The Alternate Princess

Yahoo! Media Player

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:36:00 +0000

Freelance Whales - Broken Horse

Discovered this cool thing called the Yahoo! Media Player which allows MP3s to be played directly on a webpage, so I'm testing it out right now. This way I can stream music on my blog without embedding youtube videos here, PLUS people can download the MP3s directly as well.

Will take the opportunity to plug this new band I discovered called Freelance Whales, which I discovered on The Album Project. I should really start reading it regularly instead of stalking wewantleaks multiple times a day and scrolling through page after page of metal and post-hardcore bands.

Okay blah blah blah. My brain is not acting right today. Too much is going through my head and I don't know why. Someone please toss me into the sea.

Seabird - Rescue

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:44:00 +0000

Has been absolutely ages since I last wrote anything here, I know, but there isn't really anything I wanted to say here. I honestly don't know why I still have this blog. I guess I keep it because I can't bear to delete it, and I know when the time comes I'll still renew the domain because I'm vain like that. I mean, I hardly design anything anymore. I hardly write anything either. Nowadays blogs are all so commercial. People blog for an audience. I blog for just me. Just like how it started out in the good ol' days, when HTML and CSS was all you needed, and frames were all the rage. I kind of miss the way-back-when. But I guess when you look back, it's always through rose-tinted glasses, and you gloss over the bad parts, you even forget them, because why remember something if it makes you feel bad? Forget. Forget. Slip into voluntary amnesia and forget.

Before I began rambling on (had to stop myself before I drown in more nonsense), I just wanted to post this song from a new band I discovered. I love discovering new bands I like, even though I know calling it "new" is a bit strange since I realise all the songs I like tend to sound kind of the same, but who cares? I like the things I like. Sure I try new things sometimes, but I always go back to the same kinds of things. It's comforting that way. It's predictable. I like predictable.

I've only got 4 weeks of holidays. I have 3 weeks left. Time just runs out so fast. Too fast. I don't really want to go on my internship. Mainly because it's a whole new environment, and we all know what happens when I throw myself into the unknown sea. I flounder. I struggle to gasp for air. I try not to drown. As much as uni wasn't exactly the funnest place to go to, after 2 and a half years it seems pretty okay. I've actually found some friends. I shrug on familiarity like a well-worn winter coat, because I know what to expect. The cold doesn't hit so hard.

And of course there's the best boy in the world I managed to find. Even though we are so very far away in distance, but not in our hearts.

Love From The Other Side Of The World

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:19:00 +0000

:) Received it a couple of days ago and I've never been this excited. This has got to be the best birthday ever. <3

No time for much celebration (although Saturday was fun!) cuz I'm mugging for exams now, which are starting in a week. Strangely I'm not really all that stressed out, and have been following the schedule I drew up pretty closely. Which is good. But I'm still worried about a couple of my subjects, especially one of my core modules. Then again I'm in a pretty comfortable situation now because no matter how well I do I can't bring my GPA high enough to get first class honours, but I don't have to worry about dropping off second uppers either. So I'm safe, unless I do astronomically badly, which I won't. I hope. We'll keep our fingers crossed, shall we?

In other news, I spent yesterday afternoon upgrading Vista to Windows 7 and it's probably the best thing I've done for my computer so far. I was pretty worried at first because my attempts to tweak things on my computer have often backfired. If it ain't broke don't fix it and all that you know? But the upgrade was painless, and Windows 7 is really fast. It makes my 2 year old laptop feel like new! I'm even using the Aero theme with all the bells and whistles and it runs like a dream (most of the time). I mean, things still hang and crash but after being a Windows user you kind of get used to it. (Hey why am I making excuses? Macs have hung on me too...) Had to deal with task manager hanging on me yesterday for example, and Skype crashing several times, but otherwise everything else is good.

I mean it's the little things that keep me happy. Now you can see how good your wireless connectivity is by just looking at the task bar, instead of having to hover your mouse over the icon. Useful for me because the reception in my house isn't very good in certain places, and it's useful to know where I can't get reception. You can also connect/disconnect straight from the little menu that pops out when you click on the connectivity icon, instead of having to open the whole damn thing.

I also like how the Resource Monitor finally shows data transferred in B/sec instead of B/min. Seriously. B/min??? What were they thinking??? Who counts per minute? I kept having to divide by 60 in my head, and that's no mean feat.

I surprised myself by actually liking the new Libraries feature, mainly because it lets you include folders from multiple places and view them from one location, which is nice because I store my videos on an external drive.

The only thing I don't like about upgrading is how my foobar global shortcuts don't work anymore. :( I've come to rely on being able to pause, skip, stop, increase/decrease volume anywhere and anytime I want. I think I can work around it by assigning new shortcut keys (I've been using the windows key for those shortcuts, which conflicts with the new Windows 7 shortcuts, even though I've disabled them).

Joshua Radin - Everything'll Be Alright (Will's Lullaby)

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:18:00 +0000

I really don't know what to do now. I just need to stop thinking of what could be and focus on making the most of what we have now. I need to learn to be content. Right? But why is it that I always want more than what I can have? Why are some things so out of reach?

There is just one thing I wish for... and because I am a selfish, ungrateful daughter, deep inside I keep thinking why a little sacrifice can't be made for me. There are so many things I don't understand why you can't do. Of course I know it's wrong. Of course I know you have your reasons, and if I were in your shoes I would probably be ten million times worse. But like I said, even though I understand the situation and how it cannot be any other way than the way it is, I am still sad. Understanding where you stand doesn't make me wish any less that it could be the way I want it to be.

And it hurts me so much. Maybe I'm spoilt and I cannot take it when I don't get my way. Fine. So be it. But this is the only thing I really really really want. More than any other thing in the entire world.

But I still keep thinking what if. And why me.

Joshua Radin - Everything'll Be Alright (Will's Lullaby)

Way down New York town
Thinking about the way
She loved me
There's a hole in my pocket
That's about her size
But I think everything is gonna be alright
Yes, I hope everything is gonna be alright

A smilin' face
Is tradin'
The gifts I found at the bar
Well I wish my car
Could drive to her tonight
Then I'd know everything is gonna be alright
Yes, then I'd know it'll be alright

The rain in New Orleans
Forgot to end
But the mouths of the people are dry
Then we watch and wait
And do nothing but sigh
And hope everything is gonna turn out right
But I don't know if it'll be alright

But I look at you
Warm in your dream
While your mobile dances above
And I think to myself
It's a beautiful night
And I know everything is gonna be alright
Yes, now I know it'll be alright

Dashboard Confessional - Hell On The Throat

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:27:00 +0000

Okay, this song is nice, but it's awfully similar to Joshua Radin. Not a bad thing though. Here are the lyrics! I like the last part most.

Dashboard Confessional - Hell On The Throat

A line of strands to mark the trail
No one said it would be easy
I must admit I felt the risk
Was better waged in younger seasons

But all these years in the cold
Putting hell on a throne
Till every thing I say burns like cinders

Well it’s hard to belong to a girl or a song
In the crease of a strangling winter

It's strange to be lost
Stranger still to belong
On the strings of a twisting line

Along the way the turns were sharp
No one said it would be easy
I must admit I thought the trip
Was better made in younger seasons

But all these years in pursuit
Made a man of a fool
Till every word I say is unwaivered

Well it’s hard to belong to a girl or a song
In the case of a selfish believer

It’s strange to be lost
Stranger still to belong
On the strings of a twisting line

Well it’s hard to belong to a girl or a song
In the case of a selfish believer

It’s strange to be lost
Stranger still to belong
On the strings of a twisting line

When the path I have made
From the grass to the grave
I will love you still
And when the sand turns to glass
And all that’s left is the past
I will love you still

I Don't Want "Things"

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:08:00 +0000

My mum keeps asking me what I want for my birthday. But I know the one thing that I want most in the world is something she won't let me have. :(

Needs To Induce Insomnia

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:11:00 +0000

I think I have never had so many things on my plate at once. Ever. But I'm not taking it as badly as I thought I would. I'm stressed (any sane person would be), but I'm not paralysed. I have never wished for next Friday to come more than I do now. I just want all the deadlines behind me. Then I can shift my mind and think of other more important things, things that I am forcing myself to put on the backseat for now because if I think about all of them at once I will most certainly not be able to accomplish anything at all.

Sleepless nights! Here I come! @_@ BRING ON THE CAFFIENEEEEE.

Glee S01E07 Throwdown

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:41:00 +0000

Sue Sylvester: What happened to our little agreement, huh? Will I be uploading a certain video to YouTube this afternoon?

Principal Figgins: Oh, Sue, I put it on YouTube myself, and it only got two hits! Let me break it down for you: nobody cares!

Lessons of life indeed.

Can I Say What I Always Do?

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

We were watching a clip from Singin' in the Rain in 206 today. There was a part in the show where they were screening a new talking picture (a movie with sound), The Dueling Cavalier, that had just been filmed. It was being screened to a test audience and because having sound in motion pictures was still a very new thing, there were lots of technical errors. That, coupled with some other hilarious boo-boos, made the whole thing a disaster.

Gene Kelly, who played the lead in The Dueling Cavalier, said in one scene

Imperious princess of the night...

...I love you.

I love you.

I love you. I love you. I love you.
I love you....
script

He was supposed to have said something else, but because he claimed he didn't like the original dialogue ("I don't like those lines"), he asked the director if he could say what he was comfortable with ("Can I say what I always do?"). After his character recites those lines onscreen, the camera pans to the theatre audience and you hear "Someone got paid for writing that?" being shouted, which made everyone in the lecture laugh.

Apparently, as our lecturer revealed later, it didn't matter what silent film actors actually said when they were acting, as long as their mouths appeared to be moving since there wasn't going to be sound anyway.

But what Gene Kelly said made me smile for more than the simple reason that it was funny. :) Who cares about fancy words. Can I say what I always do? I love you I love you I love you.

Stars Of Track And Field - End Of All Time

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:39:00 +0000

9th week of school. 5 more weeks to go before it's over. 6 more weeks to the start of exams.

1 more month to my birthday.

As much as I say I don't really care much for it, a part of me is still keeping an eye on the number of days leading up to it. But honestly? 21 is such an arbitrary number. Or maybe I just try and tell myself I don't care because I hate being disappointed. That's what my whole life has been about... keeping my expectations low to the point of pessimism, so that every little thing becomes a bonus. It's not a great way to live, but I guess it works for me.

And instead of doing my work (argh argh argh, how is it possible for me to blather on here for a hundred words or more, but so difficult to hammer out a coherent sentence in MS Word?), I was trying to figure out the lyrics to Stars Of Track And Field's End Of All Time last night.

There are still two lines I can't really catch though, but I'll post up what I have at the moment since no lyrics exist online as far as I know.

Stars Of Track And Field - End Of All Time

Imagine you could tear the world apart
Lay it all out like a weather chart
Take your time cuz you're up against space
Sweep up the tears runnin' down your face

You burn bright when you're left alone
Build up the speed to bring you home
Turn off the lights and watch you... glow

To the end of all time
Just so I can see the lightning climb
Over you

To the end of all time
Just so I can see the lightning climb
Over me

Life's speed can you last belong (??? I can't catch this line)
See you back slide in the burning sun
By the way I will let you know
The equator peeled off when I let you go
Turn off the lights and watch you... glow

To the end of all time
Just so I can see the lightning climb
Over you

To the end of all time
Just so I can see the lightning climb
Over me

See the world through the faintest glow
Break apart and you turn up the final glow
You answer is no

And ??? you hear that (??? I have absolutely no idea what this line is either)
It's the end of all time

To the end of all time
Just so I can see the lightning climb
Over you

To the end of all time
Just so I can see the lightning climb
Over me

Assignment Requirements

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:59:00 +0000

Ugh, I am so pissed at how irresponsible my tutor is. Decision to procrastinate aside, I now find myself with a 3000 word essay to churn out in two days. Okay, I knew about this 3000-word thing a few days ago, but I was working on some other things and didn't find the inspiration to start on this particular assignment.

Thing is, it was supposed to be a two-and-a-half to three page assignment, which is about 1500 words or so, which he then increased to 3000 words, without even directly telling my tutorial group about it, or posting an announcement on edventure. I had to find out through friends who attended another tutorial group.

This isn't the first time he has suddenly sprung something like this on us. The first time, he decided to inform my tutorial group that our assignment deadline was pushed from Wednesday to Tuesday through an email sent on Sunday night. Because he had FORGOTTEN. On another occasion, we were all ready to submit our work on Tuesday, when he brushed it off saying he didn't want it till Wednesday. WTF?

I don't think I'm asking for much. I just want some consistency in his instructions! What is the rationale behind arbitrarily moving deadlines around and changing the requirements of an assignment, especially if it is to DOUBLE the required length?

Okay, so you're trying to mimic how clients behave in real life, huh? Well at least deign to inform us beforehand! And inform BOTH tutorial groups while you're at it. Just because the second tutorial group is held two days after the first DOESN'T give you the freedom to suddenly change your mind and FORGET about telling the first! If my tutorial group was at least TOLD about this change, I wouldn't have such a big bone to pick. But to have to find out through word-of-mouth makes me feel SO ANGRY.

ARGH!!!

MIDI on fb2k

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:51:00 +0000

I remember trying to make foobar2000 play midi files some time ago.

Now why didn't I just install the plug-in??? *facepalm*

Well at least now I can listen to my Tyrian game music on foobar and not stupid windows media player. Hehe.

Hotspur - Heads/Tails

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:39:00 +0000

New song obsession... Hotspur's Heads/Tails

I was trying to find the lyrics to this song but couldn't... maybe I'm not looking hard enough. Anyway, here's my attempt at the lyrics... I probably misheard some, but here you go.

Hotspur - Heads/Tails

Call it in the air heads or tails
Heads we go to London
And try to save the Queen
Tails we go to Paris
Try our hand in romance
Need a chance to show you
That I'll take you anywhere
So call it in the air

It's midnight now and I'll be up for hours
Cuz something tells me you are not alone
I make plans to walk and buy you flowers
And throw them out before you get back home
So let's let fate decide
For you and me tonight
If there's half a chance we'll make it
Then it's not too late to try

Call it in the air heads or tails
Heads we go to London
And try to save the Queen
Tails we go to Paris
Try our hand in romance
Even when we're flying
Then at least I've got a chance

At least I got a chance
To show you I can take you somewhere
Somewhere far away
From the shadows of this place
Oh somewhere where we could fall in love
Where we could fall in love... oh...

Six a.m. the sun is coming up
Something tells me I'm all out alone

Call it in the air heads or tails
Heads we go to London
And try to save the Queen
Tails we go to Paris
Try our hand in romance
Need a chance to show you
That I'll take you anywhere
So call it in the air

Call it in the air... oh...

Moments

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:06:00 +0000

It's times like these when I miss you most.

A Short Break

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:01:00 +0000

YAY THREE DAY WEEKEND!! :D

But I have lots of work to do still. :(

Anyway I'm having fun with iTunes and the Genius function! It beats shuffle any day.

The only part that annoys me is that my play counts will be thrown out of whack (AGAIN). At least the most reliable thing are my last.fm stats, but it will be nice if my foobar and iTunes plays can count TOGETHER instead of separately... oh well.

I really need to get back to work. Have been sitting in front of the computer for the past 3 hours trying to start on my PR writing assignment but have only managed to come out with the sketchiest of outlines. And I've been staring at these two emails I need to answer but I just can't bring myself to hit the reply button. ARRRGHHH PROCRASTINATION, thou art a villain.

I don't want to do this at the last minute!! I want to catch up with my readings!! Bleh. But I'm so totally not in the mood to do any work right now. Just plugged in my external hard drive... moviessssss...... *gets distracted for the 30492th time*

Holidays Where Are You?

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Why does it seem like everyone else is so hardworking? I feel like a big slacker. :(

I can't wait for holidays! I miss being able to sleep when I want. Yawn. Yay for next Monday. And recess week is coming closer and closer!! This semester hasn't been so bad, but I'll be happier when it's over.

Oh we had a video cam workshop in 206 tute today and it was ten times more fun than learning how to operate a DSLR. To think I fancied myself as some kind of amateur photographer back in the day! Hah. I'm not really that interested in photography anymore, to be honest. Maybe video editing will be more interesting. I hope my project group will not be disastrous. Things are not looking good on that front. :S Oh well, at the very most the two of us will just end up doing most of the work...

I think I look/sound weird on video. But recording was fun! I liked fiddling around with all the settings on the Panasonic cams. Makes me feel like a semi-pro. Hehehe.

Maybe I'm On The Right Path

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:38:00 +0000

Biz law lecture went by so fast today, mostly because I was doing something else the entire time. LOL. Surprisingly, I'm having quite a lot of fun constructing the survey questionnaire for a project my group and I are carrying out for one of our modules. It's not easy and there's still so much to do, but yeah, this reminds me why I chose research as my specialisation. :)

Not Brand New

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:52:00 +0000

I keep surprising myself.

Anyway, work is beginning to get a bit heavy. Feel like I cannot finish anything. But it's probably to do with tomorrow. I dread tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be the worst day of the week!!! I want to say the worst day of the semester, but I can think of potentially worse days so I don't want to overdramatise and let this steal the limelight. I can't wait to get it over and done with. Now it hangs over like a dark cloud that I want to go away. But every time I take a step forward it shadows me, like a hawk. The good thing about time, is that it continues going forward. Which means that I won't be stuck in the "before", fretting like this. I'm looking forward to Thursday, and that's saying a lot, seeing that I have two things due on Thursday and deadlines are never fun. But Wednesday is worse than any deadline. :(

I just want to go to sleep and wake up tomorrow and believe it's a brand new day (like the song!) but I feel like there is no brand new, it's just the same shitty day going on and on and on with no end in sight, like a forever marathon. I don't even feel like I have enough energy to wonder about how I'm probably annoying people. At this point, I don't really care. Just let them be annoyed, if they are. Will sort it out later, when my brain isn't preoccupied or in panic mode.

Never Enough Time

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:29:00 +0000

In a pretty unstable mood. Feels like everything might just fall apart. Of course things aren't that bad, objectively. They're no where near bad at all. But I still feel like all this good stuff that's happened is as delicate as a spider's web, and something is going to go right through, oblivious, and ruin it all.

Obsessively listening to the same song over and over and over again. This is not very healthy. I'm listening to it because I'm searching for something that can make me feel better, hoping I can find it in this song, but every time it ends and begins its loop, I feel like I missed it and need to look harder. Okay I am not making sense.

I feel so insecure. I don't want to bog him down with my whining, but I know I will continue to feel this way no matter how many times he reassures me. And so I feel bad for feeling how I feel, because I know it pains him to hear me talk like this. And more than anything, I don't want him hurt in any way. I only want for him... for us to be happy. But I know that when I talk to him again and if the subject comes round to this, I'll say it all over again, and then feel guilty after, like this.

There is never enough time in this world for people like us who want eternity and forever because we know nothing lasts.

All You Have To Do Is Cry

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:25:00 +0000

Listening to Joshua Radin makes my heart think of you.

The Resident Tourist

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:23:00 +0000

http://www.drearyweary.com/TheResidentTourist/index.php?showimage=321
http://www.drearyweary.com/TheResidentTourist/index.php?showimage=322

These two pages really hit me.

A Fine Frenzy

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:39:00 +0000

Like an apple on a tree
Hiding out behind the leaves
I was difficult to reach
But you picked me
Like a shell upon a beach
Just another pretty piece
I was difficult to see
But you picked me
Yeah you picked me

Music, I Devour You Like Cotton Candy

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:57:00 +0000

YES YES YES I finally got my PR Writing mod!!! Huge load off my shoulders. Of course, there's the issue of actually handling my 22 AUs and doing a full-fledged research project. =/ Guess it'll be good practice for FYP.

Nearing the end of my second week of school. Still feels pretty okay. A couple of deadlines have come in, but nothing I'm stressing out too much over. Just gotta get these readings done... not easy considering all the distractions I'm having, but I'll do it somehow. :P

And Again And Again

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:39:00 +0000

Am trying real hard to adapt to the holiday-school transition. Needless to say, I'm tired. I don't even know why I'm tired. Must be all that walking I have to do on campus. Ugh. The actual lessons themselves are okay, since it's only the second week, and there aren't really any deadlines to slit your wrist over yet.

Trying to get the modules you want is a humongous pain in the ass though. And it's not like I haven't done anything about it. As things are now though, I can only sit back and see what happens. I hate having this one nagging thought at the back of my mind, and that is exactly what this issue is doing—sitting quietly behind my every thought like the full stop at the end of my sentences, or hovering like a cloud of lazy insects on a summer day.

I can only imagine how things are just going to progressively worse throughout the semester. I can feel its ominous presence already. I cannot anticipate enough the end of year holidays.

Four and Forty Blackbirds

noreply@blogger.com (qian) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:50:00 +0000

Happy national day peeps. Life's good right now. It can be better, but I'm not going to be greedy. ^^ Watched Public Enemies and Up this week, and both were good. Have spent quite a lot this week though, so no movies for me for awhile! School's starting in two days anyway. Back to the dull and dreary drag of every day. Are my holidays really coming to an end? D: