The Life and Times vol. 1

Following in the footsteps of the great Drew Bagay, I decided to make a weekly gig. It's more of for updates really for those interested, giving your friendly neighborhood fifthStitch that warm fuzzy feeling inside (or maybe it's cuz of all the gas). Anyway, I shall christen this gig

THE LIFE AND TIMES

Which is more of a rip really, until I think of a better name. I shall do these in volumes, like how I plan to with another series which so far has not even left the ground yet. I promise it will... Someday...

Anyway, for the updates...

I am really psyched for graduation.

GRADUATION YAY

All those wasted - I mean fruitful years are now coming to a close! Well, not really, since I still am taking up my Masters, so it's really not yet over. I still have to feel that proud "Hey I did it" atmosphere, but I'm getting there. Thesis is now finally over, no more beating the deadlines, sleepless nights, sleep-filled bus rides, unwatched anime, unwatched movies, unread comics, unread mangas, unrequited love (wha? just kidding, I love you!), undetermined genders of classmates, never ending stress and most of all, no more unwritten blogs.

YAY!

Or maybe not.

Seeing that it's me, I will probably still have more of these (except unrequited love, I love you! Really!). In other news... YAY MOTA!!! I still tend to spell MOTA as MotA. Anyway, so we got silver for our MOTA, with the power programmer group of XT getting the gold. It's not like it's a competition or something (YES IT IS, FIFTHSTITCH SMASSSSSSSHHHHHH), all of the candidate thesis groups could get a gold theoretically (FIFTHSTITCH SMAAAAAASSSSHHHH, GRR GRR). Still, getting a silver is very unexpected, and much appreciated (NO!!! FIFHTSTITCH SMAAAASSSSSHHH!!!11!!11!!). I actually didn't even think we'd make it this far, I am content just finishing on time really. I would really like to thank my thesis mates for bearing with me all this four terms. A quick shout out is in order...

THANK YOU THESIS MATES!

THANK YOU EVER PRACTICAL NICOLE!

THANK YOU EVER INDUSTRIOUS JOSEPH!

THANK YOU EVER GA- I MEAN, EVER HARD-WORKING RAF!

No really, thank you all. Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you for all the laughs, the tears, the fits of rage. Thank you for everything really, I'd shed a tear for all of this and for all of you, but I digress. I'll save it for graduation.

Some other updates. I have written two more chapters of Riiya, the White Wolf. The plot thickens as Riiya encounters long lost memories, figments of a past he has already forgotten now haunting him in cold blood (or something like that). Be sure to read it, it'd make fifthStitch really happy.

DON'T YOU WANT FIFTHSTITCH HAPPY?

Okay... Anyway, also, I'm planning to write a short story derivative of LamB. Let's face it, LamB was a failure. I was really really really really really really really (repeat to infinity) excited about LamB. The concept seemed incredibly beautiful, and the universe it created is exciting beyond a shadow of a doubt. For the uninitiated, here's some condensed info on LamB: beautification panels attached to the skin which enables indefinite beautiful existence was combined with nanotech and mind control to create the ultimate punishment for criminals, forcing them to work almost butt naked for extended periods of time as LamBs under the jurisdiction of shepherds who I am led to believe are law enforcement dudes which serve as wardens for the criminals wearing the LamB suit which meanwhile are the hot topic for fashion since they grant near perpetual beauty which makes hip people wanna commit crimes for the sake of getting that Laminated suit. Uhh, well, it's actually waaaaay better than that. Click here to see the wiki page. And here to see the official site.

SEE? EVEN VANESS WU GOT INVOLVED!

Seriously, LaMB (which I have carelessly misspelled as LamB [damn this DotA MotA thing, and damn this recursive parenthetical shizzle]) was a huge HUGE HUGE letdown. The proliferation of sponsor ads (for goodness sakes, they animated the band members of Simple Plan and the Click Five, what's up with that?!?) combined with over hyped publicity and rather bad voice acting (sorry Vaness) really made LaMB the disappointment of the century. I loved the concept, I loved the setting, I loved the universe it created, I loved everything about LaMB EXCEPT the show itself. It sucked. Big time. And about Vaness being involved, yeah, he was chosen as the seiyuu or voice actor of the lead male character.

I don't mind Eve (the name of all female LaMBs and in this case, the name of that lady in the poster) being a complete rip off of Rei Ayanami from the ever wonderful Evangelion or Motoko Kusanagi from the also ever wonderful Ghost in the Shell. I don't mind LaMB sucking out of the popularity of recent Sci-Fi (well, recent during the time of LaMB's release) post apocalyptic films like the Matrix trilogy. I don't mind the power-point-ish animation style of LaMB, seeing that it's the first original production of Animax. I don't mind the subtle switcharoo by Animax, turning LaMB into an animated feature from the previously advertised animation series. And I certainly didn't mind all the viral promotions Animax gave LaMB. But when they worked in the members of Simple Plan and the Click Five into the animated production (which I believe is due to sponsorship issues), when they waisted all that potential concepts, when they produced a crappy excuse for an animation fit... It's just... Damn... I don't even know what to say.

LaMB FAIL

So there, I'm planning to write a short story set in the LaMB universe. I don't know, maybe for vindication, or probably just to get the satisfaction I expected to obtain from LaMB. I don't know when I'd write it, but hopefully I do before class begins again next week. Did I just say class? Oh yes, I did, which brings us to my last update for this blog (I'm getting tired of typing, and this blog is way over my word limit, not that I have any).

I am going to be a Part-Time Lecturer next term!

YAY PART TIME PROFESSORSHIP!

That's right, I'd be teaching next term. According to the teaching load distribution I got from the faculty, I will be teaching INTROSE or Introduction to Software Engineering next term. This is a really really big thing for me as I have always wanted to teach since my High School days. It was probably due to the introduction of GTO to me or something, but I really really want to teach. Pardon my naivety and idealism, but I really want to be involved in shaping the future, and I believe being a teacher is the best way to do that. You are directly in contact with the future of the nation so they say, nothing beats that.

Anyway, INTROSE shouldn't be hard to teach, since it's more of a practical thing mixed with a few concepts. It's still incredibly pressuring though, as INTROSE is a second year subject and is really not that much of a beginner's course. Still, there's no better way than to kick things off with a bang... Or something...

So there, that concludes volume one of the Life and Times. But first! A bulleted list showing the updates I'm too lazy to write about in full:

• I still have yet to watch the last two episodes of Kamen Rider Decade
• I'm not sure if I want to watch Kamen Rider W (Philip is gay)
• I think I might be into SIC's (Super Imaginative Chokogin, look it up)
• I'm planning to start a Solutions Development gig
• I have still yet to update Chronos Division, which I hope I will do
• I'm about to finish watching La Corda D'Oro (pretty good so far)
• I want to play the violin
• I just attended a FORMDEV Reco (I'd probably blog about this properly soon)
• I WANT A NEW GUNDAM
• And so much more...

Right... Goodbye! See ya next time or something...