in. Gomez was exposed and publicly humiliated by Evan Guttmann (friend of the cell phone owner), who tracked her down by means of the web. Another case is of Jesse McPherson tracking the person who stole his laptop, television and Xbox down after posting an obtained picture of the thief to his blog. The blog entry was then posted on Digg.com, a popular social news website, resulting in an angry mob of internet users tracking the thief’s name, home address and even high school. The violator was constantly harassed, until he confessed his crime and returned the stolen goods.

Patrick Pogan

Internet Vigilantism, in this case, was used to expose the wrong doing of public law enforcer. Critical Mass is a bicycling event held on a monthly basis in cities all over the world. It is perceived as a political protest activity, while participants claim it’s more of a gathering of people and a celebration. Critical Mass events can legally occur with no advance notification of local police, which leads to traffic problems and hence disgruntled road commuters.

During a Critical Mass rally in the streets of New York in July, 2008, Patrick Pogan, an NYPD rookie, intercepted Christopher Long, a participant in the rally, to the ground. Pogan filed a criminal complaint, outlining that Long:

• was weaving in and out of traffic, disturbing normal flow of the cars
• purposely veered into him, knocking him down and injuring him
• resisted arrest, kicking and screaming while doing so.

Long was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. However, within days, a video surfaces on YouTube of the incident in question that completely contradicts Pogan’s report.

The video clearly showed that:

• there was no car traffic on the road.
• Long in fact attempted to veer away from the officer, while Pogan clearly ran into the cyclist, body-slamming him to the ground, while the officer remained on his feet.

All charges against Long were dropped, and Pogan was stripped of his gun and badge and given a desk job instead. Seven months later, the police department suspended him, and he now faces criminal charges including filing a false instrument and misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault.

More to come

I only demonstrated a few cases of Internet Vigilantism in this article, however it is clear to me that this is a phenomenon that will grow more in scope as the internet and web continues growing and become more tied to our lives. It is somewhat worrying though, due to the public shaming being worldwide rather than just in the local community. Once branded or tainted on the web, humiliation and public scorn is hard to forget due to it always existing on the web, easily retrieved by Google. The Korean lady will always be known as Dog Poop Girl, Gomez always remembered for stealing a cell phone and Pogan will always be known for his criminal actions as a police officer. Internet Vigilantes exist in the cyber world, where laws and limitations of the normal world are not applicable and anything is possible.

Hamilton Night Glow 09

Quoted from Wikipedia:

Balloons over Waikato is an annual hot air ballooning festival held in Hamilton, New Zealand. It is held over five days during autumn and attracts both local and overseas balloonists. The Festival is held primarily at Innes Common, at Hamilton Lake, which gets an estimated 100,000 visitors during the festival.

Events in the festival include sunrise and sunset launches, a balloon basket parade, lighting of balloons in the "Night Glow" and a morning "Dip in the Lake" competition where balloonists must attempt to secure a key placed on the lakebed.

This year's Night Glow was held on Uni grounds, a mere 2 mins walk from my place. The main street was closed to allow pedestranian traffic to easily get to the field, which was full of other events like rides, a music show and lots of food. I found a stand selling those mini cinammon donuts that are freshly prepared, bought a bag of 14 and ate them all xD I love those mini donuts so much, but unfortunatly they are not available everywhere (why is it that everything I love is hard to find ._.) I decided to skip the rides, as I was sufferening from a small headache, and headed towards the most densly populated part of the field with a friend. A band was playing, and right next to them the balloons were slowly being inflated. Here are photos before the Night Glow show began:











As the balloons were inflating, the music continued blaring on the speakers around the field. Suddenly the music stopped, and all the flood lights were switched off. Kids began to sing (Happy Birthday to you) since it's the 10 year aniversary of the night glow. As the kids came to the end of the song, the made a huffing and puffing sound, like they were blowing out candles. Suddenly the night a-glow with several gas fire stands located around all the balloons. Many people in the crowd gasped in fright, including me as I was pretty close to one of these fire stands xD Then music started and all the balloons as well as the fire stands began to glow in time with the music. It was so so so pretty!










And, ofcourse, what's an outdoor night show without some awesome fireworks =P

Dying moth

I took these two shots about two weeks ago, but downloaded them into my Lappie today. Both are of a large moth I found outside my studio. It's wings were completely torn, and the poor thing kept trying to fly to no avail. I really like moths, espically the freakily beautiful patterns in their wings. I was really heartbroken to see this one in such a bad state lol. I wanted to bring it in with me and take care of it until it becomes better, but then realized how crazy that thought is. So I sat outside watching it for a while, grabbed Alpha K and took the two shots, then walked in and left it out there. Guess it's up in moth heaven now ... =(

Product Review: Raid Fly Control System Window Stickers

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I was sitting at my desk, typing away at an assignment, when I decided to open my studio's french windows to let in some fresh air as well as warm sunshine. Enjoying the cool breezes, I left the windows open all day long. Little did I know unwelcome guests were coming into my studio as well ...

Night cloaks the world in darkness, and the cool breezes I enjoyed all day become icy. I close my french windows, and set about preparing dinner. Still oblivious to my unwelcome guests, I go about my normal night routine. After taking a showe, I sit at my desk to do a bit of course reading. I think it was about then that I realized there was a curios buzzing noise in my room.

FLIES! xD

About 2 and a half dozen of them, maybe even more, in my tiny room xD I was horrified! I grabbed a folder that contained notes for one of my classes and started smacking away at the flies. I managed to kill perhaps 5, but just couldnt get at the rest, plus my folder had torn in half from the force of my swats (it's in the bin now ... I really liked that folder =( )

It was too late to go to the store and grab an insect killer spray. It was too late to get out of the house period. So I had to put up with the nonstop buzzing near my ears, and become content with smacking myself in the head evey few minutes as a fly buzzes close to me.

I can't even describe the level of my annoyance as I sat at my desk trying to get some reading done.

The next day (yesterday) I went to the closest store after uni. Can you believe they were out of insect killer spray xD Stone cold out. But they had somthing else --> Raid Fly Control System Window Sticker. I live in a tiny town and public transportation ends at 7 in the evening, so I had no time to catch the bus to some other store. Plus I'm lazy.

I had no choice, I had to buy it. It had two stickers in it, and as soon as I got home I stuck one unto my window and hoped for the best. Within the hour, 4 flies lay dead on the floor under the sticker =D

The sticker is not supposed to be used on any other surface but a window, so I grabbed the other one and only removed the covering film. I stuck some blu tac on it's back and secured on one corner of the floor of my kitchen.

The next morning (today) there was only three flies dead altogether =( That was dissapointing, as the flies were still annoying me. However, whe I got home a lovely suprise awaited me. 11 flies dead altogether =D and another 6 so far =DDD There a still a few left in my room, but it's better than having 30-ish xD

How does the Raid Sticker Work?

Flies are attracted by the colour, design and natural food attractants in the sticker and come in contact with the active ingredient which works within minutes to kill them.

Thank you Raid, thank you for such a wonderful product. I am a believer now in insect killing stickers.

My rating of the product --> 4.5/5

!

Well .. would you look at that ... I am my own people and language lol

Sara People

This is seriously weirding me out. WHY ARE THEY CALLED SARA!? IS IT NOT ENOUGH THAT THE NAME IS POPULAR ENOUGH TO BE A LANGUAGE AND ETHNIC GROUP AS WELL?!

Talk about serendipity. I was messing around with a Wikipedia software and came across this.

Evolution of Science in the internet era

What is Science?

Science, as define by Wikitonary is “the fact of knowing something; knowledge or understanding of a truth” in the broad sense. More specifically, science is the “knowledge gained through study or practice; mastery of a particular discipline or area.” It is difficult to imagine a world without science. There would be no medicine to cure our diseases, no electricity to light and warm our houses, no cars to transport us around, no computers and internet. We would be struggling with life. Our interests would only involve trying to survive each day, not understanding and learning about the world around us. Darkness is what mostly comes to mind.


How it all began?

The seeking of knowledge has always been a part of human nature. We are naturally curious beings, blessed with an intelligence deeming us capable of comprehending the world surrounding us.

In the early ages, knowledge was passed orally, from person to person, generation to generation. This posed a problem, as the main tool this method is dependent on is the human memory, which is for the most part not reliable at all. People tend to forget or mix up crucial points, thus corrupting the knowledge. In addition, the death of a wise man/woman would mean that all the knowledge he/she gained would disappear as well.

Another more reliable tool had to be used in the passing and storing of knowledge. The earliest of such is symbols. Symbols represent an idea or a concept. The earliest example of these is:

* Cave paintings
* Petro glyphs
* Pictograms
* Ideograms

With the birth of the alphabet and writing, the storage as well as communication of knowledge improved greatly. Natural Philosophers, the earliest scientists, came into existence, questioning the world surrounding them, noting down their ideas, observations and breakthroughs in the form of a scroll, and later on in the form of a book. With the introduction of mass printing, new ideas and scientific discoveries were allowed to propagate faster, becoming more widely available for other knowledge seekers.

Natural Philosophy began to separate from philosophy, and became what is known today as science. Discovery after discovery were made in the name of science, a vast set of laws were associated with it, from Galileo’s laws to Newton’s law of motions. Science branched out into distinct communities:

* Natural Science, which deals with natural phenomena, with disciples such as biology and physics.

* Social Science, which deals with human behavior and societies, with disciples such as anthropology and political science.

Fast forwarding a bit to just before the birth of the internet, we see science become what we know it as today, where the role of being a scientist is a profession that you can become by earning a degree from a university. Science is taught to young children in a broad sense from an early age as they attend school, and narrows down into disciplines during intermediate and high school. The storage of the scientific knowledge is still being done in books. However, all of this is available only to communities with the resources needed, such as a university, schools and even books. This caused a serious gap in the world, as countries with resources developed faster than countries with none, creating stark differences financially as well as intellectually.


What is the internet?

The internet, as defined by Wikipedia is a “global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels.” People with a computer, a modem and web browser program were able to access the World Wide Web (WWW) or more commonly abbreviated as the Web, via the internet.

The Web consisted of a very large set of interlinked hypertext documents ranging in all topics. It started off slow, being very expensive to use and only available to educational institutions and the people whom can afford it. Fast forwarding here as well, we see the Web develop and morph into what we know it as today: an indispensable tool for information and part of our daily interactions. We use it to seek knowledge, to communicate, to shop, to watch movies, to listen to music.


Science and the internet

An information revolution is in the works.

The internet, and the Web along with it, changed the face of how knowledge can be stored and sought after. It opened a whole world of information available throughout all corners of the globe. All one needs is a device with internet access, such as a computer, and a browser.

Scientists are able to communicate with others that share similar interests, but live in another part of the world. They are able to share thoughts and ideas rapidly, which leads to more questions being answered and more breakthroughs accomplished. Scientific journals as well as news from the scientific community are propagated into the world at a pace never dreamed of before. Scientific knowledge is no longer contained with Educational institutions such as universities and libraries. It is readily available to all those who seek it via the internet.

An individual could learn about science, read online scientific journals, and keep track of all the latest research and breakthroughs from the scientific community. Having scientific knowledge is becoming “cool” with the newest generation, where you can find hundreds of blogs dealing with the different areas of science, such as biology or astronomy, written by teenagers or young adults. A quick search on YouTube will yield video upon video of scientific experiments conducted by curious individuals.

The book is slowly becoming redundant, as more people turn to the web, rather than the libraries to gain knowledge. The storage of knowledge first started as simple symbols, evolved into books, and is now starting to be stored electronically on internet servers. It is highly likely that in the future, the book will become completely redundant and all knowledge will be stored in internet servers and the Web.


The downside to all this

Due to the Web being an open library that anyone can edit, it has led to many false scientific information being published on to it. This may lead the naïve reader to believing this false information as being true. In order to not fall in such a trap, many different websites should be used as sources when looking for information or only the most reliable of scientific websites is to be consulted, such as Britannica or the Encylopedia of Life.

There is certain etiquette when it comes to searching for information through the internet. One must only consult the most reliable of websites. If unable to find the information being sought after, a certain degree of skepticism should be kept in mind while browsing websites until completely sure of the integrity of the knowledge. Search engines, such as Google, return the most popular hits first, which may not always turn out to be reliable. The web is ever expanding, with more websites coming up day by day. There is still no way to index and keep track of all of this growth, meaning there is no guarantee that everything one reads on the Web is true.


Brightness is what mostly comes to mind

We are living in an age of enlightenment such as the world has never seen before. The pace at which science as well as intelligence is evolving at is rapid, the standard of living improving in a couple of years rather than decades.

The future of science looks a lot brighter than before the birth of the internet.

Cadbury Mini Eggs

Oh joy of joys ^_^

Today, while walking through a department store, me and my friend passed by the section with all the Easter Chocos. Rows upon rows of Choco eggs and bunnies. I suddenly realized I always wanted to buy one of these but never did. I voiced this thought to my friend and wondered why. We decided to take a looksie at all the choco available.

So I walk about, taking a look, pointing a couple of cute bunny ones to my friend, when I literally stopped in my tracks and stared at a blue box infront of me.

Cadbury Mini Eggs.



CADBURY MINI EGGS!





THE BLOODY CHOCOLATE I LOVED WHEN I WAS IN ENGLAND!

No mini egg choco witha candy shell tastes as good as this one, the rest are all crap.

I have been searching for it everywhere, but have not come across it in any other country, not even NZ. I came across it once in Aussie in a store selling British stuff, like those double decker red buses (also came across Walkers Prawn Cocktail crisps <3 But omg was it expensive! 15 dollars for a pack of choco and crisps xD)



I ran over to the box and grabbed it. It included a huge Cadbury Easter Egg in it as well, but I didnt give a damn about that, my beloved Mini Eggs were in there in a packet of their own xD

Oh they are so yummy! Candy outside shell, that crunches so deleciously as you bite the egg in half. Then you taste the delecious thick block of cadbury milk chocolate in the centre of the egg. Heaven!

Am munching on one now.

Happy day ... OH HAPPY DAY!

Project

Right then. My honours project is basically proving the following article completely wrong, and that back of the book indexing can indeed be written by a computer ^_^

--------------------------------------------------

CAN'T THE INDEX BE WRITTEN BY A COMPUTER?

Indexing ultimately organizes "aboutness" for quick recall. The computer and its software assist, but the human mind alone can speak to the concept of "aboutness". If a term or concept is not specifically articulated on a page, a computer cannot choose it for the index, nor can a search engine find references to it. Neither can the computer reword the entry in a form that aids readers who are unfamiliar with the author's thrust. A paragraph or discussion can be "about" a topic without specifically using those words.

For example, in a discussion of passwords, keys and locks, you may be speaking about security issues and encryption. The words "security" or "encryption" may not appear in that page yet the reader should be directed to that page by the index under those headings. It takes a human mind to draw these conclusions.

Furthermore, a computer cannot:

• determine relationships among words and concepts, and therefore cannot place subentries, synonyms and cross-references properly
• decide what is and is not a relevant reference-- they can only sort the terms that appear in a document according to certain preprogrammed patterns
• recognize concepts which are discussed over a range of pages
• limit the search to relevant entries (vs. every occurance of a word)
• function when a word is misspelled (for example. google the word "backwords" and notice how often it is used where the word "backwards" is meant)
• consider how terms develop varied meanings -- for example, a "key" on pianos, for computers, to unlock doors, to unlock puzzles, for security, or as a geographic feature, as in Key West. At the same time, a computer is unable distinguish an author's use of multiple terms to indicate one concept: for example, in the computer manual field, 'application', 'software', and 'program' are often used interchangeably

Thus, without a human being to analyze content and context, automation in either a search process or in creating an index falls short of effectively bringing together relevant topics while avoiding the unrelated. Yes, a computer can think—just like a plane can fly or a car can drive.

source

Book Review: The Interpretation of Murder

Finished this book today morning.

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars


It was a good mystery, but I was expecting better. Some of the details are vague and not explained enough, and the crime itself was not as bad or shocking as I expected it to be. On the whole very very very well written and well researched book, loved how we got a taste of Freudian Psychology (no matter how audacious lol) and the rift between him (Sigmund Freud) and Carl Jung.

Book Review: The Historian

Finished this book three weeks ago, but will post review anyways.


The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars


Amazing ... I fell inlove with History even more due to this book. Really loved it!



The story deals with vampires, but not Bram Stoker's version of vampires, oh no. This book talks about a real vampire --> Vlad Teppes, or Vlad the Impaler. It also focuses on the connection between him and the Islamic Ottoman Empire dealing with is hatred towards it and the great fued between him and Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople.



Two Historians, Paul and Helena, whom are brought together after a series of unfortunate events,begin to delve deeper and deeper into the history of Vlad the Impaler as well as the Ottoman Empire, in order to save the life of a fellow historian.



The story is fast paced, incrdibly researched and the characters are so real. It is one of those books that I can think back on and see the entire story play back in mind like a movie. It isnt a light read by all means (656 pages) but I did not want it to end at all. To be honest I was really sad when it did lol.

Muto + Life

I first watched this about a year ago. Came across again today and was rivited once again. The dedication put into making this is inspiring. I love it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the third week of uni and I am already swamped, literally swamped with assignments. For the first time in my life I actually fear I wont get anything done in time, even though deadlines are months away. However, thanks to the nagging of my stupid best friend (*imaginary hugs*) I am not as scared or worried anymore. Batwakal 3ala Allah (hmm .. something like I'll put my faith in God) and do my best =)

Project Specification Due Friday

Placement Report Second Draft due Monday

Evolution of Science in the internet Era essay due Sunday

Chapter 2 of web dragons answers due Sunday

Another 10 chapters left to read in the (Using Z specification language) book

Writing up Test cases for the Flipstick programme due Monday



Fourth year is not gonna be a walk in the park ofcourse ... but ... *gulps* ._.

Loner (5)

This a story about racism I wrote when I was 14 years old.

Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - cont

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had Maths after English. I walked out of the classroom and realized I don't know where the classroom for Math is. I looked around for a fellow classmate but couldn't find one. Instead, I found a swarm of older students pass by me. They were all staring at my face, some laughing and pointing me out to their friends. I rubbed my nose, looked at my hand and found nothing. Again I looked up and still people were staring at me.

"Oh no!" I thought to myself "What is wrong? Do I have a bogey stuck on my face!?"

I remembered Corrine telling me where the toilets were. I dashed in and up to a mirror, checking my face for anything that wasn't supposed to be there. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

I walked out of the toilet and along the corridors, looking in on every classroom through the door's window to see if my classmates were in any of them. Just when I thought I was going to cry out of frustration, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw a large, rosy cheeked, blond haired, middle aged lady with soft blue eyes staring back at me. She smiled, and asked what was I doing wandering through the deserted corridors.

I told her that I was a new student and that I wasn't able to find my Math's class. She asked me why none of my classmates showed me the way. I shrugged and she clucked her tongue. Five minutes later I entered the class with the rosy-cheeked lady behind me. The teacher, Mr. Gibbons, didn't seem happy that I was fifteen minutes late for his class. He told me off , and I heard some sniggering as I walked to the back of the class and sat down. Miss Heather ( the rosy-cheeked lady) told Mr.Gibbons that it wasn't my fault as I was a new student and nobody showed me the way to his class. He merely nodded his hand and sternly thanked Miss Heather.

Math is my favourite subject. I soon found myself lost in numbers and calculation, my embarrassment at being told off on my first day of school gone. Math does not rely wholly on memorization, but a deep understanding in order to answer questions. A character in a novel I once read said that no matter how different the world's culture and language is, Math still stays the universal way to communicate as it is the same in every language. I believe that maybe one day numbers will be our tool to communicate with extraterrestrial beings. We took simultaneous equations today, and I aced the principle to solving it immediately.

the bell rand and it was time for the lunch break. Everyone filed out into the playground and I followed last. I walked out, looked around, saw Corrine walking a little ahead of me and I ran to catch up with her. She smiled and asked me how I liked the school until now. I said it wasn't bad but it was confusing to get around. She laughed and said that I'll get used to it in a week. We joined a group of girls and boys from our class whom were picking teams for Red Rovers.

Red Rovers is a two team game. Each team must hold unto one another hand, creating a chain. The opposing teams face each other. One side starts by picking a person from the other team to try and break through their chain. The chosen person will rush headlong into a link in the chain, and if they manage to make the link break (the people holding unto each other's hands let go) then the person can go back to their team and choose someone else from the opposing team to join them., making their chain longer. However, if unsuccessful in making the link break, the person must join the opposing team.

Two captains were chosen, and each began picking people for their team turn by turn. I was picked last. To my surprise and confusion, none of the teams wanted me. Why? Do I have some type of disease that they are trying to avoid or do I look like a monster with eight eyes and six hairy legs?

Or worse! Maybe this time there defiantly is something stick to my face!

Immediately my left hand shot up to my face and I began to rub at my nose. A murmur of disgust rose from the crowd surrounding me. Too late, I realized the oddness of what I was doing, and I dropped my arm limply to my side, feeling utterly embarrassed.

Finally, after much arguing about which team should choose the snotty nosed girl, Corrine convinced her team's captain to choose me, and reluctantly he agreed. I stood on the left end of the chain, and I held unto Corrine with my right hand, not daring to use my left in case I frightened her off.

It was a fun game, and everyone had a go at trying to break the link, except for me. Corrine's turn came and she was chosen to try and break the link of the other team. She didn't succeed and so had to join them. The girl who held unto Corrine's other hand wasn't too keen to hold unto mine and said she will on one condition: that's 'd pull my shirt's long sleeve over my hand. This was a bit too much, and I thought to myself that if I'm not wanted somewhere then I might as well not be there.

I walked off, mumbling that I am feeling tired and don't want to play anymore. There was still a few minutes left until the end of the the morning break. I walked over to the benches. I noticed heads turning in my direction, and whispers behind me saying "... yeah she's new, only just arrived ... what a strange color, so like chocolate, definatly not the bronze color of tan"

I sat down and watched the kids strolling around the playground. There wasn't much going on, mostly people strolling around and talking. I pondered the reason of why my classmates were behaving so strangely. Back home, I was rather liked by everyone. Even strangers instantly got attracted to me because of my charm and smile, as my Mother would put it. Here, I used all the charm and smiles I could muster but still it seems that no one cared about being my friend. Well, I can't really say no one Corrine sure is trying to make me feel at home I guess. I tried to find a reason for why that girl didn't want to touch my hand. I guessed it was because of me rubbing my nose. To tell the truth, if I was in her place I wouldn't like to touch the hand of someone whom might have some snot on their fingers.

Happy with my conclusion, I made my way back into the school's building as the bell signalling for the end of the morning break clanged loudly.

=(

Dagon has passed away lol.

I have to admit, I am extremely sad at the moment. I know some people will find it weird, but I really get attached to the stuff I love (which is a kind of curse I guess) and as shown in my last post I really love my pets. My sister took good care of him, but I guess something went wrong. She is pretty sad as well lol (she's like me)

Poor Dagon ... he was a beautiful Black Moor. I was hoping he will grow big, healthy and strong.

RIP

Here's a pic of him when I first got him. He grew quite a bit since then, and his dark gold tail and fins became so long and beautiful! I loved watching his tail and fins flow in the water as he swam in the tank.

LOLcelebs

In addition to my undying devotion to lolcats, i am now a huge fan of lolcelebs (which was blocked by Omantel in Oman so I couldn't view it when it when i first discovered ._.)

http://roflrazzi.com

A few of my favs:

Riba

Incredible animation clip. Loved the music.