El. Psy. Congroo

I am glad that I'm having time to rediscover my Otaku ways. It's not that I ever stopped liking the culture but I used to be more fanatic about it. At least, from the aspect of manga appreciation. Friends who have been to my room would probably understand, having seen how probably half of my bookshelf is filled with manga. I used to make regular pilgrimages to shop(s) in Petaling Street to buy the latest volumes of manga I was following. Malaysia also has this magazine reminiscent of Shouen Jump where a few manga titles are "serialized" so new chapters of the mangas are out each week.  There used to be a pullout in the Star called Otakuzone. I normally get news of the latest manga/anime there, the pullout's no more though. And as I turned to the internet for faster updates on manga chapters, the passion somewhat died down until my only routine was reading the weekly chapter updates online.

(Fortunately)some college mates were fans of One Piece and it made finally start on the series. Seeing that it is probably the one of the mos popular mangas of all time, really would be a shame if I never gave it chance. I initially had reservations about the somewhat eccentric artstyle but after you start following the series, you notice the great detail Oda(mangaka) puts into his art, not to mention the brilliant story-telling. After A2, I started following Katekyo Hitman Reborn, which just ended recently. (And pretty abruptly too. Though it does seem that there's nothing to cover anymore..., I think there were still some loose ends.) To mark a return to Otakudom, I even visited Animangaki. Planning to head for Comic Fiesta later this year too.

As for anime, I've started watching a few series too. Frankly, I'm not a fan of adapted anime, mainly those adapted from mainstream shounen manga. The anime rarely compares to the manga(except some rare few) and viewers constantly have to sit through fillers. I've watched 2 of 2011's most acclaimed anime and am currently following another series which just started airing October this year. I've enjoyed the two anime from 2011(very much) so I think I shall do a write-up about them.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
The title translates into "We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day" though everyone just refers to it as Anohana for short. This tells the story of a group of childhood friends-the "Super Peace Busters" who after the death of one of their own, Meiko Honma, start to drift apart during the ten years leading up to the start of the anime. The main protagonist, Jinta, once the smart and charismatic leader of the group has stooped to the life of a "hikikomori", which is a recluse that stays holed up at home. One day, he sees the apparition of his long dead friend, claiming that her wish has not been fulfilled, resulting in her inability to pass on.

 The Super Peace Busters- Then

The anime is 11-episodes long but has managed to bring enough development for the characters. With the reappearance for Menma (Meiko's nickname), Jinta is forced to reunite with the other members of the Super Peace Busters to try and figure out her wish. Throughout the show, we see how each member comes to terms with the feelings and emotions that have been suppressed since even before Menma's death(except Poppo, who I think didn't have as much backstory). It's a story that would constantly tug at the heartstrings of those more emotional. Now every time the ending theme plays, I get all melancholic because the instrumental versions comes on at almost every emotional scene in the show. One peeve though would be the nicknames. The Peace Busters refer to each other with portmanteau of their names ie. Menma is derived from Meiko Honma, so it would be a bit confusing when you're just acquainting yourself to the characters.

And Now.

Steins;Gate
I remember seeing a friend of mine post a status last year about how he finished the series, and though I did nothing about it immediately. The name stuck and a year later, I've decided to watch it myself. Right now, I'm still suffering a withdrawal. Fortunately, there are many spin-offs to satiate my longing for more of this anime. Steins;Gate is an anime revolving around time travel and subsequently, the consequences from it. One of the many strong points of this anime is its cast of characters. The main protaganist, Okabe Rintarou, is a self-proclaimed 'mad scientist", constantly spouting delusional made-up conspiracies as well as monologues with his cellphone. Some may tire of Okabe's antics but there is of course more to him than the arrogant, flamboyant disposition he gives out.As the series progresses, we too see Okabe develop as a character as he faces the outcome of his experiments. The seiyuu contributed tremendously to the success of the anime by giving life to an array of characters with distinct personalities and backgrounds. Mamoru Miyano gives Okabe his eccentricity (Trivia: He is also the voice of Yagami Light from Death Note,Riku from Kingdom Hearts and Suoh Tamaki from Ouran). We also have Shiina Mayuri, Okabe's happy-go-lucky childhood friend who has a deeper understanding of everything going on than made out to be, Makise Kurisu, a prodigy, initially cool and level-headed, she soon warms up to Okabe and the gang.

Being 24 episodes long, Steins;Gate takes a while to build up, but viewers should be patient, the climax does come and rather shockingly too. Before that, the stories mostly revolves around the introduction of characters, most ending up as Laboratory Members of the Future Gadget Lab that Okabe founded, as well as the building up of the basis of time-travel, which might be a bit confusing if you plan to analyse it more thoroughly once the anime is over.

Though it falls mainly in the sci-fi genre, Steins;Gate has a mix of everything and balances it out perfectly: a blend of drama and comedy, a bit of action, friendship and even hints of romance. The art is clean, yet I admit, that of the visual novel which it was adapted from(Anohana is an orginal anime btw)  is much more stunning. Story was brilliantly told, and everything connects eventually. Its position as one of the great animes of 2011(or maybe even all-time) is duly justified.

P.S: Japanese seem to like their portmanteau nicknames, or maybe it just so happens in these two anime. Mayuri refers to herself by Mayushii and to Okabe as Okarin (much to his irritation).

Our 8 lab members. Okabe far right with his cellphone, Kurisu with the red hair and Mayuri with the blue summer hat. 

If you do start watching these two anime now, it'll be perfect timing to welcome their respective movies next year! Steins;Gate is scheduled to have an original movie in Spring 2013, and Anohana has one planned for Fall 2013.

Senescence

With this much liberty of being in the situation that I am now, comes too fear and sorrow that seems to lurk around every idle moment. It is during days when it seems that the only things to look forward to are whether Naruto will become Hokage or who Ted's wife will be that you feel so stagnant. You can't help logging onto Facebook/Twitter and inevitably be bogged by your friends' updates about their new lives, leaving a hollower feeling.

Sometimes, I have this selfish yearning for the world to just end in December, as 'prophecised". At least, then, there will be no grief for future sudden losses, with the knowing of when the end is near and for everyone to meet it together. There would be no need to face the fears and uncertainties of a shrouded future. No more emotions, no more assumptions, no more need for decisions.

Other times, I remember not-knowing is what makes up the excitement of life. I know that there's more that I need to discover and fulfill. I am aware of this is a means of escapism.

Like when faced with the decisions one has to decide on in life, my mind continues to oscillate

Oh Education..

It's a sad fact but I believe that I was quite possibly more brilliant as a child than I am now. It's true that children possess a natural inquisitive nature, eager to know about everything and anything about this world. An aunt of mine worked at Grolier, which was a publishing company. I used to be excited when she came bearing gifts in the form of encyclopedias and those trivia books, not to mention some disney picture storybooks. Time was spent flipping through these and if I ever had a query, I would go look it up in the encyclopedia. History used to be a favourite of mine, I had this one book which compiled biographies of famous historical figure, and I would go look up those of figures I read/heard about elsewhere. A TV show from the past, "Time Squad" (pun not intended) played a part in introducing said historical figures to me.

The Internet replaced these encyclopedias. Everything was now a search button away. Yet with all the convenience and limitless information, I'm not anymore intellectually stimulated. On the contrary, precious time has just been wiled away with all the Facebooking, Tweeting, and catching up on TV series. Not to say I don't learn other things, but it could have gone at a much more faster pace.

Pretentious as it may be, I felt that I used to have a larger advantage over my peers in our younger days, that I was already at a higher level in some academic aspects. I read up any thing that interested me so some historical or scientific facts we would learn later were mere general knowledge trivia to me, giving me chances to flaunt once in a while. Unfortunately, I never did expand this bank of knowledge. Soon enough, it was either the syllabus we were learning finally caught up or I started meeting people of equal or higher calibre. 

Our education system probably contributed to this deterioration, being so restrictive. Who knows how much untapped potential was never discovered, and will never be know as our brains age. But then, it's not only exclusive to Malaysia, we did model ourselves after the Brits.

Coincidentally, I just finished "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" today (or it was this book that prompted the post). Afterthoughts: what would I be like now, if I was handled more strictly in my youth? I know, I have my regrets, not continuing the piano or the violin, and maybe not swimming a bit more harder during classes. But then, would I have read as much or explored all the other enlightening aspects. Might I be like Amy Chua's daughter, attending college at Harvard or maybe in Oxbridge now if I was drilled harder? 

Who knows? And there's still time to learn. I might take longer than I would have in my younger days but there's still the opportunity, with the gap year and all. I can revert back to my free learning methods of the past, absorbing information from any source at my own pace. Schooling has disrupted most of my education, fortunately, not to the point of no return.

Keep it Personal

I'm gonna be cheating here. This may look like a pretty long post but most of the content won't be mine. Below is apparently from a writing competition but was submitted to some colleges for admissions too O.O, and it garnered quite a lot of attention:

"I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.

Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row. I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400.

My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me. I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the CIA.

I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid.

On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prize-winning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin.

I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college."

Whether it really got the author admitted into college or not, it is pretty cool >:D

Still

I would be lying if I said I'm alright with all this, that I don't feel the slightest bit left behind seeing everyone else gearing up for uni, moving on to the next phase of their lives. Having been the one who tries to get the low-down in advance, who always tries to stay in the pack, or ahead of it, I'm really not accustomed to being the one left here stagnant, while everyone is progressing. Typically Asian of me, to think that tertiary education is the only path forward. It sort of is now. But it's not the only Direct path after A-levels, I'm sure knowledge can be acquired anywhere, through any experience in life. That's what the gap year is for, isn't it? I chose this, because so many things would be missed out if I didn't take this year(or half a year) off to just do something else with my life. Yet, I am missing out on other things, even now.

Oh yes, A-Level results were released last Monday. Building up to that day, I was probably getting random anxiety attacks. Even dreamt about an F in Math :O. They turned out to good, really good. More could have been done(in terms of percentile). But it really is good enough, I am relieved.

Annui

This is gonna be another compilation of recent events I've been at since these will be more interesting than anything I can think of now.

TEDxKL 2012 (14th July)


I've forgot how I was aware of TED. I believe I knew of TEDxKL first before of TED itself. Being invited to  the previous TEDxKL events but failing to attend, I surely could not miss this year's since there was no other commitment for once! The "x" in TEDxKL means that is is an independently organised TED event, sort of a spoof of the original TED talks, which are held in Long Beach, California. Thus, TEDxKL is an independent TED event held in KL, the Temple of Fine Arts in Brickfields to be exact.

This event did not disappoint. It brought together speakers of different disciplines and backgrounds as they spoke on the theme of "Interdependence"( though sometimes I really had to decipher where actually were they coming from with this theme for certain speakers).  An album on my Facebook was already uploaded featuring pictures of each speaker with pretty lengthy captions summarising their talks.

TEDxKL stage

Had a really enlightening time. One disappointment was that they ran out of shirts before I could buy any. Hoping to volunteer for the next one in 2013(or who knows, TEDxYouth at the end of the year?:D)

On twitter, we had people commenting how so many events were going on on the 14th of July. There was TEDxKL, Malaysian Student Leaders Summit, Bon Odori and MTV World Stage at night, the Scout Campfire(this applies to CHSians only though). Earlier that week, I had won a pair tickets for World Stage, my brother took one and headed off to Sunway Lagoon by 3.30 while I decided to only head there after TEDxKL was done. 

Justin Bieber and KARA were already done by the time I got there, it was Mizz Nina's turn. I assumed she was the last act and as people were leaving after she was done, I followed suit. I assumed wrong of course, Jay Park was last instead(brother commented that it was probably a last minute rearrangement after noticing that people kept leaving after each performance, they were probably worried most of the crowd would leave  if Jay Park had gone first). However, I didn't really want to reenter and feel claustrophobic again so wait for brother in Pyramid.

MTV World Stage- Mizz Nina performance

More running!

Got up the next day (15th July) for the BHP Orange Run. Was really indecisive about this because I actually signed up for MSLS as well. In the end I did end up running, thinking I might make it back in time for MSLS. Ended up going back home to catch up on sleep instead. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, seeing the tweets from MSLS, they discussed topics I wasn't so well-versed in anyway. If you accumulate all the distances of the runs I've taken part in this year, I've already ran a full-marathon yay!

Mizuno Wave Run (Jan 2012)- 10km

Standard Chartered KL Marathon - 10km

MCS Fun Run- 5km

NTV7 Feel Good Run - 7km

BHP Orange Run - 11km

So we have a total of 43km >:D A full marathon is techinically 42km. Nevertheless, I'm still a pretty slow runner. Sigh, more training needed. There's Adidas KOTR and Penang Bridge International Marathon coming up in September and November respectively. Nike We Run KL is one to look out for, but Nike has yet to reveal anything, rumoured to be on the 14th of October with registration opening in September.

Took this at the NTV 7 Feel Good run. I do support our shuttlers! Go for Gold!

Met up with S2 classmates on the 21st. Attendance honestly wasn't that good, not even half made it. But it was still good seeing those you have not met since SPM results. Good to hear that everyone's doing fine. There are quite a few aspiring doctors among those present too. 

At Italiannies. Taken with Xue Ying's phone. Wan Jin left already though.

Singapore!

Was there for 4 days( 22nd- 25th July), mainly to visit the Harry Potter exhibition and to wJuatch Annie the Musical. I was in Singapore a few months back with the classmates too, though this time I needn't worry about lodging as I was staying with my cousin. Visited Marina Bay Sands, Orchard, Bugis and Serangoon. Ate a lot of nice food too :D

Justice League figures and Marvel Villains :O Cousin's hubby is a big fan. I rarely see anyone in my circles putting that much in the fandom. There are stacks of comics all over the living room too, read a few while I was there XD.

Flying Ford Anglia :D The prop which I could take a picture of since it was outside the exhibition.

The Marina Bay Sands hotel viewed from the Art Science Museum

 Batman lifesize model in a mall. There was Bane and Selina Kyle too.

 Doggie Style Cafe. You are allowed to bring your pet dogs in and even buy food for them. Only 1 dog was here that day though D:

 Wrap from Salad Stop. Pretty good ahhh. This one is spicy-crab flavoured. The one behind is a Japanese style salad, with soba and all.

 Chocolate Frogs and Every Flavour Beans

Annie :)

Was back at CHS on Friday (27th) for the Girl Guides AGM. Was really interested in the selection of this year's Top 4 since our Form 4s this year were pretty good. Am happy with the results and it actually was according to number of votes though there was a pretty intense discussion between teachers and the Form 5s.

The seniors who returned :D There are about 5 generations here. Once a Guide, Always a Guide ;)

I have also been teaching at the United Learning Centre for the 2 weeks already. My classes are on each Wednesday of the week :) No photos yet. For now, I can say that it can be difficult sometimes, with language barriers and all, but to seem them so eager to learn and how they rush up to me when I arrive is just heartwarming. 

3rd class is tomorrow. Should get back to brainstorming on how I can catch the attention of a group of  rowdy 7/8 year-olds.

Fragile Things

Despite what I try to tell myself otherwise, I am feeling pretty down. I know I have no right or reason to be but that feeling just wants to nag at me. Grateful I am for all the wishes yesterday but I feel a human touch lacking. I disabled posting on my timeline yesterday, so those who still intended to wish me did so through Facebook Chat, those with Twitter did so through that and a few of my older,close friends did so through SMS. (yes, seems that friends I've met friends last year resorted to social media instead,coincidental that only these certain people chose SMS, either that or using SMS establishes that our friendship is stronger and  longer lasting, as smses seem more personal and intimate). There were no phone calls, not that I felt like conversing in such a way anywho. Family faithfully celebrated with a homemade cake after dinner, brothers chose to not mention anything to me though.

Yet, yet, besides family, I didn't actually speak to anyone in person. Disabling my timeline posts did enable me to strike conversations with friends and acquaintances I have no spoken to in a while, but it was all through the internet. Basically, with the exception of dinner, the rest of my birthday was "celebrated" online, and I do find that quite miserably pathetic.

Well, it's not like people aren't busy, and my birthday was never celebrated on the actual date these past few years(not counting family), and it's not like I've done for anyone else's except my teachers, but they deserved it! I should really just do away with this mentality. There's no use comparing. Furthermore, our birthdays mark another year of us being alive, then every day we're alive should be celebrated. A very merry unbirthday to everyone.