(mia)^n

my otp

*tears*

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Guys, laptop is being wonky. Cannot email properly, sorriez. Will try tomorrow but most probably will only be able to email Wednesday.

Hello, Mia's sick and says she'll be back online tomorrow to continue working/chatting/writing/etc. -Jake

Of course I'm doing memes.

You know how sometimes people on your friend's list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when are they working THERE? Since when are they dating HIM/HER? since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you *should* already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy mine below, erase my answers putting yours in their place then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration! One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out :)


1. First Name: Maria Sophia. It was either this or Maria Aletheia. I find it funny that my parents chose to name me after wisdom rather than truth, since I'm not exactly brimming over with common sense but am a stickler for the blunt reassertion of cold hard reality.

2. Age: Twenty-two. After spending most of my life feeling hopelessly young (I was usually two to four years younger than my peers) now I feel HORRIBLY OLD. A lot of the people I hang out with were in grade school when I entered college.

3. Location: Philippines. Wouldn't change it for the world. Fun fact: I keep getting told to go abroad to study by various people (professors, counselors, friends, random acquaintances). The thing is, much as I'd enjoy immersing myself in academe and the arts in California or Michigan or someplace else, I'd miss the Philippines too much. I honestly don't know why. It's not like I don't get stuck in traffic enough.

4. Occupation: Economics major. Freelance artist/illustrator/jewelry designer/writer. I also maintain a couple of online shops. What will I be when I graduate? I don't know. It confuses me too.

5. Partner?: Jake, for almost two years now. He's a management economics major at the Ateneo (and no, I did not shift to economics because he's an econ major, are you kidding?), a hardcore gamer, an amateur cinematographer, an anime geek; my co-conspirator, spontaneous idealist, emotional pivot point, exception to the rule, and best friend. I honestly don't know how he's managed to survive being in a relationship with me this long, which just goes to show how extraordinary a person he is.

6. Kids: Uh. I have... cats! As for the idea of future offspring...

Mia: What if we never get to have children?
Jake: We’ll adopt.
Mia: Hmm. Okay.
Jake: And we can help the country that way, yes?
Mia: Mmm. I want a kitten.
Jake: But kittens can’t help the country. How about a carabao?
Mia: ...You can’t cuddle a carabao!

7. Brothers/Sisters: Just one (more than enough): J/Joren/Jose Lorenzo. First-year student at Ateneo Law. Younger than me by one year, but doesn't look it since he's... what, six inches taller and more than twice my weight.

8. Pets: Peaches and Cream, two adorable furballs, both almost eleven years old.

9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:
School. Or rather, leaving it. I still have so many administrative requirements to pass, plus grades to follow up. Some of my professors were not very, shall we say, conscientious when it came to giving me the correct grade (or rather, giving me a grade at all). I hate how people equate "academic freedom" with "gross irresponsibility."

Art. I think I've managed to find a style that suits me: namely, KILL EVERYTHING WITH DETAILS. I love ink and am learning to color again, mostly with watercolor, colored pencil, and pastel. Oh, and acrylic! In terms of calligraphy, I think I'm moving towards a more free, unrestrained, spontaneous way of writing. I hope it works out well.

Design and Diwa. Recently I started making jewelry, and so far I've sold five pieces. This is exciting for me not because of the business part of things -- I suck at business -- but because it's really wonderful to see people wearing my designs and to find that the things I make can be beautiful. I enjoy coming up with custom designs based on people's requests. Of course, the business part is hard. I have to manage everything myself; my friends help with advertising and networking, but the administrative backend is all me. (Not to mention the creative part.)

Writing projects. Have been neglecting this lately since I've been so caught up in Diwa-related things. But I have... a lot of plans! Mostly involving Filipino crackfic, translations of Filipino classics, and LOLcat Noli and Fili scripts.

Research. I'm not sure if I'll continue with the "turbulence as foreign exchange model" topic for my thesis; I might shift to "random walks/neural networks/diffusion as model of epidemics" instead. I'm interested in developing mathematical models of social phenomena, cute mathematical physics methods, and game theory.

10. Parents:
Mario Jose. Executive director and consultant, very much involved in Philippine trade advocacies. He's the one I got my introvert tendencies from, and also a huge influence on my computer geekery and math weirdness. We're almost total opposites personality-wise and at times he's so strict I want to tear my hair out, but I will always, always be my father's little girl. (Oh, and did I mention we have the same birthday? Cool huh?)

Maria Lourdes. Lawyer and professor, specializes in international trade law. I am very much a miniature version of my mother with less fire-breathing and more outright neurosis. If she were an animal she'd be a dragon. A huge, terrifying dragon who will incinerate anyone who dares lift a finger against the people she has chosen to protect. (As for me, I guess I'd be a dragon kitten...?)

11. Who are some of your closest friends?
I haven't really thought about it -- I don't think of friends in terms of closeness, I think of them in terms of how I relate to them -- but: Jake, my brother, my barkada (Jake, J, Emil, Chud, Jay, Ron -- yes, I'm the only girl), Paradigm boys, Physics girls, some people on my f-list.

I might not graduate this semester because one of my professors last semester still hasn't given me a grade!

DOOOOOOM.

I hate this. I just want to get out of UP. I've been here eight years. I've gone through basically every academic status possible. Let me out.

--

Have been depressed lately (so much so that it's annoying), what with all the horrible academic mix-ups and the recurrence of severe reflux-induced vomiting/coughing fits. So, as usual, got a lot of art done.

Illustrations:
- Sketch of Sola (not part of any series, just a random girl with a lot of hair ornaments, in a sort of deco/whatever-it's-called style)
- Sketch of Lalage (second in the Calvino-inspired series)
- Some inking done on Vine and Blossom (second in Flora, after Briar Rose)

Jewelry:
...dude.
- The Glow of the Setting Sun (Scintilla 5): chain-link bracelet with ornaments in glass, crystal, tiger's eye, pearl
- Ugat ng Araw ("Vein of the Sun," Habi 1): silver necklace with a geometric design rendered in red glass and gold and black crystals
- Firefly at Dusk (Scintilla 6): chain-link bracelet with ornaments in glass, crystal, pearl, abalone

Pictures during the week. Will be accepting reservations starting Friday. Shop to open next week. (I'm not panicking, I promise.)

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Sorry cannot communicate/write/e-mail/comment as of now. Not in proper (read: non-homicidal) state of mind. Too upset and full of RAGE.

Sometimes I wish I'd gone to Ateneo instead.

I finally finished Phyllis, the first in a series of illustrations inspired by Calvino's Invisible Cities.

Phyllis preview Rough scan of the Phyllis illustration.

I'll re-scan it tomorrow -- the scanner in my room is not that good, since it always, always blurs my lines. But still! Yay! I'm not sure what city to work on next, though. Open to suggestions! (hint HINT & ) -- Oh and: new Tegaki post: Isabel. I don't know! I just wanted something colorful! Also, I like purple hair! -- In other news, yesterday was a strange Call of Duty day. Got my score up to 55 kills, 0 deaths in a hardcore sabotage game. Could have been higher, I think, but I ran out of ammo and had to die.

Instead, am doing memes!



Groundbreaking thinker


The groundbreaking thinker is a charming, enthusiastic person. He really bubbles over with energy and likes to take centre stage. He loves variety both professionally and privately. The groundbreaking thinker tackles changes consistently with his optimism and firm belief in his own abilities; he is always on the look-out for improvement possibilities. His excellent communication skills are of great advantage to him here. He approaches the world with curiosity and openness and masters new situations with a great deal of talent for improvising and with resourcefulness. His spare time is taken up with a large number of hobbies; most groundbreaking thinkers like to travel in order to gather as many different impressions as possible. This personality type is unbeatable at discovering new possibilities.

In his work, the groundbreaking thinker highly rates challenges and diversified tasks. He cannot stand routine and too detailed work. He loves to astound others with bold ideas for an original, new project and then leave it up to the others to implement them. Hierarchies, rules and regulations arouse his opposition and he loves outsmarting the system. It is vital to him that he enjoys his work; if this is the case, he quickly becomes a pure workaholic. His creativity best takes effect when he works independently; but he is very good at motivating others and infecting them with his optimistic nature. Conceptual or advisory activities appeal especially to the groundbreaking thinker. It can happen that some people feel somewhat duped by his flexible, spontaneous nature.

His sociability and enterprise ensure that the groundbreaking thinker always has a large circle of friends and acquaintances in which activity plays an important role. As he is mostly in a good mood, he is a popular and very welcome guest. Grumbling and peevishness are unknown to him. However, he does tend to be a little erratic and unstable when it comes to obligations and this makes him appear to be unreliable to some. He is very critical and demanding when it comes to picking a partner because he looks for the ideal relationship and has a very concrete picture of the ideal relationship. Mutual aims in life are very important to him. He does not like compromising and would rather remain alone. For the partner, it is often a challenge to have a long-term relationship with an groundbreaking thinker. The groundbreaking thinker needs a lot of space and diversity or otherwise becomes bored and feels cramped. Types who are rather more traditionalistic often have problems with the willingness of the groundbreaking thinker to take risks and his often crazy, spontaneous actions. However, if one can summon up sufficient flexibility and tolerance for him, one will never be bored in his presence and will always have a loyal and faithful partner in him.

Adjectives which describe your type
extroverted, theoretical, logical, spontaneous, rational, innovative, intellectual, open, independent, curious, enterprising, analytical, clever, enthusiastic, venturesome, inventive, energetic, sociable, optimistic, non-conformist, creative, freedom-loving, charming, able to get enthusiastic, self-confident, communicative, capricious, inconsistent, outgoing


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I guess my main disagreement with this result is the "extroverted" part. I spent so long on the first page trying to choose with button to click! Because I love being alone -- I really do -- and I always need a lot of time to think quietly in a corner, and I hate large parties, but... I like being with friends too, and... "I never leave others in any doubt about what I think and what my point of view is."

Well. Haha.

I like the part of the description of the AT -- analytical thinker -- which goes: These subjects could interest you: literature, science fiction, philosophy, psychology, mathematics, Internet, drawing/painting, astrology, spiritual things, meditation, music, writing, strategy games, politics"

Oh hey, you just described a huge chunk of my hobbies thar.

It's funny, though. Five years ago I was an ENFP -- extrovert intuitive feeling perceiving. Now I'm a cross between an ENTP and an INTP. Where did the feelings go? Noes.

Gaiz, real life is being very demanding and I've been sick lately -- not painfully sick, just debilitatingly sick, which is not much better -- so I'm holding off posting for now. I am posting bits and pieces, though, on other sites, plz to add if you have accounts there, (or sign up, HINT HINT):

http://twitter.com/ephemere (TALK TO ME, TELL ME YOUR NAAAAAME)

http://tegakie.com (my blog: http://www.unowen.net/tegaki/dblog.php?u=25035, my username: ephemere. Have just one entry up, the test one I posted, but will rectify later!)

Stuff I will be working on once I'm done with the real life (read: business) requirements:

- PARALUMAN. I need someone to go over the submission guidelines and tell me what's wrong, PLZ.
- fic: Haru fieldstripping guns. Also aiming. Maybe shooting.
- crackfic: gamer horror! With romance! In Filipino (maybe)!
- articles/blog entries: From Dinosaurs to Dostoevsky and Bang Bang, You're Dead
- illustration: Phyllis
- links list: causes and advocacies

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...I'm beginning to think I need a PDA or something. Too many details! Setting up a business is hard! Inventory! Stock! SPREADSHEETS OF DOOM!

Aaaaand the sun's up. My cue to go to bed.

Hai guys, have been away, computer problems and working on a lot of real-life stuff. Here's one of them:

http://diwa.likhain.net

Diwa: the Likhain online shop and print gallery

Finally uploaded a CMS and got it running (switched from Joomla to Drupal, because I really didn't like Joomla and I hate how every other good-looking Joomla theme requires payment to download). I'm running the site on Drupal, Ubercart, and a few other modules.

I've opened new user registration, so feel free to create user accounts. Once the site is set up people will be able to order online through those user accounts (you can also automate payments, etc) and shopping will be much easier overall than the usual order-payment process of Multiply-based shops. Plus, if you have a PayPal account, you can make payments immediately and you'll get your order much sooner. I'm working on integrating it with other payment options like Bancnet, Megalink, and GCash.

Diwa has a Multiply mirror, please go ahead and add it if you're on Multiply: Likhain@Multiply. You can place orders for products there, too; everything on the main site will also be added to the Multiply site.

I'm taking a break for now, will finish setting up the online shop over the next few days (weeks?). Target date for opening of both the main site and the Multiply site is June 15, 2008.

It was published today in the Students and Campuses section of the Manila Bulletin. Or check it out online: http://www.mb.com.ph/YTCP20080524125513.html

WIP - Briar Rose in digital color

I'm coloring one of the prints with colored pencils, but I thought I'd try doing a digital painting too. It's going as slowly as the traditional method did. Haha. Haven't done anything yet except lay down big blocks of color. At least there's some progress, though. I'm thinking I'll make most of my userpics from teeny little snapshots of my art.

This morning I took my PI100 final: an oral exam featuring 63 questions/theses, one of which I would have to answer in two minutes. I dipped my hand into the question bag, pulled out a scrap of paper, and-- what do you know, I got the most interesting question of them all: Talk about a current issue: (list of a lot of national and political issues), etc.

I focused on the etc. part. Since I didn't really feel like discussing JPEPA or the rice crisis, I chose to talk about (what else?) Mga Ibong Mandaragit and what's been written about it in various blogs over the past few days.

I liked discussing that issue with my professor, and I think he found it interesting as well. We ended up talking about blogs and Wordpress and feed readers. Good times.

--

Just before I took the exam, my professor looked at the attendance sheet and asked, "What high school did you come from?"

I paused, trying to gauge whether this was a good question or... a bad question. The last time a professor asked me that he ended up launching into a tirade against: me, drawing in class, misuse of intelligence, and the arrogance of the youth. "Pisay," I said, in approximately the same tone I use to shamefacedly admit stupid mistakes.

"Ah, I thought you were from Assumption or-- one of those schools? Where did you learn to write like that?" He pointed at the name I'd written on the attendance sheet.

Oh. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Um, well, I don't really know..."

--

After the exam my professor handed me my midterm result and said, "Your score here's so low, why?"

"I don't... memorize things very well?"

--

Despite not having written anything coherent about that infamous "Birds of Prey" post and the resulting furor, I haven't remained unaffected by it. My reactions to frustration consist of either getting sick or coming up with a semi-related crack project in response to it, and apparently, since I'm almost done with the "getting sick" part, I'm moving on to the crack.

To wit:

- Florante at Laura translation project (because I enjoy translating)
- LOLcat Noli and Fili scripts (because!)
- Basilio+Maria Clara and Flerida+Laura fic

I was going to do the whole Noli in LOLcat summaries, but then I came across this site, created by Paurong and Zine2hamster, and what caught my attention -- apart from both of them having an admirable love for the classics -- was that the comments were 10% gratitude and 90% "bakit hindi ninyo linagay yung (obscure detail)? kailangan namin yun, palagay pls" or "may script ba kayo nito, pahingi po".

It's probably better to laugh than to get angry, at least in this situation, since ranting about lazy students and lackluster teaching won't get me anywhere. Solution? LOLcat scripts. Elias: I r dai nao, wivout cheez or shiniez. But you who dun dai, say hai to teh shiniez, taek care of teh cheez! Dun forget ded kittehs! Maybe I could even include the characters' distinctive speaking styles! Don Tiburcio would be all *whimper whimper crai* and Simoun would go WHUT MARIA CLARA IZ DED? NOEZ. We'll see.

Of course I'll put up a disclaimer gently hinting that if you found the LOLcat while looking for a Noli script, sorry, but maybe you should make your own? Still...

(This should be fun. I mean, when I was doing Kthxbai fo realz I almost hurt myself laughing. And I got to analyze Mi Ultimo Adios line by line while doing it! Literature and crack: winning combination.)

I don't have a copy of the Noli yet, though (NO, RLY! kitteh no has moniez!) so I'll work on Florante at Laura for now. I also bought Dekada '76 and will try translating it after I'm done with Florante at Laura. I'd do Mga Ibong Mandaragit, but I couldn't find it, woez.

There are probably easier ways to get over frustration than embarking on half-baked projects, but honestly I can't think of any right now that are as useful or as interesting. I'm not doing it just for the lulz -- believe it or not I thought carefully about motivations and possible criticisms before I decided to go ahead and do it -- but sparkly shiny cracky lulz does help a lot.

A pendant this time. More here.

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Man I have so much to write but I'm so sleepy x_X Urgh. Will e-mail stuff tomorrow morning, sorriez for the delay.

Crossposted from Miamor. I'll be selling stuff like this on Diwa (or, if you prefer Multiply, Likhain@Multiply) next month. :D

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Gift for my mother. A bag charm in pearl, abalone, crystal, glass, and silver wire.

Notes: Helloooo huge jump rings! I'll probably buy more -- sterling silver ones this time -- when I move on to making bracelets. I used white and purple freshwater pearls strung on silver wire (the rings the pearls are hanging on are made of wire twisted together; I liked the organic look); abalone and mother of pearl chips; clear (aurora borealis) and pale yellow crystals; champagne crystal bicones; assorted silver bead spacers; golden glass seed beads. My favorite part is the pearl ring at the end -- I left the pearls a little space to move on the wire, and I think it made the way the charm hangs a lot more interesting. The dragonfly at the very end is actually a pretty detailed charm, but the photo didn't manage to capture that. I'll take pictures of the details tomorrow.

Finally got around to importing some pics from the new digicam.





Two experiments in clay and acrylic. They're supposed to be pendants, or pins, or refrigerator magnets... something, I haven't decided yet.

I hope you don't mind if I show off my cats--



Peaches, the evil overlord. You should see him in real life. He manages to be fat, muscular, and sleek, all at the same time. He gets away with ordering me around, which is unfair, but he's so good at manipulating people I invariably let it slide.



Cream, the good twin. He's doubly adorable because he still acts like a kitten despite being eleven human years old. His meow is so heartmeltingly cute he gets whatever he wants without even trying.



An acrylic on illustration board piece I did tonight. The text order is a little wonky -- it's very easy to misread -- but I had to do it that way because otherwise the letters wouldn't fit. The poem is:

Is it true that the meteor
was a dove of amethyst? (Pablo Neruda)

I learned a couple of very important things while doing it, namely:

1) Marie brand acrylics suckkkk.
2) It's very very hard to do small, detailed calligraphy with acrylic and steel nibs. (Should look for silver ink.)
3) Calligraphy felt-tip markers go well with acrylic! I should do more calligraphy paintings :D The next one I'll do is "Be ahead of all parting" from a poem by Rilke.


--

I have a new art tablet, but I'm not installing it tonight. I'm still a little high on paint fumes and I want to focus on the traditional media stuff I'm trying to finish. I'm a little frightened, too: a few days ago I tried drawing a certain character, but no matter how many times I sketched and re-sketched I could not make the face look like his. The proportions were wrong, the eyes were wrong... it was upsetting, since I haven't written/drawn that character for years and he's someone I never want to forget. Ever since I got sick I've been slacking off on anatomy and sketchy stuff, so-- serves me right, I guess.

Ooh, but I'm excited. I'm almost done with Phyllis! Can't wait to color it!

I'll also be installing an Oekaki board at likhain.net :D I'll post here when it's up. Come mess around with color!

I CAN HAS ART TABLET NAO

*dies*

Because you've wounded me so deeply
I will stab your heart in turn. By this
you will know: I love you.

--

Sick, lonely, limping, sick sick sick, half-delirious, vomiting, sick sick siiiiiiiiiiiiiiickkkkkkkkkk--

I think I should go draw. Then sleep.

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Gaiz, Paraluman submission guidelines up, plz looky and posty. Mwah.

(I like my desktop :D)

Just made my first two hand-painted, hand-rolled clay pendants/keychain things (haven't decided yet, haven't attached any bails or loops).

They're very pretty. I think I like painting jewelry.