Elphaba lives!

I just finished reading Son of a Witch. Yay. Also recently, i’ve borrowed a series of comic from the library. Turns out that you can borrow an entire series and it still counts as only one item with regards to the borrowing quota. Kind of cool huh. One of the benefits of dealing with library kiosk software is that you get to know about things like these.

Anyway, i’ve finished reading the comics and when i was returning them, i went to borrow another two library books, The Devil Wears Prada, and Rice. That’s when i still have at least nine books back home that i’ve not read at all (and two more flying in, i bought online from Amazon today !! I still need to make a trip to Kinokuniya to get one more book though.). So why am i borrowing books when i’ve got books to start/finish reading?

Well.. the thing with returning library books, i always feel like there’s some kind of a deficit if i do not borrow any books after i return some.

Anyway, here’s an avatar for the endearing Elphie Fabala Fae. I tried to make the skin more green, but the greener skin is alot more expensive.

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Of cross stitch

Here’s a picture of the cross stitch piece i’ve done in various stages of development. The first photograph is where i left off some years ago. Judging by how long i took to complete the other half of the stitch, i would say that the whole project takes only 1 to 2 weeks’ of effort. But of course, not everyone can afford the luxury of time that a professional bum has, so it’ll should take a normal person 2 to 4 weeks to complete.

Here’s a larger picture of the last photograph. The completed cross stitch with backstitching done. Obtw, despite the name, backstitching are done in the front. They are the borders that gives details to the cross stitch.

Some cousins asked me what i was gonna do with the finished cross stitch. Frankly, i’ve no idea what to do with these things. The only natural conclusion, that must come to all material things eventually, is to throw it away.

Isn’t that true? That if you’ve kept something long enough, you would eventually have to throw it away to make way for new things to come? Even if i kept this cross stitch with me to the day that i die and the piece of cross stitch falls into the possession of another person, it’ll still get thrown away on the next spring cleaning no? I can hardly believe that the cross stitch i stitch today would turn into a family heirloom or a cultural antique for future generations to behold.

That is, if no one says, “LB must have loved this cross stitch piece very much to have kept it with him till he died. Let’s cremate it along with his body so that he can take the cross stitch along with him, on the road.”. So there you have it. The natural conclusion of all things: thrown away to be burned in an incinerator or cremated together with the body of the last owner.

Even if i used it in barter economics as a gift to someone else in exchange for an indeterminate number of intagible points of obscure favor in return, the cross stitch still cannot escape its inevitability. To be thrown away or cremated with the body of the owner who received it as a gift.

Trust me to apply nihilism to non-living things *rolls eyes*

And whoever said cross stitches makes good gifts? When i announced that i’ve completed my cross stitch, several cousins immediately opined that they didn’t want me to pick their names for Christmas gift exchange -_-”

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More Gaiaonline avatars

In the first picture, i’ve dressed her up in basic clothing. You can see the original hair color and style and also the sleepy red eyes. The top and pants are peculiar in that the top has a low neck line and the pants have a low hip line. You can see traces of the pink bra and pink underwear, lol.

Seriously, when girls pay attention to such details, you call them all sorts of things including “attentive to details” or “good dress sense” and what nots. But when guys do it, i suspect they call me pervert or humsup uncle with fetish for pink lingere. Humph.

Oh yes. Those are basic clothing. I do actually pay real life moolah to buy some of the better clothing. Usually the monthly collectible and “evolving items”. My barbie collection hobby..

Obtw, the pink bunny slippers were a chore to obtain.

It might not be clear, but the avatar in the second picture is holding onto a hotdog with her right hand. Supposedly the hotdog is to cover the boobs of the pratically naked avatar. The thing is, the avatar doesn’t have boobs when it doesn’t wear clothes. So the hotdog is more like covering a lack of boobs pretending to be covering the boobs.

The last avatar has a knife running through her. The stand beside her is an IV drip if it wasn’t clear enough.

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More random updates

Made another trip to Sim Lim square today. The first trip was to get BIOS battery, wireless network adapter, and additional RAM for my donated PC so i could start playing games with it. Went again today to get a sound card to finally get the PC to start producing sounds. Somehow, the games are not as shiok without the sound. I do believe i would be needing to make one last trip down with the notebook to randomly see if there’s anyone who can repair the motherboard.

Anyway, on the way back, i made a trip to the Guan Yin temple to pray a little. Lol, me praying in a temple. It could be more accurately described as frivolous waving of joss sticks in the air. Truthfully, i was just there to look at the pretty girls who go there on a Saturday.

Anyway, i was meddling with my gaiaonline avatar again earlier. Here’s look that i dressed previously followed by one that i just dressed up recently. Oh heck, i’ll just link up all three pictures that’s uploaded in this blog.

The hair on the warrior look is the actual color and style (partially hidden by the hood). The hair of the others are items that can be used to dress as hair. The eyes are a sleepy red. But i’ve also used items to make the eyes look more sharp.

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Quotes from Son of the Witch

Now i’m reading Son of the Witch, the sequel to Wicked. The story continues with the legacy of Elphaba, Liir. Here are summarised extracts of a conversation from one chapter that i rather liked.

Extract from Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
Candle, “I have seen those walls among the trees, and I thought perhaps they grew there like lichen.“
Liir, “The influence of pebbles! To grow stone walls. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could plant a farm that way! Drop the seeds of a barn here, drip a tincture of millpond in an eyedropped over there. Plant an egg to get a whole henhouse, complete with cockcrow and breakfast omelet.“
Candle, “What would make a sheepfold?“
Liir, “All you need is a lamb’s tail.“
Liir, “To grow a mauntery you’d have to plant a… a what?“
Candle, “Plant a prayer.“
Candle, “To grow an army… ?“
Liir, “Touche. Well, the story of the Seven Spears says you plant dragons’ teeth.“
Liir, “To grow a melody?“
Candle, “You can’t grow a melody on purpose, you have to plant an accidental.“
Candle, “To grow a memory. Tell me that one, mister magic farmer.“
Liir, “To grow a memory. To grow a memory, one must plant… I’m not sure. Who wants to grow memories, anyway?“
Candle, “I’ll make it easier. To grow a good memory. A happy memory.“
He shrugged, indicating, Go on.
Candle, “It doesn’t matter what you plant, but you must plant it with love.“
…
For a long time, turning back, he could see the soft curl of smoke hovering over where Apple Press Farm must stand in its encroaching forest. The fire’s breath hung like a question mark above the place that she had planted herself, already, to wait for his return.

So.. what do we plant to grow a lbandit. Plant a Miss Icy Cool? Or plant a dearie cousin? Or plant some blogs? Or plant a computer with some games.

Till the next time, ask yourself, what does one plant to grow you ^.^

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Random update of the day

The baby nephew went for a poo in the middle of the night last night, at around 3am. The baby nephew has begun to poo two times a day, i hope it’s not a cause for concern. Anyway, mum was cleaning up the poo last night and was about to go wash her hands when the baby decided to roll himself off the mattress and start crying. Fortunately, we’ve stopped using the crib and was putting the baby on the mattress on the floor.

Anyway, i was sound asleep throughout the whole thing. It seems that i’m getting used to the baby cries now. Monster of apathy in the making, lol.

Here’s a picture of my gaiaonline avatar. I think i’ll do a monthly post of the avatar if there are new clothing to wear, lol. And yes, my avatar is a girl.

I’m rather particular about the details of my avatar. For example, even though it’s not visible to anyone, i’ll have you know that my avatar is actually wearing a pink bra and pink underwear.

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It’s alive, he exists, and i have a computer

It was a dark day-less place, forsaken by the sun itself. The rows of willow trees bordering the area only added to the creepiness of the place. The smell of rot and earth hangs thickly in the air, so putrid that even the winds break and dissipate against it instead. The taste of staleness in the air was unmistakable. If one were to listen intently, one could hear whispers of despair and despondence, vengence and baying cries for blood. Somewhere in the distance, there were even screams of anguish.

In this place, lies a tombstone, and from beneath the ground marked by the tombstone, the creature struggled against the weight of the earth. Forcing its hand upwards, breaking through dirt and into the equally lifeless air. Soon, it had struggled its head free and groans in a voice it had not used in years, “I’m alive.“.

At the same time, halfway around the world, in a rather unlike  place that was full of sun, rainbows and butterflies, a philosopher was sitting on a boulder underneath a giant tree of evergreen leaves. Opening his eyes and awakening from the deep meditation that had slumbered him through the ages, he too groans, though more from the  back pain that pierced him for sitting too long than from rustiness of unused voice, “I exist.“

And here in the blogosphere, on this insignificant space, lbandit makes and ineffectual post, with nary a groan and in a lighthearted voice, says, “I have a computer.“. Thanks to a kindly donation, i needn’t sell my soul or body to get my hands on a computer. The world loves lbandit, lol.

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Of bicycle spoiled

I normally do a preliminary visual check of the bicycle before i go off on a cycling trip. So it was, some days ago, i had wanted to get some KFC for lunch and did the usual visual check of the bicycle. As mentioned in previous post, the tire was a total goner. There was no way the tire could survive a ride to the petrol kiosk for the air pump. It had to be manually pushed to the petrol kiosk if it were to be moved at all.

What would’ve been a 5 minute’s ride to central was turning out to be a 15 minute’s walk. There’s no way i was going to let that happen. So it was, i put on my jogging shoes; grabbed the odometer from the bike, coz the odometer also functions as a clock, and i don’t have any watches, not that i wear watches in the first place, i brought along the odometer to time my jog btw; and jogged to central for my dose of KFC.

Got to central in 7 minutes. Whole ordeal took only 17 minutes (which meant only 3 minutes was spent at the KFC counter), excluding the time i needed to take a shower having done all that running. All that just so i could indulge in some fatty food, wth. You’ll be surprised that my drink of rootbeer hardly spilled during the jog. The trick is to get one more plastic bag from the counter guy for your drink and also to ensure that your bag is not too large or too empty such that there is wriggle room for the drink to overturn.

Though the whipped potato kind of spilled all its gravy, making a mess of the plastic bag. Fortunately it was contained in the plastic bag and no damage was done to my bag.

Till the next time, make the healthy choice, jog with your KFC.

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Infrequent updates from now on

I’m at my aunt’s house to make this blog post. Normally this wouldn’t be anything special, but this time round, it’s somewhat special. So anyway, what do you think could possibly be the most horrible thing to ever happen to a professional bum? Tick tock, tick tock. Answers anyone?

Motherboard spoil.

With the advent of the spoilage of my notebook’s motherboard, i here by announce that i’m officially in mid-life crisis. Omg, no job, no income, no computer, no resume, no girlfriend, no driving license, no kang tao, no msn, no facebook, no this, no that. Omg.. panic.

PANIC !!

Ok, being a master procrastinator has it’s perks. You panic for like five seconds and then it’s back to waiting for either the world to end or at least something interesting to happen. But seriously, the lost of my computer is a really sad thing to happen, coupled with no income and dwindling savings, i’m hesitating on getting a replacement. Yes, it’s probably time to break from this professional bum status.

Incidentally, it also means that blog updates will become much more infrequent and response to comments much slower than was before. And if you do see posts coming up on consecutive days, it probably just means that i’ve scheduled them all in one seating.

A fair question to ask would be, “What is it that you do everyday now that you do not have a computer?”. Well.. for the last couple days, i’ve been continuing on my cross stitch thing which i’ve stopped many months ago. Now that it’s all done, i’m probably setting out to finish reading all the books that i’ve bought.

*sigh*

To make matters worse, the bicycle’s rear tire seems to have punctured. It looks absolutely flat, such that if you push the  bicycle around, you could hear the rubber slapping onto the ground making a “foop foop foop” sound. There goes my cheap transportation. It never rains; it pours.

*siggggghhhhhhhhh*

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