Socky ♥

Trying to Curb my Murderous Urge...

2009-09-14T21:48:00.000+08:00

Ok... So basically my laptop crashed and I lost like a 100++++ GB worth of my anime, manga, music, pictures and some useful documents PLUS all my programs like Photoshop, my Microsoft Office yada yada yada which I didn't bother backing up beforehand though I invested like a hundred plus bucks on an external harddisk for that very purpose...

I want to kill something now... I swear I didn't do anything to my laptop before it forcibly shut itself down and refuses to start up no matter how many times Windows Repair attempted to do so... =.= I had to reinstall my operating system and after like 3 hours, I'm still updating all my drivers and software and rubbish. FML.

And all I did was install the Vista Service Pack 2 before my laptop decided to faint on me...

P.S. I needed someplace to rant. This seems to the only place so...

=.=

2009-09-02T21:25:00.000+08:00

I have nothing to update… My life's super boring lately haha. Waiting for 19 September when MeiYun visits Singapore! I haven't seen her in like almost two years! >_< And ya, I have an interview on Monday. Time to actually earn money… Hopefully??? =X

P.S. You can tell I'm really depleted of stuff to do when I type out like one sentence and actually post it. =.=

P.P.S. People who somehow got here through some link at some website to download scanlations by me should click on the link at the right of this blog. I don't post my release links here anymore! >_<

Obligatory Update =D

2009-08-19T00:57:00.009+08:00

I almost forget I have a blog sometimes… I am too lazy to update people on my life (not that I have much of a life). Trust me when I say I have tons of pictures of me attempting to bake (do ya believe that?) and not to mention stuff I NEVER do such as cooking a meal that does not involve me just boiling some water on a kettle or pot and just dumping the boiling water on noodles or vice-versa. BUT! I am not feeling too arsed to upload all the pictures and write some crappy paragraphs describing them. Maybe next time… Or maybe not… =D

I am currently preparing for my SAT reasoning test and I am disgusted by how a year of not studying rendered my academic capabilities to almost nil. =.= Thinking of whether to take the SAT subject tests too but then that's another matter all together since I cannot take both tests on the same day. One thing at a time… *shrugs* I cleared my desk just so I can start studying and my mum claims that it will get messy again within 3 days. .__. (Actually, it is a bit messed up after like 2 hours of studying already. =X)

My days nowadays revolve around re-doing my manicure and pedicure every week and other non-productive stuff. I better get that part-time job (I don't see one in sight yet =.=) so I can pay for lessons to take up a third language in Japanese. (I can see myself asking the nerdy secondary one me why I didn't choose Jap as a 3^rd language though my mum encouraged me too. LOL.) I am also more inclined to be less of a "People will contact me if they wanna meet up" person and started asking out people who I have not met for like ages. (Except for Xuewen because she should be having prelims soon based on Phyllis's prelims schedule.) I guessed it's because I read some random person's blog about how you should always try to contact friends because they, like you are waiting for them to contact you too!

Ok, I came up with a post of reasonable length. Next post whenever I feel like it. =P

Oh I just remembered:

I have a bottle of nail polish from The Face Shop to give away. It's a shimmery green colour and I sort of liked it when I saw the shade on the bottle but then it totally didn't match my skin tone. T__T If anyone want it you can tell me and I will pass it to ya the next time we meet up. =) It looks like the bottle on the left in the picture. I only used it like on one nail once to test the colour at home and decided I do not want it so you can consider it new. In case you were wondering why I bought it… It's because my nails were manicured when I bought it and I didn't want to ruin my nails by testing random colours during shopping. =P

Edit: I found out I updated my blog after more than half a month! :D

Random Thoughts…

2009-08-01T00:02:00.002+08:00

Had a short meet-up with JiaYing and Phyllis today. Ended up staying late with JiaYing till 10 plus at a coffeehouse. We wanted alcohol but I am anti-club haha, so we settled for coffee!

The talk we have made me think of something ironic. When I was young, I wanted to grow up, snag a rich old guy, earn money and live by myself or something. However, when I reached this crossroad whereby I am close to what I used to want, I waver and try to shrink back into the days when I am fresh, dumb and carefree.

Maybe it's because I didn't have things go the way I want.

But thinking that alone means I have not accepted that I am about to mature and fly free.

Maybe it's because growing up means you must have bumps in your path in life.

But if that's the case, I rather stay stagnant in time.

Maybe I am just dreaming when I visualize my future happy self in the past.

But I have to wake up eventually…

The World of Scanlations

2009-07-24T01:10:00.006+08:00

Recently, I crawled back to my old job (it's not really a job since I don't get paid a dime, but something I do for fun and to keep my mind off stuff but I have no other words to describe it) of scanlating after a 3 months long hiatus. This is going to be a boring post. (It's like 12 am now and I am bored too so I am going to bore people with the boring facts about scanlations, which some people find boring because they always think moving colourful animations in anime are better than black-and-white manga pages.)

Instead of going around scanning and translating manga alone, which was a lonely an enjoyable experiment, I decided find someplace where I can help out. It IS better than me sitting down and floating around various sites for hours plus leeching others works when I have loads of free time and have experience in this erm, industry. =D So, I ended up with my beloved Alice Dreams family and am working as a translator currently! =)

People keep asking me what I do when scanlating. Basically, it goes like this:

Step 1:

Getting the raw. You get the raw source (we just call it the "raw") which normally comes in horrible condition such as being too gray or too yellow or simply crooked. Although you cannot really complain about it when people are nice enough to tear apart their manga and scan it for leechers.

Step 2:

Cleaning. The cleaners or/and editors have to erm… clean the raw. Which consists of taking away the words in speech bubbles, cutting double pages into half, re-drawing on the raw plus a whole hell lot of crap like "leveling" the page's colour to pure black-and-white.

The end product is a very pretty and presentable raw!

Step 3:

Ok, I skipped the translating and proof-reading stage. I will just make translating Step 3 (actually, translating can be done at anytime =.=). Translating consists of making translators like me go bonkers due to the mast amount of research we need to do beforehand. If we picked up on a series in the middle of nowhere, we'll have to force ourselves to read the story from the beginning first. Not to mention finding "official" English names of the manga characters plus the story style, food names, drinks names & names of places blah blah blah. Normally I do it while opening 2 windows – one with the raw and one with Notepad, and I get brain-dead from like 15 minutes of translating.

Step 4:

Proofreading by editors. (Crucial step right after translating.) Ensures that leeches won't read nonsensical grammatical and spelling errors made by the translators. Also makes sure that the script flows nicely and adheres to the story style.

Step 5:

Typesetting. Adding in the translations into the cleaned raws. Easiest thing to do in my opinion. (Others may beg to differ. =x)

Step 6 (Optional):

Quality checking. Checking for final errors such as typesetting mistakes and whether the picture is presentable (redrawing done, tone of black-and-white is correct etc.).

Step 7:

Uploading to stupid uploading/downloading sites like MediaFire, RapidShare (=.=), DepositFiles (=.=), MegaUpload blahblahblah for leeches to download and view.

I DID say it was a boring post didn't I? =P

Yume.

2009-07-19T20:28:00.002+08:00

I had an intense but wonderful dream about an impossible wish coming true. (Impossible to me anyway.)

Maybe I shouldn't have woke up.

Anyone Likes Roller-Coaster?

2009-07-18T00:37:00.007+08:00

Edit: Ignore whatever I wrote at the bottom. I was just in some unexplained state of the mond yesterday :D

Life has been pretty much dull lately, but my emotions sure aren't keeping in pace with it. I am not complaining though. Emo-ing at home beats dabbing at the side of my eyes with tissues while pretending to be working during the times when I was still working at Great World City. I mean, I was WORKING and cannot even afford to allow my tears to fall lest my mascara plus eyeliner smudge. -_- Not that I am crying at home lah, I just stare at my lappy screen 99% of the time I am awake. I swear that my tears only come out during times when I am like in public or someplace where I am supposed to keep emotions in check.

Being quite the optimistic person I always am, I can easily see the bright side of stuff quickly. Trust me when I say that for my current case, I tried like a gazillion times to nudge myself into the optimistic side of things. However… Guess what?

~~I fail. All the time.~~

~~The times when I succeed in convincing myself that my future is not bleak at all turned out to last for like erm, a day… =.=~~

It doesn't help that no matter whose dumbass blog I read consists of contents that will invariably jolt the "emo" wire in me either. It doesn't help too when everyone's so excited about their the start of a new chapter in their life. I mean, I am happy for all of them, but there is still some part deep inside that don't feel elated about it.

I blame myself for this, I blame myself for lacking the intelligence & diligence that landed me in this mess in the first place. It isn't fair if I push my situation now to bad luck or anything else. Still, it does not help matters when people don't even acknowledge letters you sent them and that I feel bad for wasting a lot of my friends' time on this issue with them worrying for me here and there.

~~Sometimes I wish I am as good as consoling myself as I am in consoling others.~~

~~How many months are there left till April of next year?~~

Real-Life Dramas

2009-06-23T22:16:00.003+08:00

There are always things that one will think only exist in the world of fiction. Such as love that will eventually bloom to become an eternal "happily-ever-after". Different people have different views when it comes to relationships. I used to have the urge to partake in the fairytale named "being attached", yet it's only when I tried to become a part of a pair that I realized I didn't like it. I prefer the 100% perfect romance that can only be sustained in my imagination. I am currently but a spectator in various relationship scenes and I get amused/disturbed/envious due to them.

*A sensitive girl in need of more love and an insensitive guy who just won't get it… Is this simply a matter of just letting go? Or is there something that no one but the she herself is forcing herself to understand? Is there another person or just wild imaginations ruining her idea of a romance? Spare yourself the heartbreak my dear friend; there is always someone better someplace else. You will never find him if you don't brave it out.

**A couple that doesn't hold hands and don't go out on dates without other people along… Are they really together or are they simply convincing that they are lovers for the past half a year? The female is unsecure and has a twisted view of how her world should function. The male on the other hand, yearns to be the person she will want to be with. Quarrels do strengthen relationships but too many strains it as well. Loving her is not as simple as saying it my dear boy… Take a step back and re-evaluate, both of them may see that they are not right for each other. Sometimes, we will always regret that we stopped being friends.

***Two people that looks right for each other… Will they actually try it out or are there factors holding them back? There is no such thing as losing one when they have another. I believe you will still be my friend just fine and I will support whatever your decision is. Just remember that happiness can only be attained by your own decisions. Others will understand someday, no matter how bleak it looks now. I am envious of you, because I have never really seen a guy who falls for someone just for the way she is.

And so, the sentimental Sock curls up in her bed and daydreams about her own perfect romance again. I am helpless as to how things on the three pair of people above turn out. As long as they are contended, I guess I can't really argue too… Being friends is all about supporting each other. =)But ya I am laughing more at the second scenario because I really cannot help it. I never supported puppy love.

Answering a Very Funny Question…

2009-07-09T20:17:00.007+08:00

A little something I found interesting. J I was chatting with my friend the other day and somehow the topic changed to that of the size of my eyes. O.o

(12:53 AM) boBo - Great end:

wait wait

(12:54 AM) boBo - Great end:

u did something and thats
y ur eyes r bigger? o_O

(12:54 AM) Socky:

hahas secret

(12:54 AM) boBo - Great end:

tell me >.< u went for
"operation balloon"? lol

(12:55 AM) Socky:

rubBish hahas

(12:55 AM) boBo - Great end:

hahaha den tell me la T_T

(12:55 AM) Socky:

cannOt

(12:55 AM) Socky:

tell u nO fun le hahas

(12:55 AM) boBo - Great end:

oh oh u got a bf?!

(12:55 AM) Socky:

maybe next time
u see me u will knOw
nOpe

(12:56 AM) boBo - Great end:

lol

(12:56 AM) Socky:

u can check my
FB status hahas

(12:56 AM) boBo - Great end:

just another guess lol
hmmmm u work too hard?
till ur eye muscles grow?

(12:56 AM) Socky:

nOpeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

(12:56 AM) boBo - Great end:

waaaaaa make me guess

(12:56 AM) boBo - Great end:

mai bully wo T_T

So… What exactly happened that gave rise to this illusion of me having bigger eyes? My eyes are still as tiny as poppy seeds if you really want to know. =.= hmm… So did I use…

*Double eyelids tape which I don't even know how they work*

Nope. =X I have very prominent double eyelids already. Though they don't enhance the size of my eyes… .___.

Or… *Gasps* Did I go under the knife like my friend said?

*Scary knife =( *

Nil. Nada. Wrong. Go away if you are thinking that. =X

Actually, all I need was the correct eyeliner. =D

I used to use Faceshop's automatic eyeliner… However, it didn't really perk my eyes up the way I wanted it, though I am still using it on days when I am on super light makeup.

The less-than-adventurous Sock got her hands on her most value-for-money purchase when her darling XiuZ recommended her Maybelline Eyestudio Creamy Gel Liner (in black).

Plus the nice false lashies that dear Chia got for me for my 18^th birthday add on to the trick. I am happy with my eye make-up now~ Even though I am still clueless as to how to put on eyeshadow and draw my eyebrows T_T…

*This thing is currently the favourite thing in my make-up pouch though I left it to collect dust for like a year before daring to use it. =X*

Does that answer your question Bobo? =DD And why would having a boyfriend enhance your features???!!! LOL

Have I Lost my Sense of Humour?

2009-06-27T23:53:00.002+08:00

Refer to above title.

Yeah man, I might have. One might think something is funny to him. However, if I do not find it to be of entertaining value or even insulting, I will be pissed.

I am extremely pissed currently. For a lot of reasons and not just because of some weird comparisons one has been gleefully pointing out to me. I exhibit abhorrence for more than just petty reason. I am tired, I am drained and I just want to be insulated from negative things now, even if one means it as a joke. I am not appreciating whatever witty comments (or so you think) currently.

If you cannot come up with sensible things to message or say, I suggest you stuff it instead of apologizing after. I may not stay angry for long, but I will always brand negative incidents in my mind.

Yes, I have no sense of humour currently. So just fuck off. (Pardon my language, I really had the urge to say it out.)

=.=

2009-06-11T22:30:00.001+08:00

It has been one hell of a week. I need sleep. Badly.

Guess what? It won't come.

I'm getting worried over the same crap again. Thanks to some bloody idiot that rang my phone while I was away for like less than a minute from my phone. No thanks again to that freaking idiot that I don't know who he / she / it is because I have no caller-id. If I miss that one important phone call because of some dumb away-from-phone-for-like-30-seconds incident, I am so going to burn something down.

More tomorrow.

Provided that I survive it.

Gimme Loads of Luck!!!

2009-06-28T23:37:00.002+08:00

Wish me luck people! =X Ok, I shall go to sleep.

P.S. I am not angry at anyone, just that I don't feel like talking. >_<

Where in the World is WALLY?!

2009-07-08T00:19:00.003+08:00

I got to know a bunch of new friends recently. There is a pair of them named Wally and Woody. Apparently Woody and Wally have very different sets of personality.

Say "Hi" to Woody & Wally! (Remember your manners girls XD)

Woody is well… Wood =.=. And let's say Wally loves to ogle at innocent girls who may not have very perfect figures. Oh wells, guys are mostly sexually deprived so who cares. *hums to self* However, who is he trying to fool with his Santa look-alike costume? o.O

Wally's favorite hobby is of course, HIDING. (Not to mention taking pictures with pretty, chio female stars all the time.) Why does he want to hide? *Sock wonders for a second before deciding that lechers prefer to blend into the crowd so they can get to peek under girls' skirts discreetly. I mean, if you cannot even spot him, how would you know he likes looking at whose thighs/arms/boobs are bigger? Unless some little bird tells a certain kawaii bee who tells this little piece of laundry here.*

Ok... Now you see Wally...

Now you don't.

Wally stop hiding!!!

Apparently, another of Wally's good friend is somehow creepy like him too... However, his favourite hobby is stalking. However, that is another story... For another time... Omg... I dunno what I am talking about in this post ._.

My attempt at trolling fails miserably... Sobs...

Seagulls can cry?!

2009-07-07T00:24:00.009+08:00

I wanted to blog about some on-going stuff in my life… However, after typing out a ridiculously long post I decided to dump it. Maybe a better post will come into my head tomorrow. Nevertheless I decided that I should at least post something… So like Seok says, I blog about anime a lot… So this is one of those posts! XD

Japan has began its Summer 2009 anime season! Granted, Summer anime titles are less impressive compared to Fall and Spring anime and I don't usually take note of Summer shows either. HOWEVER! (Note my big "however" in caps =DD) The show I have been waiting for since like a year ago finally make its appearance! Umineko no Naku Koro ni (translated to When the Seagulls Cry) is a psychological/horror anime whereby serial murders happen. Mysteriously. And to 18 people. XD

I love it when anime of the horror genre appear! <3 It's thrilling to watch instead of some weird schoolgirl (Shoujo genre) love that most people adore. Anyways, I am having high expectations of it though the 1^st episode was not really chocked full of plot and such… =( But the opening song (OP) is so awesome! (If people share the same taste toward OPs as me :p)

So far, we have a freaking rich family with people trying to inherit its vast fortune, a cute loli (little anime girl) who is somehow creepy, a pervy main character, a grand house with a lot of pretty roses and a witch who sort of appeared for like 5 seconds (her portrait is hanging in the house though).

This is going to be my future house! XDD (In my dreams =X)

Roses! <3

Characters I have my eyes on! =DD

Scary witch's portrait... *cringes*

I doubt he is as pervy as guys who compare the figures of me and my friends =.=

Little girls can be scary too! *stareeeeeeee*

I will be ranting more about it if I find the following episode(s) nice. So bear with me =X.

Gentleman alert!

2009-06-02T23:05:00.004+08:00

I reached home late today at 10.30 pm and apparently this cockroach was nice enough to escort me to the 6^th storey where I live. Such a nice, tiny gentleman. LOL! I am nuts hahahahahahaha XD!

He shall be my new boyfriend LOL =D.

Grumpy!

2009-06-01T21:11:00.002+08:00

I am super grumpy these days! Especially in the mornings… I grumble inwardly at the people on the bus and mrt, grumble when I reach my workplace, grumble at the laggy office laptop, grumble at… Okay, you get the picture =X. Anyways, my 50 words are done, with tons of thanks from XiuZ sister! (I wonder how she came up with them =D.) The latest thing I am grumbling about is…

STALKERS.

Hate.

Them.

Or in this case, him.

I am not obliged to reply your MSN message within a minute.

I am not obliged to entertain you.

Go away and get your girlfriend to do that.

Jeez…

Side note: My darling Cas is being stalked too! *Starts laughing and burst into a fit*

Still alive! Barely though =P

2009-05-30T22:00:00.003+08:00

Boo! I am still alive and kicking apparently… Though not by much... I sort of forgot I owned a blog for the past month and so it has been neglected. As you can see, this is one of my attempts to re-blog. Hopefully it will last, as in I update every week? It doesn't matter if people don't read it but at least it will show that I am putting something down instead of bottling up stuff inside of myself. It takes motivation and commitment to blog too, so… And I am not really the kind who will just sprout out whatever is on my mind at the moment, not even in writing.

Currently thinking of how to phrase a 50 word paragraph… People should know why I am writing 50 words. (If you are not, that means you don't know me at all, so just shoo and goo away =p.) I think I am going to follow Cas's advice and write a 200 words one before summarizing it. At the same time, I am thinking about a lot of other stuff too… Like what I am actually going to do if all else fails. Truth is, what I really want is to just be together with my dear friends and graduate from university with them together in a course that I don't mind going to. *Shrugs* But then, I do understand that in life, things don't go your way all the time. For me, life has always been relatively smooth since I am quite a lucky person. If luck runs out, then so be it. After thinking for a bit, I realized that I am truly satisfied with the kind of grades I got (I mean what do you think I expected? 4 As!?) and so I won't hide in some dark murky inner world of mine and emo anymore.

Okay, I shall scuttle off and attempt to come up with a rubbish 50 words paragraph now. Maybe I should just Twitter to update sometimes? I mean I have pretty random thoughts all the time anyways. =D

(12:53 AM) boBo - Great end:	wait wait
(12:54 AM) boBo - Great end:	u did something and thats y ur eyes r bigger? o_O
(12:54 AM) Socky:	hahas secret
(12:54 AM) boBo - Great end:	tell me >.< u went for "operation balloon"? lol
(12:55 AM) Socky:	rubBish hahas
(12:55 AM) boBo - Great end:	hahaha den tell me la T_T
(12:55 AM) Socky:	cannOt
(12:55 AM) Socky:	tell u nO fun le hahas
(12:55 AM) boBo - Great end:	oh oh u got a bf?!
(12:55 AM) Socky:	maybe next time u see me u will knOw nOpe
(12:56 AM) boBo - Great end:	lol
(12:56 AM) Socky:	u can check my FB status hahas
(12:56 AM) boBo - Great end:	just another guess lol hmmmm u work too hard? till ur eye muscles grow?
(12:56 AM) Socky:	nOpeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
(12:56 AM) boBo - Great end:	waaaaaa make me guess
(12:56 AM) boBo - Great end:	mai bully wo T_T