teh craftses

So. In my various perusals I've discovered this moste excellente website that makes me want to go and make some of the things shown. They just look so cuddly and cute. And geeky.

This will likely become a source for shameless borrowing and inspiration for projects to come.

Then there are these, which just make me laugh.

Now, I'm going to go crochet. Adieu!

P.S. LOLcat thrown in for good measure:

bemoaning the popularity of Twilight

More than ever, I'm shocked and a little bewildered at the popularity of Twilight, both the movie and the books. As someone who wasn't able to make it through the first book, I don't feel qualified to make judgements about it, but I have seen the movie, and therefore this video and article really hit home with me, and embodies the reasons for my disgust with the series. 

nediuhbub

I promised to tell you all about Camp. 

...Sorry, I lied. 

But mainly only because Camp is one of those indescribable things. 

The other reason I won't be telling you about it (at least not immediately) is because I'm operating on three hours of sleep last night and no food all day. Were I to attempt to say anything more I'm sure it would be incoherent. 

Therefore I leave you for now to go eat, sleep and be merry. 

an adorableness overdose

Taran and I played around with my webcam yesterday. 

Behold! 

The looks on our faces are freakishly alike: 

The attack of the velociraptor-claw air-quotes: 

That is all, folks. 

(!)

I'm leaving. 

Today. 

And I might not be coming back. 

And it would be so sad if I weren't so excited about going. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go rush around madly. 

turtling along

I, too, am trying to learn how to type using the Dvorak keyboard layout. It's really, really hard right now, especially since I'm not at all used to the thought that the only two letters on my keyboard that are what they say are 'a' and 'm'. Thank goodness the enter key and space bar are in the same place, or else I know I would give up. 

Slowly yours, 

Layli

Xi'an, an ancient Chinese city, true!

I went to Xi'an with a bunch of people I know. It was fun. Here are pics, and I really need to stop reading I can haz cheezburger? because I starting to want to talk and type in LOLspeak. 

The sign was funny. Not as funny as some of the stuff on Engrish Funny (Guess what I've been doing! On second thought, don't.), but the random capitalization ought to more than make up for that. It says: 

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE DACIEN TEMPLE AND THE DA YAN PAGODA

The dacien temple was built in 648 AD to honour the empress wende by the tang crown prince li zhi.the temple with 13 yards and 1897 magnificent roomw was broad in scale. It occupied an area of more than 24 hectarew who lived in the temple. It was the most famous temple in Chang An city during the tang dynasty. 

A buddhist and pilgrim Xuan Zang who studied buddhism in india was waslcomed to preside over the temple affairs in 653 an Xuan Zang arranged for the building of the Da Yan Pagoda to preserve the hundreds of wolumes of buddhist so riptures which had been brought back from Inida. 

The original pagoda was constructed with five stories in India style.It was rebuilt to seve storeys in 701AD--704AD during the period of empress Wu Ze Tian. 

Today, the Da Yan Pagoda is 64.5m high with seven storeys. The body of the pagoda is a square brick pagoda in the range of chinese national character and the tang style. It is a model place of boddhist architer ture. In 4 march 1961 the state council declede that the Da Yan Pagoda must be protected as one of the most important historical monuments. 

Note: Chang An is the ancient name for Xi'an, and the spelling, punctuation and capitalization have been typed up exactly as they appear. 

There were pretty marble carvings. They looked imposing. I'm not sure they were supposed to. 

There were other pretty things, and a neat, gnarled-looking tree. 

And painted ceilings and eaves galore! 

Have I mentioned how awesome I thought those trees were? I have? And you think I've been talking too much about plants? Sorry, it's a bit of an obsession. 

This was the pagoda. 

These were chickens in the monastery gardens. Are my comments getting a little too obvious? 

The gate to the monastery. It was imposing too. I felt very much imposed upon. 

This was the view from the top of the city wall. I love the guardhouses next to the skyscrapers. 

This was in a mosque near the city center. The whole group spent ages trying to guess what the sign meant without looking at the Chinese. 

There were more pretties. 

And neat roofs. 

This was the bazaar near next to the mosque. I bought lots of stuff there, including two paintings, an antique (and awesome) Chinese lock, a hairstick, a little clay pot, a pair of old, adorable, embroidered, lion-shaped baby shoes, and some Men Zi (some species of pachyrhizus as far as I can tell, stir-fried and then smothered in balsamic vinegar, soy-sauce and spices). 

China is not for squeamish people. Note the cart of garbage above, as well as what comes next. 

Okay, this stuff doesn't look gross, but it doesn't taste as good as the skewered stuff either. 

Dates, we haz them. 

Meat, we have it too. If you have a weak stomach, are vegetarian or might otherwise be disgusted by the sight of lots and lots of meat, please avert your eyes while proceed to the next picture. Thank you for your cooperation. 

And this is a picture that came out funnily, and is only included so that we end on a nicer note than dead animals hanging everywhere. 

P.S. The title of this post is a reference to the BNL song 'Crazy ABC's' from their album Snacktime. 

in which I dangle information

I know I've been a terrible blog-mistress. I'm sorry. I've been disgustingly busy these last couple of weeks, and this week I'm off to Xi'an and Shanghai. If I have internet in Xi'an, I may post some pictures and whatnot, but if not, I promise to tell you all about it when I get home. For reals. 

And when I'm in the States (I leave on April twentieth), I'll try to be better about posting too. And hopefully I'll also have time to update all my other projects. I haven't abandoned them, I swear. I've just been really busy and distracted lately, partially because of schoolwork, but a lot of it because my life may or may not be completely turned upside down and I have to be prepared. If it does turn upside down, you guys will definitely hear about it, both on my blog and on Brynne's. Meanwhile, since everything is still in the works, we ain't saying a thing. :D

stalling, one, two, three...

Things to do online when you're bored/procrastinating (geek version): 

1. make a blog (or three)
2. watch Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
3. go look at all the pretty stuff on thinkgeek.com
4. browse mentalfloss.com
5. browse omniglot.com
6. browse The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form
7. browse Mysterious Britain and Ireland's Encyclopedia

For some reason, my brain has been in a bit of a funk lately and doesn't want to concentrate on one thing for a long time, so in between writing papers, I'm doing all of the above. It's surprisingly addictive. 

yeah, I can't count.

This post comes to you in four parts. 

Part one: hay-fever, or getting sick

This is what I have/am. I've been exhibiting hay-fever-like symptoms for the past two weeks. Blergh. They make me irritable. And now I think I may be getting sick. Not fun at all. 

Part two: pleasure boats

When we were in Hangzhou last weekend (did I mention that I went to hangzhou with my mom and one of her friends?), we took a 'pleasure boat' to the island in the middle of West Lake. The name made me giggle incessantly, especially after my mom brought up The Love Boat. So then we all started making bad puns about being on the 'Pleasure Luuuuuurve Boat' to some mysterious island. It was fun. 

Part three: durian roti

We went to the Banana Leaf restaurant one night, and I finally tried something with durian in it. Not going to again. Ever again. Everyone (including my mom) said that it didn't taste at all the way it smells. I'm sorry, but for me it tasted exactly the way it smelled. But at least I can now say that I don't like durian on good authority. Though I don't want to get close enough to stinky tofu to even find out. 

Part four: 'Roadsinger'

I think that for once, I'm going to go all fangirly on you. Cat Stevens has a new album coming out in May. *squee*

Part five (bonus): new template

What thinks you of it? The old one's code was a mess, and changing anything was a huge hassle. Hopefully this one will be better, even though it's quite different. This one's sort of temporary until I find one that I like better. 

sorry, mom

Last night I had a really, really weird dream. 

I dreamt that I was about seventeen, and I was planning my own funeral. It wasn't because I was sick or anything like that, I don't know why I was thinking about my own funeral at seventeen, but I was. 

The main thing that happened in my dream is that my mother and I argued about flowers, because she wanted to have roses at my funeral, and I said absolutely not. It's kind of funny, because that's exactly what would happen in real life. My mom loves roses and I can't stand them. 

Just throwing this out there: no roses at my funeral. 

Right now I think I want a combination of any of the following: 

• violets
• jasmine
• lilac
• tea olive
• royal paulownia
• wisteria

DUN DUN DUN!

My shower-head hates me. Seriously. The small one not so much, but the big one keeps dripping 70 degrees celsius water on my head. If I ever stop posting for a week again, you can just assume that the shower-heads revolted and are holding me for ransom. 

in which I'm still slightly insane

Hey, what think you of the new layout? I think I like it. It's quite a change, though. 

I know that I probably lost most of my readers due to my last bought of craziness. I hope I at least have a few valiant souls left. In my defense, I was operating on about three hours of sleep. I can't defend Brynne though. Her behavior was inexcusable. (Just kidding!)Anyhow, now that I've had a good night's sleep, I'm slightly more sane. 

I apologize in advance if I don't get to blog regularly as I usually do while I'm here, because my schedule is a bit crazy (note: three hours of sleep is definitely crazy). Plus, there's really just not that much to say about what I'm doing here. I'm studying, I'm taking care of the most adorable little baby, and I'm eating a bunch of really good food. 

bye!

Tuesday, I helped a teacher at my mom's school rent an apartment, and it's in an incredibly posh apartment complex, with a gym and whatnot, so of course we had to play hooky and look at the gym. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, so you don't get pictures of the three chandeliers, marble floors, opulent but tasteless fake flower arrangements, and the gigantic frieze of Napoleon leading a charge. Also, you don't get pictures of all the gold, duck-shaped sconces that when looked at from a certain angle appeared to have an arrow sticking out of each of their butts. It was quite something. I had to duck (ha, ha) into the bathroom once, I was laughing so hard. 

On Wednesday, I burnt my left hand and lost my phone. Thankfully, my mom had this (relatively) old phone that someone had given her, so I'm probably going to end up using it until it dies a natural death. It's a fairly nice phone, the only thing that I dislike about it is the fact that it's pink. 

On Friday I went out to dinner with some friends of my mom's, and the music that was played in the Hot Pot restaurant we went to could be described as 'bad traditional Chinese New Year's music sung by tone-deaf three-year-olds who've had too much caffeine'. 

Yesterday, we went out to the Lebanese restaurant for lunch with another teacher who works with my mom. The food was, as always, excellent, and on the bus back we played our little game of 'guess which province that person over there is from', which I almost always win. The interesting thing was that we were almost completely surrounded by people from Xinjiang, an autonomous region, a part of China that borders Tibet, Mongolia, Russia and five of the 'Stans, speaks an old form of Arabic, and is largely Muslim. I don't know if they seemed to be much more in evidence than usual simply because they were the only people out on Spring Festival Eve or what. 

I promise to take lots and lots of photos, and I'll be back on the twelfth of February. 

-Layli

The Worlds of Pelakîs

If you promise not to laugh at me for being the language geek that I am, you can go HERE to see my new project. I'm excited about it. I absolutely love the fact that I figured out how to put links on the top of each page, so the site is better organized than it would have been otherwise. The site is, obviously, a work in progress. 

I would show you all some of my old stuff (while I'm opening myself wide up to ridicule), but unfortunately, along with my stash of blank notebooks, most of my old journals, artwork and projects also got ruined when the storage room was flooded. I guess people will have to make do with what I'm working on now. 

in which I link to thingies that can be helpful when writing (part I)

These are in my "Names & Generators & Prompts" bookmark folder. I love them, end probably couldn't live without most of them. 

Imagination Prompt Generator: This site generates random prompts that are good for blogging, journaling, or just to spark your imagination. 

NameVoyager: Visual representations of baby name trends starting in the 1880's. 

Behind the Name: I absolutely love this site, especially the random name generator, which is by far the best one I've found. 

What a Lovely Name: Another baby name site, organized in a very refreshing and intuitive way. 

Yafnag: Yet Another Fantasy NAme Generator. 

Seventh Sanctum: Any kind of generator your heart could desire. 

The Swami's Generators: Generators you've never even thought of, but without which you won't be able to live once you know they exist. 

Cult of Squid Name Generator: Yes, another one. I use them all. 

The Always Amusing Euphemism Generator: Exactly what it sounds like, and perfect for figuring out what your main character's batty great-aunt says. 

The Forge: A flash-based fantasy generator for names, places, creatures and spells. 

Let's Put Your Character into a Sticky Situation: Generates bad things that can happy to your character. The modern alternative to 'if all else fails, burn something down'. 

82 Writing Experiments by Bernadette Mayer: Perfect for breaking writer's block or inspiring poetry. 

The Surrealist: Generators and playthings galore. 

Language is a Virus: Links to everything and anything concerning writing, and plenty of generators. 

911 Writer's Block: Dial 1 for settings, dial 2 for characters etc. 

Serendipity: More generators, of every kind. 

Note: The author is not held responsible for time wasted on these sites. 

is 'schlump' even a word?

I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak yesterday, along with Prince of Time, so today I'm going to work on the previously mentioned stack of library books. I've always been an immensely balanced person. Ha. Ha. Hee. Ho. Hum. 

I've been in a pretty bad shlump for the past month and a half, in which I couldn't get excited about any of my writing ideas, and none of the pieces seemed to come together. Hopefully my brain has gotten over its little funk. 

Also, what the heck am I doing listening to a Christmas carol? 

everything you ever wanted to know about me, and more!

Random things about me, just because I feel like it. 

My favorite cheese is pepper jack. 

I hate answering the phone, partially because when I'm at home I have no idea in what language I should say "hello". 

I'm not exactly a neat freak, I think I'm more of a cleanliness freak. I don't mind a bit of mess or clutter, as long as it's clean, but I can't stand things like dirty dishes lying around. 

I have no idea what I look like without my glasses on, because when I take them off I can't see myself in the mirror clearly. 

I know all the words to the Chinese national anthem, but I can't sing the American. I don't think I've even heard more than bits and pieces of the American national anthem. 

Besides the usual pork, chicken, beef, turkey, mutton and goat, I've also eaten raccoon, bear, horse, skunk and rattlesnake. 

I love the smell of coal burning. 

I taught myself how to swim at the age of three. 

Technically, my name should be "Laylí". 

I've never been to a sports game. 

Chevrolet...

...means 'little goat' in French. 

Goats are cute, though I'm not sure the same could be said about cars. 

happy Christmas!

Right. So on Christmas Eve, I watched Evita, made accounts for a couple of fictional characters, and drank eggnog (minus the rum, of course). This morning, so far I've sat around in my pajamas, successfully not done schoolwork, and eaten an orange roll. There's no holiday like Christmas.