These days, I'm always living on the edge; I get distracted by something, usually because of the Internet, and then I realize that it's late at night and I still haven't done my homework. Then I have to make a mad scramble to finish it, which is annoying not only to myself but to my parents, who feel that I go to bed too late (compared to my classmates, I actually sleep pretty early...still, I do think I'd feel a lot better if I slept more), and particularly my dad, who insists on staring at me angrily until I'm inside the bedroom. (He actually goes to bed earlier than I do on most nights, though. He gets tired early because he wakes up too early. But I don't think he's become healthy, wealthy, and wise from it...)

I used to live by the motto of "Work hard, play hard", but I seem to have lost the "work hard" part...My efforts nowadays are concentrated on things that are not urgent, such as Tumblr. I really do enjoy looking for high-quality pictures to share on my Tumblogs, though. (I do fear yet that some artist will storm in yelling at me for putting up their pics without permission, although it has not happened yet)

So I suppose there isn't much difference between how I spend my time on school days and how I'm spending it now, on my week off. I'm still on the computer much of the time. I visited Crunchyroll the other day (though I meant to quit, somehow I'm still hanging on by my fingernails...Now I'm thinking that I could just make a new account instead, and have waaaaay less buddies on it) and spent a lot of time looking at the groups (it's like a club or guild). I figured I'd request a new avatar if I found a group that didn't charge for graphics. There's technically no currency on CR except for CR points, which you can't give or receive anyways, but some groups say that you must invite all your buddies, upload X number of photos, post X number of comments on the group wall, etc. So it is refreshing when you are able to find a group that makes graphics quickly and for no charge.

Seeing all those graphics has made me long for the old days when I made graphics more actively. I think I've made a total of two graphics this school year so far and haven't taken many photos compared to last year - but at least since it's springtime I have more photo opportunities again. Anyways, though, the last graphic I made was an avatar for my Crunchyroll account, around December...



At the time when I first made it, I thought it was really great, but now I think it doesn't have quite the right amount of pizazz toward it. Maybe less of the sparkles and some other kind of brushes or textures would've been nice. (Not that I would ever go back to fix it. In my book, once something's done, it's done. That doesn't sit too well in Writing for Publication class since we have to make many drafts of almost everything we write.)

I really feel like making some graphics right now, because I want to practice and improve so that I can keep up with the times - lots of amazing graphics-makers these days, after all, and the number will keep growing - but I'm using my dad's laptop, so it's a no-can-do. Not sure if his company would appreciate me overloading their computers with programs and brushes. Guess it's time to brainstorm. I'll see if I have the chance to make some graphics once I'm back home again.

Labels: account, avatar, break, crunchyroll, distraction, father, free time, graphics, group, internet, motto, payment, pictures, plans, price, share, sleep, time, tumblr

I actually don't remember whether I've eaten that brand of bread. But pretty much any kind of bread is wonderful to me, because I simply love bread.

There's something in the French language that I find hilarious. Part of the final exam for French included reading a pamphlet about Harry Potter, and in it were the words "baguette magique". I didn't think much of it at first, but then I read over it again and wondered if there had been any magical bread in Harry Potter, because I certainly couldn't recall any.

Turns out that a "baguette magique" is a magic wand. A drumstick is a "baguette de tambour", a "baguette d'encens" is an incense stick, a "baguette de chef d'orchestre" is a conductor's baton... And baguette can even refer to a chopstick, if you're eating. I suppose baguette doesn't just refer to food. It's just a stick or rod-shaped object in general.

But really, though, words aside, I've been living off of bread for the last two weeks or so. The #1 thing about my trip to China was bread, no doubt about it. I stopped at every bakery I saw. Would be heaven if I could spend all day visiting bakeries. Bread's cheap and tasty. Everything looked like a great deal compared to USA - got "pineapple buns" (they don't have pineapples in them, I think it's just named that because it looks like pineapples? I have no idea. They're also called polo buns). One itime I found them, fresh out of the oven, for ¥3.5 per bun. One US dollar is about ¥7, so it's like $0.50 for a bun. Better deal than any pineapple bun I've found yet in the USA. ...Then again, the average pay of people in China is far less, so it only looks like a great deal to a foreigner such as myself. But I also found melon bread at a 7-11 in Shanghai! It was only ¥5! And it's just so hard to find melon bread where I live, even if there are many Asian food stores. When I do find it, although it's delicious, it's kind of pricey.

Still, I guess it's not so bad to be back home, because I discovered a place to get pineapple buns. There's a bakery in a nearby grocery store which sells them 3 for $1.95! I can almost die happy.

Labels: baguette, bakery, bread, china, deal, delicious, eating, food, french, harry potter, magic wand, meaning, money, pineapple bun, polo bun, price

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