Teh Continued

So the first 13 is mostly serious stuff, yada yada yada... well now that I'm over with that (bar for a couple of things that'll probably come up later), on to the random stuff !

First, some pet peeves, in no particular order:

a. People who excessively use ellipses when it doesn't match their personality. I don't mind ellipses if they accurately convey your thought process while typing (see Jade and Mike Sudolsky... or at least I can see them thinking that way), but having an ellipsis after every single freaking sentence is another thing altogether if it doesn't sound like you at all. I suppose I'm being discriminatory against those people who do think in ellipses after every sentence, but I'll spare them the hate when I actually get to know them first.

b. People who don't use turn signals when changing lanes. If you're going to cut me off, please give me some warning first so I don't accidentally crash into you.

c. People who don't wash their hands after using the toilet. I'll admit, when I was little (see elementary school), I didn't wash my hands after going to the bathroom either because no one else did, but that was elementary school. The side effects of not washing your hands (see filthy restroom doorknobs) tend to stand out a bit more when you're older and actually have to worry about your health for once.

d. People who don't consider the other side's opinions. This is kinda specific, but it refers mainly to debates (I forgot to clarify that I hate conflict that somehow results in people getting hurt physically/emotionally or results in insult standoffs, but friendly debates are fun... emphasis on friendly). Arguments fueled by biases never really get anywhere; they tend to ruin the fun I get out of them.

e. Dreamcrushers (aka people who tell you that you'll never amount to anything). No explanation needed.

f. lol. When I use lol it typically means I'm bored/disinterested at the moment, which technically means I'm insulting you because I think you're boring. So I try not to use it. On the other hand, I get annoyed when I see other people use lol because I read it like I'm the one saying lol, which means I'm calling myself boring... uh yeah. Typically when I write "haha" on the other hand, I actually am saying it (or actually am laughing/smirking to myself). I've caught myself doing it almost every time.

There's more but these kinda stood out to me at the moment.

Now for some actual facts!

1. My sleeping patterns have been out of whack for quite a while. At Berkeley I usually go to sleep between 3-5 AM, every so often 6 AM only to wake up at 7 and one time I didn't sleep till 6 PM the next day. Luckily I've been getting better at home, but even then I still sleep at 3 or 4 sometimes. Which doesn't help much considering it's impossible for me to effectively sleep-in cause the sun's always shining at my face through my blinds at 8 every morning.

2. I have an obsession with storytelling and stories in general: their plot, how they are told, elements of the plot (exposition, backstory, progression, twists, etc.) and whatnot. Stories should have characters that you can relate to in some way (as a human), because that's where the emotional investment comes from. And contrary to what some may think, having a backstory does not equal character development - we need to see what the characters in the story are doing NOW (with backstory provided as necessary to help put current actions into context); otherwise the plot itself is dead. Oh, and I LOVE MYSTERIES. Mysteries with likeable characters and some sort of plot development are a plus.

And I really like the sound novel series I've been reading (Umineko) even though everyone basically dies each episode - partly because part of the mystery is wondering whether or not there will be a happy ending in the end, (and so figuring out how it'll get there..) and because the serial format lets you learn things about the characters that you couldn't learn the first time around... partly because they died so early on last time. And it's interesting trying to figure out the parallels between each individual locked room case and see if the similarities between them point out some pattern - a hint to who the real villain is. Which contrary to what the premise might suggest, isn't the witch on the cover.

3. I <3 books - or should I say fiction. Take me to a bookstore and I'll feel obligated to buy at least one, if not ten, novels. The only problem is that I take forever to get through the books I have (partly because I have trouble committing to the same task at any one time for a long period of time), so I tend to read one book for every five that I buy.

4. I have a notion of high and low quality in most things. As in, I believe in such things as high and low quality entertainment, high vs. low quality music (or should I say, good and bad music), etc - and these are usually defined by certain aspects such as skill, workmanship, or other complicated things you can find in any criticism of the genres containing these. At the same time, the quality of a product does not equate to how much an individual person will actually enjoy that product because of how different people are - and I think it is possible to derive enjoyment out of anything if you know what you're looking for. So even though I think Heroes sucked the last couple of seasons, I still had fun watching it just to see what would happen next.

5. I like reading about games just as much as I like playing them. To be honest, I'm not really so big on gameplay - mainly because I tend to suck at it (the more actiony ones anyway) and I can't really do an FPS for too long cause I'll get bored of it after a couple of hours and not feel like playing it for a month. Smash Bros is probably one of the few actiony games that I don't mind playing for hours (I don't really know why), but even that has been starting to bore me lately. If the game can motivate me with a good story though (or at least a story that can suck me in at some point, doesn't have to necessarily be a good one), then I won't mind playing for hours and hours on end - see RPGS and adventure games, or the ones that do focus significantly on story, even if the gameplay isn't that great... so long as it isn't horrendous.

On that note though, good gamemaking really should focus more on gameplay than story. It's just better that way.

6. If you want to get me a cheap present, buy me paper towels. Specifically the kind that can be folded/torn in half in addition to regular size. It'll make me happy.

7. I dislike poking (see long history that goes back to middle school). You poke me, I may or may not retaliate depending on how well I can control myself. Well at least I've moved on from whacking people with my lunchpail.

8. Apparently I don't sound enthusiastic online because I don't always use exclamation points. Well uh, I usually am enthusiastic; if I'm not I tend to use periods more.

9. As Jason put it, I like being sanitary but am not really organized, while he likes being organized but is not really sanitary. I dunno; I don't mind there being a mess so long as I'm not getting sick from it.

10. Speaking of which, I seem to get sick very easily. There was that one time two semesters ago where I was sick for a month. Not pretty.

11. My quiet times are when I'm doing menial tasks that require little thought (or somehow turn out that way for me). So - driving, washing dishes, vacuuming, the like... I tend to get lost in my own thoughts and go into auto-pilot mode when I'm doing them, (almost like a meditative state?) , and so hence take longer than most people would to do them because I'm in that mode.

12. I am big on making lists of things (such as entertainment) to do and never actually getting to doing them. I have a book list, a movie list, a music list, a manga list, an anime list, a musical list, etc... I also like making lists of favorite things that change every season.

13. I like reading debates, though maybe not so much being involved in one myself because I'm not good at responding under pressure. I prefer even debates; one-sided debates tend to be either rather hilarious (because one side looks ridiculous) or rather boring. A lot of times though, I see online debates escalate into personal attacks on each other and whatnot - which is just a copout on the issue and really takes the fun out of it.

14. A lot of my opinions are actually derived from other people (I'm not really an "original" thinker) - or at least in the sense that I pick out an opinion that I particularly resonate with for some reason and mold it to my liking. I take recommendations from people and see how they fit with what I already have found myself to like, and see what happens from there... so I like to say that I'm open to things, but I'm more selectively open if anything. And I tend to be influenced by critic's opinions if I think they know what they're talking about. They usually should have at least a decent argument for saying the things that they do.

15. Academically speaking, I find almost everything interesting. Math, Bio, Chem, Physics, Psych, Cog Sci, History, English, Comp Lit, Econ, Comp Sci, El Eng, Anthro, Public Health, Philosophy... what the hell they're all good in their own right. I suppose I'm more technically minded, but take the humanities out and I'll suffer from withdrawals the rest of my life.

16. Apparently I'm a light sleeper, or according to Nick I am, because I have this tendency to wake up at the slightest noise, acknowledge something, and then fall back asleep again. Only, I have no recollection of this myself.

17. I tend to have crazy, nonsensical dreams that when I do remember them are remembered rather vividly. I remember the dreams I have from naps better than the ones I get from actual sleep, which is sad because I don't have dreams very often when napping.

18. I like narratives that put you through the perspectives of other people, because other people are awesome. Faulkner is awesome.

19. Schedule planning. I have the class numbers of a bunch of classes I'll probably never take memorized.

20. I am a lot like my roommate in ways I refuse to list.