"After Dark" by Haruki Murakami

Hehe, yes, after for so long, I've finally finished reading this book. *fails like that*

I've heard a lot of people rave about Murakami's works, and of course, I couldn't help but to be curious. I wanted to know just what it is exactly that's so great about this man's writing. So I decided to give it a try. Not wanting to start off with an especially long book, I bought one of his shorter yet still (seemingly from the look of the summary) interesting book, "After Dark". I was met with a lot of interruptions while trying to finish this. University, assignments, etc... You know, RL. I just didn't have the time to sit down long enough to properly read this. When I read, I like having ample time to do it without interruptions.

And that time came when the holiday for Raya came along. I read the majority of the book during my flight to Sabah (yes, I'm now in Sabah. I just arrived a few hours ago) and finished it during my trip to the family inn.

Anyway, about the book... I'm not quite sure what to think of it. It's very... for the lack of a better word, odd. It's not plot-heavy, it seems to concentrate more on the atmosphere of the setting, emotions. Not much really happens in the book. We have Mari Asai, a girl who's trying to read a book at Denny's, and she keeps getting interrupted by people. Takahashi, Kaoru... She makes new acquaintances, helps with talking to a distressed Chinese prostitute, confides about her sister's condition to one of her new "friends". Then there are other stories surrounding the plot, not just Mari's. There's Eri Asai's deep slumber, the Chinese gang to whom the Chinese prostitute belongs to, then there's the man who beat up the prostitute and the shifts between reality and fantasy(?).

If you're looking for a plot-driven book, then this book isn't what you're looking for. Nothing (much) happens, really. There is no conclusion to any of the stories surrounding the plot. The ending is pretty open, leaving the readers to decide what will happen to the characters after this. But still, that doesn't make the book bad. I was pretty much captivated right till the end. It's difficult to explain the appeal of this work of Murakami's, but I suppose it's his writing. His writing is simply beautiful, and the descriptions he used are effective, different. It sucks you right in, and it makes you feel like you're right there. Just reading the way he has with words makes me envious. *has always had a problem with descriptions, so I make up for it by relying heavily on emotions OTL*

And another thing.

There's this one thing I can't help but to wonder about this story a lot, though.

SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER

Are Mari's feelings towards Eri incestuous? Because it pretty much seems like it. Not that I really mind.

Well, with this book done, I can now read some of my other books. They're practically gathering dust on my bookshelf - ah, life, why are you so nice to me?

Another book that I'm tempted to read - "Twilight". People are either raving about how awesome it is, or complaining about how terrible it is. I wonder if they have a copy of it here at the inn? I'm going to reserve my judgment on it till I actually read it. Let's see which group I belong to XD

*blows the dust off blog*

Long time no update, but I'm here again, and I'm definitely not dead.

Not that anyone has noticed but eh.

Milestone

400 \o/

Envy

Dad has gone off to Europe for a two-week holiday. He left last night at 10.

Dammit.

I wanna go, too. :(

Meme

Because I'm too braindead and tired to do anything useful.

1) Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you. - REFUSING, HAH.
2) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their journal and replace any question that they dislike with a new, original question.

Stole this from pixystixys.

Tagging... anyone who wants to do this.

1. Make a list of 5 things that are in reach:
Tablet, external hard drive, CD player, notes, books.

2. What is the significance of your journal name?
Nothing. I just couldn't be bothered to think of a proper title.

3. What is one item of clothing you wish you could always wear?
Jeans.

4. What do you plan to do after this meme?
Edit a doujin, or do work *hassofuckingmuchworkrightnow* :(

5. What are you listening to right now?
The sound of the clock ticking.

6. Who was the last person you hugged?
My dad.

7. What was the last thing you downloaded?
... ItaDei fan art.

8. What did you do today?
Woke up, got on my lappie, replied messages. It's 5:33AM now.

9. What was the last text message you received?
A notification that I can view my phone bill online XD

10. What websites do you always visit when you go online?
LJ, Facebook, tumblr, deviantart, Formpsring, hotmail, FF.Net.

11. What irritates you nearly on a daily basis?
Idiots.

12. If you could afford to go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Europe.

13. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Lost.

14. Where's your tattoo/Where would you like a tattoo? Where's your piercing/Where would you like a piercing?
I have no tattoos and I don't plan on getting one. I have two piercings, one on each earlobe.

15. What are you doing this weekend?
Studying, resting up as much as possible, doing assignments.

16. What are your hobbies?
Writing, reading, watching movies/anime...

17. What's the one thing you need the most now?
Food. Hungry hungry hungry.

18. What's your favorite school subject?
English. Right now in uni... Global Societies, I suppose.

19. What was the last thing you ate?
Cream caramel. Last night.

20. What's your favorite anime/manga series?
Anime: Naruto, Durarara!, Angelbeats!
Manga: Skip Beat!, Kuroshitsuji

Hidan, Ulqui & Ita: My Little Jashinists

Done. Complete with a baby!Itachi dressed as a nekomimi *heart*

*noms on teh cute*

Hidan & Itachi Uchiha are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

Ulquiorra Cifer is owned by Tite Kubo.

WIP: Hidan & Baby!Ulquiorra

Posting something because it seems that I've forgotten about this blog, rofl. Sketched this while waiting for Natasha just now. :3 Did the lineart on Photoshop.

I think that I'll probably add Itachi... Maybe. xD

Someone, get him pregnant, please?

"Women are born to carry babies, and men are born to put babies in them."

THIS. THIS. THIS. There are so many things wrong with this!

Grrr I hate that guy!

What the hell is wrong with him? This isn't the first time he has made a completely chauvinistic comment! I remember that I spent HOURS arguing with him at the mall because he kept making chauvinistic comments! Wtf is this. He ALWAYS views women in a completely sexual light.

What is this about women not having a choice about what the heck we want to do with our wombs? You know, there is such a thing as abortion. As much as I despise abortion, the fact that it exists, means that we women have a CHOICE. We have a CHOICE of whether or not we want to carry a baby. If a woman is a lesbian and sleeps with only women, there's no flying fucking way she would be able to have a baby. If ALL women HAVE to carry babies, heck, why are there women out there that die without family? What century is he living in?

IS HE A BLOODY CAVEMAN?

Yes, yes, I know women are the ones that carry babies, but we still have a choice. Some women don't want to have a family. Some are too busy with their careers to think about it. Some are infertile. Some have phobias.

And apparently, I am not human because I don't want to be a mother. Wtfwtfwtf. So what if I don't want to be a mother? It's my choice, isn't it? I'm not going to get myself screwed by some random guy just because I HAVE to carry a freakin' baby. Oh, wait, I don't HAVE to, because I have a CHOICE. And what is this about God punishing women that don't get pregnant? That is the biggest piece of bullshit I've ever heard. Has he NOT been paying attention during Islamic Studies? I swear, I hope he doesn't spout that bullshit to people that don't know nuts about Islam =__=

I remember this one thing he said that really stuck to me. He called his ex "trash". Said to her, "Is your new boyfriend enjoying my hand-me-down, trash? I got my hands all over you" because they had sex before when they were together. That is hajcsjkjxsaxsl *Raaaaaaaage*

At first, I wish that someone would castrate him, but now I wish that he'd get pregnant. See how he'd like it. =__=

Went to Pavilion today...

Random post is random, yes/yes? :D We ate at Ben's. Fff I love it there. The food is delicious!

I shouldn't slouch while taking pics. Makes me look horrid Dx

And I just realized that I need to cut my hair. I hate going to the hair dresser's :(

Went to check out sticky - totally not because I read about it on Xiaxue's blog and thought it sounded worth checking out, lalala.

Bought a jar of candy from sticky. I bought the mixed candy jar - only RM19.90! The single flavoured ones are RM14.50, I think. The packaging is so cute!

Can you believe that even the shapes in the middle of the candy are handmade? The candy tastes so good, too! It's hard on the outside, but the middle seems to melt in your mouth. Even though I'm not much for candy, I'm totally going to buy this again in the future. It'll take awhile for me to finish this, though. Taking too much candy would cut my tongue xD My favourite flavour is watermelon. (:

Ehh random post is random, but I don't have much to say at the moment. That, and because it's 2:30AM and Hannah is going to visit me soon at around 8AM, so here're some random pictures. Can't wait (:

Maid!Ulquiorra: Step-by-step

Remember this, from the previous post?


Well, I've finally finished it. Well, kinda. I'm only uploading the "clean" version here - clean, as in no letters and stuff. I only did very simple colouring, though, since I'm still an amateur at this :p The program I used was Adobe Photoshop 7.0 (so old~). Wanted to use Paint Tool SAI, but since I'm not used to it, and got impatient with trying to find the tools, I used PS instead. *barely even used SAI for 5 mins, gosh, wth, Mel?*

Anyway, I kinda changed the design of the outfit. See? No more hideous crisscross thingies (yes, I sound so intelligent lalala), no more hugeass ribbon, I corrected the tray, added the teapot and teacups, widened his body and I changed his fringe slightly. All done digitally, else I would cry drawing, cutting and gluing paper together >.<>

Looks better, doesn't it?

Pshh Ulqui looks slimmer, somehow, even though I widened his body. Must be the changes to the uniform LOL.

Right, after that, I Googled for a suitable background to use. I already had pink stripes in mind for the background - surprise, surprise, huh, so it was easy to find what I wanted. I set the drawing on "Multiply", then stuck the pink stripes picture under the drawing.

Then, being the awesome person I am, I created new layers on top of the pink striped picture and coloured oh-so-awesomely, as you can see below |D


After messing around with the colours, I cleaned them up by using the eraser. Even stuck an English rose pattern onto the tea set.

Tidier.

Last part. I did the shading. I hate this part the most. I had to mess around with the flow and opacity of the paintbrush and eraser, use smudge (which was a pain because PS lagged at one point) and blur, etc.


Total hours? I forgot. Maybe 3? XD I spent a heck of a lot of time editing out mistakes and adding details.

Not a very good explanation, but ehh... *goes to sleep*

Ulquiorra Cifer is owned by Tite Kubo.

... Hello.

An introduction.

Because everyone has to introduce themselves at some point, right?

Well, not really, but eh...

My name is Melissa Kartini. This must be like, what, my tenth blog on this site? But since I started using LiveJournal two years ago, I've been pretty dead here on Blogspot - and I'm still using LJ, it's just way too addictive for me to completely give up. I'm back here, though, since due to some problems, I had to resort to locking most of my posts on LJ. There has been a few changes since the last time I used this site, but not much...

Hm, anyway, I've just (grudgingly, mind you) turned twenty. There's not much to know about me. I'm a very quiet person, I like to keep to myself a lot, but I do like spending time with friends too, whenever I get the chance to, since university usually separates us due to clashes in our schedules and the amount of assignments (and exams, for my friends). I like anime/manga and writing fanfiction *heh, is a total nerd, lalala* but I'll try to keep those things to a bare minimum on this blog - I already spaz about them on my LJ. I have a slight obsession with the colour pink. I have two brothers, and two cats, named Mimi and Mamat. I'm horrible at expressing myself.

I'm studying for my Bachelor of Journalism, and I have about 2 and a half years left till I complete my course. Though I'm studying Journalism, it's not really my ambition to be a journalist. I've always wanted to be a novelist, but... you know, the income isn't very steady, so I opted for a safer (though still shaky) route.

What else?

Well, I do like drawing sometimes. I might post some of my random drawings here from time to time. I usually draw, surprise, surprise, anime/manga characters. Here's one of my drawings:

Yes, that is a guy. Yes, that is Ulquiorra Cifer from Bleach. Yes, I am so damaged. And yes, I like to amuse myself, rofl.

But, eh, ain't like this is the first time he has worn a dress.

The drawing isn't done, though. I'm currently editing it, adding more details and ridding it of some errors - notice the sad ass tray? Yeaaaah. Not done. Might post the finished version here some time. Maybe.

Ah, right, back to the introduction - see, I get totally carried away when it comes to anime/manga-related stuff - I despise people that don't respect someone else's beliefs or opinions. It is just plain rude. Everyone is allowed to have their own beliefs and opinions. Shoving your view down their throats is certainly not going to win you any friends, or supporters, mind you. Another thing I hate - drama. I despise drama in my life. I try to avoid it as much as possible. I also hate going out late, I prefer to stay at home - yeah, I'm so fun, hehe. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't dance, I don't like talking about relationships and guys, I don't like parties, I don't like clubbing, oh yes, I'm a bundle of fun ;)

I don't usually talk about myself on the net, so don't expect many updates from me.

...

Till next time, then.