The Life and Times vol. 10: Crossing Over Space and Time PART TWO

Whew, so... Part 2. Yeah, I'm still having a blast playing this game, so let's talk about it a bit more shall we?

ALSO, MORE REASON TO OGLE- I MEAN, POST

PICTURES OF LILI!

The Life and Times vol. 9: Crossing over Space and Time

Or crossing over Street Fighter and Tekken, whichever S and T you feel like crossing over. I prefer the latter.

The Life and Times vol. 8: No Clever Title

Hello. No clever titles this time, no pointless banter before I begin. For once, I'd be Ryan, and just Ryan. No fifthStitch jovial undertones, just me speaking my heart out.

Because after a long struggle of trying to hold everything in, I've got a lot to speak out.

The Life and Times vol. 7: End of an era

That's right folks, two Life and Times in the span of a month! Or maybe a week, I can't really remember (of course, I could have just looked at the timestamps but nooo... Too lazy...). Anyways, why the sudden urge to present you guys with another awesome edition of The Life and Times?

Simple. The end of an era has arrived. The End of Eternity has begun.

The Life and Times vol. 6: One frame links

Yohou guys? Whats up? It's been a long time but here we are once again in another installment of fifthStitch's life and times. Today's feature: One frame links and fighting games!

The Life and Times vol. 5

Hey! It's volume 5!

So what do I have to say? Well, nothing much, just felt like updating this blog. I've been reading my older blog posts though, particularly my very first. It felt nostalgic of course, but the beauty in reading blogs like this is seeing how much I've changed over the years (two years? maybe less, but hey, its still more than one so it deserves to be plural) (and yes, I still put parenthetical side comments, guess some things don't change). Call me sick, but I really get a kick at temporal time travel; putting myself in my shoes back when I first wrote something.

The Life and Times vol. 4

Why hello there. If this is your first time reading this blog, then welcome! I'm fifthStitch, the one and only (as far as Google can tell, not counting Fifth Stitch, which has a space in between), and I, well, I don't really know who or what I am. I'm a Roman Catholic, and a pretty devout one at that, but I'm not the type you'd find praying 24/7 in churches or cathedrals. I'm not even that interested in cathedrals (although there are some I'd like to visit, like the awesome St. Peter's Basilica; that place is huge!). I'm also an aspiring writer, comic artist, photographer, software developer (I'm into both corporate and game software development), graphic artist (just a teeny bit), martial artist (hey, to dream is free right?) and all around good guy (I'd say handsome but I value my life so very very much).

GOOGLE SAYS I'M A PIECE OF WOOL. SUPERWASH WOOL (75%)

Anyway, why the sudden introductions? I don't really know. On to the updates then.

So anyway, I'm really writing this just to get the hang of this thing called ENGLISH once again. Recently I've been reading and checking student emails from my COMPRO1 class (which for the uninitiated, is the first ever nightmare a Computer Science student of DLSU would have, before the even bigger nightmare called ADVANSE), which incidentally are, if not C Code assignments, are hastily written email questions. Hastily doesn't even do them justice! Most of them are nothing more than drawl; broken English with a more shortcuts than a tech-savvy poser's desktop. I mean, no offense to the students, but their English really suck. There are some exceptions though, but then again, I can't blame them since their course technically isn't Creative Writing or some such.

Being the malleable and adaptive person that I am (I should probably add this to my self-introduction above), I feel as if my English is beginning to suck too (not that it was awesome in the first place (I took me three tries to type the word awesome before I got the red squiggly to disappear)). So yeah, basically this entire blog post is me trying to get the hang of writing in semi-perfect, close-to-literary-as-possible English. What better way to practice writing than by making an update!

Unfortunately, between this and the vol. 3 (I'm still not convinced that vol. stands for volume, for all we know it could stand for area, or perimeter, or- *hides in a closet for protection*) there really hasn't been much going on. Ad Continuum seems to be going well, although this week I don't expect myself to create a new comic, though I might make a filler of sorts. I'm waiting for something to arrive, and until that something is not within three feet of me, I cannot proceed with the story in a way that would make sense. My thesis is still, well, that, just a thesis. It hasn't managed to materialize from my brain yet, so nothing much new on that. My collection hasn't grown much either, although the thing I'm waiting for may or may not change that fact.

Welp (a subtle kickasskass reference), that should be it. I feel so well versed in English now I could start making LOLCATS.

[fifthStitch would like to apologize for the idiotic piece of turd he paid to write this article. He has since then learned that a paid turd, while a few thousand bucks richer, is still turd.]

MAY OR MAY NOT BE TURD

The Life and Times vol. 3

It's been a while, hello there!

NOT THAT KIND OF HELLO!

Augh, I haven't been updating my main blog in a while because I really don't have much time to. So you'd have to pardon the slow updates. Anyways, hello once again! I kinda missed writing here, so this might be one of those very loooooong blog posts. I have much to talk about anyway, so without further ado, let us begin!

So you might be wondering what I've been up to for the past 2 or 3 months since my last update (or, you know, you're not...). Well, I've been slaving over my Master's thesis for quite awhile now, and truth be told, I don't really think it's going anywhere! To those of you who are interested, my thesis is about extending the CDT plug-in for Eclipse.

NOT THAT KIND OF ECLIPSE!

CDT basically is the C Development plug-in for Eclipse. It allows you to convert your Eclipse IDE into a development platform for the C language (ordinarily, Eclipse is a Java compiler). It also adds some other tools that will help you in C programming, like DOM Trees and such. And no, before the picspam gets ahead of me, IT'S NOT THAT KIND OF DOM! Seriously, these developers should give the stuff they develop less promiscuous sounding names.

Anyway, apart from thesis, I've also begun collecting small scale pose-able figures. Currently my collection consists of one FIGMA Koizumi, one Revoltech Fraulein Asuka and one S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Black RX (which, now that I realize it, makes my collection more multicultural than the Justice Friends). I'm saving up to get either a FIGMA Yuki Nagato (non witch version) or an S.H.Figuarts W, Kabuto or Decade. I currently am borrowing a friend's SHF Kabuto and Revo Fraulein Pocco, for use in another project I'd talk about in awhile, but I really really want to get a hold of my own SHF Kabuto, for collection purposes.

For the uninitiated, FIGMA is a line of pose-able figures from Max Factory featuring well known (some not so much) anime characters from a variety of series, most notably the Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu series (their first FIGMA came from that series, correct me if I'm wrong). Revoltech Fraulein is also a line of pose-able figures this time from Kaiyodo, comprised entirely of female anime or game characters (I think, I don't really know where Pocco came from).

YEAH THAT POCCO!

S.H.Figuarts on the other hand is a line of pose-able action figures from Bandai, mainly of Kamen Riders (but I think they also feature some other "heroic" characters). They're the evolution of sorts of the former Souchaku Henshin line of Kamen Rider figures, featuring better joints, more points of articulation and better detailing. I still argue that the S.H. in S.H.Figuarts stands for Souchaku Henshin, or at least meant to be an allusion of sorts to their predecessor line, but someone would kill me, so I just won't (although secretly I still do! Fight fight!)

So, what do I do with these figures? Why, make a comic out of them of course! (What? It's the most logical course of action right? No?)

PILOT CHAPTER: HUNTER HUNTED

If you want to read them, visit this link. Apart from the main continuity, I've also been making side comics for the lulz. To read them, visit this link. It would link you to my other blog where I would house the comics temporarily. Just click on the Read more link, or the full view links on each. A friend of mine also agreed to give my comics a home in his blog, which hopefully gets them to more interested audiences, since he has friends that are really into Kamen Riders and anime and figures. You can visit his blog here.

So for a short introduction of what these comics are, well, Ad Continuum is basically my re-imagining of the Kamen Rider concept. In this world, Riders are spirits, and instead of bikes, they ride on the bodies of hosts, appropriately termed Ride. These hosts or Rides must be of strong magic potential, as this is a requirement to contain the powers of the Rider spirits in physical form. Of Pertaining to Comedy on the other hand is, well, you don't really describe it. It's really just for the lulz, and a place for comic rants. I don't have a fixed schedule of publishing yet for these comics, but hopefully in a week or two the schedules would have stabilized.

I've also started a new line of short stories called Alternatives, which basically are fanfictions of sorts, a re-imagining of the stories of anime series or any sort of series really. So far I've made the first chapter of Alternative DeathNote, featuring Light as a software hacker (of all things, but hey, my college course is about software development and stuff, so what better alternate world right? Right? Ugh).

Anyway, that should be it for now. I apologize for the Hello Kitty brief at the beginning of the blog post. Really, that was uncalled for. Unless you want them. Which officially makes you the most creepy brief-wearer in the world.

Seriously. Don't get near those. They're probably haunted with the ghosts of people killed by shame while wearing one.

The Life and Times vol. 2

Hello fans, this is fifthStitch once again giving you my very regular updates!

Not... Who am I kidding... Anyway, so where was I... Uhh, updates, right. Fans or no, welcome to volume 2 of The Life and Times; where, if you've been tuning in regularly, you'd know that I'd be giving you updates and future times about my life. Kind of like a blog post.

But cooler...

If you don't get the inside joke, I say don't bother.

Anyway, first for the updates. So I'm working now. And oh boy, did I get my dream job.

YAY WORK!

If you're wondering what, and for the benefit of those who still do not know, I got a job as assistant lecturer in De La Salle University. Hmm... Now that I remember, I think I've blogged about this already... Oh well, yay for redundancy.

So yes, you can say I'm a prof now, though I still say I do not deserve the title. But what am I to do but embrace it with outstretched hands and a (forced) warm smile. It's been (backbreaking) fun work and I (do not) look forward to it every week! YAY!

All jokes aside, yes I've been enjoying my tenure (wow, I've been waiting to use that word to describe something about myself) as a part-time lecturer. It's been really hard at times, especially since I got a really bad time slot at 11:20 AM to 12:50 PM. It's either the students are sleepy or hungry, I suppose you could say that's the lull between breakfast and lunch. Oh and for the record (if anyone out there is secretly recording my blogs ) I'm not handling INTROSE as I expected. Due to some last minute switch involving, I dunno, five minutes of extreme deliberation, I got transferred to INTROOS. Now, I don't have anything against that subject, but I really don't have anything for it either. I suppose the hours of lecturing really drains me of my energy, as can be seen by my lack of updates.

And speaking of updates, random plug (which I will return to later anyways so what's the point), I wrote the next chapter of White Wolf Riiya entitled Conflict. In this chapter we finally see the fated reunion of the three defenders of Love, Hope and Justice (I forgot if the last one was Justice... maybe it was Courage, but meh). I particularly love how I characterized Chacha in this chapter, I don't know why .

Anyway, yeah, back to teaching. So this coming week, it'd be pressure as a ten ton block with five hundred elephants with five hundred giraffes on top of them as I will be having my peer review. What is a peer review you might ask? Well...

TWO OF MY PREVIOUS PROFESSORS

ARE GOING TO WATCH ME TEACH!!!

>_<

May God bless me... This would be the greatest challenge yet of what might be the shortest teaching career in DLSU.

Anyways, apart from that, no major updates so far. Yes, I wrote a chapter of White Wolf Riiya (you could say this is the obligatory restatement). Yes, I'm now into watching Kamen Rider Kiva. Yes, I have yet to finish watching Lain and Evangelion. Yes, I still have to watch Elfen Lied. And yes, I'm still sexy and oozing with awesomeness. What's new?

Well, there you have it! I plan on making my posts shorter and easier to read. If you were a fan of the long posts, shoot me a comment (due to the 'n' key of my keyboard failing, that statement almost made it as "shoot me a commet"). I would be very very happy if you would .

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...