Elfie in a Box

Winter chills, winter blues, and winter snow.

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:48:33 GMT

It started snowing in my town today. It's our first "major" snowfall, and that means that winter is officially here. It's not that cold, -7 approx, but not too bad. It will hit -20 soon enough. Plus windchill. Oh boy.

I like snow. I think it's cold and pure and soft. I love snow a lot more than flurries; flurries fall, but melt before they can leave an impression. A bit like false hope.

But my favourite part of winter is that fact that there is no darkness. People usually think that when winter rolls around, it gets really dark, really fast - partly true because the sun now sets at 4:30pm - but I can see more on winter nights than on summer nights. So much light, both artificial and natural, reflects off snow that there can be no darkness. I don't think I can really describe it properly, but it's a very comforting.

I'll try to take a few pictures. Maybe that will help.

Huh?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:11:51 GMT

Is datum seriously the singular of data? I had no idea. o_0

0_0

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:07:22 GMT

I think my life would be a lot more exciting if it had theme music.

Oh well.

Wikipedia made my year!

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:03:25 GMT

Okay, no, Wikipedia didn't make my year, Arakawa the mangako for Full Metal Alchemist made my year. By announcing that there will be a second season for FMA! I am so happy. It's like finding meaning in my life. Seriously. I can get through chemistry just thinking about this now.

This is what Wikipedia reported:

In the 20th manga volume, Arakawa announced that a second Fullmetal Alchemist anime television series is currently being produced. Earlier speculation from a purported document leaks has Bones again acting as the production company and Yasuhiro Irie taking over as the series director. The title series is expected to premier in April 2009 with the same name of the previous series.

w00t!

-Elfie.

p.s. (A sincere apology to a certain someone for citing wikipedia.)

36 things about me

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:19:29 GMT

My friend vidalsdauphin, (whom I've never talked to unfortunately) asked his friends to answer the following 36 things about themselves. It's pretty cool, so here I go:

01) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
Nope.

02) What was your dream growing up?
To be a marine biologist. And a food critique.

03) What talent do you wish you had?
Be good at math! No, sorry, that's super lame. I wish I could sing (this wish is actually for my friends and family who have to listen to by glass-breaking voice every second because not being able to sing never stopped me from singing).

04) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
Cranberring juice.

05) Favorite vegetable?
Cauliflower. Hands down.

06) What was the last book you read?
"Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Marukami.

07) What zodiac sign are you?
Aries.

08) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.
My ears. Got them when I was two weeks old and never wear any earings so I suppose that doesn't count.

09) Worst Habit?
Sleeping in the middle of boring conversations.

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
Most definitely.

11) What is your favorite sport?
Surfing. The net.

12) Do you have a Pessimistic or Optimistic attitude?
Optimistic.

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
Answer these questions for you.

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
I got into university.

15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
I collect tea cups and coffee mugs. Seriously.

16) Do you have any pets?
A cat for five years. Still un-named.

17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
uhhh... give you tea?

18) What was your first impression of me?
Can't say... yet.

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
Completely indifferent to them. Actually I just don't understand the point of them. They're neither entertaining nor educational.

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
The length of my hair.

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
Depends on the crime.

22) What color eyes do you have?
Dark brown, almost black.

23) Ever been arrested?
Nope.

24) Bottle or can soda?
Neither.

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
Blow it on a personal manga library and mugs and teacups.

27) What's your favorite place to hang out at?
My room.

28) Do you believe in ghosts?
Yes.

29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
Read.

30) Do you swear a lot?
Yes, I suppose.

31) Biggest pet peeve?
More than one exclaimation mark. Like when people are like "No way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111"

32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
Human.

33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
Nope.

34) Favorite and least favorite food?
Clodhoppers are my love, and Okra is my hate.

35) Do you believe in God?
Yep.

36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
Yes I most definitely will.

A thought on writing

Fri, 23 May 2008 22:08:44 GMT

Just a quick thought on writing. Obviously, writing is different for everyone, but this is what it means to me.

I write essays. I write opinionated pieces. I use facts and stats and research to prove an opinion that may not even be mine; I make the entire thing wordy and mature; I BS and BS and BS; and I get a 95 on the assignment. I am good at doing that. I even enjoy doing that.

And, for a long time, I thought that made me a good writer.

Which, I’ve now realised, is utter bull crap. That doesn’t make me a writer; it makes me someone who can follow a format and knows how to use search engines.

I recently ventured into writing fiction, and, by God, it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever gotten into. I remember sitting down, and knowing that writing fiction was going to be slightly challenging, but only because I’d never done it before. I had a story in my head; it was a good story, and I couldn’t wait to get it down on paper. It was different and calm and unique. It was a good story. And then, I did the most creativity-killing deed known to man: I made an outline.

I wrote down character names and I wrote down exactly how they looked (how they dressed and what they ate). I wrote down settings and listed places (what they were and how they felt). I even wrote down plot details (what happened. And what happened after that).

And when I sat down to write the actual story - after two days of outlining - I got struck with a horrible dose of writer’s block. The characters I wrote up were generic and had little to no personality. They were predictable and flat. The settings were, after careful planning and retouching, boring and unrealistic. The plot, well the plot never developed because I realised that I was failing at this. I stopped writing, and I realised that I wasn’t a writer.

- - -

Writing, I’ve now realised, is not about deciding characters and plot. It’s about discovering characters and plot. I have to set out writing without knowing what I’m going to write about. I have to let the characters talk to me. Writing’s about letting someone else tell me their story. Letting them make their own decisions, and letting that decide how the plot unfolds. It’s a strange feeling, not knowing anything about anything, and suddenly discovering another person, another place. It’s strange and exciting and wonderful. The characters I write about now are as real to me as my mother. I can see them and I can hear them. But, as of yet, I don’t know them. I have to write to understand them, and hopefully, I can learn more about them and I can learn more from them. And though, I’m not a writer – no where close to being one – I’ll keep writing for that.