whee~

Lot's and lot's of updates.
9:41 AM August 25, 2008

First things first. I know I'm probably weird, but I've been enjoying the different Google page pictures dedicated to the Beijing Olympics. And now they've ended. Awww....

I'm currently very addicted to this new online game, and it's taking quite a bit of my time. ^^ It's called Ikariam. You get to build up a town, and then when you're a bit strong enough, you can start colonizing other islands or pillaging your neighbors. It's fun, but each task takes really long, like a building upgrade can take 8 hours, and a research finding can take days! I think it's mostly a waiting game though, so it shouldn't take much of your time. ^^ But addicted is addicted, so I check it every few hours, I sometimes even leave word for others to check up on my account while I'm away. -__- I think Sig is even starting to regret that she introduced me to the game. ^^; (Actually, she really did say something to that effect. u_u)

Anyway, and that last paragraph there is utterly detrimental to my academic life because I had another accounting exam this weekend. Urgh... Every accounting exam is a drainer, but this one more so than most, for some reason. @_@ I was so tired, I couldn't even pretend to be emo while texting Vigile after the exam (you know, the usual cry of the accounting student after an accounting exam about dying somewhere along the way or after it). I'm just thankful that I have the nicest accounting teacher in the world who actually insisted on more short problems and on removing as much complications as is fair, and considering his co-teacher for this subject is Mam Dani, I think he's faced quite a formidable task. ^^ And he's funny too. He kept making these side comments and jokes, so the aura of the room wasn't of the dark evil of panic and confusion. XD We were even provided an amortization table. :D Unfortunately, the exam was still difficult and I didn't finish it, as usual. Which is a shame cause for the first time, there was a bonus question at the end, and it was worth 5 points. And believe me, every single point is necessary if you want to pass.

Anyway, as I was saying, I was so mentally drained that I drove home with a little difficulty (the shock of almost hitting a jeep shook me to a temporary alertness), but when I got home, I was too tired to even check on Ikariam. Vigile actually thought I was under Ikariam-withdrawal. ^^

I was actually very impressed that Vigile brought up the term withdrawal, cause I have been subjecting myself to its very pain recently, just for the accounting exam. Not Ikariam though, as I've been telling Vigile, but from reading a certain tragedy filled book. *heartbreak!* But before that, I'd like to explain my reading life a bit.

My reading life is divided into two, the tangible and the intangible. At any moment in time since the end of last year, I've always been reading at least two books, one the real, physical, page-turning, paper-paged type of book, the other the electronic ebook I store in my phone's memory card. I've only recently discovered the convenience of reading ebooks on my phone, and though it takes some getting used to, I've finished quite a number of books through the program I installed in my k800i, hence making it one of the most valuable pieces of electronic equipment (along with my computer) in my life. XD After all, though I love reading actual books, I usually find myself in spots without my books, and hence my cellphone provides a very convenient alternative. This also means, however, that I get to finish more ebooks than real books. Anyway, since I have two modes of reading, I also have two book queues, and I usually don't start a new book without finishing the book (of the same type - electronic or not) that I'm currently reading, and though at times I read books simultaneously, I usually stop one before I go very far and then simply continue it after finishing the other. (Makes sense since most books can really hook you somewhere along the way as the story picks up. ;P) So Sig, don't crucify me about not reading the Book Thief just yet, I'm still wading through the last hundred pages of Mansfield Park. It's a classic after all, not the fastest paced and easiest to go through book in the world. ^^; (I'll rant about Mansfield in a while.)

So anyway, back to the whole withdrawal issue (whew... that was a lengthy side trip. ^^) Since I had to study for my exam, having a really really exciting book at the very pinnacle of its climax just at the tip of my fingertips is a real danger to any progress I have to make, especially since I'm a really slow reader and the book a really long one as well. Besides, putting an accounting book and a really good fiction book side by side is too great a temptation to succumb to the latter, and not until the pressure of the exam catches up on you will the former become the weightier choice. But by then, it's way too late and you can't finish the topics outlined for the exam. See the predicament? I know it's all about self-control, yada yada, but then it's also quite easy to look for excuses to take "short breaks", and sometimes these breaks are truly necessary considering the long hours of studying involved, the problem is that this type of distraction tends to eat up more time than you can afford, sometimes without you even realizing it.

Hence, the withdrawal. Would you believe that I actually took out my phone's memory card, put it in its case, then put the case in its case, then put in a wooden box, which I put in the cardboard box container of the wooden box, and then stored it in my cabinet? Overkill, I know. I think the memory card in its case could have just as easily been put in my wallet and I would still have to face the trouble of battling my conscience before taking it out anyway. But I guess the overly dramatic gesture was a way to make it easier for me to let go and... withdraw. XD Hehe. Or I was just prolonging my procrastination. *shrugs innocently* Who knows. ^^;

Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat about the two books I'm currently reading, and the many frustrations they've been dancing about, but I'm getting tired. :P

Last story, as I've asked Vigile, have you ever tried writing a story, and then discontinuing it, only to find it a few months after, when you've forgotten the story and no matter how much you want to continue it, it's gone? I had such an experience lately, and the start was cryptic on purpose, I remember writing it to be that way, with only a tantalizing clue at the end. It was a prologue, you see, and I intended to reveal the rest of the situation in the next paragraph, unfortunately, I didn't have time to do so. -_- It's so frustrating. @_@

Forgive the typos, if any. I just woke up from the aftermath of the accounting exam. ^^;

come fly ~ gen