Neko Roji

Return of tapes? ~ACTA, Canberra, CNY~

2012-01-28T12:00:00.005+11:00

Working in a place away from your hometown, whilst living alone, can mean that certain things are neglected. This blog, for instance.
I also find that food and the news are two other things. However, after several weeks, I have now settled down enough to attend to the blog and the news, if not what to eat for dinner.
The first thing I discover, through facebook, twitter, Neil Gaiman's journal and a phone call to my best friend, is this thing called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
Having been informed that SOPA is a US domestic implementation of part of an international treaty, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, I set out to investigate.
The results are a little ... concerning? Terrifying?

I read the draft text.
Section 3: Border Measures
ARTICLE 14: SMALL CONSIGNMENTS AND PERSONAL LUGGAGE 1. Each Party shall include in the application of this Section goods of a commercial nature sent in small consignments. 2. A Party may exclude from the application of this Section small quantities of goods of a non-commercial nature contained in travellers’ personal luggage.

What, exactly, is 'small'? Whilst this treaty goes into enough detail to define 'days' as 'calender days', the definition of 'small', which is particularly important here, is absent.
ARTICLE 32: ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS IN DESTRUCTION OF INFRINGING GOODS The destruction of goods infringing intellectual property rights shall be done consistently with the laws and regulations on environmental matters of the Party in which the destruction takes place.

Well. That's nice of them.

ARTICLE 27: ENFORCEMENT IN THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
6. In order to provide the adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies referred to in paragraph 5, each Party shall provide protection at least against: (a) to the extent provided by its law: (i) the unauthorized circumvention of an effective technological measure carried out Knowingly or with reasonable grounds to know; and (ii) the offering to the public by marketing of a device or product, including computer programs, or a service, as a means of circumventing an effective technological measure; and (b) the manufacture, importation, or distribution of a device or product, including computer programs, or provision of a service that: (i) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing an effective technological measure; or (ii) has only a limited commercially significant purpose other than circumventing an effective technological measure.

So this means, if this is implemented as law, that a plugin such as DownloadHelper or the program BitTorrent is now illegal. Further concerning is this from the Free Software Foundation (FSF)'s petition against ACTA:

It will make it harder for users of free operating systems to play media: Consumers may no longer be able to buy media without DRM -- and DRMed media cannot be played with free software.

If this is the case, there will be a lot of Linux users, including myself, who will not be pleased.

Free and open source software has been developed legally, by people who are happy to share their knowledge. It is legal.
Buying music from, say, iTunes, rather than ripping it from a public library CD or taking it from Youtube is also legal.
Yet if FSF is right, this means that:

legal thing (software) + legal thing (music) = illegal...?

If I wanted to play music I had legitimately bought on an open source program such as Amarok or Banshee, it would be illegal.

What's the bet that tapes will return as the preferred form of media? After all, tracking recordings on tape is rather difficult...

***

On another note, I have been in Canberra for three weeks.

The fireworks here on Australia Day are better than Sydney's NY fireworks.
Pan-Asia Street has not gotten any closer to becoming a Chinatown, IMO.
Kagawa still makes awesome food though.

***

And finally, happy Chinese New Year! Gung hei fat choi! Too bad I'm missing the parades in Sydney. But I'll see the dragon boats on Feb 4.

General Sillyness ~Chinese Supermarkets~

2012-01-03T15:42:00.000+11:00

Being in a Chinese supermarket brings out a good deal of sillyness in me. I'm not sure if it's the Chinglish, or the sometimes downright suspicious products, but it makes me act pretty ridiculously.
And after one particular thing I saw today, I decided I had to blog about it. As you do, complete with camera-phone photos.
Now, I don't know whether you'd want to advertise this...

But apparently it's a common thing! Artificial chicken, anyone?

And then, a whole range of soups in cans! Okay, canned soup, so what - but these are drink style cans. Here we have black glutinous rice and ... Job's tears.

And oat congee...
Food can be very fashionable.
Finally, the thing that made me want to blog today.

What. is. that.
I took a look at the back label, which informed me that the ingredients included water, cane sugar, garlic, black pepper and bread crumbs. This didn't help.
Has anyone ever used this before??? What is it FOR? What does 'all purposes' entail?

Suggestions: pasting wallpaper, cleaning the toilet, killing spiders, patching cracks, eating with icecream.

Hm.

GreenDays: 1 Million Women Summit ~Let's play a closet game!~

2011-12-15T16:38:00.009+11:00

So I was at a 1 Million Women Summit in Town Hall yesterday.

1 Million Women is an Australian movement to recruit ... well ... 1 million women to change their habits around the house a little in order to save money, energy and hopefully a lot of greenhouse gas emissions.

We played a little game relating to clothing. We asked four questions (I'm going to add a fifth one) about the clothing of the person sitting next to us. So:

Where was it made?
What is it made of?
How should it be looked after?
Was it a spontaneous purchase?
(My addition) Was it second-hand?

I chose to look at this jacket I was wearing ...

Nice piece. Made in Australia, no less, but made of polyster, can only be dry cleaned and was a spontaneous purchase. Uh oh.

This is where the fifth question comes in, because, in fact, I did buy it second hand. I was a little miffed that this question was not asked.

After the summit was over, and I had retreated back home, I emptied out my cupboard (because I realised there was a lot of clothing in there which I had not worn for many many moons), and began checking the labels of things.

The worst was a shirt (handed out for free by members of a certain student representative party at my university, no naming names) which, although screen printed, was 100% cotton and made in Nicaragua, of all places. What a shock.

So let's play a game now. Here are two pictures:

Can you tell which one was second hand, and which was new?

The first is a yellow Dangerfield shirt. The second is a striped Skeleanimals shirt.

If you guessed the first shirt was second hand, you were right. (If you already knew, that's cheating and you shouldn't be playing).

The point is, you can sometimes find amazing things in second hand shops. Dangerfield is particularly favourite brand of mine, and to come across this shirt for only a few dollars (when the brand, new, is very expensive) is great.

So saving money does not have to mean wearing a garbage bag. Some second hand clothing stores (depending on your location) contain incredible amounts of designer clothing. Also, Vinnies is running the 'Signed Finds' campaign in NSW, where bands/singers have signed items of their own clothing and donated them to random stores, to encourage people to go second hand.

SydMUN 2011: Famine in East Africa ~Climate change, twitter, assassinations~

2011-12-05T11:44:00.011+11:00

I'd forgotten how ridiculously fun MUNning is.

I also attended last year (you can see my rather silly blow-by-blow account here.

So, for the past two days, I have been caught up in SydMUN 2011, a Model United nations conference held by the University of Sydney where university students roleplay delegates from member countries and argue with each other about global issues. As you might expect, ridiculousness ensues.

To get some idea of the mayhem, a quick Twitter search of #sydmun2011 may give you an idea. Alternately, good coverage was provide by the International Press Gallery (IPG) delegates, who did an excellent job of being sneaky reporters. Their work is here: The Working Paper 2011.

Being Canada in the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), on the topic of the Famine in East Africa, I really didn't have much to say... Or at least, I told myself I hadn't.

I had sprained my foot a few days before and simply didn't feel like speaking. If I had felt like speaking, I probably have brought more science into the debate. And given that this was the United Nations Environmental Program, and that only two people in the room (myself included) had a scientific background, that probably would have been a good idea.

As it was, it was only on the second day that I psyched myself up enough to deliver a five minute lecture on why exactly the famine is occurring in East Africa. Which, the Press Delegate helpfully pointed out, probably should have been done on the first day. I know. I KNOW, OKAY.

And now, I will lecture you all.

Currently, East Africa, also known as the Horn of Africa (think of countries such as Somalia, Kenya, etc.) is experiencing a pretty nasty drought.

Rains have failed throughout the year, reducing crop/vegetation growth. This is a problem. the UN has declared the region to be suffering from famine.

This drought has been attributed, in the main, to the La Nina phase of the ENSO cycle. This means, in simple terms:

Strong winds from the west across Africa, and, as this means winds coming from the land, not the ocean...
Little rainfall.

TIME has also done a very interesting piece on this.

However, La Nina and its counterpart El Nino are considered very high-frequency climatic events. They occur on seasonal time period, which is very quick in climate terms.

At the same time, longer-term climate events are occurring at the same time. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) refers to two areas of very different temperatures in the Indian Ocean. The temperatures in the two places alternate on an interannual scale.

The IOD is currently negative, that is, the ocean off the coast of East Africa is cold, whilst the eastern Indian Ocean is warm. Cold means lack of rain.

So La Nina + negative IOD = a hell of a drought.

Both UNICEF and UN Refugees are taking donations, it seems, but with predictions that warming seas will only exacerbate the drought conditions into the foreseeable future, the people in the region will have to learn how to deal with it ... or leave, as so many are doing.

Back to SydMUN, the Crisis Council thoroughly enjoyed themselves replaying the tussle between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party. Chairman Mao was successfully assassinated, but the CCP still had victory, banishing the KMT to Formosa (now Taiwan).

The Security Council was involved in a water rights dispute between India and Pakistan over water resources, which quickly escalated into all out war when a dam was blown up, killing Chinese nationals and President Obama, visiting India, was assassinated along with the Indian President.

When this was tweeted by the Press Delegate representing Fox News, there was general panic as the MUN Secretariat worried that a third party reading the tweet would think the real President Obama was actually dead. Not so guys, it's just a mask:

The International Criminal Court (ICC) hypothetically considered what the trial of Muammar Gaddafi would have been like ... if he wasn't dead already.

He was almost unanimously found guilty of crimes against humanity, with the sole dissent from a Justice who pointed out that Gaddafi's arrest and spiriting away to the ICC was against a particular principle of international law. Unfortunately, as I have not yet undertaken international law at university, I didn't quite understand it. That should be rectified by the middle of next year.

~~~~~

And now its over until the next time a MUN comes around. I'm currently tossing up between AMUNC and volunteer work in Vietnam, so nothing definite yet. As they say, we will see.

Buying a lottery ticket ~law clerkships; Aurora Project; SydMUN 2011~

2011-12-02T15:44:00.006+11:00

As in, that story about the guy who prays everyday to some god/spirit/thing to win the lottery, and one day, the god/spirit/thing says - okay, I'll let you win the lottery, so just buy a bloody ticket will ya????

So in other words, I am currently buying my tickets.

That year is coming up, you know, the one that law students wait for. For the past three years, we've heard 'We only take students on in fourth year'. Well, here it is.

So hopefully, the end of next year will see me working in a law firm for a brief amount of time as a ~~gopher~~ clerk. Before that, there is research, letter writing, resume tweaking, frantic studying to make marks look better (ahaha) and an interview with some ridiculous question like 'If you lived in the Jurassic, would you be a triceratops?' (Well, no, because there were no triceratops on the Jurassic, but you get the idea).

Another thing just around the corner (potentially) is the Aurora Native Title Internship Program. I'm applying for it in March with the hope of getting in for June. Where should I go? I like the sound of Perth. Or Darwin maybe. Hm.

The idea behind this is that students can assist Indigenous groups in a few different areas. I'm going for the law bit (of course) which means helping out Native Title disputes (which I've talked about in this post).

Hopefully I'll then have that as another experience.

Oh, and SydMUN is tomorrow. Well, it kinda sorta started today, but I sprained my foot, so...

Anyway, the next two days should hopefully have accounts of the goings-on at SydMUN 2011. I guess you can also follow the ridiculousness on my twitter account:
Follow @BengoshiNeko

as I will probably be tweeting and retweeting the events of the day, mostly from UNEP, as that is where I am, as Canada (yay, facilitator's role).

We will see.

It's that time again - Jumble Sale-ing (being updated)

2011-11-18T12:49:00.007+11:00

So I'm once again trying to get rid of stuff. It's mostly books and manga ^_^;
So here's a list of stuff. I won't put prices up, but there won't be anything over $10. I may be willing to give stuff away for free to some people :)
Will be crossed off as they are claimed. May be able to post things, but some of it is a bit bulky.

Books (fiction), books (non-fiction), manga, DVDs/VCDs, music, miscellany (including games, random stuff...)

Books (Fiction)

Along Came Spider - James Patterson (Looks a bit worse for wear...)
Del-Del - Victor Kelleher
From Russia with Love (James Bond) - Ian Flemming
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
Lady Friday (Keys to the Kingdom) - Garth Nix
Looking Glass Wars
Manhattan is My Beat
Mister Monday (Keys to the Kingdom) - Garth Nix
The Wind Singer

Books (Non-Fiction)

Philosophical Dictionary - Voltaire
How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs ... (Don't ask)

Manga (Please note some of these are not in English)

+Anima v. 8 - Mukai Natsumi
Black Cat v. 1 - Yabuki Kentaro
Chibi Vampire / Karin v. 10 - Kagesaki Yuna
Cowboy Bebop v. 3 - Yatate Hajime and Nanten Yutaka
Fruits Basket Ultimate Edition v. 3 (contains normal vols 5 and 6) - Takaya Natsuki
Inu Yasha Viz Big Edition v. 3 (contains normal vols 7, 8 and 9) - Takahashi Rumiko
Line - Kotegawa Yua
Love Hina v. 1 and 2-
Midori Days v. 7-
Naruto v. 6-
Revolutionary Girl Utena v. 4-
RG Veda v. 1- CLAMP
Rurouni Kenshinv. 2 -
Shonen Jump March 2008
Shonen Jump v. 41 (Japanese)
Shonen Magazine v. 35 (Japanese)
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles v. 23 - CLAMP (Japanese)
Wish v. 2 - CLAMP
W.I.T.C.H v.2 - (French)
xxxHolic v. 12 - CLAMP (Chinese)
Young Ace v. 8 (Japanese)
Yu Yu Hakusho v. 4 -
Zero's Familiar v. 5 - (Chinese)

DVDs/VCDs

Black Dahlia
Fruits Basket v.1
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Orlando
Pan's Labyrinth
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Romeo + Juliet
Steamboy
Swordfish
Tales from Earthsea

Music

Wrong Impression (Single) - Natalie Imbruglia
Legend of Pop Queen - Anita Mui

Miscellany

Cluedo (board game)
Lemmings (PS2)
Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (PS2)
Puzzle Quest (PS2)

Halloween, a real nightmare.

2011-10-31T16:03:00.009+11:00

Music: Simon - Lifehouse

So, my last day of freedom. And the last post for a while. (Everyone breathes a sigh of relief).

Where to start... well, I was in court again today, my third time (there will come a day when I stop counting, I think). While I was there, proceedings were fairly sedate, so I began making observations of everything other than the arguments that were being put forward.

Firstly, I guess some people never get over stage-fright. Even the Honorable Barrister had shaking hands. Alternately, he could have some sort of neurological condition. But I've spoken to barristers during break times, and, especially after rapid-fire debate, they are often coasting an adrenaline high, unable to sit still, talk at a normal speed or to eat. Seriously, barrister-ing is an extreme sport.

Secondly... how much of counsel's argument does the magistrate actually pay attention to? This wasn't so much of an issue today when the barrister was reading his (lengthy) submission, as the magistrate could follow along, but I do wonder sometimes...

Finally- environmental cases are often argued on merits bases rather than legal, which, taking into consideration other types of law in Australia, seems a little unusual. Hm.

*****

Next random topic: Politics. Are conservative factions so again everything that liberal factions say because they're scared of China?

...

I didn't quite see the connect there myself at first. However, the reasoning is that:

1. Some(?) liberal parties have supported China's growth.
2. Conservative parties don't want China to become an Eastern Superpower.
3. Therefore conservative governments are doing everything they can to oppose ALL liberal policies, even ones they should otherwise agree with.

Does that make sense? Not being particularly politically savvy, I am not sure, but it is an interesting argument.

****

That mischievous velvet-coated little gentlemen of mine tried running away on Sunday. He returned with his plush coat filled with 'Farmer's Friends'. Jordan, you should really take care of your coat better.

*****

It's Halloween today, and I'm stuck in the house writing a report. The most I can do is wear my dead-bunny skirt from Hong Kong brand Vertical Club (the print is of dead pastel bunnies on black fabric ... accompanied by cats, ribbons, stars and ... mushrooms ...) and contemplate covering my room with Gothic pictures again.
Next year, I'm definitely going for the Under the Blue Moon festival.

That is a resolution. (Affirmed by the special effects). I hear it was cancelled this year while they regather, but that hopefully it will be on again next year. Fingers crossed.

And on that note, I should probably do some work. I will be back on 25 November.

2011-10-29T21:15:00.006+11:00

Music: TRUTH - DaizyStripper

Another silly picture of my cat (with my mother's hand). Although his name is Jordan, nobody in the house ever calls him that. It's just 'puss', 'cat', 'you', 'noisy', each getting progressively more insulting :P However, he is a proper gentlemen, right down to his velvet coat. I think I should make him a top hat and a bow tie for Christmas. But would he wear them? Unlikely ^^;

In truth, keeping focused is very difficult. Trying to find the right balance (between when to stop having a life and when to study like crazy) is difficult. I think I began too early this semester. But there is so much work.
I am still planning complete lockdown, with important contact only via mobile and email, on November 1, after I see Your Heart's Never music video, of course :) I donated towards its production around a year and a half ago, and I can't wait (although I'll have to) to see the result.

And then, somewhere over the rainbow, the work will magically disappear and I will promptly find myself more things to do. SydMUN runs from 2-4 December, and I'll be representing Canada for UNEP, on the topic: Environmental Impacts of the Famine in East Africa. I have no definite idea (I can guess, of course) what these impacts might be, but I can't start looking at that until my exams finish. On my birthday, as it happens ^^;

On an unrelated note, Mouse and I went for an afternoon ramble today (since my uni work had insistently munched on my brain), and we were discussing the (un)commonality of four leaf clovers. Upon examining several patches of clover, we spotted a four leaf.

And then another.

And another.

And then a real oddity appeared:

A six leaf clover! We counted more than 7 four leaf clovers, as well as some five and more six leaf ones as well.

So it was concluded that perhaps there was something wrong(?) with the soil? Sounds like a research opportunity to me *is shot*
I'll forget about the law for a little while and amuse myself with SBS PopAsia and most likely get KARA's 'Jumping' stuck in my head again.

Cute yummy time? A Zombie Ate My Cupcake!!!

2011-10-27T21:28:00.012+11:00

Music: Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 (Stuck in my head. But better than When a Cow Snapping Over Friend Chiken XD - songstowearpantsto.com)

Kitty!

~~~~~

I know I'm not supposed to be here, but if I had any other choice...

So I'm in Big W, having picked up Black Cauldron (finally, after years of searching) and Final Fantasy: Advent Children (on Bluray, no less!), thinking idly how unlikely but great it would be to come across La Carmina's Cute Yummy Time in the book section, when I see this:

Ah.
Must have.
So I grabbed it and opened it up, and there are so many excellent looking cupcakes that I wish it was not exam time. I would make them right away. I mean, look at this: (excuse the terrible pictures, btw, camera phone is only 3 megapixels D: )

Mexican Day of the Dead cupcakes, so colourful!

Vampire bites ^,...,^

And my favourite, Bleeding Hearts.

Maybe I'll get Miss Strange and Akai-Hanabi round for a cupcake bake after exams, hm? I wonder if my boyfriend will dare to eat these :D

A Zombie Ate My Cupcake by Lily Vanilli

I won't talk about politics but...

2011-09-29T13:59:00.006+10:00

... what the Greens don't understand is, a strong economy is the best social security.

Right, that's not politics.

Wandered along to Martin Ferguson's lecture/talk thing on Tuesday night at USyd. Martin Ferguson, by the way, is the Federal Energy/Resource Minister (and federal minister for Batman, BTW. Srsly. It's on his home page.), but being the kind of person who never really knows what they're getting themselves into (I heard there was a talk on resource and energy law, QED), I turned up to find protesters tussling with security at the front door of the venue.

Now, I'll say this now. I am definitely a left-leaner. I am all for advocacy. But really, make sure there is a point to your protesting.
These ... mostly students and members of SEAN were protesting against the planned dumping of Australia's nuclear waste at Muckarty Station in the Northern Territory. To the best of my knowledge, Muckarty is owned by the Muckarty Aboriginal people under native title (i.e. the government has kindof accepted that Aboriginal people were living there for a while (read: over 40 000 years) and maybe the land might ~~actually belong to them~~ benefit from their stewardship.

So, in order to dump nuclear waste (according to Mr Ferguson) the land must be volunteered. And certain individuals, purported to be representative of the Muckarty people, volunteered the Muckarty land. So the Minister decided that this was where the waste was going to be dumped.

And that upset some people.

Hence the protest. Unfortunately, the protest was pretty much next to pointless, as the case is currently in the Federal Court of Australia being argued out by lawyers now, and no amount of protesting (even were it directed at the judge himself and no the Minister) will make a difference. Gotta love rule of law.

On the topic of law, I've just realised that John Su (who you may remember from these posts: ) has created the most awesome characters in the field of law (enough to give Ace Attorneys a run for their money).

Edfried is my favourite :D

On a completely different topic, here is a pictures, finally, of an amigurumi Gideon. He looks... sorry Tim. ^^; I ran out of time.

Observed poleward expansion of Hadley circulation

2011-09-25T17:08:00.008+10:00

... is what I'm reading right now.
I have a distinct feeling that any subject where the convener/lecturer/tutor are the same person must be evil.

Example 1.
My climate change unit has the same person lecturing, convening and tutoring. As I have been attempting, rather foolishly, to undertake 5 subjects this semester, I have fallen behind the readings. I looked at them this morning.
Out of the 21 papers I have missed (this is 7 worth of readings, and I had actually already done about 5 or 6), 12 had single digit number of pages.
Of the rest, the page counts are: 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 30, 33 and 46.
We also have practical reports due each week which are almost like mini assignments.
I've finished the single digit papers. How long will the 46-page paper take me, I wonder? Place your bets.

Example 2.
Equity.
...
The exam is... a take home. It comes out at noon on the 13th November. It is due, at uni, at noon on the 14th November.
If anything is going to take my all-nighter virginity, it's this exam. I think I'll have to sleep during the day, beforehand.
And yes, the the convener is also the lecturer, and my tutor.

And on another note, I saw SBSs PopAsia Asian music videos on TV this morning. I have found a new way to drag myself out of bed on Sundays.

Is that punk, goth or rock?

2011-09-18T11:27:00.007+10:00

So I went to a friend's 21st last night, trying to dress 80s punk and failing...
But it was so much fun. And when I suggested (via the ultimate networking tool, facebook) that I might dress punk everyday, I got a very loud 'yes please'.
Thing is, delineating between punk, goth and perhaps some of the harder rock looks is a little difficult. I was identified as the latter two and not as the first (maybe I should have done a fauxhawk?) which was a bit...
But yes, chains and fishnets. I've been told that if there are no photos, it didn't happen, so here is a closeup of my right ear from last night.

It's a little unclear, but basically what is happening here is that in the piercing closest to my face, I had a chain running from my right ear to the second piercing in my left. The second piercing in my right ear had a chain attached to the front of the dog collar, which you can also see in the picture. The first piercing in my left ear had a safety pin and a star shaped paper clip in it.

I'm sure you all wanted to know that.

I was tempted to put a fake ring on my lip, but then it would be hard to drink (and eat as well, but that's not so important).

So there's your proof.

On another note, awesome pictures from JBHifi's in Macquarie. Who is the artist, I wonder? There were about 5 around the shop...

And now I will be off to do my assignment.

Green Days: Coal Seam Gas

2011-09-12T14:23:00.007+10:00

I thought I should probably get around to writing something about CSG. After all, we're neck-deep in it, at work (which resulted in me having an hour to research for and produce a large table comparing the impacts of coal, CSG, natural gas, hydroelectric, PV and wind turbines for a case submission, complete with full scholarly referencing) and I'll be wandering along to the Blacktown protest next week, so why not?
I wouldn't mind trying my hand at a bit of freelance journalism, actually...

So anyway.
CSG is natural gas trapped in coal seams. Fairly straight forward. It is comprised mostly of methane and burns quite cleanly. To extract it, a well is drilled, water/fracking fluid is pumped in (or water is removed) to change the pressures underground and encourage the gas out :)
It is a pretty clean energy source, in terms of its emissions. The problem is the fracking fluid.
The idea of fracking fluid is that it fractures the rock it travels through, creating escape paths for the gas. To do this, they must be viscous and able to transport proppants (a solid to keep the fractures open after the pumping stops).
There are many flavours of fracking fluid. Some sources indicate that fracking fluid is 99% water and sand (with sand being the proppant), with the remainder being, for example, surfacants (which can be found in toothpaste), guar gum (found in icecream) and acetic acid (think vinegar). However, water as the main fluid is sometimes not viscous enough to fracture the rock. In this case, other fluids are used, including:

- Gelled fluids: high viscosity, man-made fluids. Includes guar gum and other products from the guar plant, which is biodegradable. So far, so good, but diesel fuel has been reported as the substance used to dissolve the guar powder. Ack. Diesel fuel is known to carry carcinogens. The thickener for the fracking fluid may contain anything from 30-almost 100% diesel fuel. Other gelled fluids contain boric acid (I remember, as a child, my parents using borax, the salt of boric acid, to kill ants ~they do not do this now~) and ethylene glycol (antifreeze). I am not entirely certain of the concentrations of these materials. I only hope that, as advocates of CSG say, it is a nominal quantity, because I sure as hell don't want any of it in my groundwater.

- Acids: used particularly in limestone regions to dissolve the rock. This is generally hydrochloric acid, or a mixture with acetic or formic acid (ants also produce this, btw). This type of fracking requires huge amounts of acid. However, it has been noted that the concentrations of acids are 1000x weaker than the levels presented in standard MSDSs.

- Others include: biocides (kill bacteria), breakers (break down fracking fluid viscosity), and acid inhibitors (to stop acid from eating well casings).

The affects of these chemicals are not fully understood. As such, the precautionary principle should be applied, but who does that?
I would be rather concerned about some of these materials. Water is a precious commodity, and any further pressure could be very dangerous for the water-sucking vampires that the human race is. O.O
Anyway, I'm reserving judgment (do I sound impartial? :P). I don't like the fact that these chemicals are being used, but if they are employed safely (or replaced, preferably) I really don't have a problem with CSG.

I'll probably ramble about this again in the future after the protest. It seems a little small atm :( but we'll see what happens.
The link is here: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=277937405556316 if anyone is interested in wandering over. I believe that they will be joining up with others from Parramatta, before heading to Hyde Park, Sydney, to create a giant bike. Rawk.

~~~~~~~
Most of my info came from here: Environmental Protection Agency (2004) Evaluation of impacts to underground sources of drinking water by hydraulic fracturing of coalbed methane reservoirs, Chapter 4: Hydraulic fracturing fluids. Just FYI.
And a little from Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, Fraccing Facts. Anyone know when this was published?

Classifying the walk among the butterflies

2011-09-02T23:08:00.006+10:00

It's late, and I'm looking up wildflowers in a field guide. They all look the same.

I was very pleased to discover the name of one of my favourite flowers.

This is Onion Grass. I then read on:

"Onion grass can significantly reduce the productivity of crops, pastures and animal systems, making it a costly agricultural weed. Onion grass has no nutritional benefit to animals, remaining undigested in the gut. If large quantities are consumed, fibre balls may form and obstruct the bowel, causing death. In crops and pastures, onion grass often grows ahead of desirable species, utilising valuable moisture and nutrients and restricting production."

And yet, on another site:
"It can be used as you would use chives, and the bulb can even be dug and used like small shallots or scallions."

So... should I eat it, or what?

My childhood memories of returning spring heralded by pretty purple flowers in the grass have been shattered. TT.TT

This here, on the other hand, if my very favourite flower:

Wild Onion! (What is it about me and onions?)

But in some places it's still a weed...
But this is definitely edible. And the flowers smell really good.

Further to my jaunt of last Friday, I have identified all the bird species I came across, including:

A darter:

and an Intermediate (possibly) egret:

I'll probably look at the post some time in the future and wonder why the hell I posted it.

A walk amongst the butterflies

2011-08-30T09:28:00.003+10:00

Professional shop lifters.
I have an unfortunate habit of misreading things. The sign actually said professional shop fitters.

-----

I went for a blog walk a couple of days ago.

It was certainly an interesting experience. To see how it works, what kinds of blogs you come across, etc.
They aren't random. The first few I was directed to were all anime stuff, which, considering some of the labels in my blog, is hardly surprising.
The next string of blogs was all about insects.
...
Which surprised me a little, since I hardly ever write about insects (have I ever?) on my blog, but I am interested (maybe environment=pictures of caterpillars to blogspot) and I did find a blog with many pretty pictures :D

But referring back to what I said in my previous post, I think the reason why I'm so bad at blogging is because I am unable to be overly honest, even online.
Popular blogs tend to detail ever aspect of a person's life, because blog-readers are creepy stalkerish and voyeuristic.

Hey, how else do you explain it???

Field trip (or maybe head trip)

2011-08-28T15:54:00.004+10:00

I think I must be really bad at writing blog posts.

I've decided that several times, deleted the blog, and gone and made another one again despite it all. :D

So whoever reads this will just have to put up with my bad blogging skillz.

Anyway, life is... as much of a mixed bag as usual. I am currently thinking, not for the first time, that I need a job that pays, but I really don't have time.

So I came up with a get rich quick scheme (Why didn't I think of this before?)

Since I'm much better at creative writing, I'll sell my stories! *kaching*

...

Actually, that's not quick at all TT.TT
But all my money seems to continuously get eaten (literally, because I spend it on food and transport and nothing else). Although maybe with summer coming, I'll eat less. So what else to do?

Anyway, the post title is referring the environmental management field trip I went on this Friday. The Manly Dam catchment is much healthier than I expected. For example:

That is a large yabbie. I.e. good water quality. Very good.
And now I have an assignment to complete on it (the catchment, not the yabbie).

Speaking of, since I have overloaded this semester, I really haven't been sleeping so much. But maybe I'm getting used to it. I don't really feel so tired any more. Just reluctant to work, which is why I am here, typing this blog post ^^;
I think it's because of Spring. I want to do something interesting.

Okay, I'm considering going to Vienna at the end of the year for a three week law school course, but that is a fair way off. What I'm thinking of is something more immediate, like moving all the furniture in my room around.

Unfortunately, packing my room is a bit like playing tangrams- there's only one way that everything will fit in there. So I can't move anything ><;

Actually, there are other things I could do...

So I think I'll go do them :)

Arigatou

2011-08-19T22:21:00.002+10:00

Arigatou, minna. Ima, ichi hyaku ni ju DORU ga arimasu. Sugoi yo!
Totemo muzukashii ><; Demo, ganbaru. Mou tanoshii desu. XD

UEBUSAITO omoidasu: http://40hf.com/chinesesweetpotato

English Famine

2011-08-13T10:00:00.003+10:00

So, the 40 Hour Famine starts this Friday, and I have decided to give up English for those 40 Hours...

So here and now, I promise:
- not to speak in English
- to write in katakana and not in English letters
- to listen only to non-English music and watch non-English movies

For forty hours.

Who's going to sponsor me to do that? :D

You can pay me in person, or donate online here: http://40hf.com/ChineseSweetPotato

Missing out on the best things in life

2011-08-07T18:15:00.005+10:00

So I went to the Organic Expo and Green Show today, and the best thing about it was the free plants. Okay, maybe learning how to cook crab from Kylie Kwong was pretty awesome too, but the shameless plugs threw me for a loop or two.

But on the plus side, I know how to steam a fish now, and how to make home-made black bean and chilli sauce. I can move out of home now! ~~Oh wait, no paid job, that's right.~~

The Expo was... pretty commercial, to say the least. I was looking forward to DIY workshops, skill-sharing, etc. but it was all about organic food companies advertising themselves.

So I came home and felt like... I dunno, tearing something up. Or stitching random bits of material together.

And it occurred to me that I know longer dressed the way I used to, in lots of black with the occasional ridiculously coloured item, or simply in ridiculous clothing. Why?

I do rather miss it.

But that is all about to change... DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN.

Actually, some of you may argue that I dress crazily no matter what. It just doesn't feel that way. I think it is important to feel slightly off the wall, otherwise people take you for granted.

And by the way...

~~WHAT IS THIS MONSTROSITY???~~

Yeah, I deco-ed my iPod case, which was kinda pointless since I can't sync my iPod at the moment TT.TT

What have I got myself into (again)?

2011-07-26T21:22:00.006+10:00

Um, so crocheting a tie is very hard. Hm.
It's difficult to keep the tension exact when turning, so the edge of the tie ends up looking rather... chewed.

So I took a break and made this:

It's made from the front cover of 'Cheers', a Japanese magazine.
Strange as it looks, it's actually quite sturdy. I'm already using it :3

And I'm going to postpone my tie further by making another amigurumi birthday present. Vale's collie just needs the eyes added, and then it's all done. I'll get around to it before uni starts...

I think...

P.S. Occasional Playthings has been updated.

Green Days: Upcycling and DIY

2011-07-24T15:55:00.005+10:00

Life has conspired to guilt me into making a new 'Green Days' post. I have been seized with an urge to make things (and so far, I actually have :O) and after scouring the internetz for projects/ideas/tips, I thought I might write something about it. Maybe.

Crocheting

So first off, I've been amigurumi-ing happily away, making little useless but cute things for friends. First it was Domo-kun for No Onions (so called because he doesn't eat onions), now I've almost finished a collie dog for Vale. It just needs eyes...
I had seen amigurumi books before (my mother bought a dog amigurumi book from Kinokuniya recently) but my real interest only came about when I saw Nedigurumi's site. With so many free patterns, including the Domo-kun one, I just had to learn.

Here is Domo-kun, about to be eaten by my cat Jordan. Apologies for the blurry picture.

So when I came across this:

Well...

One day, I will have one of these. Just you wait.

But for now, I'm having a go at crocheting a bright yellow Speedy Cat tie. No one will want to stand next to me :3

Upcycling

To the best of my knowledge, this means taking something old and making it look better? Yes?

Anyway, I like doing that with my mother's old clothing. And I'm currently painting the bottom of my work shoes red. Why? I dunno, but I like it.

Recycling

I'm currently saving up Pocky wrappers to make a wallet. Watch this space.

Also, there are a ridiculous number of old jeans around my house which are to be thrown away/donated. But never phear, there is help: Cut Out and Keep has a billion projects on what to do with old jeans, so I'm set for a few years.

So. There'll be posts of random objects I have created. The next one will probably be of the collie dog for Vale, but no promises.

Fair trading at work

2011-07-18T15:17:00.004+10:00

Given that I work for an environmental organisation, it's quite alarming that the coffee isn't fairtrade. Or at least organic.
Something must be done :) And it will. Hopefully I will soon be able to announce that my workplace is fairtrade... ish. At least the coffee.

SOS Camp 2011

2011-07-11T10:27:00.004+10:00

Camp ended yesterday.

Students of Sustainability camp ran from Tuesday night to Sunday midday.I'd never been before, mainly because it clashes with AMUNC, but this time, since I had no response from any of the committees I applied for in AMUNC, I decided to head along to the camp.
It was very cold, very damp, and the soreness of my throat indicates the beginning of a cold, but it was pretty damned epic.

Each day had a theme: Water, Nuclear, Climate, Food and the Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN). And after breakfast and a huge meeting every morning, we would all wander off to a variety of workshops(or none at all, depending on your inclination).

Whenever I attend events such as these, it always amazes (or maybe not: is there a word that combines amazes with a cynical undertone that accompanies certain discoveries?) me to hear about some of the things going on around the world, and indeed Australia, which never make it to the newspapers. For instance, an Australian rare earth company known as Lynas is shipping radioactive material to Malaysia for refining. Or that nuclear material in general is secretly being transported across Australia, or

There were a number of practical skills workshops. Two of these were the identification of edible 'weeds' and dumpster diving.
In reference to the first, I knew dandelions were edible, but not that plantain can be eaten, or that the fruit of the prickly pear is particularly tasty (these grow in abundance where I live, so I can't wait for summer).
Dumpster diving is incredibly interesting: its dangerous(both physically and legally), fun, free and makes you put on a righteous hat. Sydney wastes huge amounts of food (and yet people say there is a global food shortage- it's access, not quantity), and this has actually been reported on: How Our Greed Costs Millions. So I should hardly have been surprised when, in the space of less than an hour of diving, our group found:
- two bags of mandarins
- broccoli
- a bike seat
- three salami-like things
- four large packages of bacon
- oreos
- eggs
- asparagus
- a dumpster filled with coathangers
- beer.

Yes, beer. Whilst some of these things were past their 'best before' date, this means very little. Quite literally, they were best before that date, but it doesn't mean they had expired. And they were only a week, at most,past this date. Some seemed perfectly fine: the oreos, for example, had no problems with the packaging, none were broken, and they tasted great ^0^
The food there could provide breakfast lunch and maybe dinner for a small family in a developed nation, let alone a family in a third world country.

The best thing about SOS is that, given its length, attendees are saturated in information and enthusiastic people (although if it gets to much, the grounds were beautiful and there are warm chillout rooms). And because of that, the desire to act doesn't flare up and disappear just as quickly. The feeling is more of a slow burn, and has a feeling of longevity.

Well, we'll see. With university coming up (5 subjects O.O), how long will my resolve last??? That sounded... dramatic.

Fairly Educated

2011-07-03T22:07:00.006+10:00

Hands up who knows what fair trade is?

...

Well, I guess most of you who subscribe to this blog know what it is. But those who have just wandered in from the street, do you have a clue?

A promise:
As a result of attending the Fairly Educated Conference, I promise to not be a waste-of-space both virtually and physically, and will get off my donkey (or sit down, as the case may be) and actually get involved in some of the stuff I really care about.

----

Fairly Educated was very informative and useful. This conference was held in the University of Sydney on 2-3/7/11, involving attendees from 18 universities across Australia and New Zealand. The point? To discuss the fair trade movement in those two countries and support the activities taking place.
My university was joint first to be fair trade accredited, along with RMIT in Victoria. But as I said at the conference, if I were to stop a person at random on campus, and asked them if they knew what fair trade was... I would bet most wouldn't have a clue.
To be brief, the fair trade movement is about reducing the amount of goods produced by people coerced or threatened into working. Think human trafficking, slave labour, child workers, etc.
Three universities: Macquarie, RMIT and La Trobe, have fair trade accreditation in Australia. Fremantle is a fair trade city. Along with the UK and US, Australia is examining the concept of fair trade and indicating considerable interest.

The Fairly Educated Conference allowed interested parties (including Kilian Moote from Free2Work, who flew for 15 hours from the US to speak for only 15 minutes :O ) to let everyone know what was going on their side of the fence.
To avoid boring all you nice readers to death, I'll only ramble on about the most interesting points which came out of the conference, not a blow-by-blow analysis as I am sometimes apt to do... (sorry)

1. The case of South Korea
South Korea has been held up as something of a poster child in campaigns to end poverty. The turn-around of South Korea, 'from an aid-receiving country to an aid-giving country' is fairly remarkable, and indicates that, really, it is possible.

2.Fair trade overhaul
The fair trade system needs re-structuring. As it is, there are issues with copyright/creative commons with the fairtrade badge and too many certification systems. But they're working on it :) The problems with copyright are set to be fixed by the end of this year/early next year.

3. Shirts do not grow on shirt trees.

4. The problem of overconsumption can be solved when we all pay a fair price for our goods.

5. Fair trade really does taste better. Honest. :)

-----

Hopefully, the next blog post I make, which will be in about a week's time, will be a round up of SOS Camp 2011 (Students of Sustainability). So wish me luck, I'm off to chilly Albury for five days. *shivers just thinking about it*

A re-post

2011-05-22T14:18:00.004+10:00

From Survive Law:

Have you left your study a little too late? Don’t know your Commonwealth constitution from your elbow? You may not have time to cram all that knowledge in, but a little prayer can’t hurt, right?

“Our (Justice Kirby/ Lord Denning/ insert your judge of choice here), who (art/ art no longer) on the bench, I ask of you…”

Now choose your own adventure:
Sleep Learning

“May the myths about sleeping on text books be true, all semester I have been looking at them telling myself ‘I’ll get around to it,’ and now it’s too late. May I wake up with commercial security interests in property in my head due to osmosis. If this happens I promise to read every judgement, not only the majority decision.

Old Notes

“May the notes from a long past student be current, without fault and comprehensible in the exam when it is only the second time I am reading them. If this happens, I promise to refrain from making fun of first year students doing their own notes as other future law students depend on their diligence.

Exam Questions

“Please make the exam on succession only about the content in the first three weeks as that was when I cared enough to pay attention. If Your Worship can arrange this I will only drink organic coffee, the socially responsible choice.

Power Points

“As I will only just be checking all the power points for the semester a week before the exam, please make the case summaries concise enough not to have to actually read them. Should Your Honour deem me worthy of such a gift, I will give my lecturer great feedback on the subject surveys.

Hand Cramps

“Guide my hand swiftly over the exam, guard against hand cramp as I have not put pen to paper since exams last semester.

Issue Spotting

“In the exam please make the issues GLARINGLY OBVIOUS and my application of the law enough to gain the required points to pass. If Your Honour can make this happen I promise to use my law degree for good, and not for corporate litigation… unless they pay me more than the other, in which case a law grad has to do what a law grad has to do.

“In the name of the High Court, Supreme Court, District Court and the Magistrates Court, Amen.”

If you think you need more help, look up St Thomas More – he’s the patron saint of lawyers.

Things they don't tell you.

2011-05-18T15:10:00.004+10:00

Factors determining variability in the South China monsoon

2011-04-19T11:08:00.004+10:00

Did anyone know that the monsoon is actually just the wind, not the whole rain/storm/flood shebang?

I didn't either... until NOW.

Yeah... hah. Just slightly delirious due to lots of work and little food.

It's mid-way through uni-break. I've almost finished one assignment and have three more to go (management skillz, yo) plus a little summarising task for the EDO (that's Environmental Defender's Office for the illiterate) plus organising a Vision Generation Day of Action (involving the logistical movement of people, lots of baked goods, tables, and garage sale items around the place...). So then I just had to give myself more work, didn't I?

Settle back, kids. This is a long story.

So. I have this assignment. I was a very good child, I started it early, picked my topic, began research (thinking back now, I'm glad I did).
I decided I wanted to do something relating to climate (because it's a climate subject) and the law (cause I do law. Logic.) So after playing eenie-meenie-minie-mo for a while (well, not really) I chose to discuss exactly how effect the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (Cth) (EPBC) is at protecting the climate.

It isn't.

EPBC is Australia's premier piece of Environmental Legislation, and it does jack-all aside from prevent the construction of wind-farms because there's a chance that a parrot might die once every 1000 years.

Right.

Anyway, I found the topic very interesting. Apparently, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (yes, that damned CPRS that's in the news AGAIN because industries are worried it will damage their economy. Hey-guess what rampant global warming will do? ~For more details, go to: VENUS~)
Problem is, my assignment is a literature review. And who has written about how scientifically accurate the EPBC is?

I won't insult your intelligence by giving you the answer.

Anyway, my topic has now changed to the title of this blog, and there is plenty of work relating to it, so a lit review should be fine.

But wait, I'm still interested in exactly WHAT is scientifically wrong with EPBC.
So I'm writing my own little research essay.

Am I enjoying this?

(BTW, law t-shirts.)

Should you be manslaughing?

(If you don't get this... don't worry. Law briefs, anyone?)

The point is moot

2011-03-08T15:02:00.009+11:00

It has begun.

The first mooting question came out last night. A real jumble of criminal law: murder, assault and battery, unlawful imprisonment, duress, causation, etc. etc.
For the uninitiated, mooting is like going to court. You write up what you're going to argue about, send it in and then argue about it. See also: debating.

This blog has been updated, in case you didn't notice. There are new pages, available by clicking the links under the pictures. Hopefully, 'Other playthings' will be updated at various times. Please read.

I will now finish my procrastination with three of my favourite pictures from one of my favourite artists.

Quest for capital:

Unrequited:

Nude photographer:

UN newsletter and Canberra

2011-01-30T12:40:00.008+11:00

Long time no post, kitties!
I'm still alive and kicking (very hard), but the reason for my long silence is that I've been kidnapped by government agents. Even now I am forced to do my blogging at night by mobile.
Okay, kidding about the night bit.
I'm in Canberra working for the government in ABARES. I have report to finish in a few weeks. It's a hardcore report. And then I got a fb message this morning:
Hi Frances, can you write a 500-1000 word report on something international by 10th Feb? :)

...

Slightly short notice (you know who you are). So I'm going to toss some ideas out to everyone and see if someone bites.

- environment (of course)
- street art/culture
- travel
- music

Any other ideas? I have no preference :3
And since I must now leave for the city centre, I must sign out here :)

SydMUN 2010

2010-12-05T10:04:00.005+11:00

Okay, it's day 2 and things are finally getting interesting!
Check the Twitter: http://twitter.com/sydmun2010 It's really funny.
We are now discussing Wiki-leaks. Oh yeah.
And now it's getting very... Egypt and China have just had go at the US.

Whelp, we've so far made five working papers and one draft resolution, and we appear to be going around in circles. Another unmoderated caucus is about to start.

....

Accountability mechanisms in moderated caucus.

Okay, a proper draft resolution has just appeared. (I has suddenly reminded of Pokemon... A wild Resorushun appeared! Capture?)
... Except now we've been sidetracked by a debate on the procedure...

.....

OMG, another wild Resorushun has appeared!

Okay, I'm totally doing a blow-by-blow account of the proceedings. Maybe I need a twitter account.

NaNoWriMo is dead. Long live- that doesn't even make sense...

2010-11-20T11:11:00.010+11:00

Yeah, NaNoWriMo died. Pity, I had lots of interesting ideas, the story mapped out... but then exams came along. Although they aren't too hard, I find myself distracted if I try to write my story, so it'll just have to wait.

Oh, I won a haiku competition on deviantart. Forgot about that. I also have somewhere in the order of 3,700 deviations I haven't checked... That will also have to wait.

Onto other matters, the big announcement *fanfare*: Much of January and February will find me in Canberra, interning with the government. I was very surprised to get a call. Looking forward to it. Particulars: it's ABARE-BRS a section within the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Going to try and get accommodation with ANU as a friend suggested (joys of all-points bulletins on Facebook :3). And I get PAID.

I have an exam on monday: Resource and Environmental Management, so I'm using this blog space to rant about REM stuff... but not too much, I don't want some smartie using google and finding this blog and getting all the damn answers >:(

Alright, this unit covered everything from biophysical processes (eg. erosion) to legislation \0/ philosophy and human rights. What a fun mix!
There will be two sections, four questions in total and two hours. Only one question from each section needs answering - look, if you're reading this and finding it boring, go and do something interesting, I'm just rambling to myself anyway - so that's basically two essays, 1500 words and an hour each.

I think I'll ramble about the philosophy here, since that's the most cryptic XD

Three concepts: 'the tragedy of the commons', 'a wicked problem' and 'the principle of the population'. As I type, I'll probably find I've left some out and tack them in somewhere...

The common thing between each of these ideas: individuals are selfish and self-serving, with a fatal inability to plan ahead or take responsibility.
Explanation:
The tragedy of the commons is a metaphor: a commons was an area for all to enter and use (eg. like a park). In England, it was once useful to take cattle out to a common field, and let them graze. Many farmers would do this.
Let's use a points system. Say that the farmer wants to increase his profits (i.e. increase his points). He knows that if he gets another cow, that would increase his points by, say, 1. He also knows, however, that the cow needs feeding and looking after. If he were to add another cow to his herd and send it out to graze in the commons with the others, more vegetation would be eaten. Is adding another cow worth it?
Yes, he reasons. When he adds another cow and sends it out to eat on the commons, because the commons is a 'common' place, the impact of the cow's consumption is, in fact, spread over all the people who use the commons. It is not a -1 point impact upon only the farmer, it is a -1 point impact generally over everyone who uses the commons... and therefore only a percentage of a 1 point loss to the farmer. So he adds another cow. And another... and another...

Forgive me, I think I see a flaw in this man's logic.
And clearly Garrett Hardin did also when he called this problem 'the tragedy of the commons'. Awesome guy. Just discovered he believed in the right to end life at any time, and committed suicide with his wife. Hm.

And it probably doesn't help that uncontrolled climate change is a 'wicked problem'. These are issues which are hard to define, do not conform to 'conventional' boundaries, are persistent bastards, socially disputed, no 'best' objective answers and are expensive in more ways than one. Sound familiar? Thought so.
I mean, definition... how the hell do you find a definition to something you don't even have an agreed name for? Is it climate change? Global warming? Dimming? The Greenhouse Effect????
After all, climate change and the greenhouse effect is a natural occurrence. The climate has always changed. And the world isn't just warming, or evenly warming. Some places are even cooling, and the warming isn't really the only problem. Ditto for dimming.

Take population as another example of a 'wicked problem'. Hands up (lol if you're reading this on a iPhone/laptop on public transport) if you think population is an issue, i.e. there are too many goddamn people on the planet.
Okay, how about those of you who think consumption is the problem? I'll let you change your answer if you like :)
Maybe this will put things into perspective:

"The U.S., with only 4.7% of the world's population, consumes 25% of the world's resources and generates 25 to 30% of the world's waste. Compared to an average citizen in India, a typical person in the U.S. uses:

50 times more steel
56 times more energy
50 times more motor fuel
300 times more plastic"

(PJ Bryant, 1999, ch.16)

So India, one of the most populated countries in the world, uses less resources than North America. Conclusions, anyone?

Environmental management. Fascinating stuff.

Nanowrimo Day 8

2010-11-08T21:00:00.001+11:00

NaNoWriMo, Day 8: The Battle for Gaea
Word target: 13335
Actual word count: 11170

Disclaimer: I am NOT responsible for any harm whatsoever, wheresoever, howsoever, whysoever and whensoever caused, especially by means of negligence. These words were compiled within a number of hours, given the one day time restraint for each stage and the pressures of other commitments. Little, if no editing has been done. Please feel free to edit for me. However, I will not be examining edits until December. Other than that, this is perfectly safe to read. Enjoy!

They stared at her.

“I'm leaving,” Gea muttered.

“No, please help.” Desperate.

“How?” Equal desperation.

“Wewill have to hide her, but somewhere out of the sun... where you live-”

“No. Are you joking? That's suicide!”

“We cannot just leave her!”

“We- Why am I involved in this... Is there a hole somewhere nearby? At least she'll be out of the sun.”

“I do not want to leave her in a hole.”

“You've got no choice!”

She'd been out too long. Already the weakness was returning to her limbs, the heat oppressing her breathing. She wanted to peel off her skin in an effort to cool down. Her frustration clawed at the insides of her bones, making her hands twitch.

“Fine.” Begrudging acceptance, like a disappointed child.

“Look... I'll start digging,” Gea offered helplessly. “I'll use my knife.”

She fell to her knees and began chipping away at a crack in the earth. The soil came away reluctantly, baked hard by the sun. After a minute or so, she had only scraped a shallow depression, but then Gaia joined her, digging and scratching with her bare hands until blood ran from them.

“Stop that, you're bleeding.”

“I have been bleeding for a long time.” Gaia smiled at the bright crimson rivulets, then turned to look at the motionless body of the child. “Maybe she will want it.”

Gea didn't reply.

Despite her state, the goddess's hands were immensely strong, breaking through the rock-hard ground with relative ease. Gea sat back, conserving energy, while Gaia dug frenziedly. Once she had dug down to about one metre, she widened the hole, and finally paused, her hands all but destroyed. The wounds were already healing.

“That's useful,” Gea remarked, and the goddess laughed, but bitterly.

“Who will watch the child first?”

“You'll have to. I was supposed to return at least ten minutes ago. They'll be looking soon.”

“But you will return? Even I can't stay here forever.” Gaia shivered. “It hurts.”

“Uh, sure.”

Brown eyes met brown eyes. Pleading. “You won't leave us behind, will you?”

“N- no. I won't.”

A smile. “Remember the lizard?”

“It was... tired.”

“We all are. Go home, child. I will wait for you. She will wait for you.” She paused, examining the figure now curled up in the hole. “I must try and feed her.”

Gea ran.

She ran from the thoughts now crowding her head, the emotions in her heart, the mother-daughter-goddess with the human child...

You won't leave us behind, will you?

How can I, we you beg me that way?

Gea could all too clearly see the problems with the situation. She made a list of them in her head:

That woman- goddess- thing is the enemy.
She is mad.
She wants to protect a human.
I have enough problems already.

She tripped on a deep crack in the soil and tumbled over, laying where she landed without moving. So what now? What now indeed...

With a resigned sigh, she pushed herself back up and continued homewards. She had a report to make.

The Nuke listened with fascination. “You met her? You're a lucky person, scout.”

Or unlucky, Gea thought privately. Ensconced in the meeting room with the Nuke, Otter and, for some unknown reason, Silver, she felt exhausted. A long day. Silver was smiling slyly to himself, the creep.

“Well, I can see where they're coming from,” the Nuke observed thoughtfully. “But we need the earth too, and we can't have them ordering us about. Couple of officials from the Government coming out here tomorrow. They'll have something to say. Until then, keep this to yourselves.”

Gea nodded, barely listening. She dimly heard the Nuke dismiss her, so she nodded again, stood up and left the room.

Lucy sat on the bottom bunk bed as Gea entered. For a moment, they stared at each other. It occurred to Gea that she was doing a lot of silent staring recently.

Lucy's face was screwed up as if she was trying to calculate something difficult in her head. “Gea?”

“Yeah, Luce?”

“Are you... human?”

Sigh. “No, Luce.”

The face cleared and became placid again. “Good.”

“Why did you ask me that?”

“They said I can't hang around humans.”

“Who did, Luce?”

“They.”

The nameless 'they'. Gea wouldn't be able to get anything more out of Lucy. It wasn't her fault, poor thing.

“Well, it's okay. I'm not human. Goodnight, Luce.”

“No dinner?”

“Not hungry. Tired,” Gea answered patiently, as she tried to climb up to her bed. It was proving difficult. Lucy easily boosted her up.

“Okay, Gea. See you later.”

“Bye, Luce.”

The big cyborg trotted from the room. Gea fell asleep as soon as the door shut.

There was a pit, and there was here.

There were also children, human and non-human, mutant, fantastical, alien.

And someone was picking them up, lifting them, and throwing them down down down into the deep and endless abyss that was the pit. Gea wanted to scream, but she was gagged. She wanted to run forwards, but she was bound. The someone turned and she saw it was herself – and the goddess – and the human child.

In the demon haunted world that we inhabit, by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness, she said, like words from a story, long ago. Then she lifted another child, who cried and clawed desperately at the hands that held it, tears glazing its cheeks. With a scream of terror, it was pitched into the blackness.

And Gea woke in the dark, alone.

“Things are getting interesting,” Silver commented lightly, as he and Otter left the Nuke's meeting room.

“Is that what you call it?” Otter rubbed a thumb across his nose and eyed Silver suspiciously. “You're a weird guy, Silver.”

Silver shrugged. “I'm just a bastard. Things are more interesting that way.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.” Silver flashed his unsettling grin.

“You shouldn't be proud of that.”

“Yeah, but I am.”

“This conversation's going nowhere.”

“So?”

Otter laughed, but sobered quickly. “We're heading into war here, you know, something none of us has ever seen before.”

“Like I said, 'interesting'.”

“Well, keep your mouth shut. The others don't have the same views as you.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Shut up, Silver.”

“I have been speaking to all the lizards we can find,” reported old Katukilal, the forest god. He was thin and trembling, like a grasshopper, in even worse condition than Gaia. “They are desperate for food and at least a little water.”

“Water is our main priority,” Saule said. “But we need to cool the air first, in order to do that. Ukko, Vayu, you need to travel east, to the ocean. Draw cool air and bring it back here.”

“That will take too long.”

“That is unimportant. It is the only thing we can do, and you have to start now.”

Gea and Gaia, resting on a hill just out of sight, watched the proceedings below. A squadron of griffins stalked about, alert.

“So they're the gods of air and wind?”

“Yes. They have been some of the few who have remained healthy.”

“And they can really bring cool air here?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“What about the griffins? What are they like?”

“Fierce, vain, proud. Offend them and they can rip through your face in a second. I do not have many dealings with such creatures.”

“You don't like war, do you?”

Gaia scratched at the hard earth with her cracked nails. Although her hands had long healed from the battering she had given them only the day before, she remained weak and sickly looking. “I do not like war.”

“I don't like the sound of it.”

“As it should be.”

The human child muttered something in her fitful sleep, and tried to turn about in the hole.

“How's she holding up?” Gea asked. The goddess looked puzzled for a moment, then replied, “She has cooled down. She sleeps more peacefully. But she has not woken as yet.”

Gea nodded and tried to tell herself not to think about what she was doing: stealing bits of food and mouthfuls of water from her fragile colony to support a human. “Well, I've got to go. I need to tell them about the griffins.”

“This is a part of why I do not like war. The unfairness. You are getting all this information, and we know next to nothing. No, there's no need to say anything,” she held up her hands to stop Gea from speaking, then, lowering them and smiling, she continued, “Justice. Another human concoction. There is no such thing as justice n nature. Only chance.”

Gea quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing, instead trotting away westward. The day seemed faintly cooler than usual, or perhaps she was just getting used to it. A lizard scurried across her path, and as she watched it skitter away into the heat, she realised that if she could turn her back, no longer give reports, and in doing so, stop war before it began, she would, without another thought.

But things didn't work that way. If she defected, another would take her place and give the reports, and she would be hunted down as a hazard.

And Otter-

She didn't like the sound of war.

As she trudged across the desert, finally reaching the last few metres before the entrance, a silvery head appeared at the door, and her heartbeat first quickened, and then paused for a second-

Silver.

She made to move past him.

“Seems a bit cooler today, wouldn't you say?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You'd almost expect plants and humans to start sprouting everywhere, wouldn't you?”

Gea gave him a look which she hoped was unimpressed and not full of the fear she felt. “No, you wouldn't, sir.”

“Of course not.” That grin, those teeth... “Later, scout.”

He swept away inside.

Don't call me that, you creep, Gea screamed after him in her head. Instead, she took a deep breath and followed.

The canteen was packed once more, with the Nuke standing on one of the meal tables. Two governmental officials, looking uncomfortable in suits, stood either side.

“Our scouts have confirmed that the... enemy is preparing for conflict. A number of half-bird, half-cats called 'griffins' have been spotted by scout eight and scout three near the boundary of East2 and East3. These two gentlemen...” She gestured to the suits. “... have informed me that the Government has offered any assistance they can. Whilst the arrival of more troops would unfortunately strain our already limited resources, we have also been offered the use of jeepneys and tanks locked away beneath the main city.”

It was a time of new beginnings. A shining future was being presented to them, with opportunities they had never imagined. Jeeps and tanks, which they had only studied in theory, would now be put into practise. They would live above ground, free to breathe the air and live amongst plants. Science would fix things.

At what cost?

Gea felt, at once, a rush of hope and nausea, and no longer felt hungry. As the others settled down optimistically to eat, chattering and debating excitedly, she sat down slowly.

“You're not eating, scout.”

“I'm not eating,” she agreed, betraying no surprise.

“Why not?” Otter squeezed in between Gea and her excited neighbour. “You look pale. That's a surprise.”

“Maybe I look more normal,” she laughed, regretting her words immediately.

“Scout...”

“It's alright, sir. I don't know why I said that.”

The sounds of excitement washed over them.

“Where will we end up?” Gea whispered. She thought Otter wouldn't hear her over the din of the noisy canteen, but he took one of her hands in his and pressed it gently. The skin on his palms was rough and dry.

“I don't know, scout. But we'll get through. I promise.”

Nanowrimo 6 & 7 + AAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHS@#$cceWGNX

2010-11-07T19:07:00.004+11:00

Why did I sign up for this??????
I am so far behind it is NOT funny. You've got EXAMS, bro, what the hell are you writing a frickin 50 000 billion million gazillion word epic for????
*WAIL*

The integrity of this story is... well, what integrity? When you're writing at this speed with exams, uni homework and two clubs wanting your attention, integrity goes out the window. It's DEFENESTRATED EPICALLY.

Anyway, on with what I HAVE written:

NaNoWriMo, Day 6: The Battle for Gaea
Word target: 10000
Actual word count: 7758 (I think there is a slight difference there.)

Disclaimer: I am NOT responsible for any harm whatsoever, wheresoever, howsoever, whysoever and whensoever caused, especially by means of negligence. These words were compiled within a number of hours, given the one day time restraint for each stage and the pressures of other commitments. Little, if no editing has been done. Please feel free to edit for me. However, I will not be examining edits until December. Other than that, this is perfectly safe to read. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

You've entered the kill zone. - Major Motoko Kusanagi, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.

Developing a protocol for meeting with a species of creature one has never met can prove difficult. The troops were emphatically advised to be cautious, to avoid confrontation, to stay quiet and let only Otter speak and, above all, expect the unexpected.

As they set off from the colony, each was pondering their own concerns, mercifully for Gea, who felt it prudent to be as invisible as possible, difficult as it was, given her job to lead them to the site. The Nuke had made good her promise; they were well protected from the sun, in special material reserved only for longer trips, and Gea felt cooler than she had ever felt above ground before.

They moved steadily, speaking very little, until they crested a sand dune and looked out across the red plains. There, they could just see, shimmering in the heat, a group of shadowy figures on the boundary of East2 and East3, as if waiting.

Otter paused for a moment beside Gea, and they gazed together across the vista. Then, with a formal nod to her, Otter led the troops onwards. She stood still for a moment, letting them pass, then fell in behind, where she could not be seen. She had little to worry about- their attention was fixed on the waiting creatures.

Without another pause or further hesitation, Otter brought the group right up to those waiting, and nodded to the shining woman standing at their head. There were only five of them, but that included the huge dragon Y Ddraig Goch, and he growled low in his throat, sending deep vibrations through the desert floor.

“Otter, Unit Three, commanding officer. I speak for the Nuke.”

“I am Saule, goddess of the sun. I am here to represent the wishes of the Unnamed One.”

The troops behind Otter shifted nervously, and the goddess and her companions eyed them with disdain. Then they noticed Gea.

“You have a human with you.”

“No, she's not,” Otter stated flatly. Despite themselves, the eyes of the troops flickered towards Gea. Feral grins appeared and disappeared in a manner similar to fireflies at dusk.

Expressions of hostility were equally apparent on the faces of those with Saule. Human, they said. Human, human... Like a huge, blinding spotlight was focused on her. She had nowhere to run.

“If I can ask first,” Otter continued, and attention returned to him. “We would like to know your intentions regarding the earth.”

“Nothing surprising. We intend to heal her,” Saule replied. “To reclothe her. Give her trees and water and life again. We will need a week or two, of course.”

“A week?” Otter repeated, stunned, voicing the unspoken opinions of his astounded companions. “But... y- your scientists-”

Saule made a sound like an angry snake. “We have no scientists. No technology. We are enough. And you? What are your intentions?”

“Again, nothing surprising. We can't sustain ourselves below ground.”

“Indeed. Well, we will be happy to take you into our protection and-”

“Protection?”

----

NaNoWriMo, Day 7: The Battle for Gaea
Word target: 11670
Actual word count: 8927

In an instant, the atmosphere, already uneasy, slid like an avalanche into outright antagonism.

“You don't think we'll just let you run the place, do you?” Saule demanded, outraged. “after what the humans did-”

“We know what the humans did,” Otter growled, trying to keep his temper in check. If he flew off the handle now, the whole situation could rapidly descend into conflict. “We've learnt all about them in school, thanks, so we're well aware of what not to do.”

“Glad to hear it,” Saule remarked coldly, but she did not sound glad at all.

“What exactly would your 'protection' entail?”

“We will not give you control of Earth,” Saule said quietly. “I want to make that very clear. Last time we permitted it, she was hurt terribly. Never again.”

The two sides stared each other down.

“Is she one of your kind?” Otter asked quietly. “The earth, is she a... goddess?”

“She is,” Saule replied, and the light she emitted seemed to be cold. “And she is very ill.”

“I see. I doubt you'll be moved then.”

“We understand each other.”

Do we, he thought, but did not reply. Instead, he indicated for his nervous troops to back down. Gea felt eyes bore into her back.

“They gave in easily,” said Vayu, god of winds, innocently. The others looked grim, following the retreating backs of the troops with their eyes.

“They did not give in,” growled Y Ddraig Goch. “They have made a 'tactical retreat'.”

“No doubt they mean to form some plan, to at least attempt taking Earth.”

“And that human with them- oh, they said it wasn't a human, but-”

“It was not,” said the dragon. “I smelt her.”

Saule clapped her hands lightly to refocus their attention. “I will return to report this to the Unnamed One. No one begin regeneration yet. If we were to do so, and Gaia were to fall once again into the hands of those things, she may never recover again. Wait here.”

The troops regathered in the middle of East2 to recover their shaken nerves. They did not eye Gea as suspiciously as before, but she still felt their unkind curiosity occasionally turned towards her.

Otter addressed them all. “We've got to return to the colony and report. Scout, I need you to stay out here a little longer. Five minutes. Check what they're up to. See if they start doing anything concrete. Got that?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Will the heat be a problem?”

“No, sir.”

“Good. The rest of you, homewards.”

They moved off westwards as Gea slipped away back towards their previous location. Otter watched her go until the troop were all moving steadily.

“I do not like conflict,” Gaia said. Saule shook her shining head sadly. “We may not have a choice, Gaia. They want your Earth. Who knows what they will do with it?”

We must be prepared, decided the Unnamed One. I will call together the dragons and wyverns, the griffins and centaurs, witches, elves. We must be ready.

Must we? Gaia thought, drifting away from the talk of war to the entrance of the Halls. Below her, the Earth tumbled through space, more brown than green. It hurt.

She had to go down and see it one last time, before the war to end all wars was waged on its surface... and took her life?

So Gaia drifted down slowly, taking the same route as had the party currently waiting in the red desert. It spoke to her of her own blistered skin, the sores and rashes on her face.

And yet she could see the beauty there too, an infinite ocean of glittering sand, fragments of rock long pulverised into tiny sparkles of astonishing internal complexity.

But nothing grew here. Not even hope.

She alighted beside a dense clump of dead bushes, far enough away from the ambassadorial party as not to be noticed. The bushes lay half-buried in a sand dune, and as Gaia began to climb, thinking wistfully of her youth, she heard a whooshing sound of gently falling sand.

She looked up into a reflection.

It was as if they had come across, in the middle of this vast desert, a solitary mirror.

But where Gea saw an older version of herself, a version who had seen many things and suffered many hardships, Gaia saw herself as she was young, but a tougher and rougher creature than she ever was. She had been very innocent, long ago.

And then the bushes stirred and they both saw, quite clearly, the human child hidden there, half-dead from thirst and heat.

Brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin. The three of them, linked there beneath the blazing sun.

Gaia was the first to speak. Gea had frozen with her and on the old army-standard handgun tucked into her belt.

“Hello, child,” Gaia said, barely blinking. “Is this your sister here?”

Gea brought her teeth together with a sharp snap. “She's a human. I'm not.”

Gaia looked bemused. She slowly tilted her head to one side. “What's wrong with humans?”

Her listener was floored. She gaped for a while, then, “Wrong? What planet are you from?”

“You mean, 'what planet am I'?” Gaia gave a hoarse choking laugh. “What am I...?”

The human girl stirred and groaned. “Mum... Mum...”

“Everything will be fine, darling,” crooned Gaia. She reached out a dry brown hand and gently stroked the girl's face. “There, there.”

Gea began to slowly back away.

“Wait. You can't leave her.”

“Why not?” the gun was warm beneath her hand. “She's nothing to me!”

A whirl of red dust whipped around her.

“You're right,” Gaia murmured, almost to herself. “You're not human. A human had admirable qualities, like compassion.”

“Did they really,” Gea laughed humourlessly.

“Give her water, at least. I am barren. I cannot help her.”

The human child whimpered in Gaia's arms. Shaking, Gea drew out her water tube and inched just close enough to pass it to Gaia. The tube was placed to the girl's mouth, and she began to drink immediately.

“Not so fast!” Gea yelped, pulling at the tube. Precious drops flicked across the dust and vanished instantaneously. “She'll get sick and then waste it all. Besides, I need to get back...”

“We need to hide her somewhere,” Gaia was saying, ignoring her. She took back the tube and began to drip water in the girl's mouth.

“We? We?”

Gaia gave her a dazzling smile, white teeth in a dark face. “We're so similar, the three of us.”

“Similar?” Gea repeated. She felt like she was being left rapidly behind. With a glance at the human girl's face, Gaia said: “You were both made in my image.”

Gea gaped wordlessly.

“No,” croaked the child, her eyes weakly opening, in a moment of lucidity. “You were both made in mine.”

Nanowrimo Day 4 & 5 Together

2010-11-05T19:37:00.002+11:00

NaNoWriMo, Day 4: The Battle for Gaea
Word target: 6670
Actual word count: 5522 (ACK!!!!)

Disclaimer: I am NOT responsible for any harm whatsoever, wheresoever, howsoever, whysoever and whensoever caused, especially by means of negligence. These words were compiled within a number of hours, given the one day time restraint for each stage and the pressures of other commitments. Little, if no editing has been done. Please feel free to edit for me. However, I will not be examining edits until December. Other than that, this is perfectly safe to read. Enjoy!

This is REALLY short. I have no time D:

---

As one, they rose into the sky, rising swiftly past blue and into blackness. The Unnamed One greeted them at the entrance to the Halls.

You have returned early. What have you seen?

“There are living things down there,” Y Ddraig Goch replied. “They smell like humans, but also do not smell like them. I do not know what they are.”

“We left earth many years ago,” Tsukimono offered. “They could be distant descendants. We were unable to count them, as Y Ddraig Goch is sure they spotted us, so we had to get away.”

The Unnamed One meditated upon this for a while, then said: Doubtless the others, when they return, will have similar stories to tell. But we must still reclaim the earth and heal Gaia. We must establish whether these creatures who live on earth will allow us to do so. I hope, it added, that they do, for all our sakes. I would not wish conflict with anyone.

As it finished speaking, a second party reappeared at the entrance, followed quickly by a third. There was a confused babble of voices as all tried to explain things they had seen: giant metal creatures, pitiful groups of humans, giant rats stripping down trees in the far south. The Unnamed One looked at them all, and they fell silent.

It seems the earth is not as empty as we thought. Humans are few and weak, and they have been replaced. You say there are trees in the far south. Then, we will start from the southern pole of the earth, and move northwards, spreading vegetation and life. We must try, at all costs, to work harmoniously with the inhabitants.

The final two groups returned without news. They had seen nothing. Only deserts and wastelands. The Unnamed One nodded, and said to Y Ddraig Goch: You will return to the place where you smelt the strange creatures. It is a land just north of the southern continent, which has vegetation and life, and will not require our attention. Take Vayu and Nox with you, and Ukko, to cool the air and prepare it for reclothing. The rest of you, come with me. We must plan for the healing process.

“I am not the only one,” whispered Gaia from within the Halls, with a voice dry as a long dead insect. “Others need healing before I.”

----

NaNoWriMo, Day 5: The Battle for Gaea
Word target: 8335
Actual word count: 7271 (catching up... ish)
(HEY, LONGEST SENTENCE!!! 66 WORDS!)
NOTE: I HAVE BEEN ADDING BITS TO THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY WHICH HAS NOT BEEN POSTED UP HERE. ALSO, I'VE NOTICED A LOT OF TYPOS >
>THE NUKE IS NOW FEMALE
>THERE IS NO NINTH COMMANDING OFFICER, IT SHOULD READ FIFTH
>Y DDRAIG GOCH SHOULD BE RED, NOT GREEN

It was windy, that day. A searing rush of air roared across the flat, barren landscape, rattling the skeletal trees until all their leaves fall off and were blown away. From within the safety of rooms and entrance halls, those underground watched, with wonder and fear, plumes of red dust rise to the blue sky.

The Nuke and her officers entered the canteen to find it in chaos. Bob's family, unused to military colonies and already nervous, were close to panic at the sight of the dust storms. Their fear had spread to the more impressionable, and the situation had gone from localised fright to a full-blown shouting match which seemed to involve almost every person there.

The Nuke shouted as loudly as she could until the arguing subsided to a worried mutter, then she said, “Listen carefully. I have important news.”

Warring parties slowly reseated themselves, watching her narrowly.

“It seems as though there are others above, who are also displaying an interest in the earth.” She continued to talk over the renewed sounds of alarm. “We do not know exactly what the nature of these creatures are, except that some are humanoid, others are not. We do not know if they are friendly. I have therefore proposed to send a party back to the place where they were sighted in hopes of communicating with them. We-”

“Who saw these things?” an anonymous voice demanded.

“Was it those two scouts? Look what happened to them, they were attacked-”

“You can't send us out there!”

“Quiet! Quiet!” the Nuke roared over the rising noise. “Those scouts were suffering from heat. We are fairly certain that they were not delirious when they spotted-”

“Fairly certain? Fairly certain?”

“Well we won't be absolutely certain until we've all seen them for ourselves, will we?” bellowed Otter. “And since you're so eager, I take it you're volunteering for the engaging party?”

The first speaker muttered something to the floor but did not speak back. Otter turned to the Nuke. “Ms, I'm volunteering.

“Thank you,” the Nuke replied gratefully. “Anyone else? We need another officer.”

Eventually, the fifth officer was chosen, and the painful procedure of extracting volunteers for the party commenced.

When a group of abut thirty had been formed, the Nuke beckoned for them to join her in the meeting room, and the left the canteen, with backward glances, amidst a heavy silence.

“I'm grateful that you all volunteered,” the Nuke began, as they shut the door behind the last person. “I wouldn't want anyone forced into this. We must all be willing.”

Her eyes ranged across the group, stony faces stared back at her, punctuated only occasionally by a nodding head. “Otter, fetch your scout please. She needs to be here too.”

He nodded and slipped through the audience to the door, setting off down the corridor once he was outside.

The medical room was cool and quiet, the skylight open only minutely. Bob slept uneasily in his bed, rubbing continuously at his chest. Gea lay still, eyes closed, her short hair spiked in a million directions. She seemed to be asleep, but when Otter carefully moved aside a rolling table, her eyes opened.

“Sir?”

“You're wanted, scout. Can you stand?”

“Sure.” She slid from the bed and manoeuvred unsteadily around it to where Otter stood and caught her arm.

“What about Bob?”

Otter shook his head. They quietly made their way from the room, Otter gripping her tightly to prevent her slipping, a gesture which, although she could walk well after the initial unsteadiness, she was also very glad about.

“Sir, why are you called Otter?”

“Because of my fingers,” he replied, sounding somewhat surprised. “My mother was obsessed with human-time creatures. Apparently there was one called an otter. It swam in water, if you can believe, and its feet were webbed to help it swim. And my hair's a similar colour, apparently. What about you, Gea?”

Oh. He does know my name.

“From 'gear', G-E-A-R. My parents are engineers. Mum thought it was prettier without the 'R'. My brother's Chane, C-H-A-N-E.” She shrugged, as if to say she didn't know what to say about her parents' choices, and didn't really care either way.

“Tough job, engineering.”

Gea made a non-committal noise, since they had reached the meeting room.

“Scout three, good to see you can join us,” the Nuke said as they entered. “Take a seat. Close that door, Otter. Now.” She fixed the room with her black eyes and they held their breath.

“You will all be armed,” she informed them quietly, and paused. The room, if possible, became more tense.

“I will not send you out there defenceless. We do not know what these things are, and only one of us has seen them-”

Here, Gea became aware of looks towards her, curious, and hostile. She stared at the Nuke and dared not look anywhere else.

“-so you will be taking weapons with you. You have been trained. You have never before directed a weapon at a living creature, but you have been trained. Some may say that is different...” She sighed, running a hand through the straight, sheet-like hair which hung evenly to either side of her face. “... we have no choice. You have been trained as well as we could provide.”

The absolute silence in the room was like a living thing, slipping sinuously amongst them and clutching at their throats.

“Now listen carefully,” the Nuke cautioned. “Despite all this, we are here to negotiate, not to enter hostilities. So whilst you will be armed, your weapons are to be drawn only as a last resort. You will be equipped with protective gear and armour for the heat and against attack. Scout, the medics say you can be up and about. Are you ready?”

“Yes, Ms.” Gea's throat felt dry.

“Then you will all set out tomorrow,” the Nuke told the room. “You may not see these creatures tomorrow, or the day after. They may never be seen. But then again, they may. Be prepared. Be alert. Go to the training rooms and practice, now. Good luck.”

They left the room, one by one, and Gea felt their stares burn into her.

What are they suggesting? That it's my fault?

“The human's spreading rumours again,” someone whispered. Gea's eyes met those of the other group members, their stares openly brazen and mistrustful. She wanted to speak, but could think of nothing to say.

Human. Again.

“Go on, get going!” ordered Otter. He helped Gea to her feet. “Let's go, scout. Forget them staring at you, they're just irritated they have to do something now, the lazy bastards.”

“Thank you, sir.” She extracted her arm. “I'll do that.”

Without another look back, she strode away after their retreating backs.

But training was harsh. She was shakier than she thought, and the movements of the others, as they practised hand to hand combat, seemed faster, and more aggressive than usual. She finished training with a long, vicious cut across her ribs, which she hid until she reached the medical room. Bob's family sat around his bed. All the way across the other side of the room, this absurd distance between them obvious, sat Gea's parents and brother. They greeted her as she entered, but she waved them back and showed the wound to the medic on duty, who dressed it in silence.

“Gea,” said Bob, “you're been training?” His voice sounded strange.

“Yeah. Athen took a swipe at me when I wasn't paying attention. “ More like when my back was turned.

“We shouldn't have talked about what we saw, Gea,” was Bob's next unexpected remark. The medic packed up quickly and Bob's family looked at the floor. Gea's parents glared at them.

“Why, Bob?” Gea asked softly.

“We were delirious, Gea. Who knows what we saw?”

“At the same time, Bob?”

“Simultaneous hallucinations.”

“Never recorded,” snapped Gea's mother, six-fingered, pale-skinned K.

“It's never been proven,” Chane repeated, as human in appearance as Gea. “We learnt that in school.”

“Of course you'd think that, you've got two freaks for children,” spat Bob's wife at Gea's mother, ignoring Chane. Gea had to scramble across the room to prevent her parents from leaping, furious, at the speaker, who eyed them with superb disdain from her perch beside Bob's bed, the occupant himself looking distraught.

“What do you mean, freaks?” Chane asked flatly.

“You aren't like us,” Bob's little daughter replied, yellow eyes flashing, and behind her words they could hear echoes of things her mother repeated to her. “You're humans.”

Humans. A filthy word. Us and Them.

Bob's wife addressed her next words to the medic, who was cowering in a corner. “You. I want my husband moved.”

“No need,” Gea informed her dully. “I'm leaving.”

And she did, her family hurt and angry, following in her wake. But she turned back to Bob as she stood in the doorway, and said: “I didn't leave you behind, Bob.”

She didn't look back. K hissed angrily all the way down the corridor, until Gea came to a halt, unable to think of where to take them. Her head hurt.

“'As the Trojans did not trust Cassandra when she prophesised their doom, so did humanity mistrust the very science which could have saved us.'” Chane, who had spoken, shrugged in the same manner as his sister. “It's a quote from some human author. We learnt it in Human Studies.”

“They haven't changed, have they?” Gea asked, suddenly exhausted. Chane's resigned acceptance of the situation suggested he had already heard such things before.

“No matter where you go, you'll encounter intolerance,” Gea's father muttered bitterly, He placed one of his hands, double thumbed, on each of his children's shoulders and gazed at them with parental pride and immense sadness. “My kids. You've done nothing wrong.”

What did I do wrong? she thought.

She was eight years old, skin darkened, as all things had, by the fierce sun. Her brown hair, uncut since birth, hung in lank, tangled locks to her waist.

I gave her water, when she asked for it. I kept her out of the sun. Why did she die?

In the midst of the red emptiness, the now useless cloth, which had acted as a sunshade, trailing in the dust, the little girl stared at her mother's body, bewildered, and began to realise, unwillingly, helplessly, that despite all she had done and striven to do, all her wishing and effort, at last, the only other human in her world had died, and she was alone.

NANOWRIMO Day 3

2010-11-03T22:06:00.002+11:00

NaNoWriMo, Day 3: The Battle for Gaea
Word target: 5000
Actual word count: 5059

Disclaimer: I am NOT responsible for any harm whatsoever, wheresoever, howsoever, whysoever and whensoever caused, especially by means of negligence. These words were compiled within a number of hours, given the one day time restraint for each stage and the pressures of other commitments. Little, if no editing has been done. Please feel free to edit for me. However, I will not be examining edits until December. Other than that, this is perfectly safe to read. Enjoy!

-----

Chapter 2

You've entered the kill zone. - Major Motoko Kusanagi, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

“So, small people with wings, a giant snake-like creature with legs, a humanoid female who shone and a dark humanoid with horns?”

“Yes. The others were further away, so we couldn't see them as clearly.

The Nuke herself was doing the questioning. Her android secretary, Exe was taking impossibly fast notes. Otter and Brick floated about uneasily in the background.

“How many were there?”

“About ten, I'd say, Ms,” Bob replied, rubbing at the peeling skin on his chest.

“What time?”

“About eight twenty, Ms,” Gea supplied.

“The border of East2 and East3,” the Nuke mused contemplatively. Her whiteless gaze slid back to the two scouts before her. Gea was mostly recovered, aside from occasional pains in her shoulders and itching across her chest and stomach as the top layers of her damaged skin were renewed. Bob was still experiencing headaches and was tiring more quickly than he had before.

“So that's what, and where, and when... So why...?” The Nuke fixed them with her dark eyes again. “Did they appear to be doing anything?”

“Arguing, mostly,” Bob said.

“Some of them were looking around, as if they were... measuring, I guess?” Gea added.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, rather than... constantly and alertly looking about, as if for someone, they just generally seemed to be taking in the place...”

“That's true,” Bob said slowly. “It was like... a surveying group, not a search party, or a military group...”

The Nuke nodded, her face now impassive. If her mind was working furiously, her expression did not show it.

“How were you both feeling at the time?”

An almost imperceptible glance passed between Bob and Gea. They understood what the Nuke was checking for.

“When we first saw them,” began Bob immediately, before Gea could speak. She could almost palpably feel his need to justify himself. “We had just arrived at East2, at the usual time.”

“Which is?”

“Seven fifty, Ms.”

“Go on.”

“We stopped to rest and drink for a moment. Then we saw shapes in the distance. We approached with caution, until we were within four hundred metres of them.”

“So you couldn't see them clearly, then. The heat shimmers out there.”

“We saw them clearly enough,” Bob responded quietly. Brick shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“The ground was very hot, wasn't it?”

“Yes,” Gea interjected. “I understand what you mean, Ms- were we and our sight affected by the heat? No, it was not. We both saw these figures. We were neither hallucinating, nor are we making them up.”

Otter's face assumed an expression which was at one both admiring and slightly panicked. The Nuke seemed amused. “What colour was this snake with legs?”

“Green,” Gea and Bob replied together.

“If I might interrupt, Ms,” Brick said, “in my humble opinion, I do not think they had time to, well, make up a story.”

“I understand that, Brick. And your concerns are noted. Your scout is not in danger.”

“A- Thank you, Ms.”

“But this is obviously very serious. Scout three, are you fit and able to lead a scouting party back to the site? You will be better equipped for a longer journey.”

“Surely you should be asking the medics that, Ms.” Gea smiled.

“I'm asking you.”

“Yes, Ms.”

“That's the main thing. We must find out what these things were as soon as possible.” She stood to leave, and the inhabitants of the room instinctively cleared a path to the door. “The pressures of living underground are too great,” she said thoughtfully, looking at them all. As she left, she added, “We need the Earth above.”

We have not seen humans for many years, it said to them all. I feel it is time we returned and healed you, Gaia.”

In the halls of the gods, they had gathered: deities and spirits, creatures of magic and light and dark, to hear the Unnamed One speak. It said, it is time.

“That does not mean there are not still humans down there,” the turbulent ocean god, Watatsumi, querulously. There was a rumble of agreement from those gathered.

“They are too few to disturb us now, if there are any,” observed the angel Fravashi. “And Gaia needs healing.”

A twitch seemed to run through the assembly, a suppression of an urge to turn and look, at the goddess seated beside the Unnamed One. She was, of all of them, the most human in appearance. Her skin was brown, and scorched by the sun (and indeed, the glowing goddess Saule looked particularly guilty), and her hair was brown, and her eyes too, and she looked ill and exhausted. She looked old, and that was, once, unheard of for a god. But they had seen so many of their friends and comrades crumple and disappear through the ages, and they knew all to well the signs.

Who will go down to view the earth? the Unnamed One asked. There was an immediate offer from Saule, then the huge, coiling form of the dragon Y Ddraig Goch. One by one, they made their offers, until over fifty had volunteered.

In five groups, you will descend to earth, the Unnamed One said. You will scour it to the corners. If there are humans, count them if you can. If there are others, count them if you can. Remain unobserved. But how ever many they be, we will retake earth. We will heal Gaia.

Gaia nodded weakly and vaguely, staring into space. She had not volunteered to travel down.

The reconnoitring parties left the halls to organise themselves and descend. Without a word, Saule gathered cloud and drifted earthward, followed by Y Ddraig Goch, the fairy Jenny Greenteeth, a fox witch, and a few demons and nymphs.

And they landed in an unending red world. One of the demons whistled and spat at the ground. “You've got admit that it's looking pretty fucking bad down here, lady, Look, even I'm sweating, and I spent eternity in Hell before it closed down.”

Saule glared. “So what are you asking I do? Shine less brightly? That's impossible!”

“We all know how much she means to you, Saule,” said Tsukimono, the fox witch, “but you're hurting her.”

“So this is all my fault?” Saule cried angrily.

“No, Saule. Why do you suppose Nu Wa has been missing so long?”

“Fucking weird freak she was.”

“Be quiet, Aka! The humans she loved and created have had more than a hand in this. They became desperate, and burnt their homes, each other... themselves. Nu Wa is probably dead now.”

Y Ddraig Goch's head whipped suddenly away towards the west, and his tongue flickered in the silence.

“What is it?”

“We have company.”

The group tensed immediately, stunned.

“Humans?”

Y Ddraig Goch's tongue flickered again. “Yes... and no. There are... similarities. But also differences. I have never smelt this before.”

“We've got to leave then,” decided Jenny immediately. “Come on, we've seen enough.”

NANOWRIMO Day 2

2010-11-02T22:41:00.003+11:00

NaNoWriMo, Day 2: The Battle for Gaea
Word target: 3335
Actual word count: 3881

Disclaimer: I am NOT responsible for any harm whatsoever, wheresoever, howsoever, whysoever and whensoever caused, especially by means of negligence. These words were compiled within a number of hours, given the one day time restraint for each stage and the pressures of other commitments. Little, if no editing has been done. Please feel free to edit for me. However, I will not be examining edits until December. Other than that, this is perfectly safe to read. Enjoy!

-------

“Hey, scout? Scout?”

Gea looked very carefully at him from her relatively undignified position on the floor, and she wondered if he called her 'scout' because he didn't know her name. But when she tried to ask him that as well, it too seemed to escape her ability. Otter looped her arm over his neck and half-dragged, half-led her towards the hospital rooms.

We're a similar height, she thought, thinking of the way she was considered tall, and began to laugh weakly, although she couldn't have explained why. In response, Otter's pace increased measurably. A medical assistant met them in the corridor and helped Otter carry her inside.

“Heat stroke,” she said, as Gea was lifted onto a bed. “Not as bad as the other scout, but enough.”

“Why were you out so long, scout?” Otter asked anxiously.

“Saw something,” she replied, or tried to. All that came out was a slur of sound.

“You won't get much out of her until she's been cooled and slept it off.” The medical assistant began to matter-of-factly strip Gea's clothing. Across the other side of the room, Bob had already undergone the same treatment and was being immersed in cooling liquid. Another assistant was monitoring him intently.

“They had wings,” Gea tried to say. “Wings.”

“Wings? What's she saying?”

“Hallucinations. Mirages she saw, maybe. She's under intense stress- see how red her skin is?” She pointed at Gea's body, but Otter coughed and looked away.

“It... look- looked like... snake. Had legs,” Gea managed to say.

“It's alright. We'll cool you down and get you some rest,” the assistant promised, moving her bed efficiently over an immersion tank in preparation.

“The Nuke'll be wanting a report. I'll be back later, scout.” Otter nodded to the assistant, careful not to look at Gea, and made a speedy exit as her seared body was lowered into the tank.

The room was large, for an underground room, and round, with a table large enough for nine people to sit comfortably around it: the eight commanding unit officers, and the Nuke.

The Nuke was not, strictly speaking, an army general. Nor was he a politician, or an ambassador. 'Minister' would perhaps have been the best term, but he moved in a very different sphere of authority, in a niche he had skilfully and quietly created for himself. He answered to few and kept his own counsel.

And he did a very good job of it.

“So all you've heard from them both so far is 'wings' and a snake with legs?” he asked wearily of Otter and the sixth commanding officer, his eyes lingering over the words painted on the ceiling: Let th' Earth put forth the verdant Grass, Herb yeilding Seed, and Fruit Tree yeilding Fruit after her kind.

They both nodded.

“Simultaneous hallucinations are rare, I hear,” remarked the second officer, a cyclopic female with six fingers on both hands. “You're sure they said the same things?”

“I got the words 'wings' and 'not snake' from Bob.”

“I've told you what my scout said. She was more coherent than Bob.”

“Snake like, with legs? What do you suppose that is?”

“Maybe a land form-”

“Some kind of creature, more like. A new species...?”

“Still think they were seeing th-”

“Enough, officers.” The Nuke eyed them reprovingly. “'War is a grave affair of state. It is a place of life and death, a road to survival and extinction, a matter to be pondered carefully.' We'll wait until the scouts have recovered. I won't risk sending out more just yet. We've waited this long...” He rubbed his dark, whiteless eyes, exhausted. “We'll be above ground soon enough. No speaking of this to anyone except your seconds in command, understand?”

"I don't think it's wise." murmured the ninth commanding officer warningly. The room as a whole turned to look at her.

"Why?"

"The factions in the Government'll split and fight." Her ears twitched. "That's what happened with the humans- they fought each other so much that they lost track of themselves, didn't evolve. Wars'll be fought over Earth again. You're willing to risk that?"

There was a disconcerted mutter from the officers seated around the room.

The Nuke shook his head. "We can't continue expanding underground. Our technology isn't advanced enough to cope with the heat of the Mantle. We'll have to take Earth soon or later, or we'll overpopulate, even with the laws in place."

These words were greeted with a stony silence. The Nuke fell back in his seat, eyes to the ceiling. “Alright, I'm sure you have other things to do. Three and Six, report back to me when your scouts have recovered. I need some time alone to think.”

The officers nodded and filed out of the room to find their seconds in command waiting impatiently in the corridor outside. When Otter didn't pause or acknowledge him, Silver fell into step beside him. “How's the girlfriend?”

“Don't you have training right now?”

“That good, huh?”

“Our unit members need more discipline.”

“What colour's her underwear?”

Otter missed his step and fell against the wall, recovering almost immediately and bringing himself nose to nose with Silver. “In case you've forgotten, Silver, you're in a position as a role model to our unit.” He smiled, very softly, and very dangerously. “Please be mindful of the things you say.”

And Silver smiled back. “But of course. I was just jealous.”

“Of what, exactly?” Otter asked, his voice dropping in volume.

“Her.”

“... What?”

They stared at each other. The silence was broken by a sudden snort of laughter from Silver. “The look on your face!”

“I didn't think you were like that,” Otter remarked, still looking slightly stunned.

“What are you taking me so seriously for?”

“Are you being serious or not?”

“Can't you tell?”

“I can't tell with you!”

They laughed and began to try and mock-fight each other in the hallway, sheepishly stopping only as the other officers caught up. The sixth commanding officer looked very anxious.

“We're stuck now. If Bob was hallucinating, he might be removed from service. He's a good scout, and he's not even halfway through his working life. But if he wasn't... If he wasn't...”

“Then we need to find out what those things were.” Otter shrugged. “I don't think he was seeing things, Brick.”

“So what's a snake with legs then, sir?” Silver asked innocently. He flashed his sharp teeth at Otter.

“A lizard? But you'd think they'd know what a lizard looked like...”

“Of course. We all learn it in school.”

“Anyway, we need to notify their families. They're in the main city, aren't they?”

The group finally emerged into the canteen, which was already crammed with hungry eaters. Most looked up as the officers entered, muttering amongst themselves. Otter dropped into an empty seat and promptly had his shoulder crushed by the powerful metal arm of Lucy.

“Gea,” she said. Butterfly and Strawberry peered around either side of her.

“Uh, she's fine. She's suffering from heat stroke, but the medics tell me she'll be fine when she's cooled and rested.”

“Did she say anything? What happened?” asked the twins in unison, glaring. There were muffled laughs from the near vicinity, and Otter realised he was leaning as far away from his three interrogators as possible.

“She hasn't said anything, she's too exhausted. Look...” Otter shrugged off Lucy's hand and appealed to the twins, trying to maintain his composure. “When she's recovered, you'll see her immediately. It'll only be a matter of days.”

“So you're not doing weird experiments on her?”

“What?”

“Like trying to grow an ear on her back? Humans used to do that, apparently.”

“Wha- No! Who's been saying things like that?” Otter laughed incredulously.

“Oh, they're just stories we like to tell each other at midnight, you know.” The twins cracked identical, evil grins and Otter found himself thinking of Silver. The three of them might get along... or maybe not. Silver was more than a little bit strange.

“She'll be fine. You'll be among the first to know when she recovers, I promise.”

Mollified, at least for the time being, the twins led the taciturn Lucy from the canteen, speculating wildly as they left. Otter breathed an audible sigh of relief.

“Wouldn't want to piss off the cyborg, sir,” someone ragged from the protective obscurity of the crowded canteen.

“Quiet. Third unitters, pass the word: meeting in the East Entrance Hall in an hour.”

“Got it.”

“Sure, sir.”

With a lack of appetite, and with concern nagging at him, Otter left the canteen again for the room where Gea was being treated, only to be stopped by the medical assistant who had been attending to Bob. “They're resting now, sir. You'll have to wait, I'm afraid.”

“How long?” he asked impatiently.

“Tomorrow afternoon, latest.”

“I see. Are they in pain? Will they be alright?”

“They're sleeping peacefully,” the medic assured him. With no other choice, Otter thanked him and left, heading for the eastern entrance without a hint of an idea as to his next plan.

And so it begins... ) Nanowrimo Day 1

2010-11-01T20:12:00.003+11:00

Nanowrimo day 1: Untitled Story
Word target: 1670
Actual word count: 2197

Disclaimer: I am NOT responsible for any harm whatsoever, wheresoever, howsoever, whysoever and whensoever caused, especially by means of negligence. These words were compiled within a number of hours, given the one day time restraint for each stage and the pressures of other commitments. Little, if no editing has been done. Please feel free to edit for me. However, I will not be examining edits until December. Other than that, this is perfectly safe to read. Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------

Chapter One

I'd like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly... - 'Fireflies', Owl City

She woke when the earth swallowed her up.

Her heart beat slowed quickly as she breathed deeply, in and out, focusing intently to calm herself, as she had been trained to do. To prevent herself from dozing again, she swung her legs out from under the covers and over the rails of the bed. And there she sat, swinging her legs in space to pump the blood through them again.

Below her snored Lucy, her considerable bulk of a room mate. Lucy always slept well, waking at exactly five. There was no need for a clock with Lucy about.

She reached out into the blinding darkness to pull back the cover of the skylight slightly. A hardly discernible wash of pre-dawn light crawled through the crack. Only a few minutes to five o'clock, she guessed. Three minutes late, Lucy awoke.

“Gea?” she called, hoarse and quiet.

“Yeah.”

They set to preparations immediately: Gea wrenched the skylight cover fully open, and they dressed, Gea finally leaping from the top bunk to find her shoes. The earthen surrounds deadened noise.

Lucy lumbered into the corridor as doors along its length began to open, their female owners greeting each other sleepily or tersely as their minds began to fight against the urge to sleep.

“What have you got today, Gea?”

“Scouting East2.”

Her questioner nodded vaguely, her brain evidently reluctant to leave sleep behind. They tumbled into the canteen to find it already partially occupied by several officers. One of them waved Gea over.

“Have you got your orders, scout?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, you're with Bob from sixth today.”

“Yes, sir.”

He was referring to the main scout of the sixth unit. The officer himself was Gea's own commander, Otter of the third unit, and she was its main scout.

“I don't think you'll see anything,” Otter sighed, pushing his cup with webbed fingers about the table. “No humans in fifty years.”

“That's no way for a commandin' officer to speak.” On Otter's other side, his second in command, Silver, grinned slyly. His yellow eyes hovered on Gea momentarily.

“What are you going to do? Report me for boredom?” Otter laughed, playfully punching Silver's shoulder. Gea watched in silence. Silver disconcerted her.

“Perhaps.” Silver grinned again, his teeth a little too sharp for it to be quite a joke. But Otter didn't seem to notice. He fell into conversation with the officer opposite him, and Gea slipped away to eat breakfast.

Lucy was ploughing sedately through a second helping when Gea sat don next to her, to be greeted by the pair seated opposite; twin sisters known as Butterfly and Strawberry. They were mirror twins; where Butterfly was right handed, Strawberry was left. Even their internal organs were mirror images of the other's. It was a common enough occurrence.

And as with Lucy, and Otter, and Silver, and all the other who lived in the colony underground, they were pale, the result of generations of living out of the sun. Only the scouts, constantly ranging the world above, stood out with their darkened skin.

Still, Gea looked markedly more human than most. She had no mutations, like Otter's webbed fingers. Her eyes were brown, not adapted to better night vision like Silver's yellow ones. She maintained her entire original organic body, unlike cyborg Lucy, and she had no ESPer powers as the twins did. The most she could point out were the almost unperceivable greenish hued strands of hair, which was little more than an excuse.

Still, this did not bother her. Things are only an issue if one considers them so.

In fact, she was in a perfect position to scout. A scout coming across a human would better succeed in gaining heir trust if they did not have a metal arm, or a single eye, provided they spoke the same language. But as Otter had pointed out, there had been no humans for fifty years.

And those underground could no longer call themselves human. They had escaped to their current refuge too long ago, and had been exposed to too many things to be human any longer.

And yet, now that it appeared that 'humanity' as they had known it was gone, what was to stop them taking that title?

“Gea, you're scouting today as well?” Strawberry asked. She rubbed an itch on her nose and her sister did the same, simultaneously.

“Yeah, East2.”

“Tell us if you see anything new,” Butterfly requested. The twins nodded together. Lucy finished her second helping and carefully cleared away her plate, whilst Gea was only a third of the way through hers.

“Our little brother's learning about above,” Strawberry continued. “Most of the info comes from old books the scientists preserved from before.”

“It looks different now,” Gea said softly, remembering the lessons of her childhood.

“Well, he can do a comparison,” Butterfly decided. “Tell us anyway, Gea.”

“It's always the same, nothing changes. Hot, no water, a few grasses, occasional trees. I saw a lizard once, that was interesting. But it looked tired.”

“A lizard?”

“What colour was it?”

“What did it do?”

“Was it big?”

Gea finished her last mouthfuls of breakfast. “I'll tell you when I get back.”

Strawberry and Butterfly gave her identical pouts.

“You'd better, Gea!”

“We'll gang up on you, otherwise!”

With a smile, Gea cleared away her plate and left the canteen to gather her equipment. She cast a glance at Otter as she did and found Silver watching with a small grin.

Bob met her by one of the east entrances, within the cool protection of the colony's inner wall.

“It's hot out there,” Bob observed redundantly. His skin was prematurely age by heat and wind, freckled, and faintly scarred where melanomas had begun to develop and were promptly removed by a doctor, but he was still just less than twice Gea's age.

“How are you, Bob?”

“Can't complain. You?”

“Neither.”

It was code. In other words, things were pretty damn boring.

“Here's something that might interest you though,” Bob said, as they donned their hats, the wide brim hung with fabric to protect them from the scorching sun.

“Yeah?”

“Higher ups might be thinking about doing some moving upstairs, if you know what I mean.” He gave her a significant look. Gea made herself breath evenly.

“But there's nothing...”

They stepped into the shimmering heat.

“...up here.”

“Not yet there isn't.”

It was uncomfortable to breathe. Gea and Bob efficiently followed a well used route into the area known as East2, a one kilometre by one kilometre square of land two kilometres from the colony. Scouts were trained hard.

Every scouting mission, Gea silently thanked the people who had developed the materials she wore which kept her relatively cool and protected. She periodically sipped water through a tube leading from a bag in her backpack, conserving the precious liquid.

When they finally reached East2 over an hour later, they paused to sit momentarily and drink, measuring their breathing. Bob nudged Gea.

“When was the last time you were here?”

“About a week ago...” his tone of voice made her scan the landscape quickly, wondering if he'd seen something. Her eyes lighted on what could have been a trick of the dancing heat, or dark shapes about a kilometre from where they sat, on the boundary of East2 and East3.

“If we're looking at the same thing,” she said slowly, “then that wasn't there before.”

They sat in silence for a reflective moment.

“We need to get closer,” Bob said. Gea nodded, and stomachs to the ground, they crawled forwards. The heat was almost unbearable.

They came across a pitiful clump of trees, and paused there, betting on the confusing properties of heat to melt their forms.

The figures, now that they were closer, revealed themselves to be an odd assortment of sizes and shapes. One loomed huge and hulking, others stood at a similar height to Gea and Bob, and some were like children. Strange shadows flitted about them, and a huge mass lay nearby.

“We can probably get about three hundred metres closer,” Bob estimated, squinting. Gea silently relinquished the protection of the trees and once more crept across the baking earth.

Agonisingly slowly, they crawled and lid closer, the figures becoming clearer and clearer.

“Bob!” Gea hissed.

“What?” Bob muttered, eyes focused on a point ten centimetres ahead of himself.

“Look!”

He looked up.

Even in the heat, and at the distance they lay, he could see clearly the glistening form of a long, serpentine creature, its body wider than two of himself. It lay in a coiled heap, flickering a forked tongue occasionally.

“Snake?” Gea asked.

“It has legs,” Bob murmured faintly.

They watched as it scratched itself with on of these legs.

“Those small things flying around, they're people.” Gea said. One of the winged figures fluttered wearily to rest on the should of a shining lady, who alone of the group appeared unaffected by the heat. She was arguing with a dark, horned creature whose eyes blazed red. Their raised voices carried vaguely across the empty space, so that all the listening pair could hear were muffled sounds.

The snake-like creature's head whipped about suddenly in Gea and Bob's direction, and they fell flat on the ground, hugging the intense heat. The creature's tongue flickered rapidly, once, twice, then one of its companions said something and it looked away.

Gea remained pressed to the ground, carefully counting her heartbeats in her head. When five minutes had passed, she looked up. The figures were gone.

She scanned the area again, and saw nothing, except the trees she and Bob had left behind, and Bob himself. She tapped him on the shoulder and he raised his head gingerly, looking pale and ill.

“We've been out a lot longer than usual,” Gea murmured. “Let's go back.”

Bob got to shakily to his feet, and together, they began the long trek back, rationing their strength. But his breathing was heavier than usual; with growing concern, Gea considered how much older he was than her, and how much of that time had been spent in harsh conditions such as these. He could die out here. Who would bring him back?

For the first time, Gea cursed the world they inhabited. Its hardships had never occurred to her: they existed, and they were dealt with. Now she thought of humans and the large vehicles they had possessed which could transport people, the devices which could call for help over long distances. In this overheated world where they hid from... (what, exactly?) such things would draw attention to themselves, or would not work.

She sat Bob down and made him drink, fanning him with the hem of his brim-cloth. A red flush, in stark contrast with the pasty pale of his skin, was creeping across his cheeks. Gea's hands trembled as she placed the end of the water tube in his mouth.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Fine,” Bob replied mechanically. He seemed to shake himself then and looked at her dazedly. “I've never felt like this before Gea. Is it shock?”

“I can tell you need a doctor. The crawling on the ground... it was so hot. And we've been out longer than usual. Can you stand?”

Bob didn't answer, looking away vaguely. “I can smell iced tea.”

Gea pulled him upright and led him swiftly onwards. He roused himself again, grasping her hand. “Gea... you're taking me back, aren't you?”

“Yeah, Bob.”

“So you won't... you're not...”

“I'm not leaving you. They'll be out looking soon, you know. We've been out too long, they'll send someone...” She squeezed his hand, and found it was losing its moisture. “Not far now. Have another drink.”

The trek back seemed far too long. Time refused to play fair; Gea was sure they had been walking towards a clump of grasses for eternity, as her mind felt sharp and her senses extra keen. Yet suddenly the colony was here, and people were flocking around them. Otter was hustling her forwards into the shade, behind them, several other carried Bob, and around, there were panicked calls for cold packs and water.

Silver stood aloof from the confusion, looking highly entertained. He grinned at Gea as she passed. “Well well, the hero returns.”

“Why don't you help instead of making smart remarks, Silver?” Otter growled. His second in command threw out his hands n a placating gesture.

“Yes, sir! Do you want me to run around with the rest of them?”

Otter turned back to the chaos behind him and bellowed furiously, “Get out of the way, all of you! You lot, get him down to the hospital right away. The rest of you, clear off!”

The ones bearing Bob, including his own commanding officer, hurried through the underground corridors towards the hospital, Gea and Otter following on behind.

“Nearly there, scout.”

She wasn't particularly worried, she thought, so why was Otter trying to comfort her. She tried to say this, but nothing came out. Instead, her knees gave way.

Creative writing tiemz

2010-10-24T15:35:00.002+11:00

I just finished Chapter 11 of All Her Creatures, that story I've been working on since forever (well, 2005).
It came about because I finished reading the Vampirely blog, and was so appalled/amused by the bad quality of SMeyer's writing that I thought I should sort mine out.
I still have an intense wish to finish this story. But it is difficult. Time is precious, as they say, and I lack good solid hours to sit down and scribble, or to wander aimlessly in circles while I wonder ooh what's that word I've almost got it etc...
I will finish it. I love it too much not to. That being said, should I put snippets of it up here for people to read? It's about 22000 words long so far...

Also, I really wanted to do some zine-ing. I said it before, and nothing came of it, as usual, but I really want to have a go. Just set up at one of the zine fairs, or at a local market, and have a go at selling. Even if nothing happens (I will be very disappointed) but at least I had a go. But I need to work out how to start.

...

Google!

Conception Day

2010-09-19T21:43:00.008+10:00

Live as if you'll die tomorrow

That's what happens when you don't read things properly.

So, Conception Day...
I missed a fair bit of the performances, given that I spent a lot of time waiting in the line for the Bar... where the staff took an hour's break. I didn't end up drinking anything alcoholic in the end. I walked across the grounds, dodging people and stalls along the way so it took twice as long as usual, up to the food court, bought myself a bottle of Blood Orange juice from Iku (THERE'S AN IKU IN MAC UNI NOW PEOPLE!!!) came back, drank it, and twiddled my thumbs for another fifteen minutes before my friends in the line returned. Hm.

So, who did I see...
Lovers Jump Creek.
They weren't too bad. Typical young male with a one track mind and preposterous amounts of angst which they relieve by occasionally screaming at a crowd of strangers. But it was only occasionally. And with the sun smiling down on us, it made pleasant background music. Also, the lead guitarist was pretty epic. Kudos, dude.

The next time period (I don't know how long it was) was filled by Mac's hip hop dancers, cheerleaders (I didn't even know we had cheerleaders), increasingly drunk uni students (actually, I have a huge observation about this. Mac has a huge number of Asian+Indian students, as well as African, Fijian and general non-Caucasians. Yet I saw a sea of white people and hardly any dark/golden/green skinned people. Hm. Again.) and broken plastic cups.
Last year, I stayed up the front of the mosh, got squashed against the metal railing by guys twice my weight, nearly kicked my best friend in the face as I was hauled over the railing so I could get out, and generally had a good time. This year, I opted for the 'laid-back' approach- wait for the friends, sit back away from the jumping mob, talk and relax.
Ahahaha.
So I got pretty much a front seat view of the backsides of the people ignorantly standing in front of us, the way-too-drunk-for-before-noon people throwing up, and a tiny space not reserved for rubbish. I think next year, either the bands suck and I'm not even turning up, or the bands rock and I'm back in the front row, no questions.

After that rant....
The Butterfly Effect.
These guys were good. Great harmonies, brilliant voices, sound system failed. Who the hell turned the bass up so loud that these guys' excellent voices could hardly be heard???? I regret that I was not right up front.

Gyroscope.
Not bad... Can't remember very much about these guys.

Tame Impala.
Now I was up front for this one. There were about five of us left in the group, so we joined the mosh and ended up only a few metres from the stage. Nice music, very dreamy, good stuff for late at night.
And against all reasoning, a group of guys somehow managed to create something of a circle pit. To Tame Impala. A violent rolling space of guys throwing themselves against each other to psychedelic dream-rock. WTF.

Oh well, not bad, could have been better. Front row next time.

Oh the places you will go...

2010-09-13T19:55:00.005+10:00

Flight paths only. I have travelled to many other lands, by boat, and train, and horse-and-cart.

www.gcmap.com

Happy Birthday + Life (Because those two things go together)

2010-09-12T15:58:00.006+10:00

阿婆, 生日快樂!
And then the moon festival is also coming up soon :)
But the Hong Kong society doesn't seem to be doing anything... maybe the Singaporean one is?
when it comes to this time of the year, I remember Singapore. Why? Because that was the first time I every experienced a mooncake that was not plain lotus. They had all kinds, like pineapple and durian... *shudder*
Hm, on the topic of uni, and therefore law, and therefore torts, and therefore...
Chester v Waverly Municipal Council.
And I quote:
"The defendant council excavated a trench in a road of which it had the control. The trench was from two feet six inches to seven feet deep and at a week-end it became filled with water. There was a railing round the trench above the earth which had been thrown out on to the road. Children could easily get under the railing. The plaintiff's son, aged seven and a half years, went out to play. There was some evidence that he accidentally fell into the trench. He was drowned. The body was not found until some hours after he had been missed by his parents. The plaintiff, his mother, searched for him and became distressed upon failing to find him. She was present when his dead body was found in and taken from the trench. There was evidence that the plaintiff thereupon received a severe nervous shock—more than a fright—more than temporary mental disturbance and distress. She sued the council for damages for negligence... The open trench filled with water could not in itself frighten or terrify any normal or reasonable person. Such a person might think that the open trench was unsafe and that more care should be exercised but no more. In the present case the appellant was not present at the accident nor was she alarmed in the happening of the accident; she only saw its consequences some hours after it occurred. The failure to guard the trench was but indirectly connected with the shock to the appellant and the act or omission of the respondent was not so closely and directly connected with the shock sustained by the appellant that it can be traced to that act or omission. In my opinion the shock to the appellant is not within the ordinary range of human experience; it is so remote from the act or omission of the respondent in opening or guarding the trench that no reasonable person ought to or would foresee or contemplate the injury to the appellant."

The case was dismissed. I don't think I'll be forgetting the name of this case, or what was said, or when it was said.

...

Oh, and お誕生日おめでとう, テルくん! Cos it was yours yesterday. Right.

Whole Lotta Trouble

2010-08-26T14:35:00.003+10:00

Following on from the closure of onemanga.com and the removal of many manga from mangafox.com, comes this: Satoshi Kon and this: Studio Ghibli.
What is the world coming to???
Manga and anime creators are having a hell of a hard time of it. I don't care how long it takes, I'm buying my manga/anime from now on.

University homeworks + NEIL GAIMAN!

2010-08-07T11:05:00.005+10:00

We get to blog.
In a manner of speaking.
Basically, we're posting on a forum, which is not blogging at all, but whatever.
Things get done, I guess.

UPDATE:

You won't believe this...
and I can hardly believe it myself but...

I'm going to see Neil read of his stories live tonight.

Yes I am.

So I'm bringing two cameras and six batteries in case they die.

The most awesome thing is-

The only reason why I managed to get a ticket so late was-

Someone cancelled last minute.

Just before I rang up.

....

How awesome is that.

*rolling about with happiness*

Headphones

2010-08-01T12:20:00.004+10:00

So.

After I posted up pictures of my Okami headphones, people got rather excited.

Hence, if anyone wants to buy headphones off me, check this link first: FAQs and Notes and then contact me if you want :)

AMUNC roundup

2010-07-24T12:52:00.007+10:00

Welp, as most of you probably already know, the last day of AMUNC was a bit of a fiasco.

Just a bit.

Basically, last Friday was a series of ridiculous events which only got better as the day wore on.
The directors' speeches basically reiterated how much more awesome their committee was than all the other committees. Myanmar got up on the stage during their speech in something akin to a bio-hazard suit for a rant about capitalist countries. Due to certain events in the security council, Iran and Israel went to war, and the last day ended with the dissenting judge from the ICC literally being thrown off the stage when he refused to stop talking or let go of the lectern. He had a brilliant speech, I wish I had a transcript. Something about 'the ICC decided that "beyond reasonable doubt" meant "no doubt at all", and lent upon this definition like a drunk AMUNner against a lamp-post- not for illumination, but for support and to throw up on. This turned the ICC in a joke I wouldn't tell in the seediest pub in London'...and so on and so forth.

I'm definitely doing this again, even if I did get sick immediately after the whole thing was over.
Oh well, better dead than bored.

Breaking news (Day 4)

2010-07-15T10:07:00.011+10:00

It's day four...
An emergency occurred, where a Libyan army delegation was discovered meeting with Al Qaeda, swapping bombs traced back to Soviet Russia.
Now the ICJ have invaded the Sixth General Assembly, arresting Palestine and Israel and set up an ad hoc court. The whole ICJ is present... and some one just slapped Libya with a foam sword...

The entire press is here...
UK has just been made to do the macarena because she was late...

....

And now the court starts...
With Bolivia as the Palestine....
And then it ends...

And now Afghanistan has to dance to the Ketchup Song... and New Zealand joined in... very well, I add.

Scarily, Libya knows the 'Stop Right Now' dance (think Spice Girls).

AMUNC Day 3

2010-07-13T18:24:00.000+10:00

We passed a resolution! I wasn't expecting it to happen, given that Palestine (who ...needs to be explained) and Pakistan kept arguing again things, to the point where Pakistan got so worked up he left the room, followed happily by a bouncing DPRK... at which point the director decided to put it to a vote whether to revoke their speaking rights or not.
Palestine is an observer state who, in an unprecedented move, was given speaking rights and procedural voting rights (that is, he couldn't vote on anything substantial), which caused some confusion as to what exactly he could vote in. Pakistan had given him proxy (the right to vote in Pakistan's stead should he not be in the room), so one can imagine the chaos that broke out then...
However, it was decided that: Palestine could not vote, Pakistan could not vote, and neither could DPRK when they finally returned to find the committee voting on their rights. In the end, they just managed to keep them. (A move which many later regretted- I told you!)

I caught the USA offguard when they espoused their wonderful plans for prevention of climate catastrophes by enquiring as to what they planned on doing with the airstrip they left on Funafuti (main Tuvaluan island) which is degrading the soil?

Anyway, despite all problems, we have a resolution, and tomorrow, a whole new issue :)

AMUNC Day 2

2010-07-13T09:54:00.001+10:00

Asia-Pacific Model United Nations Conference (University of Sydney) Programme Day 2:

Arrive late
Immediately jump into the deep end by adding self to General Speakers' List and delivering a position statement
Argue for 3 hours
Have cheap lunch at a Thai place
Argue for another 3 hours
Have dinner at a different branch of the same Thai restaurant
Drink and eat pretty ...sugary...things...

So we ended up with 2 draft resolutions.
We'll argue about them tomorrow.

AMUNC: Day 1

2010-07-11T23:04:00.010+10:00

Asia-Pacific Model United Nations Conference (University of Sydney) Programme, Day 1:

Register
Wander around looking for people I recognise
Attend rules briefing ~~and watch funny but inane videos~~
Meet the team! All those nice people we're going to argue with for the next few days ^^
Listen to some guy tell us that NGOs should be all about IMPACT, and then ~~drown us in waffles~~ talk endlessly
Listen to some people talk, including a (possibly drunk) Laurie Fergusson, although the Mexican Lion believed he was just not interested in being there...
Have our brains frapped by the introduction of a random string quartet who suddenly start playing music ~~and REFUSE TO STOP~~
Listen to the best speech evar in the world by Ms Anna Rose, head of AYCC, an incredible person :3
Listen to Ian Biggs, who was pretty funny but kept getting carried away...
Drink. And eat. But mostly drink :)

And then do it all again tomorrow!

Well, not quite.
Anyway, to be more detailed: I discovered out of the... however many people there, I know around ten.
Yay.
But I'm meeting new people :) which is good. My committee...

Well, I'm representing Tuvalu in the Sixth General Assembly, which focuses on law, which I totally didn't know before I saw the briefing papers, but it works out anyhow.
We had a practice session to make sure everyone knew the rules, on the topic of: an alien spacecraft will land on earth in ten days. The US, UK and Russia admit to knowing about it. What do we do?

Then we practised giving position statements, basically a short snippet about how we feel about the issue.
Generally, it was either- we should greet them peacefully, but cautiously; with Turkey demanding they be met and destroyed immediately and Russia admitting to inviting them. Tuvalu never has an opinion on anything other than climate change, so basically:
Unless the aliens cause the sea levels to rise even more, we don't give flying rat (I'm paraphrasing). If they do, we'll take them to court.
After position statements, we moved into formal debate, in which people indicate their intentions to be called upon to speak. I think it was just after... Palestine, yeah... that I made a motion for Moderated caucus (2mins, 30secs- it is important to say how long for and how much time each speaker gets) on the definition of extra-terrestrial. As I made the motion, i got to speak first, and thereby reminded everyone that, should the alien turn out to be a disease-causing amoeba (okay, a smart one, it flies a spaceship), it wouldn't recognise a peaceful greeting from a moon rock, so you can rehearse your diplomatic dancing all you like but... (and so on and so forth for 30 secs).
And everyone went ooooo, yeah, that's right, we were so excited about the idea of little green men.

I heard later that someone suggested in another committee that they recreate 'Avatar' in real life.
Smrt.

So tomorrow, the real debate starts. I'm not really ready, but then, most of the rest of the committee isn't either. XD
At least I have my formal speech prepared. I can wing the position statement.

Anyway, damned fun so far. I think I'll do this again! UNYA in september, SydMUN in December, WorldMUN next year...

Manga Debate

2010-06-17T13:13:00.002+10:00

In case you hadn't noticed, MangaFox has taken down Bleach, Naruto and One Piece, along with a host of other manga, due to licensing law issues.
I've be scanning the forums to see the general reaction, and aside from the usual *stupid American licensing laws, who put them in charge*, there have also been a number of conspiracy theorists having a go at the 'big manga/anime corporations'. Well check this: SBS
Who was it that came up with the idea of a disgustingly rich manga artist? The words 'rich' and 'artist' don't properly go together anyway. It's hard to make it as a manga artists, and then if you do, hard to keep producing good stuff. Considering the top three as previously mentioned, those chapters which come out EACH WEEK are only around 10 pages long. It's hard to do a page, let alone 10 in less than 7 days (because it has to be run through the editor, sent to the magazine who's running it, etc.)

On the other hand, the scan sites provide English language manga for the poor soul (such as Australians) who must suffer without a decent anime channel (I mean, one episode of Death Note a week, come on) and exceptionally slow distribution of Shounen Jump and tankobon. Skip Beat has been stuck at volume 13 or something for the past year, while wiki informs me that there are 24 volumes. For those lucky enough to be able to read Chinese or Japanese, manga is much easier and quicker to get hold of.

So what's the compromise? Some have suggested that only the volumes not available overseas should be posted up. Fair enough? Who could police that though? And what about anime music, anime videos? Are they all going to be taken off too? Someone needs to rethink their infrastructure.

MECHA ANIME: THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND THE TECHNOLOGY

2010-05-29T11:18:00.011+10:00

Yeah, I should be studying, but whatever. Something I had to write as an assignment for my tutor 4 years ago. I was very proud of it at the time. Now I read it and think it's a load of garbage. Comments at the end.

------

The popularity of anime is increasing at a rapid rate; one only needs to type 'anime' into any internet search engine to be overwhelmed by the sheer umber of sites and pictures, in languages ranging from English and Lithuanian to Turkish and Catalan. Why is anime so appealing, compared to other cartoon types? The answer lies in its adaptability- the way it can mould itself around a range of genres to play to the interests of various audiences. Take, for example, the anime series Rurouni Kenshin (1994), a story of action and conspiracies in a Japan of the Meiji Period (1868-1912). On the other end of the spectrum, the movie Sailor Moon (1992) is bishoujo, or 'beautiful girl'- aimed towards young girls, it deals not only with scenarios of school life and magic colliding to create embarrassing and often nonsensical situations, but also with the protection of the protection of the universe against evil.

One main genre of anime revolves around technology, or mecha. Mecha refers to large robotic structures controlled by humans for a number of purposes, and which may even have their own 'personality'. Technology plays a salient part in anime for a number of reasons. The first is related to the devastating nuclear attack on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of World War Two. The sheer power of technology is often portrayed in mecha anime, and so is the destructive power it can unleash.

In Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), the village of the Princess Nausicaä is surrounded by an environment overrun by the results of a technological disaster; the plants are toxic and the animals have mutated to cope. Technology has divided the people of Nausicaä's world- some are trying to use it to reverse the environmental issues, others merely harness its power for war.

The war machines are hued with dark, dull and metallic colours, and their shapes are harsh and cumbersome. In contract, the results of technology- the environment and the creatures that live in it- are beautiful, graceful and, in the case of Nausicaä's pet, Tato, cute and brightly-coloured.

The creators of Nausicaä have chosen strange, exotic shapes and bold shades, along with dynamic lighting effects (such as glowing spores). We are reminded that, whilst nature is dangerous, it can also be rare and stunning.

The female robot, in the role of a cyborg or android, is a common occurrence in mecha anime. Whilst western Sci-Fi is a predominantly male domain (Detective Spooner in I, Robot; HAL9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey), the majority of mecha anime has lead female characters.

In Ghost in the Shell (1995), Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg with a female 'ghost' or spirit. She is completely at ease with technology and can twist it to suit her almost at will.

The scenes at the start of the film, during the credits, which show various views of Motoko's nude body as she is constructed, do not evoke a sexualising of her character. Rather, it highlights the achievements of technology and the sophistication it can reach.

The heroine of Appleseed (2004), Deunan Knute, is the daughter of a scientist who was concerned with the well being of androids. Deunan's boyfriend was injured in a futuristic gunfight, and, as a result, seventy-five percent of his body was replaced with robotic parts, yet Deunan continued to love him.

Which brings us to the question that lurks beneath the storylines of all mecha anime: what is human?

Steamboy (2004), set in Victorian London at the height of the Industrial Revolution, contains a sequence where the heroine watches a group of robots open fire, later discovering that they are, in fact, men inside robotic suits. San, in Princess Mononoke (1996), lives in a forest being destroyed by technology, convinced she is a wolf.

By disguising characters behind cybernetic or animalistic appearances, mecha anime creators can effectively induce the audience to question their humanity and its boundaries with nature and technology. There are many anime which suggest that robots can gain personalities, for instance, Chobits (2002) or My-HiME (2004), where female robots behave like human girls.

This preoccupation with the human world and its isolation, or involvement, with technology and the environment is constantly explored and retold from the creator's point of view.

Technology in anime holds a very significant place in today's popular society, reflecting Japan's past, present and, most likely, future. It is a way of trying to untap the mysteries of what it means to be human whilst entertaining an audience along the way.

-------

First off, what the HELL???? As I went through typing this back up, I was appalled at what I had written. Taking it in order:

(in languages ranging from English and Lithuanian to Turkish and Catalan) That range of languages isn't that impressive, dude.
(Rurouni Kenshin (1994)... Sailor Moon (1992)) What do all those other anime have to do with mecha?
(colliding to create embarrassing and often nonsensical situations, but also with the protection of the protection of the universe against evil) Your WRITING is nonsensical.
(Mecha refers to large robotic structures controlled by humans for a number of purposes, and which may even have their own 'personality') Who told you that definition of mecha? I KILL YOU!
(The first is related to the devastating nuclear attack on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of World War Two) So that's the first reason, huh? So what's the second? .... Well, I'm waiting.
'Hued' isn't a word, I'm sure. Also, you didn't discuss the mecha aspects of Nausicaa. Idiot.
(western Sci-Fi is a predominantly male domain) Generalising much?
Ghost in the Shell: See second note about Nausicaa.
(The scenes at the start of the film, during the credits, which show various views of Motoko's nude body as she is constructed, do not evoke a sexualising of her character) Hahaha!
Appleseed: Again, see second note about Nausicaa.
I have never seen My-HiME
Ends with lots of cheese

Any more to say? ><> (maybe that's a good thing!), about how the Japanese and Australians can work together to ameliorate climate issues. So of course, I chose to take the viewpoint that ANIME WILL SAVE THE WORLD!!1! And talked about Nausicaa, Mononoke-Hime, Ueki no Housoku, Earth Girl Arjuna (which I should probably watch!), etc. One day I'll finish it, with more focus on environmental issues in anime and manga, I think. Anyone got any suggestions for anime/manga I should include? I have:

Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
Mononoke-Hime (Princess Mononoke)
Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbour Totoro)
Ponyo (Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea) SO MUCH MIYAZAKI!!!
Ueki no Housoku (Law of Ueki)
Earth Girl Arjuna
Wish

Others?

APB

2010-05-23T19:58:00.003+10:00

Yes, I know exams are coming up for many of my friends.

So why not procrastinate a little? Huh? Huh? Yeah, I'm going to get shot/severely mauled now.

Okay, these few weeks have been the Sydney Writer's Festival (yay!) But I only got to see one thing (><) and that was the Zine Fair, which I'm pretty sure none of the organisers actually calculated the possible number of attendees for. Anyways, a Zine (pronounced zeen), according to the handy little leaflet I picked up, is 'most commonly a small circulation, non-commercial (I think they mean it doesn't belong to a big company here, as all the zines were being sold) publication of original or appropriated texts or images. Zines are written in a variety of formats, from computer-printed texts to comics to handwritten text. Print remains the most popular zine format, usually photo-copied with a small circulation.' So my proposal, my friendlies, is that for the next event or for pitching to zine establishments, we gather together some ideas, be they stories, poems or words of wisdom, and produce a few zines. Ne? Ne? I understand exams exist. Yes. I understands life gets in the way. So, after the exams, I will be doing the hard work- ie printing, formatting, editing, etc. You get to do the easy stuff. So there's no excuse! Interesting writers whose zines I have picked up: Mandy Beaumont, Irnin Khan, Marcelo Baez (I have signed limited edition poster of his Diabla and her guitar - $10 cheap!), Fay Rozelutta, Elizabeth Tan (who wrote the awesomest, epicist thing called 'The Reason for Eleanor's Miserable Childhood' complete with cute pictures), Dudley Redhead, and the Wednesday Night Writing Class (which appears to be a group of people who get together, write, and then share their work).
I also picked up something at The Burbs Zine Fair called the Post-Postmodern Photographers' Manual. Lolz.

So, any takers? Zine fairs occur all across Australia, so we may take a holiday to Melbourne or Canberra if anyone's interested? *Yay, holidays!!*

Finders Keepers Market

2010-05-09T08:15:00.002+10:00

Wow.

Awesome place. The markets were held yesterday and the day before yesterday in an exhibition centre (?) called Carriageworks, somewhere in the Redfern area ^^;
The amount of stuff there, and the originality was pretty amazing. The thing I was most surprised about was the number of guys there.
Popular green culture, from what I've seen, targets women as consumers. But there were heaps of guys too, and lots of young families, I found. Gave the place a nice vibe. :)
Okay, companies whose products I found interesting:
*White Square: www.whitesquare.etsy.com
*Natalie McWilliam: nataliemcwilliamjewellery.blogspot.com - Interesting jewellery...
*eight sparrows: www.eightsparrows.com
*a skulk of foxes: www.askulkoffoxes.com.au
*Lola&Bailey: www.lolaandbailey.com
*Agent Indigo: www.etsy.com/shop/agentindigo
*liana kabel: www.lianakabel.com
*Schmooks: schmooks.etsy.com - beautiful artwork, got four.
*herbert & friends: www.herbertandfriends.com.au - really cute plushies!
*Leeloo: leeloo.com.au - I got a necklace from them, a scrabble tile decoupaged with a scene from 'Where the Wild Things Are'
*Foundry: www.thefoundry.com.au
*The Strutt Sisters: www.thestruttsisters.com - reversible necklaces and double stud earrings anyone?
*Blueberry Paper: www.blueberrypaper.com.au - stationery
*Pigeonhole: www.pigeonhole.com - Male/Female fashion

Now did anyone know there was another climate change summit (in Bolivia)? No, I didn't. I found out from this newspaper: http://www.greenleft.org.au/ which is pretty interesting (no, I'd never heard of this newspaper either) Apparently it was attended by delegates from low income countries. It is also interesting to note that at the time of my search, the top two google entries were for the Green Left Newspaper, and the third was Al Jazeera. Hm. But there's more info here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/23/bolivia-climate-summit-en_n_549485.html

And to finish off, an interesting form of artwork, photographed on the way to Carriageworks plus the 'Skipping Girls' and some mushrooms from the exhibition hall.

Finally, I've been vegetarian for over a week now and nothing is amiss. ^^

Green Days: Waking Up (aka the Bedroom)

2010-05-01T09:59:00.013+10:00

I apologise for the delay. Life gets in the way sometimes.

***

Let's play a game, shall we? I'd like you to remember (close your eyes, if you will) how you woke up this morning. Did you wake up of your own accord? Did a parent/housemate/partner/spouse/dog wake you up? Was your iPod alarm set? How about your bedside clock? Or just maybe, your curtains were open and the pleasant morning light filtered in, waking you gently?
Actually, it's more important to know what usually happens in a morning (or afternoon). Let's take these in order.

Waking up of your own accord: no alarms, no parents, no sunlight-through-the-trees. No electricity. Well done.
A parent/housemate/partner/spouse/dog/etc. woke you: if they actively went out of their way to wake you, then that was very nice of them, but not very efficient. If they woke you by banging pots and pans while making breakfast/lunch/dinner, they've got the right idea. Pets have their own 'Green Days' section.
iPod/iPad/iPhone/phone alarm set?: this is probably the most viable. An iPod is not permanently plugged into the mains. There are, further, solar panel chargers which can be bought. An iPod uses approximately 3 watts, or 6watt-hours each time it is charged from a 'flat' state*. Which, if you compare to an alarm clock...
An alarm clock: 43.56kilowatt-hours a year^, or 5 watts. Ouch. Of course, there are so many energy efficient products out there now (I'm basing this off my parents' clock, which is quite old)- a 'Baby Ben' uses no mains electricity; simply wind it up.
Ideal, really, but if your neighbours are close enough to shake hands with, or have a habit of looking into your room, maybe it's not such as good idea.

The best option, then, is to buy a wind-up clock. Or perhaps a water-powered one.

So, you've woken up, anyway. Take a good look at your bed. What are the sheets made of? Do you have an electric blanket? How many pillows do you have? Where is your bed located in your room?

The answer should be: my sheets are made of jute-fibre, hemp, bamboo-fibre, certified eco-wool or recycled fabric. In fact, I made them myself! I don't have an electric blanket, I use a hot water bottle/a heat-pack/a thick wool blanket. I use one pillow, because I only have one head, and my bed is at the opposite end of the room to the window.
The answer should not be: my sheets are cotton. I use my electric blanket every day of the year even though I don't need to. I have lots of pillows, plus those little sequinned cushions which are of no use whatsoever. My bed is right next to the window (I wonder why it gets so cold in winter?).

Cotton is one of the worst fabrics. Child labour, low pay, bad working conditions have all been reported, plus giant use of virtual water (11,000l/kg- that is, 2700l for a cotton shirt`). NO cotton, please, unless it is second-hand clothing or recycled cotton.
Bamboo-fibre, on the other hand, is extremely sustainable. Anyone who has planted bamboo in their backyard (what a mistake) would know that they grow like no tomorrow and there's no stopping it. Bamboo-fibre can be made into fabrics as smooth as silk, literally.

Exchange the electric blanket for a hot water bottle. Electric blankets can be dangerous, as the temperature remains the same during your sleep, which can lead to overheating. In the earlier days, this also meant fires. A hot water bottle, on the other hand, cools as you heat up, and there are plenty of bottle-covers available (or you can make one yourself).

Think about how you've arranged your room. Where is the door and the window in relation to your bed? A bed is best kept away from a window in cold times.

From this brief heads-up in the bedroom, we'll be moving to the bathroom for the next instalment.

*http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090506130318AANGw9m
^http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Home-and-Garden/Question595099.htm l
`http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/productgallery&product=cotton

***

In other news:

I want to know how to make these hats! http://foaldesign.com/home.html
My father is building a tiered vegetable patch in the garden.
I've decided to do most of the cooking now, so that I can go vegetarian. Anyone got good recipes?

The Burbs + Photo Dump (Part 2)

2010-04-18T11:02:00.010+10:00

The Burbs:

I felt like checking out the local wildlife yesterday, so I headed over to Blacktown Showground to see The Burbs.

a
I don't know who this band was. They were alright, but as usual, it's hard to tell with the dodgy sound equipment they have at such events, plus being outside causes sound diffusion.

A Bad Day's Goodnight was up next, who had just released a self-titled EP. Again, not bad. I picked up a copy and had a listen- nothing groundbreaking, but of a type of music I like, which makes good background music.

A random picture: stop and check out the sunset!

Photo Dump:

I stopped waitressing a while ago now (or at least, it feels like a while). I'm going to be doing some volunteer legal work in Parramatta now (interested, akai?). Anyway, some pictures from my last day at work (funny, I never took pictures of the girls I worked with...)

A christmas tree! Plus Workhenge, created from reserved signs, pens, calculators and highlighters.

My cat in a bag, hanging from the door knob.

How I celebrated earning my P1 (red Ps) licence:
This is a normal Strawberry Daiquiri

This is ~~an alcoholic milkshake~~ what I got. No driving for me, ne?

Randomness:

I cannot for the life of me remember what this was all about. I do remember that this was a cardboard tetris block abandoned near Parramatta library. I think maybe Spud was with me at the time. And we'd seen it somewhere before, but where the hell...?
Someone got bored in a law lecture, started stacking noodle cups. There was no-one sitting in front of him, so the lecturer could clearly see him doing it, but she didn't mention anything. Needless to say, they all fell over in the end, and the lecturer decided to finish the lecture early since no-one was listening to her anyway. They were watching the epic tower building process.

A frog cupcake/muffin from one of the Uni cafes.
An interesting little display of drawing/noticeboard pins. Came across it in the History Department somewhere. (Somewhere being the operative word, since the uni is filled with weird and inexplicable rooms.)

Oh noes, uni starts again tomorrow and I still haven't posted up a new 'Green Days' blog. Also I haven't finished my assignment, but that is less important.

Photo Dump Part 1: Concerts and Conventions

2010-04-16T17:20:00.014+10:00

I was checking through my phone today, and came across an abnormally large number of photos from quite a while ago, including pics of 2009 Conception Day. So I thought I would upload them now instead of when I posted my write-ups (fail). I promise I will upload them at the right time in the future!!!

Okay, Conception Day 2009. Excuse the bad quality, these came from my phone:

So, Blueju!ce, an overhead shot of the DJ/Dance floor, and a setting up pic.

And now, Soundwave 2010:
Frontman of RX Bandits
Taking Back Sunday
Uh... Oh no, I completely forgot! These guys were really good and I forgot!!D:
The Creepshow
Frontman of Jimmy Eat World.

Finally, Animania 2009. Again, these are from my phone. They are actually pictures of the anime wall. I thought they were pretty awesome.

Next up, random photos from work and ramblings.

NaPoWriMo

2010-04-06T11:50:00.006+10:00

Awesome. Let's go for it!

Okay, list of poem types: (from wikipedia, of course)

The non-english forms are going to bring much joy. Yay.

Green Days: Glossary

2010-04-01T13:21:00.001+11:00

(will gradually be updated)

Fair Trade: A market-oriented movement with an emphasis in ensuring workers are employed in safe environments with suitable pay.

Hot products: tea, coffee, cotton, chocolate.
Companies: song (Australia), Marks & Spencers (UK, Hong Kong)

Green Days: Happy Easter

2010-03-26T18:55:00.011+11:00

Note: I know my next 'green days' was supposed to be about waking up, but I thought it was appropriate given how close easter is, and also this: http://www.prweek.com/news/992432/Hit-Miss-Nestle-faces-storm-criticism-social-media-sites/ . For more info, and perhaps some entertainment: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Nestle/24287259392?ref=ts , http://www.spendmatters.com/index.cfm/2010/3/24/Nestle-When-Endangered-Orangutans-Get-in-the-Way-of-Your-Supply-Chain , http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2010/03/26/how-online-activists-have-got-nestle-on-the-run/

------------------------------------------------------------------

With Easter only a week away, it's time to buy chocolate (or perhaps you have been buying it for several weeks now), so if you want to go green, ethical and healthy, there are a few things you need to know before rushing off to buy the cheapest thing you can find, or, on the other end, buying something handmade in your country in the hope that sweatshop labour did not go into its making.
As you may know, at present, Nestle is under huge pressure for its use of palm oil. Palm oil (created from the fruit of the oil palm tree), is often planted in areas cleared of rainforest and habitat belonging to endangered species such as orangutans and tigers- see Wiki for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_palm_oil. Further, palm oil is a source of bad cholesterol, responsible for artery clogging and thus heart problems.
Palm oil is not the only problem. The cocoa bean itself is picked in great quantities by child labourers in African countries, kidnapped or sold by their parents.
Not that there haven't been advances. Cadbury, for example, has made a move to make its dairy milk block fairtrade: http://www.fta.org.au/cadbury-announcement .
So, who to choose?

(This is World Vision's recommended list)
Cocolo is an organic and fairtrade only company. The chocolate is Swiss, but the company is Australian.
Sweet William- dairy free, gluten free, lactose free and nut free. Basically for those who are vegan or allergic to everything. Again, Australian company.
Ferrero (also Bueno, Kinder)- Italian company.
Whittakers (also Dark Ghana, Peanut Slab)- New Zealand company. Cocoa is sourced from Ghana, not the Ivory Coast where much of the child slavery occurs. Their fairtrade policy can be found here: http://www.whittakers.co.nz/fair_trade_policy.html
Lindt- Swiss.

Note that these are only ones included in the Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping 2010 (endorsed by World Vision). If there are others, I would really like to know.

So, Happy Easter.

----------
I apologise for the brevity of this section, as university work is a bit hectic right now.

Kickstarter: Your Heart 'Never'

2010-03-18T15:12:00.004+11:00

Only five days left and it's just short of $7000 T.T
I want to see this video made :<

Anyone? This really is an awesome song.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wearewendel/songs-to-wear-pants-to-your-heart-musi-0

As a side note, I just realised that the prices are probably in american dollars and I was happily thinking they were Australian. Hmm... I'll probably have to put more moneys on my card...

Green Days: Foreword and Intro

2010-03-12T14:06:00.008+11:00

Foreword: An explanation

For a while now, I have contemplated the idea of doing an investigation into how green a person can make their life. Then I would post my findings on my blog.
The way I propose to do this- each post will have a different topic, starting from waking up in the morning, and working through everything from meals to furniture to a night out (or in, as the matter might be).
Really, this is information for myself as well, to guide me in the way I live my life. I will try where I can to add links and pretty pretty pictures to back up my claims, and to take into account the lifestyles of people in other countries (for the record, I am in Australia).
So whenever a blog title contains 'Green Days', you know I have posted the next installment.
As for when these updates will occur... I can't say for sure. I will try to post at least twice a month.

Introduction:

I'm sure you've heard it before- the world is in peril, seas are rising, polar bears dying, carbon dioxide levels at critical etc. etc. and so forth.
In some countries, our day to day lives are unaffected by these supposed changes- I was only talking to a friend's mother recently who was still uncertain as to whether global warming was occurring as 'there isn't enough evidence'.
Believe me, it's happening. And there's lots of evidence.
The problems, as I have mentioned before in 'Soundwave and stupidity (a possibly long post)', are that 1) scientists are not always the best at communicating, 2) science is not always easy to communicate, 3) the average person wants information quickly and 4) it is not always apparent where to access information.
As an environmental science student, bombarded everyday with graphs of pollutant levels, recommended reading lists containing Rachel Carson (highly recommended, especially Silent Spring), and maps of ocean currents, information is everywhere. Good starting points include 'The Future Eaters' by Tim Flannery (who happens to be a lecturer at my university), 'An Inconvenient Truth' by Al Gore (of course) and the final episode of 'The Living Planet' by Sir David Attenborough.

Eventually, none of this matters if you don't care. Some arguments you may have ready:

- what can I do? (rhetorically)
- humans didn't create these problems, it's a natural cycle
- global warming isn't happening, look at the Northern Hemisphere!!!!

Answers? (in order)
- plenty
- so we should just sit back and let it all happen, should we?
- read this post: 'Soundwave and stupidity (a possibly long post)'

So if you're committed, slightly interested in, showing the slightest inclination to save the world, a few tips:
- Don't throw anything out (not including rubbish) unless it is causing more trouble by its mere existence (eg. a badly serviced car or one star dishwasher). REPEAT: DO NOT THROW ANYTHING OUT.
- Walk. It's not going to kill you.
- Cut down on red meat.

See you in the morning for the wake-up post- 'Green Days: Waking Up'

Soundwave and stupidity (a possibly long post)

2010-02-22T21:00:00.010+11:00

Soundwave was....
Well, the bands were...
Well, some of the bands...
Jimmy Eat World was awesome.

...

It was so freaking hot that I was surprised that the gentlemen with the shiny red and black pants didn't find the material sticking to him.
Every scrap of shade was utilised. There were people sick, fainting and collapsing everywhere, a fact that Spud and I ignored, mostly because we were too drained ourselves.

So, in order of bands:

Heroes for Hire.
I don't mind these guys. They sound good on CD, if not so good live, and their stage presence isn't really great, but you've got to respect the frontman.

RX Bandits.
Wow. I'm glad Des suggested watching them. RX Bandits are pure win, some crazy mix of psychedelia, calypso, rock and whatever the hell else they feel like, although the Korean (?) dude on the lead guitar (I think it was, anyway- I forgot to pay attention) seemed a bit out of place- but his playing was awesome (keyboard and guitar in the same song :O )

Taking Back Sunday.
Meh. Whatever.

A Wilhelm Scream.
They certainly live up to their name, these guys.

The Creepshow.
Pretty interesting, actually. Kinda a... goth... metal... rockabilly. o.0 Frontgirl was awesome. Nice attitude.

Anti-Flag.
Stayed for about five seconds before the crowd (mostly guys) almost instantaneously formed three circle pits and started leaping at each other. I left very quickly. Spud hung around.

Jane's Addiction.
WTF.
The frontman is seriously creepy.

Jimmy Eat World.
= Happiness :3
Oh wow. Oh wow wow wow.
They performed all of my favourites (except for 'If You Don't Don't' T.T) but ended the whole thing with 'The Middle' and also had 'Like She'll Always Be', so it's all good.

Overall? I'm not doing that again. Sidewave? I'm up for that, but not the main event- it was hot, dusty, expensive and more likely than not, liable to have you carted off in a stretcher with footprints all over you.

Hm, onto other topics, I was reading the Australian a few days ago, containing an insightful article in which the journalist applied his deductive faculties and single-handedly crushed the idea of global warming. His evidence? Well, duh, have you noticed all the snow up north? It's freezing there! Check my posts on Beijing if you don't believe me!

There's a reason why journalists are journalists and scientists are scientists.

The way it works is this. Melting sea ice (from global warming, yes) has changed the course of warm water stream which runs through the Atlantic, heating Europe. The warm water is forced down and becomes colder, running out before it gets anywhere near it should. As a result, the weather is much colder. Further, the world has fluctuated for some time between ice ages and interglacials. Periods of great heat, rising sea levels and high CO2 levels are cut short by cold times.

Great- the best way to solve global warming, overpopulation and sunburn all in one go- an ice age!

Back to my point on journalists being journalists and scientists being scientists, a journalist can churn out 'facts' in a short amount of time- no evidence is necessarily required, opinions count as just as valuable. A scientist, on the other hand, feels compelled to provide evidence, and after the first thirty slides, realises that their audience has gone to read the newspaper.

Science can be hard to explain quickly, and with our oh-so-busy lives, speed is the best option. So people pick up a newspaper.

They did say speed kills, right?

Never? What? What?

2010-02-14T10:12:00.002+11:00

Just randomly-
Those who know me have probably heard me rant about songstowearpantsto.com, the most awesome song artist in the known universe. And this awesome guy has decided to do a music video for his most awesome song 'Never' (http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/songs/never-extended/). Can it get any more awesome????

Point is, they need funding, and unlikely as it make seem, I want to help spread the word a bit, because I want to see this vid made.
So, here's the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wearewendel/songs-to-wear-pants-to-your-heart-musi-0
The least you can donate is US$10 (the don't feel bad pledge) or go all the way to US$10000 and beyond (the I love you more than bunnies pledge :O), and for each one, you get gifts in return (for full details, see site.
Alternately, if you think you can't even afford 10 bucks, or can't be bothered, pass the message along? Please? Anywhere? Facebook, deviantart, twitter, Myspace, if you have to. T^T

37 DAYS LEFT...

Recycling

2010-02-12T14:27:00.002+11:00

Since when did South Australia offer 10 cents instead of five cents for a can/bottle???

Chocolate Rain

2010-01-31T00:38:00.007+11:00

Just a quick update (for the girls, really). Was in Sha Tin, Hong Kong yesterday when I came across some pretty bags/ toys/ cushions/ etc. plus some giant statues made of felt and scrap fabric and who knows what else. I've been looking for a bag-

-and upon closer inspection, found it was made environmentally, hand-made from various scrap materials.
Chocolate Rain also offers DIY classes in Hong Kong (HK$1250/4 classes, including material), making jewelry and toys, labels and pamphlets are all made from recycled paper, carry bags are reusable (and pretty).

These products are only available in Hong Kong, London, Nagoya, Zurich, Paris, Milano, Dubai and New York (check website fo full details), and do not appear to be available online, although product images can be seen (the website, however, does not offer the full scope of what is produced). They are very pretty and very good quality, which has made me pleased ^^

China

2010-01-29T04:09:00.004+11:00

Oh. Wow.

China was not what I was expecting. Neither were my relatives.

Point in case: my great-aunt (not blood-related) received a present of meat. Which is pretty normal, but when you consider that the meat had once been a leopard, maybe not.
Another example: I had happily drunk some chicken soup (which is also normal) and found out two hours later that the chicken in question was a 'mountain chicken' which might actually be this as my mother informed me it was certainly a protected species.

Thanks, mum. You could have told me earlier.

Beijing is pretty polluted for the 'cleanest city in China', although it means you get beautiful red sunsets... although the snow is black instead of white. And there was snow, because China is freezing at the moment. The temperature at its lowest was minus twelve, plus a ridiculous wind-chill factor which meant that the spit which everyone insists on projecting on the footpath actually freezes so it isn't so bad.

Returning to food, I finally got to try deep-fried grasshopper (pretty good) and caterpillar (a bit powdery) kebabs, whilst avoiding the deep-fried seahorses T^T Entering China is like falling through a wormhole and ending up in another dimension- seahorses are a protected species and yet they were merrily being sold on the streets as snacks.

But what happens in China stays in China. All I can say is, I'm glad to be back in Hong Kong.

Days in Hong Kong, part 1

2010-01-12T22:42:00.003+11:00

For those unaware, I am currently in a suburb of Hong Kong known as Shatin (沙田), experiencing all that is Asian and looking for other interesting things along the way.
The most surprising thing would have to be how environmentally conscious the place is. Many big department stores charge for plastic bags; smaller shops prefer to fit your purchases into any bags yu already have.
This:
is apparently a sign regarding clothing recycling. I say apparently because my ability to read Chinese is still pretty non-existent. There were also some amusing signs with several young people in attractive poses carrying brooms and encouraging Hong Kongers to keep the city clean :)
The taxis and buses have 'eco' signs inside them (again, my dodgy ability to read is my downfall), and there are far more people who take public transport or walk.
The reasons for this aren't really related to a desire to be environmentally friendly; there simply isn't any room, and people live so close to shops (with really great public transport) so there's no need for a car.
Today, we were approached by people seeking money to neuter stray dogs and cats. How interesting. And I saw a number of WWF workers lurking about too.

There are gashapon, manga and anime everywhere. The newspaper sellers on the side of the street are currently stocking the latest One Piece (whatever it's up to) which infuriates me because of all manga, One Piece is the hardest to read in a language other than English. I have two volumes, one in Japanese, one in Chinese, and whilst my Japanese reading ability is somewhat better, and furigana is provided, I still don't really have a clue what it says T.T
I have yet to get a charm from a gashapon. Tomorrow, maybe?
And I say everywhere because I noticed several buses sporting an advertisment for some kind of MMORPG :S

Finally, my uncle is a nuisance.

And once again i demonstrate my inability to read a calendar...

2009-11-18T08:26:00.003+11:00

I have a test in one hour.

Oh hell.

Conception Day

2009-09-21T13:55:00.006+10:00

Or Contraception Day... Or 'What-the-Hell-is-It-Called?' Day.
Yeah, the joke is, Mac Uni's 'Conception Day' is nine months before the official opening, which was during some holidays, geddit?

So, lineup: Cassette Kids, Jack Ladder (DX), Yves Klein Blue, Bluejuice and Wolfmother. Pretty epic: not interested in Jack Ladder or Wolfmother, so I left at... quarter past six.
A huge area of the uni had been roped of, and patrolled by every type of guard possible: security, police, sniffer dogs. I was surprised at how serious everything was; the bag checks, ID checks and those scanner-stick things...

Hm... there were... four stages, I think. One with uni performers, two DJ sets and the main stage where the bands were. Plus a ferris wheel and bumper cars. XD
And lots of alcohol.

Much fun was had by all.

SMASH!, The All-American Rejects and Summer

2009-08-22T21:03:00.009+10:00

First off, late SMASH! round-up.
Late, yeah, I know, but my interwebs are playing up.

So, cosplayers:
Nico Robin aka Miss All-Sunday from One Piece. I thought she did a pretty awesome job.

Someone else who did a good job: Reno from Final Fantasy Advent Children

Seriously, do these guys need an intro? I also had pics of me and Akai taking them on, but I came out yellow... for some reason ???

General awesomeness all around. ^^

But we missed so much T.T
We agreed to dance the Hare Hare Yukai with a girl dressed as Shippuden Tenten, which meant we had to practise, and hang around doing nothing a lot ... ><* I didn't sing cos the setup seemed so scary o.0 I don't think I'll be doing karaoke anywhere except for Mini-Animania and SMASH!- I'll probably only go to Mini for the karaoke ^^ Next convention, Animania Main. Still don't know what I'll cosplay as >.>

KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!!!!
KAGE BUSHIN ~~fail~~ NO JUTSU (where 'no' is the operative word)

If you can't tell, Akai is holding a little Neiji doll.

The All-American Rejects

Concert was on 21st August. Friday, at 7:30. For a sold-out concert, the moshpit was half full/empty, and I was stuck behind a really tall guy who spent most of the time filming (with the camera getting in the way of everybody's view), and not dancing. Srsly, if you stand at the front of the crowd, the least you can do is dance like you want to be there (not like the girls next to him who spent their time looking around to see who was watching them).
And then the toolbox who decided to shove me out of the way and put his girlfriend in front (she had a ponytail at the height of my face, so everytime she jumped, she flicked me in the eyes. They were rather sore after that. Note: when my hair grows long again, never tie hair up at a concert.)
Aside from that, Sundance Kids were good, Hoobastank was good (and awesome when 'The Reason' came up) and AAR were good too. Funnily enough, I got the impression most people were hanging for 'The Reason' despite Hoobastank only being a supporting band. When it came on, everyone was singing, and the frontman stopped half the time, shaking his head and listening to everyone sing.
Also interesting was checking out the crowd. This is where 'alternative' goes 'mainstream', so... mainstream alternative? Popular alternative? When every try-hard in skinny jeans and 'custom' jewellery from Tree of Life is there, pretending to be hardcore...

Moving along... Yes, summer is most definitely on its way: those little purple flowers in the grass which I can never find out the name of have appeared again. All the wattles are exploding yellow (and smell very nice, in my opinion) and the magpies are starting to get dangerously close again.

Oh joy.

France- Last one, I promise ><

2009-08-22T18:19:00.005+10:00

So, I was in France from... I can't even remember anymore it was so long ago T.T

And being in France, of course, we had to try the local cuisine:
Escargot:

Frog's Legs (which is a type of poultry, apparently)

Seriously, how is this soup????

This is Notre Dame:
Inside Notre Dame:

A pretty Parisian street ^^
The motorbikes have three wheels!!!
A street artist, by the Seine.
The only restaurant we found that sold both escargot and frogs legs.
Arc de Triumphe
The Louvre Pyramid (no, did not see suspicious albino people in cloaks walking around)

And, of course, the Eiffel Tower.

And on the plane back home, Bezelnef was up to his usual tricks. Here he is with ~~the remains of one of the passengers~~ a rice cracker.

Belgium

2009-08-07T08:47:00.005+10:00

The overdue journal...

15th-18th July

Belgium... well, to be precise, Brussels... reminds me more of Athens than anywhere else... We were in a decidedly dodgy area- lots of people in the street, mostly drunk, or homeless, or sitting in the gutter for no apparent reason.

So... check out the shopping baskets... trolleys... things...

The Park of Tweny-Four statues, or something...

There were a lot of these pictures around:

Bezelnef and waffles!
Those waffles were freaking sweet :-=

Mum v. Bezelnef, on the train to Paris. Who will win...?
(I'm betting my mother will.)
And then it was on to Paris.

Strangely, Belgium chocolate is more expensive in Belgium than here... what does that say...?
Also, the Zuidstation (Central Station, I believe) is one of the worst places to be >< It's filled with people, therefore making getting lost a piece of cake... and I almost did D:

England, Scotland, Wales

2009-08-03T18:00:00.000+10:00

From the 11 of July

From the 6th to the 13th, I'm in England, yay!

So far, I've been to Chester, on the border of Wales; Edinburgh in Scotland; strawberry/raspberry/taeberry picking, woken by church bells at five in the morning (o.0); and generally causing mayhem with Bezelnef.

Here is Bezelnef and Tom, and Benji, who are my Uncle's pets.

Bezelnef and K (terrifying) K's boyfriend. (K is my cousin)

Strawberries!

Berry picking usually results in red fingers... But Bezelnef wanted to try some too.

Let's play 'Spot Bezelnef'!

Wales:

I wasn't exactly in Wales per se, but it was close enough. I've been in Wales before anyhow. This is Chester, an old Roman town.

Bezelnef attempting to access the secret hatch in the ceiling

Caught!

Scotland:

This was a fun place... a bit expensive, and containing the strangeness that most major cities do, but nice. I got a tam (a tam-o-shanter is a scottish hat ^^) and tried haggis 0.o which was actually quite tasty.

Bezelnef is quite at home...

As I said in the previous post, it's hard to find a real scotsman in Edinburgh:

Bezelnef, awesome in Celtic sunnies:

Here's Toby, K's dog, wearing the Loch Ness hat she brought back from Scotland...

So that was fun, yeah.
And the family:
At the pretty pretty park:

Things they don't tell you...

2009-07-27T15:08:00.003+10:00

Japan:

- if you look remotely Asian, you're Japanese.
- You can bring mochi back into Australia. It's fine dayo.

England:

- it's always five o'clock in the afternoon. Always.
- It's fine to walk into a relative's house several times a day without informing them first

Scotland:

- only Indian tourists wear kilts
- You will not find a real Scot in Edinburgh
- You have to pay to take photos
- Haggis tastes like curry

Belgium

- if you look remotely european, you can speak french
- there are no english signposts
- most of the population are formed by Middle Easterns and Africans

France

- see Belgium (except everything is higher quality)
- Escargot tastes like seafood
- Frog's legs are poultry (i.e. of the chicken family)

Tokyo

2009-07-08T02:52:00.009+10:00

So, airport... Akai's Bezelnef decided to come along for the ride:

Here he is having breakfast.

Checking the flight:
And then realised he'd forgotten his passport... ~~people~~ puppet smuggling!

From the 5th to 6th of July, we stopped over in Narita, Tokyo, Japan.

An airport shop ... or two... konnichiwa neko-chan!Some pretty mochi:Here's the view from the hotel room... A karaoke place!!!!

Fast food from the supermarket.

Lollies!!!!Fake food-And then on to the UK! Next post soon... I think... >.>