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Wow. [14/05/2008 @ 22:38] Teacher accused of wizardry Looks like someone forgot to take their daily dose of reality...

This pisses me off... [09/05/2008 @ 13:59] I was looking up the prices on Hans Klok tickets just now (yeah, so sue me, I can't resist the big Vegas show coming to my home town), and what do I see on the ticket site but a show by Derek Ogilvie. Tickets selling for 32,50 euros each. Come on folks, shell out your money to get messages from your dead loved ones... except, y'know, NOT. That's what I call cashing in on other people's grief. I hate that. I HATE the fake medium thing, and especially the part where people have to pay lots of money for fucking FALSE HOPE. If the guy was just doing the telepathy thing, well, sure. If you're going to buy into what is in essence some basic cold reading, and you want to pay to witness the pseudo-supernatural, by all means do so. It can be good entertainment when done properly. It's just that when you start playing with people's grief, when you let people who desperately want that person they loved back in their lives PAY you to pretend you're able to talk to the dead... that crosses a line for me, really. That's unethical. And that just fucking sucks.

Note to self [07/05/2008 @ 23:41] When e-mailing your teacher saying 'please find attached my thesis proposal'... it might be wise to actually, y'know, attach said proposal. D'oh.

London! [06/05/2008 @ 00:10] Went to London last week and had a great time! So, here's an account of my travels: ( Read more... )

Meme-time! [24/04/2008 @ 02:00] [ mood | tired ] Stolen from myarra TECHNOLOGY Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer? On the laptop I'm working on, it's the Torchwood logo on a rusty brown background. On my desktop computer (that I hardly use anymore) it's Mr Spock. Q. How many televisions you have in your house? One in the living room, one that is yet to be installed in my room. BIOLOGY Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right-handed. Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Yup, my tonsils. Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted? My laptop (does that qualify as heavy? Otherwise it's the vacuum cleaner.) Q. Have you ever been knocked out? Nopes, though I've come close to fainting a few times (but not due to being hit). BULLSHITOLOGY Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? Neh, I'd like to keep my illusion of immortality :P Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Uhm...dunno. I kinda like my name the way it is. Q. What color do you think looks best on you? Hot pink :P (but seriously, I dunno... I like a lot of colors). Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item? Are vitamins and medicine considered non-food? Otherwise, not as far as I can remember. DAREOLOGY Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? If she's hot, I don't need payment, kthnxbye. If she's not hot, I'm not gonna kiss her. No, not for teh moniez either. I'm not a whore, yanno. Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? Add another zero to the end of that figure and I might think about it. Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000? Dunno, I'd probably get bored. Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? Uhm, no. I'd puke before I'd finish it, anyways, so I'd not get the money AND I'd be humiliated. Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000? I'd only take a life out of mercy (dying/terminally or chronically ill/infant with nobody to care for it properly). Killing someone for whom life would be better than death is cruel. Money doesn't change that. Q: What is in your left pocket? I no can has pockets :( Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie? Dunno, never seen it. The title sounds kinda dumb, though. Then again, so does Kentucky Fried Movie, which is actually cool. Hm... I'll have to look it up. *looks up* Well, I still dunno. It seems like too many stories in one movie that's trying very hard to be funny. Hm. Q: Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house? Carpet. Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower? Stand, duh. Can't wash yourself sitting down. Q: How many pairs of flip flops do you own? None. LASTOLOGY Q: Last person who texted you? *goes to get phone* That would be myarra. Q: Last person who called you? Also myarra. Q: Person you hugged? My dad. FAVORITOLOGY Q: Number? Dunno, but I like even numbers better than odd ones (omgz, I discriminate against odd numbers :() Q: Season? Autumn. Q: Color? Anything bright, plus black. CURRENTOLOGY Q: Missing someone? My mom's in Istanbul for a literature festival, so I kinda miss her. Q: Mood? Kinda tired (is tired a mood? LJ says so), otherwise neutral. Q: Listening to? The sound of my fingers typing. Q: Watching? Nothing but my laptop screen :P Q: Worrying about? Whether this cold is gonna get worse or better (don't want to have the flu when myarra and me go to London next week!) Q: Wearing? Black and white skirt with black/green floral print (dumbest skirt ever: it stained itself when I washed it... it's pretty though) and my Omnia 'The Raven' girlie. Otherwise, my slippers, and underwear (duh). RANDOMOLOGY Q: First place you went this morning? Bathroom, I think. Q: What can you not wait to do? See Derren Brown!! Q: Do you smile often? Dunno, actually. Do I? Q: Are you a friendly person? Sometimes, if I like you.

Misc. Things [09/04/2008 @ 12:42] 1) There's a helicopter circling over my neighborhood. Has been doing so for the last 45 minutes. I wonder what it wants. 2) Not going to the Tim Burton interview/signing thingy after all. Went to get tickets yesterday, but the rabid fans that had apparently been there all day got all of them before we even got there. The festival guy said that if we wanted to come to the signing, we'd have to be there at least 3 hrs in advance. Now I love Tim Burton, but I also have this thing called a LIFE. Y'know, thesis to write, costume to sew, things to do other than standing in line for hours. So, well, too bad, I suppose. 3) There's a dead bird on my way home from the subway that's been lying there for at least a week now, and hasn't changed in appearance at all. Why is nobody eating it? 4) My mom turned 60 today. I'm gonna bake her a cake later. Now just to figure out what kind of cake. 5) I can do a card trick now. Yay. I'll be a magician yet!

Thesis woes [29/03/2008 @ 18:51] [ mood | hopeful ] So... I have to write my master's thesis for my MA in ICT and Translation (which is basically just a broad translation master's program, which also teaches you to use translation software). Problem is, I've been trying to think of a subject for the past few months, but all my ideas either get shot down by my prof, or they turn out to be unworkable. And I REALLY need a subject now... one that'll work and all... and I'm REALLY out of ideas. So, in a bit of a desperate move, I'm throwing it out there - does anybody reading this happen to have an idea I can work with? Preferably something to do with subtitling, as that's where my experience lies, but anything to do with translation that I can in some way stick an ICT aspect on (either to do with software or just using it, like subtitling does) would be a great help. The more ideas I have to work with, the better my chance of actually finding one that may work. 'Course, afaik, nobody that reads this is actually involved in translation or anything, so this may just be a long shot... but it can't hurt to try, really.

Whee, I are good student! [28/03/2008 @ 23:23] ...In other words, I FINALLY got my Terminology project (the one on larp terminology) back, and I got an 8 (known in other grading systems as '80 %') on it, so I'm quite pleased with myself. Though I will have to have some words with that teacher, if he notes that I left the 'term' prop unexplained (uhm, no, that's actually just a pretty common English word...). Anyways, if anyone wants to see the thing (I know some of you guys were interested), just leave a comment - if it's only one or two of you, I'll email it, otherwise I'll see about putting it online somewhere. Warning, though; it is understandable to people that haven't taken a course in terminology, but it does take some figuring out the system, if you're not used to it.

Stuffs and things (or, my extended easter weekend) [26/03/2008 @ 23:12] [ mood | sleepy ] Had an interesting few days, since I last updated. First, Exodus weekend. I'll update my Cassandra post later tonight. Had a huge lot of fun, solved some problems, found a few answers and a lot of questions, and amused myself with a running gag that basically only I got :P (I was kinda emulating dr McCoy every time people got Cas to do stuff, like "I'm a folklorist, not an [X]!" *grins*). And I found out that when I'm tired enough, not even drunk people understand my jokes. ;) Also, I noticed larp is an interesting way of facing the 'bad things' in your life... ( cut for personal whiny blah ) When I got home after Exodus, I was exhausted and a bit sick, but I did join my family in painting easter eggs. I made a pink fairy one and a 'Cheeseter egg' (a reference to an Exodus joke). I wanted to take a pic of the cheese one and put it on here, but my mom ate it :(. She did give me the shell fragments, but I dunno whether those would even show the painting properly in a pic, so whatever. The fairy one also has hearts and a flower - delightfully girlishly wrong. :P Oh, and my Derren Brown tickets arrived while I was away, so yay! Monday, we went to my gran's for easter lunch. Was cool, but I fell asleep on the couch halfway through the visit and slept for most of the rest of it. Nobody seemed to mind, though. Yesterday, my mom's half sister from Ireland was in Amsterdam with her kids, so I got to meet my cousins for the first time. We went to the zoo, which was a lot of fun. Calem, the oldest (he's 10) is a lot like me at that age - hyper, curious, full of knowledge and constantly talking and joking. We got along pretty well. His sister, Anna, who's 8, is a sweetheart, and kinda funny as well (she claimed to have 'an ankle piercing' and wanted to take the otters home as pets). I hereby officially declare that kids related to me are WAY cooler than other kids. :P Today, I did exactly nothing. Tomorrow, I'm gonna see about getting a new phone (some bastard on the subway stole my new Nokia last week). Till next update, I bid thee farewell!

Boys vs girls (sleep deprivation weirdness) [17/03/2008 @ 00:31] [ mood | weird ] For no apparent reason at all, my mind just wandered to the whole strange dichotomy of most species on this planet... you know, the whole male/female thing. I started to wonder what the good and bad things are about either side of the equation. Not that I'm dissatisfied with my natural gender, mind, but I like thinking about these things. Also, I like making lists. So, tonight, I'm making a list of the advantages and disadvantages of being a girl. I would do the same for those of being a boy, but, well, y'see, I'm...not. So. Advantages of being a girl: -No possibility of surprise parenthood (happened to a male friend of mine) -- females at least get to decide -You get to wear pretty dresses and shiny mary-jane-type shoes -You get to play with face-paints (ok, ok, make-up) when there's a party or a concert or the like -When cold, you'll mostly always be provided with some boy's coat -They will also carry things that are too heavy for you -Belly-dancing is easier when you actually have hips to sway -Hugging of both males and females is not frowned upon (for some stupid homophobic reason, some of my male friends refuse to hug males) Disadvantages of being a girl: -Monthly need for painkillers -Cold feet/hands (the female body, regardless of its owner's wishes, tends to send most of its warm blood to the womb region when cold, at the expense of the outer extremities) -Badly designed body parts (aka boobs) that hurt when unsupported for too long (annoying if you like to just hang out in your PJ's in the morning) -Being smaller than most males can be kind of annoying in a male-designed house like mine -People assume you'll like romantic comedies (NO) and dislike action movies, comic books, and other FUN stuffs that are apparently more popular among males (like sci-fi) -You get hit on by creepy old guys (do guys get hit on by creepy old women? *curious*) -People keep telling you you'll want kids someday (do guys get bingoed as often?) Feel free to add or discuss! Oh, and in other news: Guess who's going to London to see Derren Brown perform? *happy*

Yay, test meme! [12/03/2008 @ 12:29] I Am A: Lawful Neutral Human Wizard (2nd Level) Ability Scores: Strength-9 Dexterity-13 Constitution-10 Intelligence-15 Wisdom-12 Charisma-15 Alignment: Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society. Race: Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like. Class: Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells. Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Long time no post... [11/03/2008 @ 13:38] [ mood | blah ] Sorry 'bout that. I'm writing from my new laptop. It's pretty and black and I have a mousy that changes color (colored led lights, like the white orb lamp thingy for those that remember that one). I'm supposed to be working on my thesis, but I'm procrastinating. Whee. I'm also supposed to get on with the Great Cleaning of the Room (quite an epic feat). Speaking of which, I have a bag of surplus clothes, if anyone's interested. A schoolgirl skirt (size S), a ridiculously sweet light green shirt with tiny flowers and puffed sleeves (also size S), a wraparound red skirt with black patterns that kinda look like toy windmills (S again), a black shirt with a V-ish neck that used to be tied together with brown leather straps, but there's one missing (size M), a plaid 'colbert' (do they even HAVE those things in other countries?) and a matched set of gothy clothes (LV brand), consisting of a size M/L purple velours skirt with black lace upside down triangles, and a size S/M purple velours midriff top with lacing, pointy sleeves and a kind of V-shape towards your midriff (ie, it's pointy on the bottom). Holler if you're interested - maybe they're good for costumes or something. And please stop laughing about my earlier tastes. I was young, y'know. ...Cuz obviously, I'm old now. Quarter of a century, as of Feb 10th. Somebody, get me a walker. Nah... J/K, I don't think I'm all that old (though it's getting kind of weird that most guys my age are dating girls 6 or 7 years my junior... *grin*). Had a fun party. Martin and Do gave me a Nightwish ticket, with which I was very pleased, until I realized that the concert coincides with the 1st night of Exodus IV. And, well, even if I skipped the Friday, going there the day after a concert would kind of mean zombie-me for the rest of the weekend... I DO make a cute zombie (see zombie walk post), but no. So, the ticket is up for sale again (with M&D's approval, of course). Right. Forward, the light brigade. Off to do Important Stuff.

Time for an update ;) [05/02/2008 @ 16:41] Hi my dear little readers... it is can be update tiemz nao plz. So... what interesting things happened since my last post? Well, I finally finished & handed in my terminology project (the Terminology of Larp thingy) - lemme know if you want a copy. It's not been graded yet, though, so it might totally suck. I'll keep you posted. Last saturday, Martin and Dominique and me went to Keulen to be studio-audience @ The Next Uri Geller. Trip was free, they needed audience members, and it was really really cool. I hugged Uri Geller, too. :) Do & me are gonna learn magic, by the way. We're working at it, and it's a way cool hobby, methinks. Other than that... well, not much, I think. Just life. Oh, and lots of Torchwood. Jack Harkness is way cool (also, hot). So... seeya next update!

Beauty of the Geek [15/01/2008 @ 23:39] [ music | my ringtone playing in my mind :/ ] Saw this on Judith's blog, so of course, I had to take it. Y'know, 'cause it's relevant to an issue that's been bugging me today. 55% Geek 55% Looking for x-ray technician schools? See? I'm more than half geek. *nodnod* Geek. Yesh. What's wrong with that? I love comics, I love roleplaying, I love sci-fi and fantasy. Also, I love guys with long hair. Which brings me to my point of annoyance. Beauty and the Geek. Saw it on TV today. It's... it's a false dichotomy. Beauties are dumb, smart people are fugly asocial geeks. The boxes that go under the names of the male (another peeve: male geeks only, cuz ya know, only males could be so silly as to not be socially conforming) 'mockingly' say things like 'plays Dungeons and Dragons', 'watches Star Trek' or, I dunno, some stuff about the interesting technical field of occupation of said male ('tracks monkeys with lasers'). Now, you see, all of these things to me would be a bonus. Because monkeys are cool. Because Star Trek fucking rocks. Because, hell, the RPG isle of my fave bookstore is THE place to spot hot long-haired males. I watch Star Trek. I like old Marvel comics. I play RPGs and go to larps. I like to read popular science mags like Quest. I have a fondness for odd trivia. I am, it appears, a geek. So are most of my friends. And a lot of them are quite beautiful. But no, no, no. In TV-land, people are stereotypes. Thou Shalt Conform, or else. The geeks get haircuts and are shoved into yuppie clothing, making them rather uglier. They are very grateful for this, for now they can be normal and find airheads to date them. Of course, the beauties are equally stereotyped. They're pretty, airheaded things who think only of make-up, pop stars and clothed mini doggish things in handbags. Their task is to get some smarts from the nerds. Oh, and to win 250.000 dollars. Seriously. Double. You. Tee. Eff. Apparently, in our society, one needs to give up one's hobbies and individuality, and conform to the stereotype that's on the highest rung of the social ladder. That'll bring you great happiness. Or, y'know, at least 250.000 dollars.

Another year has come and gone... [30/12/2007 @ 21:12] [ music | Sirens blaring. Those idiot kids probably finally blew their hands off. ] Hey everybody - hope you had a great Christmas/Yule/other solstice celebration! As I'm up and about again (been sick this past week), it's time to follow the crowds and make an end-of-year post. So. What did I accomplish this year? I lost my tonsils. I got a job. A nice job. I made new friends. I finally got into larping (well, that's the past two years, really, but it's cool, nonetheless - I'd been wanting to do so since I was 18, and never actually had the guts, so I'm glad I did). I hugged Rogue (Crüxshadows) and Sic (Omnia), which, y'know, hugging strangers = scary! But I wanted to. And it's nice to hug people. I volunteered at Summer Darkness. I was a pixie-zombie. Or a zombie-pixie. That's a matter of perspective. I discovered new genres of music to like (EBM, synthpop and other gothy stuff). I played matchmaker for two of my friends. And shoulder for many more. Masked finally got back to writing songs. All in all, it was a pretty good year. Also, thank you: All my friends, new and old, for being there. Rellie, for being my weird little almost-sister, for being fun and for hugs and cookies. Iris, for Masked and for everything else, for talking to me about a lot of things, for being my best friend going on 9 years. Mich, for the great great music and the weird conversations. Pep, for the music and the hugs and being you. Rij, for being a really cool person and for talking to me and anchoring me when I need it. JW, for calming me down when I was panicking over that huge argument I had at work and helping me find a solution. Judith, for being a really cool new friend. All the other exodus-people for accepting me into that weird and wonderful world of larper geeks. And, of course, my parents, for providing for me physically and mentally. Have a nice fireworks night, people!

Curious [21/12/2007 @ 01:20] [ mood | sleepy ] I'm contemplating buying a lottery ticket for the Oudejaarsloterij (state lottery with mega prizes at astronomical odds :-P), and I'm thinking about what I'd do if I suddenly became a millionaire. So I have some dreams, but I'm wondering - what would you do? My millionaire dreams are: -Buy a big farm with lots of land (preferably forest) attached, divide it into apartments, and start some kind of semi-commune thing where all the cool people I know can come live with me -Buy manymanymany pretty corsets and dresses and stuffs -Go visit London (my fave city) without having to worry about money issues -Let all my friends make a wish and fulfill those 'Kay, now it's your turn!

*sad* [17/12/2007 @ 19:49] [ mood | frustrated ] Dammit... I finally get around to ordering tickets for Nightwish, figuring that 3 months away is still a pretty good margin, and now it's SOLD OUT. *cries* Damn, one of my fave bands has a show about 5 minutes from where I live, and the only tickets available are those on eBay and the like, going for more than 100 euros apiece (ie too expensive, dammit). So I guess I'll have to try to win tickets somewhere, or something... or, y'know, not go. This fucking sucks.

Larp terminology [12/12/2007 @ 23:22] ...in case it interests anyone (but me), or if you'd like help me or to chip in with remarks or "YOU'RE WRONG"s, I'm gonna compile the data I'm gathering for my terminology project (see a couple posts down) in this post - under a cut for the sake of the non-interested. NOTE: Frame definitions have been added, and this post has suddenly gotten a lot bigger :-P ( I cuts yoo!! )

This body is broken. I want a new one. [06/12/2007 @ 17:18] Also known as 'yay, I'm covered in hives again'. W...T...F. Srsly... all I did was a) eat a quesedilla (wrap tortilla, cheese, ketchup - all of which I've eaten many times before), b) take a shower & wash my hair (with my regular shampoo) and c) put on body butter (my regular brand, which did come in a redesigned bottle but said nothing about a change in formula). Apparently, ONE of these things caused an allergic reaction... and none of them are things I want to do without. Cheese is good if you don't want to eat tortured meat, and the shampoo and body butter were about the only ones I COULD use. Grmbl. Unless that doctor a few yrs ago was right, and it IS all nerves. Though I fail to see how 'nerves' could make my skin randomly get red and itchy. Well, whatever. At least I've got a night out with some cool people to distract me. Gonna see Golden Compass - yay! :-D ETA- Oh, I almost forgot. We found a little hedgehog in the front yard. I think its back was broken - it was half paralyzed. We wrapped it in a tea towel and put it in a shoe box (to get it out of the rain and make it comfortable) and called the animal EMT's. They came to get it. I suppose they'll euthanize it - at least now it won't freeze or starve to death. Poor little thing. It was really cute, too.

Terminology is actually interesting?!? [05/12/2007 @ 23:05] Well, it is, now that I'm retaking the course, and have changed my research subject from metal to larp. Metal is far too broad - got the whole thing fucked up, and didn't realize it, which appears to be what made it so horribly dull last year. What am I blathering about? Well, y'see, it's a mandatory course - Terminology for Translators. It's all centered around a big project, which is to take 15 concepts in a certain field, find terms linked to them in English and Dutch, and create a termbase. (Glossary - a concept is basically what Plato calls an Idea, it's the default of a certain thing or action in your mind (like - it's a big mammal with spots and horns and goes 'mooo'). A term is the word connected to that concept (like 'cow', or 'bovine', or 'koe'). A termbase is a database of concepts and their linked terms.) Last year, I chose metal as my field, and managed to royally fuck up. This time, I chose larp, which is looking quite good. I did narrow the field down to British and Dutch larping, because I just figured out (from looking at websites) that Americans either don't HAVE concepts (like rule-related things, and words specific to the field) that go beyond the scope of one single organization, or they think those concepts are well-known enough that they don't need to be published online (making them useless for a project that needs documentation). Fortunately, the British live up to the stereotype and appear to be well-organized, rule-loving people. With websites. Yay. Terminology research is actually proving to be interesting. How refreshing. Also, this means I can call my visit to the Midwinterfair a research excursion. ...What? I need brochures. Documentation. Gathering data, people. Perfectly legit. :-P

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